Recycling and Magic in the Kitchen

I knew that one day, the gazillion amount of toilet rolls
that we go through would be put to better use .... 
 and that day has come.

I find whenever I grow my peas,  I always end up forgetting about them, then those pesky weeds grow up around them, and when it comes to the time to pull the weeds out, those delicate roots on my peas normally get pulled out too.... bummer!
Especially when your peas are at the height of flowering.....

So my solution was to plant them in toilet rolls

And I know it's self explanatory.... but just in case your'e wondering, this is what I did  .....
 I mucked around in Picnik.... amuse me :)

So far so good, no sign off weeds within the toilet roll

 

And with late frosts alway's threatening around these parts,

I used some more to get a head start on my beans

 

 

And what's the magic in the kitchen?

When Mike and I cook together, we end up with one tasty meal

( could have something to do with Mike being a ex chef )

Dinner last night.... hedgehog potatoes / kumara

A salad with raw asparagus, parmesan, gerkhin, lettuce and

yummy croutons.... with beef kebabs..... I just had to take a photo... yum!

Loving this week

Definately first on the list.....

Loving that we have finally made a step closer to the land....

house contract is signed, the deposit's paid,

and the architect had been contacted......

A relocatable house was not been part of the dream, but I'm loving that it will bring us closer to Mum and old friends, and I can send the kids outside for a majority of the year....

 plus the added bonus of looking out at this everyday...

deep breath and exhale

Loving that lil miss has just started daycare once a week, so I can catch up with the business accounts

( no more procrastinating )

But best of all she has settled in so well, no tears, no clinging to my legs..... just a wave goodbye, and of she goes to start a new adventure for the day..... how lucky am I :)

Loving getting outside more this year.... planting and weeding and enjoying watching this one have fun in the sunshine

And when she runs out  " Muummmm, moor wata"

And I'm still loving this chair that I picked up a couple of weeks ago, on my detour back home from hospital see here.

I scored this for $60.

and a lovely elderly lady insisted on helping me take it to the car.....

because she couldn't bare to see my 5yr old carry it with me

 (love random acts of kindness)

I plan to re-upholster it one day, but for now it will do....

especially as the boys fight to be the first to snuggle up in it.

And last of all, I'm loving making new Kiwi Bloggy friends via Paisley Jade's link and Our Creative Spaces

Linking up with Paisley Jade here

My Creative Space - Little Dot Skirt

So the plan was to share my finished crochet yoke dress.. but my mind has been elsewhere, dreaming up a skirt that I just couldn't resist to start.... and as usual I had ligitimate reasons 

The overlocker had black on it, I needed white...

so really it made sense to whip this one out first, right? 

Sounded good enough reasoning to me.

So here is the dotty twirly skirt....

I would have liked some modelled shots, but my model won't have a bar of it today.... when it was time to change her nappy she ran screaming away from me to hide behind the curtain

It's basically the same as this skirt I made here, except the skirt has two layers to attach the stretch lace to, and the waist is sewn in two places so I could insert the faux bow

I tried my hand at doing a rolled hem, but no luck....

I think I need more practice......

I've just cut it off for now and I will leave it as is, until I'm more confident with rolled hems.... one day.

And I just love the navy polkadots,

 especially teamed up with something red

Looking for more Creative Spaces? see here

also linking up with Make it Wear It



New House/ Old House

Our land is finally about to have a house

This weekend we went to see some relocatable homes,

which of course is not our dream strawbale home...
but definately a means to an end....
and an affordable and doable one ( if theres such a word )

So now to add on to my list of jobs, 
I am now chief project manager.

Mike has handed over the reigns to me.... and my stomach is churning over at that thought!

We are so close now... we could be living up north as soon as next year!  I can hardly believe it!

And it all starts tonight, as I've paid the deposit.... yikes!

Universal Craft Blog Directory

Have you heard about the

Universal Craft Blog Directory yet?

Crafty Rie  has thought up this great idea of linking all the crafty blogs up on one site for us to peruse....

and the best thing is?

If you consider your blog to be full of crafty endevours then you can add yours too!

So come on, and join me here.

My Creative Space

I've been dabbling in crochet this week, trying to perfect it.

I've finished a couple of dishcloths.... already in use - 

I now understand the hype of these, they're so nice to use and great to crochet in the car on long trips.

Now I'm venturing into making these yokes for my girls summer dresses.  I've ripped back these a few times to get them right.... and now I'm happy with them, I've been auditioning fabrics

This is my first yoke, my own pattern 

(that will be why it looks a bit angular)

 but it just didn't look quite right with this fabric

This fabric is much better but the print is too big for a little body.... 

so I'm back to the drawing board on this one..... times like these make me wish I had a fabric store down the road!

But my second yoke.

( Made this by adapting this tutorial.)  

