My Little Birds Have Flown

My biggest-little birds have flown the nest back to school today. It's always mixed feelings, we do have such Makey fun in school holidays, but the productivity of MakeHQ has been rather compromised this half term by the new apprentice BabyButton learning to crawl. You see she has always been a very encouraging spectator of all things Makey, but now she wants to sit on the sewing machine presser foot, wrap herself up in wool and generally make merry mischief.

My two biggest went back to school today so Baby Button had a lovely big lunchtime sleep and i finally got to finish my alternative batch of little robins........here they are, I can't decide which ones I prefer?

No Rest For The Wicked On Halloween!

We are almost all set for Halloween, The pumpkin quilt is out.........

Mummy's costume workshop is all sewn out, one happy bat and vampire await the witching hour, just got to finish the ghosty outfit for favourite bear who is coming trick or treating with us in case it gets a bit scary! Got to get on.....the sun is going down.......Happy Halloween!

Messing About By The River

Today we didn't do very much making at all as we went on a half term trip. We went to the river, watched seagulls and swans (very relaxing), bought school shoes (very stressful), and laid in Halloween supplies (very exciting!).

A day out at the River is a family favourite. It's a glorious drive down to the Thames from where we are up in the Chiltern Hills, I just love the timeless views

The kids loved this orange stripy field..........oh and the amazing playground when we got there!

We're off now to turn that little bundle of black and orange material into a bat suit for tomorrow......... no rest for the wicked!

Quilting + Knitting

Friends keep commenting that I started a blog to share my quilting projects, then promptly fell in love with knitting too! I suppose it's a kind of KnittyQuiltyBlog, but I don't think there is really a distinction as they are just such a complementary pair of crafts; colour and fibre and tactile and done by hand.

This is one of the many baby quilts I made for BabyButton when I was expecting her, I've since knitted a blanket ( moss stitch in Debbie Bliss soft pink) to go with it. All tucked into the buggy under these two layers she couldn't be snugglier.

My stripy blanket is well under way, I'm just embarking on the final 3 colours which make up the bluey/green end of the stripes. I've discovered cable knitting since I started it ( see my Ultimate Buggy Gloves) http://http://makedoandmendquilts.blogspot.com/2009/10/ultimate-buggy-gloves.html and now I wish i had cabled it too, but might have been too much with the horizontal stripes too? I have a little burning thought of vertical cabled stripes, wouldn't that make a nice blanket? How many blankets and quilts can 3 children have?
My little Boy has been off playing muddy games with a friend so we have had a very girlie afternoon, the pencils have been sorted............

Then we started making birds from Joelle Hoversons book. Have you tried them? We've just made everything in this book, it's so lovely. Last year we did red and white xmas ones for the tree which were lovely, we thought we'd try robins this year after looking at this lovely post http://http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2009/10/yesterday-today-tomorrow.html
As you can see we've cut out all the pieces, then had a brainwave and decided to create a quilted robin in homage to the Attic24 crocheted one (as I haven't learnt to Crochet yet!), he's turned out rather sweet looking?

Two Nice Things Happened

Today as I was unloading the dishwasher (important as a scene setter as, although I am generally of the cheerful personality type, loading the dishwasher is not the high spot of my day!) two nice things happened.

Ping went my phone, and the news that I HAD WON! Yippee yipee, isn't it lovely to win something? I am the featured blog in this weeks Quilt Home http://quilthome.com/ news letter! Now winning a surprise competition is reward enough in itself, but not satisfied with that they sent me $20 to spend at Quilt Home! Now I LOVE quilthome anyway, I could buy every piece of material they stock, and the joy that those fat flat rate envelopes bring as they make a satisfying thud on the doormat having winged their way across the Atlantic! Thankyou QuiltHome!

So I was all a flutter at the excitement of Amy Butlers new LOVE range that my $20 will be buying me, when Ping again went my phone. This time it was my oldest friend with the news that her little son has chicken pox and all that is making him happy is his Robot quilt that I made for him. Now, not to say that having Pox is a nice thing, but that text made me smile. Isn't that just what quilt making is all about? That's why I love making quilts for babies, theres nothing more comforting when a small person is under the weather. Poor little chap - get well soon. This is his quilt, it was the forerunner to SkyPark, called Little Robots.

Mini Make Time!

It's half term here, so this week the Mummy Making will be largely replaced by Mini Making as the Smalls have their crafty way all week.

Ahead of this week long celebration of all things Makey I have been rushing to finish my first sock. Alas it is destined to always be a lone sock as I know now that I knitted it on too big needles, and actually I'm not mad keen enough on the wool to start all over again. But nevertheless here is my first saggy, slightly misshapen, but unmistakeably socky sock....

I have also finally turned my Make Club heart into a lovely squashy cushion. I don't know how I have never actually made a quilted cushion cover before, but it's turned out very comfy so this may be the first of many.

We're not really ones for 'Things To Do At Half Term' type scheduling of the days, we like to mooch about and make a mess - all in the name of Making Fun. The Smalls have been hard at work, with spookiness the order of the week, today we have been making felty ghosts, and the template for bats has also been agreed after some negotiation between the two artists! Anyway, I'm needed for spider web/wool stickiness so better get on...........

I've joined the folks on Folksy!

Just a little stop press - I've joined Folksy, a lovely quirky UK site dedicated to all those who Make Things! Have a browse, there's lots of lovely things to see, my quilt kits can now be purchased in £'s on Folksy rather than $'s on Etsy for those of you in the UK who like it nice and simple. Enjoy