Just for fun : Baby bag

The disadvantage of being the youngest sibling is that sometimes you don't get stuff because it is presumed that you play with your older siblings toys.
Two things struck me this year, first I had forgotten that baths were fun - not functional. Having moved to a house with a working shower we have moved away from baths, washing the girls in the shower is just so much quicker and easier. Then after a cold muddy walk on New Years Eve Annie asked to have a bath, thinking it would warm her up I agreed and filled a bubble bath for her, she had a great time with her plastic tea set playing for ages. So I guess baths are going to feature a bit more often now!

The second was that we had never bought her a working baby doll, we had meant too, when she got older but somehow had never got round to it. So with her birthday coming so soon after Christmas we thought this was the opportunity to put that right. After some discussion as to how old is too old when it came to dolls we ordered an Annabel at a reasonable price. The accesories were so pricey that I looked at buying second hand, but fell fowl to not checking before I bought and ended up with something shabby and too small for Annabel. So plan b was to make some which to be honest is what I should have done in the first place.
I didn't have a pattern but had an idea of what I wanted to create, so I used a paper template to cut out the pieces, pinned it together to check it worked then hit the sewing machine!

Change bag
The letter were attached using a permanent iron on adhesive, and the base included a pocket for a piece of card to give shape to the bag.

The pocket was made by sewing together two pieces, turning them right side out, pressing them then attaching the piece to the back of the bag using a decorative stitch.
Change mat

I also chatted to Rebecca about giving some of her stash of dolls clothes as a birthday present to Annie, she was happy to do that and in the processof getting all the dolls stuff out she and Sophie's dolls suddenly became the toy of choice! Dolls are back in vogue! To be fair Rebecca's doll has always been in the picture but hers and Sophie's are now dressed and actively being played with so Annie is now desperate for one! And the selected items have been washed and ironed ready to be wrapped.