Blogtoberfest Day 4: Happy Birthday Nanna!

Yesterday was my Nanna's 77th birthday so of course I packed the kids up and took them to her place with a homemade afternoon tea. I didn't give her anything I had made this year, but I tried to take a photo of the first quilt I ever made that was her 70th birthday present, all hand stitched (piecing and quilting). I often refer to this one as my first ever quilt as every memory of that 70th quilt was painful as handstitching really ISN'T my thing and I used the wrong batting which meant that even with a leather thimble, I still managed to stab holes in my thumb doing the hand quilting. Austy's little baby quilt was the first one I did "right" and used teh machine for. I try to forget the painful holes in my thumb!

Unfortunately in her gloomy spare room (it was quite cloudy yesterday) and with a wriggly baby in my arms the photos came out quite blurry so I deleted them when I got home and will have to try again another day. I did catch a shot of this one though - my one and only blackwork (or should it be BLUE work?) that I did for her kitchen one Christmas (about 10yrs ago) as she has lots of blue and white china in there.

And like Nanna always does, she sent me home with a little something for one of the kids, this time a sweet little jumper for Madelyn. It's a Bendigo Woollen Mills 8ply pattern she did with some yarn leftovers someone gave her, and embroidered by her sister.

Instead of getting crafty today, Austy and I made slime... blue slime.... remind me next time to make it white as we both are now sporting lovely SMURF hands!

Blogtoberfest Day 3: The elusive buttons

I decided to finally finish off the Alicia Dress (Ottobre 3/2009) that I made for Madelyn when DH told me I could keep on sewing if I wanted to after I finished off the page boy suit for Matt & Jazz's wedding. I got it all done from tracing to finishing in just one afternoon, but then procrastinated on putting the buttons on as I have a morbid fear of ruining things when I add buttonholes. Crazy really as my sewing machine does a beautiful job of an automatic buttonhole... and since I now know I can use my sewing machine to actually stitch the buttons on, the most arduous task of all can be done by machine.

So last night I pulled it out and do you think I could find those supercute little daisy buttons I spent time picking out for this dress? Of course not. I gave up after an hour of searching and made some little bloomers instead (Eyelet Bloomers Ottobre 3/2007). I didn't really follow the instructions here, just used the pattern piece (got to love a single piece pattern!!!) and added some length to the hem so that I could do a ruffled casing instead of shiring elastic on the legs. I don't have shirring elastic and don't know if I'm game enough to try it yet so I copied an idea I saw on some cute baby leisure pants at Seed the other day (and for less than half the price!!!). These pants have to be the quickest baby pants ever. I will certainly be making more for spring/summer as she can get away with shorter dresses (so as not to get all tangled up when crawling) with a pair of bloomers underneath. Occationally I will let her just wear a cloth nappy butt in all it's glory, but I don't have a gazzillion nappies in every colour and not too keen on things that don't match (call it obsessive compulsive but I like colour coordination!), so only if the nappy matches she can go bloomer-free. (I am a little less anal about the whole nappy matching thing these days but I vaguely recall having a go at DH when Austy was a fewe months old because he used a lime green pocket nappy under a white bodysuit which poked out through the leg holes - I told him only skin colour under white.... now I am just happy that my baby has cloth on most of the time as DH will go for a disposable when he can.)

When the bloomers were done, I forced myself back to the knitting. I say "forced" because I'm not too sure I like this thing in all it's fuzzy wuzzy glory, but I have started it so I should get it off the needles one way or another. I think it'd be cute if it weren't for all the shedding. It's Lincraft Angora Plus, hand dyed by me a while back. It was cheap and I thought it was soft and sheeny (it is) and it passed the cheek test (where I rub it against my cheek and decide if I would want it next to my skin let alone a baby's), but oh the shedding!!! Sadly I don't ghave a cat anymore (you can read about Gryffin here) but my lap was oh so much fluffier than when he was around. I'd better get used to it I guess, we have a cornish rex on the way, and while his fur will be delightfully soft and pattable, I know from experience that it will be fine and hard to get off clothes.

