WOYWWing & monster making

Hello fellow WOYWWers! Welcome to the monster workshop...

I haven't been able to do much lately as little Tula Belle has had a monstrous cold (I wrote that without intending to be funny - monsters are definitely taking over my brain) which has meant I've been unable to leave her for more than 30 seconds during the day without her crying, unless she falls asleep. Hard work at half term with all three girls home! We even had a thoroughly pointless trip to hospital on Friday night where we got to watch TV for four hours, waiting for the doctor's verdict. Yes - FOUR hours, with three under-fives in a horribly hot waiting room. Luckily the two older ones were angels, and there were lots of toys to keep them occupied, and the TV for Jude. Unlike my lovely girls, I was not in the best of moods, due to lack of sleep and worry over Tula, so by the time the doc re-appeared at 10:30pm, I was about ready to rip his head off. Needless to say, he allowed us to leave shortly after.

Tula is a special little girl as she was born with a slightly odd shaped chest, which means she is likely to have more problems than most babies coping with colds, which is why I wanted her checked out this time, as she hadn't been able to drink all day what with being so congested. Thankfully all was fine and she is slowly on the mend. I keep a separate blog to follow her story, which I occasionally update.

So, as a result, not much progress is being made with any of my projects. In fact, at some point I need to sit down and work out exactly what I need to get going on if I'm to get anything done for Christmas this year. Normally I'd be working out some card designs by now and have at least one pressie finished... this year: nada. zilch. zip. Despite my feelings about the whole Christmas frenzy, our gifts may have to be a little less personal this year than I would like.

scrappy heaven

Anyhow, back to the messy desk! I started making a pile of monsters to stitch onto party bags for Milly's birthday, but now I've finished a batch of the bags, I've realised most of the monsters are too gangly to fit the size of the bags.  Below left is one that's definitely too big, and he doesn't look anywhere near as nice shorter... so I've been playing with the pile of scrap fabric the lovely Dotty Bird flew in recently and trying to make some more squat figures.

I don't seem to be able to make 'cute' monsters: they're all a bit strange... 

This is the one that freaks Jude out the most

One completed scrappy monster!

My inspiration must come from my real-life monsters...

Skip on over to the lovely Julia at Stamping Ground who hosts What's On Your Workdesk Wednesdays and check out all the other busy desks on show.



Happy Wednesday everyone!! Have a lovely week x

Tula at 2 months

Bobbles!

Bobbles!

This is my latest fixation; the first of 99 knitted squares to make an afghan as copied from Debbie Abraham's splendid 'Blankets and Throws to Knit'. Each square has a beach theme, this one is 'Pebbles', and it took me ages to get it right, but I ended up with this.

After many false starts I figured out why I was kept adding 5 extra stitches after each bobble row... such a feeling of achievement to work through a problem like that and not just give up. However, now I've finished it, I'm starting to think maybe I really do need to take the advice she gives in the book to use the right needle size for the yarn... I think the whole blanket will turn into a misshapen tent otherwise.

As you can see in the pic, my stitches are quite loose and floppy whereas in the book the knitting is firm and will hold it's shape better. Also it should be knitted in a Rowan DK cotton, but there's no hope of me justifying buying 55 balls so, as is the way with all my projects, the components have gathered themselves in a random fashion: the yarn I'm using is an acrylic/wool blend received a week or so ago from a kind local Freecycler who had originally bought it but not got round to making a second blanket for her daughter (which is what inspired me to start this project) and the knitting needles I acquired a while back in a bundle of stuff either from a charity shop or car boot. Although I have managed to gather quite a collection of knitting needles, the majority of them are nasty placky-clacky ones and these are lovely old wooden needles that are just the right length to be able to knit without disembowelling the baby on my lap. I don't know why I expected them to be right for each other but I couldn't wait to get going! So I guess I'll have to have a look on Ebay for some smaller needles.

