A very Soule Mama kind of day!

I have just returned from a wonderful weekend cropping with the gorgeous girls in my Creative Memories team. We managed over 300 pages between the 12 of us (I only contributed 32 but at least I got my mojo back!) We stayed at the beautiful Glenbarr Homestead at Strath and my friend Meredith finally took a belly shot for me (the first for this pregnancy which is disgusting given that we only have 7 weeks to go!) Shame that the shadow makes me look even huger than I really am!!!

Being away from home for a few days does have its positives. The children have been positively angelic today and I have had a very "Soule Mama" kind of day (check out her blog on my list - I have both of her books with lovely things to do with and around small children) Anyway, the kids were happily creating christmas baubles and playing with my magnetic pin picker upper on one side of the table while I played with fabric on the other. I had already cut out the skull and crossbones fabric for a bag for my crazy friend Lindy Lou before discovering a bag tutorial on Ric Ric's blog (Jodie does amazing things!) so I kind of modified Lou's bag to be a slightly smaller version of Jodie's. This bag really is the simplest pattern ever and before I had even finished I knew I would make another with this "vintage"/retro fabric that I got off the trading table at Spinners and Weavers last week. For the extraordinary sum of $2.00 I had two pieces of the floral just the right size, quite a bit of very bright orange linen and three craft magazines - bargain!!! My straps are a little shorter than Jodie's because of the length of the orange linen but I was thrilled to end up with a totally thrifted very "hip" bag in under an hour! Even the buttons came off an old cardigan from James' Aunt! Now I know I really should use it as a Christmas gift but I just like it too much! I can definitely see me making several more of these as quick gifts!

While you are blog hopping to check out Ric Rac's bag pattern, why not go to gardenmama.typepad.com as well? She is having a very Steiner inspired toy giveaway.
And thinking of all things natural and lovely; couldn't resist photographing the lilac at Glenbarr. I love the smell of lilac, and the daintiness of the flowers, and the fact that it is so reminiscent of Springtime (my favourite time of year!)

Wherever you are this week, take the time to stop and smell the Spring blossoms!
Keep smiling,

Nell

Happy Birthday Daniel James!

Today this sweet boy of mine turned three! Hard to believe that those three years have gone so fast!

Daniel's birth was one of the most amazing days of my life. We had a quick and pain free water birth. As he was being born the midwife looked at his fine fuzzy blonde hair spread out in the water like a halo around his head and said "Oh look, a little angel baby!" He has been my little angel baby ever since.

This boy is so easy to adore. He is funny, and snuggly, and just so easy to enjoy.

His little foot still fits in the palm of my hand, and he still likes to come into our bed in the morning for a cuddle. Every day he tells me at least once "I love you too!" (even if I haven't told him!) He has the longest eyelashes of any boy I know and if he has done something wrong he comes to find me and looks me straight in the eye and says "I'm sorry Mummy!" (one day he even cut his own hair and came to me with the scissors and the lock of hair saying "I'm sorry Mummy it was ALL my fault!") He has the most infectious giggle, and the sweetest kisses! He is good at sharing. He puts himself to bed when he is tired. He is gentle with babies and little people. He is curious about bugs, and nature, and trucks, and dinosaurs, and whales.

He is a truly unique little character.

I feel so blessed to have this little boy in our lives. Happy birthday my special Danny boy!

Just a few more finished projects!

I had quite a productive weekend craft wise (weather wasn't much good for anything else!) This is a little batwing cardigan that was a free pattern on Ravellry. I had it all done excepting the front band and cuffs about 12 months ago and then it stalled - I have such an aversion to stitching up knitted things!! Silly thing is that it really only took a few hours in front of the telly to get it done! James doesn't like it so it won't be going on the new babe - more likely a present for my friend's little one who is due a fortnight before ours. I have just enough wool left to make a little hat to go with it.

