Friday, December 29, 2006






i got another package from my SECRET PAL!!!! some beautiful silk blend chenille, which i 've never seen- and silk blend multi colored yarn that feels really beautiful ! both from JAPAN - really cool and some LUSH angel yumy um soap!!! and best of all some yellow cotton for the baby!! that will be my next project!!! thank you , secret pal for oyur thoughtful presents!!!!!!

here is an update of my projects so far this week- i haven't been as productive as i would have liked.. even though i 've been off for 5 days!! today i WILL be more productive..i need to finish covering the million cushions in the lounge ( that's what they call a living room here) and the sheer curtains in the baby /spare room - and some other long lingering nesting projects.

one finished peg doll .. and the puchicollective bendy kitty- for our niece ruth ..
and some embroidered onesies for Leonie's expected in june baby -- a Maori design koru/tewhaiwhai and a fern ( which is like a NZ national symbol).. ..

hopefully i'll post more progression later .....

Tuesday, December 12, 2006




here they are clothes peg dolls!!

they aren't done yet-

stage one





BAKE- a-THON
i made noreweign
x-mas bread- YULEKAKA -yulekake... though it didn't come out like Mom's - it still was good .... toasted with butter.....

and then i made blueberry muffins on Sunday-- and they were really yummy -and bad for you ...i really wanted to make the crumbl-y top kind of muffin-which is pure butter- sugar and flour-totally fattening !!

i am not sure if it 's being pregnant , but i am sooo into baking right now!!!! next week - X-mas cookies..i am thinking gingerbread . my friend's daughter wanted to bake together - i think ginger bread and decorating would be really fun!

i started to make some peg/clothespin dolls too for my little nieces and cousins-- -this first batch might be for my girlfriends -- they are more like 1920's tarts! they aren't done yet, i still have to dress them.... i painted on underwear, needed to let the first layer dry and add some more details ... and i want to make some hula peg /clothespin dolls too.
they are so much fun! this is stage one - i 'll post more as i progress

looking forward to our 2 week holiday off from work --only one and a half weeks to go!!! we aren't doing anything special this year for the holidays... i am going to miss not going home. hopefully i 'll get to do lots of sewing and making things ......

the pregnancy is going well, i went swimming again today and went for an hour long walk yesterday ,which by the end of it was getting a little tired. i really want to keep exercising .. .it's hard to keep motivated.... 3 more weeks til the 3/d ultrasound! i am so excited !!!

can't seem to upload pics of dolls-will do it tomorrow


Wednesday, December 06, 2006






















Summer is here and so are the berries. yesterday at the grocery store , i bought some blackberries and raspberries.. and today a guy from a near by berry farm came by to sell these beauties- which are beautiful and perfect AND delicious.. the punnets were full -i ate half the amount WAS in them..... i am making smoothies every morning with yogurt, bananas, berries, apple juice and flax seed oil ( to make the baby's brain smart!hahhah)
i love berries!!!!
this is a little Maori doll that my friend Maraea gave me today!!! ( she's the one who gave us the x-mas tree too!) isn't this a great doll ???- she has a moko - tattoo on her chin and greenstone - pounamu hei tiki on her neck and korowai /cloak with REAL feathers...she is beautiful. i named her Princess Puawai.. she makes me happy.
i want to make some blueberries muffins!!

Tuesday, December 05, 2006















I couldn't upload these for some reason for the last post
my dble pillow- my boppy pillow and fake tree and ABy and belly-24 weeks

Sunday, December 03, 2006


i 've really started to pop out only 16 weeks left- that's seems like a long time!

my friend at work gave me a fake tree, it's our first x-mas tree, ABY, the cat loves it!!! it even came with lights and decorations -- instant-a- tree. i've never had a x-mas tree , because i usually go home for X-mas.

yesterday - i made eggnog because they don't sell it in NZ-- maybe because i t's summer. but i like cold egg nog-- i ruined the first batch - burnt it - i thought i turned the oven off but i turned it on high !! Honey , the cat -was wanting to be fed and wanted some affection - i got distracted and didn't notice it was on high- i tried to save the curdled custard- but the burnt taste prevaded and i had to throw out the batch - wasted 2 litres of milk and 7 free range eggs-

in trying to get into the NZ christmas spirit and because husband likes fruitcake...
i also made cold oven christmas cake- it's takes 4.5 hours to cook in a low temp oven.......it was done baking at a quarter til midnight!! i had some today it's really good... for some reason i was surprised- i didn't think i liked Xmas cake/fruitcake... i am now a fan. Actually -= i do like one version on X-mas fruitcake that Mom makes- Noreweign Yulekaka -- that will be next weekend.

