Secret Maisy Business

A work in progress. I've been having fun with this and doing my first attempt at machine quilting. I only have the binding to go now and I think I'll get it done in time for Christmas. I'm hoping this will replace the quilt I carried on the back of my bike to the airport in Nice as Chloe's tv watching quilt of choice. Then, perhaps, I could use mine.

Just an aside. Does anyone else have glitter all over their house, themselves, their kids and even trailed into the garden?

3

Wow, a three year old in the house. She had the best time at her party. It wasn't very warm but everyone swam anyway and Chloe was so, so happy. All day, not a single low moment. Amazing - even after all the sugar.

I had such fun making the cake. Loosely based on the Rainbow fish and Sam and Chloe made a fish pinata (with creative direction from me - poor Sam).

Now on to Christmas. Having a birthday so close to Christmas means presents and excitement galore. The birthday spread out to about a week. I feel sad for Chloe that she'll have to wait so long for her next one.

Cuties

Chloe is 3 in a week. I can't quite believe it. Arj is 5 months now. I find that even harder to believe. Thought it must be time for a photo!

Yawning but smiling

Man, I'm tired ... but happy. Had a great three days at Niche Market. I really enjoyed getting back into sewing (although there's no way I could keep up the pace) and the buzz of the market. There were loads of lovely stalls and sellers and I neglected to take photos of their stalls again. I'll point you to some blogs as things come up - I'm sure someone has taken lovely shots.

Lots of friends visited, new friends were made and I've had the most social three days. Just great!

I'm hoping to photograph and list some of the things I have in stock still this week but no promises. I have to catch up on some of the very neglected housework.

Provence

For Georgia - just to get you a little more excited!

OK, so it's over a year since our holiday to France but I always meant to post a few more photos. I've been thinking a lot about travel lately with Mrs Smith's exciting trip and my brother and his lovely girlfriend heading off to the UK and South America in a couple of weeks. My other brother is in NZ holidaying just now and no doubt my folks will get another trip in the pipeline soon. I'm getting very, very envious so am reliving past trips and pulling out old photos.

Gearing up...

.. for Niche. It's going to be a great market with a huge list of exciting stalls.

In print

Cover girl Gemma and the beautiful Edie



Lovely photos of Chloe. I won't bother telling you what I think of the one of me - suffice to say it was only six weeks after Arj was born.

Tasmanian business magazine Enterprise did a story on three mum's fitting a creative small business around their kids. I'm thrilled to be in there with Gemma of Loz and Dinny and Georgina Freeman of Baby Hoot and The Adventures of Dick and Dora(can't find any links to this new partnership but here is Dick and Dora). Also, the arrival of the lovely photographer lifted the mood in our house when we were having one of those days! Chloe was thrilled with him!

Back from the brink...

... of becoming a non-blogger!

Blogging just hasn't been my thing for a little while. I expect I'll continue to come and go a bit. It's pretty hard to get anything done around here! Can't really blog endlessly about getting the kids up and dressed, changing the nappies, feeding Arj, not getting to the housework or the cooking, never mind the sewing endlessly. You (and I) would die of boredom.

To be honest (cos I'm not sure enough Mum's are) I've had some pretty low weeks and felt my emotions getting out of control. I feel like I'm getting past that stage now. Maybe it was hormonal - it seemed to coincide with my hair starting to fall out in a big way (Yay).



I have done a little bit of sewing. A pair of trousers for Arj and the beginnings of a quilt in American Jane's Wee Play fabric. I love them both and they've whetted my appetite for more sewing. Just got to work out how to get the kiddies to enjoy occupying themselves around me while I do it!



We managed to get away for a long weekend to Melbourne a while ago now. Had a lovely time wandering around the shops, botanical gardens and zoo. Had some great food and enjoyed the feel of being in the big smoke. Chloe, Arj and I had a lovely afternoon with Jen (Thanks so much for coming into the city to meet us) while Sam was cringing in the stands at the MCG watching his team disappoint him again!

Oh, yeah, and there's a few things listed on Etsy. Only what I have ready to go - I won't be making to order for a while.

Red Pea Green Beanie

Ok, so, don't let my version put you off making this! I had a very uncooperative model who wouldn't even let me put it on her properly, has been dribbling by the looks of it and didn't want her hair brushed either. Hair cut coming up soon I think.

Believe me it's much cuter than it looks in my photo - go see Michelle's and you'll know. I made it a bit big I think which isn't helping. Oh well. She's growing!

Oh, and by the way, It's raining again. One stunning Spring afternoon yesterday in between all the gray rain. We sat outside and soaked up a little sun and hopes were high for more.

Rainy Days

Evening photos of the Basin at Cataract Gorge. Somewhere under here are beautiful lawns and a swimming pool. We've had a LOT of rain down here in Tassie.

