Mum of Two

As of tomorrow, I'll have been a mum of two for a whole week. This is our newest addition to the household. 

Miss Rachel May. She's been doing all of the usual things that babies do. I've been doing all of the usual things that I do, like poking her in the head, and pushing her squishy face into funny shapes. Also feeding her and what not.

So helpful to have Steve around being the extra hands and making sure I take naps when I should. Some days I'm not sure how I'm going to cope when he goes back to work, but other days feel like it might just be manageable.

Hard to get a photo of Sophie and Rachel together, but they are getting along just swimmingly. I now know why people go back and have more kids, by the way. Firstly, you totally forget how painful labour can be, and secondly, the second time seems much easier.

Special thanks to Rachel's Godfather, Wade, for the top two awesome photos. :) 

Cardboard House

Something that is not sewing that I've done recently is made Sophie a cardboard house.

I was unsure how to put the roof on at first (despite all the pintrest help :P), and so it was half made when she first discovered it. Then, as I was putting the roof on, she thought it'd be great fun to try to take it off. I think we're past that now. It's tall enough so that she can stand up in it, and look out that flap in the top. Mostly though, she just likes to sit inside and play peek-a-boo through the windows and door.

I tired to get photos of her using it earlier in the week, but she was too excited about it all. Today, I was taking a five second nap on the bean bag and woke up to find her just sitting in it, playing with the window. Good work Sophie.

Thanks to my parents for the speaker box. I thought about decorating it, but maybe later.

Shiny Things in the Sun

Despite the days being cold (and having a lack of warm things that fit to wear), yesterday the sun was shining and it was beautiful outside. In an effort to get some photos of the work in progress that I spoke about yesterday that were not just inside my house, or up against the wall again, I took these to my parents and used their newly planted olive tree to take some lovely snaps.

Taking creative shots is hard work. I don't know how people do it. That said, at least I'm making an effort right? Anyway, this photo shows the beginning of something fun and new. Yay! With a bit more hand stitching on three of these, I'll be over the half way mark for the first section of this adventure. That's nice to think about.

I don't want to go into too much detail (sorry people) because these will turn out to be presents for other people, but yay! What fun nature things could a child find for each of these colors? I wonder how to finish off those ribbons in the square below....

Waiting Progress

Waiting is hard. Very hard. Made harder possibly by well meaning people who keep asking if I'm ok, or if the baby is here yet. No to both of these things people. I don't want to send out angry "please leave me alone" text messages, but isn't it common sense that when the baby arrives and we are well enough to tell people that we actually will? Do people really believe we'd just sit on that happy news for a week or two before we'd tell anyone?

Before I get carried away (and possibly have a cry here at my computer), I'll let that go. There is no baby yet. I'm waiting too. Don't remind me. Enough said.

While waiting, I've been working on some things that will come together to be Christmas presents for some friends of ours as well as for Sophie and bub-number-two. I don't want to give too much away, but as the gifts are made up of (lots of) little parts, I figured it'd be ok to work on them in the coming months because I could do a little bit at a time and feel accomplished.

These are not quite done yet, but I finished the hand sewing yesterday (watching Stardust) and I'm pretty proud of them. I got mum to teach me how to Stem Stitch so that there would be a bit of variety in the stitches. It's easy to do, but remembering how to start each time took a while. I'm still really happy with the results. Now to get some thread and blanket stitch around the outside. Maybe Sally the Sewing Machine will help with that, though looking at the curves... maybe it's easier to hand do it.

I did manage to get Sally out this morning and do some other squares, so stay tuned, oh waiting world; I might post tomorrow too!

Alternative Use

We had extra blankets out for bible study last night, and this morning, I had a brain wave to spread out the Jeans Quilt and let Sophie investigate. All those friendly functional pockets must be good for something right? I am right!

I got out all of her Noah's Ark animals and stuffed them in quickly. So funny watching Sophie find them all. She was a bit confused at first as to why the actual ark was empty. Such fun though. Jeans Quilt for the win!

