when I’m 70.

I had this ball of gorgeous pink cotton. And my mum’s teeny tiny steel 2.5mm crochet hook. So I went nuts on Ravelry and Pinterest, pinning a heap of crochet doilies. (yeah yeah, I know). The last couple of days, I thought of the perfect use for some pink doilies, so out came the cotton and hook, printed off the pattern, and away we went. I stopped at round 10, for two reasons. One, the doily was big enough for what I have in mind for it, and two, I was a bit confused how the pattern expected me to start the next round. End result. 10 round doily.

So anyway, I worked on it over a couple of days, and somewhere around round 7 or 8, I say to the husband “what do you think of my doily?” “Yeah, it’s nice” he replied, without looking, “you’ve very clever sweetheart.” So of course I get my back up. “Don’t patronise me!” “I wasn’t!! I didn’t have a smile or anything!” “yes, but you had that ‘what the face* are you making a doily for’ tone!” “I know what you’re making it for” “oh yeah?” “yeah. You’re practicing for when you are 70!”. And walked away chuckling. Funny chap, that husband of mine.

I hope I have enough cotton left, I want to make two mini ones, altering the pattern slightly to shrink the scale of the whole thing. There could be an awful lot of frogging going on. But I’ll worry about that when it happens. Before I do that, I want to finish this journal I’m binding (sneak peek tomorrow, promise), and finish knitting Butterfly’s beanie. They are the two most pressing WIPs at the minute. But crafty time is limited today – I’m babysitting for a friend, so instead of crafting, we’ve played and swung and chatted out way through the morning. I raked up a massive pile of leaves while they played happily outside, and I’m tempted to have a min-bonfire this weekend. mmmm… burnt marshmallows…. The clouds are clearing, so I might even chuck the toddler seat on the pram and walk around to school. See what kind of mood they wake up in first I guess. Time to tick some more jobs on the list before that though, have a great Wednesday all.

 

{*side note – we love Modern Family, and Why The Face is a Phil classic. Please tell me we aren’t the only ones to adopt it into out vocabulary?}

the great divide.

The Great Divide. Generally it refers to an east-west divide of the mountain variety. There’s “them”, who live on the coast, and major cities (like the old joke goes, what does NSW stand for? Newcastle, Sydney, Woolongong!). And there’s “us”. The country bumpkin cousins, in the colder, drier higher altitudes.

But the great divide that the title of this post refers to, is more a man made one. A north-south divide. Of the canetoad and cheating footballers variety (disclaimer – I didn’t watch Origin *gasp* but the way my twitter and facebook feeds exploded, I’m still not 100% sure if we were talking about a football game or declaring war on our neighbouring statesmen). My brother-in-law is a *cough*Queenslander*cough*, and, I must admit, we don’t mind paying him out constantly a bit of a stir every now and then. But then. A transfer meant a move for my sister and brother-in-law. To the “wrong” side of the border…

So therein lies the basis of the design. The true inspiration was a visit to their home, where I noticed they had two clocks. One for Qld time, one for NSW time (insert preferred curtain fading quip here). And that got the old cogs turning, and hence was born a little mug rug for my sister. The river that marks the border between states. The clock with an hours time difference. The dark side and the light side. I think I’ll leave it up to her to decide which is which!!

 

It’s heading off in today’s post, so hopefully she should have it in a couple of days. She doesn’t know about it, so it should be a (hopefully!) nice surprise in her letter box when it arrives.

 

Today we are all battling the first big hit of winter lurgies. Boy2 is down, I’m down, Butterfly isn’t far behind. Next in line is Daddy and Bear, bother who have started with a niggle. Joy joy. We declared yesterday a movie and jammie day, and did a great deal of nothing. I managed to find myself at the halfway point of a doily I’m crocheting, Boy2 came and sewed with me for a bit and got the top of his Cookie Monster quilt done. Though of course Butterfly thinks she needs a turn on the sewing machine. Darling girl, you are 19 months. How about no? Today is more of the same. I’ve got covers setting for a handbound journal I am making for a friend, and if I get the covers and my doily done, I’ll be a happy camper. Two small children out for the count, an hour until we need to think about school pickup. Time to get busy and kick Tuesday in the butt, lurgy or no lurgy. But just a gentle kick. Let’s do this!

 

{Linking up today for the first time at Diary of a SAHM for I Blog on Tuesday}

Sunday Snippets

Linking up with tinniegirl for Sunday Snippets – my week in photos (all instagram). Hope you are all having an awesome weekend!

getting a groove {blog party}

Saturday afternoon already? That means it’s time for our weekly bloggers boogie! A couple of small changes this week:

BLOGGERS: Blog your videos, grab the button, and leave a comment on this post so we can hop along and say hi. Any and all forms of social media pimping welcome.

NON-BLOGGERS: Don’t worry, we want you to join the fun too!! Either comment on this post with up to five songs (current, old faves, themed, whatever), without without links, or hope over to the Little White Dove FB page, and write on our wall your Saturday night party tunes. If you are feeling generous, it’d be nice if you’d either share this post on Facebook, or tag the LWD page so we can share the love!

