Dreaming of Daisies

Birthday girl..............

2009-10-28T21:43:00.006+13:00

I am a bit late with this post as it was actually Talia's birthday a couple of weeks ago now. I had a bit of a problem loading photo's and a birthday post without pictures of the birthday girl wouldn't have been the same!

Big changes have occurred in my little girl's life recently. She reached the grand old age of 5 and is now a big school girl. She is just LOVING school, no problems there at all. Having her brother and 2 cousins at school has made the transition very easy for her and all the girls in Kalem's class have very sweetly been looking after her too. She is absolutely loving all the attention and her teacher told me that she always has her hand up wanting to answer questions even if she doesn't know the answer.

Leaving kindy was hard, well for me anyway..... Her teachers there were so lovely and I think that I am going to miss them more than Talia. I actually cried when saying goodbye, very embarrassing actually. Can I still blame breastfeeding hormones????? I made all the teachers little fabric hearts stuffed with dried lavender and wool, I also added a drop of rose oil and a couple of drops of red mandarin oil. They smelt lovely, unfortunately forgot to take a photo.

I finally managed to make a birthday crown for my little princess, I have been meaning to for a couple of years now. I actually made a few presents for her this year, but still need to take photo's. You can get a glimpse of the toadstool house I made in one of the photo's below, but will take some better ones soon.

Talia wanted goody bags for her birthday and I did actually go to one of those cheap shops that sell plastic rubbish especially for party bags, but I couldn't buy anything. I hate all that horrible plastic junk. Instead I bought some cute little paper bags and filled them with chocolate and a few sweets. Julian made some gingerbread men, Talia decorated them and I wrapped them to give the children when they were leaving. I also made some little toadstool needle felted badges for the little fairies at the party. A bit more time and effort, but I felt much better about giving something handmade.

Talia had a few of her friends for a fairy tea party and then other friends turned up throughout the day. It was so much fun having lot's of gorgeous little fairies and a couple of pixies running around the house.

Of course there was pass the parcel, here is Lola opening a parcel with a bit of help from her big brother.

Happy late birthday Boo, sparkly fairy girl. I hope that all of your school days are full of fun and laughter. We are so proud of you... X

LOVE.....

2009-10-11T20:56:00.003+13:00

Recently during one of my classes we were asked to write down the name of the person that we most admired and respected. This was a very quick and easy decision for me as it has pretty much been the same person throughout the whole of my life.

This person is strong and clever, creative and inspiring, fun and loving, special beyond words and the most generous, kind person I know. This person is none other than my very own Dad.....

Ever since I was a little girl I have looked up to him and have know that I could go to him with any problem and he would solve it. We have of course had our father daughter rows over the years, but they never lasted long. He has given me the strength to live my life with the knowledge that I will always have him (and Mum) there as my safety net. This feeling of being protected, all be it from afar, really is a priceless gift. I am 100% a daddy's girl and proud of it and I really hope that my girls grow up feeling the same about their daddy as I do about mine.

So to the wonderful man I am blessed to call my Dad, I love you and I hope that you have a brilliant birthday. Wish I was there with you.. XXX

A Perfect Day........

2009-10-10T21:13:00.010+13:00

For a perfect day you need some wonderful friends, a chilly bin full of yummy food, a few beers and some warm clothing. A couple of weekends ago (yes it is taking me a while to get back into blogging...) we went to a mini music festival called Earthdance. We packed the kids in the car on a cold 'spring' day and drove one hour out of Christchurch to a place called Little River. Here we parked the car and walked up a hill (loaded up like pack horses) to a field in the middle of nowhere...... This place was STUNNINGLY beautiful, pure NZ countryside, green and lush and gorgeous. In the field there was a stage, one long drop toilet and a whole bunch of hippies. Boy was I in my element!!!!!!!!!!!!! We sat in our beautiful surroundings wrapped up warm, drinking beer and listening to some brilliant folk/blues bands while the kids ran around the place free as birds exploring the bush. Totally and utterly my idea of a completely PERFECT DAY..... Oh and if you get the chance, which you will probably only get if you live in NZ, go and see The Eastern play live, their music is FABULOUS. Gorgeous friends.....

Beautiful surroundings.....

Lola and Daddy having a boogie.....

Daddy with his very serious looking girls.....

Lolly on the swing, this girls loves to be on the 'wing', as she calls it!

A couple of plastic toboggan's and a hill is really all you need to keep a whole bunch of kids happy all afternoon. They had so much fun and YES I did go down myself......

Okay this photo has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but I love the way she has squeezed her cute chubby little bum into this dolls stroller.

At the moment I am half way through the NZ National Homebirth Conference, which has so far been amazing beyond words! Today I experienced the feeling that I was in the exact right place and the exact right time with the exact right people, I was exactly were I was supposed to be. It was actually a really powerful feeling that I still have not totally processed, but it felt good to know that I am on the right path. Have you ever felt like this? Do you know what I mean?????????? Anyway am super tired now so off to bed. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend as well... X

Back at last....

2009-09-30T09:46:00.013+13:00

WOW has it really been that long since I last blogged?????? Well life has been busy, busy, busy, but right now we are all on school holidays and enjoying a slower pace of life.

So much has happened since I last blogged. It would be fair to say that it has taken me a while to get my head around studying again, but I am now well and truly in the swing of it, which hopefully means that I will be able to keep up with my blog from now on. I have handed in my midwifery application and am now just keeping my fingers crossed, probably won't hear until sometime in November and the waiting is HORRIBLE!! There have been quite a few applicants this year so who knows if I will get in, but I guess that I will know soon enough. I have also had mid-term exams which were very full on, but I worked hard and so far have gotten all A's, it's good to know that my mummy brain is still in good working order!!

I can't even think about what we have been up to since I last blogged, we have had lot's of lovely weather so have spent heaps of time outdoors.

There has been pony riding.....

Stomach bugs that required sleeping outside in the healing sunshine.....(not sure why this photo is upside down)

Romantic walks along the beach....

....as romantic as walks along the beach with 3 kids can be........

Then most importantly of all, when I thought that life couldn't get any busy, along came our new addition to the family and yep life got a WHOLE LOT BUSIER!!!!! May I introduce to you our beautiful and extremely naughty chocolate Lab LENNY..........

He has torn so many holes in the kids clothes now that I have stopped even shouting about it.....

Seriously though how cute is this dog, we all love him to pieces, crazy, mad thing that he is.................

Not sure if anybody even reads this blog anymore, but hello if you do and thanks for stopping by. Have a great day, peace and love X

THANK YOU........

2009-07-28T10:45:00.004+12:00

First of all a HUGE thank you to each and every one of you lovely ladies that left a comment on my last post. Your words of encouragement and support really mean such a lot to me!!!!

Well my first week it over and boy was it BUSY!!!! It didn't help that I had booked myself on a 16 hour first aid course over the weekend as well. So yes it's certainly been busy, but it has also been a lot of fun. I am really loving being a student again and am actually enjoying using my brain (it's been a while), which so far seems to be working ok.....

This week I have learnt a lot, made some new friends, got some exercise (and a very sore bottom) riding my bike to college and my little family are all coping really well with the changes. So it's all good so far, all I have to do now is figure out how I am going to fit in all of the home study that is required. I am sure that it will all work itself out over the next few weeks.

Last week I also came down with a stinking cold which was a pain, but I fought it hard so it only lasted a few days. On the day that I was feeling most poorly I received this gorgeous bookmark in the mail from Abi, which totally brightened up my day. THANKS ABI!!! She is so clever, I have mentioned before that out daughters are now pen pals and Abi has taken a drawing that Talia sent to Maia and embroidered it onto some fabric and made me this gorgeous keepsake. I LOVE it and so does Talia!

Right then I am off to read some chemistry notes before my class this afternoon, but thought I would leave you with this adorable photo of my gorgeous girls. Lola had her face painted at pre-school and Talia though we definitely needed a photo.......

Hope everyone has a great week and thanks again for the lovely comments. X

My journey begins....

2009-07-20T10:17:00.004+12:00

Well it's official from today I am a REAL student, I even have a student card to prove it!!! I have my first lecture this afternoon and it is fair to say that I have one or two butterflies flapping around in my stomach. Oh well I have got my new pens and pencils ready, my recycled paper notebook is packed and my bike (yes bike...) is dusted down and ready for the off. I think I'm actually be more nervous about cycling to college than the actual lecture itself. I think that I have only ridden my bike 3 times in the last 3 years, got to be done though as parking is apparently a nightmare. I am really going to have to peddle like the wind to get there as well, which means that I am going to turn up to my lecture bright red, wheezing and panting due to my extreme UNFITNESS.............

It feels unreal actually, but today is my very first step towards my dream of becoming a midwife! Wish me luck................

At the beach

2009-07-15T11:12:00.006+12:00

This week we have been blessed with more lovely sunshine. It has still been pretty cold though, but that hasn't stopped us from getting out. Monday we spent the afternoon at the beach, it was absolutely freezing, but the kids didn't seem to care. We packed yet another picnic lunch and headed off for our days adventure........

This photo was taken by Kalem, he was actually supposed to be getting Talia in as well, but never mind...
I LOVE the look on Talia's face in this photo, they were having so much fun together on that slide. They fight a lot, so it is always such a joy to see them enjoying each others company.

Lola loved tottering along the wet sand. She kept stopping for a bite of her apple which was pretty sandy, but she didn't care. Half way along the beach a dog came up to her and pinched her apple, then pinched another apple from the pram. The dog was really sweet , but I am always a bit wary of dogs and kids. Oh well the kids though the apple pinching dog was hysterical and Lola loved him. They REALLY want a dog of their own, perhaps one day!

My finished Featherweight Cardigan, I did have a picture of me wearing it, but I didn't like it and couldn't take another one as the camera batteries had run out. Anyway I think one photo of me a post (or year) is quite enough........ I made the sleeves so that they ended just below the elbow, looks good with a merino top underneath and will make a lovely light cardy for the spring. There are one or two mistakes, but you can't really notice them so in all I am thrilled with it.....

Am busy crocheting flowers for the Christchurch Arts festival, but more about that next time....... X

Winter fun....

2009-07-10T13:41:00.011+12:00

After a LOT of rain recently the sun finally decided to come out, so we got to venture outside a few days last week.

We wrapped up warm and went for a lovely winter picnic.....

We spent a lovely afternoon at the Christchurch Botanical gardens. The kids had a great time in the play area. Kalem and Talia spent most of their time running around after Lola, who was loving all the attention from her big brother and sister.

Here is Lola about to be shoved head first down a slide!!! Talia was waiting (along with myself) at the bottom to catch her, she thought it was great fun.....

While we were at the gardens we were told that there was a very cool flower exhibition on. We followed some balloon flowers and some grass arrows to the hothouse were there was a display for the kids. It was brilliant, there were lot's of different types of plants made out of various items and the kids had to guess, with the help of some clues, what the real plant name was. Here are a few of our favourites......

I think that this one is called mother-in-laws tongue.

My favourite, the button plant, look at all those lovely GREEN buttons, how I stopped myself from leaning over and nabbing a few I don't know!!!!

I can't remember the exact name of this plant, but I am guessing butterfly tree..... So pretty!!!

Talia was completely mesmerised by this plant (errrr dancing ladies????), the barbie dolls danced around in their flower pots, a definite favourite for the girls....

We are having a fairly quiet weekend, resting up for lot's of fun activities next week. We went to the farmers market yesterday morning and I managed to score some gorgeous vintage fabric that is just asking to be made into a bag. Maybe a project for next week, if the kids give me any free time that is, little slave drivers for fun that they are!!!!

Happy weekend to ya all..... X

Schools holidays and stuff.....

2009-07-09T10:08:00.007+12:00

Wow this week is going so quickly and considering that I wasn't really looking forward to these holidays due to an all time high of fighting between siblings, I am really having fun!! Kalem has been out and about busy with his friends, climbing hills, going to the movies, having sleep overs and other boy like stuff.

Talia and I have been getting crafty , we made these sleepy princess pictures from the Usborne Activities book 'Princess things to make and do'. The basic idea is really cool and we spent hours cutting bits out of magazines and sticking them in place. I also realised something while doing this activity......... I realised if I do my own picture (or whatever) as well as Talia, it stops me interfering with her creativity. We just both got on with our own 'works of art' and I only helped her if she asked, her picture is the one with the butterfly duvet,check out the little dog sitting on the bed!!! She did so well and was really proud of the fact that she did it (almost) all herself.

Talia also received her very first letter from her new pen pal Maia yesterday.The look on her face when she saw the beautifully decorated envelope and realised it was for her was a picture!! Abi (Maia's mum) and I both agree that this pen pal thing is brilliant as both girls spent ages drawing pictures, writing letters and cutting things out to send to their new friend. Such a FAB idea thanks Abi...... Talia seemed to think it was a good idea to put some of the stickers sent by Maia on her face and wanted me to take a photo!

In other news my Featherweight Cardigan is FINALLY finished. I didn't quite get it done in time for Gabes June is for finishing, but I am still pleased with myself for actually finishing it all... Here it is blocking, a bit new to blocking so no idea if I am doing it right, I am trying to stop it from rolling by holding it together with pegs and there are a few crystals on there too. I guess we will find out if I have done the right thing when it has finished drying.

Finally...for (very much missed) Nanny and Grandad, your 3 little monkeys just before bed!

Hope all you Kiwi mama's are enjoying the school hols too.... X

My Creative Space

2009-07-06T17:14:00.003+12:00

Thought that I would join in the fun after spotting this on the lovely Abi's blog Little Grubs. This was my workspace over the weekend, otherwise known as the coffee table...... I spent a couple of hours while Lola slept and the kids were at the museum with Julian, making felt brooches. I then gave them away without taking a photo, but I quite liked the design so I will probably be making a few more. You can also see the bottom half of a new felt sculpture that I have been working on, not quite finished yet though.

If you want to check out more creative spaces check out this link....

Pretty Pink Top...

2009-07-03T10:35:00.003+12:00

Well it's all about Lola this week....... Thought I would post some pictures of this GORGEOUS cardy knitted for Lola by her talented Nana. It is so thick and soft and warm. She knitted the size 2, so it will probably fit her for a while. Here is the little model not long awake as you can probably tell from the scary bed head!!! Hey Gabes recognise the Pyjama's.......

Not sure of the exact pattern, but it is definitely Debbie Bliss.

I am still working away on my Featherweight cardigan, on the second arm now, so not long to go. Think that I may run out of yarn though which will be VERY annoying...... X

Sigh of relief.....

2009-07-01T11:24:00.005+12:00

First of all a great big thank you to all of you wonderful ladies who left me such lovely comments after my last post. Reading them really did make me feel a whole lot better about things. Well, the good news is that Lola seemed to love pre-school. There were no tears at all and I phoned half way through the session and was told that she was having a great old time. They did warn me that the first day is always a bit of a novelty and it is the second day that usually brings the tears. She is going for another couple of hours on Fri so I guess we will see. I am quite confident though, as she seemed right at home when Kalem, Talia and I went to pick her up. Apparently she did not ask for me once while she was there, now of course I am beyond happy that she seems to love it so much, but couldn't she just have missed me a little????? Aw bless her little cotton socks, she looked such a picture all dressed up and ready for 'school', her new backpack was almost as big as her........

While she was there I went to the Poly tech bookstore to pick up one of my books needed for the Anatomy and Physiology part of my course. I nearly had a heart attack when they handed it to me, just looking at it made my brain hurt. It is very daunting knowing that I will need to learn most of what is contained within this HUGE book that really weighs a ton!!!! Er and we won't even mention the cost...This book is also required for the Midwifery degree, so hopefully I won't have to know it all in the next 5 months.......

I walked around the Poly tech for a while (mobile in hand in-case pre-school called) trying to look like a cool student instead of an exhausted mother of 3!! I think it is fair to say that I did NOT fool anybody!!!!!

