TropicalSoup

Productivity

I am trying to move more, to get fitter, and to shift some of this ridiculous weight I keep carrying around. And a little while ago, I had a lightbulb moment - that I really enjoy walking - for walking's sake - but especially when it's to get to somewhere. And since then, I've been loving having more regular, longer walks about the place. Today I walked through the Redwoods to collect Cole and Imogen from Montessori, and then the three of us walked home again - just shy of 4 miles round trip (so almost 2 for the munchkins). It's not a marathon, but it's enough to all feel like we've stretched our legs. It went a little like this:

45 minutes to get to Monty (just me), 2 1/2 hours to get back home (one mama, 2x 3 year olds, 33 cicada exoskeletons, 11 giant pinecones, 7 seed pods, 5 helicopter seeds, at least 9 secret spy action moves (think Charlie's Angels meets Get Smart meets Monty Python), 12 different songs  each sung various amounts and at varying volumes, and numerous friendly-puppy pattings.) and the exact same route. We like the forest. And I think we'll all sleep well tonight!

Getting there...

 

The photo situation is still far from perfect (and some itty bitty baby heads for modelling would be handy, though we have none around here right now!) but it's as good as it's going to be for now. So, I have started the shop update.  And did I mention the $1 shipping? Go on, you know you want to...

(and can I just say - it took me the better part of 12 months to perfect the colour cocktail that generates the red that I use...you'd think after all that work to make it lovely the dye would help me out by being a little less of a bugger to photograph realistically. And you'd be horribly wrong. Makes me not want to knit with the red anymore, just to spite it.)

How rude

and what a slacker! Just realised how out of date this blog's header is...a new  one will be up before we need to dig out the winter woolies again, promise!

Pardon the absence...

 

...we've been busy being shy. And uncomfortable in front of cameras and at the edge of great precipices that fall off into space. Clearly. 

(the *slow* sign in the background cracks me up...we were standing on a pathway a few metres above part of a luge track...Cole is convinced every sign on the track says *go faster* but Immy corrected him: *it starts with s so the sign says so much faster!* We like the luge. Lots)

Practically perfect photography...if you have failing eyesight.

I have been trying to improve my photography skills a little (a lot!) so that I can adequately photograph and list some of my BahaCoca stock on etsy, as well as redo my current Gawjus shop photos. And of course, I've been trying to do this the last few days amid grey overcast days and torrential rain...not exactly the best for good natural lighting. And I seem to either get the lighting or the detailed image definition right, but never both in the same photo...small but rather important hiccup, that!

Figuring out how to change the rules

I watched a lightbulb moment happening with Cole and Imogen the other morning in that just before we get breakfast and organised pocket of time. It was fabulous! D and I gave them a train set for Christmas, and it's been great fun for all of us, setting it up, acting things out, breaking it up again and so forth. But for the first few weeks, both munchkins were adamant that the track could and should be constructed only as it was shown on the box. So that's the way we did it. Again. and again. And again. And finally one morning the most magical thing happened - each child realised of their own accord that actually there was more than one way to put the tracks together. In fact, there were many many ways...and very often figuring out a different configuration resulted in a better track than the one on the box. And best of all, this way was so much more fun and engaging. And you could each do your own thing and have two tracks, or you could join them together or or or...the possibilities were truly endless.

And I know my kids aren't the only ones who insist on setting up things right in the middle of where you need to be able to walk. I don't mind it really - I figure it's a short stage in the scheme of things and as my gorgeous friend recently told me: when you have little kids in the house you can either spend every waking minute trying to keep a magazine-photo home, or you can learn to be a high stepper to get over and around the debris and detritus. We're pretty good at the high step!

I was so thrilled at this momentous discovery with the tracks...not least of all because I feel I've been making a similar discovery with quilting over the past year or so (though mostly in my head due to time and other constraints). It's really good to know the rules and how things are designed to work, but when you can move beyond that to your own creations, now that is the part, my lovelies, that truly makes my heart sing!

The Dancing Skirt (aka: it's not a tutu mama, because I am three!)

I made Santa gave Imogen a dancing skirt for Christmas, sensing as he must have, a need for more pink tulle and fluff for our littlest. It was very well received and gets worn daily. Often with her balleter (known to those outside these hallowed dancing halls as a leotard!)

I am now a Season ticket holder to all performances chez Campbell, which consist mostly of one dancer and one accompanying musician (is there any finer or more suitable musical accompaniment for twirling and pointing and leaping than a ukelele? I think not.) What marks this troupe out is their ability to swap roles at any moment...quite suspenseful! And yesterday Immy discovered a second dancing skirt in her dress up drawer that a beloved cousin had given her, so now she and Cole are practising duets. Too cute by far. 

