Canberra Day

Hello everybody.
We had a great Canberra Day long weekend.
On Friday my daughter arrived home from Year Six camp. She was very weary but still wished to attend the kids' club run by the local church so off she went, straight off the bus.

 Here she is getting reacquainted with her pooches. The big dog was having a belly scratch. The little dog, ever hopeful, came and laid down beside her to wait his turn.

 I spent the evening practicing my newfound crochet skills. I have decided I should be able to crochet since there is absolutely no reason why I shouldn't. It's pretty much just like finger knitting but with a hook instead of a finger, and once when I was 12 or 13 I managed to finger knit with my friends Sally and Jo for something like a week solid so I have pretty much conquered that.



The next day the kid was up early for horse riding lessons. 
The Pickle rode a horse named Trenton, who was very well behaved.
 
We stopped in at the Salvos op shop in Weston Creek on our way back home. I bought some knitting needles and a pink and white striped cotton sheet, from the days when sheets were thick and long wearing. The stripes are about an inch wide. I contemplated starting a collection of handmade blue and white pottery mugs but I resisted the urge. I think I have enough collections for now.

While we were out, hubby was mowing the lawn and it really does look fantastic now.

For a special treat we went to a birthday lunch for my husband at his parent's house. I took my MIL a lovely bunch of roses from the rose bed and they really did look fantastic all bunched up together. I wish I'd taken a photo of them in the vase. 
Mother in Law had gone out of her way to prepare a lovely meal. The vegetarians in the crowd dined on felafel and haloumi cheese with assorted dips and salad. The three of us were almost falling asleep at the table so after cupcakes we made our excuses and went home.

The kid and I did about six loads of washing (after the camp there was a lot to wash). I made my hubby a special batch of brownies with dark chocolate and macadamias. I wandered around and dead headed the roses and weeded the driveway. Hubby seems to think my Etsy shop has been getting too much attention lately, so I had an Etsy free day. The pink rose is Pierre de Ronsard, by the way, and the sunflowers grew from birdseed.

On Sunday we managed to sleep in. Then we went to see 'Oz the Great and Powerful'. 
We quite enjoyed this movie. I liked the way it started in black and white in Kansas, just like the original film did. The film is a prequel to the Judy Garland version, and explains how the Wizard ends up in Oz. And of course, as everyone knows, he is not a real wizard so that is all part of the story too. I really liked the scenery in the film.

 In the afternoon I spent a few hours cutting out squares for rainbow dresses. All up I needed something like 612 squares, since I am working on three dresses for my shop. I was doing pretty well but I needed more purple.

On Monday we did not have to go to school/work. Canberra had a public holiday on account of the city's birthday. This time it was a super special birthday since Canberra turned 100.
You might think I was in the midst of the festivities held by Lake Burley Griffin, partaking in centenary delights.
Well, you'd be wrong because I hightailed it out to Queanbeyan in New South Wales where it was business as usual and all the shops were open, including the oppies. I am so used to turning left onto the main road to get to work that I turned left without thinking and then quickly realised I needed to go back the other way!
I told my husband before I left that I'd be home in time to cook his lunch, which turned out to be over optimistic.

On the way to Queanbeyan I drove past a dead fox sitting on a swing in a tree. I tried to take a photo but it did not do this macabre sight justice. One day I will jump the fence and get a close up. This same tree previously had a dead fox nailed to the trunk by its feet, as if it was running up for some reason. Weird. Farmers sometimes put dead dingoes on the fence to warn the other dingoes to keep away - but foxes are not that smart. Anyway they are certainly better off dead. Foxes are no friend to the farmer or to the native animals.
 
the fox is holding on to the rope with its paws somehow. Superglue?


First stop in Queanbeyan was St Vinnies. I found a Dick Bruna book, "I Can Count". I collect Dick Bruna books so I was very happy with this find. "I Can Count" was turned into a frieze, which I also have. 

