Geography: India

February 14, 2010 at 11:34 pm · Filed under Craft, Domestic Life, Food, History/Geography, Home Education, Language, Organisation, Puggle

First Monday: Location. (I’ve found a world map I’ll use, and just set him to find the country in the atlas, and identify it on the map)
First Tuesday: Flag.
First Wednesday: Language.
First Thursday: Animals. (Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, King Cobra, Indian Walking Stick, Peafowl, Dhole)
First Friday: Music. (Folk songs/dancing)
Second Monday: Features. (Cities, Mountains, Rivers)
Second Tuesday: Famous People.
Second Wednesday: Language.
Second Thursday: Culture. (Currency, festivals, population, religion)
Second Friday: Art/Craft
Second Saturday: Food.

Books

(Still to be added, once I’ve looked at all the books I’ve reserved:-) )

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2009, the year that was

December 31, 2009 at 2:38 pm · Filed under Bilby, Craft, Domestic Life, Family, Organisation, Progress, Puggle, Season, Sewing, Virtually BeQuilted

In spite of the evidence of my blog, it’s actually been a pretty productive year! But it was rather one of those ‘if you’re doing, there’s no time to be writing about it’ years.

I had (as has been the case the last couple of years) resolved to make more music and play more games. Although we sang a little less than we have been (basically in the last couple of months, although, I’m getting better again now), we did do occasional ‘Music Nights’, and I did a lot more recorder with Puggle (and Bilby:-) ) Thanks to Swancon, and their fabulous Gaming Stream, I played a lot more games than usual—sadly, I didn’t really maintain the momentum for the rest of the year…

I hadn’t ’signed on’ for the Handmade Holidays challenge, but I did kind of decide to attempt it. I did pretty well when it came to kids presents! (I think) I basically made all bar 2—which were both a couple of days after Swancon. Certainly that was the case for other people’s children. I made some stuff for ours, but I’m not making books yet, and lego is still beyond me:-)

I didn’t do so well on regular blogging (obviously:-( ) But I am still thinking about it, so I anticipate returning:-) I took more photos, and managed to upload a number—haven’t managed our usual family photo calendar yet, but I hope to very shortly (it’s a great way to actually use some of the photos:-) )

Aside from the handmade presents, most of my crafting this year has been patchworking. B and M’s wedding quilt got me enthused enough to start a Virtual Quilting Bee. We’re in our fifth month now, although I’m still finishing block 3:-(

All up, it’s been a pretty reasonable year:-) It is of course a constant learning curve with the kids, just as soon as you think you have a handle on where they are, they go and change… but mostly it’s been good:-)

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Christmas 2009

December 25, 2009 at 11:06 pm · Filed under Advent, Baking, Bilby, Christmas, Craft, Cygnet, Domestic Life, Family, Food, Organisation, Puggle, Reflection, Season, Sewing, Woodwork

A couple of years ago, the Advent season was when I started blogging daily (or nearly so). I maintained it until probably May-ish last year, and then a few times a week for about another 12 months. This year? I think I managed a couple of Food Posts through Advent, and that’s about it.

Mind you, this Advent has been lacking in a lot of my usual preparations! I have Ice Cream Plum Pudding in the house, because that’s essentially what I was doing for our family Christmas dinner. I have Gingerbread Dough in the freezer, because I made a double quantity when we made gingerbread houses at Halloween. I have the makings of Fruit Mince Pies (pre-rolled pastry in the freezer and a bottle of mince). We’ve read a pile of Christmas books. We made an Advent Chain. But that’s about as far as any similarity to previous Christmasses goes.

