Crafting with 2 pre-schoolers ...

It's the perennial question that crafters, who are mothers, ask - to craft or not to craft (when the children are in the vicinity)?!

Sometimes I'm in the mood for children and sometimes I'm not. Sometimes it feels like I will never get anything done because I have the children with me and sometimes it doesn't. Do you snatch 5 minutes whilst they are happily engaged in another activity? Do you engage them in your activity and realise that progress will be MUCH slower? Do you wait until they are all tucked up in bed? And then realise that you're just too damn tired to do it yourself?

We've had friends staying for the last couple and they left mid-morning. We had a brilliant time and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, however 4 adults, 4 children under 5, 2 dogs and exceedingly heavy rain does mean a certain amount of tiredness!!! Added to that a few bottles drunk, great food eaten and lots of talking - well you get the picture! Can you actually get a hangover from talking? It certainly feels like I have had one today.

So the name of the game today was to t.a.k.e. i.t. s.l.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.w.w.w.w.w. but having not done any sewing for a few days I was tempted. I took the bull by the horns and decided to start filling the patches I had made for my puff patchwork blanket. Maia was happily involved in writing 'letters' and drawing pictures for her penpal and Cassia was put to work!

The filling for the patches is the inside of an old pillow. Now, this is a compromise. I know it's not a natural material which would be my preference but it is re-using something I already have so I go with it. When old pillows become lumpy and uncomfortable they can be thrown in the washing machine and then the filling is good to fill things with! I decided to let Cassia into the pillowcase of filling. All good to begin with and she actually did fill some of the pockets however, it was not long before the filling became snow and was scattered about everywhere!

Maia then realised that we were playing with 'fluff' and decided she wanted to help too. Now to be fair she did really help and filled lots of the pockets whilst I sewed them up. My two little helpers, or is that one little helper and one little hinderer?!

On reflection was it worth it? So I had a lot of 'fluff' to tidy up and had to be the 'fluff' monitor a couple of times but, today, it was definitely worth it. I got all 108 filled and closed - hurray!!!!!

We're back!

All back safe and sound after a lovely week away. We had a great time and I've some great photos of the mountain to post but will do that tomorrow. This is just a quick post to say many thanks to Hanna from Crafty Kin for the brooch I won in her giveaway. It arrived just before we left for our holiday and it's gorgeous! Thanks Hanna!

I have also been awarded my first bloggy award, "One Lovely Blog", from the lovely Gina at Clutterpunk. Thanks so much I'm really touched!! I've just realised that I've been blogging here for a year now (with a couple of absences!) and I've loved it. Thanks for reading and all the comments. x

Now it's my turn to pass on the award, so here goes to fellow kiwi bloggers:

Little Miss Flossy at Another Day in Paradise

Hanna at Crafty Kin

Julie at Dreaming of Daisies

Janelle at Heart Felt

Lien at Lovely Living

Steph at Lovestitches

Amy at Seven Stitches

Gabes at SweetP Knits

Have a pop over to them - you might just see something you like!

As for crafting? Well even my lovely travel craft case didn't inspire me to craft whilst I was away which was very surprising. However, Sunday was my day - I was in the mood and achieved lots. Still haven't taken photos but will get them posted tomorrow.

One of the things I decided to work on was my eldest WIP. In March 2005 I finished a puff patchwork blanket and decided straight away to make another. I bought the material and I cut out all the squares and then put them in a bag! I have dipped into the bag over the years to use some of the patches but there was still enough to make a small blanket as originally intended.

I had to cut out the backing squares, for which I used the curtain lining cut offs, and then started sewing.

60 done so far with 48 still to go, then there's just the small matter of stuffing them, closing them, joining them and backing them. Easy - if it takes as long as it has done already it'll be finished in 2013!

June is for finishing - crochet blanket

At the beginning of the year I read on someone's blog (sorry for no mention here but I can't remember whose!) that they were going to use up everything they already had before buying anymore (they were talking about wool I think but it really could apply to anything!). I thought this was a great idea and decided to use up all my wool bits to make a blanket.

Little did I know how much wool a single sized crochet blanket was going to take! Not only did I use up all of my bits and pieces I had to go and buy other people's odds and ends too! So it's finally finished:


To begin with I didn't know if I was going to like it. I'm not very good at doing random and this certainly was!



It was literally use up one bit and start with another. Sometimes I did finish on the end of the row but there are colour changes midway through rows too. When I ran out of yarn I kept thinking "Oh well that's big enough" but Maia had already taken a liking to it and had asked for it for her bed so I kept hunting for the yarn and crochetting on!


What a good use of odds and ends and practical too. Hopefully it'll be keeping us warm for many years to come. Do I like it now? I certainly do.


OK so I said it was finished but there are some ends that still need to be darned in but in my mind it's finished for now - it's on the bed, it'll keep us warm and that's all that matters for now.

This was a really easy thing to have on the go - you could just pick it up and do a few rows here and there, it came away with us a couple of times and it was something that you didn't have to think about - you knew what you were doing and there was no pattern - great for those evenings when you're brain dead after a full-on day with the children!

Now I just have to tackle all my other WIPs! x

Welcome winter!

Today heralds the official start of winter, and with the snow coming down on the mountains all around us it certainly felt like it yesterday. Some things that we're going to count on this winter. First and foremost is this:



Generally New Zealand houses don't have central heating so you rely on the woodburner a lot. This is the first house where we've lived in in NZ that has such a great fire - and we've a woodshed full of dry, seasoned wood to boot! However, the fire is only in the living area so for the bedrooms you need these:


flannelette sheets! I tried my best to find some second hand but the local op shops were not forthcoming, and when it gets so cold at night you can't really wait for them to turn up. So these are new but so worth every cent when you get into them at night! However, I was more imaginative when it came to Maia's bed:



When Maia was born we had brushed cotton wraps which we used for wrapping her. They were then used for Cassia and have now been re-invented into a patchwork top sheet for her bed and a pillowcase. I was pretty pleased with this little conversion - it cost me nothing and it took about 10 minutes! Even with flannelette sheets you still need lots of these:



the left one has such beautiful colours that I would really like to turn it into something but it has only been loaned to us so it just looks pretty on the bed! The right one was an op shop find and has been cut up into a single blanket and the other half will be used for something, eventually!



The pink blanket is one I made for Maia when she was born - it took me months - what was I doing? The bottom one was one my mum nade to use up her scraps and which Maia took possession of when we were home recently!



This is still a work in progress but may be called into action if it get too much colder!




And this is one I relieved my mum off when we were back - daughters are good like that I find! It was crocheted by my Nan and I hadn't seen it before. It's lovely to have something made by my Nan in my house. In fact there's three generations of crochetetd blankets in my house - pretty cool eh? So for outside of the house we'll need these:

these (with not a handmade one in sight unfortunately!):

these:

and these:

And finally if all else fails this little lot can help boost you up!

A little glimmer of creativity amidst all the chaos!

My creativity has faltered unerringly to a long slow stop - I am doing nada, nothing, zilch! Starting this blog back in July I was really in to my sewing and that then morphed into crochet. I think it was reading inspiring blogs and of course finding out about, and subsequently joining, Ravelry. (To begin with I thought it was just knitting so imagine my delight when I realised there was crochet too - I sent off my 'application' straight way and was gobsmacked to see that there were thousands of people in front of me waiting for their invite to be processed - this knitting/crochet community must be huge!) Since the beginning of September, once we'd actually booked flights, I've not done anything crafty (in fact my sewing machine is almost in NZ as we speak!). So this little show is the only thing I've been working on and was shown as WIP here. Earlier this year I sent a blanket to Cuddles, see here, and I made a pledge to myself to make a blanket to donate each season. So this is the blanket for autumn (not autmmn themed mind!).

It was very different this time because I knew I was making the blanket to donate. This really focussed my mind on the reasons for the need for donations and, of course, made me count my blessings over and over again. With the general frenetic pace of life and the ensuing chaos of an international move, I haven't always looked beyond the immediate picture and have sometimes got bogged down in what are, taken at base value, inconsequential things. Last night as I sat finishing the blanket, I thought about the girls having chicken pox, the chance that we may not fly out next week, the amount of work left to do if we do fly out next week and realised how lucky I am to have these so called 'problems' to contend with. Life is so precious it really is too short to worry about things beyond your control. Wishing you all lots of love and a very peaceful weekend. xxx

Finished work and WIP

Well it's about time that I finally put up some more things I've been working on. Since starting to read blogs I have found a common theme - everyone seems to have many projects on the go and very often starts new things when they've vowed they won't until some of the old ones are finished! Now the term WIP, work in progress, I am very familiar with since I have an engineering background, but I especially like the term WISP, work in slow progress, which I saw for the first time here! I think it so accurately describes what's in my cupboards!

First I thought I'd do something with the hearts I've been making - so I turned them into a little girl's bag. It was a hit with Maia so I thought we'd give this one to her little friend whose party we went to yesterday, which means I now have to make another one for Maia before her birthday on Tuesday!

