This post seems very late in the game, but I was reflecting on another year and what I'd like to do with myself, so why not. I'm often frustrated at the amount of time that I spend scrolling endlessly, so it seemed like a good idea to think of things I could get done to help prevent that at the very least. Of course, it's nice to have lofty ideas for resolutions, but unless you write them down, or tell people, it's pretty rare they will get done. In the spirit of sharing here are my dreams for this year.
As I mentioned in my post on reading in August last year, I have started to read the Message version of the bible. So far so good, and I'm up to Leviticus already. Maybe I should post about it too. Which leads me to my next goal.
Something else I'm trying to get to is posting a little more. To be honest, I had a goal last year of doing four posts a month, which I succeeded in, though some months were a little touch and go. This year, I'm aiming to do one more a month, but I'm also trying to post a little differently. Posting about things that I've sewn, or lunches I've made, those posts are easy. Posting about life, or parenting, or what I'm learning about Jesus; those posts are much harder. Something about putting my heart out there that's a little bit more than scary. So, bear with me as I work towards being a little more honest. And if you want to, subscribe so you can read all five posts each month.
As Steve and I have settle into our new church (although, can we still call it that when we've been there for 18 months now?), we have joined the music team which has been super cool. I have loved being a part of a team, playing with Steve, and playing my guitar again. It's a step up though, because when I played guitar and sang at church previously, my guitarist skill (or lack thereof) was hidden by another guitar player. Now I've been playing with a keyboardist, and it is a lot harder to hide bad playing. Time to step up.
Last year I practiced pretty regularly, used the capo a lot, and learnt an F chord. Steve tried to challenge me to learn one new chord a week this year and how to pluck, which was way too much of a step up, but I appreciated his encouragement. I'm not sure I have a chord goal that involves numbers, but Dm is definitely up there. I guess my other guitar goal is to learn to strum with a bit more variation?
Two very quick goals that I have are a little more about maintaining what I've started, but I didn't want to miss them. Firstly, I want to keep walking 25ks a week. Secondly I want to keep reading books. Not sure if I should have a "this many per month" goal, but reading last year was such a welcome change to the watching and scrolling, so I want to keep it up.
My last official goal is to continue using up my material stash. I started taking it seriously last year and made an effort to sew from the stash, but I want to keep it up this year. I still have loads of beautiful material that can live life out of the drawer before I purchase more. Some sewer-type-people out there actively look through their stash and aim to "sew your stash", but I'm just aiming to make looking in the drawer for fabric rather than going to the shops for fabric.
So now that you've read all of those words and thoughts behind my goals (or skipped this post entirely because it's way too wordy and there is no sewing or pictures), here is my simple summary. In no particular order.
1. Read The Message version of the Bible
2. Post 5 times a month and post about real things
3. Up skill guitar
4. Walk 25k/week
5. Read books
6. Sew from my stash
I sincerely hope I can achieve at least some of these.
Monday, January 27, 2020
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Aprons
My parents love to travel. They travel a lot. I wish I could make it clear just how much they love to travel, but I feel like I'm failing, so I'll leave it there and hope you get it.
One of the places they like to travel is Antarctica, which is very cold, so on the expeditions they have been on, they also get an appropriately warm travel jacket to go with. They have one for every adventure to some very cold places, but very little use for these jackets post travel because they are living in Brisbane. These jackets, I'm sad to say, have become a rather bulky addition to their spare room cupboards.
Dad took me in one day last year and asked if I could cut them up and make "something". He didn't really know what, but he figured I could use the fabric and patches to make something slightly more usable than their current state. I'm not one to pass up the opportunity to sew, so I said I would think of something.
The only before photos I have are of the girls wearing these jackets, and this little video clip is much more fun than the photo. Behold the jackets, before I cut them up. I hope you are amused.
After ripping all the seams open and taking the outer fabric off I realized there was so much fabric in just one jacket that I wouldn't even have to open the other at all. I did take some of the patches off though, some I reused, but not all of them.
The other thing my parents love, as well as travel, is hosting people at their house. My mum is Greek, so there is always a lot of food involved. Both of my parents wear aprons when they cook, so I decided to make them each an apron out of the fabric from the jackets.
