bloggers boogie {i’m here but i’m not edition}

I’m unplugging for a few days in honour of school holidays, but I couldn’t resist a boogie! I hope you enjoy this selection of my fave Savage Garden, inspired by Bee’s boogie last week. Feel free to join the party, I’ll be back online Monday to pop round and say hi!

HOW IT WORKS: Blog up to five songs between Saturday lunchtime and Sunday lunchtime in your local timezone. Any theme. Any reason. Doesn’t matter. You decide.

Or if you have done a music post during the week, that’s ok too, join the party as well!

Come back and leave a comment to join the fun – I’m yet to find a linky that works on WordPress nicely.

Not a blogger? Just join in in the comments – link to the video, and even just list your five!

I will also be popping up some random clips over on the Facebook page if you are a Facebooky type and looking for some fun.

IT WOULD BE NICE (BUT NOT ESSENTIAL) IF:

You hopped around and commented on some other boogiers blogs.

You linked me in your post (or heck, even grabbed the button). Even to the front page is fine if you are wanting to schedule your post in advance.

The button, if you are button-type blogger:

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

{NOTE ON COMMENTING :: wordpress, in their infinite wisdom, have changed their systems, and if your email has ever been associated with a wordpress/gravatar account, it won’t let you comment without logging in. If you are so inclined to comment, but have difficulty, please just add LWD to the start of your email {ie, LWDyouremail@wherever.com}, and I’ll know to remove it should I want to reply by email. Thanks so much for your patience and understanding. It bugs me too.}

adding some twinkle.

 

At Bible Study a couple of weeks back, we were talking about gifts, and attitudes, and service with a glad heart. One mum mentioned a conversation with her boy (who is one of the wisest little chaps I know), along similar lines, of people who willingly and cheerfully serve, and show love by acts of service. Not for kudos or accolades or recognition of their efforts, but simply for the love of helping others, and making some else’s day a little bit brighter. “Mum, I’ve noticed something”, the story went, “some people, they’ve got TWINKLE”. And we decided that was the perfect term for the kind of people we’d been talking about. I felt challenged, by one word from an eleven-year-old boy. I want to live a life full of twinkle. I want to sparkle and shine and be more loving to those around me. (Just don’t do a spot check 15 minutes before the school run, k?). “That’s awesome,” I said, “I love that idea. I want to make T’s twinkle list.” And so I vowed to live “twinkly”. And then she stopped me. “You rated a mention”. Me? Huh? I’m not twinkly. I’m selfish and prone to a bout of the grumps. Or three. I can be slack at keeping in touch with friends. I try and fail in a hundred different ways to life a life worthy of the path I’ve been called to. How could I be considered twinkly? “The bags”.

 

I haven’t blogged them yet. and by the time this conversation occured, I’d kind of forgotten about them. Mr Wise’s littlest sister has been very unwell, and housebound. Which also means a housebound mama. So when I prepared to drop off some movies I’d promised a loan of, I was hit with the memory of being not much older than her, and swapping little goody bags with a friend. Nothing fancy. A piece of gum. Some stickers. A little party favour or two. Just little knick knack things in a handsewn bag, just to say “I like you”. But I still remember the kick I got being on the receiving end of a goodie bag, and the fun of exploring the contents. Surely small girls haven’t changed that much in, cough, er, um, a long time… And so with the two smallest people in tow, I did a mercy dash to the shops, loaded up on “bits” and with the help of a lonesome fat quarter, and some cute ribbon, I whizzed up a pair of little goodie bags. A small one with textas, stickers, art diary, beads, and lollipop for Miss Sick. And in the larger, a couple of magazines, some choccies, and a box of tea bags for a mama likely climbing the walls. Nothing too exciting. Just a  few bits and bobs, to say “I’m thinking of you”, and like the original bags, “I like you”. To me it wasn’t that big of a deal. 10 minutes at the machine, a few dollars at the shops, and it might help reduce cabin fever. But it was enough to stick in his mind. A bit of twinkle.

