Baby Woo's Mobile

I spent quite a lot of time thinking about what type of mobile I wanted to make, I did know I wanted to make something rather than buy something.

So my hunt for ideas was on. I thought woodland creatures made of felt, birds, and just plain circles.
It wasn't until I was checking out pretty things on Pinterest that I found the perfect pretty mobile! I came across a textile artist called Pam Garrison. This is the photo that inspired Baby Woo's mobile

by Pam Garrison.

My fave bit, milinary flower & vintage buttons. 

The Rose was from a gift given to me by my best friend Hailey. 

Little Bird x

The cream ribbon is from my wedding bouquet & the  2005 is the year Mr Woo &  I met

I used vintage ribbons, buttons and laces. I simply wrapped a vintage wooden embroidery hoop in ribbon  & started adding the bits - THAT'S IT!
I made the little heart and stuffed it with lavender for bedtime soothing.

Sneak Peek Reveal

I'm 28 weeks pregnant today!

I spent the entire morning at the hospital being a human pincushion. I had an ultrasound scan that revealed that Baby Woo has very long legs, just like her dad! I had my anti d injection, glucose tolerance test and two rounds of bloods drawn! I had to fast because of the glucose test so I finally got to eat once I'd left the hospital!  It was a long day, but it's all important! 

Can you believe 7 months has past?! I can't!
I'm keeping busy so I know the next 3 months is going to be gone in a flash! 

About the sneaky peek....

Do you remember the Sneaky Peek from last week? Check me out being a poet just then! Aaanyway! I'll refresh your memory a bit...

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Tadaaaaaaaaa! 

A vintage button monogram :)

The bits for Baby Woo's room are slowly coming together. I have more to show you but want to do one bit at a time. I started working on the crib dust ruffle/valance last night. It was the project I was most nervous about but you know what??? I've done the hardest bits now and it was so easy! I can't believe it! All that is left is for me to hem & press and it's ready! Amazing! 

It was all fine til the nap.

The nap.

I didn't sleep well last night, I don't guess women on the verge of 7 months pregnant do sleep well. On days I'm not at the shop I normally take an afternoon nap, I just HAVE to otherwise I'm a crab. Today I laid down around 4:30 I guess and had a really restless rest? Then Mr Woo got home and I fell back to sleep for about 2 hours! Oops! 

I woke up hungry enough to eat an ox! But we have no food in the house at the moment. We really need to go shopping. So we had to go down to the village shop. But sometimes it takes Mr Woo a while to get going, so by the time we got to the shop it was like 9pm. Still no dinner & I was getting mad. We spent too much time wandering around the shop and I was getting really frustrated and annoyed. While I was trying to get everything prepped for our baked potatoes I was speaking to Mr Woo's brother on the phone. He has a new girlfriend. It's her birthday in a couple of days and he called to tell me about her wonderful gifts which includes a trip to someplace wonderful. 

Well that was it. 

I lost it. 

I marched into poor Mr Woo who greeted me with a big smile and told him about how they're jetting off somewhere amazing and how we never do anything and I burst into tears & hurt his feelings :( 

Hungry.
Hormonal. 

Frustrated.
Seriously resenting my baked potato. 

You should have seen my crocodile tears. 

It was pretty terrible. 

Plus when I was on the phone I was wiping something up and broke a ceramic letter and cut my finger and  was bleeding all over the counter. 

What a night. 

I'm still grumpy but now also feeling awful for hurting Mr Woo's feelings. 

Painting Baby Woo's Room

B for Baby

We've been given the go-ahead to paint the spare bedroom {which is becoming Baby Woo's nursery}!!! Just so long as we paint it back before we leave. No problem! 

I have been wanting to use Farrow & Ball's Saxon Green:

But...over the past week I'm really feeling a light grey would be nice & Mr Woo prefers a grey to the green. He said the green is old fashioned. Hmm. Who knows. Maybe something cool and calm like this Benjamin Moore Stone Harbor:

Here's a little girl's grey nursery from www.petitelemon.com

I really like it. I'll be using pink as an accent rather than yellow, but I find it so calming! 

Now that my dream nursery fabric has arrived I think the grey will go better as there is a lot of orange in it that I never noticed in the online swatches.

I am so excited about my fabric btw, I might just have to start my dust ruffle project today!!!! 

Although it's a modern trend to have grey nursery walls, with my fabrics and furniture I think it's still going to look very vintage. 

OooOOo I'd love this on the wall! 

ttfn! x

Penguins Need Jumpers

Poor little mites! New Zealand's Little Blue Penguins or Fairy Penguins are being affected by the Taurunga oil spill. I'm probably a bit behind the curve here, esp as New Zealand is heading into Spring/Summer. But I read about the story only this morning. 

The Taurunga oil spill off the coast of New Zealand unleashed 2,500 barrels of heavy fuel into a fragile ecosystem, coating thousands of local seabirds in oil. This puts many of them — particularly the mind-meltingly adorable Little Blue Penguin — at serious risk of freezing and/or being poisoned to death. We know, we know. After today's news from Ohio, there's only so much animal suffering you can take. But you can actually help, particularly if you know how to knit.