Last Minute Preparation: Dresses for Sophie

So you'd think that at nearly 39 weeks pregnant, I'd be doing last minute things for the new baby, or just lying around. You'd be wrong. Well, I am doing a fair bit of lying around, and we did do some final things in the nursery yesterday, but in the last week I've been preoccupied with some other things.

Given that I won't have much time on my hands to make Sophie (or the new baby for that matter) as many cool things as I have in the past, I thought I'd whip up a couple of size two outfits for her so they were ready when the time came. I am really happy with the results, though I have to say my gathering skills are still lacking in finesse.

 Firstly, I made an Izzy Top, with the free pattern found on Climbing the Willow. I have to say, I'm really thankful for the internet and all of the free things that it gives away. Because the bodice of this top is completely lined, some creative sewing meant that I could actually make the whole thing reversible. Two tops in one!

I'd do it differently next time, but it was good learning and practice. The back closes with a snap so no yucky button holes to navigate for me. I am well pleased.

The next thing I made was a Sally Dress from Very Shannon. I made another of these in December/January for Sophie's First Birthday. I really like that it has no buttons or zips, but it can be a little fiddly to get all of the bodice sewn. That said, it did only take probably an hour and a half from start to finish, so I can't really complain.

I lined the pockets and bodice with some of the left over material from the Izzy Top. Despite it's pink-ness, I really like it.... what's happening to me??

I did put away the sewing machine this morning with a bit of a sigh, knowing I've actually finished the important things on my to-do list and it might be a while before I can get Sally the Sewing Machine and Olivia the Overlocker out again, but I'm inspired by an idea for a travel mat, and some new car toys for Sophie, so maybe it won't be so long as I think.

Felt Crown

About two weeks ago I had a mad dash of inspiration and spent some evenings doing some hand sewing to whip up this beauty.

My first ever felt crown. I made it for the the girl next door who turned two in May (we were invited to the birthday party that actually got cancelled, so my mad dash to have a present ready to take to the party was in vain. :P ). I really liked the hand sewing though. It was fun to try to make it multi-size (it had elastic hidden in the back which will mean it expands!).

I tried to get Sophie to wear it (to check sizes), but she wasn't overlly keen. Thankfully the little girl next door loves it. Hooray!

Coming Clean

I write stories.

Woah, it was even hard to write that sentence,  but it's true. I've been writing stories for over ten years now. I might even consider myself to be a writer. I don't know what makes it hard to admit to, or talk about, but for some reason, I feel that writing isn't something that is openly discussed (if it's a thing you do for fun anyway).

Maybe because everyone can read, and thus, everyone could be your biggest critic. Maybe because writing can often be personal, and you don't actually want people to know what you think about things. I certainly know that when I write stories, I want what I believe to come across to the reader.

In any case, I've decided to come clean with the world and let you people know that yes, I do write stories. I have finished stories that I'm proud of. I have stories that I put a lot of work into, and that many people have spent time giving me feed back on and editing.

I tell you this because my goal is soon to publish these stories. To take them from being something I do when I'm creative (or angry at something I've just read that was badly written), or when I'm bored, and put them out into the world for everyone to enjoy.

I don't mind if not everyone loves them. In fact, I'm kind of expecting some people to say all sorts of things from: "This is not something I'd read" to "Your writing is terrible". But I'm ok with that. Because at the end of the day, I'm happy with my stories. The good guys win, the bad guys loose and while in real life not everything works out wonderfully, if you read my stories, just for a moment, they do.

Dress Up Skirt

I was at Spotlight last week getting some ribbon on sale and I rifled through the remnant bin for fun and found some shiny fabric. I've been meaning to make Sophie a circle skirt (or one like this (which involves much less cutting/measuring/accuracy)) for a while, and since the material was cheap, I thought, why not? Good practice.

Some little girl out there probably has a mum working hard at making a full Elsa costume but as I got the remnant, and my little girl really doesn't care about dress ups yet (or Frozen), so I made a skirt. I had to do a little creative sewing and cutting to get it, but I did. When I originally put it on her, she was rather unimpressed, and I noticed that because of the squareness, some parts were too long and she was tripping a little. So I did a few tucks and gathers and now it's very wearable.

And while my little girl was unimpressed with  having to wear a shiny skirt for no apparent reason and very unhelpful with taking photos in said skirt, she was very helpful with the washing this morning. So I can't complain.

Top Secret Birthday Project Two

Knowing that I'll be very busy with bub number two in the coming months, I've been trying to get all of the birthday presents organised and out of the way prior to his or her appearance. Aside from one last gift, I think I'm done!

This gift is for my mum, and has an extended epic story to go with it, which I can't share with you until after the 4th of July when I get to give it to her. Needless to say, if I had to describe the story I will tell, imagine you've read The Hobbit, and then you go and see Peter Jackson's drawn out, over done and often completely inaccurate movies of The Hobbit. Then you will have some idea what you are in store for come July.

Excited? I know I am!

Finished Busy Book!

Last year in March, I made my very first felt book. I love it. This year, in February, I completed page one of my second attempt at a felt book. I cannot believe how long this page sat on my shelf waiting for other pages to be complete. When I wrote the to-do list last week, Felt Book was at the top of the list. I had to get it finished and now I have!

I spent the majority of spare time this week getting the bits together. It was about time really. Maybe I should take more "Work In Progress" photos, so that I can update this blog slightly more often and make it appear that I'm doing more than I seem. Then I wouldn't end up with this extremely long posts all about sewing things. Sorry non-sewing people. On to the book!

This felt book is bound and covered in some fabulous material that I made a dress for Sophie out of in January this year. When I got the material out, Sophie got all excited and tried to put it on. Pretty amusing. The book closes with a plastic snap fastener thing. I like that it looks nice and neat when all closed up. It turned out much larger than I anticipated (think A4 landscape), so it was important to have a good finish.

Page one is flowers that you can "pick" (unbutton). I was thinking I'd sew a little brown basket on to put them in. Maybe next week. I dislike sewing button holes and if I did this page again, I'd use snaps. I think they'd look and work better.

Page two has these funky balloons that you can snap off and then match up again. I've sewn the strings of the balloons down under that cute pink bow so they won't get lost either. I look at this page close up and think it's a bit messy. The stitching around the balloons is shaggy and the strings don't match. When I look from a distance though, I really like it.

Page three you already know about. Notice I still haven't fixed that lacing problem from February? :P Maybe later.

The final page has these cute kids (in their modesty gear) waiting to be dressed. The zippered thing on the right will eventually be full of felt clothes. Pretty much, I wanted to put a zip in, (more practice, though this one wasn't so bad), and this is where it went.

I had a lot of fun hand stitching the clothes and features on these guys. Hand stitching is such a great change of pace. All in all though, the book covers fine motor skills (buttons, snaps, lacing, tying and zips) as well as matching and should (in theory) keep kids occupied for quite a while. If Sophie were slightly older, it'd be a great thing for her to play with while I'm busy with bub number two. Oh well, at least it's ready for when she's no longer napping in the arvo and bub number two is.

Baby Stuff

Still crossing things off my to-do list, yesterday I packed my bag for the hospital. Ready to go! Well, kinda. I had to pack a bag for Sophie too, which was honestly something I didn't even consider until last week. She'll be having a sleep-over at my parents when the baby comes.

Something that my Mum has crossed off her to-do list was putting together the quilt that will be for baby number two. At the baby shower, about three months ago now, everyone worked on a square that would come together to be a cute quilt. I love how bright and colorful it looks, even on the washing line (next to the nappies... this will be a familiar sight I'm sure). I feel so blessed by all of the wonderful women who contributed to this, and especially my Mum for putting it all together.

Here is the square I did.

Thankfulness: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

This is one of my favorite verses and I've been coming back to it a lot in the last month. People keep asking me "How are you going?" with a sympathetic look and some concern, ready to give me support, encouragement, pity and understanding. They want to give me these things because I am eight months pregnant and now looking more enormous than ever.

