Finally - some crafts

How do people with lots of kids ever manage to craft?
I only have 4 ankle biters and I'm forever trying to play catch up. Washing, cleaning, feeding, changing etc etc.
Well....I have found time to craft but the housework has suffered. Oh well ;)

I am trying to get a handle on Christmas and have started making presents.
For the younger members of the family I am making activity bags. The idea is that everything you need for the activity is held in one zip lock bag.

I got the idea from Chasing Cheerios and ran with it.

I know, horrid photo. Starting at the left side is a threading game for 3yrs and older, then an open, shut them bag, a felt bag, an under 3's threading bag, threading straws onto pipe cleaners and a fishing game. I have made heaps more of different ones and will load them all when I have finished.

So, as I said I was on a roll and found this website that sells books about activities in a bag. The great thing is that if you go to downloads you can find out what is in each bag and what skill it helps develop. So I am going to include this helpful information with my gifts.

Happy Christmas Present Hunting :)

Our new children

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!!!! We have been having the children for overnight visits and I have never been so busy in all my life. This is such a big change for them as they have been with their caregiver for nearly a year. Things are going well though and I love them like my own. No time for crafting though, tooooo tired :(

Overlocker

My mum lent me my grandmothers overlocker. I think you need to be a surgeon and a member of mensa to thread the thing. Anyway I got it going and it was COOL :)

I made this stack of baby face/bottom cloths from old hand towels (reduse, reuse, recycle). I was having the time of my life when the machine lost power, made a popping

sound and wisps of smoke appeared :( It hadn't been used in 13 years, so perhaps a service was in order. l did know this but was impatient to get going. Also it was working so well. I am sad now as I had a heap of projects I was going to work on. So off to get fixed then 'I'll be be back'.

Washing Day

You are probably wondering why I am showing you a photo of my washing. You see, this is our first fine weekend in 9 weeks. YES!!!! 9 weeks. In the Southern hemisphere we are just heading into spring. Today felt like a beautiful spring day. For the first time in months my washing got dry on the line. We don't have a dryer so I have a 3 step process in place. First it gets line dry (if you can call it dry) under shelter on our deck. Then it moves to the drying rack in out lounge (to make use of the heater) then step 3, into the hot water cupboard for a couple of days. So it was lovely to have a one step process today.

New Brooch

This is my new yoyo brooch. My friend Dee from Sew Funky

lovingly shared a piece of this gorgeous material with me. My husband thought it was hideous but I say he just has no taste. Oh well.... each to their own.

We met the children

Yey!!!!! We met our new children today. They are so gorgeous, but boy, does the little girl have attitude. We have a challenge in front of us. Our new son is very placid and fell asleep on my husband. Too cute. We now work towards us having our new children full time, so I wont be blogging much. Take care and we will talk soon.

Knitting for children

I know I haven't been posting much lately. This week (and last) I've had a nasty cold and Miss J is home as well (she shared her germs with me).

Sometimes all I have time for is the boring craft stuff, like mending etc that really doesn't deserve to be blogged about. BUT...... finally I have made something.

A SENSORY SNAKE

I knitted this and popped different stuff into each colour pocket. One has bean bag balls another flour (all enclosed in a balloon of course), then there's cellophane and stuffing. I hope our new little boy will like it :)
I made these finger puppets again for our new little girl. The pattern for these can be found here. I love these puppets as they are quick and easy to make even for a beginner. We get to meet our new children on Wednesday and hopefully these will give a little bit of joy.