Photo Challenge - Humanity

Over at Dr Cason's blog, she has regular photo challenges, February's theme is "humanity". I took these pics of Miss S and her grandparents.


I really enjoyed the contrast of the small-newness of Miss S, and the more tanned and weathered grandparents.

Pics are clickable for bigger versions.

I look forward to seeing what March's theme is over with Dr Cason.

brain food

Not much happening around these parts, as I've been busy filling my brain with random info about itself and how it can study itself (or others like it).


University has begun with a vengence, and all my lecturers seem to want me to read two massive chapters of textbooks each, so much brain is being overloaded. But I'm still enjoying noticing the little things:

Like speckled eggs.

What interesting things have you come across lately?

one last fling...

with the sewing machine, as I'm back to university tomorrow morning (not that it'll stop me, just slow me down), leaving Miss S home with her darling dad. I'm sure they'll have lots of fun. But the last week I've been rushing around a bit trying to get things done, which at times got a bit stressful. So to cheer myself up a bit (the study looks rather heavy going by looking at my textboooks) I made myself a new top:

I'm sure it looks better on me than my mannequin.

A close-up of the pleated neckline detail.
Sorry they're a bit fuzzy, I was having trouble cos we were in the hallway for its good light (random, I know).

I based it on a gathered neckline t-shirt with raglan sleeves I got for Christmas. I decided to not have a seam between the front and the sleeves, and just to continue the pleats right around to the raglan seams at the back. So it has kimono-style sleeves at the front, but raglan-style at the back. I haven't hemmed any of the edges, just coverseamed them a cm or so from the edge. The neckline I basted the pleats and then coverseamed over them.

I'm really pleased how it turned out, only a few minor problems (like the fabric doesn't breathe very well, so not good for the hot sweaty days we're currently getting). It's the first item of clothing I've made in a while so I'm a little out of practice.

have books... will study

It is a miserable wet and gloomy day here, and, after dropping the darling husband off at work, I took Miss S adventuring out in it to Uni to get my books and study notes for the semester, both of us arrived home rather damp. So to brighten our days, here's a few pics I've taken recently on a much sunnier day:

Some of the trees in our street think it's autumn.
(apologies for the hideous smudge, I took this photo through my car's windscreen - it obviously needs a good clean!)

The cross on local Our Lady of Lourdes catholic school and church.

What do you do to brighten gloomy days? -Especially all you Northern Hemispherians hanging out for spring.

snails (the mail variety)

I know I only posted yesterday evening, but I've just received a wonderful bit of snail mail from the lovely Nancy over at all pulped out. She also participated in OWOH, and sent out cards to I think the first 150 comments on her OWOH giveaway post.


Not only did she send me this beautiful card all the way from Canada, she also sent me a wonderful piece of her mixed media artwork which is now gracing my fridge with its beauty.

Thanks Nancy!

finishing and starting

I'm counting down to this date:


University starts back in only 5 days and my list of things to get done over the summer break seems to be nearly as long now as it was back in November. Eek! Today, however, I did manage to finish one thing on my list: Nappies! I have finally finished sewing nappy pockets and can get back to some more creative sewing, almost. The nappies have had all 360 corners of velcro trimmed (4 corners x 5 pieces of velcro x 18 nappies = 360 corners, and no I didn't really need to know how many there was) and then had a wash so they're now all ready to use. Don't the colours look fantastic?!


I've started on another sewing item on my list, new curtains for our bedroom. We were given some nice full-length curtains which I've chopped the bottoms off so they can be normal length window curtains and curtains for the small window above our bed. So far I've hemmed the large ones, the small ones are still a work in progress.

I found some baby snails (they were tiny! only finger-width in length) while yanking out some very very long grass in our front yard, and had to stop and run find the camera. Most of the grass is still there, I didn't want the baby snails to lose their home. They were so amazingly wonderful. And their shells were translucent in the morning sunshine.


In other news, Miss S is starting on solids tomorrow! She hasn't put any weight on since I went lactose-free to help her reflux 2.5months ago, so we're getting started on solids to see if it'll help. Going lactose-free cut out a huge amount of fat from my diet, which may have been good for me, but not so good for a growing baby. The plunket nurse (free medical service for under5s) will visit again in a fortnight to see how she's going. It will be fun! The darling husband and I are very much looking forward to Miss S's reactions to food.

