the generosity of others

Another weekend has absolutely flown past, entirely enjoyable although no sewing done.

On Saturday morning I had the chance to meet one of my blog readers, the wonderful and most generous Raewyn who emailed me to offer some nappies that she no longer needed. Well, when I arrived at her place not only did she give me a stack of nappies, but also quite a few Threads and Topkids magazines, some nappy covers, and a "Little Squirt" hose that attaches to your toilet to rinse off solids from soiled nappies! Plus we had a really nice chat and I got to have a sticky beak at her sewing space (a very sunny and organised spot I must say), and really I was overwhelmed by her generosity and most grateful. So once again Raewyn, thank you so much for your generous gift - they will all be well used.

Also a few weeks ago another reader Paola who lives down the south coast of NSW (not that far from where I grew up actually) emailed me to ask about my favourite fabric stores in Sydney, which I was more than happy to divulge let me tell you! In return Paola also sent me a copy of a Topkids magazine, which again will come in handy when this baby (a little David Beckham who is delighting in kicking me constantly) comes out, there are some really cute patterns in there. So Paola thank you very much as well!

The rest of Saturday was spent doing washing at my parents house, and I gave their house a good clean since they were due back from a few weeks holiday today and it was my mum's birthday on Friday - I think there's nothing better than to come to a clean house. Today we spent all day at the second part of our antenatal class, all about how to care for a baby such as feeding, bathing, changing nappies, safety etc and there were a few funny moments such as dropped baby dolls and no horrific graphic videos like last week (although breastfeeding looks pretty violent at times!).

On the weather front, it only rained for part of the day last Tuesday and has been sunny and quite hot since. Our builders however, have chosen not to do much more in the sunshine even though they soldiered through the rain, so not much more has occurred and we are now at least 2 weeks behind schedule. I'm trying to remain positive about all this, but I've decided to take a pessimitic attitude to the finish date and I expect the works to be finished by next February or March. Deep down I knew there are always massive delays in building projects (having seen it many times over the years when I was involved in assessment development projects in local government) but I so badly wanted this done I chose to ignore that little voice inside of me. But this way I figure if it isn't finished until Feb/Mar then my expectations have been met, but if it is finished by Christmas then that's a massive happy bonus.

To cheer myself up, I went to the Lincraft (Aussie equivalent of Joanne's) closing down sale in the city - there was 33% off everything except patterns. There were also hordes of women going crazy over everything so I only grabbed a few things - some knit fabrics in red and pink for $3m each, a hot glue gun (for when I get crafty), a bias tape marker, a sewing gauge and I also upgraded my incredibly low tech method (below right) of seam tracing when I trace BWOF patterns by purchasing a proper seam tracer:Yes that is two pencils sticky taped together with a bit of paper wedged between to get 1.5cm spacing! The funny thing is I have some technical drawing tools around somewhere since I studied architectural drafting for a bit in school, but who knows where they are!

Anyway I'm working from home tomorrow so I'll be able to finish early enough (or take a long lunch break) to get some photos in the two new dresses I've made over the last two weeks - I promise you that the summer of the dress is still on track!

Oh and on the baby front, I had an obstetrician's appointment late last week and everything is going swimmingly - I am almost entirely free of most pregnancy related complaints. But I hear you about taking it easy, I have noticed that I'm getting tired easily, I always seem to be out of breath and my walking pace has slowed down to the point that when we walk the dog my husband and the dog are quite a way in front and I'm waddling along to catch up! But I need the exercise (as per all your excellent advice some time back), but instead of doing everything I used to do in one day I'm now spreading it over two days so I don't hurt myself. But thank you all for your concern! And don't worry Kitty - I've given the dog a stern talking to and told him to start behaving in most serious voice, well as serious as you can be with a dog that looks like this: