Stitching, not scrapping...

Well, my scrapping roll has officially been on hold...but for a good reason. I've been working on another project for which I actually have a deadline. My baby's quilt! I've been stitching and stitching over the last few nights to get the binding finished, and its finally done. Very relieved as I was starting to think I'd never get it done. AND, I've also started piecing another quilt that I'm making for Georgia's single bed...have told myself I'll have that one done by the time the new baby arrives, but we'll see. All depends on when she decides to make an entrance, I suppose!

So here is the quilt, all finished apart from a label, which will be put on when I know my baby girl's birthday. I'm very pleased with how its turned out. Nic did a beautiful job of the quilting (as always!).







Oh and some super special news...I have a brand new baby nephew! Hayley finally had the baby last night at 11.43pm after thirteen hours of labour and then an emergency caesar, poor bugger. Both mum and bub are doing well though, he was 7lb 11oz, 48cm long (short-ass just like his daddy!) and they called him Nate Cameron. We visited this afternoon and he's just gorgeous. But of course my baby brain was in full force and I forgot to take my camera! I couldn't believe it. I'll be visiting again tomorrow so will be sure to put some pics up then.

It hit me this morning at about 1am when I'd finished talking to Damo (my BIL) on the phone after Nate was born...we're next!!! Aaaarghhhh..... ;)

A whole week of scrapping!

I'm very proud of myself, I have scrapped every single day for a week. This is something I've never done before. Not something that is bound to last though with the new baby coming soon...but I really need to do what I can do just plod through my pages, as I have so many albums on the go that need finishing...it seems like a neverending amount of scrapping at the moment, but I guess if I kept doing a page a day I'd get through it eventually! No pressure though, I'm not in any rush and have no inclination to be 'up to date'.

This is a photo of Daniel & I in Bali when he took me there for my 21st. Oh, the days of no children...drinking by the pool, relaxing, doing exactly what we pleased with no interruptions. How different is my life now! You know what though, I wouldn't trade it for the world...



Glad we had those days though, thats why I want to scrap them and have albums for all of our trips. I know its crazy, going back years (this was 2001)and scrapping what seem like ancient photos...but these memories are so important to me. Plus its fun to have something other than the kids to scrap every now and then.

The weekend is nearly over, I know that is sad for lots of you but I love it when Monday comes around as it means Daniel is home with us for four and a half days instead of being at work, which is about 14 hours each day on Fri, Sat & Sun that is he away from home. Weekends are my hardest time, just long days with the kids and no one to just 'be there' if I'm having a bad day or need a break. I do have fun with my girls on the weekends though and usually have a crafty day once a weekend, so thats one good thing...but I do miss Daniel when he's not here, and so do the kids.

Housework is calling, better go deal with that so I can disappear into the scrap room while Georgia is sleeping.

Day Six...

Yep, I did it again! Went downstairs last night, Cooper was down there with me until about 9.30pm as he'd had a really late sleep and didn't get up until after 6pm. I stayed down there till about 11pm, got my page finished then attempted to go to bed.

BAD IDEA! The house absolutely reeked of tung oil that had been put on the timber floor yesterday....I had no idea how bad it'd be. I couldn't sleep, all I could smell and taste and breath was fumes. Daniel got home at 12.30am and I was still awake, stayed up with him till about 1.30am...2.45am I was still looking at the clock. Ended up in the baby's room (as that was the only room that had the door shut), opened the window, made a bed on the floor out of pillows and slept there! Boy, did I feel good when I woke up at about 6.15am...not. My god, what a night. Its still pretty bad now but I have the whole house open trying to ventilate, so fingers crossed I can actually get a little bit of sleep tonight.

Kids are going to bed early and I'm scrapping!!! Not for long though, reckon it'll be a pretty early night for me too.

Spent the day with Hayles today, poor bugger still hasn't had her baby. She is now a week overdue and is booked in to be induced on Tuesday if it hasn't happened by itself before then. Got some quilting done...well, not actual quilting but cut out the blocks for Georgia's single bed quilt that I'm just starting. Kids were pretty feral, so no major progress....but it was good to get out of my stinky house for most of the day!

Kid's dinner time, best be off.

Day 5!

