Lucy Daisy

Lakeville, minnesota

2011-12-13T08:54:00.000+03:00

Can't believe we've been here nearly 6mnths!
Can't believe all the snow just melted!
Can't believe mum and dad rare coming to visit from Australia in a couple of days.
Can't believe chops is nearly 3 1/2!
Can't believe the gazillion things going through my brain!
Can't believe blogger doesn't work iPad very well!!!!!
:-) am very thankful for a wonderful husband and three lovely children.

Nearly a year since last blog entry...

2011-11-09T05:34:00.000+03:00

Well, we have been back in the US since June, and will be here a year and then hopefully back to Sudan. It has been a very busy year, packing our stuff into a container to store whilst were away from Sudan, coming here, setting up house, day to day life with three small children (I mean how does anyone manage to be creative, blog etc etc with three or more small children? There are amazing people who do it! I am in awe of them! I am not one of this people.)

We have a cool app on the iPad art pad, and also wasabi paint which in the last couple of weeks I have played with in sparish moments -like when waiting for small children to go to sleep!

And I have no idea how to get them from iPad to here, as I can't get it to let me even choose a photo. :-( so wil have to figure that out. Humph, I really thought I was about to put up a nice blog post!!!!! :-)

Ermmm...long time no blog...again...

2010-12-01T21:36:00.000+03:00

Some reasons for not blogging.....

Sept 21st 2010 at 6am M was born (can't think of nickname yet!)

She was 4.3kg - 9lb5

Lots of snow the day before we left the US

No proper snow clothes or closed toed shoes so...

Lots of layers and 2prs socks and plastic bags on feet!!!

Back home in Sudan

M with the mouse (Mousey) that I've had since I was born.

Hi again..

2010-09-03T04:17:00.000+03:00

Hi again...

I'm feeling quite a bit better. We are now in the US and the baby's due date is in 2 1/2 weeks!
It takes me a while to adjust to being back here, but it is very nice to be able to go to libraries and playgrounds (with Pots Pie and Chops) and enjoy air-conditioned shopping/house etc.

This last week I've had quite a bit of energy and feel pretty good- but am still looking forward to not being pregnant and having an actual baby instead!

In the US life is just much easier than in Sudan, and I have actually done some sewing - pencil rolls for my niece and nephews.

yay and bleugh......

2010-03-02T18:00:00.000+03:00

haven't been doing any sewing or anything much bloggable for a long while (it seems)...

have been feeling sick...
and tired...

and am very happy baby no.3 should be putting in an appearance mid september....
:-)

but still have very little motivation to do much more than look after potspie and chops etc etc ..
at least they take a midday nap so i can too.
:-)

am hoping to feel better soon.
with potspie i was (really) sick for the whole time but with chops it only lasted the first few months, and hopefully this one will be the same.

Why I don't get so much sewing done and a bag for Larissa.

2010-02-03T16:38:00.001+03:00

Our house has 'inside outside' windows because the big room used to be a veranda, and the rooms off it looked onto it. By the front door the windows collect pictures done by Potspie and Chops, and I also keep my plastic bag holder thing there. For ages there were just bags stuck behind the bars on the windows. Not very attractive!

Potspie and Chops are the reason I don't get so much sewing done - but I wouldn't change that for anything. :-)

I have, however, been trying to make a little bag for a young lady called Larissa. I am still finishing it, but here it is so far...

Old stuff (again!)

2010-01-25T18:18:00.000+03:00

So Matt has the camera with him - and he is in the Nuba Mountains (about 11hrs south of here) - so here's more old stuff....

This is about the size of a placemat (I made it about a year ago)- and I'm not sure what i'll do with it - I think the plan is to put it into the centre of a quilt - so to just keep building up around it. Except I think I used up most of that fabric....we'll see.

These are two blocks of what will hopefully in the (probably very) distant future be part of a big quilt for our bed.