And of course I found the buttons this morning but don't know if I'll make it to the sewing machine with my two kidlets awake.

Blogtoberfest? Should I? Could I?

Now we all know how I have never managed a blog a day for a whole week, so could I manage a whole month? Really? Probably not, but what the hey, I'll give it a shot.

It's my last full month of maternity leave (sob) so probably the only chance I'll get. Hopefully I'll pull out some WIPs (we all know I have a few!) and show you on the dull days, and maybe even reinspire myself to finish them. You know how something just doesn't work out exactly as you'd planned, you toss it in the cupboard never to be seen again, then one day you happen across it and think, "Hey, what is wrong with this?" and actually finish it off. Okay, one can dream...

Hopefully I'll have something crafty to talk about each day and don't get caught up in the "must blog" hype and bore you all with mindless drivell. I'll try to offer a photo a day, and maybe this giveaway I've been promising for months, might actually eventuate!

To join in the fun, find out who else is in, or find out more, you can read about Blogtoberfest here

I'm off to a slow start, having missed the first day, but as TinnieGirl says wagging is allowed (just not preferred!). I look forward to finding inspiration where I never thought possible and "meeting" new friends along the way. Welcome to the festival!

Today's crafty task is to cut the loose buttons off this cotton cardy I made for Austin and restitch them as it's now a perfect fit for Madelyn (got to love pistachio green for it's unisex style!). This cardy has a little story - I was making a striped hat and jacket for Austin from the cotton in the final weeks of my pregnancy. I didn't get too far but took it into the hospital to keep me busy in the evenings once visiting hours were over. Well, any mum would know that when those visiting hours have ended all you want to do is SLEEP! So I think I only managed a couple more rows and then Austin grew out of it before I could finish. So at 4m old, I decided he needed me to make another one, I bought a new pattern (this one is by Sirdar) and started again (and actually FINISHED!) It was my first finished project as a new mum as he didn't really sleep much during the day and I was still getting used to things.

The hat didn't happen and I still had plenty of cotton left over. Then when I had a week before my induction date with Madelyn I decided to make some booties and a hat with it. Again, I took it to hospital with me to do while I waited for labour to start. But I also had a quilt that needed binding and that got preferential treatment. The hat got almost finished, and one bootie was made but that's where it ended. If only I had left the hat half finished from having Austy and I would probably have had a stripey newborn hat for one of my babies! Oh well, they both get to wear this cute soft cardigan which is now the perfect weight for spring and just goes to show that Madelyn IS smaller than Austin was (even though she is still a giant baby and bigger than most 12-14m olds I know!) as he had grown out of it by 10m and it's still a little roomy for her. It's a gorgeous shade of green and looks great on her, a nice change from pink. However I might have to team it with pink pants or something to avoid those "he's such a cute little boy" comments. I never had anyone assume Austy was a girl, so I feel a bit odd when pewople think my pretty princess is a boy, hence my need to put her in one of my least favourite colours all the time.

More newborn gifts

Today I spent the afternoon with my best friend and her newest family member, little Scarlett Eve, only 4 days old! She is soooooo tiny and petite in every way, but simply adorable all the same. She felt like a feather after holding my 11kg girl!

Both her and her hubby loved the baby sling I made them:

There was a small cosmetic flaw in the canvas I used on the waist strap, which I only noticed AFTER I'd finished stitching it on. So I improvised and covered it with a quick tag with Scarlett's name and birthdate. It sits just past the knot when you tie the sling on (Maddy modelled it for them while Scarlett slept).

Love a neatly folded sling shot!

And there were a few ooohs and aahs over this little set:

My friend couldn't stop patting this super soft milo vest made from Sirdar Juicy DK, a luxurious bamboo/cotton mix:

Welcome to the world little Scarlett!