I nearly didn't make in downstairs last night...by the time the children stopped getting out of bed it was after 9pm and we were still moving furniture around for our floors to be sanded today...but luckily Daniel had a fire call so I was left on my own and couldn't possibly do anything else... ;)

So, I went downstairs and got a page done, this one is for the April Sketch Challenge on the SM Forum. Not quite the same as the sketch, but sort of.



So I have a fun weekend ahead, our loungeroom floor is being sanded today where we had water come in during the storms...then it has to sit for a few days before the final polish can be done, so I have to keep the kids out of there all weekend while Daniel is at work. Really looking forward to it...not! Wish me luck, hope you all have a good Anzac Day today and a great weekend ahead.

Day 4...

Stitching challenge is done! Thank goodness, considering I set that challenge for the month! Hope you can pick it up in the pic, I just extended the design on the paper onto the bazzill and stitched it. Pretty happy with it, this ones for my album for a change.



Kids are off to school today, so Daniel & I have one of our last 'free days' together before the new baby arrives. Not that we're doing anything much except organising the house! The final coats will be done in the rumpus room and we have to move out of our loungeroom so the floor can be sanded tomorrow. Fun!

Best get moving and start organising these kids, bye for now!

Three days running...

...I've actually made it into the scrap room! Whats going on?! Wonder if I can keep this up...I should challenge myself to do that every day until bub arrives (cause then my life will be completely turned upside down!)...even if I don't get a whole layout done, to get SOMETHING done every day would be unreal. Alright, I'll do it....watch this space... ;)

Here is my effort from last night, love these colours, they were just perfect for this boy page. Had fun just adding bits and pieces to this one until I thought it was 'enough'. No challenge criteria met (bugger, I'm running out of time!), did this one just because I wanted to.



Nic finished my quilt yesterday so I'm hanging to pick that up this afternoon. How lazy, I even made her sew the binding on for me so all I have to do is the hand stitching!!! Will post pics later...

This week is dragging....we've been waiting and waiting for Daniel's brother Damien & sis-in-law Hayley to have their baby, she was due on Saturday and is still at home...I keep ringing her and saying 'What are you doing? You're meant to be at the hospital!', but no. Soon, its gotta be soon....thinking of you, Hayles!

Cheers,
Sar

Aunty Jozie...

Just in case anyone does actually check my blog...here is a layout I did yesterday arvo/night of baby Georgia with my brother's partner Jozette. The journalling says 'Aunty Jozie's eyes light up when she sees you, Georgia! She's always keen for a cuddle and a play.'



I have met Emma's challenge to use fabric in a layout...I know, there isn't MUCH fabric but its still there! This was leftover fabric from the baby quilt I just finished, the colours just matched perfectly.

Cheers,
Sar

Sleeping babies...

Isn't it amazing....as my journalling on the page below says....'no matter how tough a day we've had or how much you've been driving Mummy crazy...just one glimpse of my sleeping baby, and my LOVE for you overwhelms me...'

Its so true, you can have one of those days where you've done nothing but be annoyed at your babies...and then as soon as they go to bed, you miss them...and when you go in to kiss them (for the tenth time that night) you are amazed at their preciousness and beauty and wonder how you could ever have been cranky at them. This is my life most days, ha ha!!

I always find it harder on the weekends when Daniel is at work for three days, I don't think its that the kids are 'naughtier' while hes away...probably more the fact that I have to do everything and don't have Daniel to rely on to play with the kids and just do the basics. I'm always exhausted on a Monday...today is no exception, which isn't helped by the fact that I had a crappy night's sleep for some reason. I thought i was over that, Saturday night I slept for seven hours straight (which is HEAPS for me right now) but last night, no...I felt like I was awake every five minutes.

I did achieve the one thing I wanted to this weekend just gone, and I finished my baby quilt!! I've been procrastinating with it for ages and just didn't have the 'oomph' to get it done...but with only four weeks today until I'm due, I figured I was quickly running out of time! So its done, and I took it over to my sister Nic of Nicquiltz for her to work her magic. All I'll have to do is handstitch the binding when it gets back. As always, I can't wait to see what she does with it. I'll be sure to post a photo of it when its finished.

AND, I managed to make it downstairs last night after Dance and completed one layout for Cooper's SECOND album, yep second album....his first album is all but finished, finally! A very simple one from me, but at least its another page down of the million or so I've got to do...



