Children

Thirteen

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Dear RachelI'm not sure how this could have happened - it seems like just a couple of years since you were born. I remember being in hospital with my newborn daughter, insisting that my mother kiss you on the back of the neck. Absolutely insisting, in awe of the softness of your skin. Your golden blonde hair shining on the back of your head as you lay in the crib next to me. Bringing you home and being so afraid you would break, that I would fall while carrying you down the stairs, terrified to be left alone with you.Those days when it was as much as I could do to take a shower and get dressed - leaving the house was a step too far. Just holding you and staring at you in amazement. The [Read more...]

Super Mario cushion

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It was Daniel's best friend's birthday last week, and he's a little obsessed (to say the least) with Mario Brothers. He also happens to have parents who appreciate hand made things (woot!!!!) so I decided to make him a Super Mario cushion using Angela's fantastic pattern.My favourite thing about the iron-all-the-teeny-squares-to-interfacing-and-then-sew-them-together method (yes, that's a technical term) is the way the block looks all squished once you have sewn the horizontal seams. See how Mario looks all dumpy and adorable: He does regain his relatively svelte figure when the vertical seams are finished, however, which is probably for the best.I quilted all around each coloured [Read more...]

Seven

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Daniel, yesterday you turned seven years old. So much has changed in my life since you were born that I sometimes forget to notice the tiny individual steps you have taken that make you the fantastic person you are.  You are hilarious - really and truly intentionally hilarious. You make excellent use of sarcasm (that's my boy) and the bait-and-switch. You are loving and warm. One of my favourite things in the world is snuggling with you. Watching you snuggle your stepdad or the puppy come a close second.You are bright and inquiring and ask really good questions. You know which questions to ask me and which are "Johnny questions" (usually anything involving cars, planes or [Read more...]

I’m kvelling!

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*Kvell: to burst with pride of your loved ones (Yiddish)Rachel came home from school one day last term and told me that her year group had been entered into a pre-GCSE course called Project Qualification. The basic premise is that you can pick any topic you like and present work on the subject, like an essay, a piece of research or some artwork. Being the smart kid that she is and knowing that there is no way I would refuse to help her, she chose quilting, with a particular emphasis on the work of Denyse Schmidt. Oh, how my heart overflowed with pride at her choice and her incredible manipulation skills. That's my girl.Anyway, after a fair amount of faffing about she finally sat down over [Read more...]

Now you are ten

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Dear LucyToday is your tenth birthday, and although I usually shy away from the overly emotional "my kids are fab and I love them so much" style of blogging, I can't seem to help myself today.You see, sweet girl, you are amazing. I have never met anyone so creative, so funny, so kind. I know that sometimes I get frustrated with you, and I am sorry. I need to try to remember that you have so many things to dream about and the real world can sometimes get forgotten.Having said that, it would be wonderful if you could tidy your room now and again.So happy birthday, my love. Dream big.Mum xxx

A start, and a stop

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This is the middle section of my touch of yellow quilt. I can't go any further until I get hold of a couple more greys (charcoal, steel and iron. Annie, are you listening?). I am pretty happy with the way it is going so far, and I really want to carry on with it. Not having the fabric available is quite a good thing though because I really am supposed to be working. Really really supposed to be working. Sigh.In other news, we are getting a puppy. This time last week we had only the vaguest idea that we might one day get a dog. And then this happened:So we caved. Spectacularly. She is only six weeks old at the moment so we have a bit of time to prepare ourselves (and the back garden) [Read more...]

Fantastic things

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A lot of pretty wonderful stuff has happened in the last few days. First, my Oakshott quilt won favourite throw quilt! Thank you all so much for the votes and comments - I am incredibly happy and honoured! This was my first time entering the festival, and it was such a great experience. I look forward to the next one.Next was the Fat Quarterly retreat. I could only go for one day, but what a day it was. It was so much fun to finally meet all these people I have been stalking following for such a long time, not to mention hang out with the other members of the London Modern Quilt Guild. I took two classes: freezer paper piecing with Kerry and frame purses with Katy, both of which were [Read more...]

Licence to spill*

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*Ink, obviously.   Lucy, who is 9, came home from school yesterday proudly waving her "Pen Licence". It looks just like a driving licence, with a photo and everything, and means that she is now allowed to use a fountain pen instead of a pencil at school. One (pink) fountain pen duly purchased, all that she needed was a pencil case.  I had seen a lovely boxed pouch over at Mommy's Nap Time, and Emily very kindly shared some tips with me this morning on the best way to go about making one. I still managed to totally stuff up my first attempt, of course. It's not completely useless, but is really wide and shallow and not quite the look I was going for. I'm sure Lucy will find a [Read more...]

First of many, I hope

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Today Rachel and I spent the day sewing, together. This was her first foray into dressmaking. It is surprisingly difficult to find patterns for kids her age (12 and over). All the lovely modern kids clothes only go up to age 9 or so, and then there is hardly anything available until adult sizes. After a good deal of rummaging around on websites we settled on Simplicity 2689, made up in this gorgeous fabric. And finally, with the two little ones at camp, we had a day to ourselves.It's been a long time since I made clothes (like, oh, about 20 years) and I was a little rusty, to say the least. The instructions really are written in another language and it felt very strange using such an [Read more...]

Wahooooo!

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It's done! I finished the binding and sewed on the label this morning. Here it is, fresh from the dryer. Mmmmmm, warm quilty goodness!as usual, thanks to my lovely husband for being 6 ft 4I am so happy with the quilting. Each stripe is outlined in a different coordinating colour and it looks really pretty, even if I do say so myself ;-)I made a machine embroidered label for it because there was more to say than I could face embroidering by hand. I hope that she shows this to her grandchildren one day and they are amazed at how long ago 2012 seems.Linking up with Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations