Toy Mat for baby Jasper

My older sister Nicole and her husband Jort welcomed a baby boy into their lives about 9 weeks ago - this is how long it has taken me to get this toy mat finished! I was lacking some motivation, but it was also very time consuming. I hand blanket stitched all of the applique which took hours.

It was all worth it though, I simply love the finished product and hope that Jasper does too. It has cord around it so it can be closed and used as a storage bag for toys, which will be handy for my sister as she lives in a one bedroom flat in Japan.

Not a great photo, you can't really see the detail, but I know you will appreciate it!

I will have to get a photo of little Jasper on it before they return home on Tuesday.

Songs to make you smile

Today Ellyse and I went to see Justine Clarke's show - Songs to make you smile. It was great fun and it sure did make me smile. Ellyse just loved the songs, eventhough she was not familiar with any of them. She was soon singing and dancing along. I just love the feeling at these shows, all of the parents with their children who are just so excited to be there. Watching Ellyse respond to Justine was magical.

We bought the DVD and Justine was signing copies, so we lined up and Ellyse got her copy signed. She wanted to tell Justine all about Ashton and her other babies at home, it was very cute.

12 months and still loving it!

My baby is 1

Ashton turned one on Tuesday and I thought what a great way to get back inot blogging, it sure has been a while. I can't believe it was a whole year ago that we welcomed him into the world.

We had a lovely party with our families and some close friends on Sunday, Brisbane turned on a beautiful winters day, it was just perfect. Ashton wasn't looking his best after a fall out of the sandpit on Friday afternoon, but I still think is is awfully cute. Ellyse was in her absolute element being the big sister and helping with everything from the pinata to the present opening.

We are looking forward to another magical year with our 2 beautiful children.

To borrow Tiger Filly's term -Ashton is such a snuggle bunny, he is forever crawling up to someone, popping his thumb in his mouth and going in for a cuddle. In this pic Ellyse is so zoned out watching Hi 5 that she didn't take much notice!

A bit of picture overload but I have a lot to make up on!

Today's sewing..

...just couldn't think of a good title tonight.

Well I decided to use my Ellyse free day wisely today, in a few weeks that day will be gone as I am going back to work.

I completed this pinni for her which I decided to make reversible - two dresses in one, why not? I chose some lovely soft pink corduroy and some gorgeous cream fabric with little pink flowers that I recieved from Novy in a swap we participated in awhile ago. I just love the fabric and think that it is perfect for the pinni. The pinni is a littl big but we should get away with a long sleeve shirt underneath. I am a bit disappointed with my sewing, I just better keep practising!

I made Ellyse these pants last year to go with her 'big sister' shirt. I will never forget the nesting I went through while I was pregnant with Ashton. There was no cleaning involved, it was all sewing. I made these pants on the Friday when I was already 5 days overdue. The plan was that Ellyse would wear them to the hospital with her matching big sister shirt. My poor mother in law got so distressed when Ellyse refused to wear them because they were scratchy, MIL thought I would be devastated - turns out I had more important things to worry about!

Anyway I have been washing them almost weekly for 10 months and they are still as stiff as a board, but I thought I would try my luck again today and she put them on without a fuss and wore them all day! I just love them.

Finishing things feels so good...

I have had a number of unfinished projects on the go and finishing them is the motivation I needed to get into some winter sewing for the kids.

Firstly, I was a bit cheeky on Ellyse's birthday and only sewed enough of her dressing gown so that she knew what it was! Three, or is it four, weeks later I finally finished it! It is just the moat adorable fabric, so soft, and she just loves looking justlike mummy in the mornings (well the one cold morning we have had anyway!).

For a long time I have wanted to make a log cabin cushion after seeing them here a long time ago. Finally I got some cheap cushions from Ikea and 2 little baby girls have recently been born so I thought I would have a go. I am pretty impressed with my little cushion, (not so much the fabrics though, I just used some from my stash) I just need to make sure I pin it and be more accurate with my seams next time....it ended up far from square. The quilting shows that off! For a first attempt I am happy though. This one is for a little baby from Mothers Group called Lily and the next one will also be for a Lily, my hair dressers new little bundle of joy.