the cold oven x-mas cake called for a half a teaspoon of GLYCERINE., i was perplexed. but i figured out why-i think .... people make their cakes now, but eat them in a month. no freezing - you let it "Age" hence the preservative of the glycerine--
this morning , before i made that connection or was told about the wating for a month to eat it- froze one loaf-- i guess i should take it out and let it ferment.

i also spent much of saturday working on pilllows- i hadn't even realised the theme - i made a new case for my SMOOSHIE pillowm it' s filled with tiny ( like the size of geains of sand) soft polyurethane or stryroform balls very very tiny. and the cats poked holes in the spandex and the little filling balls were coming out everywhere-- very diiffcult to clean up .. so it's sat in a plastic bag for months--- i made a cotton lycra cover-it's my new best friend!!!! - it soo smooshy -i took it to work today for my back and brought it home to use it at night .
i also made a double pillow case -and long one with a a divider in the middle. They don't have the long body pillows here-so this was the closest i could do - i use two feather pillows in it .. still need to perfect it though.. they are a little far a part.....
and finally that u- shaped thing is called a"boppy" or a "breast friend" hahaha it' s a breast feeding pillow- i made a fleece-y cover for it..
and that's about it for me


Saturday, December 02, 2006





these are a few of my favorite things!!
DZ double salt licorice from Denmark- yummy!!! they give you dog breath though.... and HORLICKs Malt tablets- I absolutely L-O-V-E these--

when i was little we use to be able to b uy little glass bottles with red caps of these horlicks malt tablets and then they disappeared-- and then around the 80's I found them again in big bottles--and now the only place i found them was in chinatown in hawai'i - with malayasian writing ( weird) marketed as a health thing.

I love both of these!! i need to not wat as many salt licorice because i don't want to start retaining water...

and of course my kitties.. and EGG NOG!!! i was having a craving for eggnog - in a carton -i don't care-- went to the market and guess what?? they don't do eggnog in New Zealand.. because it's summer here??? i was meet with strange looks and laughter when i inquired... must be an american thing they said.. people here LOVE fruitcake- english thing ??? but not eggnog?? i got a recipe from mom and am going to make some today....yum yum!

and my grandmother sent me a package-- with some vintage shell buttons- on their original cards too !! how cool!! and some vintage embroidered linen curtains --really beautiful not sure what to do with them yet...

Saturday, November 25, 2006




i tried to upload these with the other photos and couldn't do it
more pics of matakana island- the fire pit and view of mainland from matakana.
and a pic of my view of mybelly last weekend - 22 weeks from last weekend...

Wednesday, November 22, 2006












the roses are going off in the yard- tons of beautful roses- i didn't do any planting of other flowers like i usually do or veggies - so this is all we have. but it's still really nice.
i haven't been sewing and knitting - because i've been x-mAs stressing - not really but i want to get the things together to send overseas soon - or it will be late--as always..
and work has been ........tiring . last night we had a work function that was all day all the way into the night .. it was cool , it was our regional induction hui .. and the Maori King - came and ate with us and there was lots of singing and
kapa haka
performances .. the baby likes singing i think - because he gets active when we sing or others around are singing. at work ,we have kapa haka every week for about an hour and a half , but i don't always go because i am stressing out trying to get stuff done..when i do go - i am so happy that i did.. so i am going to make a commitment to go from now til baby arrives.


random pics , my friend jane recently burnt me a CD of pics from our last year's staff /work retreat we had on Matakana Island. We stayed on a marae and it was so beautiful - it was the first time i'd seen the ocean in a long time - as we live in land a bit-it's about 2 hours to the closest beach ...seeing the ocean made me feel very happy. and we had fresh pipis from the ocean at every meal ... and the kitchen was great!! in a marae you have a big eating house and kitchen and everything is done communally... cooking - eating - cleaning up- washing up.. the kitchen had a great fire pit that you can see ...
and a pic of my studious hubby - who is
in the home stretch of his studies - he's due to finish when baby is due!


i am very excited for the weekend- as once again i plan to SEW- but will it come to be???

Thursday, November 16, 2006

i've been concentrating on making baby wraps of different sorts and baby slings. and pregnant lady clothes.. though i am not that big- 36 inches around my opu...at my piko ...and 64 kilos.. i can't wear any of my old clothes save for a few dresses. my entire weekend i am devoting to sewing - first time in a long time- it's just been knitting and crocheting..
I have a few friends that preggers or just had babies-- actually more than a few like 10 people i know- which is cool -- so i want to make gifts for everyone especially now while i have time.
and x-mas is around the corner- which i keep forgeting - because it's getting warmer here and summer is almost here in the southern hemisphere- and it's taking me awhile to get use to WARM - HUMID equals X-mas , cold foggy rain = june and july... so i am completely behind with making anything for x-mas.

anyway - just working alot and try to swim as much as possible- will post some pics this weekend.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006



here are some pics of my ever expanding belly... and my sweet kitties.. i love them.. though yesterday i came home and there were feathers all over the house ... paul had come home and picked up the dead bird or bird parts and deposed of them and left . so by the time i came home it was just millions of feathers everywhere!!!! fun to clean up!
slowly working on the baby blanket, but now i want to make a little hat for my friend's erin and jan's baby- that is due in April - May. i am either going to crochet a little chenille frog hat or a stripey one- haven't decided yet ,but i'll make it a little bigger so he can wear it in winter 2007 ...

