Just a little bit of nesting, I've a way to go yet before I start getting truly nesty.
This cupboard was given to me by a very dear friend several years ago. She sadly died four years ago from breast cancer, and I miss her still every day.
I've always loved the cupboard,but after a bedroom move about, a couple of years ago I had nowhere for this cupboard to go, so I reluctantly put it in storage in the cellar, where it got rather grubby and sad.
I think it was one of those nights when I couldn't sleep that I remembered the cupboard and thought it'd be great to store the baby's clothes and nappies.
A good clean up, some glue in the joints ( and a bit of reinforcement here and there...thanks Woody! ), a couple of coats of paint, and a rub down with a wire brush, and I have a "shabby chic " style storage cupboard.
I added some Cath Kidston scented drawer liners, and this little hand sewn heart, : voila!! Perfect place to put all the baby things.
Today I have got out of bed on the right side..yay! The sun is shining, I'm off to the hairdressers in a short while, and I've just finished this wool soaker for baby.
I used a pattern from http://www.woolsoaker.com/ and some lovely hand dyed merino wool, I bought on a whim in John Lewis.
I like this pattern, it's quick and simple for a knitter like me. ( ie not that great! )
Will knit more of these,but I'll also be buying some of my fave ever wool soakers too.
Boy oh boy, have I woken up in a bad mood this morning! Guess I can just blame those preggo hormones?
I've had a weird old morning, and tried distracting myself out of a bad mood firstly by doing a bit of knitting, then a bit of cupboard painting and finally by whipping up another maternity skirt.
This one is a fuller skirt, I slashed and spread my pattern piece before cutting out, and also experimented with cutting on the straight grain...(since the slashing and spreading gave me a little more room in the "waist" to play with too.)
I like the way this has turned out. I plan to wear it with my lovely yellow shoes, and am pondering making a matching bag, but maybe that would be too much?
Not sure I even have a t shirt that will go, I like these....maybe I need a bit of retail therapy to shake off this grey cloud.....
Look over there on the left, I've added another free tutorial, this time for my maternity skirts.
I'd say it's more for the intermediate seamstress, rather than a total beginner. Actually the construction is simple,but the pattern making part is slightly more complex and does assume a certain amount of knowledge.
Please give it a go, and let me know what you think.
By the way, I'm liking this maternity leave thing. Today I made this skirt and tutorial and then went bra shopping with my friend.
Saturdays are usually my only full work day. Woody is home, so can take care of the children while I have the luxury of a full day working on custom orders. The rest of the week, like so many other Mums working from home and combining work with childcare, work is done in little bursts of available time, between school runs, dirty nappies and play times.
Today though, I only have one custom order to complete and that's me done for the next few months. My expanding bump has made me come to a decision regarding maternity leave. So no more custom orders for me, and the only remaining stock is in my Etsy shop until May 23rd, and that's it, until...well the beauty of working for yourself is, I don't know until when...until I'm ready.
For now, it's time to focus on the last 12 weeks or so of being pregnant and the arrival of our fifth baby.
Doesn't mean I wont be sewing at all though, still got lots of projects on the go, not least a wedding dress for someone very special...more news on that later.
We don't exactly have anywhere to store things for the new baby yet. I have a cupboard I'm intending to renovate,but at the moment that's drying out after being in storage in our cellar for some time.
Meanwhile there is a growing pile of baby items stored right at the back of our wardrobe cubby in the loft. It's really difficult to get to, especially if like me you have a sizeable bump. Consequently I'm not exactly sure what we have down there, but I do know there is a lot, and I also know the pile of slings is really rather large.
Still, I couldn't resist making one more ring sling. This time in grey linen with my Spoonflower Dahlia print and teal silk as an accent.
I had planned to make an Asymetric wrap skirt with the grey linen and Dahlia print, heavily inspired by the skirts over at Ink and Spindle , and I may still, but probably not until after the baby is here and I have some idea of what size I'll be...scary thought!
The older children went back to school today, and Woody went back to work. Sid and I are feeling a bit lost and lonely,but trying to find our usual groove.
Five weeks till half term....
Yesterday while picking up some sewing thread in Dunelm Mill, I spotted a pile of totally naff Easter hand towels on sale, only 99p each. I popped a couple in my basket thinking I'd find a use for them, and here ya go, two newborn nappies, less than £1 each, plus I squeezed some cloth make up remover pads out of the scraps. (plus another teeny scrap of cotton from my scraps box.)
I love Spring, today is my first spring baby's birthday. I'm now the mother of a teenager!
Now she's a teenager of course, she doesn't much want to spend the day with me, so is out with a crowd of giggly girls, and I'm left at home doing a spot more spring cleaning.
This time the bathrooms needed an overhaul. The less said about the children's bathroom, the better. Lets just say a strong stomach and a lot of cleaning fluids have been used!
Our bathroom, on the other hand just needed a little spit and polish, some fresh flowers and this pretty new faux blind/pelmet I whipped up out of some gorgeous Cicada Studio fabric.
