vintage baby finds and foxy quilt idea

Here's a sneak peak at a couple pieces of clothing I picked up while thrift shopping last weekend. The purple corduroy overalls and the cozy wool vest (I think the tag is in swedish) were both under three dollars.  I scored huge finds this weekend. I'm hoping to post photos soon. (did i tell you that I have new plans to start an online Etsy shop with vintage baby clothes? more about that later...)

It's a few days to Christmas and Ivy present is far from being finished. A little too ambitious?  I am determined to finish this diamond-patterned quilted play mat. I even bought red and white polka-dot patterned waterproof tablecloth-type material from ikea for the underside of the mat so we can take it to the park and use it on the grass. 

Here's my inspiration, from the blog Urban Patchwork. 

Earlier today I somehow ended up on the website of Little Studio, a Swedish printshop (I think I  followed a link from DesignMilk). I saw this print, called Little Fox, and immediately thought of how great the simple, blocky design would translate so well to a multi-square quilt.  Def. a contender for my next quilting project, if I survive the stress of completing Ivy's play mat for Christmas!

By the way, Ivy's in the sling as I write this.  Awwww... too cute!

beautiful pastels + labour time?

I felt crampy all through the night last night.  Now it's 11am and I am still just bumming around my house, feeling tired. Maybe she's coming today!!!  But, as I think I mentioned in my last post, my midwife sister-in-law told me a few days ago that if you just think you might be in labour, you likely are not in labour.  

According to this website, this is what our baby will look like. I'm scared....

I found this through the blog Baby Space, an interior design blog devoted to spaces for kids, who found it on the blog Next Door to Magic, who found this image on ginette lapalme's Flickr stream.

Check out this L.A. house tour on Apartment Therapy. I'm drooling!

bye for now!

Mentally preparing: I'm in my 37th week?

Hi friends,

PLAY

I had a nice day yesterday. My friend Anita and I went to see a play written by my friends Aurora and Nika at Summerworks called The Physical Ramifications of Attempted Global Domination. It was a hilarious play with an all-female cast playing various world dictators from recent world history competing in a game show to prove their the most bad ass.  It was hilarious, and even included several dance numbers.  

ICE CREAM

The remainder of my Sunday was great until Joe and I went for a walk to find some ice cream.  We went to the Lansdowne Cone, but found a huge lineup and no washroom (seriously?) for me to tinkle. At this point in my pregnancy, each step I take my uterus bounces on my bladder.  So, we walked to a big chain ice cream shop that I won't mention where they take the ice-cream and scoop it onto a cold slab of stone and mush it up with candy and such.  Joe and I ate our ice cream and promptly felt ill. By the time we got home Joe was moaning and I had to barf.  Bye bye ice cream.  

IN WEEK 37 out of 40

Since I've been pregnant, the whole weeks/months thing has been confusing for me.  We month is a few days longer than 4 weeks, and different months have a different numbers of days.  I could say that I'm 9 months pregnant when I'm 36 weeks, but that doesn't make sense to most people because most people think that 9 months is the duration or pregnancy.  It also doesn't make sense because I'm calculating 9 x 4 = 36. That would be 9 months passed and I'm in the 10th month, but then I"m not accounting for those extra days in the month.  Oh, I'm confused!  Oh well, too late now. I've only got a few weeks left.

So, I was 36 weeks on Saturday.  So, do I say I'm 36 weeks, or in my 37th week?  By the end of this week (next Saturday) I'll officially be full term.  WOOOOOOAH!  And, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the bebe is very, very low and there are a few other factors that indicate to my midwife that I may go close to week 37 or 38 than 40 weeks (which is when the due date is assigned).  

I better get a move on.  I need to do the following.

1. Do the art exercises from Birthing from Within
2. Finish my wolf-themed labour focuser.
3. Buy nursing bras
4. Make some soups and muffins to throw in the freezer
5. Finish knitting the bebe blanket
6. Cover rocker cushions
7. Sew a baby outfit.

blanket - I've got to finish 20 rows of pink, then red and orange.  I started this in January. BAD MOMMY!

I'm off to The Workroom to check out some fabric.  

Happy Monday!

Lazer Lindy

Visual Treasurez from an Interweb Adventure

Hi!

I'm refreshed after an awesome sleep last night and I'm spending a lazy Saturday afternoon puttering around the house, taking it easy.  I've parked myself in front of a fan and have been having an adventure on the interweb.  Here are some visual treasurez I've come across this aft.

This kids room tour on Apartment Therapy's Oh Dee Doh.  I love the busy, bright colours and patterns against the white walls.  

