Baby doll quilt set

Lately I haven't been feeling hugely creative as this 'settling in period' for our family seems to drag on: one kid starting preschool - many tears involved, one starting school - many tantrums involved, and one continuing at school - needing lots of motivation. So with the tiredness, tears and tantrums (sometimes theirs, occasionally mine too), by the time they are actually in bed at night and all the housework is done, I just haven't got enough mentally or physically to start a new project. Even if I really wanted to earlier in the day.

But, I had promised our lovely preschool director late last year that I would make some bedding for the baby dolls in their home corner. And considering that she has been dealing with my crying/screaming son a couple of times a week, sometimes peeling him off me and comforting him til he stopped crying, once even negotiating with him to get out of the car and come inside while I stood on the footpath despairing of what to do next, I decided it would be a nice time to honour my promise and get on with it!

I decided on making a pillow with pillowcase, sheet and quilt set.

They have 4 cute little baby baskets in the home corner so I made one for each in different fabric scraps from my stash (feeling better about the stash when I can use it for useful things like this :-)

Choosing the fabrics was so much fun.

And I should note that I use the term 'quilting' very loosely - I just used some batting between layers and stitched it to the base layer.

And then sewed and hand stitched coordinating bias binding on.

My girls chose this last fabric combo when I'd run out of inspiration and I really like it - always great to get the kids perspective :-)

Joining in with my creative space over here again and wishing you a minimum of tears and tantrums at your house this week!

 

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The batman (AKA 'my mum's a sook') backpack

The next couple of weeks are a bit anxious for me, with my little boy starting preschool for the first time, my little girl starting school for the first time and my big girl going into year 3.

In true form I have been making things. This seems to A: keep me busy so I'm not fretting about them and B: provide a little something of me to carry along with them as they make their way into the world away from me (pass the tissues, please).

So this little backpack was made for my boy to take along to preschool. I bought the Toddler Backpack pattern from Made by Rae and used a piece of Japanese produced Batman fabric. He had chosen the fabric on an outing to my favourite fabric shop quite a while ago. He had been so patient on this particular outing that when he begged me for it I felt I couldn't say no. But it's been languishing in the stash and he keeps asking me "where's my Batman fabric mum?" so I figured it was time to use it.

I love all the cute details in the pattern. Piping is something I've been experimenting with lately anyway so it was nice to have another excuse to do a bit of it. And I loved making the padded straps - so satisfying ;-). In addition to the pattern details I also added elasticised side pockets for his drink bottle and other bits (technique learnt on this bag) and also an inside pocket with Velcro closure.

I lined it with the same fabric I used for the piping. I wanted to use the Batman fabric sparingly so that it didn't overpower the bag design and I'm happy with the balance. I like the look of the sky blue against the chocolate brown and hopefully it has enough little boy appeal without being over the top. My sewing skills are going to be tested on this project - I'm hoping this backpack will last him the 2 years of preschool until he starts big school. We'll see!

And he certainly does love his backpack (phew!). When I gave it to him he was really pleased (be still my heart :-).

I loved this pattern and hope to make more backpacks in future. Of course my big girl asked for one too when she saw it "with birds and hearts on it please mum". Hmm.

Pop on over to my creative space for lots of creative goodness.

 

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Making and knowing when to draw the line

In my creative space this week I printed some more of my 'lights' design, this time using a different colour palette. I loved the neon design I printed last time but was keen to try another colourway. This one feels more like me.

I had fun experimenting with printing on different woven fabrics and love how different the inks and design can look on different materials. I found that when I printed on the coarsers fabrics (more open weave) the texture comes through really nicely and becomes an element in the design. I love the coarse linen but really love the effect on the hessian (burlap ). It's the first time I've printed on it and loved the effect, experimenting with mixing inks directly on the screen. I've got lots of ideas around this. Hopefully one day I'll get to explore it further.

As with the neon colourway I made some purses and also a larger clutch purse, all gone to The Sweets Workshop for sale.

