Ikea Antilop High Chair Cover

Who doesn't love the Ikea Antilop high chair? It's lightweight, easy to dismantle, easy to clean and most importantly of all, it's £13!!!

I really wanted a cover for the highchair to make it a little more comfortable whilst Elsa munches and I didn't like the £6 one that you can buy from Ikea as the sides are just in the right place for grubby fingers to poke. So I was doing a little Pinterest digging and I found that some clever people have made theirs with their own fair hands, so I thought I would take a little stab at it, can't be that hard, right? 

I can honestly say that this cover was ridiculously easy to make, infact I made it during Elsa's afternoon nap (with a little time to check Instagram of course). I'm really proud of this cover, infact I would say that it is one of my favourite DIY's ever.

I found a printable pattern here http://www.instructables.com/id/Ikea-ANTILOP-Highchair-Cushion/ which I have adapted slightly to make the cover reversible (twice as long inbetween washes, bonus!) So here's what you will need:

- Two types of fabric, just a little bit bigger than the pattern (I decided on a floral and a chevron, you never know what mood you're gonna be in!)

- Wadding/Batting

- Pattern printed from above website

- Sewing machine (not pictured)

-Thread (not pictured)

-Scissors (not pictured)

-Iron (not pictured)

Put your favourite fabric on top of the wadding making sure that they are bigger than the seat pattern and then using your sewing machine, stitch them together in a random manner, this makes sure that your wadding isn't floating around inside your seat cover, here is a close up of how I stitched them together. 

Now pin your pattern to your stitched fabric and carefully cut out, ensuring that you allow 1cm seam allowance, and then repeat this process with your second fabric.

After you have done this, cut out the other pattern piece (the sort of semi-circle) in both of your fabrics, this will be the piece that hooks over the back of the chair to keep it in place. 

For some reason this image is upside down. Does any one know how to rotate images on Blogger?

 The thin pieces of chevron fabric on the top left of the image are the ties that go around the leg post to secure the cover to the chair, these are so easy to make (there's not a pattern piece for these).

Cut two lengths of fabric (either fabric will do) about 20cm long and 5cm wide. I pressed both sides over to meet in the middle and then folded in half, to secure, just sew down the edge

Before you fold in half, fold over the top edge that will be showing and press, cutting out the sides so that they don't stick out when sewn (as per bottom picture).

Here is what the finished ties should look like, you will see that only the top end is neat as the other will be stitched into the seat of the cover. 

With your two semi-circles of fabric, just sew right sides together along the straight edge only, then turn right sides out and press your seam.

Now, pin the leg post ties to the bottom as per the picture, ensuring that you leave about 1cm from the leg post gap and the semi circle to the top (both need to be pinned to the right side of the fabric). It's entirely up to you whether your top 'hook' matches the front or not, if you want them to mis-match, pin like I did.

Now, pin the other side of the seat cover right sides facing, ensuring that the leg post ties and top hook are on the inside, like so.

Now all you need to do it sew both pieces together, but make sure you leave a gap big enough to get your hand in for turning. 

Once stitched, I snipped at the fabric on the corners, just to make sure that the edges are clean once your work has been turned. 

Now, all you need to do is turn the whole thing the right way around and sew up your turning hole, I just ran along with the sewing machine rather than doing an invisible hand stitch, because once I start a project I want it done, and I am not a perfectionist, so a few visible stitches wont bother me too much!

Once you have sew your work closed, just give the whole thing a quick once over with the iron. 

Also, as you can see, the pattern allows space for the safety harness not to be affected, great huh?

So there you have it, easy peasy! Let me know if you decide to make one of these nifty little things and how you get on!

Lots of love xxx

Feeling sad

Today I'm having one of those days where you feel low but you just can't put your finger on why.

Elsa and I had a lovely morning after Dane left for work, she was happy and content, napped ok, but when I tried to get her to nap this afternoon she was a nightmare.

I suppose I have created this by letting Elsa nap on me during the day as it was always the easiest option, she will not nap in her cot for longer than 30-45 minutes and she always wakes up cranky like she is still tired. I would love to be one of those mums who can just put their baby in their cot at nap time and they actually nap in it!! How it would be lovely to get crap done. All that being said, she sleeps fantastically at night.

Do any other mums feel like they are just going to explode if they don't get some alone time? Don't get me wrong, I love Elsa so much and I realise how lucky I am to have her, however today I am having a day where I feel like I just want to clock off.

