Gifting

I've been busy sewing gifts.  It's fun to make things for other people - especially very little other people.

First is for Justine's baby boy who is due any day now.  Poor Justine hasn't been too well over the last few weeks.  I hope little Hunter turns up soon and she feels loads better once she gets to cuddle him.  Remember the lovely things Justine sent for Katie which I blogged about here?

I made a little 'sunshine lion' taggie toy.  Hopefully he'll be good to look at hanging from a pram or baby gym for the first few weeks and then good to grab, feel and chew once Hunter is a little older.

I also made some sleep gowns which will hopefully keep him comfy and cosy during his first few weeks - and make nappy changes at night a lot easier too.

Justine commented how much she liked the ones I made for Katie which was very handy as it simplified the process of working out what to make for her and her wee boy!

Then a couple of weeks ago I went up to a friend's house for a few drinks and thought it would be good to make something rather than taking wine or chocolates.

She has a very neutral kitchen so I hoped this little pot stand would fit in well - I find it hard to tone down the colours I use!  The photos look better when they are the right way round but they have refused to co-operate for some reason.

And then a very good university friend had baby boy number two.  He has lovely Irish names for his dad's side of the family whereas his big brother is very Scottish for his mum's family.  Can't wait to meet him though I think it may be a while.  

More dodgy photos I'm afraid but I'm working against the clock as we are off on holiday on Saturday and I really want to catch up before I go.

I made him a baby blanket.  A little different than the one I made for his big brother but with a couple of fabrics the same  - I thought similar would be better than too much of an overlap.  Hopefully he'll enjoy snuggling under it.

And last of all, but definitely not least, I was lucky enough to receive a gift for me.  The lovely Sarah from Down by the Sea had a giveaway which I won.  Yay!  Yummy Dorest biscuits and chocs, and also a chocolate for each of the children (saved for when we set off travelling on Saturday).  Thankyou Sarah!

October holidaying

For at least some of last week's October holiday we had beautiful weather.  On Wednesday we had planned a walk with V and her two boys, one of whom is Finn's best friend, and the day turned out to be perfect.  We spent most of last week staying at my parents house (they are back in South Africa, so we are a two dog family for the winter again but do get to use their house as our 'country residence'!) and we set off for for the walk from there.

 
When we got to the North Pole (*hang on for explanation) we set the kids to finding sticks to make a fire and John found green sticks for making into skewers.  Once we had enough wood for heating up our, already cooked (safer that way), sausages he showed the kids how to sharpen a stick each - then we all skewered our sausages and sizzled them on the fire.

*The North Pole is one of the first places we walked to when mum and dad moved to their current house.  Its a little promontory where the river Tyne meets the sea at Tyninghame.  The feel of this tranquil spot with pines on a little hillock reminded me of pictures in the Winne the Pooh stories and especially of the adventure to discover the North Pole - and the name has stuck ever since.  It has caused some confusion amongst the children's friends when we have told them we're holding birthday parties at the North Pole.  One little boy was rather worried about meeting polar bears!

As with much of the coastline of eastern Scotland, where there is a flat shoreline, there are huge big concrete blocks which are fantastic for climbing and jumping on.  I loved them when I was little too.  They are relics from WWII when they were set up as anti-tank defences.

 Sandy le Oobee peeping into the moses basket - can you spot her tail?
I received my special parcel from Australia.  It came from Leslie (onegirl) with one of her very special Oobees.  This one is called Sandy and is made from vintage linen.  I think Leslie may have a few more in her shop (which is only restocked every few weeks or so) and she makes the most amazing quilts too so do have a look.  The parcel also contained one of her baby blankets which is being used every day in the pushchair - it is very snuggly and soft (the quilt I made is too big just yet). 

Sandy is perfectly at home in Katie's vintage (almost 39 years old) moses basket..........mum bought it when I was a baby  - rather a long time ago now!  At the time they lived in Kenya and it was bought from a market there along with a mini one which was used for my dolls and now Islay's.  It was used for me, then one of my brothers, not my youngest as he was born in Australia, and has since been used by Finn, Angus, Islay, my niece and nephew, and now Katie (the mattress has had several changes before you worry about hygiene!).  I think it is rather special and love that a new generation of children are spending their first few weks sleeping in it.  Mum re-lined it when Finn was due as I think the original had seen better days.  You may spot the cat net folded back over the hood too - that's to keep Charlie cat at bay.  He loves nothing better than snuggling around your neck for a snooze which, while lovely, isn't really so good with very little people.

 Vintage moses basket!
And in case you were wondering and, even if you weren't, here's some photos of the current basket user.  She is the sweetest little girl.  Ever so happy and content and will smile just about all day long.  She loves her brothers and sister and it is lovely to see them enjoying talking to her and their delight when she smiles and wriggles back at them.
Katie - 4 weeks
She's a very sleepy little soul too but reaches the point of over-tiredness really quickly without really showing any signs and then struggles desperately to drop off.  I'm working hard to get better at spotting just when she needs to have a sleep - but I'm still not getting in right all the time. 

