Operation Pinterest

Project #4 Cloud Dough

First up - the pinterest version

And now for the Duyvken version.

Hm, not as white or fluffy as I was expecting but the kids had a ball. It smells fantastic but it makes an almighty mess. It doesn't really hold together like dough does but it is a good sensory play experience for the little ones. The verdict? I won't be doing this again until we have grass to play on. 

Carla Bruni - L'Amoureuse

Current You Tube favourite. Cutting fabric while babies sleep and listening to this makes for a very relaxing Saturday night. Love to you and yours, Duyvken.

Making things Pozible

I love MA, the first album is delightful and I want more but, because these things aren't easy to pull together, Drew and Victoria have found this fantastic site to help make the second album a big success. It's a great site offering plenty of opportunities to support creatives. The website takes a cut but that's no different to all those fundraisers that give you a hard time at the local shops.
ASIDE: Have I told you about the time Mr Duyvken asked one of them how much of the money he might give would actually end up in the hands of the organisation on the posters? The fellow wasn't happy about the line of the questioning but Mr Duyvken does so love poking a sore bear.
In this case the fees are all clearly stated in the faqs - Pozible takes 7.5% which is a reasonable return for the crowdfunding platform but not so high as to be unreasonable.
I knew Drew before he was cool (I am sure I can hear him talking over me here to claim that he has always been cool) and wish him every success. Who can resist a musician who labours over the trifle each Christmas and bakes sourdough in his spare time? Good luck kids!

Georgia Matilda's Quilt Finished

I finally finished the little stroller quilt that I started for my friend's baby way back in April. It is a quick charm square project that I have done before but it took an age this time around, mostly because it spent so long sitting in the sewing pile waiting for me to grab a few moments to work on it. I am very happy with it, Kate Spain designs such pretty fabrics and everything, except the purple stripes, is from her Verna range.

 Thankfully, is has been a very cool spring so she should still be able to get some use out of it.

 Her name and birthdate are embroidered into it as well. Those stitches should feel very nice under her little fingers, hopefully they'll be well worn in a few months time.

C and Sweetie are both waiting patiently for fabric I have set aside for them to turn into something quilty. They won't be as patient as Georgia so I'll have to set aside some time for some serious stitching.

Farm Weekend - brown and grey

We drove north to spend a few days with Mr Duyvken's parents at the end of last week. My mum came as well and we had a lovely time. All the cousins slept together in the bunk room and it is always a lot of fun but all of the cooking, cleaning, supervising children, talking about what to have for the next meal and then more cooking and cleaning wears me out. 10 children aged between 7mths and 11years (yes mine are the bookends) makes for quite a lot of work, but they adore it and I adore them so what's a girl to do?

Next time I hope to take more photos, time always slips through my fingers up there!

A for Effort

Several months ago I signed up for the half marathon. Sweetie was only a couple of months old and September seemed like a distant destination, it was an entire season away! Life, of course gets busy but my training was going reasonably well, I wasn't doing as much as I would have liked to but I was chipping away at it slowly and was looking forward to completing the run. A half marathon is a long distance for me and I saw it as a personal milestone. I was using it as a place marker in my life. It was going to be testament to what can be achieved in a post-babies life. An example of something I had to work really hard for and could be really proud of achieving. Yes, I had rather built it up in my mind, don't you think?

There were a few hurdles to overcome in the last 6 weeks before the race, not least of which was mum's illness, but I decided to run anyway. It was a hard, hard run and I pulled out after around 11kms with a very sore back and carrying a huge feeling of disappointment. You know those motivational posters that declare that did not finish is better than did not start? I'm not sure I agree with them now. On paper I get it but it does not feel good to not finish (too many negatives?)and the experience has just made me very determined to finish next year. It will be 12mths later than planned but, hopefully, just as sweet. Mr Duyvken pointed out that if I had started intending to run 10kms I would be thrilled and he's right, of course. Half a half marathon isn't too bad when you think about it.
Doing hard things doesn't always work out the way we hope but they're always worth doing. Always.

Come to the park

 

 

 

Come to the park with us this long weekend. We'll make rings out of twigs, lie in the sun, drink beautiful coffee made by one of the many baristas at one of the many coffee shops across the street. (I swear, if there is a coffee shortage the Australian economy may collapse.) (We picked the Dane's brew if you were wondering.) We'll watch the world go by, listen to all the little duyvkens and their crazy schemes and drag ourselves home sulkily when the time comes to leave.

I got a new camera bag for my birthday and I love it! Not as much room as I had in the large tote I've been using lately but I can take the camera, lenses, external flash, etc with me everywhere now and they're all well-protected between padded dividers. I'm a happy girl! It's the *emera classic canvas and it's not cheap and I thought about it for over a year before buying it because I really wasn't sure about buying a bag that I hadn't seen irl. I am glad I got it though - so far it's perfect for me.

We are lucky to live in an area where there are lots of parks within walking distance but this one is one of our favourites.