Tree Fall

36

Things have not been great around here lately. I'm not sure where I'm going to be soon and I'm not sure how much I really want to talk about it here. So I'm just going to apologise to everyone that has been kind enough to comment or email me recently. I promise that I will reply to all of you but until I do, please know that reading your comments has been a great help in the last week or so. Thank you!

                                                                        

On a completely different note - today is my 36 birthday. Yup, closer to 40 than to 30! Eeek. So here's my attempt at 36 things about me that you may or may not know.

1. My real name is Manda. It's not short for Amanda and is most definately never Mandy.
2. I  lived in Hong Kong (the best place ever!!!) during my teenage years.
3. I have 2 older brothers.
4. I've had 3 miscarriages.
5. I've been married twice.
6. I worked for Circus Oz when I was in my twenties.
7. My first husband introduced me to my second husband (whilst I was still married to him).
8. I used to have a grade one skinhead.
9. I used to have a pink mohican.
10. I have a daughter.
11. I kissed John Cusack (on the cheek).
12. I've met Ewan McGregor a couple of times.
13. I lived in London (Woolwich) between the ages 8 and 10.
14. I've been to twelve different schools.
15. I had an imaginary friend called Shane when I was growing up.
16. I called my pet dog Harrison (after Harrison Ford) even though she was a girl.
17. I had another dog called Dougal McFlugal.
18. I held Dougal whilst he was put to sleep - and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done.
19. I had Bella 6 weeks prematurely.
20. I was in labour for 26 hours and pushed for 4 hours.
21. I used to be a Banker.
22. I ran my own business in my twenties.
23. I bought my first property when I was 24.
24. I got married when I was 25.
25. I was divorced by the time I was 30 and remarried at 31.
26. I love to read crime novels.
27. I hated my childhoood.
28. I moved to Edinburgh by myself when I was 21 even though I had never even visited it before.
29. I had a cat called Oskar.
30. I used to have a pierced nipple (breast feeding put an end to that!).
31. My nose used to be pierced but the stud fell out in the night and by morning the hole was closed.
32. You can get from me to Kevin Bacon in six moves.
33. I can't drive a car.
34. Having Bella was absolutely the best thing I've ever done
35. I have an autoimmune disease.
36. I. Do. Not. Feel. 36!!!

                                                   

(oh and I just got all my hair cut off!).

Birthday Party

Thanks to everyone for all of Bella's birthday good wishes! After weeks of being being pretty pissed about how my family and the in-laws were dealing with Bella's birthday it actually turned out to be a really good day.
We just had close family and a close friend (who has been travelling since I was 4 months pregnant so this was the first time he'd met Bella) plus lots of food and  pink champagne! Bella got lots of presents and really enjoyed herself.
I managed to get Bella's quilt finished enough to be able to wrap it up (it still needs the binding finishing) and I'm very proud to say that she really did throw herself on it when she saw it. I didn't expect any kind of reaction, so I was really pleased that she liked it. It's a shame she hasn't been able to sleep under it yet though.

I have to admit that I'm really very happy with how the quilt's turned out. And I'm really glad that I didn't add sashing, I think it would have spoilt it.
And I am really, really in love with the back of it! I used a piece of Paul Smith (!) fabric that I've been saving for a while now. It's one of those pieces that absolutely nothing has been good enough to cut it up for.  I started off with a different backing but it just wasn't special enough, I wanted the back to be as striking as the front. I think I succeeded!

I so want to make a full size quilt exactly like this one  for our own bed!

I also managed to make a good few meters of bunting and used the templates in this months MSL to make a birthday banner. As well as having red and cream balloons and hanging up the first outfits Bella ever wore.

So all in all it was a success. Thank god.

Any Suggestions?

It's Bella's 1st birthday in a weeks time. I had planned a party for her, but due to some crappy circumstances it's now just going to be me and Jim and my parents (and Bella of course). Which I have to admit makes me feel pretty lousy. 
It  means that the plans I originally had aren't going to work and to be honest since finding out that both mine and Jim's families aren't able to come, I haven't been able to think about the day without getting upset. So here I am with only a week to go and nothing is prepared or planned. So I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to decorate the place and make it special for my little girl.
I have very limited time this week and even more limited funds, so I can't do much. I bought some bias binding today in the hopes that I will find the time to make bunting. But I also want to make a quilt and a doll for her and I'm seriously freaked about the time.
So if anyone has any suggestions it would be great to hear them. I really want Bella to know she's special even though there's only going to be four of us at her party.