applehead

hurry, hurry, hurry....

Soon to be covered in this long hoarded piece of barkcloth...

Better get a move on or else I'll spend an awful amount of time sitting in a very bright orange chair.

one cross goblin....

Ever since I finished this zine, Rose has been busy with her own book...I finally finished scanning and colouring the images for her, so that she could add the text.

(I'm just a little bit proud....)

Japanese mail....

A wonderful surprise parcel from Alex in Japan....Pocky, two Japanese craft books and the wool ( and pattern) to make this beret which I once admired on her blog! Lucky me ( I really must finish the baby's blanket before I  indulge in crocheting myself the beret...)

And for those of you who have asked, a look at the 34 and a half weeks in progress project....not the best shots but it's a lot harder than I thought taking pictures of your own belly! ( The haircut only happened last night- usually I cut off all my hair at about week 16- I just got so bored with pulling it back .Time for a change!)

All goes well although I have reached the stage where Charlotte stopped growing. So it's weekly foetal heart rate monitoring and regular scans for me to keep an eye on things. So really , it could be anytime from now on depending on the scan results.
Oh well, my bag is packed even if the blanket is only halfway there....by all accounts she is going to be on the small size so maybe half a blanket will do!

chocolate free eggs...

( not that I have anything against the chocolate variety...)

Baby update: 5 weeks to go!

potted rabbit

because my two girls really needed another soft toy....

just in time for Easter.

details: pure wool blanketing, vintage linen and embroidery.

elf girl

"mama, can I please have a nightcap?"

Once I had established that Rose was after a pointy kind of hat such as you might wear to bed, as opposed to a scotch and ice after dinner,I went on the hunt for a pattern. Amanda over at Zhinka dinka doo has a pattern for an 'Elfin cap" that was just the thing (thank you Amanda!).
It only took a few evenings to complete using Jo Sharp Dk merino wool and the magic loop method on a size 4.5mm ( size 8) circular.

Now Charlotte is asking where her hat is....
Looks like the baby's crochet blanket will have to wait a bit longer.

(So glad to see that the odd sock soup'  mini zine is turning up in letter boxes all over the world...thank you for all of the feedback!)

my small space....

I needed to send Pip a photo of my workspace for her in -the- works-book project.
Yes, well......
Now usually when people come to visit, I make a point of keeping the door to my 'office' shut. It's not so much that I am a messy person - it's just the that the amount of stuff in there far exceeds the actual space available to store it neatly.

Add to that the fact that when we moved in over three years ago, I was about 33 weeks pregnant with Charlotte ( who then arrived at 36 weeks) so I wasn't really able to sort it all out to begin with. It is really only in the last month that I have found the time to start organising it a little more efficiently. Basically this meant pulling it all out and then putting it all back in ( less quite a few boxes that went off to the op shop.)
I really should have taken a before photo but didn't bother as I knew I would never post it for all to see ( and be horrified by) anyway!

So all you get to see is the after....

almost a cat...

I bought this book more than a year ago and worked diligently until I had finished all bar one leg. And the poor thing has languished in the bottom of the workbox ever since. I just couldn't face doing any more of this blanket last night (especially as the lovely Alex over  moonstitches thinks that the stitch pattern I have chosen actually does tend to develop a bit of a lean...I knew I should have asked for advice before I ripped back two thirds of a finished blanket! You live,you learn I guess!)
So here finally is Amineko, admittedly still in many pieces, but at least complete in that all of his body parts are done. I'm hoping that I'll summon up enough energy to stuff and sew him together tonight.
I'm not even sure who he will end up with ( I suspect Charlotte, who has been a little cross about the number of things that I have been making for the baby.And then of course Rose will wonder what I might be be making next for her.....)

Incidentally if you want to make one of these cuties,just click here  for the link to the authors website. She has very kindly posted the pattern in both Japanese and English.
Sort of wish I had known that before I had finished grappling with the charts and instructions in Japanese.....

ready to post.....

Off to Japan, USA,UK,Switzerland,Portugal,Canada, The Netherlands,Israel,Finland, New Zealand,New Caledonia and of course all over Australia.
I love snail mail...hope you enjoy finding these in your mailbox, where ever you are!
All feedback encouraged and most welcome.
( For those of you who want to take a look at the illustrations, you can find them all here on Flickr)

8th March....Thanks for the great response. All of the mini zines are now spoken for...only did an edition of 50 (quite enough folding and stapling for the present!)  so if you missed out, sorry!

odd sock soup....

I finally finished the artwork for my mini- zine...scanning and printing is all completed and its ready to be folded  and stapled. I used the instructions from this book to make an instant zine - fast, easy and light to mail.

So, if you asked for a copy, it should be on its way to you at the end of this week ( if you asked but haven't sent me your mailing address, please do!). It's not very big...a little bit of drawing, a little bit of collage and a very little bit of text! Shouldn't take more than a minute or so to read but hopefully a minute that you will enjoy!