Soft Shoes (slippers) for Sami

I have a huge list of sewing "intentions" for 2009 and I am happy to say that today I finished another intention YAY. A while I go I came across a lovely tutorial by Michele over at On Pins and Needles for some soft baby shoes and my it came together so easy I will just have to make some more LOL. Here is her tutorial and here is my finished pair which will now be Sami's house slippers.

This was a scrap project meaning I used what I had. Some leather from an old cushion cover, denim from an outgrown pair of jeans, applique from some Thomas scraps, and microfleece from nappy scraps. I finally found a 110/18 needle here and it worked well with the leather. They fit Sami so well. I followed the instructions on how to adjust the measurements and it worked perfectly.

I saw a pair in a boutique baby shop here the other day for close to 10 Rials (AUD$35) so I am pretty happy with my reconditioned pair.

Our Oman Short Trip - Post 1

Hi there, we came back yesterday from our short trip around Oman. I have a filthy cold but such is life and no complaining (not in this post anyway ;-)

We did not go back to the U.A.E. even without T as the drive would have been too much. Instead we decided to spend a couple of days showing Mum some of Oman's amazing beauty. We went to Al Jabal al Akhdar (translation - The Green Mountain), Nizwa / Bahla / Jabrin Fort, and Al Hoota Caves. Too much for one post so I will split it up.

The first thing you need to know is that you need to be careful on the roads. I don't mean the crazies on the highway I mean these guys who seriously think they own the road and watch out if you think otherwise!
The oh so gorgeous donkeys
and the many hundreds of goats.


We headed up to Jabal Akdhar (a.k.a. The Sayq Plateau) which takes about 2 hours from Muscat to get to the top. This is the high country of Oman between 2000 and 2400m in elevation. The area was previously a military zone even though there are over 30 villages spread all around. Since 2005 you can drive up there without a permit but you must have a 4WD, and believe me you better have one with good brakes! We stayed the night at the Jabal Akdhar Hotel which is a small maybe 3 star hotel but I tell you the staff really try hard to please you and although it is fairly basic I would highly recommend staying the night so you can do plenty of exploring. Be warned it is COLD this time of year. They say the best time to visit is March or April when the roses and the fruit trees are in full bloom. We did not have a huge amount of time so we decided to do the beginning of the walk to Bani Habib Village. Here you can explore the ruins of the old village and its quaint mud houses.

First you have to walk down ALOT of stepsto get the wadi and then trek over LOTS of rocks to get to the village so wear comfortable shoes with good grip. Since I was there last the trees have made getting to the village a little harder if walk on the wall so we decided to go through the rocky wadi. Once we were there Mum and I stayed at the base and let Ali and the kids explore. Then we had to hike back up all those stairs (with some breaks along the way) HUFF PUFF - yes I am out of shape!

If you are fit the walk to the first village can take about 15 minutes but if you are out of shape or trekking with kids then double that LOL! Either way it is worth it. The pictures really don't do the place justice. (Click on the image for a clearer shot)
Lets just say we all slept well that night!

Portabellapixie Claire Dress and our Trip-less Day

I have wanted to try this dress for ages. It is the Claire dress from Sandi Henderson's Portabellopixie pattern range. I was too scared to cut up my farmers market fabric for the dress as it required a rolled hem on the serger and also shirring both of which I had not done before.

So I looked in the stash for some fabric that would not break my heart if I stuffed things up (positive gal aren't i LOL!)

So here it is.


Lulu is suitably pleased and I liked making it so I will get moving on another one using the FM fabrics soon. It is more suited to summer weather and we are still having cool days at the moment so maybe I might try a few others first. I am itching to do an Ottobre pattern. I have 6 magazines and have not made anything from them yet.

