IF A TREE FALLS IN THE INNER WEST DO YOU HEAR IT?

Apparently not. It has rained here in Sydney quite a bit over the last few weeks. Saturday gone - we spent the day shopping, cleaning and kid wrangling. At 6pm that evening we finally went outside to discover our most beloved tree had uprooted itself.

This wonderful tree provided shade, comfort ,beauty and love and it even disguised the building next door. But unfortunately when black wattles are in full bloom they re rather heavy and all the wet has provided no anchor for its shallow roots.

We heard nothing - granted it had rained heavily all day - but to hear nothing and to step outside and find a wall of foliage is rather surreal to say the least.

SES were called - they came the next day and chopped the ol' girl up. Gosh they were fantastic!!!!!!!!!!

My very green thumbed mother arrives from the Netherlands in 8 weeks and assures me they will fix everything . MUM'S make everything better!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some images of the fallen tree

Big things little boy

There he is happy - dressed up - chocolate cake - all of his favourite things for Cam Bam.

This evening after the night time drama was over - the urging to change into pyjamas - teeth to be washed and EARLY TO BED. A few late nights and he is impossible.

I crept into my babies room to check on them - Anneke out for count, great. Cameron well he was staring at his canopy of stars. Cam I whispered what's up. He replied Mama "It stays in your head and just will not go".

Panic then calm - what is in your head. Bad thoughts of dying with out you and daddy. My heart sank, his realisation of his own mortality has hit. Mine hit at 8/9 - I remember clearly it does indeed stay in your head and plays over and over.

I sang - we talked of fairies and rainbows - I talked of the love our family has in all of our hearts. I crept out of the room, shed a few tears. I had hoped that this would be a few years away and that my Husband was not working late.

There are times that I feel he is growing faster then I can keep up - But then isn't that our job to keep them in dress ups, facepaint, silly songs and choclate cake for as long as possible.

DIY FELT FRAME

So I made this photo frame out of felt for one of the many babies born to our clan. I was inspired by tiny photograph buried in the back of cotton time a Japanese craft magazine . So here is a tutorial on my version



Tools

Felt
Needle
thread
Snap Fastener
tiny bit of stuffing
Tiny bit of ribbon
Roving wool for dry felting

First I created a template - as I have no compass I used circular objects around the house - my circle measured 16.5cm and the inner circle 8.5cm


I then cut out the front piece from my gorgeous stash of felt from winterwood

Be careful when cutting the inner circle, I used a Stanley knife to make the initial cut.


In the name of economy the remaining circles were cut from ordinary felt that I purchased from spotlight. If I were feeling more extravagant I would use winterwood felt for the entire project - but alas this is my comprise.

I cut two doughnut rings and two full circles


Blanket stitch the inner circle of the two doughnut rings together


I then needle felted spots on the front of the frame - I think stripes would look way cool as well - imagination being your only limitation I suppose.


You need double thickness for the entire frame to provide stability.

Add snap fasteners to frame - position at the top. I went through both layers of the backing of the frame and just through the backing layer of the front of the frame


15cm piece of ribbon which I wrapped around the snap fastener of the back part of the frame


Looks like this



Now blanket stitch the outer side of the circle. Ensure you stitch all four layers together leaving a gap at the top of frame large enough to insert photo. Then stitch front and back layers separately.


You could leave it as is - but I decided to add a little somethin somethin. So a cut out a little bird shape - two identical pieces.


Stitch them together and gave the wee bird a gentle stuffing


Attach bird to top of frame - insert stunning photo of delicious baby and hang.

Failed Creations

Not everything I visualise works and I am finding a kind of thrill in the unexpected rather then being horribly down on myself when it all goes wrong.

You see we have this beautiful table - a table I bought in Leiden - and I must preface, my poor suffering Graham had very little input - he hadn't even seen the apartment we bought - as the market was sooooo aggressive a decision had to be made immediately. Luckily Graham trusts me!

As we had no furniture, it was all in storage in Australia, we had to furnish our beautiful new apartment(we still miss that place 2 and half years later) . The Apartment was about 400 years old and rather like a warehouse - I chose a round table that could fit up to 10 people.

Graham fell in love with the table - more then I ever did - but tables are funny things - I have decided in some ways they are the most important piece of furniture in the house. Pre children many a fine meal, wine and raucous debate occurred around that table. Christmases celebrated, birthdays cheered and even tears have been shed around the this table.

Songs have been sung around this table - laughter and joy are now in grained in its wood.

This table holds the memories of a family from its conception to its continuing growth. Post kids the table was part of my baby massage classes - decisions made to return to Australia - more tears lots of tears.

Now the table has an entire room in our small cottage (the apartment is larger then house) and aside from hosting the requisite Sunday dinners, it is our craft table, drawing table - display table.

I nearly wept when my cousin from Leiden was over to visit us and sighed when he saw the table"how I have missed this table" he said "many a good meal was eaten around this table".

To my surprise - Graham told me we need to protect the table - please ing lets find something to protect it - from the scissors the glue and general kids stuff. Ah uh, I am on to it. Yesterday I put the plan in action.

I had previously got the kids to draw and decorate over a large piece of calico. I then attempted to sew some PVC plastic (you know the stuff you buy by the metre as table cloths) over the top. The little engine that couldn't, was my sewing machine and had to abandon the project half way through.

It still adorns the table - and kind of seems fitting that it does - as this table has been witness success and failure in the history of our family .

I think next time I would use double side Velcro to attach the plastic to the cloth - or perhaps dispense with the cloth altogether and move onto the next project