I think that I need to stop stressing so much and start enjoying the fact that I am about to embark on a new adventure. In a few weeks time I will be taking the very first step on my journey to becoming a midwife and it's really quite exciting!

Last night I attended an open evening for the Midwifery degree which was excellent and really informative. It is a difficult course to get on and is even more popular this year as a lot of people see it as a recession proof job. I found out last night that they do not give interviews anymore, but choose solely from the application essay....YIKES!!!! I was pretty sure that I could verbally portray my passion for midwifery, but I am concerned that I will not be able to do this as well in an essay. Blimey I can't even remember the last time I wrote an essay.

Am not stressing though, NOT, NOT, NOT!!! Well maybe just a little bit.

Lola

2009-06-29T11:39:00.005+12:00

Well as I predicted I did catch the kids cold, but am feeling much better now and hopefully that the end of illness here for a while, fingers crossed!!!

Had a lovely weekend, Julian and I went to our very first mid-winter Christmas, complete with turkey (lentil loaf for me), Christmas decorations, lights, mulled wine and even pressies. It was great fun and I can't believe we haven't done it before especially being from the other side of the world and all. Christmas twice in one year, how brilliant!!

3 weeks today I am starting college, eeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.... Yes I am getting a little bit nervous and am feeling stressed for the first time in ages. Tomorrow my BABY is starting pre-school and I am feeling some serious parental guilt. Lola is going to do a few hours a week for the next few weeks to get her used to the place before I start college. I am totally dreading it, I have been a stay at home mum for over 9 years now and it seems weird thinking that I won't be there all the time for my kids. The course is only part time, so I won't be gone that long and apart from being picked up from school by Dad or Grandad twice a week Kalem and Talia won't really notice a change. But Lola will, she is always with me! Oh well it is only a few hours a day and her much loved Nana is looking after her for one day. It will be fine, but it seems like so much is changing and if I think about it too much I can't breath......

Lola this morning posing for photo's wearing her Rainbow dress that I knitted a while back. She didn't get to wear it much when I made it as it was summer and she was crawling, not good in a dress. Now she wears it over pants like a tunic and it looks so cute on her, not to mention it's a great extra layer of woolly warmth.

Wish us luck for tomorrow............. X

Illnes and my Featherweigh Cardy...

2009-06-22T12:13:00.003+12:00

I have nearly completed the body of my Featherweight Cardigan and am really pleased with it so far. I love the fact that knitting it on a circular allows you to try it on as you go. Just a couple of inches to go then it's onto the sleeves. I am going to knit the sleeves using 2 circulars which I have never done before,GULP!!! I don't really like knitting with DPN's so am hoping that this method will be easier, I guess that time will tell.

My household are still all full of coughs and colds at the moment, this morning it was like listening to an orchestra of coughs coming from each room, just lovely at 6am!! I am still managing to avoid the dreaded bug, but with the amount of direct hits to the face of coughs and sneezes I took over the weekend, it is only a matter of time......

I thought that I would share this vitamin C packed recipe for a blackcurrant drink. I made this warm and squished all the fruit making it thick and broth like which the kids hated. I then just drained the liquid without smashing up the fruit and chilled it in the fridge, this went down much better......

50gm blackcurrants (we have them in the freezer for times like this....)

2 apples chopped and cored

450ml water

2 teaspoons of lemon juice

honey to taste

Basically place apple and blackcurrants in a pan with water and bring to the boil, simmer for 10 mins then strain. Stir in lemon juice and add honey to taste. Perfect for sick feverish kiddo's and adults too of course!

A MEME

2009-06-17T11:01:00.007+12:00

I was recently tagged by the lovely Jannelle, it's taken a while to get around to it, but here is my rather complex MEME...

What is your current obsession?
At the moment it is knitting, probably due to the cold weather. I do however swap and change my obsessions regularly between, sewing, felting, mosaics and of course knitting......

What was the most interesting thing you did today?
I have been stuck home with sick kid for days so am struggling with this one, does playing with paper dress up dolls sounds interesting to you???

What are you wearing today?
My comfy stuck at home clothes, thick socks, warm top, trackie bottoms, the theme here is WARMTH AND COMFORT!!! Not very cool huh...

What's for dinner?
Tonight is one of my favourites, Spicy Roasted Vegetables with Chickpea's and Cous Cous...YUM!!

What would you eat for your last meal?
Chocolate Brownie cake warmed up with ice cream to start, Baked Raspberry cheesecake for main and then Chocolate Mousse for dessert. No need to be healthy if it's my last meal after all.....

What's the last thing you bought?
Yesterday I went to the yarn store and they were having a sale, SAY NO MORE!!!

What are you listening to right now?
I love all music, but to be quite honest I don't think about it a lot. Julian is the music buff in out household and if he is home then there is always music playing. If I am on my own then I normally like the silence. Sometimes I put Cream Classics when I am doing the housework, reminds me of my clubbing days, which sadly seem like a lifetime ago!!

What do you think of the person who tagged you?
Jannelle is a great mother and an AMAZING photographer. A truly inspiring lady!

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
At the moment we are dreaming about owning a bit of land in Nelson, somewhere that the children can roam around safely, enjoy nature and have fun!!! Or maybe a sweet seaside cottage somewhere in Cornwall.....

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Without a shadow of a doubt it would be home.... to my Mum and Dad's. Hopefully my gorgeous brothers would be there, Mum would have cooked one of her lovely roast dinners (with sprouts..) and Dad would be opening another bottle of red wine. SIGH, if only!!

Which language do you want to learn?
Spanish.

What is your favorite color?
GREEN, as shown in nearly all of my knitting!!!

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
A floor length 'green' vintage velvet skirt I bought in Melbourne. It doesn't fit me at the moment, but I am hoping one day to squeeze into it again!

What is your dream job?
Midwife. Hopefully soon to be more reality than dream!

What's your favorite magazine?
Sew Hip an English magazine about sewing funny enough.

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on?
I am assuming that this money has to be spent on ME... Some new boots I have had my eye on for about 3 years, I have been waiting patiently for them to be reduced, but they never are.

Describe your personal style?
At the moment it is whatever fits, but there is definitely a hippy chick living inside of me waiting to break free....

What are you going to do after this?
Apparently I have to draw Talia a fairy for her to colour in, then play dolls, then read books, then painting, then lego. Yep it's all about the sick bored kiddo...

What are your favorite films?
Hmmm, Into the Wild, Schindlers List, Chocolat, The Jazz Singer (yep sad but true), Amelie, The Kite Runner, Sideways and Hideous Kinky.

What's your favorite fruit?
Watermelon.

What inspires you?
My children inspire me to be imaginative and see the joy in simple things. I am inspired by creativity in any form.

Do you collect anything?
Well I was going to say no, but it seems I have a bit of a collection of fabric and yarn going on, also a lot of coloured glass for my mosaics.

What are you currently reading?
I have just finished Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

What makes you follow a blog?
I love connecting with other like minded people, be that in craft or parenting. I love blogs that are about family, art and craft. There is so much inspiration out there.

What do you love most about where you currently live?
We are close to the sea (not walking close, but driving close)..... and there are a lot of lovely families from Kalem's school that live near by.

The rules:1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own.2. Tag eight other people.
Okay I know this sounds like I am not following the rules, but I think I may be the last person left to actually get this meme done. If there is anybody out there who hasn't done it and wants to play along feel free and please let me know if you do.....

Knit in Public Day 2009.....

2009-06-15T11:14:00.011+12:00

Saturday was worldwide knit in public day and I joined in the fun here in Christchurch. What a great day it was too, held at the Dux De Lux and organised by the lovely Amy from The Loop Knittery. It was my first time knitting in public (apart from a couple of rows while camping) and I was quite pleased with my ability to talk and knit at the same time!!!

I had only been there a couple of minutes when I was talked into entering the knitting with spaghetti competition. Blimey it was really hard, basically we were given 2 strands of spaghetti and a length of yarn, the aim being to knit as much as possible in 5 minutes. It is even more difficult than it sounds believe me, but quite a laugh really. You were only allowed the 2 pieces of spaghetti and if they broke you just had to carry on with the small pieces, here is my end result..........

Now I know that it doesn't look like a lot and well, it isn't, I only managed 1 row. Needless to say I didn't win the price for the most knitting, BUT I did win the prize for the neatest knitting with spaghetti!!!! YAY for me and lookey at what I won...................

The most delicious NZ Merino hand dyed yarn from the Loop Knittery and IT'S NOT GREEN......... It is so lovely and I know that it is REALLY sad, but I can't stop looking at them and I may just have to keep them as an ornament and never knit them. I guess that would be a waste, I am thinking maybe another beret/hat of some sort. If anyone knows of any good patterns for 10ply then please let me know.

BUT that's not all, I also received this box of crochet patterns and a World Sweet World magazine. Now I really do have to learn how to crochet...

Here I am with my lovely friend and knitting GURU Gabes and look she is wearing her gorgeous purple Meret. Normally we have the kids with us when we catch up so this was our first time knitting together!!!

I managed to get a few more rows done on my Featherweight Cardigan and it was great being able to knit during the day with no little people around to distract me!!!!

The rest of the weekend was spent visiting friends and hanging out at home. Kalem and I went ice skating on Sunday which had been arranged by his school. It was great fun and Kalem loves it, you should see him go, he is super speedy and not at all afraid of falling over! I managed to stay upright for the whole time and didn't end up embarrassing myself in front of the school mums, there was one very close call though....

Today is being spent indoors with one very sick little girl home from Kindy. Poor little mite has a bad cough and cold and is currently asleep on the couch, bless her!!! No idea when she will be able to go back to kindy as they do not want any children with signs of cold or flu at school or kindy here in NZ at the mo, due to the Swine Flu pandemic. The amount of people getting it here seems to be multiplying daily and it is expected that over 30% of the population will get it, scary hey!!!

Oh well I am off to defrost some blackcurrants to make a sweet tea for when my little on wakes up. Hopefully she will be feeling better after a good sleep! Bye for now....... X

Talia and Tilly

2009-06-11T11:57:00.002+12:00

I love watching Talia playing with Tilly, she definitely seems to favour her over her shop bought plastic dolls which is great and of course means that all my hard work was not in vain!! Tilly (along with about 30 other teddies) sleeps with Talia each night and the night before last Talia suddenly realised that Tilly didn't have any proper pyjama's. So I was asked to make her some P.J's, oh and while I was at it a skirt too please......

A chance to get out my beloved sewing machine, how could I resist. I got right on the case and while Lola was sleeping yesterday made Tilly a little skirt and top from an old dress of mine and some pyjama's using an old (very groovy) pillowcase. While I was making them the thought that soon I will not be able to do things like this due to being at COLLEGE, did enter my mind, but it scared me so I pushed it right back out again!!!

Talia was thrilled with my efforts and apparently today I am to make some shoes and a little bag!! We will see.... Anyway here are the two girls this morning on the couch in their P.J's.

Here they are a bit later all dressed and ready for kindy.....

Right off to check out my fabric stash for suitable dolls bag material.... X

A rather pink weekend

2009-06-08T11:16:00.009+12:00

Oh me oh my what a lovely weekend I have just had..... On Saturday once I had FINALLY managed to get out of the house alone, I popped along to the wonderful Craft 2.0 fair in town. Well it certainly didn't disappoint, so much lovely stuff on display I was like a child in a sweet shop!!! It was great to see a lot of the lovely and very talented ladies from my Crafty Business group there with stalls full of tantalising goodies. I only wish that I could have bought something from everyone, but alas NO!!! After walking around the circuit at least 3 times I finally settled on the purchases below.

The latest World Sweet World magazine, a gorgeous hand printed scarf from In My Backyard, a sweet little purse from Retreasured and a yummy skein of yarn from needle food. I know more green yarn, which is crazy as there was so much choice, gorgeous, gorgeous colours, oh well I still love mine!!

On Sunday it was off the Disney Princess Wishes on Ice. Well I must admit that I was not totally looking forward to this, thinking that I was to endure yet another boring kiddy show. Boy was I wrong it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!!! Seriously I don't know who was more mesmerised me or Talia. It was such a fantastic production full of beautiful costumes, wonderful ice skating and fabulous special effects and to top it all of it was hosted by the REAL Mickey and Minnie Mouse!! We had such a great time and it was good to hang out with my own little princess for the afternoon.

Talia and her best buddy Kenny all dressed up. Seriously you have never seen so many princess dresses in one place before, you literally couldn't move for excited, pink, sparkly little people....

MESMERISED....

Spot the Little Mermaid doll, I was totally carried away on the princess vibe and couldn't say no when Talia pleaded with me to buy her one. Oh well Ariel is her very favourite princess......

Can you spot your favourite princess and look there's Mickey and Minnie, click on the photo for a better look.

Hope that you all had a lovely weekend too.... X

KIDS ART....

2009-06-02T10:56:00.005+12:00

Kalem and Talia create so many lovely things that I have decided to post my favourites each week. Talia brought the very pink, ribboned cardboard tube home from kindy last week and was very proud of her creation, it's an Octopus don't ya know!!

Kalem draws a lot at home, but it is not often that he actually brings something from school. Last week he brought this gorgeous picture home, I'm not sure exactly how he made it, something to do with printing and paint. I think it's beautiful and the colours are amazing, definitely worthy of a frame.

We have just had a long weekend here, which has been great, bit chilly though. We didn't get up to much Julian ran in a marathon, I sewed my very first skirt (more about this next post), Lola toddled around happily, Kalem spent most of the weekend with his cousin and Talia spent most of her weekend drawing and painting. She is so cute at the moment, after every drawing she asks me if she is my little artist, well of course she is!!!

Talia also made this little hand puppet from a kit I found tucked away at the back of the craft cupboard. We have to keep it away from Lola as she seems determined to remove it's eye's and nose......

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend..... X

My Meret

2009-05-28T11:26:00.003+12:00

Yay for blocking........ My Meret beret turned out just fine once it had been blocked and I LOVE it, I think that it's actually my favourite knitted item so far!! Apart from a few hair raising moments including all of the stitches just jumping right of the needle on the final row (arghhh), I really enjoyed knitting this and would definitely knit one again. Maybe next time I may knit an extra round to make it even more slouchy and instead of knitting the large I would probably do the medium. In case anyone is actually interested I knitted it using Patons Merino Deluxe which was a yummy yarn to work with. I had 2 x 50 gram balls, but only used one and a half.

I am quite proud of my first lace knit, isn't it a cute pattern.....

Okay so the photo's aren't great, but I took them myself and it's quite awkward trying to get a good shot of the back of your own head!!!.

A big thanks to Gabes for inspiring me to knit this........

Next on my needles is the Featherweight cardigan by Hannah Fettig. I have already cast on and guess what colour it's going to be....YEP green again!!! Definitely no more green after this........ Right am off to sneak in a couple of rows before Lola wakes up. X

The Good Life.....

2009-05-26T11:34:00.003+12:00

You may well be wondering what the strange green object is in the photo below, well it's Hubby's new baby..............................

He has decided to take a little break from relish making and has now moved on to brewing his own beer. This huge monstrosity is now sitting in the kitchen taking up loads of space!!! This morning I received a text from hubby asking me to wrap the container (his baby) in a blanket to keep the precious beer at the right temperature. Don't want the beer to catch a cold now do we.....

On the subject of colds, winter is well and truly here, it has not stopped raining for days and it is freezing. I have not been able to walk to school for ages, which means that the 3 (yes 3) pieces of baked raspberry cheesecake made by Julian (how I love this man) that I ate over the weekend is still sitting happily on my hips....................

I have decided to join Julian in our mission to live the good life and I am going to start baking my own bread. The price of a loaf of bread at the moment is ridiculous, has anyone else noticed this??? Anyway I got this book out of the library the other day and it looks great. Freshly baked bread in only 5 minutes a day, sounds perfect, I will let you know how it turns out.