And, if we can get the party buzzing, I might even be convinced to pony up some token prizes. Let’s say once we get over 10 boogiers, I’ll give a small prize for dodgiest old school song, one for a song that I want to add to my playlist, and what about one of boogiers choice, by popular acclamation (based on comments and FB likes etc).

Looking for a starting point? Why not check out last weeks posts – there was me, Car, Bee and Kristy sharing some playlists.

The button, should you be blogging along today:

<div align="center"><a href="http://thedovenest.wordpress.com/category/music/" title="LittleWhiteDove"><img src="http://thedovenest.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/button-boogie1.jpg" alt="LittleWhiteDove" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

And now, for my music!! Going a bit more recent this week. On high rotation, I’ve had:

Owl City – Fireflies

Mike Posner – Cooler than Me. Because I think the only person who isn’t cooler than me, is three foot tall and thinks wearing her knickers on her head is hilarious. And even that is dubious. (That I am cooler than her, not the hilarity of knickers-on-noggin).

The obligatory 90s boy band. I apologise for any ear bleeding that may result. However, for diehard boyband nostalgics like me, this Five video is a good medley of some of their bigger songs.

Because I can never get enough Train.

And one of my favourite worship songs – a contemporary take on Amazing Grace. Even if you aren’t a Christian, it’s worth a listen.

So that’s me for this week. A bit more upbeat than the last couple of weeks. What are you listening to this weekend? The party is open all weekend, to any and all bloggers. If you are new around here, don’t be shy, link up and join the fun!

rain is falling down.

It’s cold and wet. Winter is definately upon us. I sat down last night to do some work (and some painting shhh…) in my studio, which is located at the bedroom end of the house. The little people were well ensconced on the sleepy train, and in the silence, the light spilling from the studio door into the darkness of the formal lounge and beyond made me feel like I was a million miles from anywhere. And then the softest of soft tapping started up on the roof, so gentle I had to strain to decide if I really was hearing rain, or if my mind was playing tricks with me. But steadily it got heavier, and between 9pm and 9am, we ended up with just a touch under 25mm/1 inch of rain. Today has been more of the same. Cold. Wet. Lots of stories and singing. A movie for rest time, and some designing for mummy. An impromptu coffee date rounded out the morning nicely after Mini Minstrels and the news of a new baby. Everyone is back on board now, and happily playing in the studio with me. Bubba Boy is colouring in, coming to me regularly to show off his progress and check I “wike the pick-shures, mama?”. Butterfly is cruising around, playing with my old broken ipod, fabric and buttons. A girl after my own heart. I’m about to do a bit more on my painting I’m working on, and hopefully start up another practice piece. Trim the stars quilt so I can finish the binding tonight. And then it will be pickup time and the weekend can begin, with soccer and church and friends. I probably should think about tidying my desk at some point, it seems to be a mess magnet. Maybe I’ll just work around it. Let’s see how we go. What have you got planned? Friday’s at the tail end, the weekend beckons. Let’s do this!

lady in red.

It seems a lot of my wardrobe this winter is dark with splashes of red. Red coat. Red shoes. And my new favourite piece of bling is purple. Yeah, smart move. So when I ordered the beads for a commissioned bracelet, I slipped in some cute gem toned Czech glass beads, and some cracked glass beads in blues and reds. I know. I’m on a craft ban for another month still. But I did buy them with the thought of maybe making a bracelet to sell. Truly. Would I lie to get around a buying ban? The “gem tones” collection ended up having more purple and yellow beads than I expected, so I ended up making a 1.5 loop bracelet, which I’m not convinced really works. I’m still tempted to pull it apart and redo it with more beads when I get the chance to buy some. It looks nice enough by itself, but when worn, it’s an awkward wrap. I think it’s actually less to do with the bracelet and more to do with my odd shaped bony wrist. Hasn’t stopped me from wearing it though!

One day to the weekend, and I’m hoping tomorrow is as productive as the rest of the week – a painting started (including a mercy dash to the art store after running out of white paint. Yes. Already. And no, it’s not a breach of the buying ban. It’s for a gift painting. There are more than a few loopholes in this ban ), a mug rug finished, a new fabric collection very close to completion. I can’t wait to share this one with you, it’s very special. I’m working late tonight to free up my weekend for fun and frivolity and some creating. We’ll see if my plan works…

sunshine.

 

Winter is slowly rolling in. The mornings are cooler, the mornings darker, the afternoons shorter. And lately it feels like summer has taken with it my mojo and energy. I was feeling particularly flat this morning, but with the sun putting up a gallant fight, I decided it was time to fight back. With a little inspiration from Pinterest, I started tearing off sheets of paper towel. Some food dye mixed with water. A bag of cotton balls. And we were set. Messy as all get out, but just as much fun – we had a little friend visiting as well, so didn’t get through our whole stack of paper. I’m thinking we’ll have another go when Butterfly wakes.

