Sydney

Chicky Babe and I are off on our long weekend in Sydney tomorrow. As usual I am in a dilemma about what to pack. I will no doubt pack too much... I supose layers are what I'll need. The three quarter sleeves I've pulled out of the bottom of the clean clothes pile in the back of my wardrobe are far too hot to wear here with our high 30's temperatures. I am looking forward to a cool change!

The dress is done,

Complete with a little hat for the light on the top of the TARDIS. The first photo is without a flash and is nice and soft focus, the second has a clear shot of the embroidery on the ribbon around the waist.

We are having a double birthday party, Chicky Babe is 19! and Lauren (Bantam Boy's girlfriend) is 20. Now I have to run and buy 2 birthday cakes! I hate having to do it but my oven is on the blink again. Yesterday when I tried to cook dinner it just wasn't heating up. Luckily the kids don't mind sausages in buns for the party plus a few pizzas from the local pizza place. An easy party after all. Plus all the kids are scurrying about doing big tidy ups. Chicky Babe wants to learn how to use the lawn mower too!

Tardis Dress

I used to make A LOT of dress ups when my kids were little. When they were really little I made them dinosaur costumes (hoodies with tails and spikes) they were the envy of all other children in the Kalgoorlie supermarket back in 1994!  Bantam Boy rarely wore ordinary clothing. His wardrobe consisted of a superman suit, a Hercules outfit, a pirate coat of red velvet and a magician's cape. Then both he and Chicky Babe joined a drama group and I made many costumes for their productions. Also school dress up days were a highlight and I was directed to make more and more challenging costumes, the kids never once believed I would be unable to create what they wanted. To tell the truth I think I actually thrived on the challenge and enjoyed perpetuating their belief that I could do anything. Ahhhh... the delight of being 'super mum' in the eyes of your little ones.

I actually thought I wouldn't be called upon so much now that they are all but grown up. But recently I have been required to make a Darlek dress and now I have to make a TARDIS dress for Chicky Babe's upcoming birthday party. I'm having a little break while I prepare dinner and create a quick blog post.

I started by tracing off a pattern and adjusting the neckline- a TARDIS needs a square neckline not a round one. I also drew off a pattern for a facing for the new neckline as a facing will be easier for a square neckline than the bias binding edge suggested in the pattern itself.

I've used felt to create the windows and hand stitched some ribbon around the edges, the door panels are suggested using the same hand stitched ribbon. I used a felt template to figure out the placement of the ribbon for the door panels on the front of the dress.

 I'm stitching these down before sewing the dress together as it is easier to do this flat without having to worry about the back of the dress.

Fortunately the dress is a "homage" to the TARDIS rather than a replica of one. I'm still trying to figure out what I might do to create the 'light' on the top as a little pillbox hat. 

I was supposed to have finished the dress this weekend as the party is next weekend, but I had a slow day yesterday and took a while to get started today so I'd best get back to it!

Picasso and Potter

 

This is a post about more travel plans, and as I don't have photos that relate directly to it I've posted some of my favourite ones that I took while I was in Venice...any excuse to look at them again!

When I was planning my recent trip to Europe visiting the Picasso Museum in Paris was high on my list but unfortunately it was closed for renovation. Then I learned that an exhibition of his works would be coming to Australia- Sydney though not Perth. I hummed and haaed wondering if I should or not and finally last night- after checking with my boss if it was OK to take some of the remainder of my long service leave- I booked tickets for me and my Chicky babe to have a long weekend in Sydney in a couple of weeks.
 I've booked to stay in a hotel in the Rocks- Chicky Babe's choice of a few hotels we'd shortlisted. We arrive very late on a Wednesday night and I've booked tickets to see the Harry Potter exhibition on Thursday and the Picasso exhibition on Friday then as an extra special treat for her birthday I booked tickets for "Love Never Dies" Chicky Babe loves musicals and Phantom of the Opera is one of her favourites. Then we flay back on Sunday ready for Uni on Monday. Short, sweet and lots of fun.
Apparently there is a market on saturday and sunday just near our hotel...Fantastic! And a rooftop pool with a lovely view ready for some relaxing and reading and floating! I fancy a visit to the Botanical Gardens and this time Chicky Babe has said she'd be happy to have a bit of a wander about there herself (Reminding me that last time we went she was 10- last time we didn't get to do some of the things on my list as the zoo and the aquarium won out!)

