Before you begin, you’ll need to wash any fabric that you’re using to make sure that the colours don’t run.

You will need

A long-sleeved bodysuit (I used these 6-9 month size from Marks and Spencer)
Some fabric for the ukulele body
Some brown fabric for the ukulele neck
Some pattern paper (or baking parchment does the job nicely too!)
A pencil
Some sharp fabric scissors
Pins, needle and matching thread
Ukulele baby bodysuit templates – these are based on a soprano size uke, so use the inner lines on the templates for the 6-9 month size suit

Step 1

Trace the templates onto your pattern paper, and then cut out each piece of fabric.

Step 2

Carefully pin the pieces onto the bodysuit as shown. You could glue them on first if you like – I didn’t do that, but it would help to keep them secure as you sew.

Step 3

Using matching thread and small stitches, sew the body of the ukulele onto the bodysuit. It’s easiest to start where it meets the neck, so that you can secure both pieces of fabric.

Step 4

Sew the smaller pieces of fabric on using brown thread and the same small stitches.

Step 5

Now you need to sew the ukulele neck along the arm – this is quite tricky because it is so small! Try to keep your stitches small if possible.

Step 6

Measure a small piece of the coloured fabric to make the final piece of ukulele – I actually wasn’t planning on adding this, but had to when my brown fabric didn’t quite reach the end of the sleeve! Pin it on and fold over the edge before sewing as before, making sure you have secured it on the inside.

And that’s it – ta-dah!

If you’re feeling adventurous, you could embroider the strings on – I had planned on doing this, but actually liked the look of it without them when I had finished. Here’s to happy ukulele babies! :-)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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This is another recipe from ‘Mexican Food Made Simple‘ by Thomasina Miers, which has quickly become one of my favourite recipe books. You’ll need to make some roast tomato sauce for these enchiladas, which takes a little while but will be worth the effort! We altered the quantities to make this for two, but I’ve put the original quantities here. Again, I must apologise for the not-so-brilliant photo here – at least the clocks go back this weekend and nights will soon get lighter for taking good food photos!

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

1 quantity of roast tomato sauce (see link above)
200ml stock (we used vegetable stock)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Sea salt and black pepper
30g pine nuts
Olive oil
50g raisins
475g frozen spinach, defrosted and drained (we used a bag of fresh spinach)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
150g ricotta
6 corn tortillas
4-5 tablespoons sour cream
80g Cheddar cheese, grated

Method

1. Preheat the oven 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Heat up the tomato sauce with the stock and ground cinnamon and check the seasoning.

2. Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan and then set aside on a plate. In the same pan, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and add the raisins. Cook for 2 minutes until they plump up. Add the spinach, pine nuts, nutmeg, salt and pepper and cook for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and add the ricotta.

3. Spoon two tablespoonfuls of the spinach mixture onto the centre of each tortilla and roll. Cover the base of an ovenproof dish with a few spoonfuls of the tomato sauce and place the rolled tortillas on top, seam side down. Pour over the remaining tomato sauce.

4. Spoon the sour cream on top and sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the sauce is bubbling.

Enjoy!

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