Spring blossoms of the crafty kind

I have finally finished Madelyn's "Little Blossom" dress, which I had been making for her to wear to Matt & Jasmine's wedding a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately due to the sewing I had to do for Austy's suit, it didn't quite make it but she looked cute in the dress she wore anyway and the weather hasn't been warm enough for this since that day so nothing is lost.

It still needs blocking and snaps at the back. If I did it again I would do buttonholes as it's a bit silly to put snaps on knitting I think as they always pull the work and it's in an area of strain here at the back of the neck. I still have to find the right colour grosgrain ribbon to stabilise the opening before I attach the snaps so it's not "technically finished" but it is off the needles. Madelyn was a bit too grumpy to try it on today and ready for bed almost as soon as she woke up, plus it's a little chilly so I'll wait until she's in a better mood to try it on.

The pattern is Rana, and I have used Bendigo Woollen Mills "Luxury" in the Baby Blossom colour. Quite a pretty and babyish pink. Normally I don't "do" pink but I do like babies to look like babies and since mine is so big, she needs baby colours to help her out a bit! I did the smallest size, which is meant to be a size 1, however since my gauge was a little tighter with this yarn (I think it's meant to be an 8ply or something but knitted on small needles), I used slightly larger needles and added extra rounds for the length, which makes it a little slimmer fitting than design. From the test fit I did of the bodice, it should be fine though, as long as the weather warms up before another growth spurt!

I have also been busy making things for my best friend Georgina's new baby. We didn't know the sex and George told me "anything pastel". I know she loves blues and turquoise as much as I do, and she did the nursery in a "Finding Nemo" theme so I went with that and decided to applique a sea turtle baby on the baby carrier I am making her. I have used Amy Butler's "Happy Dots" as the feature fabric, a complimenting solid homespun and cream canvas for the straps and body stabilising. I still have to finish this one off with the waist strap and triple stitching reinforcement but you can see how it's coming along.

I thought the turtle was a nice touch as I helped her paint the turtle in the nursery, and her hubby used to own turtles (I have one too) so we'd often chat about turtles in their pre-baby days. So every time she uses this she'll be sure to think of me.

I also cast on a milo vest for her new bundle, using a very soft DK bamboo/cotton by Sirdar. Unfortunately the newborn size which is meant to take only 100y decided to use up the whole 104y and still have a bit to go. With the beautiful Scarlett Eve being born on Saturday morning at 12:30am, I was unable to get more yarn to finish it until today so I know that I will be busy tonight finishing off both of these baby gifts ready to go and spend the whole day with her on Wednesday when she comes home from hospital.

My yarn, fabric and nappy stash also got a boost in the past few days with this gorgeous custom dyed wool arriving last week from Wooltopia:

Then two very funky itti bitti d'lish nappies arrived (no photos yet but I got the strawberry fields and moo moo) and made a few more pocket nappies to get through the wet weather without running out of nappies. The fabric mail came today but I've been slack and not yet photographed it. My favourite was this one for Austy. I could just about buy everything in that range!

Shown up again, another fabulous give away!

Novy, over at Little Munchkins has another fantabulous giveaway on. I tried to restrain myself from entering as I have a pang of guilt every time I put my name down for these things and have yet to think up something good to give away myself, but that top is so pretty, my wardrobe could use a freshen up!

Could I be so lucky?

Made by Rae Jackpack Backpack GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Ohhhhhhh..... please let me win this one!!! Perfect for Austy who's about to start his pre-entry at kindy next term. Gorgeous!!

Decisions, decisions

Okay, here's Maddy's quilt again, this time using the carpet as sashing. Hmmm... I think that perhaps those of you who made comments were right - better stick with the original pattern without the sashing.

Now to make it cot size, I have made an extra row of blocks (making it 4 x 5 blocks) and now need an extra 10 inches all round. So I thought instead of doing the binding straight against the pieced border as per the pattern, I was thinking about perhaps adding an extra 5" border of the cream (it's a silky soft kona solid...mmmmmmm.....). This will make the pieced border kind of float, and then I'll need to be creative or corageous with the quilting in order to make it snazzy.

