Christmas is ovah

We had mostly successes with this years presents. My mum got Critter a Lego pirate ship, which he has completed, with hardly any help. Hubs' mum is sending another Lego pirate ship that was Hubs' when he was about 10... I suspect there will be pirate battles once both of them are here and made. He also got a LOT of clothes, a game of Trouble, and I can't remember what else right now. I'm in a turkey induced fog. Gosling got a dolly which she adores, some soft noise-making balls, which are kinda interesting, but not as much as the plastic carry case they came in (love babies), some awfully cute clothes, a couple of shape sorters, including the Tupperware ball, and again I can't remember. Hubs gave me the Stargate box set, bought at 6:30am on Christmas Eve, and probably spent far too much on it. He got Lego Indiana Jones for the Wii, the two Family Guy Star-Wars spoofs, and a radio transmitter for his Ipod for his truck (our car has an Ipod jack, but his work truck doesn't.) We got mum some CDs and DVDs, and tickets to go see the Gypsy Kings, which I made a cardboard rose as a clue for the envelope. We got my sister some VERY expensive towels. Mum gave us all money. The cat got turkey.

We all ate far too much turkey, except Critter who is allergic and had roast beef. We watched Elf, had a few altercations, and then dad and his wife came round and it got weird, 'cause what do you say to a pair of orthodox Jews at Christmas when theres ham on the table?

To top it all off, half of us had gastro, and then I gouged a chunk out of my toe on the rubbish bin, after putting on a load of the most horrendous nappies I've ever smelt. It hurts, and I'm not sure if the skin is still attached or not, as I taped it up with 3 bandaids immediately (I do not heal easily or cleanly, and it is entirely possible that it will STILL get infected despite being washed instantly and being covered with bandaids and antiseptic cream within a minute.)

Due to said gastro, we didn't get to go to church, so I feel weird and am greatly looking forward to tomorrow. The real point of yesterday was never lost sight of, and my heart sings with joy at the amazing gift of Life given by our most loving Lord, some two-thousand years ago.

Merry Christmas all! (again)

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Today is Wednesday. Christmas is on Friday. The tree went up on Monday.

Oh yeah, we leave things to the last minute here.

Presents are (mostly) bought - the man says he will buy mine tomorrow, on Christmas Eve. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT.

Turkey will be coming out of the freezer tomorrow to start defrosting, and we will go to the supermarket to get last minute food stuffs.

And best of all, the bank has agreed to give us a bunch of money, and we exchange contracts tomorrow.

Some two-thousand years ago there was a miracle that I am eternally grateful for, in the form of a squeaky miniature human, sent here to save us all, fully human, yet fully divine. A young girl, an honourable man, a miraculous new-born.

This year, we have our own miracle. This is the fourth or fifth house we've gone after, and we were beginning to think the bank was going to turn us down, again. Instead, this is the second best Christmas present ever. (The first, obviously, being Christ. Just in case you weren't paying attention.)

God gives in abundance. Not necessarily when or what you expect, but always what is best.

Merry Christmas!

Babies are weird/clever

Gosling turned 10months earlier in December, and has just recently discovered how to roll. Or should I say re-discovered. She originally figured it out at about 4 or 5 months (I think thats right... I'm not sure of exact dates), but she kept on banging her head on the floor when she did it, so she gave up. Seriously. She didn't roll for over 5 months, even though she knew how.

Recently, she somehow discovered that she would not bang her head if she rolled on a bed. Oh how she loved that discovery. The second I lay her down, she rolls over and tries to escape. And she laughs as she's doing it. Her other recent discovery that she can drag herself forward (no crawling yet, just slugging) makes things even more interesting, as she can be halfway across the bed in the time it takes me to grab a new shirt for her.

But.

She knows that she can't roll over on the floor. She lies there and cries because she knows she can't go anywhere. If I roll her over she's off like a flash, slugging her way across the room, but she will not do it herself.

This is where the clever/weird part comes into play. Its clever that she recognises the difference between bed and floor, that she can roll on the bed with no consequences, but its weird that she won't roll from her back to her front on the floor... even though that wouldn't hurt her, and she does occasionally try to roll onto her back on the floor, banging her head and ending up screaming.

