Wrapped in plastic

There is all kinds of *squee* coming from my 14 year old self today. SO SPECIAL!

Softies for cool kids

 

A cause very close to my heart. More info here!

A different road...

There aren't many things to read about parenting that don't sugar coat everything. I read this article by new mum Jewel yesterday and it brought me a lot of relief. It is honest and it is real. It mirrors a lot of how I feel about parenting. We live in a society where it is rare for parents to not portray themselves as perfect, there is little room for admitting mistakes or keeping it real. In my short 15 months as a parent, I have felt judged at times for simply listening to my kid and not following what is expected. Everyone has their opinion that they believe is correct. I know that my journey as a mum is a daily lesson. Every day I am learning. I desire in no way to suggest I am perfect, that I have it down pat. I do know what I have chosen to do for my kid may not be what another parent chooses. I recognise we all muddle through this the best we can. I am still learning to let go of expectations and to just enjoy the ride. To live in the moment more. To know that I will figure it out, even if I make some mistakes here and there. Here's to not being perfect! x

Splendid movie time

Had a lovely time seeing Moonrise Kingdom the other weekend. Sat and sipped ginger beer and basked in the glory of Wes Anderson. Then went home and made a raccoon patch after being inspired!

Table runner

Made for my step-mum's birthday this month.

Happy Birthday Judi! xx

Spotty

New shoes! Kitty cat approved :)

Happy Birthday to my lady!

Happy 1st Birthday to our little lady Clementine! We celebrated Clementine's first birthday with a party (as you do)! It was super fun and all three of us dressed up as furry animals. Baby was a Meerkat, I was a Tiger and husband was a Bunny. It was great to feel a bit silly and the costumes sure did keep us warm :)

Lovely invites complete with illustration by Chris. Nearly didn't get these out before the party. We got there eventually though :)

Animals! 

View of the party room / our lounge room. This was a lot of fun to set up. 

Food stuffs. Fruit skewers with caramel sauce and red velvet cupcakes included. YUM! 

Red velvet flower cake for our girl. Happy Birthday! xx

Winter is coming

Graffiti in Battery Point. Game of Thrones YEAH.

New crafty stuff

First crafty things made after a looooong break :) Patchwork scarf and sampler kitty! I had so much fun making the sampler kitty. It was a great way to use up special pieces of fabric that were too small to do anything else with. To make it warmer (it has turned very chilly here in Tasmania - winter is definitely here), I put a layer of soft cotton wadding inside the patchwork scarf. Next time I will make it longer and wider as the fabrics are so fun to see.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter folks!



Things are changing here at our house. Sewing and writing are beckoning again! Hurrah :) See you really soon!

xxx

7 months old

Our lady is 7 months old :) First tooth has poked through. Wah-hey!











Life is sweet and good.

xx

Lady cakes

5 weeks to 4 and a half months old! I am slowly getting back into sewing :) And by slowly I mean stitch by stitch. All going well otherwise. Fingers crossed for sleeping through the night soon!

Little Lady

Little Lady Clementine. Nearly 5 weeks old :) Such a sweet girl.











xxx

Little Clementine

Our lovely lass is finally here! Born on July 23rd at 11:27am. 3.6 kilos (8 pounds 1 ounce). All doing well :)


Clementine Lyra Downes.

xx

Nearly there!

Seven days till our due date :D


*Super cute strawberry hat made by Abby at Small Craft Alert, especially for our kidlet.*

We still are yet to move our desks out of the study to clear space for the little lady room but we have everything else covered (we think!). She has a snuggly bed and a good change table - lent to us by some super lovely friends - way too many clothes, nappies ready to go and a bunch of other fun little things.


*I'm totally not into frilly, overly girly things for our kidlet but this is her bed and it looks pretty stinkin' cute. The crochet bunting is from Candy Stripe Cloud and was made by their mum.* The drawing above was done by Chris ten years ago for his Masters show. He's doing the Monday political cartoon for The Mercury newspaper now!

