An Up and Down Day

Today has been an up and down day.

In the morning Ashy made pancakes. The most delicious pancakes ever. Light and fluffy on the inside and with a slight bite on the outside. Oh so good.

Just look at my pancake…

Do you see that beautiful heart shape? I think it is because she loves me.

This afternoon I had to face the fact that my sewing machine was just not performing at its best. It is making noises no sewing machine should make.

So off it went to the service centre.

Now I am sans sewing machine, nary a sewing machine in sight, not a single machine to sew.

I am going to be so lonely until it comes home again…

Cherry Lovin’

I have been looking for my quilting mojo. It seems hard to find at the moment, so I decided to just go ahead and make a quilt without it. Maybe it will find me in the process.

It started with a cherry and became a heart.

I like it a lot.

Unfortunately it causes my mind to drift off to that song of the early 90s. You know – a band with big hair, small pants comparing their true love to a cherry pie. A song my son plays on guitar hero far too often.

I looked for another cherry song as an antidote, but only found frozen strawberries.

It helps…

Holiday List

Me to Pip: So, do you have plans for these holidays? Anything you’d like to do?

Pip: Well, I’ll be quite busy, actually.

First I have to get my hunter to a level 80*.  I’m going to need to complete quite a few quests to get all the gold I need for that.

I need to complete my art book. That will take a while. The drawings are quite detailed.

I have to buy Guitar Hero 5. It just came out. I’d like to have most songs at expert level before I go back to school.

I also have a song to pracitse on my guitar. The whole band is practising it so we’ll know it for our first rehearsal after the holidays.

For one brief second, after hearing that list, I imagined that I would like to be a teenaged boy. Then I remembered how they all smell after a day at school and changed my mind.

This is the song he has been practising. He sounds pretty good – especially when I accompany him on vocals. He won’t let me join the band though. I’ve asked, he tactfully refused me…

* A reference to his character on world of warcraft.

A Small Indulgence

I made a dress.

A teeny, tiny dress.

So small I have used only fat quarters to make it.

Here’s the thing…

I have no purpose for making a teeny, tiny dress.

Except the fabric was so lovely and the seams were so short that I just wanted to make it. It was a complete indulgence.

Luckily Kirsty has a shop where she lets me sell my indulgences…

PS Did you notice that the dress is completely reversible? Not a single seam visible. Oh be still my heart… I love it!

The King was in his Counting House

Counting all his money…

Pip wanted a new mouse for his computer and some art pens to complete a project.

A trip was taken to the office supplies store.

The pens were selected, then he moved to the computer mouse section.

He found the perfect mouse. Ideal for his needs, shiny, bright and $80.

Without hesitation he put it back on the shelf and picked up the less than $20 model.

“You can afford it, can’t you?” I ask. (I know he has cash in the four-figures in the bank from the past years of birthday and Christmas money.)

“I can, but I don’t want to waste my money.” he replies quickly.

“Are you saving it for something?” I wonder.

“No”, he says. “I just don’t like wasting money.”

I can hear my Scottish ancestors whispering in his ear, “Be canny with your money, wee lad. Be canny with your money.”

He’s listening…

So Big and So Strong

My nephew Joseph is getting so big that he can write his name!

And he is getting so strong that if you say, “Hey Jojo. Show me your muscles.” he’ll show you this…

So I say it a lot.

I love to see his muscles.

Chop n chop

For the past five weeks my Pete has spent every weekend in the backyard hand-chopping an enormous tree down.

We could get a treelopper, but he does not pay money for something he could do himself, thank you!

He has climbed metres into the air to chop down one branch at a time.

Then he has chopped each huge branch into smaller pieces and put it all into the trailer before taking it to the refuse dump.

He has made at least fifteen trips to the dump in the past five weeks.

Now all he has left is a trunk…

No matter how much he chops and chops and chops…

It just won’t fall down.

It won’t let go of its grip on the ground.

Want to know how much longer my Pete will persist?

Every single weekend until it is gone.

Luckily I have nothing planned…

Feeling Peaceful

The last two weeks have been lived in this household at a frantic pace. Jobs to do, plans to make, people to see. It has been an absolute roundabout in and out of the front door.

Philip has had to select his subjects for year 11 and 12. This involved meetings and interviews – no longer do you just tick a box to make your selections. Reference manuals of university offerings must be consulted, year 10  teachers have input and the whole family has to sign on the dotted line before his selections are accepted. Overall he is very pleased with his decisions and I am pleased that he will continue to study visual arts.

I have applied for a new job. This has meant writing to selection criteria, another involved process. I was short-listed and last week interviewed for the job. It was a teleconference interview, which is a bizarre experience. I sat alone in a conference room talking animatedly and knowledgably to people I could not see. After fifteen minutes of uninterrupted blather from me I asked if the three unseen interviewers required any further information or clarification, only to be told that they had everything they needed.

Amongst these main events the rest of our busy lives has continued without abate.

Is it any wonder that I find myself creating peace doves.

I’d like a little peace…

and quiet…

These cushions are available for purchase and have been added to my website.