Easter Hat Parade

The last day of school for the term was certainly an experience. It gave me an even more HUGE appreciation of just what teachers do each and every day and brings home to me just why I will NEVER EVER BE A TEACHER!!!!

 

It was a special day for the preppies as from 12pm they got to make Easter Hats and if they were lucky their Mum's or Dad's were able to come along to help them make their hats.

 

There was lots of glue, glitter, paper, sticky stuff, bright stuff, gluggy stuff, icky stuff, fluffy stuff and nearly everything else you could think of to make their hats. 

 

 

 

I remembered about an hour before I had to be there that I was going to crochet some flowers so a very industrious 40 minutes later I had 7 flowers and 1 leaf to put on my boys hat.

 

 

After the decorating we got to sit down to have lunch with out cherubs and then it was off to the hall for the hat parade with the other preppies (there are 3 classes of them at this school).

 

 

There were lots of wonderful creations and I think ours stood up to the test but then that could also be from the amount of glue Master M decided we needed on his hat to make everything stick.

 

 

After the hat parade it was time for games like the 3 legged race or a pass the ball game or a steal the egg from the nest game.

 

Last for our group was the egg and spoon race which my boy certainly had his own version off after he dropped his egg after one step, then kicked it across the room, raced to grab it, ran back with the spoon in one hand and the egg in the other to pass it onto the next child in line. 

 

Mum had to take his next go.  He INSISTED!  My egg stayed on although my boy tried hard to make it fall off.

 

Do you want to see our Easter hat close up?  Of course you do!

 



 

It's made of a paper plate that I cut a spiral out of in the top and then stuck drinking straw in it to give it some depth.  Then everything was stuck on with glue or sticky tape until Master M was happy.

 

Now Little Miss R wants her own hat so the first day of the Easter school holidays will be spent making Easter hats at home.  Oh and we'll be baking a cake too as it's my sister's birthday and the kids REALLY, REALLY want to make a birthday cake for their Aunty Sandy.

 

Wish me luck especially as it's WAY past bedtime and none of us is too interested in going to bed right now.  I'm sure I'll be paying for that decision tomorrow.

 

xx Susan

 

P.S.  My boy insisted on a photo with his mummy.  Here is the first one we've had in YEARS together.

 

 

Certainly no Pixie portrait but it's very much us!

 

The Stitches and Caft Show

On Friday my sister Sandra and I headed down to Brisbane to the Stitches and Craft Show that was on at the Convention Centre.

 

We'd never been before and decided to do something different and head into the city for a look.

 

Being a stitches and craft show it obviously has lots of stalls of all things stitchy and crafty.  That means fabric for quilting, scrapbooking, beading, yarn, books, trims and heaps more for your crafting needs.

 

There were also some displays from quilters, the lace guild, tapestries, embroidery and my favourite section which was outfits made by high school students.

 

Some of these were awesome including the music inspired dress below.

 

 

There are some very talented teenagers out there I can tell you.

 

 



 

Sorry but it wasn't easy getting photos and in some areas no photos were allowed to be taken at all.

 

 

The skirt on the one below was hand felted and other material joined in with the felt then sewn together.  They certainly make my sewing efforts look pretty feeble.

 

 

I was very interested in the beautiful skeins of wool to be found but I have to admit there weren't too many stalls with yarn. 

There were a few stalls with lots of gorgeous trim but I was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer quantities that I ended up not even bothering to get any.

 



 

Anyone want some Washi tape?

 

One of my favourite stalls was Miss Rose, Sister Violet which was full of very girly lace trim and goodies.  Much of it was vintage or vintage inspired and I adored the vintage lace outfits they had there. 

 

 

The lace was just beautiful.

 



 

I did find something that my little boy would absolutely love.  A quilt that seems to be made just for him.  I may have to try and source this awesome material and make something for him.

 

 

There was plenty of other things to look at but as I said, you couldn't take a lot of photos and what I did take wasn't very good quality.  One of my favourite stalls where no photos could be taken was full of handmade and handpainted porcelain buttons.  They were absolutely gorgeous and I couldn't work out what I really wanted to buy so I left with their brochure knowing that I can shop online.  If you like buttons then head over to CheraBella Buttons for a looksy.

 

There were also lots of workshops going on around the place too.  Some were free and others you paid for but you could have a go at nearly any kind of craft you wanted.

 

I didn't come away empty handed either.  I just had to buy some gorgeously soft skeins of yarn.  It's 40% silk and 60% mohair and I know is going to be a delight to work with.  Now I just have to find the perfect project to show off the colour and justify the expense!

 

 

 

On a whim I also bought some wool so I can do some felting.  I've wanted to have a go at this for awhile and now I've got some wool so I can get started (knowing me it won't be straight away!)

 

 



 

 

It was a lovely day out although I was a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people there and also everything that was on offer. 

 

The best thing about the whole day was that I got to spend it with my sister and that it always something to celebrate and enjoy.

 

xx Susan

46 Years!

Happy Anniversary to my parents.

 

 

46 Years married.  Now that's an achievement!

 

Love you both.

 

xx Susie

Camping at Charlie Moreland

I've really been wanting to get away from things lately. With all the rain recently we've been pretty well housebound and as it was forcast for a fine weekend, I decided that we'd go away.

 

The only problem was hubby was working for the full weekend and I'd never been camping on my own with the kids.  Time to bite the bullet and give it a go on my own.

 

Charlie Moreland camp ground is in the Imbil State Forest near Kenilworth and only an hours drive from our house so I decided that it would be a great place to go to test out camping with the kids on my own.  We often go over for picnics but hadn't camped there before.

