At the Fair 2011

Here is a picture heavy post of my most of my things, in their places at the craft fair ready to be sold.

You can also find me linking here.

Ready for the fair - Will you sell?

Everything that I am going to get done is done, and everything is ready to head off to to be sold at the craft fair that is happening next week. As always it has meant some late nights over the last couple of nights but I am happy with what is going, (as a test run to see if anyone would be interested in buying the things that I make) but I would have loved a couple more wraps to go, but hey that's the way it goes, I can't do anymore. Too tired.

Sophie is 4

Tuesday was the day when Sophie turned 4.

I am still blown away by the fact that my cheeky, funny, 'swirly wirly'(curls) haired little girl has turned 4 and also a little sad that my baby most certainly is not a baby any more at all.

She awoke to a lounge room with a pile of presents all wrapped up except for 1 super special present that we only decided to get her 2 days before and that was a little pink bike. She has been flying around on her trike so fast for ages now trying to keep up with Liv and her little legs would pump up and down so fast and her knees nearly hit the handle bars of the trike so we bit the bullet. She loves it, and has been riding it around the lounge and up and down the corridor as it hasn't been outside yet to get dirty wheels. She needs a helmet before she can ride outside too, I think a trip to the shops to get that tomorrow is the order of the day.

Zoe, her little friend came to play in the morning, which when I told Soph was going to happen she jumped up and down with joy at, and we had dinner over at Nanny and Poppy's with all the other cousins and Aunts and Uncles that live here. Sophie had a blast. She got some lovely presents and as you can see from the pictures had a lovely day all up.

More partying to come as I promised a party with her pre-school friends which is happening on Saturday.

I love you so much Sophie Smophie, you are a delight yet a headstrong little girl who is clingy to mummy but loves to climb and swim and play on swings. You are attracted to water, puddles, like I have never seen before and you recently have discovered snails, you love looking at them as they go for their 'walks' and you pick them up and help them along their way. Your laugh is infectious and you love to cuddle and be tickled. You ignore mummy a lot and she thought you were deaf this year as I have to say things 3 times to you before you answer, but no perfect hearing, you little monster. I love you Sophie.

YWIE

Wednesday night was our annual Young Women in Excellence, which is an evening at the end of the year where the girls and their leaders show and share with each other and their parents the projects that they have worked on this year and how they feeling and thinking about things, and as promised I had completed the required bunting and tablecloths for our Garden party / High Tea. 

The bunting is in 2 sections and I used the 8 colours of the Young Women values. The colours represent;

• Faith - white
• Divine Nature - blue
• Individual Worth - red
• Knowledge - green
• Choice and Accountability - orange
• Good Works - yellow
• Integrity - purple
• Virtue - gold

The fabrics were all from Spotlight and I believe not any specific designer, though I may be wrong and for that I apologise. Picture me trying to carry 8 bolts of fabric and deal with Sophie and trying to make sure that the colours all worked together and people staring etc. In the end after making a decision on the blue, green, purple and white I dumped all of those with Sophie in a corner and let her entertain herself with the apps on my phone whilst I chose the others.

The red I loved the name of - Chinese Red and doesn't it just conjure images of opulence and royalty and festivities and dragons etc. The gold has a lovely pattern on it and the yellow is a light seersucker. The orange is a floral which was more of a red base than yellow based colour so blended well. I love the colours. The young women cut the fabrics all out using pinking shears so no fraying to deal with and I sewed them all together by lying them on a strip of bias binding, folded it over and one long stitch from end to end secures everything.

The green fabric is just lovely, it is a really light cotton with dobby white spots in it. I would love a kaftan or loose blouse in this for summer. The blue was where I started with a lovely spring floral, white just a cotton  and to end a light purple gingham check. I thought they were a bit vintage but fitted the garden party theme. 

Sadly the weather had been very Spring like and that means hot, humid, storms, and rain. So after three consecutive days of such weather we decided to bite the bullet and the garden party/high tea had to come inside. 

