Craft & babies

Today was Xav and my first day together in our new routine!  We dropped Grace at school and then headed up with some of the other Mum's to the parent craft group.  It was a stinking hot day, so instead of sewing and working on the beautiful deck, we all headed inside into the playgroup room to enjoy the glorious air-con!  Xav was a bit reluctant to leave me to start with, but after a few minutes he buddied up with one of Grace's friends younger brothers and they had a great time.  I got to sit, chat and sew in peace, whilst Xav and Bryn played with all the wonderful playgroup toys.  They set up trains, read books, played with the kitchen and zoomed all the cars around.  It was so lovely to see Xav happily mingling with someone his own age, especially since lately he thinks all 3 Y/o's are "babies". 

I love catching up with all the other Mum's, whilst getting making things for the upcoming craft fair.  Today we made 3D felt trees, which are so easy and yet look so great - I just have to get one done for home now!

Xav was very enchanted by little baby "Skyla", and asked me on the way home if we could have a baby too.  I said maybe, but he'd probably have to ask his Daddy.  He's set on it though, and asked another 5 times - even after lunch once we were home.  It was so sweet to hear my little boy ask "Can we have a baby Mum?  It would be nice to have a baby in the house"  Of course, being the curious little boy that he is, also asked how babies get inside the tummy.  A simple response about eggs and Mummies and Daddies making a decision to have a baby, was enough to keep him happy.  He did also say that he wants to see the baby being born and he reminded me that I will have to take my clothes off when that happens!!  He has always loved babies, but I was still quite surprised with how insistent he's been about us having another one! 

I'm hoping he doesn't forget to ask Duane when he gets home, I can't wait to hear his answer!  I'm thinking that as Grace, Xav and I are all keen - majority should rule!

One other promising thing that happened today, is I got to have a chat to one of the Independent Midwives and she's going to see if she can line up some home births for me to attend as a student!!!  I'd love to get experience outside of the hospital setting and in a more continued care environment - so I'm very excited!!

Anyway, I'm slowly melting - it's ridiculously hot and humid here today.  So I'm just waiting to pick Grace up and then we are heading over to her school friends house that has a pool (tip: pick the friends that have pools!!) for a swim. 

Grace's 5th Birthday Party

Grace's 5th birthday party was always going to be big and hectic.  Being that next year she is starting Prep, I was encouraging of her inviting along her kindy friends that will be in her class next year.  She also had all her mothers group kids that she wanted to come along, plus all the family friends.  Add on to that siblings and it wasn't long before the amount of kids invited was 26!  Jen and I decided that seen as how they were inviting the same people (bar a few), and Grace and Cass's actual birthdays are a day apart, we'd kill 2 birthdays with 1 party - so to speak.

With this amount of people, there was no way I was having it at my house.  Jen and I spent one day a few weeks ago park hopping, trying to find the best location suitable for a variety of ages.  We found some nice ones near the beach, but they were either too close to the road or too big, which would have made it difficult for those with younger ones.  We did want to be close to water though, as typically on the girls birthdays it's hot, however this year has been unseasonally cold.  After much toing and froing, we decided on a lovely park and swimming area behind the Arts Centre. 

The day before the party was spent baking, preparing and organising.  We kept it quite simple, but knowing that we had 26 hungry kids and about 20 parents coming along, there needed to be plenty.  Grace had already decided on the menu, and we stuck fairly close to her requests.  There were egg and mayo sandwiches, cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, vegetarian sausage rolls, plain chips, carrot and celery, lots of dips, all different cheeses, fruit sticks, crackers and the favourite - scones with jam and cream, all 150 of them!  Not one of the scones were left over either, a particular favourite of the fathers that brought their kids along!

We set the kids up making "bliss ball's" for the party bags, and they all had fun mixing, stirring and rolling.   The bags were made up with the bliss balls, stickers and some gold chocolate coins - very simple!

Grace and Cass had wanted some party games, but they were all forgotten about on the day.  The kids were all too busy swimming in the lake and playing at the park.  It was hectic, but all the kids were perfect and had a wonderful time.  Grace was a little upset in the car on the way home, as she had been practicing skipping and was looking forward to doing it with her friends.

