Summer holiday

No posts here to a couple of weeks, not exactly a great way to start the year, oops.  One reason for that though is that we have recently spent a week away on holiday.  We caught the ferry to the South Island and spent a week at our wee bach in the Marlborough Sounds.  It is a very special place for me, we spent every single holiday ever there as children and I have so many precious memories of hours spent, swimming, fishing, boating and generally playing on the beach and in the mud.

It was fantastic to be able to take my family over there to experience some of this and both the children had a wonderful holiday.  While we spent quite a bit of time catching up with family there was also plenty of time for simple things like building sandcastles, digging trenches in the sand and hunting for crabs and other sea creatures.

A few pics from our trip :-)

Cruising on the Interislander

Miss M catching up with family

Perfect weather to try out the kite Mr A got for christmas

Breakfast at the bach

A trip to Picton to try out the new remote control boat

Time for a paddle

Checking out the awesome pirate ship playground

Three pirates aboard the ship

Captain A

Bush walk

Playing at Governer's Bay

Ready for a spot of canoeing

In the canoe with Daddy

Yes we do all fit but can't go anywhere with only one tiny life jacket

Evening in the bay

On the beach with Gran and Grandad

Daft girl!

One of the things that really struck me about this holiday was just how much fun the kids can have without us spending a cent.  We only did two things all holiday that we had to pay for and everything else was completely free.  The kids had such a ball with all the outdoor activities, picnics etc.  Now we are looking forward to many more happy holidays there while we still have the chance.

Thanks Everyone

A huge thank you to everyone for your lovely comments on my blog posts.  I have just done the draw on Random.org and it chose comment number 44.  Starting counting at 1 from my first comment received, and going in order of when comments were received the winner is Viv (highwaycottage) with her comment on this post.  You should all go check out her blog, it's great!
I will get my thinking cap on for exactly what to pop in your package Viv and be in touch when I have it ready :-)

Wow A Whole Year

I have just realized that today is my first blogiversary.  I must admit that when I started this blog this time last year I never actually thought I would keep it up, so it is nice to prove to myself that I could do it.  In actual fact I really enjoy updating my blog and also going back and reading through old posts.  My favorite thing of all though is reading other people's comments on my blog posts.
With this in mind I have decided to have a wee 'Thank You' giveaway for those who take the time to read my ramblings, bad grammar and all.  I will give anyone who has posted a comment on my blog (excluding giveaway and auction posts) one entry per comment into the draw and then find a winner with the help of random.org.  This will only apply to comments on my actual blog not those on Facebook, sorry.
So what will this giveaway be?  Well it's a mystery :-)  Partly because I'm not entirely sure yet and partly because I may change my mind depending on who wins the draw so I can taylor it to them personally.  It will certainly contain something hand crafted though and probably something yummy and edible.

All that remains is to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone out there for supporting this wee endeavor of mine and I look forward to sharing this blog with you in the year ahead.

Because every post should have a picture - "Sibling similarity"

P.S  I won't do the draw until tomorrow night at 10pm NZ time so if you haven't already done so find your favorite post and leave a comment or two ;-)

FO: Cat in the Hat Dress

As I began tidying the sewing area yesterday I decided the easiest way to deal with cut out items was to actually sew them up and they could be used, what a novel concept that is :-)
I cut this wee dress out for Miss M before christmas but in the madness I didn't have time to get the machines out and sew it up.  The pattern I used is "A line tops and dresses" by Carla C which is a fantastic pattern and covers sizes 3m to 8y, as well as dolly sizes.  I had been looking for a simple A-line pinafore pattern for ages so I was pleased to find this one I could download, esp as it covers such a large range of sizes and is very customizable.  I found the pattern really easy to follow with great clear photo instructions, and even better it was quick to sew up.
The dress is fully reversible although because of the appliqués I have added we won't use it with the stripy side out.  Both the outer and lining fabric were from stash and the fabulous Cat in the Hat appliques I got from the lovely Viv of Sew Vivid.  This is the first time I have really attempted proper appliqué and with the aid of vliesofix it went surprisingly well.
So here is the dress

 And modeled by the Munchkin herself

Now I am all inspired to make more of these.  A girl can never have too many wee A-line dresses surely?