 

I also found two Ladybird books and a Finn Family Moomintroll book. Tove Jansson is one of my favourite authors. I also collect Ladybird books but only if they are older than me.














how cute are the Moomins?

In the pattern department I found two 70s skirt patterns, one a wrap around and the other pretty circle skirt. I seem to have plenty of skirt patterns already but I just can't seem to resist bringing them home. The wrap skirt from 1977 says "Go Everywhere" on the front - I like the sound of that. 
Weren't the 70s great? You can do anything you want, so long as you have the right skirt.

The Anglicare shop was having a half price sale, but there was not really anything I needed. I did buy a pink crochet doily though, to use as sleeves on a dress or as an embellishment.

I crossed over to the Riverside Plaza where I bought two more crochet hooks from the Lions club craft shop. This is a really nice place to buy baby booties if you ever need them.

I fuelled up with a chiller drink from Gloria Jeans as it was too hot for a real coffee, and then continued to the Salvos where I bought something but I forget what it was. 

Now the main reason for this jaunt was to source fabric for my rainbow dresses and having not turned up anything suitable I was forced to visit Spotlight, our local cheap and cheerful fabric and craft store. Lucky for me they were having a 30% off store wide sale. Unlucky for husband there were enormous queues and there was no chance I was going to be home in time to cook his lunch! I bought the minimum cut of quite a few purple fabrics and a new blade for the rotary cutter.

Next destination was the hardware shop, Magnet Mart. They have a special deal, 10 tube stock plants for $20, and I was hoping to find ten camellias. $2 each is a very nice price for camellias. Sadly there was no camellia tube stock so I bought two of the smallest plants, and two Chinese elm trees and a purple hydrangea. I must have had purple on the brain because I did not set out to buy a purple hydrangea, it just kind of leapt into my trolley!

I had to visit the supermarket on the way home which added more time to the trip but meant I arrived home with more than just fabric and plants.

When I got home I planted the camellias and the hydrangea and then washed the new purple fabric. The Chinese elms are biding their time and I will plant them in the winter when they are dormant. None of the humans in the house appeared to have missed me while I was gone - the kid was snoozing in her room and the husband was killing zombies on his computer.

It being such a hot day the fabric dried in no time and I spent the evening watching an old fashioned movie, "the Ghost and Mr Chicken" while I cut it all up into hundreds of squares.

This must be a good week for op-shopping because DD and I ventured out to the Tuggeranong Vinnies after school today and found that a quilter had recently destashed her fabric collection. All of the selections were half or full yards, no skimpy odd shaped bits this time. 
I picked out some cute "calicoes" including one with little ducks. I plan to use these for appliques, I was envisioning an owl or a flower on one of my corduroy dresses, just to bump up the cuteness factor. I also found about two metres of blue and white striped seersucker which is my favourite fabric for sunfrocks. 
This fabric (right) has vintage advertisements.
I also tried to buy DD a copy of "Freaky Friday", a book where a teenager swaps bodies with her mother. I told DD that the girl in the story realises how hard her mother works and soon wishes she was a girl again. I was hoping DD would take this message to heart, but she somehow put the book down in the shop somewhere so that when we went to the counter it did not get purchased. Oh well, maybe some other little girl is reading it tonight and learning to be nice to her mother.

☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂ ☂

Shop news:
The charity sale for Pegasus is still going on, if you'd like to check out the collection of items for sale please head over to this treasury.

 Here is a cute little dress which I made just in time for St Patrick's Day. (you can click on the first picture to go through to the listing)
I am intending to make better use of my corduroy stash and sew some little overalls and pinafores in coming months. 

Isn't this pattern just the cutest? Overalls will be in store soon (I hope).


Thanks for reading my blog.

Book review: Just a Dog

I read a lovely book yesterday, called "Just a Dog", by Michael Gerard Bauer.
It is a kids book, suitable for kids in year five and six up.

The author also wrote the hilarious "Don't Call Me Ishmael", a very very funny book for teenagers about a boy who just doesn't fit in.

