I finally use up some of my stash and make a skirt

You might remember when I picked up this material for $2 at the local markets last year.

I thought it would be great to use it for a reversible wrap-around skirt like I saw on Alicia Paulson's funny and creative blog. But I was just waiting to find some material to go on the reverse side. I could've gone out and bought some new material from a fabric shop but when I find something cheap , I don't want to go to a lot of expense using it. I knew that if I waited long enough, the right piece would find me. And it did this week at the local St Vinnies for just 50c.

I loved this embroidered fabric as soon as I saw it, and it was blue and red so it co-ordinated beautifully and it was just the right size.

I felt like being creative this weekend and wanted something quick and easy to make so I had a go at making the skirt. Now, I am a lazy sewer. I don't really measure, (I didn't have a wrap skirt to make a pattern from so I just grabbed a dress with an A-line, guessed where the waist would be, laid it on some newspaper and traced around it....very professional, not), I don't always pin and most of the time I go "that's close enough". I'm too impatient and just want the finished result. So yes, my skirt did pucker a bit because I didn't follow Alicia's advice and let it hang overnight and the binding is actually two different reds made from scraps in my overflowing cupboard because I couldn't wait until Monday to get some from the shop but I think it turned out nice. Ella even asked if she could have it when she's older and I outgrow it. (Ella's getting in touch with her feminine side but that's a story for another day.)

So here's my pathetic attempts to model it. I'm such a natural in front of the camera. Groan.

So, two skirts for the price-of-one and only $2.50 at that. Don't you love a bargain.

A Sneak Peek

There's a few more things I still want to add to the girls' bedroom so I'm not going to show you it all yet, but in the meantime here's a few snaps to tantalize you.

(Once I added the curtains, I couldn't help but sing "A Woman's Touch" from Calamity Jane.)

I'm loving it.

My little misadventure with the car.

Well, I've been back at work and back to being busy..too busy to write any new posts, let alone look at anyone else's. But I'm having a sick day off work today so I thought I'd play some catch up. But it's February...too late to catch up on everything I did on my holidays, like

going to Perigian for a few days with the family...

and Mitch putting in a new driveway on a stinking hot day with some of his workmates (one had to go home suffering from heat stroke) so now we can actually get up our driveway when it rains...

or adopting a new puppy that Mitch found abandoned in a carpark, who became a member of our family, only to run into his scruffy owner at the markets after a month so we had to give him back (boo hoo)...

or the fact that yes, I finished painting the girls' bedroom and they moved into it just before school started. But I'm not going to show any photos of that yet. It's important enough to deserve a post all to itself.

So I thought I would tell you about how last week I got the car wedged against a tree in our yard and couldn't get it free.

I was reversing down the driveway to pick up Rosie from gymnastics when I realised I was rolling and there wasn't anything I could do to stop. I realised later that I had accidentally put the car into neutral instead of reverse so I don't know whether it was that or that in my panic I was trying to stomp on the brake and was stomping instead on that little footrest they have in automatics. Two thoughts flashed into my mind in the few seconds it was rolling. 1. Don't roll onto the road....so I turned the steering wheel to the side and 2. Put the hand brake on, but by that time I had rolled up over the pile of leftover dirt from the driveway and rear-ended into our crepe myrtle tree.

The car was stuck. The back left wheel was in the air with nothing to grip onto, Mitch had just left for boxing and the car was sticking out into the driveway so their was no way I could get a tow-truck in to pull it out. So I walked around saying a few choice swear words, realised I still had to pick Rosie up so walked there instead (fortunately it's only about 10 minutes away).

When I came home, I shovelled dirt away from under the car and piled logs and stuff under the back wheel but still no good.

Mitch arrived back from boxing training all sweaty and tired and he walked around with a few choice swear words too. We tried all sorts of things but everytime we tried to drive the car off, the wheel would just pushed the logs away instead. It's getting dark and the mozzies are biting and there is bouganvillia all around the car sticking into us any opportunity it got. (Whoever thought that planting bouganvillia in a garden was a good idea ought to be shot.) You can imagine the joy.

I hit on the idea of using the packing crate across the road for traction. But wait, it's just a little too thick. I had another brainwave and we used a jack to push the car up high enough to getting the packing crate under. Nearly there, but not quite. The car is stuck on the tree and not moving. No good, we gave up for the night.

The story ends well. When I got home from work the next day, Mitch had solved the problem by borrowing a chainsaw from work and cutting down the tree in his lunch break. And fortunately there wasn't too much damage to the car, just a few dents.

I have to say, it's the first time that I've had an accident in the car that was my fault, so in 12 years of driving that's not too bad. Needless to say, I always double-check the gear now and get a bit nervous when I'm backing out.