Before I owned a sewing machine....

2010-01-21T19:08:00.000+03:00

Before I owned a sewing machine, I made this.

It hangs on the wall above my sewing machine, in our sitting room.

(The colours don't look quite right in the photo)

Simplest quilt ever for Kimber's baby.

2010-01-19T12:02:00.002+03:00

Pencil Roll and Bedroom.

2010-01-16T18:52:00.003+03:00

A pencil roll that I made as a present -and demonstrating why I should not try to sew on fabric with straight lines/patterns on it, but because it's full of pretty colours and patterns I really like it!

We share a bedroom with Potspie and Chop - not entirely by choice - but it means the room that could be a bedroom is a study/TV/book room - and it works out OK actually! Our house here is L shaped, 4 adjoining rooms, no corridoors, kitchen in separate room outside and a bathroom off the biggest room.

Anyway yesterday we moved a big cupboard out of our room, and rearranged beds - then I put some letters upon the wall. They are scrapbooking letters I got in the States a while back.

Potspie's new shirt thing.

2009-12-30T10:44:00.002+03:00

It has been a very long time since I made Potspie anything. So I thought I would. We go down to Kenya for some meetings tonight, and will be there for a week and half, and it will be colder than here, so the idea is she could wear it over a long-sleeved T-shirt.

I really enjoyed making this - I had gotten stuck-in-a-rut on a quilt (that I think I will just scrap actually!) and had been forcing myself not to start anything new till it was finished. The result being that not much sewing was happening, such was my unenthusiasm for finishing it! So, I decided to just leave it and make something fun, quick, and that used lots of nice fabric that I've been a bit paranoid about using 'cos I like it too much and don't want to use it all up, so end up never using it. (How silly is that!) (It doesn't help that being in Sudan I really can't buy 'more of the same', or even cotton print fabric...)

Christmas Tree

2009-12-20T19:57:00.002+03:00

I haven't done any sewing for ages because we've all been sick with colds, coughs, tummy bugs, sinus headaches.... a long list of yucky things...

But, before we got sick we decided to find a Christmas tree. They do sell (fake ones here) but they cost loads of money and are bad quality.

Steps to getting a Christmas Tree:

1. Notice neighbours (extremely) pruning their tree..
(Their tree is the brown sticking up dead looking tree in the background.)

2. Ask neighbours if we can use part of their tree.

3. Attach the base of a standalone fan.

4. Put in corner and decorate (going for the more is more style of decorating)

Well, I like it anyway!

Project Gutenburg

2009-12-18T18:07:00.001+03:00

Project Gutenburg makes public domain books (ie older books that are now copyright free) available free to download online. We have downloaded several. they have books by Jane Austen, Dickens etc etc.

I have had fun looking around some of their books. There are quite a few on needlework and embroidery. I have particularly enjoyed looking through this one:

Encyclopedia of Needlework by Dillmont, Thérèse de, 1846-1890

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20776

I think it's fascinating with a gazillion how to's. It has all sorts of things in it: embroidery, crochet, knitting, general sewing, macrame, lace making etc etc

I also did a search for embroidery and it came up with these:
If you click on the book title it should link you there.
(The encyclopedia of needlework is the one i talk about above.)

Needlework

Art in Needlework (English)
Beeton's Book of Needlework (English)
Chats on Old Lace and Needlework (English)
The Development of Embroidery in America (English)
Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving (English)
Encyclopedia of Needlework (English)
English Embroidered Bookbindings (English)
Handbook of Embroidery (English)
Jacobean Embroidery: Its Forms and Fillings Including Late Tudor (English)
The Ladies' Work-Table Book (English)
The Tapestry Book (English)

Patchwork and Quilting

Quilts, Their Story and How to Make Them (English)

So, if you like free (older) books this is a great website:

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

p.s. sorry i'm not very good at posting links, just addresses.

Giveaway - if you can wait a few months for it to get to you...

