Hello!

How is everyone?

Yes, that is a strawberry souffle that I made. I smashed it out the ball part. Thank you Kitchenaid.

Going to ikea solo with a baby and pram??? No problems

Push pram 1 metre, push trolley a metre and repeat till you are completely exhausted or reach car, whichever comes first.

I swear I promised myself that I would rid my house of ikea furniture, but I have gone back on that well and truly. Oh well.

This is what I purchased.

The state of my kitchen is bothering my husband. Funny that. He doesn’t even cook. But to make both of us feel better, I am in the process of organising and tidying it up and I bought this ikea hemnes cabinet. It is not ideal, but it will do.

I would love a proper wood cabinet with glass on 3 sides. But this is the perfect dimensions and well, the price.

But I have to say. I have I put a lot of ikea flat pack! A LOT

Long time readers may remember these picture from my apartment.

This is just a few items of flat pack I have put together and I have to say. This hemnes cabinet was VERY HARD to put together.

This is part of the hemnes range too, but this was no where near as difficult.

I put the majority of the cabinet together myself. I got to the part where I had to attach the glass doors to the cabinet with the hinges, I tried a few times and then it occurred to me that I have a husband and stuff it, he can do it. So I left it for him.

BIG MISTAKE!

Turned into a saga that spanned 3 days.

I mean, I drove to ikea with a baby and I and walked through the maze and helped myself in the factory and pushed it to the car and lifted it into the car and brought it into the house and put 90% of it together. I only asked him for help to attach the hinges.

I’m going to be honest with you guys.

I considered divorce!

He had given up on attaching the hinges and I said to him, if you don’t mind I am going to give it a go. He was begging me not to waste my time.

I pull out the instructions again, with fresh eyes and explain to him, what I wasn’t able to do and show him the instructions. I leave to go to the bathroom and I come back and it’s completed!

Da fuck!

He didn’t even read the instructions.

. . . . .

I could have murdered him.

Anyways, I didn’t. He is safe, no need to ring the police.

I went to the quilt expo with my mum yesterday.

Arghh I love whole cloth quilts. I would love to design and make one.

My mum bought Audrey this cute little dress. I am smitten with shirring smocks.

It is stunning. The hem is hand sewn and has hand embroidery and it was $40!!!

I bought this little singlet too for Audrey to wear in summer time.

I also bought this fabric for my stash! And a bias binder maker. I need this tool to for a hooded towel I want to make for Audrey.

The roll of fabric is hand dyed fabric that my mum is a big fan of.

She made this miniature quilt. She is calling it Dolly’s blanket. She just needs to make a dolly now to give to Audrey.

She showed the owner of the company and she asked if she could take a pic on put it on her facebook page. She received 174 likes! She is hugely anti facebook, but was quite chuffed with that!!

In other house news. My good for nothing husband (ha!) finally hung this frame

I purchased it to go into Audrey’s room, but it didn’t end up in there after the edit and I found this perfect area to put it.

In between the linen cupboard and the bathroom door. It is quite coastal looking in that little corner.

Wishing you a good rest of the weekend.

• Cotton fabric (I’ve used a fat quarter which is 50 x 52 cms of fabric and is perfect for this project, you can buy them in Spotlight and craft shops. My fabric came from Milton. I purchased it on my baby-moon earlier this year)
• Terry Toweling. I’ve used a cloth nappy and was able to get 2 bibs out of 1
• Velcro
• Dressmaking shears – or sharp scissors
• Pins
• Thread and sewing machine
• A4 paper and printer

Download my free pattern. Please be respectful, this is only for home use.
Print out the pattern and attach the pieces together with tape.

Iron fabric and toweling. Lay them on top of each other and pin the pattern pieces to it.

Cut out on the ‘cut’ line.

Pin the 2 separate fabric pieces together. Make sure the patterned fabric is pinned the opposite direction to the terry toweling. With the patterned fabric, make sure the right side of the fabric are facing each other. With the toweling, it doesn’t matter as both sides are the same.

Sew a quarter inch seam on both pieces of fabric.

Iron the seam open.

Lay the fabric and toweling on top of each other. The toweling on the bottom with WRONG side facing UP. Lay the patterened fabric the right way facing up.

Place the soft velcro on the patterned fabric. (My velcro was self adhesive, so I didn’t have to pin, but if yours isn’t, then pin in place) You can also use just one strip of velcro instead of two.

Place the rough velcro on top of the soft velcro

Remove adhesive backing and press the toweling down in the right place

Pull the velcro apart, be careful not to un-attach them from their positions.

Sew around all velcro pieces with the sewing machine. (Even if you used adhesive velcro. We want longevity and needs to withstand multiple washes)

Place the 2 fabric pieces together with the right sides facing inwards.

Then pin.

Sew a quarter inch seam all around except for a gap at the top.

Snip the excess fabric away in the corners and cut little snips – be careful not to cut into the sew line. This helps the corners turn out nicely.

