I love my family...

For SO many reasons...
they are loving and kind and supportive and oh my, just a little bit crazy!
I love them for the silly little moments that make us such an awesome little 'family unit' such as tonight... as we are serving up dinner and we all hold hands to say grace and somehow start doing the hokey pokey...
oh yes, you heard right..
We were singing and dancing...
and doing the hokeiest of all pokeys!
(and the youngest of us is 16!)
We threw in 'McAllanisms'.. "you put your maaang in, you put your maaang out"
and we put our maang in, and we shook it all about!

I love the laughter that arose, because we realized we are just SO silly! And for the smiles that showed we know that what we have together is just so special.
These simple moments make me so thankful for this sweet and slightly crazy family I have been placed in!

and yes we did eventually get around to saying grace ;)

on Friends & Family ...

I've been feeling a little mixed up, anxious, excited and stressed at the moment. every. single. emotion. My head is full of so many possibilities... organizing ideas for my 21st birthday, putting samples together for school assessments, getting orders for some sock animals, fun thoughts of a certain spring meet up 2010, more school assessments, ideas for a new etsy shop, a new blog that I check far too many times a day, Tumblr and more! So sorry if my writing is a little all over the place.. I have a couple of things I wanted to share. A little video sent my way of a certain little Miss Keke...

yes walking!! and talking (we'll kind of)
seriously, wasn't this just yesterday??

And also in other fun news my dear paper-crafting-stamping-card-making-crazy friend Niki has just joined the blogging world!!! Check out her little space over at Friday Enough and say hi, she is a real sweetie...I'm so lucky to be part of her 'Australian Family' :)

ok back to that assessment..

Princess Maharaji Mousey Mousey

Was mucking around with old photos on iphoto (macs come with pretty fun software!) and came across these pictures Morgan's cousin was nice enough to send me. So I thought I'd share.
I'd like you to meet Beau/Susan/Sister... or as she appears here Princess Maharaji Mousey Mousey! (yes this little puppy has lots of names!)
This is Morgan's cousin's dog who nearly comes home with me in my handbag every time I visit!
I love this little puppy dog, can you tell?

ps. I miss my long hair!

invited (again)...

I have been meaning to share these for sooo long...
They are the invites I made for my brother's party. I had such fun putting these together & maybe even got a little carried away seeings as Stu didn't even get to see them until after his party.
They were very easy to make though. I simply created both the designs in photoshop and then it was just a matter of getting them to the right size and printing them on white and manilla A4 cardstock. I used a printed sample to get the right shape of the manilla folder and then used it as a stencil for the rest. I also glued the right hand side of the folders together so the invites didn't fall out.
Apparently Stu's friends though they were 'very cool' and raved about them, and he himself loved the little one I kept for his keepsakes - job accomplished!
ps. do you think the attendees got that it was a surprise ;)

For your ears...

So in this post about the cover I made for my ipod Aminta mentioned she was curious as to what was actually on my ipod. I was also inspired by Ali Edward's documenting Music for Baby post...
So I though it might be fun to share some tunes...
here are some of the songs in my current 'Favourites' folder:

