Wednesday, April 17, 2013

A boys Refashion


boys hoodie
The finished hoodie - Jakob trying to be Dr Spock.
In a week we are going to Fiordland. It is predicted to rain, rain and rain some more. Which it does anyway (it is not called a temperate rainforest for nothing!). With rain comes the cold. The Merino jersey that I made Jakob last year was not so sucessful. The hood was too big, the Merino wool was a bit too light.

So I had a rush job on. Make a boys hoodie with pocket by Friday. And it is done. It took me two nights (approx 3 hours altogether). I am much happier with this one, the Merino jerseys I chose were heavier and so held their shape better. Also I was pedantic about the finishing and have used bias binding to prevent stretching around the hood / neck area. The sleeve ends look a lot tidier too, the boys love the semiglove end that a lot of tramping gear has and I know it will be handy down in the cold. I also used stitch number 15 on my Bernina sewing machine, rather than the overlocker and this was very successful.

So what started as two ladies Merino jersey's bought from the Op Shop, are now one boys hoodie to keep him warm.
The two ladies merino jerseys I started with
Chop off the arms
bind the edge of the pocket
stitch the pocket on at the top and bottom, matching side seams

Cut sleeve down to size and re-inser
Sew up the arm and side seams, then add the cuffs and hood.

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Monday, April 15, 2013

Fun on my Scooter

The front bars are a nifty place to put my handbag

Going to church on my scooter has become normal practise for me. I love that I don't need to use the car and get there a whole lot quicker than when I walk. So the boys jump on their scooter, me on mine and Aaron tends to run.

Last Sunday when the boys were away tramping by themselves I scootered to Church as normal. The funny thing is because I was by myself I had all sorts of people looking at me, some tooted and waved, others talked to me on the way past and one person even hung out their car window and took photos of me on their phone!! It all just makes me laugh as I know that my look is not what people expect. They see the grey hair and a dress or skirt and just about fall over when they realise I am on my scooter. I went Grey at 25 and a lot of people cannot get past the colour of my hair and think I am the boys Nana, well I don't care as it is me and I know I am young. BUT I must say that sometimes I play up to it and have a laugh at other peoples surprise when I do crazy things.

Church was awesome as the Sunday School were sharing what they had learnt for the last term. All about the Armour of God. They had slowly made their armour over the term. It was fantastic.

my boys trying to hide from the photo














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Sunday, April 14, 2013

Fantastic Food


This weekend has been very busy, but in amongst all that we have had some awesome food.

On our way home from Soccer at Oxford, Jakob and I stopped in to see Colleen. Had a chat and cup of tea and came away with a crayfish!! Wow, one of her friends gives her them occasionally and she gave it to me. We had it grilled with garlic butter for an entree for Saturday night dinner.

Then on Sunday I had some monkfish to cook for dinner and I wanted it to be quick. So I went to one of my recorded programmes for Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals and wrote down the Greek couscous recipe. Of course I changed it to what herbs etc I had in the garden. But his idea of whizzing all the ingredients up in the food processor was great and saved heaps of time. Also as I pick my veges from the garden I have a bit of cleaning and prep to do with them first.

And it was so fantastic that we all kept nibbling it before dinner.
Herby Vegetable Couscous
My version of Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals - Herby Vegetable CousCous

1/2 cup cous cous into a bowl with a lid
1 cup boiling water into that bowl and put the lid on.

1 cup baby frozen peas into a small bowl, cover with boiling water.

Into food processor put:  (American names)
2 charred red capsicum (peppers)
2 green fresh capsicum (peppers)
5 Spring Onions (green onions)
1 Big bunch coriander stalks and all  (cilantro)
1 green chilli - seeds removed

Whizz using the pulse button until well chopped but not mushy.

Into serving dish put juice from half a lemon and 2 tablespoons oil. Placed the whizzed veges into the bowl. Drain the peas and add, Add the cous cous.  Mix well

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Friday, April 12, 2013

Quilted and Bound

The boys declared the quilt very comfy

Aaron trying it out after work

Quilting
The quilting
Well the quilt for the caravan is finished. Whew and finally. Over the week I have been quilting it. I went for a sphere shape based around the diagonal seam. Never again. For a couple of reasons....
1. It meant the quilt went through my machine on a diagonal which was just too much bulk to push through the arm of the machine. Horrible to quilt - would do a cot or throw like this but never a bed quilt.
2. I like geometry- quilting this with a sphere shape takes away from the definition of the hourglass block and merges it more together. Now that is the effect you want on some quilts but not this.

