WHEN THE SUN CAME OUT...

Half term this week, and I know that we should not really expect anything less, it is still only February after all, but the weather has not been good this week....

That was until today, when we woke to blue skies and sunshine, so we loaded the children in to the car and headed up the motorway to the Lakes District and our favourite place Brockhole (or broccoli as Clemmie calls it ) visitor centre...

The sky did get steadily greyer as we headed up the M6 and it was pretty cold down by the lake ..

But when you are having fun at the adventure playground you really don't feel the cold...



Do you like Hebe's luminous hoodie that Auntie Ellie knitted, can't miss her in that !

Especially when you have a big brother to keep you warm...

Off to put two tired little girls to bed now, and I think that their older sister and brother will not be far behind...

THERE WERE SIX IN THE BED AND THE LITTLE ONE SAID....

roll , roll over over...

Do you remember these monkeys?

I made them for a couple of Hebe's friends last year..

They are made from this free pattern available at mmmcrafts..

Larissa at Mmmcrafts also sells patterns at her Etsy store and after loving the Molly monkeys I bought the pattern for Katy Kitten...

Do you ever think to yourself  'I'm making one so I might as well make a few more'?...

Well, I often have that thought...

So,

seeing as I had lots or different coloured cord left over from making dresses..

I made six....

They make me smile so much, how cute are their little faces ?

They are all sitting on the drawers in my sewing room ready to be parceled up for any lucky birthday girls we have in the family....

Freya would really, really really really really pleeeeease like this one....

Doesn't she look at home sat here on Freya's bed next to the cushion that Freya made ?

But, as I said to her "You will have to wait and see !" - I know, such a Mum thing to say.....

Which is your favourite ?......

GRANNY CHIC ?....

I have been dabbling in crochet since last Summer when I taught myself through online videos and tutorials, I found it very frustrating and was all fingers and thumbs, granny squares were as much as I could manage really, but as I  became more experienced I began to find it very relaxing and almost therapeutic..........

Lately I have wanted to have a go at a blanket, I found the pattern for this Granny stripe blanket on Attic24, so I fished out all the odd balls of double knitting that I could find, added to it with a few extra colours and started....

I love making this blanket, although it is very time consuming, I gave myself the goal of two stripes a day, and so far have kept up with this, each coloured stripe takes 40 minutes, 20 minutes one way and 20 minutes back again ( yes, I timed it, I am so sad and geeky sometimes !).....

Do you see my Granny square cushion in the pictures ?, if you remember Iwas a bit concerned about the unflatness? of the squares when I joined them, but with a good press it turned out just fine..

Did you notice my stripy sausage dog too ?  I knitted this a couple of months ago, I used up the rest of the Rico cotton yarn I had bought when |I first started to crochet, although I loved the colours available, I found that it split as soon as I looked at it, however when knitted it was much more manageable, I have no idea why....

I have borrowed this book from the library a few times, it has some great images...

This is the dream I have for our allotment shed , Chris and Hebe (#3) have painted it 'heather' this year, I have not seen it yet, but what I saw of the colour splashed on Hebe looked lovely...

This is a favourite picture in the book, how fantastic is the gypsy caravan ?, I have a feeling that this is Emma Bridgewater's as I have a vague memory of seeing it in a magazine article about her home a few years ago (don't quote me on thet though !)...

It was the stripy blanket hanging on the washing line that set me off making my stripy blanket...

I have an idea to redecorate the children's wooden Wendy house in the garden in this theme and fill it with lovely bright crocheted blankets (for den  making) and cushions (for lounging)..

I picked up this floral quilt cover in Ikea that I will use to make curtains for the Wendy house ...

What do you think ?

WHAT A WAY TO SPEND A SATURDAY MORNING...

A friend texted me on Thursday night to say her husband who is a farrier had been given two ducks and a couple of geese by a customer.  She would not let him bring them into the house !  She asked if we would like a couple, another friend Lynn had already said that she would take two.

 So, this morning found me and Lynn up to our arms in feathers, you would not believe the mess, and Lynn up to her arms in other things that I can not mention...

We googled 'How to pluck a duck' and found a short film on YouTube where an American guy showed us exactly what to do, although we did find it a bit disturbing when he kept saying to lick your thumb to get a better grip on the feathers, yuck !.....

So we plucked, gutted (Lynn did that bit !) and cleaned, and three hours later we had four prepared birds. 

Look at Hebe watching Lynn doing the gory bit !...

 

They look a bit battered and bruised in this picture, not sure if that is normal or not...

Funnily enough neither of us could face eating them today, so we wrapped them in freezer paper and have put them in the freezer for another day...

I can think of better ways to spend a Saturday morning, but the sense of achievement of doing something that neither of us had done before will stay with me for a long while....



DO YOU REMEMBER PIPPI LONGSTOCKING ?

This is me aged about 6 years I think (circa 1975), I am dressed as Pippi Longstocking for the fancy dress competition at the local gala ( I won first prize).  My mother must have made the costume, and I seem to remember the boots belonged to my Grandy. I don't know who the toy monkey (Mr Nelson) belonged to as I can not remember it being part of our household, maybe we borrowed it from someone...

I have a vague recollection of watching Pippi Longstocking on T.V., but am wondering if I imagined it, as when I googled it, there was a series made in Sweden in 1969 which was televised, but it was shown in the US and the UK is not mentioned.  Does anyone else remember it ?

This is a picture from the 1969 series and it does look familiar....

Anyway, I definitely had the books which I clearly remember having read to me.

When Freya was little I found a couple of the story tapes, in Ikea of all places, and she enjoyed listening to them, (as do Hebe and Clemmie now) ...

The original stories were published in the 1940's, and have been republished many times since.  In 2007 Lauren Child (of Charlie and Lola fame) illustrated Pippi Longstocking and it was published as this lovely gift edition which I bought for Freya...

A little while ago I saw this great Pippi doll made by

mmmcrafts 

It has been on my list of things to have a go at for months, and then when I needed a Birthday present for a nine year old I thought that I would give it a go....

I bought the book to go with the doll, and then made this book bag on which I ironed an image of the book that I had printed out onto that iron on photographic paper...



Pippi's head could have done with being a bit less elongated/alien like, but the birthday girl seemed to like it...



So, Pipi Longstocking a favourite of mine 35 years ago, and still a favourite now...

MAKES FOR JANUARY 2011....

I have learnt to make a mosaic today, I used this website http://www.bighugelabs.com/ which is free to register and create all sorts of things, thank you to Emma at Silverpebble for telling me about it...

These are all my finished makes from January...

I am also counting these as my contribution to Annie's - A MAKE A MONTH 2011...

This was my January to do list....

I have actually done all but one of these, which is the metal stamping, I did buy washers ready to stamp yesterday , so I think that counts as an almost there..

I worked out how to crochet my granny squares together, although the seams don't seem very flat, will they flatten when pressed or have I done something wrong ?

This is my first attempt at African flowers, I think I need to have another go with the tutorial in front of me as they do not seem to be quite the same shape as the ones on the African flowers Flickr group !..



The main thing I feel that I have been getting the hang of this month is, just being, it could be all the crocheting along with some knitting that I have been doing, which I do find very relaxing....

I will list my February 'to do' list tomorrow...