Don't look now!

A few months ago ...

Meggie from Life's Free Treats suggested that I should take a look at a competition in the Homespun Magazine, however, it wasn't the competition that Meggie suggested that caught my eye. I stumbled across the Young Designer of the Year Competition. I showed this to Megan and Jessica and they both were very excited to have a go.

Some of you might remember these shots of the girls with the plans for their projects ...

and these shots later on of them working on their designs ...

 

Miss Jessie tired of her's which is not surprising considering she was only 5 minutes away from turning 6 and really considering my record of finishing projects what else could you expect???

Megan, on the other hand, spent many hours on the couch on the weekends sewing away quietly by her self.

She persisted and persisted, one tiny stitch after another, she stabbed herself many times and lost two needles in the couch but look what she created with only direction regarding technique from me ... (except for the quilting of course)

Three weeks ago we were contacted by Homespun to let us know that her little quilt had been shortlisted and was now only one of 10 that was in the running for a prize...

Tonight Megan received another phone call from the magazine and there were many loud screams and some quite exuberant jumping up and down that occurred in the Dontlooknow household!

For the exact details of this phone call you will just have to go out and buy yourself a copy of the December issue of Homespun Magazine!

How cool is my daughter?????

Hope your week is going as nicely as ours!

Kellie

Rainy days ....

This week has seen more gloomy wet and cold weather. It seems that most everyday this week we have been rained on either dropping off at school or picking up ... or both! I must say that I'm over it ... bring on Spring!

It is Book Week here this week and our school had it's yearly Book Parade to help celebrate this event. The children participated by dressing up as a character from their favorite book. This year with three now at school much of the week was spent creating costumes for characters from these books ...

Megan went as Mr Strong ...

Benjamin as the wizard from our most favorite book The Magic Hat ...

and Jessica went as a Which-what-who from Dr Seuss' I wish that I had duck feet ... 

They always love dressing up so much! Unfortunately it poured with rain ALL day which made it hard for them to share their costumes with their friends.

I used some fabric paint to help with getting the right look for Ben's costume. This was a lot of fun and the paint was beautiful to use!

I have been waiting on some more linen to come in so that I can finish off the border of this quilt ...

I think that I will border it with a little more applique ... piecing just isn't doing it for me at the moment!

And thank you all so much for your kind comments regarding Ben's new dotty quilt top. It has progressed a little since last week ... it is no longer completely dotty!

You will have to come back to see what will come next! 

Have a great weekend!

Kellie

Distractions ....

In my last post a parcel had just arrived for Benjamin from our dear friend Lisa ...

How very cool is this? And Benjamin being Benjamin has worn this terrific octopus as a hat for much of the past week!

Joshua also received a little something, which has delighted him to no end! Thank you Lisa you really have spoilt the kids ... and they have loved every minute of it!

Since my last post I have made 109 meals, drank approximately 70 cups of tea, maybe 4 liters of diet Coke, made 35 beds, cleaned the floors not enough and 37 loads of washing. Apart from these and many other fun filled activities I have ...

finally finished the pillow for one of Megan's friends!

finished the applique on my Doll Quilt, sandwiched it and free motioned around all of the applique and ......

started a new project ...  I gave into temptation!

Have a great weekend!

Kellie

Friday already?

Life has returned to some semblance of normal this week after the past few weeks of hectic birthday happenings.

Earlier in the week I made these two little girls for a very sweet little girl over at Sue’s place. Jessica had decided that I should make Isabelle, twins because then even when she was at school the monkey would never be lonely ... a definite bonus of being a twin!

Although Jessie has discovered this year that her brother is beginning to branching out. You see Ben has fallen in love! He has been professing his undying love for a little girl in his class for some time now. I have quietly suggested to him that perhaps he is too young to have a girlfriend really and that perhaps at least for the next 20 years they should try out friendship first. He has scoffed at this telling me that “it doesn’t matter what you say I still love her!”.  On Wednesday Jessica came home dying to tell me that she had caught them kissing near the girls toilets .... mmmmm. And then on Thursday their teacher (who is the most delightful girl but only about 14 herself) came out to proudly show me Ben’s letter writing for the day .....

 

Oh well what can you do? It is obviously true love! I will have to teach him though that it is far more romantic to refer to a girls eyes or hair than their cheeks or ears. Mind you I did ask him what it was about her ears and cheeks that he liked so much ... his response was “I actually like her whole body!”. Oh good Lord what do you say to that????? I guess he is finally over his Oedipus complex!

Other than this I have been frantically arranging the leaves on my Doll Quilt whilst all the time desperately trying to avoid the desire to starting a new project.

 

Today I drove across the city to a fabric Mecca to spend all of my money and come home with 20% more than I would normally .... yay!!!!!!!!