Then pull it inside out. Give it a really good press with the iron. Be sure to have pulled all the fabric out on the corners. When ironing the gap, iron the open seam so that the un-sewn fabric is folded inwards.

Then top stitch the whole way around with a scant quarter inch seam. This will close the gap at the top.

Your bib is now complete! Bravo.

Just remember if at any stage of your sewing things aren’t perfect, don’t get too hung up, soldier on. Remember, this bib is just to be spewed on!

I made 2 more, plus I still have the initial white one I made prior.

I even hand embroided one.

Clearly I have too much time on my hands.

I would estimate that the bib would be perfect from newborn to 6 months.

I would like to try it on other babies, at different ages, just don’t have access to any currently.

If you make it and the neck hole is too small, let me know and I can provide new pattern.

Also if you make it. Please let me know, I would love to hear your feedback! Maybe even a picture!

She is filling out that chubby face of hers.

I’ve been working on the bib tutorial. It will be on the blog in the next few days

I’ve received my latest calligraphy item.

Just waiting on one more commission now.

Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend.

I’ve got a roast in the oven, yum!

Ladies, if you want to turn your mum into a super generous octopus with a credit card for each tentacles that she is willingly dishing out. . .

Just pop out a grand child.

My gosh!

To think I went through my studies, bought a car and moved out all on my very own without their assistance.

Yet mention you are having her grand child. .  here is a sapphire ring, here is some wedgwood, here is a . . .

Kitchenaid!

Mum, stop it! It’s embarrassing. Said me, NEVER!

When it arrived, it was a box in a box in a box moment. Have you ever had one of those moments?

Prior to owning this kitchenaid, mixing baking ingredients was a processes of utilising the washing machine top in the laundry and electric beaters or sitting on the floorboards of my living room with the bowl in my lap. You see, my kitchen doesn’t have power.

(I know right? When we were getting the house re-wired, we were suppose to renovate the kitchen first, but in actuality we ended up doing the opposite, I am glad though)

But don’t let it think it stops me! Oh no it does not.

I mean, it is easily solved by a few extension leads.

Look what I whipped up in the new virginal white kitchenaid.

Not the best photograph – it was 11.30 at night and husb and I were eagerly waiting to hack into it.

It is a chocolate cake. I am doing trial cakes for Audrey’s christening, seeing what I like best.

I have made plenty of cake BK (before kitchenaid) but the fact of the matter is, I have a kid now and sometimes standing there beating egg whites to stiff peaks just isn’t going to happen or creaming butter. . . I shouldn’t use my kid as an excuse, full disclosure, I AVOIDED recipes with egg whites and creaming butter, far too hard on the upper body, particularly right side and I have a short attention span, often forgetting why I am standing there. But now, no excuses.

This is my oven!

Go on laugh, But I tell you what. I haven’t had a failure in it. It is powered from the laundry with an extension lead that I interchange with the iron and the microwave before we moved it.

We moved the microwave to another location which is powered from the living room via a power point and now we share it with the kitchenaid.

The only time I had a <pause> moment was when I got a little ahead of myself and doubled a cookie recipe, not thinking that I only have one baking tray that fits in it and fits 6 cookies. But I made it. It might have been an all day effort, but I made it.

Others, namely our family members, all bitch and moan about our kitchen, but I make it work and it will do for a good while.

*** If you are not into babies, or sewing, then this post will be boring for you ***

Well fancy me, a pattern maker!

I am a novice sewer. I have done a handful of sewing classes. My mum is a good sewer and I have a few friends who sew. So I have a little network of support people I can ring when things arise and trust me, things ALWAYS arise when sewing. Nothing is as easy as you think.

BUT

In this instance, it totally was for me. Practice makes perfect, I guess.

I designed a bib for Audrey. She’s a spewer and none of my bibs were cutting it. I took elements I liked from each bib I had and put them all together to make this one.

I like the square pull over the head bibs, but the hole was too big and gaped at the front, so the vomit still went on her skin and clothes.

I like the velcro adjustable bibs, but the velcro closure is almost always at the back. Which makes it hard to put on the baby

The bibs I have where the velcro is on the side, the square part is far too small and the sides as well, meaning if she is laying down, the vomit goes on her shoulder.

My favourite bib is the Cotton On ones because they have a fun print on one side and terry toweling on the other side. The neck hole is also small so that it sits under the baby’s chin. But, it’s closure is a press stud! UGhhh and it is at the back, double ughhhh. I keep getting my daughters hair stuck in it.

Behold! My bib!

I would have loved to make one where it was a pull over the head one that is elastic around the neck hole, but I don’t know how to do that and all seemed too hard. This is pretty good and fits exactly how I wanted it to.

Decent square panel. Small neck (adjustable with the strips of velcro) so it sits right up under her neck. Large sides, so that when she is laying down and has a vom it will catch it and save her clothes. Cotton on one side, terry toweling on the other. I just cut up a cloth nappy to get the terry toweling.

If anyone is interested in the pattern or me doing a tutorial. Please leave me a comment.

