Fabric score of the year.....

I hit the jackpot yesterday in our local arts recycling center. Some amazing person has had a serious organizational spree since I visited last as the fabric room is now categorized. I tripped and fell into the retro bin big time!

 I also fell in love with two bags of vintage ribbon, one with old velvet ribbon would you believe! Oh how I love vintage ribbon.....

As for this little beauty, well?........

Up -cycling

A few months ago I bought a GAP merino turtle neck jumper from the oppy for $3.50. I'm not a turtle neck girl but the colour & quality were too good to pass up so I thought I'd whip up something for Anya. Initially I just intended to shorten the sleeves & cut the neck off, as well as turning it into a cardy, however the more I played around the more I realised I could be a bit more creative. We both loved the buttons on the cuffs so I cut the sleeves & re-attached the cuffs making it a 3/4 length. I used strips cut from the neck to bind the new neck & attached satin ribbon instead of heaps of button down the front, which I reckon gives it a more feminine/ vintage feel.

Yes I'm a little bit chuffed with myself! Ha.........

Now for that over flowing bottom shelf in my sewing room of 'other' potential up-cycle buys!!!

How's your weekend going?

Mrs Bunny hops & hops

I've been away from bloggy land for a few weeks. I decided to change phone companies & resulted in no phone...no Internet...then phone..then no phone again. In the end I lost my rag & said F*#K... F@#K Sake & a few more choice words, well would you believe there was a technician on my door step the next morning! I don't like to abuse call centre staff as I used to massage the Telecom's 018 centre staff, but this situation brought out the best of my potty mouth!!

So...being away from blog land has made me realise how important my little blog has become to me. It's funny that most of you I have never met, but your inspiration and daily events become much like a close friendship. I guess many of us are Mothers, potentially 'socially isolated'  by the demands of family/ mother hood etc (I know this sounds like some 50's mental health phenomena by the way I've written it, but I know you all know what I mean!) So I'd like to say a little thank you to all the wonderful Woman who inspire me...too many to name, but rest assured that sharing little glimpses of your creative endeavours often makes my day! xxx

Now to some sewing missions... I scored this little pillow case from a new oppy in town the other day & decided it needed to be made into something for Imogen to cuddle. The sewing up part ended up being a pain in the proverbial, but all turned out in the end! I'm hoping to sew one of the THESE with the rest.

Now for any of you who are inspired by totally beautiful vintage children's clothes go HERE for a serious drool session!

xxxxx

Before & After

I've been doing a little bit of spring clean house pimping lately. It's so nice to have the windows open & the smells of fresh cut grass & flowers wafting in.

Our house is a 'work in progress!' The laundry & bathroom in most need of some DIY, so until the serious stuff happens I thought I'd do a bit of feminine fabric re-decorating, the kind women loved to do in the 70's!

Before...

After.....

It probably doesn't seen like much on here, but the difference is actually quite surprising at my end. Even walking past the bathroom is a nicer experience! Just call me Laura Ashley!

Now to wait till the kids decide drying their hands on my curtain is way more convenient than the hand towel?

Stuff that been doing

I recently scored some very special 'little bugs'

Kefir to be exact. I had heard this name popping up more & more, in particular in Kay Baxter's book 'a change of heart' which I would recommend to anyone who is interested in the Weston A Price principles of eating & lifestyle. This is all quite new to me, but I feel the fundamentals sit right in my gut. I purchased both water & dairy kefir grains from HERE.

They come with detailed instructions, &  are easily Incorporated into your daily routine.

I've made two batches of soft kefir cheese, which is delish on crackers. In this batch pictured I've added sweet Thai chili sauce, crushed garlic & chopped herbs. All the kids devoured it which was refreshing! Dairy kefir is cool as you can make 'yoghurt' (I think it's just called kefir, but slightly runnier than your average yogurt?) without having to heat the milk, insulate or anything else you would usually do when making normal dairy yoghurt. With kefir you just add the little granules (they look like tiny squishy bits of cauliflower) to milk in a jar and wait. The waiting depends on the weather. At the moment it's taking 3 days for approx 3 cups to ferment. I read in Kay's book that she had a friend who left their kefir in milk on the bench for 4 months and they were still thriving!!

