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Arty Farty Party!

Before I begin this post I wish to issue a warning ... brace yourselves .... all photos in this post have been taken by my husband!!!!!!! As scary as this may seem it is the unfortunate necessity of birthday parties! Someone has to take the photos and unfortunately I am not able to do everything. Believe me when I say that this has been very difficult to come to terms with over the years, being the total anal retentative, control freak that I am! Nothing that years of therapy and a prescription wont fix! :)

 

So as far a parties go it was great and Jessie had a great time with her friends. Unfortunately, I planed far too many activities and have been left with two full crafts that will now be stored away in the cupboard for next year. I just hope that I remember that they are there, because that too has been done before!

They looked great in their art smocks. I had a few questions about these from a few weeks ago. I drafted the pattern after not being able to find one that I was happy with. It has no ties so it makes it very easy for a little person to put on and is very baggy so it fits easily several layers which is good in the freezing weather that we have experienced here of late!

The kids made pin-spinners, pipe cleaner people, watercolour paintings and a chatterbox charades game - which of course there are no photos of as by this time my husband was over the whole event and was sitting in the corner somewhere rocking quietly to himself :).

 

We never gave out Lolly bags this year instead they took home their smock, a sock monkey and a bag of loot which included coloured pencils, Texas, a sketch pad and two shadow puppet activities which again we ran out of time to make at the party.

 

   

Megan's entry in the Homespun Young Designer of the Year competition went in last week and it looks fantastic. I am not only so very proud of her for the spectacular job that she has done on this little quilt but also for having the persistence to complete it ... something that I could most definitely learn from her! I am not able to show any pictures as yet due to the rules so you will have to just take my word on this one for now!

So now I must move on to the preparations for our sweet Ben's party next Sunday ... and then I can get back to some serious quilting! 

Oh and just a sneek look at the fabric that I have for Ben's birthday quilt (the plans for this one have been living in my head for quite some time now). See, I can also buy fabric that is not girly! Thank you Jenny for provinding me with so many opportunities to spend my money!

Have a great week everyone!

Kellie

PS. Please forgive my absences this past week and what will probably extend on to this week ... alas the kiddo's come first!

An Art Smock anyone?

Or maybe 9!

Thats what I have been doing this past week ... among other things of course!

The kids return to school tomorrow, it's a 'pupil free' day today .... what is that? I never complain about 'no school' days as I am always up for a sleep in! But a pupil free day ... they never had those when I went to school!

Jessie's birthday party is planned for Sunday fortnight & Ben's is the Sunday after so I have a heap of things to do between now and then. Plus they have been invited to a Star Wars birthday party this Saturday, so I will be making costumes for this later today. I'll actually be at a class on Saturday so my poor husband who 'doesn't do girl hair' will be left to make Jessie's somehow resemble Princess Leia :) ... I haven't told him yet!

It is the most beautiful, mild & gloriously sunny day here today, by far the nicest day this winter! The children are all out running around, yelling, screaming, giggling and generally annoying the neighbors ... at least they got to do this one day in their holidays! 

Have a great week!

Kellie

Introducing Shelby the Sock Monkey

Lately I have been busy with various bits and and pieces around the house and as a result I've taken in a 'helper' to try and lighten the load ...

This is Shelby and she's just slotted in so nicely with the family! She's been helping the twins with their reading after school ... which the kids have thoroughly enjoyed!

She's done some sewing ... she's quite a wiz with the Bernina!

She's been giving me some advice on my clam shells ... which, by the way, I have finished sewing down!

She's been helping me select my next project ... I'm not so sure on her choice ...

She really enjoys The Martha Stewart Show and she's a big Sci Fi fan which is great because now I have company during Buffy, Voyager & SG-1!

The only problem is that my work load hasn't really reduced. You see I seem to still be stuck doing all the house work! Whenever it's time to clean the bathrooms or the toilets or wash the floors or even just empty the dishwasher she's no where to be found. Come to think of it she's only ever around for the fun things! 

Mmmmmm ... something had better change around here otherwise the monkey has gotta go! 

 

Have a great weekend!

Kellie

PS. You can find the tutorial for this cutie here, I made a few minor changes like using the toe of the sock for the mouth rather than the heel and I stuffed her ears. I used a child's knee-hi sock. Also go an take a look at some really terrific Monkeys made by an expert and some other pretty clever things as well at Kitty's blog.

Everything but quilting...

I don’t know about you but the minute I’m told (or in this case I tell myself) something has to be done by a certain date this is the time I find a million other things to do! So this is what I have been sewing and the miscellaneous things that have been happening in our house this week...

I finished the Tissue Cozies for the Mothers day stall ... and forgot to take a picture of the completed lot ... never mind ... but ended up raising $120 from the sale of these alone. I ended up making 30 and if I do say myself there are going to be some Mummy’s with some pretty stylish tissues on Sunday morning! I’m really pleased that they sold as I don’t really get the chance to help out with many of the ‘attendance required’ voluntary activities at the school. Of course I do specific things with my own kids and their classes like reading, helping out with swimming and things like this but no general voluntary ‘stuff’. So it was nice to find an activity where I can contribute in my own time ... ie. once everyone is in bed!

I've made some pillows which I love. Do you recognise the Monster design? He will make it onto a quilt eventually but for now he resides here!

I made a pin cushion ... and you know it was funny because I had this plan in my head for its design and not realising that its size would be so ridiculously large. I spent a whole afternoon drawing, cutting, and sewing only to come up with something that was too small for a pillow but way too big for a pincushion. It is a pity that I hadn’t visited Fiona a day earlier who had just made a pincushion that she refers to as a pin ottoman!! J

After all that I readjusted my design and came up with something more like the right size...

I made a little library bag for a little person...

I have plans for modified versions of these bags for the kids birthdays. I also have better pictures of these but I will share them later.

And right now under my machine there are the makings of a magazine tote...

 

Benjamin lost his second tooth last night. He wandered down stairs long after he was meant to be asleep and of course I grumbled at him. Then that delightfully innocent little boy said to me ... “but Mummy I have some good news for you”.... what a meanie I am! Anyway the good news turned out to be the loss of his second tooth and I felt entirely crap for grumping!

And to make matters worse Jessica had a bad dream in the early hours of this morning. She then went around and put every single light on up stairs ... and I mean every single light including the heating in the bathroom. This of course this isn’t the tragedy ... however, the result of Jessie’s little ritual was that the Tooth Fairy was ‘frightened off’ and was unable to collect Ben’s tooth or leave a financial reward ..... mmmmmm Mummy is very pleased that she can think quickly on her feet and that sweet Jessie is such a scaredy cat J. Oh and look what I found beside his bed this morning ... please Tooth Fairy, you slack woman, put Ben on your list tonight!!!!!!

We also celebrated our Lisa’s 21^st Birthday last night. What an intellegent and beautiful young woman you have become Lisa! We all love being around you! ...And I am sure that your Dad’s speech on Sunday night won’t be too embarrassing!

So now I almost have all of that procrastination out of my system I am going to go back to my quilting... soon!

I actually started writting this post on Friday but unfortunately I never finished until after midnight so please read it as though it was posted on Friday ... I don't have the energy to rewrite it now!

Have a great weekend!

Kellie

PS. Has anyone seen the sun? If you have please tell it that I am missing it very much!