Supplies:

• Decorative paper
• Card stock
• JAC paper
• Blade/Ruler – Scissors
• Hole punch
• Ribbon
• Printer

First off I duplexed my tags. This involves using the JAC paper (which can be bought from good art stores. It is like double sided contact paper) You place this in between your decorative paper (I used marbled paper) and card stock (I used peach coloured canson card)

This step is not necessary if you don’t want double sided cards and used a heavy weight card stock. I made my double sided so that later I could write what was in the boxes if necessary. At the moment they are pre-emptive, awaiting baby toys.

Download the file you wish to use. One with numbers, one without. Print on card stock. Cut out. Hole punch. Tie ribbon (I used dove grey velvet ribbon)

Tie it to anything you wish. In this case, I tied it to IKEA baskets. I added a pink stripe washi tape around the top edge.

Download the pdf files here:

Enjoy!

x

I commissioned 3 different etsy sellers to create cards with Audrey’s name. The first piece arrived this week.

I’m going to pick the best piece to place in a custom photo album for Audrey.

How can one resist baby clothes. I know my mother and sister can’t. Seriously, nearly all her clothes are purchased by my sister.

Dress and Cardigan for her Baptism reception

These were purchased by me. The trench coat is for next winter!! LOL. I saw it, I loved it and was, most importantly, ON SALE!

$32. It is dead set proper. Check that lining!

And just a sweet little dress for this year’s winter.

Dear little house put a picture up on Instagram and now her blog of her little boys nursery. It is pure genius. I have been racking my brain trying to finish off Audrey’s nursery with the gallery wall, but always apprehensive about the multiple holes in the walls for the countless frames and how to hang them, how to arrange them, what if I get sick of the arrangement? And it was just NOT coming together. The main reason I haven’t done her nursery reveal as yet. Then I saw this:

Huge Light bulb!!! I can move around and mix and match, add and replace to my heart’s content.

  I sincerely hope she doesn’t mind but I am totally appropriating her idea I quickly went to Ikea to facilitate.

On the ledge, One item that will be in prime place is my stripey bow watercolor artwork that I painted.

The frame is from a 2nd hand store. I love its grey and gold frame. I cut a new mat for it and hey presto, re-framed on a budget.

I bought Audrey some stuffed toys. So cute! I couldn’t resist.

Theses toys besides the seal rattle are being packed away in baskets I bought from Ikea

Until she is big enough to enjoy them.

These 3 baskets will be put on top of her wardrobe to hide all her crap, err, toys.

I will be posting a tutorial on the over-sized tags with a free template to download shortly.

Been lusting over Mary McDonald’s range for Schumacher??

Hard to get your hands on, don’t want to part with hundreds of dollars per metre?

Especially for this design?

Well check out this tutorial over at the etsy blog

WOW WOW WOW.

I would love to give it a try.

I do have white silk tafetta lying around, paints, wide tooth comb. . .  now to just get the countless other hard to come by supplies.

Here is the link to the tutorial.

I had a company come over to quote my french chair being restored and my 2 side/lamp tables to be repolished with the marble tiles being attached. They were just loose. I was happy with the price and prepared to pay that, so I just went ahead with it.

I bought these items over 13 months ago!!! How much longer do I need to stare at them longingly?

He estimates that my chair is 150 to 200 years old!!!!! How wonderful.

Just need to really crack on picking the fabric I would like for the chair.

I am pretty certain I will go with Colefax and Fowler Wilde cut velvet in Silver.

This is the brown colourway (not the silver)

I knew I definitely wanted a cut velvet with a small scale pattern. I think this fabric fits the bill.

Plus it is an adult bedroom, needs to stink of sexy!! MEOW!

(Stink of sexy??? oxymoron?)

I only have one question. How do I finish the chair off? I don’t think gimp would look good. What about a row of piping in the same fabric? I don’t think I want to do nail heads (even though I am addicted to them, but will compete with the pattern) Any ideas?

Once the chair is complete, the last item I require for the vanity area in the bedroom is a mirror. But I have spent quite a bit $$$ so, that will just have to hang ten for a tick.

I swear, I am getting closer to finishing Audrey’s room so I can do my blog post reveals.

Another thing I am working on is my baby’s Baptism.

I have ordered this custom embroided monogrammed bib. As like any other day, she will have a bib strapped around her neck at every waking moment. I have a good baby, but a spewy one. So if there has to be bib covering up her cute attire, it better be cute too!

And finally, I’ll leave you with a pic of my little girl.

She is smiling and cooing.

Did you happen to spot me over at Centsational Girl Blog this week? I know, right? Big League. Sent my traffic soaring.

My ikea hack Hemnes change table was featured.

Check out the blog post here

Meanwhile, what are you all getting up to this weekend?

I need to clean and finish baby girl’s room as a matter of extreme priority. The lounge room needs a spruce up as well. I lead one of those enviable lives that involve house cleaning and vomit cleaning. Be jealous!