Well no sewing going on lately for me but i have been knitting Hartley a pair of longies, i just need to knit the gusset and the legs, can't be too hard but doing the gusset is a new thing for me so its being stalled lol

My great news is that one of our snakes is definately gravid!!!! So happy about this as it means we will have baby Maccies this season, but i do hate playing the waiting game, we know she's pregnant but now we just have to try and be patient and wait for her to lay her eggs.

Our other pair that we thought would mate this season turns out to be two males hahahaha hmmm i highly doubt we will be seeing any baby darwins this season from them lol Oh well gives me a good excuse to find an adult female darwin.

Ok off to do some blog surfing and then i might go cut out a pattern or tackle the gusset of the longies lol

I can't believe it i have actually been sewing lately.......

First up was making a coat for my brother Nikki, in total it took around 10hrs and i did it al in one day, but left the hemming and buttons till my brother had tried it on, so i have something i have to finish tonight then its all complete.

Yesterday we went and bought the wool to make the good version of the coat, $240 later OMG i am going to be so nervous cutting into that material, now we need to go to Spotlight and get the buttons as Lincraft didn't have them, actually yesterday i was reminded why i don't shop at Lincraft very often.

The last thing i made was a Hoodie set for Hartley monkey which he wore yesterday when we went out but threw up all over himself before i had a chance to take a nice photo of him in it, always the way isnt it!

Ok bestgo Hartley has been awake since 5am and just woke from a 15min nap, so i think today is going to be loooooooong but fingers crossed no more chucking.

Dads birthday sewing and remote control holder mini tute.

Well i have finally been sewing, for my dad birthday today (Happy birthday dad!) I made him a remote control holder that goes over the arm of his recliner, i also made him a trifle as he loves trifles and that went down very well!

Now i know how annoying it is when my monkey visits and thinks hiding the remote is the best game to play lol. I couldn't find a tute that was exactly what i was looking for so read a no sew tute and went from there, i got the measurements i needed from my brother as dads recliner has a wide armrest.

It was easy to do, i used stiff denim and cord, cut two main body pieces, two pocket piece and two more pocket pieces, i had a big pocket for the tv guide to go in and a shorter pocket divided into two for the remotes to go into. the dimensions were 32inches by 15.5inches for the main pieces, first pocket was 11inches by 15.5inches, and the remote pocket was 8inches by 15.5inches.

basically cut your pieces out and sew the two pockets pieces together at the top seam, press then top stitch, you don't need to sew the side or bottom seams as this is doen when you join it all together.

Now with both pockets topstitched place the remote pocket on the other pocket piece lining the bottoms and the sides up and sew a line from the top of the remote piece to the bottom, this will make it have two remote pockets.

Then place your top main piece facing up and place your pocket piece (one piece as they are now joined by the bit you just did).

Then place the back main piece on top of this facing down, pin and sew together leaving an opening for turning.

Once that is done trim the seams, and corners and turn and press.

Then to close the opening i simply topstitched all the way around it, and your finished!

Pretty simple to make but it went down really well. As i said earlier i used denim and cord and had the cord as the back to help prevent slipping, and had the main front piece denim, the big pocket picec was cord as the front piece denim as the reverse and the little pocket was denim as the front piece and cord as the reverse, you could make it easier and just do the same material for the front and back so there is no need to cut two pieces just cut one on the fold, and then all you would need to do is press and topstitch instead of joining the two pieces.

You can also do this the size you want, i was working on the width of the armrest being 11inches across and the depth from the armrest to the cushion being 16inches and i wanted it to hold the tv guide that comes with the sunday paper, that is why it has a width of around 15inches once made.

I don't have any photos of the process of making this but if you would like some let me know and i will make another, and the picture of the final product will happen next time i visit mum and dad as i forgot today lol.

Some people make me sick......

Yes may seem a over reaction but seriously some people make me feel ill from their actions.

Warning rant coming on....... lol


Now i love snakes and have done so much reading up on then and gee's their a big part of my life, i own placid pythons as you can probably tell lol and love them like i love my two monkeys Bailey and Hartley, so where is all this leading to?

