This beautiful boy has arrived! We've called him Finnlay Iain. He is wonderful.

It all happened rather suddenly. I was convinced that I would have to be induced like I was the first time around, but it wasn't to be. We had family due to arrive on a Tuesday morning at Heathrow Airport at 6am. My waters broke at 5am. Finnlay arrived later that afternoon all on his on schedule.

I've heard a lot of negative things about the staff at Whipps Cross Hospital, but -  just like the first time around - they were fantastic and even the student midwives made a big,  positive impression on the whole experience. I was really grateful that they were there with me throughout everything because it didn't go quite according to plan and I needed all the support I could get. After a number of ups and downs, we made it out all okay and were released from the postnatal ward the following day.

So, on Tuesday we had a baby. On Wednesday, I was sent home. A week later, after two months of waiting, we found out that everything had finally gone through successfully on the house we were trying to buy. That Saturday, we were packed and moving. Photos soon, I promise.

And now, all quite unexpectedly and suddenly, we're a family of four living at the seaside. It's not quite where I imagined myself, but now that we're here, it's all rather special.

A room with a view, visiting the hospital.

And so, we continue to wait. I'm spending very little time online which is rather wonderful. Every day brings new games and playtime with little Isla who has grown up into a spectacular little girl, full of personality, affection and contagious laughter.

It is really hard work running after a toddler when you can barely stand because of the most-enormous-and-pointy-out-baby-filled-tummy, but she has developed a lot of patience and imagination which helps make things easier. We dress up her teddy bears, read hundreds of books, go for slow walks and have toy tea time. I love this.

She has also rather enjoying the packing. We have to move house within the next four weeks and so have been slowly packing up all of our belongings and labelling boxes. She loves bubble wrap and packaging tape best of all, and has been colouring in on the outside of the boxes to help point them in the right direction. We haven't yet confirmed where exactly we'll be moving to but, hopefully, it will all fall into place soon.

So, we wait. Every day brings new games and beautiful sunshine (thank goodness), as well as less activity and mobility than the day before. The baby is fast running out of space and I'm sure will make an appearance soon. There is a lot of tea.

I'll be sure to update you soon with any news.
Until then.

I've been worrying in anticipation of The Boy Baby arriving in about 10 weeks. 10 weeks. That's practically tomorrow. Minor panic. What will he wear? Gasp, I haven't made him a special toy/blanket/other hand-made item that I seem to think is of the highest importance. What kind of a maker mommy am I? (Yes, these concerns are filled with rational reasoning. Can you tell?)

And so.

Here's my latest knit, a mini Milo Vest (ravelled here), knitted in newborn size in Elle Baby yarn.


I really like the solid pale grey-blue colour and chunky cable. There's something very "proper" about this miniature vest - like a little waistcoat, I'm sure it ought to be paired with a tiny flatcap and a bowtie.


While I love this pattern (it is so quick and easy to knit), I really, really don't like this yarn. It is incredibly unforgiving and shows up every bump, tension change and irregular stitch that happens when you're a real person knitting and not a machine. #justsaying

I steam blocked the vest, which seemed to iron out a lot of the niggles. If you look at the top left strap, you can see where two DPNs joined for knitting in the round, and again above the left-hand-side of the cable pattern. No amount of steam blocking will remove that! I'm going to claim "handmade" as my excuse.

It is, however, lovely and soft and I'm sure will be just like wearing a soft snuggly blanket.

The bodice is made up of crocheted granny squares and treble crochet rows, and the skirt is a cotton fabric attached to the hem of the crocheted bodice.

I used Sirdar Simply Recycled Aran in teal for the bodice -  I loved working with this yarn! It has such a nice feel about it. The skirt is a Fabric Freedom music note print.


I made some changes to the pattern because the neckline was just far too high. It would be fine for an older child, but definitely not a crawling and toddling toddler. I lowered the neckline by one row and added two simple straps that fasten at the back with buttons.

I also added a ribbon around the waist to draw in the bodice in case it was too big. I liked the pattern, but I think that the crochet bit could be a bit shorter. This could make a really nice top for a bigger girl - or mama!

Isla insists on feeding herself. Spoons are banned. Purees are too. It's a phase, I keep telling myself. Baby cannot exist on cucumber sticks and biscuits alone.

Baby biscuits - the type you buy in a box from the supermarket - cost a fortune. There are all of these new rules about what you can and can't feed a baby, but I figure that we all got by without Organix and Kiddylicious and Annabel Karmel, so there must be some baby-friendly recipes out there.

I've tried out a couple, and these are the first ones that got the baby-seal-of-approval. Katy's carrot and squash biscuits from I Can Cook.

Spring is here. The sun is shining, and we've been walking to the park every day for picnic lunches and playing on the grass. Isla loves the grass.



She has become very wiggly and mobile, and shuffles about even though she's not yet sitting up properly. Sweet girl. There's not a lot of stillness.


Every sunshiney baby need a big floppy sun hat, don't you think?


