It’s raining. Butterfly is unwell. We are snuggling under blankies and watching movies in pillow piles. We’ve baked a cake. The smell of dinner in the slow cooker wafts out from the kitchen. A spot of work to finalise and then some secret squirrel crafting. No point fighting the winter, instead we’ll hunker down and make the most of it.
This quilt camp gifty was one of my hardest ones to decide on. Having been to Kayscha’s place back in August for the brilliant weekend that was Camp Kayscha, you would think that would make it easier, when in fact, I found it made it harder! Miss Kayscha has a very clear vision and sense of style, and knowing how beautiful her home is made deciding on a gifty quite daunting. I settled on something for her sewing room, maybe a mini canvas to pop in her little typesetters drawer… And so I let that sit and percolate for a week or two. I had a colour scheme in mind, but the actual execution eluded me. Then, pottering around one night, making other gifties and doing a spot of blog browsing, the design popped fully formed into my mind. An offset swoon block. With three swoon quilts under her belt, Swoon was the perfect fit. I chose a slightly larger canvas than I originally planned, and I “quickly” ruled up a scale copy of the block, before transferring it onto the red canvas with the aid of some carbon paper. The colours changed slightly as I went through, starting with the gold accents, then a coffee centre, a touch of white, and then I stood back and looked, and decided the charcoal I was planning on wouldn’t work where I had planned. I pulled out a couple more tubes, and slowly mixed up a close approximation to my memory of the duck egg blue the room that this canvas is intended for, will be painted in. But even as late as Thursday night, I was nervous about it, and had I had more time, I would likely have done a replacement gift. But that time wasn’t to eventuate, and so this was it, thankfully well received!
Today’s creativity has been limited ways to beat the heat. I’m glad we did our baking yesterday, it’s far to hot to even think about turning on an oven today. I’m using the same excuse to avoid the ironing (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it anyway!). With a sore throat niggling, I spent nap time on the lounge, under the fan, and with Pursuit of Happyness to keep me company, stitched away a lovely chunk of the afternoon. The weekend is threatening to be just as hot, so we are setting up the pool tomorrow, and I’m am planning on parking myself in it and not moving a great deal. Except for some craft, of course. I can always make allowances for craft time.
Tomorrow, I lay my home and sanity at the mercy of 30 small children. All my creating has been party based. Like a painting for pin-the-wing-on-the-aeroplane.
And my children know how much I love to create, and thought I needed a chance to play fondant scuplting again. Thanks for that Butterfly.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a cake to bake.
{have a great weekend. I’ll be back Monday. If I’m not rocking like a mad woman in the corner}
Acrylics and I have a love-hate relationship. I’d love to be able to use them, but I hate that I can’t make them do what I want. I’ve decided once again to tackling, and let go of any preconceived notions of the finished result, and just play and explore. During my play, I was working toward a piece inspired by a photo of mine, and I loved where my play led me.
But then I looked at it too long, and I’ve decided while I love it as a starting point, I don’t love it as a finished piece. But I’m too nervous to move on, in fear of wrecking the bit that I’m happy with. Which is really the whole point of this post, to record the bit I like, in case the next stage stuffs it up. But even as I dreaded taking the next step, wonder *what* that next step should be, I started planning this post, and an inspiration burst hit me. I have a plan, and I think it will be awesome. Or not. But I’m playing and creating and exploring. And that, my friends, it the whole. darn. point.
Speaking of me and acrylics, I’ve raided the craft box, and am starting the sketches on not one but FOUR little paintings, that I think I’ll break out the acrylics for. Though the fourth doesn’t really match the theme of the series, so I might put that aside and do a little oil painting. The sun has been shining, and the small people wanted to splash in some water, so I took the chance to sit in the sun with them and do the sketching I wanted to, and even a bit of rippling. We’ve made a cubby house and hung a bit in there, as a distraction from the fact I promised we’d bake patty cakes and then had no flour. Which means grocery shopping is on our afternoon to-do list as well. Joy. Wednesday’s nearly done, close enough to two days to the weekend. Time to bust a move so we can kick back and enjoy it.
“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain”
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A lovely friend has long been bugging me requesting a LittleWhiteDove original, and with my new acquisition of oil paints, it was time. But what to paint. I had various ideas, but none seemed to fit the exact criteria that would make it a)something she’d like and b)something within my very very limited capabilities. Then, I was driving one day, alone, with the music blaring somewhat louder then normal, and as I was singing away badly to myself, a Ronan Keating song started. One of my favourites.