So that's it for me on the 'making to sell' front at the moment. I really love doing it, and enjoy people enjoying my designs, but I've found it pretty hard going juggling my 3 littlies and household, and the myriad of activities, needs and wants of everyone. And I know from past experience that when the super late nights start to stack up I end up being grumpy mummy and no one is happy :-(

For the next couple of weeks I need to get organised and make those special homemade gifts that I have in mind.

How are you doing in the run up to the holiday season?

Visit my creative space for lots of creative goodness.

 

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Thoughts on motherhood: not underestimating the littlies

When doing craft with the kids I've often not been as patient as I'd like to be with them, which makes me a bit sad as I really want them to enjoy it. I find they want to try every step of the project at hand themselves. But you know how it is... dinner is running late, there's a huge mess you keep stepping around, the cat is squeeling for food, the washing needs to be hung out, and there's homework and vaccumming to do and someone has smeared yoghurt everywhere and wee'd in their pants... and it would just be quicker if I DID IT MYSELF, for goodness sake!!!!


So when my girls wanted to make some hair clips just before dinner time this afternoon I took a deep breath and told myself to stay calm. My friend Deb showed us how to cover buttons and use them for hair ties and clips recently and we loved it. Deb is so crafty, always has something interesting on the go, great projects and all sorts of ideas. There's something new to explore every time we see her and her family. Have you tried this? It's lots of fun and great for using up small scraps of treasured fabrics.

I knew the big girl (who's 7) would be fine with each step, but the little girl, who's not quite 5 also wanted to do it all by herself. I thought it would be too much for her but she did a fantastic job, even choosing a scrap of marimekko fabric out of the hundreds in my scrap box (a girl after my own heart :-). She held the small scraps and button holder in her small hands and used my big fabric scissors to neatly trim the excess fabric (deep breath!) and she was patient and methodical - teaching me a lesson!! And when I asked if I could take some pics along the way she sweetly agreed.


She's a funny one our little girl - drives us all insane with her craziness at times then turns around and floors us with her grown up ways. Tomorrow morning we're off to her second orientation for big school next year and I'm sure she'll take it in her stride, wearing some very pretty hair clips :-)

Belatedly playing along with My Creative Space again this week. Get your dose here.

Thoughts on motherhood - newborns

We've been away for a few days meeting my gorgeous new little nephew. It's so lovely holding a newborn, there's no other feeling like it in the world, don't you think?

And even though holding him made me feel a little clucky (though we are definitely finished as far as babies are concerned :-) it also gave me flashbacks of what a tumultuous time that first year was for me with each baby. All those new things to learn and stress about and wonder if I was doing right or not. The crying, the lack of sleep, not knowing what to do on so many occasions and for so many issues was daunting to say the least. I so hope that my brother and sister in law have an easier time of early parenthood than we did, but I can't really do anything constructive to help them I guess, they just have to get through it like everyone else does. And who knows, they may have one of those miracle babies who sleeps all night, feeds well and is not fussy!

I hope that in years to come the tough memories recede and I can mainly recall the lovely positive stuff. Because obviously overall it's great, and I don't mean to sound ungrateful at all for the amazing children that I have. 



Look at that little hand, it's a miracle :-)

And on a crafty note, have a look at that beautiful little cardigan made by a friend of my mum's who also made us lots of goodies for our babies when they were born. Just lovely. And I enjoyed making him a pair of slippers and blanket with his name on (forgetting to take photos of course!). I also made my SIL a nappy (diaper) bag that I'll blog about this week.

- - - -

In non-baby goings on, I went to an amazing event the other night, the ABCD meet-up for art, design and craft bloggers, run by the ladies from Bondville and The Red Thread. It was outstanding! I came away later that night so full of thoughts and ideas that I couldn't get to sleep! So many issues that I'd been thinking about recently were discussed and I met so many interesting women. So thank you Steph and Lisa. I can't wait for the next one!

