Possum's Journey

Crafting for the Baby

2009-03-10T22:32:00.003+11:00

A few things I've been sewing and knitting up for my Bellyfruit.

A mei tai made with this pattern and some delicious Japanese mushroom fabric. It also has a hood/headrest which I'm going to adapt to be removable via snaps, but I'm not putting that on just yet.

This was made for the baby to be carried in, but I asked DH and Elliot to test it for me and they're hooked!

I knitted a little outfit for the Bellyfruit too.

The top is adapted from a cardigan pattern, and the longies are Sheepy Pants. The wool is NZ Treliske Organic Merino 8ply. I dyed some up under the tuition of a friend, and used some undyed wool for contrast.

Creative Holidays

2009-02-03T16:10:00.002+11:00

Turns out that the only 'net access in Fiji would have required Em to hitch a lift in a boat out in the middle of nowhere, so I was safe. She wasn't *that* desperate for her emails.

Here are a few quick pics of things I’ve been up to over the holidays. Except for moving house. I don’t have pics of that, but it certainly took up most of my time and energy.

I knit these Shannon's longies up (blogged a few posts below this one) still had wool left over so I made the hat to go with them. I made up the pattern inspired by a few I've seen, and I added an i-cord knot at the top. Now I still have 25 grams of this wool left so I’m wondering if I have enough for some little baby mittens.

A perfect set for the Bellyfruit for winter.

Amongst my New Year spending (post Consumtion Challenge I did have a few things I had been hanging out for) was a *snap press*. And my first snapping project was this tiny little nappy for the Bellyfruit. If you’ve read this blog before you’ll recognise the outer fabric. I’m still not finished with the first bedsheet after all these floral projects. The inner is apple green cotton velour and there is a hidden layer of bamboo fleece. I will be making a bamboo and velour booster to snap in, too.

Don’t you love the sheepish model?

I also removed the velcro and added snaps to my first self-designed nappy which I had made for Elliot almost one year ago.

I like this nappy even more now, and it still fits Elliot perfectly.

One last creative thing to show off today.

I have gone in on a swap on Rav where you’re assigned 4 swap partners whom you send a small parcel to on their birthday, and you receive 4 gifts on your birthday. I am enjoying thinking of things to send my swappers, and I’m looking forward to receiving crafty type gifts (for a change). My first swapper’s birthday was last week, and part of my parcel was these ridiculously extravagent Swarovski crystal stitch markers.

Mmmm, yum! Fortunately I bought enough beads to make myself a set. They caught the light so beautifully. I am sure they will be well loved and used in their new home.

We are happily settled into our new home now, in regional Victoria, and really enjoying the change of pace.

Reusable Coffee Bags for One

2009-01-01T16:03:00.003+11:00

I'm going to take a risk and assume that Em is off partying in Fiji with no internet access. Hopefully, if she does have net access there, she will have better things to do than to check this blog.

Before she left to go galavanting across the Pacific Islands yet again, she asked me to make these for her.

They are coffee bags. You put your scoop of coffee (real stuff, ground beans) in them and use them like a tea bag. The coffee steeps, or brews, or whatever you call it, and then you pull out the bag, give it a rinse, and drink your coffee.

Em saw this idea overseas in her vast travels, and decided this would be a great solution for all those times when she is stuck with little more for company than a good book and a breathtaking view of the beach and the ocean in some tropical paradise.

If you'd like to try this idea yourself, I used 6.5" squares of a muslin/cheesecloth type fabric (supplied by Em, so I'm not sure what it is).
- I overlocked the edges all around.
- Then I sewed down a small hem on one edge to encase the cord later.
- Then I folded the square in half and sewed from the stitch line I just made down and across the bottom edge.
* The pic below explains the sewing. The green line is the hem for the cord (obviously done while the square is opened out), and the red line is to sew the square into a rectangular bag.
- I then threaded a length of cotton string through the hem at the top, and delivered them to Em's house for her to discover when she arrives home this coming week.

I left the bags with the seams facing out so that the little bits of coffee won't get stuck everywhere. Hopefully they will be easier to rinse this way, but they can just as easily be turned inside out if desired.

I plan to try this for myself if I find some brilliant herbal tea in leaf form.

Happy New Year!

2008-12-31T23:08:00.001+11:00

Happy New Year to all the Consumption Challengers!
1 hour to go (well, in EST anyway).
I can't wait to hear about all the things that you have all learnt this year and what your plans are for next year. I'm looking forward to writing my own synopsis of the year.
Enjoy the dawning of a new chapter!

Admitting defeat (and some fun, creative pics)

2008-12-29T07:52:00.004+11:00

First up, I need to update this blog to explain that my Consumption Challenge has ended one month early.

DH lost his job in early November and two weeks later started work 140kms away. He has only been able to come home on weekends (and now for unpaid Christmas leave).

It has been a real strain on us all - physically, emotionally, and financially. You would think that the Challenge would be a help at this time, but I simply don't have the thought processes left to make alternatives happen.

My house is a disaster, packing boxes everywhere. My mind has been a disaster with stress over how Elliot is coping without his 'Da' around on weeknights, and about when we will be able to move (we are waiting for the tenant to move out of my PIL's old house so we can move in). And I would dearly love to know which house I will be birthing this baby in so that I can consider some local independent midwives. That's another thing to stress about. Things like going to the op shop have been impossible. I just can't manage DS in a shop of any kind right now, especially not an op shop. I get exhausted just thinking about it. I usually do that stuff with DH.

Life has taken over and my priorities have been redirected into survival mode.

I'm not going out and just shopping to my heart's content, but I can't honestly say that I have been sticking to my Challenge since the start of December. It's just been too hard to think outside the crowded little square my mind is in.

Reality bites.

I feel really pleased with what I have achieved. I am looking forward to some blogging about all the things I have learnt this year, but that will have to wait until I am settled into a new house without all this tension.

Thank you to everyone who has been such a support to me during this Challenge. It has been awesome and I can't wait to celebrate all that has happened over the past 11 months, but that will wait until next year.

My latest creations:
In other news, I made a summer outfit for Elliot from scratch. DH seems to really understand how hard the past 6 weeks of solo-parenting have been on me, and has given me tons of space and time to be creative while he spends some much-needed one-on-one time with Elliot.

The t-shirt was made using fabric kindly given to me by a fellow Raveller, the pants are made of fabric which has been wasting space in my fabric stash. The mushroom print was a little treat I bought the other day in a rare outing by myself.

This outfit cost me under $1 (probably about 25c) to make.

I think the next t-shirt (yes, it was so easy and fun I'll be making more) will have ribbing for the arms and waist too, to create a real retro 1970s vibe.

I learnt heaps while making this, such as the importance of using stabiliser when appliquing onto knit fabric, and the joy of basting (har har) for the t-shirt hems.

One of the comments I received yesterday on this was "Very Nintendo!". Ha ha ha!

To market, to market...

2008-12-23T22:22:00.003+11:00

I saved these links for fabric shopping bags some time ago. Now seemed the right time to have a shot at making them.

First up I made some bags from some fabric you may remember from earlier projects.

For these I used this tutorial, and they are made with just one layer of fabric. They were made using the overlocker almost exclusively (except for the final seam on the french seamed bottom).

Then I made these two bags as Christmas presents. The darker one is for my mother, the lighter one for my KK for Andrew's family Christmas.

These are made using two layer of fabric, and the birdie applique (inspired by this) is made from the same fabric as the lining fabric. I used this tutorial for these.

I would really like to have a go at this bag soon.

The wrong season for knitting?

2008-12-15T13:51:00.003+11:00

I am told it is the wrong time of year to be knitting. Pah!

Here are some recent FOs. I seem to go in cycles from knitting to sewing and back again. Seeing that the house is a disaster zone (packing boxes everywhere) it seemed logical to turn to knitting.

This beautiful ball of Susanne's House of Wool 10ply yarn arrived from Shannon. A totally unexpected gift from my Queensland friend. She saw that back in October I had blogged about my wish list for knitting projects, amongst them her Shannon's Longies pattern. What could I do, but try to do justice to her generous gift?

I love the way the colours pool. I am working on an embellishment for these. I can't wait to see the Bellyfruit wearing them. Mmmmm, yum!

This dishcloth was knit from bamboo/cotton in the Grandmother's Favourite pattern.

I knit these Picky Pants longies quite a while ago from Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply, but the Curly Purly waistband wasn't holding, so I cut and frogged the waistband and redid it with this ribbed drawstring waistband. Now that Elliot can wear them again I have discovered that the pants are one or two inches too short now. D'oh! The rise is still fine so I'll be extending the legs next. Shouldn't take long.

I bought 200g of this Yarn Cafe Australian Polworth Merino 8ply wool in the Earth Mother colourway from the Destash on Rav. These Fetching fingerless gloves only used about 1/4 of the wool, so I'm probably going to make longies and other lovely bits and bobs from this scrumptiously soft yarn. These gloves are heading o/s this week to a soon-to-be snow-covered city.

This Mini Wonder Soaker was made from some Monster Knits 8ply BFL, in Flame, also bought on Destash.

This 12ply Paton's Overlander yarn was sent to me from a very generous blogger, the owner of Possum Pouches. With it I made a Spare Ribs Shoaker for Elliot. I just love this pattern. It fits Elliot so well without any short rows - it just snugs right over any nappy. Hurrah!

To see all this and more come and join me over on Ravelry!

Shrinky Dinky Knitting Fun

2008-11-19T14:10:00.003+11:00

I created these little tags for my knitting needle roll using Shrinky Dink plastic.

I made them 1.5cm square, used a normal hole punch for the hole, and a blue permanent marker for the writing.

After cooking they were just 5mm square, and most of them were a little skewed (not completely square) but I don't mind. They look just perfect to me.

I spent a little while sewing them on to the knitting roll so that I can tell at a glance which sized needle I'm after. It was pretty confusing before, and I didn't want to write on the fabric in case I want to rearrange the needles later. This way I can just snip them off and re-sew when the rearranging bug hits.

Hmmm, not the clearest pics. I'l see if I can get some better ones.

A ton of things ...

2008-11-11T14:25:00.002+11:00

... in more ways than one.

We're getting rid of 50% of our 'stuff'. I know, it sounds impossible, but that is our goal. And to help us with this goal we are moving 140kms away. The less we pack, the less we have to move. So there is some real motivation behind this. Every box I sort, ever shelf I pack, I have the constant thought of trying to rid myself of 50% of it. I am being ruthless, and it is very cleansing in so many ways.

Ok, so we're not moving just so we can get rid of a whole lot of stuff. We've been wanting to go home to country Victoria for seven years now. We're not really 'big smoke' sort of people. To aid our move, DH was laid off (yes, another result of the financial issues facing the world today) but he was able to find a new job in his home town within 4 days. He started today, leaving us (Elliot and I) with the task of packing in order to move sometime before New Year.

