Helen's Patriotic Cake

Red velvet cake isn't exactly a British delicacy but I thought the red, white and blue theme was an appropriate way to celebrate the Royal wedding on April 29th. It was also very yummy although mine was considerably more sunken and less red than the one in the recipe I was following.

Helen's Cardigans for Baby

Having worked up to 38 weeks, I thought I'd relish having nothing to do for the first couple of weeks of my maternity leave. However, I've actually been really bored so have been knitting furiously to keep myself busy. The top cardigan is my first attempt at making a garment from shaped pieces. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out although I have some work to do on making my 'sewing together' a bit neater. The bottom one is another version of the navy stripy ones I made at the end of 2009. My knitting has obviously improved a lot since then as all the bits I couldn't understand those first times round (like the eyelet detail round the neck) made perfect sense this time. I'm obviously learning!

Second Baby Craft

I am currently expecting the second crafternoon baby (in fact, he was due yesterday but has obviously decided to be fashionably late). A couple of weeks ago my fellow crafters threw me a shower of sorts and made a mobile for the baby. My contribution was these jellies which I was really quite proud of, and they only took me about 36hrs to make in the end!

Cupcake Party

My colleague Grazyna held a cupcake party a few weeks ago. Buying ingredients in the supermarket beforehand, I got really excited about the fact that I'll soon be getting to make children's birthday cakes and all the fun that entails. However, it turns out I'm absolutely rubbish at icing cakes! Oh well. My creations are all tucked around the back of the stand, out of sight, and I can take no credit for these lovely confections which were all created by the other attendees.

Helen's Piano Bag for Mum

Mum is learning the piano so, when I saw a bag a bit like this one in Japan, I thought I would make her one. The Japanese one was printed but I appliqued the keyboard instead, using black and cream twill and then sewed it up into a neat shoulder bag that's just right for carrying around sheet music.

Helen's Christmas Neckerchiefs

Top: Laura. Middle: Mum. Bottom: Dad.

I have been continuing with my favourite pattern and knitted neckerchiefs for my entire family for Christmas. Mum's was in a cotton yarn, that I like to think of as 'Spring-weight'; Dad's was in a tweedy wool with short tails that he could easily tuck into a jacket; and Laura's was in a lovely soft merino which I imagined her wearing in a jaunty, Gallic way with a stripy t-shirt and a trench coat.

Helen's Christmas Card

Alex and I went to Bexhill-on-Sea in October and, as we were in the cafe at the De La Warr Pavilion, I looked down and saw the bubbles on the surface of my tea and thought, "With a bit of rudimentary Photoshop, that's my Christmas card". Et voila!

Helen's Dress for Laura

My friend Laura writes this great blog and is a bit of a star on the vintage scene in London. Before Christmas, I made her this dress for some parties she was going to. The top has a sweetheart neckline and princess seams, while the skirt is bias-cut with a fishtail insert. Putting a zip into the skirt was a bit of a learning curve and I seemed to spend hours handstitching the hem and lining but it was worth it in the end.

Helen's Hat and Scarf for Morven

I actually knitted this hat and scarf for Morven last Easter, then gave it to her for her birthday in August. I finally managed to photograph it in November and now it's almost March and I'm putting it on the blog.... So almost a full year from start to finish!