Happy 1st Birthday!

Rowan turned one on Wednesday!

It's a cliche but this has been the fastest year yet.

I've just returned to work too so hopefully I can work on my blog a bit easier now!

Recent makes...

Recent makes

I thought I'd do a round up of the recent making that's been going on around here, all baby related I'm afraid!

First up a toy bucket, a basic rectangle on a circular base, in Ikea fabric with some batting inside

Next up Bucket Hat from the Oliver & S 'Little Things to Sew' book, this was much easier than I thought and I'm really hapy with how it turned out. The red fabric is from Witney Sewing Shop and the dots my Mum picked up from the FoQ last year.

A Clothkits for Rowan, apart from the button-holes this took 1 day to put together, I love how simple they are, literally cut and go! I got this from the Sewing with Pleasure at the NEC.

Big stack of re-usable wipes, I raided my stash for old jersey,fleece, towelling & cotton flannel and cut into rough squares. Some I hemmed together with zig-zag, some I tried my over-casting foot on, looks weren't important as long as they were functional.

I'm using the wipes solution from Amanda Blake Soule's 'Handmade Home'

1tbsp Almond Oil

1tbsp Dr Bonner Baby Soap

1 drop of Lavender Oil

1 drop of Tea Tree Oil

3/4 cup water

I dip the cloths into the mixture in a jug, squeeze out the excess and store them in a tupperware, any leftover solution gets put into a jar.  When soiled they go into the nappy bucket and get washed with the Motherease cloth nappies (I'm a recent convert, I got some on eBay recently to try and am hooked, wished I'd tried them earlier. I recommend using Eco-balls with nappies as I was having to repeatedly rinse after washing to get the bubbles out)

Lastly, we have some baby bubble pants from Anna-Maria Horner's 'Handmade Beginnings', made from some blue corduroy (men's trousers from the charity warehouse £1) and lined with more of the Ikea print!

These were really easy, like her maternity tunic I got a bit bogged down in the text instructions, think I'm more of a follow the pictures type! I'm eager to make more of these as with the cloth nappies, all trousers are now tricky to fit! Rowan is a chunky but at 8mths for trousers/leggings she's in 12-18mths to get them over her large botty!

So making is happening here, slowly, but getting round to blogging is the hard bit, it doesn't help that our laptop is getting older & slower,  I'm seriously thinking about returning to work only to get my hands back on my mac and having access to a colour printer!!

Bibs & Badges

 I've been making a few of these dribble bibs.

Rowan's a monster dribbler, she got her 1st two teeth at 5mths but is still constantly drooling and soaks through her tops very quickly.

I made a rough triangular pattern and used up some of my fat quarters and for the backing used those cheap towels I got from Ikea and also some old terry towelling sheets I got from the charity shops.

 I really like them, I even use them for feeding as they look nicer and get in to the folds of her pudgy neck!

My other latest project is badges!  

I'd been watching badge makers on eBay and finally got one with lots of the actual badge parts as well, it's a London Emblem one and does 55mm badges and I love it, it's really easy to use and I'm currently experimenting with different fabrics/papers to put together some nice badges to sell, as I'm trying to think about putting together an Etsy shop!

Blow away the cobwebs

Well it's been a while, I lost my crafty & blogging mojo for a bit.  Too much real life getting in the way!

But the sun is out, I've been a busy housewife and want to get back to catching up in blogland.

Today Rowan's been mostly doing:

New dress from last weekends NCT sale, leggings from eBay and complimenting the Hungry Caterpillar quilt which I finally finished last month!

I really enjoyed it but found that machine quilting (esp. free motion) is NOT as easy as it looks!

Will be putting my new Janome through it's paces and doing some more practice.

Looking forward to a trip to the NEC on Sunday hopefully (without kidlets too) for the Sewing for Pleasure show ...will try and remember my camera

10 Weeks...Where DOES the time go?!

My wonderful amazing third daughter is ten weeks old this week and like a cliche the time really has whizzed by, I can't remember her not being here.  The fact that the calendar keeps reminding me of the changing dates is a little scary, it's going to be Christmas before we know it and then it'll be another year.  I can vividly remember last Christmas and then finding out I was pregnant in January means that 2011 has been all about this baby.  I wonder what 2012 will be remembered for?!

Home life is slowly settling down, the older girls have been fantastic, so understanding and helpful, I look at them and remember how much they've grown and how proud I am of them.  They're a constant reminder of how quickly the baby years pass and to make the most of them!  I think that's why all the disturbed sleep, all the crying hasn't really bothered me as much this time (it's not been nice though!) I know it's all part and parcel and that everyday Rowan is changing and growing.

