Surviving Camp

I made it home from Year 7 camp safe and sound, though I was hit with a pretty bad cold on the last day. It was cold, foggy, and very wet and muddy, but it was a great learning experience.

The kids got to do all sorts of activities, from caving and rock climbing, to canoeing and high ropes.

I learnt a lot of new skills when it comes to being a teacher, and even scored myself a family size bag of lollies when some of the boys decided to have a late night snack in their room. The camp provided the most amazing food, so I have no idea why they thought they needed to eat more.

The next two weeks are going to be a little hectic, as I juggle uni with four more days of teaching placement, in addition to my nasty chest cold (apparently viral, so nothing I can do about it), and making more softies for the next market. After that though, I've got a good 5 weeks to myself before I take on some work at my previous uni, then head overseas. Definitely something to look forward to.

To Market

The Mulgrave Maker's Market was today, and we were lucky that the rain held off until the last hour....before then it was a little chilly, but the crowds were still out in force. This month I had my very own marquee, and it went up so easily. As usual, I fiddled around with my set-up a little (mostly due to forgetting one of my baskets), and it was simple and (hopefully) eye-catching. It definitely looked fab once the sun came up and out.

I facebooked a photo once I'd set up, and the cot quilt was quickly "snapped up" by a friend of mine all the way over in WA...it's now making its way over to her. I sold a couple of my newest bunnies and owls, a wheat bag, lots of fabric, and even a couple of throw cushions.

Overall I'd say it was a pretty successful day, and my best to date. The markets are moving indoors for winter which will be a bit of a change, but nice not to have to dash around in the rain.

(Pre-market dining room chaos)

Tomorrow morning I'm off on school camp (!!!) with a group of year 7 students, so there will be no posts for a few days. Hopefully I'll get some good photos to share. As a result, I'm closing Bella's for a few days, but any orders that come in will be dealt with when I get home on Thursday arvo.

Hope everyone has a fab week.

Preparation

My teaching placement is coming along really well, but it certainly is keeping me busy. I have no idea where other teachers find the time to do any serious crafting. At this point, the preparation for each class takes up quite a bit of time...

But, I have managed to get a bit of stuff ready for next weekends Mulgrave Maker's Market. I've stuffed and stitched those bunnies I started over a month ago...

And made a few wheat bags to test out...with the weather being the way it is, I'm hoping these will be a popular product.

There has also been a bit of preparation going on for my trip to the US in August; my friend and I are excitedly planning what we want to do and see, and have booked tickets to see Cirque de Soleil's O when we are in Las Vegas.

A Pumpkin Soup Kind of Day

The cooler weather is really kicking in, the trees have mostly lost their leaves, and the lights need to be switched on in the early afternoon. Winter is definitely on its way! One of my favourite things about this time of year is pumpkin soup. This is my recipe:

Ingredients:

butter

1 diced onion

pumpkin, cut into chunks (I use about 1/3 of a pumpkin)

1L chicken or vegetable stock

Melt the butter, then add the diced onion and potato. Saute until onion is soft, then add pumpkin and stock. Simmer until the vegies are soft, then puree with a bar mix. Divine served hot with a dollop of cream, sour cream, or yoghurt if you want to keep it healthy.

Sorry for the lack of content lately; I started my teaching placement this week and I've been busy finding my feet. I'm in a really good school right around the corner from my house and really enjoying it so far. I don't imagine there will be much sewing time; I've got a huge pile of tests to mark this weekend!