A new year, a new focus.

Last year was rather a rough one for me and left me feeling fairly disheartened. I think I lost the last of my naïveté, and the last of my innocence.

I am really saddened by this wasteful world we live in, where everyone is after a better deal and is willing to climb over their fellow human to get their hands on it (preferably giving them a kick as they climb). It isn't the world I want to live in, it is not the workplace I want to work in, and it is certainly not the future society I want to bring my children into.

But it is so, it exists, and I cannot change it.

All any of us can do is be the best people we can be - look after ourselves well so that we can be kind and good people to others - especially to those we love the most.

I made some big choices last year that will deeply affect the rest of my life, and so far I feel very strongly that they were the right choices. Sometimes, you just have to trust in yourself and do what you instinctively know is right.

2014 is looking very positive, full of hope, new life and creative promise.

Happy Holidays!

So here we are in mid-December with Christmas fast approaching. It has been a very eventful year and although creative endeavours have always remained at the forefront of my mind, mostly they have not progressed from the design stage to production mode.

I did have the absolute pleasure of attending screen printing and fabric stamping classes in the latter part of the year and have purchased my beloved nieces a custom fabric stamping kit for Christmas. I cannot wait to see what they make!

I too have bought myself some printing goodies and I am looking forward to enjoying a relaxing holiday with my family and a fair bit of creative time.

A big thank you to all the lovely Twice Giggle Thrice customers over the past two years. 2014 should see some changes in direction for the brand. You can expect more quilts and some very special limited edition crafts.

Merry Christmas and happy new year!

Is it really November already?

What happened to October?

It has been busy here. October was a bit of a whirlwind month for us. The twice giggle thrice Etsy store sold out, and with lots of babies arriving, we have had several quilt and bib orders.

Look out for new stock in the Etsy store over the coming months. Just don't look today, because like mother Hubbard's, our shelves are bare. Not to worry though, the sewing studio is still well stocked with beautiful organic fabric waiting for a purpose.

Yes, it has been busy, busy, busy and it looks like that is going to continue (is there any other way when you have children?)

But as for today - the sun is shining and we are off to the beach. :)

Do you use recipes? (And why there has been no sewing and no blogging of late.)

Well, not so much sewing has occurred here lately. We had one sick little person about 4 weeks ago who had a fever and cough for 7 days, but otherwise was bright eyed, alert and eating. We didn't know what it was until a friend popped over to admit she had had influenza and might have passed it on.

It explains why the grown ups didn't get sick, as we would have contracted a virus, but having had half a decade of flu shots under our belts, we were ok. Incidentally, we don't get flu shots anymore. I had a very extreme reaction to one in 2012 at work and my GP warned against them. However, I do like to think that the reason my son was able to weather the flu so very well is down to the fact that he had the benefit of all of those years of vaccination his mother (me!) was able to pass on to him in utero and through breast milk.

Long story short, our very important small person was sick for a week and we big people have taken weeks to recover from the exhaustion you get after a few consecutive nights without sleep and constant worrying. A bit like having a new baby all over again, no?

So, I have been thinking about sewing, but not actually doing any sewing.

But, I have been cooking lots of healthy stuff to help my family regain optimum health after our ordeal. A lot of it I just make up as I go, and most of the time things turn out amazingly.

We have had one fail, which was pancakes made with coconut flour. They were terrible!

A big recent success has been brown rice piklets, made with whole cooked brown rice, organic spelt flour, eggs, a liquid such as milk (you can use soy or almond or whatever you want), vanilla bean paste and a splash of maple syrup (the real organic stuff from Canada please...) or coconut sugar or both. So yummy, recipe free, and great cold snacks to eat at the park, or on the way there.

It has got me thinking, do people mostly use recipes to cook? Or are there other happy go lucky experimental cooks like me out there?

Verge garden update

It is growing. It is all still alive. So far, so good.

But... The poor violets have been sprayed AGAIN by the council. Very annoying and disappointing. They've also sprayed the mint in my neighbours front garden and an entire fenceline of seaside daisy a few houses up from us has been obliterated. Oh so unnecessary.