It's Never Finished: Building a Shed

Buying a home might seem like a great idea, and don't get me wrong, I do love owning our own little bit of paradise, but the confronting reality is that house stuff is never finished. Sure there are breaks where things appear to be complete and you relax for a bit. Sometimes even you start to get proud of how things are going along, and the improvements you've made. Just as you are feeling good about that though, something new comes along to tell you there is more work to do. 

So the back story this little grumble begins with a granny flat. Steve's mum was alone in Bundy and we were concerned for her, and on and off for the last few years, we've talked about building in under our house to make a place for her to live that's just a bit closer to us all. Turns out this year was the year that Steve's mum decided this was the right idea for her, and we found ourselves talking to architects and having plans made. 

All well and good, except now that we were planning for under our house to become another house, all the stuff that we had stored under the house needed a new place to live. So time to cull, and get people who were storing their stuff under our house to take their stuff back, and also to build a shed to put what we were actually keeping in. 

Build a shed. Sounds easy right? Except that where we want to put it, in the back corner of the yard, is currently a garden bed, and the swing set would block the door. So we are not just building a shed, but also relocating a swing set, a garden bed, digging everything level, putting up a retaining wall, laying a slab and then building the shed. 

I went to bed a few  nights thinking the whole task was insurmountable, not to mention that we hadn't even started on the granny flat yet. Sigh. To be perfectly honest, moving the swing set, which was the first on the long list of things to do, seemed to be the hardest bit. It's laughable now, because Steve got into his head to do it one afternoon and that's all it took. He dug new holes, he dug the old ones up, we walked it forward and into the new spot it went. 

I relocated all the plants we wanted to save from the garden bed and then Steve and some street friends went to town digging out the area where the slab was going to go. We took that dirt out, put it back in, took it out and put it back in again. I can't even remember half the reasons we had to do so much repeat business with that dirt, but it took ages to get that ground where it needed to be for a slab. 

At last, we put the footing in for the retaining wall around two sides of the shed (including re-mounting one of the fence posts into a stirrup), and were ready to cement a slab. 

Again, with the assistance of some work friends, Steve did some solid work with this cement slab. Double, triple and quadruple checked for the correct size and after it dried, we were good to go. Steve did so much research and work on this whole project. Every now and then I got to clip something in, or hold the screws, but it was really Steve. 

We cleared nearly a whole weekend to do this shed, and it's pretty lucky we did. For the most part, everything went together ok. Walls lined up and things snapped in. Thanks to Sarah's Steve who came round to lend a hand with that first bit of the day. 

Just when you think it's all smooth sailing though, you put the roof on and notice that things are not lining up. And it seems that the walls of the shed are in fact, too big for the slab, and too big for the roof. 

Which presents a few problems to say the least. So after 12 hours of working on this shed (not to mention all the prep time on the swing set, garden bed, retaining wall and slab!), we had more work to do. When does it ever end!?!

Here we are, a few weeks later, trying our best to make the most of what we have, and not spending a moment more than we need to on this shed. Tonight, at about 5:30 while I was making dinner, Steve happened to look at the weather for the weekend and realised a storm was on it's way, so he did a quick last minute fix of adding a final bit of roofing to the end gap. So thankful my Dad had a bit lying around that we could use rather than having to buy a new one.

I've been filling the shed over the last couple of days. All the shelving units that we had previously stored stuff on under the house have been moved up and fit. The things we want to keep are also fitting, though I've come to the end of stuff I can move on my own and I'm waiting for Steve to give me a hand with the rest. 

Better get cracking though, because we met with our builder this afternoon too and the ball is rolling for a granny flat to be built pretty soon. I'm trying not to think about the more work that entails, or that it includes the relocation of yet another garden bed, some well established trees and a recently installed water tank. 

Reminiscing: Rachel's 7th Birthday

When Rachel told me she wanted a sewing themed cake and not an insect cake, I was shocked, as you know. Well, we ran with it, and not only did Rachel get a sewing cake, she also got a sewing party. 

