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Mrs Busy would like to apologise to her loyal followers, in reference to total lack of blogging since ... well probably since Adam was a cowboy or sometime around then. I can't be sure what it is that causes me to cease completely. Probably laziness, but there must a more technical term than that.
Okay now here come the excuses - er - reasons.
Ahem....
The Busy Household... because its not like its busy enough already, took on a couple of 10 year old Japanese Home stay students for a few weeks. I was in my "expanding the family's perspective on things" mode! I didn't realise expanding the family's perspective on worldwide cultures could be quite as exhausting as it was. For one the boys spoke NO ENGLISH! And I didn't realise sign language took so much time and effort. I could go on and on, but if you are anything like my kids you will have switched off from me and switched on the tele!
Speaking of my kids. Senior Busy daughter turned 21 yesterday. Now do not ask me how that happened because seriously I was only 21 about 10 years ago. I'm sure of that! I still have my beautiful dress that I had made, with the big bow on the back. I took it out of the wardrobe for old times sake, and pulled it on. The little cinched in waist fits very nicely ... around my thigh!
Senior Busy daughter is flatting now. She found our house far too confining so moved to somewhere smaller, but we had our usual "its your birthday and you get to pick what to have for dinner" last night. It must have been okay, because she has just popped in for cold left overs tonight! I'm gonna have to give her some cooking lessons I think, but I quite like the fact that she still needs her mother, even if only a little bit! Which leads me very nicely to the fact that I said I would do the food for her big party on Saturday. I was a bit naive, and didn't realise there were 130 people coming! Ah well, in for a penny, in for a nervous breakdown!
I haven't done a whole heap of sewing, but ages ago I promised to show you the little pouch and makeup bag I made for my nieces recent wedding. It was a stunning affair (is that the correct word when describing a wedding?). I sound like a really geriatric old Aunty, but my niece is in fact only about 6 years younger than me. We are a big family and really spread out! So because blogs can be a bit boring without pictures I will leave you with a couple of pics. I am currently charging the batteries in the camera - again - so will have to show you what I have been doing when they are charged. I should perhaps change the title of my blog to: Charging the Batteries. Cue music ...

Dupion Silk pouch, trimmed with vintage lace. The outside of the pouch is in white and lined with blush dupion silk, which is the fabric my own wedding dress was made from.

Inside the little pouch an old penny from 1877, which was my late Dad's, and my late Mum's little badge. Its a proud Kiwi, and my Mum wore it whenever she travelled. The little pouch is something that has become a tradition in our family, and either myself or my other niece, the only sewers in the family make one, for whoever is getting married. It's small enough to just tie behind a bouquet.

And a wee blue flower sewn into it, for something blue...


And a little make-up bag because - well just because!

Ahem ... It's true I think I could be losing the plot...

If anyone happens to find the plot that I seem to be losing a lot lately, could you hook it up with my memory and just put it in a return envelope? I wrote a really long winded post about how I couldn't show you the top I made. And you got to hear all about what Mr Busy is up to and all that. And do you know I actually did put the photos in to My Pictures, but I don't remember doing it? I seem to be doing a lot of that sort of stuff lately. In my defence, it has been REALLY hot, and then the humidity got in on the act to kind of suck the energy out of everyone. But hey I am not going to complain, because frankly after what the good people of Victoria are going through, I have NO right to moan about anything, and I should be darn grateful for some moisture in the air.
Anyway here is the top that I made...

And here is a photo I took the day before the humidity struck. The sky was that colour all over, as far as the eye could see.
I love the Jonathon Livingstone Seagull feel that this picture has to it.

It's a cover up...!

A yucky chair...

What do you do when you have really yucky plastic chairs, and your'e trying to put on a very nice garden party for your mother in law's 70th birthday? And you remember that you have about 60 metres of cream curtain fabric? And the reason for having 60 metres of curtain fabric is because they were selling it for $1.00 a metre, and it was buy one metre get one free, and you have had it jammed at the top of the wardrobe in the spare room for ages... what do you do?



You cover the chairs...!




