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Thursday 29 March 2012

crochet bebe banket


So my lovely cousin Fiona has had her precious baby girl!!! I am so excited. Don't miracle babies just make everything great in the world.

Our grandparents passed away recently and we are a super close family so it was a big loss to us. I knew i wanted to make something really special for Fiona and the baby that could be a reminder of them also.

Then it came to me. Granny and Grandad were big spinners. They would dye all their own wool and spin it. I had a bit already and my Mum gave me what she had and i crocheted up this baby blanket.

I am so pleased with how it turned out and will be not only something really special as the homespun wool came from them but also super useful in the cold winters of the South Island.

It will be winging it's way to the South Island 2moro, yay for miracle babies...and crochet


I just love all the yummy homespun tones on this wool


My little scalloped edges


The underside, I crocheted the edges together


I washed it in wool fabric softener to really soften it up, it came up so well and smells great.




Tuesday 27 March 2012

I got it right!!!!


So i don't always get my parenting right, often, too often, i get it really wrong. But yesterday I got it right woohoo!!!!!

It was time for my sons piano practice after school. He was not keen on the idea and had spent a bit of time playing games on his ipod. I sent him off to the piano to do his practice.

Well for about 15mins he crashed and banged on the piano playing not what anyone would call music mucking around, very grumpy.

My usual response would have been to go in tell him off, try the 'wait till your father gets home' but i thought mmmmm, no.

So i asked him if maybe he needed some time outside playing around and then could come in and practice. He shrugged and grunted, yay pre pubescent!!!! Then i had a brain wave, how about we both go outside and play some soccer.

We had the best half an hour tackling each other and trying soccer skills, his ever so slightly better than mine lol, and after he came straight inside and did his piano practice without a grumble.

It was by far the best part of my day. A new technique and a happy household and he even agreed to pose for a pic for my blog!!!

Monday 26 March 2012

Study time....


So this is the first pile of books i have to work through in the next two weeks to write my essays. Sigh... i LOVE reading, however i really wish the authors names on this pile were, Maeve Binchy, Alexander McCall Smith, Marian Keys......

Ah well, not to be :) Must stop procrastinating and get to work. Hopefully you will see me on the other side.

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Off to Wellington!!!

Off to Wellington today!!!!!! yay i can't wait. I am going for a block course for study and my husband is coming with me. Will hopefully get some cool pics.

I think wellington is such a cool city. I love the art and culture, the museums and gallery's, the great shops and the waterfront. It is a city i would totally choose to live in.

Tell me what is your favourite city?

Friday 16 March 2012

Things i'm loving

I'm loving the fact that my eldest daughter is on her way up to the Taylor Swift concert!!!
(I am also a little jealous)




I am totally loving the show New Girl. If you are like us and still only have channels 1,2 & 3 in New Zealand watch it on demand. Seriously it is great, love love love it.




I am loving wedding invites!!! any opportunity to get dressed up and share in some love




I am loving this pile of fabric just waiting to be sewn into some crafty goodness



To join in with this link see the button on the right, things i'm loving and pop over to http://www.paisleyjade.com/2012/03/things-im-loving_16.html

Thursday 15 March 2012

Quilt in a day!!!



So a good friend had a wee baby boy and i knew i wanted to make her something really nice. I had got some super cute fabric with mice and cherrys on it and decided I would create something using that.

So I decided to make a rag quilt and wow how quick and easy are these babies!!!! I was so stoked with how it turned out and think this will def be my top pick for new baby pressies.

The whole thing took prob about 5 hours, which is not too bad.


The thing with rag quilts that make them look all snugly and nice is the great fluffy edges. I washed this one twice to get the edges fluffing up, but the more it gets washed the better it will look!

The back of the quilt



Heart with the babys initials



Heart with my initials and date, don't you just love blanket stitch!!!



A close up of the nice fluffy seams




Wednesday 14 March 2012

quilt pics to come....

Made the coolest quilt on monday!!! thats right it took only 1 day!!!! My camera is being an egg so will have to wait to get the pics up aaarrrggghhh, but it is lovely and now safely in the hands of a good friend and her new baby boy.

stay tuned........

Monday 12 March 2012

Grandparents


This weekend we headed to my mums to help her move all her furniture for her new carpet. After that was done and before our trip to the warehouse to buy bey blades and la la loopsys (small town+ trip to city=warehouse visit) we went to visit Poppy, my granddad. We took Tilly our new puppy to see him and he totally loved her.

My kids have been so fortunate to have so many great grandparents. Unfortunately due to two of them passing away a year ago i only have Poppy left.

It's always hard to visit him. He often forgets who i am and makes up funny stories about what he has been up too. Its hard because i just want to remember who he was and not what old age is doing to him. He will be 94!!!! this year so has had a pretty awesome life.

