apron, pint and pixie

i've never posted a pic anywhere of the stunning kitchen themed swap i received.... i wore one of the aprons on christmas day - so here it is - how completely utterly gorgeous is this apron??? made by the delightful becci who organises many of the swaps on that particular group - thanks becci... i'll get greg to iron the other apron and post a pic of that soon too!!!

theo finally got his pint - it's pretty darned cute - a tad more fro than his sumner-milleresque hair but how does one do s-m hair??? thanks megsie - we love it - and it fits beautifully.

and the only item i managed to sew for ally for christmas this year - and i'm so incredibly proud of it!!! i smiled like a cheshire cat for days after finishing it - i used the portabello pixie pattern "analise" size 6 (available at my store http://www.ozebaby.com.au/product.php?VP=15183 ); i did the simple version (ie. not the quilted skirt) and used an amy butler print for the skirt, and 2 co-ordinating (well i think they do) joel dewberry fabrics for the bodice and trims. it's a wonderful fit and great for twirling - it reminded me of a very expensive dress my mum bought me as a girl - it was white with multicoloured spots and 2 or 3 frills around the skirt - man did i wear that thing! ally adores her new frock - and i hope she wears it heaps too!

more soon about the best family christmas greg and i have ever had!!!

t'was the season for handmade decorations

had lots of fun this year making decorations

the last 2 years i've participated in a decoration swap - there were only 4 of us this year so i made 2 stars each - one wire and bead star with a cloisonne (?sp) bead as a feature amongst lots of wire and seed beads and one felt star - plain red on the back, yellow with a star bead/stitch detail on front edged in gold thread blanket stitch and stuffed with polyfil

on our cutest little tree (it's about 70cm high fibreoptic) you can see lots of handmade stars (3 felt ones, one is mine, one from megsie at pint and one by di - who also did the stocking and red/green paper wreath - as part of the aforementioned swap); a hand detailed house, 3 paper flowers and a blue bird by marnie of onewetpants; lots of wire/bead shapes that ally and i did together and ally's little paper/peg deorations. i did the star on top reusing the beads off some wine charms i'd been gifted by kathryn shaw (see ozebaby.com.au) before she found out we don't drink. i did buy the red balls and tinsel from coles as the first decorations of this season as greg doesn't know where all our old ones are and i didn't want to leave the tree bare for my 5yo.

the gold/pink wire and seedbead ball was done for the school tree - i shaped the wire around an inflated balloon then spent about 4 hours wrapping wire and feeding hundreds of tiny glass seedbeads onto it - each family at the school was asked to make a decoration - i think only a handful did. as we are moving ally next year we wanted to give a piece that would remind them of her - so it's gold and pink (her favourite colour); handcrafted and unique - just like our bear!

a couple of recent customs

the first is a set of 6 longer pads - approx 30cm but varying due to the amount of hand work during construction - have a hidden 3 layer bamboo fleece soaker; hidden panel of 2mil PUL and stunning prints

the second is a set of 6 liners - approx 22cm long, bamboo velour top, panel of hidden bamboo fleece and gorgeous quilting cotton prints on the back - perfectly reversible if the owner is feeling whimsical

customs are so much fun...

happy anniversary

11 years on - yesterday


we're in a good place - we have two beautiful, healthy and mostly happy children (they are 1 and 5 years old - i defy anyone to say their 1 and 5yos are always happy - lol)


we're soon to be building our dream home - no not a fancy big brick box... but an environmentally friendly kit home among the gum trees;


we can still afford me to be a stay at home mum - this is a value we hold dear, so live below our earnings to allow this;


we've downsized our car to reduce our carbon footprint


we are very aware of our footprint full stop and it feels good to lessen it each day


we're still madly in love


and we're still having fun

he gave me a lovely version of pippi longstocking illustrated by my favourite author/illustrator lauren child which comes with 4 collector cards that we will frame and hang in my studio at our new abode

i gave him 11 me-made chocolate crackles and a small bag of his favourite treats

to my wonderful husband


i love you yesterday, today, tomorrow, forever


xox


your sweetie


karen

and a word (or many) on hair

so i got tired (again) of having my hair pulled by my prewalking child (who is now RUNNING!) so like with ally i cut my hair off - well this time i got adventurous and went the whole "Queenie - the bantam" and dyed it HOT PINK - it's pretty cool - i started gently with purple, then a bright auburn, and finally i bleached all the colour out to go this colour!!! certifiable - almost certainly

and to make you all go green - this is an above shot of my sons curls - not quite as red as they once were but stunning all the same.

