little insight

when mr pitter is off at work we sit around and feast.  i love sharing platters with the little pitters and there is nothing much better than mini pancakes, fresh strawberries and syrup for dunking. 

you may wonder am i super woman cooking pancakes for breakfast with 2 little pitters pulling on my robe, alas no, i am just sneaky.  my 2nd biggest make it easy secret.......i cook them in the sandwich press.  cooking both sides at once, no burning, constant attention or fiddling required.  my caramelised french toast, corn fritters and potato medallions also get this treatment.

do try this little sneak, you will fill your morning with wonder and pancakes.

a little challenge on the side...

the postman delivered a little treat today, my umbrella prints trimming pack. 

each year they run a little competition using there sweet packs.  this year the competition period runs from march to june with entrants posting their wares onto a pinterest board.  i am a lot excited but it is a competition so you will not see my plans until i am done.

this year i'm in and i have my best friend joining me, will anyone join us? do let me know in the comments.

new for master pitter and momma

you may have seen that miss pitter gets the lions share of sewing goodlyness, but after sorting her heaving wardrobe as part of a mammoth (love that word and wish that woolly mammoths were not a thing of the past) tidy (tidy is a very polite term) i can no longer justify making her many more clothes for a year or two at least.

so

master pitter and momma get a turn.

i have bought my first 2 japanese pattern books (i know you have had them for years.)  and with my pocket money i was off to the fabric store to load up, yes more, but much more manly than usual

so there are plans afoot and after finishing off my last market commission it will be a go go.

miss pitters kit

linen,cotton and vintage doily with dot bias ties

the lovely cotton print on the back with a button tag label

so many times miss pitter stands beside me at the machine and asks if what i am making is for other boys and girls and so many times i say yes.

there is a little whimper, a dropped lip and then the light switch is flicked and she asked if she needs to try it.  ohh so helpful you may think but i pay in chocolate for this kind of help.

but all tolled i think she comes out trumps in the wardrobe department this is a selection of her summer kit.  i feel a little relived looking back on these and saying yes for you miss pitter.

fine wool apron with doily breast plate

little pitter leg cozies (or robot legs if you are 3 and cool)

recycled merino hat with fabric trim and button (when your 3 all you need is a warm head)

voile and white linen pop over with mustard bias from nonnas stash

the softest linen i have ever touched with doily front.  the back panel is from the same voile as the above top

and buttery soft drill with vintage lace pocket and knee details, once again thank nonna for the lovely extras

and so it begins again

so much fell by the wayside last year in the whirlwind that is master pitter.  I wish I had cared for my friends more and myself for that matter.  but no fear it is a new beginning, a wonderful thing.

my resolutions are a little softer than the get fit, loose 20 kg variety (although that would be nice), I plan to 

• entertain once a month
• move towards whole grains (but there will always be the occasional white scroll and dinner roll.)
• increase our family fruit and vegetable intake 2 fold and reduce our (I should say my) sugar consumption 4 fold.
• complete the computer courses i have been thinking on for half the year.
• have a weekly date night (most likely a movie on the couch) each and every week with mr pitter (makes him sound more like mr darcy, I think I have just changed his name)
• and to do 2 organised family activities each month.
• and those old goodies
• putting the washing away straight away (may I say this must excludes the 8 loads sitting wistful about the house now) and making the bed.

now 8 is not an amazing or meaningful number but that is what I have, more will surely come about.

merry decision making

some quickly it's christmas craft (it has come late this year) a mobile now hanging over the kitchen bench, we have potato stamped all our gift wrap and we have a tree basically nude for my sanity.

well things have been ticking along in the normal way life with small children seems to. 

the youngest pitter whom we call the cyclone of curious destruction (gives it away really) has been in fine form, expanding has climbing routine, helping himself to litres of milk (forcing a lock installation) and practicing his favoured methods of sister torture, the dreaded hair pull.

it has been draining, really draining, i feel like a have spent hours each day working through every kind of reprimand i am comfortable with, no results so far, enough said.

i did spend many a late night sewing (and putting on a couple of kilogrammes too) for our latest market which has triggered what will be a large change in my life.

i have decide not to keep up with in the person markets.  i have always really enjoyed every part of being out meeting people and selling for the day but the cost to our family life has just been to much to continue.

it is not the end just a redirection, i still want to sell online stocking can be on a schedule that suits my timetable.  and now i am feeling a certain freedom about being able to sew simply for pleasure. 

miss pitter starts pre kinder next year and needs a suitable wardrobe(yes, for the two and a half hours once a week)

i resolve (i know it is too early) to handmake all gifts in the following year

and

i can free some more time to take the fancy computer skills course i have been brewing on for the past 6 months

and i can spend some time rebuilding a relationship with my hubby (it dwindled in long hours of work and the bustle of running a home)

i will be back with more....

i am so flattered

....that you are still popping by. post holiday writing should return shortly. to tell the truth i am just tired from the travelling still. i did think that coming home to 3 weeks of pinterest and my reader would give me a boost but it felt like more of a chore to read through 500 sum posts, some did not make the cut. i have found a few new blog loves, some friends i would like to have and some fun things to do but all after the local summer markets are said and done in January.

and getting my online shop open just seems a little silly now, it will happen after a few more sleeps and a few more french knots are complete.

but the sunshine is coming to be sure i did return with a lovely stash (32 kg of fabric and notions) but want to be ready to enjoy it rather than just set to work.

and

christmas is coming, hubby says i have to wait until it is december to get decorating.

i understand last year the tree did not get packed away until easter. i love, love, love having a tree inside even it is plastic, the real ones bring me out in welts if i so much brush past and to tell the truth the scent makes me think of the toilet blocks at primary school.

but things will be made, a wreath, a few new decorations, a cake sans mixed peel, cherries and sultanas (i.e. cranberries and currants in the spice batter).  other than that i have no big feast planned yet - that list will come, i have ideas of lunching on ham and bread, simple and good.

enough for today i hope this found you all well and if it left you a little deflatedi am sorry - just think about what 32 kg of fabric and lovelies would be like to play in.