floating world

rays of sunshine

It has been wet here. Seriously wet. It rained almost non-stop for 5 days. And not light, pitter-patter rain. This was apocalyptic, roof shaking, soaked-in-a-second rain. And in the brief moments that the rain stopped it was so hot and humid that all my 3M sticky hooks fell off the wall, sending posters crashing everywhere. It feels steamy and tropical, and mushrooms are popping up everywhere.

Wet weather, a toddler and living in a small space is a sure recipe for crankiness but, to try and fight off cabin fever and insanity, I've been focusing on the good things I can do despite the rain.

Knitting

My copy of Whimsical Little Knits arrived (Ysolda was donating 80% of profits to Haiti, so it was a good reason to buy patterns I'd been eyeing for a while) and, inspired by Kate and Sooz I cast on an Ishbel straight away. This was not on my list of things to make, but it's using yarn I've had stashed forever* so it seemed meant to be. 

Reading

I was vaguely aware of Dumbo Feather for ages (I think my brother told me about it) but only bought my first copy last week at the MCA. It's fantastic! Such a great idea - each issue profiles 5 inspiring people. And that's it. No ads, no stuff for sale. Just beautiful photography and layout and inspiration. One of the people featured in this issue is the very stylish Pia Jane Bijkerk - I've enjoyed her blog for ages - and the others are equally fascinating. I've already picked out a couple of back issues I want to order.

And I've also been reading The Girl Who Played With Fire, which is perfect for nap times in raining days.

Fixing

 

This is probably the least exciting picture that's ever been on the blog, but it is totally exciting to me because we! now! have! a! shelf! in! the! laundry!!!

I bought the shelf and hook thing from Ikea about a year ago, and they've been sitting under the stairs ever since. But when Ali was napping on Saturday we finally took the dryer off the wall, drilled holes for the shelf, decided we might as well paint the room while everything was chaos anyway, and then put the dryer back and the shelf and hook rack up. Now the washing powder is safely out of reach of Ali, and the cupboard under the sink can be used for buckets which were previously lurking in the sink. And the lingerie bags and broom can hang up out of the way. This makes me very happy. (I'm now on the hunt for a pretty laundry powder tin.)

Cooking

We had friends over for lunch on Sunday and it was too wet to barbeque so I made Gin and Tonic drunken chicken with iceberg, mint & cucumber salad, Toasted Grains with Labne and a ridiculous peach meringue cake (all from the latest Gourmet Traveller). They were all really good. I tend to avoid recipes with lots of steps and ingredients, thinking they'll be complicated but sometimes it really is worth making a bit more effort. All the recipes made a mammoth amount, which meant we had lots of high quality left overs, perfect for snacking and packed lunches. 

And today the rain has finally stopped so I can finally head outside, get on top of the mountain of washing and stick my pictures up again.

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* The yarn is a super soft baby alpaca that I bought while I was pregnant with Ali, thinking I'd make him something out of it. I am so glad I didn't. He was a very sicky baby and clothes lasted 1 hour max before getting milk all over them. And handwashing isn't really a priority when you have a newborn. He had jumpers (like this one!) that he grew out of while they were in the to-be-handwashed pile. So this yarn has been hanging around for almost 3 years waiting for the right project, and I'm pretty sure the Ishbel is it.

*

take your time

On Tuesday Ali and I went for a little excursion together. We caught the bus to Circular Quay and went to the MCA to see the Olafur Eliasson exhibition, Take Your Time. It was the perfect kind of art for a toddler: our favourite piece was "The cubic structural evolution project": three tons of white lego bricks spread around a table, ready to play with. Another was a big white almost-circular wall that cycled through the colour spectrum. Ali lay on the floor in the middle and called out the colours as they changed.

There was also a tunnel of shiny reflective triangles, a dark tunnel that lead to a waterfall, and a spikey astroid thing that worked like a kaleidescope... lots of beautiful experiments with light and space. (Photos of the exhibition are from the MCA website).

Then we walked up towards Town Hall and had a potter in Kinokuniya. I love browsing through their stationery and craft books, it's almost like being back in Tokyo. The craft section was much bigger and better organised than last time I visited,  and they are having a craft promotion during February - including 20% off craft books and a Kino Craft Fair on the 27th. Then we stopped in next door at Ichi Ban Boshi for delicious gyoza and gyudon before catching the bus home again. It is so special to be able to spend time with my little one, to see new things and talk about them together. I feel very lucky to be working part-time, so we can enjoy these places on week days when they're not so crowded and we can take our time.

apple picking

Lots of room to run around + apples to pick = very happy toddler.