On the knitting front I have finished my Meret Beret and it is blocking as I type. This is the first time that I have ever blocked any of my knitting, but it wasn't as slouchy as I had hoped, my own fault for only do one repeat instead if two, but I didn't think I had enough yarn (which I did..). Oh well I am hoping that blocking may stretch it a bit, I will post a photo once it is dry. Have a great day............. X

Sad, but true.....

2009-05-23T10:38:00.006+12:00

Last night I settled down with my knitting and a glass of lovely red wine and watched 4 hours of reality TV..... YES, I am aware of how terribly sad this sounds, but it was the final of both American Idol and Project Runway and I am have been hooked on both of them. I already knew who won Idol as one of the American knitting blogs that I read had mentioned the winner, arghhhhhhhhhh, this of course did not stop me from watching the 3 hour finale. Friday evenings are just not going to be the same now.....It is not all sad though as I am back on track with knitting the Meret and so far so good (she says touching wood...)!

In other crafty news I have just finished this 'boy bag' for Kalem, he has been wanting me to make him one for ages. He wanted it to be able to hold all sorts of bits and bobs, you know pencils, drawing book, games, rugby card, stones, lego pieces, etc. etc... I made this bag without a pattern, I just used the tips and techniques that I have learnt recently with the bags that I have been making. It is a really a basic tote with lot's of pockets and I made the handle quite thick and long so that he could carry it over his body.

The inside pockets before bag was sewn up.

A happy boy ready to fill his bag with treasures. This bag is also going to be used to carry nature journal stuff when we go for walks, which we will go on if it ever stops raining.....

I loved making this bag and have already drawn up another bag pattern, just off to buy some more fabric today. Isn't it amazing how even though I have an enormous bag of (ever growing) fabric I can't seem to find the right thing for my new bag!!!!!! Any excuse to go and wander around the fabric store......... Hope you all have a great weekend! X

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH....

2009-05-20T11:33:00.005+12:00

This was the sad state of my knitting last night at 10.30pm!!!!! I am currently knitting (making a mess of) the Meret Beret, you can search for this pattern on Ravelry it's free. I was totally inspired to knit this after checking out this amazing example knitted by the very clever Gabes. The mess that you see below is the 4Th time that I had to frog my work. The first time I totally messed up the cast on and actually have no idea what I did, the 2ND time I did not pull the yarn tightly enough between the first and last stitch leaving a ridiculous length of yarn, 3rd time I somehow messed up the 1x1 ribbing . This last time the stitches just popped off the needle and as there were many M1's, slipped stitches and yo's there was NO WAY I was able to figure out which stitches went where. YES there were one or two tears of anger and frustration. My fellow knitters out there will be proud of me though, as I stayed up late and determinedly cast on AGAIN for the 5Th and hopefully final time! Please wish me luck...........

On a much brighter note, Talia has recently been spending lot's of time reading to her little sister. Of course Talia can't actually read yet as such, but her stories are pretty spot on, she just looks at the pictures and makes the rest up. This child has such a wonderful imagination, her stories make us all laugh and Lola loves this close time with her big sis.

Thought I'd finish off today's post with my all time favourite quote by a rather clever chap who went by the name of Albert Einstein.

'Imagination is more important then knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there will ever be to know and understand'.

Knitting Bag...

2009-05-12T11:29:00.003+12:00

I have just made this bag for my larger knitting projects. I got the pattern from my favourite magazine of the moment SEW HIP! This is an English mag, but our very cool local newsagent stocks it and it's great. I think the bag was from issue no.3. I made it from and old and very retro looking tablecloth found at a local op shop. I loved the fabric and this seemed the perfect bag to make with it.

It turned out really well and even has a pocket on the front for holding your needles, but it is a bit on the large side really. Mind you it's just perfect for my Autumn jumper that I have been knitting since last Spring and probably won't be finished till next Spring!! Great size for all the balls of yarn, needles, pattern book, finished pieces, tape measure, pen, secret chocolate stash...hmmm only just thought of that one!

Maybe this bag and the soon to be added secret chocolate stash will help motivate me to get the jumper finished......... here's hoping!! X

MY MUM....

2009-05-10T11:01:00.004+12:00

Today it is Mother's day here in New Zealand and so I wanted to write this post for my mum who unfortunately lives on the other side of the world........

There is not a day that goes by that I don't miss my mum and wish that she lived closer. Every day there is something that I want to tell her, or ask her, or laugh about with her. I know that she is only on the other end of the phone, but it's not the same. I want to be able to pop round for a cup of tea and a proper chat!

Now believe me, my mum and I have had our moments, probably like most mothers and daughters in the world, but this has not diminished the love between us. A psychic once told us that he could see a rainbow of light that joined us together and that the bond between us was very strong. I love to think that we are connected this way.

I don't think that we can truly appreciate the love that our parents have for us until we become parents ourselves. Only then can we really know the power of that love, a love that comes with so much worry and anxiety, a love that is so selfless and beautiful.

I have this image of my mum in my mind from when we lived in South Africa, so I must have been about 13 years old. I remember coming into the lounge one day to see her on the chair reading her book and drinking one of her endless cups of tea (she is British after all). She is wearing a red top and her hair is about shoulder length, very dark and very curly. I remember looking at her and thinking that she was so beautiful. I still think that she is beautiful, and kind and generous and loving and caring and very, very much missed......

So today mum when my little cherubs were jumping up and down on my bed smothering me with kisses, I sent up a silent prayer for you to thank you for teaching me the art of motherhood so well. I know that I have been truly blessed and even though you are so far away, it's okay I know that I will be fine, because we will always be connected by our bright shining rainbow of light.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO MY WONDERFUL MUM, I LOVE YOU! X

It's not fair.....

2009-05-08T11:33:00.002+12:00

It has been raining a fair bit recently so we have been driving to school quite a lot. On the way to school we like to turn the radio up loud and sing along at the top of our voices, yes it sounds quite as lovely as you are imagining!!!! Today we were singing along to the new song by Lily Allen called 'It's not fair', you know the one "It's not fair and I think you're really mean, I think you're really mean"...her songs are so darn catchy you can't really help but sing along. Anyway, today it seems is the first time I really listened to the lyrics and the song is actually about how bad her boyfriend is in bed.

Talia it seems was also listening to the lyrics for the first time and turned to me and asked "what is she actually singing about mum?"

Well it's not like I could tell her the truth, so I said "I think that she is singing about an argument that she has had with her boyfriend."

"Oh no, I don't think it's that" said Talia

('Blimey' I think! Could she possible have figured out what it is really about!!)

"Errrr okay, what do you think she is singing about darling?" I ask somewhat nervously, vowing to take much more care in the future about what I let my children listen to on the radio!!!!

" Well, it's pretty obvious that she thinks her brother is really mean and it's just not fair because he has eaten all the cakes and biscuits!" replied my adorable child.

Ah the sweet innocence of youth, long may it remain............ X

PLEATED BEAUTY BAG...

2009-05-07T11:24:00.002+12:00

Well my obsession with bag making is continuing along nicely. I snatched a few hours over the weekend and hid in the sleep-out (my craft room) to make this bag from Amy Karol's book Bend the Rules Sewing. It is the 'Pleated Beauty Bag' and I LOVE it. It is definitely my favourite bag so far even though there were one or two moments of frustration whilst making it. The frustration however did not come from Amy's instructions, but rather from my rushing to get it finished. I lost count of how many times my seam ripper (grim reaper) was used, but it was all worth it in the end! I learnt a few new tricks along the way and I even mastered pleats.... yes, look it has pleats!!! Hmm perhaps 'mastered' is actually too strong a word for something that was really very easy....
The bag is made using some curtain fabric from Spotlight that was ultra cheap in the sale and one of my old dresses. I loved the fabric of the dress, but it was a really bad shape on me, so I am happy that it has now been recycled into something new. I used the dress fabric for the pleats, the inside pocket, the inside handles and I also made the little patch on the front of the bag. The lining I made from an old purple sheet, so all in all a very cost effective bag. I think that I will definitely be making more of these as the possibilities for them are endless......

Is anybody else out there obsessed with making bags??? If so I would love to come and have a peek at yours.......... Peace 'n Love X

The sharing of homemade goodness...

2009-05-05T11:28:00.005+12:00

Everybody here in Christchurch seems to have gone relish MAD!!!! You can't visit someone without leaving with a jar of homemade 'something', it's GREAT! Aren't we so lucky to live surrounded by all of these wonderful generous people. I am quite sure that we will never again have to buy a jar of relish from the money sucking supermarket! The 3 jars pictured below are our stash from the weekend, Lemon relish, Quince jelly and Green Tomato chutney. They now go into the pantry to join the Date and Rhubarb chutney, Tomato relish, Zucchini relish, Plum jam, homemade Tomato sauce, Garlic sauce and I am sure there are a few that I have forgotten. We DEFINITELY need to have a cheese and wine party in the very near future........

From homemade food to handmade felt brooches. My felt obsession does not seem to be diminishing and I have been trying my hand at making brooches. I have got so many petals and leaves cut out of felt to make up, but here are 3 that are finished. I felted 'more' 100% wool jumpers to get the lovely thick felt and they are embellished with needle felting.

I also made some children's brooches (so far all have been nabbed by Talia). The little toadstool is my favourite and looks so cool on Talia's jacket, it measures about 3cm The little fairy is Talia's favourite and she measures about 5cm from the top of her purple hair to her little glass bead shoes.

I am hoping that I will be able to get a stall at the 2nd Craft 2.0 here in Christchurch in October. If you have not been to this then you have to go it is filled with amazingly talented people selling a wide range of fantastic Indie crafts. The first craft 2.0 for this year is on June 6th (can hardly wait), but there is no way that I will be organised for that. I am also still playing around with lot's of different ideas and really knowing me I won't be organised in October either, but it's good to dream a little!

PS. Just in case you were wondering I have no hand whatsoever in the making of relishes or chutneys, this job belongs to my very clever hubby!

Talia and Digger.....

2009-05-04T11:38:00.006+12:00

Yesterday Talia had her second ever pony ride/lesson and she looked so darn cute on that horse that I took a million photo's. Don't worry I am not going to show them all just the one's I like best......

A little pony called Digger was chosen for Talia, don't they look cute together!!!!!
She was mainly led around the paddock by the instructor, but did have a few moments of holding the rein by herself.

After the ride it was time to brush Digger down, I think that Talia enjoyed this bit the most. Now I am not very horsey myself, but I think that she looked quite a natural up there on Diggers back.

Daddy and Lola were there to watch, Lola got a bit bored after a while so went off to crawl in some horse poo instead!!! Check out that lovely blue sky, I love Autumn in Christchurch. We get a lot of frosty mornings, but when they are followed by lovely sunny days like this who can complain.

Hope that everyone had a lovely weekend.......

A 'visual' catch up....

2009-04-28T12:14:00.014+12:00

I have been neglecting my blog recently as the kids have just had a 2 week school holiday and we have been busy little beavers. We have had so much FUN, there have been movies and popcorn, friends staying over and staying over at friends, going to the theatre, the park, the beach, eating lot's of ice cream, 10 pin bowling, picnics and just hanging out together!!!

I did actually think at one stage that we should be doing something crafty, but to be honest the weather has been amazing and we need to make the most of being outdoors before winter arrives. I have managed to fit in a couple of little projects myself, but more on that another day. Here are a few photo's from the last couple of weeks, I know my mum and dad will be pleased to see them.........

Of course it all started with Easter and lot's of chocolate.

Lola was entranced by all the shiny paper and did have a little nibble of chocolate which she LOVED, oh dear guess that all the females in the family with a sweet tooth then!

We had a fun day out at the local wildlife park and saw some of these.....

Talia spent a lot of time upside down, she is a right little acrobat/monkey!

Lot's of lovely picnics in the park...

Lola did quite a lot of this. She stands up by herself all the time and is walking quite a bit, normally falling after a few steps, but she still gives herself a big clap...as do we coz we think she is soooooooo clever!!!!

We had family drawing time 'round 2' and this time it went much better, although you can't help but notice the look of pure mischief in Little L's eyes...

Swinging through the tree's...

Bike riding...

Helping wash the car, in a fairy dress of course...

Lot's of lovely mornings staying in our pyjama's till late...

Hope that everybody else has been having as much fun these past weeks, off to check out all my favourite blogs right now to find out!!!! X

ELSIE

2009-04-08T11:15:00.004+12:00

I would like to introduce Elsie, she is a fun loving (needle felted) fairy 'grandmother'. She understands the importance of looking good, has regular blue rinses in her hair and would NEVER, NEVER be seen flying about without her pink lipstick on. She also has a bit of a weakness for Elderflower wine, but makes sure that she only has one glass if she is flying home....

This is the first time I have added facial features to one of my creations and I have to say that I am hooked. There is something quite magical about watching the character come to life as you add a mouth, a nose, eyes and there was really no doubt in my mind that she was 'Elsie' when she was completed! It is also my first time making hands (which were a bit of a challenge) and also my first time needle felting a figure over pipe cleaners to give movement.

Elsie has already become part of the family and I keep finding her sitting on different shelves or ledges around the house, I think that she is keeping an eye on us.

Fairy wishes to you all............ X

Horse riding and bags....

2009-04-06T11:27:00.005+12:00

We all had such a lovely weekend which included a stay over at Nana's house for all of us. We settled the kids in for the night and went off to a friends 40Th just down the road and then went back to sleep at Nana's too. It was lovely and I even got a cup of tea in bed in the morning from my very sweet mother-in-law. She also got up with the kids so that that Julian and I got a sleep in, I definitely did well when they were giving out Mother-in-laws don't you think.....

Kalem and Talia went on their first horse ride on Sunday which they loved. I forgot my camera so no photo's which is a shame as Talia looked so adorable as she was wearing a pair of jodhpurs that were handed down to her from a friend, she really looked the part. We are quite lucky that the horse riding school is just over the rode from Nana's house and every time that Talia is there they go over to see the horses, but this was her very first time riding one. kalem actually rode his horse for a bit with nobody leading him, so he felt very grown up.....

I also thought that I would show the bags that I made last week, I can't seem to stop!!! The first bag is the same as the fern like one I recently made from this tutorial here. I actually made this bag for a friend who has just had a baby, I know that she will love the purple fabric and I thought it was a good sized bag for carting around all of that essential baby stuff.

The second bag I made on Friday night while Julian took Kalem and Talia to the Tball prize giving and disco. I stayed at home with Lola and made the most of the quiet time and being able to actually get my sewing machine out and leave it out! I needed a bag to hold my WIP knitting project as I was sick of looking at the hideous plastic bag that it was in. If I make this bag again I would use thicker fabric as my version of the bag is quite floppy, but I love it just the same!! You can find the pattern here if you are interested in making one yourself. If you follow the link make sure that you check out the Needled blog, you will love it especially if you are a knitter......

Hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend...

Boys bonding and fairy fun

2009-03-31T11:41:00.008+13:00

This weekend Julian took Kalem and his cousin Joe to their very first game of rugby to watch the Christchurch team the Crusaders. They went out for pizza first so it was a real boys bonding night. They had such a wonderful time and Kalem came back a very tired boy brandishing his very own (foam) Crusader sword and a face covered in red and black stripes, the team colours. I had painted couple of stripes on his face before he left home as having been brought up in a family of very keen football supporters I know the importance of showing your 'true colours'... Go the REDS....

Of course as my mother-in-law likes to say 'there's no show without punch..'. Talia had to have a sun and a heart on her face before we settled down to our girlie night in with a big bowl of popcorn and a Thumbelina DVD.

Talia had a fairytastic time last week, here she is making some flower fairies. We actually had a kit, but they would be super easy to make with just a few fake flowers and some pipe cleaners.

The eeny weeny flower fairies having a rest after a busy day flitting around...

Talia also had a visit from her little fairy friend 'FIZZY' who lives at the bottom of our garden. We arrived home from school and found glittery fairy dust all over the doorstop and well everyone knows that means that there has been fairy mail!!! Talia rushed to the mailbox to find a little bunch of flowers, a toadstool card and a little parcel all for her...

Inside the parcel was a little flower fairy trinket box with this little bracelet inside. A magical day indeed..................

Are there any fairies living in the bottom of your garden?????? X

A NEW BAG!

2009-03-25T11:30:00.008+13:00

Okay so it's official I am becoming obsessed with making bags.... This is my first attempt at sewing a bag for myself and I am really pleased with it!!! I used this fantastic tutorial from Melissa's lovely blog Tiny Happy. It was really easy to make although due to getting the sewing machine out and then putting it away again a million times (pesky kids...), it did take me a few days to complete. Oh how I long for a craft studio....... dream, dream, dream!

I went hunting the second hand shops specifically for something to make this bag with and was really thrilled to find a lovely old curtain with gorgeous leafy/fern pattern. Probably not to every ones taste, but I really love ferns. The material is nice and thick too which gives the bag shape.

This is a rubbish photo, but just trying to show that the inside is perfect for storing your knitting! I love this bag, it is such a great shape and size, I already have the material cut out for bag no. 2!!

Here are my little puddings learning to play the recorder. Lola was having great fun making some noise and thought that she was really funny!! The recorder actually belongs to Kalem and he is trying to teach himself with the aid of a booklet. The noise is HIDEOUS, seriously I know that I am supposed to be encouraging his musical creativity, but it is REALLY hurting my ears!!!!! I am determined however to grin and bear it and that this item will not be thrown on top of the kitchen cabinet along with all the other irritatingly noisy toys. Lets just hope that he is a fast learner..............

EDIT - I have now sorted the problem and the link to Tiny Happy blog should now work....!

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes....

2009-03-23T17:42:00.010+13:00

The weekend before last we took the kids and went tomato picking. You would not believe how much fun they had, the boys thoroughly enjoyed throwing the rotten tomatoes at each other (boys huh???). The aim was to pick as many tomatoes as possible so that this very clever daddy could make some lovely sauce and chutney. He really does make some yummy relishes and sauces, it requires an awful lot of kitchen time so rather him than me..... We enlisted the help of one cousin with the promise of ice cream and the park afterwards and off we went.

Lola was chief taster, she did a great job!

A job very well done, they definitely deserved the yummy real fruit ice cream that followed.

So all last week Julian has been cooking up a storm and now we have quite a lot of tomatoey goodness to see us through till next summer (and possibly even the summer after that). Now I just have to find somewhere to store all of these bottles and jars.

More sewing.....

2009-03-20T21:26:00.007+13:00

I have been doing some MORE sewing, just can't seem to get enough. Really though you should see the state of my house (my mum would not be pleased), but I figure my need to create is far greater than my need to do the DUSTING........

Talia was really pleased with her bag and as it was my second attempt it turned out much better than the first!
I just love this toadstool fabric, just perfect for my little fairy princess!

I also made this little owl from the book 'more softies'. The kids have been fighting over him all day so he has now found a new home in the garden. I am pretty sure that he will be much happier sitting on this branch in the PEACE and QUIET, lucky, lucky owl........

Family Drawing time......

2009-03-18T11:38:00.006+13:00

Drawing is a favourite pastime in our house. Taking the idea from the wonderful book 'The Creative Family' we had family drawing time yesterday afternoon after school. We all sat down with our art supplies and paper and got creative, even Lola had a go on her own piece of paper.
It all went swimmingly for about 10 minutes everyone was calm and creating their masterpieces quietly and happily until .... this little TERROR went on the rampage!
Honestly you should have seen her, she was a girl on a mission and that mission was to cause as much mayhem as possible. There were crayons flying around, paper being ripped, drawings being drawn on by chubby baby hands, children screaming and all the time the TERROR had the biggest grin ever on her face. Oh yes she sure knew the trouble she was causing and she was LOVING it!!!!

I also have to write and tell you all of my amazing morning. I got out of bed as usual this morning, but as soon as I got into the lounge Kalem directed me to the couch and covered me with a blanket. Then he got Dad to light some candles and put on some lovely music and told me that I was to sit and relax. Hmmmmmmmm great idea, but relaxing IN THE MORNING, unheard of! He was such a sweetie though and went into the kitchen to put the lunch things together and got Lola out of her cot when she woke up. I even got a shoulder and head rub, it only lasted about 30 seconds, but I mean come on the boy was pretty busy! Apparently he thought that I needed some rest after being up with Lola every night. I really am blessed with the most sweet, thoughtful, kind, considerate and wonderful boy, what a lovely way to start the day......... X

Bitten by the sewing bug...

2009-03-17T11:16:00.008+13:00

I have been quite busy sewing recently and am starting to get the hang of my sewing machine at last!! I made this sweet little tote from the 'Bend the Rules' sewing book yesterday. It is for a little friend of Talia's who is having a birthday party this weekend. I am determined to make as many presents as possible this year, I am going to pop in some eco-pencils, but that doesn't count as they come from a gorgeous little local shop that sells fabulous handmade things. Of course Talia has requested a little bag of her very own, but that's okay as I actually really enjoyed making this.....

Not a great photo, but look a little pocket inside, it's my favourite part. The back of the bag is the same spotty fabric as the lining.

My lovely little model

I also made a little wrap around dress for Talia's doll 'Tilly'. I drew up the pattern myself so it's a bit rough around the edges and a little on the large side, but Talia loves it and that's all that really matters. She has now requested that I make Tilly some pyjama's, hmm not sure how I am going to manage that, but apparently Tilly is starting to get cold at night and we can't have that now can we........

Right am off to do some more sewing, it's quite addictive isn't it!!! X

Being in the Kitchen...

2009-03-15T12:59:00.003+13:00

Cooking to me has always been a bit of a chore and I am definitely not a natural cook. I need to follow recipes EXACTLY and am seriously lacking in culinary creativity! Luckily for me I have a fabulous hubby who loves to cook, last night he made an amazing veggie lasagne, yum... Anyway he usually cooks at the weekend, but in the week it's down to me -yay-. I have found however that when using my beautiful 'thrifted' pans cooking doesn't seem quite so much of a chore. This is very sad I know, but what can I say I like pretty things!!!!!

On the subject of pretty things, here is my sweet budding musician playing a tune on Kalem's keyboard.....

Hope that everyone is having a great weekend, we are off for a walk in the forest now and then coming home so that Julian can make some tomato sauce. See I told you he loves being in the kitchen and I am a very lucky girl!!!

MOSAIC

2009-03-12T10:55:00.003+13:00

I finally got around to finishing my mosaic piece, just need to paint around the edges and it's all done. Couldn't resist posting a photo of it though as proof that my creative mojo has returned. I really enjoyed working on this piece and it reminded me how much I love this art form.

It's not a great photo as the blue is not showing true and it looks wonky, when it is in fact a perfect rectangle. I am thinking of adding another 2 pieces either side, continuing with the circle pattern. This would require many more hours of being absorbed in the wonderful world of mosaic, but in reality I'm not sure I'd be able to find the time. We will see... X

MONKEY LOVE.....

2009-03-10T12:02:00.007+13:00

Look who arrived on our doorstep yesterday!!

This adorable little cherry guy was sent to me by the very lovely Millie, I was beyond lucky to have won her blog giveaway recently. Millie sells these gorgeous little guys on Felt and around NZ, go check out her blog for more info. They are so adorable and really quite tame, so far this little cherry guy has been behaving himself and there hasn't been too much monkeying around....

Well it was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT for these two and they have pretty much been inseparable since.
Monkey is still waiting for his name, Talia can't quite make up her mind, so at the moment he is affectionately know as 'monkey'. So far there has been a lot of kissing...

... some necklace making...

...but mainly there has just been a whole lot of hugging. Yes I think that 'monkey' is going to be quite happy and very loved in his new home!

THANK YOU so much Millie for your wonderfully generous giveaway you have made one little girl very VERY happy....... X

Sun, Sun, Sun...

2009-03-09T19:56:00.007+13:00

We have all been thinking that Autumn is on it's way here in NZ, but this weekend we were treated to glorious sun filled days. We spent a lovely afternoon on the beach, it was so warm even I ventured into the water. Needless to say the kids had a blast.............

'little surfer chick in training...'

I really hope that we get to enjoy some more lovely warm kiwi days before Autumn really does come a calling!! X

Paper planes....

2009-03-06T10:29:00.007+13:00

Blimey it's like a war zone at our house at the moment and for once I don't mean because the kids are fighting..... Kalem has been spending a LOT of time making paper airplanes, then he and Talia have been flying them all over the house. You can't go anywhere without being hit on the head by a plane or accidentally standing on one and having to quickly hide the crumpled mess in the bottom of the bin so that you don't get told off!!
A few of the fighter jets lined up and ready for battle....

At least somebody in our house is making something. I seem to be spending a lot of time reading about making things, cutting out patterns and fabric to make things with , talking about all the different things I am going to make, but actually not making anything at all. Can you get 'crafters block"???? If so I definitely think that I have this, I can't seem to concentrate on anything.

I am quite tired so I am putting it down to this, yes Lola is still waking all night long. On a good night she only wakes 4 times, but the other night it was 8, she quite often wakes hourly and the only way to settle her is to feed her, SIGH!!! It's completely my own fault for letting her get into such a terrible night time routine and I know that I need to be a BIT tougher with her, but I am TOO TIRED!!!!! I am going to try not feeding her every time that she wakes tonight, fingers crossed.

Here is a photo of the little monkey and her big sister especially for their grandparents.... X

Crafy Business

2009-03-03T20:59:00.005+13:00

Lucky me living in Christchurch once a month I get to go to the Crafty Business group. The group was set up by some very clever peeps - Millie of Pink Paper Pinafore, Amy from the Loop Knittery and Lucy from Felt. The aim of the group is to get like minded craft lovers together to exchange ideas, network and get some great business help and advice. Last night was the second evening, I did go to the first, but did not blog about it as it was jut before my friend arrived from the UK.

What a fantastic evening, Lucy gave some brilliant advice on business planning and it was really cool to meet so many talented people. I mean what could be more fun than hanging out with so many funky, arty, crafters in a pub on a Monday evening???? I met so many cool people who I am really hoping to get to know much better over time. The highlight of my evening though was meeting the very lovely Millie, I have gotten to know her through blogging and it was such a treat to meet her in person.

If you live in Christchurch and fancy heading along to the next meeting then check out the Crafty Business blog. Maybe I'll see you there next month, I am already looking forward to it!!! Thanks heaps to Millie, Amy and Lucy for organising such a fabulous evening!! X

Photo Tag

2009-02-28T10:35:00.004+13:00

I have been tagged by the wonderful Kikimiss from the fabulous blog All about Kiki to find the 6Th photo in my 6Th folder and blog about it with and explanation. My folders are all over the place and not all have 6 photo's in, but I followed the rules as closely as possible and came up with this photo.

I took this photo of Julian and Kalem just moments before I got out my scissors and cut off all of those dreadlocks. We were living in England at the time and I was very pregnant with Talia. Cutting them off was his idea not mine and I was convinced that the shock of my hubby without his dreadlocks was going to send me into early labour, I think I may have mentioned before about my drama queen like qualities........ In all honesty they were getting to be a bit of a mess as you can clearly see in the photo, so it was probably time for them to go.

Now I am supposed to pass this tag onto another 6 people, but after my last disaster with my disappearing post I have decided to leave it open to whoever fancies giving it a go. It is actually quite fun and I hadn't looked at this photo for ages. Let me know if you play along. X

Pancakes, Softies and Felt....

2009-02-25T12:00:00.013+13:00

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday so we had pancakes after dinner, made by Daddy because apparently he makes the best!! Kalem devoured his within about 3 seconds so didn't get a shot of him, but here is Talia tucking in. This child can NOT eat ice cream without smearing it all over her face.... Lola thought that they were lip smacking good!!!

...but not as good as the bowl, YUM!!!

-XXX-

I thought I would also share with you a few photo's from this wonderful book, more softies that I have out from the library.

It has some really cool things to make, my favourites are this extremely cute car and caravan, Talia has requested that I make this asap....

These gorgeous owls that I think I might make for ME, check out those fabulous eyes....

...and this adorable little doll that I am sure Lola really NEEDS....

-XXX-

From things that I want to make to things that I have actually made. A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I was attempting to make a felt bracelet. I made 2 and here they are........

The green one I needle felted some purple/green spots on and then wrapped some green and purple cotton around the bangle. The purple one I just sewed some amethyst chips on in little clusters. To be quite honest I am not blown away with either of them and think that this is probably the end of my felt bracelet making days........

Right I am off to sort our my craft cupboard which at the moment is just a mess of cotton, fabric, embroidery, felt, yarn and knitting needles. Got to find just the right fabric for my first attempt at softie making....... X

PS. Found my camera by the way, which was not lost at all, but sitting on the bookcase exactly where I usually leave it. I seriously need to start getting more sleep!!!

Has anyone seen my camera????

2009-02-24T12:15:00.005+13:00

Oh dear I seem to be having some kind of problem with my blog, my last post mysteriously disappeared...... It is no doubt some fault of my own, but I am not sure what I did. Oh well... it is annoying though as I finally got around to posting in reply to the 2 Tree of Happiness awards that were passed on to me from the lovely and creative Daisy Days and the also very creative and free-spirited Bohemian mama. Unfortunately this post took me ages to complete and I had finally figured out the 6 other blogs to pass the award on to and now it is GONE!!!!! ARGHHH!!

Sorry ladies for not completing my task and thank you for giving me the award, I would like to say that I will do it again, but my poor sleep deprived brain (that's right Lola is still waking all night long...) can't remember a thing!!!

I also seem to have lost (YIKES) my camera and everybody knows that a blog post is so much more interesting with pictures. So now I am off to search for the missing camera...... wish me luck!! X

Lola is one....

2009-02-19T11:20:00.011+13:00

Hello again........... I seem to have had a much longer bloggy break than anticipated. For the last few weeks my oldest and dearest friend Kate has been visiting us from England. It had been 3 years since her last visit so as you can imagine we had a lot to catch up on, this involved drinking ridiculous amounts of tea and sitting on the couch for hours chatting! She has gone home now and the house feels empty without her, but it is time for me to get back to reality and start on that list of things to do when Kate goes....... Believe me the list is scarily long, but first on the agenda is updating my blog and finding out what all my lovely bloggy friends have been up to during the last couple of weeks. I think that this is going to require ignoring the housework and a few more cups of tea!!!!!

Well the most important thing by far that has happened is that our adorable little Lola turned one........ It is hard to believe that a whole year has gone by, it really seems to have flown.

The birthday girl sitting with Nana wondering what all the fuss is about.

So that's what cake tastes like hmmmmm.......

What's in here then????????

Sitting in her favourite place, eating a present and wearing her new baby legs....

A wheely bug, her present from Nanny and Grandad. She's not really sure what to do with it at the moment, but I don't think it will be long before she is scooting around the house.

Due to being very busy drinking tea (did I mention we also ate a LOT of cake...) and chatting I did not get around to making the lovely knitted monkey that was my plan for Lola's birthday, bad, bad mother!!!! My children however put me to shame and both made something for their little sis. Kalem spent ages making this wonderful embroidery of a sunflower for her, isn't it great!!!!

Talia drew this gorgeous picture of Lola as her birthday gift. I am so proud that they both appreciate the importance of a gift handmade with love.

