I love my mama.

This week I'm a bit obsessed and giggly about the 'Perfect' guy from the 'Perfect Italiano Ricotta Cheese' ads - check out here on youtube if you haven't seen him already. I've been randomly quoting bits on my facebook page, around my house, in public and now here.

"Sometimes, when I cook, I weep." has to be the favourite!!

He often chucks in there "I love my mama." Well this week I'm really really really loving my mama! Three visits in three days to a grandson who adores her, one bucket full of feijoas, and a fruit bowl full of lemons. And brought along a darling hooded creamy super-softie alpaca/silk blend toddler cardigan she's knitting from a pattern I bought, made with bamboo, and passed on to the other grandmother who's making a dark grey woollen version.My sister and mother (both gardeners and landscapers extraordinaire) have offered to pass on recipes for the feijoas, but thus far I've certainly enjoyed just slicing them in half, scooping out the homegrown goodness and occasionally sneaking in a sprinkling of organic sugar to complement the tartness of the firmer ones.

As for the lemons, I have a recipe from this book (picked up brand spankers for less than NZ$20 at a book party thingie) which never fails for a concentrate lemonade syrup. Adding hot water or soda water to that...

Well...

Perfect.

I've only been sitting on these for what, 2 months?

Balloon bottom rompers. They've been sitting in a beautiful pile for weeeeeks and weeks waiting for me to get them photographed and listed on Felt, and into a store. I didn't realise how many weeks it'd take me to 'recover' from Rowing Season 2009/10. But here they are now, and there are some boy ones in production too, but these will be appearing next summer. Along with some new cutesy girl designs. Yes I'm unstoppable/insatiable/addicted/all of the above. Our lovely friends from Top Shelf Media transformed our home for a couple of hours and we had loads of fun dressing the wee guy up and keeping him entertained. Legendary man behind the camera indeed.

Already a darling friend has whipped up one of the 12-18 month sets of reversible rompers (I LOVE reversible stuff!!) for her little one... how encouraging!

Naomi the Janome kept me so happy throughout, with some beautiful stitching around the appliques and handling my ever-increasing demands for ensuring things look just as good one way as they do the other. I think I'll buy her some new needles for a treat.

Finding my Fingers

While holed up in hospital for weeks expecting to be whisked into surgery any day to prematurely deliver the wee guy, I decided I was going to be one of those mums that knitted. I set to, and knitted a prem baby hat for him and showed every visitor my efforts when I'd finished. It was supposed to be a ribbed bottom (as in the picture) but it ended up being moss stitch ... I didn't know I had anything other than garter or stocking stitch in me!
We were blessed with six weeks more than initially expected, so I managed a second attempt and made him a beanie with the single rib at the bottom. I can't remember or find the website where I got the pattern so sadly can't publicly thank them (sob!). He wore the beanie while he was hanging out with us for some good ol' kangaroo care before being returned to his incubator. Great therapy for mum and bub.

I've also knitted a cardy for the wee guy out of beautiful bamboo, kindly finished by my mother-in-law who is something of a knitting maven. Among other projects I've also finished a knitted lambie for a friend's new baby which I was most proud of, even if it screamed home-made with its slightly wonky legs.


The latest project to adorn my bedside table is a pattern for a pair of pants for the wee guy, along with my rough start efforts. Forgetting temporarily how to correctly increase stitches the right way has resulted in rather a bumpy beginning, but hopefully I can hide them in the final sew-up. I've had to alter the pattern in the process though as the wee guy has inherited my extra-long pins, and knitted capris on a boy won't cut it.

As with all my knitting projects, it's just taking a reeeeallllly long time (said in my best whiney voice!). At the rate I'm going he'll grow out of them after maybe two wears. Hmm... deja vu??!!

One little picture. So many bits of life.

It's not a perfect shot, it's not a posed shot. It may not look like much to you even. These two boys are looking a little shabby (and one is trying to steal even more of the other's drink...) but I could just look at this shot for ages. It says so much to me.

The first EVER bib I made way back in 2008. I loved it so much I made 2 more for a friend for her baby shower. Someone commented at the baby shower that it was a Gay Pride bib... I hadn't made it with that in mind, but ok! Whatever you like. It's still in great nick after the wee guy's spilt milk, spilly reflux, first foods, colourful foods, and many stormy trips through the washing machine. goshorty.

My husband of four years, back from a week away at training camp.

My darling friend's four children on the calendar behind (I left up my December darlings well into January, I couldn't bear to put them away!).

Milk moustache? Pah. Try drinking chocolate face-ring. Much more impressive.

My Sabco floor swiffer. It's microfibre, wet & dry, and is a dream for keeping my tiles clean. I have two feet for it and it's used SO often and still comes up as good as new in the wash. I don't even need to use any chemicals to clean the floor. ahhhh, Earth Motherly goodness.

My wine rack with bottles still in their gift-wrapped state. One day I'll stop breastfeeding and then they'll be fearing for their lives!

T-shirt applique-ing. I didn't do the adidas applique (obviously!) but I am applique-crazy right now.


Those two boys mean everything to me. I have been very blessed indeed!

Ask and you shall receive...

Some of my customers live overseas, and some send overseas. I am so proud to be called a New Zealand designer! New Zealand has a rich and beautiful history which I loved studying while at university - particularly the concept of one's Hawaiki. The general gist for those not in the know is that the indigenous people of New Zealand came from a place called Hawaiki - Pacific Nations people migrated in their canoes from Hawaiki to various Pacific Islands, New Zealand being one of them.