out

how cool is this!!

coles had a sale on decor containers and i reorganised the pantry!!!

i'm loving my pantry now

http://www.threadheadcreations.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=bridalgallery

and this website - how cool is this stuff!!! wedding gowns made of hemp and silk - and the colours, pictures etc - WONDERFUL!

latest custom

how lush are these?

even i get blown away by the fabric combinations sometimes...

so proud

i gave ally a 50 piece jigsaw puzzle (first time she'd seen it) when she needed some calm down time last week - well she finished the whole puzzle all by herself and was zen like in her calmness by the end - yay for jigsaws

ozebaby update

http://www.ozebaby.com.au/store/17

new products available now:

a select range of patterns by gorgeous sisters "melly and me"

some stunning butterfly prints

a very regal deep purple hemp/silk charmeuse

sewing and overlocking threads

professionally prewashed hemp/organic cotton fleece by the metre

and a girly bits custom slot

cute pad

up later this week on ozebaby

charity girly bits custom pad auction - photos

finished product

i'm happy with these - hopefully winner will too

hugs

karen

girly bits available now

http://www.nurturenappies.com.au/

gorgeous coloured bamboo velour tops; bamboo fleece inner for a soft and absorbent core; with 4 coordinating quilting prints on the back, with or without PUL.







http://www.ozebaby.com.au/store.php?VS=17

charity auction for ovarian cancer research

some luxury bamboo velour pads

new quilting fabrics

and the full range of stunning montessori by hand/sew liberated patterns

i will soon be stocking another stunning range of patterns - stay tuned

upheaval

sorry for the radio silence
lots of internet issues

we've moved house and love it here
now i've got dial up with a decent cord length so my boy doesn't sit on the keyboard, eat the mouse or chew on the cables whilst i am online

am hoping his new bed will mean he sleeps more, not in the lounge, so i can actually get stuff done

we have 2 dogs on either side, we've made friends with the german pointers - they are very cool.
greg is reluctant to play with them in case it's betraying Bogart. i think it would honour him rather than betray him - that different grieving again. mostly we get teary now when ally mentions him - which she does every few days.

hope you are all well

kitchen swap

not long ago i participated in a kitchen swap

must get pics of the stunning goodies i received

here are what i sent - the info i had were black and white

so i made a super sized apron - like a butchers apron only pretty

and two oven mitts

have i told you...

about the patterns i sell from sew liberated/montessori by hand

they are really beautiful items designed by a gorgeous lady

here's the latest one (winging it's way to my door as you read)

it's called lola

head to http://www.ozebaby.com.au/store.php?VS=17 to see the rest of the range

an update on grief:

well it's been a while, and we're still so close to crying most days. ally keeps making pictures/balloons etc into puppies to give greg as "he really misses his dog mummy"; on the drive to school one day last week she exclaimed "i have a brilliant idea, lets get daddy a puppy for his birthday - it must be a spaniel!" hmmm. i don't know if greg will last that long.

last night we took one of greg's specialties next door for dinner - pasta from scratch with a lamb/peri peri mince and fresh bread. talking about bogart reduced us both to tears - yes it was the right decision - just picturing him so scared when he'd gone blind in the last couple of days made me so sad. greg visited him today at the block - his garden is growing beautifully so i'm so pleased about that.