I had these shirts all ready to go for a pirate themed birthday party a few weeks ago, but I just wanted to make sure the shirts would fit the little boy before I stitched them. I am so happy with how they have turned out. No more hand blanket stitch for me! Although this is using my mum's sewing machine, not sure if mine would do as good a job.

Speaking of the pirate party, here are my 2 little pirates. This is the best photo I have as my batteries (yes I have 2 and they were both flat) were flat on the day. Ellyse did have a little pirate hat and a blow up parrot for her shoulder, but I think they were disregarded quite quickly.

Now I want to get into sewing some winter clothes for the kids. A pinni and some pants for Ellyse and some pants for Ash too....I just have to get through the ironing pile first.

Finding the right words

I was blog surfing a few days ago when I came across

this site. I was happily reading away and then I found these words.
“And no one had warned me that one day she would be the most treasured and important being in my life and the next she was just an annoyance. No one warned me that I would actually fall out of love with Bella and would resent her for being so big and loud and rude. And worst of all, no one warned me that I would have moments of also resenting Lily for changing my relationship with Bella so drastically.Of course as soon as I spoke to other mothers of two, I found out that all these feelings are normal and very common. And now that they are a thing of the past I can understand why no one told me. But I also think it's a shame that this isn't discussed, because if I'd known that it was all normal and that I should expect my relationship with Bella to change (even if only briefly) then I may not have felt so horrifically guilty.Of course, it only lasted a few weeks, but during those brief weeks I felt like more of a failure than I've ever felt before.”

Now I know it has been nine months since I had Ashton and seriously life is great, easy again. But in those first 6 weeks I would talk about how I was feeling to friends and how I was missing my life before Ashton and no one seemed to understand. Then I found thses words. These words have healed me in a sense, the guilt I had about my feelings vanished the instant I read these words. Why didn't someone tell me at the time it was all ok? I was never ashamed to discuss honestly how I was feeling, even though I rarely got positive acknowledgement in return.

Anyway I just really wanted somewhere to keep these words so that next time (if I can talk my husband into a next time), I will be reminded that my feelings are all ok!

Just because...

I haven't posted for ages I thought I would share some photos of the kids. Can you believe Ashton is 9 months old? Man it feels like yesterday that I was struggling through that newborn phase and here we are with a beautiful little crawler/climber/squealer/laugher/heart stopper of a son. I love him too much for words. I love the way Ellyse watches over him, shows him new things, asks "are you ok sweety?". She is just so patient with him. Watching them together just melts my heart......most of the time anyway.

Birthday gifts

This year I decided to make dressing gowns as gifts for Ellyse's little friends. I have made four now but have only remembered to photograph this one.

They have all been lovingly recieved, which is just lovely!

...and one of little Ashton 'crawling'

Our day at Australia Zoo

We had a lovely day at Australia Zoo. Ellyse was a perfect age to enjoy it all. While I haven't ever been a huge Steve Irwin fan (nor did I dislike him - no opinion really), it was still a really emotional expereince for me to walk through the Zoo that he loved so much. They had a lot of shirts hanging up with messges from when he died and a lot of gifts left for his family, I did wipe away a tear or to while walking through that section.

Ellyse asking the kangaroo "Do you want to come to my house?" Too cute!

Our annual family holiday to Yamba - here again

I cannot believe it has been a year since I wrote this, Feb 2008 has come around so quickly, as has our annual family holiday. So off to Yamba we went. The Yamba tradition started about 13 years ago for us. Keiran went there to celebrate his 21st birthday with some friends, as the main purpose was for the surf. His best mate lives in Pt Macquarie and this is a greatmeeting point. Off course back then we did it rough and camped in a fantastic Caravan Park, nothing flash, just in a great location, no need for a car which I just love.

