Feed the Birds

I'm not sure why, but every now and then I scroll through Pintrest. Usually I pin a whole lot of things that I don't ever bother making and it's easy to get depressed about all the things I'm not doing, or angry, because of all the things I want, but don't have. Maybe there is another way to use Pintrest, because I don't think I'm doing it right. 

Anyway, sorry for that sad introduction, the last time I was on Pintrest, DIY bird feeders and houses popped up. I liked the idea of these things, so I thought about it for a while and looked at different types, and a few weeks later, actually made one. 

It's loosely based on one I saw online, but of course, I just used wood we had lying around, and just cut it to fit what I had. When I came to screw it together, I found we didn't have clamps big enough to hold things, and nor did we have any liquid nail. What we did have was some silicone, which, for all intents and purposes, would do just the trick. 

So I siliconed it together, waited a few days, screwed it together and then siliconed the roof on top. That roof stuff was $2.50 from Reverse Garbage. Win.

Not sure if the roof needs reinforcing, but we didn't have any roofing screws handing, so we are just winging it and seeing how it goes. If it falls off, we will fix it.

The finished product is hanging up in the tree, full of seed, waiting for birds to discover it soon. I hope after the birds find it, I can relocated it to a lower position, because at the moment, it is very hard to refill.

Baby Quilts

When I told the girls that two of their aunts, both of on Steve's sisters, were pregnant, they were pretty excited, but it was hard for them to get interested in things like baby wipes and laundry detergent, which are my go to presents for baby showers. I can't go past them though, boring they may be, practical they are. 

Anyway, I knew the girls wanted to give something too, so I thought of a way to include them and make something extra special for the babies. I was lucky enough to be at Spotlight when they had a sale and picked up some nice panel fabric to use. Wanting to keep it simple to feature and highlight the kids contributions, I just grabbed a matching colour for the back. 

Then I used some plain fabric I had at home, cut some squares and had our girls as well as their cousins (Steve's brothers three kids) each draw on two of the squares. At first, the kids were a little confused as to why their crazy mum/aunt was getting them to do this, but I think they appreciated the end product. 

Sophie and Rachel helped me to sew it all together. I just pieced the kids coloured squares with some extra monkey fabric that I had, and then sewed that into the back colour. After that, sandwiched the batting in, quilted it in sections (to match the kids panels) and then bound it all up. 

I think it's really special that their new cousins will get to have these quilts. I think there is something so lovely about seeing kids drawings in a practical way that will last for a long time. It's a real snapshot in time. I hope the babies that these are for get some good use of these and know that their cousins who live in Brisbane love them too. 

Now that these quilts have been given, I'm finally able to post about them! (Remember I was sewing them back in March?) Here are five excited cousins ready to give their special present to a mum to be.

And here they are with each of the mum's to be. It was special for all the kids to be there, and they were all so proud of their gift. Yay!

Different Boxes

I used a different lunch box each day this week. Or at least, if you count not using a lunch box at all on Tuesday I did. The girls had a banana and a yogurt for morning tea at playgroup - no need to box that!

You will really have to forgive the photos this time. I'm in the midst of a technology glitch, where my phone died and I'm using a very old phone while we wait for a new phone to arrive. I wish we weren't so dependant on technology, but there you have it.

Wednesday: Frog boxes. Strawberries, raspberries, boiled egg, grape tomatoes, broccoli with mayo for dipping and popcorn. Yum!

Thursday: Bento boxes. More popcorn and left over crackers, apples, grape tomatoes and cucumber flowers, rice with egg. I feel like I'm doing my Japanese/Asian indoctrination right when they would prefer rice in their lunch to a Vegemite sandwich. Am I un-Australian?

Friday: Yumbox. Sushi (leftovers from the night before dinner), broccoli and grape tomatoes, apple. Sophie got extra apple and olives with a tub of yogurt on the side, while Rachel had yogurt and passion fruit in the box. 

It's been a good week for lunches.

May the Fourth Be With You

We like Star Wars. The girls have these great books that go through the three original movies with one word per page with an accompanying picture. We talk about the story and fill in the missing parts as we read it with them. (I also got them some other essential classics, like Pride and Prejudice too) It's a great way to introduce kids to quality classics.

Cozy Classics Star Wars books

The girls love it. We have also shown them clips of the movies and most recently actually watched some with them. Hooray! When we watched The Empire Strikes Back, Sophie had the book next to her the whole time and would check that what was happening on screen matched the book. It was hilarious.

So when Steve said his work was having an office party for May the 4th, it was a no brainier that he would take the girls, and that costumes would be required. The office party was organised on the Thursday, exactly one week and one day in advance of May the 4th. I had one week to come up with three costumes. Challenge accepted.