A call put out by Grist.org asks for the world to send in penguin sweaters, which will keep them warm and prevent them from preening and swallowing the toxic oil on their feathers until workers can remove it. A decade ago, a similar incident in the region asked for "penguin jumpers," and many Little Blues have already been outfitted from whatever stockpiles were left over.
Interested? Of course you are! Here are patterns and instructions from Skeinz.com,Penguins.org, and Etsy. Get stitching. 

Here's one pattern:


Penguin Jumper in 8ply  - Must be 100% Wool Yarn

1 pair 3.25mm , 1 pair of 3.75mm needles , 1 set of 3.25mm dpn’s or circular

Cast on 36 stitches using 3.25 needles.K1, P1 to end of row. 


Repeat this row 7 times.  


Change to 3.75mm needles and K2, P2 rib. Work 4 rows increasing at each end of every row. (44 sts)
Continue until work measures 15 cms.
Decrease 1 st at each end of every row until 28 sts remain.
Decrease 1 st. in middle of next row (27 sts.)

Leave on needle.

Make second side the same.

Transfer the 54 sts from both pieces to 3 of the set of 4 3.25mm needles.(18 sts on each.) and work a round neck in K1 P1 rib for 10 rows.
Cast off.
Stitch up sides to decreasing to 27sts (opening for flipper). Add elastic to the top and bottom to prevent the penguins getting out of them. Top: 15cm of elastic; bottom 17 cm (knots allowed). Flat elastic OK.


Here's another that looks a little easier for beginners like me:



PENGUIN JUMPER 
8 ply pattern


8 ply wool or blend 
1 pair of No.9 (4mm) knitting needles 


METHOD: Back (repeat exactly the same for the Front) 
Cast on 36 sts. 


K1 P1 to the end of the row. Repeat this row 7 times. 
Change to K2P2 and inc.1 st. at each end of this and the next 4 rows. 
(44sts.) 
Continue until work measures 10cm. This is a bit shorter than the original 
pattern but we have found that it works better. {side} 
Decrease 1 st. at each end of every row until 28 stitches. {flipperhole} 
Dec. 1 st. in the middle of the next row. (27 sts.)
K1 P1 for 16 rows. {neck} 
Cast off loosely. 
Make the 2nd side exactly the same as the first. 
Using a flat stitch like mattress stitch, sew the sides together and the neck 
leaving the flipperholes open.




Mail finished Jumpers to: 
Penguin Foundation 
C/- P.O. Box 97 
Cowes  Victoria  Australia  3922

Sneaky Peek!

 

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It doesn't look like much, but it's the beginning of my newest project! I've been hunting and hunting for lovely things to put up on Baby Woo's walls but I'm struggling a bit to find just the right things.
I've found some inspiration on pinterest as usual so I'm getting started because time is ticking! 

I am 27 weeks pregnant tomorrow! Only 13 to go! There is so much still to do! 

One little project at a time & we'll get there :)

Baby Woo's Quilt

I am not sure if I have posted the pictures that I took while putting Baby Woo's quilt together. I was nervous to do it, but like I said before I had to get over being a chicken! 

I had quite a collection of pretty vintage fabrics already that seemed to work perfectly together! I picked up a few other bits from Heidi at Becnicks .

And then I started!

Cutting out the square 4.5 x 4.5 

Laying out the squares! 

Strips done! Ready to be pressed. 

half of the strips put together! 

QUILTING! Go! little blue go! 

The very last row of quilting....I was a little sad it was about to be over I was enjoying the process so much. 

I ended up machine sewing the binding too, my hand stitching skills are horrid! 

The whole sha-bang! 

I was enjoying quilting so much I made a bib too! 

:)

Next I want to make some fabric blocks like these! I'm just waiting on the toy stuffing I ordered to arrive. 

after the blocks will probably be the crib dust ruffle! 

My little blue Jones sewing machine has been the busiest she's been in years! But she's a trooper and running well! My Great Aunt Jenny & Great Grandmother, who were extremely skilled seamstresses, must be looking over my shoulder, making sure everything is going well. 

Pinterest Tutes.

Cozy Quick Blankie

Junebug dress

I have found some of the CUTE-EST things I've ever seen on Pinterest! Have you heard of Pinterest? Are you on it?! I am so totally addicted! "Pinterest is an vision board-styled social photo sharing website where users can create and manage theme-based image collections".

The fun part for me is the new access to so many great tutorials and recipes all in one place with a sneak peek! It really is so addictive.  Oh the crafty & tasty possibilities! 

Bunny Softie 

Toad Stools 

oh I could just go on forEVER! 

You can even find me on Pinterest :)

and I promise you'll become addicted too! 

Upcoming Birthday Cake

So I guess with the addition of Uncle Laurie's new girlfriend our nearly non-stop celebration season starts just about now! After her birthday at the end of this month {which is already half gone!} comes Mr Woo & my 3rd wedding anniversary!
and then...
Uncle Laurie's birthday, My Mom's birthday, Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!, New Year, this year the biggest celebration Baby Woo's arrival, Mr Woo's baby brother's birthday, my niece's birthday, my birthday, my twin brother's birthdays, my other niece's birthday, my Grandmother's birthday, my sister in law's, Mr Woo's Dad's birthday in mid April. And last, but by no means least, Mr Woo's birthday in May! PHEW!

