7 months

7 months of:

broken sleep
mountains of washing
hundreds (maybe thousands) of nappy changes
tears
studying
hazy days
not much sewing
so little time to myself

but:
smiles
giggles
and the best cuddles ever

Anyone still out there?

I just wanted to pop back in and thankyou all for your lovely messages over the past 4 and a half months and apologise for not getting back to anyone. We have settled back in Melbourne now and I am loving my time with Eloise. She has such a lovely nature and is almost always smiling which makes her a real joy to be around.

I cannot quite believe how fast time has gone and how big my littl girl is getting. At 4 months she weighed in at 6.77kg and measured 61cm (she was born at 3.1kg and 51cm) and seems to get bigger every day. She is currently learning how to use her voice and loves to scream with joy.

I'm still doing my uni degree this year so things are incredibly hectic - as if having a new baby wasn't enough! As a result, the only sewing I've done since the night before Eloise arrived was a quilt label for a friends baby quilt. However I am seriously hoping to remedy this during my mid-year break as 2 more friends are expecting little ones (including a cousin for Eloise!). Otherwise I am trying to enjoy each stage with Eloise - I'm sure there will be loads of time for sewing in the future.

an introduction and a hiatus

Eloise Juliet arrived safely on January 6th, weighing 3100g (6 pounds 13 ounces) and measuring 51cm. Her arrival was text-book - no dramas and completely natural. I can't find a single bad thing to say about the care we recieved from the midwives at the RPA birth centre, it was better than I could ever have hoped for.

We are settling into life with Eloise quite well. She is feeding like a champion and is generally very placid. I feel incredibly lucky, albeit a bit sleep deprived!

In the last few weeks of my pregnancy I made a ton of stuff for Eloise - cuddle blankets, toy storage bags, I finished her quilt (in the pic above), tiny dresses and even a rattle - however I have not had the urge to write about it all here. So I am going to take a little break from my blog - my days are now filled with feeding, nappy changes and many many cuddles, which is certainly enough to keep me occupied. I hope to come back to it in the future, however I am not sure when that will be.

Thankyou for all your emails and messages - I have read them all, but have been a little busy to respond to them as quickly as I might have usually. Wishing you all a belated happy new year and hoping that 2011 brings you joy.




And with the current situation in Queensland breaking so many hearts I urge you all to support Toni's awesome effort to raise some much needed money for the people who have been affected by the flood disaster.

Christmas baking

December is a wonderful time to be off work - I have so much time to make my favourite Christmas treats. Today (while wishing I was in Oprah's audience at the Opera house), I made some gingerbread men, boys and even some houses - tomorrow is decorating day.

I have finished the binding on two of my quilts and also made a few other little things for the bub too. Hopefully photos tomorrow when the light is better.

Simple things...

...like my colourful pincushion, make me happy.

I'm spending my days at the moment cooking, reading and sewing. Yesterday I made banana bread, today I finished my Christmas cake and I'm hoping to make some shortbread by the end of the week. December is a really nice time to be off work - I love Christmas and I love making Christmas goodies. We won't be cutting into the Christmas cake until Christmas eve, so I suspect it might become the perfect midnight snack in the new year when I am up every 4 hours or so.

I've also been sewing the bindings on my 4 quilts - 2 presents, 1 for me and 1 for the bub. And seeing as though it's been a while since I posted my 'bump' photo, I thought I'd show you my bump from last week at 36 weeks. Although I swear I have doubled in size since then!


I've really enjoyed my pregnancy, so much so that I am a little sad that it will be over soon. It is such a special feeling to have this little one growing inside of me - but that said, I can't wait to meet her. I spend my days wondering whether she will be easy going like my husband or a little more anxious like me (!), whether she will have my blond hair or his dark hair and other little things. But it won't be too long now until I find all these things out. I still have a few more things to do, so hopefully she will wait for me to cross everything off my "to do" list before she makes her entrance!

it's off!

My mod sampler is currently at the quilters. I can't wait to see it all together! This is the design I chose to match with all the daisies in the fabric.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to get a good shot of the entire quilt top as I have been getting home when the light is terrible, but once it comes back I will get a nice one.

The back turned out lovely too. It looks a little dark here, but it is quite fresh and bright. Sampson definitely approves of it!


I finished work on Friday (hooray!), so now I have 4 weeks (hopefully!) to get things ready for the little Miss, as well as some presents to finish for her soon to be friends. I have binding on 2 of them that still needs to be sewn down by hand and I am about to go sit on the couch, put my feet up and get them started.

something to cuddle

Finally, a handmade toy for our little one.


Truth be told, I started this softie a very long time ago, so it was quick to finish. It was designed by Jhoanna of One Red Robin and the pattern was in Homespun (Volume 9 no 10).

I love her quilted body and big googly eyes. The only problem is, I can't think of a suitable name for her? Do you have any suggestions?