Generous Ladies

I have 32 little presents so far for Christchurch children, and nine dishcloths. I'm expecting 11 soft toys so that puts the total up to 43, and more dishcloths as well. Blimmin fantastic I must say!!

Thank you ladies all so very much for your very generous 'Gifts of Love". They will be appreciated and loved immensely I'm sure. I have bought some lavender that arrived yesterday so I will make some little lavender filled toys as well. I know Cat has had a big bundle of dishcloths arrive at her house, so I imagine that number is looking pretty good too.

Look what we can do when we all help out a little. I must say it was a little like Christmas this morning when I got to open two parcels of treasures!  Such fun.

So first up we have this fabulous toilet bag/pencil case from Megan.  I adore the lining of course!

Then we have some very fancy dishcloths, a rather cute hat...

and two pretty scarves from Luana.  Some very lucky ladies and little girls will be receiving those gifts.

And last but not least, some colourful dishcloths all the way from Australia.  Thank you indeed Tiffany!  (Do you have a blog my dear?) 

And now I really must get my umbrella and coat on and pick my little girls up from school.  See you later! xxx

Progress is a Wonderful Feeling

Well it's all rolling now ladies!  We have 15 tissue covers, finished with tissues...  Another 2 to go.

9 hand knitted beanies and a scarf... (big thanks to my mother, Gran and my aunt!!)  We must confess that although they are hand knitted they were bought!  'Save the Children' though, so that still passes in my book.  There are several more genuine hand knitted hats in progress by my mother and Gran.

Tea towel library bags complete with a lovely story book... (Thanks for the books once again dear Mother)  Spot the doily!

A couple of CK Stan appliqued tea towel library bags...  Woof, woof!

Two polar fleece taggy blankets for the little ones who need something to snuggle at night...

Today in the mail I received my first parcel for the Gift of Love appeal.  Dear Michaja from France sent these wonderful bird hangings and lavender hearts.  MAF thought they were very nice too!  Oops!  They will certainly help a few little girls sleep well at night, thank you Michaja. 

A HUGE thank you to all of you who have offered to send goodies to our appeal.  We have offers to make dishcloths, crayon rolls, toilet bag, koala soft toys and other surprises.  It's a bit like Christmas when parcels start arriving.  Imagine what the music group (link to the leader of the group) are going to feel like?  They'll be excited, I just know it!  And that's what we want - a bit of happiness for a change.

Keep it coming ladies!  Cat and I have decided to make a deadline for  receiving your donations.  10th April is the date we would like to have received your makes by.  That's about 20 days to go.  That will give us time to parcel everything up and courier it down to Chch.

Till next time, happy sewing and knitting my dears!  If you would like to make something for a child, please let me know.

Gift Of Love Appeal Update

My goodness, it's been over a week already??  Really?  Anyway how are you?  Safe I hope.  Yes we've seen more tragedies over this side of the world.  The jolly Pacific Ring of Fire strikes yet again, in Japan this time!  When is it going to stop?  How much more can we take?  More horrible pictures spread across the TV screens.  More doom and gloom.  You can't help but get caught up in it and it's all quite depressing.

So to keep our minds and hands busy on all things good, Cat and I are going great guns into getting this "Gift of Love" Appeal going.  Cat is clearly way better at organising these things!  We now have a music group that we are collecting for.  We plan to make special Mothers Day packs (Mothers Day is 8th May in NZ) for the Mums who take their children to music.  In a little tote bag we hope to have a tissue pack with hand made cover, wheat pack,  hand knitted dishcloth, homemade soap and other bits and pieces.  Is there anybody who would kindly make some small totes or knitted cotton washcloths?  We are making for 35 Mums, but any amount would be most welcome. 

Next on the list are the children.  We need to make about 40-50 presents for those poor little chicklets who have experienced such devastation in their city.  They are still being rocked by aftershocks, so in some houses sleep will be in short supply.  We want to give these children something nice to show them they are not alone.  A soft toy, a knitted beanie, patchwork cushion, a pretty pillow case, small cuddly blanket, a colourful garland, just something small but handmade.

Good books for inspiration are:

 Craft Hope by Jade Sims

Softies

So far all I've manged to make are these toys and half of the tissue covers.  Pathetic I know, I'd better get a crack on.  Do you have something that you could make for a child? 

If you are able to help with a toy, dishcloth or a tote, please send me an email or leave a message on this post.  Cat and I will be thrilled to have your help!  If patchwork or quilting is more your thing, pop on over and help Cat out with her "Quilts for Christchurch" appeal.  She is collecting quilts, quilt tops or even squares and has collection points in several countries.  Told you she was super organised!!

Lots of love to you all xxx  A big hug to those of you who are currently making something for this appeal.

A Grand Old Day

Afternoon my dears!  Morning to my other dears!  Yes I'm chirpy today, am I not?  About time really.  I've been someone else lately I'm afraid.  But as from yesterday I'm back.  Yep and I'm back into my sewing which is very nice.  Not really sure why I've been a bit odd lately, perhaps it's because it's my last year with my darling little sausage at home and I'm missing her already.  Silly aren't I?  Never mind, I'm just going to get on with it again and start having fun once again.  Lots of sewing and doing fun things.  The man says I'm always much better when I am busy with my makings.

So let me introduce you to...  OK I haven't actually named him/her!  Not that it matters as it's my first toy to donate to my 'Gift of Love' Appeal.  An enormous thank you to you lovely ladies who have offered to make some things for the Christchurch people.  They will be much appreciated I'm quite sure.

