Vintage modern flowers

I'm feeling a but flowery today! I love these cute target shoes I got last weekend for a bit of flowery cuteness.

I also went to my local quilt shop this morning to pick up the new vignette issue which is out. A few goodies slipped in too, this charm pack and some meterage of vintage modern by Bonnie and Camille for a quick quilt.

Here's to a stitchy weekend, there are no flowers around in the depths of winter so I'll have to make my own!

Travel plans Tuesday

Less than two weeks to go! We will be gone and back before I know it. I spent Sunday collecting the last few things I need to take with me and worrying about, of all things, what I might want to wear on the plane!
I am so ready to go in some ways and in others, I need way more time. I will be busy at school right up until the day before we fly out, with reports this week and interview times next week. I wonder if I will be able to breathe a sigh of relief when I sit on that seat in the plane next Saturday week? So much will be happening between now and then though, so I'd better get back to it!

Travel plans

Ok, it's not Tuesday today but last Monday was a public holiday and I spent the day trying on combinations of clothes, making lists and packing my suitcase. Tomorrow, it is 2 weeks until we fly out of Australia! My suitcase is full and just awaiting a few pieces of clothing which either need purchasing or washing. So excited!

Sunday stitching

Watching Downton Abbey this evening and I decided to work a little more on my Blackbird Designs Flea Market Souvenir. I think it looks pretty so far. I love the thread colours in this piece too.

My weekend lens

I got a new iPad this weekend and I was excited to try out a new app, frametastic. I filled the frames with instagram snaps from the weekend. I also spent time having a makeup try out, buying a pretty navy and white stripe maxi skirt, writing reports, having physio done on my knee, answering questions at school trivia night and creating and practising my freestyle dance routine with Zoë. All up a fabulous weekend. Tonight I plan to cut some more blocks of the Marriage Quilt out whilst I watch Downton Abby.

Winter

Winter arrived with a bang yesterday. A freezing cold morning but sun and blue skies to follow. I snapped this sun set around 5pm as I was leaving work yesterday. Lovely weather please hang around a little longer!

Snowed Under

Two laptops, stacks of writing samples and assessment data and pages of lists. It must be report time again. This happens twice a year and it means on top of full work days, I have to scrounge up every spare hour I have to write these reports. I can't wait for it to be over. If anyone has a spare 24 hours, please let me know as I could certainly use them!

Travel Plans Tuesday

Oh hooray! I am starting to get very excited as there in now officially less that 6 weeks until we leave!
This weekend we finalized accommodation and purchased some (rather expensive) Eurail passes. How amazing to think that in Europe, you are only a couple of hours away from a completely different country. It is particularly difficult to fathom, since I live in an island country and it would take me well more that 4 hours to get to the next STATE on a train, let alone a new country.

Things on my to do list this week include finalizing my travel packing and 'to do' lists, work out what kind of money needs to be taken over and on which type of card, attend a doctors appointment to see if any vaccinations are needed and the big one; write my school reports

The Love Vintage Show, Melbourne

On Sunday, my friend and I went into the city to visit the "Love Vintage Show". We had the most fabulous day, starting off early with a train ride into the city then a lovely breakfast on Lygon street. We visited the show, held at the beautiful Royal Exhibition Buildings in Carlton and spent the best part of the day trawling through the wonderful clothes, hats, shoes, jewellery and other beautiful vintage displays.

Everything in the building was original 1920s, 30s, 40s or 50s clothing and accessories, with the exception of a few stalls which sold clothes in a reproduction style. Many of the clothes had been handmade by their owners using their domestic sewing machines many years ago. How sad to think that in 50 years, no one will bother to hold such a display to buy or sell the clothes we wear now. Everything we wear is the same and all so cheaply made that it will fall apart, often before it is out of fashion.
Unfortunately, the original vintage clothes although stunning were well out of my price range but I did collect a few treasures to take home for my very own.

This thimble is sterling silver and was made in Birmingham, England in 1927. I intend it to be a piece for use and it is just the right fit! I also bought these hair clips, although brand new and not themselves vintage pieces, I felt they were pretty anyway.
I came back from the show, inspired, relaxed and ready for a very busy work week. This week is Education Week in Victoria so we are all busy preparing for school tours and open night. Phew!