 

As soon as we arrived it was time to set the tent up.  I wasn't bringing the camper trailer for one night, mainly because I can't hook it onto the ute and also it's just too big for me to put up on my own.

 

The tent it was and I had a couple of little helpers wanting to do the fun things like bang the pegs in. (Lucky I took two hammers with me).

 

 

After setting the tent up we headed down to the creek to do some exploring.  The kids were really keen for a swim and came so close to going in with their clothes on but I talked them into having lunch first then swim afterwards.

 

Back to camp it was for some lunch then blowing up the air beds which was a challenge.  We don't use the airbeds when we go away with the camper trailer so these hadn't been used for awhile. 

 

They also weren't in their usual spot in the house with the good pump and after much searching I found them tossed on the ground at the back of the shed minus the good pump.  I searched everywhere through our very cluttered shed and no good pump was to be found, only a little crappy one which was better than nothing.

 

Unfortunately the little crappy one was very crappy as it took forever to pump the beds up.  Little Miss R's bed also needs a different attachment which my good pump has so she ended up sharing my double mattress.

 

 

Anyway, the afternoon was hot (well into the 30 degrees celcius and quite humid) so it was back to the creek for a swim.

 

It was FREEZING but that didn't stop the kids and plenty of other campers from going in.

 

The camp ground has only been open for not quite two weeks after the recent rain.  You can see in the next picture some almost horizontal trees coming out of the rocks on the other side of the creek.  That's from where the water rushed through when it was flooded.

 

 

I took my chair and book down to the beach next to the creek to watch the kids swim and play and listened to the sounds of the bell birds in the trees.  They had so much fun, especially as there were a heap of other kids there for them to play with as well.



 

After a couple of hours down at the swimming hole it was back to camp and time to say hello to some visitors.

 

 

 

There are plenty of goanna's around the camp ground so it's advisable to keep your tent closed at all times, you certainly don't want one of these fellas in with you!

 

Goanna's aren't the only animals though as there's plenty of scrub turkeys and pademelon wallabies around the place.

 



 

After an afternoon snack we decided to go for a walk as there a a few bush walks around the area.  Unfortunately after the recent rains you can't get to the other side of the creek where the walks are so we just explored along another stretch of the creek.

 

 

The camp ground down near the creek was a lot busier than up the back where we were.  I liked our spot better, not only was it on top of the hill but we were pretty well on our own which suits us.

 

This part of the creek was full of trees and debris which came down in the foods and has ended up making a mess of the creek.  That's mother nature for you.

 

We found a great spot to spend some time at.  I sat on a log and watched the water flow around the rocks.

 

 

As you can see from the next picture, this is where you usually cross to the walks on the other side but it's impossible to get there.  We stayed around this spot as there was plenty to keep the kids occupied (sticks and rocks!)

 

I did some more water watching.

The kidlettes did plenty of rock throwing.

 

 



 

..and all three of us collected some sticks to see how far they could go down the creek and the rapids.  Most got caught in the debris but some did float further down.

Back at camp I tried to get a fire going but I'm not really that great at fire making. 

 

It did go for a good while though and the kids were happy with that.

 

 

 

After a cool and uncomfortable night (my airbed has a hole in it so Little Miss R and I spent the night flat on the hard ground), it was lovely to wake to the sounds of the bell birds.  (click on the link to hear what they sound like).

 

 



 

After breaky and much needed cups of tea we decided it was going to be another beautiful day so the kids wanted to go back to the creek. 

We half packed up the camp before heading down to the causeway where some other kids were hunting for yabbies.

 



My kids joined in the search before having another swim then heading back to the camp to finish packing up.

 

 



It had it's moments but I proved that I could go away camping with the kids on my own and stay sane as well as enjoying myself.

 

 

Charlie Moorland camp site is run by the National Parks and wildlife and here in Queensland you need to pre-book your camp site through the National Parks website or via phone.

 

It really is a beautiful spot and at only $5.45 per person it's certainly a bargain. 

 

On the way home we called into the awesome playground in Kenilworth.

 

 



There's so many fun things for big kids and little kids and is always a popular place.

 

 



 

Now I've just got to finish unpacking all the camp stuff and start thinking about where we're going next.  I think hubby is a bit jealous that we went without him so I might have to think about where we can go when he's home for a full weekend next.  It may be somewhere near a beach so he can do some fishing...

 

xx Susan

Yay! It's finally finished

This blanket has really been annoying me lately. I can't put my finger on why really but I've not been liking it very much.

 

 

I'm just happy that I've finally finished it and am able to start some new projects. 

 

It will certainly be nice to snuggle under on the lounge on those cold winter nights.

 

 

I think one of the reasons I didn't have a love affair with this blanket while making it is because so many people seem to be making similar ones.  I saw a picture AGES ago of one like it and thought it looked great which is why I decided to give it a go.

 

Once I was about halfway through I then realised that there were so many people in blogland making a similar one and my interest went downhill fast.

 

 

It's finished though with a thin border in purple, pink and blue.  That's the only colour yarn I had left that would make it around the whole blanket.  I think the narrow basic border looks better than a wide fancy one anyway.

 

 

Unfortunately I did the border from the wrong side and didn't notice until I was halfway through working the blue.  As it had taken hours to do until then there was no way I was pulling it apart and starting the border again.

 

 

 

It is growing on me and I'm sure I'll love snuggling under it, that's if I can get it off the kidlettes as they're already fighting over it.

 

 

So another big project is down and I've started a new one of course but much smaller than a blanket.  I'll show you when I've done a bit more.

 

xx Susan