 

More fabric for Ben's birthday quilt ... it is killing me not to make a start on this quilt! There were quite a few other fabrics that I brought home but as a group they didn't photograph well so you will have to wait to see them made up. Or maybe one day I will tidy my sewing room and take some pictures so you can see where I hang out and my beautiful stash ... now that just sounds weird!

Tonight I must finish the pillow that one of Megan’s party guests made, oh so long ago! She is coming over tomorrow night with her beautiful mother to sit with our little people so that my other half and I can go out for dinner and then on to Borders for some grown-up time ... aren’t we adventurous and so very risqué!!!!!!!

Jessica received the cutest knitted bear from the lovely Lisa this week which she is now sleeping with along with at least 100 other soft toys and pillows that she has enlisted to 'keep her safe' at night! I suspect that Customs also have the hots for Lisa's bears with knitted knickers ... as Ben's package arrived on the door step today a few days behind Jessie's with their tape wrapped around and around the box! As they are still in school I will share the contents of this box next time. Thank you so very much Lisa! I hope you are having fun sunning yourself in Greece!

I also found the most beautiful package of delightful things all for me in the mail box today!!!!

This eye candy is from the lovely Lizzie! You must go over and take a look at the beautiful things she makes and shares with us. I met Lizzie through Jenny first at Patchwork on Central Park and then in her little section of Amitie ... Broderie. Sadly she has moved on and I now am kicking my self that I never made the time to have her teach me some of the beautiful embroidery stitches that she is so skilled at. Lizzie thank you ... I cried when I opened this little package and saw that fabric and all of those beautiful threads and buttons that are so me! 

By far the most rewarding thing about my whole experience of blogging over the past 7 months has been meeting so many beautiful people. For someone who has isolated herself for such a long time I am enjoying your friendships and kindness so very much.

And on that note I must run! Have a fabulous weekend!

Kellie 

My little mad scientists!

Yesterday we had Benjamin's birthday party which is the last in our 'rush' period for birthdays. His theme was Mad Science and we all had an absolute ball ... it was messy and absolutely full-on for the entire 3 hours, but well worth it because all four of our kids said that they "had the most fun ever". Mind you they said that last week too!

I made all of the kids a very simple apron each and thank goodness I did as they were so very grotty by the end of the day!

I set up our family room as a science lab were we conducted all of our experiments. We discovered how starch can be both a liquid and a solid.

We learnt how to blow up a balloon with out using your breath!

We discovered that salt melts ice rapidly and how to pick up an ice cube without even using your fingers!

They made a wave in a bottle ...

They wrote each other notes with invisible ink and investigated the uniqueness of their finger prints ...

They watched as an egg was sucked into a bottle and discovered that vinegar causes egg shells to disappear! They bounced these rubbery eggs and peeked inside the transparent film that remained once the vinegar had corroded the shell.

They learnt that when you mix PVA glue, food colouring, water & Borax together you get the most fabulous green slime.

Finally we erupted a volcano ... that actually turned out to be a bit of a fizzer, however, all of the messy fun that was involved in making the salt dough for the mountain made up for that!

We all ate far too much yummy food and Ben especially loved cracking open his Piñata cake!

So now I can move back into the real world again until late in September when the delightful Joshua turns four!

Tonight I will be turning a sock into a monkey for a little girl not so far away. This week I need to spend some quality time with this DQS4 project which I have neglected while I have been busy indulging my babies dreams. I was going to toss in one more photo here but my computer has started warning me that it may freeze if typepad keeps up this snails pace! So rather I will save it for next time, I am too much of a chicken ... I couldn't face starting over! I also need to finish off the pillows that the girls started at Megan's birthday party this week some time.

Last week we confirmed our family holiday to a place far, far away. I am blown away by how excited the children are about this adventure. I hope that it lives up to their hopes & dreams. More on this one closer to the time but for now I am pretty excited about my trip across the city planned for Friday morning! 

Have a great week!

Kellie

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!

Six years ...

I can hardly believe that is has been six years that these two little people have been in our lives! They were so very tiny, well at least Jessie was! She was only 4lb 5oz and Ben on the other hand was 6lb! They escaped 6 weeks early after giving us many horrific scares of even earlier arrival in the 14 weeks before they were finally born. I barely remember any of their first year and only a precious few moments of their first 3 months. These guys have been both a delight & a hell of a lot of work!

They are so very different not only in physique! They adore each other and annoy each other to the point of distraction. Not so long ago when something would go wrong in the life of Jessie she would promptly bop Ben on the head! Thankfully I have been able to abolish this habit! Benjamin is such a kind and loving child. Just this morning on the way to school he pledged his undying love for Jessie, which apparently lies "deep in his heart". 

