A crafty first

I've wanted to learn to quilt for such a long time.  However, I'm not one to have confidence in following instructions, even with pictures, so I have a friend "Martha" over at Plot to Plate who is hosting weekly lessons for myself and a few other friends.

It didn't start off well.  The first week was a chore with working out how to use the rotary cutter and mat on the fabric with confidence. Let's just say I got a little frustrated and relied on Martha to help. I realise now that a 6 month pregnant belly gets in the way a bit.  I also couldn't get my head around the maths or how important it was to be soooo accurate with the cutting and sewing part.  The quick unpick was used rather often.

I got there in the end.  We had a second lesson this week and I went off with a hiss and a roar and got lots of 9 patches done no trouble at all.

Here's what I've achieved so far.

These long strips here are all sewn together into a 12" block which there will be x6 of in the middle of the quilt.

These are the 9 patches, 6" wide which I will use to border the quilt with the triangles that we are making next week.

I decided to do a quilt for the new baby's cot. Even though we know it's a girl, I went more neutral so that this can go into her memory box for when she has her own children.

I've got this thing where I want to have a couple of things in there for each of the children to hand on to their own. Miss E's got a beuatiful hand knitted shawl (bought by her granny and knitted by a talented Aunt) and a hand knitted cardi by me. Master L was given a beautiful cot quilt by my lovely friend Martha and a little first size hand knitted cardi by me. This baby, who we are struggling to find a name for (all suggestions welcome!), will have this quilt and a hand knitted cardi. I love the thought that these may be used by generations to come.

Today's achievements....A List

1. Get out of bed after 7am.

2. Make the kids Saturday morning pancakes in Hubby's absence (he's in Australia with work until tomorrow morning).

3. Get everyone dressed before 9am.

4. Look at the sewing machine on the dining table and decide to finish the bunting (flags) for Miss E's room.

5. Take photo of finished article (hanging with blu-tac) before it proceeds to fall down.

6. Make a note to get pins to hang bunting.

7. Get kids ready for a walk around to Poppa's place for coffee.

8. Ask Miss E 4 times to put on her shoes.....blood pressure elevates to boiling point....lose it like a crazy lady and shout VERY loudly to "just put your bloody shoes on will you!".

9. Realise bedroom window is open and cringe that all neighbours must have heard "that crazy scottish woman yelling at the top of her voice".

10. Take 10 mins time out then apologise to Miss E for shouting so loudly, before getting an apology from her for not listening.

11. Get both kids to Poppa's house for coffee and decide that a certain fast food restaurant is a good place to take the kids for lunch, that way they can act up all they like and I won't be tempted to kill them (sarcasm, people!).

12. Get home, lie on the couch and beg the kids not to disturb me for 20 mins.

13. Get disturbed by kids at least 10 times over course of next hour.

14. Make pizza dough for dinner later.

15. Visit a friend for a coffee (just lovely).

16. Get home and make pizza (see below). Yum!

17. Get into some comfy clothes post pizza.

18. Start blogging this whilst kids watching cartoons before bed.

All in all a successful day...my kids are still alive, I haven't gone into labour and I haven't cried......

...yet!

Recently in our house....

I've been doing a lot of baking to satisfy some of my "sweet" cravings. Trying to put healthy ingredients with the unhealthy - banana choc chip muffins. Super easy and quick. One i'll definitely make again. I can personally recommend them hot from the oven with a home-made flat white on a sunny day sitting in the garden. :)

Our kiddies are getting so grown up. I swear our girl Miss E has added two inches to her legs in the past 2 weeks. Master L is just a little dude. Loves to be silly and getting a sensible picture of him standing still is proving to be quite a challenge.

Trip to the dentist today for both of them. We take them twice a year for a check up with our own dentist, a lovely soft spoken scottish lady called Morag. Turns out Miss E has 3 of her adult molars coming through and a wobbly bottom left tooth. She was so delighted! I had a terrible experience with the dentist in my younger years and swore that my children would enjoy going, hence the twice annual visits and all the excitement I can muster running up to the appointments. Both sat in the chair without a hand hold and opened their sweet little mouths like professionals. I'm a very proud Mummy!

Milestones

Two very important milestones happened this week.

This. Doesn't he just look like a little man out for a stroll on his own?

And this.

Her: "Look Mum. No trainer wheels!"

Me: "And no shoes darling. You'll hurt yourself" *cringes*

Him? Well, he did it all in his own time two months after his sister did it. He's a whole 14 months old on Friday (where did that time go?). Wouldn't be prompted. Wouldn't be coerced. Just had to be left to it.

Her? She did it all in her own time. Wouldn't be helped. Couldn't be watched. Tenacious and determined to achieve her goal. She's was 3 years and 7 months yesterday.

Our determined, stubborn, independent kids. I can't imagine where they get it from.