Happy 1st birthday Lolly-Bell our precious little treasure. You are such a ray of sunshine, you have the cheekiest grin and you make us all laugh every day. You are so busy at the moment crawling around and getting into everything, learning about your world. You adore being with your big brother and sister and they adore being with you. You love to sit under the Keyboard and listen while Kalem plays a tune and you love just hanging out with Talia in her room, playing dolls or reading books. You can't get to the door fast enough to be lifted up in Daddy's arms when he gets home from work and you love to cuddle up with Mummy and sing songs. You are such a sweet natured child and we are blessed to have you in our lives little one, know always that you are deeply loved by us all..............XXXX

A QUIET week.......

2009-01-29T12:49:00.005+13:00

Talia went back to Kindy on Monday which has meant that our house has been very quiet this week...... Kalem and I have taken advantage of this rare 'quiet' time and I have been teaching him to knit (yes Dad...knit!!). He has been wanting to learn for a while, but I have been very wary of teaching him as he gets very grumpy if he can't get the hang of things straight away. Lucky for me, he has picked it up quite quickly and apart from the occasional squeal of help mum, he is doing really well knitting a scarf for his bear! It is so cute watching him concentrating on every stitch, he does however seems to be adding a new stitch every row which should make for quite an odd looking scarf, but I don't think he will mind! We sat together on the couch for ages just chatting and knitting, it was so cool.......

He also spent a morning making a pom pom and then turning it into this lovely tarantula called 'Tuffy'...... Lola loves it and keeps trying to eat the eyes.

I have been wanting to make felt bangles for a while now, so yesterday morning I gave it a go. They were much harder than I thought and I don't think that I was doing it right. I did kind of make one and I will post pic when it is completely finished. I found a great book yesterday afternoon on felt jewellery at the library, so am going to give it another go when I have a chance....

I have to say a huge thank you for all your lovely comments and emails about my last post. You all made me feel so much better with your kind words!!!!!! X

POOR LITTLE OLD ME.....

2009-01-25T12:08:00.006+13:00

If anybody reading this is due to visit the dentist STOP READING IMMEDIATELY!!!!

For the last couple of months I have had a slight niggling in one if my back teeth, recently it got slightly worse so I made the DREADED appointment to see the Dentist. First off I have to say that I am TERRIFIED of the Dentist, always have been and am pretty sure now ALWAYS WILL BE......

So Friday morning (after almost cancelling my appointment due to the fact that my tooth had been absolutely fine for the last couple of days) I headed off nervously, but trying to be as brave as possible. Once I was sitting in the chair the sweat started pouring and I even started to shake a bit... obviously my inner self knew what was to come. Anyway the Dentist found some decay inside my wisdom tooth and told me I could either have it filled or taken out. She advised me that if I did have it filled it would probably need doing again in the next couple of years.

SOMEHOW by telling me that it cost the same to remove the tooth, the tooth is not needed anyway and that it would only be the same pain as a filling, she managed to get me to agree to having it pulled.

FLIPPIN HECK... I can't even begin to explain how much I would rather have had a filling, 20 fillings even....... After having to listen to the crunching and cracking of bone, gagging on the horrific amount of blood and feeling like my head was being pulled off, I then had to endure stitches that seemed to take a lifetime to put in. Apparently my tooth had 4 roots instead of 2 and it was also fused to the bone which made it much harder to remove, stupid tooth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was all quite traumatic and I had to sit out in my car for at least 5 minutes crying like a BABY once I had ESCAPED from the dreaded place! Now I have been known to be a BIT of a drama queen and I don't handle being sick or in pain very well, (how I ever birthed 3 babies naturally is beyond even me!!!) but I was seriously in shock. Luckily for me my wonderful mother-in-law was at home looking after the kids and one look at me, red eyes, swollen face, blood smeared on chin she gave me a hug and told me that she would have the kids for the rest of the day. THANK HEAVENS!! Wonderful, wonderful MIL am forever in her debt!!!

So now 3 days on I still can't talk properly and am in pain and having to take antibiotics WHILE BREASTFEEDING......... I don't take anything other than paracetamol if really needed normally while b/feeding so this is the worst part for me, I have checked with everyone and apparently what I am on is okay for babs, but really I would rather not be taking the risk.

I guess the moral of the story is HAVING A WISDOM TOOTH TAKEN OUT IS NOT THE SAME AS HAVING A FILLING!!!! Oh yeah and I am a great big Sukey la la BABY........... I have no idea how I am EVER going to get myself back to the dentist to have stitches removed and if anybody ever tells me that I need a tooth pulling again I am going into hiding.........

Sorry about this moany old post but just had to get it off my chest and also wanted to let my mum and dad know what their poor little girl has had to endure..... can't phone them as can't SPEAK.... Hope that everybody else is having a lot more fun than me this weekend.......X

A TEA PARTY........

2009-01-21T21:33:00.010+13:00

Today we had a tea party or should I say that Talia had a tea party. She has been wanting to have one for a while now so we invited Nana, Aunty Ness and cousin Joe to join us this afternoon.

We needed something tasty to offer our guests so this morning we made cup cakes and chocolate chunk oat cookies. We all mucked in together to get the job done....

Then of course the cup cakes needed decorating....

Then the table needed to be set. Nana brought round the beautiful flowers for Talia as it was her special party, needless to say she was thrilled. As it was a very special tea party we got to use our very special tablecloth. This beautifully embroidered cloth was given to me by my mother-in-law and was made by her mother. I feel very privileged to be the keeper of this family treasure.....

So much work went into making this and I'm pretty sure that Julian's Grandma would have been very happy that it was being used for a tea party hosted by her great granddaughter. I love the colours she chose and the stitches are all perfect, it is a true work of art........

He may have been born in NZ, but he drinks his tea like a true Englishman, just look at that little finger Talia had great fun pouring out cups of tea (water) from her little porcelain tea set.

What a lovely way to spend the afternoon, thanks Boo........

Someone was missing though.....all I could think was how much Nanny would have loved this, wish you could have been here mum....... X

My weekend...

2009-01-20T11:43:00.005+13:00

This weekend I FINALLY got round to watching Mama Mia on dvd and I loved it. There were moments when I just wanted to get up and dance on the table. I probably would have done just that if I had been watching it with my FUN girlfriends and not with my hubby who was snoring next to me on the couch!!!! Surprised that he could sleep actually with me singing FAB Abba tunes at the top of my wobbly voice! This is definitely a film to be enjoyed with other like minded girlies......

I also got to do a bit of sewing while Lola slept and the other 2 were out with Dad. I made this little bib from the book Bend-the-rules Sewing by Amy Karol of Angry chicken blog fame. It turned out a bit smaller than the ones in the book as I did not have a copier to enlarge the pattern, so just drew it freehand. I found it a bit tricky sewing on a curve so it's not perfect, but it fits Lola just fine so I am thrilled with my first ever bib. I have since photocopied the pattern at the correct size, so am planning on making lots more. I may make some as presents as I have a few friends with babies due this year!

I got to use these lovely sparkly scissors that Julian got me for Christmas, aren't they professional looking????

Talia did some painting... Am I the only mother out there who sometimes wishes she left the paints in the cupboard????? I love doing crafty things with the kids, but painting does drive me a wee bit crazy. It is more the cleaning up afterward really. Talia was covered from head to toe in paint, it was all over the carpet, the kitchen and the bathroom and even the deck had splodges of paint all over it. She only did 3 paintings and it took me ages to clean up after her. I even went to the supermarket with green paint all over my arm without realising.....grrrrr!

The painting kept Talia busy though while Kalem went out with Dad to choose this new addition to the family. Meet 'Twitch", Julian who is also know as Dr Dolittle around here felt that Tinkerbell our Velveteen rabbit needed some company so off he went to get this little cutie.... We can't leave Twitch in the hutch with Tinks just yet as she is too little only 7 weeks old, so we let them run around the lounge together at night to get used to each other. Twitch is still very frightened poor little mite and we didn't know where to keep her, then Julian thought of this little toy farm shed that we were throwing out. She fits in just perfectly and is all snug in our laundry until she moves in with her new pal.........

Lola

2009-01-17T17:31:00.005+13:00

Today Lola is exactly 11 months, wow in just one month she is going to be 1 year old!!!!! It's true time does fly when you are having FUN. Here are a few pic's of my little cherub enjoying a juicy plum from our local farmers market...........

I'm pretty sure she enjoyed every mouthful....X

Happy Hols.......

2009-01-14T11:56:00.007+13:00

Since we returned from our trip to Nelson we have been keeping busy and having lot's of fun. We are all really enjoying the relaxed feeling of the school hols. It has definitely helped that my children are now waking more at 7-7.30am rather than 6am, much more acceptable I'm sure you will agree. The AMAZING weather we have had recently has also helped to keep smiles on faces.

Kalem has been very busy using the craft box that we gave him for Christmas, here he is writing a book about art....

Lola got lot's of lovely wooden blocks for Christmas that Kalem and Talia have had hours of fun with. I'm sure that they will let Lola play with them one day soon.....

Do you remember 'pick up sticks'??? kalem got this for Christmas and it is such a great simple game, brilliant for those fine motor skills.

We have also been enjoying the fruits of Julian's labour and eating lot's of yummy veg from our garden.

I even had time to whip up this necklace for my good friend Tracey's birthday. It is made with felt balls, turquoise and Thai silver beads. I haven't made any jewelery for ages, it was good to get my beads out and have a play.....

Hope you are all having fun wherever you are........ X

Pencil Rolls

2009-01-13T20:44:00.006+13:00

I made these 2 pencil rolls/holders for 2 special little girls in Nelson for Christmas. I also made one each for Kalem and Talia, but don't have a photo of theirs. The idea is from the fabulous book the Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule. I made them using some thrifted wool jumpers and a rainbow blanket that I had knitted for Lola. These items were all felted in my washing machine, then my handy dandy sewing machine got another work out. I think that I was probably supposed to change my needle and stitch type for thicker material, but I didn't think of that at the time!!! I am still a complete novice after all.....
These little tree's were not my idea I actually saw them on another blog and thought that they were really cool, can't remember which blog though! I hand stitched these together and then onto the pencil roll.

I needle felted this little fairy, Talia's is very similar only her fairy has yellow hair.

12 evenly spaced places (well kinda) for pencils. It is such a great idea as it keeps pencils together and the thick wool felt protects them. The kids were all really thrilled with them which is always a bonus, they even brought them camping. I will definitely be making these again as they make brilliant presents, especially together with the lovely thick eco-pencils that I was lucky enough to come across.

I love making something new from something old, it makes me feel all eco-warrior like inside! Bye for now... X

Some pics.....

2009-01-12T10:52:00.015+13:00

Thought that I would share a few photo's taken while we were on our little holiday....

Lola eating her very first 'ice cream'. Actually it was frozen yoghurt made with real berries and it was only a little dollop on the end of a cone, but boy she loved it!!!!
Kalem feeded the eels, in my hat for some reason......

Lola in my hat, what is it about my hat????

Kalem and Talia at the start of a bush walk.

A beautiful walk with wonderful friends......

3 little munchkins, I love this photo.....

Kalem and Lola playing in the river. Kalem jumped off the bridge in the photo, giving me a near heart attack, it is much higher than it looks and my wee man is much braver than I thought!!!!

Chilling out in Nelson at the Jazz festival.....

Kalem go carting at the place were we camped.....

We camped at one of the only places in NZ were you can have a campfire, they even supplied the wood. Toasting marshmallows, YUM!!!

Him Tarzan , me Jane!!!!! Julian had hours of fun on the rope swing along with all the other grown up 'boys' there.....

At the river drying off in the hot NZ sun.....

Talia cooling down.....

Lola loved this big tyre swing and screamed (very loudly) every time someone tried to take her off. She sat there for ages rocking backward and forward gently, humming to herself.....

TILLY.....

2009-01-10T10:49:00.004+13:00

This is Tilly the doll that I made for Talia for Christmas. It is a Steiner style doll made from all natural products and stuffed with wool carding. I really enjoyed making her and considering this was the first time I had used my sewing machine I don't think she turned out too bad. I wanted her to resemble Talia so she has brown eyes and long blonde(ish) hair. Talia seems to really love her and she has already been camping with us so she is definitely part of the family.................

Of course once I had made her she needed some clothes, I found a little pair of knickers and the pants at a lovely handmade toy shop. I then made the little dress and designed my very own shrug like knitted top which I am very proud of, but it was VERY SIMPLE!!!! I used some of the gorgeous yarn that Claire sent me last year.

I read this somewhere online and I thought that it was lovely,

A handcrafted doll is one of a kind. It carries the spirit of the maker in it's stitches and absorbs the spirit of the child that loves it........ X

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

2009-01-09T11:51:00.014+13:00

I have been on a bit of a blogging break as we have been away since just after Christmas having a wonderful time at the top of the South island in Nelson visiting friends. Happy New Year to you all by the way, a bit late I know. Hope that everybody had a lovely Christmas, we had a great day and I thought that I would post a few pics of our Christmas morning mainly for my mum and dad who I know really miss the kids at this time of year. It seems weird looking through these photo's as Christmas seems like a distant memory.................

It all started in the very early hours, one very tired daddy and one very excited young lady eager to start her very first Christmas....
and then there were 3 little monkey's bouncing on the bed......

then began the crazy unwrapping of what seemed like a million presents...

Happy Christmas faces......

Talia's gorgeous new purple bike bought with money sent by my lovely generous brothers. Just what she wanted all purple and sparkly with dingly dangly bits and the all important seat at the back for her doll. A very happy wee girl.........

Errrrrrr who is gonna tidy up this mess???????

My Christmas angels.........

So now we are back home, unpacked, the 3 billion loads of washing have been done and it's time to get on with 2009. I am looking forward to a crafty year, hopefully involving the use of my sewing machine. I made a few things for Christmas that I used my machine for which I will post about very soon. I also tried to teach myself crochet while I was a away, I had some success, but I still have a LONG way to go. Hope that everyone is enjoying the beginning of 2009, I am off to catch up on all my favourite blogs............... X

HAPPY CHRISTMAS......

2008-12-24T22:48:00.003+13:00

A very merry Christmas to you all, see you in the new year.............. X

NZ Christmas Ornament Swap...

2008-12-23T10:31:00.009+13:00

Thought that I would post about the wonderful ornament swap that I have been involved in, organised by twenty cent mixture, thanks so much Louise!!! It was great fun opening each of the 5 little parcels wondering what treat was waiting inside. Now I want to do lot's more swaps, so keep me in mind if you know of any......

My contribution to the swap were these little needle felted Christmas tree's....

Here are the ornaments that I received, I love them all................

This is Plum pudding fairy who without a doubt is Talia's favourite, isn't she gorgeous. she came with the sweetest little note, we are going to treasure her for always!

This lovely little kiwi slice made out of felt.

A Sweet little pom pom made from fabric, the photo doesn't really do it justice, it's so sweet.

A cute little present (that T is dying to open) wrapped in fabric, it also has a little bell inside.

A cool wee Ika made out of recycled wool blanket and Tonga bark cloth, I love the shell button eye's.

All now hanging proudly on my Christmas tree, thanks to all the swapper's, my ornaments are all FABULOUS.............. X

SPUD

2008-12-22T12:26:00.006+13:00

Hmmmmmm my computer has been down for a while, so was not able to wish my gorgeous boy a happy 8th birthday on time.....

Happy belated birthday to our wonderful, creative, kind, crazy, thoughtful, sweet, clever boy! Thank you sweet child for entering my life, changing it forever and making me smile every day. I feel such wonder as I watch you you grow, each year getting closer to becoming the wonderful man that you are destined to be. I am so proud of you and I love you more than words can say...... X

Birthday fun...