Slow days

Not much happening here apart from sitting on the couch or sitting on my mum's couch.

On Tuesday night I twisted my foot badly and can't get around very well. Such a bummer! I had lots of things I wanted to do this week just gone. Ah well, it is nice to have an excuse to rest sometimes. My very kind (long suffering maybe) Mum has been here for three days, with some help from Dad as well, doing the very important job of carrying Arj between me, his cot and his play mat. Chloe has had a wonderful time playing with Mum and Dad too.

I must admit though, now that it's Saturday and Sam is home, I'm totally, totally over sitting on my butt! I'll set myself up to do huge pile of hair tie and clip assembly then at least I'd feel productive.

Arj had his six week milestone on Monday. Time is flying by. He seems so big now and yet so small as well. How's that for a sensible sentence? I know what I mean.

I've been knitting a Pea Green beanie (in red) for Chloe from a gorgeous pattern from one very impressive lady I met at Niche Market. Mine is deviating quite a lot from her pattern as I have a thinner yarn, the wrong sized needles - a bit small for my yarn - as a certain knitting helper has stashed one somewhere unknown and have just guessed at a reasonable number of stitches. My yarn gradually changes colour too and I decided after knitting almost the entire thing that I wanted the colours in a different spot so started again. So I've cleverly made a one night project last for quite a few night more. Good when you're stuck to the sofa!

No photos today - camera battery is flat and I can't get down the stairs to search for the charger in the pile of unpacked boxes (Yikes down there. As I said, I had lots to do this week!

Market finds

I'm copying Gemma and showing off some of my recent Esk Market finds. Chloe and I had some girl time last Sunday. We treated ourselves to pain au chocolats (somewhat perversely Chloe pulled out the chocolate and refused to eat it. Strange girl!) and cinos of choice and then went to the market. Chloe loves to go to the French Bakery stall where she can sample the bread and also to the balloon man. She usually gets him to make her a flower but branched out and went for a fish this time. I got enough bread for the week - they have the best olive bread - the three tiered tin above and the jug. The jug is Arabia from Finland and I love it. My mother-in-law has a couple with different animals. I got down to my last $2 and used it for a bumch of coriander.

The canisters were from a previous Esk market trip.

There is a very small amount of craftiness going on here (not for the shop yet Jen!) which mostly consists of buying stuff for new projects and maybe beginning them if I'm lucky before I move on to the next idea. I'm aiming to finish a few things before I buy anything else. The fabric in the photo above is the Wee Play range by American Jane chooped up ready for the beginnings of a quilt or maybe picnic blanket.

Shopping

Meet Seagull. He goes absolutely everywhere with us and has done since Arj's birth. He was always a firm favourite but now he's the one and only. He's a goose or some insist a duck but around here he is most definitely called Seagull. Now when we see white ducks Chloe calls them Seagull ducks. This photo was taken yesterday when he was fresh from a little visit to the Seagull salon in our laundry. He could do with another visit already.

I recently hunted down a reserve Seagull online just in case. Needless to say the reserve is so white and plump he doesn't even look like the same species.



Slightly optimistic fabric buy. Quite a few yards from Joel Dewberry's new range. Deer Valley I think it's called. I love them but may have been kidding myself thinking I had time to do anything with them. And this is not all! I'm still waiting for another plump package to arrive. Not to mention the lovely goodies I've been snapping up locally.


Some letters for Arj's door or maybe a shelf. I'm desperate to get started on his room. The poor little bub is surrounded by our framed prints that haven't yet been given a home, a beautiful old huon pine chest I bought years ago for Sam to store his (annoyingly cluttering) piles of maps in and a few other small furniture items that we're yet to decide where to put. I wanted to get started on painting the old built ins in his room this weekend but it wasn't to be.

Advice to self

If you're trying to get your figure back to something closer to normal DON'T eat all the cooking chocolate. Honestly, if you're going to eat chocolate why not at least make it good quality chocolate that you like!

I'm blaming sleep deprivation!

Perfect

How beautiful is this origami ball. It's made by Tassie duo Hideyo Designs and you can find them here although I think they are so busy that Etsy is taking a back seat. I treated myself to one at Niche and have been meaning to show it off for months. They are made using pages from old publications. Mine is mostly text with cells of bright colours (red, orange, almost electric blue, lime and more)interspersed. It struck me as perfect for a 60s house. It's still waiting to go up due to moving, having a baby, being sick etc but mostly due to indecision about the best place for it to hang.

Hideyo also make gorgeous prints, cards, bags and stunning origami flowers. Maybe try The Ruby Pear if you are interested in seeing more.

A spot of modelling

Chloe modelling her lovely Free Range Baby dress (Thanks again Jen. She loves it and so do I) at her Granny's house and Arj modelling his Granny's knitting (Thanks Mum. We love it too.). He's decided to think of it as an overcoat until he gets a bit bigger!