Then, for the binding, I might just pick one of the dark chocholate fabrics, or even use just the darks (reds and browns) to do a scrappy binding. I do like the brown with red spots piured, but that depends on whether I can get more as that piece is just a fat quarter I bought for my squares.

And onto baby sewing, I have wand to make this dress for Madelyn for a while, but haven't gotten around to it. I have been holding onto the floral micro cord especially for it.

Now to team it with pink?

Or blue?

WIP Wednesday... on Thurdsday

Okay, okay, so I would never be able to keep up with a weekly blog post, but hey, let's pretend that I am a regular WIP Wednesday-er!



Tonight I am fiddling with some fabric suares I cut for Maddy's quilt, creating more blocks and testing them out together. I decided to take a photo to get an overall look of how they will look together and trying to decide if I should put sashing between them to make it less busy. The pattern has no sashing, but that doesn't matter. Last time I looked at them I thought they looked a bit cluttered, however tonight I think it's okay. Undecided. I shall keep making blocks and see how I feel when it gets to the point of joining them all together. What do you think? Sashing? Or not?



Excuse the dodgy flash photography and thread bits! Austy was running off with my blocks when I tried to take the photo in daylight...



The blocks look wonky, but I swear it's just the way they are laid out on the carpet. I have just randomly placed them too, but we all know I am fussy about placement and will probably take a few hours arranging and rearranging them before I number them all and put them together once I have enough for a quilt.

And while I am here, I thought I should mention two great giveaways that are on this week. The generous Corrie is at it again here, with her fabulous patterns and AuntyC is giving away some fabulous bibs - some that I had promised myself I'd make when I had another bub, but she's now almost 9 months old and I haven't made a single one! Woops. And I still haven't gotten around to making something to give aay on my own blog... please bear with me it WILL happen eventually!

Something Special

When I was told that my future sister in-law wanted Austy to be her page boy, I was very excited to be able to make him his suit, so I set to work on a tailored shirt made from silky soft bamboo, a vest with satin detailing, suit pants with double pleat front and hidden side pockets just like Daddy's, and a pink tie, using a scrap of the flower girl dress that my mother in-law was making for our niece Elizabeth. Austy was sutably excited to get "wedding clothes" and at each step of the way he tried each garment on, asking when the next one would be finished. On Friday we completed the outfit with a trip to Big-W for some inexpensive (he'll probably only wear them once or twice) but smart looking "wedding shoes".

I think he was a darn cute page boy, but I am a little biassed! I'll let you be the judge! He wasn't the stillest model to capture though, and I almost missed the two 2 and 3/4 year olds as they skipped and ran own the isle. Good thing I got some shots while we waited for the bride. In this top one, Lizzie was so excited to show Austy her new shoes, her necklace, her dress, and Austy was saying "Yeah, I got new shoes too!" Forget all the hard work I put in with the outfit!

But I kind of caught them torturing a butterfly that was being released in memory of those that were unable to be there to watch the proceedings...

... and watched as a bridesmaid tried to save the poor thing from two wicked children.

Madelyn was meant to be dressed in handmade attire too, but unfortunately the dress I was knitting her did not get finished in time. Luckily, Grandma had recently gifted her the perfect dress for a wedding (also dubbed the powder-puff dress as it has the cutest tulle underskirt that helps turn her into a little baby powderpuff!). She put on her pretty frock, counted her fingers...

...practiced her waving (her newest trick along with her princess clap which she is equally proud of!)...

...then bowled me over for a pre-wedding drink.

I made a little shrug to go with her dress using wool I managed to score from a ravelry destash that matched perfectly. She didn't need the shrug until the mozzies came out though and wore it only for a short time before it was pyjama time at the reception, so no action shots unfortunately.

And finally, here's a family shot for good measure (excuse the sunnies!).