I am sure this will be the last opportunity that I have to blog before Christmas Day. Part of the family arrive today, some more tomorrow and of course some will be staying in South Africa.

This year brings the normal excitement tinged with some sadness...the first Christmas without my Mother. We were remembering two Christmases ago when we rented a lovely little cottage down in Devon near the sea, we had Mum with us and some of our kids. We were staying near our daughter and her family and so had a great time together. This was probably Mum's last time of really remembering what Christmas is all about and I am thankful that we have those memories to add to our very many happy memories of a wonderful mother and grandmother.

I am thankful to for all your great blogs that I love to visit and of course for your visits to mine. 

Have a blessed and peaceful Christmas and New Year   

Grandchildren

I haven't made anything this week so I will just post some photos of my Grandchildren, the top four are of the boys in South Africa, we haven't seen them in the flesh (only rarely on Skype) for two and a half years, we miss them terribly. These photos were taken today while they were all out on a hike with some friends, they walked to a wonderful water fall where the children played in the river, the weather is very hot and humid there at the moment. We know they will enjoy a happy Christmas, spending the day with friends from church. I should add, if you are wondering what Jesse is doing in the pink tub.....they don't have running hot water and so on hot days he takes the tub and sits in it under the overflowing water tanks which collect rain water :)

The rest of the family will be with us for Christmas, below are some of the photos their Mum has taken this week. I am so grateful for technology which meanswe can see photos of the regularly and keep up with activities that they are doing.

                        

                       

poncho

I'm not one for wearing thick jumpers around the house but sometimes I do need something warm on so I thought I would make a poncho. I found a crochet pattern on line and made the one below. The yarn is made by Bergere de France and is recycled from mixed fibre items. The pattern is really easy, just crochet a big rectangle, fold in half, stich up the two ends about half way then pick up and crochet a neck from around the gap that is left.

I am pleased with the result but would have liked it a little longer, so I have ordered some more yarn and will add to the edges of the poncho, the great thing about crochet is if it doesn't look right I can just unravel it and don't need to worry about finishing off the edge again. 

                       

                                       

                                        

princess cloaks

Last Christmas when I made these princess dresses I said to myself "I am never going to make anything using this awful shiny fabric again!" Little did I know that this year they would be requiring cloaks to wear over their dresses. I was given very precise instructions for colours and fabric types, the red cloak is actually more of a plum colour and the other one is actually purple although the photos make them look red navy. Hopefully they will fit and suit their purpose.

                        

                        

                        

ercol daybed

                               

Some months back I posted our ercol daybed that we restored, my husband sanded the woodwork and re webbed the base, I then bought new cushions and re covered them. I had some fabric left over and so bought two rectangular cushions for the ends. I have now got around to making covers for them. Just in time for our Christmas visitors to arrive :)

aprons

I posted the little draw string bags in the bottom photo some time back, I had some of this beautiful Japanese linen left over and so made a couple of Montessori style children's aprons too.

The aprons are backed with white cotton fabric and have elastic through the neck strap to fit snugly and Velcro fastenings to encourage independence.

The fabric is lovely to sew with and the colours quite festive!

                              

                       

         

choosing a tree

I have just taken these photos from my daughters instagram page. They went to cut down their Christmas tree at the weekend, they always seem to have great time running around the trees and then choosing which tree they want...maybe one year we will be able to go with them. 

                                   

                                   

                

Friday

Fridays is our day off and we always try to get out of the house if only for a short walk, yesterday we went to our favourite close by place, Ashridge. Where we walked then had lunch in the lovely outdoor cafe. Although it was chilly the sun shine and the walk was refreshing. I then got started on a baby quilt made from Moda Pezzy Print fabrics. I had a pack of pre cut squares making the task nice and quick, I will hopefully get the layers put together on Monday. 

Have a great Sunday!

                             

montessori apron

These little Montessori styled aprons appear to be the most popular items in my etsy shop at the moment. I have just sold this one that I upcycled from a vintage tablecloth. It had clearly never been used as a table cloth and the fabric is like new. The pattern is a lovely simple and quick to make design and as it is backed with fabric it is easier than having to turn in the edges and then stitch. 

I think I will make some bigger sizes too and also maybe have them reversible with a different patterned fabric on the reverse rather than plain white.

                                          

                                         

                                          

sixth birthday

I have just returned from a few days in Devon for the twins birthday, Grandpa joined us in time for the party :) they had asked for remote controlled skateboarding dogs!! And Daddy also bought them a skateboard each. (Daddy skateboards too)

We went out for dinner on their birthday to The Oyster Shack which is a favourite eating place for birthdays and then the party was on Saturday. Smurfs were the theme and Mummy excelled herself with wonderful eating delights and special games ending up with all the excited little children toasting marshmallows out on the deck.

It was their turn to bring home the class meer cat for the week so he joined us for dinner

                                   

The Oyster Shack

Uncle Ben sent Gilby a Garfield with the girls gifts....pretty chuffed!

                                 

                                 

                                 

Mummy makes wonderful cakes

Burst balloons around the glass jars to make the elderflower drink look blue :)

                                   

Primrose dressed as Smurfette

I'm not well up on scurf characters and can't remember who Maggie was but she is standing on the blue and white paper bags on the 6th photo down :)

baby quilt

I have just completed this little baby quilt for my etsy shop. The fabric is beautiful, supplied by Oakshott. The shot cotton is ethically sourced by Oakshott from master weavers along the Malabar coast of South West India. This quilt is made from their Lakes series of colours. I backed the quilt with a white vintage cotton bed sheet and I have hand quilted it with grey quilting thread.

Check out Oakshott's website www.oakshottfabrics.com

weekend visitors

We had these three little guys and their parents to visit for three nights last weekend. Gilby and Mummy and Daddy went into London on Saturday to catch up with our two sons and our daughter in law, Grandpa had a prior arrangement so I got to take the twins out to Ashridge for a scoot/walk and lunch in the lovely out door cafe. 

Maggie (second photo below) is quite the thinker and at the beginning of the walk explained to me that if she had a piece of cake first it would help boost her energy, I explained that the cafe was actually at the end of the walk so a little later she thought that probably if she had three legs the walk would be that much easier :)

        

       

        

sprigkids

A few weeks back I re branded my etsy shop, my daughter chose the name and a friend designed the logo and banner. Since this rebrand my viewers have gone up and so have my sales.

Below are a few recent sales. The two baby bibs were a custom order for Liberty fabric bibs. Today I have made two more children's aprons to keep my stock up. I will post them later.

 I also have an etsy shop selling pottery, I have been making sales from this shop too so I am pretty excited!