Ernest loves water play. Usually I park him in front of the kitchen sink filled with bubbly water and lots of unbreakables..oh yes and lots of old muslins to mop up the sploshes!
Yesterday though he insisted on pouring his water into any available recepticle...and elsewhere!
So, I sat him at the table with some plastic party cups, on that pile of old muslins, and he had a great time pouring and tipping.
I love the simple things he gets so much pleasure from.
Most dissapointing of all though is the waist padding, it's just not sturdy enough. I was tempted to try something more sturdy, like foam, but I hoped a tripling up of my usual fleece padding with lots of top stitching might be sturdy enough....it isn't!
Despite all this, I'm staying optimistic, I've learned a lot, I can draft a new pattern from this prototype, and put everything I learned making this into practice with my next attempt.
I may not be able to use this carrier, but I did enjoy sewing it up.
Using hardware like buckles and webbing doesn't come naturally to me, I'm a much more tactile seamstress, I like softness and drapery, not working with big clicky bits of plastic.
So now, off to order more big clicky bits of plastic and start planning my next full buckle conversion....
One large plastic mixing bowl
One metal tea tray
A set of measuring spoons
A funnel
A few hand fulls of rice (failed Mummy didn't dye it rainbow colours first!)
And of course, one curious little toddler...
This kept him busy for a good 45 minutes, long enough for me to prep tonights dinner, and fold some laundry
And yes, we did need to hoover afterwards
This little swatch arrived in the post yesterday, from Spoonflower. It's a simple little design made from one of my many scribbles in my many sketchbooks. Far from a perfect finished design, it still is nice to see how it might look on fabric, and how I can improve it.
today we fetched out the bunting, the pretty tablecloths and prepared for her to entertain her friends.
Yesterday we decided to explore the beach in Crosby, and Anthony Gormley's Another Place.
Angus was playing on the beach for close to an hour before he spotted the statues, and then said to me in almost a whisper, "Mummy, I think there are statues on the beach"
Clearly he was't listening when we decided on Crosby for this years picnic!
Next to the beach were these lovely rows of terraced houses looking out across sweet little parks and then out to sea.
I was enchanted by them, all painted in pretty pastels and looking perfect against the blue skies and billowing white clouds.
Today is my birthday, I've had a pleasant day with my family. a day out, a picnic, presents, and cake.
This morning I had ten minutes alone snugged up under my duvet and I imagined a little curly haired girl snugged up with me...just for a moment.
Woody and I took her some sea shells from the beach on the way home.
Life around here has been even busier than usual, I've been rushed off my feet with work for The Sling School and preparing for my other new job as childminder.
So, I've little to offer right now, just some photos from the past week.
A little monkey who clearly thinks my doodles need a touch more detail.
A large bunch of Winston Churchill Daffodils bought in memory of Merry's little boy Freddie.
The cherry blossom in my front garden.
Minor chicken dramas including an escaped dog and one poorly chicken now on the mend.
Chocolate eggs in the nesting box!
A local walk
And finally forget me nots
Regular readers will remember me making the Mei Tai a few weeks ago.
I was fairly happy with the Mei Tai, but wasn't really reaching for it.
Ernest is something of an escapologist these days, and can escape most carriers if he really doesn't want to be up, and I have begun to realise that a full buckle carrier might be the only way to keep him up when I really need to.
I could just buy one, and am lusting after a Wompat, but money is tight and I have almost everything here to make my own, so it seemed daft not to try.
I bought some buckles and webbing. (The only things I didn't have to hand), and started to plan.
I have a lovely scrap of Aqua Waves that combined with corduroy straps would make a gorgeous carrier, I also have a wrap I don't use often that I could convert.
Before I went cutting into those though, I thought I'd have a play at converting the Ellaroo Mei Tai into a full buckle.
That way I could figure out what would and wouldn't work.
I finished sewing this afternoon, and eager to try it out with Ernest, I popped him straight in.....but it was dissapointing!
I love the angle of the straps, but the straps are too long, and I can't adjust them tight enough
The top of the carrier needs to be wider. (this was a issue with the Mei Tai conversion initially)
The seat darts need to be deeper, and possibly I should curve out the bottom edge of the body to better support from knee to knee.
My attempt at a wrap strap waist belt, were not successful.