Bragging Rights

This post is a little dated but since I have not blogged in such a long time I thought I would start here with my beautiful daughter.

Bronte had a fantastic year of singing in 2010. She finished the year with performances at

Sydney Opera House for Oprah's Finale
Christmas Carols for Lights of Sydney on the steps of St Mary's Cathedral

and finally Chirstmas Carols at QVB for their christmas shoppers.

Her singing strengthens every month and our house is being filled with her lovely voice practicing for upcoming events. We look forward to seeing what events are scheduled for 2011.

Lilly's Garden

My sewing machine has been out of action for the past year but it has fired up it's engines (a little rusty mind you) and has been going great guns for the last few months....with Christmas fast approaching I thought I would handcraft a few gifts to save a little money but give personalised gifts of better value than can be purchased.....

My favourite so far is this little quilt using the pillow tutorial from Don't look now! with a few altercations......firstly I have made it into a wall hanging, something to brighten up a little girls room and secondly I had to hand embroider the flowers as I was not too comfortable using the darning foot and on attempt was not at all happy with the result (Must go and do some lessons).... I also added two white butterflies to blend into the background and an extended birds tail just because......

I tried to bury all the embroidery ends but it became cumbersome so in the end I just cut the close to the end...I also tossed up whether to cover up the back but did not think it would do it justice......it is finished and labeled and I think i like the back better than the front.......

Christmas Carols!

Bronte is getting ready to sing at St Mary's Cathedral Sydney for the Lights of Christmas on Saturday 12th December and then again at The QVB on Christmas Eve day especially for shoppers, to spread the christmas cheer. She has already mastered Silent Night in German.
I hope you are enjoying the festive season and being good to each other.

Small Gifts

I made these cute hand stitched teeny tiny pocket pillows using this tutorial from goody goody handmade.
The boy was a gift for a little boy I babysat and the 3 girls were for Miranda to take to her 1st sleep over with her friends who were looking after her while we were at The Opera House for Bronte's annual Choir concert.

I really love how they turned out and was able to personalise them with thier favourite colours and names.

Singing

Bronte has had a great year with Choir and was fortunate to have gained a place (through audition) into Canto an entry specialist level within the choir.

This is Bronte outside the Sydney Opera H0use after her Annual Concert

Singing at Randwick Races Tatersalls Day

Singing at Star City Sydney NSW Export Awards in Qantas uniform

Bronte will continue to sing with Chior next year and moves up a level in regular rehearsals and will stay in Canto, with more public performances to come.

Costume Bags

With the girls annual dance concert coming up and 7 costumes to protect I thought it would be fun to make up some costume bags. I used Japara fabric which is 100% cotton and I have just found out is waxed and repels water (fantastic). I really love the texture of Japara which is often used in pillows and quilts to prevent goose/duck down from excaping the weave. I also made my own bias to add a bit of difference.
I used a shop bought plastic garment bag to make my own design and added a shorter zipper to create a large pocket in which they can chuck thier costumes into after each dance to ensure each piece comes home and does not get left behind.

A large outside pocket to hold shoes or other bits and pieces.

Silhouette

I was keen on getting some art/pictures for my bedroom wall and was browsing one of those vinyl wall sticker stands but just could not make up my mind on what to get - I was close to getting a silhouette of a lady whose hair turned to flowers but something was just not quite right about it, after a few days of thought the lightbulb flicked and I made this, Miranda in silhouette much better than some thing random. My bed spread is black and beige and this vinyl was so easy to work with -If my pinning was more precise. Now all I need to complete the task is make one up of daughter number 1 and have them hung.

Facebook v's Blogging

Ok so how can their possibly be a comparison?
There can not be, but somehow that is where I have found myself over the last 15 months.

So much has happened over the last 15 months, We have moved house, and after 12 months I was finally able to unpack all of my sewing boxes, the kids are both 15 months older, with my baby off to big school next year.

