Why would you live anywhere else?

The dog was barking yesterday which is nothing new, but it was a really different bark, the snake bark, but we found something much better than a snake. This turtle was slowly cruising through the garden heading back across the road to its pond. The girls were quite excited to see it.
Below is a picture of the five ducks we have been watching grow up. As our neighbour said - why would you live anywhere else. I agree - I just need to stop thinking about the snakes.

I finally bought a print from Sugarloop. I love all of her work. My craft room was needing a bit of colour and this is now above my sewing machine.

Plush You and Patterns

The Plush You exhibition was on in Seattle last week. I sent tome of my Australian animals. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the things I sent. I found these on flickr, platypus and koala and there was a wombat too. So thankyou to everyone who took pictures so I could see the amazing creations everyone made.

I had some exciting news yesterday. I didn't think this would be out for ages - the Australian Women's Weekly published an extract from the Softie book and also included my elephant pattern.

A Wrist Bag

I have made bigger and smaller versions of this bag, but they were not quite right, so I played around with the width and length and I am happy with this version. The lining is cotton voile which is quite light, but I found some great woven interfacing which makes it prefect for lining.

This is Lila who is now in my shop.

A Dishcloth

The new Ottobre magazine arrived yesterday and as usual it was filled with wonderful patterns including these for premmie babies. I hope I won't be needing them, but it is good to know there are some patterns out there. We had such a hard time finding cute clothes for the girls. They spent all of the first six months in onesies as that was all we could find to fit them. They didn't fit into 000 clothes until they were six months old. So it was lovely to see some cute patterns for tiny babies.
I have finally joined the dishcloth bandwagon. This little turtle was knit using Lily Sugar n' Cream Cotton from this pattern.

Dolls in progress and a giraffe

A finished giraffe and a sneak peak at some dolls which just need a bit of finishing.

Blog Action Day

I know I'm a day late to Blog Action Day, but I just finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I just need to read it again with a notebook and pen. It really was an interesting read with lots to think about and even if you don't think you could completely convert to eating locally there are lots of ideas and smaller things you could do.

The other thing we have been thinking about is how much stuff we have in out house that we just don't need. We have a pretty small house and there is so much stuff in here and just like Nikki we have been thinking about Christmas and overconsumption.

People still get amazed when I tell them I use cloth nappies for twins (I admit that I don't when we are out during the day for a long time). And then more amazed when I tell them I don't use nappi san (I really hate the feel of clothes after using it), I don't soak nappies and even in winter here you can usually get them dried on the line and the sun tends to get rid of any stains nappies don't have to be sparkling white - who sees them? I didn't know anyone using cloth nappies when I started and I got lots of information from here. I also use terri towelling wipes. They really do the job and last a long time - I still have some the original ones after 2 year.

Life has just got easier as our shire has introduced recycling bins which means we don't have to collect all out recycling and then taking it to the depot ourselves.

A nice day

I've had a wonderful Sunday. The weather was perfect and I had lunch with some wonderful friends. Back when we first started playgroup with our babies we decided to do a lunch once a month and try to do it child free. It was such a good idea, I never realised before having children just how hard it is to have a conversation when they were present. Even though we see each other during the week there is little chance of really talking. So today was perfect for sitting outside, talking and eating wonderful food.
With life back to normal now, it means there has been a little time for sewing. I have been working on a wholesale order, but I found some time to finish a new giraffe and a platypus.

Monkey Socks

Socks for my sister for Christmas - so Gem don't look or forget really quickly.

Monkey Socks using Fleece Artist and 2.5mm needles.

Vomiting

Life was all fun until the girls started vomiting. We set off for Perth last Friday and made it as far as Bunbury when Chris started to feel sick and then Amelia vomited in the car. So we cleaned that up and then Grace vomited in the car. So we went home and the 3 of them vomited for the next 24 hours.
The original plan was to visit some good friends in Dongara so unfortunately we never made it, but I'm glad I seem to have avoided getting sick. We did manage to make it to Perth for 2 days to see Chris' parents this week and now we are back to enjoy the last of the school holidays. Sewing seems to have taken a back seat this week, but I am slowly working on a few orders and I did manage to finish some aprons for little girls birthdays.

Vogue

I had a bit of a surprise last night when I had an email telling me one of my toys - one of my dolls with buns - was in the November edition Vogue. This is one magazine I never thought I would be in! Coincidentally I am just cutting some more of these for Minifashionista.
Edited to add: They did have permission - they requested it from Minifashionista a few months ago, but I had no idea when or even if they would use it - so it was a surprise to see it.

It has definitely been spring weather this week and after seeing this great twirly skirt I was inspired to make some for the girls.

Apparently this is what you do when you are told it is too cold still for swimming, swim in sand.

Visit to the Farm

We had a lovely end to the long weekend. A visit to my sister on the farm. It was great to show the girls all the animals and they could run free. It is really nice to have my sister living on a farm and my parents still on theirs. I loved growing up on the farm and having the experiences and freedom we had. I am so glad that even though the girls will not have that all the time they can still visit and experience a little farm life.We took some toys over to my niece Lyssie. I can see a little farmer in the making sitting on her John Deere tractor.
The weather is starting to warm up and the girls are needing some summer clothes. I started with some pants. I just drafted a pattern off some winter pants, changed and enlarged it all and then cut it into 3, matching the front and back and sewed it all up.