Is it just an Australian thing to make children parade around in stupid hats (or bonnets as they're more commonly called) before they get to hunt for Easter eggs?   

When it comes to holidays, living in Australia is a bit like living in a parallel universe. Christmas cards feature snow scenes and holly even though it's 35 degrees celcius outside, Easter bonnets are adorned with spring flowers, baby chicks and rabbits despite the fact that the leaves outside are turning yellow as it's autumn.

Both Lizzy and Mart wanted flowers, rabbits and chicks on their hats.  I wanted them to be simple, quick and easy.

Between the three of us we came up with some crazy easter crowns.  I cut a strip of felt to fit their heads, they arranged a whole heap of Easter paraphernalia and some silk flowers  on them and we hot glued it all in place.

I was kind of hoping for some silly photos to compliment the silly headgear.  While Lizzy wasn't in that kind of mood, this  little guy was happy to oblige!

 They both loved making their crowns,  but best of all were the left over chicks that were adopted when they escaped the hot glue gun!

Simple pleasures...

I did so much sewing before Christmas that I thought a week at the beach would be an ideal time for break.  

In a moment of craziness I decided to come away without any sewing.  That’s right – no hand sewing, no machine, fabrics or patterns.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.  Three days in and I’m starting to feel very, very twitchy… especially as I dropped my Kindle last night and I am now without any reading material.

With the absence of  any real sewing or reading to do I’ve resorted to the best possible alternative – setting some New Year's Sewing Goals by blog hopping!  What would we do without craft blogs? 

So it's been a little quiet around here - life has been rolling along, but unfortunately, the blog hasn't!

We've been celebrating birthdays...

and traveling the world...

Yes -  that really is the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park...

But we're back... and it's a nice place to be!

PS - we've also been planning a new series of classes.  If you are in Sydney and would like to learn how to Sew some gifts for the lovely little people in your life, have a look here

It's been a chaotic few weeks for our family. We  decided to move homes, found a great place to move to and moved, all in the last 2 weeks. Rob went away for work for 5 days on the afternoon we moved. In the middle of it all we celebrated Madeleine's birthday. Phew!!

As we  slowly surface from the huge mountain of boxes, what am I thinking about? I am thinking of calmer and more peaceful times. So, as I look back fondly on our beautiful Easter break at the beach, I thought I would share my holiday sewing.

This is the view Caroline and I had in the little room we set up for sewing:

Who couldn't be inspired by that?

When I go on holidays, I always manage to squeeze the sewing machine in, no matter how tightly we have packed the car. However, I always struggle to be organised when it comes to the projects I take. Inevitably I pack the fabric but not the coordinating thread, the pattern but not the zipper and buttons.

This holiday I found the perfect solution!

This is one of the projects I made:

It's  from Clothkits. Readers from the UK probably already know about Clothkits, but I was lucky enough to stumble on their website late one night. They have a great range of kits to make children's clothes, women's clothes, soft toys and rag dolls. The kit included everything I needed - fabric, lining, buttons, thread and instructions. The cutting lines were printed directly on to the fabric so there was no need to fuss with a pattern. You can see why it made the perfect holiday sewing project - the kit contained everything I needed, it was a simple project, with a lovely end result and Pippa loves wearing it.

I also ordered the Pewter Rob Ryan Hold Me Skirt for me and  the VW Traffic Dungarees for Will:

Unfortunately these will be made in my very disorganised, chaotic new sewing room, rather than while listening to the waves rolling into the beach!

I'm dreaming of holidays...........

We started the morning with chocolate.

We hunted for eggs in the garden.

Can you believe our Mums made us wear matching Tshirts?

We made and ate hot cross buns.

We had a fabulous day but we were sad that Lizzy wasn't well.

We'd like to thank our Mums, Dads and the Easter Bunny for making this day possible.

Mums please note - it won't be long before we refuse to do the Tshirt thing.

Firstly, and most importantly if you are looking for Caroline's beautiful creation for Project Run and Play, just scroll down a little. It's the next post.

We are on holidays!
It's a funny sort of holiday. I did the maths and there is approximately one hour between 9:30am and 4pm when all our children are awake! With Will's morning and afternoon naps and Pippa's middle of the day nap there isn't much time for family activities. So we either split up, spend a lot of time at home, (lucky we are staying at my lovely sister-in-law, Katie B's gorgeous place) or all go out and manage overtired children.
Despite all that, we are having a fantastic time. Maybe it's actually a pretty good balance.

We've caught up with friends at the West African Children's Festival at the Immigration Museum. The kids loved the craft activities, face painting and drum workshop. They took their dancing lessons very seriously!

We went to Heronswood, the home of the Digger's Club, where they preserve and sell heirloom fruit and vegetable seeds and plants. If you ever need inspiration for your vegie patch, this is the place to go. We saw herb gardens dancing with butterflies, parterre gardens of vegies, passionfruit vines dripping with fruit and tomatoes, oh the tomatoes! I don't even like tomatoes and I wanted to plant all 40 varieties  they sell in our back garden! It was the perfect place for a picnic, a walk and a delicious afternoon tea of scones, jam and cream.

We've also been enjoying the Children's Garden at The Royal Botanic Gardens. Nothing beats a fountain designed for children to play in on a hot summer's day!
We loved the Mirror Exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. It is an exhibition featuring collages from the recent book, Mirror, by author and artist Jeannie Baker. The book is amazing and the collages used to create the book are absolutely breathtaking. It was great to show the children the art behind the book.
Let's not forget Brunetti's. A truly amazing combination of cafe, gelateria and pasticceria. An absolute family favourite!

And that time at home? Well, it hasn't gone to waste:

I have been playing with our new sewing machines and having lots of fun. I finished my dress (Madeleine took the photo!). It's loose and cool - perfect for a hot summers day or a trip to the beach. The baby blanket is slowly growing and I've had fun with some embroidery from a Japanese embroidery book. I plan to make this piece up into a very sweet triangular pouch using the tute by innocentia via whipup.
So all in all a pretty good holiday - catching up with friends, eating well, lots of fun activities for the children and some time for sewing. Who could want for more?

As we struggled to pack everything we needed into the car before leaving Sydney for our holiday, I blamed the kids. "When you travel with 3 three children under 6, you need to bring a lot of stuff for them." I said to Rob. "We can't do without a travel cot. Will still has reflux. He and I are always covered in vomit so we have to bring plenty of clothes. Don't forget we need to pack Will's backpack carrier."
Without complaint, Rob packed the car. He squeezed essential items into every nook and cranny. He packed into our car more than I believed physically possible.
When we arrived in Melbourne, it became increasingly evident that it wasn't the children who were to blame.
I had packed a few (essential!) sewing items for myself:

1. sewing machine (Well, I couldn't possibly buy 8 brand new sewing machines on Sunday and leave for a holiday on Monday without taking one of them)
2. wool and needles to make a baby blanket for a friend (I have to have something busy to keep my fingers busy on a 9 hour car trip)
3. 4 sewing books (Inspiration!)
4. a dress I didn't quite finish but am hoping to complete and wear in Melbourne
5. secret sewing business for my Mum and Caroline, who both have birthdays in February
6. my tin of embroidery threads and a variety of embroidery projects (Variety is the spice of life!)
7. some sewing projects for Madeleine (The best way for me to get some sewing time when the little ones are asleep is if she and I can sew along together.)
8. a beautiful piece of cotton/linen to make a shirt for myself (I needed a project to try out the new sewing machine.)

Thank goodness I only packed the essentials.
Hopefully, as the children get older, there will be more room in the car for my stuff!!