And you also make table cloths for the outdoor tables, with little fabric weights in case the wind gets up. (The kids are using the fabric weights as juggling balls, and if I had known it would keep them this happy I would have made them some ages ago!)

A little peek at the colour scheme. A little hint. It involves pink tulle and a gazebo too ...

I hope it doesn't rain!

A Random Handy thing

Browsing through Tipnut, I found this very handy little tutorial for closing a bag without using a bag closer. Go here and find out how!
I didn't do any sewing yesterday because I went to visit my sister Lee, who is doing very well thankyou, and both her and Pauline loved their presents, as per previous posts. But look what Lee bought me for "looking after her". I didn't really a lot of looking after, just drank tea and talked all day!!

A little compact mirror with Swarovski elements.

I love the way the sticker says "Super Perfect" 5x. Im not sure I'm keen on the little sticker that states, for fine details. Because those fine details on my face are not that fine. Anyway I like to think that Lee Lee is telling me that I am Super Perfect!!!

I'm lucky eh!!

Our new addition has a name!

Ready for it? After much thought, and some input from you out there... well Joanna I have decided to call Brother NX400...

BILLY!!!!

It had to be, as Joanna from Applique Today suggested... Brother Billy... mmmhmm quite cute. Then she said her Dad's name is Bill... Mmmm. And then thats a bit spooky because my Dad's name was William, and about a week or so before Christmas I got a funny email saying someone thought they might be related to me. Yeah right I thought, you and every other Nigerian scammer, trying to get your hands on my millions (of cents). But then I read on and yes in fact this lady from Australia is in fact related to me, and she didnt ask for my bank account number or anything! It turns out that we are FIRST cousins, and we had no idea each of our families existed. Its a very long and interesting story about 3 brothers, one of whom was my father. He was in the Merchant Navy and jumped ship in Wellington and joined the NZ army (before WWII) then went to London married my mother and they both moved back to NZ. My father never spoke of his family. (Terrible upbringing), and never saw or contacted his brothers again. One of the brothers went to Australia and the other stayed in the UK. They all died not knowing where the others were. Then Marie in Australia and Peter in the UK, found each other, and after searching solidly for about 5 years found us. It was her last ditch attempt to find out what happened to my father, and it was a fantastic outcome. There is a lot more to this story and we are finally finding our ancestory so I couldn't be happier. Sadly my darling mum is not here to know we are all found but I think she and my dad may be smiling down from where they are....

Here is what that fabric turned into

Ta Dah...!!!! June Jetson (ish). I am a bit nervous of putting pictures of the kids on my blog, but other nice bloggers do. Any way here is my youngest darling daughter Anna. Top made of two sample squares of silver fabric. Silver Skirt is wrap around style, and the purple cape is made out of one of those disposable plastic table cloths. Anakin Skywalker aka Nick, left his costume at school, but it was sort of done from a dressing gown pattern. The kids were chuffed to bits, and I won Mother of The Week!! Next big thing ... Anna has the lead part in her class school production as the Grasshopper in The Grasshopper and the Ants, so it will be something green. And then Nick is Angel Gabriel in his EIF (Education In Faith) production. Anna is also an angel. (For those of you wondering EIF, is for Catholic kids that don't attend Catholic School.)

I have had a crush on bunting for a while now

and so I made some for Anna's room, with A N N A applique, which looks quite nice. Now I would show you a photo, but the batteries have gone flat in the camera, and that was about two days ago, and I still haven't put them in the charger. I discovered that the batteries were flat about 5 minutes before I had to take Nick and Anna to their Kapa haka concert. There they were, 2 scrawny little white kids, all dressed up in Maori costume, and I grab the camera, and yell, "stand there quick, while I take a photo", after which comes the obligatory bad word, which lately and excuse me for all you good non swearing people, is Bloody Nora! Yeah yeah I know its not that bad, but really I shouldn't in front of the children, and I am trying to become a non swearer. I'll try and keep you posted on that one, but please don't hold your breath. I seem to be doing dumb things like running out of camera batteries for important events in the kids lives, and letting the cell phone get down to one line on the battery icon, whilst I am trying to rush my teenager into hospital for an emergency appendictomy, (which incidentally was NORMAL!). So whats up with me? Beggared if I know, but please place all answers on the back of a envelope and post to, "The Mental Woman of Howick". Its bound to reach me. Anyway stand by I will charge the batteries, but I will have to do it tomorrow, because I don't want to plug them in and then forget them and then wake at 2.16 in the morning and lie there for 40 minutes worrying about it and then try to convince myself that it will be fine, the house really, probably won't burn down. But it might. So in the end I will have to get up anyway, and go and unplug the darn thing, after which time I will be well and truly awake, and mulling over the next bunting I might like to make... As I said "Mental Woman of Howick". It's bound to reach me...!

