...collaboration...

 ..she was sitting there this morning as I had breakfast next to her and I realised she was totally surrounded by homemade things from lots of fabulous women in our lives...

(clockwise from top)

Quilt over back of couch - Nanna/ Aunty Glen

Nappy bag and change mat - mama

Animal wrap - friend Sarah

Crochet hat - friend/ Aunty Jade (flower by mama)

Sleeping sac - mama

Flax ball - Nanny Love Lee

Shawl - Nanny Love Lee

Crochet cushion - mama (with help from Nanny)

... how cool is that!!...

...aw, just look at her - isn't she the sweetest thing...xox

...sleeping sac...

 ...this project has been on my to-do list for this winter since pregnancy ... but when lil ice-block was waking during the night again for a hot milk warm-up it got bumped right up that list... still took me a while as I've gone back to work part-time... guess it's obvious, but being full time mum of two, part-time worker, full time housewife does not leave much time or energy for creativity... kinda why I got lazy with the quilting on the front... I started doing a hit n miss kinda thing from the shoulder (totally in love with that idea at the mo)... but then figured this would look really fun too...

...the strips were already cut (during pregnancy) with a cot quilt in mind... which hasn't been started as I can't decide on which quilt style/ pattern to use... but doing this was interesting reconnaissance mission for that project to work with the main colours I'd planned and other bits from the stash.... a stash I need to use up as much as possible as we're moving home to NZ soon - YAY!!

...pattern for the sac is from anna maria horner's book... although as per usual I cannot just Follow. A. Pattern... and made this one MUCH longer...to hopefully last out her first winter...maybe she'll get a quilt to match sometime during that time too...she's already learning that when she goes in the sac it's sleepy time... bliss...

...name pikelets...

 ...another fun afternoon snack idea... one from my own childhood!! Had to use nicknames so each child got the same number of letters.... have to think of tricky things like that... they loved them! Ate themselves twice over!!

...baby shoes...

 ..I do know it's March... but I'm finally thinking about posting shots of Xmas presents... only I find that I was SO late in finishing them that I didn't photograph them before wrapping them... and didn't get a chance after gifting either - except for these sweet little shoes that I made for my baby girl... and now she's grown out of them!! lol...

...also I can't find the reference for the book I got the pattern out of now either - months later!! It was a library book on handmade shoes that intended that these were made out of soft leather for much larger bub... but I made out of felt (cheap Spotlight bargain bin acrylic felt) just to see what they're like... and plan to make a larger pair in next few weeks in nicer wool felt...

...after that I might get adventurous and try crocheting her some booties?! ... we'll see...

...back to school party...

...strange school started them back on a Friday... but I decided was great opportunity for after school feast to celebrate with friends... muffins, afghans, popcorn, juice and fruit.... we gobbled it all!! ...think I'm going to make it a traditional feast day... so fun...

...back to school...

 ...I remember learning to sew zips in... pencil cases were project #1... this year my boy asked for blue... his current favourite colour... and as you can see most his school supplies are blue too...

...I love covered books... usually use recycled wrapping paper, but this year one of the larger books we used an old poster that had a small rip... he was very excited about that one...

...muffins...

 ... I have at at least two blueberry muffin recipes... but this is our fav... came from a library picture story-book from Whakatane library... a modified Little Red Riding Hood story... so we call them Little Red Riding Hood Muffins (although my son was too young to remember the story now!)....

...this version I used mixed berries, vanilla essence and flaked almonds as well as sunflower seeds... and they work just as well with marg or butter... if it wasn't for the sugar they'd almost be healthy!!

Little Red Riding Hood Muffins

125g melted butter/marg

2 eggs

1c sugar

1/4-1/2 teaspoon almond essence

1c wholemeal flour

1c white flour

1teaspoon BP

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-2c blueberries

1/4-1/2c sunflower seeds

Mix butter, eggs, sugar, essence
Add flours, BP, salt.
Stir until just combined
Gently stir in seeds and berries
Spoon into lined muffin tin (very sticky and tricky to get out of pan otherwise)
Bake at 180 degrees Celcius (350 F) for 20-25mins.
Enjoy!!