We went to Pine Crest Orchards in Bilpin on the weekend. I think we will be eating lots of apple pie and crumble in the next few weeks.

small changes

Even though it's almost the end of January, I still have that beginning-of-the-year feeling. I've been doing sorting, throwing out, and fixing little things that annoy me. Sometimes the smallest things make a massive difference, and then I wonder why I didn't do them years ago.

I bought a file step from Kikki K for the desk in the study, so now instead of having plastic folders sitting around with bills and things in them I have nice logical folders: "to pay", "to file", "pending", "tax" etc. - much tidier, and prettier to look at too.

At the end of last year M brought home a photo mobile from the MCA store. This week I finally chose photos and had them printed them out at half size. I stuck them together - some with photos on both sides and some with origami paper - rounded the corners, and hung them up above my desk. Both the photos and the paper are from Tokyo, so it's a nice reminder of our time in Japan.

Buying a new teapot is another thing I wish I had done ages ago. I passively disliked our old teapot for about 5 years - it was given to me, and I couldn't justify replacing it because it was perfectly functional. But then I bought a new paprika Dibbern one with some Christmas money from my grandmother (she is a big tea drinker so I thought it was a fitting gift). I love using it so much, I can't believe that I hung on to the old one for so long.

long weekend

It's Australia Day on Tuesday, so we're making a long weekend of it and heading to the beach. See you next week!

gingham top

I sewed this top before Christmas but never got around to posting. It's from Simplicity 2593, which I've had my eye on since I saw it over at Angry Chicken. I did View C with twists around the arms, but I have some striped linen which is destined to be the twisted-neck version.

This fit is roomy - I measured between two sizes and went for the smaller one, but it's still quite generous and a bit gapey under the arms - to the point that I like to wear it with a singlet underneath. But it's nice and cool for summer, looks smarter than a t-shirt, and fits in well with my mummy-duty summer uniform of shorts / denim skirt + top.

finishing

When I first started reading blogs people would write about their "stash" and it seemed so exotic. Up til then I had only ever bought fabric for a specific project, used it, and thrown out the scraps. Luckily for me I was living in Japan at the time, which is the home of cheap and adorable fabric, and so it didn't take long for me to accumulate a cupboard full. If I saw fabric I liked I'd buy half a metre or so, just so it was on hand when I decided what to use it for. And then there were the fabrics I bought with a specific project in mind but never got around to sewing. And then I started knitting, and stockpiling yarn as well... not much, but enough to fill a drawer. The thing is, now that I have a stash of supplies I have realised that I don't really like it - I hate clutter, and having unused things hanging around makes me feel vaguely guilty. For the past few years when writing out new year goals I have put something vague like "Finish unfinished projects / use materials I already have / don't buy new materials unless it's for a specific project and going to be used immediately". Which obviously doesn't work, because the pile of unfinished projects and stash of unused fabric and wool isn't getting any smaller.

So this year I tried something different. I wrote out a specific list divided into three headings: half finished projects, things which I would like to make and already have the materials for, and things that I would like to make but don't have the materials for yet. Then I typed it up and posted it here. The idea is that I work through the half finished things first, then the things I have materials for, rather than getting side-tracked and buying fabric for a new project. With the exception of things like a slip-cover for the chair downstairs, which we really really need. I don't mind buying supplies if they're going to be used right away, but the goal is to reduce the amount of stuff hanging around in limbo.

So far it's working - last night when I was tempted to start a Malabrigo capelet for myself, I decided to pick up the half-finished Rowan jumper instead. And I've crossed off a few half-finished projects already and it feels great to get them out of the sewing room.

I made the patchwork squares for these lavender sachets before Christmas, but then ran out of lavender. I picked up more from Alfalfa House last week, stuffed them while chatting to some lovely ladies at the Craft Room, and now they're bundled up in a ziploc bag ready to give as presents.

The hat below is from McCall's M4478, View A. I cut it out for Ali in early 2009, from a soft blue linen (leftovers from the duvet cover) and some spotted blue cotton for the lining, but quickly realised that the brim would be too narrow for proper sun protection, which is pretty essential here in Australia. The problem with the pattern is that the width of the brim stays the same for all sizes, and while it's enough on the newborn size it's not deep enough for a toddler. Anyway, it seemed a waste to have the pieces sitting there so I sewed it together and now it can stay in the car and be a spare for when we forget his proper hat.

