A giveaway not to miss!

When I saw this fantastic giveaway over at Jet Designs I knew I just HAD to be in it. You can win a book and two patterns (in Australia) or just the patterns if you're an international blogger. All you have to do is check out her store, pick your faves, comment on her blog and link it on yours. Easy! I have my name down for a contemporary quilting book and some fun Amy Butler Patterns. So cool. Fingers crossed tightly now...

Talking of giveaways, I am a bad, bad blogger. My 100th post past ages ago, as did my blogiversary. The blogiversary fell both times when my life was fairly hectic and I was unable to host a giveaway. So I have decided to do an unblogiversary giveaway instead! But before I do, I will have to make a couple of things especially for the occasion otherwise I will feel a tad pressured to make something after the event. So in the next few weeks I will get crafty and put three handcrafted items up for grabs. I just have to have a think about what sorts of things would make good giveaways. At this stage they will be baby/toddler related gifts, perhaps a baby block, a pair of baby shoes or a softie. If you have any other suggestions for things that are quick to make and fun to receive feel free to drop me a hint, and then keep your eyes peeled for my own giveaway.

Refreshed, graduated, ready to sew!

We arrived home from the US on Saturday lunch time, and while I was quite happy to return with a bag full of fabric and a freshly serviced sewing machine, I was equally delighted to find to special parcels sitting on the dining table.

The first one was a very generous gift from AJ, who made it in appreciation for the nappy bag pattern and newborn clothes I sent her in anticipation of the birth of her very special and much awaited "Russell". A fantastic nappy stacker to make accessing those nappies a lot easier. Currently I pull them out of the top drawer as I did for Austin, but since Madelyn has more fitteds than pockets, they are a lot bulkier and jam up the drawer when they are all washed and in the right place. The nappy stacker was made especially to go with this quilt from my EB Quilters friends, which AJ also contributed. The pic here is sans nappies as we are running a little low on supply now because I didn't get a chance to make as many mediums before we left as I would have liked and her legs seem to have tripled in diameter so that the few smalls (ie. the magicalls and my homemade aio's) that still fitted when we left are now ready to sell off to new owners. With all the unpacking washing to do, nappies have had to wait and are therefore all hanging on the line.

The second parcel was an adorable little quilt from Eden - my quilter for the flickr DQS6. Since I am not allowed to put quilts on the walls (at least until I get a sewing room again which will be several years down the track when we are ready to rebuild or rennovate), I was hoping for something Madelyn can use with her dolls as she grows older, but also something that I could pinch back when my sewing room came along so that I could hang in front of my desk. This little beauty is perfect for both, so pretty and classic looking with a contemporary feel to the composition and placement of circles. If you look closely you can see the beautiful fabrics she chose for the circles, but from a distance they blend nicely. And of course I love a wrinkly stippled quilt and admire anyone who can do it because I can't!










And to make the return even more enjoyable I had the latest issue of Ottobre Design waiting for me to peruse! What more could a girl want? I was almost tempted to trace something out and get started last night after I managed to hold the little ones up until 7pm (they had been droppping like flies the two previous afternoons and then thinking 3am was a good time to start the day - at least we could show Austin that the sun wasn't up yet so he laid quietly in bed but it didn't quite work for Madelyn!) Instead I decided I was too tired to trace and would probably stuff it up so made a dalmation all in one nappy that I cut out before we left. (Check out Miss parachuter! She is super strong in the abs now and does tummy crunches ALL the time as she hates to lay down).









