A mothers work is never done, wobbly bits and all.

I subscribe to the American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, which I find interesting as it isn't too hard core American - ie flags, thanksgiving, eagles etc (although they do have some sometimes which I can handle), and they always show the projects in different colours and sizes and give details and sometimes even patterns for the quilting design.  Anyway, I digress... there is a small article about a lady who has her own quilt pattern company, she only looks like a teenager but has three kids... and I think the quote for the day should be "I really love being a mum, but part of that job is doing things that need to be done again and again - cleaning, laundry, bath time.  When I quilt, it's something that can't be undone, and I see progress every day."

So far today I'm still up to the again and again bit - my laundry pile has taken over the sofa - no picture sorry, but you can imagine it (in fact, you probably have something similar somewhere in your own house!) - and I can hear the washing machine still spinning around and around.  BUT I have something in mind to play with, which if I'm good and get cracking with the rest of the mess, I can play before the kids come home.  Yipee.

On another note, I weighed and measured myself this morning.  At the beginning of this term I committed to trying to eat a bit healthier and practice some sort of exercise routine to increase my fitness and hopefully my wobbly bits would reduce and become a little bit less wobbly.  And, I haven't lost any weight pretty much at all, but my body fat has gone from being up around 32% to 28.5%, and my bust has gone from 40" to 38.5", waist still same, hips 40" to 39".  Cool - it must all be worth it.

Day from hell

You know your day is not going to be a good one when your son calls out before 7am and announces that he accidentally did poos in the toilet - not the bowl but the room.  So once the necessary bits and pieces had been stripped, washed, disinfected... the day carries on.  Go to feed chickens and round up escaped chicken number one.  Say good morning to dog.  Go back inside and look out window a few minutes later to find dog has broken dog run wire and is now wrapped around a flax bush (a nice one that was specifically planted to look beautiful).  Go and sort out dog.  Load daughters bike into car for wheels day at school.  Wash arms to get rid of dog and bike residue.  Notice dirt on freshly laundered and Ironed (did you read that - ironed!!) white shirt.  Grrr!  Make lunch for same daughter and do the school run thing.  Have kept Dylan home today due to the tummy business - so have spent the morning cleaning the bathroom and sorting the linen cupboard.  Coffee sounds good...

The Great Escape

Spoke too soon... Houdini and her lovely assistant flew the coup (literally) and discovered the vege patch... it seems that onion and spring onion don't stand up well to chicken invasion - likewise beetroot seems to have taken a hammering.  My short wick is getting shorter!

Strike While the Iron's Hot

 A busy morning so far.  I have folded three baskets of washing!  Done another load and hung it out.  Well done Suzanne.  My work against evil continues...

I have also disappeared into my "shed" and cut out the Amy Butler tunic.  Size adjustments as follows: cut using size M for below the waist, which then merges into L up through the bust and top area, have added an extra 2" into the length at the waist which should bring the hips down closer to where my hips appear to be.  I must remember that doing this extra length adjustment requires a longer zip - not just adjusting where the bottom of the zip sits - as you still need to get in and out of the garment, and it is around the hips that the extra opening aids with this.  I have now done as much as I can do without getting the lining.  I also realise that it is almost impossible to take a photo of yourself!  There is still the sleeve to attach and doing the lining will finish off the neckline.  Satisfaction scale so far - OK - I like the way the skirt part sits, and this would make a nice straight skirt pattern with a yoke waistband - could do pleats etc falling from the princess seams in front.  The top part seems to sit alright, although it will depend how tight the sleeves make it across the shoulders once it is finished. The lining is supposed to me "muslin lining" but I think I'll use pongee lining so that is has a bit of slip inside.  The pattern required about 3 1/4 yards of fabric - so I bought 3 mtres - but I must have at least 1m left - hmmm, interesting.

I bought Snoopy (the cat) a flea collar yesterday, complete with bell!  She is not too fussed about the whole thing but as she is deaf I don't think it is the sound that bothers her, more just the movement.  The problem is that the dog now thinks that she is some sort of squeaky toy and there have been a few altercations!  Snoopy is coming up 16 - with possible altzheimers or at least dementia.  Close encounters with the dog do not feature in her calendar.  In case anyone was wondering  - she does still drink out of the fish tank.

New Additions

Gosh, so much to catch up on.  We have had our two new girls since Friday.  Was a bit worried that there would be some angst with the three older birds we already had - but after quite a bit of cheeping and booking, Chicken Little and Mighty Whitey have settled in quite well.  Our 3 original chickens have never had names - partially because two are identical so we would never know which was which - and partially because I couldn't be bothered.  However, I am considering calling one Houdini as it keeps jumping the fence - as long as it stays out of my vege garden I'm OK with it - but it doesn't seem to realise that there is a real friendly Jack Russell over the other fence (yeah right), and if it wanders far enough - nothing survives the Why did the chicken cross the road - if the road is State Highway 1!

Sewing which is all Charlotte's Fault

Where has the time gone.  It is already at least a week since my last post and (you'll be glad to see it is now Monday and my post say's it is Monday - thanks Charlotte) I'm wondering what I've been doing since then.  Well, since viewing Charlotte's sewing enterprises - I have wasted an enormous amout of time looking at free sewing patterns online - some of which I have downloaded.  I have also pulled out my Amy Butler pattern for a long tunic which I have always drooled over, but have never found any fabric I could really imagine using.  So with bad weather predicted for Sunday, we traipsed down to Whangarei and sent hubby off with both children so I could browse in leisure at Spotlight.  And I actually found some fabric that I like.  Also another pattern for a dress which could be resized into a top or tunic... can use either woven or stretch fabric for this one so thought this was quite flexible.  So today I have spent my morning firstly doing groceries, which unfortunately are necessary every now and then, and also pegging out washing (which is also unfortunately necessary).  Then I spent a few hours photocopying my pattern so I could cut it out without disturbing the original and trying to decide what size to make.  According to the instructions, my waist is almost Medium and my hips are slightly smaller than Medium, however my bust is more like Large.  Oh, and my waist-back measurement is at least two inches longer than the pattern sizing.  So this all requires adjustment before any actual fabric cutting occurs.  Is this why I have long since ceased sewing clothes??  But I have faith and I will wash my fabric first because my pattern says so, and then I need to remember to buy some lining fabric because although I have read through the instructions I had not noted that a lining was required and maybe another day I'll tackle the rest of this one.
While in Whangarei we also visited Bunnings, and have started buying the bits necessary to make a desk/organiser/wardrobe for Nadia's room.  All sounds a bit complicated but when we moved into our much smaller house, she was the one that lucked out on the smallest room (something to do with being the smallest).  So she has no wardrobe and very little space.  So this was the big idea.  We will add more shelves now that we sort of know what it looks like - but she has some hanging space, a desk and some room for books... all tucked into a little alcove in her room so looks very flash!  Although we did have to have the "thou shalt not draw on the walls" discussion... fingers crossed!

Date

Does anyone know why my date shows as yesterday?  The last post was done on Monday, 15th Nov so not sure why everything shows the day befores date?