Another birthday

For our eldest' birthday recently, I made another black cat.

A different one this time! It was supposed to be a cushion, but turned out to be a sort of softie in the end. I also made a face (carrot)cake for her. Decorated with liquorice and her fave sweetie bananas. It was one of the most basic cakes I've made - really quick! And it sort of looks like her. She is having an amazing year, and is probably the happiest she has ever been at a school. (and she's been to a few!)xx

Love that Angus

Last year we eventually felt settled enough to get a cat from the RSPCA.

The girls couldn't believe it was really happening at last.

We rescued a medium hair black kitten called Angus.

(he's really a Russian spy though, has a great accent!)

So for the latest birthday here, I made the youngest a fluffy black cat!

(face free motion sewn onto merino wool felt onto faux fur)

And she also got a cat birthday cake too, in the end! :-)

Purchases, dolls, food and Frida's ..

* We recently purchased this gorgeous outdoor mat to brighten up our

little patch of concrete patio. It is made from recycled straws woven together!

It is also UV stabilised so that it won't fade out in the strong sun here.

And all you need to do to clean it, is hose it down! The aqua colour is made from blue and yellow straws woven together. (We got it from Natures Home and Garden.)

* This is my work space - made a lot easier to keep tidy now that I have the 

two trolleys either side for storage (seen in this previous post).

 I've made a start on a custom order made from the toddlers 'old' baby clothes.

 I haven't made one of these for ages  it feels like!

Name free motion sewn onto the back -

the baby ruffle bum pants being used on the bottom of the doll!

* This was part of our Father's Day meal -

rosemary leg of lamb cooked on the BBQ with the rotisserie!

And a Mars Bar Cheesecake - so so good.

The base is made with chocolate chip cookies!

(recipe here)

* This is the latest doll uploaded to my Etsy store.

Her name is Miss Milly and she's over here!

*I've just discovered a new recycling magazine.

Its called Reloved and is a UK publication - this is the first issue.

It looks good so far - lots of great ideas and how to's.

* And last but not least - I'm hoping to do a Frida doll 

shop update next week.

I'm using some different fabrics and doing a couple of slight changes too.

Oop - she's almost smiling here!

Cake

It was the big girls birthday on the weekend, so the mixer got

a bit of a work out making birthday cake, sausage rolls, cupcakes etc!

I was so busy sorting out things for her party and making dolls,

so the Mr made some pom poms for me (and the cake)!

He hadn't made them since he was 8 years old.

He used the two circles of cardboard method -

which turned out much better than those plastic

 thingys that I've used before!

I strung them up on to two chop sticks -

as she loves sushi (and crochet, hence the wool)!

So they had a lemon cake with blueberries on top!

(she used to suck on lemon pieces when she was little, and still loves them now).

They had a great party with some friends,

and now its the school holidays!

So this morning they both helped make a winter skirt each.

The one on the left is made from a warm woolen op shopped fabric.

They are both looking a bit tarteny! It sounds like we will be 

making a few more of these (as its the only clothing I am able to make 

at the moment - no pattern reading involved...!)xx