[with love Heidi]

The hot springs sound lovely!

I got a text this morning fromAA friend who borrowed two of the Harry Potter costumes for her kids for Book Week! The kids look great. Eight kids over 3 families have used them, they were originally made for two families. I must tell the kids who let their friends borrow their costumes how impressed I am with their sharing!

[needlewoman]

Absolutely, H – always reinforce great behaviour even if you had to twist their arms to get it. Seriously, tho; it’s a great to know your hard work is giving lots of other children, (and their mothers) a happy time.

Good luck with the hot spring, RTWG. Hope it does the trick. If not, most kids do seem to grow out of it. Lots of reading out loud to the kids is good when togetherness threatens to overwhelm you, and ‘sticker’ books are always a boon to over stretched Mums, too.

[Tamara]

Hope the hot springs help RTWG. It isn’t fun to have eczema. If you read through history people would go and “take the waters” for various ailments and often it would work.

[lattemama]

House filled with dust from sanding drywall! Sewing room all but taped up to prevent said dust from getting in. Going slightly bonkers from lack of sewing/creating. Please to send help!

[mcholley1]

I’m joining the hubby on a work trip to Victoria, B.C. next week. Is anyone familiar with the island? What must I not miss? And, of course sewing and fabric stores are always on my list of tourist attractions.

Hot springs sound fab. I hope the baby gets some relief.

I’ve been sewing long enough now that I run into garments that I made being worn by kids in our circle that aren’t the original person we handed down to. That is always a bit of a thrill to know that multiple kids have worn them!

[Robin]

I love Victoria, but am not from there. Are you staying downtown? You can walk to Gala Fabrics on Douglas, and the Button & Needlework Boutique on View St. Pagliaci’s is great for pasta or salads on Broad St.

Don’t miss the Royal BC Museum. It’s worth the short drive to Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse. The beach is awesome for finding beach glass. If you make it to the fort say hi to my very good friend Bob. He’s a parks interpreter. He’ll also give you great advice on places to go and things to see.

Just wandering around downtown is cool. Check out Chinatown. There might be a farmer’s market near there on Wednesday. Satin Moon Quilt Shop is on Fort Street in that area.

Enjoy the ferry ride. It’s beautiful.

Be warned that prices for Canadian fabric is high and is sold in meters which is 39″.

[mcholley1]

Thanks Robin! So happy for the suggestions! I’ll be having quite a bit of “me” time while the hubby is working and the shopping all sounds like great things to do. Yes, we are staying at the Fairmont Empress, so looks like lots of these things will be easy to do.

We are flying in to Victoria and are a little bummed to be missing out on a ferry ride. The times weren’t going to work with our itinerary any other way. But, I did schedule a whale watching tour that we are excited about.

Oh, and SUPER pleased to hear about beach glass!

[Robin]

Flying is better! You can check out all of the little islands along the way. Beacon Hill Park is really close to the Empress. The inner harbor is right across the street from you, as is the museum. The parliament buildings are right there too. There are tons of touristy things to do: Miniature World, Wax Museum, Bug World, horse drawn carriage rides… Lots of great pubs and tea shops too, oh and the book stores. Lots of great used book stores and new ones too. And the hat shop. I could go on forever! Have fun. You’ll discover all kinds of wonderful places.

Rob has to go over for work from time to time, but not this summer sadly.

[needlewoman]

Have a happy holiday, mcholley, and enjoy being somewhere completely different. Fabric wise, you’ll be in good Aussie company buying by the metre. It may be more expensive, but that extra 3″ can make a real difference squeezing a pattern to fit. For easy reference, 1 yard = 90 centimetres. Safe traveling.

[Tamara]

Have a marvellous time Mcholley! Speaking of flying, my son’s teacher has just started her long service leave and has celebrated by flying to the U.k for five weeks. So we have relief teachers coming into the classroom which will be very interesting. From a parent’s point of view it will be interesting to know if their thoughts on my son’s school personality (I guess you could call it that) would be any different to the regular teacher’s views. It is just nice to gain different opinions on how the kids are going.

