where i sleep

There are often little bodies sharing the space where I sleep. It is rare for an entire night to pass without any interim visitors. It is common now, of a morning at least, for there to be five in the bed. It is pretty crowded and I wonder sometimes how we ever managed to sleep in a double bed for the first eleven years of our relationship and why we didn’t have the foresight to invest in a king size bed rather than a queen.

Our current visitor is Ms. M.  She fell out of bed a bit earlier and needed a hug. Her Dada or I will carry her back to her own bed soon. We’re just wrapping up the loose ends of the day ready for the next and then it will be time for us to sleep.

If you’re disappointed not to have had a peek at our room you can take a look.

Playing along here.

Oh yeah… and the PJs she is wearing have been refashioned from old ones of mine that were living in the cupboard. Photo of the cupboard at end of October coming soon… but don’t hold your breath it really isn’t that exciting.

top to skirt

 

 

This skirt has been made using a shirt from the cupboard. A few Christmases ago my partner bought me a shirt that was not my style at all. You’d think after all this time together the boy would have realised that I don’t wear tiered frilly tops. Not that there is anything wrong with it if you do – it’s just not my style. I’m a plain and simple gal. Not a lot of tiz happening here. Not sure why the shirt stayed, maybe I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, maybe I was going to try and give it a go, maybe he lost the receipt. Who knows? It was sometime ago now. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway the skirt has been made for Ms. M using one of the frilly bits and pieces of denim from the off-cut/scrap box. There is a seam down the middle front and waist band because I didn’t have a big-enough piece. Do you think I should sew some buttons on or not worry? I’m in two minds.

It’s still a little big for Ms. M but not so big that she can’t wear it.  I didn’t like the top and I’ve got to say I’m not overly thrilled with the skirt either. I was rather worried about the black and white frilly bit being a bit to “old” for my gorgeous girl… but perhaps it isn’t too bad with a bright pink tee and crocs.

Nothing new was purchased in the making of this skirt. That’s something yeah?

sunday snippets

In chronological order…

Playing along with tinniegirl.

firsts

It was baby O’s first outing to the beach today. There are so many things to enjoy about having a baby in the family and one of the aspects I enjoy the most is experiencing all the “firsts”. First trip to the beach is pretty momentous – particularly in our family. Over the summer we try to get to the beach at least once a week and I just know we’ll go more once the children are more confident independent swimmers.

E. is doing a beach course at the moment. It is fantastic. Teaching the children all kinds of beach safety and surf swim skills. It builds confidence but I think almost more importantly it contributes to our family’s culture. I’d like beach going to be a part of our family culture. Beaches are good. (Although I wouldn’t want to give you the wrong impression that I am a bronzed beach babe… on the contrary I am so fair I almost glow in the dark so I am very careful about sun safety – I just love swimming in the salty water and hanging at the beach for a bit – not all day – just for a bit)

 

A lovely morning hanging out at the beach leaves me feeling pretty grateful. How lucky am I to live relatively close to clean beaches (I was going to say safe and clean but with two shark attacks in less than a fortnight that might not be quite so) that are patrolled by top people. I’m thankful too that I have children that enjoy hanging out at the beach as much as I do. No sand phobias to speak of. Baby O showed promising signs today – peacefully hanging out in his little tent even when he wasn’t asleep. In fact it wasn’t until I disturbed him to take him home that he became upset. That’s gotta be a good sign.

I’m also grateful that there is a cafe near the beach too! Nothing better than ending a morning at the beach with a cappuccino. And while I’m thinking of it I am grateful to the guy driving the red car that stopped for me to cross the road while I was holding a baby, a toddler’s hand, two bags and said cappuccino that was starting to toast my fingers. It’s moments like those that make you feel cared for by the greater world.

Still it is being around to witness all kinds of firsts that I am most grateful for. It is an exciting time that will be relished.

Linking up here with lots of other grateful peeps.

this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment.  A moment I want to pause, savour and remember.