Before I get too disappointed though, I should point out that we have made quite a few presents this year! There should (I hope!) be several individual posts, once I download photos, but Puggle and I have been woodworking, and Bilby and I have sewn. Puggle made a small wooden boat for Cygnet, and a set of stilts for Bilby (as well as a pair of stilts for his Secret Santa, and he helped to sew an apron for Cygnet’s Secret Santa). Bilby made a woodworking apron for Puggle, five balloon juggling balls and a grab bag for her Secret Santa, and some Chocolate Coated Almonds for her grandparents. Me? I have finally finished the Pink Tower and (almost! still have to put the finish on) the Brown Stair. I’ve made (with some help from Puggle) several sets of Tree Blocks for some of the smaller children of our acquaintance. I have made three Bench Hooks (two to suit western saws, and one for japanese saws). And I’ve made a wooden forest (barring the dye-ing and finishing) (like blocks, but shaped like trees, rather than trees made from tree branches). I’ve sewn bags for the tree blocks (I still have one more to go, and a similar bag for the wooden forest), and three apron/chef’s hat sets… with accompanying bag. I’ve also been painting the IKEA abacus we got for Cygnet, to match the colours of the Right Start one:-) We did also make jam as part of our Christmas preparation.

I’m still anticipating doing our usual family calendar, and I’m hoping we’ll get to the cards—but obviously that won’t be happening by Christmas time!

So, a bit of a hit and miss. I keep reminding myself though, we can’t do everything! And we have been doing a lot of French during this time:-) Reminding me of more posts I have been meaning to write!

Hope your Christmasses were all lovely, and that the rest of your Festive Season is safe and joyous!

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Missing the Past

November 27, 2009 at 3:39 pm · Filed under Craft, Domestic Life, Woodwork

I’ve been missing teaching (in a manner of speaking!) over the last couple of weeks… (So, you know, not so much of the teaching )

In preparation for Christmas, and attempting to have a largely home-made one, I’ve spent a couple of hours over the last few weekends, in my Dad’s workshop. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy it:-)

I’ve been working on my Brown Stairs and Pink Tower (almost done, bar painting), and I was using a thicknesser. It made a huge mess (which Puggle really enjoyed vaccuuming up!), but it was so aromatic, I was really struck with a pull to do more:-)

I’d already been meaning to do a number of other wooden projects, but wasn’t sure if I’d actually get around to them. But now, I’m all inspired, so I’m just back from getting a whole bunch of pine with the kids, for some more projects of mine (and also a couple of Puggle’s:-) ). More updates to come as we actually finish some stuff:-)

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October Block

November 8, 2009 at 2:57 pm · Filed under Craft, Domestic Life, Sewing, Virtually BeQuilted

I had other ideas, but finally decided that the front runner was a particular one I’ve had my eye on. I delayed starting it though, because at the size it would end up, it would either be really plain, or excessively fiddly. Then, other people started posting theirs, and there was a definite theme:-) (Unsurprisingly, there were a couple with Japanese motifs… given the inspiration information referenced ‘The Wave’:-) ) I went searching, but still hadn’t found anything else, so I went and bought the third material I’d need for my design.

Then inspiration struck:-) I decided to do a Zen Rock Garden:-) Half an hour to find some specific images to set me going, and I had it plotted out and cut out. It took very little time to appliqé the rocks on (and oh my goodness! How much easier appliqué is when you use Vliesofix!) and probably an evening to blanket stitch the edges of the rocks.

Then, I just had the ‘rake’ lines to embroider.

In my original searching I’d discovered Sashiko embroidery. I thought this would be a good idea for the rake lines. I think I was right… but it did take a while! I finally finished the block a week into November!

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Done!

November 7, 2009 at 11:53 am · Filed under Craft, Domestic Life, Sewing, Virtually BeQuilted

And here’s a sneak peek:-)

(More once B has seen it:-) )

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Birthday Cake

October 25, 2009 at 12:47 pm · Filed under Baking, Bilby, Birthdays, Craft, Domestic Life, Family, Food, Season

Bilby is now three. She had been insistent for nearly a year that she wanted a train cake.

A couple of weeks ago though, she decided that she wanted a ‘hammer cake, like Dada’s… and a Humpty’ (I made Paddington a pinata cake for his birthday, and she was quite taken with it, she’d also been looking through some of our cake books, and come across a couple of Humpty cakes).

