Tornados and prayers

Australian eastern standard time right now is 2am, I am snuggled up nice and warm in bed, as are all the kiddies, hubby is on 'storm watch' as we are in the warning area for tornados (yeh tornados!?) we have had continual rain all week and everywhere is flooding, some are in state of emergency and many are getting evacuated, I'm so thankful to be right where I am, our city may get localized flooding and we may get cut off from suppliers like the last big floods but our home is high and in the best place to wait this out. It's times like this that make me thankful beyond the normal, thankful we have Facebook to keep in contact phones to send messages even just to the neighbours! Thankful to the emergency services especially! Australia Day was today (yesterday more specifically since its a.m)  and Australia doesn't get tornados, this is the one consistent thing I've heard most today. Although 5 have been confirmed and 2 unconfirmed. 17 injured 2 critical and so much damage to property. We are a tough bunch and we always get back up and carry on, we give a hand up over a hand out and aren't afraid to get our hands dirty or to accept help! I pray God has his hand and blessings upon  the injured, the emergency service personnel, those evacuated and those bracing for the big stuff. Amen. Night all, I'm off to try to sleep, rain isn't peaceful when it's the sound of possible  impending destruction :/

boys' week @ project run and play casual lunch date

This cutie - Master Juju is 15 months old!!
So, my plan was to photograph the new boys outfit while away on holidays, and it didn't happen, I forgot my camera! when we got home from our weekend away it rained, and hasn't stopped since! Queensland has flooding here and there, nothing major where we are as yet thankfully. This outfit was actually made for a lunch, My bff had her birthday lunch at a restaurant and I thought we had better step it up and add some class, but not over the top uncomfortable, we all know children aren't as well behaved when they are uncomfortable. My theory is, that whilst my boys are only little I can dress them in things they wont love when they are at school, with a reputation of style to uphold haha. I'm sure once they old enough to choose their own clothes they will be in board short and singlets or jeans and tees like their daddy or covered in the latest superhero or cartoon characters. the shorts were made from a self drafted pattern, my first try at flat front pants rather then full elastic waist and I was surprised at how easy that was (why didn't I do this before?). The "suspenders" are actually made as only half suspenders, rather than going over the shoulders and hooking onto both front and back pants, they are stitched at the shoulder seem, under the collar to be hidden. I did this partially because I didn't have enough fabric and partially because its probably not comfortable having suspenders pulling your pants up over a nappy bum. The left over fabric I used to make a bow tie, had just the right amount, but had to use another fabric to thread through the bow, to attach I used Velcro closures, I have made them with elastic before but my boys loved pulling at them so I'd rather make it easy to come off then for them to choke each other with them. The shirt isn't my creation, I just loved it and had to customise it!  The outfit went down a treat, comfortable and with lots of compliments! (and dont worry Roo had an awesome ensemble too and hopefully I can link it up in the next section *hint hint*) Sorry for the iphone pictures :/ And the "oops sorry mum I spilled my water on my leg" mark!

hmmm... I wonder!?I

hauck alpha high chair cover

I know its not exactly a tute, but shh. (and there is a link to a "how to") When I entered the world of blogging I was searching for this! A pattern or a tutorial to make a cover or seat padding for my highchairs. You know that inevitable and cute moment your baby falls asleep in the highchair and you just absolutely have to take photos before carefully trying to take them out to out them somewhere more comfortable and safe, without waking them? This was it, I ran (tippy toed quietly) to get my camera! Haha, unsure why I tried to be quiet, I had been using the blender to make baby food while he was happily watching... Until he crashed out. So really if he could fall asleep while I used the noisiest machine in the house, then he couldn't possibly wake to anything! So anyway after taking a couple of happy snaps....
(insert cute pic of sleeping baby in highchair) 

