A Quick update...

to let you know that all the outfits except Father Christmas have gone to good homes. The BFG has gone to live in the Moogsmum house, Fred Locket will soon be Froggy Locket, Woody is going to Jenny's two little ones, Little Miss P1 will soon be little Miss Pumpkin and Aladdin has become an Dotty Arabian princess who will look beautiful I'm sure. Thank you for accepting my junk with such enthusiasm! Santa is still up for grabs and there will be more later in the week.

Meanwhile thank you so much Jane for passing on this super award to me. I love your blog and so many others too that as usual passing it on is an impossible task. But I shall pass it on with the dressing up outfits to all you lovely ladies listed above!

Dressing up

After Joe's foray into the remains of our dressing up box to find pirate accessories I decided it was time to give it a thorough sort through and throw out. Then I had a bit of a brain wave...

But before I share my idea with you, first the results of some of my stitching into the felt. This was the piece I made as a background for a commissioned picture.


And this is the result after some free machining and applique.

I wasn't too sure about it at first but after the addition of the thistles I think I quite like it. I hope the recipient does too!

Anyway back to my brainwave... or really stupid idea depending on your viewpoint. After sorting through the dressing up clothes I realised that there were still about a dozen or so outfits that were still in relatively good condition despite their great age and it seemed a shame to throw them out. Then I thought of all you blogging friends out there who still have young children and it occured to me I could have a marathon giveaway... or off loading of my junk depending on your viewpoint!

So some rules...

1. I think I'm going to have to limit this to people in the UK only otherwise it will cost me an arm and leg in postage.

2. If you would like one of the outfits leave a comment stating which one (only one per person.)

3. First come first served because with so much stuff to giveaway I can't be doing with drawing names from hats.

4. If this proves popular I'll put some more up later in the week.

And now the outfits - all of which have been made by me and all have been laundered this weekend!:

1. The BFG
Okay, this first one is not really an outfit but just a big black cape with a hood and a snazzy waistcoat but Jacob wore it to book week as the BFG and was very happy with the way he looked! Will fit a 5-6 year old

2. Father Christmas

This comes without the beard but consists of jacket, hat, trousers and belt. Will probably fit a 7-8 year old

3. Aladdin

Hat, waistcoat and trousers (magic lamp not included) modelled by Joe. Another book week success! Will fit a 5-6 year old

4. Jack o' Lantern
There are two of these but due to their great age only one has survived intact, the slightly smaller of the two. Sam was only 2 here but I think it would fit a child up to about 5 -6. The black jumpers and trousers are not included. This was Ben and Sam about to go Trick or Treating in America about 22 years ago!

5. Frog
This consists of a very silly hat and green trousers and jumper (probably fit a 5-6 year old)

I couldn't find a picture of any of the boys wearing this so Joe very gamely demonstated how to wear the hat - also proving that the hat will fit a 19 year old!

6. Woody

This is Woody from Toy Story - again I couldn't find the photo but I think it will fit a 4-5 year old. It comes without a hat - our cowboy hats haven't stood the test of time. Just remembered it doesn't have a sherrif badge either because I made a large version of this a couple of years ago for Ben and he had the badge.

Leave a comment if you want one... or to tell me is was a silly idea!

A Flurry of activity

Browsing favourite blogs this week I noticed Helen Suzanne had put some little stash bags of goodies in her etsy shop - including some of her hand made felts, lovely fibres and other treasures. Being a fan of her work this seemed too good to miss so I treated myself... and what a treat it was when this little lot arrived in the post!


I was immediately inspired to use some of the fibres and make some felt of my own - out came the bubble wrap, hot water and soap...


and after some vigorous rolling and bashing... some felt. I was planning to stitch into this but got a little sidetracked...

and decided to make a felt background for a commission I've got to work on. I was planning to start stitching on this too but then I got completely carried away...

and I made some red cobweb felt...

and some blue felt....

which looked fabulous in the sunshine (yes... sunshine!!!) while it was hanging out to dry.

And finally some green felt too!

The plan is to stitch into all of these pieces eventually so I might have something to show next week. And lest you think this is turning into some kind of craft blog, there has been baking too.

Apple and cinnamon muffins

for breakfast.

And I make no apologies for another Nigel Slater recipe,

frosted marmalade cake...

for afternoon tea.

And the reason for this flurry of activity - I got the first draft of my Opus essay handed in on Tuesday, had a tutorial last night and apart from some minor tweaking it is finished! Two weeks before assessment day... Yippee! Expect to see some more flurrying in the next couple of weeks!

Have a wonderful weekend!

I've caught a bug

I think I first picked it up here....

when it was a small germ of an idea.

