Nephew News!

This is my nephew Jaxon and for the last 2 years he has been living with his mother in Singapore. In an email this week it looks like he will be returning to Australia in September. He will have time in Brisbane to say hello to his Nanna, Poppy and favourite Aunty Peta, then will be driving to Cairns. It looks like Jaxon will live with his Nanna (and some other extended family) in Cairns while his mum will fly backwards and forwards between Cairns and Asia for her job. I think it will be much easier for me to see Jaxon more when he moves back to live in OZ! For starters I won't need a passport.....I can't wait. Yippee!

Fabulous Flowers

As most of you know I have been unwell over the holidays....first with Pneumonia and then Pancreatitis that required surgery last Wednesday. I have actually spent 5 nights in hospital all up over the 2 weeks of holidays.

I just wanted to share the lovely flowers that my parents brought for me last week. They are pretty special becasue normally my dad doesn't buy flowers.....especially ones that will eventually die.

I still have one surgical procedure to go on Thursday morning and can then concentrate on my recovery and return to work.

Thanks also to Annette, who has planned everything so far for this term without any help from me. I hope to be back on my feet and contributing to our class in the very near future.

Hope all teachers have a great day tomorrow and that your classes don't take too long to get back into routine. I will be thinking of you all.

Notebooks

I have spent the most of my holidays very quietly.....spent a lot of the last week sorting things out and cleaning. At the back of one cupboard I found a box and inside were a range of notebooks and message pads. I looked at a group of small memo books and thought the cover was only paper and not very attractive...

So I thought I would have a play with some cardstock, paper, stamps and other bits and pieces to see what improvements I could make. This is what I have come up with so far.

Shoulder Bag and Matching Bottle Bag

Well I talked about the shoulder bag that I made for my mother and finally got around to taking a photo of it.......I made the strap long enough for my mum to wear it diagonally across her chest so that it won't fall off.

I really liked this fabric and can't believe it was only $4 a metre and the lining is a matching fabric with smaller stripes (see the Water Bottle Bag). In total this bag cost me about $6 to make.....what a bargin.

After using her bag for awhile mum asked me to make her a new water bottle bag. She takes a bottle of water with her every time she goes out....and had been using a daggy bag that was intially made to carry an umbrella.

I decided I would make her one out of the lining fabric from the shoulder bag and made it to carry a 600ml bottle. I thought I would also line the bag with plastic (idea taken from making the wet bags). I actually used spray adhesive to glue the plastic and fabric together first before sewing.

Mum mentioned that she loves the bottle bag because it only fitted a small bottle and was not too heavy to carry around. She must really love both of these cause she is using them every day and when she visitied on the weekend she put in an order for another one!