ShapeMaker blocks from Best Made in NYC.

This Gold Dipped Amethyst Crystal Necklace No. 2  from Sparklefarm,

Available from Etsy.

These beautiful photos of prickly pears from Geninne's Art Blog.

A beautiful post about backyard camping on the blog Domestic Simplicity. Visit this blog for the photography alone.  Beautiful!  

Large-scale paint-by-numbers!  From the blog Poppy Talk. This post got me thinking about creating a paint-by-numbers mural in the bebe's room.  

Wow... i love the colours in these ones.... 

Ok, bye for now!

Lazer

Children's Rooms Copenhagen and creative mamas and their offspring

So, I am in my 36th week of pregnancy and starting to feel very, very pregnant.  Each evening the baby  goes up a touch higher in my belly, hiding up under my ribs, going back down when I get out of bed in the morning.  The actual shape of my belly is so different at night.  My ribs are starting to hurt constantly.  My stomach is also feeling sore all over, causing me to really waddle now.  Oh yeah, and my feet are killing me and the joints in my hands are creaky and sore.

Oh poor me!  But soon enough I'll have a beautiful wee baby and I'm SO EXCITED!

The end is near, and I'm starting to think about what life with be like with a kid. Here are a few blogger moms who I find inspiring.

Tape Yourself Silly post on the Dos Family blog.

Oh yeah, and here's a photo from the Dos Family blog of the daughter's room.

And here's a photo of a playhouse featured on the Dos Family blog, designed by Havtorn Design.

Last week I discovered the Journals of Giddy Giddy, a blog written by a designer in California who about the creative projects she does with her kids.  

Lovely pastel tie dye experiments!

Making stencils with freezer paper, printing on fabric.

And my favourite, painting fabric and using it for sewing projects.  I think I will try this soon to make some cute pinafore-type dresses for our bebe.  

On Friday I had coffee with my friend Alex in the Junction at a lovely coffee shop named Crema. We stopped in at the Scandanavian/Japanese design shop called Mjolk (they also keep a great blog that I've been following for a while), where I bought the book "Children's Rooms Copenhagen", published by the Japanese design and illustration publisher, Paumes.

All the rooms showcased are light and airy, with light pine, maple or white painted floors, white walls and pops of bright colours -- everything I want our second floor to be.

Our light birch flooring is being installed as I write this!  Yeehaw!  

wall art for bebe's room

Hello friends!

This morning I am dead tired, but determined to enjoy this not so hot morning and brainstorming ways to shake my tiredness (and heartburn and barfyness). I'm blasting some very upbeat classical music and pumping myself up to take on the day.  Outside the cicadas are making their strange buzzy-screechy noise. I can't believe it's August.

Joe and I went to an appointment with our midwife this morning. Everything with the baby is A-OK. I'm going to have an ultrasound next week because the midwife wasn't 100% sure of the baby's head-down position, although she's fairly positive she is head down.

Did I mention that we're considering having a home birth?  Joe and I are still undecided, but keeping our minds open.  One issue we're keeping in mind is that we live in a row house, connected to other houses on either side.  There is not brick wall between the houses, only drywall and insulation, so sound travels easily between the houses.  On one side we have a little old Portuguese lady, who I'm not too worried about her hearing my in labour, but on the other side our neighbours are doing a complete renovation of their house. There are at least 2 or 3 contractors at the house every day and the noise they make can be pretty loud in our house. Vice-versa, this bunch of beefy contrator men will be able to hear me in labour.  Something to think about...

I have a list of topics I'd like to post about, including home birth, breast-feeding, my hopes/worries/excitement about labour, etc. I'd also like to post about different myths and rituals surrounding child birth and motherhood. I'll have to put these off another day because my brain is just not up to it.

So... I've decided to show you some ideas I've gathered for the baby's room... The hardwood floor is going down on Monday, and we have new windows to be installed. Hopefully we'll be able to start putting the room together in 2 weeks or so (crossing my fingers).

DIY potato printed polka dots from the blog Oh Happy Day.

Recycled dinosaur planters. 

You can find them on Etsy.

12x18 handprinted letterpress poster

from Roll&TumblePress, available on Etsy

8" x 10 digital print

Etsy

Amethyst, 8X10 Art Print

Etsy

DIY paper lanterns

instructions from Martha Stewart website. These seem super easy to make: tissue paper cut in circles secured to a paper lantern.

This image is from a house tour on the Apartment Therapy blog. As soon as she's old enough, doing something like this would be SO MUCH FUN!

This DIY project is pretty neat. We could spell the baby's name. I don't like the shape of the letter but that could be changed. 

Ok, bye for now!