I wish I could get into her head and figure out her thought process.

Curved seams/hems - the hard way, by hand

**WARNING: Picture heavy. Click any pictures for biggerness.**

The night before my friend's wedding, I stayed over at her house, along with the three other bridesmaids, and Gosling. I was fairly certain by this point that I wasn't going to finish Gosling's dress, but I took it with me anyway, to work on while we were watching movies and eating junk. I'm a bit of a fidget, and find it very difficult to sit still - I have to be moving, all the time, and sewing counts as moving, meaning the rest of me stays fairly still, instead of constantly shifting in my seat, or bouncing my feet, or swaying my legs.

Anyway.

The other girls asked how I'd managed to get the yoke so flat - its very round, and round seams/hems have a habit of bunching and/or stretching. Thing is, I clip my seams. It takes a bit more time, but the end results are worth it. It also made the arm holes easier - clip hem and face, instead of binding with bias or trying to make the hem flat, neither of which work for me.

They didn't understand what I was talking about, and neither has anyone else I've tried to talk to about it, other than my mum (but she is a super-sewer so I would have been alarmed if she didn't understand - I'm serious, she once made a wedding dress and 7 purple tulle bridesmaid dresses).

I figure if that many people don't understand, maybe there are people out there googling how to get their seams flat, and maybe if I do this, it'll help them. It'll also provide me with a handy reference when I'm half asleep and can't remember how I did it.

So here we go!!



CURVED SEAMS/HEMS

Presumably, you have a curved piece of fabric, and either need it hemmed, or need to attach it to another piece as a seam. If you're just making a seam, you can ignore most of this, as all you need to do is CLIP.

The easiest way to hem a curve is to face it - you take another piece of fabric and use it instead of folding up your hem. So cut yourself a piece of fabric about the same shape as the curve you need hemmed. It doesn't need to be perfect, but it should be pretty close, or you'll still end up with those annoying wrinkles.


We'll start with an inside curve - like an arm hole on a sleeveless shirt.

There are two ways to do this. The first way takes longer, is harder, and (in my opinion, possibly influenced by my fear of the sewing machine) works much better if you do it by hand, but it is my preferred method, so I'm going to show you anyway. The other way will be explained with the outside curve (like the hem of a skirt) but the idea will work just as well for an inside curve. Why am I starting with the hard way? Because if you can do it this way, you can certainly do it the other way.

Mark your foldline on your fabric (if you use chalk, it doesn't matter which side - right or wrong - of the fabric you mark, as it will wash off. Do whatever is easiest for you to work with), then grab your scissors. Little ones work best.

If your curve is not a perfect circle, find the 'pointiest' bit, and cut a small triangle out of the 'hem' bit of your fabric at this place. Otherwise, just start in the middle. DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY TO YOUR MARKED LINE.
**Note: on an inside curve like this, you CAN simply cut slits instead of triangles, but I find the triangles fray less and spread less, and if I always cut triangles, I don't have to remember whether to use triangle or slits**
**Note 2: This is the only bit you need for seams - with a slight change of order, as you sew your seam together, then clip, and tada you're done.**

Then continue all the way around your curve, cutting out triangles (or more slits). You can start each new triangle exactly where the last one ended (left side of photo), or you can leave a gap between them (right side), its entirely up to you, and doesn't really make much difference in the end. If you leave a gap and decide that your fabric is pulling too much later, you can always go back and cut more triangles (or slits if the gap is too small) in between. If you're cutting slits, just make them fairly evenly spaced, and fairly close together - about half an inch should be fine.

Now you need to tack down your hem. Fold it along your marked line, sewing as you go - big stitches, fairly close to the edge, about 1/4 inch. No need to knot the ends, as you'll just be taking it out later, but leave a decent tail so it doesn't pull out.

When you've finished, if you turn it over you'll notice the distinct lack of wrinkling or bunching. YAY, but you're not done yet. It looks very messy with that tacking stitch and the exposed edges on the inside, and will fray easily if it's put to use, so now you need to attach your facing. This is where it gets tricky, and may make you want to use the other way.

Put your facing over the inside, lining it up, and find the centre.

Turn the facing over, keeping the middle together, and pin it together. You only want it overlapping a little bit - no more than 1/4 inch. If you've done your tacking this far out, it makes a good guide.