We spent a bit of time in the week sorting out all of my buttons. The girls love doing that and whilst they were so engrossed in it I thought I'd have a quick go at something. You know when you have these ideas and you spend time thinking, preparing and then finally doing them and for what? The end result is nothing like what's in you rhead and you wish you'd spent the time doing something more productive instead. I have many of these situations, so this time I thought I would just do it. Now the photo's not great but it does look nice and would look great put in a little frame - and then I see the huge crease right through the middle - aaaaaarghhhhh! However it only took a few minutes so will have to try again getting properly organised next time!

Now I can't say this is totally finished but all I have to do is stitch on the flower - one of today's jobs! I modified the pattern that I used to make this one and I have to say the fit is much better. I also found that halfway through it fitted Maia just perfectly so will have to get some made for children.

This is a work in progress. I had been to the wool shop and picked up some lovely cotton on special not really knowing what I was going to use it for but you never pass up a bargain! A few days later I was was looking through an old pattern book of my mum's and saw a lovely bedspread with this design. Now I'm not quite up to doing a bedspread at the moment but thought a smaller version would be great for my next blanket to donate to Cuddles.

Now this isn't strictly WIP but it's certainly helping me to get them finished! I was over at my mum's and saw this beautiful 'sewing/knitting bag' (I don't know if they've got a proper name) and it was just sitting in a cupboard! When I said how nice it was mum asked me if I'd like it - yes! It belonged to my great aunt and it's just beautiful and so functional too. It's got pockets inside to put all your little bits and pieces - I don't lose my scissors anymore!

And last, but certainly not least, is a bracelet my mum made. Having seen the one I knitted here she decided to have a go but crocheted it. She also has a formidable stash of buttons, seuqin, beads (in fact anything to do with any type of craft!) so was able to finish it with really striking embellishments. My nieces were around on the same day that I saw it and we were all fighting for it because it looks awesome on - who won? My mum!

Chocolate Brownies ......

After a particular fractious morning with the two girls we decided to bake brownies to cheer everyone up - who can resist chocolate? I've never made them before and had cut a recipe out of the paper a couple of weeks ago so thought we'd give it a try. To be honest, I had never actually eaten a brownie until a couple of months ago - I should have kept it that way because the ones I have had are delicious!!!! Well the end result - not great but you can see by the photos that the girls had fun in the making. And if anyone has a failsafe recipe for them then I'd love to hear from you!

Can you see the chocolate on her toes?!!!!!

If that's not an expression of pure happiness I don't know what is!

The other thing we did this afternoon, which made me count my blessings all over again, was to send of a blanket to Cuddles. I found this website after a discussion on the Green Parent Forum and decided to send this one off. Having been blessed with two quick preganancies and two healthy happy girls I realise how lucky we are and marvel at the people who experience such loss and hardship and come through the other end - very humbling indeed ......

Quilts, blankets and work in progress

The first blanket I made was a puff patchwork one. It was after the birth of Maia and I was feeling all creative so I started making some puff patchwork pieces with fabric I bought from Spotlight. The store was an hour from where we lived but it was in an amazing town, Rotorua, so it was a great excuse to visit. First port of call was always breakfast, usually at the Fat Dog for french toast with bacon, banana and maple syrup, followed by Spotlight and then maybe another attraction if Maia allowed! I had made lots of the puff pieces but didn't know quite how to put it together so it was lovely that when my Mum and Dad were visiting from UK that Mum and I finished it off together. It was made primarily for Maia but it's now in communal use through the living area.

The blanket at the time became Maia's blanket for reading under, snuggling on and it came on any trips we made as her reimder of home. One day after she was sick all over it I realised that we needed another for when this one was in the wash! I had been lucky enough to inherit a bag of fabric remnants from my mum, which contained loads of fabric from each of our houses which we lived in whilst we were growing up. My mum was very fond of Laura Ashley and so the pieces lent themselves perfectly for a quilt. I had done patchwork as a child but not on the mahcine so having read a gew books from the library I thought I'd start with a simple square pattern. This one has also become a handy addition to our household and when we travelled back to NZ last year I had it in the handluggage so the girls had something nice to play on in transit and I had something to snuggle Cassia up in whilst feeding on the plane. It was good for the soul to have something so pretty on such a long journey.

This last one is a work in progress! I started it before we left NZ (2 years ago) and it was going to be my mum's 70th birthday present. Then we returned to UK and I was actually at her 70th so it didn't seem quite so important to get it finished and so it remains today. I'm having a lot of trouble with the finishing - every time I try to get the backing piece on it all goes out of shape and really hard to machine quilt. I actually just used cotton fabric sold for dressmaking so I don't know if that's something to do with it but I must try to get it finished and in use.

The heart motif at the centre of the quilt: