Birthday party

Since the birth of Nicholas, my sewing machine has been in hibernation, taking a break after sewing so many cloth nappies (a future post I need to make), but this weekend saw its reappearance in the sewing room. After not sewing for so long, it felt good sitting behind my machine and creating again, plus it reminded me that the light needs replacing, which I totally forgot about.

What did I make, you ask? Attending a birthday for a 2 and 4 year old, I asked myself that same question. For the 2 year old I bought a bright yellow watering can, with some seeds and decorated a headband (which I forgot to take photos of) with material yoyos. These are easy to make, even with limited arm movement when feeding a baby, and make lovely accessories.


Here is a tutorial on how to make the above yoyos BROV: Bring your own vegetables. Super easy!

When I saw this material in the shop last week, I immediately thought of the said four year old (a girl) and knew I had to make something for her from this material.



Now it took me a while to decide but based on the fact that this little girl loves dressing up, I ended up going for an apron. Tracing, cutting out and sewing it was easy as I copied an apron I had lying around at home. It was a good first project after taking such a long break. I was quite happy with the final product, even though it ended up being quite large on her.






This was also Nicholas' first birthday party, and even if he did sleep through some of it, I think he had a great time with his friends :)

Colette Patterns

I love Colette Patterns. They are unique and stylish, and I really want to buy and make a few of these designs. In particular, I really like these dresses.

Parfait

Macaron

Rooibos

Sadly, I won't fit in any of these dresses or skirts for a while.

They also have helpful weekly sewing tips called 'snippets' that are sent to your inbox every Tuesday. You should sign up!

Pillowcase bliss!

This is such a great idea and really does make sense. I wish I had thought of it myself. Check it out at The Charlotte Letters.

Pillowcase bliss

My linen cupboard will look this neat as soon as I have a free moment :)

Trees!

It is that time of year again in the south of Australia, where it is time to think about the upcoming spring and summer, even though winter has just started. It is time to plant your fruit trees! Daniel and I stepped into dangerous territory yesterday when we walked into the nursery. We knew we wanted a few trees but coming out with four seems a little excessive, especially considering we don't have a huge backyard.

In the last few years we have planted a few trees in the garden - plums, citrus, apples, pears and a cherry. There was already an established apricot tree when we got here (a definite bonus when buying the place), but not knowing how old it is, we decided it was time to also start a new one. So yesterday we left the nursery with an apricot, nectarine, peach, and quince tree. We also have a mulberry on order, and I am seriously thinking of getting some olives, some raspberry canes and some more currents. I would also love another plum, but am not sure where we would fit it, especially because we already have to move things around in the garden in order to fit these trees in.

I consider these trees as an investment to our future. Not only because in a few years we will save money on fruit, but also because fresh fruit from your own trees is far more tasty than the shop bought stuff. It just doesn't compare. I look forward to the future of our fruit trees :)

Instant Friends!

I love that, even though Nicholas has only just arrived in this world (the outside), he already has a group of lovely little baby friends. This year saw a sudden boom in the baby population among my friends and family. My sister had a daughter, my cousin had a son, two of my close friends had boys, and another had a daughter, and a mate of Daniel's had a son. Plus, I just found out there will be a new baby in the family later in the year. Also, there have been and will be many more babies born into our church this year. It is a year for the babies :).

I love the thought that all these little children will grow up together. I especially like the fact that little Nicholas will grow up with his family - first cousins, first cousins once removed, second cousins, aunts, uncles and great aunts. So many family members! Growing up without extended family members and grandparents near by, this is something I really want my children to be able to have in their lives - the friendship of cousins and the love of grandparents.

In fact, in the last week Nicholas has been to two play dates, one with family and the other with friends who are just as close as family. Nicholas slept through most of it, both times, but it was fun. It is so nice spending time with friends who have children and are going through the same things as me. It is comforting to know I am not alone during this challenging and changing time in my life :)

Nicholas with his cousins Ryan (2 years) and Evelyn (13 weeks).

Felt Crazy!

At the moment, I don't have a lot of time sit down and sew between feeding, cleaning, sleeping, washing etc. However, when feeding, I do have time to trawl the internet looking at patterns I would love to make. The last few days have seen me spend a lot of time on Etsy and BurdaStyle. They are both great websites and have lots of great ideas and clever people.

So far I have bought three PDFs patterns. The first, as previously discussed, is a pattern for felt animal finger puppets, which I am super keen to make in the next week or so.

Image: Hello Clementine

I also bought this super cute pixie hat pattern.

Image: BigLittle

Plus, I found this super girly felt cake stand on BurdaStyle for free (just sign up and become a member if you want a copy)...

Image: Sweetie Pie Bakery

and from there, went to the Sweetie Pie Bakery etsy store and bought this. A pattern to make everything pictured here.

Image: Sweetie Pie Bakery

I am loving felt right now! I just wish I had the time to make all these things, as well as have a go at making my own felt.

Also, I found a free stuffed elephant pattern you might be interested. And just for fun, here is another link for a website I found with numerous free pincushion patterns. I haven't had time to look at all of them, but the ones I did look at looked quite simple to make.