"Bruises" by Chairlift - This is off the ipod nano ad. Does anyone else agree they pick such fun songs?
"How I spent my Summer" and "When your small" by Rachel Bishop - From CA. I've actually had a few email convos with this girl, she is so super sweet & has an amazing voice :)
Angus & Julia Stone, particularly "Just a Boy", "Mango Tree" & "Paper Aeroplane" - an Australian brother and sister duet from Sydney, currently on tour in the States!
"Louis Louis" by Teitur
"The Dessert Song" by Hillsong
"My Eyes" by Travis
"Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" by Vampire Weekend - not all their songs but this one is kinda catchy!
"The Luckiest" by Ben folds
"No more Blues" by Emma Pask
"Rock and Roll" by Eric Hutchinson
Brooke Frasier, particularly loving "The Hymn" at the moment
"Chelsea Dagger" by The Fratellis
"Divine Romance" by Phil Wickham - we have already a picked out as a wedding song.
The Weepies - Just all of it!
"Don't Let Me Fall" & "The Show" by Lenka
"1 2 3 4" by Feist
"Happy Birthday" The Innocence Mission
"Suddenly I see" by KT Tunsell
"99 Red Balloons" by Nena
"Fidelity" "Hotel Song" & "Better" by Regina Spektor
"Carried to the Table" by Leeland
The Juno soundtrack
"Lucky" & "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz
"Bannana Pancakes" "Better Together" & "Breakdown"- all the super good Jack Johnson stuff
"I'm gonna break your heart" "If You Knew it All Along" by Joy Williams (& plenty others and older stuff)
"The Beetroot Song" by the Lads - they sing about how God's love is like a beetroot stain and it will never ever go away awesome! & "My Forever Smoochy Girl"
"Circling Birds", "Shelter The Sea" & "Love is Lovely" by Mike McCarthy - this guy is from my area.
& do check out Vanessa Jade - I actually know this girlie :) Check out "Rocks in My Shoes"
"Homebird" by Foy Vance
"Grace Kelly" by Mika
"Heartbeats" by Jose Gonzalez
"Hey There Deliah" by Plain White Tees
"Ocean Sized Love" by Leigh Nash
"Don't Be Howling" by Holly Throsby

I also had a lot of fun getting together some fun 'oldies' for mum's 50th. Some of which are currently in my favourites folder:

"Living Next Door to Alice" by Smokie
"You Sexy Thing" Hot Chocolate
"Hey Mickey" Toni Basil
"Isn't She Lovely" Stevie Wonder
"My Girl" & "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" The Temptations
"Video Killed the Radio Star" Bangles
"God Only Knows", "Do Wa Ditty Ditty" & "Wouldn't it Be Nice?" By the Beach Boys (Wouldn't it be nice is my mum and dad's 'song')
"Years May Come, Years May Go" by the Irish Rovers - waaay corny but reminds me of my grandpa and home movies of dad as a little boy.
"Heaven Must be missing an Angel" Tavares
And of course Abba thrown in for good measure.

I can also often be found with either Chelle or Fairlight's blogs open listening to their music players while working away - these girls have pretty good tastes!

And I must also make mention of Morgan and Luke's band new band 'Inflight Conversation" (you can listen to them here.) There is even a little video of my M drumming away :) And I may be biased but I think it sounds pretty good for a recording they did themselves!

So what about you? What songs are in your top favourites? I would LOVE to know!

beret.

I really want to make this crocheted beret for this upcoming winter, which I found on Lincraft's website.
(check out their project library here for other fun free patterns!)
Problem is...
I do know how to crochet, but not enough to read a pattern *sigh*.
Looks like I'm going to have to try really hard to learn this winter, so this little cutie can adorn my head.

ps. do any of you readers crochet/does this pattern look too hard for someone who has only crocheted a fairly straight forward blanket, which is still going after 6 years?!!
Yes I'm serious.
This is the winter I can just tell!!
Only 12 more squares to go!

ps. Also loving this knitted beanie for anyone interested in a free gorgeous pattern.

Things making me smile this week..

- Just being on holidays & being at home with my family.
- Still overjoyed at having wireless finally set up! Woo hoo for blog surfing and watching dvd's while in bed!
- M finally getting his car back from being fixed after his little incident. And thankful once again for the protection over him that day. Oh & laughing over his cute little diagram - he always has to either sketch one or use objects within reach to explain things, but this one takes the cake!
- Hopefully getting to catch up with my beautiful cousin sarah. Love this girl so much!
- Browsing through this months Home Beautiful which arrived in the post yesterday & Excited over the free ticket to this event that is inside this months issue. And I can nicely include it as one of my 8 industry related events I have to attend this year as part of my course too.
- Finding an Australian Etsy seller who sells Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Joel Dewberry and other fun fresh fabric at great prices & is much cheaper than getting it posted from the States. Oh and it is also sold in metre lengths too - score!
- Just smiling over this cute little dress from Spool. (I wouldn't mind it in my size as a longish top over jeans either!) And yes it is in the Tina Givens fabric I posted about a few days ago. I love how shes used the bird motifs as the panels...

