{TWENTY FIVE}

Blogger is eating my posts!!  I typed a long 25 post last night and when I went in this morning to change something poof it was gone.  Not impressed.  Also not going to rewrite it except to say

60 Days till Christmas

Are you getting ready?

{SEVENTEEN} Blogtoberfest

Yay I made it to half way.  Now I am going to panic that I am half way through October already.

Got some more sewing done on Monday.   Finished off 1/2 of Jots Butterfly costume and finished the DQS Top (which I am really excited about now) and finished all four Santa Sacks.  Of course the only thing I can actually post a picture of are the Santa Sacks.

I adore this fabric range Winterkist.  In fact I think I might stock pile some more in my next order.   The Pink one is for Jot as the only girl the other three are for CT and my two NZ nephews J & O.  Baby Boy B is due in January so doesn't get a Santa Sack this year but I have enough of the fabric left to make him one for next year.

The other side has their names appliquéd on and there will be colour coordinated cord running through the snowflake top bit once I get to Spotlight.

Since I really want to show the DQS top I will throw in a sneak peek for you that isn't going to give anything away.  The good news is that is actually looks like what it is meant to, R took one look and could tell me what it was meant to be.  Now I just need to find a backing for it and figure out how to add a hanging sleeve or and make a label for it but I still have 3 weeks till posting so I think I have time for all that.

R has also commissioned a Halloween costume now although how he is going to cook dressed as the Grim Reaper is slightly worrying .  I have tracked down a pattern but a trip to Spotlight is needed to get fabric.  I am so used to making things for the kids that I had forgotten that adult outfits need a lot more fabric.  At least plain black homespun should be relatively inexpensive.

Blogtoberfest - The last day

Well once again Blogtoberfest is over today and I have to admit I did very poorly indeed.  I started off well but fell by the wayside just over half way through.  Seems to be my limit.

I'm afraid I had more posts planned but I had a couple of really bad days followed by a week with my sister from the UK and I didn't want to waste any of the time we had to write a blog post.  She left yesterday and now it is back tonormal around here.  Well nearly.

The kitchen is still not finished (only small things left to do) and it is starting to annoy me.  We have the final inspection on Wednesday so R and I need to go round tomorrow and make a list of everything we think isn't done right. 

My little sis J spent two full days of her visit with a paint brush in her hand (bless her) and we were able to finish off two rooms and get half way through a third which is great for us.  Now to try to polish off that one and at least one more before the in laws arrive on 3 December.  We had originally hoped to do a further three rooms but I need to be realisitc as there is not much I can do.  I managed about 2 hours of painting before my body said I had done to much and although there is not much left to do in the room that will become Jots we still need to do a number of things that I can't do alone (like the ceiling). 

So I am starting to focus less on the paint job (that will be R's job to worry about) and more on the soft furnishings for Jots new room.  I am thinking of getting some girly fabric and some embroidery hoops and making hanging art that way, then we can change the fabric when she wants to.  I also want to make her a book sleeve but need to refind the tutorial which I bookmarked some time ago. 

After Jot has moved rooms we are on to the nursery.  No idea about this yet as I haven't even started the babies welcome quilt and don't really know what colours to choose.  No idea on gender of baby (although I am starting to sway towards Blue) so don't want to pink it.  Then again I don't really want it to be green or yellow either so I might just blue it regardless - I think that is what we ended up doing with Jots nursery in the old house.

My Christmas Plan is coming along well.  I am about to organise a baking day at the end of November to stock up the freezer with cookie dough and cakes ready for the silly season.  As well as making some foodie christmas gifts.  Hoping to rope in a friend or two to join me so the kids can entertain each other and we can catch up. 

I also have a list of things I have to make before Christmas as well as another list of things to do and shop for but I have a feeling that some (or possibly all) of those lists will not happen.  I am getting very slow now and with only about 7 weeks to go I am feeling very ready for a break.

Finally, I hope you have a happy halloween tonight.  Are you doing anything?  We are planning on a quiet night in and have a bucket load of lollies in case we get any trick or treaters (doubt it as we had none last year and I ended up eating all the lollies).  Have a good one.

Jotsmum

Blogtoberfest Day 13 - Christmas is coming

The goose is getting fat.
Please put a penny in the old mans hat.
If you haven't got a penny a ha'penny will do
If you haven't got a ha'penny then God bless you.

Every year around this time someone says to me that Christmas is coming and the little rhyme above pops into my head.  I love it and had to google it today to see if I could find its origin.  It seems to me it should come out of a Dickens novel but it seems to be an old English nursery rhyme popularised by The Kingston Trio and also by John Denver and the Muppets.

Well I opened my blog reader today to be reminded that it is only 10 weeks till Christmas and that organised people are well on their way to planning the holiday.  I have to say at this point I am not one of them.  I thought that maybe I should try to get more organised this year as we will have a new arrival just before Christmas and it would be nice to have everything ready to go before I go into hospital for the birth.