Is the perfect match for this fabric.... 

Now todays mission is to cut out and complete the dress!

Wish me luck

More creative spaces here

Thankful it wasn't worse

This week has turned out to be another of those weeks, when it rains it pours...

It started with Lil Misses accident on the trampoline.....
 Basically Little J supposedly fell on Lil Miss ( my back was turned, I know, slap my hand ) the doctor said "muscle damage".... so my little girl  went from being miserable and clingy with limited movement, to a crawling toddler... everyday a wee bit better.... today she is finally taking little steps with a limp.

During this we had a had a appointment for Little J's sleep study ( to do with his heart murmur )..... so on Wednesday, he and I drove down for the hospital admission at 6pm....  well, sleeping in a hospital it is never fun!... and of course this night would be no exception.

That night, I woke myself up at midnight feeling short of breath, so I turned to the side to recover, only to find the room spinning.... I got up to the bathroom to walk it off.... then returned to bed only for it to happen again, by that time I started to panic, then my left arm started to go numb... I managed to get myself together enough to reach for the nurses call button, but by the time she came in.... I had lost it, I was freaking out, and my other hand was going numb.... my hands didn't feel like mine at all, they felt like chunks of wood. 
So the nurse checked me over, and reckoned that I was having a panic attack, and told me to walk it off and make a hot drink.  After taking her advice I was still feeling shaky, but was extremely tired so I lay down again, only for the room to spin a third time.... thats when I was admitted to the Emergency Department, and if you hadn't already guessed it, I was suffering from vertigo..... man it is horrible.

I finally got back home on Friday, as I took a detour home to visit my Sister in Law. 
I was trying to limit the amount of driving that I had to get back home, and the roads on the way back, were alot straighter than the one I drove on to the hospital. 

So reflecting on this last week, I am thankful for the following :

• That I made it safely to the hospital on Wednesday ( I thought the car was out of balance, turns out it was me )
• That I was in hospital when the vertigo happened... and Little J was fast asleep
• Thankful for all the lovely staff, who were so concerned for me in my predicament ( I had the baby seat - woops and noone nearby to pick me up )
• Glad that my Sister in Law house was within my reach, and the medication allowed me to get there safely ( half an hour drive )
• Estatic, that on my drive back I scored a couple of thrifty finds..... including an awesome chair.
• And finally, loving that I got to spend some one on one time with my youngest boy..... even if I was feeling a wee bit poorly

Tonight after washing the nappies by hand ( washing machine broke down yesterday  )  I write this while sitting in my new favourite chair, next to Mike, watching the All Blacks vs Wallabies game... our first try just scored!
Time to get out my crochet and enjoy the rest of the game.

Postponed Dreams

Dreams - after reading this post here and here, it hit a chord with me... here's my story

When I was I little girl, all I ever wanted to be was clothing designer, I used to draw outrageous dresses, with all the princess trimmings.... this dream never died, and those drawings morphed into sketches of more wearable outfits during my teen years. 

I even thrifted an old cardboard mannequin off a lovely elderly lady ( through 1ZB talk back garage sale ) with the help of my mum. I used this and the huge box of fabric she gave me and played around draping fabric and creating garments, that never got worn out the door. 
I still have one tucked away in one of my drawers.

All my ball gowns were designed and sewn by me, with the guidance of my mum. I would use multiple patterns and join different pieces together to get the end result I was looking for, though they were often purposely way too tight around the bust, to create a push up effect...lol.
You would think one my subjects at school was textiles.....well yes... but only for the first year, then those scary overlockers, and the boring curriculum put me off, so I threw myself into my other passion - Art.

I come from a family of very talented artists, one of my Uncles makes a living as a well accomplished artist in Aussie, and I absolutely love his paintings.  So once school was over I considered going to art school, but  at that time, modern art was all the rage, and I didn't fit in to the mold.

So I just plodded along, my part time school job, turned into my full time job..... and then at age 17 I met Mike, we bought a house, renovated..... I turned 21, then a week later found out we were expecting our first child, and thats when my passions, needs wants fell to the wayside...that last piece of toast would be always be given up to my pleading toddler (I'm sure this would be a familiar story to many).

So fast forward to life as I know it today......

 my dreams haven't changed much, they've just been altered to fit.

But what am I doing about it?  Not much. 

 Whats stopping me?

 In reality alot of excuses... kids, time, crafty distractions etc..

oh and there is the joint dream, to build our strawbale/cob house.....

so maybe I should just wait....... lock my brainstorming ideas away until my last child is at school? 

 Watch others succeed, while I wish I was them? 

 

These are the questions I wrestle with week upon week.....

so maybe I should just bite the bullet and take a step forward toward my dream?



Another Show and Tell

Another sewing project photographed to share.

 After my Sew September challenge went all pear shaped see here
I've been playing catch up.