My photos are liable to get worse and worse - I just point and shoot without thinking at all now - time if of the essence.

Rain, rain, rain and mastitis. What fun we have had here! Oh, and I forgot to mention that Sam had a form of pneumonia resulting in excrutiating headaches for about a week and a half too. Things are looking up but the poor man has to go bring home the bacon tomorrow.

Lovely, lovely things!

We received the most amazing package in the mail the other day. It was from our lovely kind, generous friend, and true patron of handmade, Jen. I just had to show some pictures as it really demonstrates the amount of talented people producing great stuff. I was overwhelmed to put it mildly.



For Chloe, a beautiful vintage fabric handmade dress from Free Range Baby and a puzzle. Chloe is so, so into jigsaws at the moment so this is just perfect.





Romper suit and pouch from Grandy and Baa. This is a new design apparently and I can say it's just great. A car on the front pulling a caravan on the back. The fabrics are hard to see in my photos but they're perfectly chosen and very cute.



Gorgeous bibs in fabrics chosen by Jen and made up by her friend Janine. I'm very impressed - maybe a little business beginning! You obviously know my fabric tastes well Jen!



Stunning ball by Amy Badskirt (my photo is not doing it justice at all, the fabrics are vibrant and beautiful) and giraffe rattle in one of my most favourite fabrics (well chosen Jen!) from Ollie and Rose.



Cute birdie bib from Ivy Designs. I have a small stash of this fabric but not in this colourway. I have it in pink and also in yellow to make pjs for Chloe. I wanted to get the aqua but Chloe said no blue is for boys. I'm saving it for next winter now as she has an aversion to wearing pjs at the moment.



Last, but by no means least, some robots. A gorgeous bib from Curlypops and a cute, cute beanie from Olie and Rose.

So, as you can see this was such an exciting package, all wrapped beautifully in separate packages. Just lovely and so generous. And I've just spotted Jen here proving again how lovely she is. Not sure how I missed this before Jen, I was looking out for you on Badskirt.

Well, it took me a few days to finish this post. I meant to get it up really quickly to surprise Jen 'cos' she knows how slow I am! All is going well with Arj, I just have a lack of spare time!

Back to the seventies

Anyone who lived through some of the seventies will probably recognise what Chloe is up to in this photo. One of her favourite books is a kids cookbook that was mine. She has spent hours and hours of her short life poring over it so when Sam suggested she make the orange and cheese hedgehog (from the party snacks sections) she was incredibly excited. We now have an aging orange attached to chunks of dried out cheese taking pride of place on the kitchen table - because of course she didn't want to eat it.



Everything is going well with Arj. He's a good eater and sleeper (so far) so we're cruising along quite well. The only downfall has been battling bad colds and headaches for Sam and I. So far Arj has remained cold free which must be some sort of minor miracle given the amount of snot around here.

Thanks for all the lovely messages on the last post. I'm getting around to thanking everyone personally - it just might take me a while!

Arj has arrived

Its a boy. Arj McPherson Duncan arrived just after 8:20am on Monday the 29th June.

Susan did fantastically well (again!). She and Arj are in St Lukes still so I am updating the blog with a photo.

I am so proud of Suse.

Sam

Still waiting

Sorry for the lack of news for those of you waiting. I'm having trouble with my internet line dropping out and it just makes blogging too much of a challenge for my current tired, grumpy, frustrated self!

Today is officially the due date. No baby yet though. Lots of signs to make me think things are imminent but they've been happening for a week and half now so I'm feeling very impatient.

Hopefully there'll be news soon.

Just gorgeous

If I do say so myself.









Another denim dress for Chloe. The trim is vintage fabric found in Oatlands.

Is it just me or...

... do husbands stop taking photos of you once they have a pretty daughter? Hence this woefully fuzzy and unprofessional shot from about two weeks ago is the only one I have of me in my big bellied state. I've been meaning to blog since I took it but procrastination and slothishness has been winning.

The photo is taken in the soon to be nursery and the unpacking hasn't progressed much since then. It's starting to worry me but I'm sure the babe won't mind the odd packing box.

This is our messy new kitchen and one of our living areas. We've just had the floors in the other one polished so all the furniture is in here and the nursery. There's a lot to do still but we're having to just relax and put things off. Chloe was quite sick for a while so with that and me being too tired now to do much it's just how it is.







Sam and Chloe made this cake for me. We had planned a little gathering to try out the pizza oven but with Chloe sick and Sam doing house removals for the entire two days before we had to cancel. I hope the queen had a more successful birthday. I had a lovely brekkie out but things got rapidly less exciting and culminated with first Chloe, then me, having melt downs. Ah, well, we'll try to celebrate after the baby instead. The cake was very good!