Last week

The last week has been so busy.  I guess I did lots but it didn't include much sewing.  Rather frustratingly  I have several piles of beautiful fabric hanging around my desk.  They keep catching my eye and taunting me.  I have managed a little rearranging  which is always better than nothing but not a lot else.

The piles are::
:: fabric to make a quilt for my cousin Nat
:: fabric and felt from The Village Haberdashery
:: stash fabrics and my little hoard of Maze and Vale hand printed fabric.  Destined to be another quilt for Katie
:: leftover fabrics from making a quilt for our sofa.  I'm planning to make little floor cushions like these (maybe they are pouffes rather than floor cushions but I'm never very convinced about using that word)
:: partly made bibs, always a pile of them on the go
:: chicopee corduroy for a skirt for me

I have also been planning and discussing a new quilt commission - I had an email recently from the lady who I made this quilt for (the pink and red quilt for Electra, right at the very bottom of a very very long blog post......I was very pregnant at the time!).  Her daughter is now moving up to a big girl bed and she'd like a quilt to fit it.  I am, of course, delighted to be working with her again.  I can't think of a bigger compliment than to be asked to make another quilt.

I'm hoping to accomplish a bit more sewing-wise this coming week.  I hope you have a little time for the activities you love too.  Not that I don't love looking after my family it is just that I love other things as well.

Here, there and everywhere

Since the middle of March I have been here, there and everywhere - really and truly I haven't had a weekend at home since early March.  It has been wonderful but makes keeping on top of things at home a little trickier.  Hence my poor wee blog has been neglected.  The demise, hopefully temporary, of our PC last week hasn't helped me get back either.

But here I am (with a rather restricted set of photos since most have been saved to the PC and not this laptop which I have to wrestle from John - he does a fair bit of working from home in the evenings).

In the middle of March I had a trip to Northumberland, near to Alnwick, for my cousin Nat's hen weekend.  Lots of lovely girls, food, wine and chatting plus a very fresh and breezy beach walk on the Sunday morning (which has inspired me to enter this race for next summer* - Nat has run it more than once, and while she is a much more committed runner than me I'd like to prove to myself that I can do some of the things my wee cousin can - this is more than a little tongue in cheek since she is several inches taller than me but she will always be my baby cousin despite looking down on me!).

Katie** - 7 months

The peapod carrier was very useful

The following weekend saw me and the children set off on a much anticipated trip to see my parents in their winter home in South Africa. They follow the very sensible example set by swallows - heading south once the northern hemisphere nights start drawing in.  While I completely understand their love of South Africa it must be said that we do miss them a lot when they are away.  But then we do get the odd, very generous, bonus like trips to visit them - and we wouldn't want to deprive them of the pleasure of our company!

South Africa's Wild Coast

So I took the children out of school a week early and flew to George to join them.  Our last family visit was almost three years ago but they all, except Katie for obvious reasons, remembered it well and were very excited (Islay actually went out last year too but mum and dad took her and my niece themselves).  Despite the excitement and very long journey - three flights and over 24 hours door to door - they were all extremely good and we arrived tired but raring to go.  John*** wasn't able to take so much time off, sadly, but joined us a week later.  The three weeks flew by with beaches, swimming pools, birdwatching, walking, national parks, dune surfing, canoeing, fishing and lots of fun being with Grannie and Grandy.  We were well and truly spoiled.

Just a few days after we arrived home we all made the trip to Northumberland for Nat's wedding.  This was another much anticipated event not least because Islay was a bridesmaid.  She made a very beautiful, and smiley, bridesmaid.  It was so much fun seeing Nat, even more beautiful and smiley, marrying the lovely Andrew and great to spend time with lots of family too.  

Sewaholic Lonsdale Dress made with Nani Iro double gauze 

Twirly niece and Islay

Frowning Katie in this dress, with Grandy (too cold for bloomers and sunhat!)

And this weekend I had a 24 hour trip away with friends to Aberfeldy in Perthshire.  It is one of my favourite parts of Scotland (but actually I love many different areas) and we had fun chilling out, walking, drinking and eating.  The hostel wasn't the best I've ever been in but perfectly fine and with such good company it didn't really matter where we stayed.

And now?  I'm really looking forward to next weekend when I'll be in my own bed for the whole weekend (by that I mean I'll be in my bed at night-time, not all day too).  We have lots to do but none of it involves staying away overnight which I'm quite thankful for!

* my friend V is a personal trainer and I know she uses the somewhat sneaky technique of 'helping' people commit to their targets by getting them to tell people what they are aiming for - it is much harder to back down once you have said out-loud what you plan to do........so I'm employing a bit of her methodology on myself to make it harder for me to back down!  
** Katie, you are a star, putting up with your mummy disappearing for 24 hours and being prepared to take some milk from a bottle with hardly a blink - thankyou!
*** John, you are a star too, thanks so much for my trips away.  I do appreciate it and you really must get Stuart pinned down to organise your walking weekend away

She has her uses

I decided it was about time I put Katie to work.  I've been drafting up dribble bandanas (what a terrible name - is there a better one?) and bibs and she has been working very hard testing them out for me. 

