Mollie's Chair - 15 Months

Mollie
15 Months

I'm a week late, thanks to the busy-ness of the school holidays, but Mollie is now 15 months old!

I won't lie, the past month hasn't been the happiest for Mollie (or us!). Those darn teeth have been causing so much pain and upset. Luckily, three have broken through the gum now (giving her a grand total of 6) and I'm hoping relief is on the horizon.
Mollie and Otto also managed to both get their very first tummy bug during the holidays. Poor wee mites. That was no fun at all!

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In amidst the nasties, there have been lovely times, too.
Mollie has formed a firm attachment to her baby. Until finding her baby, she had been 'mothering' soft toys; cuddling, carrying around, patting them gently on the back as she went. But this baby really takes the cake, as far as Mol is concerned.
The maternal instinct truly is a nature vs. nurture thing. This girl has it in spades.

Mol has also discovering singing and dancing, in a big way. Girl's got moves. Her bopping along has turned into swaying and arm movements. It's crazy cute.

Mollie only seems to have a few words in her vocab at the moment.
(Perhaps even fewer than a month ago?_
ALL questions, regardless of answer, get the same reply 'NAH!' (accompanied by a firm shake of the head, of course!)
'Mum!' is shouted loud, 'Ow!' is hilarious, 'Uh-oh!' is whenever anything goes wrong.

Her wobbly waddle has turned into a steadier, wide-legged walk. She has picked up speed, and delights in running away at changing time, or chasing her brothers down the hall.

I had considered sending Mol to a friends place a morning or two each week, this term. I had plans to up the sewing hours (and, thus, income..) but at the moment her sleep is all over the place, and clinginess could be her middle name. Sewing may just have to wait.

We're keeping our fingers crossed for a slightly cruisier month with our little lady, but one never knows with small people.

Lately.

It has been quiet around here. A lull in blog posts.
It's not for lack of love, merely lack of interesting things to post about. Life just bubbles along at the moment. Filled with kids, baking, housework, sewing...washing. So, so much washing.
(And some taxes (boo!) and hut making (hooray!)..)

This week marks the start of the school holidays though. Hopefully, this will mean a little less rushing from home-school-kindy and a little more time to hang out, take photos and do blog-worthy things. I'm not usually one to look forward to the holidays, but I'm actually sort of looking forward to these ones. Just the thought of not having to be anywhere. Glorious.

A Baby Raccoon.

For Otto's party, I knew Mol needed to be a raccoon. I also knew she would definitely not leave a hat/ears/facepaint on. She's not a hat wearer at the best of times.

I've been in love with the Wild Things dresses for quite awhile now.

Had I been organised/flush enough, I would have purchased one of those. I'm not big on copying other crafters work, I promise.

I decided to have a go at making something similar.

I used a slightly different shaped dress, a reversible a-line dress. I knew I wanted it to be lined, for a bit of extra shape, so a reversible made sense. I didn't add the pockets, and I made my raccoon face quite a bit bigger. I used dome snaps on the straps, making it super easy to get on and off.

I made some little stripey leggings to be worn with it. For extra Raccoony-ness.

I had a bit of fun making this, and it did look cute on Mollie, but my version is no where near as gorgeous as the originals. Isn't that always the way? It's a good lesson, that I should have saved up/been organised and gone to the source : ) 
I dearly hope to purchase some of these amazing overalls for Mol before next Winter.
Anyone want to split postage?

Black-and-white-Michael-Jackson-cat Party! (Super mega lots of photos!)

 Okay, so I did think about trying to split this into multiple posts.. but meh. I will post all but Mol's costume in one post - it's just easier for both of us! Will just take a little longer to load..

Our sweet Otto turned 4 on Sunday!

Hi day was filled with lovely presents and lots of special treats, including a bit of a shindig with some friends and whanau.

Otto is such a creative wee soul, so when we talked about what kind of party he might like, I shouldn't really have been so surprised when he declared that he would like a 'Black-and-white-Michael-Jackson-cat' party. Those things all go together, right?!