 Katie - 5 weeks
I'm working on a commissioned quilt this week and am enjoying spending some time sewing.  I'm also back in niece and nephew child-minding mode.  Today is the first day back with my nephew and we have been having a lot of fun as he toddles around on wobbly feet (he's 15 months) and from next week I'll have a day with my niece each week too.  I'm keeping cooking really simple and trying to be sensible about what I plan to get done each day and, mostly, its all going really well.  Especially when I get those lovely chubby smiles!

Katie the chubby smiler - at 6 weeks

Lots of happy-making bits and pieces

There's been lots of fun and happy type sewing, and sewing related, things going on here.  First up I made a sunhat for Islay, using the pattern from this lovely book.  I think there will be quite a few more things made from the book in the future. 

Islay, rather unfortunately, wasn't prepared to model the hat when I asked her to (photos taken last week on another picnic lunch with Miss Awkward and my niece......this week has been somewhat different - incredibly heavy rain most days so far but it is dry just now so we may be lucky when we set off to collect Finn and Angus in a little while).

I treated myself to a little bit of sunshine with a felt buttercup brooch.  Not only is it cheery and pretty it is incredibly well made - as is standard with Beth's beautiful work.

This rabbit is something I have wanted to play around with for a while.  Islay's favourite soft toy is Bun Bun who is a little rabbit comforter (the boys both have favourites too - and they all still go to bed with them - Finn with Bear and Angus with Teddy.....Islay's has a very inspired and original name by comparison!). 

She obviously needs her head sewing on and some eyes and a nose/mouth adding - which will be where some personality can come out.  The body is made quilt style with cotton wadding in the middle, the main fabric is flannel and if I make more I plan that the front of the body can be patchwork quilted or appliqued to give individuality - she has a little tail too. 

I'm not sure whether the body needs to be a bit bigger or not.  I quite like the big-head look but not sure if its too odd?! Any thoughts?

 I had a little voile left over after making my skirt a couple of weeks ago.  I don't really have anything in the way of a pretty bag and had spotted this pattern on uhandblog and decided to have a go.  I love the bag - all I need now is an occasion to use it!

 And my long-awaited superbuzzy order arrived.  This Nani Iro double gauze is even more beautiful than I had anticipated..  I had heard it is very soft and it really is (I'm beginning to realise how much importance I place on texture and feel, I knew that was true of yarn, but hadn't realised I notice it so much with fabric too) - I've just finished making a muslin of a blouse as a test run for making a proper version with my Cerulean Blue.

 And these two slipped into my shopping cart as well.  The spot is another Nani Iro double gauze and the birds and bears is Megumi Sakakibara, Hikari - Pale Yellow .  The simplicity (of design and colours) of many of the Japanese designs really appeals to me at the moment.  Its a shame that there's not that much to be found in the UK.

The last two were bought to finish off my selection of fabrics for a baby blanket - for our baby, yay.  I'm really looking forward to putting this together and think I have found/worked out a design for it.



Lovely things

A birthday walk in fresh snow

Hi there. Life seems to be taking over a bit at the moment. Which is, I guess, the way things tend to be in the run up to Christmas. Especially when your youngest has a birthday too. Islay was 4 yesterday. She had a lovely time but what she enjoyed most of all, I think, was having four friends here for a party last Thursday. In fact she was almost too excited to enjoy herself.




I have had a couple of amazing parcels in the post in the last week. The first was from Marg - she is an absolute gem of a person and so unbelievably kind. She sent us an advent quilt. Here it is, isn't it fantastic and aren't we lucky? I am sure hanging it up each December will become one of our special family traditions.



John recently announced I should have a present. Isn't he a special husband? And, of course, I couldn't refuse....that might have upset him! So, after a bit of thought, especially towards the Orla Kiely bags I have been coveting, I decided to ask Emma (Silverpebble) to make me a necklace. I wanted something to symbolise my lovely children. We exchanged a few emails and ideas and in the end she came up with a charm necklace. There's a book for Finn, a rocket for Angus and a poppy for Islay. I have only really taken it off for sleeping and showering since it arrived last week - I am sure you can see why. It will be something I will always treasure. I'd recommend reading Emma's blog post as she explains a bit more about it and has much better photos too.



I have made good progress with my sewing. Twelve little birds for hanging on Christmas trees to give to teachers, admin ladies at John's work etc.



Two little foxes (pattern bought from Bird and Little Bird - it is very easy to follow and I would thoroughly recommend it - I did have some tense moments when sewing in the ears tho'). One for my niece and one for Islay. I made each a little tunic dresses with elastic gathered necklines.



And I made the time this weekend to complete my two Christmas runners. Marg, Maria, Jo and Lynz made these blocks for my month of our Quick Christmas Bee. I'm sure the runners will be something else that I look forward to getting out of the loft each Christmas. Thanks girls, I love my blocks!





