And finally, on the subject of new beginnings/rebranding... I am now officially a short hair convert!

I went for the chop just before Esther was due, in readiness for the onset of post-pregnancy hair loss (depressing stuff!). Scary as it was to see all that hair I'd been growing for ages scattered over the floor, it was worth it. - look, I now have a "do"! It's supposed to be 60s bob-ish and miraculously it works if I spend a bit of time with the hairdryer, but I've been pleasantly surprised that even on the barely-out-of-pyjamas, toast-in-the-hair, baby-brain days it still looks more or less passable with a quick bit of taming!

More new beginnings

So, you may have noticed some changes to the Made by Loulabelle look. What do you think?

Much as I liked the old pink and swirly branding, I felt it was a bit too whimsical and girly to be a true reflection of the style and 60s/70s textiles of my products. So I called upon the considerable talents of illustrator and all round good gal Kate Hazell to help me out.

Check out her great work for yourself at www.katehazell.com

My brief to Kate was a pretty vague "something curvy with a 60s/70s influence". (Helpful 'eh? I blame the late stages of pregnancy.)  So, it's a testament to Kate's cleverness that she pulled together a mood board that perfectly summed up what I had in mind!

I'm pleased as punch with the resulting logo and love the purple/orange colour combo. Just a couple more design tweaks to make to this site a bit easier to navigate, and then the new look will be complete.

 Now, I wonder if I can find myself a purple/orange vintage dress to match....

Drum roll please.....

...introducing our latest addition... the totally edible, very chilled and very smiley Esther Patricia. I can't believe she's been with us for 8 weeks now - it's gone so fast and yet we already can't remember what life was like without her.

Needless to say, it's been a pretty nuts couple of months. We're all completely in love - just a little sleep deprived and cross-eyed at times!

3 weeks old

First smiles

Storytime!

 Today was Esther's market debut... hmmm, not sure she'll remember it!

Boom! (that's the sound of a stitchbomb...)

Woo hoo! I'm back - along with new hair, new branding and most importantly, a new baby! But before I get onto all that, I thought I'd share some pics of my first evening out since the arrival of our little Esther...

What better way to return to the Real World than with a bit of stitchbombing. Yep, to celebrate the 2nd birthday of Darn it & Stitch, shop owner Jo sent out an appeal for the intrepid stitchers and knitters of Oxford to decorate bikes (and bulls). It all made perfect sense - honest!

 Kapow! Consider yourself pom-pommed!

A blanket and bow bomb!

Stitchbombing the Oxford bull... a work in progress - quick girls before he notices!

 

 

 

Nice work Jo!

The bull is bombed. Bum cosy, cod peice and scarf - job's a good'un

The weekender returns

A little while ago I posted about my new weekender bag and was really pleased that it went down a treat! In fact, it's led to a couple of commissions which I thought I'd share with you.  Here is Weekender #2  - made using a fabulous Heals barkcloth (formerly a venetian blind) with shoulder strap modification...

Next up is a smaller shoulder bag version - also with shoulder strap modification and extra interior pockets - which was commissioned as a nappy bag.

I made this for a friend, so added a little extra  in the form of a baby wipe and nappy pouch from the Butterick B4560 pattern.

Baby #2 should be making an appearance any day now, so I have a feeling I may not be making more bags for a little while.  Better get cracking with listing all my stock on Folksy!

38 weeks - the countdown begins....

warm weather knits!

The weather has been so glorious this past week that it seems a bit strange to be thinking about keeping warm, but I've been saving this post for a while now, so thought it was time to share the latest in my Baby Number 2 knitwear preparation.

I really enjoyed knitting this blanket - it uses a chunky yarn so grew quickly, and the pattern is different for every other row so although the finished blanket is pretty large, it doesn't get too repetitive. The pattern was the Baby Chalice Blanket by Karen S. Lauger  (aka Lykkefanten), available as a free download via Ravelry.  As you can see, I went BRIGHT on the colour front - maybe a bit to much, but at least it won't get lost at playgroup!

These leg warmers were really easy to knit using the easy Baby Frog Legs pattern from Ruthie Pearl  The pictures in her post are so cute, I can't wait to have a baby to model them! I'm trying to convince myself that they are a practical knit for Spring as they should hopefully work well with a vest and baby knickers combo. This was my first introduction to the magic-loop technique and I'm now a definite convert!

As we don't yet have a real baby to try them out on, Freya's baby (who goes by the imaginative name of "Baby") offered to do the honours...