One piano bag

Last month I found this music inspired fabric and made a bag for my sister-in-law for her birthday. I thought it would suit her for work as a music teacher. At the time, my eldest and I decided the leftovers would suit a bag for her piano books to travel to and from lessons each week. There have been a few lessons since then without a bag, but yesterday I decided the bag would be made and finished in time for school pick up and a 3.20 lesson.

Remarkably, despite going to Little Learners at school in the morning with the twins, hanging out 3 loads of washing, story time, baking a banana cake with the twins (ie lots of fun!!!) and other jobs around the house I got it cut out, sewn up and finished! I was literally still at the machine at 2.35 pm and we leave at 2.45! I do love setting myself a challenge and seem to thrive on working at the last minute. However, some people describe this type of carry on in a slightly different manner!!! The twins made a game of it, watching Mummy's every move, catching all the runaway threads and imagining how it would turn out. Also, a very involved role play of Angelina and Mrs Mouseling helped me to get it done without too many distractions. I still can't believe I did it so quickly. No unpicking necessary and no machine dramas either!

The pocket on the inside is for any notes to and from Sarah's piano teacher and for the inevitable payment of lessons each term.

A scrap of denim makes it a bit stronger around the base for the books and their pointy corners.

One happy piano student, one satisfied Mummy and one 6 year old Alice who needs something special sewn for her now. She didn't say anything but I think she deserves something special just for her. We just have to work out what it should be.

x

A slice and a quick dolly quilt

Now that term 2 has begun here in Tassie, the task of filling the lunch boxes is back on the list. One of our favourite snacks for recess is Honey Oat slice from the Weekly's Beautiful Biscuits cookbook. It ticks all the important boxes - budget friendly, very quick melt and mix, no biscuit rolling and is great when you're out of eggs (as I was last night!) The wholemeal flour, raw sugar and oats must make it a little bit good for you and it's sufficiently both chewy and crunchy. Also, the kids love it!

It's a definite regular in our biscuit tins. The recipe has been requested and subsequently shared with quite a few friends and one of our kinder teachers!

Honey Oat Slice

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup sultanas

1/2 cup raw sugar

1/2 cup wholemeal self raising flour

1/2 cup coconut

150g melted butter

1 Tb honey

Mix dry ingredients together. Melt butter and add with the honey to the dry mix. Combine and press into slice tin. Cook in moderate oven for 30 minutes.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we do. 

Yesterday was also spent on sewing a little dolly quilt for the girls. I bought these fabrics a few weeks ago for a simple lap quilt of 4.5 and 8.5 inch squares for the lounge room. I did all the cutting at Mum and Dad's last week and decided to use the scraps for a doll quilt. I think because the strips were so little I decided to make the 'leftover quilt' first. The risk of losing half the scraps was too great! New dolls were given to the twins for their birthdays so the quilt has come at just the right time!

The pink and white spot for the backing has been in my stash for just a little while. My mother-in-law sent it south after she had a clean out of a hallway cupboard or two. There are quite a few metres of it and I love it. So many of our favourite fabrics go with it. I think it will also back the bigger version of this quilt. Thanks, Bev.

A finished product within two days. The twins and I chose the buttons today and sewed them on just before school pick up. I didn't add to the pile of UFOs but I didn't exactly make any headway on it either!!! Now I just need to get on to the quilt this material was bought for.
x

Two four year olds

Yesterday was all about turning 4 - two girls turning 4 in fact! A busy day started with opening lots of presents from family near and far (parcels had been piling up in recent weeks!!!) from the girls' many grandparents, aunties and uncles. This was interspersed with birthday phone calls and getting ready for church. It was here that the girls had birthday cake numbers 1 and 2 for morning tea. On the way home I found these at the supermarket - $15 reduced to $5. I think I can justify that today!

Then home for lunch (Bill Granger's Sweetcorn Chowder) which the majority of us loved. Daddy was happy to finish the soup of those that weren't so keen! On to a two hour session of baking, tidying and present playing (guess the activity I was involved in!?!) before we welcomed a family of close friends at 3pm for a little afternoon tea party. Their youngest two children spend every Tuesday morning with the twins at Bible Study so Hannah and Ruby were very happy to see them. And so we had a party. With our four little ones, and our visitors' five children, we had lots of excitement, fun and noise! Cake numbers 3 and 4 came next. Sarah and Alice decorated one cake each. Mummy helped with the straight lines!

All this was followed by a warm bath, more birthday phone calls, Mummy's vegetable rolls from the party, milk and fruit. Sarah and Alice put on a 'dance show' before bedtime to two tracks off Georgie Parker's Here Comes the Sun CD. Very cute. Then the birthday girls went to bed and the big girls snuggled with Daddy on the sofa in front of Masterchef.

To finish the day off, Daddy and I had boy and girl movie nights organised with two good friends. The two daddies have a 'boy movie' here because apparently they have to have surround sound (!!!!) And the two mummies of the same families meet at the other home for a sufficiently 'girly' movie, interrupted with several cups of chai tea and lovely nibblies!!!! Great night's entertainment - 8pm start, budget friendly, no babysitters required and all four grown ups have an evening with a good friend. Very nice.

So that was how we celebrated Hannah and Ruby's birthday. With family scattered and far away we were still able to have a lovely day with one another and with good friends.

