baby quilt

My daughter in South Africa messaged me yesterday saying that their friends from church are adopting their second Zulu baby, a little girl of 6 months. Part of why they love their church so much is that a few of their friends have also adopted children and they can share their experiences together. Anyway, she asked if I would make her a baby quilt to give to her friend, I don't need to be asked twice to make a baby quilt, I love to make them. 

So I went through my stash and pulled out the fabric below, I cut out 6" squares, joined them, quilted though the top and wadding by machine than attached the backing which is plain white cotton. I put them right sides together, stitched around leaving a small gap to turn in the right way then top stitch around the edge. 

I washed and tumbled the quilt and now it's lovely and snugly and wrapped ready to mail. Can't wait for a photo with the new baby lying on her new quilt :)

                                  

                                       

                                    

 

baby quilt

I just sold this quilt from my etsy shop. It was bought by my daughter in laws mother as her other daughter has just had a beautiful baby girl called Daisy Joy. Both sets of grandparents are good friends of ours so we celebrate with them on the addition of a new baby in the family.

The quilt is made from 100% cotton fabric designed by Susie Watson Designs. I machine quilted the top and the wadding and then backed with fine calico, machine stitching around the edge and then tie quilted all three layers with red and blue embroidery thread.

The fabric is beautiful so I am glad the quilt stayed in the family :)

mr pottery

My husband and I began collecting studio pottery a few years ago and about two year ago he decided to get a wheel and begin throwing pots. I have blogged about this before

http://finelinenandpurple.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=Pottery

He spends time out in our garage which has been turned into his studio. As he's working on his wheel he listens to sermons and teaching on line and also plans his own sermons. It's a great way for him to relax and hear from God.

 Well he has just bought an electric kiln and begun firing for the first time properly....I am so proud of his first achievements below in the bottom photo. It can often take a number of firings before getting things right so I am glad his first firing was successful and even if there are some failures ahead he knows he can do it right.

I'm hoping he will be making Christmas gifts to save me going out shopping :)

special places

I haven't anything made and not already shown so I thought I would post some photo's of a couple of my favourite places. 

The first three photos are taken as we were driving back across Dartmoor after leaving my Mothers house for the last time and on our last visit before she died. I'm not sure when I will feel up for driving across Dartmoor again. But we have so many happy memories of visiting with our children when they were young and older, also with our grandchildren. Taking my Mum for picnics, the children paddling in the rivers and lovely walks up the tors. 

Today I went our to Pitstone Windmill which is just a short drive from where we live....I have posted the windmill before, I love going at different times of the year. The sun isn't shining today but it is still VERY hot. The wheat fields surrounding the windmill are beautiful, the colours shine in the sunlight. I tried to snap a photo of the very pretty butterfly, but he would only open is wings after I had clicked.

God's creation never ceases to amaze me.

montessori apron

I am building on my Montessori inspired products and came across the pattern for this sweet little apron. Part of the idea of Montessori products is that they are as child friendly as possible and help develop the child's independence . ThIs apron is made for preschool age, has elastic through the neck strap to keep it snug but flexible and a Velcro fastening to attach the waist strap to the apron body.

I used up cycled vintage fabric which has a slight sheen to it so I am hoping that anything wet will be more likely to slip off than soak in. I have backed the apron with white cotton fabric. This saved having to bind the edges in any way.

                                

                                     

Grandsons

I now have some photo's of my beautiful grandsons who live in South Africa. I'm uploading from my ipad so may be a bit blurred...still haven't figured this out yet.  As you can see filling your pot with frozen yogurt is a serious business 😀

                   

                             

 

                             

                           

some of my grandchildren

I haven't posted photo's of my grandchildren for a while so thought I may as well :)

Haven't got any up to date of the boys in SA so will have to wait for them. I have some hilarious video clips of Gilby on instagram but cant download them to post on here. The latest being of the twins teaching him to say marshmallow and also of him dancing at a barn dance....he is one funny boy!

 Gilby, Primrose & Maggie in Berlin, looking into their little packages

 a twin on the beach in Devon

Primrose

summer dress

Last year I bought a pattern for a Merchant & Mills Panel Dress, I was really pleased with it and also bought a pattern for a smock style dress and made a shirt length one in the Spring. Earlier in the week I drove to Watford (I hate Watford) to visit John Lewis for some dress fabric only to find they have stopped stocking dress fabric....Ridiculous! So I looked online to see if there are any fabric shops in St Albans, we drove over there yesterday to find the shop is no longer a fabric shop....bother! I did however find another fabric shop and bought this lovely blue and white striped seer sucker. 

So today I made my dress :) it didn't take too long as I also managed to fit in a pile of ironing and a walk to town. The pattern is quite easy, I decided to used French seams throughout as the cotton is quite fine and looked like even with zig zagging the edges it would probably still fray. I am very pleased with the result and will look out for some more fabric for another Summer dress. 

            

                             

               

                                                 

  

little bag of bean bags

  

                       

Carrying on with Montessori inspired play items for my etsy shop, I have made a little bag of 'bean' bags. With the thought of many uncooked beans being poisonous I decided to use popcorn maize to fill them and this has worked well.

 I found lovely brightly coloured tough cotton fabric, cut 6" squares, sewed around the edge leaving a small gap before filling with the maize. I used my preserving funnel to make sure all the maize went into the bag. I then top stitched around the bags to make the seams extra strong, using the same coloured thread as the bag. I then made a calico draw stringed bag to store the bags in.

 I love the feel of these bags and am sure little hands will love to play with them. The games are many, balancing on the head, building them up, throwing into buckets or to each other or just handling them and feeling the little 'beans' inside....I wonder if they will sell?

                           

                        

  

        

Bread maker

                                         

I do like my kitchen gadgets and after seven years of faithful service my old Morphy Richards bread maker has given up so I bought myself a Panasonic model and made my first loaf this morning...looks great so hopefully just as good when I cut into it. I have wanted one of these for a while but though I would wait until the old one was no more. I read all the reviews and it would seem the Panasonic is the business!

Test

I am trying to use my ipad for my blog posts...it would be so much easier if I could. Lets see if this one works ok and the photo of these beautiful poppies comes out ok.

hat and booties for baby

I have just made this little hat and booties for my etsy shop.

I love knitting with Debbie Bliss Babycashmerino and am making a little beret at the moment.

They have a great range of colours and the yarn is beautifully soft. I have found in the past that many of the nice colours come in pure wool which I find it a little too rough for babies...and me. I'm pretty fussy when it comes to fabrics against my skin. 

In fact I am pretty fussy full stop!

re brand

The etsy shop that I started last year hasn't been very successful, I have made sales but not as many as I would like. I don't think the problem has been down to the products or the prices. So I am taking my daughters' advice (her husband has a very successful on line shop)and re branding. She is helping me with a new name and logo idea and I have another friend who will help me with the design. I will still make clothes etc for babies and young children and as I have a background in teaching early years I will be focussing on Montessori inspired products too. 

Here is the first of these....

A reversible draw string bag made from original retro fabric and calico

inside are eight little crocheted balls, two of each colour. These will encourage different areas of development....physical and cognitive. The balls are made from fair trade organic cotton and are lovely and soft to touch. They can be used for colour naming, colour matching, sorting and counting as well as squeezing, rolling and throwing!