TropicalSoup

No need for Roo bars...

...we just use neon string around these parts. To tie our kangaroos to our cars. Our remote control cars...

Stuff I learnt while camping...

So, the Campbells have returned, windswept and sunkissed and with sand lingering in many a crevice, from a lovely week at the beach. This is the first time we'd ever done the camping/tenting thing since we'd been together - so for at least 19 years! And here, without further ado, are some things that became apparent whilst we were away:

~we all like it! Enough to try and figure out when to do it again, anyway.

~I like it enough to do it again, but am okay if that's not until towards the end of the year (ahem).

~You cannot fit a tent, a gazebo, everything else you need for 7 days' camping, 4 bikes, a kayak, and 4 humans into a station wagon. As a result, 3 of the humans caught the train to Newcastle whilst D drove the car there (with every spare inch of available space crammed) in order to pick up a last-minute-hire trailer so that we could fit all 4 humans in the car again, and finally head off to the campsite.

~Stuff like that seems to be a fairly common occurence for the Campbells...

~Putting up the tent in near (and then total) darkness is a lot easier with new, modern tents. And teenage boys from neighbouring sites who offer to help! (Did I mention we'd borrowed a tent and hadn't done a test run? hahaha)

~Cole and Immy absolutely adored being able to be free range (within the clear confines of the camp ground), and spent hours and hours on their bikes, making friends, playing volleyball and climbing trees.

~I sometimes had to make a concerted effort to be okay with them being a bit more free range than usual - sometimes it's hard to step back.

~Every Campbell is happiest when in water.

~My kids now are rather expert at boogie boarding, and are catching waves like naturals.

~Including waves that are bigger than them.

~I was usually the only one nervous about that.

~Given that they're both having to resist the urge to get up on their boards, I don't think surfing lessons are too far away.

~Cole has also been watching his daddy, and can now add bodysurfing to his repertoire as well.

~I really like sand-free sheets.

~That is just not possible on a beach camping trip.

~Being unplugged is lovely. And hard.

~3 of the 4 Campbells think fishing is an awesome way to spend a day. (The 4th Campbell took photos)

~2 of those 3 mentioned above were probably more interested in seeing if the fish took the bait (every 3.5 seconds) than the sitting and waiting part. As for the *being quiet* part....mwahahahaha

~46 degrees is too hot for camping.

~The beach is awesome even when (and sometimes especially because) it's raining.

~I took knitting and stitching and did neither.

~It's not classy, but sometimes a big sheet of black plastic is a lifesaver as an extra wall for long wet days.

~There's nothing quite like kissing the forehead of a sleeping child, sunkissed and sand-ridden, who has spent their day in the serious business of holiday fun.

~this little family rocks.

Bringing happy back

Good grief, lately it seems as though I have time to either live or blog about life, craft or record said craftiness...I'm sure you can figure out which options I chose!

 

One of the things that has had us all preoccupied chez Tropicalsoup, is a new school - this picture of Cole and Immy is on their first morning there last Monday. They haven't stopped smiling since - it's a beautiful thing. We decided to change their school for several reasons - and have in fact had a bit of a sea change - from public school to steiner private school. So we've gone from intensive academics and 30 minutes of homework a night, to collecting chicken eggs and baking bread and going on adventure walks (structured academic learning doesn't begin until next year - year 1 - at Steiner schools). The irony is not lost on me that part of the reason for the change (apart from the bullying!) is that these 2 were a little *too* good at the academic side of things - so they were being pushed further and further past what their peers were doing, and that led to stress and anxiety and trouble sleeping...and these are 6 year olds, people, not final year med students!!! So, we've taken a step back and changed direction slightly - the academic stuff will still come, and I have no doubt that Cole and Immy will still excel in it - but this way, I'm hoping that the pressure doesn't come along for the ride as well, and in the interim, these beautiful happy little people can focus on what's so important right now - being happy. And being children.

Of course, that doesn't stop them curling their exhausted wee bodies (playing is hard work!) around a good book when the mood strikes - Immy's particular favourite at the moment is D's childhood animal encyclopedias from the 60s...that's my girl!

Clever tricks

Cole had the idea and set up this shot, ready for me to capture him *balancing* his sister. It's pretty darn cute - and very indicative of how I feel at the moment - lots of crazy balancing going on!

But, in good news, I get to pick up my newly serviced sewing machine on Thursday (hooray!) and also later this week will be able to take advantage of this glorious weather and photograph some makings that have been sitting here waiting for me to share them with you! Adding part-time work for me this year has been a (much-needed) boon to the coffers and our plans, a spanner in my creative output, and a rather tricky extra ball to keep aloft as well. Thank heavens for flexible jobs and wonderful bosses!

 

(bonus points if you can figure out the location of the steps in the pic above!)

 

policy papers and equilateral triangles

I am very much enamoured with equilateral triangle quilts at the moment, and am itching to retreat into the wonderland that is my studio and have a go. Unfortunately, I have a paper for work that needs to be written by Monday...it was a last minute rush thing, and is great for the paid-by-the-hour worker that I am, but it is also keeping me away from fun things like hanging out with my little family, and playing with fabric triangles. It is also making my brain hurt, but I'm not entirely convinced that's the subject matter's fault!

Self-portrait

Koalas have the right idea...spend winter hibernating, wrapped up warm, all hopped up on eucalyptus. The kids and I are deep in cold-and-cough, keeping-Kleenex-in-business territory, and I could totally get into the koala lifestyle. Well, maybe without the uncomfortable-looking stick up the rear...

Irony:

...getting my quilting mojo back (in a big way!) right before the school holidays and starting back at work!