Our day. I will give you the condensed version.
Up early, breakfast, pack and leave house around 10am for a few days in the U.A.E. Drive 4 hours with three children, hubster, my mum and our housekeeper. Get to the border (about 20 mins from our final destination). We are told our housekeeper can not enter due to a visa problem from a few years ago. Ongoing discussions but no budge - rules are rules. Back in the car and another 4 hours home. Get home drop Sami and T off to have dinner and she put a VERY tired boy to sleep while we went out to get a bite to eat. A LONG LONG day in the car. We use to have a portable DVD player for those trips but we don't have one now and boy did I regret it today. And now tomorrow we are off on another adventure ... stay tuned ...

Gimme 5

Tracy over at Mad Quilter was interviewed recently by Tine and I really enjoyed finding out a little more about her so I said I would participate too. Now it is my turn and here is Tracy's 5 questions for me ...


How did you come to live in Oman?
I came to Oman in 2001 for work. I was interested in an expat job where I could experience a different culture and get me some of those tax free dollars! A Regional HR role came up with a prominent International Hotel chain so I took a huge leap and landed in Muscat for a 2 year contract.

How did you meet your husband?
He was the first person I met in Oman. He picked me up from the airport and I knew immediately those devilish good looks were trouble! Actually we worked together and boy did we fight like cats and dogs, our views on almost everything HR could not have been any more different. Now don't tell him, but in hindsight he was right as he knew how to get things done in this environment and I was just a little too much of a global HR - bull in a china shop - control freak to realise that my way was not the only way (who would have thought that was possible heh? LOL).

What sort of jobs have you done?
Mostly Human Resources and Training. I started in hotels waitressing, front desk reception, concierge etc all in 5 star hotels in Australia and overseas. From hotel operations I moved in training and then HR. Being in HR is a bit like being a mum you are boss, friend, nurse, councilor, priest, negotiator, policeman, and confidant sometimes wearing all hats in one day. Working in hotels is like being on a soap opera, OMG the drama, unless you have been there you have no idea. But it gets in your blood and you love it or hate it. I did start my own business for a while consulting for small companies in training and HR but I missed hotel life too much.

If stranded on that desert island what 5 luxuries would you take? (ie not food, water, kids and hubby etc Lol)
Not food - ARE YOU KIDDING ME!
Long Pause ....
Ok maybe my iPod (but please tell me in advance that I am going to be stranded so that I can update it!).
Definitely my camera.
I guess you can't plug a sewing machine into a palm tree now can you? So maybe just some hand stitching or my crochet hook and some yarn so I can practice again.
A journal and pencil / pen.
Books, lots of books because I don't get enough time to read these days.

What makes you laugh?
My children, daily, and I feel so lucky for that.


Now I would love to pass Gimme5 onto another blogger but I am not sure if anyone actually reads my blog! LOL. So if you do and you would like to participate please let me know.

P.S. Tonight is super fantastic as my computer connected to craftymamas.net YAY! Off to catch up now ... (there goes my sewing for tonight ;-)

Random Shots Saturday

Some random shots of why I am so blessed ...
Lulu in the "boys" traditional Omani hat. I am still trying to figure out the mess on her lips but I think she applied felt pen like lipstick ;-) (click on this one to enlarge it and just check out those eyelashes!)

Why do kids just love sitting in boxes? Yay for Sami!

Laith having one of his moments, with a small peek to see if I was still there.

Yesterday at the Cafe. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful father as my husband.

Yes I am blessed!

The Last Few Days

We had a nice quiet weekend as usual. I am up (yet again) in the wee hours of the morning. Sometimes I wake around 3.30am and that is it, no matter how much I toss and turn or count sheep I just lay their WIDE awake.

Recently the hubster installed a new anti virus program. Since doing this I can not log into craftymamas.net and a few other sites and I am having serious withdrawals. I am trying desperately to reconfigure the thing but no luck so far grrrrr. The strange thing is that I was able to log in once the other morning but later that day it gave me the usual error message.

Yesterday I made a simple (actually VERY simple so don't look too hard ok) fleece jacket for Lulu. Our cooler season (I wish I could say winter but it doesn't get that cold here LOL) does not last very long so it is not necessary for the kids to have loads of sweaters etc. However I do find that they are dirty very quickly so I thought if I made some simple "throw-on sweaters" for her then we could just throw them wash and whip out a fresh one. I got the idea from the Bend the Rules sewing book. After making the jacket she asked if she could wear this one after her bath with her PJ's ... hmmmm ... ok so I will make a robe too! This time I ditched the binding and just hemmed it all around. The fleece was from a blanket I got from Carrefour for around RO 2 (USD$5, AUD$7.30) that has been sitting in my cupboard for 2 years I think. I also found a butterfly applique and stitched that on as she loves all things fluttery at the moment. Then Laith said he wanted one too so that is my next project (ahhh that list grows daily!)

My Mum made Ali a wonderful scarf and hat. I must try and get an action shot to post. She is now working on a little cardigan for Lulu. You just gotta love your Mum coming to stay heh!

We met up with my pal Laila and her kids for a trip to the park the other day. We got there (with 5 excited children) only to find the park closed for "maintenance" sigh! So off we went to the beach for a walk. The "red tide" is still around and the smell was a bit whiffy and look at the foam it kicked up on the beach ... strange huh?

And speaking of Laila she made me these gorgeous coasters for Christmas. Ahh my favourite Farmers Market fabrics! They sit on my sewing table, are used daily and Lulu has a fascination with them that she will take them and play with them for ages ... thanks my friend. (I have to take a photo of the wonderful runner she made too).

Lastly I had to show you a photo of the dogs that came into our yard yesterday. They are wild dogs referred to here as Wadi Dogs. There was eight of them sleeping in the garden and under the hubsters car. When I opened the window to take a pic they bolted. Sadly these dogs can be dangerous so you need to be careful. I noticed that there was a domestic dog roaming with them he looked like a huskie / shepard cross (what possesses people to bring these types of dogs to a hot climate is beyond me). He is either a lost loved pet or a dumped dog that some expat family decided they could not take home with them. (As I type this I can hear an almighty dog fight outside, move on pups and don't wake my babies!)

Oh I have rambled a bit!

Take care ... xoxoxo

Some Sewing

Today I delivered the Christmas (err should I say belated) presents to Laila and the kids. You saw their pillows before but I did forget to mention that the embroidery designs were from Julia Designs. I used the Styx Boys and Twiggy Ballerina. They stitched out beautifully, one of the best stitch-outs I have seen for a while. The basic idea for the pillows came from this pattern which I had used for Sami's pillow earlier.

Moving onto the gifts for Laila, their cool Mumma, I did a nest of storage cubes so she could keep well organised (unlike me LOL). The biggest and smallest one I used fabric with a PUL lining and the one in the middle is a cotton with some strong backing. I followed this tutorial from Crazy Mom Quilts. These are a little fiddly to make but all the same I will make some for Lulu's new room soon.

I also made my first pincushion! Laila had given me the "Sew Pretty Homestyle" book for my birthday so it seemed fitting to make her something from this very sweet book. There is a Flickr page where people show off things they have made from the book, very nice indeed. My little pin cushion look very average compared to some of those creations but that is ok, made with Love as they say :-)

Tonight is the first game of the 19th Arabian Cup and Oman has gone football mad. The cup is being hosted here and houses have the flag and the Oman colours draped everywhere, cars are fully decorated and people are really hyped up. I hope they win!

Happy Blogging ...

Finished! Kids Cushions

Yay, I finally finished these cushion covers today.
They are part of a Christmas present for two young friends. Because I was ill just before Christmas I did not get them finished. (sorry guys!)

I thought they would be nice for lounging on in front of the TV.

I am still getting the hang of applique stitching and man it takes a long time but I think it was worth it and I really hope they like them too.I have some left over strips and a whole set of letters for Abdullah (long story LOL) so I will give them to their Mumma in case she would like to do something with them or incorporate them into a quilt etc.