Oh and I nearly forgot, here is the DQS6 quilt I made, and sent to John, who was also one of the swap mamas (& papa!) who did an awesome job making sure the swap ran smoothly and everyone got a quilt. Having never sewn for a bloke before, I was a little overwhelmed at first, but John left several hints on his blog and in flickr. I soon learned that he was a fan of Tula Pink fabrics, hourglass quilts, solid fabric in quilts, embroidery and loved the lime/charcoal colour scheme. With this information I tossed my original ideas and hunted down fabric. When I saw the Neptune range by Tula Pink, with it's rich lime, charcoal, seaspray and coral colours I just KNEW it was the fabric for John. I kind of let the quilt make itself, the mermaid springing to mind when the word Neptune conjured up images of old wooden ships with mermaids carved on the front. Unfortunately the quilt is small so those hourglasses are tiny. I normally love tiny blocks on little quilts but was a bit sad about cutting into those charms as it obscures the turtles and fish and sea creatures that you would notice on bigger pieces. It took a long time to tie in all those ends and get to stitching the binding down so this little quilt came on tour with me to LA, MI,NY and then LA again before it got sent to John's place. The plan was to finish it in those first few nights of sitting in the hotel while the kids slept, but one of those kids (the bigger one) decided it was not bed time, probably mucked around by the time difference and wouldn't sleep. It was affecting his behaviour and making it hard to drag him out of bed in time for breakfast so we did the only thing that worked which was to sit in silence and darkness in our shared hotel room until he finally nodded off, which isn't a very good environment for stitching binding down. So a little late, but better than never, I give you "Jewel of the Sea":

Ready to fly!

The one project I really NEEDED to get done to use on our trip to the US was a new mei tai carrier, as Austy's old blue one made me feel daggy, and when worn with the apron tie it wasn't tall enough to support a sleeping Maddy as well as I'd like. I used to wear it non-apron tie with Austy (less educated on baby wearing back then!) when he was about 6 months old, and by the time I worked out that the bottom was meant to fold under for better support he was old enough to support himself well and not sleep in it anyway. But for Maddy, at only just 4 months she needs good support and coverage for sleeping. So a marathon sewing day (between feeds of course) and I had a new, girly baby carrier!

I used Sandi Henderson Ginger Blossom tiles as the feature fabric as it's just so pretty (and definitely girly), this is the side I will most likely have showing alot of the time. I was going to line it with aqua minky but decided against it due to it not being cold here for very long and made it reversible instead, using a Sandy Gervais solid panel in the centre, aqua of course! The strap fabric (and hidden internal stabiliser) is dark chocolate canvas from good old Spotlight which rang up as just $5/m when I got to the counter - bonus!

This time I added a hood, but Andrew tells me the hood looks like we follow some weird religious cult or think we're celebraties trying to sheild our baby from public view. Sigh.... I will still use it though as Madelyn has never liked the sun in her eyes and while she tolerates it better now, sun in her face when she's asleep is bound to wake her. I can also wear the hood folded down as a bit more neck support and padding as both the hood and body are padded with fusible fleece (pellon).

I was going to make up my own pattern from scratch again, having done that with Austin's and knowing where I wanted the changes to be made, but when doing my research to work out what features I wanted and didn't want, I found this fantastic tutorial, which had almost exactly what I wanted. I altered it slightly to suit the dimensions I wanted and went for a standard shaped padded hood, rather than the rounded hood to headrest on the tute. It seemed silly to reinvent the wheel when someone else had already done an excellent job of it.

Madelyn loves her new mode of transport and actually cried when I took her out of it after an early evening stroll last night. I think she wanted to go to sleep in it. Don't worry, she'll get plenty of chances for that soon! We are taking a stroller but will just use it for meal times so I have somewhere to put her while I eat so I don't get hot food on her. So much easier to see things when you don't have a pram, and I don't have a pram that lets her see me now that she has outrgrown the bassinette. Please ignore the fact that I accidentally strapped her arms down (woops) - normally I pull them up so she can move them about and suck on her fingers but I was just getting it on and off quickly for a photo or two.

Also, it's time to reveal Dinosaur Roar V2 - Austy's set. Remember Scott's little set from the EB clothing swap? I promised to make Austy his own dinosaur set and he loves it.

My cute little baby bears

It's been a while since I last blogged, but I promise I've been doing stuff. I finished this cute little hat for Maddy a few weeks ago but never got around to photogaphing it until now. I made one for Austy too, after having made the full hat/bootie/mitten set for his older cousin Corey, and hooded teddy bear sleeping bags for their older cousin Alyssa, and Andrew's cousin Harry. My kids get just the hat as I have lots of other things on my to do list these days.