.... and taking him to his cot to further rest up I got back to tossing fruits and veges in the blender and got to thinking... How uncomfortable that chair must be, we got it for function, easily cleaned, grows with them etc, not for looks or really even for comfort, but why not? Especially when the boys seemed to like being in them to watch us on our level, even when not being fed! So with that I finished up preparing food and packing the freezer and got online searching, a couple days on and off searching turned up nothing appropriate to suit our highchair, there was originally a company that did make them to fit but I couldn't find them anywhere anymore so I had to try something myself. That's motivating enough. But what I did find was this with a basic run down about making your own high chair pattern SO I got out a roll of wrapping paper and cut it roughly to size of the chair back and seat, placed it in the seat and marked where the edges were and also where the centre belt was, I folded it in half to make sure it was symetrical and cut it out to fit the marks and tried it again to be sure! Success! I grabbed my wrapping paper pattern and went to work! I used polyester wadding and fabric on either side, I ran a couple of lines diagonally through to quilt the layers together, made my first button holes in each for the seatbelts and then added bias trim, it was my first attempt at using bias and I had no idea what to do with it haha. Wearing my Learners license I just folded it over both edges and ran the sewing machine around it, wow how silly was I! It worked but I felt very silly when I found Dana from danamadeit; she shows the RIGHT way to do it! (she is wonderful isn't she, makes everything so easy to understand) I machine sewed (is that right?) lengths of bias to use as ties on both front and back, long enough to tie around seat and around the back. I used just cotton so I could machine wash, I had put laminate aside to make another set with but decided against it, machine washable was better for us as you can probably imagine.

 

 The first one I made was the 2 pieces and the second was one piece, I think the second worked better. If I did it again I would use sew on Velcro for top and bottom and stick on Velcro in the same size  for the chair to anchor it better, with the ties it did move a bit when putting them in and out. We stopped using our covers only a couple months ago because we started having to fuss with seatbelt a instead, thanks to Mr Roo becoming a climber!
Now just to update you on my research, I did find that target sells the seat padding (in america) and also a few other companies that have websites in different languages. So if you are in one of places that do have them -good for you! if not, good luck. the above link to the how to is shown on a different highchair but the concept is the same, if you have trouble getting the right pattern pieces to fit let me know and I (may) be able to try scanning mine.

Cake, snake and family

My princess turned 4 last week, she is SO BIG now, just ask her and she will happily oblige, and chatterbox on about how {big} she is! 

 Her party requests- The wildlife park? check! Hootabell cake? Check! Besties? check! glad I could making her requests happen, and make it a wonderful day, even if we were all melting in the horrible hot humidity without any breeze! (can you tell by the rosy red cheeks) oh you want me to stop ranting so you can see the cake? To be honest this is actually my second one, the first (my practise) was a tiny bit smaller and we had that with just immediate family on her actual birthday. This one I made the night before the party and paid attention to detail just a little more. -this one has "stitching, patches and eyelashes whereas the first didn't.
don't judge me too harshly, I'm not a cake maker!

Basically it's/she's a HUGE cake pop, I had to do a practise, BECAUSE I am not a chef and I had no idea if my strangest idea would work,  I'm so happy and thankful that it did. If you want to know more (Let me know) I will share it in another post.

WARNING -NOW IF YOU ARE SCARED OF SNAKES DON'T SCROLL DOWN!-

The beautiful Cathy paid for snake holds at the wildlife park, most of the kids loved it. A friends cute little toddler spotted the snake, came to an abrupt halt, called out "Not me! I dun-wanna hold a snake" and ran off. And no it wasn't fear, he is just cheeky. My mum on the other hand, doesn't like snakes and chose to stand back.

Can you see the intimidated face here? I felt a little the same even from the other side of the lens  this little slithery was into exploring. she slithered down the top of miss' dress (one of her birthday presents that this mummy made) under her straps, then continued up over her shoulder. But Tehy loved it, I promise! She has a great love for creatures great and small, often it makes me sad that I cant give her a pet, especially when I find her crying, covered in ant bites, because her friends didn't like her building them a new home. :'( Oh well a mother guilt doesn't cease I guess and one day we will get Tehy a pet puppy.








