pippa's long stockings

rainbow quilt/playmat

2012-01-12T18:03:00.001Z

So, you may remember that a while ago I bought some gorgeous fabrics with the intention of making a quilt for the baby. Not knowing whether we were having a girl or a boy, I wanted to go gender-neutral while still being fun, which is why I went for the brights. I made a start on it pretty much immediately and here's what the first side looked like:

I have since finished it, but need to photograph it. Well, actually, I have sort of photographed it, but there's a baby on it in every picture. So I'll take one of quilt/playmat minus baby to share with you. I'm rather pleased with it.

the story of a bump

2011-12-23T21:18:00.000Z

2011-12-05T05:38:00.001Z

My little boy is now one week old. Not much else to say, really.

He has cool hair.

hello baby

2011-11-30T11:18:00.001Z

the obligatory bump picture

2011-11-21T13:10:00.001Z

The last bump picture I posted on here was on this post, where I thought I had the biggest bump ever.

Ha. I now see how friends and strangers couldn't tell I was expecting back then.

Well, that marvellous maternity wrap top has grown as I have and I'm so glad I went for it and made one myself, even though I had the impression that my lack of a serger would put me at a disadvantage (I just used zig zag stitching instead).

These pics were taken a few weeks ago, before all of the leaves fell off that tree. And when I could still make myself look presentable. And when putting one foot in front of the other wasn't such a challenge.

If you're thinking of making one of these tops (you can make a non maternity version, y'know), I thoroughly recommend it. The most fiddly and time-consuming part of making it is cutting out the pattern. The sewing is a doddle. Doddle. I don't think I use that word enough.

The most fiddly and time-consuming part of actually owning/using this garment is finding a way to drape it on a hanger. Although, that's a doddle when you compare it with the time it takes to put on. Blimey. It reminds me a bit of that game you play with young people where each team is given a roll of toilet paper and they have to wrap one of their team mates up like a mummy. Worth it though (the top, not the toilet paper game. That's just a waste of toilet paper).

The next couple of weeks may feature loads of blog posts, as I pass the time until this little one arrives. Alternatively, it could go very very quiet, signifying the arrival of said little one. I'm hoping for the latter but preparing for the former.

I still haven't shown you my quilt! I'll get onto that next...

bello baby

2011-11-13T20:56:00.000Z

Who did this? Was it you?

I've changed it back now.

the finished nursery

2011-11-12T19:57:00.001Z

Oops. Ignore that broken light switch on the right. That's fixed now.

The melted crayon canvas won't be staying in the nursery long-term (if I even keep it), as the wax isn't very child-friendly - too easy to pick off and eat. Not that I've been picking off the crayon wax and eating it. Pregnancy can do strange things to a woman, but I haven't completely lost it.

A cot skirt to conceal the junk under the cot, inventively put together by my mum who used three pillow cases and some velcro.

There are many more details I'll share, but that will be another post.

nursery details

2011-11-12T15:40:00.001Z

I've been instructed to rest and put my feet up, so I'm taking the opportunity to go through the photos which have been building up over the last few months and do some blogging! How nice.

Didn't realise I'd missed it over here in blogland (things have been very hectic, y'know). Hello. So, what have I missed?

The nursery is finished (more photos to follow later today). The mobile is still hanging from the light in the living room though. It'd be nice to have that in the nursery before the wee one arrives, but it doesn't look that out of place in the living room, so it's no biggie. I've almost finished making a quilt for the little one (again, photos will follow) using these fabrics. I'm sure there are many other things but I can't think of them right now. Due date is fast approaching, so you could see a birth announcement on here any day now. Although, I could do with one more week to get some things in order. Very very exciting.

More nursery photos to follow...

rainbow fabric stack

2011-10-21T12:45:00.001+01:00

Rainbow quilt, coming soon...

Melty Melty Wall Art

2011-10-12T17:35:00.002+01:00

There has been a lot going on lately - lots of colourful fun things have been made, a nursery has been decorated and Mr Pippa made some art. Photos have been taken and blog posts will be posted.

For today, some melted crayon wall art:

It's been all over Pinterest and it was only a matter of time before I had a go at it - you know how much I love things in colour-order.

I adhered the crayons (still in their wrappers) to the canvas with a hot glue gun. Once they were all in place, I got the heat gun out and gently heated a section of crayons, allowing the wax to drip down.

I tested this out on a small canvas before venturing to this one. On the small canvas, I used cheaper crayons. I have no idea why but that one worked better than this one. I'll add a photo of it to this post so that you can see what I mean.

See how there seems to be some kind of resistance going on in those purples? That melted wax does not want to stick the the canvas. Very odd.

