Back & going..................

Were has the time gone? Days roll by and roll by and I have lost a week or two. In the last ten days we have back to Melbourne, back to Noumea and now we are packing to leave tomorrow for our summer holidays. We are going to New Zealand for a couple of weeks and then on to Melbourne to spend Xmas and the month of January hanging out with everybody. So this means I won't be around here for the next wee while. I will try and pop in here but who knows if I will have time.

I would like to wish my few readers that I have a merry Christmas and great new year. I will be back to make resolutions that I will never do at the end of January.

Francoises & May............

I have been spending a little too much time hanging around ebay of late. I can't help but see lots of things I like and then make purchases. These wee girls turned up late last week, 2nd hand Mini Blythes. No boxes and not in original clothing but how could I resist them. I also bought Marine some new outfits but that will have to wait till next week. I am far too busy getting everybody organised, we leave tomorrow for a short but fun packed long weekend in Melbourne. A family wedding is always a good excuse to visit home. I have big plans to do many things in our 4 days there, shopping for a new outfit, visiting friends, seeing new babies. Oh I wonder if I will fit it all in. If not no biggy we are heading back for a longer stay at Xmas. Hopefully I will be able to meet up with a few Melbourne bloggers. Wouldn't that be exciting.

my creative space..........

Moving along on some Christmas orders this week. A request for outfit changes for little girls who are lucky enough to have this doll.

And some skull brooches. Arrrrgh me hearties...........on a side note have you seen all the youtube video's that teach how to talk like a pirate. Very interesting!!

Hellooooooo kitty...................

I found the kids a nice treat today all the way from Spain( can you believe it). It was some very cute Hello Kitty biscuits.

Inside they found a very cute surprise. Some wee little Hello Kitty figure. They are oh so small about 2cm small.

I found something else oh so Hello Kitty cute. I'm putting it on my Christmas list.

Monday again.....................

Monday morning..........

-everybody healthy and back at school

-I got to do my walk( haven't been out for a couple of weeks)

-made myself a fabbo mango/orange/pineapple smoothie .........a good start to a week of healthy eating (we hope!!!)


P.S......bird doesn't always come the drink

Gadget posting..............

Learning to post from my new gadget...... the itouch......which isn't easy!!!

Attempt no.1- yesterday afternoon....couldn't get the typepad up to write anything.

Attempt no.2- this morning tried something different and voilà we have words. No pictures but I will try that later.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Saturday morning the start to another lovely weekend.

My creative space.....

With a sick child in need of looking after today there isn't alot of creativity going on here but I am pottering about getting my giveaway prizes together and eating nutella on sourdough bread. This is being done in between mopping the patients brow and keeping fluids up.

If there isn't anymore vomiting to be done I might even get time to check in on what everybody else is up to today over at Kirsty's.

Smiles...................

I want to post a bit more regularly on my blog but I don't always have interesting things to tell you all. Someday's all I seem to do is the cooking, the cleaning and ferry the kids around and I'm sure that is not high on the list of things to read about is it? We all like a bit of joy or creativity or something to make us smile. How do some of these girls out there in blogland do it day in day out. I applaud their stamina and I suppose it helps if you don't live on a sleepy island in the pacific.

So in my effort to put something up today you get a picture of very smiley creatures found in the local paper. They could make good softies don't you think?

.......................

Sunday night draws to a close once again and we approach another Monday. This one the kids are back at school....Yippee!!! I can get back to my morning walks and a bit of quiet time for a few hours a day. We finished up our fairly quiet break with a trip to see 'The Magic Circus of Samoa'. It was fun and very entertaining with all sorts of crazy acts. I think the funniest part of this show is that it isn't very big and everybody involved in the performance is also running around doing all the other jobs. We saw the magician selling cd's, the girl from the flying trapeze selling popcorn in full make-up and the strong Samoan male dancers were changing the sets.........................Oh the life of a traveling circus show!

Monday again...........

Do you know there is only 7 more Mondays until Christmas. Just a random thought for you to throw around in your head. I mention it because Mondays just seem to be coming around like the speed of light. The weeks starts and all of a sudden here is it again. This brings me to another thing that seems to be coming around way to fast and that is school holidays here in New Caledonia. We have started a weeks break today again. We have no plans a bit of catching, up a bit of study as the kids have evaluations when they go back, a bit of general relaxing. We did start our holiday with a lovely day trip yesterday you can read about it here if you would like. Will fill you in on more exciting event throughout the week if they occur!

Day 31- Happy Halloween.....

Even Martine needed a new outfit for the celebrations.

Day 29- My creative space............

