A new beginning...or two

Tomorrow is a new beginning.  

Well, the same can be said for every day.  

Each day is a new beginning, full of possibility, and chances to learn and grow and make your mark on the world at large...or even just your own immediate little world.

At the moment, my own mark on the world involves such serious issues as how to remove poo stains from baby clothes...or how to deal with a toddler going through every parents worst nightmare, the 'terrible twos'.  (And on that issue, I feel ripped off...India isn't even two yet! *doh*)

Welcoming our gorgeous little boy, Jett, into our world just under 10 weeks ago is about as major as any new beginning gets. Whilst our daughter, India, has always been abuzz with more energy than a Mexican jumping bean, Jett is very much the chilled out, sit-back-and-take-it-all-in-my-stride kinda dude. He is as cool as a cucumber :) The smiling and cooing has started, and it is just about the best thing in the world!

So a new baby is a BIG new beginning.  But tomorrow heralds yet another BIG new beginning for us.

We're moving interstate. And I don't just mean a hop-skip-and-jump across the state border. I mean we're moving across the country. Literally.  

Yikes.

Yes, our newly expanded family is moving from Sydney to Perth, east coast to west coast. A mere, oooh, 4300kms...give or take. No mean feat, let me tell you!

So while most of my time over the last few months has been preoccupied with looking after our two little darlings, I've also been packing up our belongings and organsing our big move. You can understand why my beading has, sadly, been pushed way down the list of priorities.  And oh, how I miss my beads!  Boo. Hoo.

Packing my beads away was a sad task. I dragged it out as long as possible. I couldn't bear to put them all away at once. Not that I've had time to bead lately, but it's nice to look at them, to touch them, to let them inspire more ideas to add to the many already swirling around in my sleep-deprived brain...

*sigh*

Alas, my beloved beads will have to wait. For now.

So our new life in Western Australia begins tomorrow. Exciting? Yes! Despite the chaos and stresses of the last few months, I am so very, very excited about our new life. New ideas, new inspirations, new opportunities, new beginnings...

My darling husband and sympathetic brother have spent the last four days driving across the country, towing the biggest U-Haul trailer you've ever seen, which contains all of our worldly belongings.  And I get to fly across with our most treasured possessions, India and Jett.  

So please spare a thought for me tomorrow as I board a plane for the six-hour plane trip across the country.  You did read that I have two kids under two, right?  God help me.

Look what I made! :)

Jett Cooper Saville - eight hours old

It is with utter joy and delight and love that I introduce you to my beautiful baby boy, Jett Cooper Saville.

Born at 1:17am on Sunday 12 July and weighing 7lb 3oz (he's so perfectly tiny!), Jett couldn't have had a more perfect entrance into the world! He was five days overdue, but well worth the wait ;)



After a rather long and tiresome pre-labour which began on Friday night, the 'real' labour kicked in at around 7pm on Saturday night. I laboured away at home until midnight when I told my husband that we needed to get to the hospital. Jett was born (whilst I was kneeling in the shower! LOL) just over an hour later, after six hours of established labour and only seven minutes of pushing! Gravity works wonders, eh! ;)

It was one of the most beautiful, pleasurable experiences of my life. I still can't believe how good it felt to push! I had the benefit of all of those wonderful hormones surging through my body, and I just surrendered to the process and let my body do the job it was made to do. And it did the job perfectly! To have a natural, drug-free labour was everything I had hoped for and soooo much more. Jett was alert and awake straight away and couldn't wait to have his first feed. And I felt so well that we were home just 12 hours after the birth!

I couldn't have done it without my wonderful husband...he provided the most perfect support I could have asked for. It was a magical, surreal moment when we were both kneeling in the shower, having a little cry over our newborn son. Certainly a moment that we will never forget, and forever cherish.

So I am still on Planet Babymoon, enjoying every minute with our gorgeous little boy. Being a mummy to two is wonderful and to see our 21 month old daughter kiss her baby brother on the forehead ever so gently is enough to bring tears to my eyes. Life doesn't get much better than this :)

The Garland of Galatea

She is finally complete! My entry into the Beading Forum's monochromatic 'Rockpool' challenge was a labour of love over many weeks. I'm sad that she is finished, she was such a delight to create :-)

Using tones of teal and turquoise, I set about recreating rockpool creatures in tubular herringbone and peyote stitches, circular peyote stitch, and simple fringing. Each creature is three-dimensional and was created as I stitched, none of my designs were pre-planned. Experimenting and playing brings about unexpected and delightful results!

The finished necklace looked like it would be at home adorning the neck of a sea nymph. Galatea was a sea nymph in Greek mythology and one of the Nereides, 50 nymph-goddesses of the sea. And so "The Garland of Galatea" was born...

Detail photos of various urchins and anemones:

Detail of the toggle clasp, a miniature urchin!