Getting Organised: Choosing Outfits for the week

Last week, I did something I never thought I would do. In fact, I actually laughed at someone who told me that they did this a few years ago, I know, how terrible of me! Last week, I picked out five outfits for the working week on Sunday night. I loved it so much that I decided to do it again this week and I though I would share it because it definitely helped me to get organised and ready in the mornings much more quickly than usual. I also enjoyed picking out outfits when I had then time to linger over just the right combinations, rather than throw things together in a rush or find whatever is clean.
The whole process took 20 minutes from start to finish and I think I could get quicker as I get more practice. Last week, I created outfits based around some new clothes I had just purchased and this week I used a few jewelery pieces to match to outfits.
I started off with my iPhone weather app and 5 sturdy plastic hangers. I like these because they have two strong horizontal bars as well as notches in the sides for smaller straps.
Checking the weather for the week helped me to make sure the outfit I had chosen was appropriate. Fortunately, at this time of year the weather doesn't fluctuate much, it is usually in the mid to high teens every day.
When I had chosen the main parts of the outfit, I hung everything together on the one hanger and added extras like tights, camisole, merino wool long sleeve top and the necklace I wanted to wear all on the one hanger. This way, I am sure that I have enough clean tights/ tops for the whole week (no more getting out of the house late because of missing/ dirty items of clothing.) The smaller top bar was especially useful for hanging these smaller items.

Next, everything goes into the wardrobe in order of Monday- Friday. I hung my day coat and scarf in front so it is easy to grab each day.
There we go, and easy, quick and FUN task to help me stay organised during the working week!

Mums and Dads

My littles and I just became Mums and Dads (for the next two weeks anyway). These furry friends are our new babies, just hatched today. Small, fluffy and so sweet! They are incredibly hard to photograph too, they move around far too quickly!
Welcome to our school family little ones!

Travel Plans Tuesday

I got very busy this weekend looking up packing tips for my Europe trip in July, (this may or may not be because I am avoiding the writing of my mid-year reports.) Nearly all the accommodation has been booked now and we are off to buy rail passes on Saturday.

I had a great time clicking through Pinterest for a wealth of information about packing and planning for an overseas trip. There are SO many great resources out there from experienced travelers. I love this layout and the idea of planning for different combinations of clothing with basic block colours.

I have made several lists of 'things to do' before we leave. Number one on the list is writing my littles reports over the next few weekends! Number two is re-reading the guidebooks and dreaming of all the fabulous places to go and fun things to do.

Source: simplemom.net via Nicky on Pinterest

 

Travel Plans Tuesday

I have decided that every Tuesday I will document where I am at with my travel plans.
Here are some numbers to document the trip:
Less than 8 weeks before we depart.
3 countries to travel through
28 days away
5 different languages spoken (at least)
9 destinations to visit
2 girls
1 big adventure
I am so excited and looking forward to this trip. I can't believe that it has been almost one year since I went overseas to the United Kingdom and I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel twice in the space of a year.
So many things will be different about this trip to my last. This time I am traveling with a lot more awareness of what to expect from a big overseas trip, especially when it comes to airplane travel, jet lag and visiting a non-english speaking country.
Last time I went with my former fiance, this time I am going with a long-time (girl) friend. Last time I stayed in hotels, this time I am staying in hostels. There will be lots more traveling from place to place and carrying things on trains. There will be a bigger culture change as we are not visiting any countries which speak english as a first language and the cuisines will be quite different. The trip will be twice as long and hopefully just as much fun.
We have spent hours researching, planning, revising and tweaking this trip and I just can't wait to get over there and start enjoying our time away.
Over the next weeks I will be writing my student's mid-year reports and dreaming of walking in the Swiss alps and photographing Bavarian castles.

I can't wait!

Oh May!