2008-12-15T10:22:00.004+13:00

Yesterday we had Kalem's birthday party, although my gorgeous boy doesn't turn 8 until tomorrow.... This year I was determined to do things differently and I really wanted to have it outside so we took Kalem and his buddies to a really cool adventure park for a play and a picnic. Oh my goodness what a great idea, they had a ball running around like crazy things for about 3 hours or so. They played in the play area, had games of cricket, football and Tball, I mean really what more do 8 year old boys need than a field and a ball!!! Blimey between them they had so much energy that I was extremely glad that we were not having a party at home!!!!!

Last year for Talia's birthday she requested a pink fairy castle cake. I had great fun making it and it turned out brilliantly, little did I know however that I had set myself a standard and cool birthday cakes that take HOURS were now expected............... Last year Kalem requested a Bart Simpson cake and this year it was a Lego cake. To be honest Lego cake had me baffled for quite a while and I had no idea what to do. After searching the internet for ideas for WEEKS..... I came across a picture of some cupcakes decorated with Lego shapes. Not sure where I found this, but the idea stuck with me, I didn't do cupcakes but used the idea to make a cake. Here is the birthday boy's LEGO cake moments before a gang of rowdy 8 year olds tore into it......................... Errr and yes it did take 1 or 2 hours of effort to make the little shapes out of icing, but it was a bit like playing with playdoh so I didn't mind!! Plus Kalem was absolutely thrilled so it was worth it.

Just a simple chocolate cake for his birthday tomorrow with not a drop of scary food colouring in sight.

ps. if anybody is wanting to make either a fairy castle or Bart Simpson cake then let me know and I can tell you how I made mine, I also have photo's........... X

And the winner is...............

2008-12-14T20:59:00.004+13:00

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway and left such lovely comments about my angel!!! I wish that I had enough time to make one for each of you, but alas there can be only one winner. To choose the winner I wrote all the names on pieces of paper then put them into our Tibetan Milk Pot....bet nobody has used one these in a giveaway before.

Then I enlisted the help of one very excited 4 year old, no peeking now madam....

And the winner is......................

Yay Millie it's you, thanks for entering and if you can let me know your address I will post it asap, it may even get there in time for Christmas. Sorry to everybody else that entered, but they are pretty easy to make, so follow my tutorial and give it a go.

Hope you have all had a great weekend, today we had Kalem's birthday party, more about that tomorrow, all I can say now is that I am in need of a small (hmmmm actually LARGE) glass of red wine......... X

CHRISTMAS STARS....

2008-12-12T10:48:00.002+13:00

I thought that I would share this wonderful idea for making Christmas stars. Kalem and Talia had great fun making these, Talia needed quite a lot of help, but once Kalem got the hang of the folding there was no stopping him!!!! We put most of them on our tree, but saved a few back to give to Talia's kindy teachers along with some truffles we will be making as a thank you gift. I got the idea from one crafty mama's blog, she has some brilliant Christmas craft ideas. Here is the link for star tutorial if you fancy giving them a go....

Not too late to enter my giveaway, just leave a comment on the giveaway post............... X

Help needed AGAIN.....

2008-12-11T20:57:00.005+13:00

Finally all packed up ready to be sent off to the other 5 members of my Christmas ornament swap group. All posted this afternoon and one day before the deadline, I must be getting organised in my old age..... I am very bad at leaving things until the last minute, but I do seem to work well under pressure! I will post a picture of the ornaments that I made when everybody has received them, just in case they read this blog. I will also post a picture of the ornaments that I receive, so far I have 2 out of 5 and they are both really cool.

I think that I have now sorted out the photo problem, so have deleted my cry for help..... X

Building a Fort...

2008-12-10T10:54:00.005+13:00

Sometimes all you need are a few blankets, some cushions and all the pillows in the house to keep you happy and busy. Kalem spent most of Sunday morning making a 'fort' in the dining room. He had so much fun making it, but wasn't quite so keen on clearing it all up..... TYPICAL!!!!

A perfect spot for the littlest member of the family........

GIVEAWAY

2008-12-08T11:40:00.003+13:00

In the spirit of Christmas I have decided to have a giveaway. I have been lucky enough to win a few giveaways myself throughout the year so it is definitely time to return the LOVE. The winner will receive the felted angel that I made in the tutorial a couple of posts back. I will also include some carded wool and a felting needle so you can have a go at making something yourself. I thought the little angel would be very appropriate for this time of the year, but she's not just for Christmas you know. Talia keeps her little angel on her shelf in her bedroom throughout the year and it watches over her while she sleeps. She does come out into the lounge for Christmas though. I did originally make her for the Christmas tree, but felted dolls are quite fragile and I didn't want her getting messed up by all the pine needles. You of course can do with yours whatever you like. So if you want to enter just leave me a comment in the comment box for this post. Comments will be open until Friday evening NZ time. So please join in the fun even if you are just visiting my blog or if you read, but never comment I would love to hear from you all. This is open to anyone and I am happy to post anywhere in the world. GOOD LUCK XXX

CHRISTMAS TREE

2008-12-08T11:08:00.009+13:00

OOOOOOOOO I just love this time of year and I swear that I am more excited than the kids. I have always been this way, I remember lying awake for hours on Christmas Eve wondering if HE had been. My mum is also the same and when we were a bit older and had been out with friends celebrating and perhaps drinking a wee bit too much she would be the first one up at around 6am dragging us from our beds.

Last night we put up our Christmas tree and listened to our favourite Christmas CD. Now I can be a bit obsessive about my Christmas tree and if the truth be known I would like to run the decoration hanging something like a military operation. Julian did state last night that perhaps my perfect job would be Christmas tree coordinator. Sounds great wonder what the pay is like!!!

Anyway last night I held back from saying things like "no not there, put it here", and " you are not seriously going to put that silver ball next to that purple one" etc. etc.... I just let the kids and hubby put the decorations wherever they liked, secretly thinking that I would do it all again when they were in bed. Do you know what though they did a great job and apart from having to move the 20 that Talia had put on the same bottom branch, I didn't have to change a thing.

Of course Julian couldn't resist winding me up and I kept finding odd things in the tree like this.......

Yes thats correct it is a COURGETTE.... honestly men hey!!

Poor Talia came running in to our room this morning excited about all the presents that were going to be under the tree, she was a bit dissapointed to say the least. It's funny I remember Kalem doing the exact same thing a couple of years back. Oh well only 17 more sleeps to go. Hope you are all having a fabulous festive time too... X

TUTORIAL - FELT ANGEL

2008-12-04T16:40:00.033+13:00

Since starting my blog I have had a couple of requests for a needle felting tutorial and I have finally gotten around to doing one. This is my first tutorial so please bear with me and feel free to contact me if you have any questions. This really seemed to tax my very weary sleep deprived brain so I hope that it makes sense, her it goes......

This tutorial is for a needle felted angel, the angel herself was inspired by an amazing artist who has a stall at the Christchurch Art Centre market. Her art work is fabulous and she makes the most wonderful felt creations. The following information is a collaboration of what I learnt from her and also from reading as many felting books as possible and of course a bit of trail and error.

First up you will need the following materials for your felt angel all of which should be readily available from your local craft store:

* You will need small amounts of white, light brown and pink carded wool, also known as roving.

* A felting needle.

* Some curly mohair.

* Wings.

* Angelina Fibre. (I have not included this in the tutorial, I just add it at the end to add a bit of sparkle.)

STEP 1 - THE HEAD. Rip off 2 pieces of brown wool and roll one piece into a ball. You may want to give the ball a few pokes with the needle to bind the fibres and keep it on shape.

Then wrap the second length of wool around the ball, leaving a tail at the base.

Rip off another small length of wool and wrap at the base of the head and poke with needle to keep in place as shown below. Then keep stabbing the ball with the needle turning it around to keep the shape. Stop when you have a firm round ball, remember the more you stab the smaller the ball with become so stop when you are happy.

STEP 2 - THE BODY. Take a large length of the natural white carded wool, place the head on the top edge with the tail hanging down as shown below.

Then wrap the white wool to form a basic body shape as below

Use your needle and stab the body remembering to keep turning it until you have your desired firmness and shape. You will also need to stab upwards from the bottom to form a flat base. After about 5-10 minutes you should have something like this...

STEP 3 - ARMS. Take 2 small lengths of white wool of equal sizes.

Fold first length in half, then half again roll and stab with needle until you have tubular shape as below.

Then take your needle and stab the arm into position starting at the shoulder. With the needle mould the arm into the body, I usually like to give my angels bell sleeves, but it took me a few attempts to get this right. Repeat process again for second arm.

STEP 4 - HANDS. Here just take a very small amount of brown wool to match the colour of face and squish into a small ball then take your needle and stab into place at the end of the arm as so.

Repeat process for second hand.

STEP 5 - EDGING. Take a small amount of the curly mohair and stab around the base of the body to give a frilly edge to angel's dress.

STEP 6 - HAIR. The hair can be a bit tricky and I find I just really go with the flow and see what happens, but you can give a lot of shaping using your needle. Basically take small pieces of the curly mohair and layer them onto the head.

I normally take my time here and do it a piece at a time.

Until I have the desired effect, here I have teased the hair into kind of bunches each side of her head, but you can just let you imagination flow....

STEP 7 - HEART. Take a small piece of pink wool and form it into a heart with you needle. Now it is a good idea to use a piece of foam or a pillow when you are doing small pieces as that needle is very sharp and REALLY hurts when you poke yourself, which you will no doubt end up dong at sometime or other. I actually use Lola's breastfeeding cushion for my needle felting, you know the ones that go around your body and babe lies on top.... I have it on my knee and do the whole angel this way, I have stabbed my self more times than I care to remember, so try to be ultra careful.

Then take the heart and stab it into position between the hands, does anybody else find this picture slightly disturbing?????

STEP 8 - WINGS. Finally take the wings of your choice, position them at the back of your angel and then sew into place

Then Voila..... if my instructions are not too incomprehensible you should have yourself a sweet little angel, perfect for having around at this time of year!

Good luck if you decide to give it a go, it's easy when you know how and I warn you very addictive. Flickr have a fantastic needle felting group full of brilliant inspiration if you are interested.... X

Sibling LOVE....

2008-12-02T10:35:00.004+13:00

So the madness that is December has begun......... I'm not complaining though, I absolutely LOVE the build up to Christmas. The kids are already beside themselves with excitement, but instead of driving me INSANE a strange thing seems to have happened, they both seem to be getting on really well together (tough wood, touch wood) and have been playing really nicely for a few days now. It is so lovely to watch and I feel as though I have been waiting for a very long time for this to happen, I really hope that it continues.

It could be linked to the fact that Talia seems to have grown up so much recently. Honestly I keep looking at my little girl thinking when did that happen, I have always thought of her as a baby, but she is so capable, independent and tall now, definitely not a baby any longer. She is such a little Kiwi kid with her tanned skin, deep kiwi accent and her love of the outdoors. Julian and I were just saying yesterday that she will be the most Kiwi of them all and she is the only one who was actually born in England!

Friends at last.......
I have been busy making little bits and pieces for Christmas, not sure how I am going to fit everything in that I want to do!!!!! I am off today to buy some materials to make Talia a Waldorf style doll, I have wanted to make one of these for a while now, but thought they looked a bit difficult. I recently bought one for Lola for Christmas and also wanted one for Talia, but the bigger dolls were soooo expensive. I have the book on making the dolls out of the library recommended to me by the lovely Claire who has also made a couple of these dolls, hers are gorgeous!!! So I am going to give it a go, will let you all know if it is a success or a disaster. Wish me luck... X

Finished Brea Bag....

2008-11-30T13:58:00.008+13:00

Yippee I have finally finished my Brea bag which I blogged about here. This bag knitted up pretty quickly, even the cable wasn't that difficult, but finishing it off was a different matter.. Firstly I was supposed to crochet on the top edge of the bag, but I seriously can't seem to get my head around crochet and after various attempts I decided that it actually looked fine without and left it as it was. I was also supposed to join the bag with a crochet seam, but I just sewed it up as normal and even this took a couple of attempts.

Then I needed a handle for my bag, I scoured charity shops, car boot sales and even looked on line to buy new, but found nothing suitable. I eventually decided to give up my search and used a scarf of mine which is a perfect match colour wise. I actually quite like it like this, but Julian has just told me about a shop in town that could put a leather strap on it, so perhaps I will look into this.

Next up was lining the bag which I had no idea how to do. Honestly I spent ages just looking at the bag trying to figure out how to line it, hoping that something would click. I eventually figured it out by watching a youtube clip and YES it's actually pretty easy when you know how. I ended up sewing the lining in by hand as I still seem to have this irrational fear of my lovely new sewing machine. I was supposed to have some spare time this weekend to actually sit down (in peace and quiet) to finally figure out how to use it, even turning it on would be a start, but never got round to it, AGAIN!!!

So from start to finish it has taken a while, but I LOVE it and am very pleased with the finished product. I learnt a few new skills along the way and even managed to crochet a simple chain for the button loop. I never thought that I would knit another one, but I think I probably will as it would make such a great gift. This one though is definitely all MINE....

Lined with lovely fabric from Spotlight...

I couldn't resist buying these yummy pieces of fabric today at the Spotlight sale. I have absolutely no idea what I am going to do with them, but they are lovely don't you think......

Vintage Beauty...

2008-11-27T10:57:00.004+13:00

Yesterday Talia found this lovely OLD nightie that belonged to me when I was around her age. My Nan saved it for me as she thought that it was too pretty to throw away, Talia loves and it looks so cute on her. I am glad my Nan didn't get rid of it as I don't have too much from my childhood as we emigrated to South Africa when I was 11 and got rid of a lot of things before we left. I remember going with my parents to a local orphanage to give them a whole loads of toys and games. I also have a vivid memory of it being a windy day and the lid of a game blowing off causing a whole lot of paper (perhaps it was Monopoly)money to escape and my Dad running after it. I wonder if I have remembered that correctly.........

I'm going to send this photo to my Nan with her Christmas card, wonder if it will remind her of me at that age....... X

A day of FELT....

2008-11-25T10:30:00.007+13:00

Yesterday I had a FELTastic day..... For starters I received my first ornament from the Christmas ornament swap, isn't it fantastic!!! A gorgeous felt Kiwi slice to hang on our tree made by the very clever Helen whose blog you can check out here. She is super organised getting them done so quickly and it's just the kick up the bum I need to get started on mine. I have done a couple of testers, just not sure which one I am using yet, better get my skates on though....

I also received this lovely package in the mail from the wonderful paperandstring blog where I was recently lucky enough to win one of her FAB giveaways. Look at that fantastic pile of lovely wool felt in all the colours of the rainbow, I have a million ideas of what to do with it.....

I could not resist the cute make your own owl ornament kit and sat up way past my bedtime making this little lovely.......

Yesterday I also made a trip to our local $2 clothing warehouse and picked up a bundle of pure wool jumpers to felt. I am planning on making some pencil rolls for Christmas presents and I am also going to try to make a bag. Here is the pile of already felted green jumpers......

I am having a bit of a felt love affair at the moment and have just ordered every book on felt imaginable from the library. I am also planning on doing a needle felting tutorial, hopefully sometime this week if you are interested. Looks like my crafty week is off to a pretty good start... X

Getting crafty...

2008-11-23T11:41:00.005+13:00

I found this book by chance at the library last week. It is a great read, lot's of tips, hints, advice and even patterns written by crafty bloggers from around the globe. I love reading about other crafty people, learning how and why they do what they do, probably why I love reading other peoples blogs too. It's great to get a look inside other peoples lives, especially for someone as nosey as myself!!!

Now that I have read this book there are at least another 5 things to go on my to do list. I have not been getting anything done recently and have not even been knitting. I have got so many ideas floating around in my head, but can't seem to get around to starting anything. I am determined to get crafty next week and I am going to get on to doing my Christmas ornaments for the ornament swap I am involved in. I have also promised the kids that we will make some little paper stars to hang on the Christmas tree this afternoon, so it's time to get creative. I love this time of year and there are some fantastic Christmas ideas out there in blogland, check out this blog for some great inspiration...

