Tea Anyone?

Back to school again and I am trying to get a bit of order back into our lives. We have re-arranges some furniture and this is breakfast - with full china ( no plastics), cutlery and tea. A full breakfast and a chance ofr us all to talk around the table before we start our day. It is what we always did growing up and it is nice to bring this tradition into our home.

Bag It.

I love drawstring bags. L-O-V-E them. I use them for anything and everything - shoes, wine bottles, gifts. lingerie bags, toys, swimming bags, backpacks and for gift giving. Basically they are easy and great to keep stuff together. I mentioned here about the pile of 3D glasses on my kitchen bench - so here is what I did- made a drawstring bag. I should even be able to remember what is in it! I got a bit creative with this one as I thought we could take it to movies, so I wanted space for glasses and lollies! I didn't want the glasses to get scratched, so each got their own polar fleece pocket. Heres how:(Remember I wanted these off the bench - desparately - so much so I dont think there is a straight line here - but it does the job) I cut out the fabric based on my glasses. There are two pieces of the yellow fleece which is long enough to wrap up to cover the glasses. The cotton fabric is one long piece, folded at the bottom which is slighltly bigger than the finished size of the fleece. Next step was to create the individual pockets for the glasses. This was simply a line of straight(ish) stitch at approximately thirds. Then I joined the fleece to the top edges of the cotton. I put right sides together before I sewed so that the pockets will be accessible inside the bag.

At this point it is time for some finishing off. I hem the top inch of each fabric on the side seam so that I can put the drawstring throught. Once this is done on each edge (four times) Then I create the pocket for the drawstring by sewing a seam about two centimetres from the top edge - the same way on both sides. (Here is a good time to trim some threads - someone should remind me)

Then I sewed up the side seams ensuring I caught both pieces of cotton and fleece. The seams are visible on the inside because I treated the fleece like it was the wrong side of the fabric. You can see from this shot the individual pockets. All to do now is thread in the ribbon or cord and c'est finis. (I used ribbon which is double the width of the bag open and I choose to thread two cords - one from each direction which creates two handles but a tighter more secure closure)

Training

No - not a blues brother festival - we went to see How to Train a Dragon in 3D and these are the re-usable glasses. It is an expensive outing as there are no concessions for 3D movies, and with the glasses an extra dollar, we were up for nearly $90! That being said (and spent) the movie was really a great show. The 3D effects were fantastic and there was a great story. While there was some violence (Fundamentally they are vikings fighting dragons) there was no blood or gore, or death- there was however some loss of limbs but this was actually a minor theme of the movie. The moral is that violence is not the only way and if you take a little time to understand each other - everyones life can be so much better.


My boys at 3 and 6 loved it and so did we. I think girls would really love it too. I would actually highly recommend this movie - even if you don't see it in 3D.


I am off to make a bag for my glasses ready for when the final Shrek comes out in 3D.

Noddy

Noddy is the newest resident at our place. A lovely gift from my brother for Easter - and a real blast from our past. We had Noddy and his partner (in crime??) Big Ears egg cups when we were growing up and while I don't recall them being the most stable of egg holders, they certainly are good looking. He made the hat which I think is better than the original. Now the hunt is on for Big Ears!

A find!

While I am constantly talking about clearing out our clutter and minimising, for some reason things like this keep coming to our house. I must confess it was I who saw it on the side of the road (hard rubbish collection) and I quickly shoved it in the car and drove off. It obviously needs some work but I am not sure how I will recover it yet. It is a child size rocker and really cute. My little guys are about the right size so it will probably be gifted as we really do have enough furniture.
I took the kids off to Ikea today in an attempt to find some fabric to cover it. As it is yet to have an owner in mind I didn't find anything - at least for that. Now I am busy reorganising my drawers as I bought new inserts. Isn't that always the way with Ikea - once you make your way through the maze of the store, you walk out with stuff even if you didn't mean to.

Step inside.....

This is etched into the concrete along our regular bike path. I actually think it is a nice piece of graffiti which is a little ironic. It caught my attention today. Step inside - Be what you imagine. I couldn't step in because I didn't know.

I am sure you know the feeling, and I am sure it is about insecurity - but I am feeling like I don't fit in, you know just a little bit different and on the outer edge of things. Being "in" is not actually anything I have aspired to and I can deal with being "different" but I almost think I am either not quite different enough, just not quite right (for want of a better word). I don't think I could actually deal with someone like me - which is probably why none of my friends are like me. Maybe I do it on purpose?

This isn't a 'poor me' and I feel OK, I just don't really know what I want to do or if I do, how to get there. I see other people living my dream, or at least having a go and I wonder why I just can't or maybe wont. I know that I sabotage myself - over-think and over-plan and under-action things. I am terrible at contacting people, not ringing, texting back and often forgetting to check my messages. I do appreciate the contact and always mean to get back to people. I have a list (I love lists) of people to get back to, but sadly they often get back to me first.

There are a few things that have contributed to this feeling but the biggest influence is probably a movie. On a recommendation (thanks Robyn) I watched Coco avant Chanel. I just had to look up the title - but now the movie makes sense because it was all about her life before she got into designing clothes - that was just a mini montage at the very end (disappointing). However it was about her life and how she approached it. Coco (in this movie) had such an attitude, such a disdain for pretence and a belief in herself that it didn't matter that she was different. In those days it was all about class and breeding which she didn't have, but she was against pretending. She was commonsensical and when she went against the system there was reason, rather than for the systems sake.

Coco was different and she didn't care. She just went on and did what she wanted to do how she wanted to do it. The big question is why can't I?

Travels

We went over the Bolte bridge to a party and the light was magical. The sunsetting through heavy rain clouds which thankfully held off for the housewarming/engagement party. We were one down on our travels as Alexander went to the circus - but we had to have our 'bucket of dinosaurs' a la Harry to look after.