Don't they just melt your heart?

I think I have the cutest most adorable two year old there is. I know it is a bit biased but he really is sweet.
I was going to write about something else but as I was logging in, woke from his afternoon rest. He didn't want to rest but it was obvious he was tired, so I persisted. He has recently started to emerge from his bedroom shortly after being set up on his bed with a book and a blanket, proclaiming "I'm not tired" or "Mum, I've finished resting" only a mere five minutes later.
Today I made some threats that he would miss out on something if he got off his bed again. It worked. He stayed put and eventually fell asleep.
When he woke a few hours later, I could here him calling me "Mum! Where are you?" I thought that he would come out as he usually does and find me so I continued on the computer. Nope, the calling continued. I thought I had better go see him, and found him standing at his bed very tentative about moving.
When I got up to him he asked in his most sweetest voice "Can I come out now?"




Don't they just melt your heart?!

How time flies!

Goodness, it has been 4 months since my last post! Slack some might say but I do have good reason...
It seems my tiredness I spoke about in my last post was not much to do with Williams sleeping but more to do with being pregnant again! Yay! It's a bit exciting but scary too!
Anyway, I had terrible all day morning sickness and there were days when I could only manage to stomach juice, so I had my trusty book 'Feeding the Bump' out and worked my way through the juices to try and settle my stomach. It helped a bit, but I had to cut out Coffee first then found tea didn't help either, then the hot milo had to stop and at 11 weeks the sickness all but went away. Then the real tiredness set in! I spent most of the day on the couch as I just didnt have the energy to get up and do stuff. Now at 21 weeks everything is going great! My belly seems to be bigger at this stage than it was last time but someone told me that was normal sometimes.
A funny thing - my good friend is due three days before me! We joke about going into labour together and being in hospital together, but now her doctor wants her to have the baby in Bunbury instead of Busselton so that has put a slight dampener on our jokes!
All my sewing stopped for a good three months but I'm slowly getting back into it and have been making some baby slings for friends and their friends and some cute summer baby hats for them too as they have had real trouble finding ones for 6 week olds!

Heres a pic of cute little Hunter happy in his sling!



And here is one of his hats! They are so cute being so small and totally reversable




I made them using the fantastic Make it Perfect pattern.
This pattern was one of the first ones I bought and made for William when I couldn't find a hat to fit him that didn't carry a dreaded generic label.
I love the Make it perfect patterns, I have a few, they are so easy to follow and make.
And with that I will retreat to the kitchen table and start sewing some more! I think I will make a girly one now for my friend Madeline who had a baby girl last night, I think she will need one soon!

Too tired to blog

This week has been a challenge to say the least! Last weekend was good. On Saturday Monkeysinmypocket Facebook Page reached 111 'Likers' in less than a week. I gave away a set of my Pjs.
Sunday was Mothers Day and I scored there! An Overlocker! Yep, how lucky am I? I don't actually have it yet, but have been given permission to look for one at next weeks Craft & Quilt fair in Perth. Exciting I know!!
But then Monday it started. I wasn't expecting it that's for sure. He's always been a good sleeper. Well, except for the usual things like sickness and loud noises. This is making our house very unhappy at the moment. We are up to night 4 but it seems longer! William all of a sudden has been waking at 1am and is wide awake, ready for action. I looked for all the normal causes. Is he too hot, too cold, sore, hungry, thirsty? I found teeth, BIG TEETH erupting. Two year old molars are poking through. I tried Nurofen. Didn't work. I tried leaving him. Screamed for hours before finally dropping off after I gave up and stood at the bed.
Night 2, I let him sleep in our bed after half an hour. He was asleep in an instant.
Night 3, I went in, put him under the covers and left without a word. I lost count after 5 repositionings!
Tonight is night 4. I'm expecting it again, hoping I'm wrong!
We just aren't used to being awake for long periods anymore! We are all fuzzy and bleary eyed. I haven't sewn all week, I haven't blogged for ages. I'm trying to resist drinking coffee from a bucket, but I might fail tomorrow!



I'm hoping this cheeky little monkey will return to normal very soon!

Facebook Giveaway

Monkeysinmypocket has a Facebook page YAY!! Help me get to 100 fans (likes) for my first giveaway!!!
Details to come soon.

Oh, I'm working on some larger sizes of Pjs. Any requests? I've got fours and fives. Should I go larger?

It's official!

