We're BACK!

We're back from our fabulous holiday in South Africa and is was more than we could ever have hoped for.

The tour company (34 South) were beyond fantastic. Their guides were knowledgeable, relaxed, informativeand extremely entertaining and the cars they used were better than I drive myself! I wouldn't hestitate in recommending them to anyone.

The hotels and guesthouses were fabulous. Clean, comforatble, cosy, welcoming, the staff were friendly and helpful. And the food.... oh my goodness, the food. It was just amazing!

I'll tell you all about each day and include a selection of photographs. We'll start with Day 1 tomorrow!

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

..... but I know when I'll be back again!

I can't believe it's come round so soon! This time tomorrow we'll be en-route to South Africa. I'll share all the details when we get back - but it's promised to be a truly amazing trip!

My First Tutorial...

I had a double baby shower to go to a couple of weekends ago. I LOVE making and crafting so any excuse is jumped upon! I decided to have a go at one of these.

I made do with what I had to hand and created something similar. Here's what I did;

First of all you want to make the part that rattles. I used a pin tub filled with some plastic beads.

Next we need to make it child proof. It shouldn't come apart but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Take 2 cheap cusions. Cut them open, remove and keep the stuffing (we'll be using lots of this come Christmas time!).

Draw and cut 2 circles

Cut 2 more circles from fusible interfacing and iron on

Next we want to add some ribbon. DON'T do it like I did first (if you do it this way all you're ribbon will end up inside);

This is how you want to do it. Loop your ribbon and pin it between the layers of fabric (right sides together) - loops inside and the ends sticking out - like so

Now you can sew it together. Be sure to leave an opening (I left approx 1in).

Next, clip your seams so they sit better once it's stuffed.

We're almost there. You're ready to turn it the right way out.

If it looks like this (or similar) we're ready to stuff! Remember the cusion stuffing you removed earlier? You'll want some of that now. If you don't have that you can used soft toy stuffing (I can't get that where I am at the moment, so I had to improvise).

Don't forget to add the rattle! Try and make sure it's in between lots of the stuffing so there's no hard bits poking out

Continue stuffing until it's even and nice and soft and squishy!

Once you're done stuffing, slip stitch your circle closed and ouila! You're finished!

The one I made was a gift so I chose to embroider the baby's name on the rattle. 

I've also promised that when the baby is born I'll embroider her name and DOB on the other side.

Let me know if you make on and I'd love to see your pictures!

Sorry

I'm sorry for neglecting you! I have a few posts typed that just need pictures adding - I just need to find the time to shrink them!

Back soon....