Rippling, Relaxing, Resting and Waiting

Here I am resting, waiting, relaxing...still with a very large bump in front of me.

We are enjoying the colours Ess and I have chosen to make a woollen ripple blanket and I am very happy with the 100% wool I purchased from Bendigo Woollen Mills recently. It is excellent value for money, lovely and light wool, not too prickly and without any splitting at all when I work with it. This is a selection of the Classic 100% pure new wool range.

Wishing you a happy week. It is a pretty exciting one for us...filled with anticipation. By next week we will have met our new little cherub.

Hopefully we might introduce you too.

Water Bottle Carriers

I have been completing and commencing numerous sewing projects. I am attributing this to the lovely nesting phase I am now in. Although it is curious that I am organising things around our home to make life easier for us now, rather than really making anything for the new baby.

However I know these new water bottle carriers will make life so much easier for me when my arms become full with baby again - even though I use my sling with my little ones all the time. I have already found it so handy to be able to whip my water bottle over my shoulder to carry it out and about. The girls are also more keen to carry their own bottles. They did so previously, however there have been some drops and some ensuing dents in their stainless steel water bottles so the carriers work wonders for them also.

I really am so very pleased with these and my design of them, they have turned out just as I intended. So very happy :)

And of course there is one for my Generous Gentleman as well. He really enjoys using it which I am super stoked about as it is not often that I am able to sew anything specifically for him. I particularly like the way his has turned out and am really glad I saved that lovely Haigh's ribbon as it sets his off beautifully. Yes I was even allowed to decorate his slightly... so so pleased.

There are many other projects coming to completion in our home - some spring skirt making, cushion covers, bag holders, repurposing face washers for use in the laundry with some stitching and velcro, storage bag making, beach bag making, crochet ripple blanket commencement. Indeed I have been spending more time 'doing' than sitting and reading and writing about them. So let's wait and see how many I get to write about here.

Furthermore I am wondering how many more will actually reach completion with only about 10 or 11 days until our new birth day.

The Cutest Little Chef

There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child.

There are seven million. ~Walt Streightiff

These little eyes are keenly watching her Daddy as he prepares a full cooked breakfast for us all on the weekend. You see he really truly is a very Generous Gentleman. I get to sit down nursing my growing bump while he prepares food and...wait for it...cleans up the greasy mess afterwards. I know, I am truly blessed.

I know she is learning so much as she perches herself on her pink stool by her pink Daddy in her pink pajamas with her pink apron and her pink chef's hat perched upon her head.

I know one day she'll be keen to be preparing meals for her loved ones also. She's also been known to don her apron and hat to assist us with pizza making at lunch time. Ah bliss, me and my growing girls preparing our lunch together. It's what I always dreamed of, although it is perhaps a little more challenging that my dreams would have had me believe in my younger years.

I made this little outfit for my little pink three year old for her birthday. Well that was the intention at least. Halfway through stitching it I sent my machine off for a service which lasted longer than I'd hoped. The sewing machine needed more repairs than planned as it is a 20 year old Pfaff machine, made in Germany, which the technician convinced me would be better off being repaired than my buying a new computerised one made in China. I agreed. And I love it...all over again...it is like new!!

So it is a little late in coming, but that doesn't matter does it!

My source: Kid's Apron and Chef Hat

Lots and Lots of Water

We never know the worth of water till the well is dry. ~Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

You may have noticed my comments over the years about little rain, lots of dry and lots of heat. Also further comments about the persistence of cold, rainy, wet days we have been having this year. These days have been very welcome as it did seem that the drought continued on and on. Indeed it is not since our very first year here in Adelaide, 2005, that I have experienced such rain and periods of wet. I recall driving through the Adelaide Hills during the wet spring of 2005 in awe and wonder at the amounts of water flowering down creeks and rivers, wondering why Adelaide had such a reputation for being a dry city and South Australia, a desert state. Over the years I have come to realise.

This year however, the tide has turned. The rains have returned.