 

Maybe, just maybe, I might be able to get a handle on this twinkling gig.

1::20 ~ double choc chip biscuits

First up on my twenty treats challenge – double choc chip biscuits. (not the usual choc chip I referred to in my previous post, it counts for challenge purposes!)

OCCASSION: we were in a biscuit kind of mood.

BRIEF & RATIONALE: me “who wants to make biscuits?” Bear – “chocolate ones!!”. These were the only chocolate biscuits in the first book I picked up. I’m lazy like that.

EASE OF MAKING: 6/10 – sifting and melting of chocolate required.

CHILD FRIENDLY? Yes – mixed by hand, plus the small people like helping with sifting (double the flour quantities listed if attempting this!)

REALITY V COOKBOOK: Fail. My biscuits looked nothing like the picture. I was 50g short of chocolate, but I wouldn’t have expected it to make that much difference.

TASTE: 4/10. They’re ok, but quite bitter due to high dark chocolate content. Master Three declared them “stinky”. The plate remains almost full, two and a half days later.

FINAL VERDICT: I think we’ll call them a fail for us. They are good from the point of view that it is easy-ish to get the children involved, melted chocolate notwithstanding. But everything else was a bit disappointing.

robot

 

Last Christmas, both boys were given a Makedo set – little joiners and hinges to create “stuff” out of boxes. Boy2′s box showed a robot, and it has henceforth been known as “robot craft”. So late last week, the boy comes running up, “mummy, mummy, we does wobot cwaft?”, and so we hit up the recycling pile, one of our favourite craft supply sources. But it was sadly lacking in boxs, so instead we used a cling wrap tube, part of an egg carton, a tissue box, a yoghurt pot and lots and lots of packing tape, and the boy was chuffed.

 

Until it wouldn’t stand up. *THAT* wasn’t in the design brief!!! But he soon got over that, and Mr Robot is still living in his wardrobe and comes out to play occassionally.

 

Today has been cold and miserable, and with Bear home all day thanks to a teachers strike, I’d had high hopes of a delightful day enjoying my small people. Until I saw the state of the toy room, so after a lovely morning or crafting and playing postie and reading, we teamed up and tackled the lego. Ugh. I managed to whip up a little softie last night/this morning, but I can’t blog him until he reaches his new home. Tonight is craft group and I’m still undecided what to do. First port of call would likely be clearing my crap off the dining table where we’ll be. But that’d mean I need to clear the crap off my desk which is why I’m on the dining table in the first place. I’m thinking possibly some painting tonight? For something different. Hmmm. 5 hours to decide. Two days until school holidays and I can’t wait, I’m already making a list of stuff to do – all fun! But first, a busy two days so I can make the two weeks count. Bring on the nice weather and productive days.

DreamCake mug rug {tutorial}

After I posted the mug rug I made for my sister, I had a few people saying they’d never heard of a mug rug, and did I have a tutorial? With the recent arrival of my new DreamCake fabric, I thought it the perfect excuse to make something! This tutorial assumes a level of sewing knowledge, but should hopefully work for beginner quilters – if you have any problems, leave a comment or drop me an email and we’ll see if we can get you sorted out.

So. Let’s gather our supplies. I’ve based this tutorial/pattern around a mini charm pack {gratuitous self promotion :: available in my shop}, but it’s also a good way to use up your scraps. I have also just listed a mugrug kit with everything you need to make two mug rugs – mini charm pack, batting, backing, binding, and a printed copy of this pattern (Fly Away) PLUS a bonus pattern exclusive to the mug rug kit.

You will need:

1 mini charm pack OR 18 small scraps of fabric, 2.5″ wide by 2.5″ (10 of)/1.5″ (8 of)

Small amount of background fabric – 16 1.5″ squares, 2 pieces 1.5″x4.5″, 2 pieces 1.5″x6.5″

Small piece of batting – 7″ x 11″

Backing fabric – 7″ x 11″

Binding fabric -

Pencil/tailors chalk

Pins

Scissors/rotary cutter plus mat

Sewing machine

STEP ONE:

Preparing fabric – mini charm pack:
Open the charm pack and pull out
4 clouds
4 double stripe
2 cupcakes
2 red polka dots
2 grey polka dots
2 aqua stripes
2 red stripes

Set aside the clouds, cupcakes, & double stripe. For the remaining 8 mini charms, trim to 1.5″ wide, giving 8 pieces at 2.5″ x 1.5″.

 

Preparing fabric – using scraps:
Cut from two fabrics – 4 2.5″ squares of each (central pinwheel)
Cut from one fabric – 2 2.5″ squares (feature square in borders)
Cut from 1 to 8 fabrics – 2.5″ x 1.5″ rectangles – 8 in total. (flying geese for the border)

Background
Cut 16 1.5″ squares
Cut 2 4.5″x1.5″ strips
Cut 2 6.5″ x 1.5″ strips

 

 

Backing/binding
From one fat quarter, cut 2 1.75″ strips across the long edge.

 

OR

Strips of fabric 1.75″ wide to make up a total of 40-45″ (one width of fabric is enough).

If using the kit, you will need to cut a total of 4 strips before cutting the backing, to give enough binding for two mug rugs.

OR

Cut a piece of fabric 11″ x 7″

STEP TWO:

Lay out your fabric as shown.

 

 

STEP THREE:

Creating the pinwheel. Lay out the clouds in a square, and check that they are all facing up, and the clouds are all in the right direction (not using clouds? Lay out one set of four 2.5″ squares face up, check if the pattern needs to face a certain way).

 

Take the double stripe, and lay it neatly on top of the clouds, so the pattern is facing down (right sides together), and the edges line up. In mine, I changed the direction on each one – so there is one vertical and one horizontal in each row/column.

Using a ruler and a pencil/tailors chalk, draw a diagonal line on each square from the outside corner to the corner that will be in the centre of the pinwheel, and carefully pin each pair together.

 

Sew along the line. Do not press or trim yet.

 

Set out your squares, and fold back the double stripe on each to check a) the clouds are the right way up and b) the stripes are running the right way.

 

Trim the excess, around 1/4″ from the seam, and press open.

Take one square and lay it face down on it’s neighbour, lining up the edges. Pin the ends of what would be the joining edges, and sew with a 1/4″ seam allowance. Repeat for remaining two squares. Press open.

Lay the two joined pairs on the table again to confirm everything is in the right spot. Put the right sides together, and along the middle edge, pin together, at each end, and where the seams you sewed in the last step meet (they should line up pretty well exactly). Sew along this edge with a 1/4″ seam. Press open.

 

 

Adding the borders. Taking a 4.5″x1.5″ strip, lay it on top of the pinwheel, lining up the top edges. Pin. Take the other strip, and line up with the bottom edge. Pin. Sew both strips on with a 1/4″ seam. Press open. (I found pressing the seam toward the white made for a flatter finish).

Take one 6.5″x1.5″ strip, and laying on top, line up left edges and pin. Repeat with other piece on right hand side. Sew with 1/4″ seam. Press.

And that’s the centre done!!

STEP FOUR:

Making the side borders.

Take one of the small rectangles, and place a 1.5″ square of background on top, lining it up top/bottom/right hand side. Using a ruler and pencil/tailors chalk, draw a line from the top right hand corner to the bottom left corner. Sew along this line. Trim the fabric on the right of the seam, around 1/4″ from the stitching. Press open.

 

Place another 1.5″ square on background on top, lining it up with top/bottom/left hand side. Draw a line from top left corner of square to bottom right. Sew along the line. Trim fabric to the left, around 1/4″ from the seam. Press.

One flying goose! Repeat this for the seven remaining 2.5″x1.5″ rectangles. You may wish to do this in batches, ie, add all one side, trim and press, then add all the rest. Your choice!!

 

STEP FIVE:

Lay out your border pieces, with the square in the middle, and two flying geese either side, points facing toward the feature square. Double check you are happy with direction/layout.

Put pairs of flying geese together, pin at the ends and see with a 1/4″ seam. Press open. Do this for all four pairs.

Take one pair, and put right side together with the feature square. Pin ends. Sew with 1/4″ seam. Press open.

Take the second pair, line up with feature square and pin. Sew with 1/4″ seams. Press open.

Ooo, a border! Repeat for the other side.

STEP SIX:

Take one border piece, and lay on top of the centre pinwheel, lining up the top, bottom, and the joining edge. Pin the ends and centre, and sew with a 1/4″ seam. Press open.

Repeat with second border.

Looky! The top is done!

STEP SEVEN:

Sandwiching the mug rug.
From the fat quarter, you would have cut 4 1.75″ strips for the binding. Using the mug rug top as a template, cut a piece approximately 1/2″ bigger than your mug rug on each side.

Lay your backing piece on a clean flat table, with the print facing down. Smooth it out to remove all lumps, bump, and wobbles.

On top of this, carefully lay down the piece of batting, smoothly gently to ensure it is smooth.

Centre your mug rug top and carefully lay it down and smooth out.

Place one pin in the centre, without lifting the three layers more than necessary. Carefully add more pins, roughly 2″ apart.

Quilting time! This can be as simple or as fancy as you like. If you are a beginner quilter you may like to stitch along the seams/outside of the pinwheel and around the triangles of the flying geese.

STEP EIGHT:

Binding – this tutorial explains it better than I can!

 

STEP NINE:

Boil the kettle, grab some bikkies and enjoy your new mug rug!

 

 

Shameless self promotion – a mug rug kit containing everything you need to make two mug rugs – a mini charm pack, a fat quarter of your choice, background fabric and wadding, plus instructions for this mug rug + a kit exclusive mug rug – is available in my etsy shop.

{NOTE ON COMMENTING :: wordpress, in their infinite wisdom, have changed their systems, and if your email has ever been associated with a wordpress/gravatar account, it won’t let you comment without logging in. If you are so inclined to comment, but have difficulty, please just add LWD to the start of your email {ie, LWDyouremail@wherever.com}, and I’ll know to remove it should I want to reply by email. Thanks so much for your patience and understanding. It bugs me too.}

twenty treats.

 

{chocolate chips baked with my boy on Saturday while sick baby slept and Daddy took Bear to soccer}

We love to bake around here. There’s nothing like the smell of warm cake or fresh biscuits to bring the kitchen to life. The boys excitedly drag chairs over, and Butterfly will perch up on the bench, and then the squabbling begins. I want to put it in, no I do, he got to put in more than me, why can’t we do the eggs…but it all works out, and then we count down the minutes until we can pull it out and get it cool enough to eat.

But I’ve found, we tend to stick to two tried and true recipes. Chocolate cake, and a plain sweet biscuit. Both of which came from my great grandmother, and both of which I know by heart. It’s easy. It’s quick. Occasionally we’ll bake choc chip biscuits for a change, but this is the first batch in more months than I care to admit. Even my slices are in a rut. Bring a slice? Caramel slice it is.

So. I’m setting a challenge for myself. Twenty Treats. Time to crack out the recipe books and try something new. Sweet or savoury. Cake, biscuit, slice. I would say one per week, but we all know how that’ll end up!! So Twenty Treats, and not the same thing twice in a row. I may end up the size of a house.

Bloggers Boogie {super old school edition}

HOW IT WORKS: Blog up to five songs between Saturday lunchtime and Sunday lunchtime in your local timezone. Any theme. Any reason. Doesn’t matter. You decide.

Or if you have done a music post during the week, that’s ok too, join the party as well!

Come back and leave a comment to join the fun – I’m yet to find a linky that works on WordPress nicely.

Not a blogger? Just join in in the comments – link to the video, and even just list your five!

I will also be popping up some random clips over on the Facebook page if you are a Facebooky type and looking for some fun.

IT WOULD BE NICE (BUT NOT ESSENTIAL) IF:

You hopped around and commented on some other boogiers blogs.

You linked me in your post (or heck, even grabbed the button). Even to the front page is fine if you are wanting to schedule your post in advance.

The button, if you are button-type blogger:

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

LAST WEEKS BOOGIERS: Amy, Car, Bee, Natasha & AJ joined me in blogging a boogie.

I’ve been using my mum’s car a bit this week, and her ipod is like a shot of nostalgia, so this week, I’ve gone way back old school, and picked out some favourites from my childhood, that I remember listening to with my parents.

Cold Chisel – Khe Sahn- of course!

Smokie – Living Next Door to Alice.

Fleetwood Mac – Don’t Stop. This was a hard one to narrow down!

The song that kicked me off! Paul Kelly’s To Her Door

Slim Dusty – Grasshopper Loose in Queensland. There are a heap of “Slim Dirty” (geddit?) songs I could have chosen this week, but this one just makes me smile, and takes me back to the days when my sister and I would be invited to go camping with my dad, pop, and uncle down the river, and we’d sit in front of the campfire, in our trackies and white patent leather boots (hey. It was the early 90s. How stylin’ were you?), giggling and singing away.

Bonus old school new style – Slim Dusty’s Saddle Boy, covered by Kasey Chambers and The Dead Ringer Band – this one is a firm family fave!

And another bonus video for this week, jumping the generations – this is a particular favourite of Butterfly, thanks to Amy getting us hooked Glee! Nothing cuter than a 20 month old singing Bieber. Melt-worthy.

What are your nostalgia tracks? I wonder if any of my speak to you… what’s been playing at your place lately?

{NOTE ON COMMENTING :: wordpress, in their infinite wisdom, have changed their systems, and if your email has ever been associated with a wordpress/gravatar account, it won’t let you comment without logging in. If you are so inclined to comment, but have difficulty, please just add LWD to the start of your email {ie, LWDyouremail@wherever.com}, and I’ll know to remove it should I want to reply by email. Thanks so much for your patience and understanding. It bugs me too.}

sneaky sneaky

;

I very nearly didn’t post today, but I just finished this little beanie, so wanted to show it off. I hear “I don’t know how you find the time” a lot. You know how? By sneaking it in. By making creating part of my everyday routine. This little beauty was finished during Boy2′s drama lesson, while Butterfly chatted beside me. I found the pattern via AJ after she made one for her little boy, it’s a super easy little chap.

;

Busy busy day here, I feel like all I’ve done is put children in and out of the car. And hang washing three minutes before it rained. But it’s a fun kind of busy, trying to be all productive to make our equally crazy weekend easier. Be sure to check back for the Bloggers Boogie tomorrow, it’s a corker!

{NOTE ON COMMENTS :: Due to excessive spam on this one post, I’ve closed comments. Thanks for your understanding.}

thankful thursday.

I pulled the mail out of the box, and squeezed. Hmm, something exciting there. Yep, addressed to me. What had I ordered? I scratched my mind as I flipped it over, and then saw the sender, and was even more excited. I’ve posted before about my pay it forward (which I’m slowly working through!), and this was my turn to receive handmade loveliness. And lovely indeed, these gorgeous Swarovski pearl and Czech crystal earrings, made by the beautiful Vanilla Rose. We first “met” online around 5 or 6 years ago, and through the wonders of technology, blogging and facebook, have become firm friends. I may or may not have been blinging out the school run ever since. Thanks so much gorgeous A xxx

In other news, a big batch of fabric shipped out today, so if you ordered some, watch your mail box! I also hit up the newsagent for more supplies, and whipped up a batch of non-business-cards. Well, a small batch, since my typewriter is now out of ribbon. Boo. But I found some on eBay. Hooray!

