Yup, that's right a babies shower. On the weekend we celebrated the impending arrival of Caitlin and Jack's twins (two babies! at once! eek!) at Caitlin's baby shower. We had a lovely afternoon in the summer sunshine. We played a few baby shower games and ate sandwiches, cakes and scones for afternoon tea. Any afternoon that involves cake is a good one.

In one of the shower games we had to try to estimate the size of Caitlin's bump. We had to cut a length of string which represented the circumference of her bump. Most of us grossly over-estimated the size of her bump. Either she's not as big as she looks or we're really bad at estimating (I suspect the latter.) Here is a photo of Caitlin at 34 weeks. She definitely looks very pregnant.

For the shower afternoon tea I made my Ducky cupcakes. I used Martha Stewart's chocolate cupcake recipe which is the best one I've come across so far. I think the sour cream makes for a lovely moist cupcake.

And of course, the twins were gifted a lambykins each. That's five lambykins that I've sewed in the past few months. Caitlin is having a girl and a boy so I made a girl lambykin and a boy lambykin. I made them so that they can face each other and have a chat or give each other a little kiss (or, as Andrew pointed out, they can face away from each other if they are cranky.)



Good luck Caitlin and Jack! We can't wait to meet the new additions to your family.

Photo of Caitlin was borrowed with Caitlin's permission from her facebook account

As I've already written, there was a bit of a baby boom last year. In late November / early December there were 4 baby announcements. Three boys, Leo (Andrew's cousin Jane had a little boy), George and Marcus, and one little girl, Charlotte (finally!)

Kylie and Trevor welcomed Charlotte into their family in late November. Even Kylie had been swept up in the baby boy fever. Kylie's gut feeling throughout her pregnancy was that she was having a boy. Charlotte's in utero nickname was actually Juan Trevor (JT). We finally managed to visit Kylie and Trevor to meet Charlotte last weekend.


I was overjoyed to finally be crafting and shopping for a baby girl. I made Charlotte the traditional lambykins. I actually didn't have any "girl" fabric (not much call for it) so I used a gender neutral fabric. I also gifted a very cute outfit (girls are so much more fun to shop for) and my favourite childhood book. To wrap the present I finally got a chance to use the pink baby wraps that I bought almost a year ago. (I bought a pack of green wraps at the same time as the pink ones. I'd used all the green wraps by April last year and have since gone through 3 more packs of "boy" wraps.) To top off all this girlyness I made some vanilla cupcakes decorated with pink icing and silver cachous.



Yay! Another little girl to craft for (I'm looking forward to making another tutu soon. Although, I don't think Charlotte will be needing one for a while. I might have to make one for myself.)

More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.

I was going to write that this is the last of the baby posts for a while but then I realised I'm going to a baby shower this weekend. So scratch that!

I'm beginning to feel a little bit like Little Bo Peep with the number of Lambykins I've been churning out lately. We've been experiencing a bit of a baby boom. The Goldies welcomed Marcus (no 2!) to their family in early December. We finally managed to catch up with the Goldies last weekend to meet Marcus. To celebrate Marcus's arrival I made the traditional lambykins.

For the first time in a long while I had a sewing mishap. I was using a new fleece material that I hadn't used before. When I finish a Lambykins I often use the smoover to iron the ear flat so it sits nicely. Stupidly I didn't test the new fleece with the smoover and it melted the material. I now have a Lambykins with a bald patch just above the ear. I couldn't give away damaged goods as a present so I had to start again. Doh! Not sure what to do with the damaged Lambykins. Any suggestions? (I'm having a run of sewing bad luck. When I made up the 2nd Lambykins I managed to sew over my finger. It hurt. A lot. I would avoid doing it.)


Both Eddy and Goldy celebrate their birthday on January 13th so I also whipped up a towel cape for Eddy as a birthday present and a batch of banana birthday cupcakes in my new red Kitchen Aid.

I'm enjoying crafting in my uni break! (although, technically I'm doing summer school. I'm really giving this subject my all *G*. It's not a teaching subject, I promise!)

More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.

Unfortunately, with three subjects this semester my life has been all about uni or work with a little bit of time for sleeping thrown in for good measure. I have managed to squeeeeeeeeeze in some fun stuff though.

• Baby Shower Cupcakes - I made these cupcakes for Bel's baby shower. The idea was from the Australian Women's Weekly book Kid's Little Party Cakes. I think this is an essential addition to your children's birthday cake library. I've borrowed my copy from Annie and I'll look after it while she is away.
  
  
• A monkey for Monkey - I made this sock monkey for Bel and Dan's impending arrival. Usually a new bubba gets a lambykins but I couldn't resist making a monkey for Monkey. I really love the pattern on these socks.
  
  
• A Lambykins for Julius - Ben and Janet welcomed a new addition to their family on the September 17^th. I made a Lambykins to celebrate Julius' arrival. Welcome Julius!
  
  
  

Here is a cute photo of Hamish and an action shot of lambykins. Thanks for sharing Sarah.