Well it just makes me sick when blog surfing or even checking out the various forums i am on and i come accross people saying they have killed a Brown snake, or Red Belly Black.

I mean seriously don't people realise it is not only illegal to kill native australian snake but also very stupid? Don't people realise that most snake bites occur when someone is trying to kill the snake as it feels threatened and is in defense mood?

It is seriously stupid and moronic behaviour oh i had a snake in x or in my garden so i went screaming and got someone to kill it, what a bloody hero killing an animal who was just looking for warmth and somewhere to hide. I really wish this behaviour would stop and they would just leave the snake alone close the door and wait for it to make its way back outside not find some hero to kill it.

I wish the authorities in charge of looking after our native reptiles would actually do something about the people that kill these animals as until that happens people will just willy nilly kill these beautiful australian reptiles.

I mean the RSPCA fines or jails people that mistreat or kill dogs, cats, sealife, birds you name it, but who is going to really look after our reptiles and punish those who kill or mistreat them?

Ok off my soap box now but it is just so disgusting coming across people who kill these animals when its not even being threatening just trying to find somewhere to hide. Read up on snake a bit do some research, keep at hand the local snake catchers number, seriously it is not that hard to even just spend ten minutes reading up on what to actually do if you find a snake in your house or garden (and no grabbing a broom and shovel is not what you do)

(disclaimer when i say hero i mean it very sarcastically as i really don't think someone who kills any type of animal is a hero what so ever)

Another of Missy.
Biggie our Olive, i'll have to take a pic of him outside to get the full affect of his size.
Our newest baby is this water python just finishing off his feed, only reason he has food in his mouth is he took the pinky rat from the side not head first.

This is Bailey with two of our spotteds. She is definately a snake lover

This is our female Darwin, Missy, though its a few months old and she's quite a bit chunkier since then, and this picture does her colouring no justice.

My op shop buy today, i cant believe i walked into my local op shop and found a box of singer parts!

Kim i think the second picture of the smaller box has the zipper foot top left hand corner to the right of the blue thing (great terminology hey!)

I am just about to add a clearer pic of it for you

No idea what this foot would be used for but it sure does look interesting! Anyone reading this if you know what it is and what its used for it would be very helpful :)
So not the best pic but yet another foot i have no idea what it is lol

Kim this is the one i think would be the zipper foot, let me know if it is handy for you

:)

Well this is my version of the little pouch from this tutorial. It was quick to make and really easy, the next one i will make lined with PUL so it is water proof so can be used for a little make up bag.

I should add here these photos really don't do it justice lol

I like this material have had it a while and was at a loss of what to make with it. So some of it turned into this pouch, and i am thinking of making a tote style bag out of some more of it but its quite a bright fabric i dont know if i would use it lol

Catch up post from me



This is the supergirl cape Bailey wanted me to make her, just so dont look closely at the applique lol





Bailey chose the colours she wanted and what she wanted on it and then sat and helped me pin the material and sat chatting to me while i did the sewing.

It was gorgeous she said to me are you finished yet and i explained i just needed to turn it the right way out and sew the edge, and she gave me a kiss and told me i am doing a great job! I thought this was gorgeous since she has been playing me up due to last week but now it seems my happy girl is back!






Now this photo is better late then never i suppose! These shorts are made from gorgeous denim minky and are so soft to touch and double as a nappy cover too!
Now do you think i could take those necklaces of off Hartley? He thought they were great fun to play with! I love this picture probably because of the necklaces and the grin cos he knows he's being cheeky! Also because it was taken when his skin was normal and not sore looking
This is how Hartley looked on monday, still looking bruised and sore but a big improvement on how it was when the welts first happened, now just ignore the look of the ugly disgustable we have just got Hartley back into his modern cloth nappies yesterday after all the medicine stopped as i didn't want any of his nappies being ruined.