It definitely got worse here...

and by the time I got here I knew I could resist no longer.

Not a nasty bug you understand...

but a "Rippling" bug!


There is a long way to go before this can pass as a blanket but I love the way I can pick it up and put it down. It doesn't matter if I do two stitches or two rows, I don't lose my place. And it grows so quickly. And as Jane points out there are advantages to rippling because it's the perfect excuse to eat Ripple chocolate...


Oh yes... I definitely like rippling. You could say ... I'm hooked! (sorry!)

(Note the subtle colour change due to camera battery failing and having to resort to a back up. This is probably the truer colour!)

Pirates and Poppies

This week there is another festival.

This was has nothing to do with quilts.

But lots to do with beer and tents.

Joe is off to the Reading Festival today, dressed as a pirate! I'm not sure why but it's something to do with be allowed to sit in the front of the car on the way down - I didn't enquire too deeply. Lucky we still have the contents of the dressing up box still lurking in a bag at the back of the garage. Notice he has given up asking me to repair rips in his clothes though.


I'm having a fun day making some samples for a new piece work but I can't show you because I'm hoping it will end up in a show in the new year. Instead I'll show you someone elses work. A few weeks ago Judy admired a photograph of some poppies that I had posted here and wondered if they might grow in Scotland. We had a conversation and as a result I sent her a packet of seeds from my poppies - not a lot of effort on my part. So imagine my surprise and delight when a parcel arrived fom Judy containing this beautiful felt embroidery.

And this fabulous felt brooch - which will be perfect on my winter coat. Thank you Judy - it was most unexpected and very generous. I love them both!

While I'm saying thank you there is another overdue thanks to go to Celia, who sent me this little parcel a few weeks ago...

Containing some fun badges


And a couple of her beautiful printed cards
for guessing that the strange objects on her blog were walnuts.
I love the print of the chicken.

Before I go a recommendation. Last night a friend and I went to see Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. It was a great film that felt like it belonged to another era with fabulous music and wonderful costumes. Very gentle, very English but with an edgy sense of humour. I'm off to order the book from Persephone Books I enjoyed it so much.

More Plums

I'm gradually making my way through the plums. Yesterday we had a large plum and hazelnut crumble which my lot consumed long before I had a chance to whip out the camera. Today there has been more jam and a plum cake...


Adapted from a recipe in my very favourite cook book, (I could sit and just read it for hours) Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries for "a wonderfully moist, fresh plum cake"

He's not wrong... wonderful, moist and perfect still warm with a dollop of thick cream! (This one's for you Maggie!)

And there are still plums left!

Quilts and Klimt

What an exciting weekend. On Friday morning Jude and I headed up the M6 to the Festival of Quilts. So much wonderful work from such talented people I wouldn't know where to start to describe it all so instead a collage of just a small sample of the work that caught our eye.


We also met with some fellow bloggers - I've never yet met a blogger I didn't think was lovely and Friday was no exception. Mai-Britt and Jackie - it was great to meet you. Also had a chance to chat with Maggie Grey who as ever was wonderfully generous with her knowledge. I can't wait to try out some of the techniques she showed us - all of which are in her in her book. Of course I had to buy a copy - would have been rude not too!

I think I was quite restrained in my purchases (well... compared to last year) but I did buy another book which is full of great looking things to try. All I need now is some more time....

After FOQ we got back onto the M6 and head up to this city...

After not too much driving up and down the dockside we found we our hotel which was very luxurious and also happened to be where Melanie C was staying the night as she was playing at a concert at the Docks. We didn't get to see Mel C though because we were far too engrossed with our luxury bathroom and this amazing shower!

After several showers later we were ready to hit the town on Saturday morning... and straight outside our hotel was this... the Liver Building.

We both got rather excited and carried away remembering episodes of the Liverbirds... which for some reason prompted this...

Moving on very quickly from that last photo... we also spotted several of these strange creatures - superlambananas - which are situated all over Liverpool.

Eventually we got around to the reason for our trip - the Klimt exhibition at the Tate. We both enjoyed the exhibition but had some prior idea of what we were going to see which was not actually a show devoted to the work of Klimt. It was more about a group of artists known as the Viennese Secession, of whom Klimt was the leader. There were a lot of photographs, models of buildings, exhibition catologues, furniture and housewares as well as a substantial number of Klimt drawings and paintings. I could imagine it would have been a disappointing exhibition if you were expecting a blockbuster show of Klimt paintings. But the work that was on display was stunning and it was an interesting and informative exhibition. This was one of my favourites.

We managed a light lunch at the Tate Cafe before setting back home - but not before we saw these power boats racing on the Mersey. An exciting end to an exciting couple of days!