Leesa

So in this hot weather I can’t take my nanny kids out for nice long walks in the pram, so what do we do (apart from read books)?  Yesterday baby B (16 months old) and I enjoyed some icy cold water play outside on the grass in the shade.

I will just say that I’ve been busy busy busy of late, but things are starting to calm down again now (I think!) Here is a pic of Zoe and I happily wearing the fingerless gloves that I adapted the pattern for to make sizes that fit us.  Now

So remember a year ago Zoe dressed up as Mary Poppins?  Well this year for girl’s camp she dressed up as one of the queen’s guards.  She made the hat out of cardboard, a rubber ball, and some furry fabric; she bought the red jacket at savers and

Excuse the delay, here are a couple of pics from our recent family holiday on the Great Ocean Road.  I myself don’t pore over scenery shots, so I just selected a couple.  There were heaps- it was hard to choose! lots of rainforest walks beautiful waterfalls the holiday house-

So where have I been?  On holiday- on the great ocean road to be exact.  We were fortunate that everyone was able to take holidays  (Ells came a couple of days in as he couldn’t quite get the whole 10 days off) and a good time was had by

yes, the crocheted one, of course.  So this is the one that I adapted the pattern– I wonder if the main body of the top was knitted because when you crochet it (as I did)  you can see a difference in the stitches from where I stopped going back and

I haven’t even got a photo but I just made a lovely loaf of banana bread- so tasty!  I used up the overripe bananas, some sour cream, some yoghurt and sweetened it with brown sugar.  Plus the other usual ingredients… And my friend planted a seed in my mind-

So my darling daughter was on a sort and tidy frenzy and attacked 3 of my kitchen drawers.  Go girl!  And then she asked- what’s next?  I said she could start in the pantry, one shelf at a time, and before I knew it, she had the whole pantry

this is a new hat that one of my nanny kids has- it is too cute with a little snorkel and big eyes! not to mention how cute is the whole package who wears it! he is such a cutie pie with drool and why do I keep making more

I’m not very good at making jam.  It cooks and cooks and spits and pops and finally eventually is thick enough to bottle. (A friend told me to tape foil down all around the pot to save scrubbing off baked on jam- a good idea)  Look how many cold

so last night was new year’s eve, the kids were all out so Ben and I hopped out for a gelati.  Nice.  We went to Gelatissimo on Norwood parade, because surprise, surprise Prospect CIBO was closed as usual.  (Closed at 4:00pm!)  Whenever there’s a lovely balmy summer

I think, after discussing it around with a few people and brainstorming ideas, that we may have come to a workable solution for my road play mat!  I am very excited to say the new solution ticks all the boxes- the squares can all turn any which way and the

we had a lovely family day yesterday!  Everyone had a good time, especially of course all the kids 🙂 The slip and slide that we bought for the nephews and neices was a big hit- it’s a double one with arcs of sprinkling water over both lanes as you slide.

how cute is this christmas pudding biscuit that Ben got given?!  Super cute. Did I mention that for the youth group fundraiser there was a food festival and Zoe and five friends contributed 300 small serves of butter chicken, rice and mini naan bread?  You should have seen the hilarity

so everything else is on hold because I can see that it might just be possible (if I work around the clock) for me to finish the road play mat in time for my nephews and nieces to play with it when they’re all here on Christmas day.  Even

and at last Zoe’s new dress is complete!  In the end our beautiful dressmaker friend did the lion’s share of the sewing as well as the cutting out.  I just did the hand stitching and made up the lining, and Zoe did sweet not-much-at-all, except be fitted!  But

I’m gathering together some crochet projects to take on our holiday coming up…  Firstly there’s the aqua top I’m working on for Zoe which will be for immediate use, and I’ve got this yarn (sorry- not a great photo) for this jumper for Ben. Got plenty

I know, I know, more yarn!  I’m a bit addicted I admit.  I just love the arrival of those pink parcels from Love Crochet.  Zoe chose this pretty pattern, the only hitch is that after crocheting the feature yoke, the rest of the top is supposed to be knitted.

because if you go back a bit further, and squint a little, then my first completed curved road square actually looks really good! what with changing hooks everytime I change from green to black, and counting stitches to make a neat curve and unpicking and trying that again, and refusing

Yes, it’s been a busy week!  But a good one, so that’s ok.  Yesterday we minded my friends (5) children (including baby) while they were at a wedding, but they were such good kids it went off without a hitch.  And we had a lovely lunch today, which

Zoe and I went to the Bower bird markets on the weekend, and I bought for Ben the most beautiful tie in the history of the world! Look at that fabric!  If only there was something for me made in that print. It was from a shop called “dressed for

I say “off the shoulder” in inverted commas, because that was what the pattern was.  It’s just that I am a mum and it’s for my daughter so surprise, surprise, look how it turned out when I made it! Part of the problem was that I couldn’t

I never did show you a pic of the flowers I got for my wedding anniversary!   and that is that!

did I mention that on Saturday we had one of our family get togethers, at a lovely park/playground down by the beach.   It was to celebrate one of my nieces birthdays (she turned 3) and also Ben’s birthday.  The weather was perfect, sunny but a gentle breeze, the

I don’t think I told you the story behind the crochet sheep?  Well.  My least favourite thing about crocheting amigarumi is the last step when you have to sew the itty bitty pieces altogether.  Half the time you get the bits stitched on and then hold it up to