The shorts are more of a success - I cut them out before Christmas in some light-weight denim from Spotlight. They are View S...

... from one of my favourite Japanese children's sewing books, ISBN 4-579-11100-1 (あかちゃんの服、てづくりの服).

Like so many of the Japanese patterns they're well cut, and have cute little details (like this pocket stitching) that make them look more "finished".

When I started these shorts Ali was still in nappies and running out of things to wear, but now that he's in undies all day he can wear shorts that were too small before - he's back in size 1 and 2 shorts from last summer! But these are nice and loose, and easy for him to pull up and down by himself, so won't be wasted. And now I've found a nice shorts pattern I'm thinking of lots of variations I could make, including turning them into pants for winter.

making

Recently I have been hearing lots of, "Mummy do making now? With Ali". "Making", as defined by Ali, can involve glueing, painting or generally any kind of non-drawing crafty thing. I think he got started from watching Playschool and also doing craft and painting at kindy. It makes me very happy to see him enjoying crafty stuff, but at the same time it is so much messier than just playing with pencils or playdough so it requires a bit of planning.

Yesterday we got the paints out and did butterfly prints and hand prints and sprinkled glitter on, which was lots of fun for us both and not as messy as I had feared.

Other easy things he has enjoyed are:

- potato and sponge stamps with paint
- colouring and sticking things on The Small Object paper doll template from Kiddley
- making cardboard roll dolls, inspired by the Kids Craft Weekly book Everyday Craft
- collecting leaves on a walk and sticking them to contact

Now that he is wanting to do craft more and more often I can see that I'll have to be a bit better organised. I'm starting to put together a kind of "Useful Box" with old toilet paper rolls, egg cartons and scraps of wool and fabric. Ideally I'd like to have a new activity ready to go each week, so I've been looking around for other ideas. There's lots of suggestions on the Kids Craft Weekly site, in the Kiddley archives, and also on Playschool, but a lot of the activities seem best suited for slightly older children. What I'm after is quick but pleasing ideas for a toddler with about a 20 minute attention span - and not too much clean up / pack up or space required.

If anyone has ideas or links please share.

sampler

Not much feels better to me than completing a project that has been hanging around for ages. I started this sampler in March 2007, full of enthusiasm, and quickly did the whole bottom row of pictures and letters, and then started on the middle of the top row of letters. Then Mark, looking over my shoulder, said "You've missed the J". And he was right... I'd been so busy following the chart that I hadn't really been reading what I was doing. And there was no J on the chart.

I was irritated, because I had been planning to put the sampler in my at-that-stage-unborn-child's room and thought that a missing letter would be confusing for a little one, even if it was intentional. So, in typical form, I shelved the project and didn't think about it again until the end of last year when Jenny's beautiful Christmas ornaments reminded me of it. I dug out the long-neglected bag with all my cross-stitch supplies to take away with me after Christmas, and it turned out to be the perfect holiday project - small, easy to pick up and put down, and once I unpicked the top row and started again it was relatively easy to squeeze a J in there.

Ali's walls are full now, and he has another lovely alphabet chart, but I think I'll frame this one anyway and keep it on hand as a gift for a new baby. 

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If you'd like to make your own, Amy now sells Mailorder #5 as a PDF download here. I used different threads to the ones she specified, the DMC 321 for the red, because I wanted a deeper cherry colour, and 645 for the grey because the 169 disappeared into my background linen. For Sydney people, I picked up my supplies at the Crewel Goblin, and the ladies there were very kind and patient with my ignorance of all things cross-stitch.

gum blossoms

So many gum trees in blossom right now. They look like mini fireworks. When I was little and living in the UK my grandparents sent over lots of Australian children's books, I think to remind us that we were Australian. So I read things like The Magic Pudding, Blinky Bill and - of course - Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. And also had lots of Ken Done style t-shirts with koalas on them.

Anyway, whenever I see gum blossoms it makes me think of the pretty little gumnut babies, and their beautiful hats and skirts. 

(Ragged Blossom picture from here. And the framed picture is a print of a Margaret Preston woodblock that my mum bought from the AGNSW shop and sent over when M & I were living in London - perhaps to remind us we were Australian?)