Gnome Doll

I knitted a gnome doll for Abi. Couldn't be bothered to wait for daylight to take a decent photo!

Abi seemed pretty impressed by the doll before it had a hat. But it looked too strange all bald - much cuddlier now.

D - are you knitting a doll for Abi?

M - yes, I hope she likes it.

D - Will she have lots of dolls?

M - this one should be just fine for now.

D - I expect that when she's older she'll have looaads of dolls...

What is D getting at here? Is there something which he feels he also needs looaads of? If only he were still so easily pleased, but he does have a cupboard full of floppy teddies and other odd projects which he loves a lot, and the knowledge that I only took up these hobbies when I first met him.

Simple piece of Fabric

Abi loves the lovely sling her Pa bought her...but it really gets a bit hot and sweaty for around the house. So I was reading about 'simple pieces of fabric', which I suppose are how most women carry their babies anyway...

...Ben is going to think I have finally lost the plot when he sees this, its just some bit of fabric out of the cupboard (tho I did check out measurements and instructions for using first):

Nice and cool for getting off to sleep round the house. Please don't tell Abi that she might be about to grow out of this cradle-style carry! I think I'll hem the edges when I get time, this could be handy for keeping her happy in this heatwave.

An outfit for the sling

The sling is hot and sweaty in this weather, so something cool was necessary

Around the house, bare is fine, but out and about she needs her legs covered and everything else cool. This is based on a pinafore in 'all year round' but bodged without pattern. I'm gonna make more with a more generous crotch.

Pretty baby!

I bought enough fabric to make myself a matchy skirt but its too sheer :(

'Queue' #1, and 'Smaug' #2

When D got up this morning I hesitantly showed him my developing Smaug, and fortunately he quickly recognised the scene.

At breakfast it appeared he had been similarly inspired, as he brought down one of Grandma's old 'Ant and Bee' books and showed me the picture he had decided he would like to have a go at, all by himself. (Grandma keeps cropping up here doesn't she!) It is really a very nice picture of a queue (it being an alphabet book), makes me think of some of those Turner pictures with little grim people stomping about. So after breakfast he got going with Grandma's oil pastels too, and seemed to enjoy their nice consistency. This is where he got to before having to get ready for school.

When we got to school I realised he had black smudge of oil pastel on his cheek which made him look like a little chimney sweep. Never mind.

Sewing, sewing, sewing, drawing

This post will be dull for anybody wishing to hear about D. It is largely about sewing, with one drawing reference which is sort of to do with D.

Here is a picture of some baby trousers I just sewed, I used a (charity) shop-bought pair to make the pattern so hopefully they will fit. They are a bit baggy on D's frog here (I was going to ues koala again but Ben is having a nap and has locked the door to stop me bugging him!), who is also modeling a yellow batwing jumper I knitted a while back. The batwings are not evident on dumpy ol' frog.

Here is a picture of me in my jolly maternity frock, which wasn't really intended to be a maternity frock. I just happen to like empire line dresses and this was a 'copy' of one I already owned, but I put a little too much fullness into the skirt. Ideal for pregnancy.

Don't know if it shows, but the miraculous thing about this dress is the buttonholes. I don't know if I'll ever be brave enough to put buttonholes in something again, but I hope so, because they really work. Wish I knew how to turn photos round though. This is the sort of garment I worry Ben despairs of because it proves just how barmy I am. But actually he really likes it, perhaps because because it is traditionally feminine, or perhaps just because it has a skirt. Oh Christ look at my knees.

And here is a hint of the Smaug drawing D has been asking for...it's a copy of a picture I found on the net because the ones in his book are too stylised. Its supposed to be Smaug blowing flames all over Laketown, shortly before he killed. Also, I wanted to try the oil pastels which found their way into my cupboard after Grandma passed away. It is drawn on paper from a pad which also contains a couple of sketches of boats and things begun by Grandma. I am very similar to her I think when it comes to hobbies - many interests, not enough time to spend on any one of them. However, the purpose of a hobby should largely be enjoyment, and so I decided to just go for it like Grandma would have. She was actually quite good at art and drawing and things. I am scared of anything that isn't a line drawing, so this is quite scary. But I'm trying not to worry, will just do my best with it, because D is bound to be pleased even if its a bit rubbishy.

