shorts & skirt from Laura Ashley fabric

I used the pattern book below to draw a pattern for the shorts I have made. I used a pattern for trousers and cut it down...I hope they fit. The skirt didn't need a pattern, just a long strip joined with French seams, a channel at the top for the elastic and hemmed with blind hemming stitch on the machine.

I'm now working on the clothes for my second teddy bear :)

My daughters friend in South Africa has asked me to make her twin sons a stripy beany hat each so that will be next on my list. I have no idea when I will be finishing my Ohio Star quilt!

I'm off to Devon on Sunday for a few days to hopefully finish my Mothers house and to get to visit her again :)

Laura Ashley

In our town we have a hospice which also has some shops...a charity shop, a gift shop and a 'pre-loved' furniture and fabric warehouse. I bought 4 metres of this new Laura Ashley fabric...£2 per metre :)... with the plan to make the twins a summer dress each using a pattern I have used before http://finelinenandpurple.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/christmas-dresses.html 

However, their Mummy says they aren't really 'into' dresses at the moment and could I make a skirt and shorts instead? I'm happy about that as it means no zips :)

hats

We may be heading towards warmer weather (I repeat may)but over in South Africa where our daughter and her family live, they are heading for their winter season. I know it rarely gets really cold in SA but where our family live, on the farm in the more rural area of Kwa Zulu Natal, it does get a little chilly at times. So knitted hats were requested and my daughter put this link on pinterest (such a clever site) for me to download and make for our grandsons and Angel.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/slouchy-beanies

I went through my yarn stash and chose lovely bright colours. The pattern is really easy to understand but I found that when I got to decreasing stitches to shape the top all went well until the number of stitches I had on the needle that was suggested (40cm long) were so stretched that I couldn't knit them. So at that point I cut the yarn and threaded it through the remaining stitches, pulled tight and secured. I also found when I wanted to make the smaller size that again the needle was too long to knit the stitches comfortably and so I made the larger size and finished it sooner than requested.

But all in all, with a bit of fiddling around I managed 3 different sized hats, one for Joe, one for Jesse and one for Angel who comes to stay regularly. Hopefully I will get a photo to show you when they arrive in SA.

dartmoor

We love Dartmoor and our children have grown up taking walks, paddling in streams and climbing tors. I'm not sure we will visit Dartmoor so often now that my Mum has moved from her house near Yelverton. But the twins and Gilby love to walk and climb and here are some photo's that my daughter took at the weekend.

Gilby looking at the girls and daddy up on Haytor

Primrose bringing up the rear

an amazing view

knitted bear

A few weeks back I bought a great knitting book by Debbie Bliss called Simply Baby

 I couldn't wait to make this sweet little bear. The pattern is just for the bear so I made up a pattern for her cardigan and skirt.

The bear is made from Debbie Bliss Cashmerino yarn, the cardigan from a different brand of machine washable merino with a little vintage button and the skirt from my stash of Liberty cotton lawn. She is 15" high and I plan on making a boy bear with trousers

 

sweet children

Gilby's jumper is a perfect fit even though the measurements were for 3-4 year old. Here he is after a busy day :)

Here is Angel, the little girl that my daughter and son in law have to stay on occasion, they have just had her visit for the past week. She is HIV+ and when Vashti took her for her tests this week her CD4 count was so low that the virus was barely detectable...we are praying for complete healing.

home again

We have just returned from Devon and from moving my mother into her news residential home. The move went smoothly and she seems happy. For me its been quite emotional, beginning to sort through her home and belongings. I need to return to Devon in the next few weeks to complete this task. 

I haven't uploaded photo's of her beautiful room so in the meantime here are some I have taken from my son in laws blog.

I love the top picture, I'm not sure who has her hands on her hips but they look like a couple of farmers surveying their livestock :) I don't know who's dog has joined the them on the beach...its not theirs but they do love dogs.

a jumper for gilby

I have just finished this little jumper for Gilby...the colour shows up better in the bottom photo with the dinosaur buttons on the shoulder

easter

I don't really have many good Easter photo's, the weather wasn't very sunny and life just skipped by with not much time for photo shoots. 

Yogi hid the chocolate eggs

 cornflour and water play was a hit, if not a little messy

 Can you just see the mischief oozing from these girls?

my grandsons

I don't get many photo's of my grandsons to share with you, just the occasional snap via whatsapp.

This one was taken by their Dad while they were fishing near by where they live in South Africa. 

For those of you who don't read my blog regularly, Joseph and Jesse were adopted. 

Joe was found when he was just born and placed in a lovely little orphanage where my daughter and son in law met him and adopted him at 2 months old. Jesse was also found the day he was born and placed in a foster family, they adopted Jesse when he was 5 months old. Joe is now 7 and Jesse 6. They are the most beautiful boys, we love and miss them very much.

easter catch up

Just grabbing a few minutes to post some of my daughters Easter photo's while they have all gone into London for the day. Tomorrow they will be driving home to Devon but we have had a lovely time while they have been here

 

Gilby likes his chocolate bunny

making pretzel nests

playing with Grandma's train

today they chose their own clothes

a little dreamy after so much fun



Gilby loves Grandma's egg cup collection