Dressmaking

In the middle of getting ready for the wedding I got a panic phone call from my grand daughter.  "I need a costume for my English/Drama presentation for Monday."  This was Thursday night and I had to leave for the farm on Friday morning.

Panic stations!!!

So in the midst of everything else I sat up late and made a costume for her.  She had to be a convict child from 1790.  I'm not sure this is very original but I know the bonnet is the same as those issued at the time.  I didn't have her to hand to do a fitting it was just do the best you can.  I sewed on fake patches and told her to rub it in the dirt.  (I don't think she has done that.)

Here are my two girls all dressed up for their job as ring bearers at the wedding. 

As I have said before Monique is on the Autistic Spectrum so I knew that if I didn't have this costume finished to take to the farm she would freak out.  The moment she saw it I saw her mentally draw a line under that problem and then she was ready for the next.  "Would Aunty Laura and Uncle Shane really get married without any problems?"

Bear's Big Day!

Well now the wedding is over and all I want to do is sleep.  My husband and I left all the young ones down on the farm and drove back to our island retreat.  I was so glad to get my car on the barge.  My husband had to stop on the way back because he was so tired, so he missed the barge and had to get a ferry.

The big surprise was Bear, he really stole the weekend.  Everyone loved him.  I had to make sure he stayed on the verandahs of the house because there are lots of wild dogs and dingos in the bush around the farm and he would make an easy meal.  But every time I looked for him someone was giving him a cuddle.

My grand daughter Jasmine just loved him and as you can see he isn't trying to get away and he and Monique are now old friends.

My new step-grand daughter, Jemma would have kept him if she could have.

As would my new son-in-law.

Ever time I looked for him there he was being cuddled or just completely relaxed.

By the time we left he was just worn out.  He slept all the way home in the car and then slept most of the next day.  I have only had him a week but he has made himself part of the family.

 

WIPW

This week is just a mess.   Home schooling takes up most of each day and having a child in the house means that it is never clean.  Monique has ADHD, so she is constantly on the move and constantly touching things. Nothing is where it should be and there is sand through out the house.  She bought me this card for my birthday and it about says it all.

My daughters wedding is on Saturday and I have all the catering to arrange and to travel down to Canungra for the service.  The mind boggles.

But in amongst all this , mainly when supervising lessons, I have managed to nearly finish another portrait.  This is Daphne.

I have taken a different approach to this class lately.  I know that I can stitch portraits so I am just progressing with my own thing, working without really thinking.  For the class I am working through the exercises with the aim of learning new techniques.  Thinking about each technique and then adding what I have learnt to my own toolbox.  Hopefully this will improve my work.  Only 14 portraits to go in this series but I have so many others I would like to stitch.

A new member of the family

I  was visiting my daughter and we went to collect her wedding rings and then decided to have lunch.  It was so noisy in the shopping mall that she said we should go to a little shop in an industrial estate where the coffee and food was good.  So off we went.  When we got there it was busy, like any place that is any good can get.  We had to share a table and then another group of people arrived as well.  I saw that they were from the RSPCA and asked if they had a place near there.  Yes, just down the road.

I got the strongest feeling that I had to visit straight away.  Oh goodness, all those poor animals.  Most were so sad and a lot of them will be put down.  Then I saw 'Bear'.  A small dog, very old, 12 years, and I knew I had to have him.  Things have changed since last time I got a dog from the RSPCA.  Such a process you have to go through to check that you are a suitable owner.  There were 4 other applications in front of mine but I was chosen.

So this is Bear.

He doesn't look like it but he is a Pomeranian and should look like this.

They told me that someone had reported that he was neglected and he was brought in in the ambulance and his coat was in such a terrible condition that he had to be put under anaesthetic to remove his fur.  The Vet didn't think he would survive.  But, he is a bright little man and we are just getting him settled in.  So we are at the beginning of a new relationship.  I am sure there will be lots to tell.

Cuteness over load.

I really don't have time to indulge in knitting at the moment.  It is just over a week till my daughters wedding and she is still waffling about what she will wear.  We have a day tomorrow to try and get this all under control.  I am apparently supervising the catering!  First I'd heard about it.  And then yesterday, sadly, her dog died.  We have lost three dogs this year and what with everything else going on in the world she will remember this wedding!!

So the knitting,  Maybe when I have some spare time, if that ever will happen, I will knit these.

I have to knit some more rabbits to put them on, although they fit some of the dolls the grand daughters have. 

Homeschooling

This has been a huge change in my life, taking on the homeschooling of my grand daughter.  But, it is a wonderful opportunity as well.  Things have not gone as smoothly as I would like, I have had to make major adjustments in my life but having said that I love spending this time with my beautiful girl.

