Rhubarb and Strawberry Sorbet :: A Recipe ::

For Easter weekend we headed down to Johnny's grandparents house, which has become so much of a tradition, Milo considers this trip 'going to Easter'.  Whilst there, among all the many wonderful dishes and copious amounts of chocolate on offer, we sampled some rhubarb sorbet, created by Johnny's Grandpa.  I couldn't believe how delicious it was.  It had such a sweet flavour that I can't quite put my finger on, but ever since then I've been dreaming of attempting my own version.

So when my lovely next door neighbour presented me with 2 sticks of rhubarb last week,  it seemed like the perfect time to have a go, I already had half a punnet of strawberries sitting in my fridge, so I figured this classic combination seemed too good to miss.

I'm so pleased with how this turned out, adding the strawberries really brings it together I think. I'm especially grateful for this taste of summer on a dull, grey, rainy day like today! 

I don't have an ice cream machine, so this recipe assumes you don't either, though if you do I'm sure it's fairly simple to make that work too.

Baby Blankets ::

Exactly how many homemade blankets a baby needs, I'm not entirely sure, but with the few I have kept from when Milo was a baby and the 3 I've already started for the new baby, I'm fairly sure I'll have more than enough!

When I say the, '3 I've already started' I mean just that, they're no where near finished yet.  I don't have a great track record of finishing blankets, so we'll see how this goes.

However these are the baby blankets I currently have in progress ::

A colourful heart granny square blanket.  I'm using DMC petra in a range of lovely bright colours and the pattern I wrote for a heart granny square many moons ago.  I've actually reworked this a little and will be updating the original pattern shortly, to what I feel is a better version.  I'm going to finish each block with white, joining the squares as I go.  I'm only about halfway through the squares and they need a bit of blocking, but I'm really pleased with how it's going so far.

Second up is a basic granny square, using Rowan Felted Tweed DK and I just plan to keep going until I run out of yarn, which will be soon I think.  This was the first one I started, way back when I first found out I was pregnant and needed something simple to work on.

And lastly, I started this on Saturday. A simple knitted chevron blanket, pattern from the purl bee.  We were off to the cinema to watch Tinkerbell and the Pirate Fairy (pretty dire in my humble opinion but kept the boy entertained) and I really needed something simple I didn't need to look at to keep me occupied.  After a quick search of ravelry this came up and thought it looked perfect.  I'm using Red Heart with Love, I'm hoping I might be able to dye it on completion, I'm thinking some kind of ombre effect, using Kool Aid, but as it's 100% acrylic this might not be possible.  I'll do a test at some point to see.

Now it just remains to be seen if I ever actually finish any of them!

This Week ::

A round up of some of my favourite moments from my Instagram this week ::

Finding Inspiration :: A Room for Milo ::

As I'm pregnant and all, I sensibly decided now would be a good time to give our whole house a bit of a overhaul, because you know heavy lifting and painting are two things you should definitely make sure you're incorporating into a safe pregnancy!

Milo's room is first up, I'm moving him completely, due to some damp issues in his current room. On emptying, what was the spare room, of all it's contents, I thought 'well as it's empty it would be foolish not to paint it', as you do.

Milo decided after much deliberation, that he wanted his room to look like 'Bart Simpsons, from the Lego house'.  So after some consultation with the paint chart we choose 'Natural Twine' from Wilkinson's for the walls.  I'm sure it's not normal for a 5 year old to choose to have a 'beige' bedroom, but I figure it's a good base to add some colourful furniture to.

Of course I since took to pinterest to search out some gorgeous colourful bedrooms and just the right
accessories for the job.

Click the little pictures at the bottom to see the original source of the images above, or click the big picture to see more of my Room for Little Ones pins over on pinterest.

The key points I'm thinking of working with, from Bart's room are the green flooring, red lamp, purple bedding and colourful furniture.  Fortunately Milo has a lot of white furniture already, so painting it up in bright colours shouldn't be a problem.  To replicate Bart's posters I thought I'd get Milo to do some nice pictures for me (maybe even a Krusty the clown drawing!) and put them up in some simple frames.  I also think the addition of a pin board to keep all his school certificates on would be a really lovely idea.

It's all going very slowly at the moment, but I hope to share the finished article with you soon.

23 Weeks ::

The baby now weighs as much as a mango, according to my baby centre app.
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about baby size as fruit comparison, for a start I'm no fruit weight expert, but a mango really can vary quite substantially in terms of size.
All is fairly well with the baby as far as I'm aware, you really do get a lot less care with your second pregnancy.  She's moving lots, still mostly flutters, no big kicks or movements yet, although the hiccups can be quite violent!

As for me, apart from the dreadful cold I've been fending off, all is well.  I mean, I'm a hormonal wreck, that can burst into tears at the slightest thing, Milo writing a beautiful message to his best friend on his birthday is the latest to tip me over the edge and I'm fairly sure Johnny won't forget to bring me home chocolate again, after my last reaction to that misdemeanour, but generally I am well.

I had a real moment of 'oh my I'm a having a girl' the other day,  I don't think it had really sunk in before, to be honest, half the time I'm not entirely sure I really believe I'm having another baby at all.
My Mum rang me, whilst sorting out her house for her big move to consult with me on what I would like to keep from the hoards of belongings she has accumulated over the years.  This is a fairly regular conversation we have at the moment.  After my initial cries of 'I don't want anything, chuck it all away', she told me 'I'm not throwing out the dolls house or dolls crib, but you're welcome to either of them'.  Suddenly I had a vision of my daughter, in a bedroom with toys from my own childhood.  It seems so strange to think of another girl joining our boy dominated household.  I'm so used to having a son, I wonder how different it will really be?

Of course I tell myself now, I will not bring her up as a girl, but as a person, she will have no more or less dolls than her brother, but I wonder how easily swayed towards girlyness I will become once she's here?

Poorly ::

Urgh, as the title suggests I am in fact, poorly, it's just a cold, but boy is it getting me down.  I'm now into my fourth day and I've really had enough.
I'm guessing the fact I haven't managed to shrug it off yet has something to do with pregnancy, does pregnancy give you low immunities?
I'm under strict instructions from the mr to do nothing today but relax and sleep, I am not to get out of bed until it's time to do the school run.  I have no doubt he's right and that is exactly what I need, but sitting here doing nothing when there is so much to do, is actually more difficult than you might think.

I've set up camp with lots of crochet, some baby knits in need finishing up, I have a couple of episodes of Game of Thrones to catch up on and the brand shiny new copy of Inside Crochet which just fell through my door, I have orange juice and lemsip and strepsils and karvol capsules and vicks and I'm hoping that a day of nothing will be exactly what I need to get back to normal health, wish me luck!

Win :: Lilley Handmade Ninja Companions ::

This week I'm giving you the chance to win 6 Ninja Companions from my own etsy shop, Lilley Handmade.
I've been making and selling items on etsy since the day I discovered it existed.  I love it so much and really believe that if you want to make a living selling your handmade wares etsy is the place to do it.

I've put together a collection of 6 ninja figures which are big sellers in my shop and am offering you the chance to win these little companions.  I sell sets of 6 Ninja Figures in my shop for £25.

All you need to enter is fill in the rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you haven't yet signed up to shop on etsy you should definitely do so, if you follow my link you'll get yourself a £5 gift certificate towards your first purchase and if you fancy setting up your own shop, follow this link and you get your first 40 listings free of charge!