Happy Birthday Cookies For Kat

Yummy butter cookies with sweet flower toppers for Kat's birthday earlier this month (which I managed to remember this year woohoo!!!). Vienna and I also took Renee out for a few hours and bought Kat a compost bin for her birthday.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The Amazing Aunt Kat made Vienna some cool under-bankets for Vienna's big girl bed using an old grey woollen blanket that used to belong to Ashley's Nana. I love that we were able to use something that had so much history and there were very few left over scraps but we did manage to have just enough to make this matching hot water bottle cover for Vienna.

I don't have a sewing machine so it is all lovingly hand-stitched, I managed to keep some of the original red blanket stitching and decided to tie in the red to the rest of my design. I got out my french knitting thingy (i don't know what it is called) and made the draw-string cord with some red wool from my stash (Yay! Using up stuff that I already own!), then crocheted a long length of the same red wool and sewed it on to make Vienna's name along the bottom. The project then stalled for a few weeks as I couldn't remember how to crochet in rounds to make the little circle for the dot in her 'i' but the next time we were in Raglan Evelyn showed me how (Yay Grandma!) and I just love the finished product!

On cold nights Vienna's hot water bottle pre-heats her bed with warm and hand-made crafty love.

Thanks Aunt Kat

Vienna is so lucky to have clever crafty people in her life! Her very special Aunt Kat made this fantastic portable chair cover for her so that she can sit safely and eat her food ...
MMMmmmm food!

It has a non-slip base on it and extra wide velcro holds it together at the back of the chair.

These photos were taken a while ago and are making me realise that the chair cover is in desperate need of a wash right now! It looks so fresh and clean here! The trick will be to try to time the washing around rainy days and meal times!

I'm Guilty

Of a lack of bogging lately. I had a busy weekend in Hamilton with Kat and family, followed closely by a major head cold! Being sick while Ashley was away and having to try to look after the little girl SUCKED!!!

While in Hamilton with Kat I went along to Kowhai (the Steiner based Centre she works at) and helped with dyeing some new veils for the centre. Veils are pieces of muslin that the children use for everything - dressups, baby wraps or blankets, tablecloths, imaginary play etc. They are so appealing to me and it was a very cool experience to go along and be a part of their community for the afternoon and be helpful. Kat took some photos of the veils drying in the wind (they looked sooo gorgeous and colourful dancing in the wind) but I don't have one to share yet.

Recently I read on the internet the idea of choosing 5 little things in your day to be grateful for - just little things, not the big stuff that of course we are grateful for. I have been trying to do this each day and I think that stopping to make a little list does make me smile and bring things into perspective on a hard day. I thought I would share yesterday's list with you (feel free to add your list to the comments below - I would love to have some smiles as I read your lists):

1. I got a comment from Marie who LOVED the Grandma's Brag Book I send down for her.
2. I found the missing key for my antique picnic set, YAY!!!
3. Lisa came today and did the cleaning.
4. Peter Walsh was on Oprah and he inspired me to start sorting out my jewely pile that has never been sorted since we moved here (in March last year!) - that is where I found the missing key ???
5. Ashley came home from Melbourne!!!

Tiny Packets of Bling

Everyone knows that Miss Wendy loves little things - yesterday these little packets of bling arrived in my letter box, they are very very little - just a few centimetres. The bling inside the packets is tiny!

Thanks Kat!

Amazing Apron

When we were in Hamilton on Wednesday we exchanged Christmas presents with Kat, Renee and Emily. Kat had made me this gorgeous apron and matching pot mit, it is the most beautiful fabrics and a great style - so very cool!