sun, veg and bubs

What happened to the week?! All of a sudden it's Friday again. I don't know how that happens. Today, I managed to get outside and do a bit of gardening in the sun. I've planted some herbs, cucumber and zuchini so far. Not much room for it, but we will see how it goes. Isabella spent some time under the umbrella and she managed to help me weed a bit too.

and the cuffs go to...

Well, you made it easy on me. Four cuffs to give away and four people in need of them. Nikki, Helen, Kimberlie and Ali! Just give me an email with your address and I will post them next week.



Last week, Isabella had slept through the night for about 5 days in a row. This was amazing to say the least. I felt...almost....normal. Being the first good nights sleep that I'd had in about a year, I woke Matt up at 6 am to tell him. I remember walking around the house that day, feeling like I could break into song at any moment, like they do in musicals. What a different week this ones been! She doesn't want to sleep. Not day, not night, not at all! Oh well, at least I had that brief moment of sanity. And I guess she can get away with it cause she's so damn cute!

charity and music

I had time (wow!time!) to search around for some new blogs and found this one that everyone should have a look at. It's things like this that really make me want to get out there and do more for the community and people in need. Lucky I had just done a big clean out of my jewellery supplies. Now I know what to do with all these extra beads, clasps, etc.

At the moment, I am listening to a burrowed Flip Grater cd. This is my first listen and I am really liking it. Some of it reminds me of PJ Harvey. So if you like that kind of music, I suggest checking her myspace page out. She has got a good vegan cookbook as well!

I must go. I can hear wee Isa talking to herself in her cot. I think she is trying to omit her morning naps.

A quick catch up

One big mess that I would love to organize.


One finished glove, the other, hopefully knitted before winter ends.


One beautiful baby girl enjoying a sunny Sunday.

Again, I have taken a long break from my blog. One, we have little Isabella to keep us busy. Two, the spare room that the computer lives in is frigid at best. And three, we had a few weeks of visitors. My mum came from Oregon to visit the new grand baby. I hadn't seen her in almost 2 years and I had such a nice time with her. She gave Matt and I some much needed tips to try with Isa and a lot of calm to some frantic situations. And Matt's mum came to stay for a week, too. I hope that the Nana's had a good time with us.
I have not even thought about crafting. The table I work at is under a huge pile of things. I don't think I'll get to make anything anytime soon either. I am still trying to get Thank yous and announcements written out. I had to register Isabella's birth and it took me a week just to get my first name on the form! Having a wee one is amazing, but wow, time exists in a whole new way. I can't imagine what it would be like to be a single mum or to not have the support of my hubby. Thinking about it makes me appreciate what I've got.
Oh, and thanks to Helen and Rachael for the surprise parcel. So many lovely things, I will have to post about them another time.

a sunny day at last

I awoke this morning with the urge to paint. This is odd, because I am not a painter and I sure as hell can't draw. I took a water colour class about 7 years ago and that was the last time I have held a paint brush to paper. I figured I must do whatever my pregnant self is feeling like at the moment, so I went and bought some acrylics and canvas paper. Our bedroom walls are pretty much bare at the moment, so I thought I would let the flowers on our curtains inspire me. I am not quite finished and I don't know how I feel about it, but I did enjoy doing it. It was the first sunny day in a while and so I sat outside and painted. I never realised it would be so relaxing. My painting may look juvenile but I enjoyed it so much that I will continue to paint on a regular bases.

Last night, I had a baby shower with some friends. We went to my favorite Indian restaurant. It was so nice to go out and be social, I enjoyed it so much. Amongst the good conversation and yummy food, I/baby got given some amazing hand made gifts. I was very touched and felt loved. But the best gift given was...a box of condoms(not pictured). Like Melissa, I too went home so full and had a really hard time sleeping.

loved and not so loved

Yesterday was ANZAC day and we went to a friends bbq. I think we all ate way to much food for lunch and then continued to stuff ourselves full of cakes. It was a beautiful sunny day, a good one to spend with friends. Needless to say, no crafting yesterday. I thought I might share a few things about my house. Well, one thing I love and another...ah.. not so much loved thing.

We live in an old renevated villa. They kept all the old doors and moldings on the inside of the house. And I am pleased to say they kept the ones on the outside too. I love the front of our house, but we don't spend a single moment out here. The reason being that it is a very busy street and there is no privacy. We often wake up to beer cans and rubbish thrown over the fence on Sunday mornings. I still would like to put some planters and maby a bench out there because at the moment , it doesn't even look like anyone lives here. Whenever I move into a place, I always think 'if I owned it, I would do', well in this case it would be planting a lot of tall trees in the front.

One thing that is not so loved, these curtains! They are so hideous. Luckily, for the rest of the house, we have been able to find decent looking curtains and these are just in the spare room. It is one of those things I am always looking for second hand.

another day

As promised, here are a few pictures from the 'Loop-d-Loop' knitting book by Teva Durnham. Not only are the knitting projects a little on the odd side, but the pictures are as well. I love it. I've had enough of the fuzzy pictures of pasty children in pastel coloured knits. I really like this scarf, but the pattern is so confusing, I don't think I should attempt it. And how about this guy, not something you see everyday.

