we now have patterns

well its only taken me a few months to get them ordered.....but the store now stocks patterns...woohoo...more coming soon.



I can't decide which one to make a start on but I am loving this book right now

my big WIP

yes, our front garden is the big WIP at the moment.....on Saturday retro daddy did some serious digging as our front yard was entirely covered in tambark thanks to the previous owners quick spruce up before putting the house on the market...



So we resurrected the original garden bed (we also found a stone path under all that tambark) and decided we could achieve half the bed on Sunday afternoon. We (ok.... who am I kidding, retro daddy did this part) dug in lots of composted manure and I then planted a mixture of flowers, vegetables and herbs.



I then mulched it all over (yes I did this part) with some sugar cane mulch and here is the result......next weekend we'll get stuck into the other half of the garden bed and then it will be time for some turf and a picket fence! Its only taken us a year to get around to it but I'm finding it very satisfying and keira loves helping!



And I'm drawing the big draw tonight so hope you've left a comment! I think its a retro mummy world record number of entries!

oh to be three!!!

when a babycino and some warm banana bread makes your day



and going to the 'flower shop' is a big adventure.....we had another visit yesterday and this was her choice to bring home and plant



and this was one of mine.....a very pretty azalea with a touch of pink...retro daddy has an exciting afternoon of digging up the garden beds!



Quite a nice arrangement I think....mind you I am inside dealing with one twin down with chicken pox and another on high alert!

gorgeous gardenias

oh gardenias, you get me every time with your smell and beauty! your shiny leaves, your fragrance, your colour! you're just a perfect flower........



so, we went to the garden shop this week and this is a selection of what came home with us. Sydney girls we had the most beautiful warm scones and muffins fresh out of the oven at this cafe, the kids can play on their outdoor equipment and you watch them from the balcony! I'm thinking a blog meet, no???



We hopped in the car and 1 minute up the road is one of my favourite nurseries so its a great morning or afternoon out! The CFO of the family was with us so I couldn't go crazy over cabbage roses and lavender! next time....

oh my......lush yarn!

I came down from my shower to find a big box on my doorstep! oh the excitement as I knew what was inside.....here I am fresh out of the shower with my excited face on...



and this is my lot let loose near the goodies while its still under wraps and before I put it out of reach. Finn is showing no interest whatsoever!



Wow, those lush yarn ladies went all out in their giveaway....and you regular readers know my favourite colours so it was meant to be!!



There are so many beautiful yarns, cute needles, a spindle, wooden pin, a lovely book, wool roving, all in a beautiful ikea basket that I'll put to good use in my craft room.....thank you thank you thank you thank you! It has a good home here and I can't say thank you enough!



And if you haven't discovered lush yarn then you better go over there and check them out, their yarns are so beautiful and its so great to buy locally! Expect to see more photos and great projects using these beauties very soon......

far far away....giveaway

I know you all love a good giveaway and since there is good karma in the air with my win from lush yarn here is one for you!



Far Far Away, the beautiful range from Heather Ross for Kokka is now in my store......woo hoo.....and to celebrate I'm going to giveaway a fabric pack in the range to you!



You just need to leave a comment here before Sunday night and you'll go in the draw, mention it on your blog with a link or place an order and you'll get another entry! how easy is that! too easy, good luck.........



more photos of the range coming soon once I get my darn camera battery recharged!!!

february baby sweater

well its not february here but I am working on the february baby sweater from this lovely little book (such a good price too).....its coming along nicely and is knit in one piece from the top! The lace pattern is oh so easy and perfect for the beginner lace knitter like myself who is venturing beyond a lace scarf!



The yarn is to die for, so soft and lovely....and wait till I show you what is coming my way from lush yarns, there was lots of squealing and excitement last night when I found out I won their giveaway at the show!!!!!! Over 700 entries in a big cardboard box and my name was drawn!



Oh my goodness, retro daddy thought we'd won a trip to the gold coast with all that excitement but no we did better than that, a basket full of lovely things from their shop!!! I still am so excited about it!

oops..... in a good way

I received 2 huge boxes this morning and got all excited........then realised there was a mistake and I've received the entire range of heather ross.....the lot! every single design and colour when I'd asked for 5 bolts!!!!



not such a bad thing........I mean I can think of worse mistakes to happen on a monday morning!!! So I'm just waiting to hear that its all mine and then it will go in the store this week!

when is morning tea????

moist chocolate fudgy cupcakes with chocolate frosting and chocolate freckles......



