Travel Diary: The Last Few Days

Oooh, it's much busier in the big smoke! We've been staying in Brooklyn, loving everything about New York! I have SO many photos I've just quickly picked a few 'outside' shots for you... and we're SERIOUSLY having to come back because there's just so much to do here and so much to see ... especially so many people to catch up with! We know more people living here than other parts of the USA, so we've had lots of social engagements and lotsa laughs!

Between Husbie and I we take most photos of ourselves and Baby Darling... but of different scenic shots... we're not doing the biggest touristy things here in NYC, just living and keeping things simple! It's a great city to be with Baby Darling, but the bigger spaces with crowds and lines of people just isn't as comfy for him. He's only 8 months, so waiting around is confusing!

We're back next week, so I'll catch up soon! Hope you've been well! xoxo

Travel Diary: Miss Crayola Creepy!

YAY! When we were roadtripping down to San Diego, I met fellow seamstress and the very gorgeous Miss Crayola Creepy! She lives close by to where we stayed at the amazingly decorated, crazily kitsch (every room is a different theme!) Madonna Inn! 

I haven't met that many blogger sewing passionistas in my blogging career (LOL) so it was very exciting to see Erin and especially since I'm halfway round the world. I wore my jumpsuit from the Pin Up week at Sew Weekly 2011, and Erin wore her selfmade pink dress to match the pinkness of the surrounds!

Check out some of the scenery! I especially loved all these crazy big flowers and colours:

So much pink and orange! We had such a lovely little afternoon!

Thanks Erin for coming to meet the little Darling Family, you are absolutely gorgeous! We'll be back again, I'm sure! We love California! xoxo

Travel Diary: Roadtrip

WOW! We keep having an amazing time! Everything we do is on Baby Time... short bursts of action, slow walks (or pushes in the stroller) and making lots of space to talk with people and for Baby Darling to soak up his holiday. I actually love travelling like this! No crazy 'Must See' lists, or feelings of not fitting it all in. There's no way we can fit in all the sightseeing things, or places to eat or coffees to drink, or buildings to see or parks to hike. So we just do small things, and we feel calm.

Baby Time Holidaying allows a hop on hop off bus tour of San Francisco, a lunch at Frances Ford Coppola's cafe and a shoe shopping expedition at Macy's!

We then drove down to San Luis Obispo to stay at the famously kitschy Madonna Inn (highly recommend) and a short little drive to Cambria for a Mother's Day brunchie lunch. I keep taking way too many photos but loving see what pops out here when I get them to the laptop.

I'm hankering for a cafe latte (no flat whites in the US!) so better run out the hotel door! We'll be rounding the week out in LA, so if you have fabric or vintage/thrifty tips, let me know! EXCITED!

xoxo

Travel Diary: Coming To America

Well, we're in San Francisco and I'm blogging you my first travel diary note from the USA! One of my ambitions this year is to write more, and hey, I didn't bring a notebook with me. NO HARD COPY! Yikes! How will I remember everything? Do I need to remember everything? The virgo in me is having a hard time! Luckily I have this blog (and all my personal Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Yelp/Expedia/AirBnB et al) to keep a digital memory of it all.  We travelled well considering we have a 7 month old bebe with us! He's a charmer, so kept many people entertained and happy during the 14 hour flight to LA from Melbs. There were a few tears though, but nothing outrageous and I'm sure understandable to those around us. It was the final descent that he couldn't sit still to breastfeed, so his ears hurt him a little. We then waited in the LA airport to fly to San Francisco and we were checked into our hotel in downtown San Fran by 3pm and tried to keep up as late as we could. We were all zonked by 8pm that night, and it helped balance out our jetlag for Thursday and today (i.e. no jetlag - just soar throats and sniffly noses from the zircon on the planes etc). It seems my other life's ambition has been to TALK to Americans and ask them stuff (like directions and how to get a boarding pass or where's a good place to buy a stroller) but then to only listen to their happy voices and accents and not pay attention to the content they're sharing with me. They are all so friendly and happy and upbeat and positive, all the things I love and need right now. And having a baby with us means they're automatically in love with us before we even saying we're Australians (also a win friends easily card). San Francisco is beautiful and friendly and quiet (we did just think the garbage trucks were fireworks though) and it's like Melbourne a lot. I'm a bit dazzled by the shops and the commercialism in the USA already though, so I better watch out! Don't worry, we've already been to a Good Will (op shop!) store, in Pacific Heights mind you (HELLO POSH PEOPLE). I've eaten Junior Mints, Hershey chocolate and ketchup and tater tots and even a bagel for breakfast. And I can't wait to eat more Junior Mints. And more. It's only been 3 days, and there's so many more photos and stories, but thank you San Francisco for having us! I want to kiss and cuddle all your buildings and come back in summertime and see a stand up comedy show and all the other things we don't have time to do. x

DIY Baby Friendly Necklace

I can't stop making things! I need to officially STOP and shut up shop in this sewing room once and for all! We have 2 sleeps til the USA and I have to do a LOT today to get ready. My plan is to tie up all the loose ends today, and luckily if I get stuck, my parents will be here and I can leave Baby Darling with them. (A Post Office trip is my last stop off, and it's so boring for him!)

