Neglect

Half a year since I last posted. Wow.  In fairness, it's been a very busy time lately.  This is just a quick post to say I haven't forgotten about the blog, and I hope to start posting again soon.

Hallowe'en

This year was the first Hallowe'en where we could start having some proper fun with Rowan.  The previous years, apart from putting him in some themed baby-grows, he's been too young to really do much with.  So this year I prepped a few activities to do, and decorated the house a bit.
Most of the shop bought decorating kits are all ceramic.  These are not overly suitable for a high octane two year old (or indeed any two year old) so I prepared some papier mache balloon frames instead.  I left it a bit late and ended up having some late nights layering up the paper.  I forgot how long this stuff takes to dry!  I also stayed up to carve the pumpkin the night before Hallowe'en. It didn't take very long as I usually use a scalpel instead of a heavy, unwieldly kitchen knife.

 

Ready for Hallowe'en fun

 We had a spooky breakfast of apple monsters.  These were so simple to make.  You cut out a wedge of apple, add a layer of peanut butter then stick half a strawberry on for a tongue.  Using a little more peanut butter, you add blueberries for eyes.  I just wish I could remember which website I found the idea from. 

 

 Apple monsters. I came across this idea online but now

can't find the website to give credit.

 

Rowan ate the berries and peanut butter

from the apple monster. The apple itself

was essentially abandoned. 

Every year I've taken a photo of Rowan in this 

pose with a pumpkin.  I'm hoping to do the same

over the next few years. I think it'll make a great

collage one day! 

 

Walking the line between spooky and friendly 

for a child's Hallowe'en can be tricky. 

This was my first attempt at creating depth with 

pumpkin carving. 

The house decorations were just a few cheapy ones from Hobbycraft.  If I'd had more time I would have liked to have made them myself, but I'm terrible for trying to take on too much then getting stressed about deadlines.  

 Hanging spider.

 

This is currently Rowan's 'say cheese' face

The papier mache balloons were a hit.  We painted them outside in the garden in the morning (hurrah for an unseasonably warm October!) and sprinkled them with glitter. A lot of glitter.  Seriously, the back garden now looks like a 70's disco floor. In the afternoon, when the balloons had dried, we stuck various bits and pieces on them. There are several bits of feral craft pieces roaming the garden now.

I got quite a lot of mileage out of this activity, which was a bit of a relief since I was prepping them for about 3 days.  

 

 Our papier mache creations. Rowan's is on the left.

I think he was going for an evil blood-streaked clown effect.

Mine is on the right. I dunno, it's a pumpkin pirate, or something.

Throughout the day I also toasted the pumpkin seeds from the carved pumpkin, made pumpkin pie, and pumpkin soup and Rowan and I made some biscuits and decorated them. It was a very busy day, and I actually managed to wear Rowan out!  I doubt I can maintain that level of energy indefinitely though.

 Tired Rowan

He was a bit fed up of being photographed at this point

and grumpily told me to stop.  

 Pumpkin pie. I'm not a fan of photos of food. It

never looks appetising to me.

Wild Place Project 5k fun run

Wild Place Project is a subsidiary of the Bristol Zoological Gardens and opened its doors to the public in 2013.  With a particular stress on preserving endangered habitats, there are several species to see from wolves to okapi, and lots of playgrounds dotted along the way for younger children.  It also boasts themed walks, climbing walls and other outdoor activities.
Wild Place Project isn't as well known as the zoo, but it's worth a visit especially as it's just half the price of the latter.

Wild Place Project is currently raising funds to build a new enclosure so they can house giraffes.  To this end, this year they hosted their first 5k run.  I signed up as it's not often you get an opportunity to go for a run around a zoo!  Registering for the run included entry for 3 guests, so my parents came up and enjoyed the attraction too.

I haven't run a race since before I had Rowan, so I thought 5k would be a nice return to running (especially since I don't get time to train - I think I've been running twice in the last month).
The start of the run took us past the wolves.  They were running up and down the length of their enclosure watching the runners with interest.  Wolves are my favourite animal, so this was undoubtedly the best bit of the run for me!  The wolves were probably responding to a predatory instinct, but it was still exciting to see them up close.
The route then took us down a muddy track as the gradient dropped.  Downhill is a good thing when running, but only on the return journey!  I remember thinking that facing the uphill section would really bite when we reached it, and I wasn't wrong!  I ended up walking a few sections as the terrain was so muddy I think I would have ended up sprawled over the ground if I ran it (plus, I was tired at that point).

It was a tough run, more cross-country than I was expecting.  But there was a nice sense of comradery among the runners.

