An hour of silence...

...that ended in tears :(

Ollie loves to paint, but at the tender age of 2.5 years, he doesn't understand the concept of sitting down whilst he's covered in the stuff. He was happily occupied for about an hour before mean mummy got sick of him touching other stuff (ie carpet, chairs, me!) and packed it all away.

Many tears.  
The painting is phase one of making caterpillars and spiders. Tomorrow we will add some goggly eyes and some pipe cleaner legs

Softies for Mirabel

I've decided to take up the 'Softies for Mirabel' challenge early this year (didn't get round to mailing my creations last year). I made Polly last year, using a pattern from 'Softies'. The pattern for the bandit started out being this one by One Red Robin, but then I decided to adjust it a little to make a boy toy.

I have a few more of the bandit cut out, with further adjustments. I've embroidered their faces, just need to sew them together.

Below is another WIP (that is actually in use). I used an ikea lamp that I've had for years, it had a paper shade. I cut off the paper shade, used it as a template to make a new shade out of this fabric by Lara Cameron. I ironed on some freezer paper to give it more stability. I just need to glue the edges down.
I'm really happy with it - the fabric is pale enough that the light coming through is only slightly dimmer than the paper shade, and the design isn't too busy.

Frangipani Pie

I made Ollie some playdough today when he was supposed to be having his nap. He couldn't wait to get his hands on it!

The recipe is as follows (it was taken from the Cream of Tartar lid)

2 cups Plain flour

4 tablespoons cream of tartar

2 tablespoons cooking oil

1 cup salt

2 cups water

vanilla essence

food colouring

Mix the above ingredients in a saucepan and stir over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until the mixture congeals.

Allow to cool before kneading. Store in a container so it doesn't dry out.

I also made my all-time favourite dessert (I used to think it was a secret Grandma recipe, but turns out she got the recipe off a can of pineapple!!). Frangipani Pie, in case you didn't catch that from the title of this post :)
I had to cut into it so you could see the layers (but you can't really see them anyway). Yummm! You can find the recipe here. Not hard to make, so so tasty, I highly recommend it!

13

Happy 13th Birthday, Miss J! Where have the years gone??

::2 days of age

::first birthday

::4 years of age

::9 years of age

Hope you have a lovely day, gorgeous girl xox

...knitting...

I've been very busy finishing up some handmade gifts for Miss J's upcoming 13th birthday (on Wednesday!).

...this is something I started last night.....

I've been forced to do some knitting, thanks to my sister. She shamed me into it with stories of J coveting etsy shrugs. No time to buy one*, but thankfully I had enough in the stash to knit one up myself. Easy googled shrug pattern + large needles = a distinct possibility that it'll be done by Wednesday!

*I actually had more than a month to buy one, as J showed me what she wanted from Etsy about 6 weeks ago. My sister told me yesterday that Miss J couldn't wait to see which of the Etsy things I had bought for her. 

Ahem *cough* I'm sure it is clear to you all after reading this post that I didn't get her one.

Meet Malcolm

Here's the latest addition to our house - Malcolm the Comet. (shocking picture, the water was quite murky as it hadn't settled yet)

My sister made a pillow case for Ollie from this fabric, which is the inspiration for the name Malcolm (if you haven't seen the fabric, the fish have names like Andrew, Swimmy and Bjorn). Ollie and I chose Malcolm because a) he could say it, and b) it's a funny name for a fish.

I felt awful when the aquarium lady took him away from his friends and put him in the plastic bag of water - anyone seen 'Finding Nemo'??? I imagined the poor fish calling out to his friends for help :( The aquarium lady would only let me buy one fish, she said the tank water hasn't aged enough to cope with more. I'm off to another aquarium in the morning to get him some friends!! He looks so lonely in that tank all by himself.

Successful Op Shopping

I found this book (amongst other things...) in my favourite op shop today. It is in excellent condition, and only $2.25!

It was published some time in the 50's, so has lots of good tips on renovating garments, as well as adjusting patterns (eg. in length). You can also adjust for irregular figures (eg 'stooping figure with flat chest' or 'figure prominent in back' or 'figure with enlarged upperarm'). Hilarious!