Sweet {stall} success

I'm going to let you all in on a little secret. One week into a new routine and I've discovered that there is no such thing as a routine, especially in a family of five. Between physio appointments for various ailments affecting different people, bugs and such-like, it is still in a state of flux around here that I am really looking forward to the school holidays next week just for the chance to enjoy some of that boring predictability.

On the plus side, Aimee has settled into school with ease. Alarmingly so. This is the child who cried almost every day for 18 months when I dropped her off at kindy. I would have to extricate her little arms from around my leg and quite often not succeed so would resort to walking across the room John Wayne-styles with her koala-fied to my leg to get the help of a teacher. It's funny now but so unpleasant at the time. I braced myself for something similar to happen at school. I don't want to sound all glass half-empty, but the transition has been just a little too easy and I find myself wondering when the curveball is going to be thrown in my face and smash a couple of my perfect teeth. By the end of the day, I have one very tired little five year old but each morning, she is the first one dressed and ready to go get 'em again. I hope that enthusiasm continues.

You might be wondering how a parent who has no preschoolers at home fills her days. I say quite easily, thanks for asking. Especially when one of my children announces she is going to have a fundraiser to help raise money for the new school playground. Our slightly abridged conversation over breakfast one Friday morning went something like this:

Her: "Mum, I've got a meeting with the principal this morning".

Me (vaguely alarmed): "What for?"

Her: "I want to have a lolly stall to raise money for the new school playground".

Me (quietly impressed): "Oh, that's a good idea. When are you doing it?"

Her: "Tomorrow".

Bless her. We managed to reschedule a more achievable date, which was Election Day and then set about purchasing sweets and sourcing donated goods for our stall. After chatting to a few knowledgeable people within the school community, we were able to use some surplus cellophane bags, lollipops and treats left over from the school discos, which helped to minimize our expenses. My sister and her husband also very kindly contributed two tins of sweets they received from the current Resene paint promotion. We used them for a lolly jar competition, and it was a very popular addition to the stall. Thanks, sis *mwah*.

We woke on Election Day to the sound of hail hitting our roof, and the weather did not improve at all throughout the day so I was surprised (but glad) to see so many children out and about with their parents as they passed through on their way to the polling booth around the corner. I didn't even realize that my husband had taken this photo, but I am glad he did because it's the only one that shows our stall before it was pillaged.

A number of other stalls were lined up with us underneath the school verandah, including a sausage sizzle, bake sale and lemonade stand. We all managed to make a combined total of about $1200, which was such a great achievement given the terrible weather.

Leading up to the event, I spent a few days huddled over the kitchen bench with the curtains pulled in case Nigel Latta showed up making all kinds of treats from quite possibly the most versatile sweet of them all, the humble marshmallow. Some were successful and very quick to make, like the Hello Kitties. I stumbled across a blog that showed how easy and effective marshmallow flowers are to make. Instead of skewers, I used a fruit stick so the whole flower was edible. Once I started making them, I couldn't stop; these are very addictive.

We also made lolly necklaces, cars from Moro and Crunchie bars with edible axles and marshmallow wheels, Jaffa flowers and the girls sat down with a friend one afternoon after school and created monsters using different types of lollies joined together with toothpicks. They had unique painted facial features using food colouring. These were a surprise hit. The fact that each individual monster was concealed in a plastic egg was really appealing to other children and they quickly sold out. In fact, everything sold within a couple of hours despite the miserable weather so my husband gallantly made three trips home to whip up some more bags of treats to top up our stall.

I didn't stop to think about photographing the stall items so these are the ones that I took throughout the week with my phone. In fact, if it weren't for my husband and the school principal, we would not have even had a photo of the stall itself on the day.

This was most definitely a team effort, a fun family activity and a very important lesson for all of us to see exactly how much is involved in fundraising. The whole exercise was very worthwhile even just to see my excited daughter and her friend proudly marching into the school office earlier this week to hand over the proceeds. Plus, we made it into the school newsletter. Ticked that puppy off the bucket list.

Big Little Pixie Pants pattern and blog tour

This week is shaping up to be a goodie. I am one of several bloggers taking part in a week-long blog tour showcasing the latest children's clothing patterns from Lisa of Big Little. It is a good opportunity to discover other like-minded creatives - unless you're like me and following them already anyway. Even if you read nothing else I've written, be sure to read the last couple of paragraphs *eyebrow waggle*.

