Tummy Time Mat

I spent yesterday making a "tummy time" mat for a friend who is expecting a baby soon. I used vintage flannelette fabrics from my Grandmas era and combined more recent Kiwiana themed prints to suit the special baby. My friend has been great support to me during the past year so I focused on sewing blessings in for her and the new babe as I worked.

I loathe walkers, bouncers and activity centres for babies. I think colourful textured tummy time mats are perfect for growth and development in the early stages. I'm going to make a few more of them so I can gift them to the other expectant mothers I know. Perfect use of all those lovely fabrics I've been collecting for so long too.

Blatant self promotion

School holidays always spur me on to have a bit of a tidy up.

I've filled up my shop with some of my favorite bags and booties.

I hope to add a few newer creations later on this week.

Also on next weeks agenda:

Pj would like to make the doll for her princess and the pea mattresses which we made together a month ago. You will know the pattern I mean if you have the More Softies book.

New Season accessories

The onset of the cooler weather is excuse enough for new accessories I think. Brown and black to suit the winter wardrobe. A "dapper day bag" the pattern from Sew Liberated by Meg McElwee. I omitted the piping ( too lazy and impatient to fiddle around with that), used lovely chocolate coloured leather for the gusset, strap and top of the bag and added an inside pocket with a zip so I can compartmentalise my stuff (separate my knitting from boring bits of paper like bills to pay)

Also for me, a new orange wallet because I like orange and wanted to make the "perfect" wallet that doesn't drop change, can accommodate receipts, allows me to quickly find my library card and coupon card with out having to search though dozens of compartments. I'm pleased to have found a use for some smaller bits of leather and fabric in this project. It' s only failing is that it doesn't hold a cheque book, but how often these days does one need a cheque book on hand?

I think it's spot on, so I have some to offer at the Mapua Easter Fair this weekend.

* Some of my comments have been lost as I try to publish them so please don't be offended if yours are not showing up. Please email me when you have time, if you notice your comment not appearing. I love getting the feedback and am annoyed that it is happening. Hoping it will be resolved soon*

Kids clothes

"Sewing clothes kids love" is a book having a good influence on me at the moment. My colour combos and trims and not as daring as those in the book, though the patterns are truly delightful weather embellished or plain. The Capable of flying blog is written by the book's author and has some great links to other peoples creations from the book.
It has given me the confidence to try some great colour and pattern combos, with great results. Also influencing me has been Carefree clothes for girls, as yet I haven't made up any of the patterns provided, but the use of recycled hand stitched linen and crochet is adorable and inspiring, the colour palette using lots of linen and natural colours is a complete contrast to the other book I mentioned.
So the two youngest kids now have some good autumn additions to their wardrobes for school and Montessori.

I think I'm all sewed out for now, my temperamental over locker and I are calling it quits for a bit while we are still on good terms with each other, but what a productive week. Quite proud too that out of all of those fabrics only three pieces were bought new all the others have been sourced at the local op shops or as gifts from sewers downsizing their stash.

For a total change of scene and pace this weekend we'll be hanging out at Taste Tasman.
It looks as if it will be a great event.

Sewing fast, growing fast.

Typical story for late November.
Sewing like mad for Christmas.

Once a week I've been checking the Sew Mama Sew Handmade Holidays ideas. The Mama Chic wrist cuff took our fancy. A silk one for me and a patched one for PJ.

Meanwhile the garden.....

is close to bountiful.

Peas sown where garlic was last year. A bit silly of me to put the peas so near the back door though as I'm sure they'll all get eaten raw before I can get any on the table.

Spring Shift

It sneaks up. I don't mean mother nature's changes, I mean the energy levels and optimism I feel within myself, come spring. For about a month the garden has shown signs of spring. Though only in the last few days have I felt the energy I need to keep up with the season. Instead of lighting the fire and sitting near it to knit, I go straight outside to collect the eggs, open the glasshouse, check growth, frost and bugs. Washing dries the same day it is hung on the line and grass grows in a week.

Meanwhile....

We're in the middle of school holidays as well. This is what the teen has been doing. His homework folder is out but I'm fairly certain from the earphones, pocket knife and dreadful computer game case that NCEA English is not at the top of his priorities.

