the japanese skirt

Today, I was politely informed this morning, I was to make the Japanese skirt.

ok.  

Would you believe that from all the truly Japanese prints in my stash, this is the one Lily chose?  Amy Butler's Daisychain print.  Superb, huh!

So again, some simple rotary cutting for the basic shapes and another new skirt was to be had. I wish it were mine.  

  

I had planned a zip for this one, but Lily wanted elastic waist as the zip would be too hard for her to manage.  I decided to go for a separate waistband to cut down on the bulk around the waist that comes from  such a full skirt.

Apparently, it is exactly as she has always wanted and will wear it until she is 18. Awww, I might just make her that dress tomorrow she has planned for me.

creative space

I'm jumping back on the creative space bandwagon in an effort to blog a little more.  Lily has gymnastics on Thursday in the afternoon so I find I don't often create during the day on a Thursday.  Today, however, Lily asked me to make her a skirt, not just any skirt, but one out of Japanese fabric.  Aha, I have a little of that in my stash.  

So off we went to the sewing room to rummage through the fabric bin and choose some fabrics.  Lily unfortunately is easily swayed by all things pink and pretty and her vision of a blue Japanese fabric skirt quickly went out the window when she spotted butterfly fabric. Every piece of butterfly fabric was dragged out and assessed for the job. Mmmm, I do seem to have a lot of butterfly fabric too.

Her final choice was a cheap little cotton which matched up with some cute little pink floral.  Some simple rotary cutting and not too much later we had a skirt.

We also had fun making these little racing car dudes, not the healthiest of treats but lily was so disappointed we didn't get to make them for Toby's birthday party (which we had to cancel) that I could not refuse her.

more creative spaces over at kootoyoo

what do you get a one year old boy for his birthday?

a little red wagon of course!

And yes, he loves it.   And took it for a good test run today, complete with his teddy in it. We also bought Toby a teddy bear, as Lily pointed out to us that Toby didn't actually have a teddy bear. This was quite disconcerting for her as she has Gwyneth and Andy and I both still have our childhood teddies. How could Toby not have a teddy bear? So now he does. He has this gorgeous fluffy bright yellow bear whom Lily has dubbed Morris.. original, yes indeedy.

It's hard not to feel quite sentimental about your little one's first birthday. I've found myself thinking all day about what I was doing 12 months ago at that moment. Toby was born just before midday on November 12 2008 so a good part of the waking day I was in labour. The rest I think I spent glowing and staring at that gorgeous little bundle.  Even now, at this late hour of the night I am still thinking about it, I know I would have had him tucked under the crook of my arm either feeding or asleep and I would have been still studying him in awe.

He is a sweet little boy, yes he is definitely a boy now with such a strong and funny little personality.  It's hard not to wax lyrical about what a wonderful year we had with him as a baby, but it's so true.  We really have been blessed, and it's all thanks to the chocolate. Oh yes indeed, the chocolate I consumed in pregnancy certainly paid off and delivered us another calm bubba. 

And just to make you clucky, and because it really does blow me away that this tiny little bubba below has grown into that little boy above in a such short space of time; here's Tobias 12 months ago.

Happy Birthday my darling boy.

XXX

this time last year...

I was asleep. 

Anticipating the arrival of our little boy.

Hoping the niggles would strengthen over night.

Anxious about the looming threat of induction.

Empowered by the dream of a natural no drug birth.

Enveloped by the love of my little family,

that was about to grow to encompass

and include

one more little person.

 

it's friday ... breathe ...

It's been one of those weeks here, you know those ones where you've got something on everyday, you're out more than you're home and before you know it, it's Friday and you really haven't had time to catch your breath. 

To be honest, the whole term, the four weeks since we've been back from our holiday, have been a bit like this.  The dreaded swine bug seemed to have infiltrated our family on the boat back from Tassie and it took a good three weeks before we were able to evict him from our home.  I'm finding now that I'm craving some precious free time, just a bit of time with no deadlines, no pressures to be somewhere or get something done, just some down time to do what I want, some precious bonding time just watching and playing with the little ones.  Some peace and some time to relax where I'm not thinking about that crazy out of control washing pile that still is yet to be conquered.

So this whirlwind of craziness started out with this peaceful and calming family day out last Saturday, a really lovely relaxing afternoon at the Freshwater Creek Steiner School's Spring Fair and Market.  A great little fair, very relaxing and such a lovely educational environment. I have mixed feelings about Rudolph Steiner's education philosophy and pedagogy, but nevertheless, the atmosphere and sense of community at this little place is lovely and we had a really lovely afternoon.

Lily's favourite part of the day was, of course, having her face painted by the lovely fairy Melody. I love the serious and almost pained expression she has during the painting.  It was all worth it though,  a very cute outcome.

It's been Children's Week, which has had Lily very excited. "We get a whole week!" she exclaimed. Yep, while poor old mumma and daddy get a day.  This has meant a few extra activities and outings added to the normal weekly curriculum. 

Hopefully after the weekend the sanctum of peace will return.   

Oh and the badge Lily is wearing, is one of our few home activities for the week.  It's a Woodland Doll-head Brooch that I bought in kit form from One Red Robin back at the Stitches and Craft show in March.  Lily and I had good fun making this little one.  

wordless weekend

new duds

It must be Spring. I think I'm in Spring cleaning mode.  Yesterday, I washed down the open shelves in the kitchen. I mowed the lawn. I baked biscuits, pie and cupcakes. Heck, I even made homemade orange and lemon cordial. We had an afternoon picnic.  Now I have an overwhelming urge and need to clean the craft room and get rid of some half finished projects. 

First up, a pair of denim pants I cut out for Lily in April. yep April.  I cut a pair out for both of the kids but Toby's won't fit him now. Lily likes to wear a lot of longer tops, dress style tops, over her pants. Well, she did in April. So I decided to make her a straight leg pair of pants.

Lily helped with these, she chose the fabric for the pockets and then bossed me to get a move on with finishing them.  She chose well.  Little Red Ridinghood, a lovely Japanese print.

She loves them very much.  Definitely her new favourites, which always makes a mummy very very happy.  She has also picked out the fabric for her next couple of pairs, as well as a skirt, some dresses, some matching outfits for her and the dolls .... you get the picture.  

Jemima got some new duds too, another embarrassing very old UFO *blush* I'll share that story later maybe..

And as for Toby, he got new old.  Made by me though. These are a very very old pair that I made that were handed back to us from Asher.