Appliqued onesies

So I know I have been quiet on the blogging front for a few weeks, but I have a good excuse... I have been appliqueing up a storm of onesies! Oh and getting very distracted by our Bump who has started crawling now and pulling himself up on things and generally just getting up to adorable mischief (he climbed into the dishwasher the other day!!!). He just melts my heart. Especially when he squeals with delight and charges on all fours after his furry brothers (cats), Jack and Zarkie. Good excuses for not blogging hey?

I love appliqueing onto onesies, there is something about them that just gets my creative juices flowing and calms my soul late into the evening while I blanket stitch around the designs and everyone else sleeps. I can feel myself start getting restless if I have not had a chance to do some stitching for a few days...maybe it is because I know I have orders waiting to be filled :)

So do you want to see what I have been up to? Here goes....

This hippo with the pink balloon tied to her tail is one of my favourites of a recent order I did. It appeals to my quirky side! And I love how the bright pink polka dot rhino onesie turned out! Who doesn't love a rhino? Or an elephant blowing hearts out of its trunk? ;)

The above two were also part of the same order. The poor owl looks a little startled but I love how she turned out just the same. The fabric that I used for the giraffe was originally ear-marked to make a little girls dress, but I could not resist pinching a few centimetres to use for this giraffe. I hope I will not regret it when I finally get around to sewing that dress!

   

These are more of my favourites. The bear was inspired by this quilt. I originally made Bump one like the blue one and loved it so much that I even made one in pink and made this one to sell (you can check out my Facebook page Handmade by Guppy). The lion was originally going to be for Bump, but I took so long to finish stitching it, that he had almost grown out of that particular size (8-10 kg), and so I decided to sell it. So now I owe my boy a lion onesie or shirt in a larger size! I really love how this lion turned out!

 

 These are a few more of my most recent appliqued onesies. I have already sold the turquoise rhino striped onesie. It was my absolute favourite!!! Well I hope you have enjoyed seeing what I have been up to lately. I will try to not take so long to post again :)

Keep smiling,

Jax

Make your own baby food: carrot purée

Bump really enjoys carrot purée (and thin slices of carrot if I am patient enough to slice them thinly and cook them until they are super soft) 

Making your own carrot purée for your baby is really easy! What I usually do, is I cook extra carrots when I am preparing them for dinner for my husband and I, then it does not feel like extra work.

So to make your own carrot purée:

You can cook as much as you like as it freezes well. I wash and peel the carrots and then slice fairly thinly (I aim for about half a centimetre in thickness or less, but rarely achieve perfection.., my knife skills are lacking). The reason that I want them thin, is they cook faster and are easier for Bump to eat should he want some whole. I rinse the carrot slices with boiling water and then steam until  tender. Steaming carrots can take some time if you steam using a colander over a pot of boiling water with a lid. However, steaming is well worth the wait! The carrots just taste so much better than when they are boiled. I put it down to steaming keeps all of the delicious goodness locked in! If you are lucky enough to have an electric steamer, please feel free to use it!

Once the carrots are tender, dish up what you are having for dinner and then purée the remaining with a blender for your Bub. You can thin the consistency out with boiled water, breast milk or formula. However, if you are freezing the purée, I would not recommend thinning it out until after defrosting.

Well, there you go! Could not be easier! Hope your little one enjoys!

Keep smiling,

Jax