bunting sweetness

I made Sweetpea (Rupi's birth mother) a little string of bunting for her birthday. I used a pattern from a granny square crochet book. I used a 4-ply cotton yarn and sewed a glittery button on each point. She loved it which made me very happy x

Linking up with the lovely Leonie x

Alpaca goodness- Show and Tell

Here is my new little beauty...made by me! I love (love love) crochet.

When we were in Tauranga I visited a little yarn shop called Creative Yarns and Knits. They are so helpful and friendly and the yarn is amazing. I fell in love with this yarn- Baby Alpaca chunky (Misti Alpaca in Blue Bell). It is super soft and cuddly. As I could only afford one hank the shop assistant suggested I make a scarf (see, how helpful?)

This is it! A simple combination of treble and single crochet rows with a size 10 hook giving me a long narrow snuggly scarf ready for winter. I may be waiting for a little while to wear it, given the heat at the moment!

Linking up with Leonie

happy little secret

** UPDATE: Crochet does not have needles but HOOKS. Yes indeed... I am learning slowly!**

In these slightly scary days it's good to have some happy bits. And one if these is... crochet!! I am a newbie crochet lover...

I am learning slowly and can do granny squares. That's all. I can't follow a pattern yet and don't know all the stitches but I LOVE it. Love love love it!

Here's my first project, Christmas bunting! It's all wonky and the triangles are different sizes but I don't care. I am so proud!

And lovely generous Cat gave me a special Christmas present- a holder for my needles (or noodles as Rupi calls them!) Isn't it gorgeous?

Super happy!

Lisette you are lovely

In my secret parallel life (the one where I don't have to actually earn money) I sew. A lot.

And because I dream about this life a great deal I buy fabric and patterns and then they sit in a cupboard. They call to me when I pass by and every now and then I look in and stroke them. TMI???

So anyway. I also follow craft blogs . Like this one. I love her patterns and fabrics and books. Today I called in at the local Spotlight store and nearly fell over. Liesl Gibson has released Lisette patterns under the Simplicity banner exclusively for Spotlight. YEEEHAAAA!

I got this one. Yum yum.

By the way, the ladies at the Glenfield Spotlight sewing section have to be the unfriendliest and least helpful people I have ever come across. It's like the customer is there to annoy them. Today I murmured to the lady next me at the pattern bench about how unfriendly they were (after a sales lady had basically told me she was too busy to help me) and unleashed a torrent. The WHOLE bench was soon discussing the inadequacies of the staff. Seems I am not alone!

Making do

Rupi's beloved Thomas car bag fell apart. Cue many tears as he stuffed the cars in and they fell out like a Hansel and Gretal crumb trail as he carried the bag.

I could have gone out and bought another one for less than $5 from the one of the cheapo bargain stores. But really?

Thomas was reinvented and stitched to the new super reinforced car bag. Rupi is thrilled and so am I. This cost zero dollars. Zero- whoop!

Thrifty goodness

My Mom's friend is downsizing and gave a whole lot of house stuff away. My Mom got these little beauties for me. Love that she knows me and what I like!

One glass is a little cloudy- will try white vinegar on it and see

Five (don't you love the fact that thrifted goods are almost always odd numbers?) gorgeous crystal glasses. For wine, small margheritas or possibly chocolate mousse.... And a vintage bag. I am ditching the bag part as it's badly sewn but keeping the wooden handles. Maybe spray paint them white and make a new bag part? Can't wait!

Hope that your weekend has been lovely.

**And my prayers are with Japan and all those affected by the earthquake and tsunami. There are no words and just I pray for God's Mercy and intervention**

Weekending with

....my little girl. We flew solo again. Dida and Rupi went to the bach for the second weekend in a row. They had so much fun last weekend Dida begged to go again and this last weekend was the only one that worked out. I considered going but the lack of electricity, giant storm and all of us sleeping in one room put me off. They had soooo much fun and Dida's Tapora tank is filled to the brim. He's happy = me happy.

....my new top! Woohoo! I finished it and I love it. Pattern is Simplicity 3535 (A Project Runway pattern) and the fabric is from here. A chocolate silk (on sale, hehe!) I must admit it's more sheer than expected. Yikes, as I am super modest. Oh well, will wear a tank top underneath! I would take a photo of it on me but I am too lazy.

...a visit from Rupi's birth grandmother and husband and their little girl. They are such amazing people and we love them! She is young and hip and not a grandmother at ALL so decided that she would be called "Auntie". Rupi loves their little girl (who is about 8 years old) and they played so cutely together. Rupi (thank the Lord as his separation anxiery seems to be lessening!) was freely distributing hugs and kisses and Auntie was melting. Awwww. Hopefully we can catch up with J, Rupi's birthfather in a few weeks time when we go away as we haven't seen him since Rupi turned one. As Dida reminded me though, J has to want to see us. I would love to see him though.

.

...watching my little girl sleep in her hammock. She sticks her nose up and all you see are two little nostrils! So funny!

.

Hope your weekend was good!

Now all I need is some time

I loooove to sew. I made most of my maternity clothes and have a pile of stuff waiting to be sewn. It's my green space- ahhh...

I saw this little gem on the website of one of my favourite stores and fell in love. But not NZ$45 worth of love. Yikes.

So I googled vintage romper and found a pattern and bought it. I don't think the one I want to make is toooo disimilar?

And I have a little stash of this fabric, can you imagine the cuteness? One in each colour- I will have to stop myself smooching her to death in these!

Now I just need a couple more hours in each day and I will be fine. God? Can you stretch the day for me?

So proud....

..I could pass out! I (formally non-sewer-girl) made Rupi some pants! They are from a "pattern" in Soulemama's book "A Creative Family" and are made from one of my hubbie's old T-shirts. Yup. So proud.

But wait, there's more.

I made a SECOND pair of pants for him in merino wool and this time I had to adapt (gasp!) the "pattern" as these pants did not begin life as a T-shirt....

Here is my darling modeling the T-shirt pants for you.... I would have had a picture of the merino ones too but he vomited all over them this morning (3 vomits and 4 poos today- the washing machine has been pushed to its limits! It's panting and resting right now...)

Yes He loves to stand and locks his little legs when I try to get him to sit down. No way! He wants to stand!

I am so very tired at the moment. Tired like I was when Rupi first came home. The word for me from my God is to S....L....O...W down. Something I am not good at doing. I am trying to do treatment, get my little Etsy shop up and running, be a housewife, daughter, sister and friend while making my boy the number one priority (after the hubbie of course).

Too much.

So anyway...

Wed is the big reveal. My beautiful donor will have the first follicular scan and we'll see what we have. Hopefully we'll have a nice collection of follies all growing nicely. My donor wants 10 each side (that's tons by the way) but I would be happy with less. I mean, all I ever managed was 2 or 3 each side (each ovary that is) so anything more than that is wonderful.

It would be nice to have egg collection sooner rather than later for my donor so she can recover well for her little boys birthday party on the 2nd May.

Please keep us in your prayers xxxx