Magic trousers

The other week I discovered this pair of trousers in my scrap knitting box. They must have been lurking there for a while unbeknownst to me. I emptied the box out late in the afternoon – in a vague effort to find something interesting for my lovely 1 year old to play with while I cooked dinner- and lo and behold the trousers metaorphosized on the floor.  All I had to do was sew them up. One minute a jumble of misshapen squares, a fanciful flukish flick of the wrist and wahlah, there before me were the trousers. Suddenly my mind was opened up to an entire wardrobe made out of simple granny squares!

Ava's magic trousers

Don’t you love it when things just seem to create themselves?

Arrival.

This morning my lovely chickens FINALLY blessed me with an egg. HOORAH. Not only was the egg deliciously smooth and creamy clad, but it was left delicately balanced in the roosting box. Miracle of miracles. There was no scrounging under the bushes bound for disappointment today. One simple lovely egg in its right place. What a calming effect it has had on my day.

Deliberation

In my HUGE four hours a week of childfree time, this week I am going to take stock and deliberate. My overlocker is broken and all my projects seem just too difficult without it….what was life like before I had machines? Lots of slow hand stitching and spinning…..deliberation while I sewed. Deliberation has become somewhat of a lost art in my household since I have had children. I can’t seem to wake up early enough to beat the rush of weetbix and yoghurt, I can’t seem to settle long enough amidst the endless endless questions of the day, and I can’t seem to raise my eyelids without my eyes crossing after 9pm. (deliberation with my eyes closed?  Heh heh deep meditatve slumber more like) So today, I am focusing on arriving home. I landed, unpacked and washed over two weeks ago. I have been snuggling with my husband and children for a fortnight, and yet only yesterday did I begin to feel like I was actually home. I have settled a little, my feet are beginning to reattach to the roots under the floorboards. I had a wonderful journey in China. It was amazing to visit a country with such a rich and vast history of people. Chengdu is beautiful and ravaged and sad and hopeful all at once. It is in reflecting that I guess the full impact of this incredible place will begin to seep into my being and settle with me at home. Ah, to journey and come home again. To let the land pass through me and leave me richer and more blessed where I am. I loved China. I love China. I love its people. Going there has reminded me of how precious we all are. Underneath the surface- without the distractions of language and culture- we all long for the same things, even if we can’t put a name to them.                Ellen

The GREAT Wall

 

It’s always surprising what you find at the bottom of your bag. I have a bit of a Mary Poppins bag myself. It seems to be able to hold the endless array of bits and bobs that I carry round. Only trouble is I’m constantly losing and then finding stuff again and often things don’t come out the way they went in.

I made this felt ipod cover for my husband and it’s come in handy for the scrapes that seem to befall the ipod. Who knew it would also be useful for collecting the eucalyptus lollies that were roaming freely around the bottom of his bag quite forgotten after the sore throat had gone?  

     

I hadn’t thought of lollies as an art material but I must say I like the look of the ipod cover with them rather than without. If it could sit on a shelf as an art piece I think I’d leave them on but alas this is a machine in high use and the eucalyptus lollies don’t add to it’s usability so I took this picture instead.

 

Cheers

 

Amanda