Here's Austy in his at around 7 months old, from my first ever blog post in this blog. Where has the time gone?!

I have completed the Dinosaur Roar outfit (version 2 - for Austy this time) but it is hanging on the line so you will have to wait until it's bloggable.

So I will just leave you with this photo of Madelyn checking out her new shoes, and let you salivate a little over the rocky road I made for Easter!

ETA: The baby bear hat comes from a booklet by Patons, called "Baby Bears". I've had it for about 10 years.

More cherry love

It's time to get back to making some baby essentials as Madelyn has grown out of most of her small nappies. So as a break from nappy making I made this wrap, using some cute cherry fabric I had to bind a piece of muslin. She needed some new extra wide wraps as she is a bit more of a houdini than Austy ever was, but still likes to be wrapped tightly to sleep.

And another sneak peak from DQS6...

WIP Wednesday: Late night sewing and curtain hems

This morning was a very busy one, and this afternoon wasn't very accommodating for sewing as my darling girl seems to be teething (yes, already!) so wasn't happy to be put down, and only managed a half hour nap this morning during my fitness class, and then little spots of sleep here and there in my arms.

However a late night last night (which ended well into this morning) helped me finish the backdrop for the Doll Quilt Swap 6 mini quilt. I am yet to do the applique, but other than that, the quilt top is complete. Golf ball for size reference.

Then today, miracle of miracles, I hemmed one of the curtains in Maddy's room. I planned to do them all while Madelyn wasn't in her cot asleep, and Austy was out, but the little miss had other plans. At least I got one done, and am now not as afraid to attempt the other two. For some reason, no matter how carefully you measure and cut, the hemline on curtains seems to want to be wonky, and it bothered me because I am a perfectionist and would rather sew straight!

And another miracle was that DH finally got around to painting the feature wall in our family room. It has had two test patches on it for months now, and he's had lots of time off work due to the poor car market at present. He thought painting it might get me off his back, but he didn't realise it's that horrid 70's woodwork that I've been whinging about. We have the paint in the shed as we got it when we got the paint for the kids' rooms, but apparently it will be another year before he gets to that bit, and he won't let me do it. Oh well, a girl can try. The holes in the wall are for our TV which is now back on the wall (he did that as soon as it was dry, of course!).

Shoe fenatic!

Sandals, originally uploaded by WendysWTN.

I have to confess that while I am not so excited about shoes for myself, I absolutely adore baby shoes, and now that I have a beautiful little baby again, my obsession has been reignited.

I saw these absolutely adorable aqua sandals on flickr one day (browsing through one of the many baby shoe groups I have joined, of course!) and when I realised she was selling them, I quickly flickr-mailed Wendy and asked for a pair to be made especially for Madelyn. They are crocheted and whi;le I can do lots of different things crafty, Ican't crochet for the life of me. I managed a few granny squares as a teenager, but couldn't even do that when I tried again as an adult.

Choosing the colours was the hardest part. You all know how much I love aqua, and I was never much of a "pink person" until Madelyn came along. However I am really fond of pink on her - it's kind of celebration of the fact I have a daughter I guess, and she has the most adorable little dress with pink flowers and mint trim so I thought these colours would go with the dress perfectly.

I can't wait to get them now, they are just so beautiful! I will be stalking the postie over the next two weeks I think, and they will be here for us to take all the way back to the US for my graduation day, to wear with that pretty dress.

Do the Dinosaur Roar

Yesterday while stuck to the couch feeding Madelyn, I put an SD card on top of a mobile phone, thinking "That is going to get lost". I just sat it on top of the phoe to remind me to put it away once I'd finished feeding, but when I put Madelyn down to bed, I came back and it had vanished. A whole months worth of photos of my rapidly changing girl, and antics of my boy. We hunted high and low and finally gave up thinking it must have fallen between two of the lounge chair modules, which are cleverly locked together and we can't remember (or access) how to unlatch them.

But this morning just as I crouched down next to Austy to see if I could find out where it went from him (suspecting little fingers may have taken off with it) I spied it! There on the floor next to his toys.

