Blogtober 26th: Cancer

This morning I was informed that my G.P. of 5 years lost her battle with cancer two weeks ago.

She was so helpful to me after I had Mr-O and struggled terribly with Post Natal Depression and she helped so many more people also. It is difficult to digest that someone who helped so many sick people was sick herself. My heart and thoughts and prayers go out to her family during this time of loss.

Cancer is an awful disease that affects so many people. Most of us have been affected by it at some point in our lives.

It's effect on me today is to hold those that I love tighter, to kiss them a few more hundred times each morning when they wake up, and to make the most of every moment that I have on this earth. To use my life as a proclamation of joy, and happiness, and love. To not worry about tomorrow, but to have the very BEST TODAY possible.

Today it is National Bandanna Day in Australia.

National Bandanna Day is a fundraising initiative run by Canteen, an organisation that supports people aged 12 - 24 who have been diagnosed with cancer. People buy and wear bandannas all over Australia with the money going back into supporting these young people.

My G.P. wasn't a teenager, but there are so many young people who struggle with cancer in our country and National Bandanna Day is a great way to give them our support. So I encourage you to head over to their website and see how you can support these people today. There's a list of places you can buy bandannas too.

Blogtober 25th: my creative space

There's nothing much creative happening here today. Between work and children I am honestly not really in the headspace for it. There's still uni work to do too. I am hoping a hot shower after the kids are asleep will be rejuvenating for me.

Hope your day has been amazing and full of the kind of smiles that make you as tired as I am now :-)

blogtober 23rd: missing

Yes, I've been missing the last few days of Blogtoberfest. I have desperately wanted to post, but had computer issues, university assignments, and I decided to change my photo editing software because perhaps the previous software had something to do with the first excuse.

I have returned, I still have lots of assignments to work on and complete. One of which is a big, annoying and incredibly confusing research report that I am sure you don't want to read about. But thankfully life goes on, in a few weeks these subjects will be over and new ones will begin and I am gaining more knowledge about the profession that I will hold one day in the not so distant future.

I did promise to try to de-stash some patterns this month, and with only seven days remaining I really do wonder whether I will get another item sewn up with all of my other commitments. But I do want to start. I have two patterns that I would like to get sewn up in the near future.

Both of these patterns are yet to be opened and I am intent on doing so before the end of the year for both of them.

One is Vogue v8365 (I can't find a link to the pattern anywhere!). I am not really a shorts person generally. I don't know why, but I just think I look weird might be my height. Don't even get me started about how ridiculous I look in 3/4 pants! Anyway, I was looking through my stash of patterns and this one I had prepared with fabric chosen and everything in the folder with it ready to go. So I will divulge the desires of past-Amy and make up these shorts. Probably in view A. Short shorts are always more friendly than ones that finish just above the knee.

The other pattern is the Claire Cami Dress by Serendipity studio. This pattern has five different lengths to choose from from cami, tunic, short dress etc. I will probably (once again) head to the short option. It is getting close to summer.  I'm really looking forward to wearing one of these dresses actually.

Thirdly, and not pictured, I want to make another Anna Mini Dress. I love a good summer mini-dress and I made the longer length last year and I never wore it because it was at a silly length for me (and I made it too big). This pattern is obviously third on the list because I want to finish something I haven't started before first.

Well, its time to go make the lunches...



What photo editing software do you use?
Do you look funny in knee length shorts too?
What is your favourite Summer clothing item?

Blogtober 21st: Sunday Snippets

Blogtober 17th: wordless Wednesday

Snowed under by books.

Blogtober 16th: on working with children.

Finally, a wrap up of the items I completed in the KCWC.

I wanted to get some great modeled shots of the kids' new clothes, but working with children... yeah well we all know how that saying goes...

Mr-O tells me this is the best way to look at his new pants. By looking at the cool green fabric through the light of the window.

I was able to get him away from the window for a second before he went back...

Miss-R LOVES her new skirt, and as soon as she put it on, she ran out to the back garden to complete a very important test...

The twirl test... and it passed with flying colours.

Maybe one day soon I can get some great modeled shots for this blog, but for now, we can just see the clothes being enjoyed. That's all I wanted.

Are your kids unwilling models too?

Do your daughter's insist on checking the twirl factor on every skirt or dress?

Are you keeping up with Blogtoberfest?