I have been feeling really anxious lately with so many things running through my mind, I often wake up worrying about things like money or returning to work, and also I feel like I don't take Elsa to enough baby groups. They just mess up her nap schedule and I get worried about taking her out shopping etc as I worry about feeding her in public.  Does anyone else feel like this mummy world is just so competitive, and somehow you don't quite fit?

I've left Elsa with Dane as I wrote this as I was having one of those 'I'm going to explode' moments, and now I feel like I can add bad mum/wife to the mix of things to worry about.

Another thing which is worrying me is my post baby body, it doesn't feel like mine anymore, I feel flabby and wobbly and generally just gross. I don't get time to do my hair, nails or makeup and whilst these seem like such small, trivial things, I do feel that they are important to not only feel like a woman, but also like you.

I know that I sound like a whingebag and really I realise how lucky I am, I suppose I'm just having one of those days. I'm sorry if I have brought any of you down with me.

Elsa's 8 Month Update

So, I've been crap, again, neglecting this page! New Year's resolution, amongst other things to to be a much better blogger!

Elsa is contentedly asleep and I have a lovely cold beer, so I thought I would do a little update.

Elsa is now eight and a half months old, crazy to think that she will be one in three and a half months, I just cannot believe how quickly this year, and more importantly, my maternity leave has gone.

So, here goes!

Clothes
Elsa is so long! She is tracking the top percentile, at 6 months she was 74cm long, which I am told, is long for a 6 month old. Despite her length, she is still wearing 6-9 months clothes, however she did get alot of 9-12 month clothes for Christmas, which I have been sneaking on her (am I the only one who can't resist dressing them in something new?)

Sleep
The dreaded sleep update! Eek! Dane and I really did not do well with sleep deprivation in the early months and we have had our fair share of sleepless nights. However, touching wood, Elsa now sleeps through, we put her to bed after her bottle at around 7pm and she will usually sleep until 7am (ish), obviously this does change, sometimes it 6am, sometimes it's 8am. This is like a dream come true for us, as that 5 month sleep regression was hard, I mean, hard!

Diet
Weaning has been relatively easy for us as we have been blessed with a good eater. Initially we introduced Elsa to solids with mush, however, Elsa told us herself that she wanted to lead us and now she is fully baby led. Initially, I did have reservations about baby led weaning, as I was concerned that she wouldn't get the nutrition from the food, and also, I hate waste, however she as been amazing! It's crazy how a 6 month old with no teeth took to chewing!

Now, Elsa has a bottle when she wakes and then her breakfast about 30-60 minutes later, usually she will have toast or something similar with some fruit. She usually eats lunch around 12pm after her morning nap. She will have a bottle in her afternoon and then tea (Yorkshire lass) around 5:30, this is usually eat with Dane and I, and is usually what we eat.

There are some amazing ladies on Instagram who post daily pictures of what they feed their baby led weaned babies and I get a lot of inspiration from them!

Milestones/Firsts
Elsa started army crawling at about 7 months and just over the last week or so she has got onto her knees, not yet crawling on them, however she is trying so hard, it must be so frustrating wanting to do something but not being able to.

Also, Elsa can now stand with support, which is fantastic as she wasn't much of a weight bearer until she was 6 months old.

I am also pleased so that that Elsa finally has a tooth!!!! Her second is well on it's way, Calpol has been my best friend recently and Sophie has been Elsa's.

I think this is really clever, but she has started turning the pages of her books, so cute!

Likes/Dislikes 
Elsa loves the TV remote, my iphone and the controller to Dane's PS4! Also, over Christmas, she took a liking to a tub of Roses, tipping them out after I put them away was a massive source of amusement.

Her favourite things to eat are toast and tinned pears!

This month I think the clingyness may have started, she really doesn't like it when we leave the room for brief moment and she has taken a dislike to Dane's fluffy wolf slippers.

Christmas
I suppose the biggest thing that has happened over the last month is Elsa's first Christmas. She enjoyed opening her copious amounts of presents and also her first Christmas dinner, which she devoured, but she did share a little with the floor.

It was quite difficult at times over Christmas as she was out of her routine, which she loves, but also because of her teeth, they really have caused her some pain, 2 down, only 18 to go.

So, that's what has been happening in the world of Elsa, however I have failed to mention that every day she grows more lovely than the last, her smile lights up her whole face and it's hard to explain how much I love her.

So, here's to 2015, let's see what this year brings. Have any of you reading this made any New Year's Resolutions? This year, I vow to stick to mine.