Frilly Apron

The new Machine and I looked at each other for a couple of days. Between my shifts at the hospital, and mothering my children, the best I could manage was to steal glances, taking off the shiny plastic cover and running my fingers over the beautiful new Brother NV200 who has come to live with me as mentioned in my last post. I flicked through the manual in bed at night, marvelling at the cleverness... the stitches, all 80 of them, and wait for it..... the self threading needle! I kid you not (clearly I have a lot to learn!) So the first thing I had to do was to try out this automatic needle threading business. Oh, swoon... I am in love! What to make, what to make... and we had a friend's daughter's 3rd birthday coming up on the weekend, little girls are always fun to create things for. In my growing stash I found some contrasting green and white rose bud fabric and I knew straight away I should have a go at one of those darling little girl frilly aprons I had pinned to Pinterest in the recent weeks. Friday night I would be home with the children, the party wasn't until Saturday morning, I can do this... brilliant idea! Interestingly, I had some unexpected guests pop in on Friday evening and they stayed for dinner of course, so I was up early on Saturday morning to get that gift made ready for the 10.30am party! Thanks to my clever new machine, NOT A PROBLEM!!!!   

Just over an hour after I started, I had completed my first project on my new machine, quite delighted I am! No pattern, just cut and sew... in fact, the apron just came together really easily. Happy days! My darling daughter happily models the finished product below...

I'll say it again, I was delighted with the end product! What I was not prepared for was the three year old birthday girl's expression when she opened the gift and put it on, she really, really loved it! Wow... doesn't that feel amazing!   

Some days are simply awesome. 

A Play Mat

I've been toying with the idea of becoming brave with my machine and actually getting myself properly quilting. My Pinterest page is overflowing with inspiration, and I have collected many fabrics ready to go. My machine was very basic, a Bernina Bernette, (I have since updated... more on that later) and I wanted to experiment with sewing through layers of sandwiched fabric. I bought a walking foot and decided to make a play mat for a friend's bub. I purchased a panel of animal fabric, some backing and some cheap polyester batting and set to work.

End result was a very functional floor play mat for a little baby boy, soft and comfy... but I decided my machine was not up to the job for me and my further quilting endevours. It did the job sure, but it was a very basic 'beginners' machine which has seen me through the last 7 years, through making curtains, children's library and chair bags, altering countless items of clothing, and even creating some too.

 

Image from google 

 I've been eyeing off some fine machines for quite a while, and the more I learned about them, the more I wished for something a little more, well, clever. Behold, the Brother Innovis NV200 Quilter's Edition, with 80 stitches, many, many bobbins and so many different feet, including all one needs for quilting.

 

Image from google

I figured that now I am working, (no longer a poor student) I could afford to splurge a little, and I was lucky enough to find this little beauty for a steal on eBay. Only used twice, purchased new by an older lady, who just found the computerised machine a bit beyond her. Only one bobbin had been wound, and it was like brand new! Yay!!! I can not get over the difference to sit at this machine and sew. It is just so lovely to use and I can't wait to get busy making some of the things I have pinned to my pinterest haha! 

Sitting Mats

As I have mentioned, two of my three children suffer quite severe eczema. One of their biggest triggers is their allergy to dust mites, (which actually is an allergy to dust mite poo if we are going to be precise.) The problem with this allergy is that it is impossible to avoid entirely, as dust mites are impossible to remove from the human environment, seeing as their staple diet is shed human skin cells! Sure we can minimise exposure with strategies such as using appropriate bedding protection, minimising carpets, washing very regularly, drying linen in the sunshine, and regularly using a vacuum cleaner equipped with a hospital grade HEPA filter such as my gorgeous Dyson Vac. But what to do when Kindergarten starts and our little guy has to spend a lot of time on the floor during class time, ie "floor time". I didn't really like the idea of having him always having to sit on a chair while the others all sat on the floor during news, play, games, reading, groups or floor time. I also was concerned as I felt it would separate him from the class... well, then there was the similarity with the "thinking chair" which is a place the children go to sit when they play up!

