my heart on legs

When Sienna was a baby (seemingly 5 minutes ago), someone once referred to her as, "your heart on legs".

Fast forward five and a half years and that heart on legs is about to head off to her first day of school.

I've found myself feeling quite a bit more emotional about this event than I thought I'd be and so last night after I'd finished labelling pencils and glue sticks (and shedding a tear or two), I had the thought to make her a little something to carry with her on her first day.







A little something that is soft and squidgy to put in her pocket. Just small enough to be able to dip her hand in and give it a little squeeze should she feel the need. *





Now to perhaps make one for myself ...



* Clearly this heart does not have "legs" as such. I did make some but they were kind of weird and got in the way of zippers and things.

my creative space :: the guilt quilt

So a few weeks ago I popped on to Rita's site and was met with an image of the most gorgeous pram sized quilt in her etsy shop sidebar.

And it was on sale. And I had a friend due for a baby at any moment. And it was a Red Pepper quilt (did I mention that already?).

It took me all of two seconds to press purchase and within two days I had the gorgeousness in my hot little hands.








*Sigh*

Gorgeous blues and browns all set off beautifully with some ash and of course, Rita's flawless quilting.

Well in the two days it took to get to me we had found out we were expecting a little fellow (as was the friend expecting the baby any day). And whilst I think this quilt could be used for either gender, once I had it in my hands I couldn't help but picture my own little guy snuggled beneath it. Enter the guilt.

Um. What to do really but keep the Rita quilt and perhaps make a similar one but in colours that were probably going to be more preferred by my friend anyway (well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

And so this version was born





In the space of a weekend I had the front and back of the quilt pieced and over a week I slowly inched away at the machine quilting. And then unpicked a whole lot of it and started again. These photos were taken after it had had a wash and then a quick iron.

For the first time I also tried attaching the binding by machine - again thanks to Rita and a very thorough tutorial which can be found here



Just don't think I'm going to show you a close up of the binding on Rita's quilt so close to mine. I'm not that silly!

Oh and the result was that my friend had her baby  (who was born the day before Australia Day. Very thoughtful for friends who want to visit!) and loves the quilt.

Of course she hasn't seen the Red Pepper version ....

For more, possibly more original creative spaces pop over to Kirsty's place.

my creative space :: my new hangout

Guess where I went today to get the creative juices flowing?





The kids were just as excited as I was





I've got to say the new Balmain digs are stunning. Set in a light-filled, airy space it is the perfect backdrop to some gorgeous wares including shelves and shelves of Liberty fabrics and Rowan yarns amongst many, MANY others.











The service was spectacular from the fabulous and knowledgable Amy who is lucky enough to get to play here most days.

And would you believe I only walked away with this small stack ...





... well, this time anyway.


For more creative spaces (yay it's back!), whizz over to Kirsty's.

sewing in Japanese

Almost every time I embark on clothes sewing I am immediately longing for the simple straight lines of piecing a quilt.

BUT having had this book





for over a year and being stuck for an idea for a Christmas present for my sister I confidently told her to "pick a pattern", and I would make it for her.

Gulp.

Luckily (?) she picked the pattern on the front cover (View E) and for over two weeks I would open to the pattern instructions page almost willing it to have morphed into English since the last time I looked.





Surprise surprise it never did.

So armed with some gorgeous floaty, sheer hail spot cotton from Tessuti I took my first few hesitant steps at my first Japanese pattern.

Actually though those first few steps involved a whole sewing session dedicated to figuring out how to draft the pattern pieces





Um yeah. That was a fun few hours. However once I realised that the seam allowance was NOT included in the pattern pieces (lucky I realised BEFORE I started to cut), it was all smooth sailing from there. I found once I was actually sitting at the machine and sewing rather than just sitting on the couch trying to decipher the pattern it all started to become very clear and quite straight forward.

So straight forward that it was done over two relatively short weekend sewing sessions.





And the result was that the sister was very chuffed* but I was probably more chuffed that I had finally lost my Japanese pattern book sewing virginity.

Now to make one for myself.

(Another photo showing the reversed box pleats can be seen here. My door kinda blocked those out in this photo!).


* Especially once I'd made a few adjustments to the sleeves so they fit properly ;)

A little ray of sunshine

It's been a week of extremes of emotion in our house.

I'm a Queenslander (Brisbane to be exact), from way back and so it has been with a great big lump in my throat that I have watched the utter devastation that has taken place in my old home town. Old family friends have had their boat business completely washed away, but our main concern has been for my 85 year-old Nanna who lives alone in one of the suburbs listed as being on high "flood alert". Luckily my uncle, her son, lives close by and has been able to check in on her everyday. Blessedly (though kind of also annoyingly), she has remained convinced that the small hill she lives on will keep her high and dry and spoke to my mum on the phone yesterday while hanging washing on the line declaring the crisis as "clearly over". If only that were true for those families who have lost their homes or worse, loved ones.

I've tried to keep the television off as much as possible but clearly enough was seen for Sienna to declare to me yesterday, "Mummy, I don't think Daddy should go to Brisbane EVER again!" (he travels frequently to Brisbane with work), and for Luca to create this





In his words it's a, "car boat that can go in the water and fly in the air". Handy really.

On the other end of the emotional rollercoaster today was our 18-20 week scan. Even though I've been enjoying lots of gentle nudges as well as some staggering round-house kicks for the past few weeks, it's always very comforting to see that little bub on the screen and see it's heart beating strongly.

Oh and that it has all it's relevant bits.




Boy bits as it turns out.*

We really thought long and hard about finding out the sex of this baby. Having not found out with Sienna and Luca it was tempting to me to find out this time around to see if it made any difference to how I felt about the pregnancy. I have sent friends mad over the past twenty weeks surveying them on why they did or did not find out the sex of their babies. Given the miscarriage we experienced in 2009, I have been keen to get a head start on visualising this baby and bonding with it. Strange I know that knowing a gender should potentially influence this. We shall wait and see!


ps. There are so many wonderful ways to donate to the people affected by the Queensland floods popping up all over the crafty community. Most notably here and here but for a more extensive list of what people are offering I believe this is the place to go.


pps. We have no boy name ideas whatsoever. Any suggestions? 

*Oh yes, the title of this post was somewhat misleading from a gender point of view no? ;)

the 2010 wrap up

Last year I felt so left out when I saw all the amazing mosaics popping up all over the blogosphere showcasing the year that was that I vowed I would do one before 2010 was out ...

Well, I'm slightly late and having seen the amazing mosaic brilliance here and here I almost decided against doing one of my own. Then I got over myself and did one anyway.





But you know what? Because so many other things happened since I last blogged (almost a MONTH ago!), I thought I might make a 2010 Christmas wrap-up mosaic too





I do hope this new year finds you happy and healthy and brings with it some awesome adventures, lots of love and tonnes of laughter.

Oh and oodles of time to make some stuff.