Like brother, like sister

Yep, you can tell they're related!

And here's one of Tristan, who managed to get himself lodged in Romily's pool ring. He thought it was pretty funny...until he couldn't get out! He has started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking - I think we're going to have a baby who can move forwards any day now. He also tried to clap his hands for the first time today. It's such a cute age!

Precious little crafting going on here, although I am selecting fabrics for a special cushion cover long promised to my dear friend Kate. Hope to get it made by the weekend. A couple of other projects on the boil too - it's good to be crafting again!

Tristan is 8 months old

I know, I can hardly believe it either. How does eight months disappear so quickly? Here's my little guy. He's such a cutie. He's rolling around everywhere, trying desperately to sit up (even managed it once by pulling himself up using the edge of the rug) and wanting to get his hands on everything his sister has, as well as my cups of coffee.And here's his big sister getting in on the act. They're great buddies! (Even down to Romily requesting me to make the matching pants some of you spotted in my previous post!)

Easter hols

Boo. We disappeared down south before I had the chance to post. I managed to get my essay submitted one day late, but I had an extension, so all was okay. I think I did a pretty good job, but only time (and my lecturer) will tell.
I managed a spot of sewing before we left - a folding padded playmat for Tristan. I pieced the top using Kokka's range of canvas hippos and elephants, used 4 2.5cm cushion foam pieces for the padding and backed it with thermal-lined curtain fabric. I designed it myself after being inspired by something similar at Amitie and was pretty happy that I thought to make two ties and insert them in the seams before I stitched it all up. I used the playmat on floors at my father-in-law's and sister-in-law's houses and also in various playgrounds. It is great, although Tristan is already pretty good at rolling off it and into tan bark, etc.
The playmat got quite a workout while we were on our travels throughout Victoria and on the trip home via Adelong, Tumut and Adaminaby. (Check out Adaminaby's 'Big Trout'!!!)We had a pretty good time in Bendigo and Melbourne seeing our family. I say 'pretty good' because we were all sick - Carl and I especially. Just a nasty chest cold, but still not fun! It meant that we didn't get out and about as much as we would have liked, although we did manage to take in the Strath Quilters biennial show in Bendigo (great quilts, but I was too busy managing two kids to take any pix), as well as the Easter Parade on Easter Monday. Rom had a great time hunting in Granddad's garden for all the very many eggs left for her by the Easter Bunny!
Lots of fun was had by all despite us being sick. I really enjoyed seeing both kids interact with their grandparents. I wish we lived closer. It's such a precious time.

Made for playing

I whipped up another pair of Candy Pants from Ottobre 1/2008 for Romily. As you can see from the action shots, they're also good for scootering!I also had a go at my very first raglan sleeves - from another Ottobre 1/2008 pattern (#16 Polka Dot Blouse). I've been a bit hesitant to try them, because I didn't know how they worked. Duh! They are so easy! Much easier than setting in cap sleeves, for example! Well, it would have been easier, if I hadn't made a stupid beginner's mistake - I sewed up the front and back panels as sleeves and then wondered why the body looked so narrow and the sleeves so full! I soon realised what I'd done and unsewed the wrong seams (including the finished edges...) and resewed the panels - correctly this time.
I used some giant floral cotton fabric I had in my dressmaking stash and voila. Another great play top for Rom. She likes it a lot - especially when people compliment her on her lovely top!! I was pleased as punch when she said to the Donut King lady: "My mummy made it for me"!
But, that's it for sewing at the moment. Must get this essay done. It's due Monday, but we've all managed to come down with our second cold in as many weeks, so I've asked for and received a two-day extension. I'm feeling lousy, and so are the kids, so I hope it passes soon. I'm really enjoying this course and want to put in my best effort. I hope to get really stuck into it tomorrow. Once it's done I'll reward myself with a spot of sewing before we head south to Victoria for Easter.