We needed to seat about 17 people so the food was all popped on one table, another table with things that the young women had worked on during the year and then seats all around so that we could listen to the girls tell us of their experiences during the year and watch a lovely dvd that Becky put together from pictures of all our activities through the year together. Songs were sung, Caitlin played a beautiful piece of Chopin that she had performed for her HSC (year 12 music exam) and experiences and feelings shared. 

It was a lovely evening, with delicious supper afterwards and chatting with friends.

I am unsure why I took a picture of the table lopsided - sorry, so tilt your head to either side to 45 degrees and it should look ok. Punch, scones, whipped cream, jam, lemon slice, crudites and dip, fruit platters and many more delicious things were popped on this floral table cloth. Yum.

Sadly we had to say bye, but thankfully just for a couple of months, to Taylor as she jets off to stay with family in Salt Lake for the holidays. We will miss you heaps Taylor and your wonderful positive attitude. 

If you would like to know more about young women and the values that they try to live by and the theme that they hold dear, go here.

Fine-a-lee

When I am getting some attitude from Miss Olivia or she is being rather rude generally to Sophie, Olivia will say finally, but there is so much space between the syllables it may as well be fine-a-lee. Of course this attitude is if she is having to wait for something and it has not had the immediate attention that she feels her request deserves. Naturally mummy, me, does not like this attitude at all but especially at age 8, and she gets told that it is not necessary or appropriate to speak so rudely. 

The reason that I am telling you this is because yes it is true, Edward Elephant is finished. FINE-A-LEE!

Here he is in all his cord/checky glory and he is rather fine if I do say so myself and yes, ready to be sold. 

Next on the agenda? well for Young Womens we are doing Young Women in Excellance next week and the theme of it all is High Tea/Garden Party. So tonight we are sewing tablecloths and bunting galore. The bunting will go above the tables - one string for over the food table and another above the table displaying all the things the girls have been working on all year. Pictures will be taken on the night.

Once these are finished then there are more wraps/blankets to be made, a few bibs and if I get time another snow mum pillow. We shall see what happens.

I knew this would happen

Earlier in the year I thought that perhaps I would make some wraps, balls, elephants and bibs to perhaps try and sell in an etsy shop or something and I had the end of November as a cut off date to get it all done. November is rapidly approaching and I haven't completed half of what I wanted to complete. I need to get a move on don't I? plus Sophie's birthday and promised party is around 15th November which will distract me for a few days too. I knew it would happen. I knew I would leave things to the last minute and then have some late nights. Serves me right for not plodding along at a steady pace.

Other fabulous news is that I was given this fantastic material as a gift. What a lucky girl I am. They are all cotton interlock/knit material which I love to use as a backing for flannel or minkie for wraps. I really like the warm soft side and then having a more light weight summer side to them. My favourite is the little birds one. It is an incredibly soft knit material and I know Olivia was looking at it. I think she will have to miss out this time. Which is your favourite?

I made a blanket/wrap earlier in the year for my nephew Noah, which I blogged about here and Jemma (my sister) used it in his bed over the summer when heavier bedding was no longer required, and in his pram. They do live in England so a warmish blanket/wrap is still required at night there at times, even in summer time.

I can not wait to get to these gorgeous materials and make them up. 

It is craft night tonight and come hell or high water Edward elephant is getting finished. He has been hanging around unfinished for too long now and I want it done. Then I have 3 elephants ready to be sold. Gosh I hope they sell, fingers crossed.

Is it true? Yes, Olivia is 8!

As promised here are some pictures of the big day which was Saturday 22nd October. Olivia opened her presents and then had her usual jazz class in the morning and then her party in the afternoon. We invited 7 school friends to go ice skating and then come back to our house for party games and food/cake. She had so much fun. It was noisy, full of laughter and girls screaming, dancing, playing musical statues, pass the parcel and eating and drinking tonnes. In other words lots of fun. 

Enjoy some of the pictures.

