Newborn Going Home Outfit

Two days before the early arrival of Baby Celeste, I decided I absolutely had to make her going home outfit. Luckily, sewing for babies is so quick and I finished in the nick of time (sewing through what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions, but were probably real ones!).

Knowing that bub was going to be a girl, I decided it had to be a dress. I'm a big believer in dressing babies for comfort rather than style (rompers, onesies, knit tops and pants), but I wanted this outfit to be special. After trawling through my saved links in Delicious and a bit of googling, the Itty Bitty Baby Dress from Made by Rae looked like just the thing.

Next step, sort through my stash for the perfect fabric. I wanted cute and girly, but not pink and frilly. Little Birdies in Yellow by Me and My Sister for Moda Fabrics was the one. I also had a small piece of lemony-yellow linen (I think?) that I picked up at the thrift store that I used for the bodice lining. Here's the finished product, modelled by the adorable Celeste:

I made the 7-9lb baby version and it fit my 7lb 12oz darling perfectly (won't be getting a lot of wear out of this one!). I also attempted to make the baby jodphurs from Ottobre Designs magazine (3/2010), but wasn't paying much attention when sewing the front and back leg pieces together to what was the "right side" of the fabric (can you really tell with plain knits?), and managed to sew two left legs. I was running low on thread and didn't want to get the seam ripper out, so I just bodged the pants together. No close-up photos of that sewing effort!

I'm still pleased that my daughter came home from hospital in a homemade outfit (although wearing a bought long-sleeve onesie underneath the dress as the weather has been miserable here lately). I'll definitely keep the dress as a memento of such a wonderful occasion!

9 months in the making...

My latest project is complete:

Celeste Annabel arrived on 11th October (just missing out on being a 10/10/10 baby). The labour and birth went much more smoothly than first time around. I'm not one to share unsolicited birth stories, so I'll leave it at that!

We're settling in at home, with big brother fascinated by the "Baby Baby", although he's definitely a two-year-old-in-training as he's starting to have tantrums when things don't happen the way he wants.

First set of grandparents arrive tonight for a two week visit, with the second set coming straight after that. It'll be great having some support while I work out how to deal with 2 kids under 2 (I still can't comprehend how you leave the house when you're out-numbered!).

I still have a backlog of craft projects to share with you as I find time (one-handed typing whilst nursing). Things may be light-on in the cooking and cleaning for a while! Hope you hang around until I get back in the swing of things!

Crochet Bear in a Jiff

When I was pregnant with my son, I made square man and long skinny dude for him:

With number 2 on the way, I was starting to feel bad that I hadn't made any toys for her. A quick search through the Lionbrand website (I have no affiliation with this site, but it's my go-to resource for all things crochet!), and I found the "Bear in a Jif" crochet pattern.

I picked up a cute variegated baby yarn (I once again didn't keep the label, so I have no idea what brand etc it is - I think I need a crochet journal!).

The pattern was simple enough to follow for a self-taught beginner like myself. It was a bit fiddly sewing it all together, and I'm not totally happy with my face embroidery skills, but it certainly has that homemade charm to it (which I think adds to the personal value of a teddy bear).

Now we just have to patiently wait for bubs arrival to see if she likes it!

3 Steps to Tackling the Difficult Chores

There are some chores that fill me with dread that I put off as long as possible (usually making the task worse!). As much as I try "clean as you go cooking" and making sure the kitchen is clean and tidy before I go to bed, the stove is one area that I tend to neglect. It's difficult to clean as you go without setting the cleaning cloth on fire, and just seems to hard to clean at the end of a hard day. I've hit the point where I have no idea when I actually cooked most of the food stuck to the stove, and I really have to get the job done!

Here is my approach for tackling difficult chores - the principle is the same for just about any chore, but I'm using the stove as an example:

1. Look for the quick win: The goal here is to break the task into smaller steps and give yourself a pyschological boost. Suddenly, the chore doesn't seem so huge! For the stove, this is the splash-back - there were only a few spots on it, and with a quick spray with cleaner and a wipe, I could start to see progress.
2. The 80/20 rule: 80% of the result comes from 20% of the effort. This is the bulk effort - not worrying about the finer details. Wiping down the whole of the stove-top area to remove the really obvious mess - chunks of food, oil spatters etc. Don't try to remove every last stain and mark. Then, if you only get this far because life (that pesky toddler!) gets in the way, at least the area doesn't look like a total disaster zone.
3. Fine-tune (until you just can't be bothered anymore!). Scrubbing the burners, removing the black baked-on mess, giving the whole area a polishing shine - keep working while you have the energy until you've reached that standard that you are happy with. This will mean different things to different people!

Finally, don't forget to be happy with what you've achieved when you're done - stop looking for imperfections!

What chores do you put off? What approach do you use to tackle the hard chores? Let me know in the comments.