While Daddy is away...

James spent Friday night and Saturday of last week in the Barossa for work (insert coughing snorting sound and a roll of the eyes here - lots of red wine and golf me thinks LOL)  Anyway, for the first time in a long time I was solo parenting.  I feel incredibly blessed to have a husband that works close to home and only has one night meeting once a month.  On the nights/times when he isn't around I find that it is best to slow our pace and let the day/night unfold in its own way.  Tea is sometimes unconventional.  Bath time usually involves bubbles and deep water and ALL of us crammed in the tub.  Sometimes there is even splashing and driplets of water on the walls and ceiling.  And if I snuggle and cuddle and read and reread a little longer then it is all okay.

Saturday morning unfolded with Hannah's favourite breakfast - pancakes and because I just cannot put down Molly Wisenberg's achingly beautiful book "A Homemade Life" we tried her pancake recipe (subsitituting buttermilk for regular milk and a teaspoon of vinegar, and buck wheat flour for regular)  The result were the best pancakes I have ever eaten.  Hannah had 7!  How do you like your pancakes?  We load up the table with cream and maple syrup and golden syrup and honey and jam and sugar and lemon and everyone picks and chooses their own combinations. 

So you see, I think the solo parent thing was okay as a change.  Wouldn't want to make a habit of it though!

It was "Sweet" while it lasted...

Do you remember this?  This quilt started a serious affair with that red spot fabric and the Moda "Sweet" range by Urban Chiks.  It started harmlessly with a charm pack and Bronwyn Hayes "Little Chicken Feathers" book and ended with this quilt for my darling niece Ruby (born in September of 2008)  I LOVED making this quilt.

When my bestest buddy Nessie announced she was pregnant something insane in the back of my brain knew that I wasn't finished with this fabric, or the stitcheries...so there was a layer cake, and more red spot, and with a little inspiration from Leanne Beasley's "Living the Dream" book this became Olivia's quilt in August 2009.  I LOVED this quilt just as much as the first.

There is a lot of fabric in a layer cake.  When you add off-white homespun (and red spot fabric!) there is enough for at least one more cot quilt AND leftovers to make this:So of course it was logical when our own baby number three was on the way (and she will be our last) to do something with the leftovers. 

I finished binding this quilt last night.  It turned out bigger than I'd anticipated.  A happy accident which means Maddie might get more use out of it as she grows.  I have LOVED making this quilt and I think that maybe this is where the "Sweet" story stops.  Everyone knows that too many sweets aren't good for you?!  I do still have enough leftovers for a stitchery name plaque for Maddie's room but for now I think 3 quilts is enough.

"Sweet" huh?

p.s. Loved the Little Chicken Feathers stitcheries so much that I bought a copy for my grandmother and she embroidered the designs on 33 pillowcases for the great grandies between September and Christmas of 2009.  I wonder what Bronwyn Hayes would think about that?