The Tale of Two Blocks, Part 1: Scrappy Pocket Pillow

It all started with two blocks. Just like this one.
I said, "I've made these two blocks. And now I'm a little bit overwhelmed at turning them into a whole quilt."
Then she said, "Maybe another skirt."
And I said, "Hmmm."
And she said, "It would make a cool cushion (pillow)."
And I remembered this post by Nova about her pocket pillow. I remembered reading it, feeling like someone had watched me all those years, travelling with my pillow. Books, water bottle, a snack and my journal thrown into the pillowcase. A pillow with a pocket!

Do you ever get those moments when you feel like you're 8 again? When you're given something that little girl would have loved. That's how I felt yesterday making this pillow. I was making it for that little girl. And it made me feel all giggly.

 My giggly excitement had the slight drawback of not putting any thought into how to put this together before I started. I was going to attach some cream cotton below the top piece to go under the pocket piece before I quilted, but I forgot. I was going to put a border around the two half blocks to make the cushion bigger. But I forgot.

It did mean I didn't mind so much as my giggly 14 month old did her empty-the-scrap-bin dance.

I tried machine binding for the first time. (I normally finish my binding by hand.) I missed every corner. :) (advice welcome!)

But finished, it was perfect. I took more photos than I ever do. I talked to Tully about it in the bath. I chatted over dinner. I felt like I was 8 again. 

A Newcastle Sunday Morning

Well, it turns out the camera on my phone is pretty ordinary so these photos will just have to serve as a shadowy reminder of our beautiful ride around the Newcastle coast yesterday morning.

I never go bike riding. Ever. When Tim dreams up the amazing multi-person-powered vehicles he could create, I get butterflies. But our neighbours gave us this bike. and Tim fixed it up. And then he bought a little bike trailer on Ebay. And then he woke me up early with fresh coffee. I just couldn't keep saying no.

Before we rode down the first hill ("I'm sorry, Tim? How am I supposed to get back up this hill??"), Tim said, "Jo, if there's anything you need to get from this bike ride, it's that you have the most amazing...
legs? hair? blue eyes??
...paint job."
Sometimes Tim and I are very different.

We rode down the headland you can see in the very back of the 3rd shot, around Newcastle Beach, past the baths, around Nobby's Beach, past the lighthouse and out along the break wall. We got the kids out at the end of the wall and had a run around and watched the coal ships head back out to China.

On the way back up that wretched hill, we saw a pod of at least 20 dolphins playing in the waves. It was breathe-taking. A wonderful reward.
"Wow! Thank you, God!" I exclaimed.
"Mum, how does God talk?" Tully asked.
"Well," I answered, "Sometimes he sends a whole heap of dolphins swimming past to say, 'Hey, Tully, you're wonderful!'"
"Hmmm," he agreed, "Yes, I am."

Learn from Me: a Very Sticky 'Big Ideas'

Photo by Juicy Bits

We set off for playgroup a little rushed this morning. A text message reminded me last night that I had offered to make these amazing yarn mache balloons for craft today. I packed the PVA craft glue and the wool in a bag and thought, This will be fun!

So, here's what you need to make these beautiful yarn balloons:

Balloons

Coloured yarn

PVA/ craft glue and a tray/bowl

A much better child:parent ratio than we had!

Cut the yarn into long strips and put the glue into the tray or bowl for dipping.

 Dip the yarn the a tray of glue and wrap around the inflated balloon.

Leave to dry. Then pop the balloon!

So, here's what you can learn from us!!
- Try it at home first before giving toddlers glue!
- Maybe just leave it at home! This would have worked really well with Tully outside, while Eve slept inside.
- the wool really does need to be wrapped around, not just plonked on top (see our sad photo below:)). So the crafter needs to have enough co-ordination (and long enough arms) to hold the balloon, dip the yarn and wrap. Or you need 2 people per balloon.
- you could dip all the yarn first, or you could hang the balloon first, so you weren't trying to do so many things at once.
- Laugh, clean up and do the rest another time. If you've got kids that are playgroup age, there will probably be a meltdown. :)
- I think this would actually work heaps better with school aged kids. I would even enjoy doing it on my own one day. I would love to make a string of them to hold lights in!

In the making

 Two whole days. That's how much we've 'budgeted' a week for child-free sewing. It's amazing how much one can get done in two whole days. No stopping to peel banana. Or scraping said banana from carpet. No nappies. No trying to sing and sew at the same time. I love my children and I love to create with them. But I also love this. Here's what I've been up to this week...



Making patches for Alice's beloved denim jacket. She's had it since she was 16! So these 'Hugs and Kisses' were just the right thing for the job. :)

Putting colours together for new pinafores...

Making pinafores...

 Trying to take photos (It was hot and sultry in the above photo and about 20 minutes after I finished snipping threads and ironing, the cool, wet, windy change came through, right onto my photography area...)

Give up, come inside and play with pretty shabby pastels. I am way out of my comfort zone here. I can't decide if it's not quite right because I'm used to bright, bold colours and prints, or because it's not quite right. Feedback welcome. I am a bit proud of my first play with diamonds. Though, I had to get Tim to do the maths for me!

And then, after dinner, sit in front of the TV and sew hexies together. (I've been doing this for a while.) Yes. Bright and scrappy is much more my style.

What are you up to this week?

Riding a Bike.

Look at my big 3 year old riding his bike! We spent the afternoon out on the driveway yesterday, walking back and forth, hanging out with our friend Alice when Tim and Tully thought it a great idea to take away the training wheels. We watched with amazement as my little boy pedaled away with courage and confidence.

With this natural ability, however, comes a great impatience with the time it takes to really learn things. Every so often, Tully would fall off, Tim would catch him, and he'd sigh disappointedly and walk off in frustration. Tim would call him back, explain that there's lots of falling off in the beginning, that it's good to be patient with ourselves when we're learning new things, and that he was doing really well. Tully would wipe off his tears on his shirt, hop back on and go again.

But soon it was one crash too many. Despite our best efforts to encourage him, Tully walked off, telling us he was no good at it and we should put the training wheels back on.

I was so sad for him. He'd had such great success and hadn't seen it. But I also watched, knowing that I was the same with myself. I give myself such a hard time for silly fabric purchasing decisions, for not being firmer when at my local fabric store, they cut the wrong wadding (batting) for me recently, for trying new things that don't go to plan, and in the past, for immature relationship decisions. Maybe, I thought, I could start to see life a bit more like trying to ride a bike. That while learning there'll be lots of falling over. That it's all part of the experience.

Anyway, this morning, Tim gently suggested to Tully that they head to the uni where there's more open space (and everyone's on holidays still) to try to ride again. He agreed. I'm so glad he did. He came home ever so proudly and showed me this:


Check out that dismount! Perfect!