last quilt top of the year

Yesterday, retro daddy went to the hardware store whilst the girls and I went to Spotlight. I was there for more cotton reels and lots of batting. When I got back in the car with a huge bag from Spotlight I got in trouble - What did you buy????? Which is code for you don't you have enough craft 'stuff' and aren't you supposed to be clearing out your craft room. But it's hard to finish off projects if you've run out of batting. I know you all understand.

don't they look excited waiting in the queue

And so if it's new year's eve then this is my last quilt top of the year. I doubt I'll get it finished to make it the last quilt of the year though. But this quilt top was easy. I cut all the squares with my go baby in a morning and then pieced together over a couple of mornings. 196 squares in total. 14 squares across by 14 squares down and a nice white crisp border of 10 inches all around. 

Have a safe new years eve if you're up to anything exciting. We are going with a couple of families to watch the fireworks near home. I hope I don't regret it as we don't really take the little ones out at night time. But I'll be back tomorrow for a wrap up of the year and a few goals for 2012. Yawn. I know. Same old,  same old goals from me that I never achieve.

maternity outfit 1

I thought it would be fun to share some maternity outfits this pregnancy. Baby number 5 means I was out of my regular jeans and into maternity jeans much earlier than usual. Thank goodness that my favourite mavi maternity jeans were the only thing I saved when I had a huge clearout of my wardrobe a few months ago. Well retro daddy did say no more babies.

I am not a fan of maternity clothes. I find they are not my style, not my colour and not my usual brands. So instead I like to go up a size or two in my favourite brands where necessary so I still get to shop at my favourite shops.

Today we're heading off shopping, doing a bit of sewing and cleaning the house. So I have my mavi maternity jeans. About $150 from David Jones but this will be the 2nd pregnancy in them and I wear them all the time from the start to finish of my pregnancy so I consider them very good value. I've bought cheaper maternity jeans before that I've grown out of mid pregnancy, have fallen down as my tummy has grown, haven't been a good fit and just didn't last well. This pair don't need yanking up, have adjustable tabs on either side, are a great dark denim and are super comfy to wear. I feel like I'm wearing my regular mavi jeans and are the best maternity jeans I've found.

The top is a bargain buy from Country Road this week. $22 reduced from $59. This is an XS and it's a very roomy tee with plenty of room to grow. At that price I bought two. Of course.  And for a bit of colour..........red saltwaters. Comfortable and cool.

And that is today's outfit. Hope you enjoyed that.

i love the holidays

Well we are certainly enjoying our holidays here. Yesterday we hit Manly for one of our favourite things to do - fish and chips followed by ben & jerry's.

The little one's idea of a perfect day. And we had some of our favourite relatives with us - Julie and family up from the country. Retro daddy and Julie's husband are brothers. So nice to have a crafty sister in law who loves fabric as much as I do. But apparently my craft stash is much worse than Julie's. Ooops.

One of our other favourite things to do in Manly (and a little healthier) is taking people around to Shelley Beach. It's such a pretty walk however doing it on a really hot day with 6 children is not as much fun as a leisurely stroll with adults. But with the promise of an ice cream afterwards we made it half way around and turned back.

The views are amazing, the water is so clear and if you haven't done it yet then it really is one of the loveliest things to do in Sydney. Shelley Beach. Remember it. Retro daddy and I used to do the walk when it was just us and then just keira in a pram, then the twins and now Elodie. Now if only I could live overlooking the beach. Now that would be nice.

Then it was back to our place for a swim and a chat and time to say goodbye to the cousins. Hope we get to see them again soon. We always have so much fun but live so far away.

Then I had promised keira that she could decorate her own pavlova. She was dying to do it on boxing day but I was a little control freakish and wanted to decorate it myself but with the promise that keira could do her own. And she did a lovely job complete with a few marshmallows too.

And doesn't elodie enjoy pavlova

That girl loves food full stop. She had just eaten her dinner, taken a bit of cake leftover from afternoon tea, half a banana and then hit the pavlova. In fact the only thing she won't eat is cheese. So far.

I hope you're enjoying your holidays too. Retro daddy is about to start painting various rooms and spots in the house so I hope he still enjoys his holidays.

festivities are over

Well the festivities are over here. Boxing day lunch was lovely with more family and a good catch up. The kitchen received lots of comments and everyone managed to fit in.

And it was another day of eating. I really am over eating for a while.

And I'm really over dishes too. But you've got to love having an extra huge sink to hide those dirty dishes.

And since everyone has left now it's time for a little bit of crafting. I've decided to make a large quilt to cover one of the girl's beds.

I cut these out using my Go Baby again and had a little helper with the scraps. This little lady does not like being left on the floor when there is action going on.

and after all that cutting we hit the sales late in the afternoon for a bit of shopping. I am just loving having retro daddy at home for a while and hope you're enjoying some family time too.

Christmas day

Well I've hope you all had, are having or are about to have a wonderful Christmas day wherever you are. We've had an action packed day and we're all exhausted and ready for an early night to bed. Well that is what I'm hoping the little people want. An early night to bed.

Keira had us up before 6am and after a little bit more sleep needed to wake the twins and remind them what today was. They needed a little bit of coaxing to get out of bed and then they couldn't wait to get downstairs. Thankfully they let me take a photo before they got downstairs. Santa gave each little one a big sack full of lovely toys and clothes and the pillow pet they had asked for was peeping his head out of each sack. The pillow pets were a big hit this year.

And of course today was a great test for the kitchen.

I always wish I had a bigger fridge every Christmas. Isn't this the 'keeping it real' photo with things ready to fall out of my fridge at any moment. But the kitchen passed the test with flying colours and is definitely made for entertaining.