Lots to be done in my house this week, we're in the middle of getting our rumpus room finished (after six years we decide to do this a month before bub arrives!) so hopefully we'll be painting later today. The 'fun room' is downstairs next to my scrap room, so the plan is that having this room done will make me spend more time scrapping...being able to take the kids down with me will hopefully make it a bit easier. Wish us luck!

Cheers,
Sar

What a scrappy day!

Very productive weekend from me really. My scrap day today with Emma, Kindra & Linda was very successful with three layouts in all being finished. Stoked! If only every day was the same...

The first one was a Ready Steady Scrap Challenge on the SM Forum. I couldn't believe when I finished it that I was able to produce a layout in half an hour that I was actually happy with! What you think?



The next one is of Coop when he was toilet training...classic photos that have just been waiting to be scrapped!



And the final one was a bit hard for me to do...this was Georgia's first bottle after I'd decided to stop breastfeeding her...so a very emotional time for me even though I knew it was the best thing. I'm happy with how this one turned out, one of the rare photos with me actually in it!



Hope you all have a great week ahead, I'm gonna do my best to calm down a bit and stop stressing...I've been a bit like a chook with my head cut off of late. Think its all these damn baby hormones... ;)

Cheers,
Sar

My little ladybug...

This is what I came up with in my couple of hours of scrapping time with Emma last night after the kids went to bed. A page that I've had 'in my head' for so long, and actually turned out the way I'd hoped. I bought ladybugs, ladybug rubber stamps, felt, ribbon, paper, bling...all just with this page in mind. I'd hate for DH to work out the cost price of this page... ;)

All worth it when you love it though, eh?!

We had our 34 week ultrasound this week and all went well, no 3D photo to show off as bub was lying with her arm on the side of her face so she was a bit squishy! Everything is as it should be though, and it was lovely just to see her and hear that little heartbeat. Can't believe there is only five weeks to go...

Cheers,
Sar

Kindra's Challenge

So I have managed to cross another challenge off the list. A semi-successful scrap day today, Hayley & Emma came over but we had a houseful of children and seemed to spend more time dealing with them! Somehow I still managed to get two pages finished, though they were both an effort and nothing is coming easy to me at the moment.

Carla on the SM Forum 'challenged' me to get Cooper's first birthday done, so today I pulled that out and have a total of four pages to do. The first one is of Daniel building his bike the night before his birthday, the next is the morning of his birthday and then I have to do a double LO of his 'party' which was really just a family dinner.

So here's the first one, sorry for the blurry pic.



Kindra's challenge was to do a page with freehand doodling, and boy did I doodle! It was fun though, I enjoy just going with the flow and drawing whatever comes naturally.



Here's hoping I can finally finish Coop's first birthday and get that double done this week! Wish me luck... ;)

Tomorrow we have our 34 week ultrasound, so I'm looking forward to that. Hopefully I'll have a really good 3D shot to show off!

Cheers,
Sar

Linda's Challenge Done

A quieter weekend for me than I thought, we're supposed to be at a 4th birthday party right now but Cooper is coughing non-stop and has been since last night, poor kid. He was soooo disappointed as he was really looking forward to going to his new friend Ashleigh's birthday, but there was nothing I could do. I've promised him a play day soon with Ash to make up for missing out today.

Yesterday Hayley & I had a kid-free scrap day, which was just lovely. We only had about 4.5 hours but we both got a bit done, I completed two layouts and Hayles managed three.

The first one I'm really happy with. I used Sketch 55 from Got Sketch, an unreal website I found through Lisa's blog. What a great source of inspiration to help me out when I'm having a mind blank...which happens quite a bit lately with this damn pregnancy brain of mine!



The next one I completed without any help, yay me! Its an old one, and geez did I cop it from Hayley from being so far behind with my scrapping!! Its from 2005, and one of the final ones I had to finish in Cooper's first album. I'll get there eventually, no rush... ;)

AND, this one completes Linda's challenge for April of 'No printed paper' so thats one crossed off the list of challenges for this month in my little group of scrapping buddies.

Sorry for the dodgey pic, gloss photos never come out right when I photograph them.



Off to finish the ironing, its a neverending task!

Cheers,
Sar