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The terry jackets from DUNS Sweden are a great reminder that it takes time to make our clothes. And that time is put in by skilled people using handcraft and remarkable machines.

Here you can see a visual tour of all that's involved in the making of the application on the front of the terry jackets. 17,600 stitches and 45 mins for the machine to sew 12 applications on. And this doesn't include the time it takes to place all the parts in the right place, or the time it takes to prepare and cut all the small pieces before they can start. What an amazing process.

A calm Wellington day for collecting a new trestle table for using at the Market. This table will feature the wonderful Book Island books.

We have some very good family friends, the sort that turn up a day early for your wedding and just get stuck in sewing 18 table clothes and peeling and preparing huge amounts of vegetables without being asked. Then on the day they look after loads of other bits that you didn't even think of like making the church look nice. The legendary sort.

Meet Elka, the new Hoopla Kids mannequin. At least, this is what she was made for. It appears Ella has other ideas about what to do with her. In the space of a few hours these are just a few of her adventures . . .

've decided it's time I had a mannequin as part of my stall at the Wellington Underground Market. I've searched trade me and google and found a few but they don't come cheap so I decided to make one myself.

One of the joys of being a piano tuner is that we have collected up a few nice bits a machinery which come in handy for all sorts of things. For example how about a recycled rimu clothes rack?

So I got out my roll of brown paper. I asked Ella for her help but she was too busy making muffins with duplo in our half built porch. But as soon as Sammy had obliged she was in wanting her space on the paper. I drew around both of them.

Hand made right here in our workshop by me from timber from our house renovation. Hoopla Kids does clothes racks a little differently from other stores and stalls. A natural feel.

Hi,

I’m Kirsten. I’m Mum to two small people (update Dec 2015 - now three small people) and wife to Andrew. We’re kept company by four chooks and a lovely ginger cat called Put Put. I’m a Piano Tuner/Technician. And I run Hoopla Kids, a small business specialising in fun, colourful, creative and practical kids clothing from Scandinavia.

Together we all live in a little house in Wellington, New Zealand.

We are just a normal kiwi family, but like every “normal” family, we have our quirks.

I get around with the kids on a cargo bike – fondly known as “Mundo”. We have a large vege garden which has the potential to produce lots of delicious organic food. And scattered around our 612 square metre section we have 12 fruit trees, a grapevine and LOTS of berry plants – strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, currants, blackberries, boysenberries and gooseberries.

This blog is about many things. It’s about life with small children, being a stay at home mum, and running businesses. Its about growing food, running a co-op, trying to live a greener life. And about how much fun a family can have with a cargo bike. I’d love you to come along for the ride. And I hope that maybe some of my posts will inspire you to try something new or do something different.