As our family has grown and our camping stuff slowly broke and wore out we started staying at The Sands. While I do love staying here I really miss the relaxed atmosphere of camping, and not having to get in the car. On the plus side though the pool at The Sands is just perfect for the kids and really is what keeps us going back. It sounds strange, but at least we know if the beach is yucky, or it is a bit rainy, the pool is just outside our door and is a great break.

While the weather wasn't perfect (poor K didn't even get his board wet!), it really was a great family holiday.

The first few days were us getting over a tummy bug - not the best start! From there it was all fun! We caught the ferry from Yamba over to Iluka and took a 6 km walk through the Bundjalung National Park to Bluff Beach, it was just absolutely glorious! We all ha a lovely swim and a play in the sand. We lef tit a little late to head back to the ferry and practically had to run back through the rainforest to make it! Funny now - not at the time though, the next ferry wasn't for another 2 hours!


Walking through the rainforest
The way Ashton spent most of the day, I still get so excited that Ashton sleeps so well in the pram (hence the photo) as Ellyse never did!
"Ocean are you there?"

We also spent a few afternoons at Angourie beach, and at some local beaches in Yamba too.



As the days were too windy to go to the beach we took a drive to Brooms Head and Sandon, these places were just lovely, so untouched and quiet. This definitely made us realise that camping and exploring holidays were the type of holidays we want for us and the kiddies. With K's new job came a Toyota Hilux, so he just loved going down all the bumpy dirt tracks looking for special little places.


Ashton just loved the beach and ate a whole lot of sand. The water was a bit cold for him so he just hung out alot cruising around the sand and gobbling up what he could. Ellyse has never really been a huge fan off the beach and really wanted to just spend her days jumping into the pool. We did however build some great sandcastles and take some lovely walks on the beach.



Not sure taht next year will take us back to Yamba, but we will be somewhere on the Clarence Coast.


Enjoy the photos

Very very late V day swap

I recieved a lovely swap parcel from Ingrid for Valentine's Day. I know this update is extremely overdue, I am sorry Ingrid. As I said in my post on EB, I love everything you sent me and the time you put into to making things and choosing things for me.

Ingrid sent me some lovely handmade coasters and a card holder, as well as some red buttons, some fabric that will be great for Ashton - should get me motivated for sure to sew for him, some lovely chocolate, some gorgeous Lottielulu postcars and some red ric rak. Oh and how could I forget the delicious chocolate -nothing left to show there I am afraid!

Thanks so much Ingrid and I hope you like what I sent you too - although it was very lovey doveycheesy valentine!

And the parecel I sent to Ingrid-

Time for an update!

Well I have lost my sewjo commpletely and with things being busy around here I just have not had a chance to do anything! I am feeling the love for sewing coming on again and I am determined to find a good pants pattern for Ellyse and sew her some winter clothes. I cannot even remember the last thing I made her - I know I made some pants 2 days before I had Ashton, but she refuses to wear them - the denim is quite heavy - they are so cute though, such a waste.

Ashton is now 7 months old, I just cannot believe it, just yesterday he started to move around in much the same way that Ellyse did - drag your body along the floor. I must say he much more effective than Ellyse in the early stages, there is so much more in the house now for him to grab, the hard yards are about to start with teaching him what he can and cannot touch. Ellyse was very easy, but as I said, there is so much more for him to touch now - and it all has an owner that may not alwys like to share!!

We really did have terrific twos rather than the well known terrible twos, however I think we are about to suffer with the threes! Anyone experienced that? She is really a delight, just testing me lately.

Ashton in the pool

Ellyse feeding just like Mummy was in a resturant the night before

My sister who was visiting from Japan

The fun begins

I was going to put my EB V day swap pics in, but best not until they are recieved by Ingrid, meaning there WILL be another post soon, I must keep my place in the ring.