Homeowners FTW!

As most of you already know (Via FB,Instagram etc), this is the reason I've been a bit quiet - We've just bought a house!
It's been a very, very stressful week or so, getting everything teed up and all the conditions ticked off, but we made it. It went unconditional yesterday and we're soooo excited!

The house is on a gorgeous, tree-filled, cul-de-sac and is very close to Aesop's school. He'll be able to walk to and from school each day! He also has some cool school mates living just around the corner.
It has four bedrooms, which was really important to us. Got to have a sewing room, of course!
The yard is fully fenced, giving the kids room to ride their bikes etc. Our current rental has a shared driveway, so there hasn't been much room for them to play. (Also so, so looking forward to not having to lug groceries and kids up from the road in the pouring rain anymore!)
The bones of the house are good and solid, and it's a fairly blank canvas. Not many of the features are too distinctively once era or another, which is pretty lucky. (Obviously the dream would be to have amazing wooden floors, and a pastel coloured 50's kitchen.. but that might need to be the next house!) Once we find a bit of spare dosh, we'll be able to start painting and doing bits and pieces to it.
I CAN'T WAIT.

But for now, I have a TONNE of stuff to get rid of and a whole house to pack in the next 4 weeks.
Good golly, wish me luck!

(Pictures are from the real estate website, obviously. Consider them 'before' shots!)

Check The List: #17 Go Camping.

Last weekend, we headed back over to our fave camping spot - Ohiwa Holiday Park.
We headed over after Abraham finished work on the Friday and my parents met us there, in their campervan. It was shaping up to be a lovely weekend already, and even the stress of putting the tent up for the second time ever (without the instructions that somehow disappeared..) didn't put a damper on things.

The nights were verrrrry testing of my happy-holiday mood, but the days were most lovely. The picture above, quite accurately, shows what my kids all did instead of sleep each night. One would think that running around all day in the fresh sea air would have them out like lights.. but, no. Mollie was even worse!

The days and evenings were filled with beach, bbq and beer. As all good holidays should be.
The boys quickly found a few mates (both ones they knew from home and some newbies) and we often didn't see them for hours at a time (this is less neglectful than it sounds, I promise.) it was quite delightful.

We managed to get out and do some crabbing, which is my personal favourite Ohiwa activity. There's something so enjoyable about the squelching mud and the thrill of the chase (and the dares to see who is brave enough to big up the big 'uns!). And then watching all of the crabs disappear back into the mud at the end. Mollie slept through the entire thing, but it was very cool to see Otto getting braver and braver.

That's not to say that Mollie didn't work on mastering more of her own tricks that weekend, though. Mol has finally taken a real liking to food - LOTS of it. We are doing baby led weaning, so the lass is eating much of what we eat. While we were packing up our campsite on the last morning, Mollie managed to get into a whole loaf of bread. We were, admittedly, so zonked (and needing two sets of hands to take down the tent..) that we let her go for it. It's so nice to see her really getting amongst it. (Fear not, she didn't actually eat a whole loaf of bread, just half a piece.. and soggied the rest of it. Hah)

So, another sucessful tick off the list. And another camping trip under our belt.
I must say that I hope camping gets easier as the kids get older... surely?
(I'll let you know next Summer.. we've already booked in for Christmas!)

Mollie's Chair: 9 Months

Mollie
9 Months

I think this past month has been the most full of milestones, yet.
Miss Mollie has gained a tooth! And, with it, an appetite!
Her little chomper is popping through, and Mollie has finally decided that putting things in her mouth is the way to go. From just a few mouthfuls, she is now keen to chew on just about anything. Her firms faves are anything slightly salty, and soy ice cream. Good, healthy choices for a young lass.
(Don't judge me.. she does eat other foods too, promise!)

Mollie is pulling herself up to standing at every chance she gets, and crawling like a champ. Her pincer grip is spectacular, and her pinching one too. (Ouch!)
Sleep is, well, let's just say there is room for improvement.. We'll just leave it at that.

So, my girl, you've officially been out as long as you've been in. We're so pleased to have you x

 Delicious, delicious ankle rolls.

