Easter eggs

I knitted P and J some Easter eggs using Linda's pattern at Natural Suburbia.  This was the first time I attempted magic loop.  I searched on YouTube and followed the instructions I found there.  Once I figured it out, it was really easy.  It helped to think about it as knitting in two halves.

I knitted the nest pattern, also from Natural Suburbia.

However, my eggs and my nest didn't really match.  The eggs were too big for the nests, but I managed to squeeze them in.

P and J were very pleased with their eggs, and J has taken one of her eggs to bed tonight.

Autumn

Easter

My project this week is to create some Easter magic.  Check out Linda at Natural Suburbia for some really cool knitted Easter patterns (look on the right hand side of her blog).  I have also seen some really interesting Easter activities going on at Chasing Cheerios.  And I just found this felt Easter egg tutorial from Rhythm of the Home  Hot Cross buns will probably feature some time this week as well.

Birthday celebrations

My oldest baby turned three this week, and we had a lovely little party to celebrate.  For some reason, this birthday seemed a bit more momentous than her others, three seems so much older in so many ways.  Anyway, enough Mummy silliness, on with the photos.

P was blessed to receive a whole heap of lovely presents.  I think it says something about me as a parent, that they were almost exclusively 'educational' style presents.  The highlights for P so far have been the ukelele, the lego and the my little pony pillowcase.

We played pass the parcel, with one of the little girls winning a set of cat ears and tail.

The kids pigged out on junk food (it was a party after all)

And we finished it off with a banana cake with pink icing.

A wonderful time was had by all.

Birthday preparation

My project this week is to organise P's birthday party, and make sure the house is in a reasonable state of cleanliness. So there will be food making, party games organising and the dreaded tidying.

So far, my party games consist of pass the parcel, and our little bouncy castle.  What other games do people generally have for a 3 year old's party? I'm drawing a little bit of a blank about it.

Nappy envelope opening tutorial

I decided after I had described my nappies last time that I would do a tutorial about how to create an envelope opening for a cloth nappy.  The pattern I used is the wee weka sm/med pattern, and this is supposed to have a back opening, but I prefer the envelope style.

Materials:You will need all the same materials listed in the wee weka pattern, and you will need slightly more microfleece than the size of the finished nappy.

First, fold the back casing bit of the pattern over (so its not visible anymore), as if you were making a fitted nappy.  Cut out the PUL all in one piece (I didn't take a photo of this).

Cut out the microfleece until after the leg elastic markings on the pattern.  (Check out my awesome pattern weights - they are J's wooden ark set, much cooler than the tin of salmon I usually use).

Note: I usually make my opening just after the end of the leg elastic, because I find that the most economical use of microfleece.  You can have it anywhere, but if you make the opening where the legs will be elasticated, then it is going to gape open.

Next, lay the cut out piece of microfleece over the top of the rest of the fleece.  The amount of overlap is up to you.  If you want to make sure that the microfleece will cover the insert when the nappy is stretched out you should aim for probably a couple of inches.

Place the pattern back over all the microfleece so that everything matches up and cut out the second part of fleece.

You should now have two pieces of fleece that overlap to form the inside part of the nappy.

Next, baste the two parts of the microfleece together (I used my machine, but you could also do it by hand).  This is to make it easier to sew all the nappy together.

The opening works better if you have the bigger piece over the top of the smaller piece.

Follow the pattern instructions for adding snaps or velcro to the PUL.

Next sew the PUL to the microfleece, right sides together.  Because of the envelope opening, you can sew all the way around the nappy.

Attach the leg elastic as described in the pattern instructions.  Attach the back elastic in the same way - use the back elastic markings on the pattern as a guide.

Turn the nappy in the right way, and attach the snaps/velcro to the wings and you're done!

You could modify almost any pattern that has a back opening into an envelope opening using these instructions.  If anything is unclear, just ask and I will clarify things.

Nappies

My project this week is nappies.  I have another person due to have a baby, and I want to make up a nappy as a gift.  And some of my large nappies are in rather dire need of re elasticating, and other small repairs, so I'm hoping to get those sorted out this week.

Handmade winter clothing swap

We got a parcel on our doorstep yesterday and I was very excited to find a gorgeous dress for J.  Its an Ottobre pattern, and it is just lovely.  Its a good fit for J, a little on the big side, which I prefer anyway so that she'll get plenty of wear out of it.

The pattern is much more subtle in reality than it appears in this picture.

And check out the beautiful little detail of the ribbon.  It matches the fabric perfectly.  I am really thrilled with it, and I can't wait to see P's swap.  Thank you very much swappee.

Felt fish

I spent last week making some felt fish for P for her birthday.  I'm not finished all the embellishments yet, but I'm pretty happy with how they are going so far.  Although I have to admit that I don't think I will have them finished in time for her birthday.

Preserving

I was all about preserving today.  Something about this time of year just makes me want to preserve all the produce left in our garden. 

I picked all the tomatoes, since they won't ripen now, and they are all ready to make a sweet green tomato relish.

And I used up the last of the cucumbers to make a cucumber pickle.  It tastes much nicer than it looks (I had to try a little bit just to make sure) and it was delicious.

Both of these recipes come from The Constance Spry Cookery book, which was published in 1958.  It is a fantastic reference for all sorts of recipes.  If I ever need to know how to hang a duck, I know where to find out.

Head over to Natural Suburbia for more creativity