This was a nice if misleadingly hard run.  I would definitely do it again though.

 At the finishing line

Whilst I was running Rowan spent his time obsessively on the bouncy castle.  Gareth did get a couple of photos of him, but they are bit blurry:

Boing!

After the run we had a pleasant walk around some of the site.  The meerkats were particularly endearing, and seemed very curious when people were around their enclosure.  Rowan seemed quite taken with them too, as you could get right up close to them.

Contented meerkats

There were lots of points of interest throughout the site, which was marvelous for maintaining an easily distracted toddler's attention.

Rowan loved this zebra jeep. He wasn't as impressed with

the real zebras. The zoologist in me weeps a little. 

 

 Terrifying driving - he's not even

watching the road!

 

 Big game

Mum and Dad mid-stroll

Project #8

I made Rowan another pair of trousers based on the Burda 9822 pattern.  However, I made a couple of changes as I wasn't happy with the fit of the previous pair.  I replaced the cord tie with an elasticated waist, raised the pockets as I thought they looked a bit low (I guess the pattern reflects the fashion of the times - wasn't the 90's an era of pockets dragging along the floor?), and folded the base of the pocket flap to hide the raw edges before stitching- when I followed the pattern the raw edges weren't suitably hidden and it's irked me since.

I also attempted contrast topstitching.  It would have been easier with a twin needle, hence some of the quirky lines.  It isn't until you try to topstitch in a contrasting colour that you notice your stitching isn't as straight as you thought.

The completed trouser

My - ahem - super straight topstitching

I had a few disagreements with my sewing machine with this project.  I handcut a motif to embelish on of the pockets (hurrah for Bondaweb!) and wanted to zigzag stitch it in place.  My sewing machine, in a fit of thread tension related anger, decided to only place the stitch on the wrong side of the fabric; the right side was a weird mess.  I ended up threading, re-threading, swearing, phoning my Mum for advice and swearing some more before finally taking the needle plate off and giving the machine an overdue clean.  That fixed it!
I wanted the zigzig stitch to be much smaller around the motif, but after the issues I had with thread tension I wasn't going to risk changing any settings so went with it.  It looks very amateur, but it's all practice and learning!

The troublesome motif

Sleeping like a baby

Rowan's latest hobby is removing his mattress from his bed and rearranging his bedding.  Most nights he calls Gareth or me upstairs to remake the bed, but this night I guess he was too tired and fell asleep mid-demolition.  He is tucked up inside the zip insert of the mattress like a sleeping bag. Surprisingly, the wooden slats from the bed are still on the bed - he uses them as a ladder propped against the wall sometimes.

Small acts

There are some days with parenting that leave you feeling unqualified, isolated and judged.  Today was one of those.  The day consisted of trying to herd a bolting toddler in the dentist's busy waiting room; making futile attempts to intercept limitless tantrums, and unsuccessfully trying to convince a toddler that taking a nap is not a form of tortuous punishment (seriously, I wish someone would tell me to go to sleep in the middle of the day with no hidden agenda!)
I took Rowan to the park after visiting the dentist as he was a bit apprehensive during his appointment.  I'm  not sure if I was looking particularly dejected, but another mum just struck up a conversation with me whilst we pushed our respective sons on the swings.  It was only idle small talk but somehow it rallied me for the rest of the day.  When Rowan later slid right off the slide and heavily onto his bottom (it was raining and the slide was very wet), and I was feeling guilty about not having the foresight to have prevented it, the same mum casually said that she was surprised how slippery the slide was and the same thing would have happened to her.

When you have days where you feel you don't know what you're doing, and it seems everyone else is finding it breeze, it is reassuring and encouraging when someone takes the time to support you.  Sometimes all it takes is a chat about the weather with a stranger to bolster self-belief.

Project #7

This duvet cover and pillow slip set has been sitting around unfinished since I made project #1, my first duvet cover.  I only had the poppers to sew on but it's taken 8 months to finally get around to completing it.
The material was from a stash given to me, and I was unsure what to use it for.  Initially I thought about making some curtains for the office, but it is a fairly thin fabric, and to be honest it didn't really match the room.  Despite the feminine pattern, I decided to make it into another duvet cover for Rowan.  This has proved a good move as lately his night-time pull-ups have been leaking!

The duvet cover really needed a lot more poppers than the 3 I sewed on, but that's what was left in my sewing box so it'll do for now.  The combination of delicate embroidery and heavy handed toddler probably means it won't have much longevity anyway.

Extra bedding for a leaky toddler.

I don't iron. 

Close-up of the embroidery. Not the most

boyish of fabrics but it fairly muted