In other fun news I found this while op shopping:
- a packet of square self-covering buttons!

I had never seen square ones before so I nabbed them.

And I unearthed yet another suitcase of fabric in the bungalow, containing this fabric:
- a genuine 1970s print.

I barely kept anything from this case, in keeping with my aim of moving only 50% of our possessions to the new house, but how could I resist this?

Any ideas on what to make from it? I am thinking of a little zippered purse, but I am open to suggestions. There's a reasonable amount there.

And in other news just to hand: *drum roll please* . . . the cheque for our travel insurance is being typed up as we speak! It will completely wipe out the personal loan we took out to go on this trip which didn't happen, and maybe even leave us with enough money to go out for a coffee to celebrate.

Sewing FOs - now with action shots!

2008-10-25T20:05:00.004+11:00

I have so many things on my 'to do' list, and so many half finished projects or things needing repairs, that sometimes I despair of ever getting anything done. It can be overwhelming at times.

So, in the spirit of reminding myself that I can complete projects and do indeed enjoy doing so, despite the numerous setbacks caused by being the mother of a toddler, here are some recently finished projects:

First, some new pants for Elliot. He has been growing like a bean sprout, with his pants' hems halfway up his calves. It was time to pull out my own pattern design.

I had been planning these pants ever since I found the fabric in an op shop in Briar Hill. Fortunately he is the exact right size for the pattern repeat or else we would have ended up with more sea around his waist. This fabric used to be someone's homemade curtains.

I used adjustable elastic for the back with a flat front. I used bias tape for the inside of the waist casing, so I could hide the buttons and tuck the ends of the adjustable elastic in.

And finally, it was my duty and pleasure to give a gift to little 2 year old Cameron on behalf of our mothers' group. Part of his present was this book/toy bag.

In this pic it doesn't have the drawstring yet, but you can see the buttonholes I put in the top casing. I used this construction themed flannelette (from a swap) because Cam is quite keen on diggers. The main body is made from some poly-cotton from Shan. It's lovely and soft.

Edtted to add these action shots of Elliot's new pants, affectionately known as his "Beach Pants" because Auntie Em pointed out the beach on them.

Creative Experiences: Microwave Playdough Recipe/Tute

2008-10-13T08:07:00.005+11:00

I love playdough.

I loved the "Creative Experiences" part of my Child Care course back in '97. I have a huge folder of recipes and ideas for creative things to do with children, and I pull ideas out of it all the time for Elliot. I figured I should share them with others since they are activities which meet the Consumption Challenge criteria while giving our little ones fun things they can do at home.

Playdough is horrid to make on the stovetop, and it's horrid if you make the uncooked version. Making playdough with your microwave will have you wanting to make some every week.

1) Mix these ingredients in a microwave safe dish:
1.5 cups of plain flour.
1/4 cup of salt.
1.5 tablesppons oil.
3 teaspoons cream of tartar.
1.5 cups water.
Food colouring - it's a guessing game, just have fun.

Then it will feel like a sticky goop and look like this:

2) Cover and microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir.
It will be inconsistent in texture (some cooked, some uncooked, some dark, some light) and look like this:

3) Cover and microwave for a further 2 minutes.
Now it is evenly cooked throughout, and looks like this:

4) Take it out of the container and as soon as it is not so hot that you are running around the house screaming "Hot! Hot! Burnies!" then you should have some fun playing with it to smooth it out so it looks like this:

See, that was easy!

Of course, if your child is helping you with this recipe, perhaps you will want to let it cool just a little more.

I made a double quantity of this playdough for Elliot's 2nd birthday party. The boys all had fun playing with it, and when home time came I send each child home with a play-sized ball of fun which have kept these children amused for hours ever since.

(Elliot's in the orange top in the middle).

Fabric, fabric, and more fabric!!!

2008-10-09T09:24:00.003+11:00

I have been the very happy recipient of a number of fabric giftings...

My SIL, Em, gave me this parcel for my 30th birthday.

Wrapped up in this handmade furoshiki wrap was a stash of silk fabric - recycled kimono and obi pieces. Yum!

(See this site for ideas on how to use a furoshiki).

Another gift of fabric was two tubs of knit fabric given to my mum to pass on. Unfortunately most of the fabric was quite gaudy (think fluro 1980s) so I only kept a small amount. The top 7 pieces (plain blues and greens) are ribbing. Very useful.

And after I helped Shan move house I also helped her sort through part of her enormous fabric stash. I was then able to choose what I wanted from her "out" pile. She was ruthless in ridding herself of fabric she will not use, so I had a lot of fabric to choose from.

Inspired by Shan, I sorted through one of my suitcases, throwing a few things to my own "out" pile, and arranging the fabric by colour to help me to choose the right piece more easily. This is my collection of fabrics which are for small projects and embellishing other projects.

First gift for the baby!

2008-10-09T08:15:00.004+11:00

What is it about gifts which make a pregnancy seem more real? Is it the outside acknowledgement of the knowledge you have been treasuring up inside? Or is it just so much fun to picture a new little bundle of moosh inside the new items? A bit of both, perhaps.

A friend reacted to my news by asking for my postal address so she could send me a gift for the baby. She gave me the first baby gift for Elliot when I was pregnant last time, so I wasn't surprised she was getting in early. But no. She has been beaten to the post.

My upcycle swap arrived, and it was for my "baby Possum" as she called him/her.

An outfit for the baby in size 000. She tie-dyed it herself, which made it surprisingly easy to guess the culprit. There are two sisters who dabble in dyeing wool and fabric, so I knew it was one of them. I was right.

The colours are so vibrant and cheerful. I can't wait to try this on the baby.
Many thanks again to my lovely swapper! Mwah!

A NEW "MINI"-CHALLENGE!

2008-10-06T21:52:00.003+11:00

I am excited to announce that I have a new "mini"-challenge to work on.
It's the most exciting one yet!
It will not be a one month challenge, but will take me well beyond the scope of my Consumption Challenge and into Autumn 2009.

A quick overview of some of the things I hope to achieve in this "mini"-challenge:

knit:
- Spare Ribs Shoaker in 8ply (ie nb/small size).
- Hybrid Rib Soaker in small size.
- Picky Pants Longies in small size.
- Itchy Fingers Longies in small size.
- Shannon's Longies in small size.
- Everlasting Wonder Soaker. (Will wait until 2009 because I have to buy this one).
- and any other fun projects I come across such as the February Baby Sweater.

sew:
- at least one dozen nappies in nb/small size (my own pattern).
- at least one dozen small prefolds from cotton, hemp and bamboo stash (great tute here).
- a stash of post-partum pads from cotton, hemp and bamboo scraps. Haven't decided on a pattern yet.
- a few cute jumpsuits, overalls, pants, dresses.
- embellish/applique a few of Elliot's old 000 sized clothes.

other things on my to-do list:
- sleep.
- stalk destash thread on Ravelry to make above knitting list possible.
- stalk trading room on NC for Itti Bitti fitteds and any other yummy nb nappy goodness I like.
- sleep some more and eat lots of yummy food.

Dress is revealed!

2008-09-30T08:45:00.004+10:00

FAK - this is slow!

The sneak peek I showed of my swap worked far too well. My swapee didn't hesitate to name me as the culprit. So I figure it's time I showed the finished piece...

This 9-12 month shift/pinny is made from some navy drill which has been sitting in my fabric stash for longer than I can remember. The lining is from an op-shopped doona cover you may remember from the apron I made for Dinnae.

I was so taken with the process of hand-sewing self-bias-tape on the hussif that I jumped at the chance to do it here.

The buttons are vintage blue buttons from the stash Lorna gave me, and the dress is finished with pink topstitching.

I'm very pleased and the recipient's mother seems equally pleased.

I cut out the dress from another fabric first, before remembering that my swapee's favourite colour is rainbow. So I decided to make it anyway.

You may remember the lining from an apron I made for Lorna's DD1.

It is not finished because I have not yet found the perfect buttons or top-stitching thread. No hurry, it hasn't got anyone to wear it yet.

These dresses were made with my own pattern, based on two other patterns which were not quite what I had in mind.

Refashioned thermals

2008-09-26T22:56:00.004+10:00

A project from a month ago.

Elliot, DH and I took three 14 year old Scouts on a 30km hike in the Cathedrals recently. This meant being able to carry all we needed for 2 nights of camping and hiking. Elliot and I took the Croozer instead of me carrying him and my hike pack. Our Group Leader thought we were nuts to take a 2 year old hiking, but he's gone everywhere else with us, so why not? We weren't being reckless, we had thought through all the possibilities: scorpions (saw one there once, but no, they're not lethal in Australia), bushfire (our last hike in the same place was evacuated due to bushfire), and all the usual stuff like broken limbs and running out of water.

It was so cold at that time (late August) that we assumed it may snow where we were to be hiking. This was something we had not deal with before, and I was worried about the risks of hypothermia for Elliot. So I grabbed an old pair of my polypropolene thermal pants and turned them into this thermal top for Elliot.

This was made exclusively on my new overlocker and I made it with the seams outwards so it wouldn't be scratchy on Elliot's lovely skin. Don't you love the pink thread?

I figured that if I put him in deliciously warm woolley longies over his cloth nappies he wouldn't need thermal pants. We also packed woollen beanies made by our lovely neighbour, fleecey mittens from SIL in Canada, and lots of warm socks.

I'm so glad we did all this because the first night was horridly cold, so I didn't get much sleep, and the first morning was so bitterly cold that none of us could feel our fingers at all and I was blowing warm air on Elliot's hands in desperation to heat them up a little. Once the sun came up we were fine and the next night was much warmer.

This top is nice and big so it will fit him for next year's adventures with the Scouts, but I'm not sure I'll be doing a 30km hike again. It was just too much for my old body. (I'm 30 now, so I can call myself 'old').

If you want to see pics from the hike, check out this entry in my other blog. Just scroll past the birthday stuff.

Hot air balloon longies

2008-09-25T14:17:00.003+10:00

A friend of mine told me about some longies she was making for her pregnant friend. Only problem was that the baby is now a year old and there was barely two inches of the knitting done. Hehehe! I know that problem.

So I offered to finish them for her. They're made in Utiku Perendale wool using the Picky Pants pattern.

I designed a duplicate stitch embellishment for the pants. The hot air balloon seemed appropriate since the colourway looked like a sky/sea background. I used scraps of vareigated yarn including other Utiku wool, some Monster Knits yarn, and some yarn I dyed myself.

And I have added a pic of my short rows because I am so thrilled with them. I have finally mastered the short row technique described in this thread on the Wooly Wonder's forum. I challenge you to find my short rows!

And finally - here is a sneak peek of a swap I am participating in. Just in case anyone from that forum is sneaking around trying to pick up clues. It's an upcycle swap. I won't be able to post proper pics until next week.

Package from Oregon

2008-09-25T13:59:00.002+10:00

I was the delighted recipient of a big parcel last Friday. I can't believe it has taken me so long to find the time to blog about it. Sorry Mary.