Many who now reside in New Zealand have a Pacific Island as their Hawaiki, and looking at the beautiful pattern of paua (or abalone for foreigners, hehe!) always takes me back to my Pacific studies, and a trip to the Cook Islands to teach some darling children gave me the opportunity to gather more pictures for the album of memories in my mind. The gentle waves and rich blues remind me of the ocean around Rarotonga and Atiu, and of the relaxed way of going about life that I lived in Atiu.

A couple of customers, and a stockist, were chatting with me about some garments and accessories that were Kiwiana themed, but not in a tacky obvious sense (thank goodness!). I've also had many customers grateful for the dresses I've made that are not pink as it's such a sea of pink in stores across the region. I did some thinking, some shopping, some designing, some fishing out of an applique design I used on a skirt made from a pair of jeans in 2002 (remember how cool that was in the early 2000s?!!) and I came up with this darling.

And oh how much fun I had making my own bias binding to match!

The NenaBella dress in Pacifica Paua.

Little Bean in a Little Beanie

Yep, I'm a typical parent. The wee guy has a variety of nicknames including 'little sausage', 'the wee guy', 'bruiser' and 'little bean'. I tried a few different designs of beanies for the wee guy for keeping him toasty warm in winter this year, and became increasingly frustrated with seams around the face which just wouldn't work for me. Soooo I came up with my own seamfree design of beanie. Here's my little bean in the goshorty little beanie. There's a knot at the top which you can move up and down to adjust sizing, and it has fit him from 6 months til now when he's almost 1... and it's still going.

Merino, seamfree, stretchy, toasty warm, delicious.

Don't those eyes just melt ya?!

Little Boots!

I found this while browsing a few months ago and thought it was suuuuper cute, and after discovering that the wee guy has inherited my cold feet / ankles problem (apparently I have Raynaud's phenomenon according to an ex-pupil's nurse mum... I digress!) I thought I should make him some snuggly slippers with some fabric scraps.

Here's the link first: Bare Maked blog

And up top is my first effort that I "whipped up" while the wee guy was asleep yesterday! Very proud. I've got a pile of grey camo ribstop cotton that is earmarked for some denim cuffed pants, and lots of odds and ends of white microfleece that is used for nappies and bib backs.

I measured the wee guy's feet to be 11cm long, and gave myself waaayyyy too much seam allowance (the sole measurement pre-sewing was about 15cm! oops) but the fit around his ankles is fantastic. He actually made it through a whole day without being able to kick off his footwear. Now that's a first!

These won't be going into the goshorty line, however if I have a few scraps I'm sure I can "whip up" a few more for the stuff that never makes it to the store - that is, baby shower pressies! I'm so chuffed with them I'll try to make a few more pairs for the wee guy while he's still wee.

Now to decide if I should sew up some more bibs or some beanies. Or nappies. Or dresses. Argh! Where does that time go?!

We're Back! Here's goshorty

and... I'm back!

Life got in the way. I left the daily grind in an office job for my first profession, teaching little kids. Then got pregnant, then had to leave teaching in a hurry when it was a threat that my son would arrive 13 weeks early. Then motherhood started...


So while I've been a stay-at-home-mum, I've also dragged out my sewing machine Naomi the Janome, dusted her off, and started creating! Rather than spending up large on gifts for friends' baby showers, I started sewing bibs and muslin wraps, and the more people saw them the more interest they got. People started ordering bibs and I decided that rather than just making them for nameless fun, why not get a label! So 'go shorty' was born.

The wee guy has been my #1 model for my own special design of seam-free fuss-free beanies, and has also been my product tester for booties, bibs, wraps and wipes. But I also got hooked on sewing little dresses - an updated pillowcase-style dress, and a tie-up reversible dress so far in the 'goshorty' collection. I'd be verrrry unpopular if the wee guy was a model for dresses so that's where my darling friends and their daughters come in. Thanks ladies!

More to come, watch this space!

Off to cut out parts for a sunhat for the wee guy. Bring on summer!

Some Like It Hot

I just read something on spices ...

I love cooking, I really do. And I am a self-confessed old-fashioned cook who HATES using packet mix, as you really don't know what you're putting into your food, and subsequently into your body. As a result I have rather an extensive collection of spices which have a rather eclectic bunch of best-before dates on them.

After reading this (see below) last night care of my FlyLady mailers that seldom get looked at, I had an amusing cleanout of my collection of spices so now nothing is kept if the best before date predates 2007.


The shelf life of spices are as follows:
Ground spices: 2 to 3 years
Whole spices - 3 to 4 years
Dried Herbs - 1 to 3 years

You may need some new spices if:
*The date stamp on the bottom of the jar was from when you were in high school
*The company who made the spice in the first place is out of business. Since 1980!
*The can is rusted and the label indistinguishable—you don't know what's in there.
*The label is missing so you smell it to identify it and can't!
*The smell of the spice smells oddly like the garage on a rainy day.
*You mistakenly grab ground ginger for white pepper and it didn't ruin what you were making because it had no flavor!

To keep spices fresh and nice, I will now attempt to buy only what I need and mark the bottom of the container with a Sharpie, indicating the date purchased.

Also I'd love to copy Donna Hay's idea of installing a magnetic knife wall thingie on the underside of a shelf, superglueing a metal washer to the top of the jar, and suspending the jars from the magnetic strip. Actually I'd love to copy everything by Donna Hay.


Oh and to explain the FoxyMoron, it comes from Kath & Kim, my favourite Aussie Dramedy / Mockumentary where they constantly muck up words and it cracks me up.

This desperate housewife is signing off.