Baby or false alarm

Lovely readers,


I am afraid in the next few days this little blog of mine will be a lot quieter than usually. I have a great excuse though – actually the best excuse ever:

I think I am having a baby. RIGHT NOW!

I had contractions for the past few hours and I am at the point now, when I stopped smiling. And then it is a good idea to go to hospital, the midwife in our child birth class said.

I am excited. I am nervous. I am giggly. I am beside myself. I am incredibly happy. I am a bit frightened.

Anyway, this baby wants to get out NOW.

So I better grab my hospital bag, my lovely husband and get going. I’ll see you when I get back. Either in a couple of hours, if it was false alarm after all. Or in a couple of days when my little one and I are back home for the first time. How exciting!

See you soon!

Crazy bookworm

I have been to the public library this week to stock up on reading material. And boy, after I had all these wonderful books at home...

... there was no stopping me.

I finished the first book in one long night of reading...

... all 511 pages. The thriller was just too exciting and I just loved that feeling of getting lost between the covers.

So, hurray, I had a wonderful time and I ticked off no1 of my mat-leave-to-do-list:

1. Read at least one book with 400+ pages from cover to cover DONE and DONE again!!!
2. Finish the embroidery on my baby quilt
3. Back a cake
4. Go to the hairdresser for a great haircut DONE
5. Make a dummy band DONE yesterday
6. Rearrange the furniture in our apartment to have room for the little one DONE, DONE and DONE
7. Have a Thai take-away dinner in our car at the beach DONE
8. Watch all the movies I always wanted to see but never got around to DONE and DONE
9. Make a few warm baby jackets
10. Look for nice music to put on my iPod

I have to say, I am really impressed on how many things I was able to tick off my list. Well, it wasn’t too difficult
a) because they were all nice things
b) because I had so much time and energy in the last couple of weeks.

Hope you got around to do some things you wanted to do for ages as well!

Quick changing mat cover

As I am still waiting for my little one to have her big entrance into the world, I thought you might want to know how I did the super-easy, super-cosy changing mat cover, which I showed you last week. It doesn’t really deserve the name tutorial, because it is that simple.

All you need is a standard, plastic-covered changing mat:

A soft, cotton fabric about twice as wide and a about 20cm longer than the changing mat:

plus needles, sewing machine and matching threat.

First you lie the fabric flat on the floor – right side facing up – (a little ironing wouldn't have hurt either ;-)), seam the short ends of the fabric (or use blankets that are already seamed like I did) and place the changing mat on top – roughly in the middle of the piece of fabric:

Fold first one side...

... and then the other side over the changing mat:

Pin upper and bottom ends of the fabric together (with the changing mat still inside) and make sure the seam is not too tight, then remove the changing mat and sew the top and bottom seams together:

Turn the finished cover ...

...and voila. You have a warm and comfortable cover for the plastic changing mat. They are super-easy to wash, so just make sure you make more than one. That way you always have one at hand if the first one needs a washing.

My creative space...

Another fun blog initiative. Every Thursday bloggers from Australia and all over the world show you their creative space and what they are currently working on. Join the fun at Kootoyoo (http://www.kootoyoo.com/). So inspiring to start a new project or finish the UFO (UnFinished Project) that has been lying about forever!

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At the moment I am crafting up a storm. Maybe because I am afraid I won’t have much time for crafting once the little one is here. Maybe because my creative energy goes off, while my physical energy goes down. Anyway, that is my creative space today...

I am working on simple and clever and very yellow dummy bands. You’ll find the post with a detailed tutorial here next Monday.

Looking forward to seeing your creative spaces.

Wedding Shoes

On Wednesdays I share everything wedding with you: tips, projects, organisation, photos, faux-pas, fun things and golden rules I ‘learned’ from my own wedding. I feel I need to give something back to the fabulous blog community who helped me stay sane and enjoy every second of my ‘big day’.

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For many girls the shoes are the highlight of their wedding outfit.

I have to admit that for me they were less important. Partly because I am more into accessories than into shoes. Partly because my dress was very long and I knew that you would only be able to see the toe-cap of them.

