I Really Like Christmas.

I really, really do!

Hello! I’ve missed you! I’ve also missed sewing & leaving the house!

Yesterday I got to sew for a couple of hours while The Boy bounced a sleeping Suspense & it was WONDERFUL. Of course, finishing a couple of sewing projects put me in mind of blogging, so here I am. Ironically I don’t have a good photo to share of the Christmas stockings I whipped up yesterday because I am QUICKLY typing this in a stolen moment, but I just wanted to pop in & wish each & every one of you a fabulous & very merry Christmas!

It’s been an eventful year here in the Punky household & I have been lucky enough to share everything with you guys! I got my licence! I moved into our little cottage! I had a baby boy! Most importantly though I found some cool stuff at opshops…! ;)

Thank you everyone, fellow bloggers, sweetest readers & quiet lurkers, for being here for me to ‘talk’ to. For listening to my whinges, rejoicing in my happiness & over-inflating my ego when my various crafty pursuits turn out okay. You rock kids. You do.

Hopefully I’ll be getting back into the swing of normal life in the new year & will be back here, writing & whinging & laughing with you all, but until then, have a wonderful holiday with your family, relax & soak up the magic that is Christmas & this most beautiful time of the year!

Merry Christmas everyone, with much love from Vic, The Boy, Le Punk & Suspense.

xo

Hiatus.

I'm abandoning the blog for now - Don't know when I'll be back, right now I'm much too busy keeping my head above water...! Maybe you'll be here when I return... Like a prison wife?! ;) And here is the rest of it.

Mailfunction.

Yesterday we had a bit of a mail – malfunction; the parcel guy left two big parcels for ME at a neighbours house! Luckily, said neighbour knows The Boy from work & knew that the “Little Spencer” one parcel was co-addressed to was his new baby…! *phew!*

Anyway, when the parcels finally got to their rightful destination, their contents were revealed, making all joyful & full of good cheer….

A Christmas present for Suspense (Yup… that’s what I’ve been calling him. I can’t help it. Nicknames are my thing…), & WHAT a Christmas present! GORGEOUS, funky, funny, cute… the best robot ever pretty much, from Cath…

…& a special wee girl bunny for me to stitch up & stuff for Le Punk (Thank you sweetness – she loves it even now..!).

As if that weren’t enough to set my heart a-flutter, I had to take deep breaths when opening the next parcel… fluff!

A long-awaited nappy lay-by… lovely!

I am very concerned for the state of mind of our parcel guy however – I get quite a few parcels delivered here, you’d think he’d know by now…? Perhaps the Christmas postal rush is starting & making the poor guy frazzled… I DON’T CARE! Don’t give my lovely mail to other people! BAD PARCEL GUY! Yikes!

*coughs*

And now for something completely different, an irrelevant picture of my little chick magnet:

Have a great weekend kiddies, & fellow Victorians; don’t forgot to vote… if only so you don’t get fined for it later – there certainly isn’t much to choose from….

Wordless Wednesday

Blogging one-handed from an iPod…

…is much harder than one would think, but I promised lovely Cath that I would post about her mad robot making skillz when her fabulous robot plushie Victor made his debut over at Kid Independent for Plushie Palooza!

Isn’t he great?! And what about his name, eh? Whoever he is named after must be one awesome, if possibly sleep deprived & smelling of baby sick, individual, me thinks.

If you love ol’Victor as much as I do – & seriously, how could you not? – do head over to his post & let everybody know. If there is any justice at all in this world, the gazillion comments his cute self will elicit will win his creator the coveted hand felted Golden Plushie award, & bucketfuls of kudos & well-deserved glory, of course.

I think that’s everything…? Sorry if I missed something tres important Cath!

On a sidenote: I am the THE slackest post partum blogger in the universe, I’m sorry, & I miss you all immensely! I was shocked & dismayed to find last night, when clicking on my reader for the FIRST TIME SINCE SPENCE ARRIVED, that the blog world has not only continued on swimmingly without me, but is thriving & I am sure to have missed many important & interesting developments! The horror!

If my wee man ever decides that he might like to sleep someplace other than in my arms, or is content for longer than it takes me to take a shower or hug a Punk, I’ll try to pop in with an update or seven, but for now my loves expect any posts from me to be sporadic at the very least, & few & far between!!

xo

Spencer.

Born 12.02pm yesterday. Everybody home before 7pm. 4.2 Kg! xo

Too Pretty to Wait.

This dress was supposed to be a Christmas present, but as soon as it got here I knew I wouldn’t be able to wait…

I mean, it’s so pretty… & it fits PERFECTLY, right now!

….just because.

 

(…nothing distracts like Jim…)

My Creative Space…

…aka “Crafting for Heavily Preggers Peeps”…

…aka “Don’t try this at home”…

…aka “Craft FAIL”.

So. I “covered” a manky old footstool with some of the left over robot quilt fabric. But…. I didn’t want to sew anything.

So… I glued it on.

Yup.

GLUE. White craft glue, to be precise. Shoulda/woulda/coulda used ModPodge maybe…?