How can it be that May is here already?
I am not sorry to see the back of April. It has been a difficult month for me and I am hoping that May will bring with it a fresh start and a better perspective on my life.
These last few weeks have been particularly difficult, filled with sadness, longing, regret, worry and disappointment. I am ready to move on, I am ready to start again, I am ready to look at things with more hope and joy.

I took this photo on Instagram whilst I went on a quick stroll this chilly autumn evening. I spotted these trees which still had a few orange-red leaves scattered on them, but were covered in new white buds, ready to go when spring arrives. The photo is not excellent, but it was a timely reminder that new life follows old, that spring always follows winter and that when something ends, something new will be sure to begin.
Here's hoping anyway!

Sewing away

I'm madly working on my Vignette quilt in the evenings after work. I can see the finish line with these blocks and can't wait to finally have them complete. There certainly in a lot of embroidery in this quilt! I still love working on it though I'm looking forward to a little break after these blocks and some time to work on something else.

Week in the Life 2012: Monday 23rd April

On a whim this weekend, I decided to participate in Ali Edwards, Week in the Life for 2012. It seemed like a good idea, so I jumped right in, taking photos all day today.
I can't believe my attitude to this project! Normally I fuss and fiddle and never get anything done, however this evening I jumped straight onto Photoshop, edited, printed, journal-ed, cut, glued and finished Monday's layout. It is so far from perfect and I could list off the things that are wrong with it and be here all evening. But you know what? It's done, and that's much more than many of my projects are at the moment. I am going to live with the imperfection and just embrace the fact that I have finished something.
One day down, 6 to go! So far, I am loving this project and it is stretching me as a photographer. I am even making use of my self timer, although I can see that I have so much more to learn!

Here is my approach:
1. I chose 16 photos from the day (all these taken with the DSLR).
2. Cropped square in photoshop. I took inspiration from instagram for this.
3. Printed at home on my Canon Pixma.
4. Corner rounded (not really happy with the look as I didn't leave enough border)
5. American Crafts Thickers and date stamp on left hand page.
6. Journal in word an  printed using Kingthings Typewriter font. Pretty much a run down of the photos on the left hand page and the time to go with each photo.
7. Trimmed, corner rounded on one edge and mounted to cardstock. I then used some washi tape and a brad for a little bit of colour.
Done!

Grass Heads

My Littles made these funny grass heads for their unit on "Change". I love that each head has its very own personality, some even have moustaches and beards.  I have my fingers crossed that they actually grow now!

Bake Day: Jam Drops

 The recipe was super easy and I would definitely make them again. I replaced the raspberry jam with strawberry, using a yummy market-bought strawberry and vanilla jam. The almond meal made them quite moist for a biscuit and gave them a nutty flavor which was very nice.
I used a recipe from The Australian Women's Weekly; The Country Table. I look forward to making some more things from this book.

Lovely to enjoy outside with a cup of tea and a good book!

Treat Yourself

I did!

I picked up some rolls of washi tape and this cute notepad (for making more lists nonetheless) at Typo when I was out at this afternoon. I'm very happy with my little 'treat'.

Unfortunately I think today was our last lovely autumn day. Next week is looking very wintry. Zoe and I enjoyed a short walk this morning and it was fun to kick around and crackle in the leaves as we went.
Happy Saturday!

Wearing today

Trying out some patterned tights with my denim skirt and yellow striped top today.

Australasian Quilt Convention

I was lucky enough to attend the AQC on Friday this week. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera. I felt like wrangling a pair of crutches was enough let alone a camera too. There were lots of lovely quilts there and my favourites were a series of quilts by Katrina Hadjimichael inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice novel. You can see the quilts on her blog here.
I did make some fun purchases too. I bought some new scissors and a thimble as well as a kit for a little wool candle mat by Bareroots. I also signed up for a block of the month, The 1860 Marriage Quilt from Carolyn's Quilting Room. It is a reproduction of a quilt in the Cheltenham Museum, made by Jane Pizar.

I can't wait to start cutting out and piecing my first block, but I have decided that I want to make sure that Vignette blocks 2 and 3 are complete before I start anything else.
Right, I am off to work on the stitchery border of Vignette now before I have to start getting ready for work again tomorrow!