I need a holiday to recover from my holiday......

Phew, what a long two weeksI've just had. Holidaying with a little kid is certainly not easy, nor a whole lot of fun really. We flew up to Brisbane boxing day morning to stay at my in-laws for two weeks, with a few days in the middle spent out at a beach resort at Kingscliff so it should have been relaxing and easier for me with more hands to help out with the baby. Yeah except I didn't count on Anna being possessed by some evil spirit and turning into an absolute nightmare for the whole time!

Her sleep patterns, which are bad at the best of times, became atrocious and she woke crying and screaming frequently through the night, staying awake for a few hours between 1am and 3am and then waking up at 4.30am for the day. Daytime naps were just as difficult too. Then because she was tired she would scream and have tantrums in her highchair and not eat, just throw her food around making a huge mess. And then because she was tired and hungry she just couldn't cope at all - in the car she would scream and scream until she fell asleep, and all the other times she would be so clingy and whingy all day long. Anyway we're home now so hopefully she'll get back to normal soon.

The little monkey was also terribly spoilt with presents galore at christmas time from my family. I took a thriftier approach though, making her some presents instead. First up I made her a mini moopy stuffed toy, from this pattern over at neststudio:

So easy yet so cute. I also revamped this timber wagon I bought an op shop for $2:

Before:
After:

I gave it a coat of bright red paint and put Ikea wrapping paper inside the tray using some spray adhesive. It bubbled a little when the glue dried which was a tad annoying but I doubt the recipient noticed - she was too busy walking around using the wagon for support:

And of course I made her some clothes. Some really cutesy matching outfits that in a few years there will be no way she'll let me dress her in them, but for now she has no say in the matter! First up I made some yellow gingham shorts with black ribbon trim and a fabric yo-yo, with a top to match with yo yo flowers and the same black ribbon trim for stems. Mismatched vintage buttons too.
Next I made her some polka dot shorts, and made a little cap sleeve ruffle to sew onto a singlet I bought from Target. Again so quick and easy.

I also made some aqua blue gingham shorts with red ric rac trim, and a top to match with an appliqued butterfly from the gingham fabric with a stripe of red ric rac through the centre.

All of the shorts are made from the bloomers patterns in Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little People book, and the tops are morphed from Butterick 400 view C gown just shortened. I've used this pattern several times before because it's so simple with just two pattern pieces and the neck and arm openings are just finished with bias binding, but for these tops I just serged the seam allowance, turned it under and stitched it down.

Anyway I hope you all had great christmas celebrations, I have so much blog reading to catch up on to see how some of you survived the record snow falls in Europe and the US (we sweltered by the way!)