;

I’ve been busy sewing away today, and am very close to showing off a little DreamCake showcase item, which is quite exciting. Maybe tomorrow? If all goes according to plan! Otherwise it’ll have to be Monday. My Vintage Modern BOM/finishing kit/backing kit also arrived, and I can’t wait to get stuck into that. I’m BOMing along with some lovely friends, I’ll be sure to link them up as we all start getting through it. Then this afternoon has been filled with final rehearsals for Bear’s fist drama performance, and shoe and clothes shopping for small people. Suddenly we are at dinner-prep-time, and I have no idea where the day went. But my little list sheet has lots of stuff crossed off, so we’ll call it productive anyway. One day to the weekend. 6 school days until holidays. Can. Not. Wait. So looking forward to having my boy with me again. Right. Thursday’s almost done, time to prep some dinner then maybe squeeze in some drawing after bed time for my face challenge with Car. Fingers crossed. It’s on the list, so it has to happen. Right?

{NOTE ON COMMENTING :: wordpress, in their infinite wisdom, have changed their systems, and if your email has ever been associated with a wordpress/gravatar account, it won’t let you comment without logging in. If you are so inclined to comment, but have difficulty, please just add LWD to the start of your email {ie, LWDyouremail@wherever.com}, and I’ll know to remove it should I want to reply by email. Thanks so much for your patience and understanding. It bugs me too.}

a quilt for my girl.

I had some fat quarters sitting in my stash, that a certain small girl adores. “Pway FAH-grip, mama?” she’d plead, and start pulling them off the shelf. Which was all well and good, kept her entertained, gave me a chance to do some sewing while she spread them out and wrapped her dollies in them. So over the long weekend at the beginning of the month, I decided it was time to actually do something with them and make the wee girl a quilt now that it is getting quite chilly. I used this pattern, to make a cot sized quilt, and it came together really quickly, I had it quilted and binding attached by the end of the weekend. I used four fat quarters in the Babushka range that I picked up at Spotlight last visit, and then added in two fabrics in my stash that fitted the colour scheme I was aiming for. It did get interesting when I had to start fussy cutting due to a certain someone having at the fabric with a green highlighter. Thanks baby girl. Though that was slightly less disturbing than the fourth fat quarter which, while thankfully free of highlighter, was instead accessorised with what looked like yoghurt or banana smears after a certain someone wiping their mouth on it. Again, top work little one.

I didn’t have as much batting in my stash as I thought I did, but I had one piece that was *just* wide enough, so I used that, but I don’t know if it’s perished or something? It’s wool, but feels really thin and stiff and not very warm at all. Does anyone else have a problem with stored batting?So that was disappointing, but then it is only a “temporary” quilt until I can find fabric that I really love to make a decent sized quilt, so it’s not huge stress I guess.

I then FMQed it with different patterns:

An echoed teardrop/paisley for the Babushka sections.

A meandering loop the loop for the cream circle fabric.

Hearts and swirls again, for the hot pink.

Feathers for the teal. I am now officially in love with feathers!

A meandering daisy chain for the flowery sections.

And not photographed, wavy lines back and forth for the stripes.

Overall I’m pleased with it, and it was good practice for my FMQ, which truth be told, as a major secondary motivator to do it!! And nice and quick to get done, which is always a bonus! But most importantly, Butterfly thinks it’s the best thing since sliced bread. Or overnight bags, anyway. “Mine bankie!” she’s declared, so we’ll call it a win!

My big productive day has been shattered by a killer headache, so I’m heading back to the lounge to watch some more Dinosaur Train with the small people before school pick up. A mug rug is cut out, I have two new canvases, and more ideas than I can poke a stick at, but no mojo to attack any of them. Maybe an early night tonight might be enough to knock it on the head and we can go for a fresh start tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

 

{NOTE ON COMMENTING :: wordpress, in their infinite wisdom, have changed their systems, and if your email has ever been associated with a wordpress/gravatar account, it won’t let you comment without logging in. If you are so inclined to comment, but have difficulty, please just add LWD to the start of your email {ie, LWDyouremail@wherever.com}, and I’ll know to remove it should I want to reply by email. Thanks so much for your patience and understanding. It bugs me too.}