The New Forest

We're lucky to live near the beautiful New Forest National Park.   We love going there for family picnics and to explore.  The girls especially love getting to see all of the deer and wild ponies.  It's also a great place to go for a romantic getaway.  My husband and I were lucky to get to go on a weekend trip to the great New Park Manor Hotel in the New Forest.  I felt very pampered there, and it was great to get in some couple time before we have a newborn.

Here are just a few pictures from our recent visits to the New Forest.  I have to confess that I think all of these pictures were actually taken by my husband, Jared, rather than me. 

More Baby Sewing Projects

In my last post I showed you the baby quilt that I recently made.  Here are some more little baby sewing projects that I've been working on.  Although I don't sew very often, I've been enjoying spending quiet time each evening to work on a little project.  I'm also excited for my baby boy to have some customized clothing.  After having two girls, a lot of the clothes we have for him are plain white things that were unisex and could be handed down (especially for vests/onesies).  So it's been kind of fun to make them more boyish and add designs to them.

All of these are little hand-sewn things that I did using hand-me-down white vests and scraps of material/ribbon/thread that we happened to have.  I didn't use any designs or anything, so they are a bit wonky in places and my stitching's not always even.  I like the end results though and love that he'll have some clothes made (or at least decorated) specifially for him.

In addition to preparing for this new arrival, I've been busy with the girls and lots of writing.  I've been able to review and write about several baby products lately, like these organic clothes companies.

"I'm as blue as a boy can be"

Many of you know this already, but I'm pregnant!  I'm very excited to be able to tell you that we're having a little boy in about 8 weeks!



Me from the side at 31 weeks.  I always heard old wives' tales about boys carring higher than girls and disregarded them.  My baby bump is definitely shaped differently with this little boy than it was with either of my girls though.



As we have two little girls, our loft space is overflowing with boxes of old baby things.  The only problem is that they're all in pink.  So I decided to make some baby things especially for this little boy we're expecting.  This is my first attempt at sewing a baby blanket/quilt.  I'm not a very good seamstress, but I think the end result is cute.

I was given the blue fabric (along with some other fabric and craft bits) from a lovely lady on Freecycle.  The other material I bought at a charity shop.  I found a vintage Disney bedding set with super cute material, and -best of all-it was only £3.  I cut it up for the fabric for this and other sewing projects.

Again from the vintage Disney fabric, this is the material lining the back of the baby quilt.

I used some of the same material to applique a matching baby vest (onesie).  I can't wait until he's born and I can dress him up in it.  The girls are really excited about getting a baby brother.  Miriam (she's 4) keeps telling me all the things that she'll do to help once he's born.  She also wants to make a chain to count down the days until he's born (we haven't done it yet because she wants to make "a real metal chain, not just a paper chain").  Anya (she's 2) keeps asking to look at the baby's blanket, and then trying to find his bed (we'll set it up closer to when he's due).  They'll both be great big sisters.