I've had to focus on a few things I'd rather not be doing, so my Mum took a few days off work to look after the children. I came home the other day to find they'd started making some puppets, an idea from a Living crafts magazine. It's so lovely to have a Mum who wants to do things with her Grandchildren, they adore her for this. So does the dog who walks around looking for her when she leaves.

I managed to put the finishing touches on a bag last night, I'm off to put it in the shop after a couple of very much appreciated purchases last week.

Creature creations

We've been inspired by the monster hats and t shirts we've seen on felt lately. I was fiddling around drawing some designs for leather purses and bootee patterns when the red head took an interest in what I was doing. He whipped off with my pen while I was cutting and produced for me some terrific designs with instructions "make me a t shirt Mum"

How could I possibly refuse? His designs had oodles more character than mine and he needs some new gear for the warmer weather especially since he had two shirts cut off him the other night to get his cast on.

The first of many to come I suspect, he proudly wore this one to Montessori today.

Nearly 16

The kids know how to make me smile, it makes my day.

My first question when the kids ask for a new friend over is "Is he/she a good eater?"

They know I'm not going to cook special dinners which cater to a fusspot who doesn't eat veges. I know, a bit selfish on my part but I've raised my kids to be quite independent, eat what's in front of them and to pick up after themselves, most of the time the family works like a well oiled machine. I get a bit of hassle from them but I think they feel secure with the routine. They do all think it's disgusting how one of the teens regular overnight guests leaves plates, cups and tissues everywhere and is never ready to go on time. Grrrr. So anyway we've got a sports billet coming from Christchurch in the weekend which will mean a shuffle round of bedrooms and a bit of a de- clutter to fit another teen in the house for a few days.

This morning I made cheese on toast for the kids to take in their school lunches. My teen is notoriously lazy about making food so I try not to do it for him in the hope that he will be driven to prepare his own delicious snacks. (Not a particularly effective strategy I might add.) anyway he spied the cheese on toast for the younger children and gave me a sad face to take some in his lunch. He thought it was terribly unfair that I only gave him one and his sister got two. I must mention he excels in drama and spent the next 15 minutes before school trying to make me feel like the most heinous mother in the universe. Which of course made me laugh, but he went in for the kill as he walked out the door , teasing "HEY MUM, I hope the billet is reeaally neeedy!"

Little rotter!!

Totally unrelated but making me smile as well, some of the book fair girls are finished

I might even give them an outing at the indoor market this weekend.

Some Sewing

Hard frost but warm winter days here.

I haven't been working in the garden though, I received a bag full of fabric to inspire me, with a request for a soft doll.

That was enough motivation to spend the day cutting, sewing and ironing, all with a bent neck from talking to a friend on the phone in Aussie for most of the day as well. (must multi task of course)

I cut out half a dozen because our school is fundraising for a new pool. They are collecting pre -loved books, homemade produce and items for a craft stall. The latter being right up my alley I think this batch of softies will fit the bill perfectly.

I hope we'll still be here to enjoy the pool for a few summers to come, but regardless this awesome little country school has encouraged our children to their full potential over the past 5 years. I admire the parents who home school or unschool their children but feel blessed to have found a school which looks at the child as an individual and encourages creativity and confidence especially in art and music so well.

BROOKLYN SCHOOL BOOK AND COUNTRY FAIR 31st OCTOBER.

As well, a smock for me, a tad too big, but not as hideous as usually results when sewing for myself. A trio of bags nearly finished for "Potters Patch".

And some lanky looking lettuces and other seeds in the sun room. Some are covered with vermiculite available from Egmont seeds It was given to me by a friend and I find it works well to aid seedlings when germinating.

I notice lots of visitors from the Northern Hemisphere are stopping by my blog for garlic plaiting instructions which means they're heading for Autumn/Fall and we're heading for SPRING!!!! Wicked, I can't wait!

Midwinter- make wheat bags

We can't find the wheat bag that skatey boy created at school, when he bought it home though everybody wanted it for warming up their feet and achy bones. I found some dried herbs I saved last summer and raided the chooks wheat to make some more.

Since they all wanted one then and there we didn't muck around with creative shapes just some nice soft micro fleece squares.

