You're All So Awesome!

Recently my daughter was in hospital for 5 days with a severe, rather scary asthma attack.  At one stage I heard the doctor say to a nurse 'Tell intensive care to get ready just in case we need to send her there'.  You can imagine how my heart began pounding when I head that.  Asthma is something that many people, especially children, suffer from in New Zealand, which has one of the highest asthma rates in the world.  I have three children, and all of them have asthma, so we tend to dread winter, as either one or all of our children end up in the emergency department at one stage or another, sometimes more than once. Our neighbours must really wonder what is going on at our house, when once a week the ambulance turns up in the middle of the night!  The ambulance paramedics know us all very well now!

 AlhamduliAllah (Thank God) my daughter is much better now, and enjoying the warmer weather and better health.  Here is a photo of her in her favourite 'Hello Kitty' pyjamas, fighting the boredom of being stuck in bed, playing games and drawing on the tablet.  While she was in hospital, I posted a rainbow drawing she made when she began to feel better, on my Facebook page. Many of my lovely viewers/readers/fellow bloggers saw it and responded with such lovely comments of support. I just wanted to say thank you from us for thinking of us, and your uplifting comments.  Being in the children's ward for 5 days makes you feel very 'cut off' from the rest of the world, and it was nice to know I could still connect with everyone through the internet.

I also posted some of the beautiful murals that line the walls of the children's ward in the hospital.  You can view those here.

Once again, thanks to you all, we really appreciate it.

Stitching in the Children's Ward.

Hi everyone...Long time no blog! I have been making things, though.  Perhaps not the sort of thing that you are used to seeing on Miraculous Mosquito...but I thought I would show you anyway.

The pear needle book I made
in the hospital.  You can see I am still
practicing my blanket stitch!

We have been going a bit 'felt crazy' around here lately (by we, I mean myself and my 6 and 4 year old).  I recently paid a visit to my favourite shop in the whole world, called 'Pete's Emporium'.  It used to be a tiny little shop in Porirua (just north of Wellington) jam-packed full of all sorts of bits and pieces.  Now it has moved across the road to a bigger space, and good ol' Pete has expanded his range of items, in particular the art/craft/fabric/sewing section which I spend most of my time in.  There I picked up a whole lot of felt in many different colours, then on my way home I dropped in at my local library where I grabbed the reserved books they had kindly saved for me.  One was a book about how to make felt toys and other groovy things.

This little guy turned out kind of cute, I thought :)
His body is stuffed with polyester stuffing, and his tail is flat.

My kids just borrowed a book from the library called 'Jolly Olly Octopus' I think
that is where the inspiration for this came from.

These clouds are just flat, stitched around the edge, with a white side and a blue side.

   Recently I have been spending a bit of time in the hospital with my daughter and son who both have asthma and have had some nasty attacks lately.  There's not much do do there while you are cooped up in a small curtained cubicle waiting for the next inhalation of Ventolin.  Beforehand, waiting at home while the ambulance was on its way and I was making sure I had everything packed in my overnight bag, I decided I was not going to spend another night in the children's ward with nothing to do but play games on my phone while my eyes turned square.  I grabbed the felt toy book, a bag of felt, and some needles and embroidery thread.  At least I could teach myself to do something while I was there.  I made a really cute felt needle book with a pear on it which, although not perfect by any means, didn't turn out that bad and I was happy with it.

This little fishy turned out a bit weird
but I like his shape.

I have always been a bit scared of sewing for some reason, but now I am really starting to enjoy it, and my children also ask if they can do some as well when they see me stitching away.  Encouraged by that mild success I decided to make something a bit more detailed, and when I got home from the hospital I decided to make an interactive toy for my children.  I made some fish, an octopus, and a few clouds, which I am somehow going to make into a sort of picture which will either be attached to a wall or made into a 'quiet/soft book'.  The kids will be able to attach the fish and other objects onto an ocean themed fabric/felt background wherever they want, with snaps and velcro.  I've got a few more ideas...a guy fishing in a boat...a giant clam with a pearl inside....etc etc! Now to actually FINISH it....that's my REAL challenge !!  If you have been reading my blog since the beginning, you will probably know that finishing things isn't exactly my speciality, but I'm getting there.

Hope you are all having a great day (or night!)
Regards,