So I am using this great 10 weeks to Christmas plan from Planning with Kids as well as one or two posts from Organized Christmas they have some great printable checklists to help etc This site is American so you will find that in some cases everything is finished in time for Thanksgiving.  A little confusing to me but the checklists are still very useful.

So tonight once Jot is tucked up in her bed I plan to plan!  I want to get a basic 10 week plan down on paper taking into account all the visitors we have coming, the move back to the house and of course everything I have to get ready for the baby.  Oh boy I really do need a plan.

Are you planning for Christmas?

Christmas Day

We had a great day and Jot started the day perfectly by sleeping in till 7:30am so we all rose together well rested and ready for a busy yet calm day.
We first had to see if Santa had been.  As Jot is terrified of Santa it took a little coaxing to get her to go near the suddenly full stocking and tree surrounded by presents.  But she soon got the hang of it.

We managed to distract her from the main presents until after Church (and her nap as she fell asleep on the way back from church) by making a big fuss of breakfast and showers and getting ready.
After Church we nipped into town to view the Myer windows.  I think Christmas day is the best day to go, yes there are not ropes to herd the crowds but then there are hardly any crowds either (and for future reference there are ice cream vans.)  Jot got to see all the windows by sitting on R shoulders, I think they were better this year than last (but that's because I feel the Nutcracker is a more Christmassy theme that Olivia the Pig).
We even managed to get our annual family picture taken before she got into the presents (you can see by her face we are pushing our luck here)

After presents we left Jot to entertain herself (not hard considering all her new toys) and got our Christmas meal ready.

My first attempt at Baked Ham (and yes it is huge for just the three of us and we will be eating it for weeks) but I am really happy with how it turned out and can see it becoming a bit of a Christmas tradition (I never did like Turkey much and Goose is too expensive over here).  We followed it with a Summer Pudding which as you can see was demolished before I could get the camera out.

Jot was in bed as normal by 7pm which was great as R and I got to chat (it seems to be a rarity in this house with his new job).
So another Christmas over (is it right to heave a sigh of relief) and I wonder if I dare consider the next one yet or put it off and off and off till 1 Dec 2011.
I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday (regardless of your religion) and taking the opportunity to unwind and recharge ready for the year ahead.
Take care
Jots Mum

Gifts

One of my friends became a grandmother last week.  Welcome baby Grace.  I really wanted to make Grace a quilt but as I have never met her mother or father I thought it might be a bit odd so instead I made something for Graces parents to use.

One of the things we ended up buying (while J was still in disposable nappies) was a nappy wallet.  A small folder that had room for a set of wipes and a few nappies.  It got a lot of use for the first 8 months and then got sidelined by the cloth nappies it has however resurfaced for all our travelling this year and once again has proved a lifesaver on many occasions.

So I decided to make one for Graces parents.  I found just the right material in my stash and got up the courage to cut into it - my only piece of Farmers Market by Sandi Henderson - and here it is:

I have to say I really really like it and I hope it gets some use.

I have also been busy making gifts for Jots carers at childcare.  Last year I didn't know any of them very well so they just got a box of cherries to chare but this year Jot has been in the same room for nine months so I know them all a bit better.

I decided to make some little zip pouches for the three assistants and a bag for the room leader but really couldn't find a material I likes (I was being very particular) then while look through my stash in a panic as I realised that the room leader would not be around next week I stumbled across a couple of Ikea tea towels which are lovely and turned them into these:

I also really wanted to get Jot involved so decided to bake some Snowballs for them as well.  They are meant to look like this:

Any ours looked like this:

They are yummy though so I just dusted them with icing sugar and called the Hazelnut Crisps instead. 

They went down a treat on Friday so I can now relax and get on with some holiday clothes sewing for both Jot and myself.

Have a good week

Jots Mum

Christmas time

Ok so I am starting to feel a bit Christmassy.  It always takes me forever to get into the spirit of Christmas but yesterday we did lots of Christmas stuff (mainly to keep Jot amused and not whining).

Firstly we attempted a visit to Santa.  I think I will forgo the one at her childcare on Wednesday as she screamed.  She even screamed when I put on the Santa hat at home later on.  Obviously not ready to enjoy that part of Christmas.

Then we came home and decorated the tree.  We usually do this en famille but with R working long hours at the moment I decided that he wouldn't mind missing it for one year.

Please ignore the empty bookshelf behind it (yes we have been in the house for nearly a year and no we are still not unpacked)

After a nap (for Jot not me) we had a go at decorating the Gingerbread house kit we purchases at K-mart a few weeks ago.  This is the start of a long tradition I think as we both had a lot of fun and I swear Jot ate more lollies than made it onto the house.

Today at Church (and this might have been what has made me feel more like Christmas) they sang 'O Come all ye faithful' with the descant and made me wonder who if anyone is attempting it back home as my sisters and I are not there this year.

Amazing!

I still have more stuff to show off so I will be back tomorrow but I hope you all have a great Sunday evening.

Jotsmum