This one is not so funny. The dog in the story, Mr Mosely, is not just a dog.

The story is told by a boy named Corey. Each chapter tells a different story from the life of the family dog. Corey went with his mum and dad to Uncle Gavin's house to choose a puppy from the litter born to Madonna, a pure bred dalmatian whose progeny is not so pure.
Corey was only little at the time, and he chose a shy, withdrawn and quiet little puppy who was mostly white, hence the name Mr Mosely (Corey couldn't say mostly). Even though the pup is little, he has enormous feet and it doesn't take him long to grow into them.

For a while the family is happy. But then after two sisters are born, the dad loses his job and begins to suspect the mum of being unfaithful.
Things are very tense, and Corey is very aware of the discord in the relationships around him. But Mr Mosely is a faithful dog. He listens to Dad's private troubles, is always waiting ready to play with Corey after school, valiantly defends Amelia from what he perceives to be a viscous attack by the Pink Panther and diffuses many troubling situations just by being his comic self.

The way the story is narrated you can tell something bad is going to happen to Mr Mosely. In fact, right from the start we are pretty sure that something bad already has and that the narrator is looking back to happier times as a way to get over his grief.

I shed a tear reading this book, which was embarrassing as I was reading it during a staff meeting, but I am glad to say it has a positive ending, with the family striving to stay together.

I highly recommend this book for any lovers of dogs.

Just found a video about it on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ij-WXel5k8

Book review: Elizabeth Honey

Hi there everyone. I would like to tell you about one of my favourite Aussie kids' authors, Elizabeth Honey. I love her name for starters, and she is a brilliant writer. As for favourite Aussie children's authors, I have quite a few and it would be hard to narrow it down to a top one hundred let alone a top ten, but if I had to, she'd be up there at the top!


Last year, I read Elizabeth Honey's book "45 and 47 Stella Street and Everything that Happened." It is narrated by the heroine, an engaging girl named Henni Octon. She is tall and very funny and the story is written as if it is her book. There is a cast of family and friends who live in this close knit community, including Henni's irepressible little sister Danielle and electifying best friend Zev. They are all so believable and totally lovable.

The trouble starts when a friendly old lady dies and some new neighbours move in to her house. The kids soon come to call these strangers "the phonies" and all sorts of adventures ensue. It is like a funny, modern, Aussie version of the Famous Five. Almost all of the pages contain cute illustrations drawn by Henni.

After I had read it, I got hold of the audio book from the library, and played it in the car so my daughter could enjoy it too. Well, the nine year old absolutely LOVED it. She couldn't wait to hear some more, and asked me every time we got in if I could start the CD. The part she loved the most I think was the dog, Briquette, who has a bad habit of going through people's garbage and thus inadvertantly plays a part in unmasking the phonies. The audio book is read by Rebecca Smart, of "The Shiralee" fame, I remember watching her in Heartbreak High. She does a great job.

In conclusion, it is a funny story about ordinary kids in an ordinary street who have an adventure and prove that they are not so ordinary after all. Parents and kids of kids in year 3 up will really enjoy it. It definitely should be made into a movie, and it features in "1001 kids books to read before you grow up"

Since then, we have listened to the third Henni Octon story, "The Ballad of Cauldron Bay" and we are currently reading the second one "Fiddleback" at bedtime. More about this later.

Other Elizabeth Honey books to look out for are:
"What do you Think, Feezal?" This book is about a girl named Bean whose rich parents mostly leave her alone. She finds out she is going to be kidnapped by reading a book, which strangely enough is another Elizabeth Honey book. Tom Stoppard, eat your heart out! I really really enjoyed this exciting story, but the Pickle (that's DD) thought it was a bit scary. The "Feezal" in the title is a little doll made out of sticks who the main character talks to throughout the story.



"The Cherry Dress" When the Pickle was little, we saw this read on Playschool. A lovely story about a girl whose favourite dress gets smaller and smaller until it no longer fits. We both really liked this story, and it brought back memories of a cherry dress I had as a preschooler, which was actually a nightie. It lived in the dress up box for a long time after I grew out of it!



