The Outfit and a Little Crafting.....

It was so hard to take a good pic of the little princess in her party outfit on Thursday night... The lighting at the Club was absolutely shocking and I was using DH's camera which wasn't a great idea, it's no where near as good as mine.....

Here's a back view of Connie waiting to receive her pressy from Santa... Isn't she such a good little girly waiting ever so patiently for her turn..... :)

Her she is opening her pressie with Daddy.....

And just in case you couldn't see the little outfit quite good enough here's a pic I took of it after I washed it this morning..... Skirt..... Apron Top... And Yo-Yo Hair Clip.....

On my 'to make' Xmas pressie list this year are a heap of knitted/crochet Washcloths. I whipped this crochet one up last night in some lovely Chocolate coloured cotton yarn I bought from here.....

I have another one on the go as of this morning in some lovely pastel pink yarn from the same place.... I also made 2 of these knitted Xmas tree Washcloths up the other day (yarn for these was also from here) and they're in the post as I write this on their way to a lovely ladies home for an early Xmas treat.....

Here's a better look at the red one... It has little Xmas trees scattered all over it, perfect for Xmas and sooooo super easy.... I hope she loves her surprise.... :)What Xmas crafts have you got on the go at the moment????? I've been seeing some gorgeous stuff floating around blogland of late and it's been such a huge inspiration.... Thank-you all!!!!!

Xmas Parties...

The little princess has her first Xmas party for 2008 this afternoon with Santa and presents and lollies and music and dancing, she just can't wait.... :)

With all of this excitement I thought that a new little outfit was definitely in order.... So with the colour purple in mind, her favourite of course, I hit my fabric stash looking for some kind of inspiration.....

Some cute purple Xmas fabric left over from last year a bit of purple gingham and some delicious deep grape corduroy later I had found my inspiration.... With only a couple of hours up my sleeve I got to work....A few buttons here and a yo-yo or 2 there and the little party outfit was done.....I'll take some more pics of Connie in it tonight so you'll have to wait to see the whole thing.... Now time for Mummy to get herself organised in record time so that we can make it to the party on time, looking at the clock I have just under an hour to be dressed and in the car..... Wish me luck... LOL!!!!

Have the Xmas parties started in your neck of the woods yet??? I'd love to hear all about them if they have..... Take Care :)

Back To Basics Update # 1

I've decided to join in with this great little challenge I read about over at Belinda's blog. It's been going for a while now and Belinda does weekly updates but knowing how side tracked I can get I thought I'd just number my updates instead of doing them weekly just in case...... :)

Sowing/Planting/Harvesting.....
Sowing - Watermelon, Sweet Corn, Zucchini, Tomatoes

Planting - Tomatoes, Thyme, Dill, Baby Spinach, Lemon tree, Orange tree, Lime Tree.
Harvesting - Wheat (DH's 1500 acres), Snow Peas, Radish and waiting anxiously for my first lot of tomatoes to ripen....

Planning for the Future....
Sorted out the freezer and made meal plans to suit what I had. Organised DH to kill a couple of our lambs in the next few weeks to restock supplies. Finished writing up a Xmas pressie list and put aside patterns needed to make most of the gifts on my list.

Working for the Future....
Built a garden bed in front of the kitchen for herbs. Built tree guards for newly planted fruit trees to stop lambs from eating them. Started quilting Connie's quilt and cutting the shag's on DH's Old Jeans Shaggy quilt (inspiration from here) for Xmas. Crochet a blanket for Connie's Xmas dolly (yet to be made). (you can see more pics of the dolly blanket here)

Building Community....Sorted through the families old clothes and bagged a heap up to drop off to the Salvation Army next time I'm in town. Made a batch of peanut butter cookies to drop off to a friend.Learn a New Skill...
Got a crash course on how to operate a John Deere 8820 Header so that I can help DH harvest our wheat crop.

And guess what?????

Less than 4 weeks til Bub #2 is due... Here's a belly pic taken while I was at work last week....This bundle of joy has been incubating for 36 weeks now and our little family is just ever so anxious to meet him/her..... Take Care :)

Stocking Fillers

I knitted up this super cute and easy dolly over the weekend to put in the little princess's Xmas stocking this year.....The pattern was a freebie from here..... I swear it only took a couple of hours to whip up (don't forget I'm only a novice knitter) and the hardest part of the whole thing was the sewing on of the arms to the body. It stands about 20cm tall and the hat and scarf are detachable. The pattern also has instructions for a little sleeping bag to go with your dolly too but I didn't make that up...

You can't really tell but the yarn is a lavender colour, not blue like it looks in the pics... I'm going to knit bub #2 one of these dollies up to for a stocking filler...
I also had a go at crocheting a little pixie type doll too but am not too happy at how it turned out... :(

This pattern was also a freebie from Raverly, not that I'm recommending it thought....I was going to make a heap of these little pixie's in different colours for Xmas decorations, not anymore... LOL!!!

I've decided to try and knit up a heap of these little cuties instead. I'd love to do enough before December 1st so that I can use them as an advent calendar, stay tuned you never know what might evolve....

Take Care :)

Nesting Part 2

Here's the pic of the little green crochet top with matching panties that I told you all about in the last post.....