Also i think with what went on in the past week i dont think using cloth in hospital would have worked came in handy that the hospital supplied nappies to use while in there as packign nappies was the last thing on my mind when we headed out the door to go to the emergency department

This is Hartleys chest on the same day i hate the bruise near his left armpit, it looks so yucky and then theres his thighs that are still red and welty looking of course no where near as bad as they were and he's not in the pain he was in from them but now since he isn't going through enough as it is he has a molar coming through

This sock monkey was a SS present i received this year from a lovely friend called Danni, while its my softie Hartley and Bailey claimed it as theres and have become attached to it so much so we took it to hospital with us and Hartley would just lie there cuddling it as it is nice and soft.
Now we're home he still won't let it out of his sight! But that doesn't bother me as long as he's happy and smiling then i'm happy! These last two pictures were from yesterday it's amazing to see the change in his marks in just 24hrs the bruise by his armpit is there but hard to see in the light it was taken.
Hartley's face looks sorer but its the nature of the beast since his skin is so sensitive at the moment even rubbing his eyes when he's tired causes big red blotches :(

Its funny but the first welt appearred last monday 14th of jan and now nine days later he still looks sore but luckily isn't as sore as it looks, i am wondering how long till his skin stops being so sensitive to light, touch and water, i was told seven to ten days so hopefully it won't be too much longer!

Ok long blog from me

These are what Hartley looked like before it got even worse, my poor baby was so sore to be touched and i so dont blame him!

Why my children will never have cefaclor again.

Hi everyone,

Last monday Hartley started on a course of cefaclor for a staph infection, this is something i now really regret giving to him, fast forward to this monday and he got a line of welts along the top of his nappy which i assumed was a reaction to disposables as we had to use them till the infection had cleared.

Hartley woke on tuesday morning at 6.30am Damien checked him over and it hadnt got worse so brought him into me and he fed and napped till 7.00am when we woke and i noticed the red welts was now all over his belly with a few spots on his legs and arms. I woke Bailey up and packed a nappy bag and went to my mums and dads. Dad agreed it was a reaction to something and had Bailey while i took Hartley to Flinders medical centre to the emergency department. We got in straight away and were there for three hours in which time the doctor said it was a reaction and prescribed phenergan and panadol to help with the pain and advised me if anything changes to bring him back in.

4pm that afternoon the welty area on his belly had got a circle of purple bruising (you can almost see it in the second photo in the previous post) which i freaked out grabed hartley and rushed him back to energency and got told by the same doctor that i was worrying over nothing and it hadnt changed since that morning which it had changed the doctor was a moron and made me feel like a paranoid parent so we went back home Hartley had a nap.

I woke hartley up at 9pm as he had been sleeping for a while and i had to keep fluid in him, when i woke him he was covered up to his chest and on his neck and legs to his knees, so 10pm we're walkign back into emergency and saw a different dr, drpalash who was wonderful and considering they were very busy we got seen fairly quickly.

Dr Palash informed me it looks like a serum sickness which to my understanding means the antib's have made him sick, there are four different ways of reacting some react straight away some have delayed reactions and some react once the antibs are stopped, the later being hartley, now he only said it looks like serum sickness as he had never seen it that bad before, which is something every pead we saw told us, they had seen it but only minor compared to hartley who had an extreme reaction. He had bloods taken and we did a trial of fluids as hartley hadnt been feeding well at all and had been throwing up. We also got the choice to stay in or to come back in the morning to be a day stay on the ward and see the head pead, we chose to come back after discussing it with dr Palash.

When we went in yesterday morning Hartley had gotten worse he was now covered head to toe and i mean covered, he screamed his lungs out any time he was touched and was over sensitive to light, worse bit was he wanted cuddles, he just wanted me to hold him but it hurt him so much, how as a parent can we comfort when it causes so much pain?

So yesterday we saw the pead hartley got given panadol as he was februal when we got there (temps was 39.8) he also got given nurofen a short time later to help with the swelling, oh forgot that bit Hartleys hands, wrists, belly, feet, and ankle were very swollen. The doctor wanted to do a trial of fluids and let hartley sleep and come back at 3pm to see how he was and decide then if he was going to be admitted or just brought back in in the morning. The pead also asked if it was ok for the hospitals photographer to take some pictures which i didnt mind

He was admitted and given steroids as it had got even worse, i had to leave hartley to pop home and get some clothes for the night and make sure everything for bailey was organised, this was so hard to leave him in hospital hes only been left once for a few hours out of damien or my care, lets just say i cried the whole way home everything had just hit me and i couldnt help but wonder if it is just going to keep getting worse.

