the fruits of my labour

Lowlights:

• having nausea and a headache (and other delightful symptoms that come with a gastro-type bug) for six days straight
• trying to convince people that I was sick and not pregnant
• not having the strength to make hot cross buns or cook a fish meal for Good Friday (not that we’re religious; it’s just a tradition we like to uphold)
• entering the eighth week of having an unreliable oven and continually being told they’re “waiting on a part”
• finding out the property our rented house is on is going up for auction next month
• contemplating finding a new place to live and then moving (possibly my least favourite thing to do)
• not getting any sewing done
• eating too much Easter chocolate
• not getting any blogging done

Highlights:

• receiving a visit and some gifts from my parents on their way back to Tasmania after holidaying in Malaysia
• eating fish and chips by the river with Chris and the kids on Good Friday (above)
• watching the second series of Life on Mars with Chris
• eating too much Easter chocolate
• hearing Isobel say “mama” over and over again
• learning my sister Emily, who’s been overseas for nearly a year will be back home for a couple of months soon
• seeing the wonderful Wilco at The Palace on Wednesday night with my sister Anna

Replacing: a stained and fusible interfacing covered old one. Inspiration: this one. Fabric: Japanese quilting cotton from Spotlight, plus part of the old one. Wrinkles, shoddy sewing and poor photography: all me.

Well, from conception to completion it took me what felt like a lifetime, of course, but I have finally finished making a handbag for myself. It’s the Pleated Beauty Handbag from Bend-the-Rules-Sewing and my first bag (other than a simple tote), my first attempt at free motion quilting and possibly the first thing I’ve made myself. So quite an achievement, really! Even though the bag (my bag, not the pattern) has its issues. I’m pretty sure free motion quilting is supposed to allow me free motion, not the machine, so I clearly need to work on that. And why is cutting fabric (correctly) so hard?! The linen I used is quite stretchy and prone to fraying, which didn’t help, but my god, I have so much trouble accurately cutting fabric. I think that takes me longer than any other stage of a project.

Anyway, I’m pretty happy with the bag. It’s soft, nice and roomy and a lot better to carry my essentials than what I had - nothing!

I’m a little slow to comment on this (gee, what a surprise), but I’m so pleased that the craft blog that led me to all other craft blogs, and is therefore largely responsible for this (far inferior) blog has returned after a year’s hiatus. Loobylu is back and judging by the warm reception her first post in over a year received, I’m not the only one who’s excited.

Oh, and on Sunday we will have been without an oven for three weeks. I don’t want to talk about it any more.

***

I am in the process of making some improvements to the blog, but given my limited computer expertise and my even less impressive design credentials, this is a slow and painful process (sorry, Chris), so if it ever looks like I’ve lost my mind, I probably haven’t, I’m most likely going a roundabout way to make things better.

At last I have finished something. After weeks of feeling really frustrated about not getting any projects started or finished, I’ve finally completed the first part of Isobel’s birthday present. Actually, I finished it last week (I think it was last week; the days have been such a blur for me lately. Actually, I think they always are.). Anyway, it’s done and I’m happy. It’s a birth announcement pillow, based on the Happy Birthday Pillow project in Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, a book I bought myself with a Christmas gift card. The centre of the pillow is printable fabric on to which I printed Isobel’s name, weight and date of birth, in colours coordinating with the patterned fabric. I then backstitched around each letter and number. That was definitely the most time-consuming part, but it was pretty easy and gave me a great excuse to park myself on the couch and watch TV. I like TV, but I hate having nothing to do with my hands while I watch it. I do like to be productive.

According to the book, this project should have taken me only four to eight hours. It took me longer than that (I think, but I wasn’t counting the hours), but that’s all me. I’m so slow, and whenever I do gain some speed I seem to make more mistakes, so it’s probably best to take it slowly for now. The book, however, is beautiful and full of really inspiring projects and excellent information. I can’t wait to try something else from it.

But first, I need to finish the other, far more ambitious, gift for Isobel. Then there’s all the other belated gifts I need to make. I’m going to catch up, right? Slowly, but surely.

It’s hot. Really hot. It reached 41.2 degrees at 5:30 today and apparently won’t drop below 30 until some time tomorrow afternoon. I’m just trying to do as little as possible until then. Which is pretty frustrating given I want to act on all my usual New Year good intentions. I might be able to muster up the energy for a little sewing, but so far since we got back from our two week holiday to Tasmania for Christmas and New Year, I haven’t felt able to get stuck into anything. Not sure what that’s about, as there are so many projects I am dying to complete. The heat certainly doesn’t help. Neither does the fact that the place is a mess, but we are working on that, with more Freecycling, plans for more eBaying and the discovery of somewhere to take our excess recyclables (mostly cardboard boxes). One day we’ll be sorted and clutter-free!

