Oops!

I didn't realise it had been quite so long since my last post - things have been a little hectic around here lately!

Poor Jasper has had what seems to have been a constant cough and cold since he started nursery one day a week in September. I realise this is because of the barrage of new germs he has been exposed to but it is taking its toll on all of us! He's not sleeping properly because of his coughing and spluttering - and the fact that he seems to be getting four of his molars through at once. Still, when he isn't crying all night and being miserable for most of the day, he's still a real cutie-pie and rather cheeky.

Jasper celebrated his first birthday last month - and had a little party (Halloween themed as he's a Halloween baby!) with some of his friends and family. I had grand plans of making him a 3D pumpkin cake that looked very realistic. In true 'poor neglected third child' style, I didn't get around to thinking about how I was going to attempt this until the day before. So he got a pumpkin cake but it wasn't anything like how I wanted it to look. In the end I used one of those bundt tins (the ones that look like a jelly mould with the hole in the middle), on top of a usual cake tin cake.

Not quite how I imagined!

As for things chez nous, the new playhouse is coming along nicely. I gave it a lick of paint last weekend and hubby has finished glossing the trim for the outside of the windows this weekend. We should get that put on tomorrow and then all that's needed is a front door (which I think will be a stable door style), a staircase/ladder for the mezzanine floor and the railings for the front veranda. I'm looking forward to putting some window-boxes up in the spring and introducing the girls to growing their own flowers (that aren't sunflowers!).

Humble beginnings!

Taking shape

I've been very busy on the sewing front - trying to get through as many orders as possible, before the Christmas rush. In the last two weeks I have made a backpack, a drawstring school bag, a pen roll, seven lots of personalised bunting and six dribble bibs. My poor son has been taking Ellie's old (bright pink) Peppa Pig backpack to nursery whilst I was supposed to be making him a more manly one. Two months down the line and I finally got around to doing it! It is made from Riley Blake's Foxtrails laminated cotton. The pattern is Made by Rae's Toddler Backpack pattern which can be purchased HERE  The pattern is relatively simple to follow - I'd recommend it for more confident novice sewists. 

The toddler backpack

The quilted bottom (which is the same
fabric as I've used for the lining).

On a completely bonkers change of topic I am currently reading Shakespeare's Hamlet - yes, for fun! - and wondering why oh why I have never read this play before. It's really very good! I did Shakespeare at school of course (Romeo and Juliet (in early high school), Macbeth (GCSE) and King Lear (A-level)) and I've enjoyed a few of the plays performed in Stratford-upon-Avon (King Lear, Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night and The Tempest). I also loved the film of Much Ado About Nothing (starring Kenneth Brannagh and Emma Thompson) and one of the more recent film productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream. But I have NEVER read or seen Hamlet, surely one of Shakespeare's most famous plays. Rather luckily for me I know that David Tennant (whom I loved as Doctor Who) played Hamlet so I will hopefully get hold of a copy of that soon. I must admit that I didn't honestly properly enjoy Shakespeare at school. I liked watching the plays and films but would never have read one of the plays just for fun!

Having just discovered Hamlet, I think I shall be enjoying much more Shakespeare in the future :)

Cake and camping

I made a really nice cake at the weekend, for Jasper's Christening - even if I do say so myself! It was a 6-egg lemon madeira sponge, in three layers with home-made damson jam and I wanted to ice it with lemon butter icing with a blue ombre effect. I found a great example on Pinterest, courtesy of The Hungry Housewife's tutorial and decided it didn't look too difficult (famous last words!). I didn't have the specified size of icing tip and so I just used some disposable piping bags and cut the ends off without putting a tip inside. It seemed to do the trick and my cake didn't turn out too badly (at least I didn't think so!):

Not a bad effort?

The day went quite well, although it did start to absolutely pour down just as we left the church. The after-party was to be held in our garden and as we don't have an event shelter/gazebo (we live in a very windy location and our last one blew away!) we decided to put our tent up instead. There were about 60 guests in total and so we were a little nervous about squeezing everyone in if it did rain but it worked surprisingly well! We bought a new tent last year (the Outwell Montana 6, complete with the awning) and it would appear that it doubles quite nicely as a garden party shelter :-) so that's handy to know for the future!
We also took a gamble and got Sainsbury's to make up some sandwich and wrap platters for us. They were a lot better than I was expecting, and very good value I thought (Sainsbury's, that's your cue to send me lots of free groceries...). We also got free glass hire from them, which was handy! As it took me forever quite a long time to ice the cake, I was very relived that I wasn't then going to have to stay up even later to make all the food for the next day! 
As we had the tent up anyway, the girls and I camped in it for the night whilst Daddy and Jasper stayed in the house. Unfortunately, we are riddled with birds where we are, due to our rural location, and the dawn chorus was tremendously loud! Especially at 5 o'clock in the morning. Still, at least the girls and I managed to fit in thousands a few egg and spoon races before breakfast! Always a fun start to the day!