Fleetsuits and Unexpected Autumn Sunshine

I have finished another three of these preemie nighties - now known as Fleetsuits (because they are sleep suits for Fleetwood). He is about to crack 2kg and will soon be able to fit into store bought clothing - but in the meantime he's happily clothed in his auntie-made haute couture!!

People have been asking his mum where they can buy these!! Which is a lovely compliment, but there don't seem to be enough hours in the day for everything as it is - although there is certainly the desire to one day get my act together and have a market stall or madeit.com.au shop!

After a week of solid rain it has been lovely to get outside and potter.

Whilst I was hanging out some clothes (and clearing out the backlog from the "Chinese-laundry") Kelvin discovered a bucket of rain water and played for nearly an hour with the water, an off-cut of wood, some fallen leaves and a tomato stake!! 

There were whales, sharks, swimming lessons and seesaws (amongst other things) happening in his big imagination! So delightful to observe.

Toasties Alfresco & Premie Sewing

Our Mother's Group still meet weekly after nearly 5 years.  One of our staple lunches at the playground is toasties.

We cook them on the barbeque.  Public barbeques are free here in Hobart which I understand (from Sarah) is not the same as Melbourne and other parts of Australia where they need to be fed with coins.

Our favourite is ham and cheese slapped between bread and cooked on both sides before cutting and serving to the hungry hoards!!  Although there was salami and chees today and we have had avocado, tomato and vegemite added to the mix at various stages.

Yes, the top left corner on this bbq is the "hot spot"!!

We enjoyed another unseasonably warm Autumn day today in Hobart and loved hanging and eating with our friends.

PS.  Prototype premie 000000+ kimono sleeping bag and matching hat has been finished and hopefully will be tested by my nephew who has moved from the humidicrib to a waterbed this week (and therefore into clothes)!!

Productive Autumn Afternoon

I managed a few hours in the sewing room yesterday.

I managed to applique some cool fabric (mainly scraps that I have been lucky enough to win in various blogland giveaways over the last year).  I've had these t-shirts for more than 6 months waiting for some tizzying up - and Matilda told me that they were all pretty which I think is a good thing!

And I found some Far Far Away II fabric in my stash that arrived as part of a scrap pack purchase at Hawthorn Threads (I love these scrap packs - they're great way to get all sorts of different fabrics without having to think too hard about it.  And it suits the kind of crafting that I do, making bits and bobs for kids birthday gifts, small skirts, etc).

I had two quite small pieces of fabric so decided to make a skirt very loosely based on the Oliver+S Lazy Days skirt.  I ended up adding a waistband and doubled up some fabric for the hem.  It's still a bit big for Matilda but that's probably not a bad thing - we were just gifted with the hugest bag of hand-me-downs and she wants to wear them all today!!

I really loved sewing with the Heather Ross linen-like fabric and it would make fabulous trousers as well! I'm tempted to get some more to play with but should probably focus on using what I have rather than buying more.

My sister-in-law was also busy yesterday!  My newest nephew arrived yesterday afternoon about 8 weeks early.  Both mum and baby doing well so far but it will be a while before the little guy gets home.  I've been wondering whether there is anything I can make for them whilst in hospital.  I was thinking it might be nice to make clothes for the baby out of some of mum and dad's old t-shirts so that the little guys still feels close to his parents whilst hanging in the humidicrib - but when do they start wearing clothes, and what size are they, and can they still smell with a nasal-gastric tube in?

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying a lazy Sunday morning!