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In part, it goes “Whenever one door close, I hope one more opens/And when you get the choice, to sit it out or dance/I hope you dance”. And I smiled. And thought what a wonderful metaphor. Then the concept popped into my head. Some sketches and I was ready to open the canvas. Eek! I opened it, lay it on the desk in front of me (I’m not posh enough for an easel 
) and with my eyes constantly flicking back between the lines appearing on the canvas and the sketch lying beside me. Done. I walked away, came back, still happy with it, and began mixing paint. The skin. A pink. Some teal. And slowly, so slowly, it came together. Then I had to wait. And wait. And wait. Finally dry enough to package and send, it was wrapped multiple ways, and nervously entrusted to the workings of Australia Post *gulp*. I itched to blog. But instead, I waited. And waited. And today it arrived and it is loved, and I am so happy to be able to share it with you all.
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In other exciting developments, my big fabric order arrived today, including a custom fabric which is getting stitched up and shipped out tomorrow. Lots of cutting as I get it all into charm packs and fat quarters for the shop. I’ve been plotting and planning working out options for a couple of custom Butterfly Overnighters requested by a friend. Maybe planning one for me too. A trip to the library and lots of walking means two tired little chickens, so time for this mama to race and get some tidying done so I can sit and relax for a bit, maybe with some knitting so I can finish a beanie. Now this little chappie has arrived, I’m itching for some more painting time. One day to the long weekend, the time is coming. Tick tock tick tock the count down is on. Three day long weekends are the best, but to make it count, I need to make today and tomorrow count. Let’s do this!
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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!
I found myself in a predicament. Bear had made a tractor from some boxes (photos soon!), and was merrily painting away. Chubba Bubba thought he should be involved too. I glanced around, and my gaze alighted on an egg carton, dragged enthusiastically into the toy room by the children, and just as enthusiastically cast aside in favour of other games. I swpet up the baby, plopped him in my lap, and with a squirt of paint in a couple of the cups, let him loose for some finger painting. One would think such a self-contained activity would be reasonably clean, wouldn’t one? Yeah. Me too. Or not, so it seems. Sigh.
It’s a rainy overcast kind of Monday. A rollercoaster weekend has me feeling a bit flat. Maybe some crafting is in order. And I need to mop the toyroom (see painting activities above). With Bear at preschool, and Chubba Bubba asleep, I need to make a move and get productive. And maybe do some sewing. The rollercoaster is on the upwards run again, but I can spy the down not that far ahead, so I’m going to rock this up & up while I’ve got it. Happy Monday everyone, let’s do this!
I went shopping… What did you find?… I found a roll of paper, for us to unwind…
The “I Went Walking” game is a particular favourite, inspired by the book of the same name. I can’t recall the author off-hand, but it’s a beautifully illustrated children’satory we’ve borrowed from the library more than once. Almost every time we go walking, Bear skips along side me, “mummy, I went walking”… What he sees varies, but his favourite thing to see is his little brother (insert warm fuzzies here).
Anyway, I digress. Paper. Lots of it. The roll you see in the image above is as wide as a broadsheet newspaper, and would be almost an inch thick. All for the bargain price of $8. Yep, I found us a bargain! Wrapping paper. Drawing. Painting. Lots of fun.
Just a brief little post today, can’t stop and chat, busy losing my mind. Errr, I mean, attempting to FMQ a bargello quilt. Upside down. Can you imagine how well *that* is going. Oh, and it needs to be quilted with the binding attached by Friday. AM. At the latest. Oh dear. And I’ve got to squeeze in a change mat somewhere too. My and my big ideas. I need to get busy. Happy Wednesday. Let’s do this!
With the sun shining, and two small boy full of energy, there really was no option today, other than to be outdoors. So when Bear asked for “painting, mummy, outside?”, we grabbed the paints, a couple of canvases and found outrselves a nice shady spot to sit and paint. Another two canvases down for our garland, a lesson on mixing colours, some stencilling with leaves, and a paint “fight” that ended with mummy with a blue nose, Bear with stripy arms, and Chubba Bubba with a fetch green war-paint-like cheek stripe.