Pin it together all the way around. It WILL be awkward and wavy. You can't help that. It will right itself once you fold it over. DON'T do the down-across-through pinning. Just poke the pin in, and push it all the way through like a nail, so you have heads on the INSIDE, on the facing, and points on the OUTSIDE - the proper fabric.points on one side, heads on the other

Now, sew it down. Easier said than done, as you only want to sew through the folded bit, not the outside bit. Sew as close to the edge as you comfortably can, and keep checking the other side to make sure you haven't gone through. Once you get a feel for the fabric, it isn't really that difficult most of the time, but if you can't manage it without going through, or you just prefer to have visible stitches on the outside, just make sure your stitches are small and neat, or use the machine so you can be absolutely certain its neat. If you really can't handle doing it by hand, the other way will work better.

TIPS:

Hand stitches: use two strands of thread, so if one breaks, the other is still there; either use backstitch the whole way, or a running/back combo - 3-4 stitches of each, alternating.

Use as similar coloured thread to your cloth as possible. That way, if you accidentally go through a little, it won't show as much.

Take out each pin just before you pass it - its easier to sew small stitches if the pins are not in the way, you don't need them any more once its sewn down, and the less pins you have, the less likely you are to stab yourself.

Once you've sewn all the way along, take out your tacking stitch, then fold down your facing. Depending on your fabric and your personality, you might want to iron it at this point. I don't bother, but might if it was a really floppy annoying satin.

So! You're almost done! All you need to do now is hem and secure your facing. This can be done all in one go, or separately. My husband went on a cleaning spree and threw out my practice cloth, so I can't demonstrate this bit for you with photos, but hopefully I can explain it properly and my awesome-mad-skillz drawings help a bit.

All in one go: Fold over a teeny tiny little bit of the free edge of your facing, making a tiny hem so the hem is on the inside, and sew through it to your cloth. You will be left with a visible seam on the outside of your piece, but you are FINISHED!

Separately: Fold over the same teeny tiny bit, and if you really want to be particular about raw edges, fold over again so the raw edge is fully encased. Sew this hem, and only this. Do NOT sew to your cloth. Once the tiny hem is sewn, you can sew the edges down - at the edge of your piece, at any seams (so you can attach it to the internal seam and don't go through to the other side) etc.

So there you go. Piece faced.

Gender Inequality

When a man beats his wife, and she lets him, people urge her to leave, call her an idiot, and try to get the man in jail. Apparently when a woman beats her husband, he signs a contract saying its ok, as long as it only happens once a week. And it's all ok, because she feels really bad seeing him covered in bruises.

Anyone else think things here are just WRONG????

Fun With Photoshop

Clicky any of the piccies for biggerness

I love Photoshop. I only have elements, not the full version, because MONEY!! and I usually only use it for my own amusement, and basic photo-fixing, but I LOVE IT. I take millions of photos of my kids, and while most of them turn out nice, with photoshop I can make some of them even better.

Like this:


Cute, no? Helps that the subject is pretty adorable. But, cute as it is with those massive eyes, its kinda dark. A few minute with my trusty phtoshop, and it becomes this:


which is so much better. LOOK at those eyes now!!

Or this:


Also better, but decidedly different.

By using different filters, layer effects, or even just changing the colour, I can change the image quite a bit. I can make some interesting 'artsy' effects,




make my little one rather creepy,


or even make the image look old fashioned.






I LOVE Photoshop.

noise in the small hours

slowly, awareness comes. it is cold, and dark, and i do not want to be awake. my furnace-hot husband is curled up in a ball behind me, our backs pressed together, the only part of me that is warm. vaguely i am aware that i should pull the blanket up, but today is technically the first day of summer, and i stubbornly refuse to give in, especially as up til now it has been so hot we've been forgoing even a sheet at night.

i roll over, determining to go back to sleep, ignoring the slightly distressed tiny noises the man makes whenever i move away from him. after six years, they hardly register, unless he is facing me and i have to disengage his suddenly vicelike arms and reassure him i am not going anywhere. with my face pressed against his back he relaxes, and i allow consciousness to leave me again. as i slowly drift, a noise jars me back to the cold - obviously the reason i was awake to begin with. insistent and annoyed, my daughter is awake, and only milk will satisfy her. i pull the blanket onto the bed as i leave the room, and my husband barely stirs.