Blogtober 15th: watch this space

I've been busy with work and uni the last couple of days, but I hope to be in tomorrow with photos of my KCWC finished items.

I haven't forgotten you blogtoberfest.

P.S. the MR surprised me with a new dishwasher today, isn't it beautiful?

Blogtober 13th: KCWC day 6

Today I gave myself a similar deal to yesterday. Rewarding myself with sewing is turning out to be quite satisfying. So after a lovely Saturday morning sleep in, some awesome breakfast and some reading time, I set to making Miss-R's Milkshake Skirt. 

The Milkshake Skirt is actually really easy to sew. MUCH easier than I had imagined, what with all those coloured panels. But it comes together really easily with only 3 pattern pieces. I have used the grey linen again (that's the last of it!) and some Happy Mochi Yum Yum by Monica Solaro-Snow as my accent fabric. 

It has meeblings in the selvage (bloomin iPhone games...)!

I am excited about how it will look when I finish it. I am also realising I have made both of the children items of clothing in grey and green... Totally un-planned, perhaps it has something to do with my mood. 

 

I actually gave myself a bit of reward time today. A few hours of study behind me and a skirt almost finished to show for my hard work. Hopefully I can finish it in the morning so Miss-R can wear it to watch daddy play hockey.

What did you get up to today?

Do you make strange connections to iPhone games too?

How do you reward yourself?

Blogtober 12th: KCWC Day 4 & 5

Yesterday my space was not so creative, and my place was full of tired, cranky parents. Mr-O made the executive decision to spend most of Wednesday night awake, coming into wake me five times during the night. Teamed with an early start to sit in traffic before a long, busy day at work, and then awful traffic on the way home, I didn't sew yesterday. In fact last night I didn't do much of anything other than mumble instructions to children about eating their dinner, brushing their teeth, and going to bed.

I did make a decision about what to make for Miss-R though for the KCWC. I am playing along with Karen from and so I sew this month and de-stashing some of my patterns in her great pattern de-stash. No, I'm not giving them away. The plan is to take some of the patterns out of the stash that I haven't used before, and use them! So in light of my blogtober plans to make, and to fulfill unfulfilled sewing promises, I will be making Miss-R the Milkshake Skirt I promised her back in June.

It's amazing what sleep can do, its so refreshing, and with only 2 visits from Mr-O during the night, today I decided that sewing would be a reward for me. 

I so desperately wanted to get into the sewing room and finish off Mr-O's pants. But I do have commitments to my study and I use Friday mornings to get a lot of reading done generally. So my deal with myself was to complete an hour's study before rewarding myself with some sewing. A good deal I do think myself.

And so today I give you the finished product. The shorts should be around 3/4 length on Mr-O, I will try to get some modeled shots up by the end of the week. I made a few changes to the original idea of the pattern, and so didn't follow the instructions at all, just used the pattern pieces.

The original pattern called for the pieces to be made into lined pants that can be turned up at the bottom to create a cuff that is held up by tabs with buttons. The problem with this is that Mr-O hates buttons. He pretty much lives in trackpants, won't wear a polo-shirt, and don't even ask him to wear a button up shirt! Making him something without buttons is the only way to get him to wear it.

The pants also have a stretchy drawstring. We are big fans of drawstrings here as pants that have the pull in waists have buttons also, and on the inside, meaning they are doubly horrid to Mr-O. I am thinking I will add in a bit of topstitching to the top of the waistband though to prevent this drawstring from digging in (the original tutorial probably asked me to do that but as I didn't read it...)

So there is my first finished item. It looks probably not much like the idea the pattern asked for, but it is what I had in mind.

Was your space creative yesterday?

Do your kids have clothing that they simply will not wear?

Do you know how to stop 4 year olds visiting their mummy 5 times a night?

Blogtober 10th: KCWC day 3

Today is day three of the Kids Clothing Week Challenge (although if you are in the US it is still day two).  I have put my dress sewing plans aside for the week so that I can use my sewing time for the kids challenge. 

I cut out the pieces and set to sewing today. I must admit, I have ditched the instructions completely as I have a slightly different finished product in mind than the original pattern intends. 

I pottered away for about an hour and a half today, making sure that every seam is straight and finished. I also made sure I did understitching in the pockets (not that the pattern asks for it)  to make sure that they sit flat and don't pop out as Mr-O runs around. 

