Holy Sheet!

Oh wow! Is it the baby brain making my blog titles go down hill? Let's hope so. Expect better title in approximately 7 weeks.

This weeks project for Squishy's room was to make her some sheets.  The room is slowly coming together and I have managed to get my to do list down to about 3 items which is exciting.  Especially considering we are so close to meeting her and the weeks just keep slipping by.

The sheets were loosely based on this tutorial by Dana Made It.  I read over it and then realised my measurements might be different.  To get my measurements I measured the length and width of the mattress then added the depth of the mattress plus 3 inches for a hem and to fit under the mattress.  They were actually really easy to make and nearly all the fabric was left over from the quilt.  I actually made 3 sheets for the cot but 2 of them were different pink stripes and looked basically identical in photos.

These were so easy I decided to whip up a few for the bassinet as well.  Considering the baby shop is selling bassinet sheets for $18 each this is a quick and easy way to save money.  I was a bit lazy with the bassinet sheets and simply lay the mattress on top of my fabric and cut around it.  They worked out perfectly though!

Making your own sheets is so quick and easy and for cribs and bassinets that don't need that much fabric they work out quite cheap compared to buying sheets.  And if your a bit anal about colours matching like I am you can make sure your sheets are the perfect match for the rest of your room.  When I have my last few items crossed off the list I will get a few more photos of the nursery to share with you.  Hopefully that will be within the next few weeks.

Swap Fun

A little while ago when I posted about this bear hat for Squishy I received a comment from Reana Louise telling me that I should make these to sell.  This sparked a long trail of emails from which we decided to do a little swap.  I would make Reana a grown up bear hat and she would make me something in return.

I was a bit nervous about making a hat for someone else and it being the right size but with the help of Reana sending me her head measurements I found an adults beanie pattern to use as a starting point.  I used this pattern for the hat and then upsized the ears from the original baby pattern.

I also popped in a few little goodies for Reana to enjoy.

And do you want to see the amazingness (yes, that is a word!) that I received in return....

Isn't that picture amazing!  It was inspired by Reana's favourite nursery rhyme "The Owl & The Pussycat".  It is even more gorgeous in real life then this photo does justice for.  I am pretty excited about this dress too! I think it will be a perfect first project for summer after Squishy is born because it isn't too fitted.  It'll be a great dress for summer especially in that gorgeous orange fabric that Reana sent me.  I had so much fun taking part in this little swap.  If anyone else out there is keen to do a little swap let me know. I am always open to sending and receiving happy mail!

The Good, The Bad & The Bump(y)

The Good

• Going to the Big Brother live show last night. Lot's of fun!
• Mini pink suitcases for storage. Adorable!
• 4 weeks left of work. I am seriously counting down.
• Labour ward tour this at this weeks antenatal class. I am really looking forward to this.
• Sunday mornings spent at the markets.

The Bad

• Realising I should probably pack my bag for hospital but I have no idea what to pack!
• Crappy sleep. I think this item will be on the list from now until I stop doing these posts.

The Bump

I feel like I haven't grown much in the past few weeks in my belly but I think my butt has started growing :-) My jeans feel a little bit tighter.  I am not doing weekly doctors visits which is making the weeks go even faster.  I'm still not having much luck in the sleeping department and I spoke with my doctor who gave me some tips.  Nothing seems to be working though so I think I am just going to have to live with it.  I have a suspicion that it is because my brain is constantly thinking about what I have to do at work before I leave.  I have 3 big events in my last 2 weeks so my to do list is pretty big.  Once I am on maternity leave I will hopefully get more sleep.  Fingers crossed!  Apart from the sleep I am doing pretty good. I am just so ready to meet our little girl. I have had 2 friends have babies in the past 4 weeks and I am so jealous. I want my little one here so I can kiss and cuddle her. I said to Corey yesterday I am sick of talking to her through my belly. I just want to be able to look at her and smile at her.  Knowing my luck though she will be late just to try and teach me some patience.  Patience is not exactly my best attribute!

