Smiles all 'round

And so it is finished - HSC done and dusted!

She hasn't stopped smiling since.

Nor has the rest of the family :)

A thing for green

The newly 18-year-old daughter of my last post has deemed that she needs a birthday quilt. She spotted this collection of 'Daisy Chain' by Amy Butler in my stash and swooned. She has a thing for green just now.

She declared that she wanted something simple and understated, not too fussy. I asked her to draw a sketch of what she was thinking:

We all fell about laughing at her expense. Her father said we could call the design, 'Excel Spreadsheet'! Poor sweet! Her brain is full to overflowing with HSC content. No room left for quilt designs obviously!

I pulled a few more aquas, navies and tans from the stash, to calm down the green. Can't say I'm big on green, but emerald is the 'go to' right now. And daughter has decreed it, so green it is.

After some consultation with the designer, we decided on a modification of her original plan. I did a quick mock up on my Quiltography app, which I can highly recommend. In the early days, Quiltography was restricted to a set of prescribed blocks, but with later updates, I can draw up my own blocks. It is lots of fun, quick and easy, and a whole lot more productive than Candy Crush! (If you're quick, you can get it for 20% off this weekend). Watch this space. Hoping to start putting this quilt together soon. Bloom x

Musical time

Our annual primary musical production happens in Term 3. I have been helping with the costuming for six years now, and I love working with the kids. We have a very talented Year 6 teacher who writes and produces the musical each year. This year's production had a tribal jungle theme, so costuming was lots of fun!

There was the 'Bocconcini' tribe, who were prime targets for the cannibal tribe because they were little and tasty!

 Lots of hawaiian print, a bit of snakeskin and colourful floral head dress for the 'Bocconcini'.

 There was the 'Bigboogi' tribe ... 

... my personal favourite in their black and white. I loved the different scaled prints with their red trim. They worked wonderfully on stage.

 

And of course, the cannibal tribe, the 'Kukabarbi' ...

... complete with papier mache eyeball necklaces and thigh bone headware!

 

The tale was a complete reworking of the Tarzan story,

 but with twin Janes ...

... and a Julia Bollard thrown into the mix! It was hilarious.

Short & sweet #1

Life in the Bloom household has been so full that the prospect of blogging about what has been happening seems overwhelming. In an attempt to get myself back into regular blogging, I've decided to do a series of 'short & sweet' posts every day or two; to whittle away at the mountain of news in small instalments.

I am going to start with the most recent newsworthy tidbit. This happened yesterday. We have been at the farm for the school holidays. I insisted on some 'quality family time' in the garden yesterday evening, which translated means, "I need some help weeding what I thought was a flower bed".

My Sweetness was weeding this patch of irises when he was startled by a sudden movement as a tiny bird took flight from amongst the leaves. On closer inspection, he found the most perfectly formed nest, carefully constructed on the ground and complete with three pretty speckled eggs.

My guess is that this is the nest of some sort of quail, not sure what sort. She flies away in such a hurry when we approach that she is difficult to identify. Perhaps a stubble quail? We all 'ooohed' and 'aaahed' over the find. Glad I insisted on the 'quality time' together! I think we'll do it again today, hey kids? ... Kids?!