We are now coming to the end of term.  Only two weeks left for me and then her mother will be on holidays and be able to take over.  Then we have to think about next year.  Both her mother and father have adjusted their work schedules so that they can be part of the process.  But I don't think they have taken into account that they need down time for themselves as well.  And, they are about to build a new home, that is going to be stressful.

My workroom now doubles as a classroom and I have had to re-organise my working space.  Monique has 'ants in her pants' and squiggles and squirms all the time.  With her ADHD sitting still is a problem.  It must have been agony for her in the school room.

Her parents have to now keep her in homeschooling for the next two years, then she will go to high school.  I will cover three days a week and some weeks it may only be two days.  At these times she will stay on the island with us.  ( Monique told me this island should not be called Coochiemudlo, it should be called Peace.  Because that is how it makes her feel, peaceful.)  So, my days of stitching with friends at the Guild will only be on the occasional Saturday afternoon and I will have 2 days a month with my patchwork friends.  I intend to find time for my stitching like I did when I was working full time, early in the morning.  I found this very relaxing and I could face my day in a calm state.  Nights aren't too good for me as I have trouble with my eyes, so it will be early to bed.

One thing can be said, life is certainly not boring!

Off to Toowoomba for the weekend

It is time to visit friends up on the range so today I am driving up there.  Besides stitching I am going to look for something to wear to my daughter's wedding , which now is only a couple of weeks away.  I thought I would just wear something I had in my wardrobe but I think I should make a special effort for this occasion.   She and I have been shopping for something for her to wear and I did offer to make her dress.   I am rather glad she refused my offer, I don't think there is enough time left to do it justice.  But, I might just see if there is anything for her in the shops up there.  We did buy a back up dress in case we couldn't find anything she really liked, but it wouldn't be her first choice.

As normal I have a long list of things I want to sew but I am going to restrict myself to finishing the gifts for my cottage patchwork group.  I have already started these but they need to be finished.  Our break-up party is the first week in December so it is critical I complete them.

I am so looking forward to this weekend.

What people did in lock down

I managed to catch up with my quilting buddies the other day.  We are no longer able to have our meetings at the school, so now that the numbers have been increased for people to visit your home, we have been having some morning teas together.  Quite a number of the ladies have been doing the same 'Hugs and Kisses' embroidery blocks that I have done but Chris managed to find a free class with Sue Spargo.  I missed that one.

I think that the projects came from her book Creative Stitching but the free link has now been removed.

She only selected the circles that she wanted to stitch but even so came away with an impressive collection.  These she mounted into a fabric book.  She dyed some of her fabrics for the pages and I was impressed with her use of dyed curtain tape for the ties on the book.

There were too many pages to include them all here but here is a selection.

I'm kind of glad I didn't find this offering on the net.  I probably wouldn't have been able to resist it.

Time to start preparing for Xmas

I set aside a full day to do some sewing for Xmas.  I thought that I would get far more done than I actually did.  I had cut out the fabrics from recycled pieces that I had collected to make needle books.  I got all the outsides finished but only 2 fully completed.

Looks like I will need another day to get all these finished.

Taking longer to adjust than I thought

My son and his family have now moved out of their home and into the home of their in-laws, who have moved into a caravan.  Their house is on acreage so there is plenty of room, but oh the disruptions!!  I have to drive for 2 hours to get their to pick up my grand daughter to bring her here.  I meet her mother at a midway point on the return  journey.  But still, there is a lot of driving.  4 hours return to get her and 2 hours to return her.  That is really eating into my time. Then there are the days home schooling.   Adding insult to injury someone ran into my car in the parking lot at the supermarket.  No note, no nothing just a ding in the car.  I have tried to push the panel into place but it will need to go to the panel beater.

The car is less than a month old and I have to get to Toowoomba in a couple of weeks and then to my daughters wedding, which is out in the countryside.  I am tempted to leave it until the end of next month when I have got through everything.  But it has to be done.  I might just have to hire a car whilst it is being fixed.  More expense.

The government has increased the number you can have at a wedding from 10 to 20 so we can at least have the immediate families attending.  My daughter has not decided on what she will wear.  At first it was going to be her hiking gear!!  Then she looked in Charity Shops.  I took her shopping and we bought a couple of dresses but I don't think these are what she wants.  It is getting a bit close for something to be made.   If it comes to that it will be me making it as she is about to start University examinations.

She is very concerned with the environment, hence the recycled clothing.  And, as the reception will be in the garden of the country house she asked me to find 20 recycled champagne flutes.  Off to the Op shops and at an out of the way Salvation Army shop I found them.

What a mismatched collection?  Some are glass, some are crystal and all of them came out of the dishwasher looking good.  Some of the crystal glasses still had their original labels on them.  They must have been very precious to someone.