Lavender Cupcakes

Again, not the best pic - but here are two of the lavender cupcakes I made for the girls at my Baby Massage class this week!

I was a bit dubious at first, but have to admit that they did taste rather lovely!

January Monthly Make: Pixie Hat

Here is another pixie hat I have made for a friend's new baby ... apologies for the quality of the photo but I am having issues with iphoto (and along with feeling a bit snotty, having just eaten a disgusting meal cooked by my own fair hand (I forgot about the pasta while trying to calm a fractious baby!) I have lost all patience with it!!)

This hat is my January entry into the Felt Fairy's Monthly Make Challenge!

Naughty Victoria Plum Does Some Baking

I have had to cut down on my baking!

I was baking cakes and eating (most of!) them. This wasn't helping my attempt to lose the 'Mum Tum" (ahem! and the rest!!)

But I love baking soooooo much!

I was given the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook for Christmas - and decided that I would bake some cupcakes to take to my Baby Massage class on Friday morning.

I opted for the 'Black Bottom Cupcakes' ... initially I thought the recipe sounded a bit fiddly...but it wasn't at all. Oh my goodness! Dark choc sponge, with a dollop of cheesecake filling (did I mention the chocolate chips?) topped off with cream cheese frosting ...

D E L I C I O U S!!!

And went down very well with the girls at Baby Massage.

I'll be making the Lavender Cupcakes for next week's class!

Ooooh Fabric and Yarn!!

I have just got back from a very successful trip to the Stitching and Craft Show at Sandown.

I had a budget in mind (and I almost kept to it until I saw some yarn which I couldn't resist!). As I only have one my month on my full salary before I go onto statutory maternity pay, I thought I would stock up on the crafty bits and bobs I need to see me through the next few months (I will be heading to The Felt Fairy once I have been paid!)

I couldn't resist these fat quarters .... I love the Beatles fabric! Maybe I will make Baby Plum a funky Elvis skirt for the summer?

I bought a couple of bargain 5 half meter rolls of fabric. I am thinking of making a greeny blue patchwork quilt and well, I just couldn't resist the Liberty (style?) fabric

Let's not forget my first love ... Knitting!!

Some lovely Rowan yarn (is 10 rolls excessive?) It was half price, so couldn't not buy it now, could I? I have a lovely pattern for a knitted pinafore dress. Baby Plum will look cute as a button in it. And talking of buttons, I picked up some gorgeous ladybird buttons to accessorise the dress with!

And my final purchase ... this lovely little book ... I will be making Baby Plum some knitted veg!!

This wasn't a huge show and I was a little disappointed that there were no jelly rolls of fabric for sale as I had planned to get one (being a little bit of a cheat for my first quilt!) and I would have liked to get a Clothkit for myself and Baby Plum. I went along with two of my crafty pals Brocante Belle and HannahRosie.

Brocante Belle has recently started blogging - she was also a bored civil servant (like me and Mr Plum) but she escaped!! She needs a bit of encouragement to keep blogging about her creations - so go and take a look at her patchwork quilt - it was the first one she made and is fabulous!

HannahRosie is a crochet whizz ... I am very jealous of her lovely crocheted animals. I have added a link to her Ravelry page (if you are on ravelry, take a look!) Baby Plum is very lucky to be the proud owner of one of her crocheted donkey's!

An Award!

The lovely Justine over at Emma Bear Forever has awarded me a Stylish Blogger Award! Thanks!!

I need to tell you seven facts about myself and then award another 15 of my favourite blogs.

Hummmmm seven facts about me:

1. I grew up in the country and moved to London in 2001 as a compromise - Mr Plum refused to move to the country and I refused to move to the North.

2. I have been vegetarian since I was 14 ... so that will be 19 years then!

3. I love to read

4. I had a baby in August 2010

5. I live in London but never ever see anyone famous ... and yet friends will visit me and see a hundred famous people on their way to my house!

6. I love chai lattes and ginger biscuits - they are my one weakness apart from ...

7. ... Afternoon Tea, as Spencer Tracy said "when I die I want to go to Claridges"

I would like to nominate the following blogs which both cheer and inspire me:

1. Retromummy

2.Mary Poppins

3.Smilernpb

4. The Victorians Didn't Even Like Pink

5.Scented Sweetpeas

6. Thrifty Mrs

7. Vintage Vicki

8. Do You Mind If I Knit?

9. Kelly's Recipes For Life

10. The Felt Fairy

11. Emma Bear Forever

12. Red Gingham

13. Faerie Nuff

14.Lululizinlalaland

15. Florence and Mary

Odeon Newbies

Today me and Baby Plum went to the pics.

Yes, that's right - I took my baby to the cinema!!

We watched "The King's Speech" at the Newbie screening at Streatham Odeon this afternoon.

The sound is turned down slightly, the lights are turn up a little, lovely ladies walk around with tea and biscuits, some babies cry (mine didn't!), some burp and fart (that one was mine!) but we all managed to enjoy a wonderful film! I am so glad that I have discovered these screenings!

I know that Picturehouse cinemas also have similar screenings, so I will be checking these out in future too!

Baby Plum: Time to Wean

Can you believe that Baby Plum is 5 months old?

I am starting to think about the next stage of our adventure! I have exclusively breastfed her for (almost) 5 months ... but due to Health Visitors making me panic about her weight (not putting weight on as fast as they would like) and teething making breastfeeding hard for her, I have decided to move onto formula feeding. I do feel a bit sad as I would have liked to have continued to breastfeed for a bit longer. But heh ho!

I am beginning to think about weaning!

