Spontaneous Sewing Makes

Post Christmas, I did a couple of spontaneous sewing makes. I honestly thought I wouldn't want to touch a machine in ages since I had actually had a hugely productive sewing December (two Christmas Shirts (Dad & Luke), Mum's Shirt, shorts and dresses for babies and toddlers (all found here), as well as all the tedama that I churned out). But for some reason, it was totally fine for me to do these littlish things. 

Steve's gi bag for Jiu-jitsu was wearing thin and he needed a new one. I used the draw string from the old one and sewed up a similar design replacement in this fabulous black, gold and orange koi fabric that I'd picked up in Japan. Steve's choice! 

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It was a very straight forward sew - I added a lanyard clip for keys and sewed on a slip pocket on the inside for his phone (actually after the fact, but it was easy enough to add). it looks great, is sturdy (French seams for beauty and strength) and Steve has been using it every week.

No points for guessing the next make is for Rachel, since it's using the cow print fabric leftover from her onesie. Rachel got a new set of pens for Christmas but didn't have a pencil case big enough to put them in. We did a brain storm on design (flat or boxy, two pockets or one) and what fabric combo she wanted. We went through the box of zips - many of which I've unpicked from bags that are otherwise falling apart. 

She might have wanted to make it herself, but I was a little bit in the zone so I just sewed it all up for her. The inside is lined with a hand me down scrap from the stash (again, probably from Aunty Sue.) It's a white with small rainbow hearts, but it's quite see through, so I can't see us using it for much  other than linings.

The cool insect fabric is some that I got on sale at Spotlight a year ago. I have vauge plans for a dress (I keep going back and forth between being ok with making something for Rachel and wanting it for myself :P) but with two metres of it there was enough to sacrifice a strip for the contrast. Rachel requested the zip pulls be cow fabric and I added the lanyard clip just in case. 

Pretty straight forward, standard pencil case, making everyone happy. I also sewed up two of the standard kind of "green bag" that we use for groceries in Australia. 

Mum had given me some fabric for Christmas that I didn't think was destined for a garment of any kind. As I looked at it though, I knew it could still be useful. Our current collection of green bags are good, but I had found that when I wanted to take a cake somewhere, they were all about 2cm too short across to fit the container comfortably. New bags were in order. 

The hardest thing about these was figuring out the maths to make sure I cut them in the most effective use of the fabric. As it was, I ended up using every little piece of the 1.5m that Mum had gifted me. Zero Waste Achievement Unlocked! 

The bags are standard boxy numbers. I reinforced the base with some hard-core interfacing I had left from making obi a couple of years ago. Sides are sewn with French seams for strength. They even have little tabs on the side for looping over the bag rack at the shops. 

 I'm pleased to report that they work very well for their intended purpose.  

Christmas Sewing: Mum's Top

Back to catching up on my Christmas Sewing from 2024 (yes, I know we are in Feburary :P). Here is something pretty darn beautiful that I made for my Mum! My biggest regret is not getting proper photos. Hopefully these will give a hint of what it looked like, even if you can't see the full top. 

I saw the pattern for this as I followed Liz Haywood's work on her blog and thought it was just lovely. You can get it in her book, A Year of Zero Waste, or as a smaller instalment via her Esty page. The way the pleats were done like origami was such a drawcard for me! As far as patterns go - experienced sewer is right, but the instructions are good and the sew along video is also very detailed and handy, so well worth the purchase. 

Funny bubbly pleats waiting to be pushed out and pressed.

I did make a draft version in an old doona cover to check how the pleats would come together and the general size. I'm glad I did because it really taught me just how precise I would need to be with the pleats. Of all the Christmas makes, this was the one I started first, but after the draft I some how stalled for a while and needed to sew Dad's shirt before I was ready to go for it. 

It's like origami and sewing all in one!

The blue linen from Spotlight was fine to sew with, if a little irritating since it crushed so easily. I did have a moment when I needed to get a spool of new thread. I took the old spool to Spotlight thinking I'd just walk in, match the code (967) and then out I'd go. Little did I know that on the huge wall of thread available, the one I needed was no where to be found. 