How did this happen already? I am still in shock that my beautiful, sensitive, crafty, freckled girl has turned 8. Time seems to have flown by, and I know that we can't stand still, but surely it can slow just a little more. Before my very eyes she is growing and developing into an incredible person of whom I am so proud, and I am not quite ready for her to be all grown up. I know it is my issue, but really where did my oh so long awaited little girl go? It honestly seems like yesterday I was on my way to the Mater hospital in Nth Sydney to finally deliver and meet her.

Happy Birthday my beautiful Olivia. I am so lucky to be your mummy.

Party Preparations

It has been party preparation central here this past week. Everyday it seemed that my to do list would have a few things removed from it but would have that many, plus a few more added on to it. Food to be bought, presents bought and wrapped, decorations bought as the planned making of bunting and tablecloth just did not eventuate, party bags made, stuff for party bags and presents for pass the parcel etc bought, ice skating picture laminated for game, plus the usual stuff like dinners, school runs, Youth night on Wed, cuddles with Sophie, washing etc etc.

I have to be honest here in that dinners, washing of clothes, tidying up bedrooms, writing blog posts, all kind of went by the wayside and I am still catching up.

In addition to this I added having my hair cut and coloured one morning and having a YW presidency mtg the next. Talk about busy.

So I thought I would share a few pictures of the preparations, including helium balloon purchases on Saturday morning after dancing classes and the table/party area looking good.

Next was the cake. I bought a packet chocolate cake mix for the left ring and the right one is our favourite choc chip cake that I made.

Light covering of choc icing

Then I sewed these party bags from my collection of cottons that I had on hand. The bags are lined with the material that is at the top of the bag so are great to keep and pop little treasures in. This did take quite a bit of time but by the end I could do a bag from start to finish in about 20 mins when on a roll. I just bought some cream satin ribbon to use on all of them as the handle. I am not a huge fan of bags full of sweets going home so we filled them with rubbers, pencils, sharpeners and a little pencil case with a couple of freddo frogs thrown in. I hope the girls like them. Olivia loved them and was very proud to hand them out at the end of the party and that is the most important thing of all.

Party bags

Filled with loot to take home

Sewing and Farewells

So very sadly the time for Madi to leave our little Young Women's group and return with her family to the US had come and so we as leaders and the other girls organised a farewell party for her the day before she flew out of Australia. Emotions were high but we were determined to have fun together as a group before the sadness was too much to bare. 

Miss Madi, the guest of honour, loves cup cakes, so the theme of the party was naturally all things that Madi liked so I made a pin the cherry on the cup cake blindfold game, other games we played were pass the parcel, cup cake memory game and questionnaire about things Madi loves.

As one of the going away presents I had an adorable printed koala pattern that just had to be sewn together and stuffed, that I bought earlier in the year from an Australian fabric designer called Saffron Craig. You can find all things Saffron Craig here. We thought it would be nice for everyone to sign the koala as a keepsake from us in Australia.

Madi and her koala

Sadly the evening came to a close, group shots were taken and goodbyes had to be said. 

We will miss you Madi and your beautiful sweet spirit that you brought to everything we did.  Hopefully we will see you again really soon.

M.I.A.

Yes I have been Missing in Action on here atleast, but it seems that I have been super busy in real life. 

There has been lots of sewing, birthday party to organise, we have had school holidays which doesn't always alow quiet time to sit and write and lots of Young Womens stuff going on too.

I PROMISE that I will post more next week, pictures have been taken of the sewing that has been done, as I type now a big girls birthday cake is cooking in the oven, I must say smelling fantastic and very chocolatey. Rather than buying lolly bags I have made drawstring bags for each of the guests to take home filled with loot. I must admit something here, they are not finished yet and the party is tomorrow so that I where I am taking myself off to now, my sewing corner, to whip another one up before little girls and their stories of pre school mini olympics and being the birthday girl in Yr 2 and handing out cup cakes to everyone all come tumbling back home. Naturally mummy is happy to stop all and listen.

So do not worry, multiple posts, which will be picture heavy, of party preparations and the actual thing and other stuff will be up here early next week.