Thank Heaven for the Olympics!

Because this is as far as my Jubilee bunting got

Good job there will be another reason for red, white and blue bunting this year.

Fat Quarterly Pouch

I finally bought Fat Quarterly 4 - the solids issue - and the first thing I have made is the pouch by Monika Wintermantel.

I should warn you  though, it doesn't look the same as Monika's at all! (The top for some reason has come out sloping as well. I need more practise. Er, a lot more practise.....)

It is however the same size and I followed the instructions closely - I just didn't put the small pieced strip in near the bottom, and did a different applique, using some liberty lawn that I have hoarded for so long it probably qualifies as vintage.

I may have caught the pouch making bug, and as it is near the end of the school year, my children's teachers may just become the unlucky recipients of my efforts. (Well there are only so many mugs you can use aren't there?)

A finish!

I have finally got some sewing done! Not quite what I planned (I had hoped to fnish sewing my Oakshott City Lights quilt blocks, from er......february) - no, Child 3 and I sewed (I use the "and" lightly - he's 5 and they had the "new" power rangers on tv..... - suffice to say a little light stuffing was as far as he got).

So meet Gulliver.

 He's from a pattern by Jodie from Ric-Rac and is rather charming (even if he is a crocodile). Please ignore the indent in his tum - it isn't there in reality - just more of my poor photography I'm afraid.

The main fabric is a flannel by Riley Blake and I am not sure I want to work with a flannel again. It may be soft and cuddley, but it frays horribly and it is the only time that I have made a toy from a woven fabric and found that the finished item is longer than the original pattern! (Bizarrely it still seems to be the same width)


Child 1 has also been sewing - involving a lot of advising and a little help - not quite finished yet, but on the home straight:

I have high hopes of him sewing on his own scout badges after this.

Jubilee!

The weather may have been unkind, but we have been getting into the spirit of the occasion.
Red , white and blue has been worn, and cakes have been made

We're in full activity swing, but given the current weather forecast am beginning to think that booking Go Ape for the end of the week might not have been such a good idea after all.....

Hmmm - Blogger is playing up - I scheduled it to post on the 6th but it didn't!

Blowing away the cobwebs...

That have gathered on this blog.

At least I have managed to remove a few around the house in the time I've not been posting. It has been busy, but not terribly exciting.

Over Easter we visited here:

(where the adverts for an exhibition made me think that Diarmuid Gavin has been an artists model. )

And here:

Despite my best intentions, we did come back with some of these:

Marvelled at the otter living in the middle of Coulommiers:

And were very excited at the sight of red squirrels on the campsite:

Sadly whilst it was bright and sunny (except when in Paris, where woolly hats and gloves were a must and the view from the Eiffel tower was disappointing) it was freeezing. Went to bed in socks and a jumper, with two extra blankets on top of the duvet, and I still woke up in the middle of the night cold!

And I came back with a copy of Marie Claire Idees

I wish that my school french wasn't from quite so long ago....

And all this rain has meant that the weeds in our garden now look like triffids and have overtaken the none-weed plants. Sadly the only dry weekend since then was so hot, our clay soil was like concrete and we fried if we went out. I'm hoping that it will stay dry (but cool) long enough to be able to send out the plant-search-and-rescue party.

Maybe I'll just stay in and knit instead.

Mollie Makes

The latest copy of Mollie Makes came with a crochet flower kit:

I do like crochet and small projects are right up my street ( I sadly have had to accept that my boredom threshold is reached quite quickly, and that large projects - like King sized quilts, or adult sweaters - should be approached with trepidation, as I may well have lost interest in the process long before they are finished. Sad but true)

So Ta-dah! (please excuse the colour - I think I need to have a little chat with my camera)

I think I should have ignored the not-so-great crochet hook that went with the kit, and hunted one out a size smaller as it is little loose.

It then got me thinking - I wonder if I could make a really mini one out of embroidery thread....... So I dug out the not-so-cheap cheap multi pack of embroidery threads (bought to teach my daughter the art of making friendship bracelets, and languishing , unloved, at the back of the cupboard ever since) and ta dah! no 2:

Definitely not as mini as I thought it was going to be - I used a 1.5 hook and that seemed about right.  I think sewing thread would be a step too far - even if I was able to find a crochet hook small enough and my eyes could stand it.

I tried putting the two together, and you know? I quite like it - maybe if I try a more coordinating colour for the small one it might make quite a good brooch after all.

Hardwick Park

We had a flying visit to my parents last weekend - a 600 mile round trip! But lets not dwell on the joys of the A1......

Whilst nothing much of note happened other than my father celebrating his 83rd birthday, we did have a visit to Hardwick Park  near Sedgefield in County Durham. It's only a 15 minute or so drive from their house, but I've never been there before - it obviously never entered the radar as a possible trip when I was growing up - though to be fair I don't think there was anything much to see until relatively recently.

The sun shone, the daffodils looked beautiful - as did the cakes in the cafe , but we resisted (sadly it was too close to lunchtime).

The coots were building their nests on the large lake, and I was impressed to see that Mr Coot had obviously brought Mrs Coot flowers as part of his nest building offerings!

Entry is free, and if you're in the area it's well worth a visit for an hour or two.