Skirt Refashion

This refashion was more like a total rebuild. After thinking I could just alter the hem, I still wasn’t happy and I eventually unpicked all the seams and made a whole new skirt from the pieces.

Learning to Love Autumn

I’m learning to appreciate Autumn for all its’ beauty, rather than my default tendency to despise it for chasing away summer.

Berry Smoothie

I originally tried this after being inspired by a post on Striking Keys about Green Smoothies. I wanted to get more iron into me and, thankfully, a daily blend gives me enough that I can skip any supplements. Yay!

No Sew Tutu

The internet is swimming with tutorials for No Sew Tutu’s exactly like this one. Maybe it’s because they are just so ridiculously easy, fast and fun to make.

What? You haven’t seen it 23 times elsewhere yet? Fantastic! Because I’ve also written a tutorial here just for you.

Blog Refashion

Offsquare has had a refashion of its’ own! What do you think?

Angela at Striking Keys and I have arranged a skill swap and I must say, I’m quite a fan of this concept! She has given my blog a much needed update and she will, in return, get a snuggly rhino made for her soon-to-arrive little one.

I was so excited to hear that Angela was interested in working with me on this. I’ve been a fan of her blog for a long time time and her bullet point posts always make me giggle. She often has a good story or experience to share and through her book reviews, also introduced me to the writing prowess of Laini Taylor. I’m not usually a fantasy fan, but Laini is really something else.

Thanks Angela for your hard work! Hoping Rhino becomes a much loved family member in due course

Rain Coat Refashion

It’s been raining here lately. A lot.

Fortunately, our house has remained flood free and Poppet loved watching the lightening flashes with us. Little Guy just tolerated it.

The torrents of water served to get me motivated though. After getting drenched through while doing groceries, I was inspired to attempt this jacket refashion. Again.

Rising from the Rubble

My international readers may not be aware that Christchurch (where the recent Bloggers Conference was held) was absolutely decimated in 2010-2011 through a series of terrifying earthquakes.

When big events like this hit the news, we often don’t get any follow up reports a year or two on about how the recovery is going. For instance, I haven’t seen how the east coast of Japan is doing now. I can only hope that people there are doing ok.

So I thought some if you may like to see pics of the Christchurch CBD about two years on.

The Make Cafe

I’ve often drooled over looked at overseas fabric stores and thought “why is no-one doing that here in NZ?”.

Dare to dream of a community based store where fabric is beautifully displayed, you can hire sewing machines (akin to an internet cafe) and there are workshops to learn new skills.

Thankfully, Kirsty at The Make Cafe in Riccarton (Christchurch) has made it happen for us Kiwis. Even better, she has catered to our passion for a good espresso with a full cafe in store. That’s everything I love, all in one place. You can imagine my bliss levels went through the roof here.

Bloggers Conference

I’m in a bit of a daze today. It’s a nice daze though. One of those blissfully contented ones.

Arriving home from the Bloggers Conference yesterday, I sat on the couch staring absently with a stupid smile on my face. I’m trying to process everything that has just happened and all that I saw, but my head is still in holiday mode. It’s actually awesome.

Not only was it my first holiday without kids in four years (and I got some quality time with my three sisters), but I met some truly inspiring people. They gave me some fresh vision, opened up a world of possibilities and poured out their love by making this event happen.

There are a couple of things in particular that I really want to share with you, but they very much deserve their own posts, so I’ll cover those over the next few days.

Maybe by then my blissful daze will have lifted a little, but I really hope it lingers longer. It seems this mama needed the break more than she realised.

Thank you all who worked so hard to make the weekend so darn amazing xoxo

 

The Food Chain

Caterpillars have been devouring my parsley. Not a huge issue on the scale of world events. But it kinda cheesed me off. I use it in everything (including berry smoothies. Yummy and full of iron).