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Monday, January 2, 2017

Happy New Year

I love the beginning of a new year. It is so fresh with all the pages left to be written. You can make plans and goals and they seem so much more possible with a whole 365 days ahead of you. 

I know from experience that these grand plans do not always happen but it is still therapeutic and just a little bit fun to put pen to paper and write my lists! This year I have plans for business, health, family, sewing and home. 

My sewing plans are rather grand! I'm not quite sure of what to call it yet(yes it is so grand it requires a name of its own!) but I want to sew as many items as possible for my children wardrobes. I must be realistic though...I do run a business, have 4 kids to raise and a messy house to keep clean! I'll get some more specifics on paper soon and share. 

Any other creative souls keen to join me? I'd love to hear your creative goals for the year. 

From Left - Elsa, Josef, Imogen, Isla, Eve and Me (Photography by Rebecca Barker)

Saturday, March 14, 2015

The Birth of Imogen Josie

If you are not a fan of birth stories I suggest that you click away now or you can just scroll through and check out the photos!
I love reading birth stories so hopefully there are a few of you out there who love them too. 

My due date was 9 days off and I headed in to see my Ob. My blood pressure was up as it had been for a few weeks and I was SO over being pregnant and uncomfortable! I'm not the best planner with my pregnancies and have been heavily pregnant in summer for 3 of my 4 pregnancies so the heat wasn't helping things! (Even Tassie heat!) My Ob decided that it was time for her to come so I was booked in to be induced the following morning. I had been induced for all of my pregnancies so this was nothing new to me. 

The evening before I had a list of things I wanted to get done but once the bag was packed I lost all motivation to do anything else! I still have 2 half finished fitted cot sheets sitting in my very messy sewing room! I think it was the mixture of fear and excitement that kept me stuck to the couch watching TV later than I should have been! Not the best move when you are going to be giving birth the next day!

Early the next morning (Jan 7th) my dad and is partner came over to look after the girls and after some hugs and kisses and promises that they would meet their baby sister soon we headed off to the hospital, One little hint here...don't tell your kids that they will meet their baby sister the same day! Past labours don't always predict what your next one will be like and then you will have kids who won't be very impressed to have to go to bed when mummy promised that they would meet their sister that afternoon! (Sorry Dad and Bron!)
After a quick trace on the baby my Ob showed up and broke my waters. We were sent off for a walk to try and get things started. I expected that things would start up quickly like they did with Miss Eve but after an hour walking around the city(sipping tea in T2) there was nothing...not one little thing! Another quick trace to check on baby and out we went for another walk. This time around the Hobart water front and Salamanca. On our way to a cafe Josef got a work call and while he took that bub decided to move her head a little and amniotic fluid started running down my legs! I quickly got hubby off the phone and had to waddle through a restaurant to use their toilets to clean myself up! Another hour or so out and about and still nothing so back we went. It was a hot day(for Hobart!) and so with all the walking I was pretty hot and tired and ready to rest for a bit. Another trace and a rest on the bed and I decided some stair climbing was in order! I'm glad the stairs were deserted as walking sideways down the stairs while heavily pregnant is quite a sight! It got to 2:00 and there was still not even one tightening! My 3rd was born by 3pm after a very similar induction so I was starting to feel a little disappointed. 

It was discussed and decided that the drip would need to go in to get things started so between 3 and 4 I was all hooked up and started on a low dose of syntocin. I now had to have continual monitoring which I was a little disappointed about. The next couple of hours were spent on the bed watching TV and crocheting. By dinner time I started to feel a few tightenings but nothing too painful. By 7pm I wanted to get up and move a bit as the pain was increasing. I sat on a fit ball and watched Big Bang Theory and by the time that was over I needed the TV turned off as it was starting to annoy me and the pain was increasing. The next hour or so was spent either bouncing on the ball or leaning against the end of the bed with lots of hip swaying. At some stage after 9pm I decided to try the shower. The shower was helping a bit but I started to feel anxious at knowing what was still to come! I think with labour it is sometimes nicer to be naive about the pain! I remember the midwife asking me how I was going and I said that I just didn't want to do it! She was very kind but what else could she say but that I didn't really have a choice! Josef showed me newborn photos of my other girls that I had downloaded onto my phone and they helped me to concentrate on why I was there going through that pain. 

