I was delighted when the lovely folks at Hotel Chocolat sent me this luxurious Cocoa Juvenate Revive Body Butter to review. You just know it is going to be good when even the packaging exudes elegance. I had such a busy day running about with the boy yesterday, we even spent 40 minutes just going up and down the escalators/magic-stairs in House of Fraser while we waited for Daddy to finish work, and by the time we got in I was feeling pretty exhausted. Once he was safely off to sleep I decide to have a bath and then give this product a whirl. I had been looking forward to trying it ...
Easter Craft: No-dye Spotty Easter Eggs.
W and I had great fun making these cute spotty Easter eggs today, though I am still brushing the glitter out of my hair. We found the idea over at Better Homes and Gardens who have lots of great egg-decorating ideas but this one was particularly toddler-friendly. And there you have it, no-dye spotty Easter Eggs for a pretty Easter table centrepiece. Happy Easter! ...
How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 5: Ordering Border and Backing Fabric and Quilt Batting.
Now comes the step I found to be the most confusing when I made my first quilt, ordering fabric. I just could not get my head around it which is weird as I am pretty good at maths. The fabric world however appears to operate by it's own rules, and if you don't know the lingo it can take some figuring out! The switch from yards and inches to metres and centimetres I also find quite frustrating but am beginning to get used to now. I shall endeavour to supply both where I can. I have listed a few conversion factors below. 1 yard = approx 92cm (91.44) 1 yard = 36 inches 1 inch = ...
Ranty Friday: How HSBC Left Me and My Son Out in the Cold
Today I am upset. REALLY upset. You can perhaps feel the fury from there. Those little vapours of warm, red mist emanating from your laptop screen...that would be the anger. Why am I upset? HSBC and their telephone banking would be why. W and I headed out at 9am this morning in order to get a few essentials from Tescos and some groceries from Aldi for his lunch. For those of you who also may have ventured out this morning in Bristol you will know that today just happens to be freezing cold. Bone-chillingly cold infact. Just to add to the delight my two year old son also ...
Easter Craft:Sp-EGG-tacular Superheroes!
I just could not stop giggling whilst making the following Easter eggs. I really hope they will make you smile. You can find templates for all of the 'clothes', feet and badges available to download free of charge here...Superhero templates Happy Easter! How to Make a Spider-egg-man: First dye a blown-out egg-shell overnight in a large bowl containing one cup of water and one teaspoon of red food colouring. Remove and allow to dry thoroughly for 24 hours. With a permanent marker draw on web lines over the top 2/3 of your egg. Next paint the bottom 1/3 of your egg with Modge Podge ...
Prize Draw and Book Review: How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm
How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm: Parenting wisdom from around the world, by Mei-Ling Hopgood. How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm is Mei-Ling Hopgood's account of not only her own adventures in parenting but also details her extensive research into parenting practices across the world. From Buenos Aires to Japan she recounts the various differing cultural approaches to such parenting dilemmas as sleep-routines, potty training, playtime squabbles and healthy eating. Some of her findings are both enlightening and heart-warming and as a mother of a somewhat spirited toddler it, ...
How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 4: Sewing Your Rows Together.
Congratulations on finishing step 3! Now, I'm afraid to say, it is time to get the iron out. You should now have your 8 individual rows of squares. Before we sew them together we need to iron down the seams. This makes pinning them together ready for sewing much easier and you will find it helps to line up the squares more accurately. Take row 1. Place right side down on your ironing board and iron down the seams so that they are pointing to your right. Then take row 2, place right side down and iron down seams pointing to your left. Repeat, alternating direction for each row in ...
How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 3: Sewing an Individual Row of Squares
Now we are ready to sew row 1 together. Take squares 1 and 2 from row 1, the first two squares from the left. Place 'right sides up', for us newbies that means the side you want facing outwards is uppermost. Now place square 2 face down on top of square 1. This is called placing 'right sides together'. Now pin the right hand side of your squares together ready for sewing. Align the right hand side of your fabric with the side of your presser foot as shown. This will ...
How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 2: Preparing to Sew the Front of Your Quilt
Ok, so we have all of our materials ready for the main part of the quilt, the front. You should have 64 5 x5" squares of fabric. It is time to lay out your quilt. You need to lay out your squares in eight rows of eight squares as shown below. This is harder than you first think. You need to try and avoid bunching up similar colours or patterns and it may take a good few attempts before you are happy with it. This is mine. As you can see Mr B was supervising from above! Once you are happy with your arrangement you need to start stacking your squares in rows. We will call the ...
How to Make a Cotbed Quilt for Beginners, Step 1: Materials
I only recently bought my first sewing machine but have rapidly become a huge enthusiast. I am still very much a beginner but following this wonderful series I was able to produce my very first cotbed quilt. Ok, so it is a little wonky, but I am still amazed that it is finished and I think a little bit of wonkiness adds to the charm. I learnt quite a bit along the way and when I found out that my next door neighbour was expecting her 3rd baby in April I figured it was a great opportunity to have another go at it. I am not sure what she is expecting yet though so am going to have to be ...
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