Sandy homes.

Abraham, the boys, and I went wandering on the beach yesterday afternoon. It was the perfect way to finish a busy weekend, letting the wind blow in our hair, digging our toes in the sand and running around, breathing in the salty air.
Along our way we found three little drift wood houses. They were build so carefully, the twigs held together with seaweed, little stones on the floors, one even had two rooms and a sort of fire place outside ( indoor outdoor flow!). They had quite a magical feel to them and I couldn't pass by without snapping a few pictures to share with you.
I'm feeling really excited about spending more time at the beach this Summer. I'm not a 'Summer person', preferring to be wrapped up in the midst of Winter, but I'm going to work really hard this Summer to make the most of the long, light days, the fast-drying washing, the amazing fresh fruit, and the weather that enables us to spend whole days outside as a family. Even I can appreciate that.

Saturday shopping wishes.

Here are a few things I've been eyeing up on the interwebs lately. I probably would have been smarter to list these BEFORE my birthday, as a sort of wishlist, but maybe it could be considered a wishlist for Christmas? Hah. More like a 'If money grew on trees' list....

Ruffle tank by 'ellainaboutique'. I love this woman's simple tops with cute detailing. She makes great 'basics'. They're the type of tops I hope to, one day, be making for myself.

Frida brooch by 'Cara Carmina'. Perfect size, perfect colours, super cute.. what more can I say? Would look great on the ruffle singlet.

In fact, these would look cute with the brooch and singlet, too. They are the 'Handmade moccasins' by local Kiwi seller 'Spirocreations'. I  pretty much LOVE all of the shoes/boots that this lovely lass creates. They would be perfect for my over-average sized feet (they're custom made) and look so darned comfy.

'Ruffled collar dress w/ pockets' by 'Ananya'. I would need it made a little longer, to cover my knees, but this dress would be the ideal Summer frock. Comfy, light, spotty and super cute. Her other dresses are great too, love the colour of the green one.

This one is right near the top of my list: the 'Angel' dress by 'CAST' (aka Catherine Stonely). I would love it in a bright colour (blue, I think) or in black. It would need to be custom made though, to account for the fact I'm slightly out of her size range and because I would need it to be slightly longer. This is one I actually plan to buy when I have some dosh.

The 'Shape brooch pin' by 'cristinapires'. So big and bright. Would also love pretty much EVERYTHING else in her shop. She is incredible.

This one is the 'cereja wood woven' from 'Iram-inal' designs. Love how big and chunky it is. I can just picture is with a plain singlet and a bright floral skirt in the Summer.

This one would be mine-all-mine if only it had the dimensions in the description and they were BIG. I have seen some of her other work in real life and the brooches were very small and delicate. That, unfortunately, doesn't work for me.
It is the 'rimu veneer doily brooch' by Chloe Jansen.

I love this "Sao Paolo" Neckpiece by The Funk but, as a fabric hoarder, this is probably something I would make myself.  I have been toying with the idea of making fabric jewelry for awhile and this sort of thing is something I had planned to attempt. There are a lot of tutorials online for making braided necklaces and it's not a 'new' idea, but a great way to use up smaller pieces of fabric!
Here are a few other braided/knotted/fabric type necklaces that I really like :

Origami necklace by Homako

The Zia necklace by Anonymous agent

Michele braided silk necklace by Coumon (all of this shop is wonderful)

Knit knot necklace by wonderwonder

Have a lovely Saturday everyone!

School holiday summary. Pictures pictures pictures.

The school holidays are usually not the happiest times around here. That's me being honest.
Aesop and I are very, very similar. We're both very stubborn and very moody. We also like people to pay us a lot of attention and give us a lot of reassurance. For me this is more about seeking acceptance on the internet, and attempting to get compliments and assurance from Abraham when he gets home. For Aesop it is about narrating every thought that runs through his head, followed by questions such as 'Did you see that?', 'How awesome was that?' and 'Aye, Mum?'.
I love Aesop, dearly, but being at home together, all day, for 14 days just is not ideal for either of us. Aesop bores of me very quickly and, no matter how hard I try, I find myself saying the same things over and over. 'Please think in your head, Aesop' and  'I can't pay attention to your game right now, Aesop'. I feel terrible for it but it's just the way it is, unfortunately.