The conclusion?  The bandanas need to be longer so there's more room for growth around the neck (not that all babies are as chubby as Katie of course!) but the bib shape seems pretty good.

But that's where I start to get unsure - just because I like nice wide rounded bibs doesn't mean other people will......I guess the only way I can find out is to make some up and see what happens.

One other detail has been making me rather undecided.  What to fasten them with?  I've gone for velcro in these test ones as I, personally, find it easier with a squirmy baby and am happier to feel that they'll come undone if pressure is applied - I think velcro does come apart more easily than poppers.  I know it's unlikely to be a problem but I prefer to be on the safe side.  I think they can be more adjustable too if there's a reasonable length of velcro.  Then there's the question of the velcro itself, the stuff I have found so far is quite stiff and potentially scratchy.  Well, only one side is and if that's put onto the right side of the bib and the softer bit sewn onto the wrong side the stiffer side won't come into contact with the baby (makes sense to me if not to you!) - and I've found that if I cut the edges round rather than square that helps too and it creates a neater stitch line on the reverse.

 I'd love to know your thoughts, if you have any that is, on the pros and cons of bib fastening mechanisms!

I plan to back them in the unbleached cotton flannel that I use on some of my baby quilts - it is lovely and soft and hard wearing too.  The bibs that Katie is modelling have been washed a few times now, to test them out, and I'm really pleased that they will be tough and easy to look after.  The question of what to make them out of is also tricky.  And it is ever so tempting to buy more fabric.  But I'm determined not to do that and think I'll make just a whole variety from the fabric I already have - some bright and some more muted.  That way I'll also get more of a feel for what people may and may not like.

Now all I need to do is make enough to sell (along with lots of other things, but I'm working on a deadline towards the end of the year so don't need to panic yet).  

I do however have a deadline for other sewing projects.  By mid-March I need to have finished the following (I'll give fabric and pattern details for each once they are finished and ready for showing off)::

1.  Dress, bloomers and bonnet for Katie (for my fabby cousin's wedding - which I'm very exited about, but possibly not as much as bridesmaid Islay!)

The bloomers are actually part made (along with three others in the hope that we have a nice warm summer) - I have been delayed by a lack of waist elastic but bought some from my local sewing shop yesterday.

 2. A dress for me to wear to the same wedding.  I think I have decided on the fabric to use.  But it is expensive especially since I think I'll make the full length version of this dress  - mind you, I hope it should give me many years of wear.  And I will make a muslin first to check the fit - can I get away with just making the bodice and attaching a short length of skirt?  Can anyone who knows what they are doing (unlike me) advise me on this? *There's a very good reason for choosing this pattern, as well as liking it of course, which I'll explain below.

 3. Make the quilt for our sofa - I'm already behind since most people in the quilt along seem to have cut and started piecing already.  Oh well.

4. Make some baby clothes for a friend's baby - thankfully it isn't born yet.

5. Ask Nat if she'd like me to make her something as a wedding present.  She's the big sister of my lovely cousin Al, who was married almost two years ago, and who I made a picnic blanket for.

6. I'd really like to make Islay this Sunki tunic but it can wait until everything else is finished.

 So, I wonder whether I'll manage?  I remember having a list a bit like this for Al's wedding and managed it all (well, their present was a little late but I reckoned it was more important that I turned up in a completed dress).

Anyone who has been up in the night feeding a baby will appreciate the irony of the situation I found myself in last night.  Katie has been sleeping pretty badly and although I am only feeding her twice through the night (she is 4 1/2 months and definitely not malnourished....she could live on her cheeks alone for a week or two!) she has been waking up several more times - she goes back to sleep fairly well but it all takes time and effort and cuts in to my very precious sleep time.  Anyway, last night I woke up just before 1am, by which time most nights recently she would have been awake 2 or 3 times and I'd usually have fed her some time between 12 midnight and 1am, but she was sound asleep.  Yay.....except that I had far too much milk and couldn't get back to sleep.  I lay there, very sore, for another hour or so until she woke up.  So, the one night for weeks that she slept really well and I lay there wide awake and unable to sleep.  I can't begin to describe how annoying it was!  But I'm very hopeful that it is a sign she is going to improve a bit from now on (it is too soul destroying to think anything else!).

* Why does this pattern appeal to me?  It has straps that tie at the back so I should be able to feed Katie fairly easily by loosening the straps (may need to make a shawl too).  And why do I think this is important?  Because when Angus was a baby I went to another cousin's little boy's christening in a lovely dress.  And only realised, as his feed time approached, that I had no way of feeding him without removing the dress.  Luckily for me, and everyone else, the hotel where we had the post-service meal was quite smart and had lovely clean toilets.  There was even a chair in the corner that I could sit on.  It is quite bizarre to chat to your female relatives while sitting in your bra and pants in a hotel loo!  I remember having a dilemma whether it would be better to leave my shoes on or not and can't now remember what I decided was best.  So, there you go, I have learnt my lesson.