Crafternoon

Easter was fun here, and rather low-key. Lots of jobs around the house, time as a family, day trips in the car and so on. The Easter bunny delivered Turkish Delight, dark chocolate, and a cup of tea which was wonderful!

We have had strange wet stuff falling steadily from the sky. It will rejuvenate and regenerate gardens in a very real example to the kids of 'new life' as this holiday weekend is about. It's been such a rare event, as we have now had three days in a row of rain, so the garden has readily drank it up. Birds are singing and bugs are emerging. A friend's children were out in the rain in bathers earlier today - so rare and exciting is precipitation! Note to self (and Mr BB!!) must clean out gutters - unexpectedly over-flowing.

As we are forced to stay indoors, we have gone to the family favourites of construction (new roll of tape to celebrate hols!), drawing, and of course story-writing for Master 7.

Master 7 loves stapling pieces of paper together to make "a book". He comes up with a title, number pages, names chapters, does a sentence or two, then abandons it in favour of thenext idea. He is truly an ideas man, rather than a do-er. We have created a special box for WIP for him, in case he wants to return to anything at a later date. As yet he hasn't!

I have more sewing on the go, and after re-arranging the bookshelf, have a mountain of books ready for the bed-side table.

I am slowly formulating a time-share approach to the family room. The family only use the lounge room (carpet and tv), and I tend to use the family room. So as from the weekend, I will have a craft and sewing space, and the toys will again be halved. Will they even notice? No, I think not.

We are off to Melbourne for a week on Saturday, so I also have to sort out some car craft. Must buy felt! The school fair is not until October, but I want to do lots for the craft stall. What are top sellers at your school fair? I was going to do pencil toppers which double as cake toppers, as well as little bags for treasure and pencil rolls.

I also want to get my sewing and knitting badges done - so the school hols will be very busy! Sadly I have pharyngitis, so my energy levels are flat, but the ideas are flowing, if only I can catch them and put them on the calender.

J
x

Bestest Easter Craft by Far!

I wish I understood German. Maybe the pattern is self-explanatory, unsure if it's easy or not though. Rather gorgeous egg-tote anyhow! Check it out here. May try my hand at it today.

Lots of do-able downloadable (free) crafts as usual at Crayola dot com (Ramadan, Diwali, many festivals covered here), and lovely Easter templates at the Powerhouse Museum see www.play.powerhousemuseum.com which helped me make this Easter top for Miss 2!

Cheats tute for last-minute Easter outfit for last day of school:

Take the template and trace onto iron-on interfacing. Iron it on!

Select your fabric from the stash...

Cut out your shape and peel off the backing, iron it in place over stain/s that won't budge.

Sit in front of the telly watching your favourite show and handstitch in place with a decorative stitch. If you are in a rush, use the Janome or similar.

Ta da!

Pair with tiered skirt by JustJess and there is your own cute little Easter Bunny!

Last day of Term One here and we are all rather excited. Easter crafts all afternoon will be done and lots of Hot Cross Buns consumed over the next few days. YUM.

Taking the kids to church on Sunday for an introduction to an Easter service... Fingers crossed. Determined that Easter means more to them than chocolate and buns, so they can make up their own minds as they grow.

xx

Happy Weekend

I had a lovely Sunday with great friends, at an estate auction. Apart from some items that are in the wash, I did VERY well.

$5 lot purchased for this (residual of lot gone to Salvos)

I have wanted one of these for ages for sewing purposes, when a seam needs a quick press, etc. Super little beauty may have been used but unlikely.

Also another $5 lot which was BOXES of crockery. I gave all but three matching pyrex lovelies to Salvos:

(Rotate you little bugger!!!)

More to come... retro beach umbrella and banana lounge also $5 for the lot, more folk table cloths, and a peaceful satisfaction that these items are going to be loved and used!

xx

World Champions!

Pooh had just come to the bridge; and not looking where he was going, he tripped over something, and the fir-cone jerked out of his paw into the river. 'Bother,' said Pooh, as it floated slowly under the bridge, and he went back to get another fir-cone which had a rhyme to it. But then he thought that he would just look at the river instead, because it was a peaceful sort of day, so he lay down and looked at it, and it slipped slowly away beneath him, and suddenly, there was his fir-cone slipping away too.

That's funny,' said Pooh. 'I dropped it on the other side,' said Pooh, 'and it came out on this side! I wonder if it would do it again?' And he went back for some more fir-cones. It did. It kept on doing it. Then he dropped two in at once, and leant over the bridge to see which of them would come out first; and one of them did; but as they were both the same size, he didn't know if it was the one which he wanted to win, or the other one. So the next time he dropped one big one and one little one, and the big one came out first, which was what he had said it would do, and the little one came out last, which was what he had said it would do, so he had won twice ... and when he went home for tea, he had won thirty-six and lost twenty-eight, which meant that he was - that he had - well, you take twenty-eight from thirty-six, and that's what he was. Instead of the other way round.

And that was the beginning of the game called Poohsticks, which Pooh invented, and which he and his friends used to play on the edge of the Forest. But they played with sticks instead of fir-cones, because they were easier to mark.'

As noted in The Canberra Times this week, to Canberrans have taken out the World Poohsticks Championship in Oxfordshire. 2,000 people turned up to watch 800 competitors battle it out in team and individual events.

Now this is REAL news people! The prize? A trophy and HONEY!

xx