Oh well.

Apart from the air bubbles it looks okay… good enough to stick my sausage feet on anyway!

More (perhaps less half-assed) creative spaces over here.

I’m still here.

…but I’m finally all packed & ready to go, just in case…!

Yesterday’s “Due Date” came & went without any excitement at all. I didn’t even have a bet on the Cup! I have a Doctor’s appointment this afternoon which I am dragging The Boy along to for the first time because I feel I’ll need a little moral support – she was already talking about “moving things along next week…” at my 39 week appointment.

I am sick of all the appointments & fussing, & wish we were having this bubba at the RPA Birth Centre where Le Punk was born & I felt more supported & empowered, but I’m not. I’m in ‘the country’ now, & apparently, things are different here. I am very confident that bubba#2 will come when he’s ready. Punk was a week late, so today, at one day “overdue”, I am not in the least bit concerned.

Wish me luck for my appointment. I hope she doesn’t make me cry… but it’s really not that hard these days….

Damn you facebook!

…you’ve sucked me back in to your time-consuming vortex! I had such good intentions when I quit facebook – I lasted ages too… AGES, but then, one day, when my internet had been sloooooooooowed…. riiiiiiiiiiight…. dooooooown…. I remembered that facebook took bugger-all time to load & I could still peruse all sorts of things, from Blythe pics to handmade goodness, & the rest of course, is history.

I am proud to say I am not involved in any of that “Just had toast for breakfast” palaver, or consumed by playing farm wars or mafia restaurant city or what not, but maybe I should be, because I have discovered something else.

The facebook sale. Uh. Oh.

Did you know about these….? People/stores/groups announce on their page that they’re having a sale at a certain time & upload photos to their album with the item details & the first person to write “SOLD!” after the sale has started scores the item, usually at a crazily discounted, highly sought after price. Like this ridiculously gorgeous Chalk n Cheese dress from My Poppit that I accidentally bought for $25 instead of $79.50…..

Did I already say “Uh Oh”?

Not only that, but thanks to a comment from Lauren on one of my Modern Cloth Nappy posts, I’ve discovered a Buy & sell your MCN group….

I shall be poor for eternity….!

At least I am only wasting time with one online social network – Twitter was nae for me…

How was it for you?

Blogtoberfest?

I can honestly say I’m glad it’s over for another year, I didn’t miss a day, but it wasn’t easy!

Did you have fun? How did you find posting every day? Are you going to keep it up?

I am going to luxuriate in the fact that I don’t HAVE to post tomorrow, but I can if I want to.

Ahhhh……….

Cheers to Cath for having us all around, & to Cam for keeping all the giveaway goodies in her spare room…

Boris.

You’re going to have to excuse any sniffles, snuffles or honking big sobs that might come up during this post because I’m feeling a little bit emotional…

This is Boris. Boris is bright yellow, all kinds of fuzzy & likes custard tarts. He arrived yesterday & has been checking out his new home ever since.

Boris was a surprise. A big, beautiful surprise from Jess. I love him. He made me cry. Jess made me cry. Bloody Jess.

*deep breaths*

Truth be told, I think I was tearing up before I even opened the beautiful package. I saw it’s loveliness & saw that it was from Jess & knew that she had done something special. Damn her.

Then I opened the parcel & there were gorgeous little bears, bunnies & lambs peeping out at me.

*sniff*

Then I opened another sweet package & there was Boris.

I cried.

I did.

Because I could FEEL the love peeps. I’m not being a sentimental pregnant lady… or, I’m not JUST being a sentimental pregnant lady, but he is special. He has heart. Character. Wonk.

How Jess manages to get such a result from some yarn, beads & stuffing I have no idea. She puts herself into them. She puts her affection into them, she cares about them, & each & every one is a beautifully unique creation, a teddy to be adored.

I don’t think I can accurately describe the warm vibe I get from him – especially when I hold him – which he’s made for, quite frankly, with his sturdy little body & tactile fuzz.

I was also a bit in shock, because just yesterday I noticed a member of Boris’ family – Kermit, in Jess’s etsy store, and thought about getting him. I love his big pancake head…

…and then, here in front of me all of a sudden is his big brother. Super cute & YELLOW. W. O. W.

I feel so special. I feel so lucky. I feel unworthy yet so grateful & I feel that Bubba#2 is going to have to share Mr Boris with me, because I do love him.

Thank you Jess, even though thank you isn’t enough. You’re awful & you know it. (…& I KNOW you’ll be mortified by this wee love fest but you made me cry. People need to know you’re a menace, & beware… This is actually a public service announcement…. xoxoxo)

*sob*

Ask and thou shall receive…

I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t remember, before my robot kick, ever seeing anything to do with robots at the oppy, yet in the last 3 weeks, four robot softies have presented themselves to me.

Meet Mr Bot & his buddy K-9, who were waiting at an oppy a little further-afield yesterday…

Just don’t look down…

Although I am still waiting on a few bits & bobs, I thought it was about time to show you the nursery – just, well, don’t look down. The floor is better than it was, but it’s still not great, so just imagine lovely polished floorboards where the icky unsealed ones are, okay?

