little guys

 We have these little guys arriving Sunday evening for a week...very excited. Not sure I will get much done over that time so just off to do some baking now :)

baby hat & booties

I've been getting into a bit of knitting recently and bought a Debbie Bliss book of baby patterns while I was away and have just finished this hat and booties for a new born baby. The hat was supposed to have a ribbed rim to it but I decided to make a rolled rim. The booties are made in moss and garter stitch and made in one piece. The hat was made on four needles...first time I had tried that :)

The yarn is Debbie Bliss Babycashmerino which is a blend of 55% merino wool, 33% microfibre and 12% cashmere. Its beautiful and soft and lovely to knit with...just off to start a different hat now..

shirt

I finished the shirt from the Merchant & Mills pattern, I am really pleased with it but the photo's don't do it justice. The organic fabric was lovely to cut and sew, the pattern easy to follow and I am happy with the end result so I will probably buy some lighter fabric and make a summer shirt too. It looks good as it is or with a thin black polo neck under. 

home again

We have just arrived home from our week's sabbatical, we had a good time and feel ready for the next step :)

Last year I bought a dress pattern from Merchant & Mills  The dress was easy to make and turned out well. While looking through Pinterest a couple of weeks back I came across a really nice blog

harmonyandrosie.blogspot.com the blog author Kate lives in Canada and had made a dress from M&M...her dress is the final photo below. So I looked on the M&M website and found they have opened a shop in Rye which isn't far from where we stayed last week. We always plan a couple of days out and so visited the shop. Its great, they make up each dress design and size in calico for shoppers to try on before buying the pattern and fabric. I loved the style of this shirt dress and decided to buy the pattern and enough fabric to make a shorter version to wear with jeans. The fabric is organic cotton, I have just popped it in the wash to allow for shrinkage and will hopefully get it made next week :)

Now to read through your blogs to see what I have missed out on while away.

oven gloves

My daughter who lives in South Africa asked me to make her some oven gloves...she loves to bake. I only had a little of the vintage fabric left over from her kitchen aid cover and apron so I made the oven gloves from ticking fabric that I used in the cover and added appliquéd hearts in the vintage fabric.

Hubby and I are off on a weeks sabbatical tomorrow and so I will be away from my laptop. Catch up with you all soon!

three out of five

I do sometimes think that if I entered a competition for the funniest grandchildren I may just win

table runner

I finished the table runner but would have liked it to have been neater around the edge

vintage fabric table runner

I have a great selection of vintage fabric, some has been given to me for gifts from my daughter, others passed on from people who have inherited them and some I have bought in charity shops. I thought I would make myself a table runner with a spring colour theme. 

I made a triangle template and cut our the fabric

I joined the triangles in 2 strips then joined the strips together. Then appliquéd this panel onto a piece of linen, added thin cotton wadding to the back and then a piece of fabric cut from a vintage table cloth...I collect these to back quilts etc.

 someone thought he would keep guard

 I machine quilted the triangles

I then hand stitched the binding on, the binding is also from my vintage stash and probably too narrow for the job in hand, really fiddly around the corners and not looking too neat :(

I will post a photo of the finished table runner when the binding is all on.

baby trousers

Some time back I made these trousers for my etsy shop, no one bought them which I was quite sad about as they would look so sweet on a little baby, they are made from cotton fabric with a brushed cotton lining. Today my son called and said his wife would like to buy them for a baby shower she is attending and would I please make a matching bib which I have done.

I am glad they will soon be worn :)

crochet blanket

I just finished this blanket, its not really big but just the right size for a lap blanket to snuggle under on a chilly evening or to take away in the caravan. I used 100% acrylic yarn and a no 3 crochet hook.

great grandma

Just a brief post...here is a photo of Gilby having a chat with Great Grandma on her 85th Birthday..so sad I couldn't be with them to share her day.

farm table

Gilby loves his farm and animals so when I saw this idea in a magazine I thought I would give it a try....

I put Hubby to the task of finding an old coffee table in a charity shop and he came up trumps with this one which is about a metre square

 I sanded it down and bought some paint tester pots

These are my farm animals but Gilby can take the table home when he visits at Easter and put his animals on it. I'm sure his sisters will want to play with it too.

I will have to clean that little bit of white paint off the side :)

haberdashery

I love vintage haberdashery and when people discover I like to sew I often get given bits and pieces. I have just been having a sort through and decided to put a few on my etsy shop.....hopefully I may sell some :)

miss maggie rabbit

I am so glad that I ordered one of these kits last night because today when I went to the website I discovered this

 http://posie-rosy-little-things.myshopify.com/products/miss-maggie-rabbit-softie-kit

They were obviously flying off the shelves, I saw these rabbits on Alicia's blog  http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/ some time ago, I asked her if she was going to sell the pattern. Last night I saw that she was selling both the pattern and the kit, I chose which kit I wanted...colour of dress and wool etc....on my husbands laptop then went up to my study to order from my laptop and found the colour I wanted was sold already and so chose a different colour, placed my order...phew...and now they have all sold! Amazing!

Gilby Skipp

I thought I would post a few photo's of my youngest grandchild...Gilby Skipp. Apparently the top photo is taken of him having a cup of tea and biscuit while watching 'Little Bear' in order to prevent a post nap grump :) I think we all get those from time to time.

As someone who taught early years for some time, I love to watch him play, especially with toys which take imagination and creativity

I found this dinosaur fabric when the twins were small and thought it a good base for dinosaur play

 This wooden rainbow toy is great, I love how Gilby is  developing his colour sorting skills

 This photo was taken after a romp on Dartmoor...looking about ready for another nap