But he really enjoys our visits, i am sure. And i always feel great taking the kids too see him.

I didn't take my camera in but his pic was taken as christmas when we went in for his resthome christmas party, always the joker :)



Friday 9 March 2012

Things i'm loving



So these are some of the things in my life that i am loving right now. Check out the button on the right at http://www.paisleyjade.com/ to see what others are loving.


Crinkly hair after it has been in plaits all night. Remember doing this?


Home made bread! Whoop Whoop


Family fun


Yeah the sprinkler


My daughter is so passionate about this. I have posted this already but please take a look. It is a cause worth standing up for, and please share this on your blog or facebook or tweet it etc



Thursday 8 March 2012

All the shades

Ok so i have had a lot of hair colours in my lifetime. I recently went back to redish brunette. I love it!!! It was definitely time for a change. Just wondering how often you change your hair colour? What about cuts? wouldn't it be so nice if it only took a few months for it to grow back nice and long again. I would be so ready for heaps more experiments if that was the case.

When I was 17 back in 1994 I had hair half way down my back and i had never even dyed it! The trend for guys to shave their heads was just coming in and a few guys from school had done it. Well me being the kind of independent, individual young woman that i was decided i should too!!!

I went to a friends place at lunch and i just shaved it all off...number one all over, my poor mum. Lets just say it did not go down well at all!!!! I still have the pony tail.

Since then i have done the red, the black, the peroxide, the reshave, brown, blonde, blow fly blue...

I thought i would put a few different pics up and see what you guys like. By the way my natural colour is a very dark blonde, some may even call it mousy brown ha ha.













This last pic is my current style, am really enjoying the straight across fringe rather than side swept :)

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Kony 2012

I really encourage you take a look at his. We need to help in any way we can and getting the word out there is an awesome start. My daughter is so passionate about this. She really wants to make a difference and has put links all over facebook. I am so proud of her doing what she can.

Tuesday 6 March 2012

New shoes!!!


You can imagine my joy and delight when the courier arrived this morning with a package for me. The cute (cheap) little jelly shoes i ordered from ezibuy arrived!!!!

I am so pleased with them. Just the perfect little flat to go with anything, anytime.






I really think the bows and spots just make them. What do you think?


Monday 5 March 2012

Lent

So is anyone else doing lent? I have been doing it for about 5 years now, but it is our whole families 2nd year. Its an opportunity to deny yourself something for the 40 days leading up to Easter. A chance to, while you crave and think about what you cannot have, (did chocolate one year!!!) remember the sacrifice Jesus gave at Easter. A chance to grow closer to him.

Last year my husband decided as a family we should all do lent and we should have no tv, which in our house seemed a really difficult reality. And to make it even more difficult we decided to do it for the whole term!!! not just 40 days. At first it was hard, the kids complained.. a lot, but after about a week we had all settled into a new way of life. More time for homework, more reading, earlier nights, more board games. I Loved it.

This year we decided to do the term thing again and do it again as a family. This year the thing we have given up is drinks, all drinks apart from water!!! NO juice, fizzy, tea, coffee, alcohol. The whole shabang!

It's hard!!! I want a glass of coke, i want a latte, i want a hot chocolate on a cold evening. But you know what, it's not as hard as having all your friends turn against you, not as hard as being whipped and spat on, not as hard as having the sins of the world on your shoulders.

Friday 2 March 2012

Things i'm loving


The roses in my garden



Our super cute puppy Tilly



My homegrown toms getting riper!



Was so super cold today I was totally loving my red puffer jacket while watching athletics sports at the college


The awesome photo board we have in our kitchen with pics of all our lovely family and friends


This amazing picture my Dad did years ago when he was a teenager.


Papamoa how i love thee let me count the ways...
















Thursday 1 March 2012

weddings....





So one of things i totally love seeing on people blogs are weddings!!!! I love the creativity and the colours and all the happiness and love going around.

Now we got married 15 years ago!!!! Thats so long ago it's crazy. We were really young and i guess when you are young you often don't really know your style. We were not quite of the era where 'anything goes', even though what we did do was pretty way out for the time.

Unfortunately digital cameras were not around, and people were not so photo crazy as they are now. Anyway i have re photographed a few shots and will share them.

I am pretty blessed to be married to such a great guy and love him more after our 15 years.














little purse of goodness




So lately I have been making these little beauties to give away for birthday pressies.




I really enjoy crochet and with four kids and only one income money can often be tight. No cash + crochet = great bday presents.

They are really simple to make and i now have a couple of styles going on. The four small peggy squares joined together, or the two bigger squares.
After I have sewn them up I find some fabric that will match and sew it into the inside.

I got a huge bag of sewing bits and pieces from my grandma after she passed away. In the bag were HEAPS of old vintage zips. These are so great and there are heaps of different colours.
Am pretty sure my grandma would be super happy to see them being used.