Well its been a while...

and for anyone who actually reads my blog, you might be forgiven for thinking I fell off the earth or something. Oh nothing so dramatic. I just ground to a complete halt this winter. It has been the wetest and most miserable winter I can remember, and I think the lack of sun has had a detrimental effect on my creativeness (is there such a word? Never mind there is now...) I have been watching everyone else being creative via their blogs, which added to my misery because I have been wasting all that "indoor" time, and doing nothing. Well I was looking at Molly Chicken. Please forgive me I do not know how to have her blog name all highlighted so you can just click and go there, but she is very inspirational indeed. She did a cute little spotty hedgehog softie, and so as Im apt to do, I went a bit mad one night and made some little critters myself. I have fallen in love with them, and so have Nick and Anna. They think they might make nice pressies for their teachers at the end of the year, so I think my problems of trying to find a nice bath bomb for the teacher might be a thing of the past. Nick's teacher is a man so a both bomb might look a bit dodgy. Mind you getting a little soft toy might not impress too much either. But what the hey?! Ive promised one to my little niece Jaimie in Australia so will have to get it wrapped and down to the Post Office. there is a little chap at the back who I will introduce you to in a minute, but hopefully this little basketful of cuties has got me back in the sewing saddle. I certainly hope so. I must also apologise if this post sounds a bit disjointed, as I am a very tired Mother today. My little (big 17 year old) boy, Matt was rushed into Middlemore hospital on Tuesday night with appendicitis. They took the appendix out on Wednesday and kicked him out of the hospital on Thursday. So at about 1am he was writhing well he wasn't in fact writing because he could not move with the pain, and Im just about to call an ambulance to take him back to the hospital. But we managed to get through the night, and as long as we are on top of the pain killers I think he is okay. My poor wee baby. Boy I feel like you do when you bring a newborn home from the hospital, and you are so knackered you dont know your armpit from your elbow!! But I think he's on the up and up, and I can't wait for him to start arguing with the other kids again!

Ms Jones,my sewing machine gazes forlornly out the window...

I havent done much this week because Mike has been suffering all week from the flu. I dont mean the male version either, as we all know how they can play up the symptoms a bit. He really has been crook and laid up all week. I have done the good wife thing, and tried to be kind. I informed him that the "Nice Nurse" would turn into the "Matron from Hell" if he didn't start getting better though, and yesterday "Matron" arrived. He asked me if I was going to administer Euthanasia, but I just told him he would only be wishing I would. I told him he could forget about me running up and down stairs making bacon butties, and cups of tea that are left half drunk, and if he was able to sit up on the sofa, then he could help me get those shelves I just bought, out of the back of the car!! A bit mean because he looked a bit knackered after that. I really wanted to play in my sewing room/office, but its really hard with the other half around, because to him it probably looks like I'm just mucking around and not really doing anything. (like housework and all that rubbish) and I can see how that must look to him, but he just doesn't get to see all the stuff that is happening in my head!!! (probably very fortuante for him). I have been drawing lots of little pictures of what I want to do, so its not like it's all been in vain. I have also been knitting. I want to make Anna a poncho, but I'm not sure its quite how I thought it would be... so if anyone has a really easy knitted poncho idea, please once again form an orderly cue and let me know!! I have put a picture of my office in this post, as you will see it could do with a damn good tidy up, but once I start "doing stuff" it all just goes to custard really.