And so ends another week. Only three weeks left until preschool & the usual term-time activities resume. Where does the time go? Lots to pack into the next three weeks, and hoepfully lots to blog about. A quilt or two. I’m itching to do some painting. Projects whirling through my mind, stirring the mojo & daring me to dream big. Maybe the weekend is a good to start to bring those dreams to reality & start living big too. Babies. Husbands. Craft room. It’ll all fit together somehow. Have a great weekend!
Thank you all for your lovely comments on my quiltinaday project! It was a lot of fun to make, and the recipient absolutely loves it! The tight deadline as I stitched down the binding was a bit much though! So after my valiant effort, and my two little boys being very patient, today is all about being creative at a toddler’s level!
Baking is high on the “mutually-enjoyable-quality-time” activities in our house. (Much more fun than, say, repairing the train track for the 546th time because 1yo ChubbaBubba walked on it and sent 3yo Bear into floods of tears…). Admittedly, we tend to stick to our “old faithfuls”, because, in my mind, toddler+preschooler+mixmaster+hot oven is enough of a combination to juggle without adding “read-the-recipe-300-times-because-I’ve-never-done-it-before” to the mix. And of our four or five rotating recipe, there is one that is popular in our house that sticks out, in my mind, at least, as being one of the very few that scream “childhood”.
Our version of honey crackles is modified oh-so-slightly – I crush the corn flakes so that it is easier to use the smaller paper cases. Ideal for tiny little 3 & 1 year olds, who like a special little sweet treat, but mean onld mummy won’t let them have too much. Bad, very very bad, for mummies who think that the small size means that two (or three, or four) are ok, because in total it’s the same as a full-sized one. Ok, so maybe I’m pushing my luck on that one! I’ve got to justify my overindulgence one way or another…
So, with the honey crackles crisping nicely in the oven, we had a quick pit stop for morning tea (them) and washing up (me), as the smell of the goldening (is that even a word?) honeyed flakes filled our nostrils. Soon enough, it was time to take the tray out and survey our handywork. Only problem was, small boys thought they needed to taste test. Now. RIGHT NOW.
Eeek. Panic sets in (me). Tears threaten (them). What to do? Diversionary tactics are needed. The adreneline kicks in and the survival instinct takes over.
“Who wants to do some painting?” It works. The crocodile tears vanish in an instant. “Me! Mummy, me, please! White paint today, I fink?” (Bear) “Ah ah dah duh” (Chubba Bubba) “Sounds good.” (me again).
With a door between the children and I, I rummage through the craft box, and come up trumps. Two small canvases, gifted to the boys for their birthdays. We retrace our steps to the toy room, and sitting on the timber floor, we surround ourselves with puddles of paint, trapped on layers of scrap paper. “Don’t forget the white, mummy” (Bear). “*squish, slide, wiggle*” (Chubba Bubba). “Sweetheart, please don’t paint your leg” (me, to Chubba Bubba). We sing silly little songs about the mixing colours. “Red and yellow make orrr-anggge, blue & yellow make greeeeen…” I know, my singing sucks, even in the cyber world. It was fun though. And the little canvases look so awesome, I’m thinking this might be the start of a longer-term project.
Bear’s masterpiece:
And little Chubba Bubba’s:
As I cleaned the paint off Chubba Bubba’s legs, I heard a chirpy little voice at my elbow. “We put them up on the wall now Mummy?” And why not indeed, my small boy. These little canvases are only 4″ across, so I plan to string some ribbon across one wall of the toy room, garland style, and attach the paintings. I am also planning a major assault on the local $2 for a bunch more of these to add to our garland, as well as a few to do just in Christmas colours for our loungeroom. Maybe one every year? Who’d have guessed there’d be so much potential in giving two small boys two small canvases?!
So after a lovely morning, both tiny boys are tuckered out and curled up in their beds. I have just opened a new pack of canvas sheets and am planning a materpiece of my own. Ok, so masterpiece is an overstatement. But if I can enjoy the process of painting with the same innocent abandon, I’ll consider it a success. Once again, they have reminded me that the doing is as good, if not better, than the “done-and-tick-it-off-the-list”. So I’m painting like no-one’s seeing the end result. Which might involve singing like no-one’s listening. And quite possibly a little hip-waggle-bust-a-move like no-one’s watching. Because life is more enjoyable when we do what makes us happy, not what others want to see. Wonderful Wednesday, you’ve been so good to me. Keep it up, k? Let’s do this!