I've never met Lisa in person, but we share a love of beautiful fabrics and whimsical garments for children and if ever I could find as much beauty in the local secondhand stores as Lisa does with her thrift-shop finds, I'd be making many more garments out of refashioned clothing. As it is, I content myself with admiring her beautiful blog and the clothing she makes and sells in her store and on occasion, am lucky enough to test some of her patterns.

I have mentioned before that most of my girls' clothes are passed down to them from older cousins and so far, they are always excited to receive them. I do buy clothes when necessary, although nothing is more satisfying to me than being able to make something for them to wear. When I was invited to test the Pixie Pants pattern, I was quite excited firstly because I had a valid reason to eschew housework but also because I have never made pants before.

I know.

The pattern is easy to follow; it's a little like having Lisa right there next to you holding your hand which, for someone new to sewing pants, is quite reassuring. I would say a confident beginner would be able to tackle this with ease. To make these pants, I found that I actually had everything I needed in my sewing space, which is a rare thing. It made me realize that, while not very sexy, interfacing, white thread and 2.5cm elastic are quite important sewing supplies to have on hand, would you agree?When I cut out the pattern pieces, I had always intended for the scallop pattern on the fabric to align but it actually wasn't all that easy to achieve. Fortunately, due to the way the pants hang, it isn't all that obvious where the scallops don't line up.

I really love that the pants have pockets, because what little person doesn't like to stash their treasures? The contrasting fabric in the pockets is another detail that I really like on this pair, although there is the option to make them without pockets too.
All told, it took me an afternoon without children around to make these pants and I thoroughly enjoyed the process of putting them together. While they can be made from heavier fabrics for wearing in the cooler months, I opted to use a thin cotton fabric which makes them quite light and summery. Unlike Aimee's expression.
Thank you Lisa for allowing me to test the pattern for you. The pants are adorable and are a relaxed fit which is so important for my active child.

*LAST COUPLE OF PARAGRAPHS - Caution: may contain exciting, wet-your-pants information*

If you are eager to have a go at making a few pairs for your own children or other lucky little person in your life, you can enjoy 15% off the newly-released Pixie Pants and shorts variation in Lisa's store for the duration of the blog tour.  All you need is the coupon code PIXIEPANTS15, valid until Tuesday 23 September.Be sure to check back in on the Big Little blog next Tuesday for a giveaway too. I can't wait to see the other blog tour participants' versions. Tomorrow is the turn of a lovely fellow Kiwi blogger, Jenny at Mend and Make New, who not only makes cute clothes, but also really cute children. See you there.

Just for a bit more overkill, I am showing and telling at Leonie's this week.

Minnie Mouse birthday party

Thanks for your supportive comments on my previous post. Four days, one birthday party and one official kindergarten farewell later, I'm feeling bouncy again and thought you might like to see how the party went.

For months now, Aimee has been fixated on having a Minnie Mouse party for her fifth birthday. Being reticent about buying items months in advance to tie in with party themes because I know how fickle most children tend to be, I decided to wait until the week before her birthday to hunt for supplies in case she changed her mind. She never once wavered from her decision. This girl knows her mind and I should never doubt that.

Rather than go too crazy with purchasing licensed products which are ridiculously expensive, I opted for the simplicity of polka dots and incorporated that idea in the decorations and food. Fortunately, over the years, I have built up quite a supply of polka dot decorations and tableware that tied in nicely with her theme.

Pink paper lanterns were perfect to hang in the house and I bought a packet of white round stickers that the girls used to decorate our front door.

There were the odd nods to Minnie Mouse in the paper cups and I made the personalised labels on the glass jars using Picmonkey and a free Disney font. Mickey and Minnie also welcomed the guests from their spot at the head of the table. I have had those soft toys since I was a little girl when my sister brought them back from her trip to the States and Disneyland.

In all, nine kindy friends came to help Aimee celebrate and on their way in they were invited to help themselves to some mouse ears that they could take home with them afterwards.