I was very pleased with the end result—even if we couldn’t find the hammer! We ended up using a softish mallet, that made no headway on Humpty (until we turned him side on:-) He was much easier to crack through his seam! )

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Virtual Quilting Bee

September 22, 2009 at 9:19 am · Filed under Craft, Domestic Life, Sewing, Virtually BeQuilted

We finally began Virtually BeQuilted at the beginning of this month. The fabric arrived the day after posting, and I got to work:-) (My mum was the first to send her fabric, so I’d had a sneak peek, and had already chosen my design:-) )
I blithely cut it all out—only to find I was a little short of one of the fabrics:-( My design was mostly green, and with all the seam allowances necessary, it just wasn’t going to make it:-( Fortunately, I was able to aquire sufficient extra, but that held me up a bit, because I hadn’t considered the possibility when cutting, and some key pieces were left uncut until a couple of days ago.

I had seen the circling geese pattern some where on Patchy Work of Mini Grey’s blog, thanks to a pointer from Feebeez (or at least, I think that’s where I found it). The version I saw only had eight birds though, so I was all set to draft up my own pattern, when Redbraids posted a link to this collection. The very first image was a picture of exactly what I had planned to draft—and a link to the pattern! A few minutes fiddling with the printer to get the size just right, and I was set. I printed four copies (one for each quarter of the block), and one more just for the record… Oh, how glad am I that I printed that extra copy!
I had originally planned to use English Paper Piecing… but realised I was avoiding basting the pieces (narrow seam allowances, and points far away from each other meant I really was going to need to iron them). I finally decided to revert to Foundation Piecing. So I retraced my steps, to print out extra patterns to use for the sewing. I thougt it would take me the first couple of minutes of this month’s Craft Sunday, and then I could start sewing…
I have no idea what the problem was, but nothing I tried would allow me to get anything like the same size block! Printing it at 94% of the original was a couple of centimetres too large, at 93% it was a couple of centimetres too small… even scanning my correctly sized copy and printing that didn’t work, even when I adjusted the print size of that as well:-( In the end, I reverted to tracing my correct copy! At that point, I was able to get half of it done by the end of the afternoon. Another small block in the evening, and all the sewing was done. I was rather dreading trying to remove all the paper, as I’d seen comments that it could be difficult, but I’d followed the instruction to use a very short stitch, and it pulled off really easily. A touch of ironing, and it was ready:-)

And just because I could, (and I rather liked the look of the wonky trees here) and I had some material left (the green in this is all that was left from my original green! I cut about five very narrow pieces for the geese from the extra that I got). A Bonus Block, a Wonky-ish Tree:-) It’s not the right measurement, but I don’t know that it’ll be used for the tablecloth… (although, if I’d been a bit more thoughtful about cutting the white bits for the tree, I probably could have made it the correct size!)

I couldn’t wait to post it, so we dropped it off at dinner last night:-)

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And Another!

September 21, 2009 at 11:05 pm · Filed under Craft, Domestic Life, Sewing, Virtually BeQuilted

Just because I can:-)

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A Teaser for Mum!

September 21, 2009 at 10:58 am · Filed under Craft, Domestic Life, Sewing, Virtually BeQuilted

I’ve finally (almost… just need to remove the paper, and iron) finished my block for the Virtual Quilt this month. I thought I’d let you have a peek as I get ready to post it:-)

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Smiley + Scar

September 9, 2009 at 8:13 pm · Filed under Birthdays, Craft, Domestic Life, Food, Season

Days later, and another birthday cake is required. Cygnet’s had been so succesful, I thought I’d repeat it—just with an extra touch to match the recipient! (The staples were the only fiddly bit:-) )

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First Birthday

September 6, 2009 at 11:19 pm · Filed under Birthdays, Craft, Cygnet, Domestic Life, Family, Food, Season

We don’t do much for first birthdays, we keep it simple. But there is always cake:-)
Cygnet is generally a smiley fellow (although, not so much today:-( ) So we figured this was an appropriate choice!
I’m not a fan of licorice as a flavour—but it is invaluable in decorating cakes:-)

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(Somewhat) Virtual Quilting Bee

July 16, 2009 at 10:11 am · Filed under Craft, Domestic Life, Food, Organisation, Sewing

I’ve been all inspired recently (for a range of reasons… so many pretty things!) about patchwork and quilting! So now, I’d like to try a (Somewhat!) Virtual Quilting Bee (I’ve been watching this one for a while). (Melissa talked about some of the others here.)