SO! I've been looking at baby friendly wearable things, my cowl loops are the best because you can play with them (Peek-A-Boo, anyone) but I had these beads and I couldn't work out how to tie them into a teething & playing (while BF-ing) thing for Baby Darling that'd look cute as well as functional for all involved.

For some reason, I'd packed them up recently with this purple string (where the HELL would that have appeared from, gosh my stash surprises me!) and I thread the beads on (three strings together would fit through the holes of the beads, and was long enough to tie) and knot them at each ends to stop them sliding all around, but I left a bit of space for Baby Darling to fit his fingers in between them. I bet he'll love them next time we have a snack!

But hopefully it'll be a fun toy on the plane as well! So maybe I won't wear them until the plane so they'll appear new to him! Yup he's learning fast and becoming familiar with people and things now! We visited the nurse today, and yup again, he's 10.4kg (I suspected he was over 10kg) the size of a year old child. Luckily, he'll plateau from now on! 

I might try my hand at Travel Blogging, so you might see a few of our USA Adventures! 

xoxo

Baby Hills 90210

Did you love Brandon or Dylan?

After watching Beverly Hills 90210 in my teens, I actually didn't like either of them... I tried really hard to like all the boys on the show... but they were all too squeaky clean.

BUT, when my real life boy buys and ironic Tshirt and wears it until it's threadbare in places... he's my kinda guy alrighty. When Husbie wore Brandon Walsh, everyone would laugh and he'd make people's day. Too gorgeous.

Now that I have a little boy of my own, what better way to keep the LOLS going, and bring delight to other people... hence this amazing piece of resizing/refashion! It's now a Baby Sized Tshirt and ready for our holiday to USA.

SO EXCITED!

Romance at Seaspray!

Last year Husbie and I spent an amazing day with this happy couple, on their wedding day. We've dabbled a lot in wedding photography over the years, and Zoe & Rodney's is still a highlight, mainly because they're our dear friends of friends (and now our dear friends!)... and it's heartwarming seeing your friends have so much love and happiness together.

I just noticed that Zoe's written all about her gorgeous day (with LOTS more of our photos - mostly Husbie's but a few of my foodie & decoration shots - my speciality!) via Polka Dot Weddings and if you're on the lookout for some ideas for your big day, Zoe has LOTS of great stories on how she came up with the location, the food, the music!

Now that Husbie's freelance colour business is a little bit busy, we can't really fit in any more weddings (although I'd be more than happy to come as a guest to wedding in the future, right?!) so it's a bit of an end of an era!

xoxo

Extra Arty Laurel in The White Blankie

Oh hey, just some more 'arty' shots of my 'photoshoot' yesterday! 'Arty' because they're not in focus, as I was using the self timer on my camera and 'photoshoot' because see Diana below as my assistant and stand in (to get focus):

Oooh, I look a bit 'tired mummy' above. Again 'arty', don't you think?

Laura reminded me that I was going to show off about this being my wearable muslin, but you probably know as I'm super thrifty (and my 'good' fabric is just vintage anyways) and don't really do muslins or toiles, just guess at the fit. I have sewn with Colette Patterns before, and mostly they're accurate for me and my bod shape.

Diana the Dressform is also wearing my other Laurel, I had planned another winter/fall one with that cotton drill floral, but didn't get it finished in time. I have a few sewing ideas for our travels (UM, we leave for the USA next week!) so might not finish it in time to take... plus dresses aren't really on the list for the suitcase, because of the breastfeeding thing.

Hopefully I'll sew a few pairs of leggings and maybe a couple of tops, but if not I do plan on thrift store shopping! Especially for Baby Darling! He's just grown out of all his winter things already, so he'll have a few shorts and tshirts for the trip and then we'll go shopping over there. I can't believe this time next week we'll be in the States.

Anyways, good luck to you ALL who entered the Colette Patterns competition! I really enjoyed seeing the array of prizes, the categories and having just looked through some of the entries via Flickr, I'm amazed at how large the sewing community has become. How lucky are we!? I've entered this dress as the detail/embellishment (only for the way I used old blankets and created a bit of detail with the top of the bodice as a yoke etc) and the winter/fall collection (of course, it's very warm and sweet - the white is an amazing colour for colder months) and the colour category, but it's a non-colour really. YAY for sewing again, and like I said before now that I've entered the dress in the comp, I've already won! Coordinating the time to sew, time to photograph and get the photos online takes a while when you have a Baby Darling in your life!

*super proud*

xoxo