A stitch or two

I've been creating a few more cozy things lately than I have over the past few months. It's been so lovely to be able to sit and stitch as the weather has been getting cooler.

 

I haven't made any more blankets although it looks like I might have a commission to make two of them  but have been working on some quicker projects like scarves and shawls.

 

The two below were a bit of an experiment with a fairly quick and really easy pattern.  My mum says she looks like a frilled neck lizard when she's wearing hers though!

 

 

In the next photo I made these into a more traditional style scarf using some lovely patterns.  I finished the cream one AGES ago but the burgundy one has only recently been completed. 

 

It's my school scarf because I used to do a few rows while waiting in the car to pick the kids up from school of an afternoon.

 



 

The last item I've completed lately is my most exciting because I actually knitted it rather than doing crochet.  It was quite fun to make and I really, really love it.

 

 

I've got a few more projects I'm working on as well but my next post will be about the Glasshouse Country Arts Trail.  My sister is a part of it and they had their first open studio's this weekend.

 

Aannsha, the lovely lady who does textile art is showing her pieces in my sister's studio and did a felting demonstration today.  It was so much fun so guess what I'm going to be trying tomorrow!

 

xx Susan

School Big Night Out and 125th Anniversary

We've had a few internet issues here this past week which is why I haven't posted about the school's Big Night Out yet, even though it was held last Saturday.

 

We were thinking that it was a modem problem until hubby got under the house this afternoon and realised that the dog had chewed through the secondary phone line! 

 

The dog is now back on the chain and not allowed off until hubby can come up with some alternative for him.

 

As for the Big Night Out, it's the annual school fete and this year was combined with the school's 125th Anniversary.

 

I was a very proud Mum as Master M was chosen to represent the current students to cut the anniversary cake.

 

They usually get past students and a current Prep student to cut the cake and this year they had two former student's from the 1930's and the Great-Granddaughter of the original principal in 1888 when the school opened.

 

One reason why Master M was chosen is that my kids are the 5th generation of my husbands family to go to the school.  There's a few fourth generation children but only three 5th generation kids at the school and two of those are my kids.  The other is my hubby's cousin's boy.

 

After the speeches, music performances, and a fantastic video of the school from the 1970's (which is how I remember the school), it was time to have some fun.

 

I had to run off to help on the class stalls but after that it was out to the oval for the rides.

 

Jumping castles, huge slippery dips, chair swings, a merry go round, spinning tea cups and some other spinning ride for the big kids was all set up on the small oval.

 

A few brief showers in the afternoon didn't dampen spirits but thank goodness they went away otherwise the fireworks would have been cancelled.

 

They weren't and we were treated to a fantastic display with lots of excited people looking on.

 

After that it was time for home and if I was hoping my kids were tired out after such a big day then I was doomed for disappointment.  They were so hyper that it took quite awhile for them to settle down.

 

We all crashed in the end though and now have more fond memories of another wonderful day.

 

xx Susan

Play of light

I was driving home from the school run this morning and saw an image of the mountains in our area that was just stunning.

It's been raining most of the night and morning so the sky in the background was nearly black.  The mountains though had a beautiful golden morning sunlight shining on them that made them look like gems standing tall.

 

I didn't have my camera with me and didn't even think about using my phone until I was home.

 

Even doing a google search I haven't been able to find an image anything like what I saw but I have found some that were sort of close.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

None of the images have the pure black sky behind them though which made the scene so spectacular.

 

xx Susan

 

 

 

 

Catching up

Sometimes life can seem just a little off centre. My equilibrium seems to have been out for a couple of months now and one of the things that I've let slide a bit is my blogging.

 

Life has still gone on pretty well as normal but the whole thought of turning the computer on and blogging hasn't appealed very often.

 

I'm starting to get back on track now and the axis is tilting in the right direction.  That's a good thing but I now have months of blog reading to catch up on to see what my 'friends' have been up to while I've been in my self-imposed exile. 

 

I won't bore you with everything I've been up to because it's not been that exciting I can tell you.

 

Last night though (Saturday), my brother-in-law Jeff took my mum and myself to the football which was awesome.

 

 

It was an AFL game between the Brisbane Lions and Carlton.  Unfortunately the Lions lost but it was a really good game.  It was the first live AFL match that mum and I had ever been to and it made a lot more sense seeing it live.  I really enjoyed it.

 

However being Rugby Union and Rugby League girls we did get a bit frustrated when they couldn't keep hold of the ball and had no idea what was going on half the time.  We just cheered when the rest of the crowd did!

 

The kids' school also has their Annual Big Night Out coming up in a couple of weeks which is their school fete.  It's also the 125th anniversary of the school so there'll be plenty of celebrations commemorating the history of the school too which will be wonderful.

 

I've been busy making tomato relish for Master M's classes gardening and produce stall and still have some lemon butter to make for it.

 



 

I'll let you know about the day once it's over as it's sure to be a great celebration.

 

Another thing I've been doing lately is knitting.  I tried it about a year or more ago then it got put away as I just couldn't work it out.  The two needles was proving a problem for a girl who likes to use just one crochet hook.

 

This time I decided to give it a go and thanks to the many fantastic YouTube tutorials, I'm now able to knit pretty well AND FIX MY MISTAKES!!

 

While I've been doing my knitting and crochet the sewing seems to have gone by the wayside for now.  Ah well, there's no point having too many projects on the go at once is there?

 

For now though I'm off the have some family time and then catch up on some of your blogs.

 

xx Susan

Lovely hot water

For the past three months this has been my hot water system....

 

 

I've worked out that we pretty well only need hot water for washing up and bathing.  It does get a bit of a pain having to boil the kettle for a bath all the time though.

 

Washing my hair was a bit of a problem.  I either leaned over the bath and gave myself a sore back or I'd go visit my sister or mum for a lovely hot shower at their place.

 

Well our new hot water system was FINALLY installed yesterday and has been heating all night.  Never underestimate the power of being able to turn a tap on and have hot water come straight out of it.  Bliss!

 

If you'll excuse me, I'm off to enjoy a really lovely, long, hot shower. :)

 

xx Susan

 

 

Anzac Knitting

Anzac Day was a few days ago (April 25th) and my kids participated in our local Anzac Day march as representatives of their school.

 

This year my uncle brought over my Grandfather's medals so that the kids could wear them and they were so proud to be able to wear these special medals. 

 



 

Their Poppy is very proud that they marched and wanted to wear his father's medals as well.

 

Luckily it was another beautiful day this year so the turnout was pretty huge.  The members of the RSL have been a bit shocked but very pleased that thousands are turning up to our local parade and that majority of those attending are the local school children.

 

 

As for the knitting part of the title...I'm not knitting anything for our troops.  It's just that I started my first ever knitting project on Anzac day this year.

 

I've been crocheting for years but knitting always seemed a bit beyond me.  I tried it last year but kept making mistakes and didn't know how to fix them.

 

Thanks to some pretty awesome knitting tutorials on You Tube, I can proudly say that I've nearly finished my first knitting project.  Yes I've still been making plenty of mistakes but at least I know how to fix them now without throwing a tantrum my kids would be proud of.

 

I'll show you the finished product soon.

 

xx Susan

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!