Shorts. So Many Shorts.

With the change of the seasons and subsequent clean out of the children's wardrobes, I have noticed several gaps in their clothing that needed filling. So obviously, I filled the need. At the time, I didn't realize how many shorts I was making, but now I see, oh so clearly. 

The first set of shorts were just Sycamore Shorts in various sizes. Hugo was lucky enough to score a pair too, which I made from an old shirt of Steve's. I had been planning to make a dress for Rachel, but in the end couldn't be bothered to figure out how to do it, and shorts was easier. 

I kept the buttons (just sewed the seam down so they don't open) and added some left over tie (from Sophie's Dress) on the other. They look pretty groovy, and seem to be comfortable for Hugo too.

The girls got shorts too. Sophie one pair, and Rachel two. I used left over blue material from Rachel's Lillie Dress and some stars material for the first pair. Given that Rachel pretty much loves dresses (every day), I knew these shorts wouldn't get much wear unless they looked like a skirt.

Tada!

And I was right about the wearing factor. She does like them though. Only when dresses are not an option of course.

The two other shorts were made with some material from Steve's Aunty Sue in Sydney. Free fabric! Is there anything better?

To make them more fun, I let the girls choose iron on patches. Sophie choose the koala, and Rachel the giraffe below. Rachel also got a pocket with the very last of the blue material. Another ploy to get her to wear them. Having a pocket to stash anything she collects is a definite bonus for her.

 Now the fancy shorts! This time, Sophie gets two, and Rachel gets one. Sort of.

These are all made from the Clover Shorts Pattern, which makes for some really shiny shorts. Pockets, cuffs, flat front waist band. So beautiful. They are also made with a very mixed collection of material. You might even noticed that blue spot material has been used to make Clover Shorts before.

The colour match is not great, but I had just enough of that unicorn fabric left over from Sophie's Library Bag to make the front and pockets from. I did have other material that was a better colour match, but I went with the blue spot because it was the same weight, or kind of material, which is apparently important?

The other unicorn fabric I got on sale at spotlight with the star material, and they go together marvelously well. The blue floral stuff was in the the material from Aunty Sue, and that colour matched so well. Perfection!

Rachel's shorts were the star material with some of the pink-orange stuff from Aunty Sue. Unfortunately for Rachel, when she put them on, they fit, but were a little tight to get on and off, so she actually ended up with no Clover Shorts. I gave them to another little girl.

Lillie Costume

Rachel wears dresses. Every day. Always dresses. I do not understand how a girl who loves to climb, get dirty and find bugs can think that a dress is the best thing to wear, but she does. Every day. So it is no surprise that she chose Lillie for her Halloween costume: because Lillie wears a dress. 

Image from PkLucario at Deviant Art
©2017-2018 PkLucario

Now I may have taken some liberties with this costume. Rachel already has a white dress that she loves. And it already has scallops. Why make an entirely new white dress when she already has one? I know it's a different style, but given that she'll grow out of it, I just couldn't justify it. So I just did some blue scallops and sewed them onto the lining to peek out from under the dress. 

And it's pretty perfect really.

I thought about adding some more of the blue detail that Lillie has on her dress, but to be honest, I can't really be bothered. I'll put a blue ribbon on my hat for her. That will do.

Rachel is delighted with this, because the White Dress which I was previously very strict about when she could wear, is now the Lillie Dress and I'm less strict about when she can wear it. I don't have any photos of her in it because she is too excited when she gets to wear it and won't stand still.

Lana Costume

Sophie has had a large affection for the Pokémon Popplio for quite some time now, so when I suggested trainer costumes from the Alola Region, she was quick to pick Lana. 

Image from PkLucario at Deviant Art

©2017-2018 PkLucario

Lana has a lot of water Pokémon, and thus, a very blue, sailor themed outfit. The parts were pretty easy to make (one of the reasons I was strongly suggesting it). I even remembered to take a progress shot! I used the classic Sycamore Shorts and just lengthened them. 

For the sailor shirt, I just used a white T-shirt that we had and added the bib part. We did have a few discussions about blue hair, but thus far, no real decision has been reached.

She's super excited to have a Lana costume.

Living Vicariously Through My Children

There is limited opportunity for adults to dress up in costumes. This is pretty disappointing to say the least. So I'm officially living through my children as I encourage them to dress up any time it might be appropriate. Thus, I have already started making costumes for the girls to wear to our street Halloween party.

