Baby Shower gifts...

In the last post I wrote about the baby shower for DsD2 and said I would write about the gifts DH and I gave, in a separate post. 

We did pay for the super dooper pram that the young parents had decided on, but of course some extra goodies were collected ready for the baby shower...and wasn't it fun buying those!! 

This is the little bundle of gifts, presented in a basket which I had bought from Howard's Storage World.

We don't know what sex the baby is, so I used blue, pink and yellow gift paper, with a blue/mauve bow attached to the basket.

One of the gifts, we bought way back in August from a shop in Sausalito...

From the Karuna Hospice Christmas markets, we had bought a cloth book, (no photo), and this item...

Looks like a giant clutch purse doesn't it? Lol

Open the flap...

The bird fabric is actually laminated fabric...

Unroll a bit more...some flaps...

Open up the flaps...

Lots of waterproof 'space' there...but what about those flaps?

They are actually pockets...

And now you probably know for sure what this 'giant clutch purse' is...

Yes, a change mat! With a couple of disposable nappies in one pocket and a small packet of baby wipes in the other flap, and a waterproof surface, it's all set up for nappy changes when mum and baby are out. 

There were a lot of young mums there and they had never seen something like this...they clustered around to examine it, looking carefully at how it was made. I had bought something similar at the Canberra Bus Depot Markets in 2009 to give to my niece. She had always said it was the most useful gift she received when she became a mum. I'd remembered that and was determined to find one (or make one if I absolutely had to) for DsD2. So a big tick there for this stepmum! Lol

There was also a 'burp towel' that my friend Beryl makes...a good quality white towelling nappy (diaper) on which she cross stitches the word 'Burp' with other little designs embroidered as well...a very swanky towel to mop up food 'overflow'. 😊 (forgot to take that photo too)

And I wrapped up one more gift. DsD3 bought a onesie while we were in Canada for us to bring back on her behalf...and I did photograph it!

And that's a wrap of the gifts we gave...

The Baby Shower...

Yesterday we celebrated the upcoming birth of DsD2's baby at a Baby Shower. Jane's friends organised everything through Facebook. 

It was a lovely afternoon...we all brought a plate of food to share...

How about a closer look at that cake? It fooled me when I first saw it on the kitchen bench upstairs...I thought it was one of those 'nappy cakes', but using towelling ones instead of the disposables. But this was a real cake! 

It took our guest of honour ages to open the gifts as there were sooooo many!

Her sister, DsD1 very thoughtfully wrote down the details of each gift and who gave it...

Look at all that loot! The gifts were many and wonderful...

This is the quilt that my sister in law made as a gift...

During the afternoon, a onesie was passed around with a pack of fabric pens...we were asked to either draw or write something on the little suit...

(I wrote, ' My parents are the best parents in the Universe!') 

My stepdaughters' mum had unearthed her Grade 9 Mothercraft book. Years ago in the 1960s all Grade 9 girls did a series of lessons on Mothercraft. We had to make a scrapbook of our lessons and we had an exam...pfft! It was such fun passing U's book around though...life is so different now.

Here is DsD1 with her mum and my SiL Mary, looking though the Mothercraft book.

Now just before it was time to go home, that cake was cut...

Magnificent on the inside as well as the outside. It was a caramel swirl mud cake made by a friend of DsD2...clever girl! 

Baby is due February 10.

In another post I'll show what we gave DsD2...

My local yarn shop, Yarn Over.

At the end of this month my local yarn shop will close its doors and the business will then sell only online. Like a lot of local businesses,Yarn Over was never 'just a shop'. Both the present owner and the former owner always encouraged people to come to social gatherings based on a common love/interest in knitting and crocheting. Many groups would meet during each month and of course there were classes that people could attend. 

The knitting group I belong to, K4BN would conduct their monthly Knit and Natter at the store and member's purchases always attracted a 10% discount. And all customers could use loyalty cards to collect points for purchases and trade them in. And of course there was the staff...always helpful and friendly and ready to put the 'kettle on' for when regular customers dropped by...we could browse the shelves while we sipped or lounge on the sofas! 

