The view from one of my favourite sneaky resting points around the house. I look at these door frames a lot.
Last night's project...

Archie puzzling away his itchy hours.

Poor old Arch, the chicken pox have truly settled in with lots and lots of itching particularly late at night and early in the morning. Thank goodness for pinetarsel baths and calamine lotion. We seem to have boxes full of lego in our house so the special treat box is down from the top of the cupboard and Archie has spent hours trawling through it making all sorts of discoveries (including a fantastic but slightly incomplete puzzle set that we have been working our way through). All kind of cozy in a very exhausting way. Hope you are all well and not dotty. Love Kate xxooxxooxx.

Stanley at the Auction.

A new pincushion - the pattern came from one of Mum's more recent magazines. I will ask her to put the details into her next post.
Finally some flowers in my pots... self-sown from last year's batch.

One of Stanley's ancestors.

Unfortunately I have no photos of Stanley (let alone Jonno and myself) at the ball but I thought I had better tell you his results... $115! He ended up being at the centre of a furious bidding war between two men... That Stanley! I tell you, he enjoyed every minute.

This week will be a quiet one. Archie has come down with a very convincing case of the chicken pox so we are staying very close to home. I managed to duck out quickly to the vegetable shop and have been cooking up a storm before all of his pox become too itchy - the calm before the storm. So at the moment, I have a lamb shank casserole slowly simmering alongside a beef and red wine stew and a chicken soup. Wahoo for nutrients. Anyhoo, I had better go and do some stirring. Love Kate xxooxxooxx.

Bye Bye Stanley.

Stanley and the paintings have been delivered to the hall in order to be auctioned (silently) at tonight's school ball. He looked so handsome and nonchalant as he placed him carefully on the goods table.
This is what I am working on for fun at the moment - little blossoms. I'll write more about these at a later date.
Hugo snuggling up under his blanket watching Saturday morning cartoons.

And some fabric waiting for me to transform it into large cushion covers for an old couch. I might let that wait until next week though. Today the sewing machine will be busy making adaptations to my Bollywood outfit for tonight...

P.S. I have just been told that Stanley has already had the first bid of the auction by one of the mothers involved with setting up the hall. How exciting!

Filling Pidgeon Holes.

My new desk arrived yesterday - an old rimu postmaster's desk.

One day when homework starts to become a huge thing, I will have to pass it on to Archie. But for the moment, it is all mine to fill with as I see fit.
I love their way of sorting - k. with l. brilliant.
Stanley and his friends were star gazing last night. Sadly they all became stuck in the same position.

Hugo's space. He needed to have a green room - simply needed to.

And I was more than happy with that.

Love Kate, xxooxxooxx.

Stanley the Rabbit.

Stanley's friends - Florence is still waiting for her face.

Stanley and the two paintings (well one painting and one paper collage) are all ready for the school ball auction. I don't know if you can read Stanley's label but it says "Hello, my name is Stanley. I like to listen to music and drink milkshakes". It has taken me quite a while to get the pattern right and I think I am almost there. Maybe in another twenty or so rabbits.

And a little peek into the laundry. The yellow is a bit washed out in this photo - it is much richer and I love how it contrasts with the pink in the laundry. My first real, grownup laundry. There is even an extra toilet in it! I'm thinking a chandelier might work well in there too...

Rabbits and Home.

This morning I am feeling more than a little nostalgic as I have been sorting through my photos from Australia. I am so settled living in New Zealand but it is heartbreaking to leave my niece and nephews behind when I say goodbye. Last time I was over (nearly a year ago) my second tiniest niece wasn't speaking and now she tells jokes and stories (her hands are pictured holding the rabbits made while I was in Australia) and her delicious big brother is now 'a big grade one boy'. My older nephews are doing interesting things like learning flute and cello and reading wonderful books that I love as well... Ouch it hurts.

However, after moving 16 times by the time I was 24, I think this stop in New Zealand is it for me, for a long time to come anyway. Our house is finally finished after nine years of working on it bit by bit and as far as the boys are concerned, it's their womb (mine too).

This week I thought I would focus on showing you corners of our house and what it means to me. In the meantime, enjoy the photos of the rabbits - I have now finished working out my ultimate crochet rabbit pattern and will show you photos of the final version early in the week. Take care and snuggle up in the sun (if it's sunny) or by the fire (if it's cold outside and not actually your house burning up). Love Kate xxooxxooxx.

P.S. I think my Mum is going through a similar withdrawal at the moment too. Go over and say hello if you can.

So... who wants to see the new room?

It is so clean I am a little confused. It looks like grown ups live here. Yesterday morning there was only mess... and today this. I keep popping in to make sure it is still there. Pinch me - but only lightly because I really don't like pain.

Home Again!

I am home again, very tired and in one piece. I can't wait to catch up on all of the blogging news and I have lots of photos to show you but in the meantime I will leave you with these little rabbits who were born while I was in Australia. xxooxxooxx.

A Bit of a Treat.

I am away for a few days, flying over to Melbourne for a family wedding... on my own. Jonno will be busy looking after the farm and the boys will be tucked up with Gran and Poppa getting lots of love and spoiling (in the best possible way). I am now at the stage where I have to finish off the packing in the morning. So... a very early night for me. Take care and I will have lots to post about next week! xxooxxooxx.

Sunday Morning...

I finished the border on Hugo's blanket last night and slipped it onto his bed while he was sleeping. It was just so lovely to see the boys snuggling together underneath it this morning as they filled up on early morning cartoons.

I will save the big reveal for during the week. May you find your Sunday morning filled with cosy moments like this too.

Yellow.

I love yellow. It gives life and warmth and joy. But it can be a difficult colour to use, particularly in a house. A smallish yellow room is always cosy, however, a big long room... not so much. So instead we have painted the french doors and bottom trim (as it travels around the room and up over the white doors) Sunbound yellow. Frank the Painter finished today and it looks like magic. The perfect living room for a big, blue couch... when the flooring, glass block windows and lighting are done... Wahoo.

A few colourful bits.

You have to love it when paper stamps cut through wads of tissue paper with a whacking great guillotine whomp.

Rather than beginning to wind Hugo's blanket down, I am becoming more and more drawn into the border. There is so little thought needing to go into it, just double crochet after double crochet (or triple if you are English).

Nothing is going particularly right in the painting section of my life so I will show you a couple of little bits instead.

The edge finished of the big painting - now it is ready to go into the school auction. Charitable works for year - tick (although it never stops just at that does it???).

All is well in the house of the big blue couch. Children have recovered from mid-winter lurgies and I am sure a few good nights' sleep will take my glands back down to normal size. The painting is forging ahead full steam in the new room although the Sulphur yellow has been slightly toned down to Turbo (more yellow and less orange).

I am so weired and strung up on colours being just right I couldn't sleep last night but I am sure all of you out there are the same being bloggy/crafty people. I know there is a whole world beyond my house at the moment with all sorts of terrible and wonderful things happening but still, I will have to be looking at that yellow for quite some time to come.

Couch Snuggling...

Archie was sick over the weekend and while he is now much recovered, he it still very pale around the gills and is so, staying at home today. We had a quick trip into town this morning getting lots of jobs done and included a trip to the wool shop so I can spend a bit of time on the couch snuggling with the boys and crocheting this afternoon.

With Archie's throat as sore as 'Dandelion Fire' (the book we have just finished reading), we have had lots of ice cream and lemonade spiders over the weekend. They are an amazing bit of chemistry aren't they. Maybe not very nutritional but certainly educational... so I tell myself.

Off to watch 'Planet 51' and 'Astro Boy'. Where is that hook...