These were the invites. That ribbon was wrapped around and stuck with a safety pin. We got it free from someone in our community who was giving away a bunch of them conveniently just as we were discussing invitations. 

It was the end of June, which was probably the busiest month of the year and feels like a life time ago now. We did a fruit platter, veggie sticks, some button biscuits, poppers and the cake. Sewing basket cake. Pretty simple party fare really. 

We played pin the buttons on the dress (which all the kids cheated at), 

pass the parcel - fabric wrapping for reusability (each layer the kids got a chocolate and a spool of thread), 

and then we sat down to do some sewing. Rachel actually wanted all the party to be just sitting around teaching kids how to sew, but I managed to talk her out of it. I prepped a set of ribbon and felt bookmarks for the kids to do, and they managed to whip stitch around the edges with degrees of success. 

For the rest of the time the kids all just ran around in the yard, playing games, climbing on things and blowing bubbles. 

Rachel's party bags were fabric (of course), and full of sewing supplies; thread, buttons, safety pins and fabric. She wanted to give the kids needles too, and she wanted to hand sew each of the bags, which I again, managed to talk her out of. She did cut the fabric and the ribbons to size before I sewed them together. 

Sewing Basket Cake. Steve had to make an emergency trip to the shops to get an extra bag of chocolate bullets when I was running out, but I feel it was worth it. Some of the sewing items in this "basket" look a little funny, but kids were happy to eat it. 

The next day, we had the fam over for a bbq lunch. Pretty casual. I had told Rachel I could make her a sewing machine cake, but in the exhaustion of June, I reneged and told her I would make whatever flavour cake she would like, but that it would just be round. 

Rachel asked for a lemon cake. Too easy. We had leftover button biscuits, mars bar slice and the usual BBQ lunch and salad. 

Happy Birthday Rachel, as you make another year around the sun, I wonder if your next birthday will be variation on theme or a new song all together. 

When Life Gives You Lockdowns

 

Why June was so Busy

It's nearly the end of July, and I can't believe how quickly time is flying past this year. Is it all the snap lockdowns? Is it the growing children, or the extra curricular activities of said children? Maybe it's just life and I'm caught up in it. I don't know, but I've been meaning to tell people about our June and I figure I'd better do it now, before it's August and feeling so long ago. 

June. 

June had two weddings, a school fete and Rachel's Birthday, all in consecutive weekends. 

This summary seems like I'm making a big deal out of just a few events, but hear me out. It was busy. 

The first wedding was in Sydney; on a Friday. And don't forget COVID, and potential border closures. Do you see some stressful choices now? It wasn't so bad, we flew down early Friday morning, got picked up by family and went to a wedding. It was a lovely wedding, if absolutely freezing outside, and I did get to wear a pretty fabulous cape. The wedding party were obviously very close friends (tears in several of the speeches (from the guys) and lots of laughter too) and it was easy to join in their fun. 

Steve and I danced, and I reflected that it had been at least five years since I had been to a wedding where I had felt whole and well. The last two were not as pleasant (nothing to do with the actual wedding though!) and had shaded my impression of weddings slightly. It was a delight to find that getting dressed up, eating delicious food and being with people I loved all night was a perfectly enjoyable way to spend my time. It made me even more excited for my sister's wedding the following weekend. 

We stayed the night in Sydney, saw more family the next day and then flew back to our girls. My parents had looked after them in our absence and we stayed with them that night too, rather than try to organise coming home late. Extending our weekend slightly, but it was worth it for the good night sleep. 

The next wedding was Fiona's! So so thankful that there had been no COVID cases in Brisbane. Melbourne had had an outbreak and Queensland had closed the border, but most people were able to come and there were no crazy restrictions in place. We were all unbelievably thankful. Again, it was a busy day (albeit without a plane flight), a beautiful wedding and lots of dancing into the night. 