She has a sun hat, but it has a very modest one-inch brim that doesn't offer much coverage. I finished sewing this one up this morning, based on her existing hat with added panels so it should fit her a bit longer. I also extended the brim to five inches so it would provide cover for her neck and shoulders, and added interfacing to the brim for added floppiness.

The strap was a last-minute addition! We tried it on, and she was so delighted with the hat that she insisted on pulling it down and lifting it up... so in an attempt to keep the hat in place, I added a buttonhole to each side of the hat and threaded through an oversized ribbon that ties under her chin.

Baby approves.

An excellent friend of mine has the cutest little boy who is very nearly about to turn one. When he was born, I promised his mum a handmade gift of her choice - something special, I promised - and she asked me to make a sport-themed playmat. It has only taken me 8 months, but it's finally finished. 

The whole of blogland is awash with talk of Geraniums -- the dressy kind from blogger Rae of Made By Rae Fame. Geranium is a super-cute and beautifully-fitting pattern for a little girl's dress.

I couldn't not make one. Or at least try. I have made Rae's patterns before and they are so easy to follow and offer a beautiful fit - and this one is only $10, covering sizes 0 to 5T. It's a basic dress bodice and skirt with sleeve variations that you can mix and match to create a zillion dresses for your (*ahem* your daughter's) wardrobe. Isla's already wearing the next size up so I made the  6-12m version.

This little girl is very impressed.
LOOK AT THAT FACE. Aw. There is porridge everywhere, even after I cleaned her all up.

I made a sleeveless View A dress (there are two views, with multiple options to accessorise. Love!).  I made the bodice out of Fabric Freedom Petit Fleur FF27-02 (grey background with pink, mustard and white ferns), and I made the bodice lining and skirt out of a contrasting solid lavender. Both fabrics are from Stitch.

That is a totally weird blog title, but I haven't lost my marbles: I promise. The "diaper keeper" is one of those projects making the rounds on the internet as a must have gift for new mums. It is, essentially, a pouch that holds baby wipes and a stack of nappies that can be stashed in your bag for quick on-the-go nappy changes.

The idea is that you can just grab one of these when you're heading out for a quick visit or outing, and you don't need to worry about taking along your whole baby gear bag with every-essential-under-the-sun.

Fantastic.

Here's a link to the tutorial on the Noodlehead blog, which explains the first bit of that blog title. I didn't call her that: she chose the name herself. Promise.

Our beautiful baby girl finally arrived. Phew.


Isla Gray Siddons came into the world at 16.07 on Sunday the 19th of October. She weighed 3.66kg and took 36 hours to meet us! She's amazing. She has ten little fingers and ten little toes, and was absolutely worth all of the waiting and drama.

Exactly this. Every day. Baby missed her due date four days ago. I am vaguely aware of an Elton John song swimming around my head on repeat as I mumble I'm still standing... yeah, yeah, yeah. (That's exactly how the rest of every conversation goes too - yeah, the baby is still not here. Yeah, I'm sure everything is okay. Yeah, she will be here soon.)

Except, I'm not standing. I'm in bed, under the duvet, with a cup of coffee. Everything has slo-o-o-o-o-o-owed down considerably. Elton would understand.

I'll keep you posted ;)

Oh em gee.


This fabric is the most super-huggable, must-havable, soft-as-anything stuff. Here in the UK it's called dimple cuddle plush, but it seems that almost everywhere else it is called minky. Soft like mink? Not sure. But. Seriously. Once I felt it, I really wanted to replace all of my bedding with yards and yards of it. I wanted to wrap up in it like a giant fabric burrito and hide away from the world. If it was socially acceptable, I'd replace my entire wardrobe with cuddle plush dresses. Seriously.


Okay okay. So, I bought some. Just a wee bit -- a mere 75x100cm. It was destined to be a baby blanket. But, silly me, when buying it from Plush Addict online, I didn't notice that it was single sided. The back wasn't soft at all. I was gutted. My plans for the quickest and easiest baby blanket ever (fold over edges, stitch down and DONE) were foiled. I had to add a backing fabric. Still, it could be worse eh?


I cut the backing about two inches larger all round, got out my sewing machine's walking foot, and quilted the two layers together using really simple diagonal lines. I didn't measure - I just counted every ten dots and stitched a diagonal line down. It's really easy to get the lines nice and straight when the fabric has a consistent pattern. Then, I cut the lining down to an inch larger all round and folded each edge over in half, pressing as I went along.


Fold it over one more time and stitch down - and you're done. You have a perfectly bound-from-the-back baby blanket that's done in twenty minutes or less. Ta da! I feel very proud of myself. Like a minky-wrapped Cheshire Cat.

Then fold the unfolded-side's binding in half, and back over the front as usual.

The cuddle plush fabric is in the tiffany blue colourway. I bought it partially because I love that soft aqua colour, and partially because of the name. I know, it's like judging a book by its cover. Shocking. The backing fabric I chose is navy blue scattered with white, burgundy, blue and pink flowers (from Stitch). If the cuddle plush wasn't so expensive, I'd make a guilt-free adult-sized version for my bed - can you imagine the softness in winter?!