LIONS and Sports Day..

2008-11-21T12:05:00.006+13:00

This morning Kalem has his sports day at school, so Lola and I went along to cheer him on. Talia was not with us as she was going off for the day to Orana Park a wildlife reserve with her Kindy. It is the first time that she has been on a day trip and she was very excited, in fact she was awake most of the night. I sent her off with her lunch box sun hat and strict instructions to stay with the adults..... Of course they will look after her, but as a mother it is always a worry when they are out of your sight, especially if you know that they are off to a place with LIONS!!!!!!!!!!

Kalem's sports day was great and he did really well, even won the egg and spoon race, yay!!! I managed to get a few good action shots of the morning. Here he is doing high jump, but there is no pole as they are apparently still too young for that.
About to win the egg and spoon race, what an athlete.....

Sack Races...............

............ and funny faces!!!

That is a bit of crumpet stuck on Lola's nose, she still is not really into eating solids, but she does like to smoosh them all over her face!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND............ X

CAMPING....

2008-11-18T10:52:00.008+13:00

Last weekend was a long weekend here in NZ and we went camping with some good friends. It was Lola's first camping trip and I was a bit worried that her terrible nighttime sleeping would be a problem and I can't say that I relished feeding her on an air bed. Things however could not have gone better, she slept really well and even slept through the night for the first time in her short life. All of that wonderful fresh air must have worked it's magic on her!!!!!

What a fun time we had, the weather was AMAZING and we had the kind of weekend that I moved to NZ for. We camped with 3 other families and there were also another couple of families camping nearby from Kalem's school, so he was a happy boy and to be honest we hardly saw him unless he was hungry. He had a ball and totally enjoyed the extra bit of freedom given to him. The kids all went off in big groups making huts in the woods, riding their bikes around the campsite, playing Tball and playing touch rugby. The only rules were to stick together and definitely do not go to the beach without an adult. They all behaved so well and got on brilliantly. The older kids helped out with the younger kids and Lola got passed around to everybody, giving my arms a well deserved break........

The best part about the place that we go camping is that Julian used to go there when he was a boy, in fact it is the place where he met our good friend Monty all those years ago. Monty and his family were also camping with us, so now there is a second generation camping in the same place.... I LOVE THAT!!! Maybe even our children's children will camp here too!!

I thought that I would share some photo's with you, here are my sleepy headed little angels all snuggled up after waking at ridiculous 0'clock in the morning...

We celebrated a couple of birthdays while camping and had a wonderful day playing lot's of games and even the adults got to join in. Here is Julian in the very serious Dad's egg and spoon race. Kalem and Talia were beside themselves with excitement cheering him on at the side line, so cute!

My very first knitting in public........... For some reason my friends found this extremely amusing.

My little camp princess.......

Our tent......

Baby yoga..... oh to be that flexible!!!

I hope that you all enjoyed your weekend too. X

POST....

2008-11-10T10:51:00.007+13:00

Last week I received the books that I had ordered from Fishpond the online NZ bookstore. They have a great selection of craft books and if you spend over $50 then postage is free. The Creative family by Amanda Blake Soule who writes the blog Soulemama is brilliant and I highly recommend it. She has great ideas for family craftiness.... I have actually had the book out of the library twice, but it is definitely a book to keep!! The other book I ordered was about sewing skirts, the patterns look pretty simple, so once I have actually been brave enough to turn my sewing machine on I should be able to give them a go!! I don't buy books often as they are expensive and I can't afford them, also we have such a fantastic library here, but there is nothing better than getting your very own lovely new books............................ I don't think that my mum would agree, but I know that my Dad would!!!!!

I was also lucky enough to receive this lovely piece of clay work sent all the way from Austria by the lovely Ingrid. She sent it along with a great article on Nano felting that I really want to do................ sometime. Thanks Ingrid, check out her blog, she writes lovely honest, thought provoking posts......

I finally took a photo of Lola in her rainbow dress, it looks so cute on her. In hindsight though I think that little dresses look better when babies are walking, I am hoping that this will still fit her then! She is on the move at the moment and has started to drag herself along the floor (a bit like a wounded soldier), unlike rolling she can get wherever she wants now. I guess that it won't be long now until she is crawling at a mad speed all over the place and I am running after her like a headless chicken. Time to start moving those breakables......

It is a glorious day here in Christchurch, hope that you are all enjoying the sunshine wherever you are........ X

THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN....

2008-11-06T10:52:00.006+13:00

I recently received my very own copy of the DVD 'The Business Of Being Born" which is an AMAZING documentary by the American TV presenter Ricki Lake. It is basically a documentary about giving birth in America and boy what an eye opener it is. For instance did you know that only 8% of woman use a midwife and that they have the 2nd worse newborn death rate in the WORLD...... It is the normal thing to have your baby in hospital with a doctor (no midwife in sight) and at almost every birth there is some kind of medical intervention. I do understand that sometimes medical intervention is needed and we are lucky to have the facilities available to save lives, but it seems that there is so much UNNECESSARY intervention being used. It is a billion dollar industry and woman are being convinced that giving birth is to be feared. This is a wonderful DVD and Ricki Lake is doing a great thing letting people know that there are other birthing options out there and that the miracle of birth is not to be feared. I had goosebumps watching this and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in birth or midwifery.

Watching this film re-ignited my passion for midwifery, I have recently been feeling that I will never get to study midwifery and even if I did how would I cope being so tired!!!! But where there is a will there is a way. Some people believe that midwifery is a calling and apparently it is very unlucky to ignore this calling. I am not sure that I believe the unlucky part, but I do believe that once a spark of midwifery has been lit it is very difficult to put out the fire.

So as I am pretty sure that I will never look like this again (unless I eat too many (veggie) pies of course) ..................

........Or ever again have that moment just after giving birth of holding my newborn child in my arms and wondering at the miracle of life. There is nothing in the world that can beat the first time your new baby looks deep into your eyes at your soul connecting you both forever, igniting an all powerful feeling of love and an intense need to protect and nurture this amazing new life, this gorgeous gift you have been given to look after......

............. I feel very happy that my passion for midwifery has been rekindled as I can't think of a better or more rewarding job in the world. Now if my brain would please start working again I would be very grateful!!!!!!!! X

GIRL TIME....

2008-11-04T10:56:00.003+13:00

A perfect day....................... to me is sitting with my gorgeous girl having fun getting crafty together!! Talia made a bracelet with her lovely wooden beads (so pretty) and I got to work a bit more on my embroidery. This is my first attempt at embroidery and I am really enjoying it, it's taking ages though as it's normally hard to find time to concentrate around these parts....................

Couldn't resist putting up this picture of giggling Gertie, she is such a happy wee thing, a real blessing..... X

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2008-10-31T11:29:00.002+13:00

A big thank you to all you lovely ladies who commented on my last post, it's great to be part of such a wonderful mummy network..... X

Tinkerbell and a cry for help...

2008-10-28T21:55:00.008+13:00

I haven't been keeping up to date with my bogging this past week as I am so darn TIRED..... My beautiful little Lola is really bad at sleeping through the night, in fact if she sleeps for 3 solid hours it's a bonus. Lately she has been waking hourly and this is sending me pretty loopy, I feel quite delirious from lack of sleep and I am pretty sure that I have been a wee bit grumpy!!!! If anybody has any advice for me please fell free to pass it on. I do put her to bed awake and she is good at going to sleep in the day. Advice so far has been to give her a bottle and to leave her to cry, neither of which I want to do. I must admit that I am considering giving her a bottle before bed to fill her up. Mind you I am quite sure that there is nothing wrong with my milk supply and she is just waking for the comfort, oh and I have tried not feeding her when she wakes and just rocking her and cuddling her, but doesn't work. HELP........

Okay enough of that, I have just sent my mum a very long moany old email about being tired too, seems I'm on a roll......

Anyway this weekend Talia helped Daddy to make a run for Tinkerbell, don't they look adorable in their matching ear thingies... She loves hanging out with daddy in the garden, she is a real daddy's girl (just like me hey dad......)!

Tinkerbell has been making herself at home, she comes in at night and runs around the lounge and is very tame and friendly. The kids love her, but the cat is terrified of her, it's very funny watching the tiny bunny rabbit chasing the huge fat ginger cat (very like Garfield) around the lounge....

Hello Lola.......

Hope you are all getting more sleep than me............................. X

A PRESENT FOR ME......

2008-10-23T12:01:00.004+13:00

I am very excited to show a photo of my latest purchase, which is a joint birthday/Christmas present for ME! I have actually wanted a sewing machine for as long as I can remember, but have never been able to afford one. In my very first post on this blog I mentioned that one of my goals this year was to learn how to sew and now I can...yay! I have been dreaming about all the lovely clothes that I will be able to make for myself and the kids, not to mention the bags, curtains, duvet covers, purses, cushion cover, etc, etc, etc!! Just one little thing standing in my way and that is I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO USE A SEWING MACHINE. I keep looking at my beautiful new machine, but I am actually too scared to use it. The lady at the shop did give me a quick demonstration, but too be quite honest I was buzzing so much with the excitement of actually buying the machine that I didn't take in a word that she was saying. I'm hoping to get my lovely mother-in-law on board as she has offered to help me, silly her.... I'm probably going to drive her round the bend!!

Isn't she gorgeous............ a good all round basic machine for first timers, or that's how the sales pitch went anyway!!!!

So of course it was off to the library for me to get plenty of sewing books. Look at my stash, Christchurch libraries are amazing, they have the best selection of craft books. I did flick through these last night and found it all quite confusing, but am looking forward to giving it a go. Wish me luck...... X

KNITTING, FLOWERS AND WINE....

2008-10-20T11:48:00.009+13:00

Ahhhhhh the birthday week is over......... Talia's little party on Friday went really well and she had a great time with her little pals. It is quite good actually as the children that were here on Friday are all kids of my friends. Between us all we have got quite a number now, my house seemed to be full to bursting with excited little ones and that is not even counting the school kids in the group. Sure makes for fun, loud, messy BBQ's I can tell you............

Last week I also finished Lola's Tikki Rainbow dress which I am beyond happy with. The watermelon yarn knitted up like a dream and I LOVE the way the colours have pooled near the top. I know that some people don't like pooling, but I love the effect it has had on this little dress...... what do you think??? I still have to block it, but I am not actually sure what that means, I think that it is going to stop the moss stitch edge from curling up though. You can see my finger holding it down in the photo. Not sure what the sizing is like as my little Lola has been unwell and definitely not in the mood for modeling. I am so pleased with it and it was really easy if anybody is thinking of giving it a go.

Thought that I would also show another of my WIP's, a soon(ish) to be jumper I am knitting using Cleckheaton Vintage Hues. I saw this jumper knitted up at Knitworld and knew I had to try to knit if for myself. This is what Gabes calls a 'knitting in the dark project', very easy to knit while watching telly. No hurry for it though as won't be needed until Autumn (I am being very optimistic about having a fabulous summer..). I'm finding the yarn a bit of a pain to knit with as it keeps breaking, it's such lovely colours though that I am going to stick with it.
I had to post this photo of Talia, my friend brought round her very first bunch of flowers. She was really thrilled and felt very grown up. They are the most beautiful bunch of Gerbera's in different shades of pink, gorgeous! What a wonderful sweet thought....

Oh yeah, and the same very kind friend also brought me this yummy bottle of Savvy as a happy (surviving) being mum to Talia for 4 years pressie. It's going on top of the cupboard until I can actually drink it as I am still nursing and then it's mine all mine!!!!!!!

A VERY BIG THANK YOU FOR ALL THE LOVELY BIRTHDAY WISHES LEFT FOR TALIA................................... XXX

BIRTHDAY PHOTO'S

2008-10-16T10:31:00.011+13:00

A very excited birthday girl about to open her pressies, she looked at the cards first isn't she good. Personally I am more of a present first, card later kinda gal.

Mama and child dolls. These were supposed to be fairies, but I ran out of time and didn't finish the wings, so now they are just girly dolls. Talia thinks they are really funny, must be those googly eyes and those ridiculously long arms and legs.

The tutu turned out well, I used purple and 2 shades of pink tulle. It looks really cute on her. It was slightly time consuming to make as I did not have a rotary cutter. I actually have no idea what a rotary cutter is, but I am assuming it is something that makes cutting tulle a whole lot easier. It was really easy to make and if anybody wants to know how to make one let me know as I can't remember the site where I found the instructions...........

Talia's new special fairy friend ' Fizelda' (Fizzy to her friends..) who lives at the bottom of our garden left her this little box full of fairy treasure.

Inside the box (found at the bottom of the garden) there was a fairy necklace, a magic wishing stone, a little wooden container from the tooth fairy, a letter, some hair clips, flowers, petals, pine cones and a sprinkling of fairy dust. MAGICAL, Talia loved it........

Blowing out the candles...............

................ and this is 'TINKERBELL' our latest addition to the family and a big surprise for the birthday girl. She is a beautiful Rex Rabbit also know as velveteen rabbits as their fur is so silky soft. She was a bit scared the first day, but she seems to be getting used to us and is presently hopping around the lounge having a great old time. I am of course keeping my eyes peeled for those little raisins.....................

The birthday girl is having a little party tomorrow, so I have to come up with another birthday cake, better get in the kitchen................ X

4 YEARS OLD

2008-10-15T10:45:00.007+13:00

Yesterday my baby turned 4.............................

Our sweet girl, without you life would be dull indeed. Even though you can sometimes be 'slightly' (splutter, splutter, cough, cough) challenging... you bring so much joy and laughter to our family. You are loving and funny and chatty and LOUD, you make your mark wherever you go and everybody knows your name. You keep us busy and often drive us crazy, but we wouldn't have you any other way. You are an amazing bundle of energy and light, to know you 'Talia Buttercup Boo' is to LOVE you.............

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY BABY................... XXXX

A QUIET HOME.....

2008-10-13T10:24:00.006+13:00

The kids went back to school and kindy today and the house is so quiet......... I will miss them as we had lots of fun over the last 2 weeks, but so far I am completely enjoying the peace!

We have just had a glorious weekend, the weather has been amazing. On Saturday we went to the local farmers market (where by the way they do the most amazing fudge....) to stock up on lovely fruit and veggies (and fudge...). In the field next to the farmers market people have started to set up little stalls to sell their bits and bobs. Some junk, but also some VERY talented people there.

I met the most inspiring woman who was selling seriously fabulous felt wall hangings, scarves and little needle felted creations. I could have spent all day talking to her, she was fascinating and gave me lot's of great tips for when I finally get around to doing some wet felting. Boy you should have seen this woman's arm muscles just from making her wet felting hangings and she also told me that she had lost a stack of weight since she started felting. I mean if this is not the motivation I need to get to it then I don't know what is!!!!!!! For those of you who do not know the muscles come for the rolling the felt in bamboo over and over again, pretty hard work, I know as I made one very small piece of felt for a card once. Her work was selling for around three to four hundred dollars a piece and man was it worth it. The lady said she is having real trouble selling here in NZ though, as people just see the price tag and run a mile. I guess that they just don't know the time, effort and love that go into each and every piece. She did say that she was having more luck selling on Etsy which was good to hear, so all of you out there who are thinking about setting up an Etsy store go for it....

I think that it is really sad that this amazing artist can't sell her beautiful creations, but people are more than happy to spend double that on the latest crap gadget on the market that lets face it they don't need and will probably need updating next year anyway!!

I am actually not really supposed to be blogging right now, I am supposed to be checking out the internet for birthday cake ideas as my little Buttercup is going to be 4 years old tomorrow. I also have a few bits and pieces that I am making her that need to be finished off, typical me leaving it till the very last minute. I am making her a little tutu, not sure how it is going to turn out yet, but I will blog the final result. Righto birthday cakes........... bye for now X

LUCKY ME......