So, a few more bits of sewing to do and some baking for a few more small presents. And then I can start to relax a bit more. Oh, that's after I have written my cards tonight, oops!

Happy swapping

I was a very happy person when the goodies from my first ever swap arrived. Sarah (twiggypeasticks) did a very good job with the Happy Swap which was organised by Lisa (periwinkle).

My parcel had all of these lovely things in it. I didn't manage to photograph things separately as I had to hide the chocolate super quickly (it was yummy - guess where I hid it?!) and Islay claimed the beautifully embroidered pincushion and card. The earrings will bring a smile when they are worn and I am saving the gorgeous fabric and buttons for something special - let me know if you have any ideas.



Thanks so much Sarah. I really enjoyed the swap and am pleased to say I have finally sent my parcel off to you, and completely forgotten to photograph it's contents - oops.

I have been trying to catch up with my sewing backlog and today sent off two bee blocks. Both are for the Quick Christmas Bee which has just five of us in it. Maria requested these beautiful and clever patchwork pockets to make an advent quilt. They were fun and simple but quite fiddly, in that there was a lot of steps for each one, so I can really see the benefit in doing this one with a bee and not having to make 24 yourself! The photos are dreadful as I took them late(ish) last night before parcelling up the blocks for posting.



Lynz asked for wonky stars. I haven't made stars before (or all that much else for that matter!) and found it to be a great little project.



I'm next up and have a block in mind. I'm trying to be economical and use mostly fabric I already have but I have ordered a little more to make it a bit more Christmassy. Once it arrives I'll need to work out how on earth to judge how much to send to each person.

Islay went to her first proper birthday party this weekend and had a lovely time (I made the dolls blanket pictured below as part of the present). All of a sudden she is being exposed to girly things, rather than the fairly limited amount we have at home. She is talking about 'barbie girls' and all sorts of other pink plastic, not really my cup of tea, but I guess I'll just have to go along with it to some extent......now, count to ten Julie!





Something that has surprised me is how much I am enjoying her pleasure at going to ballet classes (today is the third week). She asked all through the summer if she could go and is absolutely loving it. I was kicked out of ballet at her age (I just wasn't that kind of girl, I'm afraid) and wasn't sure about her going, but she is having so much fun I can't help but be happy too. And here she is showing off her new 'ballet slippers'.



Gosh, I sound like a real old grumpy, meany mummy. I think its just that I'm not a huge fan of plasticy toys anyway and when they are pink too I find them really hard to get my head around - however I will try and be open minded about it........but just encourage her to go along to judo and mini rugby with the boys too! Which at the moment is right up her street as well as climbing trees, riding bikes and getting as grubby and scabby as possible (and combining girly with tomboy can't be a bad thing can it?).

Pretty parcels and pathetic progress

I have had two of the prettiest parcels I've ever received in the last few days.

The first was from Courtney at Seamstar. It arrived very quickly and was so well presented::



The star fabric is Robert Kaufman and the green is Anna Maria Horner's Folksy Flannels Little Honey Sea.



I particularly like the flannel - I've just bought a small amount so far to see what it's like. Good friends of ours are expecting twins any day now and, once I know what flavour they are (I suspect a boy and girl but had better wait to be on the safe side), I'm going to make them a baby quilt each. I plan the backs to be the same and the fronts different. And I hoped the flannel would work for the back...it is so beautifully soft it will be perfect.....just need to know who I'm making them for now. Can't wait to hear.



The next package is beautiful (and is part of my niece's birthday present...which is a terrible shame as I'd really, really like to keep it.....so, Bob or Karen, if you are reading please stop now....I don't think I need to worry about my niece reading as she'll only be 2 on her birthday!)::





The print is Little Belle Hugs Boo from Belle and Boo. They make a cup with the same print which was out of stock but will hopefully come back in before her birthday. I saw it a few weeks ago and knew I had to get it for her - she has dark bobbed hair, just like Belle, and her favourite toy is a rabbit, almost as big as her, just like Boo.



So, onto much les exciting things. Progress with my sewing. Well, um , er.....somewhat slow. Pathetically so in fact. I had hoped to be able to show a shot of a completed dress today. It'll have to be next time once I've hemmed it (but actually that's all there is left to do - yippee).



What's next in the pipeline? Somewhat stupidly, you might think (and you'd probably be right), I've decided to make a bag for the wedding (so I now have 7 days in which to hem the dress, make the bag and make a picnic blanket as the wedding present). BUT there is a good reason for this rashness - I've just realised I'll need enough 'stuff' to keep three small kids amused for several hours and, especially important, quiet during the service, so I'll need lots of room for snacks, treats, wipes and toy cars......so sadly it won't be a pretty little clutch.......it'll be a suitcase sized, hopefully quite pretty, shoulder bag!

Progress report to follow........!!!