A few words of warning: The chook wheat was quite dusty and needed winnowing so it didn't aggravate the asthma. I'd buy food grade in future for asthmatics or dried corn sounds like a good alternative too.

We heat them in the microwave for two minutes and always with a glass of water to keep the grains moist. I'm not to sure how long they will last but if you are going to add herbs like I did just keep an eye out that they don't create a fire hazard. I did a wee bit of searching for advice, the message seems to be don't overheat, always add the glass of water.

There are reports of wheat bags catching fire so be responsible.

The solstice passed me by this year without much notice. The midwinter lack of energy and sick family making it too much effort to celebrate. The kids all perked up just enough to spend a few hours in good company in the winter sunshine on Saturday afternoon.

I'm not sure if I'll manage to get up early this week to see Matariki rise either.

The "red head" is very slowly recovering, I must say in my almost 16 years of being a Mum I don't think I've had a child so sick for so long before. My Mum came and gave me a little bit of time out because you wouldn't believe how much a week of whinging can bring you down.

I tried alot of creative ideas to make him happy. We raided the art cupboard for stickers, stamps, paper, glue, paint etc. None of that worked, neither did books cuddles or DVDs. He was off his food in a big way and has lost quite a bit of weight, the teen also lost 5kg and even once he got well enough for school he came home every day and slept.

Finally I happened on an idea for "red" that sustained his interest enough to forget about his aches and pains:

A squirty bottle with water!

He did a great job "cleaning" all the windows in the play space even if he did get the carpet and sofa a bit wet. It was worth it to have some peace.

For Nelson Fabricaholics

If I was a twitterer I would tweet that Spotlight in Nelson is having a crazy $1 per metre stock take sale. My good friend text me yesterday to let me know and I overheard the lady say it might go on all weekend. It is definitely on today as I rang to ask, look for fabric marked with an orange sticker, including good quality quilting cottons. Happy Fabric Love!!

Autumn hat

A few autumn rainy days have got me thinking the kids need some new warm clothes. The red head didn't really need another hat but I couldn't resist doing a train drivers hat with this wide brown cord. I found an ugly coloured one at the hospice shop and dissected it for a pattern. They've actually got some quite nice ones there at the moment too. Rainy days appear to be very popular op shopping days for all the seasonal workers we have in town at the moment. I talked to an apple picker from Vanuatu today while in the craft co-op, they're enjoying the cooler weather and apple picking work here in NZ. It's lovely to have their happy faces and language throughout town.

My giant cactus acts as a good model. I've been coveting a wooden hat block at the antique shop for ages but they are way out of my price range. While the one I spotted at the Salvation Army is not for sale. I may have to paper mache myself one.

Bags and skirts

I had to have a break from the bathroom today. L worked hard before he went on holiday to replace the rotten wood and I feel like I've been working hard but not getting far. I don't enjoy sanding but quite like scraping big flakes of paint off. I was one of those irritating children who couldn't resist picking at a bit of peeling paint. Anyway, day off. The red head (3 and a half now) just wouldn't stay out of mischief all day. He did quite alot of pruning to my tomato plants while I was loading some new items in my shop . They are some of my absolute favorites which I've made over the last few months.

Where are my scissors?

None of these scissors are the ones I'm looking for. Like my grandmother I'm very protective over my scissors. I have been known to scream upon seing someone else using them especially the current cutting favorites which I cannot find today. L and I nearly fell out once when I caught him using some to cut gasket paper when restoring his vehicle.( The grey handled pair from memory) Also asking me "why?" when I've just caught you in the act is not a good idea it usually triggers some manical ranting. So I've spent most of the afternoon looking, found quite a stash of retired sewing scissors and pinking shears, but not my supreme cutting pair. It's causing a little anxiety.

oh look there they are in the previous post. Damn why can't I find them at home.

Notes from a negligent blogger

Sometimes I compose really good blog posts in my head but they're long gone by the time I sit down. I'm very impressed by bloggers who can make even things like cleaning the oven sound fascinating, I should have payed a bit more attention during English at High school instead of filling a folder full of notes between my best friend and I or planning the weekends antics.