I was waiting for this parcel with anticipation - and it didn't disappoint! This is the other half of the swap I took part in, which I wrote about in the previous post.

Mary handcrafted me a hussif made of vintage linens. She took my favourite colours seriously, using burgundy, blue, and my extra special favourite: apple green.

She included all sorts of things in the hussif: a pair of scissors, a thimble in the little drawstring pouch, two unpickers (LOL!), a tape measure, and a set of button themed stitch markers. She also made me a pincushion and strawberry pincushion. The hussif ties up with a leather strap.

This gift was simply awesome! Mary put so much thought into it and it's really special. But that's not all (no, no steak knives). Mary also filled a box with an amazing amount of vintage goodies: silk ribbons, silk threads, vintage ric-rac, rayon threads, linen fabric, bookmark kits, hand-embroidered teatowels, and vintage buttons.

I must confess to being somewhat naive when it comes to knowing what to do with some of these sewing supplies. Any ideas on potential uses for the silk threads, silk ribbons, and rayon threads would be welcomed.

Thank you Mary for a wonderful swap!!!

International Hussif Swap!

2008-09-14T14:01:00.004+10:00

I took part in a swap on the Down--to--Earth blog. We signed up to swap a needlebook and pincushion. My swap partner, Mary, suggested making a hussif which has a strawberry pincushion in it.

I found these fabric remnants at a market stall. I had trouble with the request for warm colours because I'm such a cool colours person, but Mary tells me this was just her cup of tea. It's a 1970s Charles Parson print on a light canvasy type of fabric.

I also made a little thimble pouch to go with it.

Mary had commented that my nostepinne was made from exotic timber. That made me laugh for days because it was an old fence post which we were planning on using as firewood. I mean, redgum is our main source of firewood here. I couldn't stop giggling. But DH went out to the shed and came back a few hours later with a noste similar to mine for me to send to the US with the hussif. What a sweet hubby! And Mary is pleased with that too.

If you would like to see a few more pics, they're here on my new flickr account.

OOPS!!! For the strawberry pincushion I needed some aluminium oxide (emery) because these pincushions are used to sharpen pins, not store them. It took ages to find somewhere where I could buy less than a 25kg bag. It was only as I was driving home with my $4 worth of emery (100gms) that I realised that I had broken my Challenge. Ooops!

Repaired shoes.

2008-09-14T13:57:00.002+10:00

I fixed some shoes for Lorna's girls.

The ones on the left needed the velcro tabs replaced.
The ones on the right needed new elastic across the top.

It didn't take long, but it took me over a month to get around to it. I am such a procrastinator, it's shocking!

I'll convert her to the Challenge soon, I'm sure. Maybe she'll sign up on December 30 for the rest of the year?

No shampoo challenge

2008-09-14T13:50:00.002+10:00

I promised an update on the no-shampoo mini-challenge, so here it is:

I have found it marvellous from the start. I was already washing it only once a week to keep the oil down. The bicarb and apple cider vinegar stuff works really well. I use two tablespoons of bicarb in 500ml warm water, and rinse with 2 tablespoons of acv in 500ml of warm water. I find it takes a bit longer to wash as I have to massage the bicarb into my hair really well, but I don't mind any excuse to be in the shower longer.

I had a near disaster when I went to get my hair cut and the hairdresser put all sorts of rubbish in my hair before I realised (not my usual hairdresser). I got home and ran straight into the shower and washed my hair with 3 lots of bicarb to get all the gunk out. Disaster averted. Gosh that chemical stuff stinks! I'm so glad my hair smells of nothing but a faint scent of apples. Lovely!

Nosty Luv

2008-08-11T19:27:00.005+10:00

I recently discovered a previously unknown desire for a nostepinne (aka nosty). Then I joined a group on Ravelry called "Nosty Luv". After that it was simply a matter of nagging to convince DH to turn me a nosty. Fortunately it doesn't take much to get DH to turn anything I want. A few days later DH turned this old rotten bit of redgum fence post:

into this beautiful nostepinne. I love the fiddleback in the grain.

NB: Nostepinnes are used to hand wind centre-pull balls of wool.

I love that my DH can turn a bit of firewood into a stunning piece of handwork which is useful as well a nice to look at.

ETA photos of my first nosty-wound ball.
I used the instructions and video provided by Fiber Fool.

Mega Post

2008-08-08T15:04:00.007+10:00

Wow, hasn't it been ages? Two months since I've posted. I hope all my fellow Challengers haven't forgotten me ;) . It's been hectic around here - two bouts of tummy bugs amongst other things. Lots of changes going on in our lives.

One of our changes is that we removed our old conara-style fireplace and put our desk there instead. We haven't used the wood heater since we were given ducted heating 2 years ago. It was such a waste of space. This is what the space looked like after we ripped out the heater.

Boring, I know, but the heater was depressing me and for me this photo represents a real change in our home and our lives. It makes me happy.

I have been doing tons of knitting while I haven't been blogging.
An LTK Hybrid Rib soaker in Treliske Organic wool:

A pair of LTK Picky Pants in Guava and Plum BWM wool:

A pair of LTK Picky Pants in some Cleckheaton wool (I bought 16 balls for $3 at a garage sale). I love the cable detail in these. My neighbour taught me to do cables.:

A Calorimetry in Monster Knits Corriedale Super Bulky, Blue Fish colourway:
I love this wool.

A fruit cosy in Monster Knits 4BF Merino, Quench colourway:

I received a gift from Kelli of a PIF and then also some double pointed needles.

There is some cotton 10ply and a slik headband, along with fabric wrapping and ribbon. The only thing missing from the photo is the unpicker she sent me, because it had already been stashed in my sewing case. And the needles arrived a few days later. The needles came in an awesome dpn holder. I'll have to pull it out of my knitting tub and post a pic of it. It's grouse! Thanks so much Kelli!

Another gift I received was from Kris of Monster Knits fame. She sent me almost 3 full squares of lino for doing lino cutting/printing. I posted a "wanted" on NC a while ago, so I was very excited to receive them. I can't wait to try my hand at printing again. It's been a while (think mid-90s).

I have been doing some sewing too. Dinnae from my mothers' group left to live in Canada two weeks ago. She had asked some months earlier if I could make her an apron. She wanted one with bright bold colourful stripes. I don't know how she expected me to find that kind of fabric (she knows about the challenge) but I was eventually successful. We drove 5 hours to Camperdown to visit a friend, went op shopping, and found the most perfect enormous doona cover. It has so much fabric. I plan to make all sorts of kids' clothes and another apron for me, but for now just enjoy my apron for Dinnae, which was finished the day before she left the country.

You'll have to put up with me modelling the apron because I'm still waiting for the action shots from Dinnae. She's been in Canada a week now, and not a word from her. Bet she's having too much fun to remember her Aussie friends.

My ABA group leader asked me to write an article for our newsletter on signing with a baby. I added photos in the next edition. Now I have been asked to lead a meeting with that as my topic in October. I'm so excited. I got so much positive feedback on the article and photos. You can see pics of Elliot signing some of his favourite words here and if you'd like to read my signing article let me know and I'll post it up on here.

Other things I have been up to? I refashioned a pair of knitting needles where one of them was broken and repointed by the previous owner. I cut and repointed the other needle to make a pair of 5mm, 6" long needles. They were originally more than twice that length. I don't know what to make with such stumpy needles, but I really like them.

DH and Elliot painted some knitting I had done using the food colouring and microwave method. Then I sewed the pieces together and stuffed them to create this kitten.

Andrew (DH) and I have/are turning 30 this year, which has led to a larger-than-usual amount of birthday money coming in. We were given $600 to buy a Croozer, so we put all our other birthday money in with it and bought the Croozer and some helmets for each of us. We broke our Challenge, but it was with money given for a specific purpose, so can we get away with it? Well, we have, and it's been wonderful. We ride and walk so much more than before. I can go into town without using the car now. I'm thrilled.

This photo was taken on our first Croozer outing to Woodlands Historic Park and Homestead.

And lastly, before I make your browser crash with all the photos, here's Elliot painting in his mum-made apron on reused printer paper.

My next post will be an update on my No Shampoo mini-challenge.

June Mini-Challenge

2008-06-03T07:25:00.003+10:00

This month I am going to try to giveup some of the consumptions that I have been hanging on to. I want to try some more natural alternatives for things like toothpaste and shampoo. That's it. Extreme Consumption Challenging?

Progress report for 2008

2008-05-27T12:56:00.000+10:00

What have we bought new so far this year?

I thought I should do a list of the times we have broken our consumption challenge. Perhaps you guys could give suggestions for how to avoid these pitfalls in future?

Razors. What am I supposed to do? Go Amazonian? I can't think of a consumption-less alternative for me, and I am not about to suggest that Andrew should grow a full beard.

Glue, varnish, nails. Andrew has bought a few sundry woodworking supplies. He has restored a number of pieces of furniture and picture frames from op shops and garage sales (I really should be blogging about his stuff too, eh?) and there doesn't seem to be a way around buying a few consumables. It's not like these things can be bought second-hand since glue and varnish actually go off.

Hair ties. No, they're for Andrew. This one might have a solution. Any ideas? He uses pretty heavy-duty elastics to tie his long hair back.

Shampoo, conditioner, liquid soap. I'm going to be trying the no-shampoo challenge soon.

Deodorant. Oh dear. A "must have". It's the only part of being European that I dislike. Any consumption friendly alternatives which actually work?

Toothbrush. We've each had a new brush (and Elliot has his first) because I couldn't find any alternative which wouldn't send us broke.

Disposable nappies and wipes. Back in Jan/Feb Elliot got a staph infection and we had to use disposables for about 6 days so I could wash his nappies in a special solution.

Hot water system. Our 26 year old system finally died in the new year. Can't really go for a year without hot water just to prove a point. We got an energy-efficient system to replace the horrid old storage tank system.

Cleaning supplies. Well, technically these aren't "bought" because we don't pay for them, but they are still consumed by us. My mum is a distributor for a little company which makes perfume-free, colour-free dishwashing liquid and laundry powder and other cleaning items (I think shampoo and conditioner too) for people who have chemical sensitivities. Given my family's history of chemical issues my mum likes to bless us with free cleaning stuff. I haven't paid for dishwashing liquid or laundry powder in 11 years.

What if?

I have noticed a few things which may need to be bought one day.

Cds. I have been using my usb and mp3 to give information to other people wherever possible, and have barely used any cds. But I do need to backup info and photos. Any alternatives?

Unpicker. Bet you weren't expecting that. I used my unpicker to cut a hole in leather yesterday and it broke. I have another, but I'll be looking out for one at the op shop now. What will I do if I have no unpicker. I have a love/hate relationship with it, but I am not stupid enough to think I can live without it.

Consuming or not?
It's interesting for me to ponder the "consumption" issue. For instance, when I try the no-shampoo challenge, I will still be consuming something (bi carb, apple cider vinegar) instead. If I tried going without the few cleaning products I use, I would have to use something else. I love my bi-carb as a cleaner, but it can't wash laundry. And if it could I would need to purchase much more bi-carb. There are many things I am finding it easy to go without (new clothes, toys, entertainments, sewing supplies) but there are some things which seem vital to a healthy and hygenic existence.

I'm not sure what m point is, so if you know or you want to weigh in on the topic, please leave a comment.

Oh, temptation!
A quick thought to leave you on. I am having a great deal of trouble coming to terms with another 7 months without one of these.

This is the only thing which is testing my resolve about the challenge. What am I to do. I can wait, but it's going to be a tough road.

I'm shocked!

2008-05-23T20:47:00.006+10:00

I posted on NC today about the fact that today I finally reached a milestone in my weightloss. I have finally lost 20kg since Elliot's birth. Now I am lighter than I was when I fell pregnant with Elliot, lighter than when I got married, and lighter than I have been in over 7 years. How cool!!!

The chickies on NC asked me for before and after pics, but I couldn't find any pics of me taken this year, so I asked Andrew to shoot of a couple of pics for me. The NC thread is in a subscribers-only area, so don't bother looking for it unless you are a paid-up member. It's all here anyway, LOL! Pretty much word-for-word.

Here is me, with Elliot, when he was 2 months old. We were on a Scouting-related camp, hence the uniforms. It's Flick's Wood Beads at Camp Birrubi, for those who know and care. Ha ha ha! That'd be only you Lornie. LOL!

Then at Elliot's dedication ceremony. It was over 42 degrees that day, and there was smoke wafting through from the immense bushfires across the state (December 2006). I'm pretty shocked at how big I look here. I was almost in tears as I looked through these pics. I didn't know I was so big until I saw them today.

That last one is the real clincher, eh? There's nothing so telling as a full-frontal shot with a goofy look on your face (mid-sentence). Elliot was only 2.5 months old so the boobs were still pretty full (who am I kidding? they still leak now and we're down to 3 feeds a day!) but the rest of me!?!?! Oh my, let's move right along shall we?

So, this is me today. Literally today. I decided to do a few modelling poses (HA!) since I look so %@&# hot! Ha ha ha! I love my new haircut - it makes pretty waves and curls all on its own. I like my skinny little waist which makes me look lighter than I am. I like my favourite pants which I have taken in at least 6 times.

So there you have it. 20 kilos of weight loss in pictures over 21 months. 3 more kilos to go till my next goal, and hopefully that 3kg will all come off my rump. That'd be nice.

And just to round off the joy, we went op-shopping today and I bought a (SIZE SMALL!!!!) Rusty brand jacket for $5. Fit's perfect!

Special thanks to today's wonderful photographer - darling DH, Andrew.

And a reminder that you can click to see the pics bigger. :)

Tag Dag

2008-05-22T13:19:00.002+10:00

Well, Theresa has tagged me, so I'd better be nice and play. ;)

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
Each player answers the questions about themselves.
At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

a) What was I doing 10 years ago?

Um, I was 19, heading towards 20. I was living in Shepparton, VIC. I was studying Disability Studies at TAFE in the evenings. I think I would have been living in the 5th of my 11 share-houses in Shep. Living with a friendly gal called Natty-Patty, her dog, and my kitten, Chewey. Chewey still graces our presence to this day with her incessant meowing and annoying habits.

b) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today:

I was supposed to go to my mothers' group, but E is asleep. I suppose I will do some laundry, eat some lunch and finish some stuff for Andrew for Scouts tonight. Maybe even post some pics on my blog. Pretty laid back today.

c) Snacks I enjoy:

Dried fruit, nuts, fair-traid choc, anything with sugar, almost any fruit.

d) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Start up Andrew's small business idea.
Build an architecturally-designed enviro-friendly house on a few acres in Tassie. Obviously also live there.
Give lots to Wycliffe and MMM International and other like-minded organisations.
Buy dozens of Itti Bitti D'lish fitted nappies and have 100s of kids. ;)

e) Places I have lived:

Outer suburban Melbourne.
Innsbruck, Austria (only 3 months, sadly).
Shepparton.
Outer suburban Melbourne. Again.
Now a little town outside Melbourne.

And who am I tagging?

I'll be asking K and S if I can tag them. Should be interesting to hear what these sisters come up with.

May Challenge Update

2008-05-20T12:00:00.005+10:00

Let's see... what has been done so far during Fix or Finish Month?

I fixed Elliot's leather shoes where there was some skipped stitching inside. Did I tell you I made him some new leather shoes? His black ones were worn out because I used too-thin leather on the soles.

I learned how to fix my holey socks. I asked my neighbour to teach me how to darn socks, but first I borrowed her darning mushroom. A few hours later Andrew had turned me my very own mushroom on his wood lathe. It's made from an off-cut of American Ash, I think. I love the two burn line embellishments on it, but Elliot thinks they are joins and he desperately tries to unscrew the handle from the top. Oh, he gets so frustrated!

Yes, I can now darn socks. Something I can do while bumming around in front of the TV with Andrew. I'll post a pic of some darning once it doesn't look like something a dog has mauled. Practice, practice, practice.

I finished sewing the tape onto 7 Scout Scarves. It took 3 hours! This has been on my to-do list for 2 or 3 years. A group of our friends who are all Scout and Cub leaders have been getting together to go camping for a while (the only kids there are our own children, hooray!) and we decided to make a mock Patrol and have some good old Scouting fun. It really is true that Scouting is more fun without the youth! ROFLOL!

Here Elliot is receiving his scarf for our Patrol. I'm on the left and 12 year old T is on the right.

I finished Elliot's second pair of pants. They're made from some tencil denim I bought at an op shop in Seymour and they've been waiting for the second hem to be hand-sewn for two weeks now. Action shots will follow soon in another post.

I finished some mock-up shoes for Xavier. He's 9 days older than Elliot, but 5kg heavier!!! And his feet are a little hefty. I made some shoes out of old wool felt Brownie hats. Ugly as anything, but I was able to see that the pattern I developed was big enough. No pics. The shoes are too ugly. I will use that pattern to make some leather shoes for him soon.

I finally finished some shoes for Theresa's daughter.
Read about them here (ie: just below this post).

After making those shoes I let myself play with the bamboo fleece Theresa had sent me. Oops! Before I knew it I had made a 4 layer fold out bamboo booster for Dinnae to use in Xavier's nappies. Tut-tut! I'm not supposed to start new projects this month. But at least it only took 30 minutes.

Shoes for Theresa's daughter.

2008-05-20T11:32:00.006+10:00

I made these shoes for Theresa's younger daughter who is just a little bit older than my Elliot. It was a huge challenge to make something girly, but I loved the adventure.

These shoes are made from what used to be a hideously ugly 1980s leather jacket. Also some nice thick Italian leather (upholstery scraps from Andrew's old job) for the soles, and the ribbon is from my vast collection. The elastic was op-shopped some time ago, and the thick quilter's thread is left over from my teddy-bear making days. Nothing new at all.

I wanted to make these shoes in response to a generous gift from Theresa. She recently sent me a stash of booster-shaped bamboo fleece pieces. Just like that. I was blown away, and even more so when she told me there's some bamboo velour off-cuts coming in the future. I offered to make the shoes and then told myself I wasn't allowed to pat the bamboo fleece until I had made the shoes. Ah, I'll have to pull out the fleece tonight for a pat. I can't wait to make a cotton velour nappy with this scrumptious fleece inside. Thanks Theresa!!!

I couldn't let T's older girl go without something fun in the package, so I sent her a little notebook I'd made some time ago and a rainbow pencil I bought in a cute little Japanese gift shop in Box Hill last year. I loved those pencils when I was little.

Theresa tells me the girls really like their gifts.

I was inspired by my own first pair of baby shoes. Awwww!

May Mini-Challenge - Fix or Finish

2008-05-04T14:50:00.003+10:00

My Mini-Challenge for this month will be "Fix or Finish". I have so many unfinished projects. I seem to start a new one before any previous ones are finished. So this month my goal is to start no new projects! I don't know how I'm going to do it. The second part of my goal is to fix something or finish one existing project each day. I have started a list of all the things which need fixing or finishing and I will choose one thing from it each day to have a go at. I will also be nagging Andrew to fix and finish things this month. Let's see how that goes down, LOL! I will post pics of fixed and finished things each weekend if not before.

Oh, yes. I did do a mini-challenge for April, I just didn't post about it. When I get a spare moment to breathe I will write about it.

Good and Bad

2008-04-21T11:10:00.007+10:00

Good: I have lost (edit: almost) 20kg so far since Elliot's birth. 3 to go until my next goal.
Bad: I have to bring in my favourite pants yet again because they're like elephant pants on my thighs and bum.
Good: I now fit into two pairs of pants I haven't been able to wear since before I was married (7 years ago).
Bad: Andrew left a pen in his work pants and 3 of my t-shirts now have ink stains. None of his clothes were wrecked. I only have 6 t-shirts and I wear them every day. I now have 3 navy t-shirts to wear - all my other colours were wrecked!
Good: Looks like I need to be op-shopping more to find some t-shirts. As if I need a reason!
Bad: My MIL called this morning to tell me she is getting rid of some black pants "which are rather large in the thighs and bottom" and would I like them?
Good: No-one in my family knows about this blog so I can chuck a hissy about that comment here.
Bad: Andrew has one day this fortnight without some Scouting or other meeting or activity.
Good: I am learning some independence and going off to have fun instead of sitting around waiting for him to take us out. Elliot and I went to the Royal Botanic Gardens with E's Godmother yesterday. We had a muddy ball. Wonderful!
Bad: I am not getting much time to sew since Andrew is never around to look after Elliot these days. It's like being a single mum. Grrrrrr!
Good: I am getting quite a few people asking me to make them some of Elliot's "Grandpa Slippers" as Andrew calls them. Maybe I'll get the confidence one day to sell some. Maybe.

Yet more sewing FOs

2008-04-14T20:45:00.007+10:00

(Don't forget you can click on pics to get a bigger view).

I have been hanging out to show off some of these finished objects (FOs), but some of them are a set of gifts so I had to wait to get them all finished... well, you know the story.

This first one is an apron I made for Elliot. It is made from a shower curtain my SIL gave me recently to repurpose. I have a few projects in mind, but this apron turned out exactly as I wanted. I adore my bias tape sewing machine foot.

A few more pics of the apron - clean and then gooped!

Before I made Elliot's apron I had made this one. It's a present for Lorna's DD1. (That's internet talk for your first (1) Dear Daughter, Lorna). She's 10 and she loves to cook, but Lorna's chicken to let her cook. This was about forcing Lorna to let DD1 into the kitchen. There! I said it!
Note the matching fabric pocket. This is made from some bed sheets and a pillow case I op-shopped in Macleod a while back. Such nice and crispy fabric. Mmmmm. Did I mention I love my bias tape foot?