2009-12-01T21:26:00.004+03:00

OK when i did the random number generator it said 1 -215, when i pasted it onto here it said 1-100 (result 46). i tried it again, random number and then tried to paste to see if the max went back to 100 and it did (after i pasted it, even though the random number stayed the same) - so for example even when it generated a number of above 100, when i pasted it it still said max of 100 - the above 100 result stayed the same.

apologies for confusion. it definitely did choose a number between 1 and 215 - number 46, just i can't get it to read that chose between those numbers. Don't understand why it wouldn't let me paste it.

Thank you for all your lovely comments and suggestions. All of them were very much appreciated.

So, the WINNER is :

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:46Powered by RANDOM.ORG

And that person is......
supermedic
(i've left a comment on your blog for you to email me, but if you read this first email me with your details. thank you)
__________________________________________________________________________________
So there's the giveaway thing going on all over the place. Sew Mama Sew is organising it. I haven't worked out how to link there but it's a great website.

I thought I'd join in.

Since I'm in Sudan it will take a while for the fabric to get to the winner. I have to send it with someone who is travelling, then they will post it from wherever they are travelling to (Europe or US). So you may have to wait a couple of months to get it.

I will do the random number thing to pick someone.

So, I'm giving away fabric. 3/4 metre of each. Both to the same randomly pickedperson.

This my husband bought for me in Juba (South Sudan) it's from Kenya. It's a 'wax print'. He kindly bought 5m and I'm really not sure what to use it for. Potholders?

Suggestions welcome! The yellow is darker in real life.

This I bought up here in Khartoum (North Sudan) but I think it's from Kenya too. Actually I just relooked and it has 'made in pakistan' written on it - sorry - but its for the 'african' market.

I bought it ages ago (under self induced pressure to buy something from a lady who really needed some help) but haven't done much with it, and again suggestions welcome!

Potholders

2009-12-01T14:29:00.000+03:00

I made potholders.

They are a birthday present for a friend. They both have checks one side and birds the other. The birds I got from JoAnn fabric when I was in the states. I went to the fabric measuring counter to do a price check, but it was too expensive, so I was going to leave it. Then the lady behind me gave me a 40% off voucher - which was very kind of her since I didn't know her - so I bought some. YAY.

Thank you very nice lady who I don't know!

I made bread, again, many times...
because it's fun, useful and EASY! I can't believe I had so many problems before!

'We go a little crazy...' or 'why I haven't finished the chair'.

2009-11-26T22:27:00.000+03:00

The weather has cooled down (it is only highs of 34C and v. low humidity)

When the weather is cool here, it seems like there are extra hours in a day....

and we go a little crazy...

we play a lot outside...

get creative with crayons...

climb where we couldn't be climbing...

buy cute jellabiyas that turn out to be just a bit too small...

make cinnamon rolls...

make a mess...

and start to make a quilt for a very sweet baby called Eden...

which is why I haven't finished the chair yet (see no.5 on last post)......

(oh and about the spider (No.8) on the last post... why would he (my excellent husband) go for the camera instead of squashing it?...why??? would you?

1,2,3.....

2009-11-20T22:41:00.001+03:00

1 table top - new and bigger - (thanks to my skilfull husband)
The old top supports the new one!

2 loaves of homemade bread (er.. one got eaten before i could photograph it!)

3 neighbours (who are very smiley but not in photos!)

4 very old pyramids

5 days and this chair WILL be finished (and will be used as a chair instead of dump everything place!)

6 guys on the back of a pickup truck

7 flowers (made into a lavender bag)

8 legs

9 patch (disappearing) made a while ago

10 cookies

Little bag to keep things in and an almost quilt.

2009-11-11T20:30:00.001+03:00

This is a present for a friend...

It's a little bag to keep things in. It's kind of reversible. It looks much better in real life.

At one point I even used a ruler to measure where to 'box' the corners. That's quite an event for me!