Her bed and change table have wheels so we figure we can just wheel both into our room for the first few weeks while we slowly get her room set up properly. I see no sense in getting stressed about having everything perfect before she arrives. We'll just take each day as it comes. Fingers crossed she decides to come soon (39 weeks today!) as I don't really fancy being induced. But if that has to happen then so be it. We have no idea what to expect from our birth experience so we are trying to stay calm and see how things go. As long as everyone is happy and healthy at the end of it all, we'll be content :) Trying to be in complete control of everything takes up too much energy, especially in this situation where you are lucky if everything goes your way. So, here's to having a baby!


*OMG!*


*My ace little family, July 2011.*

No mistake

30 weeks prego. Make no mistake, there's something in my tummy. Starting to get a bit nervous now!




Bear suit for the kidlet. Too stinkin' cute.

xx

Finished!

Finished bunting hanging on our bed!


And chocolates for kitties called Pucca. Thanks to Mr Bernard Caleo. Yay :)


xx

New Sewing Stuff!

I'm back in the sewing saddle and have slowly been making some new things. Mostly for myself but a few bits and pieces for online as well. It feels lovely to be cutting out fabrics again and dreaming up cute stuff to make. Hurrah for sewing!

*Sublime Stitching Squirrel


It's no secret that squirrels are one of my favourite animals. This squirrel was designed by Sublime Stitching and stitched by me. It will most likely end up as a patch on our kidlet's quilt or on a scarf, pillow or bag. Not sure yet!

*Another squirrel!


This is a badge going on the front of a small, mint green felt purse. It should be cute :) Keep an eye on my Etsy store for this one.

*Handmade fabric bookmarks. Going up on Etsy and madeit soon.


*Fairytale bunting - ready to be ironed and sewn up.


I've been wanting to make some bunting for our bedroom for so long and now I've finally started! We like our fairytales so I've used some leftover Red Riding Hood and Snow White fabric in between polka dots.

Just for good measure, here's another thing I've been making :)


My very modest 20 week tummy. Finding out the flavour on Thursday!

xx

Cactopus by Christopher on Etsy!

A few years ago Chris designed some super cool t-shirts. We've got a a small number of the women's sizes left. Behold CACTOPUS! Now available in Women's Medium and Large on Etsy. Check 'em out now!









Once these are gone, that's it. They are strictly a limited run and are SO DAMN COOL! Oh, and you get a hand printed label unique to your t-shirt designed by Chris himself!

In bloom

So we plan for an overseas trip this year. There's a special money box starting to fill.

Then this happens...


17 weeks pregnant! (Well, this pic is from 12 weeks but there's not much difference right now.)

It feels a little strange to be writing about this as one of my more recent posts was talking about pregnancy in a very different way. We had pretty much given up on having kids after trying for over 18 months. We had figured kids just weren’t in the big picture for us. After lots of talking and thinking, we were cool with that. There are so many other parts to life that are lovely and worthwhile. We planned a trip to France and started saving. It is something I have always wanted to do and will still do, perhaps a little later than I would have liked. I have an intense desire to not become like poor Lucy Jordan - “at the age of 37, she realised she’d never ride through Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair”. It’s so easy to let your own needs and desires get pushed to the side in order to meet other people’s needs. I still aim to get to France (and the Grand Canyon for that matter) in the next five years. I don’t want to stop living my life just because we have a child. I think it will make us better parents to keep living rich and full lives.

After so many months of trying to get pregnant, we feel humbled that is has actually happened to us. It is not something we take for granted at all. I have a good understanding of how hard it is to see (what seems like) everyone else easily getting pregnant while you continue to wait and wait. So I observe this pregnancy with a quiet reverie and grateful regard. It hasn’t been easy these first few months and I’ve had awful nausea for most of it. I haven’t felt like doing anything – writing, sewing, reading – none of it. I’ve been lying on the couch for the last three months! Thankfully, things are calming down with the nausea and I’ve started to have many more good days amongst the bad. It’s such a silly trick of nature – making you so hungry yet nauseous at the same time. Craziness!

So far, we’ve seen our baby twice over ultrasound. It is SO mind blowing seeing that tiny person bouncing around. We have another appointment in early March when we will get to find out if it is a boy or girl. We have slight insiders knowledge on what it could be but will wait for definite confirmation before announcing anything. We will be happy with either as we are hoping more for a healthy, happy baby. I think that’s all anyone can really ask for.

Let’s see what this new adventure holds…