But these holidays have been the best so far. We've managed a few days where everything has gone smoothly, we've managed to get out and about a bit, fit in some sweet baking, some lovely music, a wee bit of sewing, a lot of game playing, a spot of gardening and even some beach going. Aesop has helped me immensely with Otto, and Otto has delighted in having Aesop home to follow around and to give thing to/ throw things at (his two fave things right now..).

I can't say I'm not looking forward to getting back into our peaceful daily routines on Monday (and getting the housework back under control!) but I am certainly feeling more hopeful that the Christmas holidays might actually be something we can live through.

List Update- October

Am getting through my list, slowly. I still have a few things to achieve in the coming months though.

I must confess, I am giving up on two of the challenges. Sorry. I haven't done any knitting this Winter (due to struggling with a touch of depression and also focusing on finishing the quilt of doom..) and I just don't feel like my skill level is high enough to complete a jumper for Aesop, or a cardi for myself. I can't justify splashing out on decent wool or putting in the hours to complete them. As a compromise I'll be sure to sew each of us a top before the year is out.

The completed are in light grey, the give-ups are in dark grey and the to-dos are in bold black.


1. Fit into my favourite summer top. - Can do it up, but still not 'decent' enough to wear out.
2. Sew myself at least one DRESS. - Done!
3. Knit myself a cardigan I love. -Am canning this goal. My knitting isn't improving fast enough to spend the dosh, and the time, on a cardi. Stink.

4. Make Abraham a hoodie. - Done! Pictures coming soon.

5. Start sewing to sell again.  - Started this month!

6. List GIANT pile of thing on Trademe. - Have listed around half. Am calling it a day for now.
7. Print the majority of our photos. - have printed about 1/6th of them.. getting there!

8. Plant a vege garden. -  Done in februrary Yay!

9. Go to the movies. - Done in March

10. Back up our photos on hardrive/ preserve fruit, make jam.   Done in April.

11. Start blogging again. 01/01

12. Get business cards. - Made my own in June!

13. Buy 2 pairs of decent shoes. - No joy on this front yet.

14. Take Aesop to the zoo. - Done in July!

15. Send (at least) 2 parcels to Amy. - done.

16. Finish at least 2 duathlon type events. - Done!

17. Sort out entire garage. - Done in April! With thanks to Abraham!

18. Finish yoyo quilt. - Done! phew!

19. Earn $1000 through sewing. - Around $60 to go!
20. Have a bbq/dinner with over 10 people. - This one is in the planning stages. Thinking will be in the next month. Wanna come?

21. See some live music. - Done Feb.

22. Save over $1000/ have an outdoor movie night  Done!

23. pay off our laptop and buy a new camera. -

24. Sew 10 garments for the kids.

25. Knit Aesop a jumper. - Canning this one too. Will sew him a few instead. He was not interested and my knitting is just not fast/good enough.
26. Make the mix cd to end all mix cds. - Also in the planning stages.

27. Cover the cushions on the window seat. - Done in August!

28. Get away for a night without the kids! - Have had a night without the kids, but not 'gotten away
 as such. Will be sometime around out anniversary in Dec.

29. Get mentioned in a magazine. - Does a local news magazine count? But it was about the radio station not sewing!

30. Make most of the gifts we give (this year). - A bit of a continuous goal this one. But going really well.

Wardrobe Wednesday - No black, no denim.

So, this challenge was harder than I thought it would be.
I woke up this morning and reached straight for a bright dress and black cardi and thought 'Oh dear..".
But luckily I have a red Glassons cardi too. Hhah. One would think, for someone with a million op shopped cardis, that it would be easy to replace the 'house of G' cardi with something different. But, truth be told, my black Glassons cardis easily get twice as much wear as ANYthing else in my wardrobe. Sigh.
This is what I am wearing today: Blue shoes from the Warehouse ($6!), navy and cream patterned dress from The Sallies, red Glassons cardi and the cutest flower brooch from my twinny.

