King Pig Hat

 

A while ago a friend asked me if I could make a this hat for her friends little girl.  The problem being that the little girl is about 6 months old and the hat pattern is for an adult.  So I decided to start with this kids beanie pattern and go from there.

The eyes and ears were easy to scale down but the nose and crown were a little bit more confusiing.  I must admit when I first got to that part I left the poor hat sitting for a couple of weeks before I decided to just jump in and tackle it.  The crown took me a few attempts and i'm not 100% happy with it but it'll do.  I simply used the crown pattern from the original pattern but cast on less stitches. Unfortunately, I didn't take notes so I can't remember exactly what I cast on.  Sorry! For the nose I just did less rounds before starting to work the even rounds to make it a bit smaller.

I sent a pic to my friend and she was pretty happy with it.  I will be giving it to her today at work and I am just crossing my fingers that it will fit her friends little girl.  If anything it might be a little big but that is ok because she can always grow into it.

A Girl's Gotta Have Accessories

This past week I have been working on Squishy's accessories collection because everyone knows a girls gotta have her accessories.  Obviously she will have to wait till she is a bit older to start the fun collections like shoes, handbags, jewelry etc etc so I decided to start with hats.  So far she has a nice little collection of 3 all handmade by me!

First I made this gorgeous crochet beanie. The wool is Woolganics Organic Merino Knitters Yarn.  I bought it and another two balls in different colours from a lot sale at work.  They were selling off all the props, costumes and equipment from an tv show that has been cancelled.  I bought 3 balls of this wool plus a few spools of thread and a bunch of buttons for $5.

The pattern for this beanie can be found here and the pattern for the gorgeous flower can be found here.  Obviously you can swap out the flower for any pattern you choose but I quite liked this one.

Second on my list was this adorable headband.  This was super quick and easy to knit although I did change it to be knit flat and seamed as I didn't have the appropriate circular needles to knit it in the round.

For this one I used up some yarn from the stash, Moda Vera Marvel Plain 8ply, which is my go to yarn. I have quite a bit of this in my stash in various colours.  The pattern for this one can be found here and the flower here (i used petal option 5).

And lastly I made a beanie that I have actually made once before.  Last time I did it in a darker yarn though and gifted it to a friend at work who is due to have a baby boy in about 10 weeks.  For our little girl I decided to go a lighter yarn which was again Moda Vera Marvel Plain 8ply from the stash.

The pattern for this adorable beanie can be found here.  I decided to crochet a little bow to make it extra girly.  I simply chained 11 stitches then did 6 rows of single crochet.  To make it into a bow I simply wrapped some yarn around the middle and ta-da a little bow.  So I think our little miss has a good little collection of hats starting. No doubt I will add more to the collection before she arrives.

The Good, The Bad & The Bump(y)

 

 The Good:

• Baking! I have been craving baking lately which means new recipes and yummy food are taking over our kitchen.
• Squishy's cot & change table that Corey put together on the weekend.
• Planning colour schemes and decorations for Squishy's room.
• Working my way through my over flowing yarn stash with projects for Squishy.

The Bad:

• Not having enough yarn in my stash to make myself a cardigan.
• Pregnancy hormones making my emotions crazy!!!
• Cold tile floors. I love winter but our tiled floors are freezing in the mornings. I need to invest in some slippers.

The Bump:

Here we are at 21 weeks. This weekend Corey put together the cot and change table that we have had on lay by. Now I can finally start decorating and making stuff for Squishy's room.  We bought some fabric last week that I am going to make a quilt with.  I did some googling and decided on a pattern last night now I just have to get started.  I want to make a quilt and some matching sheets for the cot and a cot skirt.  Luckily I have quite a bit of time still so as long as I get started soon I should be right.

Beach Ball Birthday Cake

Last week I was asked by a friend if I would consider making a birthday cake for her friend's son's first birthday.  Did you follow that? My friend's friend's son's first birthday. What a mouth full!  Anyway, I was nervous at first but I said yes anyway.  She was after a beach ball themed cake because her son loves beach balls.  We discussed making the entire cake a beach ball but then settled on a rectangle cake with a beach ball on top.