This was for DD2, 7 years old, who is a budding artist with her pastel derwents. It's a pencil roll with fabric/ribbon/button flowers on the outside. The inside is made of two matching fabrics which are older than me. They were part of my mum's fabric stash before I nicked them. You can't see the sewn lines for the pencils on the red fabric, so you'll just have to take my word for it - there's space for 12 pencils. Lovely green bias tape and ribbon tie the whole thing together (literally and visually). I mentioned my bias tape foot, yeah?

DD3 is a girly girl at the age of 3. I couldn't let her go without pink. Lovely pink stripey fabric lines the inside of this cat themed bag. Trupunto cheeks and nose give the cat some shape, and pink button shine happily. This was inspired by the "Making Vintage Bags" book I blogged about last Wednesday.

I was so worried the girls would think their pressies were lame, but by the time I left DD3 was finding things to carry around in her bag, DD2 had put her favourite pencils in her roll, and DD1 was wearing her apron and hugging herself, looking as though she might never take her apron off. Or perhaps not until mum has let her do some cooking.

Ah, bliss for a panic-monger like moi.

I'm cleaning the study tonight in preparation for a full week of sewing. Six pairs of leather shoes to make (4 of them are gifts/swaps), and some more gifts - this time for a set of two sisters. Shhhh! Don't tell!

Great idea.

2008-04-14T11:24:00.004+10:00

How is this for a great idea? Fortytworoads sells a pattern to make a toddler kitchen from cardboard. I obviously cannot buy her pattern due to the Challenge, but it sure has inspired me.

Clicking on the pic will take you to her etsy listing for this item so you can see more pics.
She is currently working on some doll furniture which she's showing off on her blog.

I'm back.

2008-04-09T21:28:00.004+10:00

Hey! I'm still here, plodding along. So much to say, but I'm going to keep it brief tonight.

If you don't want to hear me whine about the past month, kindly skip this next paragraph. But I need to vent right now, so if you read it, you've been warned...

Since I last posted we've had computer dramas - I need to reformat again, but half the stuff is backed up on our mp3 player, and I'd lost that *sigh* so I haven't had the balls to reformat. Andrew was away for a week, which is an eternity in our world, and Elliot didn't cope too well, plus all the dramas to get ready for Andrew's week away at Cuboree *sigh* so we lost a few weeks there. And then as soon as Andrew got back Elliot got gastro from mum's group and kindly shared it with Andrew and myself *sigh*. I can't remember if I already said (and I'm too lazy to check while I'm writing) that I had to give up playgroup because it was causing too much grief with Elliot's morning nap time *sigh* so that's been actually quite a bit harder than I expected, emotionally. Currently, as in right now, Andrew is getting ready to go to work tomorrow after 3 days off. He has two days left at his old job, and they think he's been slacking off by taking sick leave in his last week *sigh*. I'd like to send them a spewy baby to prove that we all actually have super-contagious gastro. (Of four boys who went to that play date, 3 came away with gastro, and all three families are now sick. The fourth was the one who gave it to the others. His mum thought he was better (Honest mistake, and pretty funny now that I feel better)).

Lets see if I have any photos sitting around to cheer me up...

This is a book I borrowed from the library. It has some awesome patterns and ideas in it. Keep an eye out for future projects inspired by this. "Making Vintage Bags: 20 original sewing patterns for vintage bags and purses" by Emma Brennan. It has bags and clutches inspired by the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s.

I made some pants for the munchkin some weeks ago. I think they're pretty funky (not that I've got tickets on myself or anything!). It's my own design entirely. Flat fronted, elastic-waisted across the back, wide legged, with a really long blind-hemmed hem so they can be rehemmed as Elliot grows taller. Yes, they got dirty within seconds of arriving at the park, so I couldn't get a crisp action shot. Oh well. They're made from an old pair of my favourite linen pants which were much too ratty and ripped to wear. The first day that Elliot wore them we had so many compliments that I started to get bashful. I mean, they're just a plain pair of grey toddler pants. What're they gonna do when I get creative???

I hope to write more tomorrow, but for now I need to get some sleep. This bug is making me exhausted.

A wreck of a week!

2008-03-16T20:14:00.003+11:00

Oh dear! This past week has been an utter trainwreck!

It took until Thursday night for Elliot to have a proper sleep - his naps and sleeps had been a nightmare since Tuesday. Mostly this was because of playgroup on Tuesday mornings. It's been getting worse each week, and I should have been more aware of the effects of stuffing up E's nap routine each week. Sadly, I have put in my resignation. It's for the best, but that doesn't stop me being really sad about what could have been a grouse year of facilitating one of our church's four playgroups. :(

So we went for a retreat to our old hometown of Shep this weekend.

I found a discarded local paper and a map of the town, and we mapped out all the garage sales. We ended up trawling about 13 garage sales in all, and brought home some bargains.

We didn't really get to go op-shopping because Andrew had to go off to buy some stuff for Scouts and I was stuck with E, our god-kids, and their maimed, sooky dad. (Don't worry, it's self-inflicted. Scarification which got infected. Yuk!) I only got half a dozen things, but at least I got the details of all 8 op shops in town. I'll be posting my beginnings of a list of the op shops of regional Victoria soon.

We also went to Treasure and Trash where I was able to get a few sewing supplies from the same lady as last time.

I'll post some pics of our awesome haul in the next few days.

For now I must apologise for having done no sewing at all. I have had the most rotten week (sleep-deprived 18 month old does not a happy mummy make). That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. It didn't help that I had reason to try out my whole cloth pad stash. They work wonderfully, BTW, but I have only just enough. I had to wash them every night. Perhaps I'll make another half a dozen. I discovered that I think everyone should be wearing velour knickers. So comfy!

I will be continuing last week's goals to this week. I have been rejuvenated by a much-needed trip home (yes, I still call Shep home after 7 years in the big smoke) and E went easily to sleep at 8pm, so I think we're in for an excellent week.

March - the plan for Week 2

2008-03-09T21:53:00.004+11:00

Week 2 of 'Sewing from Scratch'

I plan to design:
Continue designs for living room cushions.
Finish pattern for E's funky cotton pants. getting there

I plan to make:
2 nappies (green cotton velour and hemp terry, from my own pattern).
2 pads/liners (perhaps try another different pattern).
2 gifts (I know what I have in mind, but again, I can't tell until the gifts are given).
One pair of funky cotton pants for E (a la above design plan). done
Something small and fun for me (I think I need some fabric pampering for moi right now).

I'll check in on this again next weekend. Ciao.

March Mini-Challenge: Week 1

2008-03-08T22:23:00.003+11:00

A blow-by-blow account of the past week...

Sunday:
Today I learnt to use my bias binding foot (I've only had it about 6 months, LOL) and it is super-easy. I need to be able to sew bias binding for a few projects I have in mind.

Monday:
Today I replaced dead leg elastic in a second-hand BBH hemp nappy, following this tutorial. This nappy has been sitting around for probably close to 12 months waiting for me to fix it. Procrastination rears it's ugly head yet again.

I finished altering pattern for my liners. Nagged DH into snapping my flanny liner (see March 2). Made one candy pink cotton velour liner from the same pattern with 2 hidden layers of bamboo. Noice!

It works out much prettier to have the layers hidden. I just didn't put a seam allowance on the bamboo layers, and sewed them onto one of the velour layers before sewing the two velour layers together. Then I topstitched. Confused yet?

Tuesday:
Got nothing done today due to sooky child who took hours to get to sleep.

Wednesday:
Snapped Monday's liner, but got nothing done due to still-sooky child. Bad day. :(

Thursday:
Today I made 3 more candy pink cotton velour liners, these ones with a single layer of hemp fleece inside.

One of those is a gift for Dinnae for helping me learn to make nappies. I wrapped it in some apple green cotton velour for a nappy for her in-tum bubba. I made the card myself too.

Started making a flanny nappy from my own pattern, which I altered extensively just before cutting.

Friday:
Today I finished making my first nappy from my own pattern. It is quite narrow at the front crotch, because I am sick of nappies bunching up in the front on skinny little Elliot. It also has a shorter rise than most of our nappies. It is a simple "inside/outside flanny, hidden layer of terry" kind of nappy. It will have a flanny-topped bamboo booster (again made from old BBH boosters).

I gave Dinnae her pressie (see Thursday) and she loved it. She offered me back the ribbon and the envelope because of the Consumption Challenge. I had a hard time not laughing at her! Gee, it's great when your friends support your crazy schemes.

Saturday:
I made some green cotton velour pads with 2 layers of hemp terry (old Jamtots prefold) in each. They're made from this pattern, and it's longer on one end than the other, which you could put facing forwards or behind, depending on what you want/need.

So this is what they look like unsnapped and snapped up. Nice and comfy. I'll be making more of these for sure.

So, how did I go?
Planned: 2 nappies.
Done: 1 nappy, still in testing phase before altering pattern again.

Planned: 6 liners/pads.
Done: 5 liners/pads. I stuffed the last one up. Oops!

Planned: 2 gifts.
Done: 1 gift.

Planned: Design cushion covers and E's pants.
Done: A little cushion designing, but no pants designing.

I didn't actually meet my goals for the week, but I used to have a teacher who said, "If you aim for nothing you are sure to hit your mark". Think about it for a sec. It's really true. I'm glad I aimed high and got heaps done, rather than not setting goals and getting nothing done (a la last month).

I'll be back tomorrow to write up my goals for the coming week. I have a ripper headache and I'm toddling off to bed. G'night!

Books, glorious books

2008-03-05T06:42:00.008+11:00

I thought I'd have a little chatter about some fun books I've been reading lately.

This first one I actually bought the other week. *shock* Bought it? Well, I received a bookshop voucher for Christmas. I had $80 to spend, and it had to be spent within 12 months, so I bought a pilates DVD (my osteopath recommends pilates to develop core strength) and this book. I'm quite sure that spending a book voucher is not in contravention of the Challenge, so there!

DK's 'The Complete Book of Sewing' is just lovely. It covers everything from the uses of different bottons, threads and sewing machine feet, to really complicated stuff like making piping and inserting boning. It really is a 'complete' book. I have referred to it heaps already, and it has been making my pad and nappy sewing easier and more professional looking.

Elliot was given this next book for his first birthday by our minister and her husband. Actually, she wasn't our minister at the time, she was somewhere between being our interim minister and our real minister. How should I explain that, Kiwwi? Not that it's relevant, but I am in a waffling mood. I've been reading too many waffly blogs this morning.

'Joseph had a little overcoat' is a book about a man who has an overcoat which becomes 'old and worn' so he makes a vest, then a scarf... He turns it into a number of things as the preceding item of clothing becomes patched and frayed. I won't spoil the ending for you. It won a Children's Book award, so I will assume you can find it in the library. I like it when Elliot asks me to read this book because 'Joseph' is worthy of 'refashionista' status. How many people have refashioned something five or six times?