It seems entirely too ridiculous that I have 4 completed quilts (and a new top!) to share, but haven't had a chance to take photos of them! Oh well, I have Friday off, fingers crossed it's a nice day and I can snap a few pics for you - there's one in particular I'm desperate to show off!

In the meantime, I feel terribly clever for making a pile of flowers in my ongoing teach-myself-to-crochet adventures. Not sure what they'll end up as just yet, but they are happy little things to look at. Made with various yarns (hand dyed merino, cotton, milk yarn) and most have a fabric covered button as their centre.

Eat your heart out, Hallmark!

(happy birthday mummy. Mummy I love you more than the universe and back 4000 times - Immy)

 

(I love you to the moon and back a 1000 times - Cole. And the ubiquitous pic of him scoring a goal in soccer!)

 

I turned 36 yesterday, and by far the best part of this birthday has been the cards from Cole and Immy. There have been at least a dozen, that just turn up, completely unprompted and clearly (and very endearingly!) without any request for assistance in execution - handed to me, left on pillows, or in yesterday's case, hidden around the house for me to find in a *hot/cold* challenge, ha! How do these not melt your heart?!?!

 

Reinventing the Wheel

{aka Great Minds Think Alike aka how Pinterest and Flickr can be self-confidence thieves}

 

(this pic from early 2008 is completely irrelevant to the post - I just love it - it was the promotions board outside the local shop at the end of our street in Rarotonga - and well, the choices are just so very Cookie. How do you like your doughnuts?)

 

I adore Pinterest and Flickr for their vast and ever-changing inspiration for, well, any creative endavour you could imagine, really. I love that I pop in a few keywords, and kapow - instant inspiration on tap! Of course, I am also slightly impressed by the sheer time suckage power that these sites have, for me at least!

 

Sometimes though, (and this happens both when I am actively searching for something for a particular project, or randomly Alice in Wonderlanding through all the eye candy - see *time suckage* above, ha!) the sheer volume of inspiration can be overwhelming, to the point where I lose the enthusiasm to make something because *it's all been done before*, or I am simply so overwhelmend with ideas my mind can't settle long enough to decide on one. (Rachel from Stitched in Color wrote very eloquently about this earlier this year - and her post's message has stuck with me)

And sometimes, in the midst of all this glorious imagery, you stumble upon something that is uncannily like the idea that's been percolating away on your noggin for an *original* design...already stitched by someone else. That's where things tend to get a bit shifty for me - obviously the idea I thought was the product of my imagination, has germinated in someone else's noggin too (which is really very cool if you think about it - great minds think alike and all that) but I confess it does tend to cool my enthusiasm for some of those intended projects - not so much the *someone else has already thought of it* aspect (because that is bound to happen), but because of concerns of accusations or the perception of plagiarism, even if it is a completely random or accidental development of a design by 2 separate people in a remarkably similar fashion. Sad but true - I'd simply rather not make a particular quilt (or not share it here, at any rate) than open myself up to that sort of criticism and confrontation - as I've seen those bombs explode elsewhere online and well, this is my happy place!

So, on the back of all this, you can imagine my surprise just a day or so ago - I was hunting through Flickr, hoping for inspiration to hit on how to use my Soul Blossoms collection (I have been hoarding it, and it is starting its siren call, begging to be used - does your fabric do this?)...when I happened to stumble upon this beauty - look familiar? The resemblance between this lovely quilt by Hideaway Girl and my Like a Record Baby quilt is pretty uncanny, right? Now, Hideaway Girl made her quilt nearly a full year ago, and I haven't seen it before now, and yet I still got antsy when I saw it, worrying that there would be this perception that I had taken her idea and made it my own, without attribution etc.

{And here we should pause for a moment to acknowledge that a. yes, I do think (and worry!) entirely too much; and b. a worrywort quilter who is also an ex-copyright law lecturer is just a combination that is not going to end well, ha! There's probably good reason for a third point as well so c. yes, I must not hang out inside my own head ofr extended periods of time - no good will come of this!!!}

That said, thankfully, I'd already shared the photos of my quilt before discovering Hideaway Girl's, so part of the mental tug-of-war was irrelevant since it was already out there, phew! And there are some definite differences - though gosh I love the sense of decadance that she has created by pairing Soul Blossoms and a dark grey!

And the really crazy thing? When I was first formulating the idea of the LARB quilt, I was seriously considering using my Soul Blossoms and a darker neutral - how freaky would that have been?!?! At the end of the day though I went with the Remix jelly roll simply because it was a jelly roll and so already cut, and laziness should always be rewarded, ha!

The Cakes

I wanted to share the cakes I made for Cole and Immy's penguin birthday party - I'd be lying if I said I wasn't quite tickled with them! Unfortunately these are just about the only photos I have of the whole party - the term blue-arsed fly springs to mind, ha! I do have a few of the kids blowing out their candles, and cutting the cake, but poor Immy was feeling so rotten by that point that they all look a little sad(we ended up with a trip to the ER the next day for this horrendous virus that struck midway through her party, poor wee mousie).

 

I also completely neglected to take any photos of the insides of the cake - it never occurred to me both cakes would be completely gobbled up on the day! Each cake had 4 layers in varying shades of blue (or pink - I am sure you can figure out who requested what!) with the darkest colour at the bottom, up to the merest hint of colour in the top layer. Each layer was separated with buttercream frosting. I was so annoyed at myself for not getting a photo because it came out so well (both of them!!!) and decorated cakes are a bit hit-and-miss with me! At the end of the day though, I guess the real compliment is that the birthday kids were happy with them, and that people ate the cakes and liked them...at least, I haven't found a stash of it behind the sofa yet!

The icing/fondant penguins were great fun to make - a bit like playdough for grown ups!