thanks for your kind comments too - i really appreciate them

hugs

karen

i'm so sad

it's very difficult coming home from driving ally to school and there's no doggy to greet me
we go down stairs to hang up the laundry and he's not there
wanting to toss some meat scraps out the door
reaching to turn on the outside light so he can see
closing the door to keep him out of the house (it's a rental)
i think the hardest part is knowing i'll never lose my fingers in his soft fur again
that and i keep picturing him laying at the bottom of the hole

greg and i grieve so differently - we see death differently so we cope in different ways - i kept stroking and talking to bogart at the vet, even after he'd gone and the whole time we prepared his grave. where as greg really didn't want to look at him as to greg he was gone the moment the anaesthetic took effect (poor bogart was then transported wrapped in a blanket in the car boot). there is no wrong or right way to grieve. so i'm not saying he's wrong. just different. i think our methods may prolong the others grief 'though.

ally drew him in her visual diary at school yesterday - so she could look at him if she missed him at school - she wrote my puppe did (my puppy died). she's coping really well - though a little concerned for all our well being. theo says doh doh doh as we went down the steps yesterday - i was teaching him how to say dog. greg and i both cry. i guess it will get less each day.

dogs are so unconditional. greg told one of his workmates last week that bogart was always happy to see him when he got home from work - but that he couldn't guarantee i was - smile. i AM always happy to see him, however i do get cranky and you know what spaniels just don't do cranky!!!

oh well must off and feed theo
thanks for letting me indulge my grief a bit
karen

well it's finally happened

my first "grey" hair - actually it's not grey it's devoid of colour so more like white - i've pulled it out and stuck it up on the fridge - along side family pics, kids drawings, shopping lists etc - most homes of young families use the fridge like "the pool room"
distinguished i am!

farewell dear friend

our beloved spaniel left us today

he has been with us for 11 years

and we will all miss him terribly

here's what i posted on nappycino

21st feb 1997 - 1st june 2008

our beloved and most trusted friend

we will miss your softness

we will miss your cuddles

we will miss your love

we will miss your being there

bogart has been buried at our new block of land with a norfolk pine tree and lavendar garden with an extra large sprinkling of cow manure, his ball, food dish and lead. he has been positioned amongst what will be the chicken pen and no dig garden in clear view of our future back deck.

pics:

bogart and my family taken 31st march 2008

i'm always astounded that people can look at photo threads, baby announcements etc on forums and not even write one word!!! don't open the thread if you can't write anything i reckon.

burma cyclone tragedy

hi all

i'm donating all proceeds from these 3 pads on clothpadshop to world vision's burma fund

thanks for your help with this.

new products and a custom

after checking with ruth of greenkids/sugafish that she'd be ok with me selling a similar yet different product i've put a few wristlet key fobs up on ozebaby.

plus a custom set for a family i know. the regular girly bits pad has been shortened by about 1cm each end to suit. hope they like them, but then don't mind if they don't cause these would go great in MY stash - lol
happy day all

a swap and a thankyou

when my son was born we had a rocky start to our breastfeeding relationship - with bleeding nipples, vasoconstriction, mastitis, lactose overload, cmpi and reflux. the first couple of weeks i spent quite a bit of time on the phone to a wonderful lady (and aba counsellor) called bek (she owns http://www.pookeypockets.com.au/

so to thank her for her kind help i've made her a gorgeous narrow dyed bv top pad, with bamboo fleece inner and her fave print on the back - hopefully mister postman will deliver it tomorrow

and last year i got the wondeful tikki made these for our bear http://tikkifabricaddict.blogspot.com/2007/08/i-just-love-love-love-this-fabric-3.html the pair on the guitar are ally's - she's a pink freak and LOVES her tikki jeans - they are usually worn with her pint http://pintspalette.blogspot.com/ pixie top (painted by tikki's talented sister megsie). i've finally made my half of the swap (not being completely slack here - was all arranged with the lovely georgie). i only hope she likes the fabrics i've chosen. (and that 4 is enough)

harlequin customs

i'm really happy with how these turned out

i had some bamboo velour professionally dyed by the girls at http://www.fairyfabrics.com.au/ well worth it at $15 pm. stunning stunning colours.

and offered some custom slots on http://www.clothpadshop.com/ for the april fools harlequin theme.

here's a couple that were posted off today.

i reckon the lady who won the 3 auctions pictured has superb taste in pads!!!