And finally I will rave about a book I have not read, but am picking up this afternoon from the library.

'Softies: 22 friends for you to sew, knit and crochet' looks utterly devine. I can't wait to see what sorts of treasures I will be inspired to create from this for my March Mini-Challenge. I saw it on some blogs, so I checked out my local library. They had it in the HQ list (items which are new and about to be put on shelf) so of course I put a hold on it and am about to be the first borrower! Hurrah!

Speaking of the library, I have found it to be even more useful that I could imagine. There are so many books, cds and dvds in their 8 libraries. They also have a library bus which comes to places which are pretending to be country towns, such as my town. I hop on the internet, put holds on everything I fancy, and wait for the emails to arrive, telling me that my books are patiently awaiting my adoption. I am currently 9th in the que for a pilates DVD. That is an improvement on the 11th that I started at. That is why I bought a DVD with my book voucher.

Tell me about some books you have been finding fun and useful during your Challenge. I would love to hear some good recommendations.

March Mini-Challenge - off and running!

2008-03-02T12:21:00.008+11:00

My March Mini-Challenge is "Sewing from Scratch".

As per ColdCloth's advice, I am setting myself some weekly targets and regularly reviewing them. Thanks for all the encouragement on my dismal Feb Mini-Challenge.

Before I get to this week's goals, I want to show you some of the sewing I've been doing in the past few days...

The left one is a pocket-style pad, outer made of an old flanny pillowcase, and a fold-up hemp fleece booster cut from an old hemparoo (GK pocket nappy insert). I bought a packet of snaps at a recent garage sale. Very handy. I found the pad pattern here.

The right one is a liner made of the same pillowcase, and with a single layer of the hemparoo in the middle contour-y thing-o. I haven't put snaps on it yet. Found the liner pattern here. I didn't make it quite right and I have plans to alter it some more to make it exactly how I want it.

Week 1 of 'Sewing from Scratch'

I plan to make:
2 nappies (one flanny, one green cotton velour and hemp).
6 pads/liners (mix of flanny and velour, probably changing the pattern each time until I settle on a design I really like). 3 made so far.
2 gifts (I have some designs drawn up for some pressies for some friends/friends' kids, but they read this blog so I can't actually say what I'm making or for whom until after I've finished and the gifts have been received. One made so far.

I plan to design:
Finish designs for living room cushions.
Finish pattern for E's funky cotton pants (a la WIP list).

This may seem like a lot of stuff to do with an 18 month old running around, but I am doing more in the evenings, and I am learning how to do more stuff while the E-man plays around me. I can draw my designs while he scribbles with crayons, I can measure and cut while he watches Playschool. The only thing I can't do is sew (or put snaps in). He really wants to play with the pretty light-up buttons which beep on my sewing machine. Maybe if I use my ancient sewing machine without lights and beeps and buttons...

Hurrah!!!

2008-03-01T12:31:00.007+11:00

I'm heading off on a nappy sewing expedition right now, and I can't wait to show off my creations!

I have decided to make March's Mini-Challenge theme "Sewing from Scratch". I will be trying to avoid February's disaster by setting goals each week and reviewing them at the end of the week.

UPDATE:
I'm the one with the goofy grin on the left. Sharon and Dinnae (pictured with Xavier) and I, spent hours sewing up a storm. Well, perhaps a storm in a teacup because we each only made one nappy. Dinnae was teaching us to make our own nappies. Very fun, but I wish I could contract out the elastic part.

Jack, Elliot and Xavier were playing happily while we sewed. Jack is 16 months old, Elliot is 18 months, and Xavier is 9 days older than Elliot. Jack and Xavier are both expecting baby brothers in the next few months.

Dinnae was kind enough to give us each a copy of her own nappy pattern (which X has since grown out of, LOL!) and we had a shot at that.

I used a flannel bedsheet outer and inner layers (recently op shopped with sock monkeys on them!!!), terry towelling hidden layer and 2 layer internal booster. I decided to sew, turn and topstitch rather than tempting fate by using D's overlocker. I also decided to put cross over tabs and laundry tabs on. Uses more velcro, but worth it, imho. Especially since E is such a skinny little thing.

I used hook and look closures (also op-shopped) and some swimwear elastic I bought new about 12 months ago for this exact purpose (but procrastination is my best friend).

I'm going to put in a sewn-in booster, made from some old BBH bamboo boosters. Some of my oldest BBH bamboos have died painful deaths (I got a bad batch of bamboo outers with the first 2 I bought and Davina was kind enough to send me replacements without wanting the old ones back). I will probably sew a flanny layer over the top of it, just to be cute.

Action shots coming tonight after the bum of truth gives it a test-run. I reeeeaaaallly hope it doesn't swim on him.

I'll be trying out my own pattern next. This adventure has given me some sewing confidence.

Declaration: It's a flop!

2008-02-27T07:45:00.003+11:00

I know February is not over yet, but let's not draw out the agony any longer. I hereby declare my February Mini-Challenge to be a complete flop.

I utterly detest the curtain I made, and nothing else that I had planned has come to fruition yet. Yet? LOL! I hope to one day soon make some of the marvellous ideas I had, but it just hasn't happened. What a month!

I still want a curtain, but I want one which splits in the middle and is not see-through. I'm thinking I'll keep an eye out for some lovely limes and oranges in the fabric hunting through op shops. One day...

Also, I have the funnest (is that a word?) ideas for some cushion covers and throws for the couch, based largely on my small collection of Golden Hands and Busy Needles magazines.

And I really do need to get some more photos up on the walls. I have the photos, I have the frames, it's just a matter of getting around to it. Which won't be happening this month.
So sad. But what's on next month's agenda?

First success of February Mini-Challenge

2008-02-21T22:03:00.003+11:00

Here we are, almost at the end of Feb, and I have just stopped procrastinating long enough to finish the enormous task of the first part of my Home Decorating Mini-Challenge. It took about 20 minutes! D'oh!

The back-story: I am not a fan of open plan living. I prefer actual rooms. In our house the living room and dining room are very awkwardly joined together with this enormous boxy hole. I think it may have been an archway once upon a time. I'm so glad it's not anymore, but it's still obtrusive and ugly.

So I made a curtain to try to soften the effect and to close in the living room a little, making it feel less open and cavernous. I'm not sure if it's a success yet, I guess time will tell.

In keeping with the 1970s theme, this is made from some real-life 1970s curtains from my parents' house. This had a former life as living room window curtains in my childhood. It was not long enough, so I joined a small offcut to the bottom at right angles to make up the length. I think it has worked well.

The curtain rail was already there from some Christmas decorations we put up a few years ago. (Yes, the decorations came down a few years ago too, it's just the rail that we left there).

I hope to take some better/more interesting pics tomorrow.

:) Cheerio.

My lovely friend

2008-02-15T19:48:00.007+11:00

My darling friend Lorna is the most encouraging person. She has recently been asking if it would be ok to buy me a present if it was something I needed which I am not allowed to buy. How sweet is that! I don't think I've really answered her yet. It seems really cheeky, but in a good way. ;)

Today I went around to see her because I depserately needed a few minutes away from the crying, sooking, teething, sick little boy I call my son. I came away with the most delicious stash of buttons, zippers, and elastic. Mmmmmm, drool-worthy!

Lots of the buttons are kinda old. I am really digging the domed, shiny green buttons (can you see them?) and I think they're from the 70s. Actually most of the buttons look like they're from the 60s and 70s. So I did some research (aka "googling") LOL!

A history lesson:

With a background of studying history, I am always interested in the age and purpose and any useless information about older things. It turns out that Australia went metric in 1968 and our money went decimal in 1966. Just in case you were wondering.

I was.

Some of the buttons have imperial measurements on them (ie '6ft of matching thread') and others simply have it in metric (ie '175cm of matching thread'). So, I'd say I'm right and the buttons are a mix of 60s and 70s vintage. Nice, huh? Should go well with my 1970s house make-over for my February Mini-Challenge. Thanks Lorna!

Lorna, and her beautiful family of three gorgeous girls and one friendly husband (nothing better than a friend with a husband who doesn't scowl at you, eh?) have also given us more toys than I can fit into a dozen photos. But one toy has sparked a bit of a "thing", iykwim.

Since receiving this toy I approached my mother's group with the idea of having a toy swap. One lady has an indoor slide which I really want to borrow, so I suggested that next time we're at my place we should all bring toys along and have a big swap. If we do that every month or so we will always have new toys for them to play with. Andrew wants me to swap out the horrid loud Elmo steering wheel toy we were given (not from Lorna!), but at least 5 of the others have that one already, so they all know how bad it is! LOL!

Well, I think that's enough chatter for tonight, so I'd better go and work on this mini-challenge. I've been procratinating. I need some of Eilleen's "just-have-a-go" attitude.

Oh, the shame!

2008-02-09T17:31:00.000+11:00

I finally finished my study as part of the January Mini-Challenge (50% off) last night, but I must confess that my shame over the promised 'before' photos has stopped me from posting until now. I can't believe that it looked that bad. I'm so glad I took photos though, because it makes the joy of the 'after' photos so much sweeter.

Note that every surface - floor, desk, sewing table, light table - is covered in 'stuff' including things which should be thrown out or given away, Elliot's toys, and things which should have a home.

I had no room to move, no room to be creative or think within this room. The study is my equivilent of Andrew's shed - my place to create. In here I (theoretically) scrap, sew, paint, draw, and do bookbinding, as well as taking care of our finances and the myriad tasks which require the computer. I say 'theoretically, because you can see that there was simply no place for any creative or utilitarian activity in this room.

Now, to the 'after' shots...

My light table is clear and awaiting some exciting project to be created. The sewing table (right) actually has the sewing machine on it, and you can walk around without having to look at what you're stepping on. I can actually close the cupboard now! That's because it looks like this...

Everthing has a home, and almost everything is labelled. From old uni work to wrapping paper (rolls are in the suitbag - cool idea, huh?) to a tub full of yarn and suitcases for different types of fabric, they know where they belong.

And the other view is just as good with a clear desk with room to move and space to work. The filing drawers hide all manner of evil, but that will have to wait until another month. LOL!

50% off? Well, I think anyone can see that I had to get rid of a lot of 'stuff' to change the look of the room this much. My old uni work was culled from a suitcase and a big tub to just one small tub (about 80% off), which left those 2 containers for fabric and yarn. No yarn was culled but about 30% of my fabric went. 100% of the rubbish and junk went, 2 or 3 boxes of stuff went to the op shop, and almost all my Scouting stuff went to Andrew or the Troop.

I just want to end by saying that I'm glad I didn't have a magic wand to fix this problem. I remember my parents tearing out their hair asking me constantly to pick up after myself. I'm not sure why I never learnt to do that. But this Challenge has made me feel really good about putting my stuff away after I use it. I feel as though I have really achieved some personal growth by doing this, as I can see it affecting the rest of the house and the way I think about myself.

