A bit of late night secret sewing

Last week Svetlana from s.o.t.a.k. advertised for pattern testers for her first ever pattern. I quickly put my hand up as I have been following her blog for a long time and love her aesthetics.

Last night I was busy cutting cutting and being very careful to follow the instructions and make sure that I did not race ahead as I normally do!!

I was very pedantic about pre cutting everything and within an hour I was whizzing along. It's looking gorgeous but can't show you anymore until Svetlana has published it all on her blog. Another 30 minutes will have it all done.

Drama in our house

getting loaded into the ambulance

Well we had loads of drama last friday night. Jakob came home from school having had an accident at the gymnasium. He had hurt his back (and was treated at the time) and travelling on the school bus had him in agony. I was concerned so took him to the Dr only to be told he needed to be treated as a spinal patient and the ambulance got called.

Goodness me. So off we went to A&E and had back xrays. Thankfully he only had severe bruising to his spine. So a quiet weekend. He is getting better.

Minky dressing gown for my son

Recently Eli and I had a mum and son day. When we were in one of the shops we spied the most amazing soft cuddly minky fabric. Eli had been wanting a soft dressing gown so we bought it home and whipped it up. It was really quick to make as I used satin bias binding that was premade to finish the edges and I did not line the collar area.

One of the many poses

I had an adult dressing gown pattern but it was far to large, so I used the general gist of the pattern and drafted my own. All things considering I am quite happy with it. The photos are not the best as Eli insisted on giving me all his modelling poses!!!

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The satin bias used for edging.

Birthday afternoon tea.

Oh yes, gorgeous fresh strawberries covered in glossy delicious dark chocolate. Tasted as good as they look.

How to deal with different food likes and dislikes.

When it comes to salads our family all like different things. So when I make a salad there is a lot of food swapping on plates when it is dished up at the table. So having a BBQ dinner I decided to make individual salads according to preference. Worked so well.

Pink Lamington cake made from Real Raspberries

Aaron's birthday today and I had bookmarked a cake to do. A while ago Lauren (who's blog I follow) made this for her husband's birthday and it looked amazing.

Let me tell you it tastes stunning, like summer in a mouthful. Using real raspberries makes this a very glamorous cake. I did not have quite enough raspberries so I used boysenberries too. I put jelly in with all the berries and let it set a bit, then mixed some of that through the cream. Click on the link for the recipe if you want to make this too.

Absolutely gorgeous and worth doing again. Thanks Lauren

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My Father in Law may rue the day!!

Well.... Have you seen the flowers on my tomato plants... some close up's included just in case you missed it.

That sentence is for my father in law. The family have a long standing tomato competition for the first tomato of the year and I am feeling confident!!!

For my birthday this year my Father and Mother in Law gave me a mini propagator. Love it. All the plants are looking good. I wonder if he bought one for himself too????

Eli and I spent time potting up some hanging baskets. This on with strawberries, two others with flowers that he chose.

I have even risked planting a tomato outside!!