It RAINED! I mean really RAINED! We have a series of lows and fronts (and other stuff I am sure I learned in geography) that have given us a heap of rain. I went to feed the two lambs we have in the back yard yesterday and had to use the umbrella (because I need a drizabone) which turned inside out due to the wind and as it was I decided to sit it out a while because it was rather heavy rain! It has come right T the perfect time of the year. Some crops around look as though they have started to ripen (we say “turn”) but they have the green look back again now. Murray just checked the gauge. We’ve had 47 mm since Sunday! Awesome!

One thing is for sure though. This time of year is scarier to drive on our roads than during seeding or harvest. I swear that anyone who goes and buys a caravan needs to do a compulsory course on how to navigate country roads. They are absolutely so dangerous with how they drive on our country roads. Yes the wildflowers are pretty but….. The roads are narrow and often just gravel so caution is required regardless of if you see a rare species of orchid on the side of the road. A d read the map to know where you are going BEFORE you stop at the intersection to turn. The same rules apply to wherever the travel takes you – city or country. You just can’t stop for ten minutes at an intersection!

Ok get off the soap box now Tamara you’ve had your turn.

[meleliza]

Hello everyone! I’ve been MIA all summer. It has been busy for me with all three home full time and I’ve had very little time for myself, even on weekends. In fact, it’s been kind of a bum summer for me all around. Instead of feeling recharged and ready to take on the post Labor Day onslaught of germs and school demands, I’m so exhausted I can barely face the thought of 10 months of constant illness. Ugh.

Fingers crossed I’ll at least get some sewing done, I’ve done very little this summer. In addition to losing many weekends to travel, I hurt my foot and have to keep it elevated as much as as can. And it’s my sewing machine pedal foot too. Ugh again.

On the upside, I have taught myself how to smock and am completely and hopelessly hooked! I’m in the process of copying the little dress on the front page of Citronille right now.

I hope everyone else has had a better summer than me!

[Tamara]

Oh poor you Meleliza, I am so glad you’re back but the foot! How long are you off it for and what exactly is the injury?

[meleliza]

Just a bad bang. I had an X-ray but they said there was no bone damage. I wonder if there wasn’t a tiny fracture. I’m not supposed to run and my thighs have gained like two inches each. Groan. It’s hard to really keep it elevated much when I’m chasing the kids and on vacation, I was on it way too much. One of those annoying things that’s not so severe, but really inconvenient.

Lattemama, I sympathize! We have been restoring our 1860s house for 8 years, mostly ourselves, so I get it. But we haven’t done any good projects for a while and I am ready for some plastering and painting. I want smooth walls! Its such a hassle during, but after! After a good project, I love my house a little more. I want to tackle the downstairs hallway and vestibule. So that when I walk in, I see a home rather than a ghetto house.

[Tamara]

We have this documentary series called “Building Australia” showing at the moment and it features the different “types” of houses we have built to suit the different lifestyles we lead. I had no idea we actually copied the idea of a bungalow for the californian style but there you go, learning something new everyday. I just love how they had features like vestibules that we wouldn’t see as being so useful now. I am itching to do up a house (300m up the track) but it isn’t mine to do and we are STILL working out agreements.

It takes alot of mental and emotional energy to renovate a house I think but once it is complete you have this sense of total satisfaction and accomplishment.

Meleliza, it sounds like more of a bad bang to me if you have to off it for so long. I sprained my ankle not so long ago and (through pain) was forced to rest it – I should never have taken my work boots off as I was fine until then. But it was fine the next day. I suppose you go back for a review with the doc soon? And then you can get the all clear to use it again.

It is show day today and I haven’t got anything organised – will go have a look around later but because it is such a small one an all day visit would be bor-ing!

[needlewoman]

Dear J, and Mel; thrilled about the rain, and mega sympathy about end of summer blues, and bung foot. I banged my knee very badly a few months ago, and while it’s fine now, it was very sore and swollen for quite a long while although (mercifully) I didn’t actually do any real damage. Even without kids, I found it challenging to rest it sufficiently. But smocking sounds great – only done a little myself – but something that cheers you, and helps keep you stationary sounds like a plan. Go with it!!

Nicole, can I ask why you aren’t getting much time to sew at the moment? I mean, I can imagine all the other jobs that need to be done with a farm, and 5 children but it must be something serious to separate you from your machine.