We are getting ready for Halloween here all very exciting for the young ones in the house. The past few days has been spent making decorations and finding funny Halloween recipes for a party we are holding here tomorrow night. I need to finish all this stuff so i can think about a costume for myself. What should I be this year? While I am thinking about it I am going over to Kirsty's and checking in on others creative space.

Day 27- Post::the kind you get in your letterbox..........

A little while back I joined swap-bot. The purpose was so I could join in a swap that had been suggested over at the meet me at mikes forum. A crafty pen pals swap was the topic. A decorated envelope was the job. I have sent my two off and they should be winging their way across the sea to Australia as we speak but who knows how long they will take to get there. I have ranted on about the postal system in this country before so I won't bore you all again. Mine have both turned up and how nice it was to receive letters with info about what people do and what they are up to and also to be able to read it anywhere I choose not in the spare room where the computer is. I enjoyed both my letters immensely and I want to thank littlefec & sophiebc very much for taking the time to write them. They might even get a little letter back if they are lucky!!!

Day 25- Back again........

Well another Monday has passed which means another weekend has come and gone. We had a fab time camping-as we always do. Not much was done by me except eat, read and laze around on my banana lounge. I think the kids won the award for the most done on a weekend away. They have now mastered the art of snorkeling which they are most proud of. First day was baby steps holding dad's hand as they were bobbing about but then Sunday they let go and were swimming around by themselves. Oh it is fantastic seeing your kids learn something new and be really excited by it and be looking forward to the next time.

Bring on the next camping trip they say!!!

Day 25- Still camping.........

Day 24-Gone camping........

I will probably have had a couple of these by the time you read this.

Have a good weekend!!!

Day 23- I forgot........

Sorry I wasn't here yesterday I forgot all about popping in. I think there was too much packing and unpacking of this machine that is supposed to make life easier.

Happy Friday!!!

Day 21- winners.................

It's late Wednesday evening and I have had the barrel girl working hard on picking my winners for the giveaway.

First number pulled was 33- Sewfunky she has scored the blue pack

Second number pulled was 4- Tas she has scored the red pack.

You lucky gals......I will be in touch to get your details and will put your packs together and send them on there way.

A big thank you to everybody who stopped by and left a comment. I have been slowly working through everybody to see who you all are.

Day 20- ......................

A friend arrived last night and he bought not 1 but 2 boxes of Cadbury favourites. These you cannot buy here for love nor money. I am about to sit down and have my coffee and pick all my besties out before anybody else gets to them.

Oh the Turkish delight is calling my name..............................bye!!!!

Day 19- My place & yours:: On the shelf...........

Not much doin' around here today so I thought I would join in on Pip's meme. We all have a shelf to show off and this one divides our kitchen and living space. You can see my beautiful orchids, a much loved shell lamp, a whole collection of little things and of course a remote control. I didn't mean for that to be in the photo but that is where it lives so it must be included.

p.s don't forget the giveaway.You still have two days to enter. I will be drawing the winner late Wednesday night.

Day 18- Sunday.............

Can't talk or write......eaten far too much for lunch including the above meringue with far too much cream and strawberries.....going to lie on the couch now to let it all digest.

Day 17- talking about yesterday.........

Dinner table set for an evening of bubbles and food. Was going to write about it last night but there was far too many bubbles consumed. You may have got a post that was incomprehensible. We did have a lovely evening sitting about with lovely friends, eating good food and laughing.

It was a good way to start the weekend.

Day 15- My creative space...............

No fancy lunches this week to get the creative juices flowing. The only thing I have had to think creatively about today is how to get rid of all the rubbish I cleaned out of the spare/sewing room. It was so desperate for a clean that I just had to bit the bullet and do it. Sitting here typing this and looking around oh it looks so nice and sparkly. Now I can go ahead and mess it all up again.


Visit Kirsty for other creative spacers.

Day 14- the giveaway...........

Red

Blue

OK.... the giveaway is organised. I am going to have two prize packs to give away because I am feeling generous today. There is the red pack and the blue pack. Each parcel will come with the above softie and some pacific island treats. What they will be not sure yet but they will be colour co-ordinated. If you would like to be in the running just leave a comment. Nothing special just a hello and what colour you would like. If you link to me on your blog I will give a 2nd entry. I am happy to send anywhere and will draw the winners a week from today. Wednesday the 21st.

Good luck to everybody!

Day 13- 360............

It's post 360 and I'm not very prepared for my giveaway.

If you can spare a few minutes and come back tomorrow I will fill you in on the details.

Till then, Au revoir.

Day 12- Just one word..........