It's also nice to be reminded how each baby is their own person, with their own personality and what worked for one may not for the next.  You need to learn about this new person, trial and error, just like it's your first!  She does amaze me though, every smile melts my heart and unlike her sisters she's amazed me by learning to suck her thumb (I'm sure I won't be so happy about this when she's 6!)

Here's to the next 10 weeks!

Nursing Cover

I wanted to quickly share a new make from this week in case it's of use for anyone else.  I found this link to a DIY nursing cover last week and it was so timely it was spooky as I had a bid in on eBay for a Bebe au Lait nursing cover - these retail for about £25 on Amazon and even on eBay they go for at least £12-£18.

When I saw the tutorial on DIY Maternity I was amazed I hadn't thought to make one as it is really just a rectangle of fabric with a neck strap!

I used some Ikea fabric I had in my stash, which is nice and light, you don't want the baby to get too hot under there!

Now you can use proper plastic boning but that would have meant spending money so as the tutorial author tries I went for the budget DIY version, I took a plastic tub (M&S chocolate crispy treats!) and I tried using the lid lip but it wouldn't bend enough, so I just cut a length from the main body of the tub instead.  It's a bit more flimsy but holds the arc shape, so we'll see how it holds up.

 

I had to fit making it into the baby's nap times, so it took me a day (!) but in real life it's a real simple 1-2hr job and I would definitely recommend making one in pregnancy just in case you need it.

Now it should give me the confidence to breastfeed wherever I need to, as it's only been with this baby that I've got to week 2 and felt ok about breastfeeding. With the other two I never enjoyed it and got on much better with bottle-feeding, so the whole having to breastfeed in public is never something I've had to do before, so I am a little apprehensive but with my new cover I should have no problems, apart from finding a place/seat to actually do it in town now!

We survived the 1st Week!

Well we have survived the first week!

Its been long, it's been short, it's been quiet and it's been busy. The 'babymoon' period is like being in a parallel universe where time goes at a different speed or it's like being on a completely different planet!

Normal everyday things don't bother you, like paying bills, it's the life basics of eating & sleeping that concern you. With baby number three it does mean that you know that life goes on, you get more perspective, so what that you've only had 4 broken hours of sleep, the other siblings still want their school packed lunches!

I must say that both my girls have been absolutely fantastic, taken everything in their stride and already have an unconditional love for their new sister.

Summary of the first week:

Sleep deprivation is an effective torture tactic!

 

Things I have learnt this week....

Essential Items:

Mothercare pk 48 maternity towels - good big pack size, equals 14p per towel, am going to have to buy another pack as typically you always need more! The pack does say that 48 will roughly last you the first week, wish I'd read that while in the shop!

 

Old pants - rather than those hideous uncomfortable disposable ones!

Breastfeeding pillow - I got mine from a car boot & with all three they've been invaluable, I think it's best to get one that's quite firm/well padded as it helps get baby up to your boobs without slouching over!

Things I didn't need:

Newborn outfits! I should have known that having larger than average babies this one wasn't going to be petite but we've gone straight into the 0-3 sizes, the newborn size didn't even fit on the first day!

Things I wished I'd ordered sooner:

A Nightlight for those pesky night feeds, my bedside light is too bright but you need a bit of illumination so you can get the latch on properly! I've just ordered one from Amazon (Babytec Autofade) so will let you know if it's any good!

Best gifts (ideas for gifts):

Nappies (size 1&2), wipes, soap, hooded towel. All practical presents and really appreciated when you're a bit cash strapped, if bottle feeding I'd suggest a box of (correct) formula as that stuff is expensive!

Failing that vouchers are very useful (Boots or Mothercare come to mind).

Toiletries for Mum- something sensitive but a bit luxurious, something they wouldn't normally splash out on)

Box of chocolates for Mum! No explanation needed!

Now there's flowers, they could appear in this heading or the next depending on what they are. The best style are some that come in a vase and need no intervention, no new mum wants to be flower arranging, faffing about trying to find a vase!

Worst gifts:

Clothing! You end up with way too many, usually all 0-3mths and usually in styles/colours you don't like! I hate pink and never dress my babies in much of it if I can help it so any pink clothes are I'm afraid relegated to the Yuck pile - usually destined for the car boot/eBay. Or alternatively enclose the receipt so the recipient can change it rather than being a wasted gift.

Thank you for all your kind comments/well-wishes, they have all been really appreciated.