Enough with that, back to this.... Tehy still has another year at home before school next year, I'm hoping I can give her some concept of time before then as that is one area we need work, everything and I mean EVERYTHING happened last night or last night at daytime and the future no mater how distant is tomorrow and the next day. Makes it very hard to explain when things did or will happen, so yesterday in the car we had to plan her 16th birthday, HOT AIR BALLOON! I don't doubt she will remember that conversation in 12 years, this kid has a great memory! ( maybe because everything happened only last night)

I'll leave you with the happier pic with the slithery snake, see, she did in fact love it! Happy birthday princess!

Saturday Share

Ok attempt 2 at posting, Gr at blogging bugs! Ok I'll make it quick, seeing as Ive spent the last half hour typing up a big post only for it to have all disappeared, leaving me a nice little pop up with an error code, oh joy!
I'm sharing my 1st queen size quilt, only my third ever, my first was a simple panel and backing bassinet size, my second was a pieced top and back and still only a small size so this is huge! unsure how my little low range brother machine did it, but i gave it a work out and its survived! this project was a special one, my sisters my daughter and i planned this one together, in secret, we all picked our favourite blue and white fabrics, and split the costs. i spent a couple of nights up later picture messaging my sister (who lives 6 hours away) about piece placement for the top, eventually we settled on the right way and she told me to go to bed ha ha. another few late nights later and another of my younger sisters came to keep me company while i basted the quilt, she spent a lot of time stuck in her phone of course but she was company :) my daughters didn't know what the project actually was, up until they helped me wrap it, and i bargained away any hint giving or telling Mumma about it or they would lose Christmas, it worked, mum was not onto us! my youngest sister didn't even see it until Christmas day when mum unwrapped it! so here it is

You will notice it is on the bed sideways, it is summer and so it is all but a decoration for this season but I'm sure it was be so cosy when the weather dictates the need to actually use it.

My son Roo, just had to have a sticky beak.

Ok so the quilt is 8" squares, 8 squares across and 10 high, the batting is beautiful bamboo cotton blend more bamboo than cotton. the back not pictured, is a light blue jacquard cotton thick weave, the binding is straight cut pieced single fold, the top is pieced from lincraft fabrics, a few kaufman, and a couple of fillers from my stash, and even a lovely Japanese print we were given by an exchange student a few years ago. the throw cushions are the same, matching fabrics, the pinwheely type, ( you can find the tutorial I adapted from Here at moda bake shop) is 16 pieces, a yo yo and a button in the centre, I didn't add piping to mine, simply because it isn't a large cushion and had enough going on already. I love it! the other is a cover, (zippered!) size 16 insert. i love the lace detail.

So what do you think?
My next quilt is in progress now, its a single size, has to be done by Friday (apparently I'm a sucker for deadlines pushing me)  for the birthday girl! my little girl will be 4!

Fav. Find Friday

My first Fav find Friday

A few things I found just today I just have to share!

1.   

        micador collected & co

   1. Micador Collected &co. I love this collection! Note book, it’s just too cute! Recycled from milk cartons in natural. 5 tabs, 6 sections, perfect for my list writing!

2.     

              crayola creations catwalk  

    2.  Crayola Creations, found this today while browsing school stationary, unsure why it was in that place but I just had to pick it up! There are 2 crazy Barbie doll girls in my house, and with a mummy that sews this was too cute to pass up, might just be me attempting to push some creativity in sewing and clothes design onto my children a bit but hey I have to give them the options, and what better way than this! Especially since the Barbies dolls seem to lose clothes pretty quick around here. 

planned, organised... listed!

Today I found the cutest organisers, one is already getting filled with lots of planning, organising, doodling, ideas etc. The other, a yearly calendar planner, a week per page A4, good size to fit in everything I need.

All this to say, I have planned my blog posts, so eventually when I have followers they will know what’s going on and when.

About ME Mondays I will share bits and pieces about myself and my family, a get to know type of thing.

Tutorial Tuesday, to share with you what I’m doing (or have done), and how.

- Fav Finds Friday; I will be sharing something new I’ve found, a new blog, new tool, toy, project idea, etcetera  (not sponsored)

-Alternated with photo Friday; I am going to push myself to take more photos, in effort to further my limited skill set and hopefully get some nice ones to inspire.

Saturday sharing; a project I have completed or am amidst of; without a tutorial, unless it’s linked back to another blog or website.