Currently, it's on the wall of the nursery. I'm not sure I'll end up keeping it long-term because it went a bit weird:

As the melted wax dried, it lifted off the canvas. I had already thought that it wasn't the most durable piece of art for the wall and probably better to display it in a box frame, if one wanted to keep it.

Still looks cool though. It can stay in the nursery for a bit longer, I think.

how to attach a mobile

2011-09-20T15:38:00.000+01:00

Hello you.

I've got lots of things to show you but I've had very little time to actually upload photos and form some sort of blog post. It's for a fun reason though: I've been working on the nursery! Well, when I say working on, it's been more like me being project manager between naps and Mr Pippa doing the real hard work.

Very soon, I shall have photos to share with you. Exciting!

One question: how on earth can I attach an enormous mobile* to the ceiling? The walls in this place crumble at the tiniest nail, so I dread to think what the ceilings are like (why would someone wallpaper a ceiling unless there was something to hide? That's my thinking).

Any ideas?

*I, of course, do not mean a mobile phone. Why would I want an enormous mobile phone on my ceiling?

Patchwork Blanket {piecing it together}

2011-08-24T19:54:00.000+01:00

Hello. How's your summer been? Mine's been busy, but nice.

I'm still working on my crochet patchwork blanket. Well, when I say working on, I actually just mean that it's sitting in a basket, unfinished. I'm hoping to get it finished by the time the baby arrives (due beginning of December), but if not, that's fine too.

I've had some questions about how I assembled my blanket, as I haven't followed a pattern. So, here I am, doing a blog post on it.

So, I first made a load of squares in different sizes, always sticking to the same size crochet hook and equal numbers of rows/rounds. When finishing each square, I left a nice long tail, because I knew that I would use these later to attach the squares to one another.

The edges of the squares curled a bit like these ones. To flatten them out, I pinned them to a notice board and sprayed them with water, then left them to dry, which did the trick.

Once I had a few squares to play with, I arranged them on a flat surface until I was happy with the arrangement. Then, out with the safety pins and I pinned them to one another, making sure the backs of the squares were all facing the back of the blanket.

The time then came to sew the squares together. As I said in a previous post, I wanted the stitching to be hidden but, as each square was finished with a different colour (unlike my laptop rug, where I could just sew them together with matching cream yarn), there was no neutral colour for me to choose. So, I decided to leave the super-long tails when finishing a square so that each square would be attached using its own colour. Does that make sense?

Here's an example for you. In this photo, the super long tail of the green square was used to join both the blue square and the orange square, with some yarn left at the end of the tail to join whichever colour I may put along the other side of the green.

I laid out what I had so far to see which colours I wanted more of and what sizes to make next.

I then made a sort of a plan (yes, the scribbles below are a plan) of how many 'rounds' each new square needed to have, along with which colours I would be using for each square.

Translation for the plan on the top right of the paper:
6 rounds: orange for the first 3 rounds, followed by 1 round of denim and 2 rounds of navy.

As I completed each square, I crossed it off the list.

I then went back to piecing them together and making another plan for what squares to make next.

This is what I have so far:

Still unfinished but rather large. The next step for me is to make the right sized squares to even it out. Once that's done, I'll do a border around the whole thing. The bit I'm dreading is sewing all of the tails in. I feel as though there's some big secret on how to do it without them unraveling which I have completely missed. If you know, please fill me in.

This blog post is a lot lot longer than I was anticipating. Well done for sticking with me. Now massage your eyeballs as a reward. Be sure to keep your eyelids closed.

If this blog post has helped you out with your blanket in any way, leave a comment. That would make me feel good.

Book Clock

2011-08-18T14:12:00.004+01:00

There were so many wordy-puns I wanted to put as the title of this post, but they were all awful.

This project has been eating away at me for 3 years. Seriously. Who takes that long to finish something so simple?! It wasn't even that I couldn't be bothered. I was just searching for the right book. I had a green gardening book which would have worked well but I tore most of the pages out to cover my guitar case.

Amusingly (well, perhaps amusing is too strong), I've had this book in the house for years, so I could have completed the project when I originally wanted to do it.

This clock was going to be a gift for my sister. She adores books - more than clothes and possibly more than food. She hates the thought of me tearing up books but is calmed when she discovers that the books I tear up would have otherwise been pulped, so in a way I've rescued the books and given them a new life.

Anyway, I thought this was a brilliant idea as a gift for her and would look fabulous in her gorgeous book-filled home. Then I remembered: she's dyslexic. She's great with words. It's just numbers, directions and telling the time on an analogue clock she struggles with.