I had a small break down, sent Steve a variety of strongly worded texts and then pulled myself together. Found the linen that I was using for the shirt on the shelf again and took it over to the threads to colour match a new thread. Crisis averted. 

The rest of the shirt came together pretty easily, but I did hesitate before I sewed the sides, wanting to do a fit check before I bound the armholes. Mum was quite accomodating and tried it on with her eyes closed so I could check. Glad I did, because I did need to lower the arm holes a bit. Thinking I was done, I sewed it all up, gave it one more press and wrapped it for Christmas. 

The back is the same as the front. So pretty!

Mum loved it, but when she went to wear it, it turned out a little too big after all. Oh well! As always, unpicking never takes as long as you fear, and it was straight forward to undo it all, sew the sides in further and then re finish it. Success all round. 

Last Min Small Makes for 2024

As school was wrapping up at the end of last year, it came to my attention that Rachel's teacher was pregnant. Sophie actually had this teacher two years ago, and I'd already sewn for her a little something for her first bub then. It was a (un-blogged) Rachel Bunny, which Sophie requested we sew. 

Since I've an affinity for sewing things for pregnant people, I thought I would get to it, though I figured I'd make something slightly more practical this time. So I dug through the stash, found just enough leftover monster material and these great humming birds from Steve's first shirt to make a couple of pairs of shorts. 

Another of Rachel's teachers (from two years ago) was also pregnant at the end of last year and Rachel still talked about her as the best teacher in the world, so I offered to make her something as well. Ironically, her name was/is Miss Bunney, so Rachel was hoping for another furry friend, but with the tight turn around in time (first week of Dec) with all the other things going on then, I just didn't have it in me. So I just made two more pairs of shorts, nearly using up all the fabric perfectly. We gave the teachers the shorts with some fabric markers so they can enjoy colouring in the monsters together.

While I was digging through the stash looking for shorts fabric, I had yet another baby in mind - one of our friends from church was expecting a little girl in early January. I happened across this scrap of fabric (I think from a donated box from Aunty Sue) that was exactly the right amount to make this little tie dress.  

Just like I made Sophie for her first Christmas. Back when she was small. The skirt felt a little long, so I added a pin tuck and it's rather sweet now. 

And then, while I was doing that, and also wrapping Christmas presents, I realised I wanted to add a little something special to my nephew Archie's present, so I used the very last of the humming birds with a couple of blue scraps down the sides for stripes to make the fabric actually fit the patter, I whipped out one last pair of Sycamore Shorts for the year. 

That takes my total of Sycamore Shorts for 2024 to 11. Not bad. 

Visa

Part of me can not believe I'm writing this post. Actually most of me can't But here we are. 

Thanks to COVID-19, the world of business has changed, so much so, that now some companies are full remote. I guess this was starting to be a thing before the pandemic of 2020, but we can't deny that a pretty much world wide mandate to stay home helped speed things along. Now, since some people can do their work remotely from their homes, countries are starting to jump in on this idea. If you can work for your Australian company in your Australian home, why can'd you do it in Italy, or Vietnam. Then, you get paid your lovely Australian dollars but have every opportunity to spend them all over your new host country. 

Digital Nomads. It's the kind of thing that makes you think of hip, young people in a van, but really, it's anyone who is working remotely and can move around. And with countries all over the place deciding they want a piece of the action - the world is your oyster.

Last year, I think at the end of February, or start of March, Japan announced that they too, would issue a Digital Nomad Visa. Not quite as long as some countries, just six months, but that's Japan for you. They are one foot in the future and one foot firmly in the past. Can't change things too quickly there. We heard about the visa and were a bit excited, a little dreamy, but also cautious. Who knew if the girls would even like a two week trip to Japan, let alone a six month stint. 

Then we went to Japan for two weeks. The girls loved it. Suddenly, doing six months was a very real option. We brainstormed back and forth about how to make it happen, when would be a good time, and what we needed to consider. Much of 2024 was research, double checking the facts and the paperwork. We couldn't apply too early, since once issued, it was only valid for three months, but it also took three to four months to process, so we couldn't apply too late, or we'd miss our desired entry window. 

