When I’m given some keira free time I head straight to my sewing room for quick projects! This weekend I managed lots of quick projects including 2 matching bibs for my twinnies…that now look like they need a quick iron

and more appliques …I’ve been asked by a few of you where I get my tops and really I go anywhere, target, big w, best and less with the latter two being a bit hit and miss but the target underwear section being the best of the bunch. Just don’t go to target southland and clear them out as thats my turf. Oh and I do all my appliques on my machine with blanket stitch (which I saw this lovely lady do).

Keira is also obsessed with strawberries this week so I whipped up some pj’s for her yesterday…in stretch knit too which is a territory I rarely enter….here they are drying off after she wore some strawberries last night.

and lastly I managed to knit this little beanie last night while watching big love. Its another umbilical cord hat but I’m breaking out the boy colours from my stash and getting stuck in….retro daddy asked why I didn’t embroider banjo on the front as we have an ongoing argument about boys names and banjo is not on my list…but I have to admire his perseverence.

oh and how great is australian womens weekly this month! My sister who works in advertising has long been telling me I’ve been in the wrong demographic for this magazine since my 20’s but when I opened this month and saw patterns for sock and glove monkey’s I went nuts!!! So don’t miss out!

Well in the lead up to my scan today all I wanted was 2 healthy babies and both are doing beautifully, weighing about 230grams each and just perfect….thats all I really wanted.

and I was right! baby 1 is definitely a boy and there is 80% certainty that baby 2 is a girl….she is in a funny position lying across the top of my tum making it hard to get a 100% accurate determination….but I’ll still keep knitting and making blue and pink and now this fabric is just perfect bought from leslie…..it reads ‘a big balloon above the little monkey twins’ and has a little girl and boy monkey…ohhhhhh just perfect.

While my little blossom was having her nap

I managed to finish a few more appliques and am venturing into more challenging shapes

especially the dear little deer which I think is oh so cute but takes time and a bit more skill than I have

I also managed to finish off this shrug for one of my babies…its made in the most gorgeous baby yarn from pear tree yarn and the pattern is from here. You’ll note that I’m assuming I’ll have one girl and this Thursday at 2.30pm I will find out if I’m deluding myself. I do also think there must be a boy in there too since I’ve had some nasty cravings for mcdonalds….2 sleeps till we end the confusion.

well another fun night at brown owls last night! I sat next to some lovely ladies including cam and christie and some blogless ladies. My throat is still a little sore from too much talking…in preparation for a night of stitching I did this little number yesterday to go above keira’s bed…I might finish it off with some little embroidered stars around the little fairy eventhough the gold thread is pesky.

on the knitting needles I have this little retro cardigan for miss keira…its from a new Panda knitting book called purla, I’ve never bought one of their books before and the purla yarn is 85% acrylic and not to my fancy but bendigo’s rustic 12 ply substitutes perfectly.

This little cardy is just so adorable and an easy pattern repeated over 8 rows and I’m powering through it…hubby picked the colour and said it was very melbourne.

and I haven’t mentioned the stitches n craft show on Friday which was quite fun…the highlight was meeting some lovely bloggers including cathy, louise, fiona, tamara, bianca, amelia who were all gorgeous in real life. I was very restrained only buying these goodies but my absolute favourites are the pear tree yarns…gorgeous yarn spun in geelong…its not the cheapest in my stash at $24 a skein but the natural colours and softness hooked me in and will be lovely for baby knitting….something I’m doing a lot of.

Well I can’t get enough of this quickie baby cardigan so I’ve whipped up another one in 2 days, this time in Bendigo’s Colonial 5ply in a cute grey….honestly this pattern is so quick and easy I’ll probably churn out a few more before my babies are here. The 5 ply is nice to knit with except it separates a bit and I need to trim a few bits here and there.

and Keira is still loving being hello kitty…she can’t get enough of this hat

or my knitting needles eventhough it looks like she’s torturing her ankles in this shot…my needles are quickly hidden once she starts to walk around with them or put them in her mouth

and what an act of kindness………wow Donna you mentioned you had 10 -12 patterns you were clearing out but this fabulous box arrived this morning and I had to assure my hubby repeatedly before I opened it that it wasn’t my online shopping. Thank you so much, I promise you they’ve found a lovely home with me and will be well loved.