We bounced ideas around with the girls. Rachel instantly wanted to be Luke Skywalker. Done.

Sophie wanted to be Boba Fett, the bounty hunter. Somewhat more complicated, given the short time frame. (I've no idea why, but the girls just think Boba Fett is the most hilarious character, and they love that he falls down a hole and is eaten by a monster.... are we parenting wrong?) We looked at just ordering one, but there was no garuentee that it would come in time.

Luckily, Sophie was understanding when we explained this to her, and was swayed when I showed her this R2D2 costume idea. She even started practising her R2D2 whistle.

Steve initially wanted to be an AT-AT, which again, I had to explain was just not going to happen, despite my love of cardboard, and the can of silver spray paint in the laundry. He ended up with a set of generic-looking Jedi robes, that could be Obi Wan or Qui Gon Jinn, depending on how you are feeling.

I took Hugo and Mia to Spotlight with me for material on the Friday exactly one week before the party. Surprisingly I didn't go too overboard with the fabric purchases (usually I panic about not having enough and end up with at least twice as much as needed). It was about $40 for the material, and I only had about a metre of the white left, while I used all the browns. I picked up a pair of grey leggings for Rachel for $2.50, $15 brown boots (both of which she'll be able to re-wear), a $2.50 white shirt for Sophie (again re-wearable), and then two $10 lightsabers. All up that's $80 for three costumes. Not bad, given that $20 of it is re-wearable wardrobe items. And let's face it, those lightsabers are kids toys: totally a tax deduction for someone running a Family Day Care.

I'm pretty happy with how things turned out, though sewing every night (and spare moment in between looking after four children) for a whole week was pretty mad. I loved it, and feel so accomplished, but it was mad. Next time, I need more notice.

Anyway, here is Steve, in full generic-Jedi glory. Lots of layers, though I cheated with the shirt, but simply sewing two collars on, rather than two actual shirts. I also cheated with the extra fabric that kind of hangs over and wraps around the waist. I didn't sew that at all, I just cut strips.

I feel totally ok about that though, because of the time constraint and also, I had no brown thread, so I had to do some tricky sewing to hide lots of seams on the cloak, and that took time.

The belt has a clip for the lightsaber (though Steve just stuck it through the band as well, for security), and also a little pouch on the side, for authenticity.

I used this tutorial for reference making the Jedi cloak, which was very useful.

Rachel's belt was of the same design, and she loved having her lightsaber clipped on. So thankful I had those clips stashed away in my sewing cabinet. Not for nothing do I take apart every lanyard that Steve brings home and horde the hardware. She was really channelling her Luke Skywalker face.

I self drafted the pattern for both Rachel and Steve's shirts, though the first draft of Rachel's had the sleeves a little too tight around her arms. It would have been fine, but I did have time right at the end to take them off and put on some new ones. Just in time. Steve's cloak may not be hemmed, but at least Rachel could move her arms. 

Sophie's R2D2 was actually the first thing I made, because of the great tutorial that I'd found online at Make it Love it. That said, I had to make some modifications, because the tutorial suggested felt because it's "so inexpensive" which may be true for America, or everywhere else in the world, but not so for Australia, where it was three times more expensive than the material I ended up using.

Because of that change, I had to sew things on a little differently, use interfacing and make some compromises about the features that R2D2 got. Still, I think it turned out ok. Sophie loved how spin-y it was. 

And that was that. 

They got all dressed up and left me to work, looking after kids while they went to a party. They did win the best costume prize though. Winning. 

Rachel's Kindy Dress

Since Rachel has started kindy, it's only fair that she too, have a kindy dress. So I have made one. Actually, I made it at the start of the year, but I made it big, and she's only just getting into it now. Sophie was so excited that Rachel was wearing her kindy dress today, so she wore hers too.

Of course, I told Rachel we would need to take lots of photos, so that I could blog about it, so as I hearded her out the door to take them, of course all the kids came. Sophie bought her own camera, and was very serious about taking photos of all the kids.

I used the standard pattern and had the girls colour it in. Then had mum put the buttons on, because I dislike buttons like there is no tomorrow. Such pretty buttons.

This is the only photo I have of the back. In the chaos of four kids all trying to get in photos at 7:45 in the morning, there was a limit to what you can do. Rachel's dress looks so clean compared to Sophie's.

Here is my little gang. Love these kids!

And this is Rachel at kindy in her kindy dress. Ready to wear it in.

I have just enough of the Ikea material for a pair of shorts for Hugo next year.