Ta-dah! Crochet Cushion Cover

I crocheted another granny square cushion cover recently. You can see the first one here.

This one was for my Mum for her birthday. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!) She recently redecorated her bedroom with aqua, silver and cream wallpaper so I picked those colours to make her a cushion cover. (I really hope the colours are a decent match to the wallpaper - it's hard to judge it based on skype viewings of the wallpaper!)

The only issue with the original cushion cover was the closure. I attached buttons and tried doing it up using the spaces between the granny clusters - unfortunately it didn't work very well and not only have some of the buttons fallen off (my terrible sewing probably to blame for that) but the cushion bulges out of the bottom. So I decided to try something a little different with this one.

As well as the front and back sides I also made 3 smaller granny squares (with the cream yarn as I had more of that left than the other colours) and joined them together. I then joined those to the top and sides of the back cover (leaving the bottom of the mini cream squares open if that makes sense?). 

Once they were joined I joined the front and back around three sides (I'm really not sure I'm explaining myself properly!). So it's like a pillow cover you get for bed sets with a flap that folds over to keep your pillow in the case...here's a look with the cover stuffed (with muslin cloths as I didn't have a spare cushion pad the right size!) which will hopefully show what I am struggling to explain...

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out and now might go back and make a similar flap for the original cushion cover.

And finally here's an Instagram shot of my Mum's cushion cover...

And I've spoken to her since she opened her presents and she likes it and it is a good colour match so woo-hoo!

Recipes for February

Recently I compiled some recipes with a February theme for the local Parents Centre magazine and thought I'd share them here. They are great for Valentines or Pancake Day - enjoy :-)

Healthy Hearts

(photo and idea courtesy of http://familyfun.go.com)

This is a great recipe for Valentine’s Day in summer.

A healthy treat that a toddler could help to prepare and it looks fun too!

Ingredients:

Watermelon slices

Orange

(Bamboo skewers to make arrows)

Directions:

Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter on watermelon slices. Poke a bamboo kitchen skewer through each heart, then complete the arrow with an orange slice tip and tail

Frozen Yogurt Strawberries

(photo and idea courtesy of http://www.glamour.com)

Another yummy, healthy summer treat which toddlers can help to prepare and they look like hearts so could be great for a Valentine’s Day treat!

Ingredients:

Strawberries

Vanilla Greek Style Yogurt

Directions:

Wash and prepare strawberries for eating.

Dip strawberries (halved or whole) in vanilla greek style yogurt then space them out on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and freeze them.

Scotch Pancakes

(photo and recipe courtesy of http://bakingforbritain.blogspot.com)

This is a quick and easy recipe for mini, thicker pancakes (similar to Pikelets) which make a great finger food for toddlers. Toddlers can also help mix the ingredients and watch you cook them.

Ingredients:

120g self-raising flour

small pinch salt

30g caster sugar

1 egg

½ cup milk

Directions:

1. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the salt, and then tip in the sugar.

2. In a separate bowl crack the egg into the milk and whisk.

3. Pour the egg and milk liquid into the dry ingredients, and mix to form a smooth batter.

4. Warm up your frying pan and test that it’s hot enough by putting a teaspoon of batter into it. You should have a fairy-size pancake cooked for you in less than a minute.

6. Use a tablespoon to drop the batter into the frying pan. You can use the back of the spoon to spread the batter into rounds.

7. When the surface has become covered in bubbles flip the pancakes.

8. Once both sides are cooked leave to cool for a couple of minutes and then serve with butter and jam.

A photo a day

One of the first apps I got for my iPhone (after the wonderful Instagram of course!) was Project 365. It lets you either take a photo or pick a photo for each day and shows them as little thumbnails on a monthly calendar. You can also click on a photo to make it bigger and scroll through them at the larger size.
The app allows you to set an alert or alarm so every day at 8.30pm I get a message to remind me to choose/take my photo for the day. I'm quite keen on taking photos at the moment but I imagine once the excitement of the new phone wears off I may not always remember so this will be a great reminder.
Using the screen shot function on my phone I have taken pictures of how the January calendar looks. The first couple of weeks are empty as I didn't have the phone but I've managed a photo every day since I have had it!
I'm hoping to print these images 6x4 for my Document 2012 album.

Scrapbooking: Kate Turns 30 minibook

One of the items on my 30@30 list was to make a mini album of my 30th birthday and over the weekend I did it.

In the January sales I picked up some red polka dot manilla folders at Typo (I love that shop!) with the idea of cutting them up. And that's what I did for the base of this book. I cut a folder down into 4x6 sections (leaving the tab on one so I could write on it).

I picked some favourite photos from my birthday weekend and got them printed in smaller sizes. To be honest they are not the best quality photos but the reason I picked them was because they help tell the story.