The bunny came from the Softies book.  I've always like this rabbit for it's simply design and the fact that a little poppet can hold him/her so easily.  I'm betting those denim ears will taste pretty good too!   Do you like his tail?  It's a piece of Moda tape with cute dots on it.  I was also thinking that I could embroider some tape with a word like hope or love.  But I've run out of tape after making lots of name labels for No.1's school uniform.

Yesterday was a very grand day as I also made pumpkin soup for a special guest coming for a sleep-over on Thursday!   I know, a real sleep-over!!  All will be revealed later in the week.  And you know what??  That pretty pumpkin came out of our compost bin!!  Do you think I should hide this fact from our guest?  Yes probably!  It's it just the juiciest, orangey, pumpkin you ever did see? 

Last evening, after a great day, No.4 took her Daddy to kindy for a special Daddy's night.  They ate fish'n'chips and sang songs.  Sooo cute!  Anyway we weren't going to miss out on some fun, so the rest of us bought our fish'n'chips and ate them at a local park. 

Aren't we so very lucky to have this gorgeous park only ten minutes from where we live?  It's quite new so the plants are a bit small.  But the landscaping sure makes up for it.

The girls walked up this man-made hill.  I didn't want to risk breaking my shoes so I waited at the bottom.  Boring I know.  The big girls roller bladed around and No.3 enjoyed scooting on her squeaky scooter.  Must get the CRC out for that wee problem.

The evening was just perfect.  Warm, not windy and very peaceful.  Just look at that heavenly blue sky. 

Well I better get my boots on and get a bit of house tidying done before it's full of children once more.  Not that they will care of course!  Does your house always look messy?  Ours sure does, every jolly day!  Alright, have a super duper day yourselves!  See you next time!

Heart Swap From Me

Thank you all for your lovely comments on yesterday's blog.  I hope Cat reads them too. 

Well anyway, Cat likes blue, red and pink so I went with that as the theme.  I made a rag wreath in the shape of a heart.

All of her gifts were popped into this cute bag from Trade Aid.  There is a red heart printed on the other side.  Silly aren't I not photographing the other side?!!  It's always the way.

Here we have a tea bag holder for her purse, made from part of a tea towel, a lavender sachet made from an old table mat, and a fabric coaster for a cuppa made from new fabric believe it or not!

Some little bits and bobs... (Oh the pink thing at the bottom is a origami heart made by No.2!)

And one of my tea towel aprons for her little curly haired princess.  There is a recipe for sugar cookies on the front in case you were getting eye strain trying to see.  I've never made them before.  I wonder if anybody has?

And that's it for another lovely swap.  I have no more on the go and probably should have a bit of a rest for a while.  I'm thinking that I really must get back into my quilting.  Do you go in fits and bursts as well?  I'm fine until I run out of something and have to stop.  Then I find it hard to get going again.  But once I'm off there'll be no stopping me!!

But first I would like to make some little dolls for the Christchurch children.  Actually I met a couple of them this morning.  They have just joined No.3's class, lucky them, they have a super new teacher.  It's strange how they are all so scattered around our country now. 

No.1's school is helping out the children with heart problems who have had to move up here.  We are fundraising for them and donating goods as they are all in a hall together.  It's going to be very different for them for a good while.  But if we all do a small bit to help out they should all be fine.

Love to you all xxx

Heart Swap Gifts

Cat and I were paired up for Beki's Heart Swap.  It was quite funny really as we had just met each other in real life a couple of weeks prior.  It wasn't one of those meet ups where you just bump into each other, it was a planned event with our two youngest children in tow.  We thought it would be nice to put a name to the face and both travelled halfway, meeting for a coffee.  Well now we were able to meet up once again, this time armed with gifts for each other.

Cat spoiled me very nicely with a lovely arrangement of pretty gifts.  There are no before shots as we were in a cafe and as you can imagine, it's embarrassing enough unwrapping gifts let alone taking photos!!  So you will just have to imagine the pretty white with red hearts tissue papers. 

Here we have what I unwrapped.  Cat went with red gingham and my favourite blue colour at the moment.  Just perfect.

The scented hearts look fabulous on our white painted doors don't you agree?  I wonder if Cat will be offended if I put them in our loo?  It sure needs prettying up and it would be so nice to have something pretty to look at while spending a few moments in there.  I do love them so much.

Here we have some lovely sewing bits.  Fav colour, not really heart themed but do I look like I care?  Noooo!!!

A fabric covered book to keep little secrets in perhaps?  A pretty tissue holder that will come in handy during the coming winter months - not a nice thought but a reality I'm sure.

Thank you so much for your thoughtful gifts Cat.  I just adore them all.  Thanks for being such a great swapper and for meeting up for coffee once again.  It's so nice to have another friend to talk sewing and blogging with.  Oh and did you know that the cafe food was all allergy free?  I had no idea!!  Think we'll go back there again for some sampling.

And here's a sneaky peek at what I gave to Cat.  I'll show you the unwrapped version next time.  Thank you so much for organising this wonderful swap Beki.

Before I go I would like to thank those have made a donation to The Red Cross for the Christchurch earthquake appeal.  That was very generous indeed.  Thank you very much to Gem as well, for offering to send a little gift to my 'Gift of Love' appeal.  If anyone else would like to donate a handmade item please let me know.  I have finished my first heart cushion to be gifted to someone in need.