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 .....

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

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!!

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

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

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...