And I could reply with the usual tirade: "I'm not sleeping, my back hurts, baby keeps moving..." blah blah blah blah. The list goes on. But I don't. It's not that I'm not these thing. In fact, I am all of these things, but the truth is, despite these things, I am so thankful for what is happening and this time in my life. Sure, I could complain (and some people would even say I have the right), but it's not what God wants me to do. In fact, he wants me to do the opposite.

I think this is why I've been so burdened by hearing about what's going on in Sudan, and Syria and plenty of other nations around the world. There is unrest, war, violence. There is drought, food shortage, people fleeing their homes. And while this is happening, people haven't put having babies on hold. There are still people out there who, like me, are eight months pregnant. Unlike me though, they may not be getting ready to give birth in a nice clean hospital.

I live in Australia. I know that when the time comes, my husband will drive me to the hospital. There will be doctors. There will be a plethora of midwives. After the baby comes, it will be checked and measured. We will be warm and fed delicious food that I didn't have to make, or find. I don't have to worry about whether or not we will have enough food. Whether there will be a doctor to look after us. That I won't make it to the refugee camp in time to have the baby because I'm walking through a desert.

What reason do I have to possibly complain in light of all God has blessed us with? So I am thankful for the discomfort, because I know the baby is alive. I rejoice that my back hurts and I'm not sleeping well, because I know it's preparing me for nights of getting up to feed a little one. Thank you Lord, that in all circumstances, you are God and you are good. Please don't let me neglect to pray for those who do not have the same comforts that I do.

Cot Bumper

The cradle is set up in the nursery, and despite my initial reaction to Cradle/Cot Bumpers (adding to the risk of SIDS and what not), I thought I'd make a set give that a) this bub will probably be in the cradle longer than Sophie was and b) it's winter, and thus cold. I don't feel there is much else to say, and given that this is yet another sewing post (which I'm sure is what makes people come back to this blog day after day) I don't want to go on too long anyway.

I used up some scrap squares from the 2013 Block of the Month Quilt that I had left over (even some horrible Spring Bloom blocks :P) and backed it with some fun animal print fabric I picked up at Spotlight ages ago for $4.00/m. I bound it with left over scraps from the backing of the Log Cabins Quilt. Good to use up stuff.

Also took the opportunity to practice some quilting techniques (of course) nice and easy on the smallness of each one (there are 3, each 50cm by 20cm). The triangle piece has just straight lines, the one to the left (which you can't see) has some flowers and then some free motion to fill in the gaps, and the last one was just free motioned all the way. Got to love that Free Motion Quilting. Overall, I'm well pleased with the result.

New Shoulder Bag

The last few weeks have felt a strange mix of lazy and productive. Some days I'm just lying around watching time pass, napping and supervising Sophie play. Other days, I'm cooking, vacuuming, doing loads of washing, making play dates, running here and there. It's been a bit strange. That said, I still have things that need to be done, and only four weeks until bub is due to make an appearance, so I sat down yesterday to get serious about it and wrote my to-do list.

This morning, I've crossed off three things. Hooray! This post, long overdue, is another thing. Excellent.

About six weeks ago, I noticed that my handbag was beginning to fall apart and thus Operation New Shoulder Bag came into being. Something I've noticed about sewing, especially when sewing from scratch and making patterns up as you go, is that the more thinking you do about what is going to go where and how it's all going to be cut and come together in the end before you actually do the sewing, the easier it is to actually do the sewing part.

For example, I tossed around the idea of the bag in my head for at least a week. Just in my head. Thinking about what I wanted to get out of it (pockets/zips/straps etc) and how I would do it. Then I spent a few days actually getting that down on paper. I've been sketching what I want the end product to look like and noting things. Then actually drawing what each component will be made of and out of what material and what dimensions etc. Seems a bit ridiculous, but it's so helpful.

That done, cutting the material is the next (and generally last) really time consuming thing. Once those pieces are cut though, I labeled them, stacked them up and was ready to sew. Because I was again cannibalizing my old bag (reusing the zips and piping and strap buckle things), I needed to sew it pretty quickly so I wasn't actually without a handbag for any momentous occasions, like leaving the house.