And here is my finished robe. I do like how it has turned out and it has served it's purpose for the cold Autumn mornings. I am now working on knitting up the velvet bunny, I will post about that soon.

How is it I had months of no motivation to do anything productive with my hands, no inspirational ideas and absolutely not a single drop of creative blood running through my veins, and now all of a sudden I have a million things I want to do and just have to get done before this baby is born?! I guess it's part of that whole nesting thing. I've got it bad, sometimes cleaning the house at 2 am. The littlest things bug me, like when Matt puts the hand towel back on the rack crooked. And I've got a box of perfectly good dishes I am about to take to the op shop because they have small chips in them. Ridiculous.
I just wanted to thank everyone who visits my blog and to the comments you have all made. Rachael, I have discovered reruns of Beverly hills 90210 and Melrose Place on in the afternoons which has become a guilty pleasure in these last few weeks

i'm so bored

I know that I should be enjoying this quiet time because it will never be like this again, but I am really bored. I try filling my days with doing crafty bits and doing things that I have been wanting to get around to. But all day, my mind is filled with thoughts: like what is my labour going to be like, am I in labour now, oh my god, I still don't have a baby bath!! Which really doesn't matter, cause the bubs will most likely end up just getting washed in the kitchen sink, but my point is that I think I am over spending so much time with myself.

I made it to the library today and got a few knitting books. One has the most amazing photographs for a knitting book, I'll have to post some pics of it next time. I thought I would attempt this cute bunny found in a book by Erika Knights. I have been wanting to knit a soft toy for a while and am happy I finally found a good pattern. Although, I am not so sure about those eyes, maby buttons would be better.

I also had my weekly trip to the op shop. They had a $2 fill a bag sale, which I would love to take advantage of, but the big belly thing always discourages me from looking at clothes because I usually can't find any that fit. But I did find this beautiful brightly colored baby sling. It is in very good condition and you just can't go wrong when something is only $2.

shoes and cats

Well, we opened the gifts last night. Matt wanted to wait until the bubs was born, but there is no way I could have done that. There were so many wonderful things(to many to picture) but my favorite are these little leather moccasins. They have a soft felt inside and are tide up with the sweetest green ribbons.


We have had quite the regular visitor lately, sometimes at six am. He comes over and meows(I can hear him right now) at our door like he belongs to us and we need to let him in for a feed. We are pretty sure he belongs to our neighbor. Bliss isn't so sure about the cat, she just sits and stairs with wonderment at him out the window.

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Christmas, that the holidays treat you well and you have joy and peace in your life. I had a good Christmas. Very quiet, just me, Matt and the dog. But I savored it, because it will be the last quiet one for many years to come. My mind has been somewhere else this year, so I didn't get into the spirit much, but what really upset me is that I forgot Solstice. I always make a point to acknowledge Solstice, I used to celebrate it with my family and friends back home. Realising this makes me miss those friends and my family, oh so far away, so if yours are near, relish it.


Anyways, Matt's favorite present was this baby-t I made him. I tried dyeing it black(he loves black) and it ended up this streaky grey/blue. The streaky bits suit the shirt because it looks like grease stains, like the baby has been working on the car with it's papa. I just had to ad the Motorhead logo(Matt likes them lots). You always think boys will grow out of loving heavy metal and black, but some just don't.

Mental health day

This weekend, we had two work Christmas parties. One of them was out of town, so we stayed the night at a hostel in Motueka. We went to their local Sunday market, at which I saw about 20 people from Nelson. And then we spent the day driving to one of my favorite beaches, Pohara. I know summer is coming, cause I have a sunburn and bug bites.


Matt and I still have our Christmas tree from last year, which was planted in a pot that was way to small for it's growing roots. So I have re potted it, and brought it inside to decorate. It is about a foot taller and grown crooked, but it is a Christmas tree just the same. I imagine we will hall this tree around with us until we buy a house where we can plant it.
Something we don't have is decorations. I made this felt tree the other night which I thoroughly enjoyed, reminds me of the good old hand sewing days. I decided to try to sew some felt on to a t-shirt for my niece's Christmas present. A pink and purple (her fav colours) flower.
We have had such a busy week, I have taken a 'mental health day' off work. I plan on getting our Christmas cards ready to send out, I know, just a little procrastination. I've got some other errands to run, but I think I will squeeze in taking the dog to the beach and going to the library.

dear new blog

Oh, how good it feels to have a blog again. I have just started to regain my creative thoughts and energy to pursue them. My lack of motivation was due to the first few months of pregnancy. The last thing I felt like doing was making things, let alone sitting at the computer to write about them. But now that I am feeling better, I am happy to get back into it. Happy to share and happy to see what everyone else has been up to.
I have my first favour to ask! I am new to 'blogger' and can't seem to write a paragraph, then post a picture. It will only let me put the pics at the top of the page(next post is my example). Can anyone tell me how to get the pics below my paragraph, or is this just the way it is?