Detail of some of the starfish:

As each creature is dimensional and individually fabricated, I took my time ensuring that the reverse side was as attractive as the front! Here is a photo of the reverse side of the necklace, and detail photos of the reverse sides of some of the urchins and starfish:

If you managed to make it through all of the photos without your computer self-destructing, I applaude you! And I welcome your comments :-)

Now that she is finally complete and I'm 39 weeks pregnant, I guess I should start thinking about giving birth... LOL

Bump, bump, bump

Some bump, eh? Almost large enough to bead off, I reckon ;-)

This photo was taken last Monday. Today I'm 38 and a half weeks pregnant...and even bigger! Amazing how much a baby grows in the last few weeks. I think he's finally running out of room though. If he grows any larger, I'll need to be carted around in a wheelbarrow.

Despite the lack of blog posts this month, I've been madly working away on a necklace for the latest challenge on the Beading Forum. I figure that after *Nemo* arrives, I won't have much time for beading so I'm making the most of it while I can! The theme is 'Rockpool' and the piece must be monochromatic, which is a challenge in itself.

I'm hoping to have my necklace finished by the weekend, or early next week at the latest. And if I'm really lucky, the sun might actually come out long enough for me to take some photos for your viewing pleasure.

I've convinced myself that *Nemo* will stay put until I've finished. My legs will be tightly crossed until then!

On a lovely sidenote, I've been bestowed with a "One Lovely Blog Award" by the lovely Julz ! Thank you Julz, you are such a sweetie for thinking of me ♥

Something for me

I don't wear a whole lot of jewellery. A pair of simple earrings every now and then, if I'm lucky. As a piece of jewellery and a toy are basically one and the same to an inquisitive (read: destructive) 19 month old, my daughter's curiosity prevents me from wearing any of my more elaborate creations. So something simple and wearable was the order of the day.

Following much the same formula as Mum's necklace (see previous post), I whipped up this dainty little number for myself from Czech seedies, pressed glass leaves, glass drops and rondelles, and Czech fire polished beads:

It is very basic, nothing too fancy. But it is wearable. And I'm rather happy with the floral clasp, it holds very well so there is no worry that the necklace will inadvertently fall off.

My love affair with herringbone stitch continues. What a versatile little stitch it is, I can't believe I didn't learn it sooner.

*Again, my apologies for the sub-standard photos...we'll be back home in Sydney next week and I'll have the light studio and digital SLR camera at my disposal once again.

Mother, Mother...

Here's a little something I whipped up for my lovely Mum as a gift for Mothers Day. Nothing says 'I love you' like some shiny new beads, thoughtfully and lovingly woven together! ;-)

I seem to have developed a new lust for herringbone stitch lately. As such, Mum's necklace is made almost entirely of tubular herringbone (and its variations) and simple fringing. Nothing too fancy, nor difficult, but it was a satisfying piece to put together.

And most importantly (and very much out of character for me!), it is actually WEARABLE! *gasp* I seem to have a penchant for making over-the-top, completely unwearable pieces...so I'm rather chuffed that I managed to muster enough self-restraint to make something Mum can wear often. Yay me :-)

It is made of Czech and Japanese seedies (sizes 11 and 15) in muted tones of cream and pastel blue and hematite, Czech pressed leaves and rondelles, and some gorgeous Czech fire polished beads.

Here she is:


Detail of the floral centrepiece:


The floral clasp (I was rather pleased with how this turned out):


More detail of the clasp (can you tell I like it?):

My apologies for the el-crappo photos, but I'm without my usual light studio and digital SLR whiz-bang camera...and have to make do with our el-crappo happy-snap camera until we're home again *sigh* The photos don't do justice to the gorgeous Czech fire-polished beads, etc.

This necklace doesn't have a name as yet, and I'm stumped...any suggestions?

Sunshine, relaxation...and beading

Almost a month between posts?! Eep. Must be that darn time warp again...

The title of this post pretty much sums up my life for the next four weeks. How lucky am I!

Our little family has made the trek north to Queensland (the self-proclaimed 'Sunshine State') for the next four weeks while my husband completes his endorsement on a new jet for work. Not able to bear the thought of being away from our man for the whole time, India and I decided to tag along and treat ourselves to a mini holiday. After all, life will be once again very hectic in, oooh, about seven weeks time when the house will be once again resounding with the noises of a newborn babe.

I managed to find some self-restraint and only pack one shoebox full of beads for the four weeks. Yeah, laugh it up. You and I both know I'll never use that many beads in four weeks! But I girl can never be too prepared, right?

And of course, I may just happen to run out of a particular type/colour of bead whilst we're here. And that would warrant a visit to the bead shop, no? ;-)

So whilst I'm not to game to head to the beach in my bikini (the sight of my bare, 33 week pregnant belly is enough to scare young children and the elderly folk...not to mention bowl them over), I'm enjoying relaxing in the sunshine, putting up my weary feet (cankles, anyone?), and beading whenever I get a spare moment.

I whipped up a little somethin' for my Mum for Mothers Day...stay tuned, photos will be posted soon!