TropicalSoup

A long time between drinks

It's been a while!

I have actually written a couple of updates, but somehow keep running out of time to actually get them up on here! My GP and I have been working on getting me better and trying to figure out why i keep getting sick - and how to stop it - but I am still at the stage where at least 60% of the time I'll fall asleep getting the kids to bed (the number of times I've had to re-read a chapter to them because I started nodding off just as the adventure was getting good...) and then that's it for me for the night...

Truth be told, I probably should have spent some time and energy getting better before starting work, but the opportunity was there, and goodness has the extra income ever been helpful! (Only 2 more weeks of this job to go) And frankly - as much as I adore being a stay at home mum - the finances are such that a second income stream is all but a necessity at the moment - international moves are expensive, international moves on the tail of 2 years of financial struggle are just a nightmare and make you fear bank managers, ha! But enough of this talk of money - how terribly bourgeois! (mwahaha - that word always makes me feel pretentious and, well, bourgeois!)

And this was just meant to be a quick note to let you know how very excited I am - on Friday D and I went down to Sydney and spent the day at IKEA (hello, spiritual home!) having an absolute ball and erm, spending all my most recent pay on some much needed storage and furniture. We are so lucky to have made friends with a family who are also new to the area and whose eldest 2 happen to have become besties with Cole and Immy - so every Campbell felt like they were getting a special treat that day - D and I for going  on effectively a day-long date (with shopping included!), and the kids for getting to go home with their besties and spend the afternoon together!

And Saturday I spent putting together furniture. And I finally learnt how to use a cordless drill! (Thanks D - that lesson was pure gold!) I don't know why, but I have always been a bit nervous about using them...finally just discovered how easy they are to use, and oh dear lord do they ever make life easy. I was a building machine! There's more to do tomorrow (bookcases and storage for the sewing room! Finally!!!!) but that's a good thing - I am one of those aberrations who adores kitset furniture...like Lego for grown ups! My 2 little helpers are usually very keen to get involved as well - I love that they are confident wielding a screwdriver and know what a dowel is...and Cole and I learned the art of the drill together, today! And yes, D was building too - we've been taking turns a bit, and working together on the unwieldy bits.

...and then I fell asleep giving a little too-excited-about-all-the-building-to-fall-asleep boy a snuggle, and woke up at 3am. Again. And there's nobody else awake for me to talk about how excited I am about all our new stuff, so you're it! Damn, hahaha!

I guess I'd better make an attempt at getting back to sleep so we can do it all again tomorrow! I have lots of news...and will do my best to get this place up and going again - I have missed this outlet!

(These pics are clearly unrelated to the post. Just pretty - it makes me want to try and capture the lusciousness of these tones in a quilt....)

The week in review

Again with the unexplained absences. Sorry about that. This past week...

1. After a very late night visit to A&E at the weekend I am now the proud owner of a diagnosis of walking pneumonia. And a double ear infection.

2. Walking pneumonia is nowhere near as much fun as it sounds.

3. Neither are ear infections, come to think of it.

4. My MIL came (from NZ) to stay for part of last week enroute to stay with a friend on the Gold Coast.

5. We didn't get to do most of what I'd planned for us to do (either for the kids on school holidays or whilst MIL was here) on account of my lack-of-health. Ugh.

6. Immy read me half a dozen books with only very occasional help with words from me, including The Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop and Hairy Maclairy. Not bad after just one term...I think she's taking to this reading lark.

7. I also walked in on her trying to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Mwahaha, she is so my girl!

8. Cole has figured out his 10 times table as well as 2, 3, 4 and 5. By himself. I love playing with numbers with him.

9. He also really loves Man v Wild (or Survival guy as it's known in our house) and it came out yesterday that he'd peed in a bottle and tasted it after seeing Bear Grylls. Awesome. He happily informed me he spat it out and rinsed his mouth out to get rid of the taste.

10. Cole and I had a chat about how prinking your pee should always be regarded as a last option before dying of dehydration.

11. Immy took issue with my anatomical references. An internal organ left behind by a cat who'd feasted on a mouse was a lover, not a liver, she insisted. I have a feeling that word will stick in the Campbell family vocab!

12. Not for the first time, I cursed the day the cats discovered their previously latent hunting instincts.

13. Cole and Immy started back at school on Tuesday for term 2.

14. Poor Cole declared he didn't want to go. He also declared he loved school and especially playing with his friends; he just hated leaving me. (that wrenching sound is my heart, ha!)

15. Cole tried to talk me into being a schoolteacher. I tried to explain that I wasn't qualified for the job and that if I retrained, by the time I was able to become a teacher, he'd be beyond Kindergarten. He didn't buy it.

16. I was riculously tickled that it hasn't occurred yet to Coley that he might not always want me hanging around.

17. We all had a day off at home today for Anzac day.

18. Explaining war to small children is hard work. And heart breaking.

19. I was reminded yet again about how much more sensible the world would be if we adults adopted the moral viewpoint of children.

20. My laptop and camera stopped talking to each other. I'm hoping to get that resolved in the next day or so...bit hard to share pics of the things I want to share with you!

21. We had fish and chips. And they were good!

22. I got a job. eek.

23. I start tomorrow. It's just a temporary placement in an admin role to cover for someone who is going overseas for 7 weeks. 4 days a week during school hours. But, it will be fun to get back in an office for a little while and the pennies will be very welcome!

24. I stayed up way too late the night before my first day of work, ha!

Making money

 

Riddle me this: if you were a small(ish) child and your beloved Granddad Don (that would be my dad) sent you a pack of Kiwi chocolate coins for an Easter treat, what would you do with them?

 

 

Well, if you're my kids, apparently you'd each have one to check the taste and then - before eating any more - you'd make rubbings of the coins on copy paper with coloured pencils and cut those out, thereby creating stacks of money for yourselves. And you'd spend the rest of the day trying to *buy* your way through things...*mum, if you let us have pudding, I'll give you some dollars!*...mwahahaha, mama's little evil geniuses (genii?) and their first counterfeiting attempts!

 

I hasten to add this was all their initiative, and what's more, 80% of those coins are still in the fridge! Craziness!

 

Best ever use of an aeroplane loo!

You may have seen this before - it's been hopping about on the interwebs. Nina Katchadourian is a photographer who did a series of self-portraits in airline toilets using materials at hand to replicate the Flemish style of portraiture. They are insanely, accurately fantastic, and laugh-out-loud good. Hands up those of you who'll be able to resist trying it out at the next opportunity...I'm thinking a family scene with the kids - how much fun would that be?!?

Porthole Pouches - custom order

 

I was honoured when someone who had seen a picture of the pouch I had made for a swap on Flickr, got in contact last year to ask if I would be interested in making one for her. Something similar, but not an exact replica. I was thrilled and enthusiastic, but had to postpone the project since the request came 2 weeks before we were due to move out of our home in Rotorua. Once things finally got within cooee of being under control over here, I emailed the lovely lady to ask if she was still interested. Hooray - she was! And not only that, but could I please now make 2 pouches, as she was expecting a wee baby and wanted a second one for in her nappy (diaper) bag.

 

 

I'm delighted to say that - at long last - these 2 are on their way to Oklahoma, where I'm hoping they'll be used to within an inch of their lives!

 

 

They are fully lined boxy pouches, with exteriors constructed from a cotton/linen blend (a generic from Spotlight, I think) and fully pieced *portholes* with coordinating fabrics featured within. Coordinating lining fabrics, zips and hand embroidery finish the look. I reinforced the bags with fleece interfacing to help give it structure and durability without adding stiffness. The boxes are slightly different sizes, but are about 9" x 4' x 3" (23cm x 10cm x 8cm). I am thrilled with the *amoeba* shaped portholes (with the AMH fabric) - those things were tricky to execute! But I must confess that the wee caravans (On The Road, by Robert Kaufmann) get me every time. And remind me that I really need to stop hoarding that fabric and make something for us!

 

Why did it take me so long?

I finally made myself a slipcover for my camera strap. Good grief - why did I wait so long? It makes such a difference, comfort-wise - fleece interfacing as well as sturdy cotton-linen fabric (the gorgeous Viewmaster print by Melody Miller) holds up beautifully. It feels a bit like swapping a scratchy, holey old blanket for a cashmere throw!

Want one? I'm hoping to have a few funky strap covers in the shop soon...I'm making a little of this and a little of that whilst I process the direction in which to take Gawjus...to guage market interest as well as hopefully be able to bring in a few pennies for the family (and my cardboard box shelving solution is becoming rather perilous, ha!)

{cue shameless online shop plug...}

I've added a bunch of new things to my Etsy store, as well as opened a Madeit store -Australia's version of Felt or Etsy. As well as some cute new zip pouches (above), I have also listed (or rather, am still in the process of listing) all my current stock of BahaCoca hats. I'm not going to be making more BahaCoca hats to sell, so if there's one you've had your eye on, now's the time!

I would love to give you a code here to input into either store to get a discount, but I am still figuring out exactly how to do that, ha! Instead, if you see something you like, and buy it, please let me know - either in the comments below or in the note to seller on the sites - and I will happily give a 15% discount on quilts, or 20% on anything else. Yay!

 

 

I spent the earlier part of this evening finishing hand stitching down the binding of a quilt made for a special wee baby girl safely born today to friends in New Zealand - her mother is one of my most favourite people. It felt appropriate somehow to be doing this handwork today on little's (as yet unnamed) birthdate.

Now, do you think I can carry on the momentum to handstitch the binding on the paintbox quilts?

Easter Poo

Here's the wee giftie Cole and Imogen handed out to their classmates and a few other special friends at school this week. What truly made me giggle though was the conversation I had with Coley after I'd mentioned the idea. It went like this:

Cole: it's a good idea mama, and it's pretty funny, but it might not be appropriate.

Me: oh, why is that?

Cole: well, *poo* is toilet talk, and toilet talk is not allowed at school, so maybe we should be more responsible.

Awesome. My inner 11 year old just got told off by my outer 5 year old, hahaha!

 

...I did have every intention of doing the gift toppers up as a printable to share, but well, we all know how that turned out!!!

The week that was....

Oh man, that seemed to be quite a week. And it's only just Friday! Sorry for disapppearing on you but the last few days just completely overwhelmed. Forgive me, possums? (Irony - I was in the midst of writing this post last night when we decided to go hang out at the hospital!)

On Wednesday Cole and Immy had their school cross-country/Easter parade/fundraising raffle/Grandparents' Day/ end of term show and BBQ. Phew!

 

The kids each garnered several comments at school on Thursday from teachers and bigger kids who were genuinely surprised they were still standing - they not only ran the whole course, but each did a couple of extra laps to boot! (They have promised to train their mother in running. Wish me luck! and yeah, I don't blame you for laughing at the imagery there, ha!)

 

 

 

 

Any preconceived ideas I may have had of particular designs for their Easter bonnets were soon pushed aside when 2 small people arrived complete with sketched - and very detailed and particular - plans of their intended creations. Oh yes, these 2 are very clearly my children! (and a good -continual - lesson in letting go of control!) Sadly for my little designers, I nixed the plans that involved metre-wide woven baskets and insisted instead that we use the hats from last year's tap concert. (meanie!)

 

But I think they enjoyed themselves!

...back as soon as I can get this pile of crafty things photographed to share...