sneak peek of the birthday fun!

 

I'll post more tomorrow...  Off to take my exhausted body to bed now!

Favourite things Friday...

Ruby Gloom has to be one of my most favourite television animations of all time. I love the illustrations and the fun story lines!



Just thought it would be a good idea to go back to posting a few of my favourite things, especially after the day we've had...



We found the car we want to buy, but on the way to going for a second test drive we were involved in a nose to tail accident with 3 other cars. We were in the front and not at fault, and no one got hurt. Except that we lost $400 on our trade-in. :( Oh well, we did find a new car and we will sign the paperwork tomorrow and pick it up on Monday! I'll post more about it once it's all finalised.

Have a good weekend...

D.

what softies get up to, when we're not looking...

 

source | meet me at mikes

Some matroyshka doll fun...

As I said in yesterday's post, this weekend we are going to be having a houseful of girl fun! Well, actually that's our house all day, every day. There is an overabundance of estrogen in this home with 4 girls and ONE guy! hehehe!

But, I digress, I need to occupy four little 8/9 year old girls on Saturday for a sleepover. I had decided that making little softies was a great idea, but then was left with the "what kind!" thought. I'd always wanted to make a matroyshka doll, and wanted to make something really simple that the girls could "own" for themselves. So without further ado, here she is...

I got Hope and Briahna to make one as well, just to make sure it's not too hard to organise little girls into making them. :)

First, we embroidered their faces, which I think 8-9 year old's would be okay to do themselves. It was Briahna's first time doing backstitch, and I'm so proud of how well she did!

I chose the fabric, and sewed two different kinds to go together, and then I sewed the faces onto the fabric...

I then made a little pattern to cut them out with...

Because I am so protective/possessive of my janome, I'll be doing all the machine sewing ;) But, I figure they'll bore easily anyway and so while I'm sewing up the dolls, Hope will be doing makeovers on the girls!

Aren't they sweet?

I even sewed our names and the date they were made on the back with my fancy dancy sewing machine...



Sew Mama Sew Fat Quarter Swap;
All the kiwi quarters have gone, the international ones will be sent today... The email with all my international swapee's on it got lost in cyberspace, but I'm onto it!

what I sent... (I hope they like batik!)

Blogging Goodness;

Paisley Jade received my parcel, and has posted about it on her blog! I forgot to take photographs of what I sent, but head on over to her blog to check it all out!!!

When I found out about the flannelgraph book review blog her hubby's been organising, I knew I could help them out... Mr Sew Funky works for Manna Christian Stores here in NZ and so we have access to good christian literature. It was nice to pass on the blessing to others by giving some books away.

Kristy also won the fat quarter giveaway I had on here earlier in the month, so what better way than to courier them all to her together.

It actually took a while from conception to giving, but I think they were understanding. Mainly it was because we had to wait for a little while for one particular book I wanted to send - The Pawn. Mr Sew Funky lent it out to a workmate who took a while with it. I just love the title of that book - tickles my sense of humour, to be able to tell people when they ask me what I'm reading, that I'm reading porn... hehehe! ;)

I just love being part of the blogging community, it has allowed me to "meet" such neat people and gives me opportunities to connect with others in a way that I wouldn't otherwise be able to do! :D

What do you think? Has blogging made your life more complete?

And do you like the little dolls we've made?

D.

tired...

tired

1. In need of some rest or sleep.
2. Fed up, annoyed, irritated, sick of.
   
   

   I'm tired of this

3. Overused, cliché.
   

   a tired song

I am just so "all of the above", it's not funny!

We are in the process of buying/finding a new car, and that's so tiring!  We have a budget and a type of car in mind.  I want a hatchback car, that's economical and fairly good looking.  We currently have a Mitsubishi Chariot, but with 7 seats it's big, cumbersome, and un-economical.  So we had a look around some car yards this afternoon and I remembered what I HATE about buying cars.  The car dealers, the sheer cost difference between yards, all the decisions and feeling rushed at every point.  I think that we are wiser this time around, but it's still hard for me not to want to buy the first thing I see that I like.  I get so sick of the crap!

