Amanda’s Musings

Yesterday we went to the show and it was a fun day out. Michael is about to take off overseas and interstate for three weeks so we wanted to have a great family day before he went. Keziah had a really great time. She got to ride a pony, go on the spinning teacups (with me who also thought that was a lot of fun), pat lots and lots of different animals, see the cars in the main arena at lunch time and more! Keziah even got to record herself singing Bananas in PJ’s in the ABC Kids caravan and we got it on CD for free. Its very cute watching her sing into the mike.

We didn’t buy many show bags, just the usual sample type ones and a Bertie Beetle one for Kezi. I’m not much of a show bag person, they always look good till you get them home and realise that everything in them are cheap and nasty and that the lollies all got eaten on the way home. We were even clever this time and brought our lunch and snacks with us. It was a lot of fun as you can see from the photos, great memories!

These three photos were taken by my Dad, love that car one, what a great shot! You beauty Dad!

I have been reading and watching other people sew out here in ‘internet land’ for quite a while and only now am I starting to really feel a bit more confident in what I’ve been doing. A couple of weeks ago I got the sewing machine out again for the first time in over a year and made Kezi a couple of skirts. My plan was to make a third when I thought I’d try something different and this time with no help. I figure I need to be able to sew things on my own otherwise what’s the point of having a machine!

Here are this week’s results. I made Keziah three pairs of shorts using a basic pattern, it did take me an hour just to work out what to do and to unpick attempt #1. Took me three hours to make three pairs but I think I’d be much quicker next time:

I was convinced that they’d be too big or baggy but they fit her perfectly and she really loves them (the cherries seem to be the frontrunner).

Then last night I tried something different. I got a pattern for a pinafore style dress and did a lining for it using a contrasting colour fabric. I figured out how to do it as I went and even managed to put in the zip. I didn’t follow the instructions at all and it turned out really great.

I think the more I do it the less stressful it will become. I nearly gave up on those shorts on Sunday night but I was determined to work out what the ’sewing language’ meant.

The last week was quite busy and yet I have no idea what I actually did. I suppose the easiest way to figure it out is to look back over some of the photos I took. Of course I’m pretty sure that there was a lot more that I did besides what is shown below including shopping for a dress for my cousin’s wedding, watching Project Runway in the middle of the night (while feeding Lucinda) and losing my wallet sometime between yesterday and today!

Firstly we had a fair bit of ‘playing with the new (birthday) toys’ time:

I did a custom order:

Lots of Luci cuddling and playing:

A massive pile of washing:

We had some friends over:

Kezi did some painting:

and I created some tea light candle holders:

and finally, some mucking around:

I do wonder what this week will show when I look at my photos. I have a busy week including going out to tea, having friends over for lunch, enjoying the company of another Etsy seller and going to the Royal show!! Sounds very busy.

As promised here is the post about the party. The whole thing went so well and I think the kids had fun. A big thank you to my Mum and Dad who helped us the day and night before and during the party and also to my hubby’s parents who looked after Luci at the party. Thank you also to Erin F who helped out in all sorts of ways (food, activity etc…).

Rather than write too much, enjoy these photos from the day:

I can’t believe it. My little baby girl is now three! Happy birthday Keziah!

We had the best birthday party today, it was so pink, girly and fun. Everything went smoothly and even the weather was perfect in the two hours I needed it to be. It actually rained in the afternoon but was sunny all morning. Our next door neighbours lent us a bouncy castle which was a big hit and the kids made little crowns and dancing ribbons. The cake came out pretty nice too, as did the other things I’d planned like the stripey jelly and mini cupcakes. It was all so much fun and I don’t even feel that tired. I’ll post photos from the party in the next post or this one will be too photo heavy.

I couldn’t resist a small timeline of the last three years to show you the progress. Also, take a look at the baby pic of Keziah at the top of the row and compare her to Lucinda - they are so alike!

This is Keziah on her second birthday

You can see my birth announcement if you go to this post on my old blogger blog.

