I’ve been blogging a year.

It’s my 1 year blog anniversary.  I have to say it hasn’t turned out quite as expected, but it’s been fun.  I’ve been able to do some great swaps with other bloggers, and had the fun of doing a few giveaways too.  I think I’ll do one to celebrate, I just have to come up with something I’m willing to part with

 

I got a lot of sewing time in today, it’s great when Ian is home, it halves the housework and child caring duties.  I”m about a third of the way through the new quilt top.

I finished the shirt I was making for Cam, not in time for Christmas, but he will get plenty of wear out of it anyway.  Big thanks to my TNN secret santa who supplied the fabric

Courgettes anyone?  One of them got away on us a bit, almost turned into a marrow, but not quite.

Well, that’s all for now.  I’ll be back when I think of what to make for my anniversary giveaway.  Feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments

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Post Christmas

Well Christmas has been and gone.  It was okay, some good bits, some not quite what I expected.  Way too busy, and not quite as planned but it was lovely getting to see Ian’s sister who was over from London for Jeremy’s Memorial.  The kids wouldn’t have seen Aunty Marg till 2010 otherwise.  So some good comes from bad.

We all got plenty of presents (dare I say it – too many really). I was lucky enough to get a quilting book and 10 fat quarters   I have already started making a new quilt with the fabric.  Matt got me a neat pack of Moda charm squares, which I helped him choose a few weeks ago   Mum and Kev gave us the gift of living plants – 4 kaka beaks, a kowhai and some red onion seedlings.  Grandad Kev made Cam the most awesome wooden outdoor toybox, which is now housing all the toys that used to litter the driveway.  Lots of other cool things were given and received.

 

We had 2 nieces come stay the night on Christmas, at short notice, so I made them these bags.  I love them, and had enough leftover fabric to make two more, so Lilly and I will have one each too.

Cam’s fishing rod got finished just in the nick of time.

 

We went out for dinner on Christmas Eve (always nice to let someone else cook and clean up).  Here are the kids all dressed up.

 

The garden is doing great, the courgettes are all producing furiously, so I will be making the most of it.  We’ve harvested our first Lebanese cucumbers, and are still eating the few peas that survived the wind.

I think the sunflowers are going to be very tall this year

Lots of beetroot, and the silverbeet is huge.

Ian was planting out some red cabbages and pak choy tonight just before the glorious rain started.

One of the few inediable plants in our garden.  Stunning!

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The boy’s Quilts

Matt’s.

Nathan’s.

I know, Nathan’s is not quite finished, but it’s 98% done. Handsewing the binding is taking me forever. Hopefully I”ll finish it tonight.

Both quilts are made entirely of backing fabrics, which were 2.5m or 2.25m wide. It’s really helped to keep the cost down. Both quilts are approx 1.8m by 2m, and have wool batting. All up they have cost less than $150 each to make. Very affordable.

I wanted make Nathan’s quilt using the same pattern as Matt’s, but couldn’t get backing fabric in the colours I wanted as the local shops were low on stock, I didn’t think I had time to order online, but in retrospect I think I should have, as although I like Nathan’s quilt it’s not the cream and emerald green one that was in my head.

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I’ve been keeping busy…..

as I imagine most of you out there in blogland are too.

I’ve been able to cross of quite a few items off my ‘to do or make’ list.  Here are a couple.

Matt’s pencil roll

Two sets of quilted coasters for my Sister-In-Laws. I so love the red, I think I will have to get some more to make some for me.

A pillowcase to match Matt’s quilt.

 

I still can’t take pics of the boys finished quilts, as it’s still too wet.  I’m so sick of the rain.  Some sun would be nice.

 

It was Matt’s 18th birthday on Friday. 

From this………

And this…

To this in 18 years

Happy Birthday Matt ! Love from Mum.

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Check out the Man!

I love that last pic, hilarious.

Man he was looking sharp though.  The school Nathan goes to is a full primary, so goes from year one to year eight.  So they have a few special events for the year eights who are off to college next year, one of which was the leaver’s dinner, which was a semi formal attire.  Well Nathan had no semi formal attire, and it being summer here meant there were no nice pants available in the shops, only shorts, so we went the whole hog and got this wicked pinstripe suit, and shirt.  The tie is one that Ian doesn’t wear anymore.  The new shoes will be for school next year anyway. Nathan had a great time, and was very confident in his suit, and was the styliest looking dude there (and I’m not biased aye?).  Matt was a bit jealous of how good Nathan looked and has asked me to buy him a suit as well.  Nice.

