Monday, August 15, 2011

Special Delivery - August

Here I am, ambitious as ever, and have told my Special Delivery Group that I'd be good for August and September. Ok, see the baby isn't due until the end of September, so I figure if I get them both done now, I'm covered. I just know that it'll be next to impossible to get anything done once baby is here, but I just hate missing out on the fun crafting-swappy-goodness. Well, fortunately my August partner has little kiddies, and I have a mostly finished Picnic Pack (remember the one I started and then decided I didn't like the fabric)...see where I'm going.

Oh the cleverness of me! Well it took about an hour to dig up all the parts and finish it, and I'm really liking it!


I think the reason I never finished it (other than getting different fabric for Bugaboo's pack) was because I didn't have any fabric for the straps and wasn't sure what I wanted to use. Well, I have a bunch of orange and yellow scraps from a Princess Daisy costume I made years ago (and yes, I made a Princess Peach one for my friend, and our husbands were Mario and Luigi; it was a pretty sweet Halloween) and they turned out just dandy.

I'm really liking the primary colour combos here. Added bonus: she has a little girl and a baby boy, so this can be passed down no problem. I'm really hoping she likes this!


It's not as clear, but instead of grommets this time, I sewed button holes. They worked fine, but I'm curious so hear how they compare over time. It's got a layer of water proofing fabric too, so it can be put down on the ground and eaten off of.


Well, I know what I want to make for my September SD, so I'm gonna try and get on it!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

train brain

An impromptu shopping spree this weekend has brought back my latest obsession; which oddly enough is Thomas the Tank Engine. To be fair (to me) I do have a two year old, so it's not too far of a stretch. It's just that they're so classy and cute, and he loves them. LOVES!

Anyway, I do recognize that they're obscenely overpriced, but I have been planning and scheming and I want to save all my wonderful surprises (and cool tales) until everything is put together, but I will spill the beans on 'The Plan'. Simply, that my genius husband who has mad-sweet carpentry skills will build a train table for our little guy. We just need to decide on the track layout...

So here I be, scouring the interwebs for the ideal track that doesn't have too many pieces outside of what we've already scavenged, but will be the most fun because we're nailing them babies down (I'm not a big fan of having to constantly re-set the track, and Bugaboo gets extremely frustrated when it all comes apart). I did find the track layout blueprint archive, but it doesn't have either the set I currently have or the one I've set my sights on, but it has got me thinking.

This is my favourite so far:







It's far better than just a straight loop (oxymoron; awesome), but we actually already have most of the pieces (not the crane and stuff, but the track pieces and the bridges).

I think I have my husband convinced to go pick up the lumber tonight, and one of our awesome neighbors has already offered to help (not that he needs it, but now he has no excuse for delay). I've kind of been nagging at him to get on this, because Bugaboo will need a good distraction (and a bit of a treat) when the baby gets here, which leaves us with only a month to finish things. Wish us luck!


PS (aug 16th): interestingly enough, one of my favourite sites, Ohdeedoh, just posted and article about train layouts and their discovery of an entire site dedicated to them. Perhaps we are on the same wavelength?


Monday, August 8, 2011

my babies



I still haven't grasped the idea that there will be two soon. TWO! Not soon enough (and I'm sure there will be times in the very near future where I wish one (or both) of them were back safely inside my belly, but for the moment, I just want to meet my little one!).



Anyhow, to help me stand the wait, I've been trying to keep busy, but it seems the only thing I can really get into that doesn't wear me out, is knitting. Not that I mind though, I have about a billion projects I want to do, and I know how much time you get to sit with both hands free after a new baby (zero), so I'm in it. Now, as previously mentioned, our local hospital won't tell you you baby's gender and we ain't forking over the money for a 3d ultrasound when we can just wait a while and find out on our own, so I'm happily stitching up an outfit for a girl, and a boy. With the completion of this:






I have finished my little baby girl ensemble (remember the booties from this post here, they go with this). My super snugly baby-boy get-up is on the needles, but is moving much much more slowly (cables, man I was feeling ambitious). I'm using the same yarn because I couldn't find another soft, sock-type yarn that I liked as much as my leftovers. It really is beautiful stuff.

