Dog obedience.

This evening Abraham and I went on a bit of an impromptu picnic.
We were lucky enough to have Abrahams aunty ring at five and offer to watch the boys this evening. Naturally, we jumped at the chance.
We packed up some plates, cutlery, a picnic blanket and salt (very important!), picked up takeaways from our favourite Indian restaurant and tried to decide where to eat them. You forget how many choices there are when you're child-free!
We ended up back at a spot we used to spend a lot of time when we first met (9 years ago next month!), it was quite surreal to be back there at such a different time in our lives. We sat and watched the sun set, ate our delicious chicken madras and talked about old times, present times and future times. We talked about our beliefs, about our blessings and about our relationship. It was a glorious way to spend the evening and it reminded me that we really need to do it more often.
Let the date nights roll!

Felty favourites.

I have finally signed up for Felt. I'm not entirely sure I'm going to make a shop as such, but I thought it was time I at least joined and had a proper look around.
By golly, New Zealanders are a clever bunch! Some of the things on that website are just absolutely amazing. And, unlike Etsy, I didn't have to trawl through too much of the less awesome stuff to find them! I have put together a wee wishlist for when I win the lottery (when I can afford to buy a ticket...):

Beehive Tea-cosy

wildcoast

$95.00

Noise Amp - Tee

wegotknits

$29.00

Vintage Bathing Suit

swanwear

$160.00

Stunning Lasercut Ta...

freestylen

$29.00

Poetry Brooch

disarray

$15.00

Baby Reé Green Stri...

desiree

$30.00

Knight/king Dress-up...

cloak-bagger

$45.00

Robin Hood Dress-up ...

cloak-bagger

$45.00

Two A6 Notebook/jour...

hotchandgruel

$16.00

Sweet Yeti - Bad Ani...

badanimals

$37.50

Handknitted Merino B...

creativaertz

$25.00

3 Strand Fabric Gyps...

heartncrafty

$32.00

I'll have the wee vest in a 12mnth size please, the yeti in either white or charcoal, and I'll put special emphasis on the king costume (the robin hood costume in the same shop is also incredible). I hear there'll be a fifth birthday in my household soon and that would be perfect.

Tuesday.

This is what I wore today.
The perfect outfit for a drink and a walk around town with my dear friend Rachie.
My super talented friend has moved back to the bay and we spent a lovely morning catching up and chatting about all the exciting things we can do and share together now that she lives a bit closer. Don't get me wrong, I love my Whakatane friends to pieces, but I do dearly miss having a circle of crafty ladies around me. I was lucky enough to find an amazing stitch'n'bitch group in Nelson and meet some incredible people but, unfortunately, I haven't had the same luck here so having someone as inspiring as Rach near by will make a huge difference.

I also managed a spot of op shopping, a touch of sewing, and plenty of playing, feeding, and getting splashed.



Oh, and who could forget... being chased! Now that Otto is officially on the move nothing is safe! All of his time is spend trying to catch Porridge (the cat), trying to get whatever (incredibly small-pieced, highly choke-inducing) toy Aesop has, and attempting to eat absolutely everything that is left anywhere near him. Looks like we're going to need to be a little more careful from now on!

Summer evenings.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not Summers biggest fan.
I don't like the sticky, sweatiness that comes with higher temperatures. I don't like baring my ample body in clothes that don't cover everything I want them to. I don't like the flies, the midges and the other creepy crawlies that seem to relish the humidity. I don't even much like swimming, or the beach for that matter.
But, you know what I DO love? The long, light evenings.
I love sitting outside after four, when the sun has cooled a little and the humidity seems to have dispersed a tad, just sitting and relaxing. Then pottering around, watering the garden and the lawn (which, as you can see, I haven't done enough of lately!), getting the washing in and just generally enjoying how long the day feels.
Then there's that time when the kiddies have gone to bed, sitting in the lounge with a belly full of summer food, all the windows wide open, a glass of wine in one hand, a needle and thread in the other, the TV in front of me and my yo-yo quilt on my lap. There really is nothing nicer.

A weekly round-up.

Four works-in-progress this week and not a single finished project to share!

1. I'm still, slowly, chipping away at my yo-yo quilt. I have started sewing the rounds together even though I'm still about 200 away from having enough to complete it. I'm feeling a bit like this 'winter project' will last me through at least another few seasons but it's on the list so it WILL be done!
2. I have spend, what feels like, most of the week washing. That's not unusual for me but this week it's been mostly fabric. I'm prewashing ALL of my fabric collection. You see, I buy fabric at the op shop or somewhere and then I get it home and occasionally I'll wash it, but usually it just gets put up on the shelf ready to be used. And I realised the other day I have NO idea which of my fabric has been washed and which hasn't. This is not good. So the washing begins..
3. The pile of stripes is going to become a pile of baby pants in the next day or so. Otto has little red knees from his crawling attempts but everytime we put 'real' pants on him the poor thing just gets too hot. So I have raided the $1 rack at the Sallies and the 50c bin at the Op Knocks and am going to make him some basic, lightweight legging type pants to protect those little knees and keep him cool at the same time. The best bit about these kind of pants? It doesn't matter one tiny little bit if the knees wear through, they get stained or they get lost.. it'll just be back to the $1 rack for another pair!
4. Lastly, I have one wee project this week that is so, so close to being finished. So close, in fact, that had the sewing store had the last little thing I need in stock they would be ready to list! But alas, you'll have to wait until next weeks shop update to see the details on those babies. Fingers crossed the other sewing store will be slightly more helpful.

A week of firsts.

Isn't it incredible how babies, and even children, seem to be constantly doing things for the very first time? Yet as adults we're lucky if we do something completely new in a week, or even a month (and for some people I'm sure it's more like a year..). I'm not even sure the last time I did something truly new and it's not helped by the fact that, more often than not, we hardly celebrate the new things we do try!
In the past week Otto has been to swimming for the first time in his life, he had his first day at playcentre, managed to push his way forwards (rather than his usual backwards motion!), eaten breakfast as well as dinner, had a drink of water when up until now he has only had milk, sat unassisted and, to my absolute delight, looked at me and said 'mmmama!' for the very first time (perhaps not on purpose, but hey, who am I to judge intentions?)
So many firsts in just one short week. And they'll keep on coming too.
I'm going to try to slow down a bit for the next week and try to see how many 'firsts' I can manage. I'm thinking I might buy my first ever bottle of foundation, have my first ever skype conversation, take the car for a service for the first time, and who knows, it might even, finally, be time to try a cup of coffee!

Braxton Hicks.

My sweet, and very talented, husband has made his resolution this year too.
To finish more than he starts.
And he's starting off how he intends to carry on! He has just finished a zine he has been working on (under one of his pseudonyms 'Farout'), called 'Braxton Hicks'. The plan is that every month this year one of our wee 'circle' will create an 6-page zine, in very limited quantities, to be given away at our two favourite cafes in town, and Abraham is kicking it off.
His zine, in his own words is 'Six hand drawn pages covering a wide range of topics from the work of Dieter Rams and iconic appliances to how awesome Mitch Hedberg was and the buoyancy of citrus.'
As you may have guessed, I'll be doing one too. I've decided to do next months issue and will begin working on it this week. I'm hoping to have it as a Valentines day publication called 'For the love of Toast'. Will keep you posted on how it's coming along but Abraham's is definitely a hard act to follow!