The cake was made out of 2 square cakes. One vanilla and one chocolate.  I wrapped it in white fondant to make a crisp outside layer.  I then topped half with blue butter cream for the ocean and half with crushed arrowroot biscuits for the sand.

The ball was made out of rice bubble slice.  I made a batch and then formed it into a ball and let it set in the fridge.  Once set I covered it in melted white chocolate and again let it set.  I then used different coloured buttercream to create the beach ball look.  There is a small circle of fondant on top with the birthday boys name written in gel colouring.

I received a lovely message from the birthday boys mum after the party saying that the cake was great and they were all very happy with it.  They gave their son the beach ball to "play" with at the end of the party and apparently he loved it. I can just imagine the mess he made!

The Good, The Bad & The Bump(y)

 

The Good:

• Finding out we are having a baby girl!!!!
• Getting started on a room for little Squishy.
• Hitting the halfway mark. 20 weeks.  Woo hoo!
• Kids birthday parties. We had out nephew's 7th birthday this weekend and it was so much fun.
• Tiny little baby socks.

The Bad:

• Continuing back pain.
• Trying to think of a baby name. Luckily we have 20 more weeks to decide.
• Intense clients at work.
• Crappy internet connection making my skype date with my sister difficult.

The Bump:

Here it is! Firstly, ignore my dirty dress. I didn't realise it was covered it fluff until I looked at these pics tonight.  Secondly, 20 weeks and inside that bump is our baby girl.  A GIRL!!! I can't believe it. I was sure it was going to be a boy. I thought I would be that person that ended up with a house full of boys. Either way I would have been happy as long as they come out healthy.  Corey is a little worried now that he found out it is a girl. He is so used to having boys around he thinks he is going to be too rough with her.  I told him not to worry though. He will be the perfect dad!  Now I can finally starting making some clothes for our little princess.

Chocolate Lace Cookies

Last Friday at work we had Festive Food Friday.  We do it once a month to celebrate everyones birthdays from that month.  The idea is that everyone brings a plate of food and we have a morning tea/nibblies to eat all day.  This month I made cookies.  Everyone loved them! One of my friends kept appearing near the buffet with 3 cookies in his hand.  I'm pretty sure he ate about 80% of the cookies himself!  So judging by that reception I am pretty sure I will be making these again.

Chocolate Lace Crisps by Australian Women's Weekly

100g dark cooking chocolate chopped

80g butter chopped

1 cup caster sugar

1 egg

1 cup plain flour

2 tbs cocoa powder

1/4 tsp bicarb of soda

1/4 cup icing sugar

Melt chocolate & butter in a small saucepan over low heat.

Transfer chocolate mixture to a medium bowl; stir in caster sugar, egg & sifted flour, cocoa and soda.  Cover, refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180*C/160*C fan-forced.  Grease oven trays, line with baking paper.

Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls. Roll each ball in sifted icing sugar, place about 8cm apart on trays.

Bake for 15 minutes and cool on trays.

The Good, The Bad and The Bump(y)

The Good

• Being absolutely spoilt on Mother's Day by my darling husband.
• Spending a wonderful Mother's Day with my mummy.
• The final countdown to finding our Squishy's gender (this Friday...yay!!!)
• The cooler weather. Winter is my favourite season!

The Bad

• Continuing back pain. The doctor says it is in my joint so there is not a lot I can do except take it easy.
• My major fail at footy tipping this week. Luckily everyone had a bad round so I still have a chance of clawing my way up to the top.
• The weirdo noises my car has started making. I think it's time for a visit to the mechanics.

The Bump

19 weeks and I finally feel like I am starting to look pregnant.  A few people have told me I have popped this past week.  I am getting a bit more comfortable with it now too and realised that when I was trying to hide it I was just making myself look bigger.  So I have embraced the bump and am dressing to show it off.  The annoying thing about looking pregnant is that everyone now feels the need to touch my stomach.  I don't mind with people I know but sometimes it gets rather annoying.  Oh well, I guess everyone is just excited so I can't complain too much.