When we got back to the hospital damien came with me and hartley actually smiled at his daddy he was so happy to see him, so my sooky crying in pain boy had a smile for daddy which is greta as damien was at home during the day stressed out with worry looking after bailey.

That evenings rounds of visits had the doctors prep hartley for a drip and blood test until hartley did his first pee of the day all over the cot lol it was funny at the time as the doctor had the nappy off seeing the spread that had happened into the nappy area in the last hour, but it was great that he peed it avoided a drip, then once the doctor had done a google search which confirmed everyones thoughts on it being serum sickness he said another blood test wasnt needed. The google searched showed another case of this but that babies rash/welts were only up to chest level and to the knee whereas Hartley was covered from the top of his head to his toes.

During the night hartley was up in pain at 3am till 4,30am so we had a bit of a restless night but the trundle bed wasnt too uncomfy! But on waking Hartley was walking the cot and giggling and happier so once the doctrs did the rounds we got discharged with steroids to give him every 24hrs to help it clear up.

I just want to also add if your little one gets prescribed cefaclor or ceclor please think twice as 30% of children react to this antiB and its one the hospitals refuse to prescribe as its a known one for side effects and they are stumped why the doctors keep prescribing it when there are other antiBs they can prescribe.

I am going to update with other photos but on my previous post is pictures of how Hartley was at 4pm on tuesday these were taken then i noticed the change around his belly button so thats when the second hosp visit was. I'll add the later photos too so that you can see the difference in a few short hoursI have to say it was very funny being in hospital as we had over 50 doctors and nurses come and look at hartley as no one had seen it before and he was being talked about, and when other mum n dads saw him all i got asked was is that meningococcal

Thank you if you read all this sorry it is so long and detailed but i hope it raises awareness of the severity of cefaclor's side effects, and if it stops one child having a reaction then that is fantastic as no parents wants to see their baby in that much pain.

My poor baby boy

My poor baby, last monday i had him at the doctors for his 12month immunisations and the doc checked his nappy rash that turned out to be a staph infection and got antiB's for it and into sposies so didn't want my gorgeous modern cloth nappies getting wrecked by the creams.

Hartley has been unsettled since but last night he got a rash nothing too bad but definately worth keepin an eye on and i thought it was a reaction to the yucky disposables and their chemicals, he woke this morning covered in this rash and welts and was sick all over me.

So off to hospital we went and got seen straight away turns out he's had an allergic reaction 80% sure its to the antiBs as dad, my brother and myself are allergic to penicillin.

These pictures were taken at 4pm after it had started looking better so imagine how worse it was!

Excuse the sideways pics :)

It's funny when you look at a picture and realise your baby girl is growing up way too quickly! She's wearing the singlet i was making for Hartley but it turned out huge and fit Bailey, her reply when i asked for a picture?

"Oh mannn" No idea where this has come from but it's all i heard from her all weekend, other then "You have a yummy boyfriend" or "You have a ugly boyfriend" both the boyfriend ones we are stumped no idea who has said that to her as she's not at kindy due to holidays, but it did give us a laugh when she said to my dad that he had a yummy boyfriend!

Another thing Bailey has learnt this weekend is how to dive under the water and keep her eyes and mouth closed! I came home from Spotlight and she was so proud to show me and i was so proud of her as she hates getting her face wet.

This is the op shop fabric i was talkign about last post, though the emerald cord is really hard to see as silly me took the photo on our green leather sofa

And Last is of Bailey with Star the coastal carpet python, not the best picture as our friend Dan was just putting Star around Baileys neck, but this girl is obsessed with our scaley pets and always wants to hold them and will probably grow up working with them in some way if she keeps going how she is!

