New Look

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My post today was going to be a reveal but it will have to wait till tomorrow as I just have to boast about Master first.

Have you seen my new look blog? I love it! I had problems posting pictures on the blog. Sometimes they were too small other times squashed into strange shapes. I resized, turned, reshot all to no avail. In the meantime I was getting very frustrated and a bit angry. Ok, a lot angry.

Last night I was complaining again that I just couldn’t cope with this blog anymore when Master jumped to the rescue and sorted the blog out with a new theme. Love it!

Thank you, Master!

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A day out

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Yesterday we went to Woburn Safari Park near Milton Keynes. It was a very hot day which meant lots of cold drinks and ice creams had to be purchased. We enjoyed driving through the park getting quite close to some of the animals. Master was slightly concerned when he read one sign which said that the bears love ripping wing mirrors off the cars. As he’s only had the car for one week, he was developing an anxious tic which luckily disappeared again after leaving the bears.

 The tic reappeared when we got to the monkeys.

Little Miss Bossy-Boots and I were quite disappointed about the fact that the monkeys weren’t interested in our car whatsoever. Only one of them jumped on our roof but disappeared very quickly again.

After the drive through Master dropped Little Miss Bossy-Boots and me off at the cafe as he had to leave for a short meeting with a client. We ambled through the Australian adventure where we watched wallabies eating acorns or just lounging lazily in the sun.

Then the Little Miss went to play in the fantastic playground. There were so many things to climb on, she couldn’t decide where to go and I had to suggest a plan of action. She loved it and wasn’t interested in seeing anymore animals after discovering the playground. I admit that I was happy to just sit in the shade under the trees watching her little face light up every time she slid down one of the slides or climbed up a cargo net. However, when we arrived at the Safari Park we saw a big sign saying Peppa Pig and her little brother George were in the Park and children were welcome to come and meet them. So we did. As we approached the amphitheatre to wait for Peppa and George I snapped a picture of a parrot in flight. Absolutely gorgeous.

There were two parrots flying over our heads but I only managed to take a picture of one of them. I really, really wish I had a good camera. Then came the moment Little Miss Bossy-Boots had been waiting for: Peppa Pig and George arrived to have their picture taken with hundreds of children (that’s how it felt like to me).

Little Miss Bossy-Boots even went to hug them. She was a little shy of them, that’s why I’m in the picture too. Honest, I wasn’t dying to meet them….

Out last stop was a little trip on the lake in a swan boat. I tried to take a family picture but mostly ended up with funny faces. This one was the best.

All in all it was a lovely day out.

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Amigurumi

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I love making amigurumi, the lovely little crochet cuddlies (or not so cuddlies). It’s been a while since I made one, in fact it was January when I finished Xolpoth the friendly alien. However, as I was sorting out some of my pictures I stumbled on lots of pictures of the amigurumi I made for a friend’s wedding. When Little Miss Bossy-Boots’ godmother got married last summer she asked me to make an amigurumi for each child that was invited. I thought it was a really nice idea and started crocheting until I had 18 of the little critters. Don’t worry, I’m not going to show you all of them but I will show you a few of my favourites.

The penguin:

 

The bee:

 

The pig, which Little Miss Bossy-Boots brought home again:

 

Jasper, who never made it to Germany where the wedding took place. I admit it, I have a great love for ginger cats and he stayed with me:

 

And last but not least, Spoldink, my first alien:

 

Seeing all these amigurumi again has made me want to make more. Yep, the crochet hooks are out again. Prepare to see a few more on this blog!

 

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Blogtoberfest

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I’ve decided to join Blogtoberfest, a month of daily blog posts. This festival was brought to life by Cathy and there’s a long list of participating blogs on her blog tinniegirl which I can’t wait to explore. There will be giveaways, fun posts, challenges and I’m sure lots of desperate posts from me to make sure I have something to talk about. After all, I’m not really known for blogging daily, am I? Here we go, though, it’s my chance to get into the habit of blogging daily and hosting my first giveaway! I think I know already what I’m going to give away. Curious? Stick round and I’ll tell you soon.

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More Aprons

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You might remember that I made an apron for one of Little Miss Bossy-Boots’ friends. Well, it resulted in an order. Two aprons for two sisters who were being christened last Sunday. I bought two co-ordinating fabrics, a gingham and a polka dot, so that I could mix them and make two aprons in the same colour way. I remember when I was a little girl my sister and I often got the same clothes or toys in different colours. My things were usually red or pink and my sister’s blue. I didn’t like it at all and wanted the same colour as my sister. With this in mind I used the same fabrics but in different combinations and with different embellishments. I’m really happy with them and I hope the two little girls will be too.

Charlotte’s apron is the same style as Freddie’s with a big pocket on the front which I embellished with some crochet flowers. I have to apologise for the quality of the photos. We only have a ‘point and shoot’ camera at the moment (saving up for the big one, though), add to this the fact that I took the pictures two seconds before I handed them over with no chance of re-shooting and you have some pretty lousy pictures.