- And smiling over these amazing dresses from this Etsy shop. Expensive but such amazing and unique designs.
- A new blog and possible planning of a VERY exciting kind! Fingers crossed over here girls.
- Catching up with Morgan's Aunt, Uncle and Cousins. And mucking around with their new macbooks too.
- This fabric:

and this one too:

From Amy Butlers Midwest Modern 2 range which are soon to arrive in the post. I'm thinking a possible lap top cozy?!
- Driving lessons with my brother (he already has 12 hours!! only 108 logged hours to go...)
- A clean and snuggly puppy dog.
- Loving these baby slings by serena and lily. Not that I will be needing one for quite some time but isn't the embroidery so gorgeous? just had to share.

- Heading here tomorrow for fabric needed for a school assessment.
- New tops that were on sale yipee!!
- And just catching up on life and with friends and family - those that mean so much to me :)

Hope each one of your weeks are filled with lots of smiles too!

Got it covered!

School has been so busy this month that my poor sweet little sewing machine has been rather neglected of late. But I pulled it out the other night as my brother and Morgan had neglected me to play Age of Empires together, with their lap tops all linked up - such boys huh :) Still I do love that they get along so well! These two even have little inside jokes I have no clue about!! - love it.
anyway back to sewing...

So I made this little case for my ipod. It's the same as the cover Morgan sewed for his sisters ipod - I was even able to use the pretty pink left over elastic. This is a great quick little project and oh so simple. The nano is much much smaller than the classic ipod though and so I wasn't able to line it, bagging it out the same way. I also had to sew one side seam then overlock and sew the top hem before I sewed the second side seam, as the opening was so small.
It's quite a tight fit too so I probally didn't need to include the elastic closure, but it does work great so securing the earphones in place once they have been wrapped around :)

And loving this green fabric, which is part of Spotlight's new range of quilters fabrics. They must be feeling the pinch of so many amazing fabrics being purchased online - they even have their own range of vintage aprons too!! Yes Spotlight, my faith is slowley being restored..slowely !

Eye Candy

I just came across these amazing fabrics (on Etsy) by Tina Givens and had to share. Aren't they amazing? I particularly in love with these two fabrics - it must be something to do with the little bird motif.. And not only does Tina design fabrics, but also sewing patterns and stationary too! Click here for the full range.
And you can also check out her blog over here - there is a lovely free quilting pattern available.

And Happy Easter everyone! Enjoy all the chocolate and holidays and may the reason for Christ's suffering, his death and his amazing love be so real to you all over this break.

Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this, that while we were still sinner Christ died for us.

Changing

It's true, the seasons are quickly changing.
I've been reading many little blog posts floating around filled with the excitement and freshness which comes with the beginning of spring. But for us in the southern hemisphere it's a slightly different story...
The days here are still a little bit confused. One appears really warm and sunny, the next brings with it a slight chilly breeze. The change is subtle - the natural fauna keeps its colour year round but here are there is a tree beginning to loose its colour and starting to drop its leaves... Each morning and evening the air is cold and fresh and you can feel the beginning of winter.
Ugg boots, scarves and jackets are making their way into stores. And that feeling of cozy homely snugglyness is creeping into our world.

I'm hanging on to these warmer days, not quite willing to let go.
At least not just yet.
It has been a really good summer and I'm really going to miss...
Going to the beach with M after we finish work and lazing in the afternoon sun while pouring over Home Beautiful, Holidays on the boat where you live in just your swimmers and sarong the whole time, bare feet, paddle pops, discovering sushi, the sound of a summer evening, sleeping with the window open, going to the beach after church with friends, afternoon sunshine that lingers well after dinner time, car rides with the fam with the roof down, outdoor dinners..
oh boy the list could go on.

But here's to a smuggly and fun winter, - the winter fashions, cozying up with a movie in front of the fireplace, my 21st birthday (oh wow), snuggling down into bed at night with loads of blankets, warm cups of tea, home made soup and enjoying all this season has to offer.