 

As well as paper painting, we’ve chased bubbles, swung swings, bounced on trampolines, and picnicked in the sun. The sun is warming me right through and I feel the mojo starting to return. Three new fabric designs completed this morning, just awaiting final colour choices. A painting is sketched and ready to start. There’s a bracelet to photograph ready for the blog. I’m hoping to find time to surprise little boy with a small drawing when he gets home from school, based on a somewhat psychedelic imaginary creature he described to me. Please stick around sun, you make life so much nicer. Happy Wednesday all!

 

progress…maybe.

So I started the quilt-in-a-day challenge. And given the various demands on my time, I got a fair way in. But then, the quilt sat, and sat and sat. And finally over the weekend, I got the binding attached to not only that mugrug I’ve been blathering on about for weeks, but also the star quilt. Perfect timing now the nights are getting cold, stitching it down will be a pleasant way to snuggle under a quilt while watching a bit of telly. I must admit, the stitching of binding is probably my least favourite part of quilt making. Though on the upside, today is Tuesday, so a bit of Big Bang Theory while stitching sounds like a pleasant way to pass the evening. It also means, aside from my swoon blocks which I have packed away for now, the decks are reasonably clear, freeing up the machine for small people who are keen to get their share of quilting time!

 

One small person is in bed, one at preschool, one at big school. With 2 hours until pickup, I’m rapidly running out of time to get much done. The girl and I have been out at a friend’s place this morning, and now she’s in bed, I’m thinking some lunch, a spot of housework and then if I can manage it before she wakes, a bit of down time in the sun. Maybe with those quilts, maybe some knitting, possibly some painting. I was quite excited to get notification that my fabric has shipped, so now I just need to wait so I can sew and prep charm packs for the shop. I also received a delivery of handmade paper from the States yesterday, and it is even more delightful than I expected, so I’m keen to order the remaining supplies and get stuck into some journal binding. I think my to-do list is conspiring with the housework to keep me away from my studio, both are growing exponentially. Time to knock them on the head. Mojo, oh, mojo, wherefore art thou?

changing it up.

It’s been a super productive weekend – I have two quilts with binding attached, I got a heap of work out the door, had a blast teaching the preschool class at Sunday School, I got a bracelet made, I hung out with the family. De-LIGHT-full. Today was going to be all about catching up on housework and some admin stuff, until I remembered I’d promised my Bible Study group I’d do up a pretty version of a summary we scribbled on butchers paper last week. We are currently studying Ephesians, and after getting ourselves confused, we though a summary was in order of chapters one to three.

I’m still not 100% convinced it’s finished, but it will do for now. I don’t want to get it too set, as I’m hoping to add more to it as we progress through the rest of Ephesians. (printable a4 PDF here.)

And now that’s done, and the baby is graciously still asleep for me, I think I might call it lunch time then possibly some time basking in the sun. My main itch at the minute is painting, the one beast I haven’t soothed over the weekend, so I might even crack a tube while she snores and get started on a piece for Car. I also hope to get a chance to do some photos for the blog, and maybe even catch up on my project366. Who am I kidding, she’ll wake as soon as I take my first bite But that’s ok, we’ll just shift gears and replan, for tea parties and blocks and stories and swings. Might even try and squeeze a bike ride in before pick up. Tick tock tick tock time is running, it’s Monday, it’s busy, and there’s a to-do list who’s butt needs kicking. Let’s do this!

get your boogie on {linky party}

I’m in the studio this afternoon, catching up on some photo editing and working on some new fabric designs. I’m hoping to squeeze in some sewing in my breaks from the computer screen. And what would a work session be without some music to bop along to? So I’m kicking off the Saturday Bloggers Boogie a couple of hours early. We had a blast last weekend, with both Bee and Car joining in on their blogs, plus the blog-less Heather linking her faves directly through the linky. The idea is simple. Pick up to five songs. They can be current faves, youtube surfing finds, or themed (like my old school faves last week). Blog the videos from youtube, then come back and join the linky, and maybe even visit some of your fellow boogiers! I’ll hope around everyone, and share some finds over on Facebook as the afternoon/evening progresses. It’d also be great if you could link back to here, maybe leave a comment, or even add the Saturday Night Bloggers Boogie button to your post/sidebar:

<div align="center"><a href="http://thedovenest.wordpress.com/category/music/" title="LittleWhiteDove"><img src="http://thedovenest.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/button-boogie1.jpg" alt="LittleWhiteDove" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

I decided to kick of this week with my current high-rotation-fave, Train:

And wanted to share a youtube find from my YT homepage:

Then to kick off my boogie video hop, I started with the Mister’s current fave:

Which led me to Christina Perri:

And rounding with some Bruno Mars:

And for a bonus for Amy over at MahliMoo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAElfmG2H2Y {sorry, it won’t let me imbed!}

What’s playing at your place at the minute? Join us, and link up below:

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{EDIT :: Post 300? Wow! Celebrate with me…}