I’ve recently bought three lovely new craft books and have ear-marked a couple of projects to get me through the autumn and winter. You may know I love English Paper Piecing and have been carrying around a little hexagon project for a while. One it’s finished I’m going to start on my own version of the Union Jack Quilt which is one of the projects in Tacha Breucher’s hexa go-go. I thought I might make a cot-sized version for Little Sis’ first birthday in November. Her brother received a dinosaur blanket for his first birthday so I would love to…
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Last week we were invited to a lovely party to celebrate the family classic Dear Zoo turning 30 in 2012! In case you’ve never read it, it begins ‘I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet. So they sent me an…’ A series of unsuitable animals are sent by the zoo which are all sent back. Finally after thinking very hard, they send the perfect pet! Big Brother and Little Sis put on their cleanest clothes to attend the party and had a lovely time. They listened to an amazing story teller, were given a dog made from…
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The toddler was sent copies of Geri Livingston’s Bugbears books to read. If you haven’t heard of them before the Bugbears live in a small world but have BIG adventures! The Bugbears have recently been re-launched and we received four paperback books to read – Happy Little Homes, Learn to Fly, Get their Wings and First Paw Prints. The Bugbears (Dotty, Buzz, Ozzy and Lulu) are huggable bears who always want to give a helping hand. The adventure stories are full of positive messages. The characters are colourful and the books are a generous size to hold and read together.…
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I’m ashamed to say I didn’t own a single general cook book until Dorling Kindersley very kindly allowed me to chose a couple of books from their recent catalogue to review and Mary Berry’s Complete Cookbook arrived on my doorstep. I’m a huge Mary Berry fan and own a couple of her baking books but wasn’t aware she had written more than seventy cook books since her first book was published in 1970 (thanks Wikipedia!). Anyway, my poor family have been eating recipes torn from magazines for years so the Complete Cookbook has been very welcome. I have spent some…
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The toddler is very taken with reading at the moment. He has a very full bigbooklittlebookcardboardbox which he goes to frequently, pulls out a book and brings it to me, saying “Read, mummy”. He was sent two new picture books from Macmillan Children’s Books to review. We read Matilda’s Cat by the fabulous Emily Gravett. This is the adorable tale about a young girl and her beloved cat. Perfect if you are looking for a book about children and their relationship with their pets. Fortunately the toddler has two cats which he frequently terrorises so this was a great book…
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As a home baker with a *very* sweet tooth I was happy to receive a copy of Marshmallow Madness by Shauna Sever to review. It may be summer but with the wet weather it’s also pretty good to hide indoors from the rain drinking hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows. I didn’t ever think of making my own marshmallows but Marshmallow Madness gives you all the information you need to make them at home. The book is well set out with a helpful introduction and a list of key ingredients as well as marshmallow-making tips and techniques. The book…
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What’s on your reading list this summer? Idealo UK have teamed up with Foodies100 to challenge us to share our holiday reads. Once upon a time I read all the time but with two children and no time I have to admit I prefer flicking through cookery books and pattern books to reading a novel. You’ll notice that no. 5 on my Day Zero list is to ‘Read at least one book every month for 12 months’ which I’m still yet to achieve – I might have to change that to issues of Mollie Makes instead! My Amazon Wishlist is…
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Phillipa Knickerbocker Glory is a beautifully illustrated children’s book aimed at children aged 3-6. It is the debut picture book by Sarahjane Funnell. Phillipa loves ice cream. She loves ice cream almost as much as she loves her pet cat Little Miss Whiskers. Little Miss Whiskers is her fluffy white cat with a purple collar and bell. She doesn’t like ice cream at all but loves nothing more than to curl up into a ball and fall fast asleep on the end of Phillipa’s bed. One day Phillipa Knickerbocker Glory and Little Miss Whiskers embark on a deliciously exciting journey.…
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The well known illustrator Rebecca Cobb has recently written her second children’s book – Lunchtime. Featuring an adorable little girl this story tells the tale of one lunchtime. Unfortunately she’s just not hungry. However, luckily for her a visiting crocodile, bear and wolf are. The wolf munches on her apple, the bear slurps her soup and the crocodile eats her sandwich. Who would have guessed but little children taste revolting! My toddler loves this book. I find it really difficult to get him to come near the dining room as he’s always so absorbed playing with his toys. Even if…