IT'S A BOY
- here is a pic of the wee one - 20 weeks in utero...
we went for an ultra sound and found out it's a boy!!!
i still can't believe sometimes that i am pregnant - and half way there !!!
today i went to work - got stressed- bought a huge new bra at lunch time and then went for a swim at the indoor pool - which was really lovely and DE-stressing..
i am going to bed now

Tuesday, October 31, 2006




HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

i made the severed fingers and added some color - so i could call them witch's fingers - everything was going good ....until i baked them..
they turned into MUPPET FINGERS-- perhaps the love child of kermit frog and miss piggy!!!!!

Saturday, October 28, 2006




finally finished sage's little pants , the other day.
the tail is removable and the waistband is adjustable with a polka dot tab.
i am also posting a pic of my progress on cotton/cashmere baby blanket for our baby.

this morning i woke up and took a good brisk walk around the event centre by our house. they are having a big show on .. and the was equistrain riders - a circus , carnival.. sheep and sheep herders---dogs-- and more horses and a bunch more tents....... maybe i 'll remember to bring the camera tomorrow morning and take some pics.. it's pretty cool - made the walk interesting for sure..
.then i came home and did some preggie pilates and got winded and didn't finish "the set" ..whatever- some is better than nothing.
i am going to make some severed finger cookies now.....though i forgot to buy baking/parchment paper, i hope that doesn't make to much of a difference... we will see...

i love the weekends!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006





here are my wonderful secret pal goodies!!!! i was having such a hard time posting them last night . my secret pal ROCKS!!!

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES - TRIED FOR AN HOUR TO UPLOAD PICS- WILL TRY AGAIN TOMORROW

super cool !!! i got a package from my secret pal - in the UK .... wow - that was so quick!!
i got a great knitting magazine that i am slowly savoring ... polka dot needle case--tooo coool!! , yarn-- very cool cotton - in a deep red-- and an reall y interswting multi colored /textured yarn that goes perfect with the Rowan yarn!!!! and some really cool- ribbon-y yarn .. and amongst all the goodies were little fall leaves and SPIDERS - I absoltuely ADORE!!! and a little crocheted blue flower - it looks vintage.. all wrapped in purple!!!!!!!WOW- thank you secret pal!!! i love this exchange!!!!!


on another note , the preganancy going well - i need to take some pics ...
we finished the spare/baby room , i still need to make sheers for the windows, but i finished the curtains. kind of ..... the lounge area...kind of done .... i have picked out all the fabrics finally and need to sew... one day soon.

also finished and wrapped SAGE's little devil pants ..i'll post that tomorrow. they came out really cute and she'll have room to grow.

and pics of the progression of baby blanket. in 2 weeks we should be able to see if we are having a boy or girl and then i can start making baby stuff - it's hard to pick androgenous stuff-- i like sewing alot - it's a little more instanteous than knitting .

i talked to tamara - sage's mom last night and that was really good to connect with her. it gets lonely here in NZ sometimes . after i got off the phone i realised we've been friends for 25 years - that is frighteningly funny....

the other highlight was i finally got off my butt and went to the pools today - for the first time ever. pretty cool - they have 3 huge pools indoors and a gym upstairs ( which is far too expensive - $12 a session or $170 for 3 months!!!)that over looks the pools and a big pool outside (only $2 top swim).. it's still a little cold out so the outside pool isn't opened yet. i did a few laps and splashed around - practiced all my different strokes and i feel really good. i borrowed a aqua yoga pregnancy book from the library and need to review the exercises.. but this swimming is definitely for me - i wish i started it ages ago!!!

Saturday, October 21, 2006


HAPPY ALMOST HALLOWEEN!! too baD they don't really celebrate it here-- no kids trick or treating - or at least in my city... I love Halloween--
this a bat i made years ago- the other thing i want to re-find the recipe and make are this great "finger cookies" sugar cookies - you make them into finger shapes - i added green food coloring to make them look like witch's fingers..and then on the tip you add an almond - blanched almonds- they look like nails and i painted them with red food coloring - they are soooo cool- i am going to make them this week and will post a pic.. even if i can't find the recipe i'll try with a basic sugar cookie recipe and will post if they taste okay..