Happy Birthday Mummy

Happy Birthday to my darling mummy today!  Your are the greatest mum in the whole entire world and I know you are going to be an even better nana to our little Squishy.  I hope you have an awesome weekend in Copa with the family and I look forward to celebrating a belated birthday with you next weekend.  Love you millions xoxo

A Quilt....Finally!

That's right folks I have finally finished the quilt for Squishy's room.  I actually finished it about 1.5 ago but it took me till last weekend to get photos and then till today to post about it.  I am so so so happy with how this quilt turned out.  It is a massive improvement from the first quilt I ever made.

When we first found out we were having a girl I went to Spotlight and chose a bunch of fabrics as the starting point for decorating the nursery.  The fabrics became this quilt and will also become some sheets and a cot skirt hopefully in the next couple of weeks.

I learnt a few things while making this quilt:-

• If your doing a pieced back you should probably line it up with one of the stripes on the front to avoid a sewn line in the middle of your stripe.
• I need to use more pins to hold my layers together while quilting. I don't think I used enough so I have a few puckers in the layers.
• When your not good at sewing straight lines sewing a quilt that emphasizes them can be frustrating.
• Invisible hand stitching for quilt binding is not as hard as I imagined.

Regardless of it's imperfections I am really happy with how this quilt has turned out. I have worked my way up from a pram sized quilt to a cot quilt and who knows next time it might be a single bed quilt.  I am getting a bit more confident with the idea of quilting so I think I will definitely be making some more.  Maybe just not for a little while!

Baby Shower

Sunday was a very fun day! My mum threw me a baby shower at her house and it was loads of fun.  I didn't get a lot of photos but I did get photos of the decorations beforehand and the presents afterwards. The decorations were made to match the theme of the invitations.

My mum and aunty spent all morning in the kitchen baking up a storm.  We had a delicious spread of cupcakes, brownies, meringues, marshmallows, musk sticks, sandwiches, chicken meatballs, pizza scrolls, spinach & feta triangles and mini quiche.  It was all so delicious and they did an amazing job!

My cousin managed to get a couple of photos of me unwrapping presents.  My camera was playing up so unfortunately most of the photos are a bit blurry but these two turned out well.  The funniest thing going through these photos is some of the facial expressions I make.  I didn't realise I looked like such a goof sometimes :-)

My little Squishy was super duper spoilt in the present department.  She got so many cute things and my sister even threw in a present just for me, a knitting book of vintage patterns.  I am so excited to start knitting some of these patterns.

How cute are all those clothes! She has quite the collection of dresses now. I just need to buy some more little hangers so I can hang them all up.  A massive massive thank you to all my friends and family who came along.  It was a really lovely afternoon and I feel so loved.

The Good, The Bad & The Bump(y)

The Good

• Spending a lovely afternoon with the girls for my baby shower
• Getting organised and crossing things off my list
• Only 5 more weeks left of work!
• Spinach & cheese triangles. I ate so many at my baby shower.

The Bad

• Sleepless nights. They are starting to become more common for me now.
• Stretch marks. I just started to getting them this week and it's a bit devastating. 

The Bump

I feel like I haven't changed much in the past few weeks but other people who haven't seen me for a couple of weeks feel otherwise. What do you think?  I am feeling pretty good apart from being tired all the time.  I am having a lot more sleepless nights lately and they are starting to wear me out.  I am guessing it is my bodies way of getting me used to what's to come.  It is annoying though because I still have to get up and try and function normally at work.  I have 5 more weeks left of work which seems like nothing some days then other days seems like ages.  I kind of wish I had decided to finish up earlier but the sooner I finish the sooner I have to go back.  So a few more weeks of work now means a few more weeks with Squishy at the end of my leave.  I think that makes it all worth it!  And with the way the weeks are going now 5 weeks will be over before I know it.