I definitely don't want to start before her 6 month birthday but am thinking about trying 'baby led weaning'. Through my google searches I have found some very interesting articles and blogs on this subject - in particular This Mummy Loves ... I thought that Dawnie's idea of sitting her daughter at the table when she was 5 months old while she and her husband ate dinner was a fantastic idea. We sat Baby Plum in her Bumbo while we ate on Sunday ...
daddy ... can I have a sip of beer please?

I have ordered a book from Amazon and look forward to giving it a try in a few weeks time!

A Monthly Make 2011

Annie, the Felt Fairy is organising the Monthly Make 2011. Do you pledge to make something each month? I do!

Pompom Pixie Scarf

A scarf to match the Pompom Pixie Hat!

Woohoo! A GIVEAWAY!

I had a few extra followers over the festive period which took me to over 50 ... and as promised, I will be holding a giveaway to celebrate!

You will get an entry for each of the following:

1. Become a follower of this blog

2. Add my giveaway button to your blog

3.Follow me on Twitter

4. Leave a comment on this post letting me know whether you have done 1, 2 or 3 ... or all three!

I haven't decided on a prize yet ... it will be a surprise!

The lucky blogger will have their name pulled out of a biscuit tin at

9pm on 30 January!

Good Luck!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had merry Christmases and are enjoying 2011 so far!

The Plums had a lovely festive season spending two weeks visiting our families. Baby Plum was the centre of attention with lots of cuddles from both sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles, great-aunts and great-uncles. Mr Plum and I even had two nights out! I even finally got my hair cut!

I was spoilt rotten ...

My parents had my Jamie O book autographed for me!

Fave smellies and a new CK sewing box

Uggs, ipod, chocs, CK dressing gown, CDs and more books ... I was a very lucky girl!

Awww ... baby Plum this afternoon - worn out after a trip to B&Q with her daddy!

So, what does 2011 have in store? Well, I have eight more months of maternity leave and eight more months of doing lovely things with Baby Plum. We started our baby massage classes on Friday at the local SureStart centre - fab!

I am also planning to do more sewing - I am planning to make a quilt and have a go at a Clothkits creation ...

Merry Christmas!

We made it.

5 hours for a journey which is usually 2.5 and an hour at Oxford services to feed Baby Plum ... through ice and snow, we made it to my parents house! Greeted with hot tea and homemade biscuits ... we were so relieved to be here!

So now it is Christmas Eve, the choccies are out and the carols are on the radio.

Merry Christmas to you all!

I will be back in the New Year - enjoy your festivities!

(A Bit Early!) My New Year's Resolution

I've woken up on a snowy, icy Sunday morning feeling a bit glum as we had planned a lovely family Christmassy afternoon - but I think that the roads will be too treacherous for my parents to drive down to London ... snow is only good when you don't have to travel anywhere. I'm really hoping that we will be able to get to my parents for Christmas ... I have been looking forward to spending Christmas with them since last Christmas (with my inlaws! ha ha ha). Actually, I have been looking forward to Christmas with my parents since the last Christmas we spent with them in 2008!

Anyway ... having relinquished my side of the bed to a 4 month old cutie pie, I am sitting in the living room with a steaming cup of tea reading a few blogs and thinking about the last few Christmassy things I need to get done....and planning my 2011 craft projects!

My new year's resolution for 2011 is ... to make a patchwork quilt!

Just the one resolution ... and am prepared for it to take the whole year ... but I just need to lay my hands on some lovely fabric ... hmmmm

The lovely Retromummy is having a fabric giveaway over at her blog - fingers crossed for me!

Go over and have a look!

Truffles

Every year I make truffles ... but I think I am going to have to stop as this year I think I have scoffed more than I have actually made!

Here are my white choc and raspberry truffles ... (I made 10 last weekend - not sure where they (ahem!) disappeared to!)

And here are my chocolate orange truffles ...

You can find the recipe here

Lebkuchen

On 1st December, Ruth over at The Pink Whisk began her Twelve Days of Christmas recipes ...

On the first day of Christmas the Pink Whisk sent to me ....

Lebkuchen

The plan was to make these biscuits and give them to friends as pressies....but I have only just managed to get them done (with a bit of sparkly glitter!) so I will take them home to my parents next week ... if there are any left!

Christmas Cake!

Here's my glittery holly Christmas Cake! The glitter looks a bit yellow in the pic ... but looks all lovely and sparkly in real life!

I had some help with the decorating ...

How are your Christmas preparations going?

Christmas Stocking

Here is the Christmas Stocking I have finally got around to making for Baby Plum! I can't wait until Father Christmas fills it full of goodies for her!

Christmas Cake and Experimenting with Babywearing

Having spent last week sat mainly on the sofa holding baby Plum because i) of the snow and ii) baby Plum has decided she hates her cot/gym/bouncy chair ... everything that isn't mummy! I thought I would give "Babywearing" a go ....

So I popped Baby Plum into the sling and headed into the kitchen to marzipan my Christmas cake ...

This year I have followed Ruth Clemens excellent tutorial so I sliced off the slight dome

Then ate the bit I had sliced off ... delicious!

One marzipanned cake ... not sure how much Baby dribble made it into the cake!!

Turns out that Baby Plum also hates the sling so I am back on the sofa, catching up with Replay, doing a bit of knitting, and babe in arms!

Blackberry Brandy

I have made Sloe gin for the last couple of years and thought I would try something different this year ...

I put equal measures of blackberries and caster sugar into a jar ...

And topped it up with the cheapest brandy I could find (Sainsburys Basics was under £8)

As with my Sloe gin, I will shake the jar regularly and leave to steep for about 6 months ... I hope that it will be worth the wait!

Feeling Festive

The pictures don't really do my cosy little living room and justice ... remember the Christmas bunting I made last year?

Our lovely new fireplace and gas fire which we have finally had installed!

And our tree!

Welcome to my blog to any new readers who have found me recently ... how about a little giveaway when I get 50 followers?