It's been a whirlwind to say the least. The emotional rollercoaster of highs and lows is still chugging along, especially now. Along with the "not too early, not too late" situation, there was the "the visa is so new there isn't a box on the application form for it" problem. And also the "write down your flight details and address on the application form, but don't book your flight before you get your visa" thing. Here is the chicken and there is the egg. 

Still, we pushed through and found ourselves officially applying on the 1st of November. It was September when I went to book the application interview, hoping for October, only to find they were fully booked for six weeks and November was the best I could get. The girls had to have the day off school to be there.  We were in the consulate for about two hours, but all the forms were checked, double checked, ticked off and submitted. 

Then we waited. Three to four months is a long time of waiting and not knowing. Even though they told us "everything looks good", there was still a question mark in our minds - would they accept it? Every day that we got closer to our hopeful departure date was another day I worried that we would need to find accomodation. Or that flights would get too expensive. 

In the end, we started booking things in faith. With good cancelation policies. Our December/January was more busy than usual, not because we were going away, or because of the Japan stuff, but also because of family members in hospital (extended family, all is well now), and Steve deciding it was past time for a new job and going through not only the interview process for two potential jobs, but then also trying to find a replacement for himself. Talk about stress. 

And we continued to wait for visa news. People we saw would ask if we were excited, but it was so hard to answer, because we were, but not just yet because caution held us back. Three to four months was the processing time. Three months from the 1st of November would take us to the 1st of February, so we were hoping to hear then. Waiting and hoping. Emotional roller coaster in full swing.

On the 31st of January, Friday, at about 4:30pm, Steve got a phone call from the Consulate (well two, but he missed the first one since he was filling up his water bottle) to say that yes, our visas were approved and we could pick them up. Relief, joy, laughter, disbelief and determination for the tasks ahead. We celebrated with Japanese whisky.

For now, and for the most part, we are excited. With the flights and accomodation already booked, the only really big thing to do is find a school for the girls. It is a big thing, but I'll save it for another post. Visas are here and we are really going on this adventure!

Christmas Sewing: Luke's Shirt

I lament that I didn't take better photos of most of my Christmas makes from last year, but I still want to blog them. It's important to have some memory, something to show that work was done.

Anyway, another shirt for my brother in law, Luke, who I drew in our secret santa. I also bought him some additional stuff, but the shirt was a large part of the present. Used the same pattern as Dad's, this time, making the same size Steve wears, since he, Luke and our other brother in law, Stephen, all wear the same size. Mum jokes that it makes presents easy. She's not wrong. 

Again - pocket placement - is there anything more satisfying? I did buy buttons that I thought would work, but then when it came to sewing them on, I hated them. Luckily I found a suitable replacement after digging through the button box that I have. Whew! 

Sophie: 12

I was fine with Sophie growing ever upward - the knowledge of the inevitable "kids will be taller than me" was something that I knew from day one. But when I drew her new height line on the wall and it sat just two and a half centimetres under mine; wow was it suddenly all too real. 

Celebrations for this girl were a little strange this year. She did have a friend sleep over the night before her birthday, but woke up in the morning with a very runny nose kinda cold that Steve was sharing. So we cancelled the afternoon family gathering and just lay around the house, watching movies, playing games and generally being lazy. 

What we did get Sophie for her birthday though, was two tickets to see Six the Musical. So two weeks later, she and I hopped on a bus to the theatre. 

She was so excited to be seeing the show and I was excited to share it with her. Since I took her to see The Tiger Who Came to Tea for her third birthday, I have dreamed of many more such outings. We enjoyed the pre show hype and photo ops. She went halves with me in some merch (check out the shirt change below) and just generally got progressively more excited. 

Suffice to say, when things started she was grinning from ear to ear. It is fabulous show and so much fun to see it with her. Afterwards, we went to South Bank. Steve and Rachel drove in and we met some friends for a swim and BBQ dinner. It really did feel like we were finally having her birthday. 

Cake requested was chocolate with pink and green swirly icing. Yes, she really does love musicals. 