Finger Puppets

Over the past few months I have been getting into making accessories for children. So far I have tried my hand at rattles, bibs, beanies and nappies (not really an accessory, more a necessity). All of which I have been meaning to blog about for a while now.








One thing I have been looking forward to with having kids is doing crafty things with them when they are big enough. Obviously, Nicholas is still a bit young at the moment to be making things himself, but this isn't' going to stop me making things for him.

The first thing I am going to make for him are some finger puppets. I found this lovely PDF pattern for animal finger puppets from Etsy store Hello Clementime. The pattern is easy to follow and all the animals look so simple to make and yet they have so much character. I choose this pattern over others on Etsy because there was a limited amount of sewing to do (most of it is glued together). At the moment between feeds, cleaning, washing and all those other boring household jobs that need to be done, I don't have a heap of time to sit down and sew (hopefully this will change in the future). Plus, because there is limited sewing needed, it means Daniel can also join in and help make them. Aren't the finger puppets cute!

Image: Hello Clementime

I actually want to Daniel to make some finger puppets of his own, by drawing little people with fabric pens on calico. I will post these when they are done.

I really look forward to being crafty with my children. It will be fun :)

This post is not about craft

Having a baby comes with a lot of varying emotions. There is elation and amazement that first moment you see your little child, and you fall immediately in love. There is uncertainty about your ability to be a good parent. What will they think of my parenting abilities, later in life? What will they say about me?

When they let you go home, there is apprehension and nervousness of being solely responsible for this little child. I knew our life was never going to be the same, and there was a part of me that just wanted to stay in the hospital with midwifes who made me feel not so helpless. Bringing Nicholas home was one of the most nerve-wracking moments of my life. So much so that I had to stop myself from tearing up as we walked out of the hospital.

Throughout my recovery at hospital I also felt a little traumatised by the birth — a feeling I totally didn't expect, nor one other people will tell you about. During the pregnancy, I had not thought about birth a huge amount. I knew it was going to be hard work and painful, but I didn't fully appreciate how much. I had decided before the birth not to have a set 'birth plan'. I wanted to be flexible, as it is difficult to know how things will progress before it begins. The only things I knew for sure were that I couldn't have an epidural because of the Harrington rods in my back, and if I had to have a caesarian, it would be with a full general anesthetic.

What I appreciate now is that labour in the real world is nothing like it is portrayed on the TV (I suppose neither is sex, or crime-scene investigation). I had read hippie books where women described their birth experiences as 'fun', and each contraction as a 'surging wave', but if labour turns out less 'empowering' then you thought it was going to be, it just leads to disappointment. While the final stage was an ordeal, the midwives and obstetrician made me feel safe, and I'm thankful to have avoided emergency C-section. It's also reassuring to know that over time these feelings start to fade as they are outweighed by feelings of love for your child, which is I guess why women go back for more :)

The one feeling I didn't expect at all, in this otherwise joyous time, was grief. Not the grief of having a child, but rather the grief of losing a friend. From the afternoon when we checked into the hospital, we spent 21 hours cut off from the outside world. When I turned my phone back on, there was a message saying that a young women from our church passed away overnight. Death is always a difficult emotion to deal with. It leaves you feeling heartbroken and the despair it makes you feel takes over your whole body.

To know that while I was in the hospital rejoicing in the birth of my son, the people in our church I attended were in mourning over the loss of a friend was extremely conflicting. Compounding this was also the feeling of survivor guilt. I felt guilty for being given a beautiful gift while our Church friends were mourning the loss of a different gift. This was when I was reminded of the verse ''Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn" Romans 12:15. This verse reminded me that I could legitimately feel genuinely joyful and sorrowful simultaneously, without guilt and without taking away from the validity of other. It allowed for peaceful resolution of two initially conflicting emotions.

But what has amazed me the most, and left me humbled and so thankful, is the love the people in our church have shown us despite such loss and grief. A food roster for two weeks was filled, meaning Daniel and I didn't have to worry about cooking dinner while we were settling into being a family. This practical form of love has been such a blessing these past two weeks and I couldn't be more grateful.

Giving birth and being a parent, I have learned, is a roller-coaster ride of emotions in those first few days. It still is, three weeks later, but I am slowly feeling a little less helpless and a little less worried about things as the days go by. I am just so thankful for all our family, friends and our church for all the support they have given us during this change in our life.

Knitted Goodies

It is almost winter here in Hobart. I am already feeling cold in the night, especially when one particular baby wakes up for a feed, and am dreading what is to come. However, no matter how cold I get during winter, the one thing I love about it is having an excuse to wear my many and varied beanies (not all at the same time). I have always lamented the fact that my birthday is in January, a summer month, and so I will never receive beanies, scarves or gloves as birthday gifts. Having a baby in winter is great though. I have received so many knitted goodies and am trying to remember to dress Nicholas in them regularly before he grows out of them.

This is Nicholas looking cute in a jumper and beanie his Great Auntie Els made him.



Another great thing about winter is having an excuse to sit down in front of the fire on a cold night and knit. Now I am not the greatest knitter in the world. I only really know two stitches, knit and purl, but I have a desire to learn more and am slowly becoming faster. Throughout my pregnancy I knitted three little beanies for three little babies. I enjoyed making them, even though it was tedious with carpel tunnel, and was pleased with the final outcome.