I love birthday party leftovers......is it time for my morning tea yet????

craft show wrap-up!

what a day...I'm already in my dressing gown and slippers, ready for bed after a very busy day!!!! We spent a few hours at the show and had a great time but spending 2 1/2 hours just in the car in sydney traffic takes its toll!!!! We started off at miss tutti fruiti's stall......gorgeous



who was next to the very lovely audrey & maude.....the incubator section really was just lovely and there were plenty of bloggers to say hi to!



there was a craft secret section....here is mine, no surprises there.....



here is my haul....ella & kate hairclips and craftapalooza pin cushion from tutti fruiti, panels from lisa at the red thread, felt from winterwood, fabrics from amitie (gosh she's a nice lady that jennie, I always make time for her stall at the shows) and a new find lush yarns....this is me being restrained or so I tell myself every craft show!



oh my why did tillie have to go into total meltdown as I arrived at the lush yarn stall! I cuddled her in the sling but she was over it so I quickly picked this silk/wool/bamboo yarn for a little cardigan for her! These ladies are from sydney and I plan to visit their online store very soon as their colours and yarns are just perfect!!!



All in all a good day but next year I'll go chikd free and do some of the craft bars and labs!

thirty four

today is retro daddy's birthday



he is 34, woohoo!



he requested his favourite dinner of chicken katsu (made by yours truly) followed by chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate freckles (made by betty crocker and keira) and some beer. And best of all he gets to spend the day with his favourite people........HIS LITTLE FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



happy birthday honey, thank you for everything you do for us!!



and thanks to uncle brian for the great photos.

Corrie put the kettle on.....

sung to the tune of polly put the kettle on, of course! I should really be doing the mother of all cleans before my mother in law arrives for the week tomorrow but instead have made a nice cup of coffee



and am sitting down to take a little break, its not all play around here.....I did just order another 22 bolts of japanese cute for the store, its tough you know!!! So I'm reading some new magazines I bought home today to get inspired to clean and do some jobs around the house.......nothing like a clean and tidy show home to get you all inspired to smarten up your own.......and the warm weather outside has me thinking of the garden and summer time......



and isn't this a sweet little smock dress with crocheted cherries...adorable but I'm not sure how long the cherries would stay on my little girl!

leg warmies

or leg cuties!!!! I can't stop holding them up saying 'ohhhhhh dey are soooo keeeeeeewt'! I think they take me back to knitting in primary school when I desperately wanted to make a pair of leg warmers for ballet but just never managed to finish them.....always dropping a stitch or starting all over again! Keira put them on as soon as they were finished and adores them and I feel the need to get started on another pair straight away!



I made these in debbie bliss baby cashmerino and a spotlight fine merino (keira approved the colour choice), 3.25 dpn's (you've just got to get past the first 2 rounds and you're fine if dpn's scare the life out of you) and the lovely pattern is free, found via this lovely blog

spot the difference

It was all going so well, I was so proud of how much I'd achieved in 2 days and then I went to pack it all away last night and found my mistake....can you see it????



'oh no' I said....well I didn't actually, I might have said 'oh sugar-honey-ice-tea' but how did I miss that!!!tonight I hope to frog it and get back on track.....grrrrrrrr...

Thanks everyone, I did rip it back to my mistake and fix it up because I would know it was there and it would drive me nuts!!!!!!!!

breakfast muffins

I couldn't face toast this morning after eating it all day yesterday, I couldn't find anything that I wanted in the fridge or cupboards and didn't have everything I needed to make my favourite recipes so made up my own muffins.......low fat and perfect for breakfast!



2 Tbsp margerine
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1 small apple chopped up
1 cup chopped dried fruit and nuts (I used dates and pistachios)
3-4Tbsp water

Gently combine softened margerine, sugar, eggs, flour and baking powder. Add in fruit, nuts and water and gently combine for a few seconds then spoon into muffin pans...bake for 20 minutes in 180 degree oven or until cooked inside. enjoy warm......eat as many as you want...no need to disclose how many I ate this morning...........

not perfect....

but pretty cute!! I had real dramas with the neckline and copied the wrong pattern front as there were 3 different options but of course only realised when things weren't looking right.....but its cute and will make a lovely outfit for my little niece Beatrix.