FO: Lego Storage Bag

In the week or so since Christmas we have been on a bit of a mission to have a huge sort out and declutter around the house.  I got up this morning all prepared to continue with this and had my area of choice for the morning chosen, the 'corner of doom' in the lounge.  This contains a couple of bookcases and seems to become a bit of a dumping ground for anything that doesn't have a proper home, especially things that need to be out of reach for Miss M.
So during breakfast I was mulling over some of the problems at hand and mentioned to DP that we really needed a storage solution for Mr A's steadily growing lego collection.  His instant suggestion was a large drawstring bag that can be used for storage but also open out enough that you can easily see all the pieces when actually using it, removing any need to tip a million tiny plastic pieces out in the middle of the lounge floor!  So after having a quick look online and making a plan of attack it was decided that a trip to Spotlight was in order for supplies (of course I couldn't possibly have any suitable fabric in stash).  Mr A and I set out and he was quite excited about choosing what fabric he wanted for his new lego bag.  Surprisingly the design of choice has cars on it, although there was some time taken choosing between this one and a red one with sharks on.
So here it is anyway.  Cotton outer and calico inner for durability and also because we didn't want a dark color for the lining.  I simply made this out of two large circles which I overlocked together, bound around the edge with bias tape and used a second bias tape to make the casing for the cord.  Total cost all up for fabric and bias was just under $20 (cord and cord stopper were from stash).

I was originally going to make the cord long enough for the whole thing to lie out flat like a play mat but decided against this thinking that low 'sides' would prevent lego from becoming scattered all over the floor.  Also the bag doesn't completely close simply because of the sheer 'volume' of the fabric once it is gathered up but this doesn't matter as long as we can store it out of reach of small fingers :-)

A Bittersweet Moment

I have been thinking a lot lately about this post and whether to even share it or not but it has been a big thing for me and I have decided that I wanted to have it recorded here for me to look back on.  I don't normally post here about personal stuff but the last few months of 2011 haven't been fantastic for me health wise.  Since Miss M was born I have been having intermittent joint pain and in April I went to see a rheumatologist who diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis.  At that stage things were ok but as the year went on things progressed quickly and by Dec after many rounds of steroids and many weeks of pain, weakness and general discomfort I was back at the specialist again.  This time he has put me onto long term medication which has been a blessing and a curse for me.  On the one hand once the meds kick in over the next 3 months or so I should once again be symptom free, woohoo.
While I wouldn't say I have been crippled by this disease things have been pretty difficult when the flares are bad, especially first thing in the morning which of course is one of the busiest times of the day with young children.  The thought of being able to move about freely in the morning, lift Miss M out of her cot with ease, undo the clips on her highchair, dress her and get the kids out of their carseats again is what keeps me going.  There is however a downside to all this.  The meds I have been put on have meant that I have had to stop feeding Miss M.  I know she is a lot older now than many children are when they wean, that she has had a fantastic start and is a fit and healthy wee girl, but I still feel sad that the decision of when to stop feeding was taken out of our hands.  However when weighing up all the pros and cons a mummy who could spend quality time playing with the children was more important in the long term.
So for me more than anything here is a pic of Miss M's last ever feed.  This was a week before christmas and Mr A was quite upset to hear that this would mean Miss M couldn't even have a special feed for christmas, he is such a sweetheart.

A special bond that won't be broken, I love you Miss M.

FO: Barbie clothes

In amongst the pre-christmas chaos the DD of a very dear friend turned three.  Wow can she really be three, seems like only yesterday we were having baby cuddles with wee Miss R.  Anyway she loves her barbie dolls so I decided to lend my hand to making some clothes for her beloved dollies.  So after a couple of false starts and a last minute dash to borrow a barbie for fitting purposes here is the result.  Most of the patterns were tutorials from this blog which were fabulous and easy to follow but until this wee endeavor I never realized that Barbie's come in many different shapes so having one to hand is quite essential.
Anyway the new additions to Barbie's wardrobe.

All together

And here modeled :-)

Dress - tutorial here

Top and skirt

Top and skirt

Velvet top and skirt

Skirt

 All fabric was from stash and I must say that this is a fabulous way to use up those fiddly scraps of material that you just knew would come in handy one day.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS R.