I like to have a few sewing projects on the go. Top of my list is just about any of the projects from Hearty Good Wishes, a beautiful craft book of coastal quilts from Janet Clare. Pre-children I always went to sleep after I had heard the shipping forecast on Radio 4. Now my bed time is much earlier but I do still love to catch the shipping forecast whenever I can. Hearty Good Wishes contains several patterns for quilts and wall hangings and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to make the Good Old Blighty…
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One of my favourite things about being a parent is the chance to explore toys the second time around. I’m a huge advocate of learning through play and I love to see my children enjoy toys that I also played with. Some toys are classics like Lego and Playmobil and I love to plan how I can use these toys when my children no longer want them. Over the weekend I experimented with a few spare Lego Duplo blocks to create a colourful Lego Duplo clock, similar to the Playmobil clock I made a few years ago. Equipment to make…
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Goodness me the weeks are going by so quickly. Thankfully my Monday Happy Things post is here to remind me of all the fun things we got up to the previous week. Yesterday my daughter and I spent the day in London. We visited the Museum of Childhood to see Small Stories: At Home in a Dolls’ House. I love dolls houses and this was a beautiful exhibition covering the small stories of 12 dolls’ houses from the past 300 years. We also saw The Alice Look which was a much smaller display celebrating the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures…
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My 3 year old and I had a lovely day in London today. We were invited to the film premiere of Moomins on the Riviera, a hand-drawn animation feature for all ages, at the nft on the Southbank. The film was inspired by and based on Tove Jansson’s original comic strips. In search of adventures, the Moomins, Snorkmaiden and Little My set sail for the French Riviera. After a perilous journey, they reach their dream destination where Snorkmaiden is dazzled by the attentions of a playboy leaving Moomin consumed by jealousy. When Moominpappa befriends an aristocrat and adopts the name…
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Today is World Baking Day and I couldn’t let it pass without making something special for my family. I had planned to make some tea bag biscuits for the family. I did make them but they didn’t look good enough to share with my family so I used the extra dough to make some Miffy biscuits. My children love biscuits, but biscuits in the shape of their favourite characters are incredibly popular and make them super happy. Recipe for Miffy butter biscuits 500g plain flour 180g caster sugar 250g margarine 2 large eggs How to make Miffy butter biscuits This…
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A few weeks ago we made our children an outdoor kitchen or mud kitchen. It is quite a basic construction from some unwanted wood but that’s what I love about a mud kitchen – it can be as simple or elaborate as you want. My children love to spend time outdoors and it wasn’t hard to give them some more space, with some spare utensils, to have fun and learn outside. We’ve wanted to make a mud kitchen for our children since we moved house 2 years ago. We managed to stockpile an old pallet and a few scaffolding boards…
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Yesterday we experienced typical British weather, the complete opposite of the previous 24 hours. After a long day soaking up the sunshine, it rained practically all day long. I wanted to make a delicious lunch, packed full of good things to give us all some much needed energy and came up with an asparagus and egg salad. It’s the asparagus season so it’s lovely to be able to eat something fresh and packed full of flavour. It was super quick to prepare and a meal the whole family enjoyed so I thought I would share it here. Ingredients for an…
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My 3 year old loves her Sylvanian Families toys so we planned a fun day out at the weekend – a trip to Hatchlands Park to follow the Sylvanian Families Trail! Hatchlands Park is a beautiful National Trust owned house and parkland in Surrey. The house isn’t open very often but the gardens and parkland are. Although we spent a few hours there we didn’t see much so will be going back again soon. Sylvanian Families nature trail at Hatchlands Park This is the first nature trail in the UK to feature Sylvanian Families, and is part of their global…
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As you know when I’m not blogging, or crafting with my children, I’m sewing. I always have a few projects on the go and my current project is the Union Flag quilt I’m making for my daughter. I’ve been trying to add some handmade touches to her room so I’m also making a patchwork cover for her vintage Lloyd Loom nursing chair. It was added to her room when we moved 2 years ago but I wanted to match the cover to her pink colour scheme. I found some gorgeous fabrics from elephant in my handbag, an online shop which…