Actually, it turns out they DO.
Who knew there were so many pictures of Michael Jackson holding cats!? While preparing for this party, I found 6 pictures, at different stages of his life, featuring felines!
(Otto was born 4 days after MJ passed away... kindred spirits?)
I, naturally, printed out all of these pictures, and made them into a fabulous bunting. I think it will need to be hung in the boys room when I take it down from the lounge wall.

We kept the other decorations fairly basic, too. Black table cloth, white plates, $2 shop lanterns, black+white balloons. We got out all the Michael Jackson records we have, and they provided the soundtrack for the party.

 I thought about trying to have black and white themed food, but I realised this was just not going to work. And, honestly, (my) kids prefer good old kiwi party food. Sausage rolls, cheerios, lollies, hundreds and thousands biscuits, chips etc. We had cheese and crackers, mandarins and mini sandwiches, too.
I printed out pictures of MJ, and popped them on kebab skewers, to decorate the table.

Otto chose his cake from the cake book - a cat.
(More specifically, a cat that looks like our cat, Porridge.)
I must say, it wasn't what I expected him to choose (the cat part of the birthday party theme came post-cake choosing..), but I was really pleased he didn't pick out something really difficult! Cake making is really not my strength! I had a bit of fun putting it all together, but it is certainly no prize-winning cake. Heh.

Our guests donned their black and white gear, and we dressed in costumes.
Abraham was an All Black (named Meow'a Nonu! Haha), I was a cat, Mollie a raccoon (a post about her outfit coming soon) and Otto and Aesop were Michael Jackson himself.

My dear boy looked so ridiculously sweet (albeit quite serious) in his little tux.
We had a bit of a scare, when the courier delivered his suit to the wrong house on Thursday morning. Luckily, with the help of a mutual friend, the woman in the house where it was delivered, tracked me down and got it to me on Friday. Phew! Small towns do pay off sometimes!
Otto was so pleased with how he looked - quite certain him and MJ were twins.
All his friends at the party decided to call him 'Little Michael' : )

We had such a great time!
Happy birthday, Otto Schnotto! We love you so much x

Mollie's Chair : 14 Months!

Mollie
14 Months

This month has been a big 'un, for us and for Mol.
This has been the month where walking has become the preferred mode of transport, where words like 'uh-oh!' 'Brubba!' 'Mum' are used in (almost always) the right context, and animal sounds are being conquered. Roooooar!



It has been the month where Mollie has learned how to find her nose, and other peoples' noses. Where she picks up her soft toys, hugs them tight, and pats them gently on the shoulder. Where she can do clever things, like putting the counters into the Connect 4 game, climbing up the onto the kitchen bench (and scaring the heck out of me!), hoping on and off her rocking horse (and making it rock) and eating a pottle of yogurt without assistance.

Her bond with her brothers grows stronger everyday. 'Brubba!'
They, both, now delight in carrying her around the place (she's nearly as big as Otto, so this is quite a feat for him!), sharing their food with her, fetching things for her, and watching out for her when they are playing outside. It warms my heart, so much. Long may it last!

Mol has really become a toddler this month, not just in the walking, but in her behaviour too. Her personality is really coming through (she is as nutty as the rest of us- love it!) and she is now such a part of our family! Grasping onto these days - they are going so fast!

Matariki Crafting Blog-hop : Upcycled merino tops.

I wanted to make something for this blog-hop, that would be used a lot. I'm so busy filling orders, that I felt a little guilty sewing something non-Croutons - the only way I could justify it was by sewing something that we genuinely needed.

If there's one item of clothing that never goes astray over Winter, it is merino tops. Am I right? They are pretty much the perfect item for layering, for both adults and kids. Not too heavy, but nice and warm.

I decided to my project would be a semi-tutorial on upcycling secondhand merino, into tops for kids.




With merino tops becoming more and more popular, the op shop racks are starting to have a greater population of them, too. If I see an adult's merino top, especially in a larger size, in good nick, then I nearly always snap it up. I generally pay no more than $5. This way, I always have a good stash for upcycling into clothing and hats for kids and babies.