  

So, I came up with the idea of making him a mini quilt that he could take to school to sit on, a 'sitting mat' as he calls it. I actually made two and we have been rotating them every 4 or 5 days allowing me time to wash and dry them to keep them friendly on his skin. Cotton strips, using the quilt-as-you-go method, with soft flannel backing, one in dinosaur print and the other in police print so he can tell which one is to bring home to wash and which one is fresh. 

 These were my 1st quilt-as-you-go projects, and I am quite chuffed with how they turned out, so fast and effective! Happy days!

Birthday Boy

With thanks to Pinterest, this is what I came up with for my little Lego-mad boy's 5th birthday....

LEGO CAKE!!!! 

A Chair bag!

So, it's been a while... again! But I have been a little busy on the creative front lately, for a change, I just wanted to share a few of my little projects with you as I've been on a bit of a roll! (it's amazing how the creative juices begin to flow when one is free and has something called 'time' after four and a half years at
Uni!).

A nice place to be, back behind the sewing machine....

My big school boy loves his chair bag, and especially loves the pirate pocket for his little bits and pieces. Happy days! 

When was your last Pap?

So, being finished UNI has opened the way for much needed life maintenance. As I mentioned before, I have passed on many material things and begun decluttering our home. But there is the 'other' personal decluttering to-do list, the one that has been burning a hole in my sub-conscious for a little while... the list that includes going to the dentist, sorting the wardrobe and dealing with the cloths that have 'shrunk' while I have been studying (ie... sitting on bum for hours on end feeding face with junk), and of course, the over due PAP smear!
My dear Mother-in-law has been battling cancer since November last year... 2x surgery, weeks of radiation and MONTHS of sickening chemotherapy and we are optimistic she will overcome her disease. She was found to have reasonably advanced Cervical cancer AND Bowel cancer. A double whammy, both of which she was symptomatic but admitted to avoiding the check-up for some time because of the locations of her problems.
It is sooo easy to make excuses as to why we are overdue with our bi-annual or annual smear test... 'too hard with the kids', 'haven't had time', 'too busy with Uni' etc etc... when in reality, taking off our nanna-knickers to show the Doc our lady-bits isn't USUALLY our idea of a good time. Here's the thing, the Doc doesn't actually care what our pink-bits look like, they care about the early detection cancer. If there is one thing Nursing has taught me, it is that every woman has the same pink bits, despite the fact they are all different, and advanced stage cancer treatment is far worse than early stage cancer treatment. 
So long story short, I booked in and had mine done on Tuesday. Easy-peasy, and lucky for me, my gorgeous Doc was on her last day of work before finishing up to have baby number 4, so we squeezed in a quick chat about the kids, my new job and some other goss haha!
So, now to book the dentist appointments for the family...
I wonder, when was your last PAP smear test? Do you really mind having it done?

That's it done and dusted!

So, huge news in my world.... a few weeks ago I finished my Bachelor of Nursing degree! Final grades are in, and the GPA is pretty damn impressive if I do say so myself! After my last exam, we (hubby, 3 kids and I) absconded to the beach with friends for a few days of much needed caravan camping R&R.

I felt very special and spoilt when our friends cracked a bottle of Pink Moet and Chandon in my honour to celebrate.

Mmmmm.... take me back!

Life is returning to 'normal' and I have been so busy trying to restore order to our world. I have been de-cluttering like a mad woman (after four and a half years at Uni, there is much to catch up on)! Over one (of MANY) recent champagne sipping session, we worked out that I have spent about 2 and a half years of this degree breast feeding, 8 months of it pregnant, and each round trip between campus and home is 3 hours in the car, so travel time = whoa! Then there is the 23 x 40 hour working weeks I completed on clinical practicum, which was of course UNPAID, oh how life will be so different with an income!

On the subject of income, I was lucky enough to be offered BOTH new grad positions I applied for, (life is kinda amazing right now) and I accepted one in private health as they offered me the most amazing critical care rotation.

If I could say anything to myself 5 years ago (or anyone in that position), it would be 'working HARD for your dreams is worth it!' Sure Uni is hard work, but if you love what you do the battle is half won.