Cupcakes for School

School encourages us to send in things for the girls birthday.
Little Miss's birthday was on the last day of term this year and is always close to Easter.
The girls were already chock-a-block full of Easter Eggs that they'd been handing round all week so I figured a few more lollies wouldn't hurt.

I knew one of the other girls was having her birthday on the same day (they are both the youngest in the year) but I didn't know one of Little Miss's classmates had a birthday the next day (making her pretty much a whole 12 months older!) so she brought in treats too - it must have been a giant party.

I attempted to make cat and mouse cupcakes from the Women's Weekly cupcake book.
Hmmm. If you don't have exactly the same lollies they do they don't turn out quite like the book.
Thankfully Little Miss was happy with them and the girls eyes lit up when they saw the cakes with lollies arrive.
Little Miss was very happy that everyone went for her cakes first, so I was a good cake making Mummy.

A Babushka Birthday Cake

Little Miss turned 7 earlier this year (April, so I'm only running a month and a half behind) and she scoured through the cake books to decide what sort of cake she'd have for her party.

We'd organised a 'baking' party that was held somewhere else (thank goodness) so the theme was pretty open. I was glad we'd decided not to have the party at home because in the week before her birthday I ended up in hospital with anaemia requiring a blood and iron transfusion.
So thankfully I just had to make a cake. (Actually I needed a birthday cake, cakes for school and a cake for each party with the Grandparents!)

I'd suggested a lot of things but Little Miss was wanting something quite complicated. I wasn't sure how I'd go about complicated so in desperation suggested a Babushka Doll cake. She loved the idea as they'd been making them in art at school. I then had to think how I'd make it! My first thought was a big slab and cutting the shape out, but some how I didn't think that would come out right.

So instead I made two round cakes, cut the bottom flat on one and on that same one I cut a curve that the top cake would fit in. I also made the head circle a little smaller than the body circle.

Some white icing for the face.



And then red/pink for the body.
One of LM's friends came over early and the girls had great fun decorating the cake. I decorated the face and tidied up a bit once they'd stuck the lollies on but it was pretty much their work.









It was a HUGE success at the party, when the girls saw it they all loved it (they've all been working on babushka's at school) and apparently it tasted delicious as most of them came back for seconds! I wasn't fussy about where I cut so they all got a big plate full of lollies too.
The girls were very impressed that the birthday girl + friend decorated the cake.
I can definitely recommend this cake - it's easy to do and a big hit amongst the 7 -8 year old girls.

Little Black Shrug

This little shrug is sooo comfy.

The pattern is from "100 Crochet Projects" and the yarn is Panda Purla.
I modified the pattern a little, but it's a lot of front loop crochet, to give the ribbed look.
The Panda Purla is really nice to wear.

Ravelled here

Another quick bag

This pattern uses 2 fat quarters, pretty much every single scrap of the two fat quarters, but you get this cute little bag out of it.
It's bigger than it looks and very functional.
This bag has gone off in a karma swap.

Blue Day

School was holding a fundraising 'blue' day - to raise money for the kids at Milton Public School after the floods in Queensland, raising money to buy musical instruments.

Blue is not a colour that is prolific in the wardrobe of our Little Miss so I decided I'd make her something.

The material was from Spotlight and is quite simple stuff, just white spots on aqua and some white spots on pink.
I made a simple circle skirt, by extending a pattern I have already. I made the waist a bit smaller as well, so that it wasn't so gathered round the waist. The pink edging on the bottom was great because I didn't have to hem the skirt.
I also put some applique on the tshirt - just a plain tshirt from BigW, but the applique makes it look a bit fancier.
A cute little outfit that has had lots of wear since blue day. The applique on the tshirt was easier than I imagined so I will definitely be doing more of that.
The dog wanted to get in on the photos too. :o)

Happy Valentine's to Me!

My return swap package was from Clare and was lovely and red.
She made me a row counting bracelet and some stitch markers...

... with some lovely yarn from Yarn and Kisses
... and some Cadbury Dream chocolate.
I turned this yarn into a prize winning beret that I'll show you later.

A Valentine's Day Swap

I joined in the Valentine's Day swap over at Australian Swappers on Ravelry.
Red is pretty much my favourite colour, but I am not keen on maroon types of red, which is what my partner liked.

I made a needle wrap, a book mark and got some handmaiden yarn, chockies and a little notebook for her.

I didn't want to use hears on the needle wrap as I felt that might feel a bit 'wimpy' at other times of the year. I found this lovely cake material.
It was a really rich chocolate brown colour with cream cakes and cupcakes all over it. Just what we'd like to be spoiled with on Valentine's Day! I lined the inside with a deep wine red.
As per usual I should have bought enough to make one for myself. :o)

It's not just an Art Smock....

DD changed schools at the beginning of the year and this meant a lot of new uniforms, which normally just requires sewing on name labels, however we had to buy an art smock (not just any smock but one from the uniform cupboard from school of course).

Unfortunately the art smock she wanted, the beautiful flowery one, only came in a HUGE size and Little Miss is not huge, by a long way. So we ended up with a purple one, because we had to have one (she wasn't missing out on art class but not having a pretty smock was really pushing the boundaries) and I promised to jazz it up a bit.

I had grand plans of appliqueing on flowers, but in the end (and with one day to go until school started) I went with a strip motif. Some of the fabrics have significance to her, they're all off cuts from things I've made, but not all for her.
She was happy with the outcome, and of course, the response she got from the class and teacher.
Thankfully I think this 'size small' will last quite a few years.