The next day, the newly married Fairbrother's continued the celebrations and we all visited their new house. I say "we all", but please don't imagine that it's just our family. It was everyone invited to the wedding and more. Big parties and busy days. Lots of fun, but I was happy to get home again that night. 

Then came the biggest week of June ever. I mentioned the school fete at the start of this post. What I neglected to mention was that it was I, who volunteered to coordinate said school fete. I had an amazing team, but I also did a lot of work in the lead up. The three weeks prior to this, I had spent probably 15 hrs a week sorting out the fete, and now, it was really crunch time. I was at school so much I feel like I almost became staff. 

In the middle of this week of concentrated fete preparation, I also had a job interview. Not the best timing, but more on that later. Suffice to say, it was a surprise and an accident, but I walked out with an earlier than anticipated return to teaching. Back to fete for now. 

All week I woke up thinking about the fete, and fell asleep planning to do lists that I could complete in the morning. Fete was all I did, every moment, and Steve is an absolute saint for listening to me brainstorm every tiny aspect of it. Fete day came and I was at school at 6:45am. I didn't leave until 6:30pm. What a day; I was so proud of it all. 

It was fabulous, and successful and huge. The community came out in force. Again I was so thankful for Queensland's COVID response and how we had no community transmission so we could actually hold this event. There was stuff we could do better, but over all, it was amazing and I was super proud to be a part of it. Proud and exhausted to the bone. 

I did nothing fete related on the Sunday, but Monday morning I was back at school sorting stuff out. I nearly left in tears thinking it would take me all week to put stuff back where it belonged, but thankfully, it didn't take that long. Maybe three full days of sorting and returning and I finally became a somewhat normal human being again. My fete report was 10 pages long. It had been a huge event. 

In that week post the fete, when I was still running around cleaning things up, I was also getting ready for Rachel to celebrate being seven years old. I guess I'll do a blog post about that eventually too. Saturday she had school friends over for fun and food, and Sunday we had family over for more of the same. It sounds like a lot, but of all the things in June, most of all the fete, there was actually not too much to do. Bit of cooking, bit of organising, but mostly, just having fun. 

Again we were thankful for the lack of COVID restrictions, which was not to continue. Monday rolled around and we began our first day of school holidays. My last week actually, of not working. The job that I accidently got would begin the very next week with staff week, so my rest time from the busy June and things starting again was drastically shortened. 

So the job. Friends of mine work at a Lutheran Primary school in Bethania, and mentioned the music teacher there was going on maternity leave in term four, and would I consider the contract? Three days a week, for 18 months. Sounded like something I could do. I had been doing a lot of music relief in term two, and my plan had always been to go back to part time teaching next year, so starting a term early didn't sound too bad. I'd have term three to recover fully from the fete and enjoy my last term of gap year before really heading back to the classroom. 

So I gave them my resume and got a call to come in for an interview. Which I did. And they liked me, and wanted to offer me the job then and there, start date: 5th of July. For those playing along at home, this is not term four. Turns out, the contract was from term three, and they didn't end up interviewing anyone else. I had a lot of turmoil considering the job the first few days, but when they offered it, it would have been ridiculous to say no, so I said yes. 

It was sooner than I wanted, and further away than I wanted, and probably a day more than I wanted, but it was a good job, at a small school with a great music program and resources, and really, a half hour drive against traffic is not the end of the world. I just had to adjust after 8 years of working from home, or only ten minutes away. I don't know why God had given me this opportunity now, when I was not expecting it, but it would have been nuts to say no. 

So I enjoyed the last week of holidays with the girls and Steve before I went back to work before they started term three. We had some COVID cases and a snap lock down of three days, which turned into four, and the rainy rainy weather made everything pretty bleak. But Sunday came, and the sun did come out again. Masks are still mandatory, but new cases haven't risen, so we are all thankful to be where we are now. 