Anyways, onto the crafty goodness.

Little waterproof cutlery pouches for the Scouts   Complete with new cutlery inside.

Bag, which may or may not be a pressie for a niece, depends on how i feel about in a few days.

Bag, for a swap   I really liked this, wish I could have kept it.

Pillowcase to match Lilly’s quilt.

I’ll try to post pics of the quilts tomorrow, depending on weather (we’ve had a bit or rain lately), but it might be a day or two, we have playcentre party and final assembly at school tomorrow to get through.  I don’t know if we can go to the playcentre thing as Cam’s not been 100%  and I’m not really sure if he’s infectious or not.  We’ll see.

I did get two pencil rolls done today, and almost a 3rd, but i put some cheap black cotton on the machine and it kept snapping, so it had to wait till i bought some decent thread.  I have it now, but today’s done, so I’ll try it again when I get some time.

Can you tell I’m thinking tomorrow will be a bit of a write off in terms of having any time to myself?

Later!

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A winner !

Congrats to Lauren with comment number 7, which was the number picked by random.org So the fishes are off to the other side of the tasman. Enjoy. Thanks to everyone who commented.

PS. Leanne – I did use pinking shears on the edges, i did the same kind of edges on some of the stuffed birds as well.

Come back later for a crafty update, I’ve finished Nathan’s quilt (except for a wee bit of the binding) and a few other things too.

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A Christmas giveaway

I sat down last night and finished off the fish for Cam’s gone fishing game.  I was meant to put a small magnet in the end of each fish and then sew them up.  Well I searched high and low, but it was going to cost about $15 to get the magnets for the fish, so I’ve put metal washers in the fish instead, and Ian recovered a good strong magnet for the pole from Nathan old AM radio.  I just need to make the pole now, and then it’s done.  Here’s a pic of his fish

I made quite a few fish, as I was going to send a gone fishing game as part of the Secret Santa present i was making, but i discovered the you can’t send magnets through NZ Post.

So I have a spare set of fish, which I am going to giveaway.  The prize is a set of six handmade  fish made from hand dyed cotton and cotton batting. 

 The winner can let me know if they want me to add in the washers for a fishing game or add ribbons so they can be hung on the Christmas tree, or just have the ends closed to use for a mobile.  I’ll use a random number selector to pick the winner.  All you have to do to go in the draw is leave a comment.  I’ll draw a winner on Tuesday evening.  I’ll post the prize national or international   Merry Christmas.

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Friday already……

This week has gone so fast.  It’s nearly Christmas, and we also have Matt’s birthday next Friday too.  He will be 18. And no it doesn’t make me feel old, after all Cam is only 2 .

A bit of an update on the gardening.

The broad beans are doing great.  I only planted four, as I wasn’t sure how they would go.  They’ve been great, and Ian and I are both enjoying them.  Cam has been eating them straight from the garden.  I even planted four more a couple of weeks ago to see if I could get a late crop, and those are just starting to flower now, so it’s looking hopeful.

No beans yet, they are just starting to flower, but the plants are very small, a result of the terrible spring winds getting to them, the peas are a bit the same.  It looks like I only have 3 regular peas surviving, but about a half dozen snow peas, which are starting to produce now (we had some in our salad tonight).

Tomatoes are doing fantastic.  We have about 50 plants in, and still have a half dozen that need planting out this weekend.  Most are flowering now, some are just starting to fruit.  I can’t wait to not have to get tomatoes from the shop.

I am about to harvest the first 2 zucchini tomorrow.  I’m making a Spanish omelet for lunch, they will be one of the main ingredients.  We have started lifting the early potatoes, as they are ready, but we haven’t got a very good harvest off them.  Wrong spot maybe, who knows.  They did get enough water, of that I”m sure as we have been really good about keeping the veges watered. Oh well, you wind some, you lose some.  At least if i have to buy some I know they are grown only a couple of kilometres from here, keeping it local.

The radishes that are left have gone to seed, but that’s okay as the pigs and chooks will still eat them.  We just need to remember to only plant about 6 or so a week, otherwise we have too many.

The lettuces are growing great, now that they are protected from the birds, and we are having salad most nights now.

 

On the crafty front, still no pics of Matt’s quilt, as I just haven’t got around to hanging it to take a pic.  I do love it though, and really enjoyed sitting with it on my knee, hand stitching the binding down

Here’s a sneek peek of Nathan quilt.