Girls weekend away

Last weekend I went away for my first girls weekend away since having kids. It was a short distance away, the beautiful (but cold!) NSW Southern Highlands but it felt like worlds away - no little people asking for snacks every second, fighting with their siblings, complaining of phantom tummy aches etc. You know, just ordinary stuff but the stuff that means you can't enjoy a quiet coffee, go to the bathroom alone or have a full conversation. Well, there were plenty of long conversations on our girls weekend, some while relaxing in the hotel's huge spa, ahh!!

We enjoyed the beautiful weather, drank lots of coffees...

Talked books and more books (I started this one, recommended by this enthusiastic reader and fellow weekend goer ;-) ...

Went to a great retro shop that, in their own words, "Sells really cool stuff"...

Visited a fantastic local gallery and fell in love with the chicken and rooster portraits in the Birds of a Feather exhibition...


Wandered around a small town market and bought this beautiful skein of wool, with a view to making a little boy's beanie. I can feel a winter addiction coming on ;-) ...

 And lastly, on my way home, I stopped in at a handmade shop called Made by Others. Wow, I thought we were spoiled for this type of thing in Sydney, but this has the best collection I've seen. I couldn't resist buying an amazing pair of hand screen printed tights (how do you screen print tights??). It was very inspirational to meet the 2 owners and chat about the business. Whilst I'm sure there are stresses to the business I would love to have something like this - to be surrounded by all that creativity all the time would be amazing. I left inspired and vowed I'd go back.

Sadly there won't be much crafting going on here this week - having a night away from home has made me realise how bad the quality of our sleep has become with a 2 year old and a four year old in our bed night after night (not our choice, their habits). So if I am to try to change the habits and convince them to stay in their own beds I must go to bed early myself and be prepared for the possibility of wakeful nights returning them to their beds. Wishing you a restful week!

A weekend with my big girl

I don't want to jinx myself, but somehow my computer problem has seemed to just right itself!? Strange beasts, these things that delight and enslave us... maybe it didn't hate me after all, just needed a break ;-) I'm keeping my fingers crossed/

The weekend before last the Mr took the two littlies away for 2 nights and I got the big girl all to myself. It was amazing to focus on her without having everyone else to consider, not to mention physically look after, break up squabbles, deal with jealousy etc.

During the weekend I had a flashback to the days when I was pregnant with her and thought that having just one precious child would be a lovely thing (before this I wasn't sure I wanted any at all). Then somehow as time went on and we got used to being a family it turned into wanting 3 and here we are today. I wouldn't have it any other way of course, but things would certainly be different if I'd stuck to the plan!

On our weekend together we:

• Went to the visiting Picasso exhibition. She squeeled with delight when I suggested this. Oh please, can I keep her this way when she's a teenager?!

• At her suggestion, had yum cha at the lovely vegan restaurant Bodhi where we could both eat anything offered - a rare thing considering she's allergic to eggs and I'm vegetarian. A highlight for me: tom yum noodles, and for her: passionfruit agar jelly. Yum!

• Took her 2 best buddies to a local organic market. They ate dumplings, bought Guatemalan worry dolls and had pony rides. I bought smoked spiced salt and chose a present for her dad (the Mr). Dads need treats too, after all ;-) We loved the locally designed and screen printed "Ned Kelly" tshirt.

• Ate our favourite pasta dish on the sofa in front of a movie she'd been wanting to see

• Used her Christmas Smiggle voucher on some cute new stationery for a bit of afternoon craft

and generally spent lots of time holding hands and chatting. And when she slept, I stitched of course :-).

It was just a lovely lovely time together that I'm extremely grateful for.

Sewing makes me happy

... I guess that's obvious to you if you're a regular reader of my blog.

Last night after putting the littlies to bed I made this bag, repurposing an old baby sling for the outer (complete with elephant patch) and some grass green linen for the lining. I had bought both from thrift shops and this made it all the better - taking something unused and unwanted and turning it into (hopefully) something that will delight a littlie and be used to carry around all sorts of important treasures.