After our Father's Day brunch it was our dear Generous Gentleman who suggested we take a drive in the hills to view the spillway at Kangaroo Creek Reservoir. We had very heavy rains with storms on Friday which has filled most of the reservoirs to over 90% capacity.

Kangaroo Creek Reservoir

We made our way towards Gorge Road where the views were spectacular. We parked along the side of the road with numerous other residents wandering along the main road viewing the sights. Cars were everywhere in a place where you would never usually stop and get out along this windy stretch of road. Yet the small car park was overfilled!

Spillway overflowing at Kangaroo Creek Reservoir

This site is the one we were all eager to view. Spectacular!

To be reminded of the enormous power of water, take a peak at this video.

The flooded River Torrens further downstream

I'm not sure how many escape routes these people have!

Meanwhile many parts of the north of Victoria are in flood and people have been evacuated from their homes. Our thoughts are with you, our neighbours to the east.

The First of Spring

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. ~Henry Van Dyke

As we looked around outside today, trying to stay warm and wondering whether spring really had come, we were greeted with only grey clouds, cold winds and winter showers. I still have no complaints, I love the rainy days.

I still have something special to look forward to this spring.

In under one month now, we will have a new spring cherub to greet us, which will be brighter than all the flowers that spring will shower us with this year.

I have always wanted to have a spring baby, little Eee came a couple of days earlier than I was expecting, although she came on time. This new little blossom will certainly be here before Spring is over.

Wishing you a joyous Spring, or Autumn my dear friends and family in the north.

Eee is Three!

It's looking rather festive around here at the moment.

Little Eee has turned 3.

All she has been asking to do for her birthday is to eat Mermaid Cake. So, very grateful that the little bub is still being well taken care of in utero, I set about decorating the lovely Mindy Mermaid. It was no mean feat for a very tired, brain stretched, heavily pregnant lady who can hardly stand up long enough to complete my usual duties let alone this enormous extra one.

My brain went mushy. I couldn't figure out how to place the spearmint leaves for the tail effectively. I wondered why I do this to myself. Fortunately my Ess along with my Generous Gentleman came to my rescue and joined me in preparations of this enormous cake. The challenges began to wane and the fun increased.

As we sat down outside enjoying cake together, little Eee announced, "I love my mermaid cake" with the sweetest little smile on her growing face, her head cocked to one side. That said it all, I realised why I put myself through all the challenges of cake decorating for each birthday. The girls love it so much. They love requesting a cake of their choosing and then seeing it come to life, they love helping in the process of creation and they love consuming all the sugary icing and lollies (of course).

I love the memories that are being created, the skilled, generous children that are being created who I know will want to do this for their children one day. After all, it was my mother who taught me with all her cake decorating. Some of a much greater standard than mine. She made wedding cakes in her prime.

Happy Birthday little Miss Eee, we love you so much!

One Sock

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John,

Went to bed with his stockings on;

One shoe off, and the other shoe on,

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John.

~ English Nursery Rhyme

Oh dear!

Look at my poor Ess! She has been wandering around one-socked for a little over a week now.

Why is it just so hard to complete that second sock? It took only one relaxing wet Sunday afternoon to complete the first slipper.

Here is the next one. So near to completion. Just a few more rows until the toe decreases are complete. It is quite hard knitting those last few rows with the smaller needles on the bulky wool. Although that is the combination that makes these Mary Jane Slippers such a great asset for slip sliding on tiled floors without wearing too quickly.

It's made of two strands of Lincraft Fairy Floss Yarn in a pink rainbow colour combination combined with one strand of yellow Panda Zoomy purchased through eBay last season. Rainbow yarns are a big favourite in our house so I knew the yarn would come in handy for something for my precious Ess.

That nursery rhyme I sang so often when Ess was a baby with those socks continually coming off those sweet tiny feet seems to be pertinent today as well. In so many ways the little ones change, yet in some they remain the same.

Diddle diddle dumpling my daughter Ess

Went to bed with her stockings on;

One sock off and the other sock on

Diddle diddle dumpling my daughter Ess.

Looking forward to another little pair of teeny tiny, sock-removing feet coming soon! :)