Christmas Sewing: Dad's Shirt

Here is a short post about sewing a fun shirt for my Dad for Christmas. My Dad loves lots of colour and birds and though I was bummed that I couldn't get something with cockatoos or rainbow lorikeets, the fun willy wag tales print was still great.  

Not gonna lie: the pocket placement is perfection. 

Just used the men's shirt pattern I have from making Steve a couple of them.

It was a little stressful to sew this, because I really wanted it to be great quality. Dad's happy face when he saw it was worth it. I did have to do some adjusting since you can only get so accurate on the fit with just numbers, but still a total win. 

Happy New Year!

Here we are again ready for another year travelling around the sun. The incredible busyness that was the end of November, all of December and the start of January has finally subsided and this last week has been full of much slower paced days, family time, reading and rest. 

I did read a bit last year, but there were a number of books that actually languished around the house for weeks (or, in some cases months (I'm ashamed to admit!)) before I picked them up. It is completely irrational and almost inconceivable to me that starting a book feels like such an effort that at 8:30 at night it's often a more palatable option to doom scroll or watch junk food TV. The reward of reading is always so much more than the former options will give, but despite knowing this, I'm still hesitant to reach for the book. 

In any case, I've kicked off the year with Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams, The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington and Bottchan by Souseki Natusme. An eclectic list, but for the most part enjoyable reads. The Dressmakers of Auschwitz was moving (to say the least!), informative and engaging, but did leave me feeling the privilege of being in Australia, while so many other parts of the world, where countries are right up against their neighbours, are dealing with much more conflict than we can even comprehend. 

Still, I move on, since we must, and I have a list of posts to write thanks to all the sewing I have done. Not one or two, but three Christmas presents this year were handmade, and post Christmas there was a slew of small sewing things that just got done as well. I also noticed as I reflected on the year of 2024, that of the fabric I purchased in Japan, the three pieces that were intentionally for me, were all made into dresses (here, here and here). 

There is a huge sense of satisfaction knowing that I actually used the fabric that I bought for its intended purpose and it didn't just languish in the drawer. This year I'd like to continue that trend and intentionally sew up some fabric that I have. Not sure if I want to go the whole Make Nine, but definitely planning some sewing projects wouldn't go astray. First though, I need to get Sally serviced, since the amazing sewing that I've done would not be possible without her and she's now needing a bit of TLC. 

Until I get going on those posts, here is a sneak peak at some Christmas sewing to get you excited. 

Happy 2025!

That's a Wrap

Reflecting that many bloggers out there do a wrap up post at the end of the year, neatly cataloging all their makes, or highs and lows to look back on in the future, I lamented to Steve that I can't do that since I've got so many things that I've made in the last six weeks that are as yet, un-blogged, my list would be pretty incomplete, or at least not a good reflection on the year. I guess people who blog for work can be a little more planned about things and maybe they are working in advance, but not so much with me. Even though I've been at the blogging for nearly 20 years now....

Anyway, in lieu of a "Here are all the things I made in 2024" I thought I'd do a little wrap up post with the fun things that have happened in the last six weeks that have helped the year speed to it's ending. Things that are just small and fun but special to us and I'll want to remember. 

The girls made boats. 

With an eleven week term to finish the year, the teachers at the girls school got creative and ran a bunch of activities to make the final week interesting and fun. One of these was a boat race across the school pool. Students were invited to make their own boat and it had to carry a ping pong ball across the eight metre pool. Both Sophie and Rachel were interested so we got into it. 

Inspired by the Pop-Pop Boat in Ponyo, they investigated different engines. Rachel made her boiler from a beer can and straws which was powered by steam when the heat from the candle did it's job. Sophie tried a variety of different designs - variations on the same theme - the most complex of which was bending copper pipes to be the boiler. Unfortunately her boat couldn't take the weight of the pipes and we had to try again. 

There was so much trial and error in both the boats. Loads of fixing one thing to have something new break. Sophie's especially which went from wood, to two layers of wood, to wood with balloons (supporting the weight of the pipes), and then to a variety of different milk bottle designs (when the balloons caused too much drag and we needed to nix the pipes in favour of a more compact boiler). After we finally gave in with the boiler, we switched to fan powered and Sophie did all the wiring to make the fan work from a 9V battery, including a switch in the circuitry. Thanks to girl guides for teaching her how to do most of that! 