Now when it comes to clothing for Middle B, his older brother's clothes are usually too big for him, so they often get bypassed down to his younger brother, leaving him with a very scarce looking wardrobe.  

 Being the more trendy of the three, that just won't do any longer..... so on my quest to rectify this here are his new favourite pair of shorts.... that so puts a smile on my dial.

Complete with my first trouser fly......

 I unpicked that part at least 3 times.

These were supposed to be long trousers, but I didn't have enough, so 3/4's was the trade off, and he has to wear a belt with these at the moment, so they should last the summer growth spurt....

crossing fingers x

Lots of detail for a pair of shorts, but it did make for a great finish, and I learnt of lot of new things in the process.

Though I'm not sure I will be doing this for the next pair

More use of that thrifted denim

Pattern: Ottobre Design 1/2010

Number 25 " Ruttunen" Corduroy Pants

Will be linking to Sugar Bee Crafts Take a Look Tuesday

Denim Trousers

A while ago I thrifted a bunch of fabric for $3, and among them, was a large piece of light weight denim.

So far I've managed to make a skirt for me, a pair of shorts for one of the boys and these pair of trousers for Lil Miss.

I actually made these a couple of months ago,

but its taken me this long to take photos

The pattern is from Ottobre 1/2010 Pattern 13 Corduroy trousers, but I changed it up a bit, I chose to have an flat front and elasticated back... and I added pockets using this idea here.

The pockets gave me the opportunity to use some of the fabric scraps I won from OTLP blog here 

They have been a great addition to her wardrobe, and I will definately be making some more next winter.

The other day I took her along to the cross country event wearing this outfit, and while there, a couple of ladies started talking about her clothes and how lovely they were, blush!

Top still fits from last summer here

They then proceeded to comment on how expensive they must have been, and how silly to spend that much money on kids clothes. They were standing only a metre away, as if I couldn't hear?!  In hindsight I wish I had turned around and said,

" actually 'I' made all this, and the jeans only cost me 2 bucks! "

But as usual I always think about what I should have said when its too late.  Oh well  :)

Loving in the past two weeks

I am doing a double week of loving this week

To start - Two weeks ago I was loving

My mum is back home safe on NZ soil, after spending 6 weeks in England with my brother, sister in law and, my little nephew.......

I loved watching the home movies,

and all the awesome places they visited...

 and I'm so jealous! My mum got to meet my best friends little bubs before me!!  

But best of all, now that mum's back.... I'm loving the freedom to call my mum anytime, anyday for a chat.

Also loving we had another catch up appointment with the cleft lip and palate team in Auckland, and we were told that we wouldn't need to be seen again for another TWO YEARS!  Yay!!!!!

This is big..... no more hospital appointments for two years!..... well for one child atleast.... YAY!! ( crossing fingers his grommets keep working )

Also love that the we were asked to use Middle B's clinical photos from a baby through to now, for a photo album that is presented to families with young babies who have clefts..... its a great resource to show the progress after surgeries over many years.

Also while up north we visited our land, and we met our neighbours, who have the land infront of us..... and they are a young family with three boys, five and under.  The neighbours at the back of us are a retired couple who have three adult boys....

 Loving this! I had worries our boistrous boys might be too loud for our neighbours....... worries are no more.. we are in good company, and both neighbours are so friendly.... can't wait to get there!

I have been loving the weather lately, and with lil miss more mobile.... I have accomplished so much gardening... I'm hoping it will be looking something like this in summer

Last love my middle B qualifying for the cross country inter school run.... and on a hot hot day we headed down the valley to the small valley school .... 

although he may have not placed for the next race, two falls (tough course) didn't stop him, he just kept on running.... he even did a roly poly down the hill, and then straight into a run again!  

He was shaking afterwards with all the

adrenalin running through his body.  

 Later he told us that he had to jump over a lamb that had wandered into their path.... nothing stopping this boy! lol x

Linking up with Paisley Jade

Olearia Finished

Finally, here is some photos of Lil Misses finished Olearia.

My hands were pretty sore by the time this was completed...

 all those Kfb's and Ktog's were the culprits,

but definately worth it in the end, for that sweet ruffled effect

This is also the first time, I have made a garment with organic wool. Its a beautiful colour and has washed up really well....

 FYI:  Purchased from Skeinz here

 

But my favourite part, are the buttons.... they come from my late Nana's button jar, which I received after her passing...

and one of my most cherished items

( so many memories as a child playing with those buttons )

When I showed mum the cardy, mum told me of the garment my Nana had sewn for her, and had also adorned these buttons.....

... which means when I pass this knit down to another lil girl, I will definately be swapping the buttons...... they are just too special!

  But in the meantime.....

I will enjoy seeing them everytime I dress my lil miss :)

More creative spaces here