Sorry I didn't get here yesterday. The day was just too long with all the socialising that went on and the husband getting home at long last. So I do apologise for my slackness. Anyway today I am doing a meme for not other reason but I saw it on Pip's blog who saw it on somebody else's blog and so on.
Here goes and feel free to do it if the mood takes you-

1. Where is your mobile phone? bag

2. Your hair? washed

3. Your mother? home

4. Your father? on the other side

5. Your favourite food? chocolate

6. Your dream last night? broken

7. Your favourite drink? tea

8. Your dream/goal? I don't know

9. What room are you in? spare

10. Your hobby? sewing

11. Your fear? falling

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? no idea

13. Where were you last night? couch

14. Something that you aren’t? tall

15. Muffins? banana

16. Wish list item? Blythe

17. Where did you grow up? Melbourne

18. Last thing you did? shopping

19. What are you wearing? crocs

20. Your TV? fancy

21. Your pet? moustache

22. Friends? lots

23. Your life? never dull

24. Your mood? cheery

25. Missing someone? mum

26. Vehicle? grey

27. Something you’re not wearing? jewellery

28. Your favorite store? LangLang

29. Your favorite color? blue

30. When was the last time you laughed? yesterday

31. Last time you cried? September

32. Your best friend? away

33. One place that I go to over and over? beach

34. One person who emails me regularly? Larissa

35. Favorite place to eat? Le creperie Rocher.

Sorry there was a couple of answers that needed to be more than one word!

Day 10- Walktober.............

I thought I would follows Amy's suggestions for a couple of days as there isn't much going on around here but when I went over to check on what today's theme is........it's 'Walktober'. Non of that has happened today or for the past week so panic has set in as to what to write about.

Thinking, thinking......5 minutes has passed.....nothing

some more thinking........another 5 minutes has passed........still nothing

I won't make you sit here any longer I will just leave you with a pretty picture.

Day 9- Stocktober..................

Amy's suggestion for the day was soup but no that is not where I am going. I am going to do the other kind of stock, the one that you have left over after a market. It isn't a problem to have what I have as I am going to have a little table sale somewhere else later on in the month. No what I was checking through was what I have in my stock that I can put up for a giveaway. I wrote my 350th post 7 post's ago and missed the milestone so I am going to do a giveaway on no-360. So come back in 3 days and see what there is on offer. I will go through all the right channels and let Miss Curlypops know so she can post it on her blog.

Day 8- My creative space...........

- a nice glass of chilled white wine
- lunch with two lovely ladies......we are packing lunches in as one is leaving for good in December
- much conversation and laughter
- what more could you ask from a creative space that isn't your ordinary work space

Day 7- Fabric

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to be the winner of one of Retromummy's giveaway's of there are many. I never did get to write my post and thank her very much. So here it is 'Thank you very much Retromummy'. I won some Heather Ross-Far Far Away fabrics. There was a bit of a problem with the postal services involved. It took more than 2 weeks to get from Sydney to Noumea which is a 2 1/2 hour plane flight. I am constantly bamboozled by the New Caledonia OPT. I know we work on Pacific time here but that was ridiculous.

Anyway it is here in my hot little hands and I need to make something from it. It is a wonderfully soft fabric so I think I will firstly make a skirt for Juliette and then see what other inspiration comes my way. If you go to retromummy's blog right now you will see she has another giveaway going. That girl is just tooooooo generous!!!!!!!

Day 6- it's Tuesday and I can't wait.........

................for my husband to come home which will be on Sunday. By the time he gets back he will have been gone nearly a month. The kids and I have coped very well this time but it still isn't the same without the other half around to help out. On his last trip to Japan he bought back the petite Blythe you see. Her name is Charlotte Champignon and she is tros mignonne. He has traveled to Toulouse, France this time. I wonder what he will bring us back.
Hopefully something we can't already get here.

Some other ladies that are happily waiting on this Tuesday are over here.

Day 5- Monday Monday.................

Another Monday has passed and that puts the week into action. I have no plans this week other than to clean the house( because it is a horrible mess), have lunch with 2 girlfriends and get ready for this weeks book club meeting which is being held here at my place. Hence the cleaning. This months book was Brodeck's Report. It was a very interesting read and I highly recommend it if you see it in your travels. It really made me think about the oddities of human beings and how they work or don't work together. There is alot more to it than that but you can read the review in the above link to get the story.

I am now going over to Tinniegirl to discover a few new blogs who are participating in blogtoberfest. Wish me luck as I may not make it to bed to early tonight.

Day 4- Final fire...............

Festival is over and there was a final fire for everybodies wishes to be sent skyward. There was some super fire twirlers to entertain the masses and their twirling fire makes for interesting photos don't you think?

Day 3- not much.............

