Halloween Trick or Treat Etsy Sale!

Happy Halloween everybody!!!

We have a household full of pumpkins (which we've been slowly eating, so expect pumpkin recipes soon), multiple costume choices, and are just generally excited about Halloween.

I hope that y'all have a fantastic Halloween with lots of fun and good food and pumpkins.  To celebrate Halloween, I'm giving you a special Halloween treat.  You can use the code HAPPYHALLOWEEN2011 at our Etsy Shop to get 20% off of any order!

The newest item in the Hidden Domestic Etsy Shop.

My newest Etsy addition: Heart Mobile



I've gone a bit crazy for mobiles lately, and not just because I have a baby.  They make great household decorations (seriously) and I really enjoy making them.  This hand-sewn heart is at the center of a mobile I just added to Etsy (more coming soon).  You can see it (or order it) on Etsy here: http://etsy.me/veox3G
So there's my craftiness for the day.
We had a great day (including taking the kids swimming) so I hope you're all having a lovely autumn's day as well.

Eiffel Tower Apron

I love taking part in the Secret Post Club.  You never know what you're going to get or what great new blogs you'll discover. 

My last Secret Post Club swap introduced me to the great blog Blackbird has Spoken.  On the blog, I noticed some references to cooking, and some pictures of an Eiffel Tower collection.  So I decided to make her a apron with the Eiffel tower on it.

Not all of the stitches are even, and I really should have ironed it before taking a picture, but I'm pretty happy with the end result.  In fact, I was a bit sad to part with it.  Luckily I saw the pictures of the beautiful macarons that Max made (possible, of course, because of her new French apron), and that just made my day.

I'm thinking I may get started on some more aprons...maybe as Christmas gifts for people...

Counting down...

I'm now due in less than a month.  This means that every time I go in public, random strangers ask how much longer I have left to go.  I'm huge and I'm pretty sure I waddle instead of walk.  Most of all, though, I'm getting really impatient to meet this little boy.

We've been getting things ready for him to be born.  I know I've posted a few baby sewing projects on here before, and here are two more things that I customized for him.

Anya (our two-year-old) loves the band They Might Be Giants.  She's particularly obsessed with the song "Robot Parade" (click here to listen to it).  She requested that I make "robot parade" baby clothes, so that's what I added to this little sleepsuit.  (The pictures aren't brilliant on these because Anya kept trying to grab the clothes and sing and dance with them.)

Both of the girls are really excited to have a baby brother, so I made this vest/onesie with a simple "Baby Brother" slogan.  Miriam was particularly excited as she's learning to read and could figure out what it said on her own. 

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.