Author Archives: Abi

Boden Place Mat Tutorial!

Posted on by Abi

Family gatherings or dinner parties with friends aren’t just about the food, dressing the table plays a big part in proceedings and this tutorial teaches you how to sew your own placemats! I originally wrote this for the Boden Community which has now become the Boden Blog. You might still be able to find it if you look through the archives, but it’s much quicker to share it direct with my readers over here.

Boden Placemats

Boden Placemats

 

Home-made accessories give a wonderful feeling of accomplishment, plus they make fabulous presents if you’re going home-made this Christmas. Armed with a bundle of gorgeous Boden fabric I’ll show you just how I made mine. It’s a very quick method that will have you whipping up mats in no time at all.

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What You’ll Need (for one Mat)

23cm X 15cm piece of fabric (for the middle panel)

Two 23cm X 6cm pieces of fabric

Two 25cm X 6cm pieces of fabric

Matching Thread

Wadding

Backing Fabric

Step 1

Begin by pinning and sewing the two shorter (23cm X 6cm) pieces of fabric, one to each side of the longer edges of the middle panel. I used a small seam allowance, approximately ½cm.

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Step 2

Iron the seams open and then sew the two longer strips to the side edges (this now includes the middle panel and the two fabric strips from step 1). Iron the seams open.

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Step 3

Cut a piece of wadding and backing fabric the same size as your placemat piece is currently. Put the backing fabric down right side up. Add the placemat piece on top right side down (so the right sides of backing and placemat are facing). Then finally place the wadding on the back of the placemat piece. Sew all three pieces together leaving a 5cm gap in one side, this allows you to turn your mat the right way out. Once sewn, trim the wadding back close to the stitches and cut across the corners.

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Step 4

Turn the mat the right way out and iron. Iron and pin where you left the gap and then machine stitch close to the edge all the way around the mat. I also stitched around the middle panel to keep the three layers neatly in place.

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All you need to do now is repeat the steps above and make as many placemats as you like!

 

Boden Placemats

Boden Placemats

 

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Octonauts Toy Review!

Posted on by Abi

Octonauts Explore, Rescue, Protect! If that motto sounds familiar then chances are you have some Octonauts fans at home. These undersea adventurers are popular with children all over the world and thanks to their new range of toys from Fisher Price they’re bound to feature heavily on Christmas Lists. We were sent a few items from the range to review and today I’m sharing our thoughts.

Deep Sea Octo-Lab

‘The Deep Sea Octo-Lab opens up to reveal two floors of play inside, and comes with air-powered rescue tools for deep sea rescue. Hook up your rescue tools to the hoses, turn the dial on the base to select the tool you’d like to activate, and push down on the pump to shoot a kelp cake, launch a rescue flare, or activate the volcano! The pump also activate lights and sounds that will prompt you through the ultimate deep sea adventure. All pieces store inside. Deep Sea Station Playset includes playset with lights and sounds, Shellington Deep Sea figure, Octo Bot, kelp cake, rescue flare, volcano, lava rocks, and three air power hoses.’

OctolabMy kids were highly anticipating receiving this particular toy but did the reality live up to the hype?

It’s probably safe to say that the air-powered rescue tools are one of the most attractive features of the Octo-Lab. However you have to make sure that the hoses are really well pushed into their holes, otherwise the air-power is somewhat lack lustre. The tools don’t shoot far and wide which I personally think is a bonus as we’ve not lost any of them or accidentally poked anyone in the eye! At the end of this review I’ve included a video to show just how effective they are.

The lights and sound are great fun and the Octo-Lab is actually surprisingly loud. Batteries are required to make this feature work though and they don’t come included in the box.

From a parents point of view I love the fact that everything can fit neatly within the Octo-lab which makes tidying a breeze. From a kids point of view:

Agent G – It was wonderful and great!

Lieutenant I – I love pumping up the hose toys!

Captain N – I like Shellington and the jellyfish and the lights are brilliant!

Gup-DGup D Crab Mode

‘Barnacles, in the GUP-D, is ready to lead the crew on exciting new adventures! On land, the GUP-D’s drill can move and spin for pretend excavation and repair work! For undersea missions, submerge the GUP-D’s drill & press the fin to see the drill spin & squirt water! The rescue claw is perfect for transporting wounded creatures back to safety! Also included is Barnacles in his special deep sea suit and a Blue Crab, too!’

The Gup-D is a lot of fun and a really nice size for my youngest to carry around, I also think it complements the Octo-Lab brilliantly. My favourite feature has to be the ability to use it underwater so the claw can spin, bath-time has never been so exciting in our house!

Agent G – It’s really cool because it has a drill.

Lieutenant I – You can make different Octonauts sit in it and it can go in the bath and it squirts water which is amazing!

Captain N – I love Captain Barnacles and the squirty claw.

 Kwazii Plush

Mini Plush Kwazii

Kwazii is without a doubt the favourite character for my youngest and he was ridiculously happy when he arrived. The plush is well constructed and beautifully soft. Beyond that I can’t tell you much more because Kwazii was snaffled away by Captain N and rarely leaves his side.

Captain N – Kwazii is the best! He’s cool and he’s a pirate and he’s really soft and I love him!

Final Thoughts

All my children have really enjoyed playing with the Octonauts toys and have now requested more, which says it all really!

They appear to be well made and durable. The RRP is quite high in some cases (The Octo-Lab has an RRP of £39.99) however most stores are currently selling it for £19.99-£29.99 which seems more realistic.

Overall I don’t think any Octonauts fan would be disappointed if Santa dropped some of these down the chimney for Christmas.

The Toys in Action

What better way to explain the toys than with a little video showing them in action, enjoy!

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My Lego Shame!

Posted on by Abi

While perusing my kids Christmas Lists the other day I noticed a familiar theme recurring, Lego in all its guises from the bricks and board games right through to video games. These children love Lego! It’s hardly surprising considering the enduring fondness both my husband and I have for the bricky stuff.

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For my husband’s birthday I bought him a personalised Lego man complete with Metallica tshirt! As a family we’ve made several Lego animations which you check out on Youtube here.

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We’re all mildly (alright completely) addicted to the Lego Minifigure series. My kids are even quite adept at feeling the bags to find the right character, which explains these shelves that house their favourites. I’m sure you get the picture, we love Lego!

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But… I have a guilty secret. A shameful Lego based regret that I’ve carried around for more years than I can recall or am willing to admit! *Takes a big chest steadying breath*

I broke my brother’s Lego Technic Car!

At the time I swore it wasn’t me, truly I had no idea what had happened or why the sophisticated Lego suspension had a clean break through the plastic. It was a mystery never to be solved or remedied despite many trips to toy shops looking for spare parts.

The truth however is a dark and terrible thing. Not only had I broken the car, I’d also stolen it!

Rather sensibly I had been forbidden to play with my brother’s new gift. Mini Abi was more than a little miffed by this rebuff and I took that car and hid it under my quilt. I planned to return later when no one was looking but instead I completely forgot what I had done.

I did return but not to play with the Lego, instead I jumped up onto my bed with a bounce and a twirl and……..

Crack!

I had jumped straight down onto the car!

The carefully constructed suspension had broken in two and I knew instantly I was in serious trouble. Red faced and light of foot I smuggled that sad broken vehicle back into my brother’s bedroom, never to admit my shameful guilt.

My remorse both for the crime and the lack of admission is profound! To my brother I want to say that I’m exceedingly sorry and I’ll buy you another Lego set if you’d like. Or perhaps I could take you along to the brand new Lego Movie next year instead?

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