Even as I write this though, I'm wondering what my stance on Halloween should be. It's not a typically Australian tradition, nor is it particularly encouraged in Christian circles. To be honest, I don't even know where it came from or what it's really about. Australia seems to be jumping on board with "scary" Halloween, but everything I see from American or European bloggers that I follow has a focus much more on family activities, and fun. Costumes aren't all scary, they are just costumes. Sure, you can be a witch, but you can just as easily be a bunny, or fairy.

Given how much of a global village the world is these days, and how multicultural Australia is, I don't actually have a problem with adopting other culture's celebrations. We celebrate Chinese New Year, why not Halloween? I actually see it as a really cool way to get to know the neighbors more, and build the community in our street.

Anyway, inhibitions about Halloween aside, I'm looking forward to the fun and the costumes. I'm thinking of getting something non-edible to hand out. Maybe stickers? In the mean time, the girls costumes are underway. After all of the Pokemon they have been watching, I may have strongly suggested some trainers from the Alola region episodes. Can you guess who they chose?

Alola Friends: Lillie, Mallow and Lana

Untitled

I did have grand plans for an informative and interesting last post in September, but it's the 27th now, and I'm running out of time. The last four days I've been travelling with the girls to Bundaberg and back again, and tomorrow, we are away again camping with friends at Mt Tambourine until Monday. Which takes us all the way into October. 

But I think this photo of Sophie at the beach sums up how I'm feeling. Enjoying the moment, taking in the beauty of God's creation, being hopeful for the future when the water will be warm enough to get in. 

God is good.

Kindy Shorts

Hugo starts kindy next year, so obviously I wanted him to have something cool to wear to kindy, just like the girls had. I had just enough material for a pair of shorts from the coloring in material that I'd gotten from Ikea.

It has made three dresses (see Sophie's, Sonia's and Rachel's), and was used in the Table Tent, and now all that remains are some scraps. Goodbye fabulous material. I hope I can find something similar again in the future, because wearing something you've colored yourself, is a pretty special feeling.

Anyway, because there was such little material left, it was a bit of creative cutting to get the shorts out; some of the pattern is upside down, I'll admit. And I accidentally cut one piece out facing the wrong way, so I had to trace everything through the material and color it a second time. Luckily, these are going to get trashed at kindy anyway, so it really doesn't matter.

And I don't think you can really tell. They just look fun to me. Crazy, but fun.

Shirt Tie Dress

Remember all those ties I had lying around? I've used another one!

Steve recently realized he had a few shirts he wouldn't be wearing again, so I made one of them into a dress for Sophie. I'm not sure I love how it turned out, but Sophie does. Being white, it was perfect to add a fun tie from my stash to jazz it up a bit.

I loved the curved hem, but I think it's way to long on her, so I would make sure I did more measuring next time. Rachel has been begging for some more kindy dresses, so I am fairly sure she'll be the next recipient of one.

When I asked Sophie what she likes about it, she said she likes the tie (which she got to choose) and that it's white. She promptly wore it to church the next day and managed to get felt pen on it, so I don't know how long it's going to last before I reassign it to being a kindy dress, but we shall see.

Red Dress Up Dress

We had a party on the weekend that required some princess dresses. Given that it's been two years since I've made a dress up dress for the girls, they've done some growing, and a new one was in order.

I started sewing it on Friday night, finished the hand sewing on Saturday, and it was worn to the party on Sunday. Talk about success!

It helps that I used exactly the same pattern as the previous dresses (Blue and Yellow ones, and the original Cinderella one) but just sized it up. I cut the bodice as a size 8 to allow room to grow and made sure the skirt would be floor length for the same reason. It was a little long, but I just tacked up the front a bit which looked cool and meant that Sophie could walk without tripping over. The back was still long.

I'm excited to say that part of the dress is made from curtains. The ones in our dining room were originally floor length, which was unnecessary, so I had cut them off and saved the excess. It proved to be exactly the right amount for the skirt. The bodice was leftover from my Mum making Christmas dresses, lined with some random lining fabric that was donated to me (I think). The skirt also has two layers of gauze with gold stars on it. So shiny!

Sophie was a little sad that it wasn't super spin-y (especially after I tacked the front up), but it's still pretty special, and look: she can still dig in the the sandpit in it.