The fact that I’m writing this post is a good sign, as this is one of the things I’ve really wanted to do, but have struggled to bring myself to start. Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on myself (yes, I should), because I also began, and have been nurturing, this sourdough starter since Monday:

I tried this once before and somehow stuffed it, and I thought it might be the same story this time, but it seems it might be OK, although obviously the heat has made it almost explode. If all goes to plan, I’ll be baking a loaf on Saturday morning, so hopefully I can report back with good bready news.

Despite the heat, Isobel has been continuing as normal. Last night she pulled herself up into a standing position for the second time that we’re aware of (the first time happened on holiday), much like she did tonight:

As you can see, she was pretty pleased with herself. A few minutes after Chris took this photo, she managed to make her way over to me, taking a few tiny, hesitant steps, while tightly gripping the bed. It was wonderful, but I cannot believe it is almost a year since she was born. I still clearly remember being heavily pregnant in the heat and giving birth to her during a heatwave, as though it was yesterday. But she’s not the tiny, helpless bundle she once was. She’s been commando crawling at the speed of light, taking on the role of the our second vacuum cleaner, which we obviously need, for no matter how often or thoroughly I clean, Isobel always manages to find something on the floor to put in her mouth. I don’t really understand how kids can decide they don’t like lettuce, for example, but are quite happy to eat whatever crap they find on the floor. Having said that, Isobel eats almost anything, which makes life easier for us, as does the fact that she may be one of the happiest babies who ever lived. She has such a radiant smile and beautifully big and shiny eyes. And unlike before, I now know how to make her laugh. Guess that’s what happens when you get to know someone.

Elliott, who is now three and a half and is very proud of this fact, is, of course, still developing, and he hasn’t stopped delighting us. He seems to be going through a “learning spurt” or something at the moment. In the last couple of months or so, he has become obsessed with numbers, letters, how to spell words, playing music, building, creating, pretending, drawing, painting and finding out how things work. It’s both exhausting and thrilling to be around him. We’re going to have to start hitting the library and/or the Internet more, though, because (surprisingly!) we don’t know everything and he seems to want to know everything! A very encouraging sign. Even if it is a little awkward to give an answer to, “How was I made?”, just as we’re tucking him in to bed. These kids certainly keep us on our toes!

I love this fabric. I’ve been dreaming about turning it into pyjamas for Elliott (with a long-sleeved shirt and everything, not cheating with an appliqued t-shirt) for weeks.

So imagine my horror on Monday night when, halfway through making the pants (the easy part), I discovered that all the cowboys are upside down.

At least they’re looking up at Elliott when he looks down. But what an idiot! I really hope this is the kind of mistake you only make once. Now I have to make the shirt, knowing it’s going to be upside down. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

As I enjoy stating the bleeding obvious, I have to say it’s been a long time between posts. There are plenty of good reasons for this (of course!), but I’ll try no to go on about them too much. Suffice to say that between our suddenly busy social calendar, sick kids and sick Chris (nothing serious), a trip to Warrnambool, sewing, knitting, and lots of other things I’ve forgotten, helping to make the whole time a blur, I’ve found it a bit hard to find the time and energy for blogging. Which is a real shame, as I really want to be able to use this blog to chronicle this busy (but fun) time of our lives. Part of my problem has been that I really want to make some improvements to the layout and presentation of the blog, but have so much to learn before I can do that. And then I spend a lot of time reading other blogs, mainly craft ones, feeling both really inspired and really inadequate at the same time.

But what I need to do, I think, is just soldier on and make improvements how and when I can. And aim to post almost every day, even if it’s just with a few words and/or a photo. We’ll see how I go.

Right now, of course, it’s that time of year when there’s a million things to do. It’s comforting reading other craft blogs and discovering I’m not the only one who has unrealistic expectations about what can be achieved at this time and who at times feels overwhelmed by the number of things that I need to do and would like to do, and the small amount of time there is in which to do them. Like others, I just need to accept I can’t do everything (especially with two small children who need lots of attention), that I should enjoy what I can do and make this time about family, friends and fun. There’s so much I want to make, though!

Here’s something I’ve made. These were a gift for a friend’s new (ish) baby. A soft baby cube, using this great tutorial found via Nested, two bibs using the pattern in Amy Karol’s great book and a fabric card inspired by the pattern in Denyse Schmidt Quilts. (Yes, I bought some craft books. Very exciting!). This was a fun project and I hope to make more baby gifts soon. In fact, I have to, as there’s a baby coming next month. One that I’m aware of, anyway!