Garterbelts & Gasoline

Not last weekend but the weekend before Mum, Dad, Corey and I ventured up Mount Tamborine for the Garterbelts & Gasoline festival.  This was my first time visiting this festival and it was loads of fun.  There was everything a a rockabilly/vintage festival should have cars, markets, music and gorgeous vintage fashions.  Here are some photos I took of the day.

I didn't get any photos of my outfit because I wasn't feeling particularly vintage.  I have just grown out of my last 50s dress so I was a bit bummed out.  I did however still spend some time on my hair and makeup.  I used this tutorial for my hair.  I also got to pop into my favourite vintage store, Kitty's Vintage Kitsch, for a little visit and catch up with Celia.  It was lovely to visit again and I am hoping to pop up again once we find out the gender of the baby and see if I can find any vintage treasures to use in Squishy's room.  We have been having some fun weekend adventures lately which I am really enjoying.  I can't wait till the end of the year when we can start taking some family adventures with Squishy.

Happy Mother's Day

I just wanted to say a quick Happy Mother's Day to the most awesomest mummy in the whole entire world! I hope you have a super duper fantastic day. You are the bestest mum that I could ever hope for. If I am even half as good a mum as you are Squishy is going to be one lucky kid.  Love you xoxoxoxox

Recipes from Bloggers

  

Last weekend I did a little bit of cooking and decided to test out a couple of recipes I had seen shared by some fellow bloggers.  Firstly I have been wanting to try out Broccoli & Cheese Soup for a while and in my search stumbled across this recipe by The Veggie Mama.  I whipped up a pot on Saturday while Corey was sick on the lounge.  I woke him up to have a bowl and he ate it up pretty quickly. It was delicious! I will definitely be saving this recipe into the winter recipe list.

After the soup I thought it might be nice to bake something sweet to take to Garterbelts & Gasoline.  We pack a picnic whenever we go to a festival so we can camp out in front of the stage and have lunch and listen to music.  I had a few spare oranges so I decided to whip up this Orange Butter Cake I saved a while ago from Melbourne Epicure.  Cathy is an absolute goddess when it comes to cakes and this one is no different.  It is so quick and easy to whip up and produces a delicious moist butter cake.

Have you found any good recipes on the blogs you read lately?  I am having the biggest urge to try out new recipes lately and have been cooking up a storm!

The Good, The Bad & The Bump(y)

The Good

• Long weekends
• Spending the day up Mount Tamborine with the family at Garterbelts & Gasoline (post to come)
• Visiting my favourite vintage shop even though I couldn't buy any of the gorgeous dresses
• Having a constant urge to bake
• Bacon - I never was a big bacon person before but I crave it now like its going out of fashion

The Bad

• House inspections
• A full day spent cleaning for said house inspection
• The funny noise my car is making - still trying to figure out what it is!

The Bump

I think this week I have definitely popped out a bit.  I feel like I actually look pregnant now and not just chubby. I had my first person ask me if I was pregnant the other day which was exciting.  Afterwards I thought lucky I was pregnant though otherwise that person would have felt very embarrassed.  Only 2 more weeks until we can find out what we are having.  I am so excited! Counting the days.  What do you guys think I am having?

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April Reading List

This month was a good reading month for me.  I managed 7 books!  I think this is my best month of reading since the start of last year.

I finished up the Shopaholic series with Shopaholic & Baby.  This was a fun read being pregnant and able to relate to a lot of the stuff that was going on in the book.  Especially the overwhelming feeling of all the things you have to buy.  One of the items on my 101 in 1001 list is to reread the Harry Potter series.  I finished up Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince and now I only have 1 more book till I can cross that item of my 101 list.  The last 5 books I read are the first 5 books in the Pretty Little Liars series.  These books are so quick to read and they really suck you in.  They are about a group of teenage girls whose best friend goes missing in year 7.  In the first book they start receiving text messages revealing their closest secrets from someone who they believe is their missing friend.  It is part mystery part suspense and they having totally sucked me in.