Kids' Art on Saturday ... otherwise known as KAOS?!

After an encouraging start two Saturdays ago, the kids & I sat down yesterday afternoon to spend some art time together. This week we again used the Art Projects for Kids blog, and Kathy's Picasso Pastel Portraits tutorial. Again, her instructions were foolproof and each of my kids enjoyed their time enormously. I printed out a few examples of Picasso's works (this, this, this, this & this) as inspiration. Here are their creations:

'Waking from a Peaceful Dream' by Eldest Blossie, age 12

'Sleeping in a Garden Bed'

by Littlest Blossie, age 7

'Good or Evil?'

by Boy in the Middle, age 9

My husband asked our boy, "So what do you think makes a Picasso a Picasso"? His immediate response was, "Well you just make it look weird really"!!!

My first snow!

An amazing day for us today - snow!! Neither I nor any of my kids have seen snow before, so it was very special. The locals said the snowflakes were the biggest they'd ever seen - the size of fifty cent pieces. It was overwhelmingly beautiful, & a whole lot of fun for the kids at school. The photo below is my daughter's English class . Hmmm, not much English done today! The weather forecast is predicting significant snow to come. Very exciting! More snow arrived tonight, which inevitably meant some after dinner snowball fights! And would that happen to be my son in his pyjama pants? Well of course! I realise snow is a bit ho-hum for so many of you from the Northern Hemisphere, but for me seeing snow falling from the sky for the very first time today, I was overwhelmed by it's transforming beauty, and it's amazing silence! A friend's young child thought it was God fluffing his pillows & showering us with loose feathers! I was awestruck by His creation today.

Jigsaw puzzle, Dear Jane?

The latest blocks for my Dear Jane quilt:

A1 Pinwheel Gone Awry - not perfect, but finished!

H6 Pie Sale - not happy with how the seams are showing through from the back on this one.

Our fearless leader, Anina, has graciously given the Dear Jane group a break for a week or two to catch up on some blocks. I think I am about seven behind. Here is my Dear Baby Jane so far: Just like a big jigsaw puzzle really - except that I've never done a jigsaw with over 5000 pieces!!

Rustic sweet treats

Where did that weekend go? These little treats were the highlight of our weekend. Yum!

Rustic almond biscuits

125g butter, softened

135g (2/3 cup) caster sugar

1 egg

180g (1 1/3 cups) plain flour

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

175g whole unblanched almonds

Cream butter & sugar. Beat in egg. Mix flour with spices, baking powder & salt, then fold into the butter mixture. Roughly chop 125g of the almonds in a food processor until they are a crumbly texture - not too fine. Fold into biscuit mixture. Dot spoonfuls of mixture onto a paper-lined tray. Press a whole almond into the top of each biscuit. Bake, 180 degrees celsius, 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!

Things I LOVE about this bag

1. I LOVE that it is FINISHED!

2. I LOVE that I bought the fabric one day and used it the next.

3. I LOVE that the buckle that I found just the other day at the op-shop is: no longer attached to a hideous plastic vinyl belt; and no longer destined to sit in my cupboard of 'might need it one day' stuff for years.

4. I LOVE the soft, suede-like feel of the moleskin fabric that I used for the main bag body, found amongst remnants at a local furnishing store.

5. I LOVE that I could use a piece of fabric from my stash, which, when I received it in a Fabric Club years ago, was convinced I would never use. It was perfect! (Bottom frill & tab)

6. I especially LOVE that this bag matches perfectly with a woollen coat of my mum's from the '60s. I used to wear this coat when I was at University, & since moving to colder climes, have dug it out again. It is beautifully warm & my all-time favourite coat, right down to the labels inside. 

I got one ... I got one!

Look what just arrived in my inbox. I am so honoured Peg - you are too kind!

Missed - by that much!

A quick post to prove the frilly dilly bag is indeed FINISHED! I missed the midnight deadline by half an hour, but it's finished nonetheless. I will post some better photos tomorrow in the light. It's time to pack away my glass slippers & hit the hay. Goodnight!

Frilly dilly bag - after two hours

Two frills done, three to go. I already like the stripe more - it is less 'in your face' now that it is gathered. No more sewing today until after the kids are in bed. But I have until midnight to meet Peg's deadline! Do I turn into a pumpkin if I don't make it Peg?!I found this groovy buckle amongst my junk - I mean, amongst my precious collection of 'things that might come in handy one day'. It matches really well, but might look too much - I'll see! Talk to you again at midnight!

Two precious hours

My enormous thanks to all you lovely girls for your birthday wishes yesterday. I may have left good friends behind when I moved town in January, but have made many more through blogging. It was very special to see message after message in my inbox last night - you all made my day!

This is the other fabric that jumped into my bag yesterday:

I have been wanting to make a more wintery version of the Janelle Wind 'Frilly Dilly' bag that I made recently. The stripe is screaming 'too bright' at me today, & yet yesterday it seemed so right! However, in an attempt to finish something ... ANYTHING! ... for Peg's Finish Five in July Challenge, I am going to make this bag up today, regardless, & hope it turns out alright! I have two hours before I have to collect the kids from school, so here goes ...

They say it's my birthday!

And yet I'm sure my last one wasn't that long ago! I left all my lovely friends behind who would have spoilt me today when I moved in January. So I took 'me, myself & I' for a special treat - a drive to visit Hatched & Patched. It was a beautiful sunshine-y day for driving & Anni's shop was heavenly as always. I spent all my birthday money & then some! 

I treated myself to Anni's newest book, 'Simple Pleasures', just a few more fabrics for my Dear Jane (!), a set of Dear Jane rulers & the essentials to try some needlepunch embroidery. And then there is another little bit of fabric that coerced it's way into my bag - but it is already in the wash & will have to wait for show-and-tell tomorrow. I feel that I have done a particlarly good job in making myself feel special today! Well done me I say! Now, where's that champagne gone?