Blissed out

Knitting and quilting

After a blip of a broken camera I can finally take pictures again.  I've finally finished work properly which feels very, very weird.  I was exhausted by the time I finished and glad of the break but I'm now in some sort of baby limbo - just waiting!

What would I do without my birth ball?

I've realised I'm not one of life's patient people!  It's not been helped by the fact that Cole arrived at 36 weeks after my waters breaking a week previously.  So everyone, including me, has been expecting me to go into labour on the early side (although I was relieved to get to the magic 37 weeks of 'term'.)

But now I'm almost 39 weeks which feels about 2 weeks overdue! Although I'm trying to keep busy there's only so much cleaning and waddling around I can do.  Plus I'd give anything for a comfortable sleep - you know, without waking every hour to haul myself onto my other side or go to the loo!  But I'm not really moaning - (yeah, I know I'm doing a good impression of it!) How can I be really after the journey it took us to get here - I just can't wait to meet our baby!

So there has been much knitting going on - and I'm really proud of this one because I've always shied away from fairisle before - too complex, too many things that could go wrong, too much swearing!  But I really enjoyed doing this and I think it rocks! 

I've also done a roll about, kick your legs quilt so that our new little lady has somewhere to stretch out.  I love the combination of the colours and patterns and my edging skills are definitely improving - this one's practically neat!

Ok, finally a shot of my rapidly growing baby belly - no more bump envy for me, I've got a whopper of my own!

  
Enjoy your Sunday

Jo x

More Knitting

Ok - I know the blogging thing's gone a bit awry lately - blame extreme tiredness coupled with burst of manic nesting.  But I am still doing stuff - here's one of things I've knitted recently:

It's from the Debbie Bliss Special Babies book although I used a slightly different yarn to the one recommended and I think it's  knitted up a bit on the large side.  Not to worry - she'll grow into it!.

The embroidery on this seemed to take ages - every night for about a week I seemed to be doing little daisies - I was pretty sick of them by the end!

As you can see I'm getting bigger - although still thankfully not massive.  This is the latest bump picture taken last week at 34 weeks - still some way to grow I think although according to my midwife the baby is measuring around 5lbs which is spot on for 34 weeks.

Other than feeling really tired I'm still well.  I've decided (with a bit of persuasion from John and my Mum) to postpone finishing my dissertation until early next year - I've officially got the whole academic year to do it and trying to get it done before the baby arrives has been stressing me out to be honest.  I do feel like a weight has been lifted off me but still worry a a bit about whether I'm going to pick it up again once the baby arrives. But I'm not even going to think about it until after Christmas.

I hope everyone's well.  I keep popping into all my favourite blogs to see what everyone's up to and feel like I'm still vaguely in the loop! 

Japanese Influence

Well I've now more or less finished on maternity leave (almost 33 weeks pregnant - eek!) so should have a bit more time to blog (the guilt has been getting to me!)  I thought I'd share some of the things I've been working on recently.  I'm really, really pleased with this outfit - its from the Ottobre magazine which I treated myself to a subscription to. 

Apart from the copying the pattern and the cutting out which I'm rubbish at (thank goodness for a flooring specialist husband who can measure like a demon) the sewing up was pretty easy.  Considering I still feel that my sewing skills are beginner at best, I was really pleased with this.

The pants and shirt are made from some fabric from my stash and the smock top/pinafore is made from a pair of linen pants I found in a charity shop. 

I keep debating with myself whether to put some applique on it or not - but as I haven't decided, for now it remains plain!

I'll update you with some of the other things I've been working on over the next few days - must dash now - taking Cole to see Walking with dinosaurs and I'm a bit scared!

Jo x

Butterflies

I love this fabric - I can't even remember what make it is but I've had it for a year now and just had to make something with it.  I'd tried this baby smock pattern before as a present for Cole's stepsister's first birthday.  Actually, as an aside, I don't like making the differentiation that she's his step sister - as far as he (and the rest of us are concerned) she's his sister.  Just because they don't share both parents doesn't make the bond any less.

The pattern is by Manda and was published in Sew Hip magazine. 

It's super easy and fits a wide age range (well baby to toddler) so I thought it'd make a good first sewing project for little bean.  I didn't quite have enough fabric so had to improvise on the sleeves with some brushed cotton. 

I quite like it now because the it's so soft I think it'll feel nice against her skin.

I'm still knitting away too - I'm dong a little purple kimono style dress which is almost done (needs some little flowers embroidered onto it) and I've also curtains to make for the nursery - not to mention muslin squares to embroider, nappy stackers and nursery tidies to complete and probably a whole host of other things I decide on.  honestly I need to finish work soon just so that I can fit it all in!  It's actually seriously lovely to have so many creative ideas going on and as I'm having to put in some serious brain activity and hours getting my dissertation done the crafting is a welcome relief in comparison.

