Winter Busyness

It's that wonderful time of year when the evenings are long and the need to be in close contact with great colours and textures is paramount. It has been rather chilly over the last month and very wet so lots of time to be indoors working on projects etc. I think it's not only the weather but also my pregnancy that motivates me to be home....even when I'm offered an evening out, I am happy-as-larry to be home keeping my hands busy with a new challenge.

Here are some of the things that are happening......and it's not just me but the kids too!

Jordan and Levi with hammers, nails, softboard and wooden shapes.....they LOVE it.



And then there's Mummy's projects.....

The Wheat Sacks requested by my Ken and Dad, they have been divided into 3 compartments to stop the wheat travelling from one end to the other and just a little bit of lavender to keep it smelling yummy.










I knitted a baby beanie from leftover wool to add to a small pile of baby gifts that I'm trying to gather for my own and all those up and coming. It was a quick satisfying project (anybody get the feeling that I need quite a bit of instant gratification!!).



The following knitted item is not my work...you can tell cause it's not very simple looking!!.....my Oma in Holland knitted it for our new bubba.



For my twin sister's birthdays I made them each a messenger bag to take with them on their year long family adventure to serve on the mission field in Ethiopia. They have magnetic closures and the fabrics were esp chosen for each twin. Just in case you don't guess.....one of them is a bit horse crazy. Here are photos of the bags I made.

Bag #1 was made from denim and cute cherry print cotton with an appliqued flower on the outside for a bit of fun.





Bag #2 (sorry no close up photo yet....am doing some adjusting to the strap length....what a mare!!!.....hehe no pun intended) Made from vintage bark cloth picked up at the local sallies and lime green lining. This one even has a pocket on the inside.



And then of course you need to have something sitting to the side to do when ya finish the projects currently on the go (pjs for JK, nappies, flannels, baby cardy, baby hats etc etc) so I purchased 2 patterns from Sew Liberated (formly Montesori By Hand). The apron will be part of my little sister's 21st pressie and the Mei Tai carrier for a friend who is having her first bubba any day now.

Making Dishes Interesting

I tried my hand at knitting a dishcloth!
What a great little project to do when you need a change of scene from a more ongoing WIP.
So heres my hot-chocolate-with-marshmellows dishcloth....

AND....here's the pattern for those who aspire to more unique and interesting
dishcloths in their kitchen.

co4, k 1 row
Next row, k2 inc in next st, k1
Next row, k2,yo,k to end of row
Repeat the k2, yo, k until you have 45sts on the needle
Next row, k1, k2Tog, yo, k2Tog, k to end of row
Continue to do this , decreasing each row until 5 stitches are left. Then, k2, k2Tog, k1.
Bind off the 4 sts.

Walks, Autumn Leaves, Playgrounds and Helicopters

I LOVE summer!!! Especially with two rambunctious little boys who do some much better when they can burn off their energy with running round outside, swimming and more running.
Therefore the minute winter starts to crawl up, I hold my breath and wish the months to go quickly. I'm a bit lazy so even though I say "oh yes, no matter what the weather they WILL go outside EVERYDAY", in reality that doesn't happen, as the thought of MORE washing etc etc just puts me off.

I've been making an effort to get out with the boys to do what boys do best....adventuring. This is what we've been up to........

VISTING PARKS

WEEKEND WALKS WITH DADDY

NAVY HELICOPTER VISITS @ DADDY'S SCHOOL
(We live @ school....one of the perks)

FUN WITH OUR FRIENDS FROM ACROSS THE FIELD

Nappy Sewing

I have caught the nappy sewing bug.
I think I might blame Sharon after viewing her creations and finding a great pattern to use.
I've fought a little with the old sewing machine, wished for an overlocker and started to sharpen up on the self taught, limited sewing skills and I think I'm offically addicted........esp judging by the LARGE stack of material sitting to the left of my dining room table.
Here are a few of creations thus far......

It started with a fitted nappy and cover for our LJ. The nappy is made from Flannelette and hemp, cover is made from PUL. He did a great job at modeling for me! Need to go up a size in the nappy for him or make the wings longer.






Then I had a baby shower to attend so I made a newborn fitted from cotton velour and hemp, a PUL cover and 4 little cloth wipes. Lots of fun!!

An open view of the fitted nappy, it has an extra soaker inside that can be removed so that it all dries quickly!!! Very important with the dank, cold weather we've been having. Bring on summer I say!







I hope to make a set of velour fitted nappies for our up and coming little one along with some PUL covers and some knitted soakers. With the JK I used disposables completely and with LJ I didn't start using cloth till he was about 2 months old....my aim is to get into those cloths as soon as those icky meconium poos are over with.
Check back for more photos later!

I Promise.........

Ah... promises are dangerous things!!
But seeing it's the long weekend coming up I endeavour to blog up some photos of all the fun things I (we)'ve been up to over the rather slient weeks in my blog...
BUT FIRST I NEED TO:
1. Finish fitted nappy, Nappy cover and 4 face cloths for a baby shower tomorrow
2. 2x messenger bags for my twin sisters birthdays on Sunday (the family is going on mission in Ethiopia for a year so they should come in handy.......no use giving them something they can't take with them!)

Once those 2 major's are out of the way I will take a breath and update photos of quilt (LONG overdue), nappies, bags etc etc along with adventures in the lives of the REST of the family....who by the way don't find my sewing quite so interesting!!

Completed Quilt

The quilt has been completed and delivered to JK for his 4th birthday yesterday.
I think it's been dragged round the house for the last 24 hours with much love.
Photos to come.............

Update to List

Why am I blogging when I should be sewing binding on to the quilt????
Very good question.....on which shows I either have a short attention span or I have a serious issue with multi-tasking!!
Anyway.......

Things done off my list......

#2 - Finish knitting JK's hat (I just pulled back about 10 lines as I found a stitch round the wrong way and it just annoyed me!)
#10 - Organise JK's birthday ON TIME to avoid stress


Things that nearly done:


#1 -FINISH JK's Quilt....very urgent

Oh and I had a divergent moment on the way through my list of to-do's and made a Kete Pikau (Maori for Woven backpack) for my hubby. I dyed it black and wine in colour and it was my first unsupervised (by the expert, Tia) effort at making one.

Pictures to come!