2008-10-10T09:55:00.004+13:00

I was recently lucky enough to win a giveaway on the lovely and very talented Abi's blog .Yesterday the adorable little crocheted heart bag arrived in the mail and Talia was beside herself with excitement. I really wish that had taken a photograph of her face when she opened the package, biggest smile EVER!!! Talia absolutely LOVES it and has not let go of it since it arrived. Along with the bag there was a lovely little card made by Abi's beautiful daughter Maia for Talia. Talia was really thrilled with this and I later overheard her telling Kalem that Maia was her new best friend which is adorable as they have never met.....well not yet anyway! I also overheard her saying that Maia is coming to her birthday party next week, think you can leave the UK a bit earlier Abi?????

THANKS ABI, we love it............................... XXXXX

MORE CRAFTY BUSINESS

2008-10-09T09:55:00.009+13:00

This week we have been busy doing a bit of this....

Kalem and Talia were very proud of these pictures made from foam sticker kits, bought very cheaply from Kmart. You would not believe how much mess they made doing these, but it's NOT about the mess it's about the FUN!!!

There was also a bit of this, painting on their very first canvas, I love to see my little artists at work.

....and even a bit of this from me! Last week we went for a picnic with a friend and her boys. This friend is pregnant and she looked fantastic, really glowing. I never glowed at all through any of my pregnancies, I was mainly just a lovely shade of green! Anyway my beautiful friend looked so lovely that I was inspired to make this felt doll in her image. Actually she's not quite that pregnant, she doesn't have pink hair and hmmm she also has facial features. Okay so not quite in her image but INSPIRED by her image. I am going to give it to her as a pressie next time I see her. Hope she likes it..... Photo's are not that great, don't quite show the gorgeous turquoise and orange colours, photography is definitely not my thing!!!!

Hope all you kiwi mama's are enjoying (surviving) the school hols.......... XX

MOSAIC FUN....

2008-10-04T11:06:00.009+13:00

I have finally finished this mosaic DAISY POT which is a very late house warming present for good friends of mine. Thought that I'd stick with a simple design as I knew that I wouldn't have enough time to do something more intricate. I had of course forgotten that even a simple mosaic design can take AGES, especially when you have to steal the odd hour here and there at the weekend, not always an easy task. I really love to mosaic and am really inspired by the summer as those of you who have seen my mosaics may be able to tell as they are nearly all flower designs. I love how the picture comes to life once the piece has been grouted. Definitely going to do a few more bits over the summer.

While I was busy making the pot, Kalem asked if he could have a go too. Now I normally so NO as I work with glass and in my experience glass and children do not mix well!!!! Anyway he was very insistent and I thought why not, so I gave him a collection of pieces of glass that had already been either cut of broken and he got to work.

He really enjoyed himself and here is his finished item. It is a skull and cross bone (boys will be boys and all that..), you may need to use your imagination a little bit, but if you look carefully you can definitely make it out. Not bad for a first attempt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course now Talia wants to have a go, but I think I may need to put her off for a wee while yet.....

Missing Boo....

2008-10-02T10:49:00.007+13:00

Well what a quiet day we had yesterday without Talia, it is amazing just how much noise an almost 4 year old can make......... We all really missed her though, even Kalem had to speak to her on the phone before bed. She had a great time at 'High 5' and even convinced Nana to buy her an outrageously priced sparkly wand. She did want to come home after 'High 5' though and phoned asking me to pick her up. Awwwww I know that we all want our children to grow up being independent and able to survive without us, but isn't there also something so wonderful about the fact that they miss you so much when they are away.

She was very tired so I went around to Nana's for a cup of tea to make sure she was going to be alright. She was so sweet greeted me like she hadn't seen me in a month, it had only been about 4 hours......... She also told me that she was fine now and that she did want to stay at Nana's house, especially as her big cousin Hattie who is 14 was also staying the night. I have just spoken to her on the phone and while talking to me she was also bossing everyone around ordering toast! Just a couple more hours and it will be me she will be bossing around, sigh!! The house feels really empty without her, can't wait to get her back actually. It is the same when Kalem stays out for the night, a guess that a house needs all it's occupants present to be a home.........

So yesterday making the most of the quiet, Kalem got busy writing/drawing and painting a new book and I finished making myself a set of stitch markers. Terrible photo I'm so useless at taking close up shots. This is probably due to the fact that I always have the switch on auto and there are another 20 settings on my camera, one of which is no doubt fantastic for close up shots! Note to self: find and read instruction booklet.....

Lola had a HUGE sleep and Kalem is so great at entertaining himself that I even got to start knitting the the Tikki Rainbow dress and look I got to use my new stitch markers...... I shouldn't really be starting a new project as I haven't gotten any further with my Brea bag. Does anybody else find once they have completed one part ie. front of bag, one sock, one glove, back of jumper........ it is hard to get motivated to do the other?????????

Day 2.............

2008-10-01T11:12:00.007+13:00

Yesterday while Kalem went swimming with his cousin, Talia got her paints out and spent an hour or so making some beautiful pictures.

She also requested that we make cupcakes as she didn't get to go swimming today, so we did just that.......

Of course when Kalem came home and saw the paints out he dived right in and came up with this lovely picture of a tree and a sunset. He was very proud of it as am I, I love his use of colour.

He is such a creative wee man always drawing and making books, I often wonder if this will stay with him as he grows or will he be sidetracked by other more boyish behaviour... Not that I think being creative is in any way girlie, it's just that boys are often so busy running around being, well 'boys' that they don't often find the time to just sit and draw. Time will tell I guess.......

After dinner we enjoyed the fruits of our labour, these delicious little cupcakes (from Annable Karmel's the fussy eaters' recipe book..) They are actually very rich, Talia did not really like the frosting which was very buttery. Not too rich for me though.......................yes D.I.E.T is going reeeeeeeeaally well (splutter, splutter, cough)!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Talia is off to see 'High 5" in concert with Nana this morning, I can't wait to hear all about it, she was so excited, bless.....X

SCHOOL HOLS......

2008-09-29T18:04:00.010+13:00

Well we have survived the first day of the 2 week holidays (not counting the weekend). I must admit that I have been a bit apprehensive about these holidays as my eldest 2 have been fighting like cat and dog recently. I have stocked up the craft cupboard to keep them busy while we are at home for Lola's daily sleep, hopefully this will keep the little 'darlings' happy!

Today they chose sewing as their craft activity. Now my actual plan here was that while they were doing their sewing I would do mine..... yeah right!!! Of course I had forgotten that they would need me to re-thread the needle every 30 seconds...no exaggeration! It was fun though watching them work, Talia was making a spider web and just went for it, while Kalem who is sewing a picture of a car, took his time and made lovely neat little stitches. Talia lost interest after a while, but Kalem seemed to be really enjoying himself. I love this photo of them both concentrating on the job.....

Talia's completed spider web with added green bead for sparkle effect...... Kalem's piece is a work in progress so will post a photo when it is finished.

After lunch we got out the sidewalk chalks and the kids went to town on the concrete, kept them busy for hours.....

Lola as always was just happy to sit back and watch her brother and sister at work.

What a fantastic DAISY, wonder who did that.............

Kalem posing with his picture of Spongebob....

Talia having to do the same as her big bro, posing with her rather pink version of Spongebob.........

A great day and best of all hardly any bickering, oh happy days, long may they last.....

Brea Bag progress

2008-09-27T11:08:00.005+12:00

I had to post a picture of this WIP as I can't believe that I have already gotten this far WITH NO MISTAKES!!!!!!!! This is my first attempt at knitting cable and it wasn't at all as scary as I thought it was going to be. In fact it was super easy just like you said it would be Gabes. Now I just have to knit the back and the gusset, then teach myself to crochet as I need to do some to finish it off (eek). Then I also have to line the bag which will mean learning how to use a sewing machine, I am hoping to get my MIL to help me with this. Hmmmm okay so still quite a way to go, but good progress so far me thinks......................

Baking with Boo....

2008-09-26T10:16:00.006+12:00

Actually it has been quite a while since we did baking together, yesterday we made White chocolate and Apricot Rice Krispie Squares! Very Yummy, but alas made for Kalem's school mission fair today.

Ooooooooooo somebody forgot to brush their teeth........

The finished squares ready for Kalem to take to school, minus 1 or 2 or 6.....

RANDOM THINGS......

2008-09-19T10:30:00.015+12:00

First of all thanks to everyone for their helpful comments about my gauge swatch. I am going to knit it up and see what happens, I started it last night so probably be finished in about 6 months......................

I have been tagged to do a random things about me meme by the knitting genius Gabes.

Here are the rules:

1. Post a link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Right here it goes:

1/ Julian and I met just over 10 years ago in Eilat, Israel at a bar called the 'Hard Luck Cafe'. We fell in LOVE over many cold pints of Carlesburg in the baking hot Israeli sun. We were both travelling with friends and had stopped in Eilat to find work and earn some more money to travel on. This was such a fantastic time in my life, we had so much fun there and met so many amazing people who we are still great friends with today. I was waitressing on the beach and Julian was doing anything for furniture removal to painting, yes...I think that I had the best job somehow. I actually did not want to stop in Eilat, but my friend convinced me, thank goodness she did...................

2/ This is something that people who did not know me then do not believe.... I actually used to have a very adventurous spirit and loved all outdoor pursuits. My weekends would be spent climbing rock faces, abseiling, canoeing, trekking and my absolute favourite of all caving. I used to love to go underground for hours at a time, squeezing through ridiculously small gaps, swimming through freezing underground rivers, abseiling down underground waterfalls. I don't think that I could do it now and I know for sure that my body wouldn't be able to take it, it was hard work and I always used to be black and blue. The worry I used to put my parents through.........sorry ma and pa..X

3/ After having Kalem I started to take belly dancing classes which I loved. I continued with this until we headed back to the UK. I haven't done it since, but I must admit sometimes when I hear Arabic music my hips start a twitchin..... It is actually something that I would love to do again, maybe one day. It is also incredibly good exercise.

4/ I am a Scouser, born in Anfield Liverpool. I spent a lot of my childhood living in a house in the road next to 'THE COP', the Liverpool Football ground. This house was pulled down and the space is now used as the Football grounds car park. My family are all mad Liverpool football supporters and when Julian told my dad he was a Liverpool supporter too I was ordered to marry him immediately. Just joking about that last bit, but I am sure that if he was an Everton supporter than he would have been shunned. Supporting Liverpool is in my blood, but I don't really like watching the game (or even listening), saw too much of it growing up I guess...hey dad!!

5/ I am a vegetarian and have been since I was 15 years old. I am not bringing up my children as vegetarians, I will let them chose for themselves if they ever see fit. I do however incorporate vegetarian food into their diet and Julian eats veggie at least 3 times a week. I asked Kalem the other day if he knew why I was vegetarian... "because you are English" he asked, errrr no, "because you are a girl", he asked, errrr no. I was a bit miffed that he didn't know, but I asked him again today and he told me "it is because you don't like eating animals and you don't want the animals to be killed for meat". That sounds better, it certainly is not because I am English............

6/ I did Leisure studies at college and I was going to follow this by becoming a Sports/PE teacher, I was accepted to do a teaching degree at Cardiff Uni, but I went travelling instead. I still wonder at how life is really good at leading you away from these paths that obviously were not meant for you.

I am supposed to pick 6 other people, but every blog I check seems to have already been tagged and I can't get 6 names...... So I am going to leave it open to anybody who wants to give it a go. I quite enjoyed doing it actually as it was a great time for reflection. Hope everyone has a great day and let me know if you decide to give the meme a go............X

YUMMY YARN.....

2008-09-19T10:30:00.006+12:00

Look what the postman brought me today........ Some very lovely yarn from The Wool Company. The colours are Watermelon and Avocado and I'm planning on using them to knit the Tikki dress for Lola. When I saw the VERY talented Sweetp's Tikki Rainbow dress I completely fell in love with the yarn. Check hers out, mine probably won't look anything like that when it is done, but it is certainly what I will be aiming for.

Another item on my knitting to do list is this gorgeous Brea Bag. I love it and am really excited about knitting it, I just have to teach myself how to knit in cable first, which actually looks quite difficult. Oh well I have my cable needle and I am keen to give it a go, fingers crossed it turns out okay. One problem so far is that my gauge is out, I have the correct number of stitches per inch, but am under in the rows. Surely this means that I can't try a smaller/larger needle as then my stitch count would be out??!!?? I still find the whole gauge thing very confusing. Advice given so far is to just knit is anyway as it's not as though it has to fit anybody. I am not sure though as I don't want it to turn out really small. Anyone out there have any other advice or should I just go with the knitting it anyway idea??? Any advice gratefully appreciated .............. X

A shrug and a bib......

2008-09-15T10:19:00.013+12:00

FINALLY a couple of finished projects.............

First up is my green shrug from Erika Knight's book Glamour. It seems to have taken absolutely ages to knit this, but I guess I was only picking it up every now and then. For some reason unknown to me I also used double the amount of wool that the pattern stated, thus making it quite an expensive shrug!!!!!! I am quite pleased with it though and I love the colour of the yarn. It's knit using double yarn making it toasty warm and just the thing for those chilly summer evenings.

Excuse half smile half grimace on face, my photographer was making me laugh. oh and yes this is what a tired mother of 3 looks like after almost 7 months of broken sleep.....................

I also knitted up this cute little petal bib, but I can't remember which book I got the pattern from, something to do with 'one skein.....'.

My chubby cheeked model, look at them, she is like a little chipmunk...... A cute and adorable little chipmunk of course!

Next on my list is the Tikki Rainbow dress for Lola, just have to find some yarn to match the lovely ball that Claire sent me. I am also knitting myself a jumper from Cleckheaton Vintage Twist pattern book. I have actually started this jumper, but I am just planning on slowly working my through it over the summer. I also have a few non-knitting crafty projects on the go as well, but will blog about those another time.

I have a sick little girl home from Kindy today so I'm off to stroke some soft blonde hair, just like my mum used to do to me when I felt sick. Poor little lamb, she is asleep on the couch at the moment surrounded with teddies. Bless!

Save the planet, ride your bike to school.....

2008-09-12T12:07:00.007+12:00

A couple of weeks ago we bought a kiddy board to go on the back of the buggy. What an amazing invention, so simple, but so clever. Little miss lazy legs is not very fond of walking so this meant that we had to drive everywhere. Not anymore though as she is more than happy to stand on her 'skateboard' and be pushed around like a little princess.

It's great actually as I finally get to do some exercise, Kalem gets to ride his bike to school and we don't have to use the car as much. I have to admit the first few days were a bit of a killer and my legs and butt were in agony. Truth be told I am still a bit stiff today, but it is definitely getting better and I am starting to enjoy getting out in the fresh air first thing in the morning. We even spotted some gorgeous little duckings on the way home from school today which the kids thought was great.

I promised Kalem (in a moment of insanity) that we would walk even if it was raining and boy has he kept me to my word, it has been raining all week and the slave driver has made me walk every day!!!! Who knows at this rate I may even fit into the dress that I blogged about a few posts ago...... here's hoping!

If there is anybody else out there with their own lazy legged child I would definitely recommend the kiddy board.

Can anybody help????

2008-09-11T09:39:00.003+12:00

Hmmm I did have a different post in mind for today, but for some reason blogger is not letting me upload my photo's. Instead I would like to ask for a bit of advice. I am wondering if there is anybody out there that may have some information on Rudolph Steiner schools. Perhaps somebody may know a child who actually goes to one of these schools or perhaps someone who works at one. I know that they are situated around the world, so fingers crossed there is somebody out there who's in the know. It's just something that I am thinking about at the moment and I would really appreciate any feedback positive or negative.

Oh yes and I have FINALLY finished my shrug, just got to take some decent photo's, but I am quite pleased with it.

Hope everyone is having a great day..... X