Nevertheless I ended up with the two most beautiful pair of wedding shoes:

1. Pink Power at the registry office

The pinkest, highest, most extravagant, most comfortable and most special shoes of my life. A gift from my auntie. They were made just for me. They are one of a kind. Even buying them was such an amazing experience. We went to Schuh Hiegl in Munich and then we were in shoe heaven. This shop is full of beautiful shoes, but the most exciting thing is that they make all shoes themselves and that you can choose any combination of: style, height of heel, type of leather and colour. They also give you valuable advice on what works together well, what is comfortable to wear etc. We spent hours in the shop and it felt like minutes – so much fun. In the end I decided on a classic style with a playful little bow, smooth leader in a flashy pink and the highest heels I ever wore. But let me tell you, they are really comfortable. Obviously it has something to do with the gradient angle rather than the height itself. Anyway, the shoes arrived 2 weeks later, I wore them all day and felt amazing.

2. Dancing Queen on the big day

The story behind my shoes for the big day is considerably more profane. I had chosen the dress, I had a little sample of the fabric in my purse and knew that I needed to find shoes. The style was a bit secondary, because my dress would hide them mostly anyway. Still I wanted ones with a tip that was neither too pointed nor too rounded. I wanted them to be extremely comfortable but a bit more flattering than my usual ballerina. Finding white shoes in the middle of the Australian winter proofed to be somewhat of a challenge. But then a colleague gave me the crucial tip: Boyles on 460 High St, Prahran VIC 3181‎. They are specialised in dance shoes, which are the best wedding shoes in my opinion. Because they come in white and cream, in fabric and leather. Because they are super-comfortable due to cushions in high-pressure areas like the sole beneath your ball of the foot. Because they have heels but are not ridiculously high. So I spend the whole day in these shoes – from 2pm to 5am in the morning. I walked. I jumped. I ran. I danced. No blisters, no pain, no falls! Perfect!!!

The Girls are Back!!!

Pictures from here

Only two more sleeps and the girls are back in town, aehm in the city.

In two days ‘Sex and the City 2’ will be released in the US. In three days it will be released in Germany and Australia will have to wait until June 2nd. I might have to wait even longer, because sitting in a cinema chair for 2 hours is currently just impossible for me and my belly, not even for Sex&the City 2 ;-(

Nevertheless I cannot wait to see the girls again. When the TV series started in Germany, I just had split up with my boyfriend of eight years. I was 29, focussing on my career, dreading the lonely Sundays, getting slowly back into dating, puzzled and amused by the guys I met, interested in fashion and handbags, reading glossy magazines, travelling around the world (for my job and in every spare time), spending a lot of time on pampering, shopping and going out... in short I could have been one of them. If I lived in NY and not in Berlin, if I earned a fortune and not just a living, if I ... Anyway, I really felt close to the four girls. My girlfriends and I spend every Tuesday in front of the TV with bubbly and snacks, with gossip and our own ‘love stories’.

Now 5 years later, I just cannot believe how my life has changed. I live in Australia, I am married to the love of my life, I am about to be a mama, I love lazy Sundays, I still love travelling and fashion... All changes for the better, but I still miss these girl nights and my TV friends from NY.

So, see you soon, girls! I cannot wait to hear what happened to you in the last 5 years!

Changing Pad Tutorial

Every Monday I will post something related to babies: inspiration, craft projects, baby news, and discoveries I have made in this new and exciting world for me. I hope you come along on that rollercoaster ride with me.

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On Thursday I already showed you the wonderful changing pad and I promised you a tutorial. So here it is.

All you need is:

• a standard-sized towel

• fabric in the same size

• scissors

• sewing machine

• electric iron

• matching thread

First wash the towel and the fabric. Iron the fabric to get rid of any crinkles.

Cut thick hem of the longer sides and one of the shorter sides of the towel.

Pin towel onto fabric, so that both right sides face each other. Cut spare fabric off.

Sew towel onto fabric on both long sides and the short side, of which you cut off the hem. Leave other short side open. If you put the fabric on the bottom and the towel on top, it doesn’t get caught as easily in the transporter of the sewing machine.

Turn pad inside out through the open short side.

Iron in fabric side so that towel and fabric are flattened.

Pin towel to fabric with right sides facing outwards to make sure that the edges are exactly above each other.

Iron seam allowance of the towel and the fabric on the open short side inwards, then pin together.

Sew along all four sides of the changing pad, again with the fabric side on bottom.

Voila! Your changing pad is ready.

Since the towel is beautifully soft, you won’t need any batting. Thus the pad is really light, easy to wash, dries quickly and will feel great on baby’s skin.

Since both the towel and the fabric is 100% cotton it will be very kind to your baby’s sensitive skin and shrink evenly in the washing machine.

Isn’t it simple & clever, fast & fabulous, practical & well-priced, beautiful & baby-friendly? I really should have made a couple of them: one for the nappy bag, one for the washing machine, one for me, one for my friend, one to keep in the pram, one to keep in the car...