I Heart Melbourne

So much to tell you but simply no room to blog...where is my precious time going? Jewels and I had a WONDERFUL weekend in Melbourne but, as you can imagine, a weekend simply wasn't long enough to enjoy all the Melbourney goodness! [Having said that, I managed to put a major dent in the Visa in 24 hours so imagine the damage if I'd been there any longer...]. Purchases of note (aside from a plethra of booze and perfume - Calvin Klein, Eternity Moment - from duty free, dinner and breakfast out, and other good things) included these BEAUTIFUL Nine West wedges:

And these little fabric gems (VERY RESTRAINED), picked up from the utterly adorable Patchwork on Central Park - a veritable hotbed of vintage/30's inspired fabrics, and a completely overwheming experience, which I'm glad I've seen, but probably don't need to see again...the shop is really no more wonderful (in hindsight) than Patchwork Passion, Cushlas, and the like. We are lucky to have just what we need here, girls!

The turquoise/green pair at the top are Amy Butler upholstery fabrics (Sunbloom) which will some day be cushions on our bed. The green's on the left are from a gorgeous series called "Johnny and Buck", which are destined for a quilt for BabyHill (due in September).

CeeJae and I have just returned from four days on the farm in Cambridge, catching up with my wonderful family. Managed a little more of BabyGee's quilt and completed a panel for a special family quilt while at home, as well as a quick trip to see "Calling All Quilts" at the Hamilton Gardens (which was a nice little peruse of a few inspiring quilts and still more quilting fabrics - for a change! See photo below) so this week's projects will focus on completing the nappy bag for my SIL's baby shower, as well as more work on the Baby quilt, and maybe trying out this new bunny pattern from Kiddley (aka Lobbylu). Check it out! This site is full of FANTASTIC ideas for kids!
Oh, and two new bunnies completed last week for Shona (one of the "pretty lady's" at work) and Nik-ka-ka (CeeJae's beloved early education teacher) - photos to follow!

It's Like The SPCA Up In Here!

New home has been found for this little pink bunny who was a gift for my SIL, along with a few other goodies forBaby and Mummy.


This one (on the left - sorry about the crap photo) is a thank-you present for Emma, who I visited with and stayed the night with on Friday night, while working/playing for a few hours in Whangarei...her little man was, however, understandly very disappointed to find that I hadn't brought a gift for him too - so I will be making him a special little something-something in the coming weeks.

And yes, I did "call in" to the Apple Basket Quilt Shop in Kaiwaka and the Bernina Sewing Shop in Whangarei and I was VERY VERY NAUGHTY. Aren't the spotty fabrics (by Moda, from the Bernina Shop) glorious though...how could I resist?


I'm sure a suitable punishment will be devised and delivered in due course!

Bunny Making (aka Working at Home)

It's called working AT home (as opposed to FROM home which would imply that I was being paid by the university for working, but yesterday was actually a private practice day...ergo no real work, no real pay) and sewing is work, people! While I did manage to see a client and engage in a little bit of reading yesterday, I managed to finish this little beauty for CeeJae (note the gorgeous scotty dog fabric - love it!):


[And another one, which is in the mail to a dear friend so I'll post his picture once he's been received. Same with the one I made last Thursday...while working. At home. Which is is the mail to a special someone. Hmmmm...I'm sensing a theme here!]


In keeping with CeeJae's parsimonious nomenclature system for his impressive soft toy collection, CeeJae has called his new bunny, "New Bunny". New Bunny joined the ranks of Dog, Bear, Rabbit, Panda, Happy Meal Puppy, Lamby, Big Ted, Daddy's Bunny, Mummy's Bunny, Little Ted, and Sid the Sloth in bed last night...he's been accepted by the clan!

[The big words? Part of a competition with the girls at work to add the word "parsimonious" to every document we publish - glorious, as it means "excessively sparing or frugal". As if we don't have enough to do!]

Only 16 Sleeps...

My lovely friend Jewels and I are off to Melbourne for a shopping weekend on 20 May...how decadent is that?

The plan pretty loose but definately involves flying out very early on Saturday morning, leaving our bags here where we're staying the night (courtesy of a fabulous deal we located at wotif), before probably jumping on the tram for a spot of shopping here, because I really NEED fabrics by these people and these people, heading back into the city for more shopping, with stops along the way for still more shopping (probably involving wedding shoes for the bride - her - and her best woman - me, or just shoes in general), and sporadic eating and drinking in between to keep our strength up and moral high! Saturday night we may head out for a drink (damn the shops for being closed!) or catch up with my sister-in-law who lives in Melbourne and apparently knows something about outlet stores? Sunday we are eating and shopping again (those outlet stores, maybe?), before flying out at lunchtime, bags laden with goodies, to return home (through duty free!) to Auckland early evening.

Sounds tiring...I'll probably need a holiday to recover from my weekend away!

Excuse Me - Don't You Know Who I Am??!!

The best part of Friday and all day Sunday saw the arrival of a film crew at our house to shoot a new series for Homegrown TV called "Nought to Five" which features typically developing NZ kids and their Mummy's and Daddy's - and CeeJae will be representing two year old boys (yes, that's him in the photo above engaging in extreme glue-sticking with his Daddy in the garage). The show screens on TV One in August - and was so much fun to shoot! Friday we had a chat with Gill Connell, who's one of the developers of the Moving To Learn programme for preschoolers, which was really interesting, and Sunday we met with Jo Lloyd-Lewis, who's a wonderful family therapist from Hamilton, who had lots of tips and tricks for us for managing CeeJae's everyday behaviour. It was kind of awkward being involved because the Monkey and I are, quite frankly, pretty damn good parents (yes, I nearly pulled out at the 11th hour...) and as such we have very few issues with CeeJae - and the uprise of those crappy evil "Supernanny" shows is pretty damn scary - but we have been assured that the show aims to capitalise on the great things we're already doing (all three of us) with additional thoughts and ideas from Gill and Jo to help us and other families with "normal, everyday" two-year-olds! So - house tidy, makeup on, everybody in their Sunday best, the film crew arrive and promptly shoot footage of Callum bouncing on the bed in the only "not-so-tidy" room in the house (the master bedroom, where I KNEW they wouldn't venture into) and playing in the "wild jungle of weeds" that is also known as our back garden...good news is, we're probably on the list for Maggie's Garden Show!

Callum LOVED the thought of being on TV and meeting his new "film crew friends", and was an absolute star, doing everything he was asked to do and more - even when he was tired beyond belief. Sunday afternoon saw an adventure to the park with the crew in tow which meant we were surrounded by other people wanting to know what was going on - and yes, we all loved the attention because it's really nice to feel like a movie star, even if it is just for a minute.

Direct Quote: Mummy! Mummy! The little white box has music in it!

Happy Birthday to my Mummy too...welcome home, we missed you, and we hope you had a lovely May Day birthday!