For this project I used the 'Flashback Skinny Tee' pattern by Made by Rae, but you can use any t-shirt pattern you like. You can also make your own, by tracing around a tee your kids currently wear. There are some great tutorials for doing this on the net.

I cut the pattern pieces from the garments. I tried to use some of the details from the existing garments - the puff sleeves on the grey, and some seaming on the back of the red. I though that was a bit of fun.

Once I had cut out the arm and body pieces, I cut out some bands to use cuffs and bands around the bottoms and around the necks. For the red top, I also cut out a little collar (and a pocket I didn't end up using!)

 I used my overlocker to put the garments together, but you could do it with a regular machine (using a appropriate stitch and a ballpoint needle, of course!)

With the grey top, I added two little hearts cut from Tiny Happy fabric. I was really pleased with how it turned out. Love those sleeves!

The red top, though, was a bit of a fail.
I was one of those people at high school, who did their projects on the very last possible night. I always send swaps at the last possible minute, and I leave birthday presents until the day I need them. I tell myself it's because I work well under the pressure of a deadline - but, really, I'm just not very organised.

This top was a victim of that disorganisation - I left this project until this past weekend to do. And, in the rush to get it done, I cut out the wrong size pattern for the tops! Silly lady. The grey mernio was much finer, with a lot more stretch, so it's small but wearable. This red one is just too tiny.
(When she says 'skinny tee', she means it!)

Oh well, I'm sure I'll find a little lady to gift it to. As I said at the start, merino tops never go astray!

Thanks for joining me today! If you'd like to see some of the other posts in the craft-hop, head over to Tartan Kiwi for the full list, and more info.

Mollie's Space (Photo heavy!)

We are, slowly, starting to do some little projects around our new home - and it is, slowly, beginning to feel like our own.

This week, I decided to get stuck into the kids rooms, have a good tidy up and move a few things around. It felt good to pack away a few real baby things - the cot bumpers, some of the toys that are no longer played with, and the mobile went, too, after I took these photos.

Mollie is starting to actually play in her room, rather than just following her brothers into their room all the time. I'll often find her pottering with her books and pulling things off the shelves. Her latest trick is climbing onto the rocking horse, clever little one! She sits and rocks back and forth - she'll be neighing and shouting 'giddy up', in no time!

(How cute is her cardigan? Knitted by the super clever Clare. Amazing!)

One of my favourite features of Mol's room is the wooden kitchen. We've had this since Aesop was 2. It is an ex-preschool one (Pintoy brand, I believe), gifted to us by some family friends.
The second, smaller, unit is a washing mahine, but I've turned it around so it works better as a shop counter. Otto is quite into playing shopkeeper at the moment, so we often grab the Eftpos machine out of the cupboard, find the toy phone, and set up shop.
Making cups of tea is a favourite, too.

This little nook, is where I feed Mollie. We sit here, snuggled up under a duvet, twice a day (or more, if she wakes in the night!). She will usually point to a toy on the shelf, and snuggle with it while she feeds.
The quilt is single bed sized - I made it while I was pregnant with Otto. I have not sewn a yo-yo since, and have no desire to! Haha.

(See that wee stack of wooden plates and bowls? I scored the whole lot for just $2 at the Sallies last week. I pretty much love it.)

I'm trying to surround my family with beautiful, vintage and handmade things. Mol's room is a great example of this - spot the Tiny Eyes doll, the Emmamakes kitten, a Deb quilt and various lovely vintage wool blankets.

A recent addtion to the room has been the tiny cluster of things on the wall. I hope to add to this as I find things - but, for the moment, it is a flower mirror Mol was gifted when she was born, a stunning Holly Hobbie embroidery I thrifted a few weeks back, and the 'M' from Stella's alphabet set.

Lastly, Mollie's bed. She's still not such a huge fan of sleeping here - I don't know why, I would love to have such beautiful bedding!
The vintage 'Love is..' sheet was a gift from my friend Amy, the bunny was made by the talented Helen and the vintage Heidi duvet was a lucky thrift find.

I'd love to paint this room, and change the curtains, but these things will have to wait a bit longer. We have other projects on the go/on the list that take priority!