21/52

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Noah:  Making gingerbread – this boy loves baking!

Isabelle: Finally able to properly cuddle her little sister, now that the dreaded hand, foot and mouth virus is finally behind her (some remnants of it remain in fading marks on her face.) Here she is graciously sharing her favourite blankie and having a tea party with Pipi.

Pipi: My little angel. A great sleeper (most of the time!)

Joining in over here

To see more of my weekly portraits go here.

Jen x

Handmade Generosity

When I first started this blogging lark I was aiming to just to record memories of my kid’s childhoods and things I made. But very quickly I began to desire connections with other bloggers and some lovely new friendships were made.

Ros from Sew Delicious and Abby from Things for Boys are couple of Australian bloggers that I’ve never meet in met in ‘real’ life but nonetheless count as real life friends.

You might remember that recently Ros, myself and a few other crafty bloggers surprised Abby (who is expecting baby boy #2 soon) with a virtual baby shower… Well… now it was Ros and Abby’s turn to surprise me!

A couple of days ago I received this parcel of handmade goodness in the mail…

Ros made the 2 gorgeous bibs and lovely zip pouch and Abby made the cute little pants. The handmade cards are pretty adorable too, right?

Thanks so much, you guys – you are so sweet!

I also recently received this cute little ruffle tee from a friend Lydia, who has a business - Little Kiwis – making and selling baby clothes.

Thanks Lydia, I can’t wait ‘til Pipi grows into it!

There’s just one more piece of cuteness I want to share with you. Yesterday I was at my friend, Anna’s house and she gave me (well actually Pipi – but these gifts sometimes feel like they are for me) a gorgeous grey merino top and this cute little Belle & Boo card that she had framed and personalised.

I feel very spoilt!

…Actually, I have told you a lie… I just said that would be the last bit of cuteness I was sharing, but that is not true … because I can’t seem to resist writing a blog post without this little face making an appearance somewhere … 2 weeks old today!

I think the only thing that could top this amazing handmade haul was if I was to win this AMAZING giveaway hosted by the lovely Stella! Pretty, pretty please!

Jen x

Then & Now

I am so blessed to live in a beautiful part of New Zealand. Since last December we’ve been living in Clive, Hawkes Bay and are literally 5-10mins walk from amazing limestone tracks that edge both sides of the Clive River. I have to confess, though, that since living out here I hadn’t walked these tracks… that is until now.

We first walked along the limestone paths almost 2 weeks ago now on Wednesday 8 May. My sister (Auntie) Holly was staying with us and I had been experiencing pretty consistent contactions since Monday (but in the early stages with slow progress), so the walk was great to try and speed things up and also to take my mind off things and get some fresh air at the same time. We walked with Mum, her partner Tony and their dogs and also Isabelle who along with Noah, Mum had been looking after since Monday – so it was great to see them too. (Noah was at kindy at the time.)

The weather was glorious, the company superb and scenery beautiful. We walked for about 2 hours and at the end of it I felt good, refreshed and energised and my contractions increased in frequency and intensity.

(I ended up having Pipi the next day.)

And now …

On Thursday 16 May we once again walked the limestone tracks with Mum, Tony, Isabelle and the dogs. Once again Noah was at kindy. Two key things were different though – Auntie Holly had returned to Wellington and Pipi was now with us – in the outside world – well all rugged up in the inside of her buggy at least – it was a slightly chillier day than our previous walk.

We also took the path on the opposite side of the river this time.

As we walked along chatting and remembering our previous walk, it suddenly dawned on us that Pipi was 1 week old on that day and at 4.15pm we looked at our watches and remembered. (Or in my case I looked at the time on my cell phone as my watch had recently broken – possibly a sign to slow down and enjoy this fleeting time with a newborn, perhaps?)

We’ve since walked this track again, on Saturday – this time just our little family unit – Andrew, I and our 3 kids. I think it’s going to become a favourite family pastime.

And while I’m on the topic of ‘then and now’ I really should make mention of something I raised in my last post. I said ‘things were going really well’ etc etc… Well, what a difference a couple of days can make! Things are still going pretty well, in that Pipi is a pretty cruisy baby and all that, but on Sunday Isabelle and I were both struck down with a tummy bug! Not nice, especially when you’ve still got to feed a hungry baby and can’t eat or drink anything yourself! Fortunately, we were grateful for small victories such as – the fact that Mum had recently helped getting my dryer back working (spewed on washing and heavy rain is not a good combo); that the bug was very short lived (just one day) and that no one else (including Pipi) got it. Actually I’m claiming those last 2 as big victories!

I saw my midwife yesterday and she told me to expect Pipi to feed LOTS in the next 24 hours to make up for the fact that I’d had the bug and to re-boost my milk supply… and my goodness she was NOT joking! Last night was pretty exhausting! BUT … I’m grateful to know that this will be short-lived too and for a good reason. Knowledge really is power!

Have you ever had a tummy bug with a young baby before? I have once before when Isabelle was a couple of months old and I managed to faint on the census lady who knocked on the door at the wrong time! Poor lady!

I hope your week is going well and that you’re staying in good health!

Jenny x

20/52

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Noah:  Daddy bought the kids some new duplo. Noah asked me to photograph him and his “tall towers”

Isabelle: My poor darling has been struck down with a bad case of the hand, foot and mouth virus. She’s been completely out of sorts all week, but was happy to spend a morning painting and eating ice blocks.