This is a quilt top that needs quilting somehow. Not sure how to do it. Might try to do wavy lines (in one direction) by machine all over it. Gulp. Not used machine to do that before! (Tying and hand quilting didn't work! )

Fabric here.

2009-11-05T14:07:00.000+03:00

Someone asked if I can buy fabric here....yes and no.

Yes in the market there is lots of fabric...but I don't buy so much here.
Most of the fabric here is non-cotton, ugly or if it has a nice pattern is polyester/nylon, flimsy, very loose weave stuff. This last Tuesday we went to the market, and I bought 3 scarves - which I will probably use for sewing instead of headscarves - they are very very loose weave flimsy things so i will have to do something to them before i sew with them.

this one below is more satiny type material....

It is also very expensive compared to US/UK (I am a walmart cheapo/joann fabric bargains type girl!).You can buy polycotton sheets in the market, that aren't too bad, but i think i prefer to save the money and buy when we go overseas somewhere. I did buy a couple of jellabiyas (house dresses) soley for the fabric and made a little dress for Potspie with one, and when foreigners are having yard sales I can sometimes buy cotton clothing that can be made into things.

Matt, when he was down in Juba (near Kenya) bought me 5 METRES of one fabric (it sort of came that length apparantly) :-)

The Party.

2009-11-02T21:03:00.003+03:00

So, a couple of months after we were married, (ie in Nov 05) when the weather cooled down, (and after Ramadan) we had a big party. It was Sudanese style, so we hired a tent (walls only as 0% chance of rain), lights, chairs, tables etc etc.

Entrance to the tent (this was the minimal lights version!!!!!)

In Sudan you send out invitations, but basically whoever turns up, you welcome. So quite a few people came who we didn't know at all!

No clue who these people were! The lady in green is wearing a traditional Sudanese Tobe, that many women wear when they leave their houses.

We were priviliged to welcome people from all over the place - foreign friends, Northern and Southern Sudanese, Muslim and Christian, children, adults, people who lived next door to us and people who had to catch 3 different buses to get there. We really enjoyed the evening.

Everyone is served a plate of food and a 'cold drink' ( a glass bottle of coke or whatever.) Usually there is a wedding singer accompanied by keyboard, and music is blasted out at great volume - we didn't do that bit! Sudanese weddings can go over a week, with a different party each night.

I had henna done on my hands and feet - here women get that done for special occasions. I vetoed doing the dark red nailpolish that 'goes' with it!

My wedding.

2009-11-01T22:30:00.003+03:00

Well not sure if anyone's interested, and I'm debating whether to post this...

I thought I would write about this a little, because it was probably quite different to yours, or those of people you know.

We've been married for 4yrs now. I came to Sudan in September 2001, and when I came I thought the chances of meeting anyone here were pretty slim. However, in May 2004 I met Matt :-) :-) and we got married in August 2005.

We got married here, and our parents came. After the wedding we had a small breakfast, then a couple of months later, when the weather was a bit cooler we had a big Sudanese style party.

My wedding dress I mostly made myself. The 'base' is a cream strapless satin evening dress I bought cheaply in the UK. I covered it with chiffon and made straps, put on some beads etc. It's not perfect, but it was fun to do, and I liked it better then any shop bought ones I tried on.

Because, (as always!) the design sort of evolved by mistake, the chiffon was a teeny bit short - but I don't think anyone really noticed - until now when I've pointed it out. :-)

I especially like how the back turned out. You can't see but the satin was sort of coming out from in between the chiffon ruffly bit thingy.

This is the church on the day we got married. Half the church is 'inside' and the other is outside - there are only 3 walls. I really like how the light from outside is shining in through the cross cut into the wall.

If it was electric lights I would find it tacky, but natural light is kind of nice.

