Baby Belly Fun!

No make-up, undone hair, but it was now or never with these shots. (8mths)

In progress

The family tree page in our baby book has limited space and with David coming from a large family I needed to create my own tree. This is in progress and yes, it assumes that we are having our baby boy first. I am really happy with how it is coming together.

UPDATE: We had Abigail first, so all I did was change the name and font color.

A Gift and a Keeper

This first one was supposed to be a gift. It's from the hobo bag pattern in my pattern wish list. Turns out to be massive and totally not the style of my friend who I wanted to make it for. I like it. It's the perfect purse tote for winter - carrying around hats, mittens, scarves etc.



So, this is what I came up with for my friend. David says it looks really professional - which was a really cool compliment. I hope she likes it! UPDATE: David says this picture makes it look blue. The vinyl is black and the plaid is brown. I guess it lost something in the picture translation. I know I need to work on my pictures...I just get so impatient with lighting etc.

Hooray! We're back online!

Hooray for service plans and great computer technicians! Our computer was dead last week and this week it's alive! The service technician was able to recover our documents, pictures and music and had to order away for a new hard drive. All of that was taken care of in one week and only cost $84! The hard drive was covered under the service plan and the technician only charged us for one hour of service for the back up. If you are on a Mac and need service in Winnipeg, I would recommend the folks at MacHelper...they were great!

In other news, I've done some crafts since we were offline. I just need to take pics. I will post again soon. Yay! It's so good to be back!

Technical Difficulities

We are experiencing computer problems and may be offline for awhile. I will post as soon as I can. I will miss this!

Winter Wonderland

We woke up to this beauty today! Our first snow day. Yesterday was sleet, but this is genuine snow. By the looks of it, it could stay, too. Well, there is something cozy about being home today and not being outside. It requires a cup of tea and a cozy book, I think. I won't get much else done today as the head cold that plagued me terribly about a month ago has decided to make a come-back. I am digging into all the home remedies and fighting it off as best as I can, but it's a stubborn one!



Here's a stack of PUL diaper cuts on top of the fleece mountain that I still need to cut. David is helping me with figuring out the cutting as if we cut it real precise, we can get 29 size small diapers out of this stash. I am not a fan of cutting and will be glad to have it all cut out, but at least I don't have to puzzle it out alone. David has been a huge help. I wouldn't mind having my dining room table back, either.

My First Finished Diaper!

Finally, a finished diaper! Oh, it's so cute. Of course they'll get better as I make more. I need to tweak a few spots when I sew the next one, but now I can cut a bunch and get at it.



I sewed the extra optional velcro so that the tabs overlap for extra adjustability. Here is shown with one side open. There are hook and loop velcro on both sides for fold over laundering. This is so the diapers don't stick to each other during the wash etc. The pattern is easy to work with, so "thanks, again, Mom and Dad".



And open. You can see that my waist elastic is a bit wonky, next one, I'll sew it a little lower to give more topstitching room.

Inspiration and Friendship

This painting was done by my friend Grace, who I had the privilege of spending last Friday evening with. Grace brought her art portfolio over and showed me her lovely work. Then she surprised me by giving me this painting. I love it! It was so nice to have some girlfriend conversation for the evening. I am always inspired by artistic and creative people and we had a lovely evening! Thanks so much, Grace!

Funky Christmas Stockings and Baby Parcel Part 3

Almost the minute I saw these, I had to make them! Tutorial and pattern here!



I forgot to show you the receiving blankets in our baby package. The rest of the package was things for me. This pot of coconut has brought sanity to me many times in the middle of the night. I am quite itchy during this pregnancy and have even developed eczema in my armpits and this coconut oil has helped a lot!



I had just been getting over a wicked head cold when my parents sent this package and so Mom sent me a Neti Pot. I have only used it a couple of times, so far, so I can't boast about it yet, but my Mom "swears by it". It was thoughtful of you, Mom.



David is modeling quite well, don't you think? Anyway, that's the end of baby package and it was and is still, so much fun!

From Africa!

My girlfriend Erin, was in Kenya last year and brought me these goodies when she visited me a couple of weekends ago.



This painting is done on what looks like a broadcloth type fabric. They must stretch it over a frame and pre-treat the fabric, then paint. It depicts three tribal ladies.




Erin gave me this lovely fabric, which would likely be used as a head covering for the african ladies. Erin figured I could sew something with it. It's so beautiful, I hate to cut into it. Any ideas?
Thanks bunches, my friend!