The table was covered in a polka dot fabric that I bought a few months ago from Spotlight and it was laden with Aimee's favourite food - cupcakes, cheese balls, sushi, popcorn, marshmallows, oreo biscuits, grapes, carrot sticks and hummus and lemonade.

At Aimee's request, the cake was chocolate and covered in pink icing with polka dots made from fondant. The cake was polka dotty inside too - this is a variation of the coloured dots cake that was popular on the internet a couple of years ago. I made vanilla balls in muffin trays first and then when they were cooled off, put them in a cake tin and poured chocolate cake batter over it and cooked it again. There's always that moment when you cut into a cake that's meant to have a hidden surprise in it but it turned out well and it was really tasty too.

It rained the whole day but there was a little break in the weather that allowed us to get outside to smash the pinata. Two hours flies by in record speed when there are so many little energetic souls sapping you of your own life source. My older daughters were tasked with overseeing the other games of musical statues, duck, duck, goose and pass the parcel. Now that they are a little older, they relish being given some responsibilities, although I did add an extra couple of layers to pass the parcel in case they decided they weren't too big to join in after all.

Happy birthday Aimee. What a livewire you are. We always joke that you have two speeds - fast and asleep. You are so capable for one so young. My spirited daughter, we are never left in any doubt as to how you feel at any given moment. You are about to embark on a whole new stage of learning. It is bittersweet to see you grow up, but it is time for you to join your sisters at school and I know that with the right guidance, you are going to soar. We love you. Always and forever.

Reflections

All year, instead of feeling sadness in knowing I would no longer have any preschoolers in the house beyond September, all I had been feeling was excitement. Excitement for my daughter who has been waiting for so long to join her sisters at school; excitement at the adventures that she will no doubt experience there; the joy of being reunited with her kindy friends who have recently started school. There was nothing to look back and feel sad about. She has been ready to leave her kindergarten days behind for a little while now. We were both ready.

Until this moment today.

I was in the kitchen washing up from baking up a storm for Aimee's birthday party and I looked across to see her sitting, wordlessly, on her footstool. She was staring, full of anticipation, through the oven door at her birthday cake. Her five year old birthday cake. All these flashbacks of her started playing like a movie reel through my head. True story. It was ridiculous - I half-expected the Forrest Gump suite to start playing. I just wanted to run over to her, put my arms around her and say "You can't go. You are not ready". But that would have been too weird and she would have looked over my shoulder and asked who that strange man with no legs was in the corner and I would have had to say, "That's Lieutenant Dan, he's a good guy, despite appearances". She looked so small sitting there. I had to rush and grab my camera because all of a sudden, it was even more important to me that I remember her like this. Capturing her mannerisms and these beautiful, quiet moments that I have had my eyes closed to because I've been too busy making pointless vignettes on Instagram or deemed my house too messy to take a nice photo with a good angle and decent light, or because I have been preoccupied with trying to get children to where they are supposed to be on time (and mostly failing at that, thank goodness kindy had a relaxed attitude about it) and making sure they've done their homework (and not succeeding at that lately too, sorry Miss H. When Aimee is in your class, we'll be more organized. Promise).

Aimee often helps me bake but this was the first time she had ever pulled up a pew in front of the oven. There was something in the way that she was sitting there waiting patiently for her birthday cake to cook that made me realize that she knows this is a really big deal. She is going to be a schoolgirl and I won't have these days with her at home with me any more. Just us two. We've been sorting out some of her clothes and passing them on to her younger cousin who we visited the other day. She was wearing some of Aimee's cute old shoes and it struck me again that I had wished I'd have noticed more when my daughter wore cute things and why didn't I take more photos of her little feet?!

But, it'll be okay. She'll be okay. I'll be okay. I know this. Having two older sisters to watch out for her at school comforts me and my sadness will fade like it did after my eldest two started school.

Funny old thing this parenting lark, isn't it? It's full of milestones, ones you are pleased to reach and others that hurt the heart.

Sewing for Tweens: Ghastlie party dress

Lately, I find myself looking at my children and wondering where my babies went. The feeling is especially true for my eldest daughter. She turns nine in a few months, but strangers often mistake her for being a couple of years older. She's tall for her age, and has a maturity about her that I guess comes from being the eldest child. Even so, she's still a young girl who will happily wear clothes that I make for her and it makes my heart glad because I know that this may not always be the case. The challenge will be as she gets older to find the balance between what is age-appropriate versus what she will actually want to wear.