Today was therefore the last Knit and Natter at Yarn Over for K4BN...and as usual we had fun...

There were generous discounts on stock...even a free giveaway basket to rummage through...our usual coffee/tea/ food goodies...but it was all tinged with a bit of sadness.

(All of us who attended were able to set up our User ID and password for the new website during the morning as well)

A recent finish...

2016 brought a burning desire to work on some UFOs. The first finish was a throw that I started knitting in 2014. It was my old favourite chevron pattern but I was experimenting with deeper bands of the main colour. I was using up scraps of pink and some blues left over from previous projects. 

And instead of my usual dark main colours, I tried using white. 

I didn't get much done in 2014 but worked on the throw a few times in 2015...but really lacked enthusiasm to actually finish it. So at the beginning of this month I pulled it out with a new resolve. I wanted a supply of knitted rugs which I could give away at a moment's notice to someone doing it tough. I haven't had that little stash of finished throws for a couple of years now.

And last week I finished this one!

Eduardo of course had to try the new rug out...

But then it was all folded up and he had to 'slum it' on the doona in the spare bedroom! (He considers this room to be his but graciously lets visitors use the/his bed) 

So then I moved on to another UFO; my Knitted Minestrone project which I wrote about in the FNWF post. There's still a way to go on that throw but The enthusiasm to finish is still there...and that's great!

And today my new iPad case arrived...

I ended up choosing the retro turntable...a bit of nostalgia from my teenage years when I lusted after a record player. It never happened! So when I started work, I bought a little mono blue and white record player which I loved. Even though I upgraded to a stereo system in the early 1970s, I kept my little one. My girls loved the novelty of it and played records on it in the 1980s until it 'died' in the 1990s. 

I can laugh about it now...

In the last week of October last year, I found myself displaying 'nesting' behaviours. I was feverishly tidying cupboards in the kitchen...wiping down the shelves after some decluttering and replacing items neatly. In the main bedroom, I sorted through the wardrobe and was ruthless with garments that hadn't been worn for yonks! Some items went in the regular rubbish bin, but these bags went to the charity bins at a local shopping centre. 

The reason for all these frenzied efforts was that I was heading off for that hernia repair op in early November. Somehow I had got it into my head that if the worst happened and I didn't survive the op, that my many sisters in law and various female friends of DH would come to help him and I didn't want them to go, 'Hmmm, she wasn't much good at keeping things tidy eh?' I can assure you that now my attitude is, 'So? What's it matter? And would those women even bother? Lol!! 

And also back then in late October, I was writing lists...yes me and lists...love them! 

Again these lists were what I wanted people to do in case I 'didn't make it'. I was signed up for 3 swaps so DH had email details to contact those organisers if necessary.

Then there were the directions for disposal of my yarn and fabric stashes...

And the directions for the stash of yarn and the blankets made by joining donated squares...

The fabric stash...

Note the special mention of my collection of children's fabrics including my stash of fat quarters of all the fabrics in Jodie Carleton's Backyard Circus...

Instructions for the blog...and a reminder of what remains in an insurance policy after cashing in units...

So...nothing about the whereabouts of items that had belonged to my mother, first mother in law and my 2 grandmothers that I would want to pass on to my girls. No information of any accounts that might need paying...oh just heaps of things that I didn't think of! Lol. Good job I survived isn't it? Lol

And of course, I have more room in my wardrobe and nice clean and tidy kitchen cupboards!!

Decisions, decisions, decisions!!!

DH bought me a new IPad Air for Christmas and DD1 has now got my IPad 2. It really surprised me that someone who has the latest iPhone, would want a 4 year old iPad but she asked if she could have it. As she is my IT 'fix it' girl, how could I refuse? Anyone who deals with the Apple Support line on my behalf can have my old stuff any time if she wants! Lol

In typical 'First World Problem' fashion, I found that the old case didn't fit my new gadget and DD1 didn't want it...