My Mum and I arranged the flowers - at the time it was tricky buying flowers as all nice flowers are imported from Kenya. They were in the fridge until about 2hrs before the wedding. I went to get dressed/do my hair, makeup etc. about an hour before 'start time'. (I wasn't late!)

The signs saying 'God is love' etc are always there.
They are part of the church building.

Written above it is the same in arabic 'Allah Muhabba'

(In the Arabic bible - the translation of God is 'Allah'.)

More stuff I made a while ago so it's getting lumped together in one post :-)

2009-11-01T13:02:00.002+03:00

Quilt for Potspie - the first quilt I finished. There was another one unfinished at this time. It doesn't have batting, just a double layer of sheet in the middle - (too hot here for batting!)

Quilt for Chops - it looks a bit too 'Christmasy', but he likes it and that's what matters - the Snoopy footballers are some fabric my Mum gave me. This quilt confirmed that I don't like sewing in straight lines so much. (And yes, there's that bed in the background again!)

And this I did when I was about 8. We made them at school. :-)

Somewhen, about the same time, my Mum gave me a sewing basket.

I still have it.

I used to love making dolls clothes.

Two little projects last week....

2009-10-27T14:09:00.001+03:00

Number 1.
Well my kitchen here would fall under the 'somewhat basic' category. For ages we have had a sideboard with no doors or usable drawers. It was painted about 6 months ago (see before glimpse below!) - and finally i got around to putting a bit of material on it. Also the kitchen floor was truly nasty - bleach cleaned but still very yucky. So I painted it. That still needs finishing, but I'm much happier letting Chops crawl on it now.

before...

before...(last christmas)...

after...

with lovely 'spices and stuff' shelves Matt made

Number 2.
I made a water carrier for Matt. He is off in Juba (South Sudan - we live in the North) for the week - so I wanted to get it finished before he left. Its padded etc so it should keep his drink cool.

Oops there's a number 3..

I am making a mat for the table (but its only nearly finished - not finished!)

If only cloth could talk ...

2009-10-26T22:42:00.000+03:00

Before we were married (or even dating) my husband bought a wall hanging in Kenya.
I think it is made of old saris/scarves or something like that, and is from somewhere like India or Bangladesh - but I'm not sure...
I think it is made from whatever colours they have and is then dyed (in this case red).

At first I didn't like it but more recently I've been looking at it more closely, wondering who wore these different pieces of cloth and what the story of the fabrics in it is. Now I really like it!
If only cloth could talk...

Quick Quilt

2009-10-17T16:52:00.002+03:00

Well I spent alot of time looking at the Quilt Festival Quilts (so many really nice ones - lots of inspiration - i had lots of fun looking!) .... then internet went down ..... then power cuts... finally here I am again!

This week I made an quilt for a 'sudden' baby shower. I had planned to make a little quilt for this baby, but had to accelerate my plans rather quickly!

It was fun to make as I never made one so quickly or simply! However there are a gazillion things that I would change/do differently next time I make one like this - mainly to do with machine sewing.

I was pleased how the binding turned out as I did the 'make your own bias binding' thing.
The animal /spotty fabric is Ikea (again)(bought when we were in the states this summer). I appliqued some of them on and the others are just the fabric.
These are my favourite drivers!

Things I haven't quite finished...

2009-10-08T21:55:00.000+03:00

Well, I like making stuff but sometimes it doesn't quite get finished...
I'm not very good at following patterns and I think half the fun is making it up as you go along.
In fact often when I try to do straight lines, follow patterns etc it ends up looking pretty er..well rubbish would be a good description. Here are some things that I am enjoying and have enjoyed doing....

This crochet I started about a week ago and I'm doing pretty good at keeping going with it. I think my plan is just to keep going and see how big I can make it...

I learnt to crochet when I was about 10 for a school project, but haven't done any since then, so I sort of had to reteach myself. I think I need to work out what the stiches I do are 'officially' called so then I can follow some of the free patterns online. The hook is a size 'n'. So it grows quite easily!