Playing along with soule mama.

snowboard pjs

Baby and I are hanging out in the grey room today. A perfect sewing day. Grey ominous skies outside, the older two away for a couple of hours and the washing machine working overtime trying to keep up with all the pant wetting and nappy explosions that has been going on around here.

I’ve changed the colour of the thread in the overlocker and delved into the WIP box. A inverse relationship has been discovered between the cupboard and the WIP box. It has been noted that as the cupboard empties the WIP box becomes more at risk of overflowing.  There has been some flannelette PJs partially cut up in the WIP box since the beginning of winter. The hurdle was that I didn’t have enough material to make a top and I didn’t want to do my traditional appliqué a t-shirt. So today I cut up an old black t-shirt of mine for the sleeves and finally sewed them up. I cut the sleeves so that the hem from the t-shirt acted as the leave cuff. Easy peasy partial refashion. Perhaps E. can wear them for the next few nights and then with any luck spring/summer weather might decide to come out of hiding.

It is possible that a few cardinal sewing rules have been broken here. Is it okay to mix stretchy knit with woven flannelette? Not sure which twin needle I should have used for the binding around the neck – there was stretch and woven material to sew through. I just used the stretchy one … and again for the hem where there wasn’t a stretchy knit in sight. You might think I was partaking in rebellion, but let me assure you it was just pure laziness.

 

It sure is easier to sew using a twin needle on a woven hem than a stretchy neckline. That is for certain.

PJs are all nicely folded on the big boys bed now waiting for him to get home and hopefully give his seal of approval.

There is loads of creativity happening over here, but before you head on over a gratuitous baby shot of my little helper…

my pincushions

Sewing and blogging started pretty much at the same time for me. I started to sew stuff and so I started to blog about it. One of my earliest posts was indeed about pincushions – the very first one I had made was rather unsatisfactory and the second one using fabric of my Nan’s marked, at that time, a great sewing achievement.

These days, some two years on, I own a few pincushions. They are scattered around the house and are constantly on the move depending on what I am doing and where.

Today that pincushion I had made early on can be found on the ironing board.

 

I made another pincushion after that as I started to teach myself how to embroider. It was my first ever embroidery project and today it can be found on my bedside table. (Have just been chuckling to myself because back then I thought one pincushion was enough… clearly I hadn’t started my roaming crafty ways yet)

Kate’s massive pincushion swap resulted in me gaining this gorgeously grey crocheted pincushion made by the delightfully clever Bec. Just now that pincushion sits on the window sill of the grey room, to the left hand side of my sewing machine. It is filled with pretty pink pins.

By my sewing machine this beauty can be found. It is only half full. I’m a little uncertain where all the pins are. Me thinks some children may have been ‘visiting’.

 

Lastly this little mushroom pincushion arrived in the post last Friday. It was sent by Kathryn and was instantly hijacked by the older children. After a bit of a search I found it in front of a doll house.

So there you have it – my pincushions and where they can be found at my place today.

Playing along here.

the wonky onesie and the oopsie hat

The cupboard clear out continues. The plan had been to participate in my very first Friday Night Sew In but out of the blue I was knocked for six on Friday and much of Saturday with what must have been one of those mysterious twenty-four hour virus thingies. Urk. Being sick is awful. Breastfeeding with an aching and feverish body is even worse. Thankfully all over now so no point dwelling on it. So whilst my Friday night of sewing was an utter non-event I did muster some energy to have a mini-Saturday Night Sewing session.

Courageously I decided to use my newest twin needle. My first twin needle was broken the first time I used it. For this attempt I thought it might be prudent to undertake a bit of YouTube research into the art of threading the machine using a twin needle. Whilst the one clip I watched used a machine that bore no resemblance to my own, some wisdom must have been passed on as this time round the sewing part itself felt like cruising on still waters rather than wrestling with a wildebeest. My skills in execution sadly have not improved. Wonky stitches reigned supreme.

