A little mending & return to Eden

Another sunny visit to the beautiful Eden Project!

It's such a wonderful place any time of year, but particularly so with all the flowers in full bloom! There is always lots for kids to do too; this visit included the making of a beautifully decorated moustache for each of the girls, inspired by the Lorax. Luckily my sister who has been staying with us for a few days was able to help out which made everything much easier!

Not long ago I mentioned I was mending an old chair the children use, and here is a pic of the finished patch

More of Milly's long-armed stick figures on the etch-a-sketch in the background - a recent charity shop find!

Pretty soon it'll need some more mending, but I'm pleased with my first efforts! I think the chair was made in the 60's and it was in fairly good condition when we rescued it from a skip, but with much use the fabric has started to shred in a few places, the worst being the edge of the seat which had stuffing spilling out of it. The material I chose at random (it almost chose itself as it just happened to be lying around nearby, freed from my stash for some reason) but works quite well as the leaves echo the pattern of the original fabric.

Another recent charity shop find was two hand-crocheted blankets for the bargain price of £1.50, one of which has several moth-holes in which I thought I must be able to do something with. I actually spotted them in a bag as they'd just been brought in and not even priced up yet, and very cheekily asked to see them! I'm glad I did as the holey one would probably have been rejected for sale otherwise.

the good one!

not so good!

I've started by just trying to darn the holes, but it looks pretty crappy - my darning skills are not my strength :-) Then I thought perhaps I might continue darning anyway, but embellish the patches somehow, maybe with a little embroidery. Whatever I do, I want it to look mended: it's important to me that the mending becomes part of the story of this blanket - that's why I chose such an obviously different wool, actually three colours entwined to echo the different mixed threads of the original crochet. Progress report to follow....

"We'll still love you Mum even if you can't darn for toffee!"

Happy Thursday y'all xx

Photos from our week

One of the best things to keep the girls quiet and absorbed together for an hour or so while I get dinner on: a bowl of cornflour and water! It looks awful afterwards, but because it's only flour it's easy to clean up. And if you've never experienced the weirdness of wet cornflour, try it! It seems in the space of a breath to veer between solid and liquid and back, very peculiar.

Milly is still obsessed with putting everyone to bed: last night I found this little scene on the table, she'd found a crushed shoebox for Piglet to sleep in, all tucked up under his cardboard blanket!

And here's a scene Jessie had set up before she went to bed: I found out this morning that they are all gathered around Eeyore because "he is sad". Aw. It shows how she craves order because she's made sure each type of animal is with its own kind - even Tigger has been put next to the zebras with his stripes!

Taking Lucky for a walk in Looe

The sea was cold and grey so we didn't explore very much, but it'll be a good spot to return to in the summer, lovely heaths overlooking the shore.

A rare photo of Mum with her girls! Looking lumpy. I did have to shove the camera at Jude for him to take it, but at least there's some record of my existence rather than always being on the other side of the camera!

And this is Jessie's look du jour (well all week really): crazy princess! Well, it's more crazy old witch, but this is the only costume she has... She is wearing a floppy crown I made for her third birthday, which is pretty, but quite impractical as it was cut out of fleece scraps. I want to make one for Mil as her birthday is coming up, but I think I'll use proper felt this time.

And the cushion cover is slowly taking shape. I added a little white border to the patchwork to help break up the design a bit; it was a bit fiddly (mainly because my lines are never straight!) but I think it works well. I quite like an idea I saw for a cushion back, where someone had cut out an old shirt and used the existing buttonholes to fasten the cushion, but I think for this I'll have to stick to a pillow opening, as I want to use the same fabric as the front, this lovely peacock blue. Originally this was an amazing full-length hand-made coat with a funny cape around the shoulders, which I'd bought in a charity shop years ago but never found a use for. I had intended to alter it so that it was wearable (back in the days when I used to wear outrageous clothes!) as I always find it so difficult to tear clothing up if it can still somehow be worn - a bit like writing in or ripping up books, something in me feels it is deeply wrong! So I'm glad that it has finally found a purpose, and hopefully it will give me the courage to tackle the boxes of old clothing I've kept but never dared to tear up for patchwork...