Self Sufficiency

It's a new era of bento making: this morning, Sophie and Rachel both made their onigiri themselves! They had seen a video on how to make the panda shapes using the mold that we have, and asked if they could do it. I was dubious about how it would go, but it was actually really successful.

I set up the bowl of rice for them to use on the bench and distracted myself making the eggs so as not to hover too much. That sausage in egg is quite complicated to do, fyi. They took turns (eating breakfast while they were not making lunch) which went smoothly too.

Everything in the lunch box is sitting on a bed of cooked carrots. I didn't know any other way to get everything to fit nicely. The girls were super excited and proud of their onigiri making efforts. I don't know if it will become a regular occurrence, because it probably did slow down the lunch making process slightly, but I'm ok if it's a weekly thing. It was successful after all.

Faith is like an Extension

Reflecting on our renovation plans while listening to a podcast on Hebrews by Tim Mackie (it's on the Exploring My Strange Bible podcast, go check it out!) I have drawn the conclusion that there are a number of similarities between getting an extension done, and having faith in Jesus.

Many people think that faith is all about believing in something that you have no evidence for. I'll be honest, that would be nuts. If you've go faith in something, then hopefully, you have seen some evidence. Maybe you haven't seen the fullness of what has been promised, but you've seen some clues, or testimonies that something is going on.

If you were to look at our house right now, and we said; "Come round for Christmas on our deck." you would think we are nuts. There is no deck. But if we showed you the plans for the deck, the emails with the builder, the clothesline that has been moved in preparation for said deck, you would see the evidence of what is to come. Thus you could have faith, that come Christmas, you could have a party with us on our deck.

Jesus says to us that he has eternal life for us. It's a promise. If you don't know Jesus, or haven't seen the plans, you might think this is nuts to believe in. But the evidence is there. We aren't blindly holding on to something that has no documentation. In fact, the claims of Jesus have lots of evidence. We haven't seen the fullness of the promise yet, but we have a strong foundation on which to base our faith.

I am encouraged to know that just like an extension is waiting for our house, so too is an eternity with Jesus, and my faith is based on a ton of evidence.

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Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Hebrews 11:1

Feeling Sore

2018 has turned out to be a big year for us. I thought 2017 was nuts, with lots of weekends away, the long absence of Steve and the Big Travels at Christmas time, but it looks like 2018 wasn't content to be a quieter year at all. Instead we have been inundated with big decisions, trips away and changes galore. I think I mentioned it here.

Let me illuminate. We've done four trips to Bundaberg already, and I've got plans for a fifth in the first week of the September school holidays, as well as a camping trip for the long weekend in October. On top of that, we've decided 2018 is the year for a real renovation on our house.

We've been living in our house for eight years this October, and since we bought it, we have dreamed of putting a deck on the back. Our yard is enormous, there is room for it, and given that we live in Queensland, it would be just perfect to have a deck. But the logistics of getting the deck on, where the access would be, what we would have to do about the laundry part of the house, moving the clothes line, all seemed to be in the way, not to mention the financial side of putting on a deck. So we put it off for a while.

Then we had kids, and I started a family day care. We keep looking around at things, and wanting a deck and possibly a second bathroom, and a study for Steve so he could work from home, and wondering if we would ever get to it. And in January we started to have real conversations about what it would look like if we were to actually do it. What did we really need vs what did we want?

I spent six weeks calling builders and all sorts of people, trying to get an idea about the process that is renovation and what was needed. The whole process is quite complicated, but we finally figured out which route to take. Steve spent a fair amount of time on virtual house design programs, shifting things around and trying to help us get an idea of what we wanted and how it might fit together. He even bought a whiteboard for brainstorming.

In the end, we used a planning company to make the plans, and then had builders quote on it to see if we could afford it. After the six weeks from the end of January, the planning stuff took another two months, and then getting the builders to quote on it took another six weeks. Finally, after our initial conversations in January, we had everything we needed to get started. After such a long time, I think I'm finally getting excited for what the end product of the renovation will be.

Of course, there are things we have to do to get ready for said renovation to start (approximately two weeks!).

We have moved our garden bed and the clothes line, both of which were previously in a space that the deck would impact on. The girls have been very helpful and also enjoyed the bonus wheelbarrow rides that Steve offered them as reward for their service.