Saturday, October 14, 2006




these are the pants for little sage formerly of tipilandia in canada..... here is pic of sage and her mama tamara. I finally finished knitting them , sewing them together and I crocheted a little scallop edge, folded over the top edge to make a casing for the elastic, which i am going to make elastic with an adjustable tab and buttons.. and the final detail i need to add is the TAIL... la piece d la resistance!!! though, i am think i'll crochet it rather then knit it - i am not comfortable knitting a heart shape ( it's suppose to be like a devil tail)
the legs were suppose to be boot cut - but increased too much so they are bell bottoms -they still look cute
i hope to finish them soon probably before HAlloween ... but they might still be a bit big for her..
i thought about lining them in fleece- but decide they would get used more unlined...

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

SECRET PAL QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

I am not a huge fan of acrylic. I love natural fibers - silk , wool , cashmere, cotton... i would love to try some of the new yarns - like soy and bamboo

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I have some bags that I made and needle cases.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I'm an intermediate knitter .. I'm definitely not advanced- I like to do mindless knitting, like blankets , hats and stuff like that

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
YEs If you type in my email address (kiilani23.23@hotmail.com) it comes up http://www.amazon.com

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)
lavender ... gardenia .. and oils -- but NOT patchouli or musk

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
i love chocolate and SALT licorice and malt and GREEN TEA ice CREAM

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

i sew - i embroider - though i haven't in a while. I like crocheting.... I like crafts of most types.. though i 'm not big on scraping

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
YES YES YES- I love music of all sorts - there is a list on my profile. i like groups like thievery corp - , nick cave, dead can dance , chet baker, 70's rock , zero 7 , female singers-

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

i like black , brown, dark reds - not orangey reds.. i like greens - but not mint green - not yellow

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

i am 16 weeks pregnant -due March 26 , I am married and have two awesome kitties. I live in NZ and miss my family and friends... in Hawaii and California.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos? Yes -

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I like to mindless knit.....scarves..hats..... gonna start some baby stuff

13. What are you knitting right now?
a blanket for the new baby in cashmere- cotton in lavender and white( not sure if it's a boy or girl yet). I'm about a third of the way done. and a pair of red knit pants from Stitch and Bitch Nation - for my friend Tamara's 7 month old . they are so cute they have a little tail!!! I 'm about 1/2 done.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
OF COURSE!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Bamboo, aluminum, plastic? I prefer circulars!!!! I like bamboo !

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Somewhere in Hawai'i I have one in storage.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

Yikes -- The three sweaters I talk about in the beginning of my blog- 6 yrs - 7 yrs- yikes

18. What is your favorite holiday
? I love Halloween -b ecause I love bats- and SPOOOKY - hahaha stuff. I was a little goth at heart.. They dont' really celebrate HAlloween here.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
vintage clothes esp. 1930's ( though it 's hard to find anything vintage here ) vintage trims - ribbons - and textiles!

Tuesday, October 03, 2006





We have spent the last weekend and everyday after work this weekre-painting the lounge and the spare room - the lounge was a disgusting bright buttercup yellow - and it's now a muted sage-y green .. it looks so much better .
I have been planning this job for so long. I have picked up bits and pieces of fabric --because i have 12 cushions/pillows to cover.... and the fabric choice is limited here . I know what i want but can't find it in NZ.. i love my banana leaf fabric i got in hawaii.... but i didn't buy 10 yards, which i would need - i have only 4 or so..

we have the last coat to go on tonight -then we are done painting for while.

here is a pic of my horrible fabric choices - curtains need to be thermal lined because they cover french doors and they are needed to keep heat in .. .. everything is too tan and blah.. choice is limited..
anyway-- you can see the wall color in the background..

Friday, September 29, 2006

This is Apumoana Marae in Rotorua.
All of our campus stayed at this marae. We were there for a national conference for two days.
This marae was so beautiful.

Spring is here. The weather has been beautiful.


we went to the midwife today and got to hear the baby's heart beat !

i have made progress on the blanket and baby pants for sage and will post pics this weekend!

Friday, September 22, 2006



185 days til baby arrives.

got my first ultra sound last week. i was so surprised, to see baby move...seems silly to be surprised about that.

i am feeling alot less tired. i am thankful that it's the weekend.

still working on the knitted red pants for sage and baby blanket for the bun in the oven.

Saturday, September 16, 2006





There is a great pizza place here in New Zealand called HELL

when you call they say "welcome to hell" and their number is 0800 666 111-hahahha and if you are interested in their menu - http://www.hell.co.nz/

i am boring and always get the same thing a "limbo" blue cheese , mushroom, carmelised onions pizza sometimnes with olives and sometimes not.

they have other pizza named things like "lust" , "gluttony", "pride" - you get the picture.


all the kids that work there wear all black and wear head scarves-- and the restaurant painted all black inside and benches look like coffins.

but the new feature on their pizza box - threw me over the moon - the punch out coffin!!!! love it !!! except it was all grease-y as you can see.. but it 's a perfect little box to store your left overs in!!!