Mandy in Oz

The lovely Corrie has a great giveaway up on her blog at the moment - check it out!

'The Child Within' is up now on Gossamer Dreams! I've had an incredibly vibrant cut of hand dyed cotton/linen sitting in my fabric pile for a while, just waiting for the right project. When I heard that this months GD theme was 'Spring Hippy', I knew that the right project had just arrived :P And wow! I'm in some seriously good company - there is some gorgeous stuff up previewing at the moment :)

I'm actually updating my blog more, now that I have a newborn in the house.....go figure :P I wonder how long I can refer to my little guy as a newborn for *giggle* As long as I want to, I think ;) Here's my big guy and my little guy. Things have been quite busy around here of late - we went out all weekend, which was quite tiring, but there were some great photo opportunities, hence I have some pics to show :) We went to Manly on Saturday to support a lovely lady who shaved her head to fundraise for cancer research, it was blowing a gale, which was actually quite a pleasant change from the 35 degree days at home. Then we toddled off to Bri's school fete on the Sunday, where Lily had her first face painting experience (a Fairy Princess, of course!). I've been working on some crafty endeavours also - Bri's quilt top is all cut out and ready to sew, and my secret squirrel project is just waiting on some snaps for closure. (Excuse the pun). I may even post some picture...

Well, he's actually 6.5 weeks, but who's counting? lol. I think it must be some kind of cosmic joke, that the times in life that we want to really savour, go by at warp speed. I cannot believe just how quickly the last 6 odd weeks have flown by. Little Jackson has grown out of his really teeny newborn clothes and nappies already :S Gosh, he's growing fast! I believe Donna may recognise this shirt ;) In other news, I've been gathering some fabrics, to get cracking on Brianna's quilt. I hope to have it done by Christmas (lol!). I also have one in the works for Jackson, but I think I'd like to get Brianna's done first. My first attempt was a flannelette scrappy quilt for Lily - it actually came out quite well. I used all of my flannelette leftovers, plus a vintage sheet I already had and one I scrounged from my friend Bek, of The Cloth Nappy Shop ;) And finally, I've been working on bags again! I'm finding working with procion on cellulose fib...

Since our gorgeous little man arrived :O I can't believe how quickly that has gone....waahhhhh! Unsurprisingly, there hasn't been a great deal of crafty goodness happening here - things are a little hectic. I have, however, been trying to make sure I capture plenty of the little guy on camera - you can't get that time back, after all ;) He's a super calm little guy still - makes me think of the sea turtle in Finding Nemo *giggle* Here's a couple of recent pics. The other thing that has been consuming my attention for the last week or so, is the Twilight books. They really are quite.....captivating. I must say, a very pleasant surprise for me - I almost didn't pick up that first book to read it, because of all the hype. Very glad that I changed my mind now :P And I've got this great idea for a bag....... And finally, a picture of the lovely Lily - isn't she a doll!

Our little guy is here! It turns out that I was in early labour on arrival at the hospital on Monday and little Jackson was born into water in the RBH birth centre on Monday afternoon, just like his big sister Lily :) He weighed 7lb 10oz (3.45kg), 52cm long with a 37cm head circumference (ouch!). A very tough labour, but well worth it in the end!

It's time for me to grab J and head to the hospy - eviction time for the little guy ;) I had really hoped that he might decide to come before now, but it seems I'm super comfy to live in *giggle*. Hopefully, my next post will have some squishy newborn pics :) See you on the other side of the birth :)