easter

Bit of a busy week!

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So I am supposed to be writing a paper at the moment, but it is so hard to get anything done with the week I had! It all began with a stuffed animal sewing workshop with Kinder and 1st-grade kids at my work as an auction prize. Here are a few of the animals made by these first-time sewers and I was really impressed with their perseverance and creativity.

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After the workshop, we had a call with our architect in Melbourne (our friend) who completed the design drawings for our house, and we absolutely love it! Our block is not huge so we are using the space very effectively. We just love the addition of colour and the skylight to bring in light to the addition at the back of the house. The front is a cottage that will be the master bedroom and downstairs bathroom. The extension on the back will be the living and dining all open plan – which I love! And the upstairs is the kid’s bedroom and their bathroom. I am so happy about this house and am so looking forward to seeing it built! Waiting patiently is hard, but I know it will all be worth it.

Thursday we had an open house at Stevenson Elementary for our 4th grader and saw her beautiful artwork and stories on pioneer times from her trip to Fort Ross. This week they are off again to Coloma for the gold rush overnight field trip with other parent chaperones which she is looking forward to doing, away from her parents :/

Friday night was Missy’s birthday, so we went out for sushi together as a family for her choice of dinner. Afterwards, I had a date with some friends to celebrate a March birthday with lots of cocktails, delicious Mexican food and dessert – check out the volcano cake from Agave.

At work we created a lovely craft for the kids to do with an invitation to write a personal narrative about their family using various materials, they crafted them to discuss experiences, their family and pets and it is such a great way to encourage writing through art.

Saturday was the big party for the 10-year-old! We were lucky we had beautiful sunny spring weather – the plan was a sewing felt animal picnic at the park but the kids really just wanted to play together, which was fine! The cake was a vanilla bean bundt cake with sprinkles inside to make it the funfetti version. I had made a funfetti cake a couple of years ago with natural sprinkles which did not really work and I realised what the secret was – it is the sprinkles from Safeway that are unnaturally brightly coloured.

We set up the craft table for the kids to choose their cat or dog – Missy had asked her friends beforehand so we knew what to cut out and they were ready to go! What ended up happening was the parents were sewing and drinking, and the kids were playing – so we had to call them over to stuff their animals so they could take them home as their party gift! I love the button eyes on the dog with the multicoloured floss.

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And then Sunday was Easter day, and the kids had their egg hunt inside the house as the garden was a mess from the chicken sitting.

And to come to full circle to the end of the week, we have another open house for the middle school tonight, and this is where we see what the mysterious tweens get up to at school! We showed our appreciation for the teachers and the communication they share, as the kids are not very good messengers!

I really love the quilling of Victini the Pokemon, and the owl – the scary teacher pic at the bottom is a bit dark for me. So it makes me happy that my son is finally doing art and over the summer I have signed him up for a How to draw Manga camp, and I am looking forward to seeing what he creates there. I need to get him ready for the arts and cultural hub of Melbourne!

Now a big breath and onto research for my paper – whew what a week!

A piece a Week – The Airport Sling from On The Go Bags

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I would have to say this project took me longer than a week to complete but I have to say that I am happy that I finally completed it! A lesson in all new tricks and techniques from the great book On the Go bags. It took me a while to understand how to apply the exterior pocket with zip to hold your passport and papers with a pen holder – now I will be well and truly organized for our trip to Australia in the Summer which was the inspiration behind making this bag. I accidentally made it taller rather than wider but it worked out well as my purse to hold cash and credit cards etc is a rectangle so it is perfect! I really like the fact I have reduced the amount of crap I carry around – yay!! And I feel so organized with those exterior pockets one for the phone and the other side for my glasses. 
This little pocket stores my phone

At the moment my glasses go in here but I will be sticking the passports in there too! 

For the Easter weekend I booked a cabin 6 months ago when the California State Parks had their sale as Samuel Taylor State Park is a popular destination for people who live in the city of SF. We travelled up to 2 hours to get there in bad traffic on a Saturday afternoon but still it was so worth it! The cabin is amazing – I have to say it is the best cabin I have stayed in at a State Park, the last time we went cabin camping I was freezing, this time – no way as there was an electric pot belly stove to make the cabin nice and snug. I loved the cabin and just outside our own little fire ring, picnic table and little BBQ (where you have to bring your own briquettes). We had a lovely beet felafel with goat cheese wraps in foil cooked on the fire with a salad for our easy dinner. For dessert we had banana boats which is a banana sliced in the center to make a boat then tuck in some chocolate chips and marshmallows wrap them in foil and have it all melt together – yum!

Our dinner beet felafel wraps and wine from Chile

The kids at the beginning of the hike find a California Poppy
In the afternoon before dinner we decided to go for a hike up hill to Barnabe Peak 1446 ft (447 m) high – which is 2 miles up and up and up the fire trail. At times we looked up and thought we are never going to make it as you can see from the pic below, Ash was ready to give up but we kept on powering on! I was dragging behind taking the pictures and it wasn’t until I said hi to a Michael Franti lookalike that said to me ‘almost there’ was when I felt the inspiration to keep on going to the top. Once we got there the winds were strong and the fog was rolling in – still it was an amazing 360 degree view and worth the hike! 

I can’t walk anymore!!

Green to the horizon

Feeling the wind as we are nearly there!!

You can just see the sea on the left

Looking out 

Heading on back down with views of the Kent Lake spillway

Going back down was fast though it was tough on the feet to stay balanced and not fall down the trail. We certainly slept well Saturday night with a few aches and pains in our legs.

An Indian Painbrush flower

As we were going down we saw lots of wildflowers in amongst the green – lots and lots of California poppies which was a real treat!

There they are little specks on the trail! 

