The finished cot quilt

I had another trip to Bunbury to the doctor yesterday and everything seemed fine so I'll have another trip there next week when he wants to work out 'a plan'. Hopefully the plan will involve doing nothing until after my friend Ali's wedding at the end of next week.
The cot quilt is finished and the cot has sheets on and is all ready to go. Mum and I went through all the old clothes this morning so another thing is organised.
I've been slowly getting some more toys and bags ready to go to the Fremantle Arts Centre. This morning I finally got them photographed and packed ready for Mum to drop them off.

Cot Quilt - part 2

I thought it needed some circles, big ones - the perfect time to try needleturn applique. You can never go wrong with spots or circles.

Baby Quilt

I think my nesting might consist of sewing rather than cleaning. I really could do with the desire to clean and organise. Instead I feel the need to make a cot quilt for the baby.
I still have a huge pile of half finished bags and toys on my work table. I'm slowly managing to finish them as the girls build train tracks near me.

37 weeks

I'm 37 weeks tomorrow and feel like I could burst. I can't believe I am going to post a picture of myself. My sister Jane is on the left. She is 33 weeks and doesn't even look it compared to me.
We all went over to her place on the weekend and had a great time. A definite highlight was Jane's dinner - the Saffron, Paprika and Garlic Seafood Stew and the Pastel de tres Leches (3 milk cake) from last months Delicious Magazine (And I wonder why I feel like bursting). The massive indigestion after was worth it.

Baby Cardigan

Babies Who Lunch Cardigan from The Little Sublime Handknit Book

Yarn: Sublime Yarns Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK

Colour: Gooseberry - 2 skeins

Butterfly

A new butterfly, the caterpillar has become a butterfly. I am much happier with this one than this butterfly.

Happy Birthday!

Amelia and Grace turned three yesterday. We were in Perth for the weekend and took them to AQWA as a birthday treat. They loved it, especially the touch pool with the little stingrays.

It seems like we have eaten cake, cake and more cake for the last week. We are just taking another one to playgroup this morning.
Happy Birthday girls!

Umbilical Hat

I am nearly finished the baby cardigan, I'm up to the seaming which I hate so I started an umbilical hat from Stitch n Bitch. So quick and so easy. I used some Artyarns Supermerino in colour 127 from here. I have made socks from the Supermerino before - it is so soft and nice to wear.
I used just over 30 grams so there is plenty in a ball if you want to make it bigger.

Moo

Not much to say today, too tired . I went to a hen's night for my friend Ali on Saturday and even though I was not drinking and didn't try to dance (there wouldn't have been room for anyone else) I am still feeling the effects. I am not used to being up that late. I tried a five minute nap, but one of the girls wanted to be sitting on me and the other was looking for the biscuits she knew were somewhere in the kitchen.
Some new moo cards arrived today. I was really happy with these ones, they are a lot lighter than the last lot. A new bag -using some of that great mushroom fabric from Spotlight.

Bibs

The girls tended to vomit a lot as babies and we went through a lot of bibs. I had never thought of making them back then, but if this one is going to have to wear one all the time it may as well be a pretty one. I am not sure about the chenille on the back I might try some with flannel or plain cotton next.

Lovely Mail

I received some fabulous mail yesterday from Kirsten of Assemblage. She had a giveaway last week and I was lucky enough to get this gorgeous Kimono Pouch. Usually I just rip into parcels, but I stopped when i saw this amazing packaging and took it home to take a photo.

Thanks to Suzy I found some plain white linen tea towels here. I have so many ideas to decorate them. I should probably get ready for this baby though. I have about 6 weeks and so far it we the only thing we have done is shift the girls into their new car seats and I have washed the old ones. One is for the new baby and one is going to my sister as she is due just after me. So at least we can get it home from the hospital and hopefully by that time we will have cleared some space in our room and Chris can put the cot back up. I was about this organised with the girls so hopefully it should all work out.

Hippo

I love long weekends, the girls loved having Chris home for an extra day and I love the extra help at the moment. I am so glad Easter is only 3 weeks away and we have an extra long weekend.

I finished a hippo - a very bright and friendly one.

A couple more giraffes. The one on the left is for a friend's new baby boy.

Sewing Silk

I love silk. I love knitting with it, especially mixed with other fibres. I love wearing it and having somewhere to wear it. I love the idea of sewing with it. The reality is a little different. I find it a bit tricky to sew, especially anything sheer. I managed to get over my fear of it yesterday and start on the flower girl dresses for the girls and I pleasantly surprised myself. I even managed french seams. I have nearly a dress done. I think I might hand sew the zip in as I know that otherwise it's going to all end in tears. I just need to find my Rajah cloth (I swear there is 3 of them in this room) and iron it, I am so scared of burning it. I'm using Burda pattern 9757.
Chris' parents have been here for the weekend which the girls love and so do we, the house is a lot cleaner then normal and it gave me time to sew the dress without the constant interruptions.
If you haven't already seen it - have a look at LMNOP - a new online kid's magazine. My curly - haired dolls are in there.