Lunch was simple but delicious. And on a hot day I'm so glad we have the tradition of a cold lunch. Made fancy with my best silverware and china. I love pulling it all out of the buffet and setting the table.

the salads turned out beautifully

and so did dessert although it didn't look as good as the magazine. But I'm no food stylist so for a first attempt I was pretty happy and it tasted great too.

Grandma Betty loved her quilt. I mean really loved it. Thank goodness for that. So happy to see it go to her house and can't wait to check it out next time I'm there.

and there were presents and cousin Bea to play with. The little ones were in absolute heaven and declaring it the best Christmas ever.

there was even time for an afternoon swim with Daddy

And so now I'm making the most of having most of the dishes done, a fridge full of leftovers and little ones entertained with all their new toys so I can rest a little before we do it all over again tomorrow.  Hope you had a great day too. It sure is exhausting and I think I need a good week to recover!

Christmas eve at our place

Well it's Christmas eve and one of my favourite times of the year. No, it is my favourite time of the year. We go to church for the most wonderful Christmas vigil mass there is. Children from the school which now include Keira act out the nativity scene, there is a real baby Jesus every year, there are carols, there is a wonderful feeling of community, friendly faces and it always makes my Christmas feel real.

It's a celebration. Last year we had Jesus in the family as Elodie made the perfect little baby Jesus. This year we had two angels with us and how perfect that I chose all white dresses for Christmas eve.

I've spent the night cleaning, setting the table, made dessert for tomorrow and getting excited little people to bed. Normally I am baking up a storm but there has been no time. I'm hoping for a spot of last minute baking at 6am Christmas morning. At around lunchtime my family will come here for lunch. 9 adults and 5 kids - mind you 4 of those are my kids! We always do a cold lunch with lots of seafood. And after much deliberation (from me) about salads and desserts the final menu is this:

Capsicum and Sundried Tomato Dip (out of the Thermomix everyday cookbook, so good and so fresh)

Guacamole (a green dip to go with the red capsicum dip. Totally festive)

Roasted Kipfler Potato Salad (from the current issue of Super Food Ideas)

Green Bean, roma tomato and avocado salad with a cranberry dressing (current issue of Real Living)

Ham off the bone (grandma is giving us a 1/2 leg of ham this year)

Prawns, Lobster, Balmain Bugs and oysters (unfortunately I can't eat any this year - wink wink)

Frozen Christmas Pudding (a totally non traditional mixture of hokey pokey icecream, violet crumbles, hazelnuts encased in slices of chocolate sponge roll, frozen in a pudding basin and topped with white chocolate and strawberries before serving- I sure hope it lives up to the photo in the magazine)

Sweet platter of fruit mince pies, mini Christmas cakes, shortbread, rum balls and rocky road 

Phew! I'm full just thinking about it. And then we do it all over again here for boxing day but it's bring a plate day. More people, lots of fun and a great time to catch up with aunties, uncles and cousins from my dad's side of the family.

And since it's Christmas eve I better share my Christmas present with you. Remember how I told you all I was getting a kitchen for Christmas. Well we went one better than that. A baby in my tummy. The best kind of present you can get. With fingers and toes crossed and prayers in my heart that everything will be ok, I am 11 weeks exactly on Christmas Day. And I'm counting down the days till I see my OB and get another scan and enter the 2nd trimester. We're totally overjoyed that we will be completing our family next year. I just knew I wasn't done with Elodie and a smile comes over my face everytime I think about how we will be a family of 7. OF 7. This means that 2012 is also the year of a bigger house. With a big garden for 5 little ones to run around and go crazy in.

And so with that big news for 2012 I wish you a very merry Christmas to you and your family. It is truly a time to be happy and celebrate and as I get older the real meaning of Christmas means more to me each year. And my thoughts go out to everyone who is missing someone special this Christmas. I know tomorrow will be a tough day as our first Christmas without my mum. 

So have a wonderful time wherever you are in the world and I'll be back tomorrow night with all the fun photos of our festivities. If I can move from the couch that is. 

Grandma Betty's quilt - finished!

Well, I had visions of myself sitting up until the early hours of Christmas Day finishing this quilt. But look here. Finished. Before 9am on Christmas Eve. I'm thrilled. And relieved because I have to clean the house top to bottom, do 5 loads of laundry, put clothes away and start baking and preparing for tomorrow not to mention a chuch rehearsal at 10am and off to Christmas eve mass around 4pm. I'll get there. I always do.

So the brief was a patchwork square quilt in her favourite colours and it had to touch the floor when put on her single bed.

And I'm pretty confident that I've delivered. I've used Moda charm squares from Summer Breeze, Flora, Hullabaloo, Hideaway and then basic white charm squares and my own white squares. And I quilted it BIG. I went pedal to the metal on my machine on the fastest speed setting and moved my quilt faster than usual. I'm really happy to say it was quilted in about 3 little sessions in one day.

Now making a back on a large quilt can be a bit tricky. Thankfully I had some fabric on a bolt that I picked up for $5 a metre from my wholesaler on clearance. I ran it down the back of the quilt and put an equal length of white quilters muslin on either side. It was pretty handy that I could split the white quilters muslin on the fold and then sew it to each selvage of the green fabric.

And for binding I used some premade binding. In an ideal world I would have done a green binding but with time not on my side I used some pink premade binding from A Day in the Country. Thanks Julie for sending me some.

And there you have it. One large quilt started and finished in under a week and about to be wrapped and under the tree. I really love it and when things have settled down over the holidays would like to make a few for the little ones in their favourite colours as I love that you don't need a valance on the bed once it's on.

Oh and just for the record. I am exhausted. I couldn't stop yawning all morning! But I'll be back later tonight to share my Christmas Day menu.