Creative Play With Pencils

India has a copious supply of pencils and art supplies, most from presents she's received over the years. As wonderful as it is to have lots of art supplies it is getting a little ridiculous.

The other day India discovered a new use from her pencils and she's been having lots of fun with them ever since. Footpaths and mazes are made fun and colourful with pencils like skinny wooden blocks.

She has even been making wall mazes with pencils and Bluetac so that Mio doesn't mess them up.

365 Handstands- Week 41

Day 281- All packed for our trip to Sydney and off to bed early.

Day 282- Balcony handstand at our hotel in Newtown after a big day of exploring.

Day 283- Handstands in the Chinese garden at Darling Harbor. 

Day 284- After a last minute cancellation of our flight we had to find a hotel for the night. We were lucky to find a place at 8pm, the only one available on Anzac Day. I was tired and grumpy but felt a little better after a quick handstand.

Day 285- Home from Sydney and very keen to jump into bed- hence the very lazy photo.

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Snack Time

One of my favorite snacks at the moment is sauerkraut and carrot juice. My girls and I like to sit around eating sauerkraut out of the jar together. My jar is almost empty and I'm excited about being able make a new batch soon.

365 Handstands- Week 40

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Pop Up Forearm Stand

I've been playing around with my forearm stand practice and working on popping up into it. It's challenging but lots of fun.

India has been doing loads of handstands and generally being her silly self, and Mio had bumped her head earlier so was feeling a little fragile.

365 Handstands- Week 39

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Mio's Harem Pants Tutorial

I'm totally in love with these pants. The combination of beautiful fabric and the baggy style is just so cute. Little boys and girls alike would look beautiful in these easy and fun pants. The pattern is very forgiving and should allow wear for many months (something I like to look for when it comes to clothing for little ones).

These pants sewed up super quick and I liked the first pair so much I had to make a second.

Here's a quick tutorial of how I put them together.

First I made a quick paper pattern. Fold the fabric in half and place the pattern on the edge of the fold- that way when you cut it both sides will be exactly the same. These pants measure about 70cm at the widest point and about 32cm from waist to crotch.

Pin fabric right sides together down the sides and across the bottom of the pants, then sew together. You can then use an overlocker or zigzag stitch to finish all the edges including around the waist and leg holes.

Once all the edges have been finished so they don't fray you will need to fold the waist band over, pin and then sew, making sure to leave a gap to thread the elastic through.

I wanted to have a little gathered frill around the waist so I worked out how wide the elastic was and how far to sew from the edge of the waist. I then sewed around so the elastic would fit in nice and snug. I you didn't want a frill you could use thicker elastic or make the fold on the waist band thinner. 

After sewing the waist band it's time for the legs. Fold over and sew around the leg hole making sure to leave a gap to thread the elastic through. For the legs I used thinner elastic than I did for the waist.

Here's the pants ready to have the elastic inserted.

Thread elastic through by attaching it to a safety pin and pushing it through the space in the waist band. When the safety pin comes around to where it was inserted you can then adjust the elastic to the right length and sew the ends of the elastic together.

After threading the elastic through the leg bands you can sew the holes where you inserted the elastic closed and the pants are ready to wear (and you can finish that pot of nursing tea!).

These pants just look so cute, you can pull the legs up to bellow the knee when it's warm or have them long when it's cool- perfect for the all over the place weather in Melbourne.

Repair

So my beautiful knitted socks got a hole it them- a very big hole at that. It was definitely beyond a darning job so I decided to knit a patch for them.

I picked up enough stitches along the bottom of the foot to cover the width of the hole and then just knit the square until the length of my little square covered the hole. After casting off I stitched the square to the bottom of the sock and it was as good as new again ready for winter!

365 Handstands- Week 38

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365 Handstands- Week 37

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