in the dark and the cold, the creak of the floorboards is deafening, and i am sure i will wake everyone. miraculously, only the mini-one notices, and her insistent annoyance becomes fear and sadness when i do not materialise next to her bed the moment she hears my footsteps. her sobs of anguish are only quieted when tiny outstretched arms and feathery soft head find their resting place on my shoulder. in the heat of yesterday, the sleepsack was her only nightwear, but now, in the dark, her pudgy arms are cold to touch, and i reach for a tiny soft shirt to keep her warm, before we return to my bed to nurse.

my footsteps still creaking, suddenly i freeze. a voice, loud in the darkness, and baby's head startles off my shoulder - i have to make sure and get more chicken so we don't run out. silent laughter racking my body, i try not move, as her tiny head swings from side to side and she questions into the dark, not understanding. i just didn't know anymore so i went and did it. my son has inherited my sleeptalking, and i wonder, not for the first time, how sleeptalker and nightnurser do not constantly disturb each other.

eyes adjusted to the dark, i see the skinny body sprawled across the bed. one foot hangs off the side, his head is pressed against the wall, toy-puppy gripped firmly by the arm twisted behind his arched back. satisfied he is still sleeping, i pull pirate-covered blankets over my cold skinned boy - when do we get to go back to the zoo for burgers again? - and make my way back to my own bed with the now-warmer-girl. tired and hungry, she cries again when i lay her down, never remembering in her half-awake state that i will be joining her shortly and the milk will flow. as we adjust ourselves to more comfortable positions, a sleepy arm is thrown over me, and she startles off, squealing with delight as she feels daddy's hand. he is oblivious, lost in the sleep i crave, and she soon resumes nursing, the possibility of daddy superseded by the reality of milk.

comfortable between two warm bodies, i search out the clock in the dark before i let sleep claim me again. 3-4-9 i see in blurry green. almost 5am, as we don't change this clock for daylight savings. slowly the dark becomes complete as tired eyes close, and sleep cautiously returns. i drift, warm and dark, till again i am jarred awake, by the 5am alarm calling the man to get up and ready for work. he stirs, moving away to end the jarring alarm, my back suddenly cold without his bodyheat to warm me, and then, silence.

slowly sound and warmth return, wakeup call ignored in search of rest. small body in my arms warm and still, save for twitching fingers and breath-raised chest, husband behind me asleep almost instantly, his constantly-hot-body keeping my back warm in the cold, hand holding his daughter's, his sleep-steady breath beside my ear lulling me to my own sleep once more, and blocking out all other noises in the small hours.

Accomplishments

Done yesterday:

• laundry
• chocolate pudding
• roast dinner - beef, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yorkshire pudding, broccoli, gravy
• scrabble with the boy
• standing practice with the girl
• far too many dishes
• more house-hunting
  

Plans

What I want to do today:

• waffles
• chocolate pudding
• tortillas
• sewing practice
• knitting

What will probably actually get done:

• 
  

(No, that wasn't a mistake.)

So Far Today

• I've been mostly awake since 3am
• the baby is being weird
• she stinks
• my eyelid feels like its on fire
• I have killed over 30 fleas in the last hour
• the rat came into the house
• I have no idea what to do for dinner
• the boy keeps arguing
• I keep yelling at him
  
• God loves me anyway
• that makes everything better
  

I Never Wanted To Keep Her In Pink

When Critterbug was a baby, we often had questions as to his gender. I didn't really understand that, as to me he looked like a boy (right from the start, to me he looked like a Boy rather than just a Baby), and he was always wearing 'boy' clothes - little jeans and blue shirts with monsters and trucks and stuff on them - but I understood that people didn't want to say 'what a cute little boy!' only to be told he was a girl, and we were just a little untraditional in our clothing choices, especially since it is generally deemed more ok to dress a girl in boy's clothes than it is to put a boy in girl's clothes.

Its getting a little ridiculous with Gosling though.

