Growing up

I can't deny the fact that my kids are growing up; the signs seem to be everywhere lately.  None more so than this past long weekend when my eldest went away for three days (two nights) to referee in a junior basketball tournament in Bendigo without parents present.
What a hard thing it was to let him go away for three days without parents and not being on a school camp, and staying in a motel. So he was essentially in an adult world where he had to sort himself out, be ready for whatever he needed to do, sort out what (and how) he was going to get for meals.  And be at each game that he needed to be at, on time and ready.
I am very proud of him and what he has achieved this weekend.  He umpired eighteen games of basketball in three days; quite an effort and has been passed for his first official referee level, so is no longer considered a trainee and can now wear the proper black and white shirts.  I am proud of how he has coped, making adult decisions.  And I am relieved that everything went well.  It is so hard to send them out into the world without us.  I think this was much harder on me than on him!!

So at the end of the three days, here he is, very tired, very hot, but happy.

A perfect day

for some of this...

And more of this...

We travelled for two hours to get to Lake Eildon, just to have  a look really.  We took the fishing rods, and spent a few hours catching nothing; mostly laughing at the kids who seemed determined to get wet in one way or another.
It was too nice a day to stay inside, I mean, look at it, beautiful!!

We are home now, kids are outside throwing ice at each other out of the esky; what else would you do with it I wonder???
I have a mending job to finish tonight, I will show you photos of it later.  I would rather be back at the lake!!

finally some sewing

In an effort to appease my need to sit at the sewing machine and also my inner baglady-ness, I managed to spend these last two days combining both passions, and this is what I came up with... (voila!!)

This bag was given to me by a friend a few years ago as a souvenir from a trip she made to Bali. it is great as it folds up into a neat little square.

 
 I have used it and used it and it has been wonderful. I found a tutorial here and so have been making my own. And this is what I came up with:

Folded...

Open...

I have to tell you what I did differently. I see that at Sew Mamma Sew she lined hers (what is with the need to line bags?) but i didn't want the bulk (as with my strawberry bags), so I yet again made a casing to go around the top, and ran a French seam down the side seam.
I also have had some difficulty with the smaller size zip catching on the fabric as it folds up so the second one (with the very cute bugs and butterflies on it) has a chunky zip which I like much better. 

My original Bali bag is easy to fold into sections to put into the case but I have found with these it is just as easy to close the zip half way and then just stuff the bag in (hence the crumpled fabric!!)

Such is my bag obsession currently that I did toss around the idea just before of making a bag to put these bags into but thankfully common sense prevailed and these three will be making their home in the pocket in my car door.

Speaking of my car, my nice new, shiny blue car, this is why idiots should not get licenses:

This is what we found after the boys and I went out on a shopping expedition yesterday, in the car park.  Thankfully after I backed my car away the front grill has popped out quite nicely.  How this so-and-so did not know they had hit my car is beyond me.  You can see the bottom of my bonnet actually over their bumper, and my front grill sticks out even further than my bonnet, so they are actually in my car. 
Not happy, but I am very happy and thankful that no damage seems to be done.
Today's outing has seen a child try to trip not only me, but both of my children over in the supermarket; and a checkout lady in spotlight who must have decided that I really didn't want a nice white dish, and she has swapped the box and given me a green one; Grrrrrrr.  i do not live close to spotlight, and didn't appreciate her offer to hold the white one for only three days!

But these things are sent to try us, and now i get to relax with the family, and enjoy the evening.  Tomorrow is work (yippee!!) and then tomorrow night we are going to go and watch some live cricket at the MCG.I am looking forward to that.

I also managed today to get my engagement ring into a jeweller to get the claws fixed. On a whim I also left them my eternity ring (don't I feel bare without either of them). After getting the quote back just before, I have decided to get my engagement ring fixed as I have not been able to wear it for a couple of years now for fear of losing the diamond, and my eternity ring will have to wait.  It is the ring I have been wearing but I have been told that is not wise, so it looks like I will be swapping one ring for the other!!!  It will be nice when both are done and I can wear all of them again.  It is something to look forward to anyway.

More bags

Okay, I realise i am developing quite a keen bag obsession. I am hoping it is a phase (as does my husband!LOL!), but am happy to indulge it while it lasts.  Luckily for me I have friends who know about my obsession and are happy to fuel it (you know who you are ladies!!).  Due to one of these friends I found myself buying this last week, which arrived here on Tuesday.  I haven't had much time to have a thorough reading of it, something that I am planning on fixing tonight!

These are two of the patterns in it.  Not sure about the frills, I like pink and pretty but frills? Not sure.