I forgot to take my camera today to the festival so no shots from it but plenty was happening. The kids wandered back and forwards all day to the things that were free for them. Music, workshops, whatever. I stood around talking to friends that dropped by and trying to converse in the other language. Very funny indeed. I have put a you tube of an artist I got to see for a while last night. That 1 guy. He is a one man band and his instrument is made from pipes and things. Very interesting sounds came from it and the crowd seem to love it. Me I could only handle it for a little while but it was nice to see live music again.

Day 2- a sweet surprise.............

A little bit of artistic play from things found around the garden and house. It was put together for me by Django. Lets just say he didn't get in to trouble over lunch for his efforts.

Blogtoberfest meets FFF................

It's the first day of blogtoberfest and to start it all off and probably for the next four days you are going to get posts about the Festival Femme funk that I am doing. It should be fairly exciting if today was anything to go by. We had the afternoon to set it all up and then the evening was free for people to come in and see what is happening and get a bit of a taste and then come back over the weekend. Lets hope they do so I can move a bit of stock. Close ups of stuff to come.

This is Kris, my partner in crime busying herself with setting up. She makes fabulous jewelery and many pieces that I would like to buy. We will see how much I have sold on Sunday evening.

Then you have my banner. Specially made with many hours of embroidery. I hope lots of people notice and make nice comments.

Stay tuned for Friday night run down. I might even get to see a little bit of music.

It's Tuesday and I can't wait ............

..........to put my iron away. It's been out for three weeks and I have had enough of seeing it. Usually it gets pulled out to do it job then it goes back into it's hidey hole. I have left it out because my husband isn't around to complain about it and it is just easier when you are doing non-stop sewing to have it there ready to use. I think it will probably get put back tomorrow night. I have to make Kris and I a fancy apron to wear to the festival and then that is it. Oh I hope that is it!

P.S you don't a photo of the iron and ironing board it is far to horrible to look at but you do get another cute critter that is coming with me.

Saturday's alright for..........

.......blogging. Isn't that how the song goes? What else do you do on a Saturday night when you husband is away but blog about what you have done in the past week. I shouldn't lie we did go out tonight to a friends place to eat pizza have a glass of red wine and tarte aux pomme for desert. It was a very nice evening too.

Kids have collapsed in bed now, I thought I would have a quick check of my emails and I have some spare minutes to post something so I wanted to show you all the finished rabbits. Papa rabbits above.

Mama rabbits,

Then the babies. I think these guys need a bit of embellishment too. A job for tomorrow.

My creative space...........

This week the little mermaids have been finished from their tailless state of last week and they are frolicking on a cloud that will be used to display my brooches at the festival. I need to embellish the cloud somehow, I know it will have all the brooches over it but it might need a border as it will sit on a white wall. I'm a bit stumped with what to do. Do you think it should have a silver lining or some other edging on it? Some ideas from the outside ideas would be most welcome.

Enough said today...... need to go and get kids out of the shower before they wash themselves away but I will leave you with a photo of the favourite mermaid as voted by the household.

Bunnies...............

It is a lovely day today for coffee staining more bunnies. These have turned out a much nicer lighter colour, the coffee wasn't quite so strong.

They will be embellished and heading off to the festival.

Weekends activities............

The weekend is drawing to a close with it 2 weeks of school holidays- yipee!!. To round this weekend off we watched Django getting involved in the Capoeira festival that has been on the last couple of weeks. Django started this activity at the beginning of the year and loved it right from the word go. The local capoeira group holds this festival each year and it encompasses some intensive classes for the kids and the grown-ups, shows around town and lots of excitement for the kids. They are lucky enough to get higher grade teachers in from Australia and Brazil to teach these classes. This martial art is like most others were they have the coloured belt system of grading and at the end of the 2 weeks these are awarded. We watched Django go from his beginners white belt up to his yellow belt. The super dooper big master from Australia(master Peixe)was present to hand these over. Django was very impressed by the speech the master gave at the end when he told everybody that the sport he loved doing was about them learning the skills to do it but it was also about having fun and enjoying it. He is such an emotional lad!

Juliette and I were very proud of him( his dad is away again)for getting up there and showing a whole crowd of people his new found skill. Go Django!!

My creative space........

I have a rainbow of mermaids waiting for all there extremities in my space today. I am madly working towards having a full table of my wares to sell at this upcoming festival. So not much writing today I am sewing and stuffing like a mad women. Not a pretty site I tell you.

Later on when I have finished my quota of stuff for the day I will visit Kirsty to see what everybody else is up to.

The redwork is in the mail.............

Yesterday I posted of my square for the quilt project.......I hope it makes it in time and makes the final cut............I am looking forward to seeing everybody's work sewn together..........it looks like it will diverse and interesting..............then I will be looking forward to seeing which square comes back to me.