Such a shame but it looked like I would have to find a new one to buy...a few times I have been very grateful that I had a hard case on the iPad as it saved it from being damaged. 

But I had discovered that I like covers that are a bit different and even though DH and I did the rounds of local shops, I found nothing I liked. The interesting ones were always for other tablets not the Air. 

My previous case came from the Aussie company MOZI, so I checked that site ...nothing. Then I went to the Red Bubble site but the cases were all for minis. Just when I thought I'd have to buy a plain one, I thought of Etsy...it wasn't long before I had put a number of designs in my Favourites. 

 All of these designs are made in Sydney...I love the flowers, but I also loved the quirky ones.

You won't believe this...but then I couldn't make up my mind which one!! Finally, just after New Year's Day, I put in my order after lots of dithering/procrastination/agonising/changing of my mind...which do you think I chose? It was posted last week so it might even arrive today! 

Friday Night with Friends...

It was the first FNwF for 2016 here in Australia last night. And all throughout the world as Friday night comes to the various time zones, bloggers will be working on various craft projects and then sharing these via blog posts. 

I was working on a project that I originally started in early 2011...no that wasn't a slip of the finger on the keypad...I started this project when I was on 6 months long service leave in 2011!!! In that year another blogger, Kaite Matilda from Bathhurst, invited myself and some other knitters/crocheters/textile artists etc to join her in her project, 'Knitted Minestrone', where the participants would devise projects to use up scraps of yarn. And there was a blog of the same name where we posted progress. There were some great projects but I can't direct you to the blog as when Kaite decided to change direction in her crafting journey she notified us that she was closing down the blog. 

I decided on just one project that I would work on for the Knitted Minestrone project...a throw. My 'scraps' were considered to be a bit long by the other participants but being mainly a 200 plus stitches on the needles 'project person', my 'ends' weren't enough for a full row so I went ahead with my throw. 

The smaller amounts of these went into my Knitted Minestrone throw.

So in 2011 I did bands of scrap colours stocking stitch interspersed with black garter stitch bands.

I loved doing it but I put it away when we went for a 7 week driving holiday in the US from early March that year. When we came back home I was doing other projects and forgot all about this one.

I think maybe I did some more work on this throw in 2014 as there was a third band of colour...but not much as I'd run out of scraps. And then last year, I somehow lost my mojo, but that was then! 

The other day I took out Knitted Minestrone. It had been carefully stored in a zippered jumper storage bag as there are woollen yarns in it and those moths/silverfish just love those yarns as we know. Also in the bag was a ball of scraps that I'd forgotten about...what a bonus!

Once again, I was enjoying the project and on and off for the last 2 days, I worked on it and late into the evening too of course!

So after dinner last night, I turned on the air con and continued on to finish the latest band of 'scraps'.

So I've now finished 4 bands of scrap multi colours and am working on a black garter stitch band.

Last night I also took out my scrap/oddments basket and ended up with a big ball wound from scraps...so I'll be able to work on when I finish this lot of black garter stitch. 

As well as my scraps, I have also been using some lovely hand dyed wool from Nanette. When she found that the moths had been in this ball of yarn, Nanette offered it to me to use as it would be just scraps when I cut out the 'motheaten' bits...which I did! 

Very pretty colours! ( this is only some of the scraps not what was salvageable from the whole ball!!!) 

And I figured that as the project was discontinued, there are no rules any more. So I also got out my 'Mystery ball' that I had bought from Knitch a little while ago...(sorry it doesn't seem to want to rotate!)

But some of the yarns in this ball are too thick, so I'm picking and choosing' what I include in my throw. 

Thank you Cheryll for hosting FNwF. Why not visit the other FNwFers using the links on Cheryll's blogpost?  http://stitchingcubbyhole.blogspot.com.au/2016/01/fnwf.html