Now the bag is done. I feel it does have everything I wanted, though the top didn't turn out as awesome as it did in my head. Not quite sure why, but that's what happens when you are experimenting and learning and stuff. It's got pockets on the back, for easy key and phone access (see the next picture for that). It's got an adjustable shoulder strap. The inside has a zip pocket on one side and slip pockets on the other for tissues and lip balm.

The top of the bag is inset, so that on normal days it's a standard bag size, but when I need to stuff extra baby/kid related things in there, it expands to be a super-mum bag size. Sorry for all the close up photos. I was taking them while on the phone to the electricity company and the table is a bit of a mess.

The bottom of the bag is quilted - free motion style - yay! and also surrounded by piping that keeps everything in ship shape. Material is scraps from what will one day be a super cool tent for Sophie (hello 2nd Birthday present!) and the inside is fully lined with leftovers from Steve's Aladdin costume. This bag cost nothing but my time and effort. Brilliant. No shopping required.

I feel this last photo shows off the inset top bit as well as how much better I am at putting in zips than ever before. Though Steve can attest to the number of times I cursed zips as I sewed it in. :P Will they ever be easy?

 

Welcoming Winter

Well  hello Winter! I sit here to type this with my socks on and my fuzzy green hooded warmth-giving dressing gown doing it's job. I'll be changing the sheets to flannelette tonight that's for sure. Sophie was wearing three layers this morning, but she makes a fuss about getting into them and her little hands are still freezing, so I'm wondering how we will survive actual winter. Meh. She's got to harden up or freeze I guess.

I've noticed lately that I've been very slack about taking photos of the little girl. She moves so fast and often the camera is in a hard to get to spot so I don't feel it's worth trying to get it before she's distracted again anyway. Sigh. I guess I'll just have to do what people in the olden days did and remember things, rather than photograph them.

That said, here is one I did manage to snap on the way down to Sydney two weeks ago. Don't be fooled by the smiles, about ten seconds after this shot, she noticed me and had a cry about not getting to sit with me. :P I hope Aunty Fi is proud of the way we have her infant seat belt securely attached.

Before Sydney we went to Caloundra for a few days with some friends too. The weather was perfect and it was lovely to just have chill time. So great to share child-watching with Steve too.

This weekend was really back to reality. Bub number two is only approx. six weeks away, so it was time to set up Sophie's room so that we could vacate the nursery in preparation. She has settled in well, though we haven't tackled the challenge of moving her to the actual bed yet. There is something satisfying about looking at that room and seeing the bed covered by a home made quilt. 

And these are my Mother's Day Flowers. So bright and cheerful. Thanks Steve for remembering and being organised in advance this year. Love it!

Sleeping Bag: Quilting Practice

I mentioned a few days ago that one of the things I had ticked off my to-do list had involved quilting. While I know that this made some people cringe, and others wonder if I had truly lost my mind, I have not actually begun another quilt. Breath a sigh of relief people. What I have done is made a sleeping bag for Sophie.

Coming into winter, I'm noticing that my a-bit-over-one-year-old cannot stay under blankets very well at night. On the advice of other parents with similar problems, I thought I'd make a sleeping bag for her to keep her all nice and warm, with the added bonus of me not having to get up and check that she is indeed still tucked in. Given that it was specifically for the winter season I wanted to make sure it was as warm as could be, so I not only chose flannel material for the lining, but also decided I'd put some wadding in. This also gave me the opportunity to practice some quilting on a much smaller scale, so bonus!

I used a pattern from sewmamasew for the base and just made it a little longer and bigger so that it will fit her all though the coming growth spurts. I had the cute turtle fabric in the stash, I think I got it sometime last year for $4 a meter (bargin!) and the yellow flannel on the inside was a hand on from some Church thing. I think I spent $5 on the zip, so all in all, this sleeping bag cost about $10 in materials. Of course, it cost a lot more in time, but we won't go there.