A little crochet to pass the time


Just before 10pm I decided to get back on the bed and the midwife set it up so I could kneel with my belly in a beanbag at the head of the bed and also have some gas and air. This is how I birthed both Isla and Eve and seeing it all set up made me feel excited that it was getting closer. While in this position I went through transition. It didn't scare me as much as it had with my previous labours. I think I knew it meant that it was almost time to push and although for me pushing had always been the most painful part it also meant it was almost over! My midwife must have heard me from down the hall too as I heard her come running into the room! I tend to get a bit vocal at this point!

At about 10pm I started to feel the urge to push and my Ob was called. My back was really hurting being on my knees and my knees weren't too happy either so I turned around to a semi reclined position but that was really uncomfortable too. My Ob then suggested I lay on my side and while doing this I managed to knock my IV out. I was much more comfortable on my side(if you can say that you are at all comfortable in labour!) and having the IV out meant that the contractions slowed just a little which meant I could relax between them. I'm not sure how long I had been pushing as time is strange when you are in labour but it was longer than I had pushed with any of my others and she wasn't moving! I was examined and they found a small lip of cervix over her head. It was pushed back with the next contraction and boy did that hurt! Even with that moved though she wasn't coming out very quickly. I started to worry that she was a huge baby and that she was stuck! My last two babies were pushed out within 10-15 minutes and it had already been almost 2 hours of pushing. Finally I could feel her head getting very close and although I was happy that she was finally moving there was a fear of those final pushes and of perhaps tearing...the ring of fire is not fun at all! I think a few of those pushes that that stage i didn't give it everything I had as I simply didn't want to do it! Eventually though I got my head in the right space and pushed her head out! She was posterior! That explained why she took so long to come down. One last contraction and I delivered her body and she was placed on my tummy. She didn't cry straight away and I must admit I worried a little but within 10 seconds she let out a cry and I met my beautiful 4th child and daughter at 12:18 am on Thursday Jan 8th.






Nothing compares to that moment. The labour is over and the pain seems to disappear immediately and you are holding this perfect little human in your arms who looks so familiar to you but yet you have never seen their perfect little face before. 

Meeting her sisters


So the birth of Imogen was not what I expected...more than half of my labour was pushing! I am so glad she is here though and I couldn't imagine our family any other way.




Monday, July 21, 2014

WIN a fabric crown for your little princess

Would you like to win one of these fabric crowns? Head over to my Facebook page and comment of the photo there telling me your child's favourite dress ups! Winner will be chosen Friday 25th July at 8:30 pm.

Monday, July 14, 2014

A new addition!

Our family of 5 will be a family of 6 come January next year! Yes we are expecting another little treasure!


My girls are old enough to understand what is happening and they are so excited which is lovely. Elsa was only just 3 when my youngest, Eve was born so it is definitely different having such a large gap.

 My last 3 months have been spent sleeping, dealing with morning sickness, and lots of daydreaming about what I am going to make for this new baby! My Pinterest boards have been filling up with ideas and in the process I may have tipped off a few of my friends that there was a new baby on the way!

I think you will be seeing a lot of baby things popping up on the blog over the next 6 months or so!

Now, what do I start on first?
Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Learning to Sew

Over the last few months I have had quite a few of my friends want to learn to sew. I love to teach sewing and I find it so exciting when they finish their first item and see how proud they are of it! I often have people ask "Where do I start?" or "What should I sew first?" so I thought I would put together a list of tutorials and patterns that I love and that I think would be great to learn to sew with. If you are going to pin any of these patterns please go to the original blog/page and don't pin them from my blog to be fair to the original pattern/tutorial designer.

If you very new to sewing you may at times need a little more help than what is in some of the tutorials. I can recommend that you head over to YouTube in these situations and search for a video as I am sure you will find someone who has made a video of what you are wanting to do. This is especially helpful if you are a visual learner and don't have anyone in real life who can sit down and help you.