It appears that the last time I did a Photo Friday Entry was last November! About time I did one again. Here’s my entry with this week’s theme of ‘relationship’. I think this is a great pic of a brand new relationship that’s forming and not to mention a bond:

After nearly a year of not sewing a thing on my machine I am finally back into it again. I found some really sweet fabric the other week and a pattern that I thought would be easy enough and had a go on Saturday with the guidance of Mum. I decided I wanted to make Keziah one of the tiered skirts that are in the shops at the moment, I figured they couldn’t be too difficult. Hmmmm, well the first one was quite stressful, I’ve never done gathering before but the second one I whipped up in about 2 hours (with interruptions) this afternoon. Here are the results of the skirts:

After moving house about three months ago we still have a few boxes (as you do) around the place that need unpacking. I finally got to one of them the other day which was full of books from when I was a kid. After sorting through the books and putting them in Keziah’s room I found that there was a small bag of ‘bits’ in the bottom of the box. I didn’t get much of a chance to go through it but as soon as Kezi discovered it she had a great time. It turns out that these ‘bits’ were all those left over tiny toys, games markers and dolls clothes that were odd and at some point in the past 20 years they’d been stuffed in this bag and into the box of books. Here’s what the bits look like:

To most of us this is a pile of junk but to Kezi it was a bag of treasure!

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked closer but amongst the treasure I found the very first polymer clay items I ever made. I must have been about 10 years old when I made these and I remember the event very well. I didn’t remember these items though and am surprised to see them still in tact!

There was these two funky hats:

This lovely little jug:

and this is a little bucket of water which was originally attached to a fluro clown with very long arms.

The funny thing is, I made these at a friend’s birthday party and next weekend I’ll be going along to a special person’s birthday party and showing her and her friends how to make things using fimo! Things have come full circle, yay for little treasures.

Just wanted to share a couple of gorgeous pics of my girls.

My pea in a pod, Lucinda

My little artist, Keziah

This morning Keziah dragged me out of bed (literally pulled back the covers and put my feet on the ground and pulled) to take me to the whiteboard we have in our kitchen saying ‘Come On Mummy!’. When we got there this is the creation she spent the next few minutes drawing. I was so impressed and I videoed her as she did it. If you really want to see the video you will need to go to my facebook profile and view it there. Its quite a cute video but it goes for 7 minutes!

I think Kezi is going to be a creative kid, this is her version of bird that she did the other day:

At first she said ‘look Mummy, a boat’ and then she put two dots on the picture and said ‘a bird mummy’. I thought that was pretty good considering she’s not even three yet (not far off it, two weeks to go!). Here she is in action:

Most Saturdays my wonderful in-laws take Kezi for the day and we get a lot of things done that are easier without a toddler tagging along. She loves her days at Granny and Poppa’s place and always comes home happy. This morning Michael dropped her off and took Luci so I had the house to myself for a couple of hours. That’s a pretty rare thing so I took advantage and spread myself out on the floor with all my jewellery findings and handmade beads.

In November I’m taking part in two market events. The first is the Melville Baptist Church (our church) Fair at which I’ll be selling my polymer clay items. The money from all sales at the event go to local chaplaincy so keep November 1st aside if you are in Perth. The second event is November 15th, the next Made On The Left market at the Hyde Park Hotel in North Perth (this time my sales will go to the work of SIM around the world). This will be my first really big event. The only other event I’ve participated in where I’ve sold my wares live is at a Curves market night last year.

I have exactly 9 weeks before the first of these events so I’ve been trying to do as much time snatching as possible and create stock. If I don’t have to empty my Etsy, Wahmania and MadeIt online stores I won’t. 9 weeks seems like a good amount of time but not when I have to balance family life, SIM work, events, travel and a myriad of other things in between.

So, back to today. I think I spent about 4 hours or so in total making things and then taking photos (this time for my own records, not for listing in my stores) and then more time editing the pics and putting them on my flickr page.

I had a really great time today and in total put together 7 necklaces, 1 necklace and bracelet set, 1 bracelet, 7 pairs of earrings, 2 phone charms and 7 bookmarks. I also got to go through my current stock and separate what I think I can sell at the markets in November. Now, if I don’t get to do any more time snatching this week then I won’t be so stressed!

Here’s some shots of today’s results:

Bracelet

Dragonfly Earrings

Purple Pansy Dragonfly Earrings

Inspired by India Earrings

A hoard of Bookmarks

Oceanic Necklace and Bracelet Set

Seashore Necklace

Keyrings (made these the other day)

Anyway, I’m not planning on listing any of these in my stores BUT if you see anything here or on my flickr (where the rest of today’s work is displayed) then contact me and I’ll let you know my planned prices.

By the way, today was the last day for the money from my sales going towards the work of SIM with Pastors in Malawi, I’ll be putting up the project for September and October sometime this week and letting you know the results of the last two months. Thanks for reading my blog and for those who comment, I get a little buzz out of it every time so thank you! : )