A few months ago, Grace had asked for a Wizard of Oz party.  I couldn't work out how to do that, but I did keep the rainbow theme in the cake.  I'd spent the day before the party baking all 6 layers, the oven was going non-stop for 6 hours!!!  Each layer was coloured naturally, as I was trying to avoid the dreaded artificial food dye.  Red was done with raspberries, orange was turmeric and orange peel/juice, yellow was lemon peel and juice, green was kiwi fruit, blue was blueberries and purple was beetroot.  The outside was iced with cream cheese, lemon juice and pureed raspberries.  It was initially double this height, but that was a bit ridiculous, so I cut each layer in half and that is in my freezer for another occasion.  Grace was so happy with how it turned out, and told me it was delicious! 

Grace was spoilt completely with lots of beautiful, thoughtful presents.  She has lots of new summer clothes, some fantastic stories to read, lots of crafty activities and many more wonderful gifts. 

After most people had left, I set my good camera up and let the kids take some pics.  I was so amazed that they actually could get the shot in frame and focus (something their father still struggles with!)  Finally, I have some nice photos of me and the kids.

I don't normally like doing the kids parties on their actual birthday, it can make the day seem so hurried and too busy.  However, this year her birthday fell on a Saturday, so it turned out that way.  We had the party late in the afternoon so that we could spend some time together in the morning and to not rush the present handovers.  Grace woke up at 4am and asked if she could get up yet, she was so excited about turning 5!  She was a little disappointed that she still couldn't whistle though, she was under the impression that as soon as you turned 5 you could magically do it as her good friend Sairayah learnt to whistle the day she turned 5!  When we eventually got up, at a much decent hour, I gave her the present Nanny  had sent up.  She got a beautiful white and coral peasant top, some lip glosses and a hair brush and comb set.  She loved them all.  Grandma and Poppy came up later and gave her their present, which was a dress-up felt set and a hand-bag money box - both things that Grace had seen and loved on shopping trips.

 She had asked me a year or so ago for a dolly like the one she has up at her pre-school, she loved her long hair and dressing her up.  So, I borrowed her for a week and went to work making one similar.  It took a week of late nights and lots of re-doing, but eventually she was created.  I wanted to give her similar colours to Grace, so she has blue eyes, different shades of blonde hair and creamy skin tones.  The excited smile on her face as she unwrapped her was worth every stitch.  She loved her instantly.  A few hours later she whispered to me that she loves playing with the dolly like her at pre-school, but never gets a turn as there are so many other people that want to play with her.  She has named her "Marabella Lavinia Chandelier", after the doll in her favourite Fancy Nancy books.  Marabella has been beside her ever since, and often accompanies us to outings!

We all had a wonderful day celebrating 5 years of having the gorgeous Grace in our lives. 

Happy Birthday Grace!

Weekend wrap

It's been a wet and drizzly weekend, the weather has been nice and cool - perfect for some crafts and snuggly family time before my busy upcoming week.

Saturday Wendy and I went up to Silkwood to do a craft workshop. We weren't going to, but after seeing the finished demo piece at our weekly Monday craft - I was inspired! I've wanted to learn how to wet-felt for a while now, so this opportunity was too good to pass.

The workshop is to make a fully handmade sewing case, big enough to hold all of our sewing tools. I rummaged through my sewing bags, and dragged out everything that I like handy when I'm getting crafty. I've worked out that I can fit way more than I thought in, so it's going to be exciting having a customised place for everything. I'm cramming in my dressmaking scissors, embroidery scissors, paper scissors, felting needle and spares, little note-pad, pencil roll, eraser, quick unpick, needle book, chopsticks (for stuffing things) and a few random pockets for extras. It's HUGE, but so awesome.

First up we cut out all the patterns of things we wanted to fit in, and working out what size felt we would have to make. Next was on to the felting. WOW, this is so much fun, but so much work. I've really developed an appreciation for pieces I have seen at craft markets now, realising just how much effort goes into each piece. You start with a blank piece of white batting, and then delicately layer it up with wispy bits of coloured fleece. I didn't realise the work involved, so of course jumped right in the deep end and envisaging mine to end up as a garden scene. Most of the others where smart, sticking to simple colours and random patterns. You keep layering up the fleece, which by now is getting quite high and I was starting to wonder how the heck it was going to squash down and look like felt. After the 2 layers of fleece, it was time to work on the detail. I made mine into a meadow scene, with a tree in the centre and a rainbow off to the side. I was a little rushed in the end, and would of preferred to put more detail into the flowers etc, but had to get on to the next step. Wetting down the fleece and rolling it all out. I really thought this step wouldn't take too long. WRONG. We were there for the next 3 hours, pain stakingly rolling and rubbing, trying desperately to get the fleece to felt onto itself. After, what felt like forever, it finally started to come together. To finish off the process we were told to throw it in the washing machine when we got home. Now, that was stressful. Lucky I had Wendy's piece as a practice piece and after that coming out fine, put mine in. It was exhausting and hard work, but I'm so pleased with how it's worked out.