It has often been remarked upon that while there are so many girls' clothing stores, there seems to be not as many age-appropriate clothing options for girls in the 9-13 year old age bracket. My sisters also take a more conservative approach to dressing their daughters which has been such a blessing because the clothes are invariably passed down to us.

Still, it is always nice to have something new every now and then and so it was that I embarked on this sewing project for Sienna last weekend. She selected the fabrics and I looked online for some tween dress inspiration. This polka dot dress with a bit of a rock-n-roll flavour popped up. I was immediately interested in the shape of it and showed it to Sienna, who also really liked it, so that formed the basis for her latest dress.

The fabrics are a black and white stylized print that looks like a Maori koru motif and a slightly subversive Alexander Henry print from the Ghastlies collection. The Ghastlie family have been around for several years and this piece of fabric is from the 2011 series. It had been in my stash for quite a while just biding time until a suitable project came along. I think as my daughters get older, these kinds of prints will become even more popular with them. Some of the facial features are quite menacing especially to younger children like Aimee, who doesn't like the fabric at all but to an older child, the fact that it is slightly spooky and off-beat is part of the appeal. This will be the perfect Halloween party dress.

When we looked at the polka dot dress, the two aspects that appealed to me most were the use of piping and the pockets. I think that by incorporating both of these factors in my version they help to balance out the quite dark mood of the print and keep the dress playful and fresh.

I headed to the blog expecting a detailed tutorial, but found that the instructions assume that the reader has some knowledge of dress construction which meant that I had to rely on what I remembered about making a lined bodice several years ago. I basically resorted to fumbling my way through all the steps, which is fine if you have the time and patience, but I really wanted to whip it up quickly. This is not one of those dresses. There's maths involved, people. There's understitching and adding a zip to a lined bodice, plus handmade piping on this baby, so there are more steps than a Rocky Balboa movie.

Maybe someone has made a dress exactly like this with a free pattern and accompanying tutorial out there somewhere in blogland and I suffered unnecessarily? Anyway, the pain of constructing this dress is really worth it, I think.

Often when I sew without a pattern, there is a lot of unpicking as I am terrible at calculating and pattern drafting in general and I just wing things. I found it to be true for this dress, as I made the bodice too small (I forgot to add seam allowances for the zip - oh, and for the whole bodice) so it's a snug fit. All it means is that Sienna will likely only get a season's wear from it, but that's why I have two other daughters, right? So they can capitalize on their mother's sewing mistakes. I imagined the dress to have a nice, full skirt like the one in the inspiration photo but realized quite late in the process that I had nowhere near enough fabric to make a circle skirt or any kind of full skirt. In the end, I had to settle for one much straighter than I would have liked.

Such a shame because a flared skirt really would have won it for me. With one change in the "plan" (the one that is written in my head), it follows that more allowances needed to be made elsewhere. The hemline was originally going to hit around knee-length, but the straighter style meant that it needed to be shorter to give greater ease of movement. I can't see Sienna doing cartwheels in it, but at least she will be able to run more freely with the hemline at a shorter length.

Are you sick of all the photos yet? Can you tell I am proud of the dress? And of my daughter, but that goes without saying.

Just one more image of how Sienna decided to accessorize the outfit. Love it. Love her. Do you think that I will need to make some new leggings for her?

If you have reached the end of this blog post, well done, now you feel how I did when I finished making the dress. Slightly ragged and a little more aged but pleased to get there in the end. Now go forth and make something. I'll see you over at Leonie's for Show and Tell on Thursday.

My fears (or one of them) laid bare

Having grown up on a farm, I like to think I was raised to live harmoniously with all kinds of creatures but I have never quite been able to overcome my fear of anything with more than four legs. We're pretty lucky in this country that we have very few venomous creatures - and two of our three dangerous spiders hitched a ride over here from our sharing, caring neighbour, Australia.  We have the native katipo, redback and the whitetail spiders, which are all relatively small spiders on the size scale of scariness. So, my rationale is that because they have no other effective means of protection to repel predators, some of our native creepy crawlies are so ugly and grow to insane sizes just to freak us all out instead. Huhu beetles? Wetas? I wet my pants - I mean, I rest my case. Imagine how I'd go in Australia with all its poisonous snakes and spiders and Tony Abbott.