I hope some of the next few posts can cover some of what we’ve been up to in all this time. Now I’m off to hang out some washing, hopefully spend a few minutes on my next craft project and try to get over the fact I was too slow to get hold of Clementine for Isobel’s first Christmas. I had my heart set on it, but now have to try to find a similarly beautiful handmade doll, if possible, and I’m not sure it is. Not necessarily to play with (Clementine would have just been for show due to small parts), but something special to admire. Oh, well, I just hope she’s gone to a good home.

I must say, I’m pretty pleased with myself. I bought a pattern (Kwik-Sew 3126), chose some fabric, followed the directions and lo and behold, here is the first article of clothing sewn by me (aprons don’t count):

Pyjama pants for Elliott. They’re not perfect, but I’ve realised I say that about everything I make and that perfection is really not that important much of the time. I mean, I’ll always strive for it, but I’m going to accept when things are good enough. Besides, it’s kind of nice to see the little imperfections; they’re the mark of things made by hand and with love. Because let’s face it, things that are mass produced are seldom (if ever?) made with love.

Most importantly, Elliott loves them. I didn’t make a top to go with the pants (the pattern includes two styles of top to go with them), I’ll probably try that next time. Instead, I’m going to embellish, probably with applique, a plain white t-shirt, a la Blair of Wise Craft.

I know it’s just pyjama pants, but I’m really pleased and this exercise has been a real boost to my confidence. I discovered that elastic isn’t half as scary as I thought it would be!

More sewing news in the coming days, hopefully. It largely depends on how many consecutive hours of sleep Isobel gives us!

Well, that was an unexpected delay, but here I am after some technical difficulties and other impediments to blogging, like tiredness, kids and life in general. Not that I am complaining about kids and life. Without them, there’d be nothing to write about, right?

Anyway, the little sewing project I mentioned a while ago is finally finished and without further ado, I shall unveil it:

It’s an apron (I like to state the obvious) for Chris and I’m pretty happy with it. Excuse the creases, but I couldn’t get a photo of it before Chris used it, which I’m not complaining about, as it means he must really like it. It’s linen and it feels lovely. I was very much inspired (as I so often am) by the aprons of Amanda of SouleMama, who uses a lot of linen and makes a lot of (beautiful) aprons. I have no idea if the linen I used is like what Amanda uses, as there seems to be many kinds, at vastly differing prices, but I got mine here and I like it. I have more and intend to make an apron for both Elliott and me from it.

I didn’t use a pattern, I just traced an old apron of Chris’s and just kind of made up the rest as I went along. At times I felt I was crazy, as a sewing novice, for doing this, but then usually I would tell myself I was being an idiot and it was just an apron and it really couldn’t be that hard. And it wasn’t. I’m certainly not saying it’s perfect, but it works as an apron, I learnt a few things and it wouldn’t have been perfect if I’d used a pattern anyway. Nevertheless, I’m expecting an order of sewing books to arrive from Amazon any day now, and I think they’ll help me feel more confident. Or completely overwhelmed and out of my depth. One of the two.

1. Last weekend we moved Elliott into a new bed:

Before that he was sleeping in a toddler bed, which converts into a cot and vice versa. Isobel’s really going to need the cot soon (she’s currently sleeping in a bassinette), so we had to get on with it. Elliott was both happy and very tired when that photo was taken. The bed and bedside table are from Ikea and I quite like the bedding, which Chris and Elliott chose together, but I am hoping we can get something from here soon. The transition has been a breeze for all of us. And without any prompting (but with a little bit of sadness on my part), he hasn’t asked to sleep with his previous bedtime companions (three of them!) once since he made the move. He’s so big now, but still so small. Just don’t try to tell him that!

2. Isobel’s been wearing a lot of Elliott’s hand-me-downs. Lots of blue. So yeah, she does get mistaken for a boy sometimes. But not as often as Elliott was mistaken for a girl and we never dressed him in pink! Not because of the colour, but because I wanted to make some of Elliott’s old clothes more “Isobel”, I decided to try my hand at appliqueing, following the excellent instructions of Erin at house on hill road. I turned this plain navy blue top, as shown by Elliott at six months:

into this initialised top for Isobel, at about six and a half months:

The stitching’s not that straight, but it was late at night, and I really didn’t care enough to unpick it. I like to think of it as more personal the way it is. I’m quite happy with it, though, and I’ll think I’ll be looking for something else to applique soon…

Isobel looks so serious in this photo. She’s such a happy, placid baby, though. We thought Elliott was too, but I think Isobel may be even more so. But it is so hard to get her to laugh! Her giggle, like that of most babies, is so cute, but she really makes us work for it. I guess she’s a lot like me in that regard. I don’t laugh out loud all that often, so when I do, you know it was funny. Anyway, I’m going to have to work on being funnier for Isobel.