The Jacob's Ladder is slowly coming along, but I'm taking a little break from it until I find some decent batting. The last square I pieced was starting to become a little shoddy with corners not matching up, so I figure I need a break from that and take a new approach to it, so I'd like to start the actual quilting. As I'm doing it a la 'Quilt-as-you-go' style, ie a lap-quilt, which is realistically the only way I'm going to manage to finish this project, I can quilt each block as it's finished.

Ideally I'd like to use a lovely bamboo batting which I've used before, but sadly the shop that stocks it has since closed down and the only stockist in Liskeard sells a cotton/polyester mix which it seems a bit illogical to use as everything else is (as far as I can judge) is cotton.

For some reason I'd convinced myself that I'd got the block wrong so I rather pleased to see that the pattern actually does work! I've also found a junk shop in town is selling cheap rolls of brushed cotton in a check pattern that would work well as a backing for the quilt so I'm buying as much as I can afford. I figure I could always make pj's for the girls with what's left.

This is a pile of fabric I've put together that I'd love to start another quilt with. (Like I have time). Originally I wanted a fabtacular multicolour creation, but I think these colours are great together.

The girls have been busy too, so I've finally got round to displaying all of their artwork, which is added to every day (and adjusted by Milly who likes to pick the sequins off the lower pictures!). It's so fantastic to have had a couple of days of sunshine at last so they've been able to run around outside a lot more, which means everyone's happier. Jude's done lots of work in the allotment, which is looking more cared-for at last plus I've finally got some veg into the ground at last! Broad beans, peas and courgettes so far, but hopefully some more veg and also flowers. Last year's Poached Eggs have self-seeded beautifully but little else, though I'm thrilled with a rather stunning Aquilegia which has flowered this year. Pics to follow!

Tula is doing well and putting on weight. It still freaks me out that she sleeps SOOO much, but I guess I should count my blessings: it certainly makes dealing with the other two much easier. It just seems a bit of a shame that she tires so easily and particularly feeding exhausts her as she chokes all the time, which is quite scary. The combination of my milk flow being quite fast and I suspect her small throat/airway makes it much harder for her, especially when she's really hungry. She's healthy though, and already showing a cheeky monkey streak, so that's all that matters!

Enjoy the sunshine! :-)

Crafty Sunday

It might be wet n windy outside but there's a warm hive of industry indoors! Quite unprompted the girls have gathered paper, scissors, glue, glitter and coloured film and have made beautiful pictures.

Tula is getting fat, as you can see! We went to see the dermatologist during the week and she doesn't have ichthyosis after all. All that's left to examine now is her bone formation to see if she has any identifiable congenital condition at all.

As you can see time spent holding the baby is still productive! I can just about manage to continue patchworking at the same time. I've made good progress on the Jacob's Ladder, despite getting a bit carried away with preparing for the next quilt.

Garden-wise, the allotment is starting to pull me out of the house again, even though I'd kind of written this year off, I can't resist it when there's so much to do! As well as getting some veg on the go, I also want to sow the wildflower section which has been covered up since last spring in preparation. Have to wait for another gap in the rain for that.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend too whatever the weather's doing! :-)

Sunshine in Stroud

We drove to Stroud on Tuesday to meet up with Jess and bring her home at last! It was lovely to see Granny & Grandad and it's always nice to visit Stroud again: it always looks so picturesque when seen with fresh eyes.

We took the dogs for a walk by the canal in Saul. There has been a huge amount of work done to open up the canal network in the area after years of disuse and neglect: as a result Stroud is hosting a major boat festival on July to celebrate.

Fittingly I've been re-reading Laurie Lee's autobiography of a childhood growing up in Stroud in the days before cars dictated the pace of life. The book is beautifully written and so evocative of a lost way of life, when a family trip to the next village, four miles away, meant a day's travelling on foot.

And after all that gorgeous sunshine we're driving back now under grey skies and interminable drizzle. Foolishly I forgot to to take any sewing projects with me so I've been itching to get on with my quilting...