Back to it

The craziness of children starting school and preschool is finally starting to settle here in our household, and so at last I have been able to get back into some screenprinting.

Whilst trying to work out how to get back into paid work (with all the challenges it brings for me and the family) I'm planning on bringing to life some of the many design and product ideas I have swimming around in my head and hopefully produce a few items to sell in my Madeit and Etsy shops and The Sweets Workshop.

So, in my 'days off' when all the kids are out of the house, I've been having sporadic frenzies of printing and sewing in between school runs, housework and errands, and finally have a few little wristlets and purses in my shops.


I had such lovely positive feedback about my 'lights' print late last year that I thought I'd start with a run of it. I love how the ink sits on the linen in this design, adding a translucency to the design. Matching fabrics, colours and details like little jute ribbon tabs is all so satisfying.


And of course I get to design and use some little labels too, which I aways enjoy. Give me a bit of string and some cardboard and I'm happy ;-)

Baby doll quilt set

Lately I haven't been feeling hugely creative as this 'settling in period' for our family seems to drag on: one kid starting preschool - many tears involved, one starting school - many tantrums involved, and one continuing at school - needing lots of motivation. So with the tiredness, tears and tantrums (sometimes theirs, occasionally mine too), by the time they are actually in bed at night and all the housework is done, I just haven't got enough mentally or physically to start a new project. Even if I really wanted to earlier in the day.

But, I had promised our lovely preschool director late last year that I would make some bedding for the baby dolls in their home corner. And considering that she has been dealing with my crying/screaming son a couple of times a week, sometimes peeling him off me and comforting him til he stopped crying, once even negotiating with him to get out of the car and come inside while I stood on the footpath despairing of what to do next, I decided it would be a nice time to honour my promise and get on with it!

I decided on making a pillow with pillowcase, sheet and quilt set.

They have 4 cute little baby baskets in the home corner so I made one for each in different fabric scraps from my stash (feeling better about the stash when I can use it for useful things like this :-)

Choosing the fabrics was so much fun.

And I should note that I use the term 'quilting' very loosely - I just used some batting between layers and stitched it to the base layer.

And then sewed and hand stitched coordinating bias binding on.

My girls chose this last fabric combo when I'd run out of inspiration and I really like it - always great to get the kids perspective :-)

Joining in with my creative space over here again and wishing you a minimum of tears and tantrums at your house this week!

 

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School holiday highlights

School holidays are kind of irrelevant in that period of your life after after you leave school yourself and before you have school-aged children (should that be the road you go down), don't you think? For me these days they are pretty important. They punctuate the year and give our family life structure, but they're also a time to reconnect with each other and enjoy letting the routine relax.

Some of the highlights for me this holidays have been:

Enjoying some cooking (the strawberries this spring - amazing) - - - a bit of sewing and having time to flick through a favourite magazine - - - catching up with several lovely friends and their families, including a super-crafty one - just look at those amazing crocheted cats! They're cuddling :-) And there are more too, a whole family!


And also, having the Mr home for a week and going away for a few days to a lovely cottage in the bush... watching the kids enjoy nature...


enjoying little still lifes at every turn, both in our little cottage...


and outside...


and adoring all the native flowers, collecting little posies on our walks, destined for our dinner table. And finding creative inspiration everwhere...

- - - -

As it's KCWC this coming week I'm hoping to stop in here most days this week to keep me inspired to keep sewing... see you soon.

Easter long weekend

Hi, how was your Easter weekend? Ours was spent having a bit of a break from technology (for me at least) and enjoying some family time (when we weren't having tantrums that is - hey, that's a 3 year-old's job, isn't it?!).

We did some of our favourite things:
Went for walks...


built sand castles...


spent ages throwing pebbles into the water...


looked for crabs and other creatures...


and made and ate hot cross buns... (I used the trusty no-knead method and added sugar, spices, sultanas and some choc chips - thank goodness for something edible after my recent pumpkin failure ;-)


Not to mention celebrating my mum's birthday (Happy Birthday mum!), hunting for Easter eggs then negotiating the eating (or not) of those eggs, lazing around in the new pyjamas and plenty of wrestling with uncles and cousins - the kids that is, not me ;-)

I hope you had time to relax and recharge the batteries! What did you get up to?

A little bit of kindness

I finished making this little baby set recently for my friend Alison who has bought quite a few of these now as presents for newborns, this one for a girl, and blue sets for boys.



Alison has always been so supportive of me and my hobby/little business. Words of kindness and encouragement can turn your day around, don't you think?



I had a conversation with a dad friend today (quick conversation, that is, with 2 year olds around!) about having a positive attitude, viewing the glass as half full etc. He and his wife were actively trying to be calmer and nicer, aiming to do 5 things a day that they thought might please each other.

It made me think about how a little bit of kindness can go so far, whether it's towards a stranger, a friend or our children. Occasionally when I see a potentially difficult late afternoon with my children coming up I stop and promise myself that I will try my best to be patient and not yell, to think about the fact that they are tired and hungry and just not able to cope so well at the moment. I try to be kind. Sometimes I fail miserably, as I guess most parents do, but I'm going to try a bit more.