Long Weekend

 Ahh, a long weekend!

 

Ours included a bike ride to Newtown (before the rain set in).  A movie for Will and I.  At the cinema.  In 3D.  For real!  Lots of yummy food, heater cranked up to full, cosy times sitting around the table with Lego (or crocheting) in hand.  An evening out at our local pub celebrating a wonderful friends birthday while the children got soaked - completely soaked - puddle stomping and dancing in the rain. 

Freezing cold and wet, mostly spent at home but just enough 'out' to keep the cabin fever at bay - just as the June long weekend should be.  Loved it!

 

 

 

  

Time to get back on that horse!

Well, well, well. Someone has been rather slack on the blogging front hasn't she?!  It's time to get back on that horse! 

Taking off were I left off - Sewing! It's been happening alright and not only of the kid project variety.  I have made pants, pants and more pants. 

A few weeks ago Cass and I went along to the Stash and Treasure market in Marrickville and oh! The wonderful things I saw and bought there!  Check out my goodies pile below.  And all for a song.  Well, not a song but it was a bargain.  It was such a lovely way to pass a Saturday morning and the new -well upcycled but new to me - fabric for my stash really helped to inspire some more sewing. 

See that dark orange fabric below tied with some twine?  It's vintage upholstery weight corduroy and the moment I had it in my hands it started screaming out to be made into pants for my boys.  Yes! 

I have been wanting to try out my Quick Change Trousers pattern for forever.  From Handmade Beginnings by Anna Marie Horner.  It is reversible, awesome!  It's only up to a size 2 but for Hugo's slight 4 yr old frame all it required was some lengthening.  Easy peasy.  I loved this pattern.  I made 4 pairs in the space of a week!  2 for Hugo and 2 newborn size for gifts.

This is the first pair I made using that gorgeous orange corduroy and some green dotty fabric (from my stash) for one side and pale orange flannelette  - another stash and treasure find - and purple polka dots from a Spotlight fat quarter for the reverse.

  

Below in the middle you can see the second pair of Quick change Trousers that I made and also a pair of Sandbox Pants which I made a couple of months ago.  You can see I like that bicycle fabric can't you? 

 

Quick Change Trousers reverse sides:

These are the newborn ones which I gifted to a friends new squishie.  All made from fabric from my stash.

Here is some more of that orange corduroy, this time for Dexter.   Made with my ever so trusty Oliver +S Sandbox Pants pattern. 

And finished below.  All three of these pants are made using my adapted Sandbox pattern for Dex. At the moment I'm finding the Size 4, with additional length to be the best fit.  No longer am I needing to reduce the width like I was a couple of years ago.  Whoo!

The green pair I actually made last winter but I don't think they ever made it onto the blog.  I had to lengthen them this year, the child wont stop growing!  (We looked up his height/age on a growth chart during the week and unsurprisingly the boy is in the 90th percentile for height).  Thankfully I had some of that dark green linen left and in a fairly rough way added a few inches to get him through this winter.  Truth be told, I find the green a bit too green.  But Dex likes them so that's what counts.

I made brown pants from some lovely soft linen I had in my stash and a white linen tea towel that was gifted to Will at Christmas (recognise it Shell?!).  It features a cool screen printed Trumpeter fish local to Norfolk Island and I thought it more fun as an over sized pocked feature than something to dry our dished on. 

Finally a few shots of these pants in action!  

 

 

 

Oh.  And during all this time at the sewing machine Dexter and Hugo completed a few of their own projects which I wasn't very good at photographing.  But here's a little sample:

Frog Fairy

I've been trying to sew some winter pants for the boys these past couple of weeks.  It's not happening very quickly....well, at all!  Dexter or Hugo or both of them keep following me upstairs to the sewing space and insisting that their sewing projects require attention/use of the sewing machine/guidance from me.

Last week Dexter begged to please make a softie.  He drew his design first, then cut out 'pattern pieces', chose some fabric from my stash and basically went for it!  I helped with the final assembly and hand stitched closed the opening where he stuffed in the stuffing.  But that was about it.  The rest is all his own handiwork.  A Frog Fairy of course!

Moonset, Sunrise

Last Sunday morning Dexter and I rose before dawn and rode our bikes in the dark to Sydney Park.  We watched the super moon setting in one direction and the sun rising over the city skyline in the other direction.  It was simply magic.  It felt like we were the only people awake in the city.  The moon was fat and yellow (and impossible to photograph).  The skies perfectly clear, not even a whisper of clouds. We cycled to the very top of the hill and sat snuggled up against the cold on a park bench. 