I used the back panel for one apron, and the front for the other. I had to use a bit of the sleeve pieces to pad out, but that was fairly easy. Because the front of the jacket had previously had a zip in it, I simply sewed that seam closed again to make the apron, and top stitched down both sides, for coolness I guess. I also managed to keep the zip pockets from the front exactly as they were - working and everything!
I stitched on some of the patches to the front as a feature, used some more of the red ribbon from our extension warming party for the ties (still have some left!) and I fully lined it with some bed sheet I found in the cupboard. I'm really glad I did that last step, because when I was looking at them just sewn they looked really messy, but once I had lined it and flipped it right sides out, they suddenly looked amazing.
Mum knew I was making aprons, because I asked to borrow one that she used as a template. Dad had no idea, and what Mum didn't know was that I had made one for her too. Here they are on Christmas with their aprons on. I think they like them.
Here is my dad at his BBQ ready to do some cooking.
Presents like this make me glad I can sew.
One of the places they like to travel is Antarctica, which is very cold, so on the expeditions they have been on, they also get an appropriately warm travel jacket to go with. They have one for every adventure to some very cold places, but very little use for these jackets post travel because they are living in Brisbane. These jackets, I'm sad to say, have become a rather bulky addition to their spare room cupboards.
Dad took me in one day last year and asked if I could cut them up and make "something". He didn't really know what, but he figured I could use the fabric and patches to make something slightly more usable than their current state. I'm not one to pass up the opportunity to sew, so I said I would think of something.
The only before photos I have are of the girls wearing these jackets, and this little video clip is much more fun than the photo. Behold the jackets, before I cut them up. I hope you are amused.
After ripping all the seams open and taking the outer fabric off I realized there was so much fabric in just one jacket that I wouldn't even have to open the other at all. I did take some of the patches off though, some I reused, but not all of them.
The other thing my parents love, as well as travel, is hosting people at their house. My mum is Greek, so there is always a lot of food involved. Both of my parents wear aprons when they cook, so I decided to make them each an apron out of the fabric from the jackets.
I used the back panel for one apron, and the front for the other. I had to use a bit of the sleeve pieces to pad out, but that was fairly easy. Because the front of the jacket had previously had a zip in it, I simply sewed that seam closed again to make the apron, and top stitched down both sides, for coolness I guess. I also managed to keep the zip pockets from the front exactly as they were - working and everything!
I stitched on some of the patches to the front as a feature, used some more of the red ribbon from our extension warming party for the ties (still have some left!) and I fully lined it with some bed sheet I found in the cupboard. I'm really glad I did that last step, because when I was looking at them just sewn they looked really messy, but once I had lined it and flipped it right sides out, they suddenly looked amazing.
Mum knew I was making aprons, because I asked to borrow one that she used as a template. Dad had no idea, and what Mum didn't know was that I had made one for her too. Here they are on Christmas with their aprons on. I think they like them.
Here is my dad at his BBQ ready to do some cooking.
Presents like this make me glad I can sew.
Monday, January 20, 2020
Rachel's Bag
Rachel starts school this year, which, of course, had me doing lots of sewing to prepare her (see the Library Bag and the Pencil Case). But the big thing she needed was a school bag. Initially I did an extensive search of bags for her that I could just purchase. We had gotten Sophie a great bag online so I was hopeful to pick up something similar but when a little girl loves bugs as much as Rachel does, it really decreases the scope of cool bags you can get.
So I was left with only one option. Sew a bag.
It started with a long trip to Spotlight to source some appropriate fabric. This too, was so difficult! Why are there no cool bug prints in fabric that is also suitable for a bag?! My final fabric choices were not exactly what I was hoping for given the limited selection, but still good.
Rachel went through a whole phase where she invented a creature called a "whaledragon" which had the head and wings of a dragon and the tail of a whale. It could be a thing. Anyway, she got light blue with whales, dark blue, purple for the interior and that fun dragonfly print for highlights. Here is a progress shot of pieces in a half sewn state. Note my essential cup of tea.
This was the moment that I lay out the pieces and thought to myself that the bottom of the bag looked to be not the right size. I was correct, it was not the right size. I don't know why, but I just added some more blue and it looks ok, if not better.