Thanks for sharing this mini-journey with me. I can't wait to see the creativity conceived and born in this room.

ETA: This is my now-clear light table. Hooray!

February Mini-Challenge

2008-02-08T12:02:00.000+11:00

I have had a few ideas floating around, such as doing a refashionista-type challenge, or menu-planning. I'm quite inspired by the other Challengers, but those ideas will have to wait.

My February Mini-Challenge is to attempt some home decorating. We simply never feel at home here in our 70's wog brick veneer home with mission-brown skirting and orange bottle-glass features. It doesn't help that we keep talking about moving back home to Shep or elsewhere. I want to feel like this is home. I hate that we have been here 6 years next week and it feels stark and empty and cold.

So, within the confines of the Challenge, I will be attempting to make our house a home with some creativity, some warm fabrics, and a sense of humour. Wish me luck.

BTW, like my new header and template? Making this blog a bit more homely too.

Pay it Forward

2008-02-07T13:23:00.000+11:00

I really like this, so when I saw it on Kelli's blog I simply had to play along.
It should be extra fun with people like us who will have to put more thought and effort into gift-giving this year. Come on, play along!

PAY IT FORWARD

The first three people to comment on this post will receive a gift from me,

sometime within the next 365 days.

Who knows when it will turn up, or what it will be,

but rest assured, it will arrive.

All you have to do is promise to make the same declaration on your blog,

and send out gifts to three of your lovely readers.

Easy Peasy.

Felty Inspirations

2008-02-07T12:55:00.000+11:00

Elliot and I have been playing with the feltboard I made in 1997 for my Child Care course. I am looking for ideas to make some new pieces, so I thought I'd show what I have so far. And it's really easy to make, so I hope I inspire someone else to make one too.

Here we have The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It has all the right pieces except I just realised I'm missing a string of sausages. I don't recall making sausages. Hmmmm?

I can't find a copy of this book in the house, despite the fact that we have 4 copies - one softcover, one hardcover, one german, one spanish. I'll have to look under the house, but they can't all be there can they?

Some details:
One of the pears; the watermelon; and the caterpillar before he goes on his binge.

This one is a story called "Horatio's Hat". Below that I have two extra elephants for the song about elephants balancing on a piece of string.

Some details:
The main elephant has a "jointed" back leg to allow him to stand or sit - which is crucial to the story.
The rabbit, I remember, was quite a triumph. He was difficult to make to look like a toy rabbit, but I am pleased with the results.

The board is made of a plastic sign that real estate agents use. I remember we went around to a few agents to ask for one of these each. Yk, they're the funny plastic, like cardboard, with the corrugated layer inside. I sure hope I'm making sense.

The board is covered with felt - blue and grey on either side. The pieces are all made out of scraps of felt. I have way too much felt right now, so I really want to make another set. Any ideas? Or anyone need to swap for some felt?

Market Bargains

2008-02-07T12:25:00.000+11:00

We went "home" to Shepparton the other weekend to visit our Godkids. Of course we had to drop in to the Treasure and Trash, now held at the Paceway since the Drive-In has been sold.

There was a stall with a lady selling off the remains of the stock of a sewing shop which has closed. It all looked very old and worse for wear, but I had fun fossicking through it all.

I thought about this purchase for ages, to see if it met the criteria, and in the end I decided that it did. I thought it met the criteria because it may as well have been someone's personal sewing supplies they were selling off - no-one was going to be re-ordering the stock to replace what I had bought so therefore I would not be adding to consumption/manufacturing. Ok, I spent waaaaay too long thinking about it, but that is the concise version of my decision. Feel free to disagree or ask for a wordier explanation, I just don't want to bore you with my internal dialogue.

I had been wanting some fabric dye for ages, but I didn't see how I could get some unless I happened to trip over some at an op shop. And I need some thin-ish elastic for making shoes since I still haven't found my previous supply in my study-clean-up. I had to hold back from getting more colours of dye, and just limiting myself to what I thought I probably could and would use this year. I abstained from purchasing cotton reels and lace and all sorts of other goodies. I didn't know I had such self-control.

Very pleased with my bargains. $5.50 all told.

More Scouting Pics

2008-02-07T12:16:00.001+11:00

I've got my MIL's pics now from Friday, so here are some better shots of the little man in his Scout uniform.

In this second one I am wearing the same scarf as him (our Group scarf) but in the pic below my "making of.." photos Andrew and I are wearing our Gilwell Scarves which are part of the award.

The old Cub hat is one Andrew found in a Scout hall somewhere.

Pity Post

2008-02-07T11:59:00.001+11:00

Nothing to do with the Challenge, but I'm having a Pity Party and you're all invited.

I had a tooth removed at the back of my mouth yesterday. It was a nightmare and I want to have a whinge.

One and a half hours of levering, pulling, drilling and fretting; nine injections, six x-rays, and 3 phone calls to surgeons to try and get someone who could cut it out (they'd all gone home already) and I'm left with one root of my tooth still inside my gum, held there by a side-lying, impacted wisdom tooth.

The dentist (lovely lady) told me that if she'd known it was going to be like this she would never have started, she would have sent me to a dental surgeon. Great. She told me half way through that she hadn't seen one this difficult in years, but by the end I think I may have won the prize for difficult extractions. Apparently I have really long narrow roots on my teeth. I guess that's good when you actually want the tooth to stay in place. Not so good when you want it out.

Surprisingly I have no pain now. My jaw has been put out and is sore from all the pulling and pushing, but that'll have to wait till next week for my osteo to put it back it.

Ok, whinge over. Thanks for listening.
Back to our usual programming...

A Scout is Thrifty

2008-02-01T11:04:00.000+11:00

This is one of the reasons I have been unable to quite finish my January Mini-Challenge.
It is quite appropriate that one of the Scout Laws is "A Scout is Thrifty". It fits well with the Consumption Challenge.

This is a uniform I made (finished this morning) for Elliot to wear tonight to Andrew and my Wood Badge presentations. The Wood Badge is the highest level of training for a Leader within a Group. It is quite an honour, and a fair bit of work.

Ever since I was pregnant I would insist that our baby would have their own mini-uniform to wear to our Wood Badge ceremony. Here it is...

This uniform looks as authentic as I could possily make it (without going way OTT). I hand-sewed the badges on this morning, and the buttons all have "Scouts Australia" on them since it's made from an official uniform. It looks just like my uniform and Andrew's uniform, except that we have name tags (Elliot has a woggle with his Scout name, "Womposs", instead), and he has a "Yes" badge to show off his epulettes, and Andrew and I have a few badges to show our other training (ie abseiling, first aid).

It is made entirely from an old adult uniform. This kahki uniform is going out, and a new navy one is being phased in, but Andrew and I are persisting in wearing the "real" uniform.

This is the uniform I refashioned into a mini-uniform. Ooop! I forgot to take a photo until I had already cut into the pants. LOL!

I cut the whole lot out using another size 0 shirt as the template, and a spotlight pants pattern I had sitting around idly. The scarf and woggle were made for Elliot over a year ago by a Scout mum, who also made him a jumpsuit, Scout-style. The badges were pilfered from the old uniform and from my Scout badge blanket.

I'm seriously happy with this. Action shots will be added after tonight's ceremony.

TA-DA! ---->

Sincerest apologies

2008-01-31T20:47:00.000+11:00

I must beg an extra 2 days to finish my January Mini-Challenge.

Life has gotten in the way, and some procrastination on an urgent craft project has taken all my spare moments. And my parents and in-laws are visiting tomorrow which will see me in stress-land for the day (not to mention the awards Andrew and I are receiving in the evening, which is currently only adding to the stress in my head).

I will post the results of my Mini-Challenge on Saturday, all things being equal.

Please be assured that the wait will be worth it!

Update, questions, and chocolate

2008-01-26T10:48:00.000+11:00

Mini-challenge:
I have finished the linen cupboard, and have started on the study. I have cleaned the study numerous times, but it will never stay clean until I get rid of enormous amounts of 'stuff'. So, I have decluttered my yarn, fabric, and sewing things. Probably got rid of about 35%.

Currently I am working on my Scouting stuff. I have stepped aside from my role as Andrew's assistant so now it's time to clear out all the stuff I no longer need. Lots of stuff can go to the Scout Hall or go to Andrew or be chucked. There will be very little which I will want or need to keep. Hooray!

After that I'll be starting on my light table. It's such a handy piece of furniture, but I keep using it to dump boxes of 'stuff' on.

And at some stage I may have the courage to tackle the desk.

I have 'before' shots, but lack the courage to post them just yet.

Consumption Challenge:
We are coming to the realisation that we will need to set a small budget for household-repair-type-spending. It simply isn't possible to purchase a second-hand plastic light fitting thingy, or a very specific lock gadget which we need to keep Elliot off the back steps. With a 30 year old house, repairs are inevitable and unavoidable.

Currently our bank balance is looking extraordinarily healthy which is such an encouragement. I think we may have our credit card paid off in record time at this rate.

I am discouraged by a number of things I was previously unaware of or able to ignore:
Like sour cream, which I buy lots of, has a recycle number '5'. In our area we can only do 1, 2
and 3. :( I hate it every time I chuck a container in the bin. I'll have to find some glass sour cream containers.
Like the amount of junk mail we get which is urging us to buy. I am not tempted by the catalogues, but it saddens me to think of all the spending we used to do just because. I will be putting up a 'no junk mail' sign on our letterbox.
Like advertising in general. It makes me sad to think of people buying stuff because they are told to. I left graphic design out as a career option because the same issue made me sad.
Like hearing that Chadstone (bl%*&y enormous shopping centre) just broke the record as being the first shopping centre in AUSTRALIA to top $1,000,000 (yes, that's one million dollars!!!) in sales in one year!!!!!! They're already talking about how to top it this year.

Questions:
I am able to find many sewing supplies (velcro/zippers/bias tape) in op shops, but what should I do about things I can't find and aren't reusable? Eg: fusible webbing/interfacing.

Where do things like toilet brushes and toothbrushes fit into the grand scheme of the Challenge? I can easily crochet up some dish cloths when we need more, but my skills are limited when it comes to making brushes. Buying new ones seems to go against the Challenge since they are poor quality, not recyclable, and have a very short lifespan. Any ideas?

Chocolate:
Have I mentioned that I'm doing the slave-free chocolate thing too? I can't justify my own pleasure causing children in another country hurt, lack of freedom, and worse. I am usually addicted to choc, but after reading some of Eilleen's posts I seem to have lost my infatuation with it. Still trying to find a fair trade choc which I like. I'm sure there's one out there.

Linen make-over

2008-01-20T20:34:00.000+11:00

The highly anticipated results of my 50% off challenge on my linen cupboard are in...