And my big girl doing well in dance and choir - I just love her lines in this photo.

We have lost 1 cat and gained 2 (Violet and Rose),

we were the caretakers of 2 mice for about 9 months and are now the owners of 2 chickens (Chickpea and Lindsay).I guess I stopped sewing, crafting and blogging so much as well, but whilst so much has happened, so much has stayed the same.

I am back into my sewing, crafting and hopefully blogging - I hope to see you again more regularly.

Some recent projects

Sarah

xx

It's been a while

Well I did not realise how many of you read my blog so it has been on the backburner while we have been house hunting and out and about. Sorry I will try to be more regular so my post are not so lengthy

House Hunting

We have had quite an exciting but tiring few months. We decided to get into the house hunting market but this time to buy our own place. Wow it is so much harder than renting, so much more on the line. First there is price and what and where we can afford to buy in Sydney, then there are the schools - we need to place high priority on both primary and high schools as by 2012 I will be commuting to both every morning and afternoon and the kids will be socialising in them and then the area, the size of the house and of course the bank evaluation. We have put in offers on 2 properties now 1 which we declined on because of area and then the second came well under valuation and proved too costly in repairs it ticked a number of boxes especially walking distance to both schools and I could have my own sewing room and Bruce could have a study but we were unsure of area and the bank valuation was high importance because we would not get a loan. So after this disaster we have reassessed our priorities and have decided to downsize for a number of years to get into an area we love, build up some equity and then upsize. it will mean the girls share a room, I do not get much sewing space and living areas are smaller but I think school choice is important. Our available market is much smaller but well patience is a virtue.

Out and about

We have been extremely busy and very lucky over this period with exciting outings in and around town. Here is the exciting list and some pics.

Baby Ballet at the Opera House with Miranda

Gruffalo Theatre Production at Riverside Theatre Parramatta with Bronte & Miranda

3 Birthday Parties (2, 4yrs old parties and 1, 3yr old party)

Two reversible aprons and a chef hat each were made for 2 gifts

Australian Girls Choir Concert at the Hills Centre where Bronte sang and we adored her singing.
A Cheerleading Trivia Concert where both girls danced up a storm

A school Dance performance where Bronte danced

A Dance scholarship where Bronte competed in Jazz, Tap and Ballet. I was so impressed by how much she has learnt this year. Bronte has been dancing for a few years now but when we moved we changed dance schools and her new dance school teaches from a syllabus so she is learning so much more.

Ice Skating 3 times

Hannah Montana movie

Luna Park

Ice Age 3 Movie at the drive-in's

and I have been lucky enough to get out twice without the kids and enjoy dinner and a movie (Bruno) with a friend and dinner and a movie (The Proposal) with Bruce

Swap Goodness

The Postie had been working hard over at Snailblazer's swap and I was lucky enough to receive my swap package with some really lovely loot all for me.

And it's not even my birthday.

In my Package I received
Some lovely bird cards from Jo
A cute Headband and fabric flower from Suzanne
A useful tissue holder from Natasha
A handy phone cosy from Bec
A zippered purse from Danielle
A funky yellow broach from Sophie
A make up purse from Kat
A Hanging Chain from Monica
A Birdy Hair Tie Travel Case with some lovely hair clips from Kylie
A knitted wash cloth from Leah

A really fun swap which I would be keen on doing again.

Thanks to Cass for organising such a fantastic swap. And I really love my poem envelope titled
Sarah's Poem
There was a mouse
Lived in my house
I said: 'For Heaven's sake!
Your squeaky talk
And tapping walk
Are keeping me awake.'

The mouse stopped dead
And turned it's head
It said: 'I beg your pardon!
I'd rather freeze
On a piece of cheese
Than move into your garden.........well it stops short I would love to have read more but it was rather cute.

Excuse me now I'm off to get another tissue from my tissue holder, if only i could roll up in bed and not get out.