This was a very satisfying baby playmat project with my two cherubs. We got the idea from Amanda Blake Soule's fabulous book (my current favourite) "Handmade Home" The kids drew all over a scrap piece of fabric with textile markers - thinking of course about what the new baby might like so we have a picture of our house, and our family, and Princess Jasmine, and an American style barn complete with rooster on the weathervane LOL! Most priceless of all is that you can see one of the first concrete examples we have of Dan's representational drawings (see, that is a face beside the barn?) We finished it with some purple homespun from a project I outgrew a decade ago and lots of precut 2" squares from my scrap stash. I haven't quite worked out what to do with the middle of it yet - tied or naive quilted around the figures, or an all over machine quilting? The wadding was a leftover scrap so this project cost us absolutely nothing and provided some welcome entertainment for two small ones with cabin fever!

This is my niece's first birthday present - one of the kinder dolls from a pattern by Jodi Carleton. She has a great blog which I will add to my list. I personally think this little dolly's neck is a bit giraffe like but she didn't turn out too badly and I love that the clothes are reversible and child friendly. Toying with the idea of one each for the cherubs and for my brother's two girls for their birthdays?

My boy has been on leave for two weeks and as nice as it was to have him home today is all about getting the house back in order and decluttering the stuff that seems to accumulate when we are in holiday mode!

First stop this morning (after bedmaking) was the garden for some fresh blooms - funny how no matter how messy the house is you always feel better with fresh flowers in the bathrooms and kitchen? I've had two early roses already, and my clematis is just about to burst into a riot of blooms, and the apple blossom is also divine but I can't bear to pick it for the thought of apples that won't happen?

Happy Spring to you!
keep smiling,

Nell

Colour me happy and my Steiner dolls

These are the little Steiner dolls that I was talking about in my last post. I did two lots of lessons with a lovely local lady. The first was to make the big dolls; Gloria and Pip (Hannah chose Gloria's wild raspberry hair and bonded with her before she was even finished!) Dan was unfortunately a bit too young for Pip at the time so he has remained a somewhat peripheral figure - gets played with sometimes but not the treasured companion I had hoped! I kind of don't mind as I am a bit partial to Pip myself - love his pumpkin hair.

The little dolls are called "root babies". I can't find a photo of the normal root babies I made but these are the Easter versions! They are very soft and squishy and mold to fit a child's hand. Unfortunately because they are full of rice they can't get wet which means that ours are now a delicate shade of grey through much use!

I am toying with the idea of making them both jointed "baby" dolls from the new arrival but don't know if I really need another project LOL!

I have always had a bit of an eclectic teaching style and been quite influenced by Steiner so love this little journey into the world of Steiner toys. We like to visit "Head, Heart and Hands" which is the most magical rainbow of a shop in our own little main street of Nairne. It has exquisite woolen and silk items and beautiful wooden animals and Steiner dolls and toys. If you are local and haven't visited you really should! I have spent far too much of the money I earn relief teaching in this shop! The wooden animals are particularly hard to resist... We are off there this morning looking for wool roving for the kindy and I just know that I will be tempted to do a bit of Christmas shopping! Visiting "Head, Heart and Hands" always makes me feel like throwing out all of the kids plastic junk and just having rooms full of natural, beautiful, handcrafted toys!

On a totally unrelated topic; something very strange is happening. I have always been a fan of soft florals, muted browns and blues but lately I find myself flirting more and more with colour. I borrow English Country Living from the library and ogle the gorgeous Kath Kidson prints and the lovely bright spotty teacups and vintage furniture. I read books like Seams to Me and Material Obsession just for the explosions of colour. I even have fat quarters like the red paisley creeping into my stash? I am obsessed with red and white spots (has become almost my signature fabric?) and I hadn't stopped to think about this strange obsession until visiting my friend in her new home. She was cradling her gorgeous new baby and showing me around when she pointed out her red kitchen stools. "I had to have them, even though they don't go with anything else" she said, "I just couldn't stop buying red things when I was pregnant!"