I actually won this piece of Lily Of The Valley fabric after entering one of Michelle Engel Bencsko's blog give aways some time ago. Such a fresh and pretty fabric too. I'm very tempted to buy a little more for a drip mat, and perhaps a toiletry bag or two....hmmm, I guess now I'm the mother of a teenager that's excuse enough to buy myself new fabrics isn't it? (Who am I kidding, I don't need an excuse! )
Photos just don't do this fabric justice, it's soft and beautiful, and I'm so so lucky, because the fabby Mamas at Slinging In The Rain bought me this piece of Silk Indio Didymos for my birthday,and I quickly whipped it up into a ring sling all ready for baby.
I can't stop petting it, it's so soft and scrumptious!
I have one teeny tiny scrap left that I think I might try and make a little softie for the baby from too.
...on a special project.
There is something very therapeutic about doing some "proper dressmaking", tailor tacks and all!
It's a lovely sunny bank holiday Monday, and I'm taking things pretty easy this morning....ie putting off mopping the kitchen floor for as long as possible!
I just wanted to add a little note about the free patterns/ tutorials over there on the left hand side of the screen.
Firstly, if you try them out, remember they are free, and there might be little errors I haven't noticed. These patterns work for me, and I'm always happy to hear from anyone who has a go at them, how they find them. ( And I love to see pics too! ) Please feel free to experiment and add your own flourishes to each design.
If you do use one of the patterns and put the resulting item on your blog please do link back to me.
Finally please don't just assume you can make items from the patterns and then sell them, that's a bit rude, and probably if you just ask my permission first I would say yep go ahead!
A couple of notes re specific patterns:
The Chef's Half Apron, is a simple pattern designed initially for the children who come to my sewing circle once a month. It is therefore primarily a children's ( or small adult ) sized pattern, and ideal for absolute beginners, hopefully teaching some skills with pressing/pinning/tacking and sewing machine control.
The Lazy Seamstress Mama Pads were designed for my own use, and that means I didn't include a waterproof layer. ( I prefer to keep my pads all natural fibtres and rely on absorbancy. ) I know some people out there prefer a waterproof layer as backup, so please do feel free to add a layer of PUL, either in place of the bottom outer layer or hidden inside the bottom outer layer. ( Maybe you could experiment with fleece or wool too. )
Hmmm, think that's everything....right now for that kitchen floor......
Today's the day...the big 40, I've been dreading for the past twelve months. Now it's here and I feel just fine...well as fine as a hormonal pregnant lady ever feels...LOL
Righto, no time to say anything more for now, got Birthday pizza to eat!
I used a Debbie Bliss pattern to knit this cardy, but now it's finished I'm really not sure if I like it. I loved the colour when I started out, but I think it's the garter stitch I don't like, and mostly the way my rubbish knitting looks in garter stitch I guess.
Aww well, I'm sure with a cute baby inside it, it'll look a lot better.
Any problems viewing the links please let me know. I'm a techie dunce, but have my wonderful hubby as tech support.....
....OK I know the apron link isn't working.....I'm on it....
And I've prepared a freebie pattern and tute for these too. If you can't get this link to work, please let me know.
The sun has been shining today,and I've been sewing with these lovely fabrics. This Mei Tai is off to a customer tomorrow. I hope she likes it.
I also finished off some Post Partum Mama Pads for me, in pretty flannel fabrics by Sandi Henderson. I will need to make more of these.
I do think a Mama needs girly pretty stuff around her for the post partum weeks.
Also finished off a few more nappy wraps for baby...my stash of baby stuff hidden at the back of my loft is getting rather large now,and I'm losing track of what I have back there...
Easter Holidays are here, and Spring is sprung, and we've all been feeling it this weekend!
Angus' birthday tree is blossoming beautifully, Woody has been all manly and cutting down horrid old pine trees that were blocking light into our garden. (I admit I was slightly worried about him while he was doing this!), and I've spring cleaned the kitchen too!
I've also been sewing. More baby stuff, are you getting bored of seeing this stuff yet?
I was given this gorgeous red silk skirt by a lovely friend a month or so ago after she saw my other recycled maternity skirt. I finally got around to cutting into it today.
This was a super simple upcycle, cos all I had to do was cut a few inches off each side of the skirt to make it fit under my bump, then re do those side seams, and this time I used a ready made belly band as the stretchy panel. Whole thing took about 15 mins, and was completely free!
Now I'm just lusting after these shoes, or maybe these to go with it...neither are very practical pregnancy shoes, so in reality I'll probably stick to flats.
A quilter I am not! This is my first ever attempt at making a quilt, and I think I've possibly broken every quilt making rule there is in the process.
Quilting is something, though I've often admired I've never really had the urge to try. My only previous attempts were as a schoolgirl, where we did patchwork, using lots of little bits of cardboard and scraps of fabric. I remember making a Humpty, and despite rather enjoying the process, hating the finished object.
Still, I had these lovely fabrics bought from Amy's Etsy store and thought a quilt for baby might be nice.
I've learned a lot while making this quilt, not least to make sure I have a good supply of plasters in the house before using my rotary cutter!
I'm fairly happy with the result, it's far far from perfect and I'd probably be embarrassed to show it to any of my quilting friends,but I don't think baby will mind, and maybe even one day he/she will love the mistakes all the more because it was made with love by his/her Mama!