cabinet for threads

Last night I made little shelves for this cabinet, it was originally a photo storage box. I will hang it on the wall, then I can always have my cotton threads to hand (out of reach of smaller hands). I need some more reels of thread now though, to fill it up.

some late sharing

Blog etiquette seems to suggest it is still ok to show some christmas stuff in January. I have been waiting for a bright dry sunny day for nearly 2 months to take photos of a swap I received, and the weather just isn't playing. so here is a bit of the lovely swap I had from Bridie, I will put more pics on flickr. (check out the teensy ric-rac!).


This week Julia also finished and gave Lucie her fabric notebook, It is lovely and has been out with us on several trips already, 'drawing' relieves the boredom of sitting in a cafe with Mummy and her friends! I especially like how the vintage style fabric on the front of the book has a girl, and her back on the back, a coincidence Julia assures me, but a very happy one!




(will edit to include more links tomorrow when I have more energy!)

tiny patchwork

For a while now I have been wanting to do some little patchwork hexagon handsewing. So on New Years Eve(while sitting in and watching Take That on TV!) I began this little project for myself. The tacking is still in (and there's a loose thread there), but here is a bit of it.


I was going to make a dolls quilt for one of the children, but the pieces are very little (smaller than an inch across) so it is going to be very labour intensive for an item that might get dragged about and left out in the garden, and I am also not sure whether the tiny seam allowance would stand up to too much play. I haven't quite decided what it will be yet, maybe a cover for a new diary or notebook, or perhaps just to frame and put on the wall.


I like the back, it shows all the work involved, especially the paper piecing that I havn't really done before (with excellent triangle graph paper from here). At the moment I am just going round randomly, adding hexagons to one side then the next, and I will stop when I am done. Any other ideas what it might become?

a late present

Not even late for christmas (I haven't got there yet!), but for a new baby in the extended family born a few months back now. I made this lion softie from the book Embroidered Treasures by Claire Garland, then adapted the lion head and mane to make a matching little top.


The stripes are actually dark brown and white, its difficult to see in the rubbish light we have here at the moment, and the lions tummy is yellow and spotty. (and yes, I vandalised a second teeshirt to make the stripes matching!). The embroidery is mostly chain stitch and french knots, I am not good at chain stitch, if I think about it while I am doing it it goes wrong. I think I got away with it though (tried to switch off my mind and just do it). Hope they like it, it should be with them in the mail anytime now. and I don't think this branch of family read my blog so I shouldn't be spoiling anything by showing you here.

In full bloom

Happy New Year, I knew I would get round to blogging again sometime!! So, christmas has been and gone, quite hectic in parts, and tomorrow the children go back to school and we begin over again, another year.

I treated myself to these lovely tulips today, they were reduced, and a bargain at 75p for 10. As I climbed into the car with them and told my husband they were 75p, obviously pleased with myself, I saw the look he gave me, that my father and I used to give my mother on such occasions, and knew exactly how unimpressed they were, and yet now I could feel exactly how my mother felt, (Im sure) too. So there we go, 2008 and I am becoming more like my mother every day. Worrying.

I too am blooming, 25 weeks pregnant now, and suddenly I look very expecting, 3 weeks ago you could hardly tell, now I have a huge belly. Pregnancy gets less fun each time I do it, Im sure there should be some deal where you get less time for good behaviour or something. I am looking forward to the nice baby reward at the end.

Dont mention my big tummy though, I am a bit shirty about it, If you see me, tell me I look tiny!