I even left my glasses off for the photo, because they were black. That's dedication!
Looking forward to the next challenge. I think I might set myself a challenge next week to wear an item of clothing that I've bought but never worn. I have far too many of those.

If you're interested in playing along with 'Wardrobe Wednesday', simply blog about your outfit and add your link to Clare's comment section so we can all 'ooh' and 'aah' over it. Sweet.

360 mins worth of tees and some shorts (AKA belated KCWC)

I wasn't able to participate in the 'Kids clothing week challenge' during the right week. I was too busy getting ready to hang out with ole twinny, and preparing for my movie night and what-not.
(Not to mention the fact that I just wasn't 'feeling' sewing. Do you get that sometimes? I can go weeks without have the urge to sew anything  but it always returns. When I was younger, in the first house Abraham and I had, I would pack up my studio completely for a few weeks, and then unpack it all when I got my mojo back! Ahh the creative mind is a funny one..)
But I decided that Otto DOES need Summer clothes (the joys of having babies in different seasons..) so I have decided that I will join in the fun, just a week too late. I started on Thursday last week, and this is what I've managed so far:

I finally mastered the '90 minute shirt' and made use of the cute fabrics I picked up at Spotlight last time we were in Rotorua. Once I nutted out the settings for sewing ribbing on my overlocker it was actually a piece of cake. I'll be making more and more and more of these!
The shorts are super simple, Otto is a into dirt and wet grass much, much more than Aesop was and is very quickly ruining all of the knees in his pants. We've also just started playcentre, so I need to stock up on basic shorts that are really quick and cheap and don't matter too much when they are filthy in a week!  These ones are made from repurposed denim (a little girls dress from the dollar rack) and some sweatshirting offcuts so they definitely fit the bill.

I have some more shirts and shorts planned as well as plans to make some little sleeveless hoodies, and some bigger ones for Aesop too. Am going to try my hand at making a pattern but this one is looking pretty tempting to buy. Might need another road trip to Rotorua to go fabric shopping!

Very great birthday. Epic post. (And a list cross off.)

Yesterday was my birthday.
As I get older, birthdays seem to get a little less exciting each year. It's hard to get very excited about gaining a year, especially when you're absolutely knackered! But this year I had a blast.
While, technically, yesterday was the day of my birth, I did most of my celebrating in the weekend.
My (much-planned) outdoor movie night came to fruition on Sunday night! I've had this in my mind ever since reading about a guy on Livejournal who had a projector and played movie in his backyard each week over the Summer. There's something magical about the idea of watching films in the fresh air.
And magical it was.

It was a night full of ammmmmazing food ( tofu cheesecake, apple hazelnut crumble muffins, homemade pizza, caramel corn, sausage rolls, salty popcorn, spring rolls... the list goes on..), great company and fine films.
We watched two of my all-time faves. 500 days of Summer and Everything is illuminated. So good.

But you know what made this years birthday REALLY special? You see that person in the top picture, arranging the furniture? That's not me! That's my twin!
My 'twin' Amy, who I had never met in real life, came to stay with us!
For those of you who haven't heard about Amy before, she is a lovely that I meet online and have an insane, and unbelievable, number of things in common with. We have text, or phoned, nearly every day for the last two and a half years and we met for the first time on Sunday. It was cool to say the least.

We just happened to have matching outfits already in our closets (or suitcase, in Amy's case..), which might be a tad weird for most people, but just makes sense for us. Needless to say some 'twinny' photos were in orders. So.. are we twins or what?!

Abraham made me wait until my real birthday before I was allowed to open my gift. He put it on the china cabinet a week go and it has been taunting me.  I was so excited to open it yesterday and, by golly, it definitely didn't disappoint. Abraham splashed out and bought me some gold jewellery!

The very best kind.. knitted! This incredible necklace is by the, super talented, Kute Kiwi.
I've had my eye in one of these for ages and pages. And it looks like I might have really good taste, Kute Kiwi's accessories were just used in the World show at NZ fashion week and her range will be sold in their stores! Thanks so much Abraham, best husband (and best birthday weekend!) ever!