Lately, I look a bit like this:
Actually, this was taken at twenty-eight weeks – I’m thirty now, and it’s taken me that long to be able to waddle my way to the laptop to write another post. I’m currently feeling pretty huffy, thanks to a severe bout of anaemia, and a lack of anything half decent to wear – this explains my “just-hurry-up-and-take-the-picture” face above. My jeans, bless them, refuse to fasten under the strain now (they’ve done pretty well under the circumstances), and just leaving the top button undone isn’t an option any more. I’ve searched high and low for vintage-esque tunics, but everything seems to be tailored to the waist – my favourite type of dress has become my nemesis. Sigh.
The Boy currently looks a bit like this:
He started pre-school a couple of weeks ago, and so far, touch wood, seems to be thoroughly enjoying it. On his first day, he ran in without a backward glance, and the only tears streaming down any cheeks were mine. Ahem.
On a completely different note, aside from frantic baby preparations (cloth nappies: check. Vintage sheets to use in the cot: check. Bibs sewn and crocheted: check (well, almost). Buggy chosen: ask me again in a week….), I’ve been sticking quite well to one of my main resolutions – to craft more. The television, although still on most evenings, has been tuned to Radio 4, or Location, Location, and has mostly been background noise to the whirr of the sewing machine, or the snipping of scissors.
Firstly, I managed to finish a patchwork wall-hanging that I started for the Boy when he was born. Three years ago. It actually only took two evenings in the end, and goes to show that procrastination really is a killer of creativity.
It’s really nothing fantastically technical, and isn’t actually even quilted (once I had all the squares sewn together, I couldn’t bare the thought of trying to quilt it, and the whole lot just going terribly wrong, so I completely bottled out and just stitched a back on!) – if you look closely you can see that some of the squares don’t actually match up exactly, oh dear! Still, the Boy was absolutely over the moon with it, and I managed to time it so that it went up on the same day that we took the sides off of his cot. He is now the proud owner of one ‘big boy bed’, complete with animal wall hanging – I do want to get some vegetable crates (or something similar – is that a cliche now? Probably, never mind!) to attach to the wall to hold his toys and books, but for now, his room is looking pretty sweet.
My second crafty achievements were related to my wonderful Mum’s birthday – I’m a big fan of handmade gifts, I just think they’re so much more personal and lovely. Mum and I both absolutely love hyacinths, so I bought some from a local market, re-potted them in charity-shop found earthenware pots, and decided they needed a little something extra. About a year or so ago, I bought some lovely printed scrapbook paper in Hobbycraft, purely on a whim, and had been saving it for the ideal project – which had never appeared. I considered making some miniature paper bunting, but wasn’t sure how it would stand up against the attack of the watering can, so decided to do something similar but on a smaller scale…
Little paper flags! Far sturdier, and easily removed for watering, brilliant! I also crocheted her a small scented bag, filled with dried lavender from a bag she bought me when we went to a local lavender farm last year – technically, this was the Boy’s present to her, and was accompanied by a framed photograph I’d taken of him amongst the fields….
There were also several bunches of flowers, a DVD and some other little bits and pieces – I’m pleased to report that she loved them all. Hurrah for handmade, and hurrah for stomping on procrastination!
Cute little flags! The hyacinth pots look great 🙂
Looking good, honey. x
Love your little boys wall hanging and good on you managing to do ANYTHING at 30 weeks! Hope the rest of your pregnancy is speedy x x
You look lovely!The wall haning is gorgeous, such cool prints. I like the vegetable crate idea, cliche or not.Lovely flowers and flags – I am determined to do some sort of plant growing this year!
You look so gorgeous- I'm so excited that there isn't long to go till your baby arrives!!!Such pretty flags too x
Thanks everyone!Sew, Ray, Me – thank you! I've now got almost an entire packet of wooden skewers to find a use for!Mama Hep – I miss my waistline, and mostly, your shop!The Sewing Boutique – thank you! Looking forward to seeing what lovelies I can find in your shop!Lisa-Marie – a friend who happens to be a head chef got me some plastic vegetable crates to keep all our veg and bulk buy tins in, but I absolutely cannot find wooden ones anywhere. I looked on eBay and they seem to be charging £20+, and then postage on top of that! It sort of makes a mockery of 'making do and mending' when you consider paying those prices!Mother of Purl – you wouldn't say that if you saw me at the moment. Horror fright wig hair, saggy pyjamas and a cross morning face. Ha! Thank you though :-)x
Ahhhh.. i love the mini flags! And the Boys project – funny how something you have been putting off via procrastination can take mere hours to complete. I know the feeling well!
What beautiful thoughtful gifts, and a very lucky Mum! Handmade really is better than shop bought and so much more enjoyable to make than traipsing round the shops wondering what to get. Good luck with the bump. Those last few weeks will hopefully whizz by. Keep thinking empire line, empire line!! x
Congratulations – I didn't know you have a baby on the way x I'm only 17 weeks and missing my waist already! Maternity clothes are pretty horrific when you're into vintage. Have you tried ebay for old patterns as you can sew? Which reminds me – I must start some sewing myself!Your handmade items are great and it's so true about procrastination! I started knitting some toys for BB before he was born which still aren't finished and he'll be 2 in May!
omg, you look adorable! i love all the bright colors in this post…and you're making me wanna get crafty!
aww cute bump! 🙂 xx