This is me also checking the position of the straps. I literally just copied Sophie's entire bag for this adventure, so there it is on the left showing me where to put straps: on the back, as it were.
Ta da! A bag! I couldn't get a zip for the main section long enough at Spotlight, but I was talking about it with some schoolyard friends and one of them offered me a perfectly sized one from their horde. Winning! They also donated the things (buckles?) on the straps to make them adjustable. Thanks schoolyard friends!
Again I realize that this post makes it seem like I just sat down and made a bag and it was no problem at all. But hours of work were involved! Measuring and cutting took nearly two hours; so much thinking!
Then, I decided this would be a great Christmas present, so I had to sew it when Rachel wasn't around and I had a limited number of other children present to enable me to actually sew. There was lots of sewing during naps and having to pack up and hide stuff in between sewing sessions.
Anyway, after some hard core sewing, the bag was done. Fully lined with a welt zip pocket in the inside as well as a slip pocket. It has a zip pocket on the front and two side pockets as well. Functioning zips everywhere! The back and straps are also padded for comfort. Rachel is ready for school.
Saturday, January 18, 2020
Sophie Turns Seven
I am beginning to love the years where we say no birthday "party" and keep things really chilled. Yep, the girls still get a cake, and they still get to celebrate, but there is way less pressure on for everything else. I don't have to plan invites, themes, games or activities, party bags etc. They still have fun, and so do Steve and I.
Sophie had a "non party" this year. Now that I think about it though, the last two birthdays for her have also been "non party" events, so maybe I need to up my game. Next year we are planning on being away though, so maybe 2022 is the year for a birthday party again? We will see. Anyway, I digress. Our girl requested a Pikachu cake and we had family round to the local park (because our lawn was still recovering from the top soiling) for a play.
Perfect.
She is seven now. Still loves Pokémon, reading and most recently, building Lego.
Sophie had a "non party" this year. Now that I think about it though, the last two birthdays for her have also been "non party" events, so maybe I need to up my game. Next year we are planning on being away though, so maybe 2022 is the year for a birthday party again? We will see. Anyway, I digress. Our girl requested a Pikachu cake and we had family round to the local park (because our lawn was still recovering from the top soiling) for a play.
Perfect.
She is seven now. Still loves Pokémon, reading and most recently, building Lego.
After the day, she told me she didn't really feel like being seven. I think it's because it's starting to sound very grown up to her. Maybe we've watched Peter Pan too much, but I think she wants to avoid that pesky growing up business. Stay bright little girl. Growing up isn't so bad.
Thursday, January 09, 2020
Hard Work
I've been much slacker than I wanted to be with getting to posting this year. I thought it would be so easy to knock of January, because I have a huge back log of stuff to tell you about that I sewed all through December, but time is getting away from me. That, and a lot of the time I've spent at the computer lately has been trawling through photos and desperately deleting things so that Google will stop sending me annoying emails telling me I'm running out of space. Bah.
Actually though, the biggest thing getting in the way has been some rather spontaneous home improvement. Hooray, more home improvement. Sigh. Sometimes home ownership really sucks. Just when you think it's all done, and that the renovations are over for at least a good while, nope, it's time to do more!
Ok, ok, it's not that dramatic, but it feels that way. I'll stop stalling and just tell you now: we are putting in a water tank. It's something that's always been on the "someday we'll do that" list, and I've no idea what really spurred us into it (our neighbors got one maybe? There's a drought? I feel guilty watering our garden?) but suddenly we were putting one in.
Good news is, that we have the space for it, just had to get it ready. We'll be getting a slimline to fit next to the house on one side. Trouble was, there was already a path there that had to go first. And the ground wasn't level, so that needed to change. Nothing is every straight forward. Anyway.
Steve smashed up the path and moved it out of the way. He did lots of thinking and planning in the couple of days we had before Christmas. String lines out!
The end goal in this space is to have the water tank next to the house, a path (probably stepping stones with rocks) and against the fence a, hopefully flourishing, garden bed. Big-ish dreams, but it's good to have a long term plan right? Anyway, when we got back from our post-Christmas Bundaberg trip, Steve got the gloves on right away.