First spotlight venture for 2008

And i have to say i didn't actually spend much, i did buy two remnants, one is large frangipani print with blue background around a meter that DD when shown deicded she wants pants, the second remnant i gto was a 2m piece of bright pink knit which feels like velour and is nice and soft and is going to be turned into a tracksuit for DD, and a pattern Newlook 6452 to make Hartley a all in one for winter, it goes from size 2 up to size 6 and also has a pattern for a nightie, top and shorts and pants, so i might have to make miss bai a nightie too :)

The other material was some black knit for a tshirt for Bailey and a singlet for Hartley, some cotton rich fleece to turn into some bum wipes for Hartley some elastic which i run out of, and some underwear elastic to make Bailey some knickers that fit her properly, and the impulse buy was a green stretch knit that has dots on one side and stripes on the other and some matching Gutterman thread, which i finally remembered to buy and not get home and curse as i forgot to get matching thread!

Then i stopped at an op shop on the way home and got some emerald green cord material around 2m for $4, then the lady said to pop back in later if i got time as she had more to put out, but i said i couldn't so she let me go pick what i wanted and i got some gorgeous red penguin flanelette (bailey love penguins) some blue cotton with flowers, black and white stripes, some blue with cars, sun, clouds, lighthouses, and boats on it, and a white cotton still with tags with a sail boat and anchor on it, which cost me $4 so i was very happy with that great bargain, i might have to pop back tomorrow and see what else they have there!

So now with all this material i really should get some sewing done, i wonder if i can finish DS singlet before he wakes from his late arvo sleep?

New Years Resolutions......

Better late then never i suppose!

• Lose weight make 2008 the year i change my eating habits and exercise habits and actually start to exercise and cut out the junk food
• Start sewing with the material have then going out and buying more which i am really bad for
• Sew 90% of gifts and the kids clothes, this should be easy as i sew majority of the kids clothes already, i might also aim at sewing my own clothes too which wont be too hard as i dont need any clothes till i lose weight!
• Have more fun with the kids, not like we dont have fun now but i want to have more fun with them, go to the park more, take them swimming more, go to the beach more, which i should do more often seeing as the beach is only down the road!
• Be more organised, yes thats right i need to get organised i might have to go get an organiser to write down activities that are planned so i know what days are free and what days aren't
• Be more social, i am a bit of a hermit and i never used to be, so my goal this year is to get out of the house more and meet new people, last year i started taking the kids to playgroup and this year i want to start doing other fun activities so have started chatting in the SA part of EB to meet more people around my area, not only will it be good for me but it will be good for Bailey and Hartley too.

Ok well six seems to be my number so i will keep to six resolutions hopefully all of them will be achievable for me, its not like i have done any that will be impossible to achieve, but to achieve mine i will have to actually make myself do it them just think yeah i'll do it tomorrow!

Well it's time i got off this computer and hopped on the exercise bike for 5kms and i might also have some time to do my first sewing of 2008, and i have a snake tank to clean, all before my terror wakes from his morning nap, and yes he is a terror he is into everything lately even broke my glass mixing bowl yesterday :( and as he's tall for a 13mo he can reach into the sink and on the boards so now a baby gate is in place

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2008 :)

Happy new year everyone

I hope the best of 2007 will be the worst of 2008 and a wonderful yar is had by all

2007 has been a big year for me, firstly i went withut internet for five whole months *gasps* sort of felt out of touch when i finally did get back online

My baby grew so much and has turned into such a cheeky bu shy one year old

My little girl has finally over come majority of her seperation issues and started occasional care and early pre entry kindy and grown up so much in a year it isnt funny

My dad spent 8months overseas and we all missed him so much, it was only meant to be 6weeks!!

There has been so many good points to 2007 that i hope theres even more to 2008

Tomorrow i will share my new year resolutions and plans for 2008!

I hope everyone has a wonderful night, so far today we have been in and out of the pool and watched the kids fireworks on tv and played with some glow sticks and sparlers now the kids are in bed its definately time for a drink or two or three and to spend time with Damien!

Two years and it feels like more!!

