SHARING THE GOODNESS

It's a bit of a cheat's post, this one. I thought I would share with you a few of the sites I love to visit for inspiration and just to see some gorgeousness.

Children's Wear
meli meli - beautiful children's wear
room seven - more beautiful children's wear
flora and henri even more childrens's wear (found via Jane and the Ducks)

Children's Activities
kids craft weekly
wondertime - found via soule mama, Kate enjoyed some of their printables during Ed's nap time today
little elephants
playground finder - for those of you in Australia, this is a great site

Blogs
Some blogs that aren't on everyone's bloglines (or at least most of the ones I read):
how about orange - wow, this girl is generous with her tutorials, ideas and links.
absolutely beautiful things - I love all that style, her links to other beautiful websites and the time she spends sourcing it all.

And, speaking of sharing, I would love your tips and advise. Our family is visiting my parents in England later this year. We are also spending three weeks driving around France; Bordeaux, Loire Valley and then.... five days in Paris WITHOUT THE KIDS. I would love any suggestions you have to offer on travelling with kids (long haul), travelling around France and lastly Paris. My parents are taking care of planning our activities whilst in England. We are all getting very excited

ONE OF FOUR

A little while ago, I mentioned that I had agreed to co-ordinate the design and construction of four quilts for our kindergarten. One for each group, all to be auctioned at our trivia night in August.

Our first quilt is complete. I assembled the top of this quilt quite early in the scheme of it all. A grandma of one of our families then offered to quilt it. I am so happy with the result. Really, a simple stitch in the ditch would have sufficed, but she has done some lovely applique and stitching patterns. And, she even bound it for us!



The inspiration for the quilt came from this quilt by Monica of Quilt while your ahead. I loved the way that the random scattering of red and orange stood out on the neutral background. With all of the colours I have chosen for the quilts I have tried to use colours that many people could put in their homes. I envisioned the quilts being folded over the corner of a lounge in a family room, hung on the wall of a playroom or put over the end of a bed. I have tried not to make any of them too girly.



I am so pleased to have one finished. Another two are well on their way. There is a sewing bee at my house next Monday for the last one. The response for help throughout the kinder community has been wonderful and has made the task so much more reasonable. I will keep you posted as the others are completed.

HAPPY CHOOKS MAKE...

...eggs.

Ella was down with the chooks when Milly laid her first egg. As you can imagine there was much excitement.

I have had this lovely nest for a while and have been trying to source some special eggs to put in it. What could be more special than our very own, first eggs. I blew out the eggs, an idea I read on a blog; somewhere. (I am sorry if it was your idea, I promise I have searched to find out where I read it - oh I hate that) .

So we all enjoyed the egg for breakfast, yes it was a small portion each, and we still have the shell to keep. Kind of like keeping your baby teeth.

And that's enough about our chooks for now. I promise. I won't bore you with anymore farmyard antics. Back to the regular crafting and sewing updates from now on. I can't promise that you won't see the odd chook in the background of a photo though. They are free-range after all.

And thanks for all of the lovely comments about the nighties. They are so snugly and warm

P.S. If the egg blowing was your idea, please email me and I will edit the above. And, by the way, thank you.

WE ALL LOVE ELLA!

My husband bought these two CD's for Ella's birthday. How could he resist the first one?...even if is was just for the cover. Gorgeous jazz music.


The other is a kids CD put out by Putamayo. Putamayo is a music store in New York. They put together compilations of world music. The company's motto is "guaranteed to make you feel good". We already have one of their other CD's. This one is made for kids. Little kids and big kids alike will love it. Our whole family was dancing around the lounge room the first night that we brought it home. It has very catchy tunes, a blues version of Old MacDonald, and lots of songs for harmonising to (not that I can, but I do like to try!)

And look, that's Kate in her nightie, gumboots and jacket, giving the chooks their porridge for the morning. Chooks like porridge you know!

MEET MILLY AND HARRIET

We would like you to meet the two new additions to our family; Harriet and Milly. The papa of the house has been building a portable hen house for a few weekends now. Today it finally got some occupants.

All three kids were very excited and I don't think those chooks have known what has hit them. Edward followed them around all day, cross country through the garden, bluestone and all. Thankfully the chooks are faster...at the moment.
This is Harriet, she is Ella's.



This is Milly, yes she is running.


This is their home. Not bad for a suburban backyard.


We are looking forward to our first organic, fresh layed eggs.

OLD FASHIONED GOODNESS

When I was a little girl I used to wear long flannelette nighties. I remember twirling through the house with my nightie billowing, I remember curling my legs up underneath, all snug and cosy. Now with my own little girls, my mum and I have discovered that these nighties aren't around anymore.

In fact, when we looked, we couldn't even find a nice pattern to make them. So, my mum drafted one and she has now made two nighties for each of my girls.

This set was finished whilst she was here last. It has taken me a few weeks to put the buttons on and take some photos.

The first set of nighties were made just from pale pink flannelet. It was quite hard to find a simple little floral. This time we found this gorgeous print. It is so sweet.

Pintucks, peter-pan collars and puff sleeves - what more could a little girl ask for.

KEEPING TIME

As I have mentioned previously, my parents live in England, near Cambridge to be exact. They moved from Australia last year. I am not too good at remembering exactly what time it is over there. I was alright at first, but then England stopped daylight savings, we started and I haven't been able to remember ever since.

To solve this little dilemma we now have two clocks in our kitchen. The big clock keeping our time and the little one keeping their time. I love it because I think of them all the more often now.




Speaking of time, this weekend marked the beginning of our winter holidays. We began by celebrating Ella's seventh birthday. Just a few of her best friends for a little sleepover, a game of bowling, a bit of chocolate cake, nail painting and general girly goodness. She had a ball. I am a little weary but was glad to see her so happy. We are looking forward to a lazy two weeks with social catch-ups, kiddie craft and best of all, sleepy mornings.