Threads - Not from my sewing table!

"Mummy I have worms in my......" I am sure you can fill in the blank.
Since Easter we have had Croup, Ear infections, colds and then thread worms (and that is only one child) - what more I thought.
After treating the whole family and madly washing everything in the house - including all surfaces they came back 2 days later. How long has she had these things - no wonder every 5 minutes we heard "Mummy I'm hungry".
Well with strict handwashing and a retreatment I am hoping the only threads I find are the ones on my sewing table which do not move.

Book Review: Handle with Care - Jodi Picoult

Handle with Care Jodi Picoult's latest novel is about a family struggling to afford the cost of raising a child with brittle bone disease (OI) and the decision to file a lawsuit against their obstetrician (a close family friend) for wrongful birth. Picoult allows the reader to empathise with each character and as a parent can feel for all parties involved.

Handle with Care was an easy read filled with emotion, relationship struggles, questioning and ended with an unexpected turn left me feeling sort of incomplete and not ready to move onto another book just yet. However the unexpected ending was fresh and not predictable like so many others.

I have read all 16 of Picoult's novels and again enjoyed this book with similar style yet not repetitive. I especially loved the recipes added to the book a clever way of separating segments and inspiration to get ionto the kitchen.

Birthday Sewing

I have been busy sewing a birthday gift for my 2 year old niece Kayla- I decided to go with a cooking theme and make up a reversible apron and bandanna and led into a pot holder and mitten and to top it off a table setting for 4 - placemats, coasters and napkin sets. I am very please with the resultThe colours came together using the pink floral print (a fat quarter I had in my stash) I decided not to add a pocket to the floral side as it made it too busy. I quilted the blue spot to make the pot holder and mit. And needed to add some pink spot to make enough pink floral to make the bandanna. All the fabric came from my stash but I will definately be going out to replace my spots.

The table cloth has purple spots and will tie into a second apron and chefs hat for my other niece Sophie (Kayla's sister) who's favourite colour is of course purple and who's birthday is next month.

I hope they will both be cooking up a storm in thier new kitchen ware.

Sneak Peak

I have eagerly joined a Snailblazer Swap with the criteria of making 10 of something handmade. The dilemma was in what to make and then getting in and making them.

I decided to go with something that has been on my list of things to make for ME! Using some of my favorite fabrics stashed away for that perfect project.

Of Course I can not show you the finished project as that would ruin the surprise!

Packed and sent off I eagerly await my return parcel of 10 handmade items made by some extraordinary bloggers/crafters - see Snailblazers blog roll to see who is swapping.

Crazy Hair Day

Miranda Loved having Crazy Hair for Cheerleading.
I had done Bronte's the day before in 4 sections and as I was doing Miranda's in the before school rush decided dissected the 4 into 8. I was pretty happy with the result.

Happy Days Are.....

Holidays! Holidays Are Happy Days.

We are lucky enough to have a holiday house available to us on the lovely South Coast of NSW.

This holiday was cold, windy but filled with the natural wildlife.

The Girls new beanies I made the day before heading off -using Simplicity Pattern 3534 were well worn
We saw Dolphins Galore on our dolphin cruise on Jervis Bay

A baby Kookaburra visiting our back porch for breakfast

A Kangaroo family -mum, dad and joey in the front yard (and yes Kangaroos do jump down the street here)And many sea gulls all fighting for the next chip - I could have bought many bags of them just to watch Miranda's delight at feeding the sea gulls it was magical.

In Ulludulla Harbourand HusskissonGetting their feet wet in Ulludulla Harbour was as close as we came to swimming these holidays

Instead enjoying walks along the basin down the road from our house.

To end the holiday we stopped at Gerringong for an Ice Cream with T-Rex and a roll down the hill.
Free Plug - If you think our holiday looks fun why not take your family! The house is available to rent year round at an affordable rate, If you mention my blog you may get a discount?