Looking forward to....

David and I have done shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child since we were dating and it's still a favourite holiday tradition for us!




Last year's Handmade Holidays from Sew Mama Sew was a huge success and I am so excited to see what they come up with this year!



'Tis also the season for generous bloggers and I would love to win this from JCHandmade in brown, tan, and navy blue!



This year will be the first year for David and I to participate in Bethlehem Live! We hope to make this a yearly tradition. This FREE event is a huge hit here and you are invited!



And if we can budget out a bit of postage money, then I would love to sign up for Sew Liberated's Holiday Traditions Exchange 2008! I peeked at last year's packages and they looked so yummy that I want to make one, too!

Domesticity is not my gift!

Tonight is the wrap up for the 5 week DVD seminar "Love & Respect" that we've had the privilege of helping run. David had the great idea that we should do cupcakes with purple icing to represent that pink and blue (men and women) make purple (what color our marriages should look like). Well, I do not have the spiritual gift of icing! Why do they make food coloring so hard to open without getting it everywhere? Anyway, here's their debut (and probably finale)...L & R Cupcakes.


...with purple fingers to prove that I did them!

To Drool For!

Okay, so I already know that I have a weakness for patterns. There is a whole list on my sidebar of patterns I'd love to get and sew. Now, one of the drawbacks of these lovely patterns is the whole online purchasing and shipping hassles. I love mail, but some companies charge an arm and a leg to ship to Canada and as of yet, not many of my favourites are available in Canada. Well, to my delight, I've discovered that I can order patterns (and a whole chunk of designs I want are available) from Pink Chalk Fabrics and the shipping is so reasonable! To ship one pattern here costs $1.25, two = $2.00, Three = $2.25, Four-Six = $2.50! That's so great! It means that I can order just one pattern and not feel like I'm being ripped off on the shipping.

So, in honor of this discovery I've added this little lovely "Happy Stacker" from Heather Bailey to my wish list. Don't you think baby would like one?

And of course, baby must have one of these "Magoo" monkeys from Melly & Me! I'm not completely unselfish, either. I have been drooling a long time over Pink Chalk Studio's "the Notetaker" and Sew Liberated's "Emmeline" apron, too.

Sale!

Leanne at Freckled Nest is offering a special sale 50% from tonight at midnight until Tuesday. Visit her shop for great savings!

Baby Parcel - Part Two

Days of the week bibs...my favourite is Tuesday!


Winnie the Pooh set (picked out by cousin Ethan - we love it, George!) This set includes: long sleeved "pooh-sie", short sleeved "pooh-sie", a "sleep-pooh", a "pooh-que" (that winnie the pooh touque[hat] for my non-Canadian friends), mittens and booties and a bib. David dubbed the onsies "pooh-sies" and his favourite is the long sleeved "pooh-sie".


A huge variety of onesies, sleepers, pants, socks etc, including a few premie onsies - just in case.


A super soft swaddling blanket with feet!


A super soft blanket, too.

This whole package has been such fun to open and sort and re-sort and just to stare at. There's more yet to share, but blogger takes forever to load pictures on our 'light' speed internet, so stay tuned for part three. I've gathered our whole baby 'stash' and put it into the play yard and it looks like we have tonnes - even though I know it's just the beginning. Now, I really need to get those diapers done. I have the pattern now and hope to try my first one by the end of the week.

Baby Parcel - Part One

David and I got to go to the bus depot to pick up our baby parcel from my parents....thanks, Mom & Dad! This is us picking up the package and digging into it right away. We needed to open it up to get the gift card for the play yard so we could make it a one-trip excursion. Over the next few posts I will show you the wonderful goodies that we had thrills over getting.



First of all, the play yard. We've opted to not get a crib, but to use this beauty and Mom & Dad pre picked out a great one for us to get with our gift card. (We're saving the full view shots for when the baby room is set up, so more to come later). I'm thinking I'll do navy blue and cream coloured bedding (what do you think, Mom?) I love the bassinet level and the changing station! The teddy bear mobile is super sweet, too. On the side of the play yard is a little light, sound box and vibrator with auto shut off after 15 minutes (David timed it today, just to be sure). On the end of the play yard is a great organizer which I'm sure I'll load and re-load a million times before we're done! Stay tuned for more parcel pics!

New Haircut and Glasses

Okay, so I am so blessed to have a hair stylist friend who says things like "I have my scissors home today, would you like me to give you a haircut?" Thanks, Julie!!! I am growing my hair out again, and it would be impossible without Julie's great style capabilities. I would not have lasted this long without her!