Yup, I'm an idiot. So, she had book tokens and I kept the clock for myself.

I feel as though this book wanted to become a clock. It is The Drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci, after all.

Maternity Wrap Top

2011-08-03T15:42:00.000+01:00

Recently, I've been rising to the challenge of finding things to wear with my growing bump.

[Please excuse the hair. It was day 5 of the 7 day hair washing cycle, so not at its best.]

Isabella Oliver has some stunning items, but she charges way too much. Sorry, Isabella. So, I found a free pattern online to make this maternity wrap to p (I think it may have only been free for a limited period).

[Image from Megan Nielsen, found here.]

For someone who's never made an item of clothing out of stretch fabric, I found it all very straightforward and am even thinking about making another one in a different colour.

I would have found it incredibly helpful, when preparing to make my top, if I could have seen photos of each step, to confirm that I was doing it right. So, I might take some snaps when I make the next one for those of you who, like me, prefer photos to follow.

Sizing issues:
I broke the rules a bit with this top. And, not being an experienced seamstress, I wasn't sure how it would end up. The pattern came in three sizes: small, medium and larry. Ordinarily, I'd just go straight for the small as I have quite a petite frame. However, in my first trimester, I went up 5 cup sizes [TMI?], so that's thrown the sizing off somewhat. For something to fit me without straining at the seams in certain places (we all know what I'm talking about so I'm not going to spell it out), I have to go for the bigger sizes, which drown me everywhere else and make me look like I'm wearing someone else's clothes.

Here's the marvellous thing about making a top myself: I get to change the sizing! So, I went for the small size across the back and shoulders, but then cut along the lines for the medium size for the front and for the sleeves.

[Image from the Isabella Oliver website]

Changes I made to this pattern:
As I've explained above, I mixed up the sizing a bit so that some sections were small and others were medium.
I made the sleeves short. I had to experiment a bit, but it worked.
The pattern is for a top with unfinished seams, but I preferred seams, so added those (only around the neckline and on the sleeves.
I don't have a serger so I just used zigzag stitch and stretched the fabric as it went through the machine.

Trickiest bits:
Putting the top on.
Putting the top on a hanger.
Seriously, the sewing of it was the easiest part. The trickiest bit about making it was cutting the fabric. Even then, it's not that it's difficult, it's just fiddly.

It's a lovely top to wear, but not one to attempt to put on in a hurry.

Picture taken at 20 weeks. I thought I was huge. Others didn't realise I was expecting.

*I, of course, meant small, medium and large. I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

Go to Buxton. They have nice water.

2011-07-31T12:15:00.000+01:00

If you happen to be passing Buxton between now and 14th August, I highly recommend that you stop off and have a nosey in the Art Gallery/Museum. One of my favourite artists is exhibiting there and it's a feast for the eyes.

It was my first time seeing this piece (the trainers below), as its size has meant that it hasn't been shared on the blog (I mean, who has a scanner that big?!).

See? Huge!

'Ten Examples of Unnecessarily Handsome Shoes'. No photo of this, unfortunately. I love all of the different perspectives and annotations.

'Wish I Knew You Well'. This full colour drawing blew us away (Mr Pippa was with me). I seem to remember it being larger than the others (I didn't think to make notes).

As well as the works on the walls, there were the cabinets. The first was the woodland one. The pieces looked so at home with the leaves and twigs in there. And the dead bee.

I'm not sure I'd realised when first spotting this drawing (above) online that this piece is not, in fact, drawn onto lined paper which happened to have tea/coffee mug rings on it, but those details have been drawn too. Andrea Joseph often catches me off guard like that. I love it.

I spent most of my time looking through these cabinets:

I also adored being able to get so close to the glass cabinets that my nose occasionally bumped the glass as I studied the sketchbooks and spotted the items which appear in the drawings. I would have loved to flick through one of the sketchbooks.

When chatting to Andrea later, she mentioned that this drawing (in the sketchbook above) was drawn in a coffee shop in Buxton - a coffee shop I have now been to. It's funny how just a little thing like knowing where/how a piece came together gives me a whole new appreciation of it.

What a treat!

Go on, get your skates on. You've got until 14th August.

P.S. Thank you, Mr Pippa for being photograpaher for the day :)

Just a little card

2011-07-30T13:12:00.000+01:00

I wasn't lying when I said I've still been creating over the last few months (in fact, did I even say that?). It's just been a bit more sparse than usual. Pregnancy + M.E. = one very exhausting first trimester, many days only able to stay awake 3-5 hours before needing to sleep for at least 3-5 hours. Hence why there wasn't a single blog post between April and July.