A birthday to remeber (for sure!)

I have been bursting to mention something about a certain fun surprise party for weeks now. But alas my brother has been known to keep up to date with my blog and I couldn't risk him finding out! It was such a great (and memorable day) on board our boat ( a 40 foot timeshare houseboat which was built by my dad and that we joke was his mid-life crisis) and with Stu away at boarding school super easy to plan. He even left his password on his msn account so I was able to get on and chat to his friends to organize who was coming and get phone no's etc! I love being sneaky :)
*warning - picture heavy post ahead!*

On Saturday morning Mum and Dad went down early to bring the boat to the wharf, a normal ritual that usually Stu helps with - so Morgan kept him occupied at home with a computer game. Then they gave us a call to say everyone had arrived and we drove down to the waterfront. Mum and dad had closed all the curtains and had everyone hiding in the middle section of the boat so he didn't even realize until he was actually inside that all he's friends were there.

SURPRISE!

He was speechless for probally the first time in his life and had no idea what we had all been schemeing!

We went boating around the waterways near where we live - I adore that we live so close to this!

We travelled for about an hour, then dropped anchor and dad started the BBQ while the kids mucked around (which of course involves jumping off the roof!) and went swimming.


But then Mum remembered she had forgot the tomato sauce for the sausages! There was talk of just eating them without but Stu's best friend's grandparents lived across the other side of the water and so we pottered on over and Stu and his friend went to get the 'most important said sauce'. Funny story.. so the drop off between the sand bank and the deep water is pretty sudden and very quickly mum and I are yelling to dad to back off and that the water is getting too shallow. But it was too late. There we were a huge boat sitting in knee high deep water!!

We all got out to lighten the load and tried pushing the boat back into deeper water while dad used the anchor to try and winch us back out. Unfortunately the wind was so strong (it was what blew us on in the first place) that it kept blowing us back onto the sandbank . Despite my huge muscles being our driving force behind our operation rescue - ha as if!

and yes we did actually move the whole thing (10 tonnes) a tiny bit!

Unfortunetly we landed on the sand at the wrong time with the tide (which was going out) so our knee deep water quickly turned to beach, which in the end did make it easier to parent pick up purposes :) No-one seemed to mind, except maybe mum and dad who had to wait till around 9pm that night for the tide to come in to get off!
There was plenty of laughs about how all of this was just for a bottle of tomato sauce! (which was only 1/8th full by the way) and plenty of comments on how it had made the day extra fun anyway - always good to know.

(dad taking the opportunity to clean the boat)

We call this one 'Mark's Mistake' and yes haha my dad loves his speedos!

So we spent the rest of the afternoon and prolonged party sitting on the sand bank eating, chatting and playing on the sand and in the water. And playing rugby - It simply wouldn't of been Stu's party without a game of tackle football!

The rest of the afternoon was lovely and peaceful and relaxing. Cake was eaten speeches were made - yeah my mum is cute, some parents turned up to pick up their kids and then next thing we know my brother is lying on the sand in pain and we are running madly across the sand. Because you know there's ALL this sand and he has chosen to step in the one spot where this was lying...
Yup, a huge piece of sharp glass that burried itself half way into his foot. OUCH! In hindsight it was probally good that we were beached as it made it much easier for one of his friends to carry him back to the boat and put him on the marlin board. Leaving nice big drops of blood all the way up the beach - nice.
Nothing was going to ruin his day though and he was all laughs and smiles even as his foot was being bandaged up.
side note - I got a txt from brother the other day. He had football try outs this week and ended up with stitches in his knee from the whole process! Do he's pretty slow at walking at the moment, but he is pretty proud of those stitches!

So, a rather eventful and memorable birthday filled with plenty of surprises (for all!)

And if your wondering about Stu's funny tan. He has been doing rowing as his school summer sport where they get to wear these handsome lycra stretch outfits in pink - err cerise (sorry Stu) ! Here is his team rowing at the final regatta where the Sydney Olympics were held (he is the third from the back).