A year in the den

It's our one year anniversary today which actually made me realise that I didn't really blog many of the wedding pics. Not surprising considering that I haven't even printed off any photos for our walls.

Must get to that at some stage soon....

A Lachy Bump...

Nothing some sucky-in undies and holding your breath can't fix.

Actually I'm pushing it out, it wasn't that big.

Stop drawing attention to it ladies!!

A few prenuptial shennanigans with my buddies.

And then

Dad making sure to give me away.

Aunty Pam and I spent several hours getting high on hot glue gun fumes to make the bouquets. I love how they turned out.  

'Just Married' bunting made by Jules

We chose to have a fairly tight wedding budget and we both think we pulled it off quite well. We had a catered spit and the food was great and plentiful. A week in Noosa helped heal my tired dancing feet. Tired dancing feet is always a sign of a good night.

All I have to do now is sell the first dress that I bought which the Lachy Bump would not fit under and get to printing out those photos.

More important than the wedding, is the marriage and that is going well.

Still true love, lots of learning along the way and lots of laughs to get us through the tricky bits.

A year on....I really want to swan about in my dress again.

Would it look weird if I wore it around the house....?

Abbe x

For me? You certainly should have.

After doing jewelry making at school and then working in a jewelers part time when I was at Uni I got a bit 'jeweleried out' and haven't felt the need to buy much over the last ten years.

Now that has changed!!

A number of weeks ago I was checking out my Instagram feed and saw a gorgeous teapot brooch. I don't know what happened but I was so excited.

Brown paper packages - sewing patterns - tied up with string. Sweet!

I contacted the lovely and very helpful Christina of Christina Lowry Designs and asked if she'd be able to make me a teapot pendant instead of brooch

High Tea

Ta dah!

Isn't it gorgeous???

Of course I had to have some pretty teacup earrings to go with my pendant.

Christina was great to deal with, she couldn't have been more helpful. It's so nice to have a great customer service experience.

Check out her blog and her shop.

Who knows, you might find a fabulous present for yourself too.

Ab x

Note: I was not asked or paid to review Christina's products and this is all my own opinion. I just want to highlight a good buying experience, a lovely hand-maker and a fellow crafty gal.

I thought she sewed quilts?

I haven't been able to ignore the clothes sewing urge.

It's something I have always wanted to do and sewing simple items like pants for the babies has satisfied me for a while but now I want to take it to the next level and move on from slightly oddly shaped pajamas.

The only downside is the same thing I discovered with the knitting lark - where the hell do I squeeze in the new stash???

After reading a whole lot of new-to-me seamstress blogs I decided to buy The Colette Sewing Handbook. I've had a quick read and confirmed that I have a lot to learn but that it will help.

I made this 'wearable muslin' as a first try at making a top.

I'm fairly happy with it. It was the first time that I had done french seams which I quite liked. The top itself is too wide across the back which I didn't realise until after sewing it all together.

Lesson learnt to measure myself properly and to have a better look at the shape/size of the pattern. Using my seamstress expertise....I made a small pleat in the back which is fairly well hidden in the busy fabric. I shortened the length so it sits nicely with jeans and I just have to hem the sleeves and it's done. I'm not overly eagre to make it again but we'll see.

Then I decided to bite the bullet and sew with knit fabric. I think sewing with knits is going to be a bit like free motion quilting - it seems really daunting and you suck at the start but practice and a devil may care attitude will help you get better. 

I've worn it several times and it hasn't fallen apart so that's got to be a good sign.

I had a quick break from the tricky stuff and made my souz chef an apron (he calls it his smock). This is the 'I just snaffled a corn chip from the bag, stuffed it in my mouth and am trying to finish chewing before you realise' face. He has a lot to learn before he'll eat my chips without me knowing ;-) 

Having gained 'so many skills' making one top I decided that I would make a dress to wear to a wedding. Not one to shy away from a challenge and feeling the need to create some grey hairs I chose a pattern that I could breastfeed in but also happened to have a whole lot of gathering as it was a maternity pattern. I ended up removing all of the gathers with a bit of advice from Jules and Aunty Pam.

I like how it turned out but wussed out of wearing it to the wedding, I felt like it wasn't quite formal enough, probably due to being made of quilting cotton. It looks nicer than in this pic but that's the calibre of photo you get late at night and with an IPhone.

In case you were worried I'd gone seamstress crazy and forgot my quilty roots....

 A triangle (and very wrinkly) quilt top for a friends daughter and an oodle of strips to be turned into binding if I get some sewing time tomorrow.

Happy sewing,

Ab x

6 Months

Already?

Yep. 

Time keeps moving and he keeps growing.

As does that other one on the left.

He used to look like this.

Love them both.

Lucky me :o)

Ab x

No, really, I do still sew stuff..... sometimes

I finished this quilt a couple of months ago. It's another one for The Retreat. 

It was always my intention for all of the beds to have quilts, which they do, but there are a few of my special ones there so I'm slowly making more so that I can bring those faves home.

This pic is really washed out due to the light coming in the bedroom window - it's actually a lovely buttery yellow and charm squares from 'Celebration' by Lecien. 

This is Harvey's quilt.

He managed to get to the ripe old of age of two and a half before I'd made him his own special quilt. Not that I haven't bought the fabric for lots of potential quilts for him.... 