Obviously this is still very much in the early stages. It is very tricky because I can't get nearly as much detail with pastels as I would like, as the 2 or 3 drawings I have ever done were in pencil, and I tend to get a bit obsessed with perfect proportion and replication of detail, which isn't always a good thing. I did it at 4 this morning, which is a good time for scary new things. I'd gone to bed at 7pm, woke up about 3, then went back to bed a couple of hours later. This is a fairly common pattern because I get so tired, but also get a lot of back pain in bed which can wake me up.

2 Floating Things - Boats and a Valentines gift for D

I'm linking this post to Unplug Your Kids because their theme this week is 'Float'!

I had a brief origami phase a little while ago, and thought it would be fun to make origami boats. Unfortunately the internet connection was down, but I managed to half remember and half make-up a vague boat thing. Once I had a passable prototype I had showed, and he was keen to join in. So I made another one and he copied with his own piece of paper. This was just the right level of challenge for him, it was pretty fiddly but he persisted and was proud of the result.

Why is water with food colouring in it so exciting? There's something very magical about it.

We didn't have any proper origami paper so just used notepaper torn down to a square shape. They floated very nicely and could be made to move around the bowl by flicking the water.

They got soggy pretty quickly though, and sank! But then learning about sinking is also part of learning about floating, right?

This was a fun quick thing to do after school. The boats might last longer if made of sturdier paper though. It kept us happy for 20 minutes or so!

Here are some origami links if you're interested:

Introduction to Origami and simple models

Some nice friendly origami patterns listed by theme

Some fascinating mathematical modular origami

And here is a Valentines floating craft:

My Ma always used to make sure there was a little gift waiting on the breakfast table for my brother and I on Valentines Day. We usually do the same for D, and I thought this year I'd make him a snow globe to go with his little collection from days out.
D's current collection (needs dusting):We have made these before at Xmas, and they are pretty easy.

Here's how to make one if you're interested. In the past we've made little figures and glued them to the inside of a jam jar lid to make a scene, but they always seem to come loose in the end. So this time I thought I'd use that shrinky plastic stuff to spell out the words 'I heart U', and just let them jiggle around in the first place. So I drew some hearts on the shrinky plastic and coloured them in with permanent markers.



Then I cooked them! I've found its good to do this on the back of an oven tray, because then you can wallop a wooden board on them as soon as they come out to make them nice and flat. After cooking they looked a lot neater I think:
Then put some glycerine, maybe a teaspoonful, into the jam jar. This isn't vital, but it makes the glitter swirl and fall more slowly like shop-bought ones. If it wasn't used the plastic hearts would probably sink immediately, and it also allows other heavier items like sequins and beads to be added. Then fill it almost to the top with tap water. Add some glitter, the hearts, and sequins or whatever. Screw the lid on and shake (over the sink if you don't want to make a mess) to see if the desired effect has been achieved. If not, add more glitter. If lots of glitter stays floating on the top, skim it off with a teaspoon. Fill it right up with water, carefully turn upside down, dry it off and squeeze plenty of superglue all around the lid to make it watertight. There is probably a better glue for this purpose, but I don't own it.

I hope he likes it! I'd better save up some more jars because I think he'll want to do again himself...

Ball for Baby

This week's project theme at unplug your kids is 'ball'. The only ball thing we've done together is a very short game of football at the weekend - it was rather chilly, but fresh air was in order. I did, however, make a ball for the baby this week. I sewed it by hand for once and found it very relaxing. Apparently grown-ups are allowed to join in with the projects too, so I'm posting about it. Here is a picture of it, trying to get close to its future recipient. Its quite small.