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And a big PHEW! Julia, for whom I made the 'Winter Blues' table runner as part of the Four Seasons Monochromatic Challenge Swap, received and loved it! I'm doing my little happy dance, as we've both had our faith in quilting swaps restored :)

Cool cords

One of my recent fabric purchases - and there have been a few - was this really cute printed corduroy. I was amazed to find it in Spotlight - they never usually have groovy quality fabric like these ones. The cutting lady said the bolts had only arrived that day. So I grabbed some! I love this fabric for pants and jackets for little girls and plan to make a couple of things for Romily. The weather's starting to cool down and soon lightweight cotton outfits just won't be warm enough. As you can see, I already have a couple of issues of Ottobre out, ready to draft off the patterns and cut into this lovely cord.

Of course I have a couple of other projects on the go that should get first dibs under my needles. And then there's the essay that's due next Monday (not yet started, um ah). Study schmuddy this week. Tristan has a cold and is needing lots of cuddles, so not much studying is getting done - nor sewing for that matter. But sewing is somehow finding its way ahead of studying in the priority stakes. I'll get onto the essay soon. It's only 1500w and on a public policy issue I know quite a lot about, so it shouldn't be too difficult. I'm on top of my reading for the weekly e-lectures (mostly), so I'm pretty relaxed about it. And there's always the weekend!

A girl needs candy pants, yes she does

Encouraged to spend, spend, spend by my local fabric store with a $40 voucher should I spend more than $100, I traipsed off to Queanbeyan and did as I was bid! I came away with several metres of cute polka dot poplin, some groovy B&W quilting fabric, as well as a few other bits and pieces.

Over the weekend I broke out the 1/2008 edition of Ottobre and whipped up some 'Candy' pants and a 'Nirunaru' pinnie top for Romily. The pants are fab and sewed up really easily. The Nirunaru top only went up to size 92cm, so I cut a 2cm seam allowance instead of 1cm and made it into a swing top, rather than a pinafore dress.They turned out great and Romily loves them. They're perfect clothes for Playschool - nice and loose and not too heavy. Playschool is pretty high energy, so jeans, etc. aren't ideal.I'm planning on making these pants and tops in a couple of different colourways. Rom will be able to wear t-shirts under the tops and long socks under the pants when the weather starts to cool.

How lovely it is to be able to make such cute outfits for your kids! Especially when they actually still like wearing them!

Winter Blues

Finally! It's finished. "Winter Blues" is all wrapped up and on its way to the US, as part of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap 5 monochromatic challenge. (Click for larger images - for some reason this image looks fuzzy) My swap recipient chose blue or green, and my preference is blue, so I went for that. I chose to set off the blues with white and am quite happy with the finished result.
Because it's quite a simple design with classic fabric motifs, I chose to do simple cross-hatching quilting...well, it would have been simple, except I only did the cross-hatching in the background, which meant many ends to tie in! It took ages, as per my previous post on the issue. Anyway, I finally got them all sewn in, the binding on and the label stitched to the back. Et voila!
I hope my recipient likes it. It's always disappointing when you go to a lot of effort and it's not appreciated. Let's hope this table runner inspires happy thoughts in the cold of winter! (Measures 24.5" x 14")

And one of my boys. They both like the newspaper...although I'm not sure you're supposed to eat it!

Coasting along

We slipped up the coast again the weekend before last for three days of fun in the sun, this time heading north to Jervis Bay, renowned for its white sandy beaches. While we didn't have three days of sun, we did have fun. Going to the beach with a three and a half year old is fun whether it's perfect weather or not. We stayed at another cabin park in a little place called Currarong.

Romily just loves staying in these cabins, as they're just like little homes, only at the beach - and she does make herself right at home. Tristan doesn't seem to mind either.While there, we dug in the sand, made tyre tracks with tiny trucks, searched for shells and investigated nooks and crannies.
On the not-so-flash days we went for a drive through the Beecroft Range (which fortunately was not being used by the Navy!), down to the lighthouse at Point Perpendicular...
and to the perfect little beach in the delightfully named Honeymoon Bay.
Not having been down to the beach much over the past few years, I'm really enjoying our sojourns. I'm hoping we can squeeze another weekend at the coast in before the weather turns cold.