Basically, each person signs up and is assigned a month. They send some material to each other participant in time for their month. If you like, you can nominate a theme (I’ve seen Nature, specific colours, specific patterns). Everyone uses your fabric, and supplements however they choose, to complete a block (other fabrics from their stash, embroidery, appliqué etc). Then they send this back to you after your month. This means you get to sew with others, without having to actually get organised to be in the same location:-)

Essentially you will complete a block a month, and end up with (hopefully! depending on numbers!) a quilt’s worth of blocks. It’s then up to you how you use your blocks, whether you make them up as a quilt, as cushions, as a pair of laprugs, turn them into a bag—or leave them to sit in your to-do pile:-)

You do not need to have done any piecing or quilting before (it’s probably a good idea to have done some sewing before…. but if you’re keen, the lack probably wouldn’t stop you! In fact, this may be an ‘approachable’ way to give it a go:-) ) You may choose to hand sew or machine sew (I’ll probably do most of mine by hand… because that’s more convenient for me, but there’s at least one that I’ll be considering that I’ll do by machine).

I’d like to ask that all blocks are put online (probably not until after the recipient has received them though!), and it would be nice if you put up pictures of your finished object(s). This could either be on a blog, or on flickr or something else like that. However, don’t let the lack of your own space be a hindrance to this… I’m happy to post photos for anyone who can’t!

So, specifications are as follows.

2 or 3 pieces of fabric, about 10 cms (1/8 yard) of each (or half a fat quarter). (Please stick to cottons to assist with washing).
Block size 32 cms x 32 cms (finished size 30 x 30). (That’s near enough to 12.5 in square, with 12 in. square for the finished size.) If you would like a different size, just ask for it (you may need to send more material if you want something dramatically larger!)
Notes? (Theme, any specific requirements or things to avoid—for example, if you’re intending to use it with a baby, you might request no 3d items, like buttons or beads).

Let me know if you’re interested, and we’ll sort out months—I figure we’ll use August to sort it out, and get going in September. I was going to suggest Craft Sunday as the handover, but seeing as I’m putting it out on the blog, there might be some non-locals involved, so posting may be the way to go.
I’m really hoping to have about a dozen participants, but I guess we’ll wait and see! Feel free to pass this information on to anyone else who might be interested, all replies to the blogpost.

Some block tutorials, to give you ideas (I may have gone a little overboard!)…
Nine patch
Disappearing 9-patch
Crazy 9-patch
Pinwheels
Cartwheel
Shoo Fly
Variable Star
(actually, there’s a whole pile of directions here!)
Paintbox
Crazy
Hourglass
Gretchen
Amish Dahlia
Scrappy Hedgerow
A number of different blocks
Flying Geese
Teapot
Come Over to My House (a whole quilt’s worth of block patterns, only some will be accessible)
Vehicles

There’s a mass of beautiful quilts linked here.

There’s a tutorial on appliqué here.

(Oh Fransson has a number of quilt related tutorials, for once you have your finished blocks!)

So, who’s joining me?

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Pinata Cake

June 21, 2009 at 12:15 pm · Filed under Birthdays, Craft, Domestic Life, Family, Food, Paddington, Season

For Paddington’s birthday.

It was surprisingly straightforward—and a real hit!:-)

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Wedding Napkin Rings

May 23, 2009 at 10:46 pm · Filed under Craft, Domestic Life, Season

This

became these.

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