Patchwork and other works in progress.

Well I finally took my camera to patchwork class and took a photo of Jack's Quilt in progress. Still have to trim up edges, sew blocks together and put a border on, then the batting and quilting begins - which I am a little nervous about. I was hoping to have it finished before the baby arrives but might be pushing it now. We will see how I go.
I also have been doing sewing for the baby - I made him a merino wrap and hat. And have finally made a start on his nappies, which I started to sew on Wednesday and then realised that I didn't have enough Microfleece so made a trip to Kutwells yesterday with a friend from TNN which was fun.
I also have a bassinet blanket to make. And little baby gifts as 2 friends had their babies this week one on the 30th and one on the 31st.
I have also been working on some clothes for a swap with a friend from TNN but I'm not revealing those until she has received them - don't want to spoil the surprise :-)

A pic for Mum

Mum knitted Jack a jersey and sent it up the other day. And it finally got cool enough to try it on for size. And yes Mum it fits perfectly. So here's a pic for ya. He is just about to wear it out to preschool.

Vintage Country Fair

Yesterday we headed to the Vintage Country Fair at McLeans Island. It was really cool - felt kinda like being in a time warp - everything was really old - even had old fashioned candy floss. We went with some friends and the kids had a ball. The kids rode some penny farthing bikes, and went on the old train. They also rode the little model railway ones - which I think they enjoyed more than the big train. Jack went on a carousel - which Steve and I both thought he was going to fall off- but no he held on for dear life (was having a ball as well - grinning at us every time he went round). There were heaps of old cars, motorbikes, machinery - It was boys heaven. We have a busy week ahead of us with the wiggles Concert next weekend so expect photos next weekend. I am hoping to post some pics of some sewing I have been doing at some point during the week as well. And of course only six weeks till this baby is due to be here - not that I expect it to come on time :-)

Patchwork and an update!!

Well I have started patchwork classes in the hope that I can make a quilt for Jack now that he is in a big bed. And then hopefully I can post some pics of his cool decorated room. The quilt is coming together nicely and hopefully on Friday after class Thursday night I will be able to share some pics of some of it. I should have a couple of blocks together by then. I am slightly nervous as this is my first quilting experience and I am worried that I will hate it when it is finished.
It has been ages since I updated as I have been doing heaps of relief teaching before this baby makes an appearance. Hard to believe that I only have 8 weeks to go. I have so much to organise and make. Jack starts preschool next Tuesday. Which is exciting. He will be doing 2 afternoons, so hopefully that will be my sewing time, and it just happens to coincide with him dropping his afternoon sleeps. He has had 1 afternoon sleep this week and a couple of little naps in the car, but we tried for an hour and half to get him to have a sleep the other day and he was still quite happily reading and talking to himself after that time so I decided it was probably time to get up :-)

YARN SWAP V0.3

Well mine arrived on my doorstep yesterday. It is Gorgeous. I reallllly love the wool.
The theme was "Easy as" So the wool was dyed in my favourite colours for little boys - blue and brown (there might possibly be some black in there too). There was a book of family friendly recipes - always useful especially when Steve needs to cook when the new Baby arrives ;-) There were some little magnets with little sayings on them and some gorgeous girly stitch markers - as mothers of boys need some girly stuff - very cool. The pattern was for the Pure and simple baby cardy http://www.knittingpureandsimple.com/babycardi.html which I think I might get Mum to knit up as I think I am too slow to get it finished before this baby arrives. There was also a pattern for some booties. There was also a little pressie in there for Jack and the new baby which was a book and a Gwenda Turner Frieze. We were sooooo spoiled.

I also got my Swap sent away. The theme I did was Winnie the pooh and the Blustery Day. I printed out a picture and took the colours from the sky of the pic. I dyed the wool in shades of pink, blue and greyish purple (actually used black dye but tried to make it quite weak to make it greyish). I made a wee book bag from Pooh fabric and found the Winnie the pooh book (had to buy a second hand copy as it is really hard to source - Whitcoulls could have ordered it from the States but was going to take 3 weeks to get here). The pattern I sent was for a Stormy rose girls vest. I also sent a Winnie the pooh colouring book for the recipients kids. The picture of the wool is not flash - the colours are better in the pic with the whole parcel.

More pics from Oz

Our Ozzie Adventure

Well last Saturday we boarded a plane and flew over the ditch for a late summer holiday. It was rather warm leaving Chch and I was hoping it wasn't going to get to much warmer, as pregnancy and heat don't tend to mix well. It was a nice 29 degrees which was bearable compared to the 40 degree temperatures we had been getting in Chch. We spent days shopping, swimming, visiting Dreamworld, Seaworld and the beach. Jack was fantastic and loved every minute of it, although we did learn that he is fearless and will give anything a go. He is a complete water baby and would spend all day in the pool given half a chance. He absolutely loved Wiggles world at Dreamworld and had a ball on the big red car ride and Dorothy's teacups. He also loved seeing the kangaroos or "woos" as he calls them. He rode the rapids ride and loved it. At Seaworld he loved the sharks, the dolphin show and the water park (of course). We went to a 4D show which was a tad scary for him, but he seemed not to bad once we took the 3d glasses off him. Although he certainly didn't scream like the 6-10 year olds around us.
We stayed at the Paradise resort which had a fantastic Kids club - which Jack loved - he had a couple of sessions while Steve and I did some shopping. It was all going to plan until we got to Coolangatta to check in to come home and our flight had been cancelled due to Birdstrike - seriously BIRDSTRIKE. The plane coming over had hit a bird leaving chch and had to turn back. So we had 2 options -1- bus 1.5 hours to Brisbane, stay night and catch direct flight at 8:10 am next morning and arrive home at 2:40pm 2- go to Coolangatta - 5 mins away and stay night and catch flight to Auckland at 8:10am, wait a couple of hours then fly to chch. and arrive home at 5pm. So we chose the direct flight, toddlers and airports don't really mix well. Apart from our flight dramas we had a fantastic time.