Okay. Maybe also ignore the icky green walls…? Thanks. Let us commence with the small nursery tour, brought to you by the opshop, my craft room & various clever makers…

Does this cupboard look familiar…? The crow cupboard is now the robot cog cupboard…

Robot softie from Snow Machine on Etsy, blocks & board game opped.

Space themed fabric balls also from Etsy, robot bean bags from Milos Creations & specially made robot rattle from Chunky Chooky. Canvas & cup opped….

Above: Ikea hanger – opped – coat hangers – opped, Mama-made polaroids.

Bellow: Curtains made from opped doona cover & THE QUILT.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaappppppppppiiiiieeeeeeeeessssssss!!!!

Above: Mama-drawn bots in opped frames.

Below: The non-robot corner! Top shelf, animal matching game from Tree Fall, books, book case & panda toy all opped.

Opped & painted robot coat rack, opped robot tee.

 

Not sure how much the whole room cost to put together – practically nothing. The most expensive things are probably still coming – a couple of irresistible robot goodies from some lovely crafters – as the cot, change table & baby swing were Punk-hand-me-downs & pretty much everything else was opped or handmade. Let us call this ‘Bots for Bebe on a Budget’?!

So that’s what’s been occupying a bit of my time & most of my attention lately, I hope you’ll agree that it is a bit of a creative space… more of those (not necessarily nurseries though…) over here.

Little (grotty) Mama.

Ah my Punk is the love of my life you know. She is such a beautiful, joyful, cheeky thing, growing up way too fast. I adore her, I do. She is going to be such a fantastic big sister!

The Boy’s Mum is here – she flew down so we needn’t stress about what to do with Punkerella when we have to go to hospital – & she bought Punk a baby of her own, a little cabbage patch newborn. Her name is Leila, according to her birth certificate; that’s a lovely name, I don’t mind it at all, her middle name though, apparently, is Mercedes. We’re not talking about that. I’m glad Punky can’t read.

Anywho, since I’m nappy-mad right now, I thought I’d make some for little Leila – they are pretty bloody shoddy, I must admit, I won’t be putting any nappy makers out of business any time soon – but Punky likes them. I also made her a changing mat & a baby sling, which she put on before continuing about her business, albeit covered in chocolate paddle pop… hmmm… just like a regular Mama…

39 Weeks.

The Boy is the only one not amused by the fact that Bubba#2 is due on Melbourne Cup day. He is hoping, very much, that we are not amongst the 4-5% of peeps that get to meet their wee one on their due date….

I’m a bad granddaughter.

Not only did I totally forget it was my Gran’s birthday today until an Aunt inadvertently reminded me by text message – but I don’t have any moolah to get her anything – and by anything I mean flowers, because quite honestly she already has at least five of every object ever made crammed into every nook & cranny of her house…

So what do I do?

Sew up an oven mitt & a pot holder, perhaps the crappest present ever. But she’ll be nice about it. She has to be. She’s my Nanna!

The Quilt That Blogs Built.

Seriously.

I am so chuffed. Happy. Proud. Excited. Glad…. any nice adjective you can think of, insert it here, because I FINISHED THE QUILT.

I had been putting it off. And putting it off. The whole idea left me very unenthusiastic. I thought “Gah, it’s going to take ages…. I haven’t even cut the squares….” & any time I walked past the fabric I would think about starting & then talk myself out of it… I didn’t really WANT to make a quilt you see, I just wanted a roboty one, so I NEEDED to make it. There is such a huge difference between need & want for me when it comes to making, it’s okay if I want it AND need it, but if I just need it…. meh.

Anywho, yesterday afternoon I finally bit the bullet & decided if nothing else I’d cut out the damn squares…. but then…. when the squares were cut, it wasn’t that hard to sew some together… to press, to cut a backing….

Why is this the quilt that blogs built? Because I would never, NEVER, have made it if I didn’t blog. If I didn’t whinge about wanting a quilt but not wanting to make it; if Deb didn’t read that post & encourage me by not only commenting but also MAKING US A QUILT, putting together some easy instructions & answering my questioning emails beautifully.

About the quilt itself; so easy it was embarrassing. Having finished it in a matter of hours I can’t believe I put it off for so long… the top fabrics were from etsy, the red backing is an old sheet I had in my sewing stash & the wadding is actually a baby quilt of Miss Punk’s that I only bought in the first place because it was on clearance & I thought there was some sort of rule about having matchy matchy cutesy baby crap in the nursery (that never happened mind you, and the dodgey beige-ish thing stood out like a sore thumb…). The finished product is SO soft & squishy, I have to stop myself from carrying it around & patting it constantly.

The moral of the story? You don’t have to be a quilter to make a quilt, but it helps if you’re a blogger. Also; “Just Do It”!

**yawn**

…this is a total cheater’s post – purely for blogtoberfest purposes, in case I don’t get back here later today with something more interesting.

We’re 23 days down people.

Does anybody else feel like once this month is over, they’re not going to have anything to post about, like, ever again?!