Well when I heard about the bargain room at Bendigo Woollen Mills being recently restocked I decided we HAD to visit! Hubby was not so convinced but we drove up anyway and tasted the local pies…..

had some fun in the park….

and of course went shopping……mmmmm…..nice and oh so cheap! my best buy was the skein of cotton for $2 and the most expensive were some 200gm balls for $10 reduced from $16…you get the picture. I’ll be back again and I’m using it as a bargaining tool that whenever we visit hubby’s 2 brothers in Echuca we have to stop in at Bendigo (even if its out of the way)

and here is my finished French Market Bag (made in Bendigo Rustic) which has turned out quite nicely! I learnt you can keep felting and felting and felting till you get the size you want but my swap partner wants a big bag so I just gave it 1 go in the machine. I’m a little sad I won’t be keeping it as it feels lovely and soft but I’m ready to tackle my next felting project.

oh and if you’re after malabrigo I’ve just found an aussie stockist with very reasonable prices and postage.

Well today I put the finishing touches on this little number, the raglan sleeved cardigan from Baby Knits for Beginners by Debbie Bliss…I want to keep this little one so much but its heading off to my little sister Phoebe and her baby to be.

This is Keira pointing out the buttons to you all…

and telling me its bewdiful…

and last night I started this little umbilical cord hat which is from the Stitch n Bitch handbook…..its made in Malabrigo in shocking pink and its so beautiful and soft to knit with that I’ve started another hat today. I can see I’m going to have to get my hands on more of this yarn as it really is the best I’ve knit with….ever!!!

and speaking of yarn we’re off to Bendigo tomorrow for the day and I’m looking forward to raiding the bargain room at Bendigo Woollen Mills

To keep me honest and finishing my projects here’s what I’m up to this week! First up I managed to start this stash buster quilt yesterday and just want to rejig a few squares and colours around before I hit the sewing machine.

Next up is a little Debbie Bliss baby cardigan in a gorgeous oatmeal colour I started on Sunday…its gorgeously soft and I just love the colour and want a Mummy size too.

My french market bag just needs the handles sewn up and then its off to the washing machine for a few rounds….

and my other work in progress is coming along nicely as we mark 15 weeks today..now remember there are 2 in there.

and this is Miss Keira as I caught her with my knitting needles telling her dollies I’m knittin’…tooo cute

Well as you get older birthdays come and go and aren’t as exciting as when you’re a little person! We celebrated with a special lunch yesterday at stokehouse…and my actual birthday today will be spent doing normal mummy things like the park, playtime and cleaning and finished off with a night at the brown owls!

I did have a productive weekend with another pinni made for Keira (or Feera as she now refers to herself), I can’t get enough of the ottobre pattern from their latest Japanese inspired issue as its soooo quick and easy! Here she is modelling with some bags I made up for her nieces Lily and Sarah.

I made this little number from Robert Kaufmann cord (courtesy of ebay) and hubby picked the contrasting fabric and did a pretty good job!

and here is the birthday belly shot…this is what almost 14 weeks pregnant with twins looks like (with your birkenstocks in the background too). My recommended weight gain for this pregnancy is 18 kilos and I’ve only gained 3 so there is still another 15 to go….somewhere.

and don’t forget to leave a comment and go in the draw tonight with the winner to be drawn Tuesday!

I wanted Keira to model her outfit yesterday…..

there was the bolero I made last year that quickly came off as well as her hair clip

and finally we got a pose with the cute pink pinnie I made and can’t wait to make more of

and a cheeky close up

oh and retro mummy has gone retro pram! twins can put a huge dent in your budget so we found an absolute bargain of an emmaljunga (thank you ebay), in much better condition than our prams…..so here are George, Baby Aysha and Keira modelling the new pram..it took a bribe of a jelly snake to get keira out of the new pram and i’m sure she thinks its coming to the park with us today.

and lastly its my birthday next Monday…32..where oh where have the years gone! To celebrate I’m giving away a pack of beautiful retromummy fabrics, as much as I can fit into a satchel so leave a comment by nightfall next Monday and I’ll draw a winner!

thank you thank you thank you for your gorgeous comments!!! I’m still here….we’ve had another scan and there are still 2 bubs, 2 heartbeats and both are doing well on top of each other. I received a harsh reality check from the sonographer who reminded me that 1 in 4 twin pregnancies don’t make it past 12 weeks so I need to take a step back and think of it as 1 baby so it won’t be too hard to deal with any loss….I nearly cried and decided positive thinking is the only way to go and am continuing to take it easy, enjoying cheese sandwiches on white bread, carrot cake, long afternoons on the couch and lots of prayers that both my babies make it. Here are Keira’s twin babies so we can get some practise in….she spends all day looking after them and pushing them around the house..if only real babies could be this easy!

