TropicalSoup

The Princess and the Pirate King

Remember last week's Princess themed party? This is how the munchkins went - Immy revelling in her princessiness (a dancing skirt shoved under a party dress goes a long way towards royalty!), and Cole as the Pirate King....*to fight off the baddies*. He was ridiculously pleased with the sword. His mother on the other hand, was slightly more ambivalent about formally introducing weapons to the repertoire. And the mo - fab as it was - was deemed unsuitable and removed before we got to the party on the grounds it hindered him sticking a finger up each nostril simultaneously. Seriously.

And a few hours later, coming off that sugar high, this was the fall out: 

 

Cole found the black rubber pipe and promptly declared it was a kazoo...and here he is giving us a twofer concert whilst his sister catches up on the news.

Hooray for friends...

...who think toadstools are just as cool as you do...

 

...who appreciate the value of branching out...

...who think being Mennonite aircraft is just completely normal (that's hankies on their heads!)...

...who value snack time...

...who love to run...

...and who are always up for exploring our beloved forest. Friends are starting to make this place really feel like home.

Psst...wanna buy a gown?

I have some of my gorgeous undyed, certified organic clothing blanks for sale on TradeMe, and if you're in the market, I'd highly recommend them! (sales pitch?) They're gorgeously thick and densely knitted, the fabric has a lovely handle and I can attest that they stand up well to much wear and tear and abuse (my wee guinea pigs Cole and Imogen all but lived in these, and I never had a problem with shrinkage or pilling or the like)

I just have way too many still, and need to shift some stock. They're great as is, but also take dyes brilliantly, and are a fabulous base for applique and other embellishments.

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*If you're interested but further afield and can't use TradeMe, just drop me a line, I'd be more than happy to help...and I really really want to start making some space for other things!

My Creative Space...slicing and dicing (the blood free version)

After eyeballing each other for a little while (and a teensy bit of nerves on my part) the rotary cutter and I have made up. I'm just not as prepared to bare all for it anymore (bodyparts included). And I've banned myself from watching Jame Bond whilst slicing and dicing. It had to be done. 

To see Kirsty's long-term quilting plans and other Creative Spaces, check out Kootoyou.

Punch drunk

I love store bought cards, I really do, but I am finding more and more that I just can't bring myself to shell out so much money for a bit of mass produced cardboard. Especially not when I have plenty of stuff at home, and 5 minutes with a punch, some scrap paper and a sheet of cardstock can result in something customised and fun.

....See? *This* is why I *need* a fully stocked studio at all times, honey! lol

The Birthday Parade

One of my go-to gifts for 4th birthdays of the pink variety (and we are right in the thick of them at the moment) are tulle dancing skirts - ridiculously easy to make, incredibly popular with the recipient, and fairly robust for much energetic ballerinaring and smiling in tights (and the occasional hike through the bushes!) Unfortunately though, one of the side effects of doing things a lot is you can get a bit blasé about measurements and things. Which is what happened on Friday night when I discovered I'd cut the tulle (all the tulle) so that it would rather perfectly fit the 18 month sister of our birthday girl. Oops. Thankfully, a little jimmying, some elastic in a different configuration and satin binding that I have had in my stash for moses only knows how long and a little skirt of just the right size was created. Phew. Although it wasn't what I'd had in mind, it came out beautifully, and I'm rather pleased...(and I don't think the resident skirt appraiser is likely to let me forego the satin ribbon in future either, which is a worry since that stuff is pricey). And most importantly, our lovely wee birthday girl thought it was just fine.

Official Zoo photographer

Imogen is terribly keen on photography right now, and I am more than happy to let her run with it. She was in charge of the little camera at the zoo - not the spa pool one (that one is still decidedly out of commission!) but our little bulletproof jobbie. She took great care (and about 90% of the photos) of the camera. She relinquished it to Cole when he wanted to capture something...but ensured it came straight back into her hot little hands! She was so funny - every time there was a crowd, she'd elbow her way through *excuse me excuse me, I need to take a photo* in all her Immy-officiousness - it was hysterical. And it worked!!! Every crowd parted happily for her - okay, so it's not like she was going to obstruct their view, but still.

This is her favourite photo of the day - Burma the wee elephant and his keeper.

Auckland Zoo

We spent our Saturday in Auckland at the Zoo. It was an utterly glorious day, sunshiney and bright and warm - just perfect. And we all had a great time. I often feel quite ambivalent toward zoos - the idea of animals being in captivity saddens me, but I'm happy to say that unlike other zoos I've visited (Bangkok springs to mind) absolutely everything is done for the welfare of the animals here, and the keepers are so clearly dedicated and in love with their jobs and their charges, that it's hard not to leave thinking they're well cared for and given every opportunity. And the chance for people to see these magnificent creatures in the flesh, well surely that is more effective a means of kickstarting environmental awareness that a picture would be.

Anywaaaayyy...enough rambling, I figure you've all seen animals before, so here are some of the other things we did at the zoo:

...took direction from our wee Type-A...

 

...counted stripes...

...cooed over the new baby (*Mama, how can he be a new baby when he is bigger than me?*)...

 

...inspected rocks and trees for climbability...

 

...ensured all water equipment was operating appropriately...

...made full use of all available spy holes...

...glimpsed the exotic bumblebee (this was a tie with the hippos and the ring-tailed lemur for Cole's favourite animal...apparently seeing them every day in the Hebes has done nothing to dampen their mystique!)

 

...chuckled at the cute tiger posters... (my favourite: his mother's eyes, his father's nose, his neighbour's leg! mwahahaha)

...sorted out puzzle pieces...

...had a drink with a new buddy...

...practised our rappelling...

...wrangled ornery geckos...

 

...and shoved reading material down our pants...

...which, now that I come to think of it, wasn't all that different to every other day around here, though the gecko wrestling has definitely fied down since our return to civilisation!!!

My Creative Space...such a Hippocrat

 

I *had* to do it. You see, I've been talking about what I want to do with BahaCoca and Gawjus and how I'm going to meld the two together for now, and where I want to go with all this and blah blah blah yadda yadda and generally just waffling in about it with my girlfriend, and somehow I came up with the idea of funky/stylish knitted hot water bottle covers, at which point she laughed like mad and told me that was too Nana even for me (I have a Nana-force Luke Skywalker would envy!)

So naturally I had to draft one up, and knit it to fit the only hottie in the house (we didn't have much call for them on the islands!) just so I could torment the hottie-hater and try to justify their coolness in that so-retro-they're-fashionable way. And then take blurry pictures with a large stuffed bunny. I present to you, the Hippocratic Hottie.

This hottie cover is also an excellent reason why you shouldn't knit an intarsia cross you're making up on the fly in the dark. Please don't ask why it occurred to me as a good thing at the time.

For more creative spaces - some made with actual lighting in effect - visit the gorgeous Kirsty at Kootoyou. 

Jet lagged

...or that's my excuse anyway, because of course that's a logical result of a just-over-3-hour drive, lol! Somehow the weekend, right on the tale of back to back houseguests just did me in and I'm now sporting some weird virus that has removed every ounce of energy. Back soon with the gory details, but in the meantime, we had a great time!