Happy 4th Birthday Hannah

and Happy 4th Birhday to you Ruby

We all love you both very much.

xxxxx

My new things

This week the girls and I headed north to spend a few days with family for the school holidays. We had to leave Daddy at home as he had a few commitments and meetings for work (yes, teachers do need to work in their holidays!!!!)

The girls had a ball with all the animals at my parents' place and went for a walk to the creek in the bottom paddock with Dad (and 3 dogs with a very fat, old sheep in tow). They ate way too much food at Mum and Dad's cafe (I am very grateful for the family discount!) and loved the rather large, 1980 collection of lego that Mum has kept for such visits. We spent time with my grandmother and aunty (coffee, stories and more lego) and Sarah was able to have a little knitting workshop with her great Grandma. Very sweet.

Just before I went away, a well-travelled parcel arrived, covered in British stamps and lots of labels. It had to be my apron, and so with much excitement, the girls helped me unwrap it and we set it to work - helping me cook dinner for a lovely evening spent with visitors, including four of their five children. Eight children having lots of fun and four adults loving the chance to catch up. Good times. Thank you so much for the apron, Viv - I know you put lots of love into it and your card was just lovely.

While I was in Burnie I finished the box stitch scarf I've been working on. I am so pleased with it - it is just soooo warm and soft. I used Cleckheaton Countrywide - 100% wool and, although the label doesn't let on, Grandma said it's 12 ply. On 12 mm needles it knitted so quickly. I am going to spend the rest of winter wearing it, I think! I hope nobody minds.

My personal photographer, Sarah, did a wonderful job taking these photos for me. However, the stylist (me) didn't actually have the scarf sitting very well, now did I?

This one's better! I love this pattern so much. It came from a Better Homes and Gardens magazine last year, though they used much bigger needles and doubled yarn. I found I had to knit in four row intervals or I got lost, and chatting while knitting caused me to become confused a few times! But definitely worth sharing!

I used 12ply on 12 mm needles
Cast on 20 stitches

Row 1    K2 (P2, K2) x2  repeat
Row 2   (P2, K2) x2, P2  repeat
Row 3   P2 (K2, P2) x2   repeat
Row 4   (K2, P2) x2 K2  repeat
Repeat 4 row sequence till desired length

We are enjoying a long weekend here before school starts for Term 2 on Tuesday. I hope you can enjoy a lovely weekend, too. I am spending mine trying to stay warm. A maximum of 9 degrees in Hobart yesterday, 11 for today! Time for a hot drink, I think.

x

Apron sneak-peek

A little more creating and finishing (!!!!) has been going on here over the past few days. My apron creation is finished and flying it's way to the UK - all wrapped up and ready to live with Viv at Pooh's abode in her lovely, English kitchen. I think it will fit in well and hopefully Viv will like it and enjoy wearing it as much as I enjoyed making it. Here is a little sneak-peak - two fabrics and some pretty bits.

Thanks so much to Sarah at Red gingham for organising the swap. It was lots of fun pulling together the ideas, fabrics and all the trimmings to suit the picture I had in my head. I love that a swap, with their looming deadline, forces me (and us?!?!) to finish a project within a time frame, proving to myself that I can get something finished when I really want and need to! So now it's onto my half-done projects, but first, the washing and ironing!

Three bags full

This week has been about bag making. Three little receptacles have been produced: one for me, one as a birthday gift for my sister-in-law in Brisbane and one by my sister. I took my youngest sister through my little draw-string design that I make so many of and she did a wonderful job. I can see her making more!

The only problem is that only one of the bags made a dent in my fabric supply! My sister brought her own materials to play with and I found the perfect fabric for my sister-in-law's birthday gift in a local art and craft shop. I just had to have it!

I tried a new pattern for two of them, using Soulemama's design from The Handmade Home. Before cutting in to the new fabric for Helen, I had to try out the pattern first for myself, using up some of what I already had in the chest. I love the 'summer' version I came up with!  I varied the measurements of this pattern to make it a bit deeper - just so it could accommodate A4 size books and papers for my sister-in-law. As she is a primary school music teacher I could see this bag having a few uses in her busy week.

It is quite incredible that, of all the careers they could have chosen, she and her big brother are both specialist primary music teachers. They are also both full-time in their respective primary schools. Certainly in Tassie, there are few primary schools big enough or wanting to place so much time with music. Once they get chatting 'school' on the phone they settle in and love to compare notes!

Well, that's it for bags for this week. There are other projects, both creative and practical, that need my attention tomorrow!

x

A swing and a clean

Finally, the new skirts I made for the twins recently: soft, warm navy cord and a little applique with scraps. They were today's chosen outfit (chosen, that is, by the girls!), they were clean and ironed, we were home and the girls were happy so we headed out for a little photo or two. The only thing missing was the sun! I made them to match a couple of new tops I bought recently so we've got an easy outfit to pull together in our morning rush. It turns out these skirts match quite a few of their winter tops so I think they will wear them often!

Ruby was happy on the swings today. 

Hannah was most concerned with cleaning and drying every seat and bar on the swing set. She loves being helpful.

Ruby picked this flower (a clover flower, I think!) for Mummy.

I've realised now that the beanies the girls are wearing were made by two of their great grandmothers. Grandma knitted Ruby's pale pink beanie (along with 3 others) for the twins as babies - they have worn them since before they had hair! Hannah's was made by my late Nan for Sarah and Alice (there is another one somewhere!) - complete with a little flower on the side.

I love that the things we create provide a memory of people (and ourselves!) and times in our life for years to come.

x