So now I can show you what I made for the EB clothing swap, gifted to Marie's Scott.

A pair of rich chocolate cords, made from a thick cord fabric with pockets on front and back, and "ROAR" appliqued on the back of one leg. All the topstitching is the same colour blue as the t-shirt sleeves.

And an appliqued t-shirt, my very first embroidery machine applique! I finally braved it, and loved it so much I made that cupcake top for Maddy immediately afterwards. I used ribbing to match the cords, and the topsititching from the twin needle used one thread blue (on the chocolate bands) and one thread chocolate (on the white or blue stretch knit). The dinosaur fabric is the same as that used in the front pocket linings on the pants. Both patterns were from Ottobre 4/06. I ommitted the knee patches in the pants, because I couldn't find any chocolate flannel, and Scott is walking now anyway, but wouldn't you know it - after I finished them I found some blue flannel scraps left over from portacot fitted sheets I made Austy as a baby, that would have been fine (the flannel goes on the inside of the pants so a bit of contrast is okay).

Marie has posted some photos of her little cutie modelling them too - you can see them here.

Opening day!!!

Today was opening day for the EB kids clothing swap. I was very excited when I saw Karen's name on the back of the parcel when it arrived yesterday. I had been the first to comment on the fabrics she showed us, and once I got the satchel had to check her sneak peak!

(A blurry hug for his new jacket)

Austy was very excited to open a couple of gifts this morning, so excited that he couldn't sit still for photos! He scored a very detailed and spunky winter jacket, that would have taken alot of time to make. Thanks Karen!!


And a reverse appliqued t-shirt that he wouldn't take off, he knows A is for Austy!



And I scored a little brooch:




So I took my two little darlings out in handmade today, Austy in his A t-shirt and Madelyn in her little owl dress that I finished off last night. I love the back view best, all tied up like a present.

What a day! Off to check out what everyone else got now.

Testing a pattern

My mailbox has been enjoying lots of wonderful fabric mail the past few weeks, including some gorgeous knits from Crafty Mama, some beautiful baby cord (oililly reprints) from Holland Fabric House, and some wonderful winnings of pink and white charms from Emma, and cute Christmas fabrics from Kylie. Honestly, I almost don't know where to start, and to top it off, a back issue of Ottobre Design came today. It is one of the best issues - 2/2005 - on recommendation from the very clever Milly, who was making one of the cutest little tees from it for our EB swap. Austy will have one of those for sure! The pattern that sold me on it though was the beautiful blue baby dress, with matching frilly knickers and tee, that would just be sooo pretty on Madelyn.

While hunting down baby cord on etsy one night I also came across this baby bootie pattern from Lil Baby Thangs. Now that the weather is getting cooler and socks just never stay on, I thought it worth a try. I want to make a couple of complete outfits with the fabrics I bought from crafty Mama, comprising of a wrap over top, leggings, hat and booties, but before cutting into the good stuff I decided to try the pattern out with some left over cherry fabric first. They will go with her little cupcake top perfectly, and I wished I'd found the pattern sooner as they would have been cute as newborn booties at Christmas when she was wearing her matching cherry scratch mitts!

Anyway I will definitely be making more of these, either as newborn gifts, teamed with a hat and scratch mitts (my pattern that actually stays on - none of my bought mits did despite me being prepared buying several pairs after Austy still has a scar on his face from scratching it at only 2 days old), or as little winter boots for Madelyn. I can see them being made out of a soft fleecy, minky or faux fur for winter, perhaps with an embellishment of some kind. And I was also thinking of modifying the design slightly to allow for a suede sole - thoes with suede soles remind me of teddybear paws. Too cute!

They were easy to make, and pretty quick too (every mum loves that!) and most importantly she can't kick them off! I will be sending on a pair to the cute little Ashton as well who came to visit yesterday but between both babies feeding and sleeping for the short time they were here I couldn't egt a photo. So I have booked my sis in for a photo play date with Madelyn and Ashton, before they get too mobile. Ashton is already almost breakdancing on the rug at only 4 months!