Back in the groove

It's been a while since my last post, I guess to be honest, after a break from blogging over christmas, the weeks just kept ticking over until, hey presto 2 months had gone past! 
It just goes to show how easy it is to have large 'bloggy breaks' as many other bloggers put it.


Alot has happened in the past two months, lots of knitting, (not much sewing)  kids holidays and then the readjustment back to school, plus my laptop broke down and I lost 6 months of photos....I am still hurting over that one : ( 
There has been alot of hospital visits, most of which were for a family member who had a stroke, luckily they are home, and finally recovering well : )

Luckily though I was able to recover photos from Ravelry so the following are of some pics that I completed  over my break;

The first one was a jacket for my nephews christmas present



The pattern is Duck Soup by annypurls on Ravelry.  I especially loved the knitted closures.... it was a first for me, and I would definately do these again.



It was past Lil Misses bedtime when the following photos were taken, hence a not so happy girl....

Number two, was finishing the Tikki KAL ( knit a long ) before christmas.  I knitted the Sorello the girl version.  Knitted in cotton, so Lil Miss will be able to wear this both seasons.

I love the puffed sleeves

Not shown is the back lace peplum.

Third and last to show for today is a little summer/autumn transitional cardie for Lil Miss

The pattern is from Sublime #613 Childrens Double Knitting, the pattern is called Camille

I knitted this up in a Angora Merino as suggested, and the result is lovely.... it is sooooo soft.  I would like to knit myself something in this, if only it wasn't so expensive!

Phew! glad out got this post out of the way....

Welcoming 2011

2011 .....

Well I have never written my news years resolution down on paper before.  Sure I have always had the usual...

Lose weight / eat more healthy

Have more patience with my kids

Excercise

But when you just make these promises to yourself in your head, it is so much easier to bend or break them, don't you think?

This year hopefully will be a big year, afterall Mike and I plan to make the move up north this year.  So we will both have to be very disciplined if we are to make our plans to come to fruition.

So I am documenting it this time, my record....

1. Back on to a budget, which includes baking more for the kids lunches and not falling short the night before and having to send Mike out down to the very expensive Four Square.
2. Cleaning the Kitchen after dinner, instead of leaving it to the next morning.  If I do it at night I can rope Mike in to help, and then I avoid feeling bitter about doing it by myself the following morning
3. Sticking to my house schedule.  Last time it was written up, we lasted about two weeks... this time it is even more important, since Little J starts school this year and there will be three lots of homework!
4. Start reading books at night to the kids again! Most important... we always did this, but we found it hard to keep up, again because of the homework.
5. Of course, I have to mention.... excercise more! no excuses this time with all the boys at school this year and only Lil Miss and I at home.
6. Stop procrastinating on the business accounts, remember it only makes you feel worse when you leave it to pile up!!!
7. More Mike and me time.  Mum gave Mike and I a night off last time we visited her and it was wonderful!

Now I could make many more new year resolutions, such as fold the laundry and put away immediately.

But I can't have too many or I will never be able to honour them all, so I'm keeping it simple and lets see how I go..............

While I write this, I am reminded by the giggles of my kids in the background ( movie night ) of why I wrote these personal vows, because afterall happy me makes for a happy family.

 Fishing with the boys at Russell, our first family holiday.... hopefully more fun times like this to come.

Christmas Dress and Lil Misses Doll House

The Christmas break has been very busy travelling to my Mums and back then to Mikes Mum and Dads for Christmas.

During this time we had one day at home before setting of for the next destination, so I was determined to make Lil Miss her first Christmas Dress in this time. 

Here she is actually trying to climb into the doll house her grandfather built her

I didn't quite finish it before setting off for the grandparents, so I took my sewing machine along and finished the last ruffle there.

The pattern is Feliz by Farbenmix, although the pattern went together well, I would only suggest this pattern for a experienced sewer, as the explanations for the construction are not step by step.  Not sure if  anyone else thought this.  But as you can see it is definately worth sewing. I am really happy with the dress

 

Lil Miss loves Grandmas dog! Follows it everywhere much to its horror!

As for the dolls house, wow its huge..... Mikes Dad has done a wonderful job, and as you can see Lil Miss had a great time playing with it, including her big brothers!

