on my list

I have been wanting one of these for a while. I am now resigned to the reality that there is no way I will find one that is both perfectly battered and ridiculously cheap. Maybe it is time to actually start saving for one.

one person's dog blanket...

...is a quilt for Sam's room. The green paisley quilt on the top of his bed was found in a very cramped op shop I don't go to very often. This was in the box labelled 'dog blankets' and was the princely sum of $2. It remind me of the lining of sleeping bags we had as kids (yes, in the seventies).

Ans a note on things Sam and bed related - since we put a wool queen size quilt on his single bed (yes it drags on the floor near the wall somewhat) he has been sleeping an extra hour each night, now waking at between 6:30 and 7:00am. Not sure if it because he is toasty and warm or he hasn't the energy to lift the weight of him.

cannonballs

The kids are seasoned cannonball-ers (for photos of their previous cannonballing see here and here). This morning they were sidetracked while bedroom cleaning. If you want to woo my kids, just pile up blankets, pillows, cushions (beanbags are great too, towels have been used when desperate) and let them jump from the highest level they can find. It is often best not to look. They have developed what they think is an hilarious habit: whenever I walk past and say something along the line of being safe and using caution they chant at the tops of their voices "Safety. Safety. Safety." while hurling themselves onto their cushiony landing. As I said, it really is best not to look.

what we learned today...

... that the people of our city do not really want to see a movie that was released twelve months ago, despite $5 tickets and school holidays.  More importantly, that when you are the only patrons in a cinema you can do pretty much whatever you want, including but not limited to: relay races, dancing to the highly dramatic music, playing hide and seek and having a round or two of charades.

tangled

Amber sent me a text with these photos. Taken across the road from her flat at the Powerhouse Arts Centre, they show part of a school holiday activity where kids wrapped the building in fabric strips. Called Tangled, the interactive element inside the building was to thread and weave elastic to create a huge bouncy, stretchy playspace. Can you imagine how much kids would love that?

check your letterboxes

Anyone who is due a card - whether thank you, birthday, new baby or just because - in the next month or so should prepare themselves for it to be of the fruit stamp variety. After a very slippery and messy half hour we now have enough to last us through every conceivable occasion. We will be progressing to vegetables later this week, stay tuned.

poised at the ready

I am set up and ready to quilt. At last. After moving my desk out for the new computer the study was a little sparse. A temporary fix with a trestle table and I am ready to sew. No excuses. This quilt will be for Sam's room. It's day two of the holidays, I have cut two thirds of my strips and the remaining pile of old jeans on the right will be cut into strips by tomorrow.

I have been daunted at the prospect of making another quilt. It has been a long time since I made one. To inspire me (and remind me that I can do it) I pulled this one from the top of the linen cupboard last night and was pleasantly reminded that this is indeed doable. This was one of the quilts I made for Sam's cot.

holiday planning

The calender is drawn up. Scheduled events (haircuts, dentist, parties) have been put in. Now we are writing our wishlist. Playing wii in the library, potato stamp art, winter beach day, finding a new playground, lego competitions - to name a few. We will tick them off as we do them. Sam is hoping for a 75% strike rate. I suggested cleaning out clothes in the cupboards - this was met with disdain. Holidays are here and it is going to be a fun two weeks.

collections

My collection of vintage pyrex has taken some time to take shape but is starting to come together. I am fussy about what I will pay for this - I have set my limit at $5 a dish and have walked away from a few pieces that were over budget. I think the opaque colours without pattern is the way to go. That said, I found the blue snowflake dish at an op. shop last week and could not resist, but don't think it will stay for long.

winter

Jars of ranunculas, lemons from a friend's tree and cake on my bench: Winter Goodness.

thrifted treasure

I found a french soda syphon a few weeks ago. It is enormous (approx. 50cm tall) and the most lovely round shape, it actually deserves a close up photo of the engraved French text around the spout but trust me when I say it is beautiful. I pounced on it and then decided that I must have more. Often these decisions to start searching for a collection result in months of scavenging. Somehow the vintage treasure gods smiled on me as I found the second (albeit not French) within a day. Last weekend at a car boot sale I completed the trio with the discovery of the smallest of the three. They are lovely and have not found their resting place yet but I will play around with rearranging in the next week or so and find somewhere to show their loveliness. Until now I am happy to look at them perched atop the winerack behind the kitchen table.

home at last

Michael arrived home on Sunday, his bag (packed full with gifts) arrived 5 days later. It was a long week for a 4 and 6 year old as they waited for their bounty. They were not disappointed. The welcome home sign was clamped to the picket fence and was a big hit.