I'm in love with this crazy wool.....

from kittygrriz. I think its beautiful......swoon.

Just been informed by email that the beautiful and inspirational online magazine Papier Mache is launching in print in February. As I'm on the other side of the world I will continue with the online version but great news for all you Aussies (even though I am a bit jealous....)

Packing things away..... for now

I will be having a period of emptying my Etsy shop over the next few days. The shops become a bit tired looking and I think I need to spend some time pulling it all back together. I've got some fun ideas for a new collection of things to go in it in the new year so watch this space......

Acid greens and pinks

Baby quilt no.3 is nearly finished. Loving the squares of Liberty print fabric mixed with the acid greens. Should be finished tonight and then I need to decide what the next project will be......I've fallen in love with Cabbages and Roses again and there's always at least two knitting projects to be finished......

Monster Pencil Case

Bou is going to a birthday party on Saturday afternoon for a new school friend. He's a boy and he will be turning six. Now because I have two girls I struggle with any boy related gift and this party has given me a slight headache. I don't know the little boy or his parents so don't have much of an insight into what would be an appropriate gift plus I have the added stress of making a good impression - I do want to be friends with these mums and alienating myself as "the weird one who makes stuff" would not be the best start.

Anyway, yesterday afternoon I started to work on a monster pencil case and it actually turned out ok. The idea is that erasers and sharpeners can be kept safe in the monster pouch and pencils and pens in the case. Of course I will pad it out with some colouring pencils etc (probably Ben 10 to be on the safe side!)

Babiekins

I have just come across this great online magazine focusing on children. Its very slick with some lovely fashion pages and a couple of quite funny articles that are well worth reading. Find it here.

Thank you so very much Sarah from Homemadegorgeous blog who has given me a Beautiful Blogger Award. The last few days have been a combination of hectic and a stressful (cue boiler breaking down, kids with colds, two cars at the garage, boring blah blah) and so this was all the more appreciated.

So in the spirit of things I need to tell you 10 things about myself.......

1. I'm an only child (but I'm not spoilt)

2. I'm a complete chocoholic and keep secret stashes of chocolate all over the kitchen, which is weird because my husband really isn't a fan of the stuff (better to be safe than sorry though)

3. I have dual nationalities British/Canadian. Although I've never lived in Canada my mother lived and worked there for many years.

4. I can play the flute and piano - badly.

5. I studied at The London College of Fashion and did some work for House and Garden and Good Homes magazines whilst living in London.

6. My first ever job as a teenager was working in a tea room - I learnt a lot about cakes here. Both eating and making them.

7. I met my husband whilst on holiday in Marbella, Spain when I was 18. We have a 12 year age gap and have been together for nearly ten years.

8. I've always fancied giving pole dancing a go.

9. I love cooking for friends. We host a lot of dinner parties in our house as it lends itself to everyone having a few drinks and staying over. Hick!

10. I have a crush on the actor Rufus Sewell (well who could resist)

Are you still with me? I'd like to pass this award onto Clarabella who has a lovely blog and I really enjoy following.

From this....to this....

The blue and orange moses basket quilt is now finished. Going from this (above) to this......

I really enjoyed making it and have already started another one in cabbage greens (with the odd piece of Liberty pink floral fabric to lift it) I have to admit they are quite addictive to make and I'm toying with the idea of making two much larger quilts for the girls beds. Although I am a bit daunted by how long it may take me to make these...

Anyway for now I need to concentrate on getting the final moses quilt finished and whizzing up some all important Christmas tree decorations, otherwise it will be going up naked.

Thought you might like to see a photo of the bump (its definitely getting bigger!) Sorry its a bit of a dodgy picture but you get the idea - notice the concentration on my face when dealing with technology! Had my scan yesterday which went well. 20 weeks now - officially halfway! Whoop! Whoop!

Quilt

I finished the baby quilt last night and I'm very pleased with it. It's definitely the most 'professional' looking one I've made AND I've also got to grips with making my own binding (happy days).


In between working on the quilt I have also been making lots of baby bibs from bits and pieces of odd fabric and backing them with flannel. They've turned out really well and much more eye catching than the shop bought, boring ones - even if they are only going to be puked on !

One of my little helpers was following me around this morning - apparently all the cool kids read books upside down.....

Yellow and Grey Quilt update....

So I've been working hard on my little plan to make a stock of moses basket quilts. I thought you might like to see my progress......

I'm now onto the stage of pinning all of the pieces together and then making the binding. Previous attempts with binding have seen me sort of "fudge" this stage and make it up as I go along. This time its going to be different. I've done my research on YouTube (apparently its not just for music videos, who would have thought?) and I'm ready to go.