Jo x

More Baby Making

I'm struggling to post at the moment as I usually do my blogging in the evenings or weekends whilst spending time with the family - nicely sat on the sofa with the laptop on my knee.  However those pregnancy hormones have been doing their job a bit too well on my spine and I've been getting backache in my tailbone which makes it really difficult to sit upright on a hard surface (or even a slightly squishy one like a sofa.)  So this is being written sat at my desk on my birth ball!

But I have been making though.  I've been knitting - and look - it's pink!  When we found out we were having a girl I couldn't help myself and had to buy some pink yarn - Rowan luxury cotton on half price sale no less - how could I not? 

The pattern is Debbie Bliss who does lovely knitting patterns for babies which are always nice and easy to follow.  John's not so thrilled it's pink - he's still holding onto the idea that we'll be able to have this little girl with no pink what so ever - I think he's going to have to rethink that myself!

As for my back I'm still determined to enjoy this pregnancy - I've got three months left (eeek that's gone so quickly!) and that's too long to be miserable and in pain so I've booked to see a chiropractor on Monday and I've made a choice to do at least 30 minutes yoga every day rather than just on a Saturday when I go to a class. AND even if I do carry on feeling achy and stiff - it's 3 little months - I can cope.  I'd rather not, but if it's comes down to it it's manageable. PMA and all that!

Have a lovely weekend

Jo x

Any Pessimists Out There May Want To Turn Away Now

I know it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted and it's not been deliberate at all - it's just the challenge of fitting everything in at the moment.  I'm desperately trying to get the Masters Dissertation properly underway as well as sorting out some things with Cole's school which are taking up a fair bit of my energy.  But it's all manageable - I'm now stressing, it's just time consuming.

Because I'm spending so much time of those things (along with my job and family of course!) the crafting and blogging is going a bit by the wayside.  Which is doubly frustrating really because there are soooooo many things I'm wanting to do and get underway.  John is busy decorating the nursery and I've ordered some totally gorgeous fabric form Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks Range to make curtains and other assorted nursery things. I want brights for the nursery and fell in love with the colours in this range. I can't wait to get started but have to content myself for now with looking at the fabric!

I have been knitting a lot too and have almost finished my next project - PINK! Which John is still not convinced about - I think he's fighting a losing battle deciding that our girl won't be wearing any pink to be honest. Yes there are some beautiful girls clothes out there is alternative colourways but the majority of them in most shops are pink. Even non pink clothes have pink bits on them.  And besides, there was something in me just had to buy the pink Rowan luxury cotton yarn that was on sale as soon as I found out we were expecting a girl - it just had to be done!

Despite being busy and living as frugally as we can to save up so that I can have a decent maternity leave, life is so fantastic at the moment I could almost burst.  I am so happy.  I am so grateful for everything that we have in our life - the past year; getting married, our amazing road trip, the wedding party, a new job, lovely Christmas and then getting - and staying, pregnant - it's been amazing.  Just over a year ago life felt a bit crap to be honest.  A second miscarriage and being stuck in a job I couldn't stand.  I was worn out, run down and stressed out.  Life felt a struggle and I think I was fairly low.

But then we went on our fantastic road trip - I still think back to driving all those miles through California, looking out at the amazing scenery and stopping as and when the mood took us.  We got married in Vegas a year ago yesterday which was a total blast and a day I'll always look back on with a big grin on my face! 

And here I am almost 6 months pregnant (eek that's passed quickly!) and whilst the first 3 months were full of exhaustion, nausea and a fair amount of 'oh God will this one work out?' tension, 3rd time lucky did it for me and we made it through. This one is sticking.  This one is a healthy little girl wriggling around inside me and I can't wait to meet her.  I'm loving being pregnant - absolutely loving it.  I'm eating well, I'm exercising, taking time out to relax each day and generally reveling in it all!  I'm still pretty compact bump wise which means I don't have any real pregnancy discomforts - apart from my daughter using my bladder as a trampoline every 5 minutes!  I really do feel glowing.

And we've been so lucky with how generous friends and family have been.  We've been given so much baby stuff that we've barely had to buy anything.  We've had a cot donated, car seat, bedding, clothes by the bag full, a baby sling, feeding cushion, steriliser, mobile, maternity clothes, baby bath, blankets - we were even offered a pram/stroller but because we're getting a new car which is a Mini Clubman and it has a tiny boot, it wouldn't fit in.  So the only things we've really had to buy is a stroller (bugaboo bee - very gorgeous) and a new mattress for the cot.
And I even managed to get a bargain on those  because I had 30% off code for an online store.

I'm determine to enjoy and revel in every last minute of this.  So apologies to you glass half empty people out there - believe me I was one myself for so long that I'm not going to feel a bit bad for feeling so good now.  As one friend said recently - "I'm so happy I could c**% rainbows!"  Which was just such a funny image it made me a laugh till I nearly peed (which doesn't take much right now!)

Enjoy your weekend
Jo x