HUMPTY TWO!!

The Fantastic Mr Fox, also known as Mr CP outdid himself with his cake baking skills.

Humpty Dumpty is a favourite character from Playschool at this house.

And it tasted as good as it looked! 

Yep, my big boy is TWO!

He had a very happy birthday, honing his skills at ripping off wrapping paper, just like he should. 

The Easter Bunny also did her job. Trying to explain that we didn't need to eat all of our chocolate in one go didn't go over all that well but then we distracted him with an egg hunt - there was one at the bottom of my Ugg boot. Not sure I would have eaten it....

And this kid, he's growing like a bean.

A chubby bean....

We spend lots of quality time snuggling together.

I sniff his head and soak up that babyness that I know will disappear all too quickly.

We are having a great time getting to know each other as our family of five. 

Ab x

And then there was three

I've been a bit quiet in the last few weeks. I've done a little bit of sewing but gave up after realising that I sewn rows of my HST quilt on the wrong way!

See? Sadly I didn't even realise until I decided to take some braggy blog photos. 

Really it's only a bit of unpicking and re-sewing but I was annoyed at myself so put it aside. Baby brain at it's best :o)

Then on Monday morning this little monkey woke us up at 5.00am

He must have known something big was going to happen that day....

Mummy and Harvey while Mummy had contractions,

and then....

We are thrilled to reveal our next wonderful creation

Lachlan (Lachy) Henry Fox!!!

Born 12.15pm on 25/03/2013

Weighing a HUGE 9lbs 4oz - 4.22kgs!!!

(which explains my ginormous belly)

I'm quite chuffed with this pic - six hour labour from start to finish and I worked bloody hard but I actually look fairly sprightly. Even if I do say so myself :o)

Lots of meat on Lachy's bones - explains where all of that ice cream I was eating went!

My boys.

Damn, I'm lucky!

Were home and settling in. Lachy seems to be feeding well and on day five is only 120gms under his birth weight. I feel like I'm re-learning breast feeding as Lachy learns but we're getting there.

We've already received lots of lovely congratulations via Instagram and Twitter (@copperpatch for both) and I thought I'd better get some pics up on the blog while I have the energy.

Time to catch some zzz's before the next feed.

Abbe xx

Dancing pants

I still have big ideas about developing some seamstress skills so that I can confidently make clothes for myself and the kids.

I made some Foxy Pants for the wee one to be with a cute fox fabric that I bought at Spotty.

They are reversible, made with the pattern from Anna Maria Horner's book, 'Handmade Beginnings'.

Way back when, I made some from the same pattern for Harvey.

Harvey and I went to our local PWS a few weeks ago and he saw this fabric and wanted to hold the bolt - they are all of his favourite animals at the moment.

I couldn't resist buying some.

I made him some PJ pants from the pattern from my newest book purchase, 'Make it Perfect' by Toni Coward. I really like this pattern, they seemed to come together really easily. 

Harvey particularly loves the 'elphants'!!

I will buy some plain tops and applique some of the animals to go with the dacks.

Another bet each way for the bubba-to-be.

Some pink piggy pants for a girly one and some roary lion ones for a boy flavour.

These were from the free tutorial from the Made by Rae blog.

I finished stripping a few weeks ago. I love how it turned out and I'll definitely be making a different version sometimes down the track. I'm hoping to get some batting and get this quilted before the birth-day but since I'm 37 weeks tomorrow.....we'll see.....

Today I managed to tidy the nursery and changed things around from how we had them for Harvey. I want things to feel different. I've unpacked lots of neutral jumpsuits and have almost got my head around the fact that the baby will be here within days and at most three or four weeks. Eeek!

Harvey seems to have settled into his new room and we're getting used to having a monitor on to listen to his rather hilarious morning chattering.

Time for bed.

And I'd better turn that monitor on now that I thought about it...oops!

Ab x

A Model Friend

I have had a wonderful couple of weeks, with visits with Bianca, Aunty Pam, Fi and Peta. To round things out and keep all the wenches happy, I had a bright idea to visit Jules.

Mr CP needed Sunday to sleep after night shift and me and my girl had a plan that involved a camera and a big belly.....

Harvey 'tickling' Bubba - he thinks my, his and his dads belly button is called Bubba.

We need to straighten out that confusion.

Some artyness 

Note: It was 35 degrees, I was HOT and sweaty!

The photographer was bossy but fair enough, she had to keep reminding me, 'straighten the shoulders, tongue to teeth (to get rid of the double chin!!), put your hair over your face....do you think she was trying to tell me I should have had a little make-up on??? :o)

Our helper helped by running away, chasing cows.