On to the quilting! I thought I needed to practice just straight quilting, so I did the back in this (fairly boring) cross hash quilting kind of way. It was good to practice moving all the layers together, following the lines and trying to get even spacing between each row, but all in all, pretty boring sewing.

I feel it also made me a bit angry, because I just wanted to get it done, and going straight across the material from point A to point B was so easy I would just push/pull it through the machine as fast as possible. Despite my intentions to try to keep a calm even pace. :P Maybe that's why I put off doing the front for a while. Who knows. Anyway, when I did sit down to do the front on Sunday, I had the sudden thought that I'd try some Free Motion Quilting.

You just put the material in, and start sewing. Squiggles, curves, waves, anything goes. My goodness it was delightful. I actually sewed at a reasonable pace, and, like driving, slowed down for the corners! It was like sewing a boardem drawing. I loved every minute of it and felt amazing when it was done.

As always, there are difficulties. When doing Free Motion Quilting, you have to watch out for either over-doing the sewing, or not doing enough and ending up with "white space". I suppose with a boardem drawing, I'd just go back and fill in those bits, but it's harder on a machine, so some planning (or maybe just more practice) is required.

I bound the arm and neck holes with the flannel from the inside and even managed to put the zip in myself (thanks to the confidence I gained from the Travel Backpack). It's not perfect, but I'm getting better and I love it. Sophie is going to be so snug and warm. I can't imagine Free Motion Quilting on anything bigger (like an actual quilt) but it was a fabulous experience that I would love to repeat!

Travesty

Can you have a private faith?

Pastor Matt spoke on Sunday night at church and, it being Palm Sunday, the topic was Jesus entry into Jerusalem (taken from Matthew 21:1-11). For Christians, this is it. This is the week that our faith really relies on. Jesus has come to do what he came to do: die for our sins. He is entering Jerusalem with this purpose in mind.

Pastor Matt drew our attention to the fact that at this point, the disciples who have been following Jesus around, could have entered the city with him in silence. Rather than shouting: "Praise God, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna!", they could have made the decision to keep their faith out of the public sphere. They could have decided that even though they knew Jesus was sent from God, that it was wrong to impose their beliefs or faith so blatantly on others.

What a travesty it would have been if they had done this. How Jesus would have wept even more at his silent disciples. And how can we be silent? Coming into Easter, we are faced with the same choice the disciples had: to declare Jesus to be the savior sent from God, that the world might hear and be saved, or to keep our faith to ourselves.

Can we have a private faith that does not infringe on the everyday? Is it possible to remain silent when we have such news? As the disciples were convicted, I pray that we are all convicted this Easter that that would not only be a travesty, but also an impossibility. It is not an option to remain silent when Jesus is coming as the savior king.

Travel Backpack

It occurred to me sometime last week that as we are going to Sydney, it'd be great if Sophie had her own backpack to put the stuff to keep her occupied on the plane, rather than just trying to cram it all into my bag like I'm prone to do. Even though I had a list of other things to do, half of them sewing (and half of those things that were half sewn to begin with and just waiting finishing touches :P), I decided I'd be crazy and really push myself and add another thing, with a very quick deadline.

Thus, Sophie's travel backpack was born. I did a search on the internets and found these two tutorials (one from Crazy Little Projects, which I took most of the instructions from, and one from Birch Fabrics, which was also good reference). In hindsight I wish I had cross referenced the sizes a bit more closely, but on the whole, I'm really pleased with how things turned out.

Of course, I added changes to things to enhance the carrying capabilities that the bag has, and added piping because I had some lying around. I used material from my stash, rather than enduring a trip to Spotlight. The animal print was a remnant that mum gave to me a while back and I've no idea where the red came from.

Those straps on the back are long, but adjustable. They are a little far spaced for Sophie's small shoulders, but she will grow into it. On the front, I added a pocket which has a simple flap with velcro closure. Inside the bag is a fully lined pocket. (Sorry about the nappies in the background of these photos!)

The bag was tested Sunday night for church and holds Sophie's water bottle, snacks, bibs, nappies, wipes, change of clothes and the essential blanket of comfort-plus-two. Excellent.