Baby Quilt 1

The first of four baby (or lap) quilts I have been working on. I thought I had better make a few now as there seems to be lots of babies due in the next few months. I made the block a few weeks ago.

 It is a little hard to tell, but the background is little grey spots and circles. I free motioned quilted it with leaves in vertical lines.

 The back is a grey/yellow/white flower fabric, that I love. Wish I had of bought more of this. I rounded the corners and made bias binding. I tend to avoid making bias binding, but for some reason this time it just clicked and was really easy. Think I might be making it a bit more.

Maternity Sewing

I have done a little clothes sewing for myself in the last couple of months. Anyone who has sewn for themselves when pregnant knows that pattern options are very limited. So I have been modifying patterns I already own.

I made this pattern a couple of times last year and it is so comfortable. It did not take much modifying to turn it into a maternity dress - I just made it more a-line, more so with the front piece than the back. I just made one in black and have been wearing it a lot.

 The Katrin dress/tunic by Mamu Designs is also a good pattern that does not need much modifying. I am not sure where I bought this but if you google Katrin Mamu you find lots of options, some in Australia.

 I made this one out of some thin cotton stretchy fabric. I don't think I modified the width of this and it fits me fine at the moment. The only modification I made was to use clear elastic around the neck instead of facing it (facing on stretch fabric drives me crazy, binding or using clear elastic is so much easier).

 I bought this pattern recently - the Circle Top from Papercut Patterns. It looks pretty simple and is sooo much quicker than knitting myself a cardigan at the moment. I have some merino wool jersey perfect for it and will try and make it today.

The Tova pattern is also pretty easy to modify for an expanding stomach. I made one slightly more a-line at the front and when I placed the front piece on the fold of the fabric to cut out I moved it an inch or so over from the fold and then cut so there would be more fabric at the front.
I recently discovered that Megan Nielsen has nice modern maternity pattern. Not sure if I will try them as I think I can make do with what I have now, although I would like to try her Darling Ranges Dress next year.

Baby Kina

Poor little Evie, I took her to Perth this week to get her adenoids out and have gromits put in and she was feeling very sad and sorry for herself. Luckily she has woken up much happier today. She is never the same if she doesn't have her Dad and big sisters around.

I finished up this Baby Kina cardigan before I went. A really quick knit. I used some handpsun that I must have spun 2 or 3 years ago and it was the perfect amount for this project. It is definitely not the best handspun, but I think this is proof that even the dodgiest handspun will knit up ok. More details on Ravelry.

Ovest

One of the great things about the little town I live in, Bridgetown, is the lovely little shops on the main street. You can pretty much find anything you need and most things you might not find in a huge shopping centre where you only find chain stores. A new little shop called Ovest last year with the most gorgeous things for adults and kids. So many pretty things that would be perfect for the girl's bedroom. As well as the main street in Bridgetown you can find them online.

Macadamias and Kaffir Limes

It is always exciting to find friends with things in their garden you don't have. We traded some walnuts for some macadamias and kaffir limes. I see some white chocolate and macadamia biscuits in my future.

Now for a little more basting and then hopefully some quilting.

Walnuts

I love this time of the year, it is perfect weather for the girls to be outside in the garden. They love the walnut trees and they often climb them and play games in them. These photos were taken a few weeks ago when my sister and her children were visiting. There are not many leaves left now and we have gathered most of the walnuts, although there are still lots on the ground and the girls can be found down there cracking them. They still find it hard to get 2 in the palm of their hand and squeeze them together to crack one so Eva will get a rock and crack them like in the bottom picture.
I didn't manage much walnut dyeing this week, the time just disappeared, but there is always next year.

Rainy Days

 You do manage to come away with odd things from IKEA sometimes. These beads however are probably the best impulse buy I have made there. Great for rainy days, hours of amusement and they can do it by themselves. I just have to do the ironing to melt the beads together at the end.