Think we missed seeing this sign on the way up! 

Happy to be back in the cabin with this heater!

We had to enjoy the campfire not just for cooking but for hanging out with – it was super warm but the cabin with its coziness of the electric stove tempted me inside. Also I had other plans to do and that was to chat to the Easter Bunny about surprises for Easter morning 🙂

Burn baby burn

A story about the foxes

Surprises from the Easter bunny – eat my little friends he says and here are some eggs from my chicken friends, fair trade chocolate of course!

All lined up behind the blinds

Excited to find these goodies from the Easter bunny

We were sad to say farewell to our Fox Den – it was just an overnight stay but it felt longer and we are now walking that little bit slower and breathing deeper, as taking that time out in the woods was so relaxing.

The beautiful new cabin at Samuel Taylor State Park in the Madrone Campground

The log dude not the log lady?!?

After eating all that chocolate the kids needed to work it off with another hike to the beach – this hike was an easy one straight up to the beach via the Abbotts Lagoon Trail. I was hoping to see more birds but we just saw some hawks overhead – the dunes were closed off as the habitat of the endangered Snowy Plover, those guys are so cute and tiny. The kids decided they wanted to make some art from driftwood on the beach so Ash was on a mission dragging logs and finding sticks and Missy was digging holes for their collaboration piece they left behind on the beach.

Working together on a mission
 
All done – take this pic from the front Mom!

Fields of California Poppies

A piece a Week – A stingray gift for a baby and a weekend away to Aptos

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For my birthday I booked an Air BnB getaway by the beach which was so relaxing. The times have been so busy these past few weeks that a weekend away by the beach was the best thing to do. The fun thing was that it was the same weekend as Easter so the easter bunny came to visit the lovely garden right by the house. On the way back home we stopped by at Capitola – we have lived here for 8 years and this was the first time we visited Capitola by the sea. I was entranced by the Venetian Hotel pictures I had seen on the internet – so I was on a mission to find them! 
On the Sunday we were at Capitola it was a rainy and overcast perfect for photos and Capitola is an excellent place to take pictures, it still has a lot of old signage and the Venetian Hotel is so colourful. The evening before was my birthday and we went out to dinner to a vegetarian restaurant with Sri Lankan and Indian flavors! I was so excited to find a vegetarian restaurant with a Sri Lankan spin and could not wait to go – the restaurant was Malabar and the food was divine. I really should not have worn a belt that evening as I ate so much!! There was no alcohol on the menu but they did have a collection of very tasty drinks and a favorite was dates, rose water and almond milk so I will have to try this at home, what a combination. Malabar in downtown Santa Cruz was certainly a highlight of my weekend, a vegetarian restaurant and Sri Lankan goodness all in one 🙂 
For one of our teachers at school I made this stingray (our mascot the Stevenson Stingrays) for her little baby it is a spin on the Bunny Blanket Buddy pattern by Lion Brand Yarn. 
Hello stingray in the sea!

This is an eggplant dosa from Malabar – just like my mum used to make her eggplant curry. As the kids are not fans of eggplant at home so when I get the opportunity to eat it at a restaurant I grab it! This was spicy and in a Sri Lankan style of curry that took me back to my roots.

This dosa and it’s accompaniments – yummo!!
On our way back from our weekend away we stopped at Capitola and here it looks like the kids are wandering alleyways of Europe 🙂 This is the Venetian Hotel right near the beach built by a Venetian Architect in 1924 – super cool and very colorful! 
Look out you are on private property!! 

We took a wander on the pier where you can hire boats and kayaks to go fishing and hang out on the water for the day – I found this though Mr A is not too keen!

Should we go on a boat ride?? 

We had the easter bunny drop his eggs the night before in the garden – that was very foolish as when we woke up in the morning for the egg hunt the eggs had been pilfered by the bandits of the night! The raccoons had a feast of easter eggs and enjoyed the milk chocolate and dissed the dark chocolate eggs!

The hunters in action!

Egg aftermath after the bandits struck 😦

Score from the Easter bunny

“This dark chocolate egg sucks,” says Racoon and his buds!

A piece a Week – A Spring Tunic Top and some Silk Dyed Easter Eggs

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A whole outfit with the top and cute vegan shoes from Vegan Wares in Melbourne

This week somehow just flew by yet again! Still I managed to finish another tunic in rayon from the book I am Cute Dresses. This time the store had just over a yard of fabric left so I just worked with that so it became a top as I cannot get away with wearing skirts just below my butt anymore! I love the way this fabric drapes as a top and I would definitely choose this type of fabric as an alternative to silk – it is way cheaper and easier to care for as well.

Above is a shot with an outfit ready for a very hot day, it is super cute with a short skirt and I just bought some red pants that would go nicely as well from Betabrand in San Francisco – once I rock out in that outfit I will have to post some pics here! They were having a great sale on the weekend where my hubby scored this awesome hoodie for just under $100. Shop Local I say!

With buttons of three this week 

A close up of the fabric 

I managed to get an easter activity in at the last minute as a friend of mine did this fabulous trick with silk ties and eggs. I found a tutorial and made some eggs with some silk scraps from my fabric bin. They came out looking beautiful and I know for future reference to wrap fully not quickly but time was not my friend on Friday.

Silk dyed easter eggs in a ceramic bowl I made

Yay!! Happy to have found eggs left by the easter bunny in the garden!

Easter amigurimi

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Girl and Boy eggs in felt baskets

As a cute little easter gift for my friends from Australia I made these easter eggs from a Lion Brand Pattern I found. They make terrific tree decorations for easter being Spring over in this hemisphere and a super substitute for chocolate. The baskets were decorated by my kids with glitter, rhinestones and buttons.