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Twelve in a tub

I've been chipping away on these twelve toys for a while now, and am so happy to see them all finished. They will soon be relocating to the wonderful Mahar Drygoods. There's some closer shots of the litter here. They are all perched in our new toy holder of the moment, the Trug Tub. I love these things. If finances allowed I'd ditch every wicker toy basket in the house for more of these beauties.

Aside for a couple that have already been promised, this will be the last of this style of monkey I'm going to make for a long, long while. We need a rest from each other, and there's so much else I really want to do... so, for a while, the monkey gets it!

Anyhow, now it's time to do some major catching up with some swaps and emails that have been waiting for far too long. Also well overdue is a big thankyou for your lovely birthday wishes to Audrey last week. She managed to drag out her birthday celebrations well over a week (a bit of a family tradition, that).

White

This week I've been working on this pile of cats & monkeys for Mahar Drygoods. This cat is the first one finished. Audrey decided that he should be called MacDonald, and after a moment of horror (how does she know about that place?!?!) I realised that she meant the farmer. Phew. Must be the overalls.

Here's one for corners of my home. I picked up the footed bowl at the op-shop for $10 this week. More than I'd usually pay, but I do love it. Matt has had the last few days off work, and on one of them he painted our front room milky white, so that's the backdrop to the bowl. My life doesn't really look like this, or at least it only looks like this very rarely, and in small areas, up high out the way of small hands and the clutter of life. I'm pretty sure I could never live in an always tidy, minimalist home - for reasons of practicality and laziness - so the odd corner here & there suits me just fine. Happy weekend, friends!

Park life

We struck it lucky with some beautiful summery weather on Sunday for Audrey's birthday shindig. I totally let the side down with the camera, though, so there aren't many good shots of the day. The pig cupcake idea is from last year's Donna Hay kids. I also made some monkey cupcakes, which were a bit melty and wonky by the time I got around to taking a photo. The kids all had a ball, though, and ended up covered in sand and sticky fruit ice blocks. We spent yesterday (her actual birthday) recovering and pottering around the house with visits from family, and a special birthday cupcake for dessert. Hard to believe our Auds is three! So grown up but still so wee. My dearest delight is watching her grow into such a bright, energetic, talkative, funny little girl. With a fondness for potty humour that even outstrips that of her parents. Happy birthday, sweetheart.

Little boxes

Audrey turns three next week. Although I may grow to regret this statement later in life (or even later next week) - I love kid's parties. Love 'em. Especially the preparation, and baking bits. That being said, we obviously really want to mark the occassion, but need it to be a fairly low key event this year. So we're of to the local park on Sunday with a small band of family and friends. I had a fun hour of shopping at the $1 shop the other day collecting bits & pieces to go in some party favour bags, and yesterday we put them all together. We didn't want to go overboard on the sugar, so I consulted the great list of party favour ideas over at Kiddley. In addition to a couple of chocolate coins, some dinosaur jubes and a lollypop, each box also contains a little pad of paper for drawing, a cool 'bendy' pencil (4 for 75 cents!), some bubbles, stickers and one of those curly paper whistle things (do they have a name?) Everything was bought in bulk and inexpensively. I would have liked to have put some handmade stuff in there, but maybe next year. Most importantly, the almost 3 year old loved making them. Next up... the baking. Happy Friday, all!

wips of all kinds

I'm still here! The change of seasons has bought a lot of changes around here. We're spending lots of time outside, digging in the garden (or rather, digging up weeds), and planning some alterations to our house. My head is spinning with new projects (garden! kitchen! shades of white paint to choose!), all of which need to be planned and carefully thought out... when all I really want to do is jump right in and start them all right now. I love to plan, but my impatient nature really gets the better of me at times like this.

And then there's the toys. I finished Snowdrop bunny (up top) for an order last week. Also in slow progress is this pile of monkeys and kittens, waiting to be turned inside out, stuffed and dressed, and sent on their merry way to Mahar Drygoods. Once they're done, I need to finish my Morphe entry. And then? I'd love to get back on track with Audrey's quilt, make some new cushion covers, and try my hand at this sun hat for Audrey (via Whip Up). Lordy, are you still with me? Thankyou for reading my to-do list. Back very soon.

First weekend of Spring

We painted our toes. (Mine are the large flourescent white feet). And went to the beach.

Where we saw whales jumping (!) from the water. They come to this particular stretch of coastline every year to have their babies and hang out in the shallow water. It was the stuff of nature documentaries. Us adults oohed and aaahed at every show of fin. And the toddlers? Watched for a few minutes and headed off for the rock pools.

Saturday saw a trip to the royal show to see the baby animals, and ride a carousel.

And then home to again admire this much treasured parcel of fabric sent last week by a dear friend. (Thankyou so much again!)