Techie versus old school

Just goes to show doesn't it! Here we are with all our ipads, and iphones and technie gadgets and what to we end up doing...drawing with sidewalk chalk!

A very bookish Christmas

Ahh what would we do without the Book Depository. One of Henrietta's requests for this Christmas was for information books about birds in general, flamingos, chickens and giraffes. So off I went to the book depository and made my order - then all through December the books arrived, sometimes one at a time, sometimes two, some days we'd get three or four - made for a very exciting build up!

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

Where in the world is Bowznstuff?

This has been without a doubt my longest blog and sewing break EVER! Even last year after almost a month in hospital I managed to take just over a month off. When Bowznstuff turned off its machines and we decorated for Christmas I fully intended to be back behind my machine on the first of January, living pretty much the same life as before, just a year older. However, in the curious way that big decisions tend to unfold, after so many little pieces of a puzzle had been falling into place over the past few years, suddenly the missing piece appeared and the whole picture made sense. For the past three years both kids have been in school during the day - Hettie first in full time preschool and then last year school proper. While they were away at school I sewed, and sewed and sewed and well, SEWED. However, this year for what are probably 100 different reasons we have decided to apply the break, pop off the highway and take a side road and enjoy the view. This year Hettie will be homeschooled. Loughie has decided that he would like to complete his final year of primary/elementary school at 'school' and after that we shall see. I am SO excited about out new adventure and so far everything is going swimmingly. Everything that is except for Bowznstuff! Our Bowznstuff adventure has had to take a back seat while we get our new life sorted out, hence our long absence from the world of Boutique Custom! That and a little vacation thrown in the middle.
Ahh it makes me happy to come back to my blog again. This is Boutique is still going strong and I even have some new hairstyles up my sleeve so hair blogging can recommence :) Stay tuned for some more Bowznstuff news soon AND please make welcome our homeschooling news too.
I'll leave you with a photo of us on vacation.

Hettie and the dolphins
Feeding the Rays
Me and the kids

Meeting Scooby Doo