Keira is of course my best distraction! She will be a flower girl in April and is going to steal the show …..meanwhile I need to find a flattering dress to be matron of honour…I’m happy to report the other bridesmaid is pregnant so I won’t stand out too much.

and on the knitting front I’ve been working on this little number…I needed to get some knitting patterns for small babies as I have almost every Debbie Bliss baby book but nothing suitable for tiny babies so I’m set now!

Well hubby asked that I not tell anyone….then said OK you can tell…..so after several phone calls I can share the news with you.

My scan went very well….better than expected with twins found…2 sacs, 2 visible heartbeats…a lot of hurdles ahead of us and another scan in 2 weeks but I don’t feel like my feet have touched the ground yet.

Sometimes I have moments of worry when I think things could wrong but my trusty aunt who is a psychologist told me to put it the back of my mind so it will stay there for the time being.

And thank you for all your lovely comments…they’ve been touching…now I’ve got some knitting to get back to.

mmmmmmmmm I woke up very excited this morning…ate light …tried to get keira to pose for a photo

tried again

and headed off to the tearoom to meet up with 3 lovely sewing girls for a touch of high tea. We had a sparkling wine…thanks Belinda for the gorgeous new camera case you made

and some tea

and some food….

and this is what we left….it was very yummy and so nice to have lots of sweet food in one sitting………I also managed to squeeze in a cookie or two when I got home…uh oh

heres the group photo………we knew the EB sewing girls would have us for breakfast if they didn’t get to see their favourite sydney girls all together……

(ingrid aka lottielulu, moi, cass and belinda)

thanks again it was such a lovely day and I think the giggling and chatting started from the minute we met up today and I’m seriously thinking about coming up for your next trip with the perth gals……….but now I’m totally obsessed with high tea and found this and think this is next on my list before I leave sydney…those little french cakes look tres bien!!!!

mmmmm its friday and I met some lovely bloggers today….our traditional lucky dip resulted in me going home with this gorgeous cushion by tuttifruiti….thank you so much I love it and keira loves the button which she keeps trying to pull off…the stitching is fabulous, its so beautifully made and goes perfectly with our couch…I just adore it …….

I also heard that SL had some new fabrics so I detoured there on the way home and look what I got…edited to add yes they are japanese but they’re not cosmo because SL are selling their cosmo prints for less than what we little people pay wholesale in Australia so there’ll be none of that coming into my house…..and with my big shipment due in at the end of the month I have good reason to wait…..

wow I love them and am already planning what to make……..oh and I wasn’t completely honest as I bought more fabric today and had a delivery from the US but have to be careful that retro daddy doesn’t do an audit on retro mummy’s spending………..

and speaking of retro daddy I’ve been making a lot of cookies lately playing around with ingredients and trying to perfect them so here is my latest creation and his favourite…..I try to make them as low fat as possible (we need to lose weight in this household) but still staying crispy with a bit of chocolate (we need to eat chocolate in this household)….this is all that is left from yesterday’s batch just 1 cookie and some crumbs

Tropical Muesli Cookies
1 1/2 Cups tropical muesli
1 Cup plain flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 Tbsp margerine/butter melted
2 Tbsp tropical fruit juice

Pour butter and juice into combined dry ingredients and mix well….shape into small balls and flatten on lined cookie tray…bake for 20-25 minutes in 180 degree oven…..cool on cookie tray and enjoy….makes about 2 trays of cookies

thank you for all your lovely comments on my quilt….I loved it and its so nice to hear from you all especially since I’m so new to quilting…………today I’m busy finishing the debbie bliss baby shrug but I couldn’t resist this super cute photo of miss keira in her paddling pool yesterday during Sydney’s mini heatwave……..

and here is the shrug all finished…..soooooo cute and of course now I’m wishing I had one for keira so I’ve started knitting one in mint green…with the wool now only costing $2 a ball at spotlight I was totally justified in buying over 20 balls!