I also whipped up another top in blue yesterday while waiting in the Dr's clinic... Yes that's right I waited for over an HOUR an that bloody clinic yesterday to see the Doc for 5minutes for bub #2's check up, pretty sad isn't it??? :(

I made this one a little tiny bit longer than the first 2 and changed the edging row ever so slightly, once again.... The little blue panties I made up with the cutest fabric that I bought from Spotlight about 2 months ago for $1 a metre, what a BARGIN!!!!

Now for all of those lovely ladies who may think that I'm having a girl with all of this 'girly' crafting that I've been doing of late I must assure you that I still don't know.... If bub #2 is not a girl that's o.k.... I have 2 girlfriends due over the next couple of months and they both know that they are having girls, or so they tell me anyway, and if I have a boy than these little outfits are bound for their new little bundles of joy....

I also finished the cot/pram quilt last night..... Doesn't it just feel so great when you get to cross stuff off you BIG list of things to do??? Babies quilt, tick... :)I didn't really use babies colours now did I????? I knew the sex with my first bub and when it came to crafting up a storm for her before she was born it was so easy when you knew what colours and styles you could lean towards.... It's so much harder to think of things that will suit both a boy and a girl... Only a couple of weeks to go now and I won't have to wonder any more... :)

Take Care :)

Nesting....

Well I guess you could say that I sure am well and truly 'nesting'..... I just can't seem to stop playing around with wool at the moment, again... LOL!!!

Here's a little pink crochet top that I whipped up yesterday....It was so super easy didn't even take 2 hours!!! I played around a bit with the pattern that I found for free on Raverly and changed a few things but all in all I'm pretty happy with this cute little number...(back view)

I also whipped up these cute little panties to match out of some fabric that I had in my stash....

All I did to make up the panties was trace around an old pair of the little princess's from when she was just a wee little one and it all kinda fell into place from there... I'm thinking about doing up a tutorial they were that easy but you know what I'm like when it comes to tutorials so don't hold your breath... LOL!!!

Here's the little outfit all together.... Too cute don't you think????I've also made this little top in green with a matching bonnet. I'm going to make up some matching panties for that one too and will post about it later in the week....

Take Care... :)

Making the most if it.....

My first week of part time work went great!!! I can't believe just how much I've managed to get done....

First of all I got to knit up another little beanie for bub #2.....

I know that I don't know the sex of this bub yet but for some reason I was just drawn to this yarn and had to knit something with it. If it turns out that I actually have a little boy than that's o.k, he'll look dashing in pink now wont he... LOL!!!I've also started a matching pair of socks to go with this beanie... Here's my progress so far....

1 down 1 to go... (both of these patterns are free Raverly downloads for those interested)

The little princess and I got a chance to start building some garden beds around the base of the cedar trees that line the boundary of the homestead yard. The bricks that we're building them out of have been salvaged from the original homestead that burnt down in the early 70's, we have 100's of these bricks and don't you worry I have 100's of ideas to use them all up too... :)

Isn't she just the greatest little helper???? :)

I remember spotting an old cast iron bed up at our farm tip about 2 months ago and thought about dragging it back to the house one day and trying to restore it for the little princess. Well on Thursday morning I did just that, dragged it back from the tip... To my surprise there's nothing wrong with it..... (sorry about the bad pic)... After a bit of scrubbing to get rid of the surface rust, a wipe down with metho and a coat of primer I'm now ready to give this baby a lick of paint before she heads into the house for her second life.... You see the little princess is still in a cot so this bed will be her first official 'big girly' bed.... How exciting!!!!

If you look really close you should just be able to spot an old dressing table next to the bed in the pic..... I bought this old girl at a farm clearing sale about 12 months ago for $5. It has a gorgeous set of old beveled edged mirrors to go with it and I've decided that this will make the most perfect addition to the little princess's room along with the bed...

I've started a quilt like this one but in purple for the little princess for Xmas to go on her new 'big girly' bed. It's all cut out so now it's time for the fun part, sewing it all together...

Speaking of quilts I also managed to whip up a little pram/cot quilt for bub #2...

I just have to sew on some binding and it's done..... Each of the squares measure 5" so it's not really that big, just perfect for my little old antique cot... :)

I told you that I had a great week now didn't I??? I could really get used to this part-time/stay at home stuff and I'll definitely be making the most of my precious time before bub #2 comes along....

It's just satrted to rain here where I am. My house has a tin roof and I love the sound that the rain makes when it hits it... I hope you're getting some rain in your area too... Take Care.. :)

Where do I start?????

Well today is my first official day off..... As of Friday last week I've cut back my full-time working hours from 50+ a week to just 16. Instead of working Monday to Friday like I always have I'll now be only working on Tuesday and Wednesday for 8 hours each day until bub #2 comes along...

I have the BIGGEST list of things to do and I really don't know where I'm going to start.... I haven't even got bub #2's room ready yet, how sad is that... :( It's needing a coat of paint and new curtains hung before I even think about setting the cot up... At least I can say that it's up near the top of my BIG list....

I've been finding myself drawn back to the knitting needles over the past week. I managed to knit this little hat up over the weekend..... and this little pair of matching socks.... (Both of these patterns are free raverly downloads for those who might be interested)

Has anyone started on their Xmas pressy list yet??? I started sketching mine down last week, I'm hoping to go handmade again this year after last years success... I'd love to hear if you're doing the same.... Take Care :)