My Little Red Bag

 I can't believe I went out looking for a vintage suitcase...

 and came home with this beautiful little red bag, in excellent condition, for $3!

 It even has the little key still!

 Perfect for taking my wares to bouts.  

These are the shorts I made from my last op-shop finds.

 The new batch of singlet prints turned out great.

And these are some more great fabrics (op-shop, of course!) that are clean and waiting on the rack to become more shorts.

And to top it off, I found this 'naughty gangster' two piece costume at the op-shop, for half price!  

Best day ever!

A Piece of Quiet

Yay!  School holidays are over!  So what did I do with my first 'piece of quiet' (as Big O says) time in 2 1/2 weeks?  Well, I vacuumed a hole in the mess just big enough to lay out some fabric, and started cutting.

Orange booty shorts ($1 cotton lycra from the op-shop) with fluorescent paint splatter ruffles (a re-fashioned 50c tank top), and a cupcake mini ruffle skirt.

 More shorts from this cool random fabric, a secondhand men's t-shirt.

 A sample of all the ruffly shiny stripy glittery derby shorty things I have been working on for sale at bouts.

And because I have to rush out to start work at 4, a cold platter for the kids dinner, anything to make it easier for the White Cloud!
  Check out more creative spaces over at Kootoyoo :)

Happy Easter!

 My kids told me Easter was a celebration of lollies.

So we went back to basics and made easter biscuits (3 eyed rabbits, flounders, chickens - less confused yet?)

 And we decorated some hard boiled eggs with crayons and food dye.

And we were lucky, because the Easter Bunny came and 'laid' three chocolate rabbits in our lounge room!

  Happy Easter to everyone! 

xo Screamstress

In Appreciation of Old Men

I got this hideous cardigan for $1.  

100% lovely soft wool, and hand-knitted as well.

It reminds me of old men.

Old men who have worked hard their whole lifetime.

My father, who didn't get enough time to enjoy being an old man.

My Pa, my Grandpa. 

The Panda who works away, works on the weekend, comes home, helps with the housework and spends on-on-one time with each of the kids.

 

I hope my boys grow up and enjoy being old men surrounded by their families.

In appreciation of all the men we love, go give your Dad a cuddle, phone your Grandpa, squeeze your son, kiss your hubby!
(Thanks go to Big S for taking photos for Mum!)

My World

 

I have been enjoying adventuring, and dreaming of quiet.

It is autumn school holidays, and the Panda has been working non-stop.

When I reverse the car, the acorns roll across the roof.

 A raw prawn, requested by a friend.
An odd co-incidence, the fabric told me to make a seadragon, and send it to a dear friend.  So I did, with such haste I didn't even take a photo.  I found out afterwards that she was in the midst of a personal upheaval at the very time I was sewing it.

 Ruffly superstar derby knickers, one idea finished, many more waiting for a hole in my time and space when I could actually sew.

A bonfire rages over my team's new logo and uniform, and it seems all the rats are running in different directions.  Fabric does not make a team.

Football Day

Today was "Football Day" at Big S's school.  It made me frown a little.  All the boys were dressed up in their team colours, aspiring to be a famous player one day.  Many of the little girls were also dressed in their family's team colours, aspiring to be... what?  A supporter?  A footballer's girlfriend?

  Women's football exists no doubt, but I have never seen it in our local or national media.  There are very, very few women's sports that have equal billing with men's.

  Maybe that's why I love Roller Derby.  I think I've just realized why my reaction to men's roller derby is "Buggar off.  Let the girls have their one sport."

  So next term, let's have Roller Derby Day!

Fatherhood

Whatever flaws he has, I have never seen a gentler or more attentive father than the Panda, sitting for at least an hour grooming Big S with a nit comb, after having shampooed and showered him.  Sometimes people shine, in the silliest of circumstances.