This week in our house

We have been busy making this past week...

M and MJ are building their first Willow Dome

A finished hat and hot water bottle for MJ.

Our first attempt at Raspberry Jam. Lj kept telling me that she was my helper, I think it would be more accurate to say that she was my taster!

Another first. I have just discovered Zentangle and am having fun relating it to Christmas.

Winter is coming

Sorry I haven't been blogging much recently, there are a number of reasons.
Myself and a few friends are having our first Christmas craft stall at the local toddlers group in a couple of weeks, so I have been busy making, sewing and crocheting in order to have a good display.
Also I'm looking forward to Christmas and am making lots of presents for family and friends so I don't want to give all the surprises away.

But as the days and evenings get colder I have been wrapping up and thinking of ways to keep myself and my family warm this winter. So there is a bit of a theme with the latest batch of making.

Keeping our...

Heads and hands...

Beds...

and toes, all cosy and warm.

I found a wool blanket which was passed onto me a few years ago and thought I would give it a hot wash to felt it. Then I had a go cutting and sewing a hot water bottle cover and a pair of slippers. The slippers need a little bit of fanciness but they are certainly functioning, my toes are toasty...now I'm off to bed to try out my new hot water bottle cover!

Night night!

November play

This morning we thought we would have a go at No. 1. I really love these sheets from 'Let's expore' they inspire me to play when I'm running low on energy.

It didn't take long to set up. Scissors, straws and a shoe lace. I'm sure you could use wool instead of a shoe lace but I wanted it to be as easy as possible for Lj to thread. As I'm doing colours and shapes with Lj at the moment, this was good colour practise also.

Cutting practise. You can even use a buggy to collect them in!!!

Threading the straws takes concentration and patience.

And when she got bored of that activity she thought a tight rope would be a good use for the shoe lace!

Wednesday morning

 I look out through the window at my desk to see the fog still bearing down on us but the orange, yellows and red of the autumnal leaves are adding colour to the grey backdrop. Inside I'm setting up for a few hours of kid free time, thanks to my sister taking Lj out for a girlie morning.

I have the radio on, a cup of ginger tea at hand and my sewing machine waiting to be set up. I plan to make a taggie for a new baby, finish my 'no tie' aprons and make a winter dress for Lj...perhaps a little ambitious but we will see how I get on!

How are you spending your morning?

The forest by MJ

'I went to a new forest. I got a fright. It was dark. I thought it was a dinosaur. It was mum. I had a lovely day at the forest.'

Smuggling Pumpkins

 Today is all about Pumpkins. We grew a number at the allotment and have a variety of shapes and sizes.

MJ took one to his harvest festival at school today.

I made some Pumpkin soup but it did not tickle the taste buds of my children so now I am being creative with other Pumpkins recipes. MJ and Lj love dropped scones so I have adjusted the recipe slightly so that I can add Pumpkin.

My normal dropped scone recipe is:

4oz Self Raising Flour (1/2 Wholemeal Flour if you wish...I do!)
Salt
2oz Caster Sugar (Quite often I reduce this but I think it is all necessary when adding pumpkin)
1 Egg
Milk

To use Pumpkins add:
Chop the Pumpkin (approx 150g as fine as you can)
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Black pepper

My first attempt tasted OK but the second time I added more of the spices and a little black pepper and this time they taste amazing (to me)...I await MJ's return from school and Lj waking from her nap for the kiddy taste test!

Tonight for the first time I will open my house to friends and friends of friends to come and craft. This has come out of listening to my Mother in Law talk of how when she lived in Holland she did a similar thing with her friends. But also a desire to get to know my new neighbours and make new similar minded friends. Perhaps I will take a photo and do a blog post on how the evening goes...but back to Pumpkins. Yesterday, a friend gave me a recipe for Spiced Pumpkin cupcakes so I have baked a batch for this evenings gathering. They are yet to be frosted but they already smell great.

MJ suggested we have our own Harvest celebration table at home. We set out a Pumpkin and he is desperate to add more food to the display. But in my minimal way I love how it sits on its own on the white sideboard and am reluctant to add anything more.

And finally, the largest Pumpkin we are storing so we can make a Jack 'O' Lantern in a few weeks time.

10 Ways to play in October

 

I can't not do a post on this recent discovery.

Last week I dreaded the couple of hours between dinner and waiting for M to call to say he was on the train and we could go to the station to pick him up. The kids were tired and ratty...and so was I. We bickered and I was at a lose as to what to do, other that let them watch TV. This week I discovered Pinterest (my new fav way to spend (waste) a little time). It has inspired me in many ways but one which I put into action straight away is from the blog, Let's explore. I printed of the monthly play sheet for October and pinned it up in our play room. Now when we are feeling tired and uninspired MJ will point at the sheet and ask if we could do something on there. It is funny how he is never so keen on my suggestions of what we should play and to be honest I am generally not so keen to play what he chooses... so this sheet is perfect, we just read through them and choose an activity. 

Last night we set up a Post Office, we wrote letters and postcards, put them in envelopes, weighed them, put stamps on, posted them and delivered them and then got all our Postman Pat books out and had a read.

Tonight we did hand and feet printing. The activity on the sheet was to trace our hands and feet but MJ thought we should use paint...I'm not sure what came over me (I don't enjoy mess in the house!) but I thought, why not?! So we locked ourselves in the bathroom (the one I cleaned earlier today...how foolish!) with paper, paint, tray, towels and bare hands and feet. Now we have enough printed paper to wallpaper a small room and I'm wondering what creative thing I can do with them!

I should really take photos of our play but to be honest we get so absorbed in the activity that I don't want to go and get the camera.

I'm already saving the cardboard tubes so we can complete activity No. 4!

I wonder what we will get up to tomorrow!