I’m loving this* book from our local library at the moment. Like all Gecko Press books it is “curiously good”. It’s about a mother duck and her four ducklings. One of them is a bit odd but she loves them all just the same.

This page struck a chord with me:


“Mother Duck didn’t notice. She was reading”

In case you were wondering how we know she loves those ducklings, just look at the cover to see her reading to them all.

• “Guji Guji” by Chih-Yuan Chen

Sometimes the simplest things can be the most fun. Little E can get into the fabric drawers and loves it. Fat quarters are waved in the air, up high and down low, to music. Long strips are wrapped up and admired as scarves in front of the mirror. More recently, layers of “blankets” have been found laid over sleeping toys. Sometimes it drives me to frustration, but it is nice to see my stash admired and reinvented.


E raided my homespun drawer last week. While picking up the pieces, I had to admire the murky blues and yellows. She might be onto something there. The pile is now next to the ironing board, earmarked for me to turn it into something else entirely.

The fire has been going for a week solid now and so blankets for keeping warm are still at the front of my mind. I have even been making them for gifts. This one is made from two layers of merino double rib with contrast binding. The colours suggested acorns, so I just had to add one making the ideal one size fits all babies gift.