be prepared

I carry my digital camera almost everywhere now days, just in case I stumble across something photo worthy. We discovered this Monarch on the walk home from preschool, looking all picturesque sitting on the Manuka.

Raspberry frame for $0

I needed a new frame for my raspberry plants and with a budget of $0 I needed a miracle. I had some bamboo that I had used for a bean tepee over summer and some thinner bamboo that had been tomato stakes in a former life. I hammered the bigger bamboo into the soil and then wove the thinner bamboo in between the vertical stakes. It's not the prettiest frame at the moment, but come summer you won't be able to see it for all the raspberries that will cover it. Now I must get making jam with the last of the frozen raspberries from summer, we picked over 2kg of raspberries this year - that's not counting the ones that got eaten by my little helper. I have more plants this year so we are really looking forward to summer and a bounty of berries.

Meet Pebbles

Pebbles the dog is finally up for adoption. I signed up to felt over a year ago and a combination of morning sickness and a toddler and then a new baby and a toddler have meant it's taken me this long to put up a listing. Pebbles is patch worked from a mixture of vintage and new fabrics and some cute hand worked embroidery. At 16cm high and wide he's the perfect size to be a cozy travelling companion. You can find Pebbles at my felt shop

Popit

I love my Popit wrap, I only wish I had one when miss E was a baby. It's so easy to use and gives me two free hands. It's been a lifesaver with an active toddler to chase after and a baby to hold. No cutting straps and the baby's weight is distributed evenly so they seem lighter to carry than they are. The wraps are made right here in New Zealand and Popit also do cool cloth nappies. You can find my glowing review of the wrap here. This photo was taken at Easter at Taipa Beach in Northland, a lovely place to be.

woodland elf hat # 2

Woodland elf hat number 2. The main part of the hat is an unknown fibre (the original top didn't have a label unfortunately), it's super soft but didn't really felt too tightly so it's a bit stretchy which means that it should fit for years to come ( if I still have a little elf keen to wear it that is). The green stalk was a suggestion from the little one and she chose the colours of the flower as well. I needlefelted the design on again. I love the way this pattern wraps around those little ears to keep the winter chills away.

children's forest

We recently planted a tree for Mr A at the children's forest in our town. They have a planting day annually for the children born in the previous year. It's such a nice idea and I'm a bit worried that little things like this will disappear with the "super city" plans. It was great to show Miss E her tree that we planted 3 years earlier when she was just a few months old. The trees planted were Totara, a native to New Zealand. Each tree is numbered and the child's name recorded for future reference.

woodland elf hat

I'm really into recycling old woollen jumpers at the moment. Washing them on a hot cycle and a tumble in the dryer to felt them and then turning them into hats and other little things. This pattern - woodland elf hat is from Amy Karol's great book Bend-the-rules sewing. Miss E loves it which is great as not all hats get this seal of approval, she is also sporting a wool roving scarf that she designed herself. The pattern calls for an applique flower but with no wool felt in my stash I needle felted the flower. I've got another one of these nearly finished in a super soft grey wool blend. Lucky little heads. Amy has a great blog you can find that here and a new book on the way too.

frosty mornings

We are enjoying the cold snap on our early morning walks to preschool. Miss E is loving finding the large frost covered leaves and stomping in the crunchy grass.

I'm hoping to use this space to write about my ongoing craft projects and my efforts grow more of our food and to live life a bit greener.