Granted, she doesn't have a particularly feminine face yet (not that she looks masculine, she just looks like a 'baby' instead of a 'girl'), but when she's wearing a pink t-shirt, a pink velvet skirt with butterflies and flowers on it, a pink velour jacket, and pink tights with more flowers on them, she's holding a pink teddy, has a pink dummy (pacifier/binky) in her mouth, and has two pink blankets in her pram, people STILL ask if she's a boy.

That's right, its a boy. We're just trying our hardest to scar him for life.

Maybe once her hair grows out we'll stop getting stupid questions? In the meantime, despite not wanting a frothy frilly pink girl, I have resigned myself to the fact that if I want less confusion, I'm just going to have to have one, and I'll never be able to take her out dressed like this:

I Confess: On The Dress, There Has Not Been Much Progress

This is approximately what it should look like when finished. The skirt will stand out more because of the underskirt, and I'm hoping to make a sash also, but you get the idea.

So, I didn't manage to get Gosling's dress finished before the wedding, which was a pity, but totally expected. The bride lent me a gorgeous little purple dress that had been her daughters, so my bub was cute and matching anyway. So glad I'm not the only one who has a stash of no-longer-needed baby clothes lying around.

I am continuing to work on the dress, and I'm quite happy with how its coming along. It doesn't look professional, but I never expected it to. I'm sewing it by hand, I'm making it up as I go along, its by far the hardest thing I've ever attempted (yes, I consider a dress to be harder than a stuffed toy), and I only have very short spurts in which to sew - we're talking 5 minutes here, 10minutes there - so yes, I'm quite happy with how things are turning out.

Things I've learnt thus far:

• backtracking on a row of running stitch is nicer than doing a whole row of backstitch (thats nicer as in 'I prefer doing it', not necessarily 'looks better')
• skirts are easy, except for the opening at the back for a zip/buttons
• sewing is easier if you don't have a baby sitting on your lap
• sometimes, my stitches are visible where they shouldn't be, and I DON'T CARE
• arm holes are EVIL
• it helps if you have your pattern figured out before you start the actual sewing
• the needle threader is close to useless
• clipping curved seams/hems makes them sit SOOOOOOOOOOO much prettier
• pins are good, use as many as will fit
  
• ARM HOLES ARE EVIL
• I want to rub my face on the paler fabric because it is so nice and soft
• I still can't use a thimble
• I need to find my own scissors and stop using mum's
• I really don't know if I'm up to hand sewing button holes, and may have to break out the machine when it gets to those.
• ARM. HOLES. ARE. EVIL.*
  Unfinished arm-hole. Needs to have a facing put on.
  

My current aim is to get it done by Christmas. That would be good. Don't know that it will happen. The fact that Gosling is now sleeping unwrapped most of the time should help, but this wretched heat makes me want to just lie down and sleep too, instead of sewing or cooking or cleaning or feeding the kids (did I just say that?)..

Having two separate needles helps too. I have a scrap of fabric in my pin box with the needles in it when they aren't in use, and I am in fact using two needles. One for the dark thread, one for the light. I have no idea why its making things easier for me, but I've found it a lot easier to switch needles, and keep threading each one with its own coloured thread, rather than using one needle and alternating thread colours. I know, my brain works oddly.



*The mostly-arm-hole-shaped facing I've used instead of trying to 'hem' them properly has made things a LOT easier. But what would have made it EVEN EASIER, is if I'd made the shell and lining separately and then put them together, instead of treating it as one piece. Then I wouldn't have had to bother with all the clipping and folding and facing and cutting and screaming and swearing and finger stabbing and trying to only sew through three-out-of-four layers.... Next time. Next time I'll know.

Brought To You By The Letters "E" and "W", and By The Number "2"

Things Gosling doesn't (or does, but only partially) digest:

• peas
• corn
• carrot
• broccoli
  
• olives
• sultanas (golden raisins)
  
• pumpkin

I can understand all except the pumpkin, considering it's well and truly mushed up when she eats it.

Ok. I'm done. You can go eat now.

:D

Photodump - My Garden

WARNING!!! There are 20 photos in this post! Expect slowness!























All photos taken on a digital point-and-shoot. Photoshop was used to shrink&sharpen (sharpen not needed if I'd left them big), and watermark. No colour correction, no darkening or lightening, this is what you can get from a normal camera.