It also opens up at the back and has a gazebo that attaches at the end of the front porch

Even Mike had fun....

 (although he was just taking a movie )

I can't wait to make some bedding, curtains and many other furnishings for this house.  

 So I guess everyone will get alot of enjoyment out of this house.

I will be linking this up to Tea Rose Home Wednesdays Link Party

 

One Year in the Making

Well technically over a year...

Lil Misses Cot Quilt is finally finished.... yay!!!!

I did finish the quilt top in the last week before Lil Miss arrived. 

 But I was heavily pregnant and my mum had to help me prepare it ready for quilting ( thanks Mum ) even while sewing the border together, it actually brought on contractions..... so its been a long time before I picked it up again to finish.

I really enjoyed the hand sewing of the centre block, especially the birds.

As for the quilting, that took the longest, because as usual I decided to makes things more elaborate, than it really needed to be, but I'm happy with it anyway....

I got the pattern from Australian Homespun, and though I searched everywhere for it, I can't say who designed this... sorry.

I will be linking this to Tea Rose Home Wednesdays Link Party



Start them young I say!

My nearly five year old, Little J suddenly out of the blue, decided he wanted to wash the dishes. 
(Yes we do have a dishwasher).......I thought about my childhood and how I used to stand at the sink and enjoy playing in the bubbles more than washing the dishes, so why not?

While I was taking a few pics for this post, we had a little conversation as follows:

Little J: Do you know why I am a good disher?
Me: Why?
Little J: Because you make the dirty dishes, and I say ( he said this in his special big man voice )" mom do you need the dirty dishes clean?" and you say " yes " I say okay!
Me: oh! ( walks away and chuckles )



Who knew it would end up being a lesson in proper dishwashing etiquette
( I know sounds snooty eh! )
But I found that when Mike and I shacked up together there was definately a difference in what we both thought was the right way to washing our dishes.
Naturally I passed on my version; eg

• dishwashing soap ( vs sunlight soap bar ),
•  washing and then rinsing with fresh water ( vs not )
• and then stacking the dishes to leave to dry ( vs second person drying and never leaving dishes out to dry )

I thought, as I was writing, yes it is a boring, but this is a life skill, afterall I actually remember being taught in home economics at school, what order to wash your dishes in.....
so now when he's flatting or living in domestic bliss he will know the proper way to wash the dishes.....when the dishwasher is on the blink that is! :)

Finally his last question : "Mum, do I get money for doing this?"   hmmmmn

Dont worry he got some money on his chart I just had to add this photo!

Next... the vacumning.

Lil Misschief!

My camera is definately getting a workout at the moment.

 This is the result of introducing Lil Miss to the blackboard in the boys room, and the chalk!  Also a piece of chalk made its way into the kitchen yesterday, and being the weekend, (translation: I'm lazy)  I didn't clear up, so with this latest piece of artwork, I only have myself to blame..... and I know I should have stopped her straight away, so she gets the idea that you don't draw on the floor (walls furniture etc ) but it happened admist the chaos of our school rush. 
Plus the boys had their fair share of these incidents and when asked I can only remember a handful 
 ( eg: Little J throwing all the eggs to the back of the pantry incident ) and sometimes its hard to remember which one did what, so I guess with Lil Miss I have the blog now to document all that she's getting up too... also the tiles kinda look like a giant blackboard don't they?!

Sibling Fun in the Sun!

Last week when Little J was at home, we took a wander out the front of the house, where Little J showed Lil Miss the joys of picking the roses.........

Normally I would put a end to this quick smart, but the sun must be putting me in a good mood  ( all that Vitamin D I guess, plus the rose bush has fallen over ) so I grabbed the camera and documented the fun.......

Little J showing me one of his new/old fav toys, and yes he is sporting his own look, tshirt backwards and quite often his trousers/shorts aswell! lol oh and the shoes on the wrong feet too! musn't forget that.

Below is a  rare moment, he always wants to give Lil Miss hugs but more than often she screams, as if to say ' your'e crowding me!'

I'm so happy I got this picture.

This is just after he tried again! You can almost see she wasn't impressed...... poor Little J, he has so much love to give :)