I was going to raw edge applique his initials but I'm not happy with how the fabric is fraying so I'll remove these and do some needle turn ones.

It's inspired by the Scrappy trip around the World quilts but with novelty fabrics and a rainbow of solids.

He loves eye spying all the different animals, cars, planes, bikes etc etc

This quilt was started several years ago as part of a Block Swap Bee.

I didn't like it for ages but decided it needed to be finished and now I love it. 

It was suggested its name should be the Washi Quilt as the strips look like Washi tape.

It's the perfect name since the six rolls of Washi tape that I own are either silver or green. 

It will go to The Retreat too. 

This last quilt has become a favourite even though it started out as just a way to use the leftover charm squares from the first quilt pictured. I bodged some scraps of Jules and dived through my fat quarters and scrap box and came up with a quilt that I love.

It's going to be gifted to someone special just as soon as I work out what to bind it in so I'll show more when that's done.

This one is another 'just because' quilt. It's not really for any purpose other than the fabrics kept yelling at me from their spot on the shelf near my machine.

The range is Cuzco by Kate Spain. Her base cloth for her ranges is really, really lovely to touch.

I've ordered some fabric for backing and binding because lately I've gotten a bee in my bonnet about having the right backing, not just any old thing. It never used to worry me because it was just the back...I guess I've changed :o)

Ab x

Get Fresh!

So I finally found time to freshen up the blog a bit.

It's not perfect but it will do for now. At least my description now has me mothering the correct amount of kids!

A few lovely people have asked me how Harvey is going.

Other than appearing to need glasses lately.....

He's doing really, really well.

He's so much fun at the moment and his personality is developing by the day.

He's a bit cheeky but also has wonderful manners which seems pretty good for two and a half.

He loves to eat 'lumpch' (lunch) and answering the 'frump' (front) door.

Feckfast has become bekkist and no doubt will soon be breakfast. I'm not sure when his beatbix will morph into wheatbix but I'll be a little bit sad when it does.

Earlier this week Lachy tried his first solids.

A bit of mushy apple.

How eager does he look? 

Aaaaannnnddddd not impressed. 

He much prefers to hold the spoon, whack himself in the head, poke himself in the eye a few times and then suck on it.

A little bit more eating practice needed for my little bug.... 

Harvey has started to enjoy having his photo taken so we're starting to do a lot of 'selfies'. 

We just need to work out how to get Lachy to look in the right direction.

Ab x

While I've been gone

So much has happened around here - some of it is just life marching on, as it does and some of it has been bigger that that. Mostly, as I said in my last post, it was just computer issues keeping me away.
Having said that, I see blogging as a community and although Instagram, Twitter and Facebook have a place, I've realised I still want to blog.

So I will....

Firstly, remember this?

















Then it turned into this?

















Well, now it is this:














Aint he cute? He's four and a half months old (already!!!) and has a very giggly, smiley personality. He's fascinated by both of his big brothers and loves to watch them play.

When Lachy was born he very lucky to receive some gorgeous handmade goodies from crafty ladies. It made us both feel very special.
 

This fun quilt panel was from Maria at 'Life on the Block'. 

She did some great quilting to emphasize the little animals and grass. It looks good in Lachy's room, adding colour to the spare bed and is easily within reach when I'm feeding during the night.

This low volume/contrast tumbler quilt was from Aunty Jules.

It has been spewed on several times already. It is loved.

It's also excellent for young models to pose on. 

A couple of months ago I met up with Jules to buy some 'much needed' yarn at Bendigo Woollen Mills. Jules is extremely lucky to own a mum called Helen. Helen had made the suggestion that I send some yarn and a pattern home with Jules so Helen could knit with intent.

I chose a cute pattern in 4ply and yarn in 8ply. I'm good at this knitting business....

Anyway, Helen found a similar suitable pattern and this brilliant jumper arrived in the mail a few short weeks later. It's a tad big at the moment (I wanted room for Tubby to grow into it) and I'll post some pics when he's actually wearing it soon. 

Helen also sent this fab one too. 

Because she knits stuff just for fun - knitting without intent - and decided it could be for Lachy.

Oh to have such skills! 

Quite a while ago I received a parcel from one of the most wondrous crafty peeps in Blogland.

Dearest Trash had posted some sneak peaks on Instagram and I was very excited to see what it could be. 

Turns out it was a Fox in a Hole!

I absolutely love it!!! Kinda wishing it was in my size.

It was worn a couple of days ago but chundered on before I could take a pic of it being properly modelled.

We got ourselves another pukey kid which requires many outfit changes a day and of course more washing for me.

So basically Lachy is a well decked out, very warm, very lucky kid.

Thanks ladies!

There's actually even more handmade gifted goodies to show you but I didn't want to write the never ending post just because I've been a bit slack/busy.

I've also managed a bit more sewing in the last few weeks. In fact in the space of two weeks I've quilted three quilts. Some sneak peeks...

Today, I  finally got the wifi issue sorted. No idea how but who cares, it works!!

In between wiping the nose of a very snotty Harvey and feeding Lachy I have managed a few blocks on another little quilt that just has to be made because I love the fabric.

After all, that's apparently what my fabric is for..... 

Right, both kids are asleep AT THE SAME TIME but I don't know how long I have got.

I'm turning the machine back on and getting stuck in.

Ab x