And I'm thankful to be out of June, and into July. Nearly into August really. It's been chaotic and fast, but what isn't? I was saying to Steve that I really want the girls to start piano lessons, and I feel like I've just been waiting for the right time, when we have a bit more space, or breathing room to think about it. The reality is: that there's never going to be a right time for that. There will always be stuff on, things to do, and events to plan. There will always be life to live. So we either fit it in or put that dream on the shelf for now. 

I'll let you know what happens. 

Thanks for stopping by to find out why I was so MIA in June, and why it's taken me a few weeks to get my feet under me again. 

Flowers for Their Hair

When Fiona asked me to make the flower girl dresses for her wedding, that wasn't the only thing I was asked to make. Fiona and Luke have a black cavoodle called Willow that they wanted to include on the  too, so the girls and Hugo had the big responsibility of walking down the aisle with her. To ensure she was looking her best, and also not running loose, Fiona asked me to make her a collar and leash to wear. 

Don't let this photo fool you; in her excitement, Willow was not that well behaved on the day. Thankfully the leash and collar did their job. 

I actually got to make them out of a sash that originally came with Fiona's wedding dress that she opted not to wear. I took it apart, copied a leash and collar that Willow already had for measurements and sewed them up. Then, to make things just a bit more special, and because I had leftover fabric, I also sewed this matching flower which I attached to the collar. 

Too cute right? 

After making Willow's collar, leash and flower, I still had leftover fabric, so I made the girls matching flowers for their hair. 

The girls and I got our hair done at the local hairdresser, which felt like it took ages, to be completely honest with you. And as soon as she was done, Sophie promptly tried to put her hoodie on, hood first; directly on top of her newly styled hair. It was one of those "kill me now" parenting moments. 

Luckily the hair and the flowers lasted until after the ceremony and all was well with the world. 

Flower Girl Dresses!

My little sister is married! It's special to be able to be a part of celebrating the start of a new family, and the girls were excited to be asked to be flower girls for the day. They didn't really get it at first, but when we explained what they would do, and how it works, they felt very special to be included. I felt special to be asked to make the dresses they would wear. 

Earlier in the year, I talked about making Easter Dresses for the girls (Rachel's here, and Sophie's here). What I didn't say at the time, was that I intentionally made these dresses to check the fit of the pattern to make the same style for my sister's wedding. So sneaky! Fiona kind of gave me free reign with the dresses, except to say not shiny fabric, and something similar to the white dress she had given Rachel a few years ago, which I had happened to turn into her Lillie Dress costume for Halloween. 

Mum bought some fancy white cotton fabric from Spotlight for the dresses and I got to work on them in the April holidays. I'm so glad I did these early, because June was chaotically busy and the lead up in May didn't have much time for anything else (although, I apparently found enough time to sew a cape, so was I really busy?) 

Given that these dresses are almost identical copies of their Easter dresses, I don't feel there is much to say about them. I did some fancy stuff on Sophie's bodice, where I cut the fabric and matched the lace in a V shape on the front and back bodice. That front bodice matches like no bodies business, so I feel pretty darn pleased about that. 

I inserted invisible zips for the first time in my life, which didn't go quite a smoothly as I had hoped, but given that I'm pretty rubbish at zips in general, I don't care that much. 

For Rachel's hem, I did a fancy stitch on Sally and scalloped the edge, which looks pretty swish. She had a huge growth spurt just before the wedding, so it's shorter than I would have liked, but still fit pretty well everywhere else. 

Sophie's hem I cut away the fabric behind the lace and folded it up and out of the way. Love it. Sophie's fabric was my fav. 

These are some of my favourite photos from the day, of the three kids just having a great time together. Running around, being kids, making their own fun. 

I love the way these photos capture their motion, and the way that they are so quick to move, to change, learn and grow, but just for this moment, they are caught. 

Before the wedding, when I made the dresses, the girls thought they were so pretty and wanted to wear them immediately. After the wedding, I told them they could wear them as much as they like now, which delighted Rachel, who's favourite thing to wear is a white dress, but didn't concern Sophie much at all. In fact, she told me just to give hers straight to Rachel. Sigh. 