Pipi: All bundled up for her first outing. She charmed a table full of elderly citizens at our local cafe.

Joining in over here

To see more of my weekly portraits go here.

Jen x

P.S. Thanks to all of you for your lovely well wishes and messages of congratulations. I’ve also had a few people remark with surprise that I’m back blogging having only just had a baby. To be honest I’m a bit surprised too – I totally anticipated taking a blog break (not that I wont take one later, I’m just going with how I’m feeling), but things have been going really well. We’ve been spending a lot of time at home and taking things slowly. I like this because I’m a bit of a home body.

We’ve also had amazing support – my sister and sister-in-law did all domestic jobs round the house those first few days, my Mum’s taken the (bigger) kids out quite a bit and had them stay over and I’ve had meals cooked every night by people from church. This combined with the fact that (so far) Pipi seems to be a dream baby, my mastery of one finger typing while feeding, and my desire to share with the WORLD how gorgeous my baby is … has meant that I’ve been blogging more than I thought I would. Also most of my posts are basically just photos and some were pre-written … but please be assured that I am taking time out to rest and relax … actually I tend to find crafting and blogging pretty restful and relaxing.

Little Feet

Yesterday I painted Pipi’s feet gold and made these cute little prints of them; in an unashamed copy of this idea from Bleubird Vintage.

It proved trickier than I thought because Pipi kept curling her little toes right at the wrong moments. But I’m very happy with the result.

And here I am once again unashamedly re-sharing this photo, just because it’s so darn cute! Love those tootsies!

You might remember that this idea was in my baby room inspiration post. I’m feeling pretty good that I’ve managed to tick a few things off that list.

Jen x

Mocka Giveaway Winner

My Mocka Kids Tree Hanger Giveaway finished last night and I have drawn a winner using  good old random.org … and the lucky person is … (drum roll please!)

#17 – Stella from The Golden Adventures! Congrats Stella I will be in contact shortly.

But to the rest of you who missed out, never fear Mocka have the Kids Tree Hangers on special this week at the price of $39.95 down from $49.95, so you can nab your own.

And while you’re at it check out all the other awesome products that Mocka stocks… cots, balance bikes, high chairs and even some adults furniture … plus much, much more!

Thanks to everyone that entered and thanks to Mocka for making this giveaway possible.

Jen x

P.S. I will be back shortly with a mini DIY I’ve just completed

Things For Baby Boys (A Virtual Baby Shower) – Baby Hats

A while back I was contacted by Laura of Craftstorming to see if I’d be interested in participating in an online baby shower for our mutual blog friend, Abby from Things for Boys. The idea being that a group us all make Abby a baby shower gift and post a tutorial of what we’ve made – all linking back to each other’s posts. Isn’t it an awesome idea?

Here’s what everyone made:

1: Baby Change Mats by Ros from Sew Delicious

2: Flat Teddy by Narelle from Cook Clean Craft

3: Handmade Baby Boy Shoes by Janelle from Emmaline Bags

4: Baby Hats by Jenny from Mend and Make New

5: Upcycled Cashmere Baby Pants by Dara from Coffee and Lilacs

6: Nappy / Baby Bag by Jo from Bubala

7: Little Kid Kimono Set by Laura from Craftstorming

I made these little knotted baby hats. These hats grow with your baby. As your baby’s head gets larger you simply untie and move the position of the knot.

They are made of stretch (knit) fabric and are super easy to make. I used my overlocker (serger), but they can be made on a normal machine using a small zig zag stitch or twin needle. (For more excellent hints on sewing with knit fabric see here.) I used a 1cm seam allowance throughout.

To make your own here’s what you need to do:

1. Print off my free pattern (yes, it’s pretty rustic) – these are for basically new born/ 0-3 month size using fabric with around 1cm stretch, so you may need to adjust the size  based on the stretchiness of your fabric and/or size of your recipient.

2. Select your fabric and pin and cut out your pattern. You will need to cut out 2 of the hat and one band measuring 30cm long and 4cm wide (on the fold – if you were to open it out it would measure 30cm x 8cm). The stretch of the fabric should be across the hat and band.

As mentioned above, my fabric has around 1cm of stretch (this is ideal). I used merino (grey and teal) and the owl fabric is a knit cotton fabric.

3. Place the 2 hat pieces right sides together and sew along the edges. (Of course don’t sew up the head hole!)

4. Now take the band. Unfold it and sew along the short edge right sides together. Fold it back up giving a circular band, 4 cm wide.

5. With the hat still inside out take the band and stretch and pin it around the hat, with all 3 raw edges together at the bottom.

6. Turn the hat in the right way (perhaps using a chopstick or something to poke the end out) and flip the band over.

7. Attach the band using little stitches along each side seam (see right picture below). Tie knot in desired place.

8. You are done! Find a cute baby*, put it on it’s head and admire your handiwork!

[*It is preferable to have the permission of the baby’s parents first.]

Make sure you check out all the other tutorials with everyone else’s lovely creations in the links above… And while your at it make sure you check out Abby's blog. She is a super talented sewer and cook/ baker. I especially loved her Peter Rabbit Jacket she sewed for Kids Clothing Week recently. I love the connections you make through blogging and I have to say that I count Abby as a ‘real life’ friend even though we have never met in person. All the best Abby, with your impending arrival!

Jenny

Also joining in with my creative space ,  Show and Tell  and make it wear it