Water kefir looks like crystal rain ( the stuff you put with water to keep your plants hydrated)

They live on sugar and can be added to fruit juices to make natural fizzy drinks. Its a lot of fun

Kefir draining in muslin to become kefir cheese

The other 'things' I've br=een uo to is restoring some old towels. These towels had gone all weird at the bottom. Kind of gathered where the...'thing bit?' is. So I cut it off and hemmed them with some homemade binding turning them into spunky new hand towels. I haven't managed to get handmade home to myself yet, but from what I sneak when I visit my girlfriend Tink, I'm pretty sure she has something similar in her book

old towel with 'weird syndrome'

sexy new towel!

 It's funny as my blog posting (& I'm sure to many other Mums as well)  seems to coincide with breast feeding time. tonight Imogen was so knackered after her 'before bath snack' she simple went back to sleep sitting up! Would you believe that now it's bed time & shes wide awake 'DadadadaDADADADADING'! Sigh

Domesticity

I've been an absent blogger lately.

Fleur was home with a tummy bug & Ash all week with tonsillitis

Imogen has had a very sore thrushy bottom & thrushy mouth...which became sad thrushy boobs!

Boo hoo! And now she has decided that her maximum sleep during the day will be 15 min & waking 3-4 times a night...Bliss....NOT

And to top it all off, the house my lovely thought he'd be building in 2 weeks time, which was going to be our saving grace, has fallen through...Grrrrr

So now there are all sorts of crazy ideas being thrown back & forth. A friend of ours has suggested he try out for work with him, great money but away 10 days & home for 4! Whilst myself at home with the 5 babes. I'm not too keen.....super woman I am not!

On a brighter note, I have actually been doing a little bit of 'stuff''.

In the name of thrifty-ness I have made some rather styley dish cloths out of some old towels and over locked some nice cotton fabric onto one side. They work great, were FREE & look fab hanging over my taps!

Inspired by old towels I made Imogen some super styley bibs using the same principles.

Ta daa

I have also made a merino blanket for bubs which looks rather crap in the pic, but is cool I assure you (blowing my own horn she says) Its green on the other side with a green birdie. We are lucky to have a very neat factory shop down the Kapiti coast way,about 45 min drive, which is a merino knitwear shop. End of line & factory seconds, you get top quality merino for between $5 & $15 a metre. I have just got some neat mustard, sage, charcoal & black to make the kids some leggings...which leads me to another exciting thing...I have just discovered PDF patterns on Etsy. I know..I can hear the words slow & retarded being thrown at me, but this was rather exciting for me, I'm looking forward to making some winter coats for the girls.

One last thing before I become domestic goddess again & return to my mountain of washing,

I wanted to share with you a very cool & extremely cheap recipe I found here for making your own laundry liquid, & with Rhonda's permission I am sharing it with you:

Laundry liquid:

1/2 cup washing soda

1/2 cup borax

1 cup grated soap (i used a cake of sard wonder soap but you can use anything really)

1.5 Litres of water

Essential oils ( I used 1 Tbsp of Lavender & 1 Tbsp of eucalyptus)

you don't need to add these if you're after an unscented product.

8 litres of cold water

Put the first 4 ingredients into a pot and bring to the boil, then gently simmer until the soap is dissolved.

Put this into a plastic 10 litre bucket and add cold water making the total up to approx 9.5 litres. Add your essential oils & give a good stir. Then pop into containers leaving enough room for it to be shaken as it will turn to a gel consistency. I kept mine in a lidded bucket, & refill an old eco store laundry liquid bottle as the cap measure is around 1/4 cup, what I use for each load.

This stuff is fantastic, very cheap to make. Safe for front loader machines. Smells fab & lasts our house of 7 for 3 months.

Happy brewing.