A few photos...

Boo came in from the dress-up box looking like this -


We went camping for a few weeks over Christmas. We spent most of the time at the beach, surfing, swimming, eating, making sand castles and just generally enjoying the sunshine.



One of the parks we stayed in had a simple rope flying fox which we would like to copy at home. The kids played on it for hours.

While the girls were playing on the flying fox, Boo was over near the tree doing the haka. It was so funny to watch. I'm not sure if he was trying to scare the girls away or impress them.

Parry's has a little rockpool which is sheltered from the wind and the big waves. It is definitely a camping spot that we'll continue to go back to no matter the season. It had something for everyone.

DragonGirl and Boo were rolling down the sand dunes and thoroughly enjoyed getting covered in sand and then running out to the ocean and washing off.

We've been picking apricots, plums, figs, boysenberries, strawberries and apples from the garden. We also have cabbages, pumpkins, watermelons and tomatoes that are close to eating.

Our sunflowers are in full bloom.

My First Market Stall!

I did it! Ten days of sewing from early morning until late at night. Ten days of not seeing many people, not gardening (something I normally do for hours a day) and getting blisters on my fingers from hand sewing. Ten days of DD and DS asking me to do the usual things we do together and me having to say no.

Summed up that way it sounds like a terrible experience but it wasn't. I feel expanded, stretched and I've learnt a lot. When I went to bed last night I said to DH, 'tomorrow I don't want to see a needle, touch material other than the clothes I'm wearing or eve go into the sewing room. And yet, this morning I woke up with designs rolling around my head and wanting to go op-shopping to find some more material.

I had limited time, so kept things very simple. Next time I want to embellish more, have more variety and do the things I would have liked to this time. I think I need to get a logo, design a simple website and make up some business cards. I also want to make my stall more pretty. I'm thinking sheets from the op-shop turned into corner curtains (like a 4-poster bed) and some dangly bits from the roof. And a banner would be great.

I shared the stall with my step-father who is a painter which was a relief because it meant I didn't need a huge amount of stock, but next time I'll have more room for things. The business cards as tags that Belinda from Spiral Garden suggested worked very well.



Some things that I made were -

The ring slings

Cloth pads

Play mats

that turn into little bags

Felt crowns

And colourful overalls

I covered my costs and made a small profit (under $100) but I'm happy with that for a first time. My biggest fear was that I wouldn't sell anything!

A local shop has put in an order for 5 ring slings, the cloth pads, hoodies and the overalls. I am sooooo excited.