Family Day Out

The first weekend in a month that neither Dean nor I have been sick or had something on, so we made the most of it. A day out shopping for a wedding present for some friends yesterday and then a trip to Centennial Parklands today.

All four of us loaded up onto the bike and managed a lap around the parklands. Personally I would of preferred to be sitting up the front with the kids cause peddling a bike carrying over 30kgs of kids is hard work.

But we had a ball, the kids were on the lookout for the people and their dogs, the ducks in the ponds, the horses at the Equestrian Centre and everything else we passed by (or passed by us).

With such perfect weather, after Liam had his nap this afternoon, we headed down the road to the beach to sit in the park and have fish & chips with Nanny & Poppy for dinner.

Afternoon Fun

Monday afternoon was a bit of this

Liam's first time playing with playdough where he didn't try to make a 3 course meal out of it.

And yesterday afternoon was fun at the beach

Too bad Bella got halfway along the track and decided she had enough of riding so Mummy had to hike everything back to the car while supervising the crazy driver on the blue bike.

Today Liam decided staying up and not napping in the afternoon sounded like fun so we spent all afternoon trying to avert acts of craziness bought on from the delirious state kids get in from no sleep. Tomorrow there shall be sleep.

Watch this space for some actual SEWING to be finished soon. A break from working into all hours of the night on Monday meant I was sewing instead. A quilt top, bottom and half quilted together. I also started a new knitting project tonight but it looks like it's going to take me a while. I wonder if I'll make it to the end before I loose patience.

Nothing to see here... keep on moving...

The sewing machine hasn't seen the light of day in almost 3 weeks. All my customers plus a bunch of new ones seemed to call at once wanting website work done. Parents away for 3 weeks and home tomorrow. Mother-in-law visited and left. Godson's 4th birthday. Been in bed for the last 3 days with a nasty flu. So keep on blog-hoping if you were hoping to see some new sewing around these parts cause you'll be unimpressed.

Disclaimer: Excuse the atrocious photos. The camera's battery charger is apparently playing hide-and-seek and either it's very good at hiding or I can't be bothered seeking very hard. The warning light keeps bleeping at me so all our photos are point and shoot as quick as you can at the moment.

I did get a fabric order in from Quilt Home if that counts for something. Nothing done with any of it yet and not even sure what I will be doing.

Definitely a quilt with this Joel Dewberry sampler pack, I'm thinking a coin style or perhaps I will give Amy Butler's new duvet cover pattern a twirl.

Some uber-soft flannel (Wish I bought more for PJs), along with some Sandi Henderson fabric and some Patty Young fabric that I have had my eye on for ages and is just as gorgeous in real life as I hoped.

Check out this fabric pack I won from the lovely Toni. I'm thinking of sewing them onto cards?

I have started knitting though. Ravelry is my new best friend. Something I can pickup, work on for 20mins in the car or while my eyelids are drooping at the end of the day and feel like I achieved something crafty.

A beanie for Liam (sheesh did I warn you about the shocking photos!) and one for our Godson Sam's 4th birthday. I managed to knit each beanie in a night using thick Patons Inca wool on 7mm needles and loved this Open Star Stitch pattern.

I had a ball of this 8ply from goodness knows when and what, so I knitted a Diagonal Eyelet shrug for Isabella using this pattern.

Beanie and beanie/booties set for 2 babies coming soon in super soft Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo DK in a beautiul light green called "Jolly" (ie. gender neutral) colour. I used this 1754 pattern from Sidar. 

I also finished a "Little Flirt" cardigan from Sublime Yarns from their #607 book for Isabella, but it needs to be blocked before I can photograph it. Well that and I need to find where she hid her "ballet jacket". I used Sublime's super-soft Extra Fine Merino wool in the biscuit colour.

I've also finished 1 single sock. I get the whole "2nd sock syndrome" I have read about now, sheesh you mean all that effort knitting and now I have to do it ALL AGAIN. But it fits and I like it so I am determined to knit the 2nd one soon. I've also started on a cardigan for Isabella which is from a Panda pattern and is in Moss stitch. I love moss stitch but gee now I know what it says easy but "requires patience" cause boy is it slow to knit.

And just so there is at least 2 decent photos in this post... taken last week by our talented friend Tanya.

No I'm not a knitting blog, hopefully we will resuming sewing-broadcasting soon. Seeing the pictures of all the new fabrics is making me itch to get the quilt started!