Monkey fun

Okay, so the hand stitching was painfully tedious on those chick blocks. 2 down, 10 to go! But shoved to the back of the desk for now, until I can get my hands on some stuff called quilter's gluestick which hopefullly will keep those pesky seam allowances in place while I stitch everything down. The second block I did wa sthe one on the green background, and it was those funky little chicken feet that made me decide not to do any more without the glue.

So what's a girl to do, but start another quilt?! So here is the beginnings of my monkey quilt. I bought the fabric ages ago and had the plan in my head, just haven't had the time or motivation to get started. The rain today meant we had to sit inside so Austy watched his "Peepo" (Baby Classics) DVDs while I cut out. Then his favourite bit, he got sit on my lap to chain piece all the triangles together... well, half of them. I stuffed up with my cutting so have had to order more green fabric, luckily they still have it in stock. That's about as far as I got until he eventually had a sleep (after I threatened to throw both his DVD player and Justine Clarke CD in the garbage bin!) so I could take more care at trying to match up my triangles without trying to make room for him on my decreasing lap (due to the expanding belly).

This quilt will be the travel quilt for bub, only 1m square so it is not too bulky to carry around, and should be able to find a space that size on the floors of people's houses we visit. The chick quilt is quite a bit bigger so better off staying home.

Starting a new quilt

Here is the first block for a new baby quilt - the first time I am using a pattern! I decided it's about time I followed a pattern as it might teach me something. So far I am learning how to applique the traditional way (with hidden stitches, all by hand). It will certainly test my patience as I am a slow hand stitcher who really doesn't enjoy the process. Maybe I'll get better and faster... who knows. Then it will be time to work on my hand quilting!

In the meantime I will work on some machine pieced mini quilts for the baby's room. I found this gorgeous fabric that will certainly be a feature as it has those cute garden kids as well as the perfect shades of chocolate, pastel blue and deep red, that I have chosen for the baby's decor. I figured these colours would be fresh and modern, but also quite unisex and I couldn't believe it - Austy's Dad agreed! I was worried how he would take my suggestion of a deep red feature wall. Quite a brave move and I know my mother in law will have a heart attack when she sees it (when we get around to painting it) as it certainly doesn't match her traditional ideals of pastels and creams... but hey I know the baby will love it!

Anyone for mint slice?

I haven't done a whole lot on these this week - just stitched the elastic in and the pocket on today so I had something to show for the week. Instead I have been busy working on Helen's round robin border which took me much longer than I thought, but well worth the effort as it came out even better than I had hoped! It's off to Emma as soon as Austy is well again and unlikely to infect anyone. Yep, that's right he's sick again. Not gastro this time but a "virus" which sounds suspiciously to me like a chest infection in the making. He has had a temp over 39 which needed regular doses of panadol to keep down since yesterday afternoon so I took him to the 7 day medical centre this afternoon to get it checked out and have been told he looked alert (hyeah righ - he could hardly keep his eyes open and was glued to my lap instead of tearing around the waiting room like he usually does) and if he still had a temp tomorrow to bring him back for antibiotics. Hmmm... we'll see, although I'm certain I will have to take him back tomorrow.

Anyway, back onto the longies... I tried to make these for a 3m old sized baby considering we're due in December and bub would be much better off in just shorties or soakers at that time of year, but this wool begged to be longies rather than two soakers. They look minature to me, fit only for a doll but Austy's dad thinks they look too big... we'll see. I am not as impressed as I thought I'd be as I was hoping for a unisex look, but the chunkiness of them as well as the cables makes them look a bit boyish, and I have an incling we are having a girl (of couse it is just that - a hunch - and we could just as easily be having another boy!). Oh well, maybe if we do have a girl I can team them up with a girly top with maybe a green appliqued bird with brown beak and legs or something.

I added the pocket for a bit of a smile - I love the supurflous pockets on baby clothes. It gave me a giggle when Austy was born and I remember a chat with my sister in law about how ridiculously cute tiny pockets were, even though there is minimal chance anything will ever go in them!

Something girlie!

Since my good friend Emma's little girl Eleanor was turnig one, I took the opportunity to sew something girlie. I did have a lot of fun planning and sewing it, but was up well into the night on Friday to make sure it was ready for the party yesterday. It wouldn't have been so last minute if it weren't for first Austy getting gastro the week before last and then sharing with me last week. I was off to the fabric shop on Thursday as soon as I was on the mend and only started tracing patterns and cutting on Friday night, so it was a close call!

The top is about a 0-1 (the pattern was from Ottobre Autumn 07 which uses measurements rather than age related sizes) so that should fit nicely with a little bit of growing room. I made the pants size 1, a simplicity pattern that is a quick and easy favourite of mine, I have made it 7 times now and the simple and practical design makes it great for kids. Here is a pair I made for my nephew last year. The knee patches are perfect for crawlers and early walkers. Only problem is I think I messed up a little with the seam allowances as they are more generous that Ottobre patterns and I think I did them the same (it was after midnight when I cut them out!), so it's closer to a 2 and Emma told me yesterday that se's still in 00's!! So I will be making another pair soon to be worn with the top and this pair can wait till she's bigger.

I forgot to blog this little hat I made Austy for childcare - a very easy design that looks cute too. Also very cheap (just a scrap bit of fleece I had) so it doesn't matter what happens to it at childcare. And all childcare things need names. Instead of messing around with name labels I decided to tackle the embroidery machine. Glad I did!



And a sneak peak at something quilty that I just know someone will be eyeing off:



Finally, a knitting WIP for bubs. Big tip - don't tackle lace with a 2yr old around... or a HUSBAND for that matter!!! It took me four tries at setting the pattern since someone kept asking for things...

Oh and an action shot of the apron from Novy - we made jam drops today after watching a kids play in the city.