What are you excited about getting crossed off your list these days?
Or just getting started on that's exciting and inspiring you?

Happy Valentines Day!

My sweet wee Miss S is celebrating with me, with her socks!


They're a bit hard to see, so here's a closer look:


Hearts! How sweet! On tiny wee baby socks! So very adorable.
(It was so hard to get this photo, she just wouldn't stop moving for me!)

To help get you in the mood, here's some lyrics from one of my favourite songs at the mo:

Until the world has stopped revolving
Until the birds have left the trees
Until the winds have stopped from blowing
You'll be loved by me.

Until the rain has stopped from falling
Until the fish don't swim the sea
Until the stars have stopped from shining
You'll be loved by me.

Sorry but I have absolutely no idea what it is or who it's by as it's just a random one on the darling husband's computer.

So happy Valentines Day everyone!

What are you doing to celebrate?

One World - One Heart winner!

Today is February the 12th, the day (as it happens around the world) that winners of OWOH giveaways are announced. Thanks to everyone who visited and entered, I received an amazing 220 comments on my giveaway post, as well as many other lovely comments on other posts from people who I am sure were visiting via OWOH.

So, without further ado, the random number generator over at random.org has declared:

Marilyn to be the winner of my bag.

Marilyn, an email is on its way to you, hope to hear from you soon.

If you didn't manage to visit blogs involved in OWOH, the blogroll will stay up for a few months, so pop on over here and take a look, there's many many wonderful crafters and bloggers there.

state of chaos

I was gonna do some sewing today, you know, get those nappies finished before uni restarts in a fortnight, maybe even get creative, but instead my sewing room looks like this:



I can't even get in, let alone do anything!

My dad brought up a bed for Miss S, as well as a rather large bookcase. This provoked a mass rearranging of most of the house. The darling husband and I have swapped sides of the bedroom (confusing for sleepily stumbling into bed) and the living room has been totally changed, all because of the addition of one bookcase. The furniture's now mostly in place, but I have much book organising to do, so who knows when I'll get some sewing done. I might have to make some time for it cos I really want to get those nappies (among other things) finished before uni starts, but I'm running out of time. Eek!

In other news, Miss S's first tooth is coming through!

magnetic family

It was a long weekend here, so we went away for a bit of a family gathering at my parents' place, introducing Miss S to one of her aunts and some of her great-grandparents. It was a fun weekend.

My parents collect fridge magnets, and I love this one:


What did you do over the weekend?

The Painted Man

A little while ago I mentioned that I had just started reading "The Painted Man" by Peter V. Brett. I finished it about a week ago, it really was fabulous!


I don't usually rave about books, but this one was really really good. It's not yet released in the US, but will be out in March as "The Warded Man". It's also being/been published in a few other languages around the world, more info about that on Peter V. Brett's website. It's a fantasy book in which three young people challenge the fears of their elders. Determined not to accept those fears as their own, they challenge the way their society is built and look towards saving humanity from the darkness. A good description can be found on wikipedia here, without giving away any of the story. If you like fantasy books, I really encourage you to find a copy.

Since I've finally been able to put that book down (it really was that good) I've taken a break from sewing nappy pockets and have been making more cards, more on them another day.

cardmaking

I did some card making yesterday, it's not something I've ever done much of, but this year I want to try to be a bit more creative with my gifting (having no money to spare on these things helps, but I also just want to be able to give people something made especially for them if I'm going to give anything). So when I was told that my sister had handed in her PhD thesis and gently reminded that my cousin was turning 21 this week (thanks Mum!) I decided that I just had to make some cards. So here's what I came up with, all made with things I already had... gotta use up some of that stash!

Some flowers for my cousin.

And some fireworks for my sister.

Photos are clickable for bigger versions so you can see detail.

Cards are made from ribbon, sequins, beads, button, fabric glitter paint, embroidery thread, and gold thread stitched on heavy denim, then sewn onto card with a really long stitch.

I also made envelopes for them out of scented floral drawer-liners, because they weren't standard-sized, and if I'm going handmade, why not go all the way? But I forgot to photograph them and they're already in the mail.

So after a whole lot of creativity, I'm feeling a bit better, though very much looking forward to starting study for the year in 3 weeks.

What different things have you tried doing lately?