I’ve had the lace at the top of the apron for years, waiting for the right opportunity to use it and I believe this was it. I embroidered Charlotte’s name in the same pink I used on one of the crochet flowers.

Mischa’s apron is in a lovely old-fashioned style. These aprons remind me of my grandmother but I’m not sure why as she never used one of these. I have a white one which I received from my mum and which I used in my cookery classes  in school. I still use it at Christmas when I bake biscuits with Little Miss Bossy-Boots.

I embroidered Mischa’s name on the cupcake and added a button instead of a cherry.

Now all I can do is hope that the girls love them.

 

 

 

Categories: Kid Projects1 Comment

Tumblers!

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On Saturday I had a f a b u l o u  s day. Master and I packed Little Miss Bossy-Boots and my sewing machine in the car and set off to drive all the way to Lowestoft. What were we doing there, you might wonder. Well, Master and Little Miss Bossy-Boots went to Africa Alive  while I was on the adventure of my life (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration). In fact, I was off to Patch Fabrics to participate in a workshop to learn how to make a Tumbler Cushion. I know, I know I could have done that down the road from me at our local quilting shop but not with Katy Jones from Fat Quarterly. I have been reading her blog, I’m a Ginger Monkey, for about a year now and when she posted that she was going to offer a workshop I just knew I wanted to do it. And I am so glad I did (even though my hands trembled from sheer excitement for the first half hour).

We were six ladies, all eager to learn how to make a tumbler cushion. I had picked two charm packs (Camden Market and Robert Kaufmann Kona Solids in Bright) and was soon busy cutting out my tumblers. Counting obviously isn’t my strong point as I realised, after I thought I had cut out all 35 of them, that I didn’t have enough and had to go back and cut another four. I found it a little difficult to choose my solids and was grateful for Katy’s suggestions. She picked a couple of colours I wouldn’t have gone for but I can see now how well they go with the others. Then came the fun part, arranging 35 different tumblers into a pleasing pattern. Being a complete novice in the quilting department I asked for Katy’s help as I was a bit stumped. All in all I did well but she suggested that I swap a couple of the solids with some of the patterned ones as they were clustered together. Katy took a picture of the arrangement to check that it was balanced which made it much easier to see.

Next we sewed the tumblers together into rows of seven before sewing the five rows together. I managed to sew two of my rows together the wrong way and thought I would have to unpick everything but luckily for me it wasn’t too unbalanced with the rows reversed and Katy suggested that I just keep going. Phew! After sewing all the tumblers together we added a border and quilted the cushion. I loved it. So calming. All I could think of were my lines. I enjoyed the process of cutting, arranging and sewing but the quilting took the biscuit. Yep, I’m hooked.

Sadly I had to leave before I could finish my cushion. We were running a little late, so when Master and Little Miss Bossy-Boots arrived to pick me up I had only just finished the quilting. As soon as I finish this post, however, I will be upstairs finishing off my cushion. Because I had to leave before getting all the tips and tricks on how to bind my cushion, Katy very kindly offered to email me a tutorial. I’ve just received it and I’m glad I got it as I would have done it differently.

Before I go and finish off my cushion I’ll leave you with a picture of the front of my cushion:

 

Categories: Home Projects, Quilts2 Comments

Bye bye, Lola!

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I was really looking forward to having a few hours to myself today. Plans were made, a list was written, the first tutorial was to be finished but a telephone call the day before took the steam right out of me.

Two years ago we re-homed two cats, Charlie and Lola. Well, Lola is a sensitive little soul who gets very stressed out by other cats. Couple this with chronic cystitis and a tendency to pee in Little Miss Bossy-Boots’ room and you have an unhappy cat and unhappy parents. For two years we have been trying to make her life better and turn her into a happy cat. She is the most loveable, gorgeous cat you can imagine and we really wanted to be able to keep her. After the last peeing incident we contacted the shelter, explained the situation again (we had been in contact with them previously) and said that we thought that Lola should find a different, more stress-free home. They agreed and she was put on a waiting list. The day the telephone call came to tell us they now had room to take her in was very distressing but we knew we were doing the right thing. I packed her bed, her food, her toys, put her into the transport box and set her in the car. Then, Master got into the car to take her to the shelter. I was waiting for him to leave but he didn’t. After a few minutes he got out again and said that he couldn’t do it. We got Lola back inside, opened the box and let a bemused cat out.

The shelter offered to come for a home visit to see what we could do to improve her life and ours. Notes were taken, discussions were had and then came the phone call I was dreading. The experts thought it would be better for our little girl to be re-homed. We bow to their wisdom and tomorrow I will once again pack her bag and Master will have to find the strength to let Lola go.

We will miss you, Lola, but I hope you will have a wonderful life in your new home. Thank you for coming into our lives and into our hearts. We love you.

 

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