Monday 25 June 2012

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.





Wednesday 6 June 2012

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!

Tuesday 5 June 2012

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.