I'm looking forward to sharing this time traveling with my girl.

And my littlest chick is working her way further out on the nest branch and testing her wings...

Chicky Babe doesn't have her licence yet but she has recently got a proof of age card (almost 12 months since she turned 18) and she's off with some girlfriends to a fancy club. She has just left in a little black dress and a face full of makeup ( it wasn't a lot of make up but as she never wears it, it looks like a lot.) She is a beautiful young woman but she's still my baby girl.

ahh! Almost organised,

And just as well because school starts again next week. Chicky Babe finally has her new double sized loft bed and all her stuff (well almost all) is now back in her room, Tim has put together a new shed so that Bek and Lauren can put their boxes into it so they are no longer taking up all the room in the patio. Mind you it is so unbearably hot outside- rather like walking into an oven at the moment. with overnight minimums sitting at about 24-26 *C. This is set to continue for at least the next week. Thank goodness for my christmas treat to myself. I had an air conditioner installed in my bedroom.

The girls rallied together with me this morning and we attacked the house, vacuuming and mopping and sorting a heap of stuff back to where it belongs. We have a clear table, quite a novelty around here! (Although I could have ironed the table cloth!)

Thanks girls.

When I moved into this house I bought two Ikea couches, they have begun to sag and the seats seem to droop and they had become very uncomfortable - and causing me a lot of pain as I have a disc bulge in my lower back, not nice. So I took a set of seat cushions into the foam shop and have had new ones made up. It's like a new lounge! (Although Tim is not happy because he can no longer slouch and sloth on the couch -like a teenaged boy! but I think it will be better for our posture and therefore my back pain.)

Now I have a lovely space to sit and enjoy my last few days of holidays and finish off a project or two and maybe a little more lesson prep before term starts next week. Maybe I could make propper slip covers for the window box seats this week so they don't droop out at the bottom as the one on the left is.

I never finish anythi...

I saw a cross stitch doing the rounds on pinterest yesterday and it made me giggle. 

It was exactly what I had been thinking about. I had made a pact with myself to finish off a crocheted rug I started some time ago before beginning another project I suppose given the time of year you could be forgiven for thinking it is a new years resolution but I don't do new years resolutions. For me they just seem to put me under pressure and when I get to the end of the year and I haven't managed to keep them I feel a sense of disappointment in myself and a feeling of wasting another year. So I prefer to set myself goals or challenges throughout the year.

I know it sounds pretty crazy as they are almost the same thing but to me it feels different than getting caught up in the beginning of the year expectation.

So it just happened that on new years day I set myself the goal of completing this rug with the proviso that I was not to start anything else before finishing it. 

I have to say it was pretty tough, my mind yearned for a new project. I had to stop one evening (at about 3am) after crocheting for hours and hours from when I woke that morning till going to bed because I developed pains in my fingers. (I wonder why I don't manage to drum up such dedication for house work or a fitness regime???)

The up side was that there has been a few days of uncomfortable heat here on the west coast- our summers can be very unpleasant with little relief in the evenings, so I sat under the air con and watched some DVD's while I worked.

Now it isn't technically finished but it is oh so close. I just need to weave in the dreaded hundreds of threads and make a few circular motifs to stitch on top of the stripes. At least now the balls of yarn that had been escaping and rolling about the lounge room are contained. 

Another half finished project that has been crying out to be completed has been my craft case. I have an old vintage case that I have used to stash in all my crafty stuff. In the lid I created an insert that has elastic to keep stray odds and ends at easy reach (Unfortunately a bit to easy as they tend to get "borrowed" and not returned.) I had made it out of plain cardboard and meant to cover it with fabric and glue it in place inside the lid oh...last Christmas I believe it was.

Today I finished it off and it is perfect! The cardboard insert not only looks pretty it doesn't drop out everytime you open the lid of the case any more.

Perhaps I will have to hide the case so only I know where it is!