Then I read this week about the discovery of a tunnel web spider that was reportedly as large as a man's hand. I initially dismissed it as being just one more valid reason to avoid the Wairarapa (jokes, I love the 'Rapa), when I read further that this spider lives happily in the ground NATIONWIDE.

They say it is harmless, but I'd quietly disagree. Look at the size of it, that thing'll gnaw your face off. It's very weird though, even though I feel so repulsed by these kinds of creatures, they also intrigue me. In the interests of research, I googled this spider and learned that it is related to tarantulas and the deadly Australian funnel-web spider, so it's got some fairly decent genes.

I felt certain that I would have nightmares about one of those things finding its way into my bedroom as I have this recurring nightmare where a spider is slowly lowering itself from the ceiling on its thread and I wake up just before it drops onto my face and I do this awesome spider-evading ninja move with my whole entire body that wakes my husband up. It feels so real to me that I have to get him to turn on the light to check if there is something on the bed. I am officially a nut-case.

I haven't had a nightmare this week, but reading the article transported me back to the time when a little friend came to visit and decided to play hide and seek in my bra while I was in the shower. Funny game, weta. So funny.

When I felt it against my skin, that bra came undone quicker than a politician's promise. This all happened four years ago. I'm not traumatized by the experience at all.

I took some photos to prove to my husband that I was actually attacked by a weta the size of one of Saturn's moons and had to wrestle it to the ground before I: A) dealt to it with one of his shoes and staked it to my front door as a warning to all its spiky-legged relatives or B) calmly released it back into the bush depending on whether or not you are a Department of Conservation employee. Or you are this guy:

Have yourselves a happy spider-less and weird bugs-as-accessories people-free weekend, Moonies.

Crochet ice-cream fairy doll and two important lessons

Wellington has the best weather. Said no-one ever. The cold bite of winter has finally hit us with full force and its arrival coincided with the last week of the mid-year school holidays so instead of just being miserable outside, we could all be miserable together inside as well. Thank goodness for loom bands and children that like to craft and watch lots of telly.

Aimee has always been quite the keen artist and the walls in our house bear proud testament to that. Especially at about Aimee height. Ahem. Lately she has been producing some really imaginative pictures where I can actually tell what they are instead of having one of those awkward conversations where I pretend to know exactly what she's drawn and she looks at me all indignantly because I guessed incorrectly.

One drawing she made for me in the holidays was so cute that the moment I saw it, a picture popped into my head of how it might look as a crochet doll. This is Aimee's picture of an ice-cream fairy:

There is so much to love about it. She chose the yarn colours and I spent a day cobbling it together with the help of this crochet ice-cream tutorial. I posted an image of the work in progress on Instagram and this is how it ended up:

You're in luck, this girl doesn't mind being photographed from behind.

All the while, Aimee's older sisters and she would come over to where I was working and see it taking shape and offer lovely words of encouragement. Yet, I could never have imagined how much Aimee would love it once it was finished.

I see all the flaws and the things that could be tweaked to make it look better and the hair that could be much more 'tamed', but Aimee loves it just the way it is, and isn't that a great lesson? To love wholly and completely in spite of any imperfections, both real and imagined?

I received a lovely comment on Instagram that praised my mothering efforts. I was so touched to read that because there are days when I feel like I get it all terribly wrong. Like this shining parenting moment in the holidays that my little artist also captured. It's fairly certain that no crochet dolls will be resulting from this picture.

Evidently, I must have some major anger side-effect issues that make not only my arms fall off but those of the child being disciplined. Or maybe it's a super power because it's a mighty fine excuse to not do any housework or cooking. Every picture of a sad child must also have at least one caricature of a smirking sibling enjoying the verbal tug-of-war. The thing is, I don't even remember what I was angry with her for and I bet she doesn't either, if you asked her. I might have missed the whole point of the picture. I haven't really. I will do my best to make sure that when I next convey my displeasure to one of my children that at the very least, my feet will be pointing in the right direction.

Let that be a lesson to us all.

Joining in with another fairy this week over here.