Steve's ripped up a whole lot of weedy-grass front lawn ready for us to transplant some of the awesome Sir Walter from the back to as well. Steve and I, though probably mostly Steve, are feeling really sore today from these arduous tasks.

The clothes line was the original old Hills Hoist which is just an amazing clothes line. I'm so appreciative of Steve putting in most of the work to move it for me, (and our neighbor Ian who popped round to help with the lifting) rather than just get rid of it and get a new line. On no modern clothes line will I be able to fit five loads of washing and have them all dry in two hours because of the great spacing allowed.

Remember that I finished painting the downstairs toilet in February? Well it's been a good six months with that shiny clean toilet, that is now part of the house that will be demolished for the extension to go on. But also remember we redid the front steps in April and wished for a new balustrade? Well that's happening now, so you win some, you lose some.

There is so much thinking and planning that has gone into this, so we are pretty exhausted from all of it, and are about to attempt to live through the reno, so wish us luck! What's happening is the laundry area that is on the back of the house (down about four steps) is coming off and we are building out from the dining room (the set of three windows in the middle of the house pict above). Everything will be one level, we will get the laundry, a second bathroom and separate toilet, a living area, with a bay window (this is the part I'm most exciting about!) and then doors from the new living area out onto the deck.

Because most of the reno is happening on the back of the house, we should be able to just close the back door for most of it while they build the extension on, and then there will be a bit of uncomfortable time when they remove the wall where the door and windows are to connect everything together.

So much of this year has been spent in planning, thinking, evaluating, checking, rethinking and making responsible adult decisions. I know it's going to be a bit uncomfortable while the extension happens, but I'm starting to really look forward to what it's going to be like at the end of it. The outdoor living space that we can use even if it's raining, the bay window I can sit and read in, the extension/deck warming party we can have when it's all done.

Yes, 2018 has been an unexpectedly big year, but there are some good things coming, and I'm looking forward to it.

The Latest

Sewed another dress. I feel bad that the majority of my posts are updates on things I have been sewing. Sorry people.

I do like this dress though. Mum and Dad bought the material back from one of their travels; I think it was maybe intended to be a table cloth. I didn't take a photo of the fabric (of course), but I had to think about how to cut it out to be a dress, because the darker color was only a section of the fabric, and I didn't know what to do with it at first.

Thankfully Mum gave me the advice to use it as a bodice, and the way I cut the sleeves, the color kind of merges in, to help make it all come together.

I fully lined the bodice (first time for this self-made pattern dress) and, of course, put in pockets. I also did a gathered skirt for the first time, which I like, but I think it makes the front bodice sit a little too high, so I'll have to fix that if I do a gathered skirt again.

Sophie took this photo for me (below). I think that back panel is my favorite part.

Visual Stimulation

This is my life in the kitchen.

Every day a different configuration of all the essential nutrients, and some surplus ones.

I am hungry when I look at these.

And I feel proud. Because they are mostly delicious and nutritious.

More often than not the box comes home empty. So that's also good.

Will they ever want plain sandwiches?

 I hope not.

Because Japanese lunches are more fun.

And with my new rice cooker, with a timer function, morning rice is even easier to make.

We grew those snow peas in the garden.

I hope you are feeling inspired by healthy lunches, even if the pictures are not that good.

Some mornings I can't be bothered cut things. Good thing God gave us teeth.

Ahh, lunches.

The Not Apron

As part of my exciting career in early childhood education and care, I get to claim face paints as a tax deduction. It's one of the perks. When I'm face painting, I have been using a random mix of face cloths and tea towels to clean my brushes, which were effective but ugly. I wanted to update to something else. 

When I made the Spur of the Moment quilt top, I had a few bits left over that didn't make it into the quilt, so I took that and an old bathmat we weren't' using any more, and got sewing.

I just stitched the material together into rough panels, and then quilted them straight onto the bathmat. Then I bound all the raw edges. I did extra with the binding, so I can wear it as an apron, but I actually don't see myself ever doing that. Good thing the ties are perfect for wrapping it all up so it looks pretty.

It's perfect to just put out on a table, set my paints up on half and then use the other half for wiping my brushes. And I can flip it over if I need to get a clean slate, for all those times I'm painting for four hours straight, like the kindy fete.

It's pretty and effective. I like it.