I have the official verdict on the Monkeys in My Pocket Pyjamas. Given to me straight from the horses mouth! My neice Felicity who turned seven this year was given a set for her birthday this year. This morning she told me...and I quote,
"They are the BEST pyjamas I've ever had. They are soooooooo comfortable, I never want to take them off! I love them sooooo much!"
She went on to tell me she wore them on the drive to Shark Bay, which I believe is a ten hour drive from Perth, and they were so comfortable in the car. Apparently she wore them almost everyday of the two week holiday!

So, there you have it! And so I have been making more, and more, and there are more to come!







You can get yours here
About the sizing... I don't think I will worry about making smaller than the 2/3, but I will definately be making some larger sizes like 5 and 6, maybe bigger. What do you think?

Mini Mat

How funny is Michelle?! After the arrival of her baby quilt I made about a week and a half ago, she emailed me on Tuesday and asked if I could make her a baby gym mat! She loved the fabric I used for the napkins, and I had enough of that left over, so check out Michelle's baby gym mat...



....my second sale from my Madeit store. Now to sell some more!

I still love making the pjs, so I will do some flannel shopping in the next couple of days and see if I can find some cute and fun flannels for more PJ sets...Coming soon!!
Now I'm off to weed the front garden on such a beautiful autumn day. Autumn is my favourite time of year, especially the crisp cold mornings that develop into the most perfect still, sunny days. They make me want to spend every minute outside.

two quilts

Early last week I got an email from MichelleM asking for a custom quilt. She had been looking for something for a while and liked some of mine. She didn't want anything too girly so she had a look on my flickr to see some of my others and liked Ma's quilt the best. Luckily I had enough fabric left over to make a baby sized one for Michelle.






I shipped it off last night to Canberra to its new home with Michelle and her little girl. I know it will be loved as Michelle was so excited when I emailed her a picture! I love making baby quilts and love it even more when they are going to someone who I know will love them more than me! (Even though I am sad to see them go coz I always want to keep them!!)





I made this one about a month ago and just had to bind it. I decided late one night that I wanted to try a star, so I had fun randomly cutting into some scraps and sewing them together where ever they fitted! It is so cool! I love it and even though it is only really little, I am definately keeping this one!!

More pjs!

Yesterday I didnt do much else but sew (oh, and make bread, and do some washing, and watch the races, and......)
I made 2 more pairs of Pjs. These Urban Flannel ones are my favourite so far.





And I was so impressed with the colour of some of the produce in my vegie garden I just had to document it! Impressive colours hey?!

Pyjama time

I've decided I LOVE making pyjamas! I can't seem to get enough of them now! I made a bunch for Christmas pressies for various child relatives last year and loved it then too. I'm finding myself looking at fabric now and thinking how it will look as pjs!!
Here are two sets I made yesterday...

these are listed here in my Madeit store



these are listed here in my Madeit store

Shopping mad!

I went on a little shopping trip today to Bunbury. I was only going to go to Craft Collections to spend my gift voucher I got for my birthday last year, but of course I couldnt help myself!
I ended up first stoping at Textile Traders. I always find a bargain in there and today, it was hard not to spend up big! I found the coolest blue cowboy fabric, in dark and light blue. I found some cool fire trucks too. As soon as I saw the cowboys, I knew what I was making - yep - PYJAMAS!

This groovy set is now listed in my Madeit Store

Next I went to Harvey Norman (didn't want to, but husband wanted me to look at a bed - didnt like it!). Then onto Spotlight, where I wondered around looking at stuff and then saw some curtain fabric for William. Never made curtains before, but will be in the next few days!

Finally I got to where I was meant to go, and found some flannel and cute pigs, none of which are for me! oh well, I get the satisfaction of sewing with it one day I guess!
Off to make more Pjs. I love Pyjamas...

First submission!

I have finally submitted my first item to the handmade cooperative blog

I whipped up this cute pink Crazy Croc Tee specially for it. I am hoping it gets selected for the week six theme. It is such a great opportunity to get your stuff out there and seen by others. Not to mention seeing what everyone else is making. There is just sooo much fantastic handmade stuff out there.
I cant wait to see if it gets picked. In the mean time it is listed in my Madeit store