The glasses are somewhat new, I just haven't blogged about them. I thought that since I get a lot of questions about online ordering, I would give all the information again (I did post some of this on my old blog). First of all, I heard of the concept from a lovely crafty blog lady, Mrs Blair Peter of Wise Craft. From Wise Craft, I followed her link to the Glassy Eyes blog that goes into much more detail on the whole process. However, it is my experience, that people want to hear from someone they know if it's really as good as it sounds. Here's what I did...

1. I went to Optical 4 Less and used their virtual try-on program to see what colors, shapes and styles I liked
2. I then went to Goggles4U and searched for glasses that looked similar to what I liked when I did the virtual try-on
3. I had my eyes examined at WalMart (the cheapest place here in Winnipeg for eye exams)
4. My David measured my pupil distance as directed from the faq's on Goggle4U's site
5. My first order I placed was for 2 pairs of prescription eyeglasses (1 with sunglass tint) and paid the extra for expedited shipping...this still took 3 weeks to come as they do come all the way from Pakistan
6. My most recent order (shown above) I didn't bother paying extra for shipping and they came in 4 weeks (worth waiting for, in my opinion)
7. I am a happy online eyewear orderer!

So Baby Will be Warm Coming Home from the Hospital

This little cutie came from Auntie Crystal. We are due in January and needed to have something to bring baby home in. Some of the great features of this suit are: fold over mittens, zipper opening for car seat seat-belt and double fold over flap for an extra wide opening to put baby into the snow suit. Too cute!

The Bunny Set

UPDATE: Just to clarify, I didn't make this set. It was mine from when I was a baby and made for me by my mom's friend.

Thanksgiving Blesings!

The ball needed a friend

I found the baby bib pattern at Happy Things, but I skipped the chenille (it's $27.99/m here) and used flannel. I think I am in love with this green fabric and I'm sad that I'm almost all out of it. I have enough for a couple small projects, so, I'm picking very carefully. I'm wishing I would have bought enough to do a baby quilt with it, but oh well. I did originally buy it for the diaper bag and some little accessories, so I guess it's gone pretty far.


My parents have generously offered to purchase a play yard for baby...exactly what we wanted...and so, I hope to make some matching bedding when we get it. I hate fitted crib/play pen sheets, and my mom used to make envelope style sheet so that they'd stay put. I'll be sure to try that. Maybe I'll even have the chance to make a baby quilt, too. Another day, I will show you the bunny quilt and diaper stacker that my mom was given for me 30 years ago. Her friend made it and we have it for our baby. Blogger is taking it's sweet time to load pics today, so stay tuned for those pics later.

Fabric Jingle Beach Ball for Baby

This little darling I sewed using the Purl Bee tutorial and adding a cat jingle ball (idea I got off another lovely blog....so sorry, I can't remember which one. If I remember, I'll make sure to link you here!) UPDATE: I found the blog! Erin at House on Hill Road posted her beach ball with the added cat ball here. I, too, left out the circle on the top and bottom, because I like it just the way it is. What I love about this ball is that it's soft, light, the jingle is cute without being annoying and baby can drool all over it!

I purchased the cat ball at the local dollar store 3 for $1! Now I need to make some more...maybe some upcoming baby gifts.

My improved sewing corner

My sewing corner was looking like a disaster area. I don't have much space and even less storage, but I managed to tidy it up and add some color and now I love it. I had a white board/cork board combo, but the white board was really yucky looking, so I covered it with some fabric and hung stuff on it. This gave me some little storage options and cleared out my one drawer (not shown - it's under the desk). I hung a few inspirational things up and those lilies were a gift from David. They are so potent that I can smell them across the room with a head cold



I am itching to sew some things for baby now. In that news, I posted on my old blog that I ordered the fabric for cloth diapers. I made one trial diaper with the ottobre pattern and the leg holes are monstrously huge. (It still needs the top stitching and the velcro. I will finish it as it will work for a toddler training diaper) After hours of searching the internet for other free patterns, I decided that I needed to buy a pattern with proper sizing. If I had a child on whom I could try the diapers on it would help, but I am new to this whole mom thing and don't even know where to begin to size diapers for a baby. I ordered the Very Baby very basic all in one diaper pattern, which comes in four sizes. I am so excited to have a pattern that will fit and has good reviews. This should help my lack of motivation in this area. I'll keep you posted as to my progress...when the pattern gets here and I begin.