Just in the Nick of Time

This morning I had a text "The littlest nephew has a tooth about to fall out".  Fortunately I had bought stuffing so the little monster tooth pillow was nearly finished.  I grabbed the needle and thread and sewed up the pillow so that it was ready.     A few hours later a phone call - this time it was the littlest nephew himself "My tooth has fallen out".  Whew - the pillow finished just in the nick of time.

Monster Tooth Pillow

The pillow has now been examined, discussed and collected with  a promise that I would get a phone call tomorrow to let me know if it worked and a little something was left for him.  I love that!!

I decided to play with some fabric last night,  I had another cushion in mind and something I have wanted to try for a while.   I couldn't find a good pattern or tutorial online, so I made one up!   Not difficult really as it a well know subject!  My precious Cath Kidston fabric was put to good use and another cushion finished and ready to join the others.

Union Flag cushion

Today I have been sent a photo from my Youngest Niece it is her new bedding,  I think there is a hint in there somewhere and looks like I will be making another Union Flag cushion!  I might attempt a tutorial this time hopefully someone might find it useful.

Union Flag Bedding

Anyway its Friday,  thank goodness and my thoughts are now turning to the lottie......  the list of jobs is as long as my arm.  Tonight I am sitting working out the priorities and trying to be realistic about what I actually will be able finish.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.  Alison x

A bit of Prettiness

After the not pretty picture of Mr Milly's hand yesterday I thought a little bit of something pretty was needed.

Do you remember this Little Helpers and in particular the Cathedral Window cushion?  I really liked the look of the Cathedral windows and also found the hand sewing really relaxing and enjoyable.   I started another one shortly after finishing the first.   Different fabrics a different shape and no button embellishment this time,  the same principles of ironing and folding squares and then hours and hours of hand sewing.  I am pleased with the result, but I do think a pair would be better!

I fancied doing something a little quicker - and found a tutorial for a gathered ruffle cushion.  This one took a couple of hours to complete,  once finished I felt it needed something to pull the 2 colours together, a bit of folding, glueing and rolling and the fabric flowers were born.  The result is more pleasing with everything seeming to work more 'together'.

Finally - something for the boys!    This a tooth pillow, the smiley bit of the face is a pocket and somewhere for a milk tooth to be left in the hope a little reward might appear - I hope the tooth fairy approves!   I ran out of stuffing today so this is still unfinished.  I better hurry up though as I understand from my little nephews that there are 3 wobbly teeth at the minute!

A happy trio of cushions  - well they make me happy!!

Little Helpers

A difficult day yesterday and today as always life moves on.

To lighten my day yesterday I had two willing little helpers at the Lottie,  My oldest and littlest nephews came for a visit at the Lottie and it was fun to do 'little jobs' with little people.   We dug over the flower bed and pulled up the weeds,  a little tutorial to begin with on weeds and flowers just so that the right things were pulled up.  That bed was soon tidied,  I had some tulip and allium bulbs which should really have been planted by December,  I had forgotten about them and figured better late than never!  I used my dibber to make holes in the bed and left the boys to randomly plant the bulbs.

Next onto the onion bed - I have been meaning to weed this bed for ages and a perfect job to do with the littlies - the little one did get bored after a while and spent ages playing with the water pump, not the best day really to be playing with water - the ice on the top was about and inch thick,  but he managed to have a great time!  My oldest nephew helped pull up the weeds,  he did advise though that some planks of wood between the onions might be a good idea - it would stop the weeds and we wouldn't have to walk on the ground - how did this 9 year old get so sensible and how come I'm listening to his advice!!    It was great fun having the boys around and lovely to have some help - this week I am going to look out for some boy size gardening gloves for them to keep in the Lottie shed for the next time they visit.

Mr Milly and I finished the wire frame for the raspberries and that was about it for the day.   I forgot the camera yesterday so no Lottie pics today.

Finally I have finished the Cathedral window cushion - I am really really pleased with it and have now decided that it would be good to make some more to match my living room - just need to find the right fabric and I can make a start on them.   I really hope the recipient of this cushion will be pleased with it!

Cathedral Window Cushion

Flowering Cushion

The cushion is finished and it was fun to do!  Lots of rounds and lots of different colours,  I like crocheting bigger things with different colours,  it keeps me interested seeing the colours work together (or not as can sometimes happen).   I found a lovely button in my local wool shop and it matched the shape of the rounds perfectly - so this now happily sits in the middle of the cushion.   The back has been crocheted with matching rows of colour to mirror the front.

A slight dilemma yesterday - there isn't anywhere local to me stocking round cushion pads.  Fortunately I found some calico in my fabric stash so out with the sewing machine and a bag of stuffing and custom made cushion pad created.

Unfortunately the cushion can't live here - its a bit too pink and girlie for Mr Milly!

Me and Mr Milly spent sometime at the Lottie yesterday and again today.   The Sunflowers have been staked,  more strawberry runners planted,  lettuced thinned out and the latest waterbutt (from Freecyle) installed.  They were the fun bits!   The front quarter (ish) section of the Lottie is still to be sorted - had you noticed my tactical photos recently??  LOL!   This bit is now quite overgrown,  so this weekend I made a start on it.   A section about 8 foot by 3 foot marked out,  roots and grass removed and then dug over.   It was hard work,  but very satisfying when finished.  This section has now been covered to stop the weeds and will probably stay that way until next year.

Hedgerow harvest around the Lottie today - Greengages and apples which are growing wild behind the plot.  So tonight there are 4 lovely jars of greengage jam,  2 yummy jars of apple sauce and 2 bags of  not particularly interesting, but probably tasty stewed apples waiting to be frozen.

Waiting for the jars to cool down before labelling.

Greengage jam recipe was from here Greengage Jam   I made it without the vanilla pods and with a little less sugar than the recipe states as I like to taste the fruit and not the sugar!  Jam making is a joint effort in our house as Mr Milly is the setter tester - when I think the jam is ready Mr Milly checks the jam on a frozen saucer for wrinkling - he then decides if it is ready or not.   What he doesn't know is that it will be his fault if there is batch which doesn't set as he is the setter tester  :)