Weekend recap

The big Campbells spent the weekend apologising to our lawn for destroying a good portion of it recently in what shall henceforth be known as the great prickle spray switcheroo disaster. The little Campbells tried to ensure that excess liquid was deflected from the grass (onto themselves) and that any liquid making it to the ground was well and truly manipulated in. And probably doing even more damage to few remaining blades of grass. Ever feel like you need to apologise for the apology? 

How about you? Wreak havoc on unsuspecting flora? No? Just us then...

If I knew how many brownie points were coming my way from the munchkins...

...I might have gone head down, bum up, and finished the quilts more quickly. Or not, given what a singlehandedly-making-the-paving-stones-that-line-the-way-to-Hades kind of gal I am. The crippling combination of high expectations, best of intentions and ridiculous procrastination usually leads to well, a fairly obvious outcome. Or part of one. Or at least the intention of generating one. Tomorrow, maybe.

Anywaaaayyyy....back to the point. Cole and Imogen's quilts are finished! And on their beds! And being loved up to a ridiculous degree...makes a mama giddy to see their new bed coverings cossetted like precious commodities! Immy was gushing so over her quilt, that she even made a bit of a fuss of removing her beloved Cookie from from it when the itty bitty kitty was making herself comfortable. Well, that was until I mentioned that if Cookie loved the quilt as much as Immy did, then maybe Cookie would snuggle on there whilst Immy was sleeping...and since cosleeping with a feline is right up their on Immy's wishlist, Cookie was replaced in her nest (as Cole would say)  as quick as a flash! Poor little kitten just about got whiplash.

And Cole, my sweet allergic to covers of any sort kid, well he lasted over half the night snuggled under the quilt. That's some serious affirmation, my lovelies!

And so here they are, in all their glory. Apologies for the craptastic photography - I couldn't get them to stay up anywhere high enough, and the pegs weren't wide enough for me to jimmy rig a hanging spot to the frame of the garage door. And I was too lazy loathe to get the ladder out and deal with the ensuing cats and 3 year olds leaping off ladders onto each other whilst I am teetering on the top rung scenario. (trust me on this - I singlehandedly took down the tree and all decorations in 3 hours. The kids and cats employed that same window of time to take 15 years off my life.) And since my resident tall quilt-holder-upper was back at work (wah! the end of 3 weeks of us all together!) and I wanted to get photos before putting them on the beds, enter the driveway.

The quilts measure a little short of 60" x 90". I'm not sure how much less - they haven't been washed and tumble dried yet. Of course, given that they are on the bed of two people practising sleeping sans absorbent pee pants, their bedding gets an awful lot of one on one time in the laundry and on the line, so rest assured, they'll be all shrunken and slubby and snuggly soon enough!

The backs are mostly a linen/cotton blend that I picked up from Spotlight - not as soft as I was hoping for, but I am perilously short of quilting store options around these parts, and these were the only solids I could get in the vicinity of the colourings I was wanting. As you can see, they each have a bit of piecing to follow through with design on the front. I'm very happy with the way the backs turned out. And just to be clear (warning: neurotic twat ahead!) the quilts  are completely flat, I just didn't want to spend too long spreading them out onto the driveway. On account of it being a driveway and all and therefore possibly not the epicentre of clean. Not that is stopped the kids traipsing all over them, grubby paws and all, but then again, they're theirs now to do with what they will.

(tries not to shudder)

A man with long arms has been employed to improve the photographic situation this weekend. There have been bribes.

The Family Portrait 2009

Our little *families* gift this last Christmas (for grandparents and aunties and so on) was inspired by the fabulous idea on the lovely blog Hazelnuts of drawing on linen teatowels. It fit the bill perfectly for me - something sweet and personalised, that was a good indication of where we were as a little family in 2009, and was useful to the recipient (and hopefully still pretty!) without just adding to the clutter and tchotchka dilemma.

I took 4 *people drawings* that Cole and Imogen had obligingly created for me, consolidated them into one picture, and then traced the images onto cotton/linen blend tea towels with fabric markers. And heat set them. And that's it. Oh yeah, and I couldn't for the life of me find plain white linen teatowels, so I made them. Because you know, the week before Christmas is the perfect time to do this sort of thing. I'm thrilled with how they came out, and the oohing and aahing and giggles by the recipients makes me think they were well received as well. Of course, we're all extremely curious as to who is who in the family lineup on linen...the artistes themselves refuse to divulge. I adore this stage of experimentation and discovery through art - working out things like fingers and toes and hair and what makes somebody who they are. And I really really  want to know who the one with no arms is!!!