Holes were dug, posts were cemented in and you can really see things starting to take shape. Most, if not all of these photos were taken from our deck out the back. Such a convenient shady place to watch the work unfold.
We took a day's break on the work of the water tank to do some unrelated home improvement in the form of putting top soil over the entire lawn. Our lawn is pretty good, and the Sir Walter grass Steve's put around the place since we moved in is going strong. That said, it has been nearly ten years and there are some areas that were looking a bit sad post house renovation, so it was time for some TLC.
I helped Steve shift two tones of the stuff all over the lawn one very hot late December morning. It was pretty painful, but we were done by 1:00 pm, so that was a win. There was a lot of lying around that afternoon.
And now, back to the water tank! After everything was boxed up, Steve got to work making everything level and putting sand and gravel down to be a strong base for the concrete to go on top.
As I type this, it seems like this whole thing has just been so smooth, but Steve's done a heck of a lot of research and thinking about this. Not to mention the trouble shooting that he's had to do because one of our storm water pipes runs right next to the house there and is not deep enough in the ground to be out of the way. It's been tricky.
Steve had a whole week and a bit off work after Christmas, but every day had a large portion of it out in the yard working on the water tank. Which meant that I had a lot more two on one time with the girls than I had originally thought I would. Maybe this is why I haven't been able to get to posting? Probably.
Anyway, now the base is prepared for the cement and we are ready to go. John is coming round this weekend like the champion brother that he is to give Steve a hand with the concreting while I look after the girls some more.
Looking forward to ordering a water tank to sit on this pad when the cement has finally cured in a month or so. Hooray!
Actually though, the biggest thing getting in the way has been some rather spontaneous home improvement. Hooray, more home improvement. Sigh. Sometimes home ownership really sucks. Just when you think it's all done, and that the renovations are over for at least a good while, nope, it's time to do more!
Ok, ok, it's not that dramatic, but it feels that way. I'll stop stalling and just tell you now: we are putting in a water tank. It's something that's always been on the "someday we'll do that" list, and I've no idea what really spurred us into it (our neighbors got one maybe? There's a drought? I feel guilty watering our garden?) but suddenly we were putting one in.
Good news is, that we have the space for it, just had to get it ready. We'll be getting a slimline to fit next to the house on one side. Trouble was, there was already a path there that had to go first. And the ground wasn't level, so that needed to change. Nothing is every straight forward. Anyway.
Steve smashed up the path and moved it out of the way. He did lots of thinking and planning in the couple of days we had before Christmas. String lines out!
The end goal in this space is to have the water tank next to the house, a path (probably stepping stones with rocks) and against the fence a, hopefully flourishing, garden bed. Big-ish dreams, but it's good to have a long term plan right? Anyway, when we got back from our post-Christmas Bundaberg trip, Steve got the gloves on right away.
Holes were dug, posts were cemented in and you can really see things starting to take shape. Most, if not all of these photos were taken from our deck out the back. Such a convenient shady place to watch the work unfold.
We took a day's break on the work of the water tank to do some unrelated home improvement in the form of putting top soil over the entire lawn. Our lawn is pretty good, and the Sir Walter grass Steve's put around the place since we moved in is going strong. That said, it has been nearly ten years and there are some areas that were looking a bit sad post house renovation, so it was time for some TLC.
I helped Steve shift two tones of the stuff all over the lawn one very hot late December morning. It was pretty painful, but we were done by 1:00 pm, so that was a win. There was a lot of lying around that afternoon.
And now, back to the water tank! After everything was boxed up, Steve got to work making everything level and putting sand and gravel down to be a strong base for the concrete to go on top.
Steve had a whole week and a bit off work after Christmas, but every day had a large portion of it out in the yard working on the water tank. Which meant that I had a lot more two on one time with the girls than I had originally thought I would. Maybe this is why I haven't been able to get to posting? Probably.
Anyway, now the base is prepared for the cement and we are ready to go. John is coming round this weekend like the champion brother that he is to give Steve a hand with the concreting while I look after the girls some more.
Looking forward to ordering a water tank to sit on this pad when the cement has finally cured in a month or so. Hooray!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)