Oh, and for my bigger baby, I have a sweater in the works as well. I'm using my grey wool from Briggs & Little, so it's not so soft, but man is it gonna be warm. I hope it will be nice for him this winter. I also hope I have it finished by this winter. I'm probably biting off more than I can chew, what with season sensitive clothes and them kiddies growing out of them so fast, but that's just how I am.



And biting off more than I can chew brings me to my next thought, although it wasn't really my fault. You see, my little man just turned two. It was the first birthday party I was hosting. I had dreamed of hosting birthday parties (and still do) for my kids at all ages, and years ago, I thought that the perfect theme for a two year old party would be a Teddy Bear Picnic! Plus, there's a little clearing just beside a small woods out back of our houses that would have been perfect. Well, without getting into too much, me being pregnant cut my schemes (and decorations and cooking, etc) in about half and the weather made us decide the morning of (I really didn't want to have to make the call) that we would have to host the dozen kids plus mommies and daddies in our teensy tiny house.


I'd say it was a HUGE success (on the grounds that Bugaboo, who is pretty into birthday parties already, had the time of his life)! Everyone was super kind about not mentioning how crowded and psycho it was, the kids were playing really well with each other, watching out for the few little guys crawling amidst the chaos, all my baking that I got around to actually doing (cookies, tarts and of course cupcakes) got eaten and it was a lot of fun. My original big plan was dwindled down to just a cute little picnic-treat spread and then the cupcakes. And from there we just bought a 1/4 lb bag of balloons from Walmart and filled the house. Best party ever! Bugaboo is still talking about it (and still singing 'happy birthday to ME!').




Oh, and for his actual birthday, my husband (aka super daddy) took the day off work and we just did things we knew Bugaboo liked, like go down to the marina and play.










Rocking some dance moves he picked up from Grampy.




Practicing his giraffe walk.






Yay Family! (the colour-coordination was purely a fluke, I promise)


So yeah, we've been having fun and time has been moving just a little bit faster. Still can't wait though...

Friday, August 5, 2011

sunshiney blues

It's a beautiful day, but we're stuck inside because I'm large, overheated, and out of breath. Being pregnant in the summertime is no fair for a two year old. However, it is Friday, and that means that daddy has a weekend, and maybe we can make better use of that time. I'll just have to endeavor to persevere with happier summer thoughts like this one:



I do have some other fun projects to share, but they can wait until next time. Have a wonderful weekend!

Monday, August 1, 2011

happy civic holiday!


What a silly day. Not that I'm complaining about a day off because that's awesome, but one that's different for every Provence? Oh well, yay BC-Day!


In other news, my husband has been using our camera and has put it somewhere, so what I wanted to post will wait a few days, and instead I'll bring you and update on my dandy knitting projects. Ok, so still not finished that sweater for the Sew Along. No excuse really, other than I don't like finishing and tucking all the little ends in. However, I did finish a beautiful pair of little baby slippers!



Now, I don't actually know the gender of our baby, so I'm knitting a few things for a girl, and have a few pieces for a boy lined up too. These little sandals from Debbie Bliss's 'blankets, bears and booties' book were too cute and I really wanted the challenge. Challenge me they did and still I prevailed! There was definitely a point where they looked pretty mangled, but finish them up and stuff them each with a weeble (because I don't have any little toesies for them yet) and they turned out lovely!



I'm on the final sleeve of the matching sweater, so back to knitting I go!


PS. These were done in the fabulous sock-wool I picked up at the Belfast Fibre mill. My little guy keeps picking up my work-in-progress or the ball of wool and just stroking it, so I hope new-baby finds it as snuggly too!