Which makes me wonder; is there something about pregnancy and red? Or did this changing of colour palettes begin happening before that? Why do colourful sights like thread spilling out of my embroidery tin make me perversely happy?

Why does this cheerful patchwork chair work for me when my husband thinks it is revolting?

Why does colour affect us in this way?

Anyhow, enough rambling - I'm off to play with some more fabric, and later some baking with the cherubs.

Keep smiling,

Nell


p.s. apologies the photos are sideways. Anyone know how to alter this?

Something for Doll makers

A friend just put me onto this lovely blog: thehandmaden.blogspot.com I have been following Little Jenny Wren's blog for quite a while as I just love the look and feel of Steiner dolls. Very glad to be able to add the handmaden to my list of blog eyecandy! She is having a lovely giveaway at the moment so check it out! One day when I am feeling creative I will photograph the Steiner dolls I made for my two cherubs.
Until then,
Happy stitching,
Keep smiling,
Nell

p.s. I do have some photos on the camera to share but life has been crazy hectic here this week - maybe Friday?

New projects and some scrapping

Do you remember this photo of Hannah's first rainbow dyeing attempt? Well we've finally finished the scarf and hat (actually it has been pretty well finished for ages but just needed the ends sewn in!) I've also finished a grey beanie for my friend's husband and a pair of acrylic socks for my MIL but neither were exciting enough to warrant a photo! I'm finally getting to the end of my homespun stash which means now I can legitimately spend more time spinning yummy fibres to replenish it!

I've also made a start on the baby's quilt stitcheries - two down and about four to go. This will be the third of my Bronwyn Hayes/Moda Sweet quilts (and probably my last as I really should move onto some other techniques LOL!) Found a lovely cot quilt pattern at a little Patchwork Shop in Robe last weekend - and I've thought of the perfect fabric for it but just have to get up the nerve to order it online (Pokey Little Puppy fabric from the US)

Have also been having a play with Creative Memories new Black and White Power Palette - yummy! Makes me want to go and print out some more photos and get back into some serious cropping!

We had a very exciting week - family getaway to Robe, then Auntie Kaz (my delightful sister) arrived Wednesday night, three birthday parties and a kindy disco before putting sis back on the plane last night. With all of that I had expected the kids to give me a hard time today but instead they have been totally angelic (we cleaned up then made playdough and played outside and now they are happily engrossed in a spot of couch potato t.v. viewing!) I'm off to finish my stitchery.

Keep smiling,

Nell

Finished projects

This is the finished quilt for my dearest bestest buddy Ness who is being induced with her first baby on Monday (lucky I finished the quilt early as bubs was supposed to put in an appearance in mid August!)

When Moda brought out the first collection of the Urban Sweet range I used it for my niece's baby quilt and I loved it so much that when the second range came out I bought a layer cake to do Nessie's quilt and our own baby quilt. The pattern is a hybrid of Leanne Beasley's "Quilt for Ruth" and Bronwyn Hayes' stitcheries from "Little Chicken Feather". Some of the sayings like "Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much" are favourites that mean something to me. I really enjoyed this project, I think because it was stitching from the heart - this quilt is for a really special baby and her/his really special mum.

I even put a quilt label on the back so that we can write a message once we know bubby's name - I was proud of this small detail as I'm normally not one for the finer details like labels! Now I can get started on our baby's quilt using a pinwheel pattern interspersed with stitchery squares - and yes it will have my favourite red spotty border as well!

Last photo is a finished UFO. This is a Melly and Me pattern, "Acute" who has been sitting unstuffed and unfinished on my sewing table until a recent clean up. He is a great pattern for using up small scraps. Did you notice the lovely pile of tone-on-tone fabric he is perched on? I was a lucky winner at Jane's Christmas Gathering last weekend - lovely to add to my stash. I felt thoroughly spoilt!!!

Must go and entertain the cherubs.

Keep smiling,

Nell