Happy to announce the arrival of...

Rowan Jude

Baby girl arrived safely on Monday 19th September 2011 at 10.05am.

Born at home, delivered by Daddy, 9lb 1oz.

All healthy and happy!

Baby prep ie. shopping!

Ok so with 6 days to go, I thought I'd round up my baby essentials shopping.  Being baby number three, people assume you've kept all your old equipment & clothes from your last baby's, but living in a shoe-box with no storage and always needing extra pennies, we've always sold our cast-offs at boot fairs.  Seeing as that's where we bought most of the items in the first place, it always seems like good karma!

The items I have saved are sheets & blankets - these were bought new for my first daughter and they were so expensive I haven't dared sell them for mere pounds, because we all know sheets & blankets can come in handy in a crafty household anyway!

Also, maternity trousers!  I find it so hard to get good trousers anyway, but if you're lucky to find comfy (& good looking) maternity trousers/jeans, I recommend you hang onto them!  I favour the over bump elasticated panel, supportive, comfy and no revealing gaps!  In summer they are a little warm though! I have some from H&M, some from Next and some early pregnancy ones from Mothercare - which have a small elasticated waistband, which also come in handy AFTER delivery when you still can't fit in your normal jeans!

This time round I've bought all my tops from eBay, nothing fancy, just basic t-shirts mainly for a few pounds each and it's meant I've had more variation this time round rather than spending a lot of money on a couple of new tops.

 

I did have good intentions of making several tops, but in the end only got round to one (above)!  Mostly from reticence over spending money on good fabric when I'm not very experienced in dress-making for myself.

The one I did attempt was the Mariposa tunic from Anna Maria Horners' fab book 'Handmade Beginnings'.

I got 4m of Amy Butler fabric (Love collection: Memento in Midnight) from the Sewing with Pleasure show in March and it took me until the summer to have the confidence to cut into it!

I found the instructions very wordy and almost with too much information for me, I think I like more diagrams as I tend to be a bit slapdash and if I know how the garment goes together, I'll usually fudge it together!

So once I actually got down to it and figured out how the pieces were meant to join I just got on an sewed!  Not very neatly but I had fun!  I used the large size being a busty 14/16 up top and a scant seam allowance (rather than getting into re-sizing the pattern) and hoped it would fit.

And actually I'm really happy with it!  If you undo the ties it has a front modesty panel to enable you to breastfeed and I hope to wear it as a normal top afterwards anyway (with a bit of taking in?!)

I'm also considering making the longer dress version in a lighter fabric to wear over jeans in the winter. 

So I've been trying to buy as much stuff second-hand as possible, which means some enjoyable rummaging in charity shops & car boots and browsing eBay!

All the baby's clothes are second-hand, they wear them for such a short amount of time, it's criminal the price of buying new.  Also, not knowing what sex the baby is most items I've bought are neutral/white and I'd rather save my money to get colour appropriate outfits when it's bigger.

Next big purchase - the pram!  For my daughters I had a Graco travel system which had a very useful system of quickly moving the car seat from the pram to the car with no fiddling with seat belts.  The downside being it was heavy and bulky. At about 4 months I moved to the much loved Mclaren Quest buggy, which was a revolution and I'd recommend it wholeheartedly.

So knowing that I only needed a pram for the first few months (as I still have my battered Mclaren in standby) I knew I wouldn't waste money on a new pram, it was definitely going to be second-hand and there are loads at boot fairs/eBay or local noticeboards when you start looking!

Now I was going to just get a cheap Graco again but then I thought about getting a more robust all-terrain type as the one thing the Mclaren doesn't handle very well is off-road walking.  Now we don't do a lot of hiking or anything but we do go for days out, to gardens, fairs, forests, parks and I thought it might be useful to also have a buggy that could handle these.

So I spent some time keeping an eye out on local pram/travel system auctions on Ebay (I love Saved Searches, my current one is for a bike trailer!) and eventually won a Jane Powertrack 360 for the princely sum of £10! It was a bit further away than I wanted but for the price I was very happy!

It was in a bit of a state and needed a good scrub but it came with the carrycot and car-seat parts.  I spent an extra £30 on accessories - a rain cover, a pram mattress and the actual adapters to hold the carrycot (again from eBay) and then spent a lot of elbow grease getting the mud off the frame and bleaching out the mildew from some of the fabric parts (all thoroughly rinsed off after, I found normal stain cleaners rubbish but normal bleach did the trick).