Back on deck

Well, I'm back in WA, back at home. I love going on holidays to Victoria to see my family, but I don't like coming back and feeling like I never went! I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like that!
We had a great time catching up with loads of freinds. Some missed out again unfortunately but I will be back in Victoria in November and again at Christmas, so they wont miss out again. We went to the lovely Halls Gap in the Grampians. I haven't been there since I was about 9 years old I think. My sister Suzanna married Matt at one of the look outs (I've forgotten already)! I didn't take any photos coz I forgot my camera - derr! I'm waiting for some from my dad.
I'm trying to do many things now that I'm back. I'm trying to get a logo made so any suggestions will be great.
I'm trying to get the vegie garden back into some sort of order! It looks a mess, grass growing on all the paths and a couple of wild out of control pumpkins make it look worse I think. When I have some photos of it looking impressive I might post some.
I'm trying to get some stuff made for my Madeit store. This however isn't going very well. I've gone into my sewing room, looked around at the mess, put the new fabric I bought from Ballarat Patchwork (loved the store by the way, if I didn't have mum and WIlliam I would have spent MUCH longer in there!) on the table and walked out and shut the door. NOT a good start!
Tonight I WILL make a pair of pjs for my neice Felicity's birthday on Saturday. She will love them I'm sure. I might make her a hat too. I also want to get some more crazy croc T's started too.
No photos today. Maybe tomorrow.
Back to planting vegies.....

dizzy donkeys

dizzy donkeys 001
Originally uploaded by monkeysinmypocket

Disys donkey quilt. I have been making this for dear Disy who was diagnosed last year with Parkinsons. So sad, she has been a real work horse all her life and now, I think she is about 70 she's had to stop all of a sudden with various illnesses. Disy has be very unwell recently and I am visiting her in Victoria next week. I wanted to bring her this cheerful little lap quilt but I stuffed up the sashing in my hurried frenzy to get as much done a poss. I now need to re do the sashing so will have to post it to her ASAP when I get back.
Note to self - DON"T RUSH QUILTS!

Hats Off!

I love this hat. i love the design (Make it Perfect Lazy day hat). I love making them. I love how they sit on the childs head and cover the neck and ears and shade the face. I have made 2 of this style bucket hat for William. Both different. I made this one for little Zach. I'm going to make more and put them in my Madeit store.
Im still frantically trying to get more Donkeys in Wellies done before I go to Melbourne tomorrow. I'll be gone for 10days, so you'll hear more from me then.

Two down

I finally finished this quilt for Ben's grandma - also known as Ma. She is in her mid 80s and we wanted to give her something special for christmas. Yes I know that was months ago now. But I spoke to her about it and asked if she would like a quilt. Of course she would! I wasn't too sure as all the past christmas' have been, noughat or bickky tins. She is trying to get work out who she is going to give all her belongings to when she is gone and I didn't think she would want to add another item to the list, but she was pretty happy with the idea. That was decided 3 days before Christmas. She knew she would have to wait a little while. Well, I had it all made by the end of Jan, and only had to bind it. It took all of Feb to do that!



I tried to get some artistic shots, but William wanted to be in them too!
Since this year I want to take my quilting a bit further, I decided it was time to really try the free motion stippling. So this was my first real go. I must say I really enjoyed it.


And to step further out of my comfort zone I made this pink whirlygig quilt to practice peicing bits that weren't just squares and strips.

And today I am quickly working on a quilt using the Donkeys in Wellies frabric from Scarlett Fig. My dear friend Disy was diagnosed last year with Parkinsons and I sadly was told this week that it is starting to take over. Disy loves donkeys and always said to me that although she was nearly 70 she still felt 19. Well, I hope the quilt will help to keep her feeling young, it is nice and bright. I am heading to Victoria on Friday and am hoping to get the majority of it finished so I can give it to her in person.
I will add some photos of the blocks later.
Oh, so, I have 2 quilts finished and 2 two go! One just needs binding, and I'm really proud of that one as it is completely different from anything I have done before and I did it all very late at night - no pattern or direction, all my own! Pic later!

Madeit

So all of a sudden the other day I decided to pull my finger out and get my Madeit store up and happening. I have had it semi set up for a while with a couple of tshirts on but i still need to get a logo happening.
Anyway, I've been madly sewing these last couple of days and so far have added 5 new items. Here are a few pics of my handy work! I have already shown the black and white baby bug quilt.




This baby wrap feels so soft to hold. I haven't used any batting, just backed it with the Urban flannel and quilted it with the double edged squares.



I am definately making more of these. I just love holding it. It feels so comforting.



Yay! Crazy Croc Tees! I made one of these for William months ago and have had so many people ask where I got it that I thought these should most certainly go in my Madeit store!



Blue and grey spotted crazy croc!



Green crazy croc!

More designs to come!

busy busy busy

I've always been hopeless at keeping diaries and seems I'm just as bad with blogging!