Rachel, testing the Carmelita 3 in our neighbour's pool.

In the end we learnt a lot and had two functioning boats to launch in the pool on race day. Neither won, (or even made it all the way across the pool), but neither did they sink, so we still counted it a victory. The boats were named after we finished reading and watching the Netflix version of A Series of Unfortunate Events,  the Carmelita 3 (Rachel's boat), Beatrice 2 (Sophie's pipe boat) and The Persistence (Sophie's final fan boat). 

Sophie has been given the leadership role of Library Captain for 2025 at school. We are pretty proud of our girl, and think the role suits her to a T. Both girls actually signed up as Library Helpers this year and were very serious about turning up for their "shifts". In the last week of school when the kids were loitering around classrooms getting given jobs by teachers, both girls were requested at the library to help catalogue the new home readers. Hilarious. 

I came to school in my staff week to find this little beauty on my classroom door. I rescued him, took this selfie and he promptly jumped on my head. Managed to get him into a nearby garden to hopefully live out a full and happy life; it honestly made my day. 

Even when my school year wrapped up (a week earlier than the girls), I wasn't resting. Typically, I volunteered to help coordinate the Community Carols event hosted by the girls' school. It was a lot of work, easily twice the size of last year, but it made my heart oh so full to see the churches of the area coming together to celebrate Christmas and serve the community. 

After that, I spent the week packing things up and sorting things out and then Steve and I went off to Bundy for a quick one night (the girls started their holidays with sleepovers at grandparents) to celebrate Steve's sister's 30th. 

I got to make the cake. Which was a lot of fun. 

We had thought we were going to miss our Street Christmas Party (being in Bundy) but the Saturday night in Brisbane was so rainy they ended up postponing until the next day. Hooray! Steve and I could make it after all. The girls had made oreo truffles and my contribution to the food was this mango and avo sushi platter. 

Mango sushi - so delicious! 

Speaking of food, the following Saturday my family got together to celebrate what would have been my Pa-Pou's 100th birthday but also, 100 years of the Greek Faros Family in Australia. We all made greek food and had a lovely evening together. I contributed this bread which was just delicious. 

It was really lovely to be together sharing food and memories. I heard a language teacher recently mention that they feel bi-cultural, and I think I often feel that way. Growing up in Australia but with a strong connection to our Greek heritage. It's even more confused now with how influenced we are by my Japanese experiences, but I think it's something to embrace. What is God's vision of the future if not a city where every nation and every tongue is represented?  

Steve has continued sweating it out at Jiu-Jitsu each week, despite some injuries this year to level up to his purple belt. It's been over four years of training and he still loves it. Sophie had a six month break but has decided to give it another shot and now we can't keep her away - even in the heat of summer. 

Both girls helped to paint some Christmas decos for Church this year and Rachel is pretty proud of her little cow in the nativity scene. 

I have sewn so much - lots of presents and then just lots of little things. Actually looking forward to cataloging those as well (it kind gives January an easy start having all these things made and ready to blog about :P), just have to find the time. 

I'll finish this post of somewhat random collection of things with what I consider to be the Quote of the Year from Rachel. Last week, the girls had come with me to grab some groceries and we drove past school. I mentioned that the playground was dismantled (the P&C are funding a new one next year). Rachel says: "Oh that playground. I didn't play there much because it was always infested with children."

Organised School Painting: Ninja Skills

Organised as I am, I finished this school year by preparing for an activity that's happening in March 2025. Since I've taken over as Japanese teacher, I've run a full day of "Cultural Festival" activities, otherwise known as the 文化祭 (bunkasai). It's a pretty huge day, with all students from years one to six participating in 12 round robin activities. When I ran it earlier in 2024, we had a group of Japanese students visiting, so there was a mix of Australian and Japanese culture. Next year is all Japanese activities. 

I was inspired by another Japanese teacher to have a ninja-skills station and needed some resources to make it work. Luckily I had a bit of budget left this year and the school groundsman was willing to help me get what I needed from Bunnings. Largish pieces of MDF, a bunch of extra pine beams, some hinges and screws were the main part and then of course - some paint! 