For the next 25 minutes we watched the fat yellow moon slip slowly below the horizon.  Dexter was truly tickled by the whole thing.  Through chattering teeth (poor kid was shivering, it was cold!) he kept saying "Wow!  It really is bigger" and "Wow!  You can actually see it moving!"  and "Wow!  I'm so pleased we got up so early to see it mum".  Lots of wow's!

Slipping out of the house in the dark, into the tranquil predawn city; riding past a total of oh, maybe 4 cars; the fact that we actually followed through on our plans to see the super moon set which we only came up with the night before and sharing the whole adventure with a most enthusiastic 6 year old...well, it was a pretty special way to start the day.  A morning I wont forget for a long time.

(Not my photo, taken from here).

The Country Life

We've just returned from a week at my folks place.  I hardly took any photos.  In fact Dexter took the one above.  My friend Cass came with us and my folks were away so it was just her and I and the four children.  And the wide open space and big skies of this lovely part of the world.

We op shopped.   Come on!  Country town op shopping is the best and I was with Cass ~ op shopping queen ~ afterall!  We made a visit Annies Icecream - there is no way we are getting away with a trip to Bathurst without such a visit it seems.  Also dropped by the Sommerville museum, though our timing was out and we did not stay long as several small people needed lunch.  Most of all we just hang out at 'home'.  We trekked down to the creek a couple of times where we built bridges and swung on willow tree branches.  A few times Dexter and Harriet took themselves off on slow walks up the driveway to look for special rocks or 'up the back' to look for ripe raspberries and strawberries.

Each evening the kids gathered around to watch me light the fire - terribly I must admit, I'm extremely out of practice.  With very willing kindling collectors at my disposal it didn't really matter that I had to start over several times.  After the kids went to bed Cass and I sat by the fire and talked and drank wine and stayed up far too late each night!

Such a perfect way to fill the second week of my solo parenting stint while Will is off coffee-adventuring (Panama, El Salvador and Bolivia this time).   I'm so grateful to have this country escape whenever the desire hits me and am just thrilled to have been able to share it with my dear friend and her children.

(Check out Cass's beautiful photos here).

Dexter's Bike Love

Dexter has a new bike!  It seems so recent that we bought him his first bike last year but he has completely out grown it...and we can't have that now can we?  He is so thrilled with his new bike.  We picked it up from the bike shop today after the l o n g e s t  3 week wait EVER for this 6 year old.  He jumped straight on it. 

Even gave me a big ole toothless grin outside the store (he's been a little self conscious about his gap since losing both top middle teeth a week apart).

We chose a front basket and waited while Adam attached it to his bike.  Then after a few minutes practice in the lane behind Cheeky Transport Dex rode his shiny new bike all the way home without a hitch!

Once home, Dex asked me to carry it up the stairs onto the deck so he could admire it and fill his new basket bag with all the necessary things.  Which appear to be:  drink bottle, bike lock, an old hooter bell, a reflective ankle band he got free from City of Sydney council sometime, his visibility vest and cycling gloves and some loose change!  This child likes to cover all his bases that's for sure.

After a couple of hours of this he proceeded to ask me every 2 minutes if we could go out for another ride.  Actually ask is a nice way of putting it.  He whined and moaned and begged and drove me up the wall.  I however have done something to my ankle - a paddock-stomping injury I sustained the other day that has suddenly become rather painful several days after the fact.  Our Xtracycle ride to Newtown to collect Dexter's bike was all my ankle could handle today so we did the only thing one can do in such a situation.   I grabbed a beer and my camera and plonked myself down on our front door step while the boys zoomed back and forth on the footpath out the front.  Really quite a pleasant way to spent the afternoon actually!
 

Dexter practiced his handle bar braking and worked hard to get out of the habit of back peddle braking which his old bike had and this one does not.  He also practiced changing gears.  Yes, his new wheels have gears.  How sophisticated is that?!

Tonight he actually sat on his stationary bike in the living room while listening to an audio story before bed.  Seriously.  It's a wonder he didn't try to take the thing to bed with him.  I'm so tickled to witness this love affair.  May your bike love only grow stronger little one. (And may my ankle feel better tomorrow so we can head out for a spin together and share the cycling love).

The past month or two...

I know, I know.  Three posts in one day doesn't really make up for the weeks and weeks of zero blogging.  Ah well.  Moving on!

Just so you know our lives go on even when the blogging doesn't, here are some snaps from the last little while.

Baby doll wearing.

A real haircut (i.e. by someone other than mummy).

 Our homeschool groups annual Bike-a-thon.

Cooling off.

 Upside down antics. Photo by Cass.

 Crappy iphone photos Brotherly laughter (above), brotherly love (below)...

These two hold hands all the time, oh my, may they never stop.

 ...and rockin out!