Of course I'm already thinking about the next quilt and have put together a stack of fabrics. What do you think?

In love with a Royal Beast......

.....one created by Alice Gabb to be exact. He reminds me of a cat we used to have called Cuba - all fluffy cheeked and regal. Alice is a pretty cool cat too and her blog is lovely.

Last week was half term and with the girls both off from school/nursery I have to admit I achieved very little - apart from all the preparations for their Halloween party. I tried to make a big effort with this because I know as the pregnancy progresses I will be able to do less and less in the way of things that require lots of energy i.e. childrens parties.

I did however make a purchase of some fabric for a couple of moses basket blankets I intend to make in the long winter evenings. I'm keeping the colour option in a neutral boy or girl palette of yellow with a hint of grey. As normal fabric from Saints and Pinners.

Spooky....

Isn't this amazing? One seriously dedicated knitter ! The effect is fantastic and perfect for the Halloween weekend. It was created by Ben Cuevas and was exhibited at the Wassaic Project in New York State. Read about it here.

Show and tell.....more wool

Stumbled across Spud and Chloe the other day who sell lots of tempting wool in plenty of gorgeous modern colours. I particularly love Grass in Sweater weight. Find them here

Lots of cool free patterns on their blog too which are well worth looking at. I love these mittens.
Anyway, before I make another wool purchase I really do need to finish the Tricot cardigan in grey - its nearly there, so photos to follow shortly.

I've been a very good girl this girl.......

...so I feel justified in adding this to my Christmas list. You can buy one here (Father Christmas please take note)

Not much time to blog this morning (kids running wild and outlaws coming for lunch) but I wanted to share this great little Etsy site full of lovely eco-friendly packaging, bags, tags and ribbon.

Lots of lovely things for Halloween too. Find it all here.

Off my needles....

The red baby jacket I have been working on came off my needles last night. It's cute and I'm pleased with it but I have to say I didn't really enjoy the Debbie Bliss pattern (its half knitted in pieces - sleeves, front etc - and then you pick up everything half way. I found this to be a very unsatisfying knit as you feel like you're getting nowhere until it comes together in the last row) Its from the new Debbie Bliss book 'Design It, Knit It, Babies' which is worth buying. The colour combinations are inspirational, particularly the fairisle.

Next up I'm knitting another baby cardigan - this time a short sleeve one in grey.

I've also finished a couple of practise bibs with fabric I had in my stash. I've decided they should really be backed in flannel and a purchase has been made for making the next few.

some news....

....and the news is we are expecting a baby in April. We are all very excited despite the fact I have been feeling shocking with "all-day" morning sickness and weird food cravings (anyone for a supermarket steak pie at 8am). Yuck. I'm hoping it will pass soon. We had the first scan last week and everything looked great - it was amazingly clear and we could see the baby sucking its thumb. So cute! As most of you know we have two girls, 4 and 2 years so the introduction of child 3 is going to mean a busy time ahead.

So with babies on the brain at the moment I've been taking inspiration for my knitting from Little Hooligan which is full of lots of gorgeous baby handknits and lusting after some flannel fabric from Saints and Pinners - I'm thinking about making lots of baby bibs this time around.

Hope you had a great weekend and Happy Monday everyone.

Update

A quick post to show you the mini hats I have knitted for the Innocent smoothie Help the Aged campaign. I knitted these last night whilst watching X Factor and I'm really pleased with how they've turned out.

Get knitting for.....

....Innocent who have teamed up with Age Concern to raise money to help keep older people warm this winter. If you haven't heard about it all you do is knit a mini hat (or lots) for a smoothie bottle and Innocent will donate money to the campaign. Great idea and everyone who knits has lots of odd pieces of wool laying around so I think this is a really good way of using it all up for a good cause. Hurry though as they need them by the 15th October. Details found here.

Thought I would take a break from boring chores (mainly lots of cleaning for a house viewing tomorrow) and share with you this lovely site I came across the other day.

Its called Haven and it has its own online shop, full of beautiful quilts and pretty painted furniture, and a super blog too. I found the whole thing inspirational, the photography is really fresh and the colour combinations are spot on. Hope you like it too.

One of my favourite online yarn shops is offering a special 10% off until the end of September. Details can be found here

I'm tempted by the Sublime Baby Cashmere DK.....

and Manos del Uruguay Solid Silk (who wouldn't be ?)

My husband better hide his credit card. Balls of wool are like Jimmy Choos to me.