My gorgeous baby...

...is now two! And what a lovely birthday she had. She has been singing Happy Birthday for the last few days, and talking about blowing out the candles on her cake. We'd planned a picnic with friends (to avoid overwhelming the birthday girl) but it rained so we all crowded into our house. Despite that, Matilda still had a great time - probably because it was all people she knows well and likes, and Daddy had the day off work so she was not short of attention. I didn't do party bags but I did make her a cake and a birthday lunch of egg sandwiches, salad, houmous, potato salad, cheese scones and fruit.

Happy Birthday Matilda - you are so loved!

Birthday bunting

I made this bunting for a 1st birthday present. I cut the letters out of a linen curtain someone had given me and appliqued them on. Each flag had a triangle of patterned fabric backed with a triangle of linen, both cut with the pinking shears, to give a nice soft feel. I also did a matching card.

Presents for 1-year-old boys

Matilda and I went to a lovely 1st birthday party yesterday. The mum had gone to such a lot of effort - baby-friendly foods (including homemade dips, courgette muffins, cheese straws etc), a music session, bubbles, and just a handful of people so it wasn't too overwhelming for any of the babies. The birthday boy even drifted off to sleep while we adults chatted and the babies played. Matilda had a lovely time - sometimes at parties she doesn't really smile and I wonder if it's all a bit much for her - but she was all smiles yesterday, and because it was mostly people she knew she was happy to join in from the start. Much better than a party we went to a few days ago which was mostly for the adults - Matilda was lost in a sea of grown-up legs!

It was another little boy's birthday yesterday too - he and his mum were at the party too - and as both boys' mums are good friends of mine I had two little presents to make. I bought a pack of t-shirts from M&S and used some of my fabric scraps to create applique designs. I also made cards by sewing squares of fabric onto a piece of card.

Birthday books

This week I turned 31. I had a great birthday - mostly spent in the pub with ten or so other mums and their babies/toddlers and a couple of dads too (including Sam, who had the day off). This followed a lovely chatty walk on the hills. I received two great books for my birthday - a book on making children's clothes from my sister in New Zealand and the Radical Homemakers book from a relatively new friend. It's great when people expertly judge exactly what kind of thing you'll love! I can't wait to get reading...

A felted bee for a first birthday

This weekend I made a little felt wall hanging for my friend's baby's first birthday. I did a background of marbled green and white, purple/blue letters spelling out her name and two little bees (with sequins sewn in afterwards for the eyes). I followed the instructions for these from my book and they came out really nicely. We spent yesterday afternoon hanging out at the birthday girl's house, chatting and eating cake. Here are the before and after shots:

A bag (and first attempt at applique)

This weekend I made a bag for my niece for her 5th birthday. I used a pattern for a small shopping bag which I had from a 'learn to sew' course at my local knitting/sewing shop. Some new Ikea fabric formed the bottom half and the handles, and the denim was left over from some old jeans I recently cropped. My niece loves all things pink so I used some dark pink thread for the top stitching.

I had decided to add an applique butterfly using some fabric from a japanese-style satin-like top I bought at a car boot sale. I ironed some bondaweb onto the reverse of the top, drew a butterfly shape onto the paper backing and cut the shape out. I then ironed it onto the bag fabric and zig zag stitched around the edge. I'm really pleased with the result - I love the look of applique but when I tried some out before (on some scrap fabric) it went all stretched and the shape was warped - possibly because I didn't use any bondaweb, or possibly because the fabric was t-shirt jersey so had some stretch in it. Anyway, this worked really well - two non-stretch fabrics probably made it easier - so I'm feeling enthusiastic about trying some more applique in future!

Happy 1st Birthday

Happy 1st Birthday my lovely little one :)