Bookweek

With bookweek coming up I asked my daughter what/who she would like to go as this year? With only a couple of weeks to plan and create (and a sore back thrown in for good measure) I wanted her choice to be something simple.

"Mum, I would like to go as Lady Morgana, from Merlin (the BBC tv series)".

Okay, not quite in the easy category but with a bit of planning we can do this.  First let's watch the dvd and see what she wears.

I sketched a quick outline of what she wore and went hunting through my fabric stash for suitable fabrics.  Leftover material from a dress I made and an old bedspread from my childhood, perfect.

So with a design in mind and a pattern of sorts (thank you Google), I took my daughters measurements and as my husband always says "measure twice, cut once", we headed off into the unknown world of Camelot.

Mercifully I  only had to unpick a couple of seams and with some creative cutting and joining of fabrics we had a finished dress and jacket.  Some finishing touches of lace and buttons from the button jar and we are both very happy with the end result.

The only purchase I made was the wide rhinstone ribbon which I made into a belt. This cost a total of $9.00.

As for the book side of the costume, we have the "Magic Tree House" series of books.

The books feature Jack and Annie who have discovered a magic tree house.  In the treehouse they find books with bookmarks at certain pages left there by the mysterious "M" person.  When they wish to go to the places marked in the book the treehouse magically takes them to that place in time.

My daughter loves the adventures Jack and Annie get up to.  The "M" person who invites them to take all the adventures is Morgan le Fay, aka Morgana.  In this series she is Camelot's librarian and witch, who is searching for lost manuscripts.  Jack and Annie help her in this quest.

Now I have to make her teachers' costume and my costume.

Enjoy

Ann
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Sunny Sunday afternoons

I had been running around the house all morning trying to clean and tidy, cook and bake and entertain my daughter when I stopped, looked outside and thought "this is silly, I am taking the afternoon off".

I grabbed a book, some lunch, water and my camera and headed out to the swing chair we have on our veranda. It looks out over a section of our garden and off into the scrub beyond the fence line.

The sunshine was beautiful and warm on this Winter's day, there was no wind and the birds were out enjoying the sun and the water baths in the garden.

Red hot poker

I sat quietly reading with my camera ready by my side and I didn't have to wait long for the birds to fly in and enjoy the nectar of the flowers and the water in the baths.

Jenny Wren enjoying a bath in the old grain elevator

Spiny-cheeked honeyeater in the eremophila (emu bush)

Noisy Miner

The book I am reading today is "Woman in the Wilderness" a story of survival, love and self-discovery in New Zealand by Miriam Lancewood. 

It is an auto-biography of this woman's (and her partners) decision to go and live as best they could off-grid in the mountains of New Zealand. It tells the struggles and joys they faced living off the land with minimal human contact. They learn about themselves and nature.  

I am loving it. Often I wish I could live off in the wilderness or at a lighthouse, not seeing anybody and surviving with the occasional trip into civilisation for supplies.  I guess living on the farm is as close as I am going to get and living here I am living my dream.

Make the most of the sunshine, the housework will still be there.

Enjoy

Ann
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