I used a Simple Stories Happy Days 6x6 mini pad and some stickers to decorate the album as well as some Jenni Bowlin alphabet stickers.

Here's a look...

The cover with the tab left on so I could write the date on it...

Most of the pages have a title starting with "The". This first page is "The day" and it's a list of everything we did on my actual birthday... 

"The Gifts" with a list of presents I received. Looking back I didn't get any pictures of my presents all together (must remember to do this in the future) so I used a pretty flower picture I took on the day instead... 

"The Zoo" talks about why I chose that activity for my birthday... 

"The Red Pandas" - I had to give this experience a full page spread as it was AMAZING! (I used my blog post about the Red Panda Encounter for the wording for this page)...

"The Bolton" talks about where we stayed overnight...

"The Cakes" features a photo of my birthday cupcakes that I'm really pleased with and talks about how the cakes came to be...

As it was an overnight stay it was like my birthday was extended so I had to feature what we did "the next day"...

And the last page "Being 30" lists my birthday favourites and some notes about how now I am 30 it doesn't seem that old anymore!

And the back cover with my name and the date the book was made... 

So there you have it. A lovely little reminder of my 30th birthday. It will be interesting to look back at this on my 40th :-)

And now I just need to do something similar for Mr Mischief's 1st birthday as on my 30@30 list I listed "make mini albums for my 30th and baby's 1st birthday" - silly me, why did I lump them in together?!

This format is good though - once you know what you want to include, using the same format for each page (i.e. photos on one side, text on the other) means it comes together quite quickly so hopefully it won't be long before I'm sharing that minibook too!

You can see all sorts of lovely creative projects here.

Today: 25~01~12

One of the favourite 'shared' toys at the moment, a tent he got for Christmas. Picture taken with my phone this morning.

I am eating: reasonably healthy at the moment, back on the Weight Watchers wagon with a good loss last week - here's hoping for another one this week.


I am drinking: mostly water as I'm trying to encourage Mr. Mischief to drink lots of water too.


I am listening: to possible new neighbours - I can't hear what they are saying but one of them has a super annoying laugh so really hoping that's just a moving helper and not going to be a permanent feature.


I am wearing: my grey t-shirt with a pink heart and tiny map of NZ which I love but it's starting to look a bit old and worn :-( and some trousers I haven't worn for ages but can now fit into again!


I am looking at: my to do list and realising I've only ticked one thing off so far and the rather green garden just outside the lounge window.


I am thinking about: whether to go get Mr. Mischief out of his cot as I can hear him rattling around or waiting to see if he will re-settle back to sleep.


I am watching: nothing at the moment have just watched Emmerdale on MySky - still loving it!


I am making: I just started and finished today a cute little present for a lovely friend. I will reveal all once it's been handed over but I really hope she likes it!


I am loving: this beautiful summer's day. Not too hot and with just enough of a breeze to be just right, epsecially when accompanied by birds singing and butterflies fluttering. 


I am missing: days off when I could do whatever I liked without planning it around a little person. He's awesome but he does take a lot of time :-)


I am looking forward to: a holiday in the not-too-distant future, frittata for dinner tonight and getting a lovely snuggly toddler cuddle when I do get Mr. Mischief out of bed!


You can see other Today: posts here, here and here.

Blogging for Destination Manawatu

Before Christmas Destination Manawatu posted on their blog that they were looking for new bloggers and ran a competition as a bit of incentive.

I do get a bit fed up by all the bad press that poor ole Palmy gets so decided to enter in the hope I could help share the word about the good things Palmy has to offer.
I decided to write about Victoria Esplanade for my audition blog and you can read the post here plus see a photo of my baby's cute toes!
My post got over 100 views (quite good considering I didn't advertise the link anywhere) and I won the competition, yay!
And here's a look at my awesome prizes (BP petrol vouchers and a Herb Farm travel box set)...

So now I will hopefully be submitting blog posts reasonably regularly to Destination Manawatu and will post links here when I do. And if there's anything local to Palmy you would recommend or would like to know more about let me know and I'll consider blogging about it :-)

You know you are the mother of a toddler when...

....by 8am on a Saturday the following has happened...

• You have been summonsed to rescue him from his cot
• The dog has been giggled at and bossed about
• There are toast crumbs and peanut butter all over the couch
• ...and spilt water
• ....and spilt milk
• You have read Supermarket Zoo at least twice and made all accompanying animal noises
• You've received lots of snuggly little cuddles between his busy-ness
• There's been lots of chatting
• He's played peekaboo behind the curtains
• You've had to move everything you thought was safe one step higher because it's as if he grew 2 inches overnight

Love him so much!