wanganui holiday

Last week we were in Wanganui on holiday.
To catch up with family, there were a couple of birthdays (Father in law and middle nephew).

And seeing Mum off at the airport, she has swapped bad weather for sun and 31 digress in Fiji!
Oh how I wish I was with her!



The kids had a great time, spending as much of it as possible with their Dad.

Mostly hanging out at the beach...






and Kowhai park.





It was also a timely visit, the day after we arrived my and little sisters Grandma passed away.
She was 88 years old, grew up on a farm in Timaru, and had seen and done more than most.
But I don't think that she fully recovered from the shock of our Dad's sudden death this March.
And to some extent willed herself to be with him.

This is her at about age 20 (I think), just before she went over to the Solomon Islands during WW2.
She was a Private and served as a WREN.

I will miss drinking lots of cups of tea with her (this lady could drink tea, and red wine like a fish!)
and listing about all her adventures, and our Irish family history.

pasta puttanesca

The weather is driving us crazy.
It is so random, sun one day then rain and frosts the next!
It’s no wonder the kids are sick again.
And not being able to go to kindy, poor wee button is starting to climb the walls.

But we have found a new favorite movie, and now the kids are obsessed with Lemony Snicket’s.

To the point where all they want to eat is pasta puttanesca.

And Ella must cook it!
Our version is very very basic, curly pasta (bunged in the microwave) and a can of Wattie's Pesto Tomatoes, stirred in just before they devour it!

On the knitting front.
I have finished a few more Brainbridge scarf's for wee peoples prezzies.

And a project for our friends daughter, who turns 21 in a fortnight.
I just need someone to model before I can take some pictures!
But you can check out the pattern here.

Now time for a cuppa and troll TradeMe for some more buttons.

us

Here we are, in manga.

Make your own!

finally sunshine!

Today has been the most amazing day.
There was sunshine.
And better still some warmth in the sun, and that has made us all happy!

Especially wee Ella, who was home from kindy sick.
And thought it would be nice to have a sleep in the almost forgotten what it is sunshine, I agree!

A few months ago I came across this really horrible kids site
(Teepee For Me) that sells the most terrible teepees!

And of course just had to have one each for the kids.
Only problem US dollar converted to NZ dollar = too damn much!

So I asked the talented sewing guru Miss Moore how hard would it be to make our own?
(Which is code for make me two teepees please)
She laughed and told me to make them myself.
So I guess that meant not hard, and any sewing illiterate could do it.

I found some cool sheets at the local second hand shop, and ripped them into strips.

Sewed the short ends together, then cut the long train at 5 meters and sewed these strips together long ways.
So I pretty much ended up with a rectangle shape again.

Then cut out four triangles and sewed them to tube shapes for the poles.
(Which are wooden garden stakes)
Its not perfect and the front door flaps don't meet properly, or close, but...



Dada a teepee for my button!




I have a another one all cut out and ready to sew for the boy, who keeps asking for his own tent.
I just need to finish a few knitting projects first before the old sewing machine is allowed out of her box!



And the kids are not the only ones who enjoy hanging out in teepees!

I enjoyed drinking tea in the sun!

i like big butt.....

I like big BUTTONS!



Like this beauty, which is a big 4cm Coconut Button.
And all of these:

So I have been buying a few!
Mostly from TradeMe, and some from Spotlight.

I don't have as many as this lady, yet!
But I just love what she does with them.

So now I have a new bad habit - Sitting in front of the computer with a big pot of tea, trawling the button auctions for big buttons!