I have been doing a lot of knitting lately (well, since starting work in June really) and have missed sewing, and just sitting at the sewing machine. I am also missing smocking which has been my major obsession but that will have to wait for a month or so.  But in an effort to just sit and sew, I may sit over the weekend and make a new bag. I bought some oilcloth recently and am waiting to find a use for it. 

My other plan for the weekend is to pull apart my new Acer tablet bag and make it wider. Grrrr. The plan was always to buy a little keyboard to use with it to make it a little easier.  I knew it would be wider than the tablet but didn't really care, in my haste to make a cover, and thought it was a bridge I would cross later.  That bridge is here!! I was going to make a new little pocket for it, I mean really, how often would I use it? But today have been wondering if I shouldn't just pull this apart and add a new strip.
You know, as I sit here and type, I am thinking of possibly going back to plan one and just make it it's own little pocket, and add some velcro to the back of the first bag so it can be joined if I so desire.   Oh, what to do?? i really should have waited!!But do i want to be carrying them both around together?  I am sure I will work out something.

P.S. I spent an hour tonight unpicking the side of the tablet bag, and adding another strip to the side. Now it fits everything in that I want it to and I am happier. I am glad I did that instead of starting over.
So now I can concentrate on the next bag!!

the first finish of the year

Okay, so it is nothing vey exciting and wasn't a whole lot of work, but I did want to make a cover for my new Acer tablet, and had to wait a whole week of holidays before I could go back to work to find some pretty material.
It does have a cover, which doubles as a stand but I wanted something a little more (well, pretty) and something that might cushion it a little. So after trawling the 'net for ideas, this is what i came up with.

It has flannel on the inside; so soft and snuggly...

There is a little pocket on the inside; the perfect size for holding the little screen cleaning cloth, and anohter pocket that goes across the back, same size as the main pocket.  Not sure that I will be using that one but more is always better than less where pockets are concerned.

So, that is finish no.1 for the year. Now what i really should be doing is the hand quilting on a certain starry quilt!

BTW, it was very lucky I put my tablet away in it's new cover last night; my husband spilt his cola over where i had it sitting. Thankfully the back pocket took all the moisture, and it didn't even get into the main bit, so it is safe and sound. Hubby was worried about staining the fabric (bless him!!) while I was more worried about my tablet. All is well on both counts. 

the big reveal

I know I kept talking before christmas about one of the presents I was making, well now it has been handed over to the lucky lad, I can show it to you.
And it is this... (Please excuse the colour, it just doesn't do it justice, but I can't seem to get a good one that really shows it well)

The stars glow in the dark, the astronauts glow in the dark, the outline of the planets glows in the dark (etc etc etc). What really glows well is the border fabric.  I am glad my boss talked me into making it a wider border than what I was originally planning.
Yes, the fabric is from my work, and I managed to make two of these, one for the shop and one for my youngest son (just turned 13).  Who never had a clue about either one so that worked well!

This is a closeup of the centre panel; anyone having a good look will already have noticed that the centre is full of tacking stitches; it is waiting to be hand quilted, which I have started, in a teent tiny corner. is going to take me forever I think, although maybe not so long now that I am not hiding it.

And finally; the boy himself  (who was very happy with it, and I did get a couple of VERY big hugs from him)

I have to admit to having butterflies the week leading up to christmas; I put so much work in this, in the planning, designing and the stitching, and really, he is a boy and may not have appreciated it. But he likes it and is happy with it. 

It is still way too hot to be using it however!!  Cooler temperatures are on the way.

it must be summer...

the obligatory cricket pitch has just been mowed, and after a very hot day that got to 34°C, it is quite nice now and the three menfolk are having a hit with the cricket bat. We have certain family rules that we play by; nothing like what you would see at the MCG!
I am sitting outside enjoying the breeze, covered in Aeroguard typing this on my new toy; an Acer tablet. it means i am not fighting for time on the computer but the down side i have just found is that blogger takes forever to upload any photos from here so i am still going to have to use the computer i think. My photos have been downsized so i am  not sure why blogger is taking so long with them.
it is back to work tomorrow; where i will enjoy the airconditioning. We dont have it here at home and with tomorrow looking like being hot too, work might be the place to be.
stay cool...

Happy New year

Happy New year to everyone out there. I hope the New year brings you everything you need and some of what you want! 
I have no special hopes or expectations for the New Year. No 1 son has a heavy workload at school this year, juggling year eleven subjects in his year ten at school so much of my time (and worry) will be spent on that I guess.  And running both kids to and fro in the first six months while they work on the school musical.  Then of course there is work and housework.
So, no real plans for us other than life as usual.  Hopefully a holiday later in the year but time will tell on that one.
I wish you all good health and much happiness this year.