Good Intentions

No New Year's Resolutions for me this year, but I do have some good intentions instead ;).

This year I intend:

* to spend more time creating things for others
* to divide my creative time more evenly between my chosen crafts
* to actually sew some clothes for my girls and myself - less procrastination and more actual making!
* to cook more!
* to read to my children every day
* to make sure my children get individual time from me every day
* to do more fun, family stuff
* to not put pressure on myself by over committing
* to reduce spending and start saving for a house deposit

That's it. Keeping it simple - and hopefully achievable. I really want to focus on my non working time being fun and fulfilling.

Further to my up-cycling/re-purposing mission from my last post, here are some bargains I've picked up from local thrift stores in the last week.

These are vintage sheets to ad to my small collection. These will be turned into at least one, probably two, duvet covers/quilts for my girls.

These are some laces and ribbons I picked up along with a new in it's packet Egyptian cotton sateen pillowcase, that will hopefully reduce the knots in Izzy's very curly hair - all for $2!!

On a very sad note I just heard that good friends of ours lost their lovely 18 year old nephew last Friday. He had a nasty, aggressive form of cancer that moved very quickly and unfortunately he lost his battle - such a wonderful, intelligent, energetic, friendly, fun loving boy who has gone from this world far too soon. I cannot begin to imagine what his family are going through and my heart goes out to them ♥  RIP Nick  ♥

Cancer is such  an evil disease that breaks hearts and destroys lives!

Last Friday (the 13th) was also Ollie's 12th birthday and I realise how precious life is and how lucky we are to have him and our other three wonderful children. They drive me crazy at times but I love them so much cannot imagine life without them ♥.  So, hug your loved ones and hold them close, cherish all the precious moments you have with them - and don't forget to tell them you love them!

Progress

After my bright idea yesterday, I went out to pick up Kim's replacement turntable (the one I bought him for Christmas got stuck on the wrong speed - somewhere between 45 and 33!) and drove past a Salvation Army shop. So I stopped - as you do when you've decided to make a quilt/duvet cover using only pre-loved materials! The first thing I spotted was a really cute wee art deco-ish armchair. I immediately asked them to hold it for me while I ruminated on it (and searched for fabric). I got a whole heap of clothing and vintage sheets to re-purpose and decided I should really pass on the armchair as I'm also trying to spend as little as possible at the moment.

Well that worked for all of about 10 seconds before I turned around, went back and paid for the armchair! I'm hopeless - it's no wonder we can't afford to buy a house yet!!

Anyway, here's my progress on my patchwork duvet cover from stash and my newest piece of furniture:

Oh, and I don't think I ever blogged about my little foot stool either. I bought it at a local thrift store early last year (2011) and peeled back all it's ugly layers and recovered it.

From this (blerk!)

I quite like the inside fabric, so have left that.

This was interesting to discover! I quite like the candlewick effect, but sadly it was stained and a bit ick, so had to go.

And this was the original layer of fabric. Not heinous, but not really my style either. It's still under there though, just in case!

I also love that the wheels on both the armchair and the footstool/glory box watchamacallit are the same! It's the little things ;)

January's Mission

Right, I have made a snap decision (not unusual for me) that this month I am going to make a patchwork quilt/duvet cover out of materials sourced solely from secondhand stores. I love vintage fabrics like old sheets from the 70's, but they are like hen's teeth these days (oh dear, I sound rather old!) so I'm going to find some fabrics that I like in whatever form I can find them in and I'm going to make something new from them. Recycling and reusing.

I'm halfway through a duvet cover for one of my girls, but I realised that despite working from stash, I'm not in love with most of the fabrics. I'll finish it and one of the girls will be happy, but I'd prefer to make something I really like and feel proud of.

I'm in a bit of a funk at the moment, so hopefully this small challenge will help to get some neurons firing.

Out with the old ...

Well it's taken me a few days to get around to writing my first post for 2012, but here it is finally. I read on Little Tin Bird's blog about not having resolutions, but having intentions for the year instead. I really like that idea as it feels as though there could be less failure that way! I am still formulating my list of good intentions for 2012, but that will be the focus of another blog entry.

Tomorrow I want to reflect a little on the year that has finished - part of which will feed into my intentions for the year ahead. But for today I'm just going to show a couple of pics from the new year.

The girls started sharing a bedroom at the beginning of 2012, but they have had their beds in bunks so that they could maximise their floor space. We decided that it wasn't working so well any more - especially when Izzy's bed (top bunk) was so hard to make and the floor just ended up as a 'storage' space for clothes and toys! So, out with the bunks and in with the beds as singles, leaving much less floor space, but for now it's tidy and organised - and both beds can be made easily.

Old

New

First souvla of the year - and it was delicious too!

 

And our first el fresco dining experience of the year! Yum!!

I've also changed the boys' room around and managed to rid the house of some excess furniture, which is currently languishing in the garage until we can either sell it or take it to the local thrift store!

This year I intend to start doing a pictorial monthly mosaic of what I've been making as I love seeing these when I read some of my favourite blogs. For some really lovely ones, check out these blogs:

 Attic24
Crochet with Raymond
Little Tin Bird
Le Monde de Sucrette
Yarn Around Hook

And, yes, there's a common theme here - crochet! I've been loving getting into crochet these last couple of months and I've done very little knitting in that time. Another one of my intentions for 2012 is to spend equal time on all of my favourite pastimes - and have finished objects to show off as well. My list of wips is getting longer every day, which is most unlike me. With knitting I tend to stay monogamous to each project until it's finished, but crochet is a whole other kettle of fish (or basket of yarn!)!!

Anyway, more of that tomorrow ...