Newsflash! It CAN happen! There is a bottom!

Did you know there was a bottom to the washing basket?  There is a bottom.  I found it last night.  I am not sure if I have ever seen it before.  I wonder if I will ever see it again?

But there is a bottom.  A wonderful empty bottom.  It may have only lasted for a few hours, but I'll take what ever I can get after this week, it has been awful.

I'll talk about my awful week another time.  Maybe.

The ceiling in our garage is not fine though.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.  I hope your ceilings stay where they should.

Cat.

My (travelling) Creative Space

I am working on a few little things this week, but there are no photos of them yet.  I have been busy packing and sorting, so not much creating happening (boo)

This is what I made my mum for Mother's day a few weeks ago.  A cute zippered travel pouch.  I put some Hong Kong money in the pouch too, so she is all ready to come and visit us when we have moved to Hong Kong.

It is the perfect length to fit her boarding pass and other travelling documents. I find it much easier to have them all in the one place when they are needed. Zippered up, nice and cosy. 

I have a funny feeling I will be making lots more of these.  For starters, I want one for ME! Then, I guess my Shropshire boy could really do with one too.  

Don't you think they make a great gift idea?  So yes, I will definitely be making more.

All the Creative Spaces are over here now, in a new home.  Do pop in and visit.  You will be glad you did.

Happy Thursday to you.

Cat

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Things I have learnt this week

• I can break steel knives with very little effort. I must have the strength of wonder woman. I am sure it had nothing (much) to do with the knife being accidentally dropped on the hard kitchen tiles the day before it broke.
• My mum cooks the best roast lamb. And a mean cauliflower with cheese sauce too, yum! It is a shame my girls did not like the roast, why have they gotten so fussy with food all of a sudden?
• People who pour concrete for a living can not do so in the rain. I have a ditch in the front garden that needs filling with concrete to complete our path. A ditch that has been there for 6 days now thanks to all the rain that fell in Melbourne last week (oooo, Concrete Man just called, ditch to be filled today, yay!)
• This week I tried wool felting for the first time. Add one (hand knitted) wool cardigan from the oppy to your washing machine. Wash on a long, hot cycle, and voila, one (much smaller) wool felted cardigan is made. Now I just need to find the time to cut it up to make Abbey a pair of home made slippers for kinder (pattern from this fab book I borrowed from the library)
• Gosh I love chocolate self saucing pudding on a cold, dreary night. Abbey will tidy up, all by herself, a whole, very messy room, just to have a piece of it also.
• Said chocolate self saucing pudding is healthy if I use wholemeal flour, right?
• Abbey loves pumpkin soup but does not like roast pumpkin any longer.  That is too weird.
• Why has it taken me 5.5 months of sole parenting to realise that getting the girls both ready for bed at the same time (pj's and teeth brushing) is so much easier than doing it separately. Now that was a long lesson learnt. 
• I was in a hurry to clean our en-suite bathroom this week, and used a very strong cleaning product.  Now I remember why I usually use the more natural/not as strong cleaning products - I have an almost allergic reaction to them.  I had a head ache for 12 hours.  One hour of this, in the middle of the night at least, I could not even move to get out of bed to get a panadol.  So does this mean I am allergic to cleaning? 

What have you learnt this week?

Have a lovely week peeps.

Cat

My (Bunting) Creative Space

This really should have been last weeks My Creative Space, but I ran out of time. Last week, my big girl turned 5. Five! Last Thursday I was still recovering from her birthday party.

I can show you in photos, how my bunting evolved. First, I cut out the "Happy Birthday" letters from black felt. I had read a very handy tip (can't remember where) that to stop the felt moving around too much when you cut it, sticky tape the felt to your template, don't pin it. It works a treat, I can tell you.

I was originally going to use 2 or 3 different fabric's for all the flags/triangles. Once I had raided my fabric stash, I was quite surprised how many different pink fabrics I really had to choose from. I had more than enough to use a different one for each letter.

This was my first fabric arrangement, but it did not sit right, I was not convinced.

I played around with the fabric selection and order some more and came up with this arrangement.

So lush, all that beautiful fabric. I am happy with my selection, as many of the fabrics used have previously been made into dresses for Abbey or presents for friends and family.

I even had Chris helping out at one point, tying off all the ends after I sewed the letters on. He did not mind, he had beer and the TV remote control (and Dotty doll to keep him company)

Almost done, one lovely pile of bunting triangles ready to be sewn all together. I top stitched around each bunting edge.

Pegs worked better than pins going through all those layers of fabric.

There is no easy way to photograph bunting hanging up, I have decided. Especially when it is hanging in the darkest room in your house.

Yay! Finished. Pop over to Kootoyoo for more Creative Spaces.

Cheers, Cat.

Things I have learnt in the last few weeks plus a date, a date, a very important date (has been set)

In the last few weeks I have learnt:

• That I will never tire of Abbey's drawings and doodling. How cute is her little girl on a scooter?
• Random acts of vomit in the car are really not much fun. They can be a little bit funny though when the 19 month old involved looks down at herself, covered in vomit, and says "yuuuuck, weeeeet". I will be eternally grateful we were only one street away from home when it happened. And more grateful still that most of it was very chunky and went all over her and not the car. Little girls are much easier to clean than car interiors.
• It is NEVER a good idea to attempt to re-thread the over-locker while cooking dinner. It only ends badly for everyone involved, especially dinner.
• It is possible to have bags under your eyes that stretch to your chin - I am living proof.
• I love freecycle. People are very willing to take away the stuff I do not want any longer. So far, an old fridge, two very dusty lounge chairs, one kitchen block, three bags of cloth nappies and one children's lamp have all been picked up by lovely people and taken to new homes. Not to mention, I have picked up 25 (did I say, free!) excellent quality packing boxes. Love it.

Oh yes, I better mention that important date. The girls and I are aiming to move to Hong Kong in the first week of July. That gives me 2 months to go crazy with packing, sorting and giving away all our unwanted stuff. Can I do it? I hope so! Wish me luck.

What have you learnt this week?

Have a great week, lovelies.

Cat.