The binding also should have been unpicked and redone as the larger part of the binding is on the back. But I had sewn the binding on by the time I realised and as this is for the caravan, therefore does not need to be perfect, I just left it as is.

So now Aaron and I have a flannelette quilt for our big bed and both the boys have ones for their beds. We will all be snug as bugs in rugs!!!! you can view the boys quilts here and here.

To look at the making process you can go to these posts on my blog.
pining out the quilt
patchwork finished
starting the piecing

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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The Simple Things

Lovely relaxing bubbles
snuggling under a quilt


















Comfort food



Sometimes you just need to hunker down and enjoy the simple things. We have all been a bit overwrought which resulted in Aaron being off work sick today and Eli crying and beside himself this afternoon.

So all things cancelled, we did not go to swimming lessons. Instead we wound down and are having a slow night.

We are all having lovely relaxing bubble baths with the lovely lush bubble products. I have had mine and read a magazine, Aaron is in it at the moment and Eli is getting ready to jump into one after dinner.

Eli and Morris had a big rest and time out on my bed. Nothing quite like snuggling under a quilt and we have having comfort food for dinner. Pasta bake full of lovely home grown veges and little bit of salami made from my sisters beef cattle.

I trust you are all resting up and recharging too.

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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Emergency supplies bag

patchwork and quiltingOn Saturday evening my sister came and joined me for some serious quilting. Sigh... only Anna got some serious quilting in, mine went pear shaped (just to continue on from smashing the shower I guess). But we did enjoy yummy takeaways from our local indian restaurant.

Anyway Anna quilted heaps of her quilt. I was finding it hard to get into it so I decided to make a zip pouch from left overs. I had a little bit of left over laminate that I decided would make good lining, so I made an "emergency" bag. (great for presents for someone going away for the first time, putting in sunscreen, toothbrush and maybe some chocolate) Using a sleeve off a linen shirt and a wee scrap of green from when I made some toy dinosaurs. I was thrilled with the result but it was a bit tall. So I thought with the scraps of the scraps I would make a better proportioned one. Hmmph. It took me two hours!!! I unpicked more than I sewed. I put panels sideways, I sewed the zip inside out - basically everything that could go wrong did. But I am happy to have to presents ready to go when I hear of a need.
The inside of number two.

Today in the Mall I bought some Lush products to put into said bags (they may become emergency treat bags I think).
The inside laminate on number one
Anna quilting madly


















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Saturday, April 6, 2013

A bucket full of glass

Pinning out the quilt

Croissants and coffee in bed


The bottom of the shower

The bathroom floor

A bucket full of glass

Morris on his walk

Well this morning I was enjoying a quiet lady's morning. The boys are away tramping. I woke up at 8.15am and while breakfast was baking I pinned out a quilt, then I took my gorgeous croissants and coffee back to bed and read the latest issue of The Simple Things.

At 10.30 I thought "righto" get going for the day. I went to have a shower and the bottom of the shower had a bit coming off that jams the shower door. Now this is a common occurance and about every 4 months I give it a bang to secure it back on and we are right as rain. This is NOT a hard bang - I used a the bottom of my coffee cup. And the shower door disintegrated on top of me. Tiny tiny bits of glass everywhere. All over the bath, handbasin, shower, the floor was covered in shards of glass. Not to forget all through my hair, my nighty and down my back.

So I clean up the glass but all the surfaces in the bathroom had what looked like glass dust. Very gritty. It was really hard to get rid of. The top of the door fell onto the floor and looks like it bounced as I have three holes in the vinyl. Ah well, here goes a bathroom redo.

An hour later I finally had my shower and then had to go shopping for a shower curtain temporarily. Took Morris for a walk and only now at 4.45pm I am finally getting to sew again!!

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A gorgeous break in Rarotonga

Woo hoo, A holiday with no kids for 11 days. Bliss, relaxing and warm! BTW it was an early 20th wedding anniversary present to ourselves....