One of those days

Today was one of those days when I just wanted to scream. At one stage one of the girls had stripped their bed and jumped up and down yelled that she was on a trampoline, while the other one tried to climb up a bookshelf and yelled that she needed a ladder as she had to get taller.
Thank goodness Chris came and got them after school.
I've spent the last hour cutting out wombats and having trying to turn the wombat pattern into a pig with no luck. I have been trying to do this for ages and I think my attempts are getting worse. Pigs just don't seem to work for me. So I thought I'd try a hippo, we didn't see any at the zoo last week - they don't have any in Perth, but they do have rhinos which the girls loved seeing up close. I think I made a good hippo face, I've just got to see what it is like on a wombat body.

I haven't bought anything practical for the new baby yet, but i couldn't resist these little bloomers on sale at Minifashionista for next summer. They did make me smile today.

Coconut Bread

I have a playgroup meeting tonight - it's always a bit more enjoyable if you have something nice to eat and drink and as I can't drink I needed something nice to eat. So the girls and I made Coconut Bread. Honestly today I would have preferred to quickly make it myself - so much quicker and far less mess, but the girls always want to 'help'.

They wanted to help with these little thank you cards too. I saw this idea on the Craft blog a while ago and it's a really nice way to use up little scraps.

3 Little Dolls

I've finished the dolls and the finished the last of the red and blue flowery fabrics - 2 of my favourites. I think they are Yuwa fabrics and I can't seem to find anymore of them. These will be off to Minifashionista shortly.
Does anyone know of a place to get blank linen tea towels or cotton/linen tea towels. I feel the need to embroider or applique something pretty for the kitchen because I don't seem to have enough things on my to do list.

Sewing Dolls

I think I am fully recovered from the trip to Perth now and ready for the week. I spent yesterday trying to finish some dolls that are going to Minifashionista and then hopefully I will nearly have all the things finished that have to be finished and I can spend the next few weeks sewing what I want, or lying around on the couch, whatever sounds better that day..

A Trip to Perth

I spent the last few days in Perth. A trip away always sounds so great, you plan all the things you want to do and then it kind of gets hijacked by everything you should do. Luckily we still managed to do some of the fun things. It helped that Mum came with me - much easier with help (isn't that an understatement). A few highlights:

A dress fitting for my bridesmaids dress for my friend Ali's wedding when I'll be 39 weeks pregnant - yes you read that correctly - 39 weeks. I think it is going to be ok the dressmaker is fantastic and promised I won't look huge, although I'm not sure how this will be possible.

We met Chris Mum and sister and our gorgeous niece Madison at the zoo and the girls got to see all the big animals they always talk about. Here are the girls in a still moment at the penguins.

A visit to the Fremantle Arts Centre - I hadn't been down there for a couple of years and had forgotten the great things you can find in the shop there. I am very excited as you can now find a few of my toys there including this wombat.

The big exciting thing for me this week was getting to 32 weeks. I didn't quite make it to 32 weeks with the girls - so it's always been a big psychological milestone for me.

Tote Bag

I thought I'd have a go at a tote bag and cut into some a fantastic vintage tablecloth for the 2 panels. I think these panels might work well as part of little dresses. Add that to the list of 352 things I plan to do before this baby comes.

I am trying to make the list smaller - I cast on the Babies who lunch Cardigan from the Sublime book using some Sublime yarn made of merino, silk and cashmere. So smooshy and perfect for a newborn baby.

Cakes

We made Chocolate Cake yesterday, a big one and a couple of heart shape ones as a Valentine's Day present for Chris. The girls (especially Grace) were very excited as they got to put 'green honey' on top. Grace started asking for green honey on her toast ages ago and it took us a long time to realise she meant hundreds and thousands. She has never had it on toast for breakfast, but still asks everyday in the hope we might change our minds.

We also made some Zucchini Bread - so yummy and a great way to use up some zucchini.

Corina asked me how I manage to sew with the girls and if they touch everything in my sewing room. I get asked this a lot especially from people that don't sew. I think it's definitely a case of the more they are in here when I sew the easier it is. I used to have a barrier on the door and they were always trying to get in here. Now the door is wide open and everything is left out. The scissors and pins are out of reach (I know they could get them if they tried) and they just gradually learnt what they could and couldn't touch. Yes it did take a while and they made a mess more than a few times - untangling reels of cotton and balls of wool are not my favourite pastimes, but it was worth it now.