I've heard that making felt involves breaking down mental and physical barriers, which I believe now. This might sound bizarre, but the process seems to take on a life of it's own. As each piece opens up, it evolves, develops and transforms. What I started with, was completely different to the end piece. Apparently that's the journey of felt. Amazing.

The workshop is on again next Saturday, where we will start sewing on the pockets for all the tools.

Saturday night I headed by myself to a screening of a birth movie at the Uni. It was a documentary on a woman that was wanting to deliver her baby vaginally, even though he was presenting breech. It showed her journey with trying to find her peace with the decision to vaginally birth, rather than opting for a c/s & her fight for this to happen. It was interesting to watch and then to see the birth of a baby coming feet first was awesome. Although the movie was great, it was the panel and all the other women speakers that inspired me the most. All the local and Brisbane women that are active in the birthing community were there. Fabulous midwives, those working politically for birth choices and many, many women that are passionate about preserving birth. It was inspiring and wonderful to be in a room full of so many like minded women (and a few men!) who all trust birth and have so much faith in our bodies to do what we were made to do. The wonderful Sarah J Buckley, was supposed to attend, but had to cancel. Instead she pre-recorded a talk for us all, telling us all about her breech birth and explaining why Breech vaginal birth is mostly un-heard of any more. She herself had an undiagnosed breech birth, at home!

Apart from breech birth talk, there was also a discussion on the ramifications of traumatic births, and the devastating effects that a dis-empowering birth can have. How the ripples of that flow further out and through society than we could ever imagine. And to realise that an empowering birth doesn't necessarily mean a text-book perfect vaginal birth, that also has the ability to be dis-empowering if there is a power in balance. It's mostly about giving women clear information and then supporting them in making an informed decision, and of course the long standing need for good midwife-led continuity care programs -not just for those deemed "low risk", but those that really require the extra care ie, vbacs.

There were a bunch of very passionate and motivated woman who are doing their absolute best to keep making people are that birth matters and there needs to be change in the system, and I'm hopeful that these changes can happen, soon.

A hand-made Christmas...

So, this year I wanted to make if not all, the majority of our Christmas presents. I started about 2 months ago, knowing that if I left it too late, there would just be a major scramble to the shops come December. I managed to do it too!! Well, except for 10 y/o Em, I just couldn't think of something that I knew I could make and she would like. I've since thought of plenty of things, so I'll keep them in mind for next year.

I've been busily sewing every Tuesday when Grace is at pre-school and of a night when the kids have been in bed. I've thoroughly enjoyed coming up with ideas for what everyone will like and appreciate, the getting busy creating. I love the feeling of accomplishment as each special gift was completed and put away in the present cupboard, waiting to be wrapped.

Firstly, these are books I made for the Babies. They are cotton with embroidered pages and foam in the middle to make them nice and soft. Each page has a little pocket with soft plastic as a window, so a picture can be slipped in for the babies to look at. The back page has all their birth details, which makes it a lovely little keepsake. This book is something that I designed when Grace was about 6 months old as she was loving looking at pictures of herself and our family, but kept destroying the photos. So it was all trial and error, until I came up with this design, which works perfectly for babies that like to shove everything in their mouth, and also the egotistical toddler age where they love any photo of them self. I never did get around to making one for Xav, so I really should get on to that soon! I actually made 4 of these, 3 for babies up here and 1 for my good friend in Tassie's little boy Henry.

Some cooking we did for the Fil. Shortbread at the front and rum balls at the back:


Handmade pillowcases for Noah and Logan, with personalised pockets on the front:

A nighty for Malia, the Mil helped me with this one:


A bunch of felt fruit, veggies and sushi:

This took a while to do, but was a lot of fun! I made double of everything that is here, one set for the Cahill kids and one set for the Truet kids. Each set had a banana (that can be peeled and separated from the skin), a strawberry, sushi, tomato and a carrot. I really want to make a set for my kids too, as well as some extra pieces.