Making a Cape (It's not Weird)

 At the start of last year, a company called American Duchess released a free pattern based on an original 1910 wrap cape. It has pleated wrap bit at the front that tie or clip at the back and a collar.  Maybe it was the pandemic, or maybe it was just the need for a wrap cape in the modern world, whatever the reason, sewing people everywhere started making these capes. 

Image from American Duchess

I did see quite a few of these (#ADCapeCult) at the time, but shelved the idea of sewing one myself because Brisbane winter doesn't usually call for a cape. Besides which, I've never sewn something classed as "outer wear" and figured it was not really for me. 

Enter June 2021, and the month of crazy business, which happened to include two winter weddings, one of which was in Sydney. Weddings are the kind of event that a fancy cape would not feel out of place at. And a winter wedding meant that a cape was a justifiable item to make simply for warmth. I went back and forth for a while, not knowing what to make a cape from, and not sure if I had the time, but then just realised that I really wanted to give it a go, and if not now, then when? 

I asked the Brisbane Spoolettes for advice on fabrics and heard that wool cashmere was the way to go. Pandemic in full swing again, and I didn't have time to actually go to the shops, I feared buying online, when my friend who owns Sewing Adventures, the sewing studio offered to let me have a look at some she had recently brought to see what I thought. 

The fabric was beautiful, so I went home and very nearly ordered the musk, but ended up going a safe pewter (kind of black, but not solid), to suit the formal nature of the weddings and for re-wearability. I also ordered some shiny lining fabric at the same time, thinking that was the right thing to do. More on that later. 

Given that I had never sewn a cape before, and I wanted to make sure it was 100% wearable to some fancy weddings (not the least of which was my very own sisters!), I first made a practice run out of some random fabric that I think Aunty Sue from Sydney gave me. Good thing I did, because the fit in the shoulders was off. Don't let my excited smile fool you, there is lots to do ahead. 

Lots of research about what other people had done to solve similar issues and I unpicked and adjusted to try again. 

More changes to be made and a third try on the rough draft and I was finally ready to cut into the real fabric. What a marathon this cape was turning out to be. Cutting the real fabric however, turned out to be way more complicated than I expected. The shiny lining fabric shifted and moved like crazy, and because everything was without seam allowance, I used chalk to mark the sewing lines. This chalk kind of stayed on the shifty shiny stuff, but dusted straight off the black wool cashmere, so I had to "trace" the lines by hand sewing guide lines over them. 

When I started sewing, things were going smoothly on the wool cashmere, but went quickly downhill on the shiny lining fabric. It was so shifty it was a nightmare to sew, and then the edges started fraying like crazy, no matter what I did. I ended up cutting strips of interfacing and ironing them on to keep the edges in place, which covered up almost all of my chalk sewing lines and then when I went to sew it together with the outer fabric, it was so shifty that I had to hand baste the entire thing in before machine sewing it together. 

SO MUCH EXTRA WORK!!!

I was cursing the cape by this point, for the silly shiny shifty lining fabric, but also because I was on such a time crunch, because I'd left the sewing of it to a week before the first wedding. Never again will I buy shiny lining fabric. Cotton lining is much simpler to work with and will be my preference from here on out. 

At last, however, I had a cape. A swishy, warm fabulous cape. And let me tell you, it was indeed fabulous to wear. 

I don't have any great photos of the cape from the wedding in Sydney, but I was so thankful for the warmth that night. Sydney was a little bit like a test run to see if it really was ok to wear out in public, and it was! Hooray! So the next week, I wore this cape very proudly to my sister's wedding in Brisbane. 

Feeling so fantastic. 

I also added a small welt pocket in the lining of the wrap section so that I would have somewhere to put my phone and keys. So sneaky. Such a perk of sewing your own cape. Sorry I have no photos to show you. But it is awesome. Trust me.