A while ago, when I was feeling tired, I think I'd been sick and I had been doing a lot of sewing, I realised I needed a break. So I decided not to sew for about 10 days. I thought it would be great, a proper rest each evening rather than my usual "right, which project shall I work on tonight" thought. I could catch up on things I'd been neglecting and just relax. But what I found was that I soon started to feel a bit lost, I missed the challenge, the problem solving, the overall enjoyment that it gave me - it made me happy.



I find satisfaction in my everyday life of caring for my family, but it can also be quite one dimensional. I think that's where sewing fits in for me personally - it fills a gap in some small way. It's a creative outlet, a challenge. And that feeling of making something useful is so satisfying.



So now I don't deny myself a bit of sewing when I feel it 'calling' me. Even if that means that something else gets left. Because I know I'll come away from it feeling happy. And a happy mama is a good mama, right? ;-)

Thoughts on motherhood: holidays

Wow, I think I forget from one block of school holidays to the next just how draining they are! I am only increasing my daily kid tally by one, but all that lack of routine, 100% face-to-face time, not to mention sibling arguements and the usual tantrums, does take its toll.



One thing I have been trying to relax about is the kid entertainment issue. I used to feel bad that we don't tend to do fancy holiday courses and workshops or go away on exciting trips. But this week the kids have had so much fun doing normal stuff that I'm feeling good about it all... and remembering to have fun with them. Apparently it's a pretty good thing for mum to join you on the slide or sing and dance to Playschool with you!



We do have a few creative pursuits happening, hopefully I'll get time to blog about them soon. In the meantime, if you're in the midst of school holidays too, here's wishing you a fun and relaxing time... hopefully with some cupcakes ;-)

A significant number

I've really procrastinated over this post. What angle should I take? What should I focus on? Do I want to talk about personal stuff or keep it light? So I'll just do a brain dump :-) I've got other stuff I want to post about and just get on with, but it would feel kind of wrong to skip past it and not mention the fact that I had my 40th birthday on the weekend.



We did all the usual birthday stuff: family time, cake and candles, lovely dinner with the Mr. It was all great. I think the stuck thing, though, is about 40 coinciding with entering a new phase of my life. The kids are out of the tiny baby stage and we're not planning on having any more. We're sleeping again! Yay! It's been a while. It's still a while til they're all in school but I need to start thinking about what I and we are going to do to move on in future. Exciting but daunting.

I'm working on my mid-life crisis wish list ;-) What do I want to do, see, be in the next decade. Of course I could just wing it, but I'm a lists girl, I need some focus... now hopefully it will come to me...

Thoughts on motherhood: the kindergarchy

* Thank you for your lovely comments on the Sprout dress in the last post. It's a shame Blogger lost them in their technical problems, but I wanted to say how encouraging it is to hear ;-)

Listening to the local ABC radio station this week, a segment on "the craziness of 3 year olds" came on. Perfect. Just what I needed when feeling burnt out trying to (calmly) deal with the craziness in this house from one particular 3 year old.



I had such a laugh relating to stories people told about stubborn behaviour, quirkiness and colourful language. One woman mentioned her 3 year old asking, in a very quiet post office queue "Mum, when you were in jail..." (she'd never been in jail). And another, after noticing in the bath the difference between her own body and that of her brother's, asking anyone she met in the street "do you have a vagina?". They have a knack of embarrassing us. There's no social filter, it's just tell it how you see it!

Then something came up that got me thinking. A caller mentioned that his son insisted on wearing pink whenever he went out (yep, know that one), but the child also insisted that the father did too. And the father obliged. The announcer was obviously surprised by this compliance to the little darling's demands and remarked that the caller was living in a Kindergarchy where children rule the roost and adults do as they say.

I realised that slowly slowly I tend to let my 3 year old get away with more and then suddenly it's all out of control and I snap and try to pull back some control, yelling and getting annoyed at both of us. So it was a bit of a wakeup call (again) to try to be consistent and strong. Even though it's easier to give in when I'm tired or fed up, in the long run it doesn't work for us. I don't want to live in a kindergarchy!

But what I do feel much better about after listening to the segment is all the funny, irrational, bizarre, illogical 3 year old behaviour that I see every day.