And, we are also trying to organise some respite care for Aimee.  It has taken since May last year to get to the interview stage with the social worker yesterday.  Then I had to fill out screeds of forms that just took the stuffing out of me.  Having to remember and put into words what her behaviour is like on a daily basis was very difficult.  It will be good to be able to have a break from her, especially so that we can focus a little more on her sisters for a couple of nights a month.  We all need it! 

She is a wonderful kid, who comes up with amazing thoughts and "wisdom", but her constant behavioural needs are getting us all down.  She said the other day, out of the blue, as usual, that the car indicator's were speaking to her.  When I asked what they were saying she said, they say - food dis-order, food dis-order, food dis-order...  Listen to them next time you're in the car and you may just find yourself agreeing with her... ;)

Then there's my almost 9 year old's birthday sleepover I have to prepare for on Saturday night.  Four little girls giggling into the night...  the things we do for our kids!  I am hoping to do a little craft maybe make some softies and have mini makeovers think pink fingernails and lips.  It should be fun, especially if I can farm my other two girls out...

Hope you are all faring better than I. 

just something I'm playing around with...

Something that will hopefully stop me losing my embroidery scissors quite so frequently...

I've had these little scissors since I was about 15, and they're still awesome, except that I'm always losing them. I have a real problem with it! I have even had to go out and replace these scissors on a couple of occasions, but these are still my favourite pair.

And so an idea started to form about what I should do about it. It was sparked by a project in a recent handmade magazine. It looks nothing like that project now, it's much more basic and had me practicing my friendship knot bracelet skills from way back. I often wondered if they'd ever come to good use... ;)

It's also a great way to use some of my vintage cotton reels and buttons!

I'm thinking about decorating the reel a little more, what do you think? And if you want me to make a tutorial for these, just leave a comment below and I'll see what I can do...


And on another note;

I got some mail love today...

the stamps I won in Steph's owoh giveaway

and the first of the fat quarter's from the sew mama sew swap...

2 fat quarters from Jacqui a.k.a. hazelnutgirl

Feeling the love here! :D

getting creative with the kids...

Today, Hope and Briahna had an unexpected day off school. The car broke down on the weekend, and so I had no way of getting them to school, a 15 minute drive on the motorway...

Aimee is lucky or is that unlucky?, she get's to go to school by taxi and so wasn't affected by the car breakdown.

I don't think they were too unhappy about it, except that Hope was unhappy that she'd be missing out on sewing at school. Once a fortnight she and her classmates travel by bus to Maramarua school to do what we called "manual", but what they call "tech". I have been thoroughly educated today! LOL!

So, because she couldn't go, and because we all know I've been surgically attached to my machine...

Hope made draw-string bags to go with the shortie pyjama's I made her out of some long ones last night! I am loving how much my daughters are taking on frugal and fun crafting... I guess we don't realise just how much we influence our children just by how we live our lives.

photo's by Hope (age 12)

Briahna and I worked together to design and make a little outfit for her pumpkin patch bear, Honey...

photo's by Briahna (age 8)

I'm so proud of how excellent the photographs of Honey are! I know she was working with a really photogenic model, but look at all the angles she took the pictures from, very artistic... I think she may be taking after her parents in the talent stakes! ;) I had absolutely nothing to do with the footage, I just sent Briahna outside with the camera and Honey in hand, and she worked her magic!!!

I am also proud of myself, because after years of being afraid of sewing knit fabric, I finally bit the bullet and sewed the neat little t-shirt Honey is wearing! There were only one or two swear words spoken, too! Simply amazing.

Not sure, if I should make days of school so fun though! I might find it difficult getting them to school tomorrow... hehehe! ;)