Well first off i should say Happy Bday to my lil brother who is 20 today! Hey Nikki when did you get so old? LOL

I still remember you as a 2/3 year old on a famous sydney red rattler coming home from Darling Harbour and the train jolted and you said 'oh shiiit' and had half the business men in suits have to leave the seats to go laugh and the other half hid behind their newspapers tryign to hide their laughter! Best bit was mum telling you off while trying not too laugh, and gosh thats a hard thing to do

But back to the original title, two years today Damien and i started going out, gosh that sounds so high school saying that lol

The time has gone so quickly that it feels like we have been together much longer, he is such a good dad to Bailey and Hartley, yes some days he drives me nuts but hey thats what its all about isnt it! Sometimes i nag him as he is a slacker at home but he goes out he works he supports Hartley, Bailey and I and allows me to be home with the kids, he allows me to do my hobby of sewing and have time at the weekend when i want to do that, heck unless i think about it i forget that Bailey isn't actually his biological daughter as he is the best dad to her, the only dad she really knows. I love the bond that they have and often i just love spying on them when their outside pottering around in the garden, or listening to the stories they make up when playing.

But two years has gone by really fast and i wonder where we will be in another two years time, i wonder if by then we will have another bubba or not, or have the boat we want to go out fishing with, or the old car to do up, or if we will have had two successful breeding seasons with the snakes.

Well while the house is quiet with Damien and Hartley having a nap and Bailey visiting mum and dad i might go get some sewing done and finish this bottle holder i started ages ago

Anyone up for a challenge?

I was checking out a blog ages ago and was interested in the Fat quarter challenge someone had done, basically the deal was to see what can be made from one fat quarter.

So i was wondering if anyone wanted to do a fat quarter challenge and see what can be made from a fat quarter.I think it would be good to see what different sewers come up with.

I know with new years eve so close i won't be doing much sewing till after then, so if anyone was interested we could start in the new year.

I still need to find a fat quarter i like to use but should be interesting to see what can be made out of a piece of material 18in by 22in

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

I hope everyone has had a great day and is full of turkey and stuffing and all things yummy!

We had a wonderful day and visited both sides of each family, and were hardly home but it was great fun and not as stressful as last year was (mind you we did have a three week old baby and move house two days before!)

Santa brought Bailey what she asked for, water, a sleeping bag, and books, what a simple life to be happy to get water from santa, so gorgeous! We spent xmas eve visiting xmas lights for two hours then we spotted santa heading our way so came home and went off to bed, i think it took Bailey all of two minutes to fall asleep she was so excited and tired.

Hartley waved bubbye for the first time today and waved to uncle Calvin then just to show he knew how to do it waved bye to Poppy, Nanna, Aunty Kim, and his sister lol

I might upload some photos tomorrow as i can hear my bed calling me nice and loudly!

My latest creation

I made this Christmas shirt for Hartley to wear to Baileys Kindy party and got so many comments about how gorgeous it was, made me one very proud mummy!!

I think it was a big day for Hartley as he fell asleep in the pram on the way home which is very very rare for him!

How cute are sleeping babies?

And this is my time to say how gorgeous is the Maz-a-licious nappy cover?

So for for a change in my shop i am going to list these up for sale

Isnt his bum gorgeous?

And look at those gorgeous chubby thighs!

This was his birthday nappy cover i made for him to wear for his bday party, i have to say i am very happy with how it turned out, a few little mistakes but hey you get that! I wont share how many times i had to do the back elastic lol

His bday party was great we had family over and just got to relax and catch up, and we organised christmas lunch which i sscary to think how close christmas is!

Saying christmas i have officially gotten the bad mummy award for forgetting about Baileys advent calendar, so Tuesday when i go shopping i will pick up some bits to put in Baileys advent calendar that her lovely Aunty Liana made her two years ago, now to sort one out for Hartley, hmmm second vote for bad mummy award will be when he gets bought a store one with chocolate inside lol

This week is going to be busy we have playgroup monday, Kindy christmas party tuesday (which i am making Hartley a christmas shirt for and need to do tomorrow) and wednesday we are going to the zoo with playgroup, hmmm thursday can be our sit home and chill out day lol

22 days until christmas, where has this year gone?

Maybe i need to work out my to do list tomorrow and work out what Bailey and Hartley are getting for christmas :D