"Don't Pat the Wombat!" is a gross story about kids on year 6 camp. I think year 6 kids would like this one a lot. I did not let the Pickle read it as it has toilet humour and the kids don't respect their teachers. It is rather like Morris Gleitzman or Paul Jennings in style. There are black and white photos as well as line drawings. It is pretty much exactly what year 6 camp is like...and I oughta know, I've been on about a hundred of them.




"Princess Beatrice and the Rotten Robber" another picture book. The Pickle didn't like this one much. The Princess is kidnapped by the robber, but she tricks him and ends up making him polish her jewels. This is the book Bean is reading in "What do you think, Feezal?" and it helps her outwit her kidnapper. Cool!

Some sewing book reviews amongst other things.

As I write this, I am eating a new desert I just invented. It is Cafe Grande icecream, which contains choc covered scorched almonds, and grande marnier flavour, with Caramel Crown biscuits. Mmm. I thought it up for hubby but I tried some too.
At the same time, I am watching this crazy cool program on tv about two guys who visit hoarders and check out what's in their sheds. It is incredible! What an eye-opener. I have to overcome my hoarding instincts lest I end up on this show. I have found out (by pressing the right button on the remote) that it is called "American Pickers". I would love to see an Aussie version of this show, they could start with my Pa!


I borrowed "1000 clever sewing shortcuts and tips", by Deepika Prakash of patternreview.com fame. Unfortunately, it is time to return it to the library and I have not been able to try out the tips! Someone else has requested it, grrr.
There are tips to help you organise your sewing room, cut out patterns, cut fabric, sew nicely, deal with different fabric types, choose the right pattern and make it fit your particular body shape..you name it, there is a tip for it. All of these tips have been submitted by the loyal readers of patternreview.com.
I am a member of this site, but so far I have not managed to post a review. I do like to read peoples' recommendations though, and my favourite part is where people submit photographs of their finished designs. This is so much better and more accurate than looking at the photos on the pattern envelope.

If I had to submit some tips for the book they would be:
1.don't pin when you can tin instead. (this means, weigh the pattern down with tin cans whilst cutting out the fabric...doesn't work when you're sewing it!)
2. If things go wrong, don't worry, Mum can fix it

I really enjoyed learning from the wisdom of other sewers, and I will be requesting this book again so that when the next person's finished it, it will come straight back to me. The other item I have to take back that I am not ready to part with yet is Paul Kelly's greatest hits albumn, "Songs from the South", it rocks!




"The Handiest Things in the World" by Andrew Clements, is a sweet photo picture book about hands.
The frontispiece shows a collage of photographs of hands, holding, touching ,scooping, spraying, scooping, tying...pretty much anything your hands can do is depicted here. It is so bright and colourful, an eyecatching way to start the book. The text is a poem that runs throughout the book, each double page on a separate subject. The photos by Raquel Jaramillo are clear and full of activity. I am sure this book would be a great hit with pre-schoolers. I really liked it.


I recently picked up a second hand copy of "The Seventh Pebble" by Eleanor Spence. It has a stamp on the title page that says "Village Creek Primary School Library" but it does not appear to be a library book - no creases, no jam stains, no marks where sticky stuff has been ripped off. Hmm. Maybe they didn't read any books at that school?

I am sure I have read this before, in high school, and after I've read it again I will write you a review. I don't think it is in 1001 kids books to read before you grow up, but it probably should be in 1001 Australian kids books to read!


"Sew Eco" by Ruth Singer is a great little sewing book. For starters, hasn't she got a great name for a sewing author?
She starts by explaining what is eco sewing, and provides useful information about how to source fabrics and supplies that don't use lots of chemicals, come from far away or create problems for the environment. Then she writes about how to take care of old fabrics, and re-use garments and other fabric items to make new things. Finally the book has instructions for making chair covers, pin cushions, a corsage and even a skirt.

I have read a great many sewing books about reusing materials, you know, all of that "shabby chic s**t", but this is the first one that has explained in great detail about how to find earth friendly fabrics and what to do with them when you do find them. Truly a great resource and a reference book.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to sew and who hates to see good fabric go to waste (that's me!)
http://www.seweco.blogspot.com/

If you have a minute, check out my own recycled curtain skirt, for sale on my etsy site here:http://www.etsy.com/listing/78589511/handmade-hang-glider-skirt-womens-ladies

book review: Tiny

I bought this book for my daughter, the Pickle, from the scholastic lucky book club catalogue. The Pickle, who is a dog lover, thought the dog on the cover was "so cute", and I liked the fact that it was an Australian book. Turns out you can judge a book by its cover.
The book describes a road trip round Australia from the red heeler's perspective. It is full of amazing photos. Just like a breathtaking "coffee table" book, except telling the story of their trip. I really liked the page where Tiny met some horses, and the one where she swims with the kids.
It is not a smaltzy book, but it does feature a heart-warming doggy romance. The end papers are a clue, with red heeler fur at the front and blue heeler fur at the back. I did enjoy reading this photo-story and I will keep an eye out for more work from this Aussie photographer.
Recommended for kids of all ages, dog people and lovers of outback scenery.

Quilted Yellow Box, and another book review

So I decided to make an "art quilt". If you look at it cross-eyed, it looks like a tree! Here is the actual tree that I drew on graph paper to make the pattern. That's Maggie the Kelpie bounding off to find me a stick.

After I had charted the tree, I began making HSTs in various shades of green.
Then I purchased $3.50 worth of white fabric for the background.
It was hard work matching up the corners of the squares. I sewed them into rows, with white fabric at either end. Some of the HSTs were half white and half green to give an uneven shape to the tree.

I quilted the green section with a U shape, which I hoped gave the appearance of leaves. I was aiming for this sort of leaves (modelled here by James May for some reason)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1jWs13xUSg I used brown thread, a spool of Molnycke that is probably a collector's item now.

The white background I quilted with wavy lines, in some sunset coloured variegated thread. It is not the best machine quilting ever...I did have a glass of sherry before I began to help relax!
I used green bias binding around the edge.

For the label I wrote on a strip of fabric and fused it onto the back. The back BTW is a sheet I scored at St Vinnies recently, pure cotton. It would make a nice sheet, but people around here are rather fond of matching sets, and besides, it now has a large rectangle cut out of it.
The label went diagonally across the corner of the quilt, next time I will leave a bit more room at either end of the writing, as I have sewn the binding onto it obscuring the capital E.

Here is one last shot of the quilt with the yellow boxes in the background

 I am really quite pleased with it, and am planning on giving it to a random Craftster in a pass-the-parcel swap going on at the moment. Check it out here http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=380729.0

Now for the book review: The Sterkarm Handshake by Susan Price.
This was a gripping yarn! I have no fingernails left after reading this book. It reminded me of Diana Wynne Jones' multi-dimensional story, Hexwood. It had a lot in common with the Owl Service, by Alan Garner. In this story a 21st C company sets up a time tunnel to go back to the 16th century. Their purposes are to exploit the vicious tribal people they find there, living on the border between Scotland and England. An anthropologist is sent back to live with the Sterkarms and to find out more about them. Trouble is, she falls in love with the beautiful Per, son of the head of the clan. If he was around today, he'd be a metrosexual.
I thoroughly enjoyed this time-travelling yarn. It was full of suspense and danger. The 21st century entrepreneurs underestimated the Sterkarms, who may not have the technology but are wise enough to stick up for themselves. There is also the added romantic element of Andrea and Per, who make a lovely couple. The 16th C was described so vividly I could almost smell it as I read the book. One thing puzzled me was the book's categorisation as a kids book. There are no kids in it. It is scary. There are sexual elements to it. I think it is a book for young adults, or for older readers. I am about to start the sequel, A Sterkarm Kiss. Highly recommended.

In other news, I recently arrived home from work on Sunday to find my darling daughter had cooked me a cake. She even cleaned up the kitchen, so that there was not a trace of the cooking except for the final product. Her father helped her to light the oven but apart from that it was all her own work. Not bad for a nine year old!

The coffee pot in the photo is one of my favourite Vinnies purchases. It is a Corningware percolator from the seventies, in mint condition. I got the feeling it was a wedding present that had never been used, and kept in a cupboard all this time. It certainly gets a good workout in my house! Here are some more gratuitous photos of my coffee pot. The design (my friend google tells me) is "country festival"

Here's a photo of sunset on the Snowy River at Dalgety, where I went on an outing to find some platypuses whilst on Staff Retreat at Jindabyne in May. No furry friends were forthcoming, but I did find some enormous wombat holes down by the river. I stomped my way through blackberry bushes, bullrushes and past the wombat holes to get to what I thought was a platypus, but I found out on closer inspection it was a rock. Dalgety was a lovely quaint hamlet and I wish to return and spend some more time poking around there.

book review: The Naming of Tishkin Silk

The naming of Tishkin Silk by Glenda Millard is another tear-jerker. In Griffin's family everything has been turned upside down by grief. Griffin has to attend school for the first time because his mother, who has home-schooled him thus far, has not come home after the birth of his little sister. It is not a happy experience for him, but he meets a friend, Layla, while investigating the ditchwater on the way home. This is such a sad story, but a happy one too. Layla helps Griffin to understand what is happening to the family and they work out a way to celebrate Tishkin and move on through the grieving process. This would be a good book for kids who have experienced loss to read, and I would recommend it for ages 11 up.

I have also read Glenda Millard's A small free kiss in the dark. This was much darker, kind of like Cormac McCarthy's The road  for children. It made me think of how little we need to survive, and how much hope plays a part in keeping us alive. It was about how people who have nothing left at all can overcome the bleakest of situations if they team up and love each other. I especially liked the part in this book where the children take refuge in the state library...can you think of a better place to shelter? I really don't like reading post-apocalyptic fiction, or even stories set in war-ravaged countries. I think I overdosed on them as a teenager. A small free kiss was wonderfully written, but because of its harrowing subject matter should really only be read by older teenagers.

Book review: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

This is a book I have been meaning to read for a while. Whenever a book is made into a movie, I feel honour bound to read the book first. Otherwise I would probably never bother reading the book.
PRN won a Newberry medal for this book, so I thought it would be a nice story. I wasn't disappointed. The book is about a boy named Marty who reminded me a lot of Jesse in Bridge to Terabithia. Marty is eleven, has two younger siblings, has a family who are short of cash and seem very busy just making ends meet. Both stories are set in a poor rural area. And like BTT, this story is a real tear-jerker. The characters in Shiloh speak in West Virginia slang, which takes some getting used to.
A scruffy, underfed beagle follows Marty home one day. Marty knows who owns it, but can't bear the thought of returning the dog to a home where it is unloved and unappreciated. He knows the owner, Judd,  has already shot one of his dogs in the head. Marty hides the dog, who he names Shiloh, in a run up behind his house. He needs to lie to his parents and steal food to feed it. Shiloh is the perfect pet, being fully appreciative of Marty's efforts. Sadly, one night another dog gets in to Shiloh's run and savages him. Marty has no choice but to reveal Shiloh and take him to the local doctor who stitches him up. The whole family end up falling in love with the pup.
When Shiloh's owner finds out, Marty has to work out a plan to buy Shiloh. He sets out on his own to bargain with the red neck and finds him armed and dangerous.
I enjoyed reading this book. I liked the way it dealt with the issue of telling the truth. Is it always the right thing to tell the truth? What if telling the truth results in loss of life? Is it worth it to lie to save someone you love? I also really liked Marty who was such an animal lover that he couldn't eat his dinner unless he knew it had died quickly.
Shiloh is recommended for lovers of sad dog stories, aged ten up.