I’ve done the front, and most of the back, but need to add some zigzag to the back otherwise I’ll be short on fabric, and I have enough squares cut out to use on the back as well.  I got the batting for it today, so I might have it almost completed by the end of the weekend.

I made a bag today, for a handmade bag swap I’m doing on TNN.  I won’t post pics just yet, in case the recipient reads my blog.  I’m pretty happy with how it turned out though.

I was lucky enough to get a freebie this week, from the lovely Kimber, who makes many awesome things.  Check out my cool bookmark, I love the fabric, and it’s been well used since it arrived in the post.

And…. half our TNN secret santa pressie arrived.  Lilly got a neat weave you own scarf kit, and a few other bits and bobs, which she was very pleased with, and I was the very lucky recipient of a stack of fabric.  It was such a cool gift.  I love fabric

Last but not least, by any means. A lovely lady called Leanne made this beautiful skirt for Lilly.  I supplied the hearts and skulls fabric, and Leanne chose the rest.  Lilly is so pleased with it.  It’s really soft and comfortable, and looks great on her.  And nice for me to see Lilly in a skirt with having to pay bribery   Leanne you are wonderful.

Nearly done, Sorry for the long post.

Poor Cam has had a rough time lately. First he had the horrible nappy rash from the change in washing powder, after only a couple of days clear he got the squirts, and is still not 100%, and has bad nappy rash again.  This time I think he has thrush.  Poor boy had such a sore bum I had to change his nappy at midnight last night, and put some soothing cream on him.  He usually sleeps through almost anything.  Well I’ve used all the nasty throw away nappies, so we are back in cloth, just with some microfleece liners because of the amount of cream he needs on at the moment.  If it’s warm enough tomorrow I’ll give him plenty of nudey time

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Some days

everything just sucks!

What better place to have a moan about it than here on my blog.  Right?  Y’all are listening right?

I’ve got a cold, you know sore throat, blocked nose, sneezing, head like a pumpkin.  Cam and Lilly both have the squirts.  Yuck (lucky i still had half a pack of horrible throw away nappies from last week when I stripped all his cloth ones).  This is the 3rd sick day Lilly has had this term.

Still no DNA results.  But looks like they are having a Memorial service for Jeremy on Sunday 21st December.  But it’s at Wigram Airbase in Christchurch.  So we can’t go.  Ian is refusing to go without me, and we just can’t afford it.  We always feel stink at family things anyway (being the poor part of the family), but this makes us feel worse.  If we all went it would be approx $2500 – 3000 dollars just for two nights and airfares.  Seems a pretty sucky that it comes down to finances.  And it’s not like we want a hand out either, then we would feel really bad.  Even if just Ian and I went (with Cam) it would still be a huge cost that we would be paying off on the credit card next year.  Some days you just can’t win.

 

Okay, as you were.  Rant over. 

 

And I still can’t decided what to get Matt for his birthday on the 19th. 

No pics of the quilt yet, sorry, but it’s done, and I’ve done the top of Nathan’s too.

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Time to update

Well, we still have no news on whose bodies have been recovered from the crash.  Hopefully  there will be some news in the next day or two, they are still waiting on DNA results.  Most of the family is planning on leaving France on Sunday, and will make their way back to NZ or London.

 

I have done lots of crafting, I wanted to wait till we had news about Jeremy before updating about everyday stuff, but things are just taking so long.

Lilly’s quilt (she gets it for Xmas).  Finally all finished.  I love it, and was tempted to keep it for our bed  

The back is just plain, but it looks awesome with the quilting standing out so much.  The batting is wool so its quite puffy.  I had this professionally quilted, and have to say I’m very happy with the result, and the service.  However I don’t know that I would go to that expense very often.

 

I will post pics of Matt’s quilt tomorrow, as I only have one side of binding left to stitch down and the threads to trim.

 

Nathan requested a belt like the ones I made Lilly for Xmas, so here is his one.  Music note fabric

 

I made Cam a book for Xmas with the bugs panel that i used on Justin’s quilt.  Turned out ok, though I should have made the letters on the front even.  Nevermind, I don’t think he will notice.

 

I finished the bag that I was making as part of my Secret Santa present, but I forgot to take pics of it before I sent it away.  Doh !

 

Lots happening in the garden, so I’ll update that here tomorrow.  The naughty steer is still living with the herd over the fence.  I’m not worried though, as he will have no company when he gets back if I don’t get another calf, as I’ve decided the sheep can go to the butcher this week.

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