Drum roll, please...

I reckon I got to about 45%. Not bad, eh?

Now for the before and after pics...

This is the lower two shelves of my linen cupboard before my 50% challenge.

Fairly representative of the entire cupboard, but I didn't think to take pics until I had already started. D'oh!

Ta-da! Labels below each item. All neatly folded. All have a home. I've even got the sheets sorted according to bed-size! Wonders will never cease.
Lots of spare room for op-shop bargains!!! (And I now know what I need/don't need which is very handy).
Finally a home for the vacuum cleaner and its accessories. (It's been living in the laundry/study/middle of the hall...)
And there's even enough room for all of Elliot's sheets/blankets/towels. Now Elliot's shelves are full of cloth nappies and toys and books. Just like they should be.
A few items have been transferred to my sewing pile (fun 70's prints), a few are getting sent to the rag bin in Watsonia, but most is going right on to the op-shop. Hooray!

Not exactly reconstructed...

2008-01-13T07:39:00.000+11:00

...but made from scratch and costing exactly - nothing.

I made these shoes for Elliot on Friday night. I got the leather from our Cub Leader ages ago. The inside of the sole is made from cotton fleece (yk, like tracksuit material) which is scraps from a dragon hat I made for Andrew some 8 years ago. The elastic is actually cut up buttonhole elastic which I had left over from some longies I made a few months ago now. And the thick quilter's thread is left over from the days when I used to make heaps of teddy bears. So nothing was new, nothing cost anything, and it was all scraps put to a good use.

I was really surprised at how quick they were to sew up. The most time consuming parts were preparing the leather (hot wash and hot dryer to ensure they don't shrink after sewing) and looking frantically for the elastic (really do have to clean the study, LOL!) but the rest was done in a matter of minutes. I used my own pattern, but I drew inspiration from Stardust Shoes and the numerous sites which give instructions and free patterns on making cloth/leather shoes. Oh, and the $44 shoes I bought him for his 1st birthday.

Very happy. :)

NB: my walking foot is my new best friend, and the sole is the leather turned wrong way out to give grip.

January's mini-challenge - 50% off!

2008-01-09T20:47:00.000+11:00

In honour of the post-Christmas sales which I am not partaking in, and thanks to the inspiration provided by ColdCloth, I am doing a monthly mini-challenge in addition to the Consumption Challenge - "50% off". (I love Eilleen's idea of signing up to Refashionista, but that will need to wait just a little while).

I am calling this mini-challenge "50% off" because it is about culling our "stuff" by 50%. I am needing to declutter and just get rid of lots of stuff, so as I go through boxes, cupboards and drawers my goal is to donate/throw out a minimum of 50% of their contents.

I have already started: when Andrew brought me a suitcase and huge bag full of fabric he found in the shed, at least 60% of that went either to the op-shop pile or to the fabric recyclers.* The bonus was re-discovering some fabulous vintage linen prints and lots of fabric for fun clothes for Elliot.
* We discovered a place to recycle clothing/fabric which is beyond any useful life. I think they turn them into rags and things for industry such as polishing wheels.

Then I started on the linen cupboard where I have already decluttered 2 of 5 shelves. The towel shelf only sacrificed one item, but that will be balanced out by the 70% of things permanently removed from the next shelf I did, and the same is predicted for the other three shelves. Before/after photos to follow in a day or two.

The thing I am really not looking forward to in this mini-challenge is the study. I detest cleaning the study. YUK! I'll put it off until January 31, shall I?

As a side-note, I am hopping back on the FLYwagon with a sensible evening routine:
Put nappies on to wash, rinse out nappy buckets and return them to their spots.
15 minutes of dishes/cleaning kitchen.
Put out clothes for tomorrow.
Check tomorrow's calendar.
Hang out nappies.
Quick tidy of living room.
Brush teeth, go to bed at a decent hour.

Truth be told, that last one's gonna be the killer. We've been going to bed at 11 and 12 and I have earned the nickname of "Dinosaur Grumpy" as a result.

And tonight I am signing up for the Australian timezone emails. About time.

Op Shopping just got easier...

2008-01-08T06:35:00.001+11:00

... thanks to this blog.

How cool! A blog all about the op shops of Melbourne, and they even have a list you can download. The list is now a permanent feature of my handbag. We've already used the list a few times and found some treasures.

I wonder where the list will take us today?

Oh, the irony!

2008-01-05T14:59:00.000+11:00

Picture this...

Hot water installer: Hello, can I help you?
Me: Yes, my water-saving shower head doesn't seem to be drawing enough water to trigger our brand new instant hot water service to turn on. This morning I had to fill a bucket in the bath at the same time as having my shower just to get hot water in the shower.
HWI: Yes, that is a common issue. You will need to buy a non-water-saving shower head.
Me: Isn't that ironic, that in order to use an energy efficient hot water system we cannot use a water-saving shower head.
HWI: Fortunately the hot water system is already designed to save water.
Me: (to myself) Not sure how they figure that one.

So we will be taking the non-water-saving head from our ensuite which is currently under renovations (read: all the tiles fell in on me while I was having a shower) and I will be able to have a shower without wasting water in the bathtub. Hooray.

Last of the big spenders!

2008-01-04T19:36:00.000+11:00

Why is this the only pic I have of the op-shopping spree we went on? We also bought a vinyl of Phantom of the Opera, a lovely blue 100% wool vest for me, a zipper for a purse I'm making, some... well, I'm not sure what it is. It's either bookcloth (for repairing book spines) or, well I don't know.

And we bought this funky little basket. Elliot loves carting it around, but it's actually for me to take to the greengrocer, which I did yesterday.

I bought this lace at the new antique shop in town. The lady who runs it is super nice. Of course Andrew bought a wood plane. Of course.

This lace looks to be bobbin-lace, but machine made, not hand made. I have about 30+ cms of it, and I'm now on the lookout for the perfect vintage complimentary fabric to make a handbag with this as the trimming. I have a thing for paisley, if you didn't know.

My mum gave me all this fabric to sew up a storm. I'm loving it all, but I'm just not sure what to do with it. Most of it is corduroy. The big white bit is actually cream flannel, so that will undoubtedly go to making nappies.

She also gave me a huge amount of some mystery fabric and some towels to turn into wipes for Elliot.

Speaking of nappies - this is the last purchase I made last year before starting on the Consumption Challenge. They told me it would be posted today, but it arrived today. Speedy AP! It's too much cotton velour. Apple green, powder blue (purple tinge), and candy pink. Yum yum! The first project to be made with this is an apple green fitted nappy. Too cute. :)

Then I'll be working on some pads for me and a dolly for Elliot. My NC summer swap nappy got me excited about velour as a nappy fabric, and now I'm addicted.

The good, the bad, and the expensive.

2008-01-03T22:07:00.001+11:00

So far:
- spent $2000 on a new hot water system. :O
- modified Elliot's hat with hat elastic and bias binding I had in my sewing stash.
- started downsizing and reshaping my summer skirt.
- Andrew fixed my doc sandals!!!
- bought a fantastic haul of stuff from 6 op shops in one day - for $13! Pics to come soon.
- Andrew has been restoring his old wood planes. He wants me to write that if anyone's DH has planes they no longer need or want, get in touch for a swap, ok?
- I'm still fretting over not being able to buy MK wool this year. They have such pretty yarns previewing.
So far, so good.

The beginning.

2008-01-02T09:02:00.000+11:00

Today is the day I put my money where my mouth is, and begin this new adventure. I wrote about this once before, here.

So, beginnning something similar to Eileen's Consumption Rebellion, I ... I should really start using the plural here, because Andrew has stepped on board with trepidation... we, begin a year of not purchasing anything new (with exceptions). There is much more to it, (keep reading) but that is the crux of the matter.

I have been scouring Eileen's website and have come across this marvellous quote. It is so important to remember to do something rather than nothing, in so many areas of life.

The Plan:
- To purchase nothing new except food, and a few essentials (such as loo paper).Instead:- To use existing resources.
- To modify existing resources, including repairing it.
- To create the item from existing resources using our creative skills.
- To borrow for short-term use.
- To swap (my unnecessary item could be just what another person needs).

When a purchase is necessary: this list must be fully explored (no particular order, just all of it) before a purchase.
- To buy ethically (purchase of items made in Oz generally would include known minimum wages and conditions for the workers; purchase of items made o/s would require research into fairtrade practices, etc).
- To buy good quality (which leads to less waste as fewer replacements are needed).
- To buy eco-friendly and considerate of packaging waste (no, I'm not becoming a greenie, but it does make sense to recycle AND to purchase post-consumer recycled products such as SAFE loo paper).
- To buy reusable/multi-use items (in place of single-use/disposable/consumable items, eg good quality container can be often used instead of cling wrap or zip lock bags).
- To buy pre-loved (a second-hand item (op shop, freecycle, friend) creates no new waste).
- To buy because it is genuinely needed.

Other ideas:
- I've been pondering the idea of having our own chickens. Could be a plan. Rather educational for the E-man, and a guarantee of eggs laid by happy chooks.
- We need to continue giving away as much "stuff" as possible. This is for our own sanity, and to ensure others will also be able to have what they need without creating more waste.

My main hesitation so far is the knowledge that for the whole of 2008 I will have to forego the pleasure of purchasing wool from my favourite wool stores, mainly Monster Knits. I may have to stay away from Ozebaby and the Yarn Cafe entirely, and maybe even unsubscribe from their newsletters for the year to avoid the serious sadness of not even being able to consider purchasing their delicious yarns. :(

And so it begins. What do you think? Any other ideas?

Because this has been lifted from my other blog, here are the comments this post has received so far:

kiwwidane wrote:
Jan. 2nd, 2008 08:23 am (local)
We'll help - am more than happy to help gobble up some of your chickens' freshly laid eggs. I used to get some from a playgroup mum and am missing the bright yellow yolks and intnse flavour dearly!Your plan is both ambitious and inspiring - good luck!

I wrote:
Jan. 2nd, 2008 10:44 am (local)
Thanks. Yes, I'm looking forward to both the taste of yummy home-grown eggs, and to not having to pay those really high prices for free-range eggs. You'll be first on our 'oversupply' list. :) And there always does seem to be an oversupply where home-grown eggs are concerned, yeah?

(Anonymous) wrote:
Jan. 2nd, 2008 11:47 am (local)
A great plan!!
That is a great plan T!Actually you're criteria for buying is a plan for life.I have to say, the hardest part of this challenge is your mindset. The fact that both you and your husband has decided to do it will be a great bonus. You can support each other and be strong.That quote is great, isn't it?! All the best!
Eilleen

And I would like to say:
Thanks Eilleen. You've really started something here, eh?

New Blog.

2008-01-02T05:33:00.000+11:00

I felt my other blog was getting way too OT. It was set up for showing off DS, Elliot, to the relatives. This is for me to natter about craft, cloth nappies, and the 'consumption challenge'.