A wonky onesie. I was not liking my wonky stitches at all as I sewed this little suit together but now they’re almost growing on me. It certainly doesn’t look shop bought… and that’s a good thing, right? 

 

The material was salvaged from a pretty ordinary full length knit skirt. I bought the skirt when I was pregnant with E. It didn’t get a lot of wear. Despite being a skirt it still felt like wearing a tracksuit… and let’s face it if you’re in the mood for wearing trackies then you’re not going to be in the mood to wear a skirt. Well that’s my take on it anyhow. 

Between you and me I spent an embarrassingly large amount of money on this trackie skirt so I’ve found it difficult to part with it when purging the closet for salvo donation runs in the past. Hence living in the cupboard.

 

 

 

With some of the excess material I whipped up a little baby hat too.

Perhaps I “whipped” a little too frantically …

I call it the Oopsie Baby Hat. Do you see why?

Operating on auto-pilot late at night I sewed the hem using the twin needle – but on the wrong side! It isn’t too bad. For no better reason than laziness the bobbin thread is different to the upper thread and so an interesting effect is created. I’d like to say it’s deliberate… but alas no.

So that was my Friday night sewing that wasn’t.

sunday snippets

In chronological order…

yesterday

Yesterday I sat in the garden, hook in hand and stitched. It was one of those one child moments that are rather uncommon in these parts. The babe slept and I hooked. I thought a lot too. I thought about how much I needed to have some quiet time, to rest. How my body was screaming at me to slow down for a bit. Intellectually I know that the best way to care for my family is through taking good care of myself (a lesson that was learnt the hard way I might add). That means having rests. I know this. And yet I still don’t necessarily feel it. Rather guilt dominates my emotions and spoils the pleasure of just sitting in the garden relishing a quiet moment hooking away. The mental list of all the chores and tasks that I could be doing creeps into my thoughts and frankly it is hard work to keep them at bay.

Do you experience “me time” guilt? What do you do to keep the guilt thoughts at bay?

on this day

• in 2009
• in 2010

… and in 2011 I’m having a mini-break. *sigh* The mister in these parts is sick. Yucky ear infection. I’m starting to feel a little run down myself. So time to rest up and invest in myself.

eight weeks

A rainy day today in these parts.

There were times during the day when the small’s moods emulated the gloomy weather outside.

 

Not helped for the smallest of them all that he was taken for his eight week immunisation shots. Ouch. And not great for the older two to be stuck in a traffic jam for an hour in said gloomy weather. What is it with Perth commuters that at the first sign of rain they abandon public transport and head for their cars?

There were times when we managed to smile and laugh too.

There are some days just like that around here. A mixed bag so to speak. For my part I enjoyed hugging and consoling and laughing and joking too. Time is teaching me to relish it all. Some days I can, and being human some days I can’t. Today though I could, and I’d like to celebrate that.

That’s not to say though that at day’s end I am not totally knackered. An exhaustion that is difficult to describe.

 

So a few points to record (because at this point in the day I am struggling to construct sentences):

• baby O got his first library card before the application to register his birth was posted (and I think this is uber ace!)
• birth certificate arrived with spelling errors for both siblings. Phoned registry office to correct and was told to destroy incorrect copy – as if!
• was panic stricken opening letter containing new birth certificate supposing that it was in fact a speeding ticket – was so relieved.
• at child health clinic appointment baby O weighed in at 5.95kg and was described as a very sociable baby. He is indeed. Such a sweet natured and chilled out little soul.
• I was incredibly proud of my children’s behaviour this morning as I dragged them around the city doing errands. They were all trying so hard and listening so well.
• Ms. M is obsessed with birthday parties – particularly her own up coming event
• E.’s favourite Star Wars character is Darth Vader (and has told me that when he grows up he is going to be evil – I haven’t the heart to break it to him that his nature is too kind and gracious for such ambition)
• baby O loves his bath time.