This is going to be a big cushion. I started it ages ago (well 4yrs ago) when i was visiting my parents in the UK. My mum let me use some of her many coloured embroidery threads so I just started sewing flowers. It's a bad photo (needs ironing etc), but hopefully you get the idea.

For a few years it stayed in England and then about 2 yrs ago it made the trip to the US and then a year ago to here! The fabric is fake suede stuff. And I will just keep on sewing flowers on until it's all filled up.

This I also did a few years ago. I once went to Liberty (in London) and ogled over their fabrics and bought 2 bits of Kaffe Fasset stripey fabric. I kind of like how it looks on the stripey sheet thing (kikoy) underneath.

The trees are 3D with thread and beads. I think it will be a cushion. But it would get destroyed very quickly here, so I'm not sure what to do with it. Anyone have any ideas?

Quilt Festival

2009-10-02T21:14:00.002+03:00

So there is an online quilting festival and you are supposed to post your favourite quilt. Not sure if your s'posed to post it now or later... but I figured now was OK.

Here's mine. It's a present for my brother and his wife's baby (due fairly soon). I've only made 4 quilts so didn't have many to choose from!

I made it here (Sudan)- took it with us to the UK and then the US in a bag, then posted it from the US to where he lives in Japan. Can't post it from here as it would never make it to Japan, and US is cheaper than UK!

The animals were cut out from some IKEA fabric.

The surrounding fabric was whatever I could find that I thought would work. A couple of shirts, T-shirts, jellabiya material (material you buy here to make a dress thing for guys here to wear), some fabric Matt got me when he went to Kenya, and various other bits and pieces bought in the US and UK.

Sandwiched in the middle is a white cotton sheet as you can't buy batting here. Actually I like how flexible and 'comfy' it feels with no batting.

The backing is a sheet.

I 'handquilted' (sewed as i don't know how to 'handquilt' really) around the animals/squares with different coloured embroidery threads. I like how it looks on the back - but my photos of the back weren't very successful.

(In case you're wondering, the photos were taken on our washing line in our yard - and it's entirely normal to have a bed in your yard here.)

Back to Sudan

2009-09-23T20:04:00.005+03:00

Well the last few days have been rather busy as we have been travelling back to Sudan.

We got here Tuesday morning, having left lunchtime on Sunday. So we have been trying to get some sleep - which can be quite challenging with a 1 and a 2 yr old.

This is a picture of our main/big room.

In Sudan it's really normal to have a bed (which is used like a sofa) in most rooms. The 'front door' is at the back in the middle. The metal shutters come right off the windows (there's no glass) which is really nice in the winter.

This is our kitchen. We're making pancakes:

Karaama outside our house

2009-09-18T04:31:00.010+03:00

A couple of months ago some of our neighbours held a (Sufi) Karaama (lots of LOUD DRUMS etc and kill a sheep type thing because someone's wife got well).

It was RIGHT outside our house.

Matt politely went and sat with some of our friends (neighbours).

I stayed inside and sang 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' very very loudly about a hundred times - attempting to keep Potspie and Chops asleep/get them back to sleep.

These are pictures taken looking back towards our house.

(The white 'cage' on the side of the house is for the car)

Things I've made..

2009-09-17T05:30:00.005+03:00

I like making things.

These are some shirts/little dresses I made for Potspie.

'Trying to Escape'.

At 11 months old her main aim in life was to escape out the front door!

Home in Sudan

2009-09-15T21:44:00.005+03:00

This is our house in Sudan.

We took these photos 2 years ago when we first moved in.

It has changed a little - we have tallish trees in our yard now!

This shows the kitchen (on the left) and our front door (the white double doors a bit to the right).

2009-09-15T06:21:00.002+03:00

So I have started a blog.

But what to write.

More importantly how do I do this (get blog looking reasonable)?

Hmm. It can't be that hard.