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You say Pelican, I say Pelinee

We're back from a lovely extended weekend break. It was very relaxing just hanging out with family, going on walks along the beach and feeding ducks. Audrey had a great time, she especially bonded with my Gramps (perhaps but not exclusively because he gave her lots of tickles). The photo above is from the day we went feeding ducks at a local sanctuary. Even today she was still talking about the 'pelinees' (pelicans); they obviously made quite an impact on her! Also - she managed to sleep through both aeroplane flights. This has both Matt & I extremely thrilled and considering the possibilities of other holidays soon. She was only just crawling last time we flew and my biggest fear about this trip was keeping an active toddler occupied during the flights. Phew!

Here are some beautiful felt creations that have me dreaming of wool felt.

Alice

Here is my Alice doll for this month's Month of Softies. I had such a good time making her - I've never made a 'human' doll before, only animals. But now I'm hooked and am already planning other girl-dolls for future projects. I'm not sure that she's actually very Alice-like, excepting the blue dress and blonde hair. I made a rabbit applique for the front of her dress (another nod to the Wonderland theme), but it just ended up looking a bit Playboy - not exactly the look I was after!! So the heart it is.

We're off to Melbourne tomorrow, taking Audrey to visit my Grandparents for the weekend. Today has been a blur of ticking things off lists, and I'm really looking forward to a lovely couple of days away from the usual routine.

Big day ahead

Just a quick entry. I wrote a longish post last night, but then my computer crashed and I lost it all. Our computer has been doing this quite a bit lately, and I fear it's on its way out. So, feeling defeated by technology (or rather not wanting to face the idea of replacing computer just now!), instead of rewriting I stayed up late and almost finished my Alice doll for February's Month of Softies. Apart from the fact that the deadline is rapidly approaching, I wanted to get it finished by today. Tomorrow morning we are off to Melbourne to spend the weekend with my Grandparents. So today promises to be filled with shopping, washing, packing and making lists!

Weekender

A busy weekend and I'm feeling exhausted. We had two lovely occassions yesterday: a wedding and a 30th birthday party. It's a rare thing for Matt & I to go out together without Audrey these days, but to go out twice in one day was quite a feat involving tag-team babysitting and military-style organization. We had a great time, but I feel like I need another weekend now; going out is not just throwing on my favourite shoes & leaving the house like it used to be.

I also finished these two new friends. I've been trying to correct a gender imbalance that seems to be appearing in these little toys by making a couple that look less girly. Not sure if it really worked, but at least they're not wearing dresses.

Square

Last year I came across this picture in the August issue of Interiors magazine. It inspired me to give knitting another go. I'd made a few really feeble attempts to pull out the knitting needles since around about the time Audrey was born (made even more feeble due to having a newborn and struggling with feeding/sleeping/settling and my own teetering sanity at the time!) Anyhow, I was sorting out a pile of magazines the other day and saw this photo again and it reminded me that I really wanted to knit a simple blanket of squares like this. I even purchased the wool last year (nothing too expensive, given my hopeless track record for starting knitting projects let alone finishing them). I showed my Mum the photo and the wool, and she has whisked away a ball and already knitted two squares! So, now it's going to be a joint project and we will sew it together & make a cot blanket for Audrey - hopefully sometime before she moves into a 'big' bed!

(Another) kitty in a dress

Yet another kitty in a dress. Her frock is actually a deep olive colour velveteen, but it doesn't really show in the photo. I'm on a bit of a making frenzy, trying to get enough cats, monkeys & bears together to take to the shop to be sold. Just a few more to go and they'll be ready to go.

I've been thinking a lot about knitting, too. I seem to have overcome my fear of casting on and off recently, and have been making a few (very simple!) scarfs for cats and bears. I love the portability of knitting. I love that I can knit whilst watching some mindless television and not get that awful empty feeling at the end of the night: that the whole evening has passed and I've been too tired/lazy to do something productive. Knitting makes it OK to watch crappy television (sometimes). Knitting rocks!

Do you know this rabbit?

It's been a busy week. Work, dinner with my dear friend Nelly on Wednesday night, play dates and more than a few hours clocked-up at the playground. We also had a dream run over two nights where Audrey slept from 7pm to 7am - bliss! Unfortunately, last night she woke at 2am and wouldn't go back to sleep until 4, so none of us were feeling quite so chirpy about the whole sleep-thing today. No indeed.

Enough about sleep, though. I finished this rabbit. Matt calls it the "The Tartan Miffy", and I guess he has a point. I'm not really sure what to do with it as it certainly wasn't supposed to resemble the gorgeous kids-book character as much as it does, so I can't really sell it. I think the best place for it might be in Audrey's toy-box, if she'll take it. (Poor bub, so often on the wrong end of my prototypes and cast-offs!) I've also almost finished a monkey and cat, who are both just waiting for their tails to be sewn on. Onwards and upwards!

Not so tired

I was feeling very refreshed yesterday after Audrey did that very rare thing (for her) and slept through the night in her cot, as opposed to starting out in the cot and ending up in bed with us during the wee hours of the morning. I know this is a very common theme for people with young children - despite the fact the just about everyone in my mother's group seems to have been enjoying an uninterruped night's sleep for some time now! On a daily basis Matt and I rack our brains in the hope of coming up with THE reason why Audrey at 16 months old still wakes in the night looking for our company. I've spoken to countess mother & child nurses, consulted many books and I'm none the wiser. Basically, our little girl is just not into sleeping and we just have to weather it with bleary eyes. I'm hoping that she'll sleep-through more regularly, say, by the time she's 20?!

Anyhow, I'm always astonished at how different I feel after one of these civilized nights - so much energy, patience and general goodwill, or at least a good deal more than usual! So, to celebrate I whipped up this little bear with a pink scarf. Hooray for sleep!

Tagged

These tags I ordered a couple of weeks ago arrived in yesterday's mail. This marks a very exciting and scary moment for me - the time when I start to produce my little toys for folks less forgiving (read protective of my ego!) than family and friends. A great kids shop here in Adelaide will begin stocking my creations in a couple of weeks. In preparation, I started cutting out 5 more creatures whilst Audrey had her nap today: 2 more cats, a bear, a rabbit and a monkey. I'm thrilled and nervous at the same time!

I've also been meaning to share this link. I read about this wonderful tea-house whilst in a waiting room the other day, and can't stop wishing that my little city had something similar - definitely something for the travel-to-do list!

Woolly Finds

Feeling much better today so decided to celebrate with a trip to the fabric store. In my feverish state over the last couple of days, I'd been fantasizing about finding a nubbly beige woolly fabric for my creatures. And I found exactly what I was hoping for - right at the back of the shop hiding underneath some other neglected winter woollies. I couldn't resist the other two, either. Apart from the floral, these weren't cheap so no more fabric splurges for me for a little while.

So now Audrey is tucked up in bed, we've just had a delicious takeaway curry and I'm going to settle in for a night of dreaming about what I'm going to do with these newly found treasures. But first, here's that monkey I was making for a friend; this little chap is off to Sydney soon!