It is rather bulky with the carrycot on but I wanted this so that in the mornings for the school run I didn't have to worry about straps and waking the baby up in the usual scramble!  The car seat also clips on quickly when going out and about and when it's a bit older the fabric seat will get put on and it'll be an off-roader!

I did treat myself to some pads for the car seat as it didn't have any from Kryshees shop on Folksy, as she had some fab fabric, these were made and posted really quick and make the car seat look much newer!

Next big purchase - the cot!  Can you guess? Yes eBay again!  Another local search, this time I needed to be a bit fussy as I wanted the standard size cot so that my saved sheets would fit!  After watching and waiting for awhile, I found this fabulous one, which I think originally came from JoJoMaman Bebe and has the option of being used three sided against your bed, for the fabulous price of £31.

This meant I didn't feel so bad about the extortionate price for the mattress - £99 from Mothercare - I went for the same type as I've had before as it has a removeable zip off cover which I found very handy when you have a sicky baby or leaky nappies in the middle of the night!  I've also saved the spare covers from before which should be handy.

Had a bit of a panic with the matress as they delivered the wrong one - it was a cot bed size but they were very apologetic at customer services and sent out the correct one the very next day. Being 38 weeks pregnant at the time, I was convinced the baby would come before it did, like sods law, thankfully not though!

So eBay has been my salvation with this baby and helped us spend as little money as possible because frankly there's not much left over every month to afford the type of offerings in the Mothercare catalogue!  I do hope most new parents don't get sucked into the over-priced 'must haves' that they offer, the 'helpful' shopping list they provide at the back of the catalogue must be a real money spinner!  Don't even get me started on the designer prams!

The other source I've found for new items on a budget is Ikea, bit of a drive for us to get to, but when you're getting a lot of items I think it makes the petrol cost worthwhile.

Their baby range is really lovely and affordable and has all the basics.  I was going to get the cot and mattress from there if I couldn't find a suitable secondhand one, as they had a good one for only £60, there is a cheaper one still but not as sturdy looking.

So on a recent trip I got a bundle of their cheap white hand towels - 19p each! These can be used as muslins, for changing the baby on, or as I'm hoping to make bibs with!

Muslins, why are these so expensive? I got this three pack for £2.99 as I liked the colours. I've already got a bundle off eBay, and being pre-used their much softer - these Ikea ones are huge though, so I may even cut them in half them to get more for my money.  If you have babies who like to sick up/dribble out a lot of their bottlefeeds, you'll want a load of these!

Baby flannels/washcloths £2.99 for 10, these again can be useful for lots of things, burb cloths, flannels for bath time or meal times, keeping in the change bag for spills, as muslins, I did look into making your own baby wipes, which these might be good for? 

And lastly, bibs, if you're bottlefeeding, again you'll want a load of these and as a staple they seem to be rather expensive in the high street, these pack of 5 were only £1.99! Bargain, I nearly bought more, but am really going to try and make some of my own, probably using these as a template!

So with 6 days to go, I think I'm set!  The time really flies with subsequent babies, there's no time to sit and relax and ponder like when it's your first!  And trying to complete the rush of the school run while heavily pregnant and with a painful pelvis, well, they don't talk about that in the pregnancy books! 

May

Where has May gone?!  It's been a blur of Birthdays, school, work, sunshine & showers!

At the beginning of the month it was mine and the Eldest girls birthday, we're 'lucky' (!) to share the same day - I'm not sure being in labour on your birthday is the best way to spend it and it does mean I'm usually now running around like a blue-arsed fly on my birthday!  Seriously, it's really nice and while she was enjoying the day at school,my day consisted of putting up lots of bunting/birthday posters and blowing up balloons - how is blowing up balloons with a pump so tiring?!  I managed about 3 before I was bored and my arms were aching!  I did manage to squeeze in some 'me' time for a lovely bit of sewing time with the iPod blasting and singing badly!

Organised chaos!

The sewing wasn't all therapeutic though, I was attempting to make 12 party bags for the party that was due in the next two days!  I'm glad to say I did manage it, even had a few spares!

I was determined to make them using only fabric I already had (which is way too much and needs reducing!)

I made a rough rectangle template based on the size of the 'goodies' that were going in them - mostly small making kits from Hobbycraft and cut each bag on the fold so I'd only have two sides to hem.

To neaten the insides I also decided to do French seams, so I folded the fabric WRONG sides together to do the first line of stitching, then turned it back again to have RIGHT sides together and did another line of stitching down the side and along the bottom, the seam allowance has to be a bit more generous for this so that you hide all the first allowance inside (see last picture).

