Here in the Southern hemisphere it is the 27th of February — which means tomorrow contributions to February’s Month of Softies project are due in. I have failed to get my Alice ready so instead I have made a very odd white rabbit which was actually heavily based on my cat pattern. I really did run out of time. Amelia saw it and shouted “No no no! That’s not right! That’s a cat rabbit!” – even she picked me up for cheating. It was my first time working with synthetic fur and that stuff is awful. Drifts of white fluff are floating across every surface and a fair proportion of it seems to have found its way into my lungs.

I mentioned to my Mum the other day that if she happened to see some old woolen blankets in op-shops to grab them for me so that I can put them through the washing machine and felt them and use them for toys. Today she pulled out of a cupboard two huge old bright red woollen blankets – which will be absolutely perfect. Tomorrow will be my first foray into machine felting and I am quite excited. Perhaps the prickly pears will have some little apple cousins.

Speaking of cousins, my brother and his wife and their little boy James came to stay this weekend. I couldn’t help but head into this visit with a fair amount of trepidation as Amelia and James have never spent any more than five minutes together without Amelia attempting to bite, scratch, push or punch the poor wee lad. But this weekend they were both a dream. They have a shared love of Fish and Chips, Monsters Inc, Sandpit shenanigans and chasey. Amelia was the perfect little hostess and even picked him a flower while she was giving him a tour of the backyard. Big sighs all round and suddenly I am entertaining ideas of extended family beach-house holidays and so on for the future again. Thank goodness.