*This is not Mollie's usual chair, I know. But I had this set up for some Croutons photos and I couldn't resist : )

End of the line.

I have finally gotten around to photographing the remaining Toast Clothing items, and getting them ready for a FB sale.
The lucky last 20 items will be up for sale on my Toast page at 8pm NZ time tomorrow (Tuesday the 22nd). Get amongst it, if you feel so inclined : )

It has been really interested, looking back through all of these things. They are all items I made for the last Craft 2.0 I attended.
It was a whirlwind of a weekend. My beloved Grandpa died while we were driving there, and it was awful to be so far away from my family at such an important time. The market itself was not a roaring success (perhaps due to my mindset?), and when I got home I didn't unpack for three months. It was the end of me sewing for grown-ups.

Photographing these has been quite therapeutic. I've been able to see the clothing for what it is, and feel quite proud of it all. I've been inspired to include some applique into the Croutons kids stuff, too.

Who know, there might be some grown-up clothing left in me yet!

Handmade!

In alignment with my New Years resolution (quality over quantity!), and due to my distinct lack of shopping while we were in Wellington, I have been doing my fair share of online shopping so far this month... handmade, of course!

Firstly, I was lucky enough to nab a few things in the Silver Circus sale on Facebook.
This wee tee is a firm favourite, and I look forward to Mol fitting into her harem style pants and the other tees I got for the coming seasons!

Secondly, I got two outfits from one of my all-times faves: Hikkepik. Otto was kind enough to model the bubble romper for me! Heh. I LOVE it. Mollie should fit both outfits next Summer.
I was also lucky enough to sign up for the 'Creative Pay It Forward' on Joke's FB page, and she sent me these amazing angel wings! I had admired them at her stall last month, and wished I had bought them - so I was over the moon to be gifted them! Mollie wore them for a whole afternoon, too. Always a good sign : )



Last, but certainly not least, I decided at the last minute to snaffle up one of Dear Colleen's vege calenders. I had ummed and uhhed about getting one since she released them, but we always get given a least one calender so I wasn't going to. But then I realised that it is far better to have a calender I LOVE hanging in my house, than a free ho-hum one. Quality over quantity, aye!?

I have loved receiving all these handmade goodies in the mail, and dealing with the sellers. I find it so helpful for my business, too. I get to see how others deal with their customers, how they present their products and the quality of their goods etc, and assess whether I'm doing things exactly how I want them done and take notes on things I want to improve.

Really, the moral of this post is that buying handmade is AWESOME. But you knew that, right?

A little karma.

I have been decluttering my house. This is always a good thing, for two reasons. A) I have less things around me, I feel lighter and happier. B) The thrift karma from donating carloads of stuff is quite amazing.
It might seem a little silly to get rid of a tonne of belongings, only to be stoked to come home with replacements, and it is probably. But I comfort myself in the fact that the majority of my op shop purchases these days are Croutons-related, meaning they will (eventually) leave as something else, or can at least be counted as business expenses.

This wee case was something I needed to umm and uhh over a little. I have quite a few suitcases now, and am not in dire need of a new one - but it was $2 and I remembered that I needed something to store my patterns in, because my current system is not working.
This used to be a sewing machine case, in it's past life, and the extender arm, feet and manual are still in it. Even the warranty for the machine is here! Anyone have a Husqvarna machine and need bits and pieces for it?

I rarely ever find tapestries in the op shop anymore. Today I found a big pile of them! I, in my desire to strive for quality over quantity, only took half of them. They are quite big ( my feet are in the picture for size reference!) and I'm picturing oversized tote style bags..

And, finally, my usual weak spot - fabric. There are some real treasures in this pile. The bottom piece is a thick linen type fabric, covered in big peacocks, the purple floral feels like it might be silk.. and all the pieces are quite big (well over a metre, some of them a few metres). Score!

Thank you, thrift gods!

Check the list - 26. Make sushi and miso.

No words needed for this one. Except one, maybe - YUM.

(Checking this of the list.)