Even more amazing than being this organised was that when the kids finished school and the staff week rolled around, I was ahead on my paperwork and had the time to spend getting this done at school in office hours. One of the groundsmen also helped me out by cutting these big circular holes in MDF. 

These ones are for the kids to throw bean bags through the holes. They will have support beams on the back to hold them up on the oval. I was pretty stoked with my ninja - especially the green one who looks very invisible from the right angle. (Notice that pink goes good with green? If you know, you know.)

My other two boards have yet to be finished - I need to add dowels to the balloons in the Pikachu one for the kids to throw quoits at. Poor Pikachu is a little fat in the face, but I think he does an alright job of being iconic and recognisable. 

I knew I'd be going for an "up in the air" theme with the Pokemon boards, so I quizzed a bunch of grade five kids in the last week of school to get ideas for who else I could put in the air with Pikachu. "Dragonite", "Charizard!", "Areodactyel".... The replies were enthusiastic but also way too tricky for me to paint. 

So I went with Butterfree, who is chasing away a Charizard through the clouds. I'll add dowels to the clouds on this board. Not too bad for ten hours of work if I do say so myself. And I got to listen to podcasts and loud music while I did it. Now to keep going with my tedama production and another activity so I'm ready when March rolls around. Teacher life! 

Onigirazu Bento

Some days I'm still nailing the girls lunches. 

PJs for Sophie

My oldest daughter has spent much of this year growing; mostly upwards. She's nearly as tall as me (though that's not too hard). I'm noticing her long lanky legs more and more as her shorts seem to get shorter and shorter. She was dancing around the house one day in PJs when I realised something had to be done. New PJs were needed. 

I traced the general shape of the ones she most frequently wore, added length to both the top and bottom, and then got to work. Sophie picked out two fabrics from my stash that I only had small amounts of and was happy to donate to the cause. The first, a green with little white floral designs, was just enough to get a pair of shorts from. I even pieced the waistband to get it out. 

Not great lighting - cutting these out at night time.

It was a good trial run, and though Sophie thinks they are perfect, I think they have a little too much flair, so I took out some at the sides for the next round. 

Colour is closer to the top pic in real life, but oh so cute!

Second fabric choice was this lovely mustard-yellow floral which I had just enough to get the shorts and a top out of for her. And I mean just enough. Originally I asked her if I could leave the sleeves off to give myself a bit more wiggle room, but Sophie said that sleeves were very important. 

Another dodgy night time photo. The top right is where I cut the other sleeve,  and the small half circle in between the main pieces on the left along with the little bit at the bottom was where I got the waist band. Talk about efficiency! 

So I pieced bits together to make two sleeves and again used all the scrap bits I could to get a waist band out. It was really satisfying to turn all the off cut bits that would usually go straight to my "small enough for quilts" box, into actually usable parts of the garment. The second pair of shorts are much less flouncy but still fit great. 

For the top, I used the pattern from my own PJs, just did some shortening (though not much, that was more because I didn't have heaps of fabric!), and then cut it without seam allowance added on. It worked out ok, even without the collar (absolutely no spare fabric for that lying around!), but I noticed it falls strangely, so I think the shoulder slope must be off somehow. I just bound the neckline with a tiny scrap of the gold mustard fabric I had left from making my sister's classy bunting in August. Colour matched perfectly. 

Anyway, I did intend to add buttons to the front, but when Sophie tried it on, she could get it on and off without, so I just ended up sewing the front closed instead. Lazy? Maybe. But I did just make two sets of PJs in less than a week, so I can't be that lazy. 

Beauty in the Darkness

When I listen to music on Spotify and the album or list ends, as I'm sure you may have also experienced, the music continues on. Spotify trying to find music I like to listen to, to keep me connected. I know it's all about money making capitalism, but I don't mind it. It can be hit and miss, but in October, after listening to a musical album (can't remember for sure, but maybe Ride?) it started spitting out musical tracks including this one from a musical I'd never heard of. 