The first blog I want to recommend is MADE. I LOVE this blog and all this things that Dana makes. She has a TON of free tutorials and some pretty awesome patterns to purchase too. I own the shorts pattern and it is a favourite in this house! My girls love their MADE shorts and it is an awesome pattern to sew too.





These are just a few of the awesome tutorials/patterns on this blog. It is well worth a visit if you are wanting to learn to sew!


Another favourite blog of mine is Made by RAE. Over here you will find some gorgeous women's patterns along with the kids stuff. It is such a great feeling wearing something you have made yourself so check out her women's patterns as well as the kids ones. I will mention below some easy women's patterns too as it is probably best to start by sewing something that isn't too fitted so you don't have to worry about it not fitting very well. Once you have the hang of sewing some simple things though I can totally recommend Rae's patterns!





On to blog number 3! Another fave...acutally I am only sharing patterns and blogs with you that I LOVE so I guess that 'fave' thing goes without saying!

Craftiness is not optional is full of gorgeous tutorials for lots of girly things! 




Ok lets move on to our Aussie Designers! I really should have started with them as they really to have some of the best patterns out there and I am not the only one saying it!

First up is Pattern Emporium. I adore these patterns and the flat front skirt is a perfect first item for yourself!



Fresh Designs Patterns are used by me ALL the time and are super easy to follow!


Make it Perfect has only recently started selling patterns as PDFs and I am so glad she did! I have a lot of hers as paper patterns but being able to buy and sew on the same day is awesome and so are her patterns!
Another easy womens pattern I can recommend as a first project is the Versatile Wrap skirt. I LOVE mine!



Last but certainly not least is BOO! Designs! These patterns are great to start experimenting with adding your own designs features and changes to a pattern. Before these patterns I was a 'follow a pattern to the letter' type of sewer. Now I still like to follow the pattern as that is jut how I am but I also love to add things and change things to make it mine!




Phew! That was a lot of link and photos! There are so many more I could mention but these are probably the ones I use most. If you are wanting to learn to sew I hope you are now feeling inspired! Remember you have to start somewhere so just start and don't be afraid of making mistakes...practice, practice, practice!
Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Happy 4th Birthday Eve

FOUR years old! My baby is FOUR! I honestly am blown away by how fast time goes. I must admit to feeling a little sad. I loved the baby years. I know there is so much to look forward to but I feel very sentimental looking back at photos of my gorgeous little Eve. I am also very glad that she gets to stay home with me for another year before I send her off to school!
1 day old
6 months old

1 year old

Eve was born 12 days before her sisters second birthday so for the last few years I have thrown them combined birthday parties. I'm not sure how much longer I will get away with doing this for though. I think Eve might want her own party once she starts school next year!

Happy Birthday Eve!

My (slightly grotty!) little princess
Eve you are delightful! You love to have fun and be silly and to dance! You are kind, loving and affectionate. I love you to the moon and back xxx
Wednesday, January 8, 2014

The Versatile Wrap Skirt {A Make it Perfect Pattern}

Taking photos for this blog post took forever! A combination of getting your 5 and 7 year olds to take the photos and using a tripod and a timer meant a challenging photo shoot! It doesn't help that when I look at the photos I can see the weight I have gained. I think I have been living in denial but photos are ever truthful unfortunately! Anyway back to the sewing...

I purchased this pattern  when I first got back into sewing so probably about 5-6 years ago! It is a simple pattern where the pieces are cut from the measurements given. I know some people hate this and prefer to have pattern pieces but I actually really like having measurements...no tracing out the pattern pieces!


I wore the skirt out before I had put the button hole on the side as I really wanted to wear it out and I was really pushing it to get it done! At first I was happy without the button hole but after wearing it again today I have now put the button hole in it as the ties stay in place better with it.

I have now pulled out heaps of other fabric that I could use to sew myself skirts and can see that before long my wardrobe will be full of them! Hooray for ME sewing!

Pattern - Versatile Wrap by Make It Perfect

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