I'm now at pre-pregnancy energy levels, which I think is great compared to what it had been. Still not the level of a well person. But able to create again, which makes me happy.

Pinterest Pins {rooms for tiny people}

2011-07-25T13:46:00.003+01:00

Pinterest really is a marvellous way to waste time looking at pretty things.

Lately, I've been looking at things like this...

Source: blog.puffling.com.au via Pippa on Pinterest

...and this. You know I love a colour-coded bookshelf.

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Pippa on Pinterest

...and this.

Source: thebooandtheboy.com via Pippa on Pinterest

That suspended plane had given me an idea.

And how about this for displaying books: an Ikea spice rack.

Source: ohdeedoh.com via Pippa on Pinterest

I like letters on the wall but, bizarrely, I hadn't thought of having the whole alphabet up there. I like it.

Source: myidealhome.tumblr.com via Pippa on Pinterest

Nice little nook.

Source: flickr.com via Pippa on Pinterest

...and this one just made me smile.

Source: weheartit.com via Pippa on Pinterest

That was my way of announcing news. Can you guess what it is?

That's right, I'm growing an alphabet tree on a bookshelf! Um, no.

Making Your Own Rainbow Cake

2011-07-15T12:24:00.000+01:00

So, you'd like to make your own rainbow cake? Great! (If you have no interest whatsoever, you're still allowed to read this post. Just don't tell too many people about your lack of interest or they might think you're weird. Who wouldn't want to make a cake as cool as this one? Don't answer that.)

Someone else might have a much more straightforward tutorial for you, but this is how I made mine.

First, choose a plain vanilla sponge recipe which works for you, and double the quantities.

What you'll need:
1-5 round baking tins (depending on what shape you want it and how many layers you'd like) of equal size
Food colouring (I chose yellow, green, blue, purple and pink)
Cling film/plastic food wrap (or whatever you want to call it)
Ingredients for the cakes
Buttercream icing
Lemon curd or apricot jam (adds a little something to the layers but the light colour doesn't interfere with the carefully thought-out colour scheme)

So, here's the recipe I used (I've doubled the quantities, which makes 6 layers):

8 eggs
450g unsalted butter, at room temperature
450g caster sugar
420g self-raising flour, sifted
50g cornflour
2 teaspoons baking podwer
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 tablespoons milk

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (or 160 for a fan-assisted oven).

Line each baking tray with greaseproof paper and spread a thin layer of butter around the inside (this will help the cakes to pop out easily after baking).

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer until the mixture is pale and smooth. Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the eggs and dry ingredients to the wet mixture, alternating between the eggs and dry mixture, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and milk. Don't over-beat the mixture or you'll take the air out of the cakes. Apparently. I don't know.

Divide the mixture equally into 6 bowls (one bowl for each layer). One bowl at a time, add food colouring to the cake mixture, stirring well. Add as much food colouring as you like.

Pour each bowl of cake mixture into its own baking tin. I only had 3 baking tins the same size, so I baked 3, then washed them up and used them again. You didn't need to know that but I just wanted to remind you that you don't need to go out and buy 6 baking tins.

Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes until raised and and golden brown. The whole 'golden brown' thing may be difficult to read with all of the food colouring, so stick a skewer into the centre of one of the cakes. If it comes out clean, the cake is cooked. When I say clean, I mean no uncooked cake mix on there. Don't go sticking a dirty skewer in there, thinking it'll magically come out clean when the cake is cooked.

Allow the cakes to cool in their tins for about 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool. Remove the greaseproof paper from the bases of the cakes.

At this stage, the cakes probably won't look that appealing. The green and blue cakes will probably look a bit mouldy. Don't be discouraged, my friend. It'll look great once it's cut into. Well, it should. I can't be held responsible for any baking failures.

[To encourage you: check out the dodgy look of the outside of this cake. Concerning, right? Oh, but break it open and it's bright and magical.]

Before assembling this cake, a word of advice:
This cake doesn't transport well if you want the cake to not look like the leaning tower of Pisa. If you're planning on taking this cake to a party or the zoo or something, you may prefer to assemble it there. In which case, wrap each sponge cake in cling film (make sure they've fully cooled). This will stop the cakes from sticking to each other.

Time to assemble the cakes.

Arrange them into the colour order you'd like. Spread the lemon curd onto the top of the first layer of the cake. On the underside of the next layer, spread the buttercream icing and lower onto the first layer. Repeat with each layer. Unless you really don't want any jam-type stuff, in which case just stick with the buttercream.

Cover the outside of the cake with buttercream and decorate with sweets, if you want.

Have you done it yet? Leave me links to your cakes!