I am so very pleased to have you both in my life! I have been so very grateful every day of the past 6 years that not only the Dr chose you both but also that you managed to hang in there where others had not. I love you guys so very much!

Happy 6th Birthday Jessica & Benjamin!!!!!!

Thanks for indulging my loves!

Kellie

PS I would love to share the recipe for these delicious cupcakes! Which I can most certainly confirm are so very yummy, however, Betty Crocker has sworn me to secrecy! Sorry! There you have it I am no domestic goddess!!!!!!!!!!!

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

Monkey Business!

So now I am sure you will remember Shelby ...

She has shown little improvement in her housekeeping skills. The ironing basket is overflowing to the point that I fear entry into my laundry. Beds remain unmade until after lunch and when I asked her to clean the windows last week she just laughed!!!!

So why do I keep her on I hear you all asking ... well it's the kids! They love her and she's very good with them. But the real concern are all the 'family' members that she has 'visiting' with us. It seems that every time I turn around there is someone new sitting up to the dinner table and you know it's just gotten TOO much. And just between you and I, I've started to wonder if their legal! The last thing I need is the immigration police knocking a my front door.

Take a look at what I mean ....

First there was Shelby's younger twin sisters Lilly & Milly ...

Then came Sophie who we managed to farm out quite quickly ...

Then Lu-Lu turned up who is Shelby's second cousin on her mother's side. Jessica and Lu-Lu are inseparable so I doubt that I will ever be able to find alternative housing for her!

On Monday Amy, Annie & April moved in. These guys were also easy to re-house! They found new homes and new identities over at Lululollylegs with her lovely girls. Louise made us a lovely afternoon tea and the kids had heaps of fun playing together. Benjamin was in good form and helped himself to half a loaf of fairy bread, I kid you not!

Yesterday these two guys showed up. This is Thomas & Timothy and I have decided that these delightful and very well mannered boys are going on a journey far, far away!!!!!! Sorry about the frightening background colour they are actually very sweet boys.

But the last straw was this ...

How can I tolerate this? I now have a sock stash ... we need to buy a bigger home!

Have a great weekend!

Kellie

PS.  You do realise that this is all your fault Kitty!!!

A Slumber Party with little sleep!

Thank you everyone for your kind birthday wishes for our sweet Megan! This photo was taken on Friday the night of her actual birthday.

Her party started on Saturday afternoon at 4pm and for all intensive purposes was a great success. We kicked off with a craft activity where the girls were to design a pillow top for a 50 x 50cm pillow insert using Megan's birthday quilt as inspiration (by the way we have called this quilt Garden Party). I provided the girls with pattern pieces, fusible web, a perminant marker, sissors & a huge pile of fabric choices. I also made up a sample to help them in case they got stuck which they most certainally didn't need. 

The girls first traced the pattern pieces onto the fusible web then roughly cut out the shapes. They then selected fabric for each piece, I then ironed the fusible to their fabric.

They then cut out the applique shapes and began auditioning them on their background fabric. Once they were pleased with their design they removed the backing paper and I ironed them in place.

I then made a quilt sandwich using each of their tops and secured the applique using free motion quilting. I then intended to then quilt the backgrounds and finish off the pillows so that the girls could take them home in the morning. Well, when I staggered to bed at 2am only the applique was completed. I am never good at recognising achievable targets!!!!

So now I will finish them off over the next week and Megan will take them to school with her when they go back after the holidays. So far the quilting has been done on one of them :) . 

The girls really did a great job of this activity and I was amazed at how enthuastic they were even though their part of process took 3 hours! 

Once we had finished the pillow tops we all went out for dinner. The girls sat at a table by themselves and did their own ordering and generally behaved like delightful little ladies! Other than this they watched 2 movies (one of these twice) ate lots of popcorn, painted their nails, did eachothers hair and chatted and giggled and giggled some more until around 4am. I made them French Toast for breakfast and they headed home at 11am. And I felt like a zombie for the remainder of the day!!!! 

Instead of lollie bags I made the girls a denim tote, lined with the same fabric that I used for their PJ's and appliqued their names on the front. I also made them a sock monkey each. 

These guys are begining to take over our lives! They are multipling like flies!!!!

This little cutie is Lu Lu and she has become Jessica's closest companion!

 

So that was Meg's party ... now I only have 16 days until Jessica & Benjamin's!

I hope you are all well and for those of you who are in the midst of school holidays I so hope that you are enjoying them as much as I am!!!

Kellie

PS. This is the second time that I have written this post and it is only through absolute determination that I am actually writting this again. The last time I wrote it I was at the spell check stage and the page froze! So I wont be checking the spelling again this time so I appologise in advance!