pimp my fila

so, the other day mr arran came home with this "fila sports bag" which he picked up for five bucks on clearance, for my still homeless laptop, because, you know, he worries about expensive technical equipment just lying around unprotected. This was just going to be a temporary measure until I got around to making an appropriate bag of my own design. Anyway, as I was sitting there admiring all the hardware on this bag, thinking how I could use it on the bag I was going to make, it occurred to me that I could in fact just USE THE WHOLE BAG.
so, I just unpicked the flap, and took the binding and lining off it and reused them on the new one, which of course is out of my beloved apple oilcloth which I was going to make the bag out of all along. It's embarrassing how easy it was, really. Well, easy for me that is, I'm not so sure about my poor sewing machine. Sewing through four layers of canvas and one layer of oilcloth can't have been too good for it. I swear one of these days if I come into any decent amount of money, I'm going to invest in an industrial machine. But, then again, a machine that can sew through heavy canvas effortlessly kind of scares the hell out of me, in the same way chainsaws do.
needless to say, after loving the first one so much, I had to go and get another one.

souvenirs

no road trip would be complete without checking out what the country op-shops have to offer. Although I did not visit nearly as many as I would have liked to, due to the weather (which we won't mention anymore, as it continues outside) and also the small matter of not wanting to stop the engine too many times because the baby would wake, I did manage to bring home this modest pile of vintage linens. There were a couple of times where arran actually did a few laps of the block while I had a quick squiz. It's hard getting away with going in by myself these days though as fin and willow have developed quite a liking for the oppies as well, what can I say, it must be genetic.

I also scored five of these fab plates. Aren't they the most perfectly hazyjaneish flowers you've ever seen?

the rainingest holiday I've ever had

well, we're back from our north coast adventure...actually, we got back last thursday, but it's taken me this long to get around to sorting out photos and blogging, in between loads of washing and entertaining children who are STILL on school holidays. May I just let it be noted here that it was my husband's insane idea to give them an extra week off school so we could get a week of holidays in before the school holiday traffic. Now, that would have been a good plan, had the Queensland holidays not started a week before ours. Hmmn. I've also come to the realisation recently that it may in fact be a good idea for me to take a look at the news occasionally, in particular the weather forcast. Because, you see, on our holiday to the so-called sunshine coast, we encountered possibly the shittiest weather I have ever experienced in all of my years of travelling. I have posted the above photo to give the illusion that we did, indeed have a gloriously sunny time. That photo was taken while we were in brisbane, the only sunny place we came across the whole time we were away.

Luckily for us, jasper did a lot of this, so we basically kept driving until he woke up. The other two were surprisingly well-behaved, considering they were confined to the back seat of a very well-stocked van for ten days. Every time we saw a break in the weather, we would stop and let them out to have a run around, before the next shower came. It reminded me of when I was a kid, when we always had dogs travelling with us (heaven forbid you should leave them at home), and we would have to stop every now and then to let them have a wee and stretch their legs. Much the same with kids, really.

Needless to say, we did not do the theme-park thing, but it would have been handy to know that they are situated smack-bang next to the freeway, so there is no sneaking into brisbane without the kids knowing what they're missing out on. Alas, next time I will do my research a little better. They were easily placated, though, by a trip to the museum. Can't you just see how excited they are?

All in all, it was a fun trip, even with the rain and everything else that went wrong along the way. (Did I mention the sliding door falling off the van, and having to get the kids and baby in and out through the front seat? That was fun)

We did see some great things, and even managed to stay dry, mostly. Arran ended up with a man cold, and jasper a baby cold, but they are both on the mend now, and the door is back on the van, which helps with keeping out the rain that is still pouring now that we are home. I'm sure it's sunny somewhere.

holiday fun stuff

the special event that I mentioned the other day was my mum's birthday. She turned 50 yesterday (yep, 50-34=16...I feel pretty lucky to be here). I decided against the quilt, as she has a chihuahua called maisy that sleeps with her,and although she would have really liked a handmade quilt to sleep on all day while mum's at work, I didn't feel like going to that much trouble for a tiny little dog. So, I went with the birthday skirt instead, which mum liked very much, and which the chihuahua won't be able to wear, although, let me just say that my mum is not much bigger than that dog.

I also knocked up a couple of pairs of holiday pants for the jasper, because he keeps growing out of everything, and he needs to look his best on holidays. We're off on our big trip today, so I won't be around for the next couple of weeks, I'll be too busy enjoying the sunshine, craftiness and country op-shopping of the north coast.

I'll leave you with this cute pic of the little man, titled "Where did my neck go?". Au revoir!