school's back!

Wishing Lucia has a fabulous day! When I said goodbye to her she was already signing herself up to tee ball with her girlfriends! Eva cried saying goodbye to her big sister best friend - it's going to be quiet here till Eva starts school on Thursday!



Love you Lulu!

making

Seriously cute baby things for a little girl yet to be born. This was fun, I love sewing baby stuff.

I used a scallop stitch on the back yoke for something different and I love how pretty it turned out. I don't use many of the 'novelty' stitches on my machine - I kind of forget they are there. I lined the bloomers with a beautiful soft gauzy cotton, they are so balloony and puffy, SO cute!!



And a sweet pair of lounge pants for a sweet girlfriend.
I was meant to give these to her before she left for OS last Friday but, I guess I will have to post them to her as I was just a tad late in finishing them off...

swapperoo

I was pretty excited to read about Vic's mixtape swap. I know as soon as uni starts I won't have the nerve to sign up to swap deadlines I may not be able to meet so this might be my last one till the end of the year!



Here's the playlist. A very chilled set of tunes. It was super hard to come up with a 'theme' to the disc. With so many songs in my library I just didn't know where to start. After reading the blog of one of my swapee's who was having trouble getting her baby to sleep, I took that opportunity to create a relaxed music disc, which I hope is appreciated by all.



I also sent one to my bestie - Sjaan, check your letter box!!

making

Another Tiny Pocket Tank from Grainline Studio (you will need to Google it because blogger is being an arse right now)
My first one is here. It is my favourite top ever. It is the perfect shape for me, it's modern, it's workable with so many different fabrics, it's cheap, it's just awesome! I am planning more. Some that are more formal, in silk and chiffon, I am going to go tiny pocket tank crazy!! Lucia took this photo - she is pretty good. She was cross when I wouldn't smile - it's dorky enough having your photo taken for the sake of a shirt, I just didn't know what expression was the right one...



Bakery treats...Lucia and Eva played for about 2 hours with playdoh and cookie cutters!






Poached peaches. I used a simple sugar syrup (2 parts water 1 part sugar - simmer for about 10 minutes) but try adding a cinnamon stick or rose water - yum!

Lucia and Eva were naturally dubious of 'cooked' peaches, as they are dubious of most food but after some gentle prodding, they scoffed them down. It's a great way to use up peaches that have been languishing in the fruit bowl too long or when you see crazy cheap peaches and cannot let a bargain go by (that's me in a nutshell!)



I eat mine with muesli and Greek yogurt. Delicious!

walking with dinosaurs

If you have kids who are into dinosaurs (and you live in Sydney!) then you must get along to the Australian Museum to see a live dinosaur show!

Winny is a gorgeous 3 year old Australian dinosaur and the 15 minute show is a fantastically real and exciting experience for kids and adults. Lucia (totally got that Winny had a human inside but was nonetheless enthralled) and Eva were captivated by the 'realness' of Winny and the fun presentation of figuring out whether your dinosaur is healthy or not (the usual checking poo and snot - Lucia was in heaven!), what dinosaurs eat, where they live etc. For $5 plus admission price it is an excellent school holiday day out!



My kids are lunatics! Eva just screams at the camera and Lucia does her best "What you talking about girlfriend" pose...seriously!



She's a handful of cuteness!

new year = new skirt?

Ever since I made this top for Lucia I have been wanting a vibrant red skirt to go with it.



The fabric is some poly cotton mix which isn't great BUT it's all I had on hand and after chucking out 3 bags of fabric after Christmas it felt a little wrong to go and BUY some more. I am not sure how this fabric came to be in my possession but it certainly feels like the red skirt was meant to be.



I remember first finding American quilting fabrics and falling in love with the colours and patterns and just sewing everything for the girls in this kaleidoscope of fabrics which of course meant that nothing matched and much was left unworn... an important and expensive lesson I have learned is buying fabric to match what is already in their wardrobe or buying a variety of fabrics that co-ordinate so things will go together.



Stretch fabric from Crafty Mams
Patterns from Ottobre

Happy New year

Me and my girls would like to wish you a very happy new year.



And I bet Andrew does too in his own special way!

It was a HECTIC year. I started to lose it a bit towards the end there, I was very happy for the reprieve and now for the chance to evaluate the past and make sure I am not heading down the road to crazy too often this time around.

I scored a distinction in my anatomy and physiology exam...80%...thank you very much! So chuffed, I kept re-reading and I asked Lucia to read it back to me because I was SO worried about that one and I just couldn't believe that I did so well. Time for you all to start calling me Nursy - ok, no, Sophie is fine actually.

No resolutions of such for me, I feel a little like PMM, when you don't live up to your own standards it can make you feel crapola, so I am sticking to just trying to manage my time better (a perennial favourite for me) and make sure I look after my mental health (another favourite).

Thank you for your love, care, energy, time, compassion, inspiration, knowledge, wisdom. I adore this place, I adore you.

Christmas time

Siena left my camera at Andrew's aunties house - Grrr! I am lost without it. Do you know that twice there were opportunities for someone to drop it off but both times it was forgotten! So I decided to take photos with my Galaxy and try to jazz them up using the pixlr-o-matic app.






I am not so sure of the jazzing up bit...the grainy texture and garish light is a bit much huh? It's so hard to take a decent photo from a phone. Grr!!



Anyway, photos at David Jones were fabulous - the girls were SO well behaved. I can expect that from Lucia being that bit older (7) but Eva is usually completely mental in shopping centres, but today she laid on the floor right near Santa and just stared at him until it was our turn. Unfortunately she asked for a huge jumping castle AND a tree house for Christmas, neither of which she is getting. I was giving Santa the old 'eye' hoping he would say something useful like a tree house wouldn't even fit on the sleigh but alas, no, instead he said that sounded like a terrific present. Thanks a bunch Santa!



The girl's dresses were made by me. Very easy pattern, beautiful soft gauzy fabric from Spotlight for only $5 p/m! Vintage lace trim from here, took the dresses from pretty to special. Leggings from Cotton On.

Update on my dad: He is feeling really well. He has recovered so quickly from his surgery. He lost 10kgs in hospital though, so much skinnier than what I am used to. Chemo starts in January, so until then he is eating well and resting up to make himself as healthy as possible for that time.

from sadness comes...

TOGETHERNESS

The news of my dad's illness bought my biggest sister down from Queensland with her boy Jesse. It was fantastic for all the cousins to play and especially for Jesse to get to know his extended family that he hadn't met properly before. Sydney blessed us with a perfect day for playing and barbequing.



Eva certainly was happy for a new faces, new energy, new experiences. She thought my sister Stefanie was awesome and followed poor little Jesse everywhere, fussing over all his needs. It's so important to nurture those relationships outside of the immediate family. I feel really privileged that my kids have supportive, caring aunts and uncles who love them and care for them so deeply.

BIRTHDAYS



My littlest imp Eva turned 5 today! What an amazing milestone for this little girl who fought so hard to stay with us. She is so feisty, bold and outspoken. I can hardly believe the personality that bursts forth from such a little body!



Look how young they all are! Oh my, the years have just flown by. Eva has had her healthiest year ever with exactly zero hospital visits this year! Hello Health, we heart you!!

THANKFULNESS



For all the comments, emails, visits and chats I have had via this blog and my community. Thank you for saying something, for taking the time to let me know that you care. I could not ever let you know how much I appreciate it.

There is no title that sums it up

My dad has cancer. Advanced colon cancer that has spread at least to his liver but we don't yet know the full extent.

my mother died of breast cancer on the 1st July 1998.

Cancer is a fucking bastard.