We have been pretty busy here. I'm trying to put some work into the things around the house that I let go coz I was spending sooo much time infront of my sewing machine! The gardens are being attacked, weeds pulled, cow poo on then a thick layer of mulch. The vegie garden is starting to look loved again. That was really suffereing. The fruit trees I planted when we moved here have all been given either chook poo or cow poo!
We went to Manjimup yesterday and picked up some (3) pigglets. Ben has wanted Wessex Saddlebacks for ages and we found some little ones really cheap in the Quokka so we went and got them. They are in the calf shed at the moment and need a new bigger home that hopefully we can start this week. They are pretty cute. We are trying to make them abit friendlier so we can choose a boer to start breeding when we get a sow.

I have done very little sewing or quilting really. I have made these napkins for Bens mum for her birthday.












I also made this cute little baby quilt come tummy time play mat. I had the red and black ladybird blocks left over from another quilt I made last year and thought I had better start using some scraps that are starting to make their way out of my sewing room! I listed it in my Madeit store












Oh! I almost forgot. My fantastic fabric from Scarlett Fig arrived. Donkeys in Wellies and the giraffes and rhinos. I will take a pick I promise. I'm trying to work out what I'm going to do with it. I have about 20 things in my mind at the moment and am finding it difficult to know where to start!

I have a 'Follower'!

Yippee!! I officially have a follower listed on the side! I checked this morning and there it was! Well of course I had to check and see who. Funky Fabrix! Yay! My favourite online store. I think I have maxed out my credit card to them! Don't tell hubby, he wouldn't be impressed! I buy a fair bit of my fabric from them and love the funky stuff the carry.

Harry's plane quilt

My friend Kel from my mums group asked me to make her a new quilt for her little boy Harry. She didnt care how I did it. She has two already that Ive made for her and loves them so much she just had to have another... so.... HERE IT IS!




What do you think? ! just used various blues and greens and raw edge appliqued the planes on. I think she'll like it. William certainly did, he kept pointing to himself everytime I showed him!
OH yeah, and I's so proud, I actually quilted it with my free motion foot. Finally had the guts to use it! I quilted clouds all over it. I think it looks good

Tractors!

William decided the other day that he didn't want to wear anything else but his blue tractor top(yes! the one he is wearing in the previous post photos!) He wore it 3 days in a row. I had to make another so I could get this one in the wash. So I made this one!
Well, that created another uproar! He only wanted to wear the new one. So, despite it being almost black from dirt, he wore the new one for three days also. I have since made a dump truck tshirt also. It's in the wash!
I must add that William chose the colours

New things

We had an exciting long weekend here. We had Chocky the pony arrive on Sunday. William has been trying to ride the dog and the poor cats so we felt maybe we needed something a little more substantial!
He adored Chocky from the moment he saw him. He has a little ride every day and we feed him grass and brush him.
I found a little helmet for William. When we were in the shop he tried on 2 other ones, well we almost got them on his head. He refused to put them on. Then the shop lady got the old style white egg out and he wouldnt take it off! He wore it home and continued to wear it while playing in the sandpit.
And speaking of sandpits....Ben built a new one of those too! The old one was a tiny triangle of sand where a tree had been taken out for the new fence. As William was growing bigger there became less room for all the trucks and tractors to fit. So the new one was built!

Libby's Birthday Quilt

My sister is getting married again in March. Her partner has a daughter, my sister has a little boy. Blake got a quilt, my first one ever made, a couple of years ago. I wish i had a picture of it coz it was shocking! i had no idea what i was doing! But, Blake LOVED it because I had made it and because it was covered in fire trucks!
This one is for Libby. Her birthday was on Monday. I hope she likes it and gets it soon, as i had to express post it.

Sew Cute!

Emily from my mums group had her second baby last week. They called him Kace (a dutch name but changed the spelling). I made this cute little outfit for him. I love making those little bloomers. They are just so cute. I love the ruffly ones too.


I made these ones for Bella for christmas. She is also from my mums group.
They are so easy to make and so original. Love them!

Kate's purple quilt

Here it is! Ben's little sister Kate turned 11 at the end of December. I hurried to get it done as quick as possible, what with all the christmas stuff I decided to make as gifts, I didn't leave myself much time.
Her bedroom is white with a pastel purple feature wall and all white furniture so the only choice was purple and white! She loved it, I love it, we all love it!
I think I will make more of them. I love the coloured squares with white sashes. Yes I will make more!

Crazy times!

It has been crazy here, but that's probably the same for every one else! Ben's been building more paddocks and I've been madly trying to finish Kate's purple birthday quilt. I did a heap yesterday and only have one side left to sew the binding down. I'm pretty happy with it. A photo later.
I finished the Guinea Fowl Quilt for little Matthew. Ben's cousins Kaz and Craig love guinea fowl so it was only fitting. They loved it too! good oh!