This and That

I was chatting to a friend a couple of years ago who was on the verge of moving to Sydney. I had first met her some 7 years earlier when she had moved back to Melbourne from somewhere overseas - can't remember where now. I was expressing dismay that she was moving and she said something to the effect of "mmm you know I find we like to change around every 7 years - move somewhere new or a new job or something - just to mix things up a bit." A bit like the 7 year itch I suppose. It struck a chord with me that statement and I have thought about it often ever since. In part I think I have always been a bit the same but had never verbalized it so succinctly. I don't think I am so rhythmical as to make a change each 7 years but changes of direction have definitely been part of my adult life. There was my Uni/ballet teaching phase, Germany/France phase, a short foray into headhunting and then my Germany /PhD phase which lasted on and off for many years and then came my stay at home bow making/sewing phase. I am proud to say that regardless of the phase, whether I was teaching little girls to do the splits or being a party girl/student or working as an au pair or being a dusty academic or being an ebay boutique custom girl I have always thrown myelf into my lifestyle with alacrity and passion. But every now and again towards the end of each of these phases I get a feeling, a feeling that it is time to move on. Some of these moments I can remember quite clearly. In Paris I remember sitting on the fence of L'ecole militaire on dusk on my way home to my little bedsit thinking that as nice as this way, it was time to go home.


Others creep up on me bit by bit. And so it was with sewing. Last year while sitting at my machine appliquing round some tiny eye of some tiny creature I felt it again. I began thinking of options but couldn't settle on one, plus there was all that fabric, all that ribbon, all those machines! Time ticked by and more tiny eyes were appliqued until early this year when everthing began to fall into place. Homeschooling! A new life and a new direction for all of us. The reasons we decided to homeschool are many and varied and to be honest they don't matter all that much anymore - it was a decision we made and it is the right decision for us. Still, I didn't feel quite ready to let the sewing go and thought we could maybe combine the two but it just wasn't to be. I just couldn't throw myelf into my new life whilst still holding on to the old one. So for now all that fabric will just have to wait a while and my machines can have a little rest (except for Hettie's clothes and the kids costumes!).
I took a bit of time off my online activities whilst we settled in but I would like to get back into it all again now - to catch up with my old friends and make some new ones too. Over the past months we've been busy in our homeschool, reading and writing and experimenting and we've been super busy dancing. Here are some pictures of Hettie from the most recent round of competitions. She took one first, two seconds, two thirds and one HM.

Song and Dance

Jazz

Demi Character

Song and Dance


Classical

Jazz

Tap

Neo Classical