Renting toys vs buying

So I have been thinking about my earlier blog post where I wrote about a toy renting service. Some comments from friends and pondering lead me to conclude that it's not worthwhile for us. We don't buy our dear one many toys (after looking at a friend's facebook photo of her child's bedroom this was really obvious) and the ones we do buy have been a great success after we research carefully online (using the reviews on Amazon for example). My friend who was using the service said it was only until her child's first birthday when he would get lots of toys (we experienced the same). So if you're already spending R1200 on toys, then this service is for you, otherwise buying second hand, borrowing, swapping or making few careful purchases will be cheaper.

Halloween

Halloween is not a big thing in South Africa - it's very alternate, so it's not surprising that this year we carved our first pumpkin. I also made pumpkin pie for the second time (it was delicious) - using a very traditional recipe. I didn't even need a tin of pumpkin - just used the stuff we carved out and boiled it for an hour or two. We had a braai for our friends who were visiting us from Ireland and enjoyed the great weather we are having. Now I can't bear to part with this dear pumpkin who is sitting on our veranda....

Tutorial: Ikea cushions

I finished the second (and last) Lillberg chair cushions on Sunday night. I made a mistake with the measuring of the patchwork on the bottom cushion and ended up with it vertically instead of horizontally like the others, but I think it looks quite nice. I also sewed these cushions with a 2cm seam allowance around the square edges so they are nice and snug and look much better than the first set.

I also took some photos while I was making them so I could create a photo tutorial.

What you need to make the set of cushions:
4 metres of fabric around 80/90cm wide.
2 x 90cm zip
1000m cotton thread

Cut out the following pieces for the bottom cushion:
2 x back/zip pieces - 90cm by 11cm
2 x side pieces - 61cm by 17.5cm
1 x front piece - 64cm by 17.5cm
2 x top and bottom pieces - 64cm by 74cm

Cut out the following pieces for the top cushion:
2 x back/zip pieces - 90cm by 11cm
2 x side pieces - 40cm by 17.5cm
1 x front piece - 64cm by 17.5cm
2 x top and bottom pieces - 64cm by 52cm

How to

1) Sew the zip on using the two zip/back pieces, effectively joining the pieces together.

• First pin a 2cm seam along the longest on both pieces

• Then pin a piece onto the zip - using the same pins you used to pin the seam. Make sure that you overlap the folded edge at least to the center of the zip.

• Put the zip foot on your sewing machine and sew with the foot as close to the center of the zip as possible. Continue until one piece is sewn onto the zip.
  
• To sew around the zip pull, I open the zip about 5cm, sew along about 4cm, then lift up the foot (with the needle in the fabric of course) and close the zip.
  

• 

• Repeat with the second zip/back piece
  

2) Sew the two side pieces (right sides together) onto the zip piece - using a 1.5cm seam allowance. Note: If the completed zip piece is too wide (wider than 17.5cm) then trim it using the side pieces as a guide.3) Sew the front piece onto the the two side pieces (also using a 1.5cm seam allowance) - so all the pieces are joined up into a circle/tube. Make sure you don't get a twist!

4) Pin the tube onto the top and bottom pieces, right sides together.

• Start with the front piece because it is the only piece that matches the width of the cushion cover, then continue around the tube until you have pinned it around the top rectangle piece.
  

• Sew along the rectangle, this time using a 2cm seam allowance (unless you want to top stitch or stitch in a cord).
  
• To make the corners nice, sew up to 2cm away from the edge, lift up the foot - with the needle in the fabric, turn the fabric 90 degrees left, fold fabric underneath neatly and so it is out of the needle's new path (as much as possible anyway)

• Repeat the same for the bottom cushion piece. It's a good idea to open the zip a few cm so you can turn the cushion the right way when you are done.
  

5) Optional: do a top stitch around the edge of the top and bottom pieces - you can also pin in a cord and sew the cord into the edge for a professional finish. Use the zip foot.

Dummy update

So the bye-bye binky story made it seem really simple - just poke-poke and snip-snip - end of story. Oh dear. The holes made one dummy really undesirable, but the other (our favourite) didn't seem to make a difference). When I cut the top off, it was all hell broke loose. Admittedly I did this just before bedtime, but we had hysterically crying for over 45 mins until I cracked and gave her the dummy I had been hiding in my handbag. Shame, poor noodle. Perhaps it is not so bad if she only has it for sleeping....

Nabaztag in South Africa

A timely blog post from Elle Decoration on the Nabaztag (they are about four years too late, lol) reminded me I need to get my nabaztag (diggitybugs) out of the box in the garage and connect him to my wifi network I recently installed. At first he wouldn't connect which made me sad, but I changed the wifi channel to 11 and all was well. I changed the location to Cape Town and now I get the sunny weather flashes all day long. I had to take off my gmail notifier (he used to read out my email subject lines) because I didn't think the nanny would appreciate it :)

Renting toys

As they say it - "tired of spending a small fortune on toys for your pride and joy only for them to be discarded to the bottom of the toybox" - then take a look at Rent-a-toy. They also do "holiday packs" and parties. The smallest subscription is R100 a month (for a box of toys with a retail value of at least R600), so I'm not sure if this is a good investment - any ideas on how to calculate that?

Shwe-shwe + ikea lillberg chair

I finally finished my first patchwork and made two sets of cushions for one of our Ikea Lillberg chairs. I had made one before - click for the blog post with a pattern for the bottom cushion.

The patchwork pattern I choose was fairly easy technically (just sew strips of rectangles together) but selecting which pieces go where is something that either you have a knack for, or comes after years of experience.

I am not that pleased with the results (although it looks pretty good in the photo I must confess). The cushions are a little baggy - I plan to re-do the seams with a 2cm allowance. And I don't like the patchwork arrangement - any tips are welcome. I'll post a pattern once I've done the second chair.

Incidentally, if you want a shwe-shwe charm pack, they are for sale in African cotton's Etsy shop.