Fabric all from Spotlight and patterns from a baby/toddler Japanese craft book (ISBN978-4-579-11100-8). Ready to tackle another project once we're over the upset tummies that we all seemed to wake up with this morning...I wanted to call in sick but of course as a stay at home mummy you're the boss so you've got to keep the whole show going!

a pleasant afternoon

While babies napped, I made some coffee, filled a bowl with lollies and got stuck into some tracing and cutting..........its been a month between sewing projects. a month too long! Even when a visitor popped in I continued to trace while catching up on the latest!



tonight I hope to sew but might need another cup of coffee and bowl of lollies to get me through! Oh and I did share my lollies so don't think I finished them all on my own, but I could if need be!

a good man is hard to find

Yes he is! You see the barbies who live in keira's campervan were craving a bit of male company.....so keira sent me off to the shops to bring home 5 Ken's for her princesses! I suggested one Ken for all the Barbies, let them fight over him....



Unfortunately all I could find was surfer Ken who looks like a bit of an aussie bloke and not the prince we had envisaged would come to live at the campervan. And the morals on him................this morning I woke up to find most of the barbies were missing their clothes as was Ken....tut tut. Tomorrow I'll probably find empty beer cans, pizza boxes and the toilet seat up in the campervan!

crepes with ratatouille

ohhh this was delicious! I combined the crepe and ratatouille recipes from the Moosewood cookbook .....you can find a free similar recipe here minus the sauce. We topped with extra ratatouille and grated cheese then warmed them in the oven....



mmmmmm, enjoyed by everyone in the family last night and might make it again next week when my mother in law is here. I also found free moosewood recipes here and here if you want to try a few healthy vegie recipes for your family too!

socks

I'm not sure how it happens, but the more children I have the more serious the sock situation has become. Retro Daddy still asks where do all the socks go....I honestly don't have the answer for him. I know some have been lost in shops or while out walking ...but they must be somewhere....here is just one of my piles of socks waiting for their partner.....



this morning I finished up a little pair of socks for miss tillie and am hoping they stay together. I love this pattern for 2 needle socks from Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino 2...this pair are made in Cleckheaton Merino Bambino and are so soft n snuggly.



so far so good.....they are still on!

we love the library

I've always gone to the library and can remember almost every library I've been a member of going right back to pre-school (I have amazing long term memory and totally crap short term memory as I get older). The library is such a great activity for little ones and keira has always loved going, I mean its free and gets them out of the house! Our local one is just the best with a special kids room and mini ampitheatre in there which is lots of fun!!!!!

I got out my camera yesterday to take a quick snap of keira for her daddy.....and she said 'shhhh mummy you can't take photos wif your camera in da library, you gotta be quieeeet'...so cute and she's obviously been listening to me all these years, well all 3 of hers!


This was my haul.....I love the moosewood cookbooks and regret not buying them all when I discovered them in london years ago......but I'm a real glossy cookbook kind of girl! This week we're trying crepes with ratatouille as well as feta and zucchini pancakes, yummo.

retro flowers

this is a lesson to all the ladies out there....be clear when you send your man to the shops for white flowers for a party....be very clear.


while you are thinking white lillies, roses, something fresh and inviting for the front entrance.....he is thinking white must have white can't get anything else or phone a friend so I'll get carnations......


oh dear they are just so 1983 aren't they?

cute fabric love

lots of excitement here this morning with a new delivery of fabric for the store from a Japanese brand I doubt you've seen before....


its in the shop this morning with free postage (in australia) and something extra for international orders.....this cutie is also available in white....how sweet.....are you in love?


isn't this perfect for a little boys quilt...I'm just going to sandwich it up and quilt away and I have it in pink too....


and this fabric makes 5 bags from 1 metre of fabric which is just amazing...unfortunately it was so popular that I only received 7m instead of 20m that I ordered, so disappointing but its obviously been very popular!


I also have reduced the prices on most of my other fabrics so be sure to check them out too, another move is on the cards (don't ask me, I'm sworn to secrecy) and I need to sell off some older stock.