Another Year Done and Dusted (nearly)

Wow - another year has just flown by! A busy one at that. Lots of things happened this year. In short:
- I decided to teach myself to spin, what a fantastic idea that was :) I love it!
- I completed my first work placement for my study that I started last year - loved it!
- Work placement led to work, only on a relief basis - but I love it! That was a big change as I hadn't worked in nearly 10 years since becoming a stay at home mum.
- I applied for a job (I wasn't successful - but wanted the experience of doing so), so I have managed to get together a decent CV now.
- We went on our first real family holiday. So much fun.

All the normal family things happened as well, and the kids kept growing and changing and surprising us. Our DS was accepted into the PEAC program for 2013 - very excited as it will hopefully give him more opportunities to interact with kids who think more like him and challenge him more, rather than not having peers who are at the same level as him.
Said child also gave reason for the very first trip to emergency - a fractured cheek bone from an incident with a baseball bat at school. Back for a follow up x-ray next month, but there is no reason to believe it isn't healing well.

So for the last line up of photos for this year, we will begin with the cut photos of the lovely soap from the last post.

Kids Christmas presents - Ottobre patterns. Shorts were the same pattern and sizes as last year. Ottobre 2/2005 #32 Safari Shorts in size 122 & 140. Tops were Ottobre 3/2012 #17 for DD, upsized to 128 and #35, size 146 for DS.

I finished the Clapo-Ktus shawl for my aunty - I think she might love it as much as I do. I spun the fiber some time back, and it striped beautifully while knitting - almost symmetrical :) (modeled on me, because my aunty didn't want to ;) )

Lots of soap all packaged up - including some soap bites :)

Some fiber spun especially for another aunty - a polwarth/silk blend (60/40) from Corgi Hill Farm. This was my first time spinning this fiber and it was just delightful to spin - I can't wait to see what is made from the yarn.

Lastly (I think), some pencil cases for friends - I embroidered their names on them (so they are blanked out) and the kids picked the designs for them. They are lined, but I forgot to take a picture of the inside.

So that is all the Christmas stuff, but last night I finished up some spinning - the last lot for the year. BFL in Newtons Rainbow by Corgi Hill Farm. Love it! It is roughly an 8ply/DK weight and about 320m.

I wonder what 2013 will hold?

Cheers!

Christmas Has Passed

for another year at least :)

We spent a lovely time with our families. Lots of fun was had, including....

Fishing with Poppy, and catching 4 fish (especially boast-worthy as Poppy is a fisherman and caught none!)

Lots of swimming as it was nice and hot.

Collecting the eggs for one of their great Grandmas.

Growing magic trees (a present from Santa).

Giving Poppy a haircut.

Tree climbing and piano playing.

And going out for yummy coffees!

And that was just a few of the things we got up to!

Cheers!

p.s. A huge thank you to my husband for the photo's as I didn't seem to take very many at all.....

Only 3 More Sleeps

Christmas is nearly upon us.

The presents are all finished and wrapped. I can't share any photos as my family read my blog, so I will share them after they have all been received.

I must say though, the older I get, the more joy I get in the giving. I love making or even buying, a present that you can't wait to give to the recipient.

So all stay sane, and be merry and enjoy Christmas - I am looking forward to spending it with my family.

Cheers!

Christmas Has Been and Gone

And left a mountain of photos for you to view :)

Now that the day of giving has passed, and I have had a chance to catch my breath and pause in the indulgence of wonderful food and sit quietly, I thought I should share my Christmas sewing with you all.
I am very pleased, as I managed to give a lot of handmade gifts this year. So in no particular order.......

Teachers presents - a boxy pencil case and a bar of handmade vanilla delight soap.

All of the pencil cases.

One of the individual presents.


3 aprons, for my cousins, I also did a jar of cookie mix for each of them to go with the aprons, and a little triangle headscarf instead of a chef's hat. The aprons are from Cindy Taylor Oates - More Retro Aprons pattern.



A bag for my mum, from a pattern by NapKitten. Lots of turning to make the handles, but it worked out wonderfully.



A bag for my SIL - Lots Of Pockets Tote by KeykaLou. I love this pattern - it was so fun to make, and very easy to do.



A crochet project bag for my Aunty - I made up my own pattern for this, to a size I was happy with.


Some vanilla soap, made especially for my Aunty, but given away to many, so much so that I only ended up with one bar for myself. But never mind, it means I can make more.


Pencil cases for the kids, as they both asked for one :)


An outfit for my DS. It looks so big, as he is only 6, but it fits him perfectly and looks gorgeous on. Both the tee and shorts are from Ottobre, the tee - #20 from 2/2005 and the shorts #23 from 3/2009.





An outfit for my DD, Modkids Emma top and skirt, and a pretty little tee from Ottobre, #29 from 3/2009. She looks so gorgeous in this outfit, and the mish mash of fabrics suits her perfectly! lol





And on a very exciting note, a few days before I finished my Christmas sewing, my labels arrived! So I popped them on the kids clothes. And a good thing too - as the first thing my DS said when he opened his up on Christmas morning was, "Where is the label?!" He wants my label on all the stuff I make him.


I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Cheers!

What will you do?

Today was the Christmas picnic for my son's preschool class. So we went down to the school with a picnic lunch and to see Father Christmas and watch the kids get their present. The end of another school year. Who would've thought that me, the one who never wanted kids, would have a son heading up to the big school next year! And my baby off to kindy as well! DS has had a great year, he has made friends and even has a best friend now, which is great, as he can be a bit shy.


The main question I get asked when people hear that I will have no kids for 2 days a week is "What will you do with yourself? Two days without kids!" Well.........some peace and quiet is on the agenda lol
I will also attempt (I say attempt, as I am prone to procrastination and getting nothing done!) to do:
* more sewing for the kids.
* organising the house so that it is easier to keep clean.
* delve more into the world of soap making.
* help out more at the kindy - I enjoyed helping out at pre-primary this year, and should be able to do it more often next year.
* get back into comping, I haven't been doing much over the last 2 years and I want more exciting mail! lol


Now some piccies of the latest Christmas presents I have completed. Mum, don't look ok! At least until after Christmas lol

For my younger cousins, I made a pencil roll each, a bag from Ottobre 3/2008 (#28) - such a great little pattern, and a crochet purse. I asked their mums for their two favourite colours, but giving no hints as to what I was doing. The colours I had to work with were: pink/green, blue/purple and yellow/orange. Here is the one in yellow/orange.


I just loved looking at all of these hanging on my wall. I will miss them.



I also finished up a top for my daughter for Christmas - Ottobre 3/2008 (#2 - Puffis Tee), this is a great issue - I also have a pair of shorts I am finishing for my son for Christmas from this issue. I am not entirely happy with the bindings on this top, I used FOE (fold-over elastic) instead of rib binding. I think I need more practice though. This is to go with the misty skirt (Ottobre 1/2008 #13), which I have just realised I haven't blogged about. So I will add it here.





I also made some pot mitts to go with the apron I made for my Grandma. It is my first try at any sort of quilting (well I think you could call it that). I really like these and want to find some fabric and make some for myself. They have Insul-Brite in between the fabric layers.







And finally (because it has taken me 45 minutes to write this post), some Coffee Spice Sugar Scrub for some ladies in my family at Christmas. It smells delightful, and coffee is supposed to help remove the kitchen smells from your hands.



So that is what I have been busy doing for the last 9 days. Now Christmas is fast approaching and I am nearly ready lol Just some cooking and finishing the shorts to do now.

Cheers!