Here is a picture of a dinner we had the other day, in our quest to enjoy more nice fresh veggies and have meat less often, so as to justify buying nice stuff from the butchers when we do. I wasn't mad on the couscous because I don't much like kitty (kidney) beans. But we all love roast butternut squash (well, Dan tolerates it - he loved the couscous) and ma's mushroom recipe was absolutely fab. The most important part of making this meal is choosing the most phallic squash possible. They look so funny.

Another 'fashion' post...if you can call it that!

Today I was browsing the internet and I found a new website with lots of good info on pattern cutting, most of which I will always be too inept and lazy to try or understand. But I saw this top http://wkdesigner.wordpress.com/page/4/ and thought - hey I can make that! Then I thought - if I left out the raunchy slits, and used proper wide straps instead of drawstrings, and negotiate the lack of shaping caused thereby with plenty of elastic, and used my bump measurement plus 4" instead of bust plus 3", and shoved a bit of elastic in each side of the hem at the bottom to give it a better shape...it might even be a maternity top. That is how my wacky mind ticks over you see. Then I panicked at the thought of these alterations. Then I decided that, if I can imagine them, I can execute them, which is rather optimistic. But here is the not entirely dissatisfactory result (in as far as it fits and is practical and thrifty):
Please excuse the poor photography, it is a bit late - always the best time for sewing. In the end I only used the pattern to get armhole dimensions, which were cut straight rather than the conventional curve. Funnily enough, the armholes are the only part I would change next time (might make a similar nightie). They are too deep, and there is a reason armholes are usually curved - it makes them fit better. Luckily my bust is now large enough to support a looser cut of top, whereas I'd usually need a closer fit for modesty. But it looks OK with a cardi, and I'm really pleased with the elastic at the bottom which almost gives it a slight 'bubble' shape, something I do believe may be slightly fasionable. My choice of brushed pink gingham cotton is decidedly dowdy, but very comfortable and maternal. So there you go.

Today Barack Obama is President

D has picked up on all the media excitement about Obama, and we've been discussing American politics and history in a brief, vague 6 year old kind of way. I've picked up on all the crafty excitement about Obama's inauguration on the ol' interweb, and eventually decided that being in the UK doesn't need to prevent us from joining in with the celebrations and learning a bit about our friends accross the pond. So we painted the stars and stripes (not very accurate I'm afraid):




And while D was at school I baked some 'cupcakes' which we later decorated with red, white and blue icing and silver balls for the stars (I'd forgotten how horrid silver balls are to actually eat). Meanwhile we had the ceremony blasting enthusiastically from the radio, and finished off with what I told D is an 'American' dinner of spicy chicken drumsticks and potato wedges. Not sure how authentic it actually was, but never mind. We had lots of fun.

Curvy lines

I enjoyed my curvy square so much I adapted it for Dan. I just wrote little numbers for him to join up, and then he coloured it in! Yay curvy straight lines!

Dan's finished picture!

Mumma's picture

Positive reason to give up smoking #2

Time to Doodle! Remember drawing these curved squares at school?
Normally I spend all my free time sitting around smoking, or thinking about smoking, or rolling the next ciggie etc. I hope I can last it out this time because doodling is fun.

Painted Marble Run

I've been feeling a bit guilty because we've been meaning to make this for months, and never quite got round to it...but finally we did and here it is! Although it is quite simple, constructing the corners was a little fiddly, and the tube at the bottom actually runs into the box so all the marbles collect isnide, instead of all over the floor. D's favourite part was probably the constant experimenting necessary to make sure the tubes were balanced so that the marbles would run smoothly into box, and trying to handle the masking tape itself without getting in a tangle.




D loves it, and was even keen to paint it all over, painting being something he tends to find a bit boring usually. We used acrylic paint so that it would go on smoothly over the masking tape and shiny cereal box.
We managed to incorporate a sort of 'jump' so you can see the marble fall from one tube to the next.