I am even doing double top stitching in lime green to make the shorts have a more professional look.

I am really pleased with how well these are coming together and Mr-O is excited about having some new shorts to wear when the weather warms up. Can we wish it to warm up by sewing shorts and crossing our fingers and begging the sun to come out and defrost us??

I got the shorts almost finished today with only a few little tasks left to go. I will work on them again on Friday morning as I have work all day tomorrow and won't have time to actually sew. I have other kids clothing sewing plans for tomorrow evening, inbetween the reading and studying and general organising of small children. 

Are you playing along with the Kids Clothing Week Challenge?

Are you dropping by for the first time via Blogtoberfest?

Are you wishing for the warm weather to arrive like we are?

Blogtober 9th: KCWC Day 2

Today I continued on with my plans for the Kids Clothing Week Challenge. My how quickly an hour goes!! I finished choosing a pattern last night and put away the fabric that I wanted to use and chose another. And an accent fabric too.

The main fabric is the grey linen that I used for my camera bag. And the other is part of the Riley Blake "scoot" range  by Deena Rutter. I have decided to use this tutorial to make the shorts. I am going to alter them slightly as I have a similar, yet slightly different image in mind for my finished product.

I have my pattern printed out and ready to go and I plan to cut, pin and sew tomorrow in my hour. 

My dress progress? Well I haven't started it yet as Mr-O and I have been very busy playing today. But it's on tomorrow's to do list for sure.

What have you been up to today?

Have you been keeping up with Blogtoberfest?

Do you sew clothing for your children?

KCWC: day 1

I have made the ever so impulsive decision to participate in the kids clothing week challenge this week.

The challenge???

To spend one hour per day making clothing for your children. I have so much fabric and so many unfulfilled intentions that I have decided to play along.

I took some photos of this fabric earlier that I'd like to make some funky little man shorts for Mr-O out of.

I am off to spend some more time planning these shorts.

Blogtober 8th: planning

I mentioned in my intentions that I want to make things this month. This has been food for thought and today I have been dreaming away at work today about sewing. I have been thinking about wanting to make a dress. I had the fabric in mind, it's been in my stash for a while and I have the notions I need to make it up. When you are serving hundreds of coffees to customers all day, you need something to occupy your mind, or you do go slightly insane.

I have been thinking about this fabric...

I bought this fabric a few years ago wanting to make a skirt that most likely left my mind's focus due to orders that I had or stock I had to make. 

I am thinking that I'd like to make a strapless dress as this is a stretchy fabric, and I want something quick and easy, plus, I am a big strapless dress wearer when the warmer weather visits us.

I have my finished product blurrily hanging in my mind (it was a 8 hour shift okay?!?!). But here is some vague images of what I would like to do...

from here

 

from here 

from here

I hope to make some progress, or finish this project tomorrow. I am pretty single minded and like to finish what I start fairly quickly.

What do you think about when you are at work?

Do you dream up finished projects before you make them?

Are you looking forward to the warm weather as much as I am??

blogtober 7th: sunday snippets

 

Sunday Snippets, via tinniegirl

blogtober 6th: intentions

It has been mentioned that setting a goal or intention for blogtober is a good way to stay motivated to post each day within the month. 

It was my goal to actually do this post on Wednesday, but if you look back on my posts, I did not post on Wednesday (because I completely forgot due to unknown reasons). I will post it now though, however delayed it might be. 

me looking pensive

So unfulfilled goals aside...

My intention is to continue to be me. 

To share the way that I share, but every day.

To involve myself in new ways and be introduced to new people. 

To read things about experiences others have had. 

To discover places I want to re-visit.

To enjoy and expand my new patch of cyberspace.
To make things.

To be generous and give. 

To continue to show snapshots of our life.



Are you playing along with blogtoberfest?
Do you have a blogtober goal?

Blogtober 5th: an icy treat

The weather is beginning to warm up here in Melbourne. (Finally!!) And it will soon be the days where children are asking for icy poles every 5 minutes and you just need something cold to cool you down.

I am currently embracing a clean eating lifestyle and eliminating additives and hidden sugars from my food to encourage a healthier me, but I do love a cold treat when the weather turns hot. 

The other week I stumbled across instant icecream somewhere on the internet (don't ask me where, I wasn't paying much attention at the time). This sparked an idea in my head and I decided to try making instant frozen yoghurt. It turned out a treat so I will share of course.

