I am Loved

Yesterday was Mother's Day.

When I was pregnant-almost-due with BigMiss I joked with J that I should get to have my first Mother's Day as I was technically a mother already.  He laughed and it never happened.
So neither did Father's Day.

Since then, it hasn't really been a big deal in our house.  No breakfast in bed, flowers, cards, special attention or anything.

But now the girls are older they've taken their own initiative (though I think it was helped by the junior class doing art with a Mother's Day focus).

It started with both me and J being given an 'invitation' each (basically as soon as we were awake!)

They were planning on doing it after lunch (we usually go to Nana & Pop's house) as they thought we wouldn't have time before Church, but we said if they got dressed and organised quick enough then we would have time.

When we were all dressed and ready, I was told I had to find my presents in a Treasure Hunt and they would tell me if I was 'hot' or 'cold'.

Here's what I found:
Two wordfinds from BigMiss
(She said they were tricky ones because there were some words that weren't in the wordfind!)

A vase of flowers from BigMiss
(She had made the picture at school on Friday and put the base on it to turn it into a vase on Saturday.  MiddleMiss helped with the flower making as they were modelled on some she'd made last year in the junior class at school.)

A 'pattern' from MiddleMiss
(Can you see the picture of the skirt and top?  She drew them - and labeled the colours - so that I knew what she wanted me to make for her!)

A letter from LittleMiss
(This was done at school.  The picture is of me and her with a flower.)

A flower in a vase from LittleMiss
(This was also made at school.)

Then we all had to sit in a circle in the lounge and play Pass-the-Parcel together.  LittleMiss provided the music (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star sung very cutely) and directed the proceedings.  Every layer unwrapped had something, even if it was just a blank piece of paper, and I had to get the last parcel - a special note from LittleMiss 'To Mama' with her signature flower drawn on it.

The morning ended with the girls all giving me a special 'I Love You' hug.

Commercial gifts and cards can't compete with that!
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May is my Favourite Month

I think that a person is partial to having their birthday month as their favourite month of the year.  May is my birthday month.  (And it's a change of decade - 30!)  So what better way to celebrate than to have a giveaway?!

I have been thinking that it was coming up time for me to have another one soon as I enjoyed the last one so much.  Also I'm coming up to 100 posts, which is always something else worth doing a giveaway for!

So it seems fitting that Sew, Mama, Sew! is having another giveaway day later this month too!  I'm thinking about joining in again as it really was great to meet so many new people and I loved all the comments.

This time I'm thinking I might make something to giveaway rather than the yarn and pattern like last time.  Maybe I can do two giveaways if I'm feeling ambitious!  What sort of prize would you like to see me giveaway?

All the details on the Sew, Mama, Sew! giveaway day are here.  If you feel like joining in as a fellow giveaway-er then sign up too!  Or else just bookmark the date to check out all things that will be on offer.
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A Change...

...is as good as a holiday.

Or so they say.

What do you think of the look now?
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Squishy Packages

I love couriers!  They deliver stuff and it's always good!

This week I got a lovely squishy package that contained:

RRHY

and

RRHY

Aren't they gorgeous?

Maybe you don't think so because they just look shades of grey*, but in real life they are!

Now to knit furiously so my Red Riding Hood Yarn club patterns have lovely modelled photos in the colourway to go with it!

(Don't forget, signups are happening May 1st!)




*You didn't really think I'd post colour photos and ruin the surprise, did you?
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A Different Kind of Stitching

Before the days when I knitted and sewed I had a more leisurely pasttime - Cross-stitch.

I have done a variety of different cross-stitches, so many that I have finished ones un-framed and framed ones with no wall space to display them (though that might change with the renovations giving us extra wall space - when it's all finished and my house is back to normal!)

I was only 10 when my parents gave me my first large project.  It was the Summer Carousel Horse from Teresa Wentzler.  This was a big investment for them (this as a kit these days would be worth around $120+).  That was just the start.

I have since completed a Sara Moon, a Nora Corbett, another Nora Corbett, one from the Dimensions Gold Collection, a birth sampler for each of my girls (yet to be framed!), several little quick designs and my favourite, a huge 1m (bit over a yd) long lounging clown which J got framed for my birthday a couple of years ago (I'll have to get a photo when it's back up on the wall).

And then I started knitting.  Which just seemed a lot more practical than doing cross-stitch.  It was a lot quicker and the finished object was more useful than yet another picture to go on the wall (that was out of spare space anyway).

Lately, though, MiddleMiss has been doing a bit of her own cross-stitch and everytime she needed help it made me realize I missed doing it myself.  So, finally last weekend, I dug into my large wooden chest where I keep my cross-stitch stuff (and other craft stuff) and pulled out a partially completed cross-stitch to work on.  (This in itself was an undertaking as the chest is in the shed and has been since we moved to this house - nowhere to fit inside - and was piled high with boxes of stuff-in-storage that I had to move first!)

So, here is what I am working on at the moment:

This is an Anchor kit of Elliot and Buttons called 'A Family Portrait'.  I've made a slight change to the baby elephants so they all have pink dots and stripes (instead of the first and last being blue) to match my girls.  Though it is a little out of date for my family as LittleMiss is definitely not a crawling baby!

This will be my 'weekend' project (or just when I need a break from knitting).  I've finished all the baby elephants and am almost completely finished the mama elephant with bits of the papa elephant done also.  Maybe I'll get it finished by the end of the year?!  (It was started over two years ago and is not a particularly big design.)

But in the meantime, the knitting still continues...
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Lost

Guess what MiddleMiss lost this weekend?

MiddleMiss
Please excuse the grubby, playing-outside-in-the-garden-all-day clothes!

All of a sudden it got very loose and as it was getting close to bedtime she wanted me to pull it out so it wouldn't come out in the night and get lost.

It's always a little sad when the top teeth come out.  They completely change in the way they look with adult teeth.

Oh, well, I suppose they have to grow up eventually!
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Thank YOU!

I thought this had been posted last week.  Seems it only got saved as a draft instead!  Oh, well, better late than never...

After a tally up of my sales for the last several weeks, converting to NZ$ and transferring the balance I was able to make a donation to the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal of $180!

Thank you to all those that helped make this possible by purchasing any of my patterns during this time.


It may only feel like a small amount when you consider how much more is needed, but really, it's lots of small amounts that add up to big amounts eventually.

There is still a long way to go and the effects of the earthquake will be felt for a long time by the whole country as even the budget allocations from the government will have to come from somewhere.

Donations are still being accepted thorugh various means.  Please donate any money you can to help.
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