Eve turned one and here are (some of) the pics

Nothing happens quickly on my blog these days, but better late than never: here is but a sample of the photos my talented sister of ESJAYcreative took back in September! It is hard to pick a favourite.... and decide what to frame. I have a huge 16x20" enlargement of the full family shot with the "1" balloon as that is a firm favourite. Just need an enormous frame now! I bought the balloon from Lark and it is still inflated 2 months later and hangs in Eve's room: value!

There are some other ripper shots, but I don't want to overload the unsuspecting reader!

This can also double as a crafty post as I made our headbands, Jemima's t-shirt, and skirt.

I had made her a "Kea shirt" before with transfer paper, and frankly it just didn't last. The transfer cracked and started peeling off after a few washes. Disappointed! This time around I printed the image on printable fabric and appliqued it on. MUCH better. I sewed on some buttons for extra cute value.

I made her skirt out of one of Chris' old work shirts and sewed on some big red pockets, and replaced the buttons with little blue floral ones. Jemima is a total pink addict, but she is also a pocket addict so she approved of this skirt. Phew!

Eve's adorable dress was bought for me in the late 70s but I never wore it. It was unearthed when Jemima was already too big for it so I am making up for lost time with it this girl around! She wears this once a week!

If you would like your own ESJAYcreative family shots, you will have to wait a little while. My sis is away until at least March next year on a rather big adventure! But do keep her in mind. She is quite the artiste!

3 Kids/3 Paintings

When I read this lovely post over at Karlyn's place the other day, I was reminded to post a little afternoon activity we indulged in recently.

Caleb and Jemima each chose a colour and planned a self portrait, and away we went. I couldn't resist joining in, and having baby Eve in the family was the perfect excuse. She was asleep anyways. You snooze, you lose.

Caleb's picture cracks me up. The blood shot eye, the earrings, the crazed expression, and the tiny top hat resting jauntily on his head. lolz.

Jemima is a fairy of course (she tells me that she is the *only fairy* in the world.) She also has earrings in her self portrait, but (like Caleb) she doesn't really. She would love them, but knows it hurts, so she is not really insisting. I was 20 years old when I got earrings, so there is yet time for her!

The paintings are not proudly displayed in the older kids' shared room. We are all quite happy with the result.

Sneak Peek!

I'm back already with one of my favourite shots so far from our 1st Birthday Photo Shoot taken by my sister. There will probably be one or two more to post! (*warning: understatement*)

My sis does family photography professionally, so if you are in Sydney, need some snaps done, and like her style, do keep her in mind.

Birthday Crochet!

So a whole month has passed, and I still haven't posted anything of Eve's first birthday. But I will!! My sister did a family photo shoot and I have to say, she did a smashing job. I can't wait to show you.

In the meantime, here is one of Eve's first birthday presents that I made for her. I used a pattern for the squares from a Mollie Makes magazine and then grannied around until it seemed done. I took the idea from Tif of Dottie Angel who is an endless source of crochet inspiration. I can't find the exact post right now, but it is in there somewhere!

Because I get extremely itchy and rashy when I crochet with wool, this is a washable acrylic yarn, which, on the bright side is nice and hardy for being dragged around by the unstoppable Eve!

I loved making this blanket for my littlest one. I have plans for more, I'm sure Caleb and Jemima are due for another one?

I have been making quite a lot of stuff lately, but have fallen off the blog bandwagon. I hope to climb back on somehow.

11 months

Eve is 11 months old for about 90 minutes, so I thought I'd slip this post in! Yep, she is wearing her onesie dress!

I don't think I wrote a "10 months". Such a shame, but it's absence sort of reflects what 10-11 months was all about: sleep and not much else. We hit a point early August where Eve was waking multiple times a night for long periods more nights than not. It finally dawned on me that this wasn't a "phase", but something we actually had to address, not just "ride it out".

So after a phone call to Tresillian giving the the confidence to do what I knew I had to... and after 2 weeks of hard work, we now have a baby who mostly sleeps all night and goes to sleep without her dummy, wrap or rocking to sleep. Phew! I know that she is probably still not getting quite enough sleep with the activities of the other kids interrupting nap times, but that's life I guess. She is so much happier, and I am enjoying life a lot more too!

These pics of her at 11 months aren't the best, but she was not in the mood to stay still!!

She turns one tomorrow! WOW.

See Eve grow.

Onesie (twosie)

A weekend or so ago, the urge to sew was too strong to resist. I left all three kids at my mum's house and sewed flat out for an hour before being beckoned back to feed baby. It was very fun- and no mistakes were made in this particular hour which is worthy of noting!

I made Eve this onesie dress using this tutorial as it's basis. I added a "faux bodice" to make it look like a little vintage dress that she owns, and coincidently cover up the little picture. The onesie was Jemima's as a wee one which made it an even more gratifying process.

A little note if you ever plan on making one, keep in mind that you lose about an inch of the length of the onesie in the process of attaching the skirt. This didn't matter in my case because I think Eve is a shorty like her mum.

High on the joy of completing a project in hardly any time at all, I made another one in the evening. I made a mistake when attaching the skirt on this one, so it took a little longer, but cute, hey!

Eve is ONE in 3 days, which in some ways startles me in it's soon-ness, but in others it is almost a wonder she has only been here a year. It feels like she has always been part of the family. We are having a little picnic on Saturday, just our little family plus my sister to take some pics which I am really looking forward to. I sort of forgot about Father's Day, lost in my thoughts about how to make Eve's birthday special (sorry Chris, sorry Dad)- so I had better get onto that!

Hello, world.

Little Eve with her "Fleur" from OneGirlDesignwks Christmas 2010

Pink baby oobee

Yellow baby oobee

Hi Blog!

I'm sorry to say it has been a while since I posted! As punishment, blogger won't allow me to move my images around. Fair enough.

I did some sewing (weeks ago now)!

I won the baby oobee pattern in a giveaway from Leslie (One girl blog) and bought 2 of her baby oobee fabric packs to make my girls one each. Eve will get hers when she turns O N E in a few weeks, and Jemima will have to wait until Christmas. Jemima can't wait! (My latest strategy is to make the kids their gifts in front of them so that they will be excited to get their handmade-by-me items: a little manipulative, I know. ha!)

I love Leslie's work a lot. I bought Eve a "fleur" for Christmas last year and the fabrics are so cute. And her quilts inspired the quilt I made for Eve before she was born.

Jemima's is the pink one- yes that is a liberty quilt, lucky oobee!

Eve is likely to just chew on hers for a while, but oobee will be sure to get awesome cuddles as well.

Thanks Leslie for the freebie! I will make heaps of these in the future I am sure!