The Ingredients:

Frozen berries (or other kinds of frozen fruit if you prefer) I used about 2.5 cups.

Plain yoghurt. I used about 2 cups ,but it was very fruity, so Id suggest adding a bit more if you want it creamy.

The Method:

Put everything in your blender (or in my case a bowl with a stick mixer).

Then blend it up until it resembles frozen yoghurt.

Then all you have to do is eat it!!

 

I stored mine in the freezer until we ate it later, but you can eat it immediately from the blender if you want. YUM!!

What is your favourite icy treat on hot days?

Have you signed up to blogtoberfest yet??

Blogtober 4th: my creative space

This week I have been working on making a coffee date dress. I did finish off my dress yesterday but it is too small in the bust ever so slightly so I need to let it out a touch. I have it sitting in my cupboard anyway though.

I'm following with the rules and all of the fabric came out of my stash. I didn't have enough to make a ruffle for the front but I think it looks good as it is.

And I spent some time thinking and remembered how to do a blind hem on my machine.

Now to just figure out how I am going to fix my bodice and I will have a lovely frock for spring and summer. And also modeled photos to show off!!

Have you done any creating this week?

Head over and check out some other spaces over here...

Blogtober the 2nd: thumbs out again

I've mentioned before about the colour of my thumbs. I am far from a good gardener, and until recently I have left the majority of the gardening around here to the MR. 

I am starting to take more of an interest in the state of our garden now. Is it that I have more time on my hands? Is it that I want to teach my kids how to look after the earth? Is it that I am sick of seeing my ugly garden?

Probably a bit of each basket to be honest. 

I love getting out in the sunshine and pottering away doing some work in the garden. Mr-O and I tend to garden on Tuesday mornings but today was immunisation day for my big brave 4yo boy, so we saved the gardening til this afternoon.

We moved some of our seedlings into the garden bed because they were ready. I had my camera on hand too to take lots of photos. Mr-O had his with him as well because let's just face it, Mum is awesome and everyone wants to be like her especially this boy.

We did some watering.

We even watered the fence. Very important for optimal fence growth.

We also checked on the growth of our seeds. Some more will be ready to go into the garden soon. We now have some beetroot, some beans and some peas all in the garden bed. We are waiting on our tomatoes and watermelon to be ready to go in too.

It is nice to see green things growing in our garden after a long period of nothing but weeds and dirt.

I also made the decision to attack this today. This is the pathway that leads from our laundry to our clothesline and I NEVER use it. The trees are overgrown, there are dead leaves and spiderwebs everywhere and I am terrified of getting eaten by a spider. I have been asking the MR for a while now to cut it back as he usually does it for me so I am not attacked by any Amy-eating spiders. I made the decision to do it myself today (OH yeah sisters!)

There was a lot of grunting to try to get through branches with my cutters and I had to brave the spiderwebs with my outdoor broom which is the longest cleaning instrument I could find. And then there was the sweeping... gee there was lots of old dead leaves on that ground!! But two bags of green waste later I had this..

No spiderwebs, only a few branches that I simply could not cut with my cutters and a beautiful clean path. I can use this pathway now! All I need for perfection is one of those laundry trolleys so I can get rid of the old kids table sitting at the clothes line for me to sit baskets on so I don't have to try to bend right down to the ground (quite difficult with metal rods in your back I have found).

What are you up to today?

Do you have gardening rituals like us?

Are there dark paths at your place that you simply don't use because of the spiders?

Head over here to see what Blogtoberfest is all about...

a special birthday

The first of Blogtober (October) marks Mr-O's birthday each year and today we are celebrating his fourth birthday.

the birthday boy

We celebrate today that he did this to my body.

37 weeks pregnant

The day we celebrate this moment that made it all worth while.

 when we first met

This morning we had special buckwheat pancakes with bananas, strawberries, yoghurt and honey as per Mr-O's order followed by the opening of presents.

And yesterday we had an awesome party with a few friends, dancing and cake was involved which made it all so much fun.

We are so blessed to have this little boy in our lives. He is intelligent, cheeky,  creative, strong willed, active and easy going. He just an amazing kid to be around as he takes everything in his stride and makes me laugh so much.

Happy birthday gorgeous boy.

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