Braver

Oh my. Another photo of another 1st Birthday present. This requires me to be supremely organised! I was racking my brain trying to think of what I should make for one of Elka's little friends, a little boy could stand to be a little braver sometimes, and I remembered making one of these just before I fell pregnant and packed all my sewing stuff away to watch Mad Men and eat vegemite on toast everyday, and I got excited and made him his own ninja-blinky. I had great plans for these guys, there was going to be a set, and maybe there will be eventually...

B.

Finished

About a month or so ago I managed to make my first dew drop girl from scratch since being pregnant. It was lovely to make one, and to have the head space to look at all my fabrics (at once, since Elka likes to get them out and sprawl them around on the floor), and to know the little person I was making it for.

I had managed to finish some up that I'd cut and embroidered towards the end of 2010! That sounds like a long time ago now, but it doesn't feel it, and I took them along with some other bits and pieces to The Milk Thieves Shop in Wollongong.

And I revised my high hopes for Arnold the Penguin after babysitting the birthday boy a couple of days ago, I discovered that he is quite fond of little dogs, and so a Elsie the Little Dog, from the More Softies book appeared last night. And his birthday isn't even until tomorrow! Arnold is still very much on the 'to do' list though.

B.

I've been managing to make a lot of things lately, with Elka turning one, so have all her little friends that we've met along the way, and they have needed presents. Photographing these presents is generally difficult because I've usually only finished them 10 minutes before we leave the house to give them away, but anyway, I'm pretty happy with myself. And I have Mum's old sewing machine, which is holding up quite well as a replacement for the one I managed to break a couple of weeks ago...

And despite the fact that Wollongong doesn't have a proper bookshop I managed to get hold of the newish Hop Skip Jump book from the library, and I'm really loving every little critter there is to make. My first attempt will be Arnold, the penguin, as a gift for one of Elka's little friends.

Source: hopskipjump.typepad.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

So cute! And I love that all the woollen features are just sewn from old jumpers, much less intimidating for a non-knitter like me.

B.

One

We made it. We survived, and most importantly she survived!! Just some small photos that were not intended for a blog, because the blog was the last thing on my mind this past week. We had cake, and presents and games and we almost had a lovely new doll, but I broke my sewing machine in the middle of preparing for the party... sewing paint chip bunting together like a hoon.

And on to her second year, and I'm very glad to have the newborn stage behind us- those newborns are cute, but they are not my cup of tea. This age, with all the separation anxiety, the tantrums, and the danger, is much more fun.

B.

Wow! And today Elka/Elks/Emae/Little E is 11 months old! The sun is out, Daddy is on holidays, and I have some time. I've actually had a lot of time to myself over the last few weeks and I'm sooo thoroughly thankful that Joe gets 5 and a half weeks of holidays over summer, the pace of things has slowed right down.



















- the fabrics I received from the fabric swap- in order they are from Madeleine, Lisa, Cassie and Suzie
- the felt mobile I made while still pregnant that needed to be rehung
- coasters I made after a pinterest burst of inspiration
- felt flower hair clips made from Purl Bee tutorial
- E's room- complete with the first thing I've made from an Ottobre pattern! :)
- embracing renting and blu-tack by filling up the walls
- patchwork the easy way- paint charts + blu-tack
- finally finished the cushions covers I started so many months ago! although it looks like a Fisher Price show room...
- my little E, 11 months and cheeky as ever!


Happy New Year!
B.

And so Elka is almost 10 months old. It seems so hard to believe, in some ways it feels like she has been here with us forever, and in some ways, I guess she has, but in other ways, we are both still coming to terms with her and with each other, and her with us. I suppose it's all a bit of a cliche just because it's been going on since the beginning of time.











The sleeping has gotten better and then at times worse, we mastered controlled crying for a little while and then she got sick and mastered uncontrolled crying... But I am no longer feeding her every 2 hours at night which was the case at times so overall I think things have gotten better. I'm still mystified to hear that babies sleep through the night all on their own from a couple of months old! It suits me to think it's a myth.

She is walking, babbling, laughing, dancing, opening everything, emptying everything, into everything. I'm at a point where if she can't slam her fingers in it, can't choke on it, can't smear whatever it is all over the walls, floors, etc., I'm perfectly happy, and so is she.

She kisses me on the lips, she rocks out, rhythmically kicking her legs while I'm breastfeeding her, she holds onto me for dear life sometimes. And it always amazes me that she can hate me and love me again so quickly.

And we have changed so much. The alarm clock is set to 6am so that the morning isn't such a squeeze, I leave the house most days of the week, I seem to have given up my hermit ways, we cook enormous meals and freeze them. We stopped watching the news, in fact we stopped watching TV almost altogether unless there is something specific on. We are so freaking busy, we never stop, we wake up tired every morning, but the strangest thing has happened... we are happy! Everything before seems so silly and meaningless, and the human race seems to make a little more sense to us. Even our parents make a little more sense- who'd have thought!?

B.

I did it! And not a moment too soon either. I managed to get my fat quarters printed and in the post before close of business on Monday. Phew! I have received everyone else's fabric from my swap group, which makes me the official slow poke, but it took me three tries to get something I was comfortable handing over to someone else, and even then I was a little unsure, but the deadline decided for me! I'm quite happy with what my swap partners sent and I will take some photos and share soon.

For now, this is what I managed:


This is about 2/3rds of the way through the red printing on off white, I did some white and some off white depending on what my partner's colour preferences were.


And for my one partner who said 'any' as her colour, I got a little more colouful.


It's funny how much neater it looks from a distance, up close it is soooo far from perfect. I really admire people who are able to make very accurate prints, I just don't have the patience (or the time right now!).

I'm really happy I did it though! Yay for getting a little crafty around here! :)
B.