Bleurch...

We are all sick. All 4 of us. It is not much fun. Tummy bugs should be outlawed. Especially when this family has only one toilet. Yuck.
I am actually feeling a bit better, but Monday evening and Tuesday were absolutely awful. Two kids with diarrhoea and vomiting, as well as two 'grown ups' with it too.....the washing machine was put to very good use indeed.
Poor big C is still not too flash, and wee m is not too great either. SP is bugging the heck out of us, so we figure he is feeling better!
Not much creativity around here right now, but I have GOT to make a bumper for the cot. The little tyke is determined to have as many appendages hanging from the cot as humanly possible. It can't be comfortable sleeping like that surely?
So this is a pic of my lovely dog, currently residing at my lovely Mum's place due to her infirmity and general old age (the dog, not my Mum!). She is such a beautiful old girl.

More creativity!

This pic of creativity is from last week. I know, I should have posted it last week, but, well, I didn't. K?
Salt dough. Good fun, kept both me and SP gainfully occupied for at least 2 hours. It was lovely, whilst wee M slept, we created. Lots of different stuff, christmas decorations, door name plaques, snails, snakes and other slightly weird stuff.
Recipe, in case anyone out there wants it:
2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, enough hot water (from the tap) to make into a dough. Thats it!
Make it into whatever you like (lots of cool links via google) and bake in a slow oven for a long time (ours took about 4 hours) - exact length depends on your creation and how thick it is.
You can paint it, varnish it, or even colour the dough before you make stuff with it.
Recommended activity for little ones who have busy imaginations, busy hands and love creating!

Clever creative child!

Look at what my clever big boy made for his Nana last week (she has it now, so I can post!). He was bugging me to show him how to use the sewing machine, so I told him he wasn't allowed to use the machine until he could hand sew. So Mr 4 1/2 said "Well come on then Mum, show me how to do it!". So I did and this is what we have as a result. A mat made for Nana's birthday, completely out of scraps in my stash. All chosen and sewn by SP with assistance from me. It is even quilted! I thought it was pretty impressive for a first attempt at sewing! Perhaps next time the green wool stitching on the green fabric wouldn't be such a great idea.

Weekend in the big smoke

We're home from Auckland, where we went for the weekend. Set off Saturday, much later than we wanted to. Why do we always seem to be late?
We had a lovely time catching up with friends who have had their second baby, and he is just a week old. So lovely and little (oh how quickly one forgets!). His sister loved the pink bunny I made for her, and I made a blanket for him. I am really peeved with myself as I forgot to take a picture of it before it was given. Damn! I quite liked it, cream fleece one side and lime green cotton jersey the other side printed with monkeys and bananas. Made early on Saturday morning (don't ask!).
Went to my sister's house warming Saturday evening (a proper party!). Her and her husband have bought a beautiful 1900's villa in Mt Eden. It is lovely. It was great to catch up with family and friends at the party. Had far too late a night, and drank far too much wine, but have a fab time. Kids were up FAR too early this morning!
This afternoon we caught up with my clever friend Ellen and her gorgeous boys (hubby & son). Saw her Dorothy bag 'in person' for the whiplash challenge, and I love it love it love it. She is very clever and inspiring.
I have got inspired to make more 'stuff', love the things here, here and here. And of course, here.

Postie's been!!

Well, Mr Postman has been and brought me a lovely parcel from the Netherlands, from my cotton strudel mag swap partner Sonia.

Gorgeous Milk - a mother and child mag - super stylish.
Lovely Burda quilts mag, full of great modern quilts and applique
Miffy colouring book for the small people - great, very well received. Miffy is on TV here and SP was most impressed! Even with the dutch wording inside!
AND a post card, perfect for a boy who collects postcards from around the world!

Thanks heaps Sonia, very much appreciated. Your parcel is winging its way to you, and the dude at the post shop said it would arrive in 13 - 21 days (takes ages to get there!). Hopefully it arrives very soon and in good order!

At last...creativity!!!

Here is my attempt at photos of the outfit I made for wee m. He was most uncooperative, so you have to imagine a bit. Im quite pleased with it, I had to modify the pattern and am not that good at it!
Also made this little lovely tonight, for a small friend of mine who just got a gorgeous new little brother last week. I plan to make a blanket and back it with the cheeky monkey fabric.
Got a puppet cut out tonight, for another small friend of mine. Phew, better sit down!

Well, after my resolution to blog more frequently I have failed miserably. It is now school holidays (not that it makes any difference to my children, both being pre-school age, but it means I am not at work ;-)) and I am going to try again.
Over the weekend I got creative, the only thing is that the 'model' was most uncooperative. He just would not stay still for any length of time. Now he is crawling, he has to be on the move all the time. So no pics as yet, a work in progress shall we say.
I've also had a raft of friends have babies recently, so I am busy busy busy sewing lovely gifts. Well, hopefully lovely. At the moment it is just piles of partly cut or uncut fabric. And ideas in my head. I need some uninterrupted time to complete projects. Any ideas for original gifts for babies/parents/siblings gratefully received.
That reminds me, I finished my quilt top! Well, let me qualify that for a moment. I finished that which I cut out at my course. This seems to be minus 4 corner setting triangles, as well as the border which I still have to select the fabric for. It needs pressing too. I finished the sewing bit and feel quite virtuous. The list of courses for the Bernina shop has arrived and I am very tempted to do another one. Maybe I should finish what I have started first?

The picture is of the long suffering 'sooty' - being gently encouraged by SP to stay still for the camera. He really does love the poor cat, but is perhaps a little physical in the demonstration of that affection. Sooty came to us via SP's preschool, she slipped between the very narrow bars of the fence, and was in bad shape. She lay in the bark and SP went and lay next to her for 3/4 of an hour. He was determined she was coming home, so much so that he was not prepared to leave preschool without her. He named her, and when we took her to the vet (after preschool) he was most distressed that she had to stay. Meanwhile I was most distressed by how much this cat cost, and how much she continues to cost!
More posts to come!