Then I just need to fold over a hem for the top of the bag, which I did twice and then pinned the handles in place (pieces of ribbon), poking them under the hem.  I did two rows of stitching for strength.

Job done!



The other sewing job I've done this month is a present for my Dad's birthday, it's a key bag, so he can keep all his keys in it, instead of a food bag!

I used the Bento Bag pattern in Sew Hip, issue 29 as a starting point and adapted it slightly.  The denim material was a secondhand pillow-case and the lining a piece of an old sheet!

Putting it all together was easy, instructions for box corners never make sense to me in written patterns, visual instruction for things like that are much better! Basically it's two box shapes put together, topstitched at the hem and a channel for the cord on the outside. I used bias binding for the channel as trying to press a tiny hem proved too much for my fat fingers!  The denim fabric was also quite bulky which restricts the gathering when pulled tight with the cord, but I haven't had any complaints from the recipient!

We've also had some new members of the family..

meet Harold & Tom, our first guinea pigs!

I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying them and it's lovely seeing the girls learning how to look after them.

I've also had my 20 week anomaly scan which went well thankfully, sadly I don't have any good pictures to share as little bump wouldn't keep still!  The poor sonographer had a hard time getting all the measurements, let alone a good picture and we're not very sure on the gender either!  I was convinced it was a boy, but now I don't know what to think!  The suspense is going to kill me, I'm not good with surprises!  I was going to start a Debbie Bliss baby cardigan once we knew what it was, but now I'm not sure what colours to use, cream seems a bit boring!

I've just realised I haven't taken any pics of my lovely birthday presents, I had a lovely handmade brooch from my sister and a lovely bunny by 'The Vintage Magpie', once this rain & greyness disappears I shall have to remedy that.

Well, on to June...which means our holiday is almost upon us, I honestly can't wait!  We're going to Weymouth for the first time, I haven't been to the coast for years and the girls are very excited as we're staying in a caravan!  If you have any Weymouth recommendations I'd love to hear them!

Introducing...

the newest member of our family!

I've been waiting for the first scan and the relief was enormous, we're due to meet near the end of September and I can't wait (neither can the girls!), I feel so lucky.

Still Knitting...

        
 I've got a new addiction, Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn!  It's so lovely to work with, all soft and silky and I'm loving the smallness of baby patterns!  I've finished two pairs of the simple baby booties, very simple and quick, the only thing I wonder about is how they'll fit and if they're comfortable, I need a baby to try them on!

 Next up is a hat to match, again in the neutral cream, again another simple pattern, all stocking stitch.

 The pattern is from the Baby Cashmerino 2 pattern book, which I got from eBay last week, it has some great small simple projects, I'd like to try a cardigan at some point.

I have started the moss stitch rabbit but I have say I've got a bit in a pickle with 'pkp' !  Need a bit more practice with that one!

I've also completed the cotton DK hat from Claire Montgomerie's book 'Easy Baby Knits', the pattern was really easy but I'm not sold on the yarn, it was like knitting with string!  I'm going to give it a wash to see if it softens up as it seems quite heavy and rigid for a baby item.

Now all I need is for the recipients to actually arrive!  Fingers crossed for the mums.

Monday

New Year, so a new moodboard selection is up!  It's hopefully a bit spring-like, clean and fresh, which is what I'm craving at the moment!  Both in my house and outside in the weather!

I've been rolling on with the Redhook, the rib is going well, I noticed a few ladders where I had the large plastic stitch markers, so thanks to a tip from Lion Brand Yarn (I get their weekly emails) I replaced them with small elastic bands, these are super small hair bands from Claire's Accessories and they're fab, they come in different colours too which could be handy!

As with any large project I find you need a smaller on the go project to satisfy that achievement urge, so as I know of two people who are expecting littles soon, I saw this quick and easy project in this months 'Knit Today' (issue 55) for simple booties.

Sadly I didn't have any Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, so I just had to go out and get some!!  Any excuse, and it's lovely stuff, really soft and should wash ok.  I went for the deep red and also got some cream - I'm testing out the red, but will do a pair in cream too and will probably send those off as they're a bit more neutral?

There is a bit of a mistake in the pattern though, the decrease rows are labelled wrongly, after knitting the first 18 rows it then reads ' Row 13'....  Just ignore the numbering and follow the rows one after the other, so it should read' Row 19 - 21'.  If that doesn't make sense, I found the answer on Knit Today's Facebook page and then also on Ravelry in the Knit Today group.
I should have one finished tonight?! *slow knitter*!