With the garden, I totally peaked at the wrong time so that when the planting moon was good I was exhausted. I got a few more seeds in but became disheartened as a few bad chooks escaped and scratched all the compost away from new plantings of lettuce, sunflowers and garlic. Everything needs weeding badly too.
Also each day I've noticed plants slowly going into decline along my back fence line, making me madder and madder. This morning I wrote a letter to the arrogant orchidist responsible and took photos as proof. As you can see he's been very heavy handed with "round up" possibly spraying it deliberately on my plants. It has damaged the mother wort, mugwort, some raspberries, a rose and grass on my side of the fence. All will recover but that's not the point. I have investigated and it's an offence under the pesticides act for his spray to go onto my property.

The plants are affected by going yellow at their tips. You'd have to lift your spray pretty high to contact the mugwort.
I'm so angry that i don't have words for it!

I'm working on letting it go and have done some sewing to make me smile.

PS. I looked for labels for this post and decided my "thinking" posts would for the most part be more appropriately labeled "ranting"

Thank you : )

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, I feel a bit embarrassed really because I've been a bit of a non blogger lately, with pretty vague posts, no pictures and not alot of commenting. So I really appreciate people taking time to send me good wishes.

Take a peek at what else I got for my birthday. Beautiful spring/summery retro fabrics.

I've been making an effort to get some bags made:

This one though was cut out before winter out of an old wool skirt. I need to get cracking on some spring time ones now.

I've sort of been pottering in the garden in between working and trying to practice positive parenting. I planted some early seed potatoes which I plan to cover with frost cloth when they pop up, I put in some carrot seed, ever the optimist that one day I'll have a really good crop of carrots. I'm still holding off on planting alot of seed, the hardy herbs and sunflowers have popped up as well as the tomatoes and peppers on the window sill. I've been enjoying reading the New Zealand Gardener magazine lately the collector edition book at Christmas really got me hooked. The monthly magazine suggests to soak the glasshouse for a week to get rid of salts that might build up in the soil. I'm giving that a try as last year the glasshouse plants didn't take off very well and that might be why.

Sowing or sewing

Helen made a good point about pruning, if the weather is nasty don't do it. Disease can very easily enter through fresh cuts. I try to do the pruning with the moon but not if the weather doesn't suit.

The new seeds arrived in the mail today, I can't wait to get planting! I'm holding off till the first quarter of the moon to give them a really good start. I bet folks have already got tomato and pepper seeds going but I have learned in my garden that the late frosts will set back all the early seedlings so much so that the late ones catch up.

A bit of distraction is needed so I've got a project on the go to keep me busy. Fingers crossed this dress suits me cos I love the fabric, I've been hoarding it for a couple of years!!!

And one more thing, does anyone eat Jerusalem artichokes? I roasted them the other night, all the kids said "Yuck" and I wouldn't go for them again unless I had no other root veges to choose from. I wondered if anyone out there had a better way of cooking them?

Involuntary downshifting

Stuck at home with sick kids isn't as bad as it sounds you know. They slept most of the time, so since I was cleaning up sick anyway I did some l o n g over due housework, the cupboards and doors all look clean now and the worst of the dust has been delt to. (Must add sugar soap and disinfectant to the shopping list). I like being at home, uninterrupted by paid work, grocery shopping, meetings and sport practice. I like running out of groceries and getting creative with food, the "well" children had sushi in their school lunches today cos the bread, butter, milk, cheese and junk food have all run out. There's an oversupply of fresh veges and fruit but the "teen" thinks he's dying! I wish I could stay at home for another week but I have an appointment for "skatey boy" to have a filling in his tooth tomorrow. Other than house work and a spot of gardening in the adorable autumn weather while they slept, I've created a couple of sewing disasters: I planned for this to be my new bag, it looks great but doesn't really keep it's shape well while carrying it, I think I made the handles too short and a heavier weight interfacing may have been better.

The skirt is perfect except it doesn't suit me at all, I've tried it with heaps of combinations of tops/shoes/ tights etc and just can't make it work for me. I'm gutted cos I've been bonding with the fabric for months trying to decide what to do with it. I've hinted to L that a new pair of boots would set it off perfectly, but he's not biting. I don't know if I can part with it yet. If I can't make it work I may put it in my Felt shop . I listed a few bags there today.

Sorry, blatant self promotion. (council rates are due this month.)

Lastly, a present left for me at the back door while I was out in the garden. Cool eh?