Mythic played in 2018 at the Channing Cross Theatre in London. It's got a cast album recording, but not much else existing in the way of being able to see it. I was pretty instantly drawn to the lyrics of the song and looked up the album. 

It's based on the Greek myth of Persephone and Hades but is looking at it through the lens of the relationship between Persephone and Demeter. It's got lots to say about teenagers and growing up and making choices. Not as deep and challenging as Hadestown (which deals with some similar characters), but still meaningful and lots of fun. The whole album was honestly 90% a total banger, though I will admit the last two songs are not quite up to a big finish, but I feel like that's because everything that's come before is so hard to follow. 

I loved it and pretty quickly shared it with the girls, who are also very into Greek myths. That's thanks, in large part to Percy Jackson, but also the musical Hadestown and the plethora of Greek myth books we've got in the house. We are enamoured and I wish there were a way I could convince a theatre company in Brisbane to perform the show. 

In the meantime, I'm going to share with you the song that got me in - Beauty in the Darkness. Definitely worth a listen. Especially for the deep people who know that sad is happy. 

I saw the spires of Tartarus
Strolled along the Styx
Pet the great dog Cerberus
Who lay there scratching ticks
People say the underworld is cruel and dark
Did you know that deep inside it, there's a spark?

I found bliss among the ruins
I felt life within each tomb
I found shelter in the shadows
I saw light inside the gloom
There's a peacefulness in sorrow
If you stop and take a breath
There is beauty in the darkness
There is so much love in death

The spires are cracked in Tartarus
They're all in disrepair
The Styx is drenched in hopelessness
And swimming with despair
Only thing that's hopeless is your point of view
Everything has such potential, even you

'Cause there's treasure in the wreckage
Underneath all the distress
If you glanced beyond the mayhem
You'd see magic in the mess
There is mercy in the monster
Underneath his fiery breath
There is beauty in the darkness
There is so much love in death

There's redemption all around you
If you stop and take a breath
There is beauty in the darkness
There is so much love in death

Sashiko

I think I'm pretty in love with sashiko. There is something really satisfying about the simplicity of the plain fabric coming to life with the easiest of stitches. The four pieces I made while in Japan in April got me pretty inspired to do more, but what to do with them was a real issue. I like to make practical things, not things that just look pretty. 

So I just added designs to my Pinterest board and wished inspiration would hit. At last it did. 

In my classroom is an enormous wall that has been painted with magic paint to make it a whiteboard. This is all pretty fabulous, except that unlike a normal white board, it's not magnetic. This means having an eraser that just sticks on and is always easy to find is not really an option. I also didn't have any shelving at the white board side of the room, so even storing one was tricky. The kids have spent most of the year (to my shame) using tissues to clean it off. 

Half way through, grid lines are in place,
only need to sew along the circles.

When I was thinking about things that Japanese people initially made with their sashiko stitching, I realised that a dish cloth, for washing up, probably has the same properties that the white board cleaner needs. It's double layered for strength and durability and all the stitches gives it a good texture for cleaning. 

I grabbed out some darker fabric from my stash (figuring that it would be less of an eyesore than if I used a white) and got to prepping. I think this is the last of a dark blue pillow case from Lorraine Lea - you can see it in the first photo here though I can't think where else I've used it! Anyway, I had enough to prep two roughly square pieces. 

All done and looking good!
The threads are slightly different shades of green for the grid vs the circles.
I kind wish they were more different, but whatever. 

The first I did a grid and circles design to help practice getting my stitches the right length and work on curves vs lines. These only took maybe an hour each to sew; I did this one while watching Hidden Figures with the girls and Steve one Saturday arvo.

The second I didn't take any glamor shots of (so much regret now!) before I hung it up and started using it, but it is so beautiful and the design was heavily inspired by this image I saw on Pinterest. Both of these are at school pegged up on my whiteboard wall (pegs are stuck on with blue tack) and the kids who have the job of rubbing off the board say they do a great job (though they are a little surprised I'm asking them to clean with something that looks so pretty). 

I think I'll make more. Maybe a class set of smaller ones for the students to use on their mini whiteboards. 

Do I need to get out more? Perhaps, but even if I did, I'd probably take my housewife and sashiko stitching with me anyway.