a trip to the shore

We took a quick drive to the beach yesterday, the weather was a bit wild but it didn't bother us in the slightest. We walked along, found enough seaweed to fill a bucket and collected a few special rocks. I love the beach summer or winter and I'm always on the look out for seaweed to pop into the compost bin. Last year I made a seaweed "tea" by seeping seaweed in a bucket filled with water and then straining it after about 3 months. The results were excellent, the plants that I applied it too grew very well and lush. The process however has kind of put me off making it again, it smells,um it really stinks and trying to keep an interested toddler away from bucket of rotting seaweed was no fun at all. Adding it to the compost bin seems a much better option for me. So roll on the warmer weather and more trips to the beach.

magnolias

Magnolias are in full bloom here, I'm spotting the beautiful blooms everywhere. The trees are rather inconspicuous during the rest of the year with their green foliage but they are really the stars of early spring blooms. Even when all the petals are dropping they look stunning, we stopped for a closer look at a carpet of fallen petals on a walk this week. I was lucky to receive a large bunch of blooms from a friend, I couldn't resist taking some closeup shots of the stunning centres of these beautiful blooms. What a magical time of year spring is.

spring planting

Last weekend I popped some new season seedlings in the ground. Just some parsley and silverbeet or swiss chard as it is also know, one punnet of normal green and another of the coloured/rainbow variety because it really brightens up the vege patch. There will be more planting to follow but mostly that planting will come from seeds I have sown in trays, by far the most cost effective way to grow veges. I had a little helper and after turning my back for a second I found that all the seedlings were pulled out ready to get them in the ground. Luckily they were all ok and the little hands were very gentle pushing the soil around them. I did dig in lots of compost before planting that was kind of a mistake as my compost was jammed packed with worms and after I had finished planting and retreated inside for a cuppa I found myself watching all the blackbirds in the neighbourhood having a good old scratch around and devouring all the worms - scratching all my newly planted seedlings out in the process.

kowhai

There is a lot of yellow around at the moment, it's such a happy colour and definitely means spring to me. From the daffodils to the Kowhai flowers and some of the colours in my little elephant. He's my very first listing on Etsy, finally. I've got a few more things to list over there but first I want to change my shop header and avatar, I did them in a rush over a year ago now.
Kowhai means yellow in Maori ( the native language of New Zealand) and after some windy weather we found this little bunch of Kowhai flowers on the grass on a walk. It comes from the very large Kowhai tree pictured and it almost glows as the sun shines on it. Even though it's not officially spring for a few days yet I really feel like it's arrived already when I look at the laden branches of this beautiful tree. It seems just the right time to be making a little elephant after the sad news of Kashin the Auckland Zoo's elephant passing away earlier this week. Kashin had been at the Auckland Zoo for 36 years and I have many a fond memory of this beautiful animal.

a day in the park

I worked on this bag off and on last week. The pattern is called "A day in the park" backpack tote, you can find it here. The pattern has so many pieces to cut out and I was a bit intimidated as I had never attempted a pattern with so many pieces. It wasn't hard to sew and the pattern was really easy to follow, fully lined with pockets on the inside. I used a thrifted vintage curtain that I've had for nearly 5 years, the colours are so vibrant and the design is called "Bo-peep". For the straps I cut up some old jeans to make hard wearing handles. This pattern is really cool and I quickly whipped another for my sister for her birthday. The handles can be pulled up in the center for an over the shoulder number or they can be pulled to the side and it becomes a backpack. Just the thing for a mum who all of a sudden needs both hands while out shopping. I'm thinking I need to make another more subtle one too, although I love this fabric to bits (it's taken me so long to decide to cut into it) it isn't quite suited to all occasions or outfits.

guilty

We were told Mr A was going to be a Miss, so he was a big surprise. I had thought as we were expecting another girl the nursery didn't need any updating. Dealing with a newborn and a toddler doesn't leave much energy for decorating but Mr A is nearly 8 months and the guilt has set in that I haven't really made the effort yet. This quilt is a good start, but I took these pictures of my husband's childhood cars to frame for the walls and that is step two. I love these little toys and I think once put them in frames they will start to make the room seem more for him.

for the boy

I made this quilt for mr A a few weeks ago. I used the same ruffle quilt pattern that I used for this one for miss E. I was very lucky to be given all the fabric for the top of the quilt. It's all Designers Guild fabric and is just perfect. I used organic cotton batting for the middle and a white cotton sheet for the base. Miss E however likes this one much better than hers because of all the pirates. This one is just a cot size, but I've started a bigger one for him out of a stack of old jeans that will fit a single bed.

blue

on the windowsill

On my windowsill this week was a big bunch of daffodils, spring is on the way and with the temperature rising it might have arrived a few weeks early.