Then we get a break.

I'm pooped just thinking about it!

I offered to make a special birthday cake for Uncle Laurie's girlfriend. She  requested chocolate cherry. Most of the recipes I've found call for cake mix and canned cherries. EW! GROSS! They must be nice otherwise there wouldn't be so many recipes out there? But it's not my bag baby.

Here's the "gourmet" recipe I've found:

Chocolate Cherry Cake

This delicious cake is easy, rich but light, and so wonderfully moist. There is about 20 minutes prep time, and around 55 minutes cooking time. To make chocolate curls, melt dark chocolate, spread thinly onto a marble slab or inverted heavy tray, set aside until firm. Scrape with a knife at a 45-degree angle (away from you) to create curls. These extravegent curls give this dessert that 'cake shop' glamour!

Serves 10.

INGREDIENTS:
150 gms dark chocolate (54% cocoa solids)
150 gms butter, softened
170 gms caster sugar
6 eggs, separated
150 gms self-raising flour, sifted
3 tsp cornflour
50 ml kirsch, plus extra to drizzle {kirsch is a knock your shocks off cherry liqueur}
250 ml (1 cup) pouring cream

Cherry compote
1 1/2 cups caster sugar
500 gms pitted cherries

Ganache
150 gms dark chocolate (54% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped
140 ml pouring cream

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 175C. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Cool slightly. Beat butter and 150gm caster sugar in an electric mixer until pale and creamy (4-8 minutes), then add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add melted chocolate and stir to combine, then fold in flour in batches. Whisk eggwhites to soft peaks, then fold through chocolate mixture. Pour into a greased and baking paper-lined 23cm spring-form pan and bake until a skewer withdraws clean (30-40 minutes). Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

For cherry compote, combine sugar and 500ml of water in a saucepan and cook, stirring over medium heat, until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, add cherries, bring to boil again, reduce heat and simmer until cherries are tender (5 minutes). Remove from heat and set aside. Makes 1 litre of cherries and juice.

Meanwhile, drain juice from cherries (reserving 180ml and discarding remaining). Place cherries in a bowl. Mix cornflour with 20ml reserved cherry juice to make a paste. Combine remaining cherry juice, drained cherries and cornflour paste in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens (2-3 minutes). Add 30ml kirsch and set aside to cool.

For ganache, melt chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (3-5 minutes). Remove from heat and stir until smooth and glossy.

Whisk cream and remaining sugar until stiff peaks form, add remaining kirsch and whisk briefly to combine. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.

Halve cake horizontally, drizzle base generously with kirsch, spread with cream and spoon over cherry compote. Sandwich with top half of cake. Drizzle with more kirsch, then pour over ganache and scatter with chocolate curls.


That's more like it I think! I hope anyway...

P.S.
*Uncle Laurie has informed me that he intends on making a "mini cake to go on top of your cake".
Oh really?
"I'm not trying to out-do you or anything", when someone says that they probably are aren't they, haha! I'm not bothered, I just don't want his massive "mini cake" creation smashing my cake!
He is not a baker. He is going to try to make a fondant covered Land Rover & person & dog.....to go on top of this cake.
He doesn't have any idea how heavy a fondant sculpture is! Oh well. I guess even if it's a pile of broken mess the Chocolate Cherry Cake will still taste nice.*

Heather Ross

Heather Ross, hanging out the house gnome laundry, Vermont, 1973

Heather Ross is a wonderful illustrator & designer of whimsical fabrics. I first learned of her a few weeks ago when I was looking for a woodland themed fabric for Baby Woo's Crib Valance. I found Far Far Away 

Isn't it beautiful!!! I just love it. I never thought I'd be able to find it, but thanks to my extremely kind & generous elder sister who lives in Texas I'm going to have it! She found it there and is sending it over to me! Baby Woo is actually going to have the most beautiful valance ever! I am so excited! 

SO ever since finding Far Far Away Snow White I've been hooked. 

Check this out! Far Far Away 2

Isn't it charming and wonderful! 

Look at her adorable Halloween illustration 

I just can't get enough! 

Isn't she wonderful! 

Changing Table Ideas

I am on the hunt for a changing table. There seems to be a trend of using dressers and sideboards for changing units and I really like the way they look. They're something that will grow with baby and not become obsolete. We are in a serious shortage of storage especially now that we've got sooo many beautiful baby clothes for Baby Woo. There are two sideboards at Becnicks  that might work nicely but they'll both need to be painted. Hmm....I'll need baskets to go inside of the bottom if I got sideboards....they're a great price at £40. Should I wait to see if I can find a dresser? 

Or should I just go for a sideboard?! 

Here are some of  the pix that are making me swoon

All the pictures are of dressers or chest of drawers...but the sideboards might be gorgeous all painted up in the perfect color and with the perfect changing mat and baskets inside? 

So many choices! So much loveliness! 

♥