Not that helpful really....

And then it was his turn...annoyingly natural.

Oddly operatic. Brilliant pic Jules!

(I think he was actually mooing at the cows)

35 weeks and 5 days - the belly is big and I'm excited to meet this little person.

After I've finished chasing this one around the mulberry bush.... 

Thanks for a wonderful catch up Jules. Lots of laugh as always!!

Ab x

Maybe Baby

Okay, so there's no maybe about the baby side of things.

I'm 34 weeks and 5 days - people like to say I've 'blossomed'.

Aren't they sweet? ;o) 

A couple of months ago I spent some quality time with Jules and I made her teach me how to Shirr.

Stretchy, elasticyness if perfect for growing bellies and boozies so shirring is perfect for me.

The fabric is a soft Lizette lawn from Spotlight and it's made a very comfy dress. 

Really could do with lining but that's a bit beyond me at the moment and I don't need another layer to sweat in....eeew gross!

This gives you a better idea of the size of the tum....extra large!!

So the Maybe Baby bit?

I know it's a baby but I don't know if it's a boy or girl.

So I decided to make the 'Maybe Girl' quilt....because is may be a girl.

Then I thought I'd better go with the 50/50 odds and make a 'Maybe Boy' quilt....

obviously, it may be a boy.

On the boy quilt I tried my hand at loops with stars. I'm loving being more adventurous with my quilting.

I also used a elongated zig-zag on the border which is a great effect. I saw it on Crazy mum quilts blog and gave it a whirl. The quilt has all Prints Charming fabrics from a few lines, it's sooo soft!

The back of the 'Maybe Girl' quilt turned out really cool.

All the fabrics in this quilt are from Melly and Me's 'Where the wind blows' line that I've hoarded.

Definitely a proper, fully reversible quilt. 

On the 'Maybe Girl' I tried loops with hearts. Love it! 

I've also been playing around with making cushion covers for the long awaited couch.

I did this one last night. Needs trimming and a back.

This one is hand quilted. 

I'm loving the different textures and playing with various greys along with my Denyse Shmidt fabrics.

Hoping for some more sewing time now that I have finished work.

Sew well peeps,

Ab x

Right of passage

I thought it was time that Harvey learned to bake.

We made chocolate chip cookies. He was my chief flour flinger - the clean up took a while but it was worth enjoying his enthusiasm.

The most important lesson and the right of passage was of course the opportunity to lick the beater. 

It took some fierce concentration

but as you can see, he's a natural.

It's been a bit mental around here, we needed to swap rooms around to prepare for the new bubba which has meant moving my craft room. That was all going well until we realised that things weren't going to fit quite the way I'd hoped (and the way I'd measured...)

Crisis averted with a few changes to furniture.

I finally got some sewing done last night, starting this cushion for my friends daughter who is being Christened tomorrow. I finished it today so tonight I can get stuck into some UFO's now that I have some momentum going. 

Happy Sewing lovelies,

Abbe x

Stripping - even the nice girls are doing it

Now, for all those doing Google searches for other kinds of stripping, sorry to disappoint,  I'm talking about fabric strips.

I've managed to get caught up in the craze of the Scrappy Trip Around The World (#scrappytripalong on Instagram) which stemmed from a great tutorial at quiltville.com by Bonnie Hunter.

I know I would have never done a Bargello or Trip Around the World quilt, just not my style but this grabs me because I am finally cutting into my huge stash of fat quarters. 

Just like my un-stuck sticker collection when I was a kid (I always kept them as they were because I didn't want to 'waste' them....) my fat quarters mostly remain untouched.

Or they did.

These are the block I've done so far - I can imagine I'm going to have 'fun' organising and reorganising placement. I am making 36 blocks, which are 12" finished.
I am aiming for a dark fabric through the middle of each block but otherwise it's random.
I know I'm going to make another because I've been cutting double the amount of strips I need....as you do.

On a super happy note, Copper Patch House has finally got a couch.
Big deal you think?
SIX MONTHS WITHOUT A COUCH!!!
We have some comfy outdoor furniture but it certainly wasn't the same as stretching out in the proper veg-out position. Something that was very hard to deal with when I was suffering the horrendous morning sickness.

I think we got enough couch....


I need to scale up the size of cushions that I make - this is the first of many planned using the colourful Denyse Shmidt ranges, Hope Valley and Chicopee.

Happy Days,
Ab

Another reminder -  Craft n Chat at The Retreat is this weekend, still some places available.
Check out this post or contact me via the website.