Bake off and new beginnings

So as I'm sure you can see, the blog has been dormant or some time.  Over a year in fact, but it has been a very busy year!

Our baby has grown into a toddler and we have another baby fast on her way to becoming the same. 

We have unfortunately had to say goodbye to our cat after a fine innings of 20 years ordering us all about, and we have moved house (3 weeks before the baby arrived!).  So I make no apologies for the lack of posts.

However, I have been feeling lately that I would like to do something for me, and this blog encourages me to do those sort of projects that I might otherwise neglect as I then get to blog about them.  

So no time like the present, the girls have just gone to bed and in less than two hours Bake Off begins, and with it starts a new season of inspiration.  Every episode makes me want to try new things and our new garden is bursting with fruit to be turned into delicious baked/jammed/frozen delights.

Now is the time, the new sap is rising (slightly late, but it has been a chilly wet spring!), I want to bake and craft and visit exciting and interesting places - and I want to blog about it.  I want to share my thoughts and have a lovely record of our doings and hopefully chat with some of you lovely people out there along the way.

So look out for more regular blog posts, sharing cooking, crafting, outings and all sorts, but for now to get going here is a picture of some peanut butter cupcakes and some 'worms in the mu' brownies that I made or my sister and nieces recent joint birthday party.

See you all soon!

Pear Honey and Almond Upside Down Sponge

Arthur was hankering for an upside down pudding the other night, and while I know what he really wanted was a syrup sponge I fancied something a little fruitier so I put this together.  I think he was pleasantly surprised, I certainly enjoyed it.

Pear, honey and almond upside down sponge

Made in Water - La Bassine birth pool

Right from the start I knew that I wanted to have a homebirth, hospitals are definitely not or me, but it wasn't until during our hypnobirth classes when we watched some water births, that we considered this as an option.

The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea so I started looking around or a pool that we could use at home.  There seemed to be two options - the birth pool in a box and the made in water La Bassine.  After a good look at both we decided to go with the La Bassine as I wasn't too sure about the seat in the birth pool in a box and the La Bassine seemed to offer a larger internal space for the total dimensions.

We bought the La Bassine birth pool essential kit, including the pool, a heat retaining cover, electric pump, water pump, eco hose, tap connector, repair kit, debris net, protective sheet and a nylon storage bag, everything you need to set up, use and empty the pool.

As directed in the instructions we had a test run setting up and filling the pool.  The pump supplied to inflate the pool was very noisy, but fortunately worked very quickly, the hose was plenty long enough to reach the taps at the other end of the house and the protective sheet was huge and could have covered the entire room.

In just over an hour the pool was inflated, filled and ready to go.

Natural Dye - The Yellow Raspberry Experiment

I have a number of white muslins, baby grows and nappies that I thought it would b fun to brighten up by dying, but maternity pay being what it is, when I came to buy dye I decided it was an unnecessary waste of money.  Then while making my blackcurrant sorbet and appreciating the colour of it, I got to thinking about natural dyes.  I did some reading online about different methods of dying, and mordants to use, and then decided to have a go with what I could find in the garden.

White items to dye

My mum had mentioned earlier in the week that she ha a glut of soft fruit if I wanted to pick some so I started there.  She wasn't too keen when I told her it was for dying rather than eating though!  So I started with the yellow raspberries as she had the most of those.

Yellow raspberries waiting to boil

Homemade cloth nappies - five months later

Before Jen arrived I made a bunch of budget homemade nappies and some wool nappy covers.  I was really pleased with them, they looked cute and were very cost effective.  Five months on I must confess we are not using them, which is a little disappointing!

We are still using cloth nappies but not my own homemade ones, for several reasons.

Having not used real nappies before (or any nappies for that matter) I was a little clueless about them, and despite having done my research, there is nothing like actual use to give you perspective.  The nappies were not absorbent enough, in fact were far from it.  They need to be made from a double layer of absorbent material and/or used with boosters (additional absorbent fabric stuffed inside the nappy).  That alone wouldn't have stopped us using them, I could have easily made boosters.

Only one of my woollen covers fitted.  The crochet one was almost impossible to get on, there just isn't enough flex in the fabric to allow the shape I used to work.  Again this probably wouldn't have stopped us using them, although I definitely would have bought covers as I certainly had no time to knit another.

What did stop us using our homemade ones, is the gift we were given by a friend of some commercially made all-in-one, one size nappies.  She had used them for her son but he had outgrown them so she very kindly passed them on to us to use, and we were spoiled! I will be eternally grateful, they made a world of difference to us in the early days.

They were fab.  So easy to use, with velcro closure an a built in waterproof layer, using the nippers and covers on our homemade ones isn't really so much of a chore, but it is amazing how every little bit helps when trying to adjust to a newborn.  The homemade nappies were just that little bit more to handle, so they weren't first choice when changing.

We have bought more commercially made nappies since, from several brands (mostly preloved) and I'm not sorry.  They are so simple to use and care for and Jen seems comfortable in them.  I am looking at making some of my own again, but they will be similar to the commercial ones.  I will post about them when I get round to it, am also hoping to post some reviews of the brands we have been using.

The good news is, the wipes I made are brilliant, just what is needed, and I'm planning on running up a few more.  So pregnancy sewing wasn't a complete loss!