the shock...

...of finding I hadn't blogged since July...and it is now October...OCTOBER!!!

Jeez I feel like I was dead or something. But I wasn't. Not really sure quite what was going on...oh yeah, real life (I think they call it) bloomin' 'eck it doesn't half get in the way of bloggin'n'craftin at times...

Anyway, here I am, back to some sort of bloggin'n'craftin half life at least...sorry about the hiatus...I'd promise it won't happen again (but you know what, I bet it does)...

Ms Reva had a birthday during that self-enforced silence...girl turned 7


We had a number of celebrations and I made her a cushion, well we made it together really, though she didn't know it was happening. Best sort of mum'n'dottir crafting where no-one quite knows what's going on. Happens a lot round here.

She stuck all these bits of fabric from my scrap box onto a square piece (from a sheet we had in our holiday "hut" in the 1970s - aaaah, those were the days) one day while I was busy doing something else and one night while she was busy doing something else (sleeping to be precise) I appliqued them all down exactly as she'd put them, added a back and a label (for I suffer from an acute case of labelitis) and an internal cushion and a crafty birthday pressie was born.


The look on her face on the morning of the day was priceless, and the sight of it on her bed every day better still.



Gotta do more of that sort of stuff. I love it.

Realised tonight this is my 95th, or 96th post. Now I know that's fairly pathetic over more than two years compared to all those prolific posters out there, but it does mean post no 100 is approaching (sometime in the next decade that'll be) and so I'll have to start thinking about a suitable giveaway for the traditional celebration. Unless fashions have moved on so far since I was around last of course that that is now passe. Hmmmm...watch this space... (ahem...if you have the patience of a saint that is)

Hope anyone who found their way back here again after my very impolite silence is well and enjoying life and all that Autumn (can it really be) has to offer...

you know that your child has been living with a blogger for too long when...

...the first thing she does upon receipt of some postal goodies is dash off immediately in search of the best available light and arrange them ready to be photographed...


...goodies from Helen at Angharad, there was also an old fashioned peg ready for some peg dolly action but the apprentice blogger decided to omit that for a reason known only to herself...

I had no idea what Ms Reva was up to, quite thought she'd lost her marbles in fact (now I know how my overmilkwood-mates must feel about me on a regular basis) until the penny finally dropped. Then I just felt an overwhelming sense of pride...(ahem, you know I'm kidding, right?...right?)

Thanks Helen, for the unexpected goodies for the kids as well as for my lovely giveaway prizes, which I have so far managed to keep for myself, thanks in no small part to the distraction of the peg dolly goodies.

If you planned it that way it was both cunning and immensely successful!

A word about the fabric in the background there: it is a piece of 50s barkcloth I managed to pick up in Jubilee Market one Monday morning - I LOVE 50s barkcloth - we had a wooden holiday chalet on the Irish coast in the 1970s which was still rigged out from the 50s with curtains and cushions etc in this and it always takes me back to those really happy times - if anyone knows a good source for the stuff PLEASE let me know...(cos, like, I really need to start collecting something else you know...)

Apart from photo shoots with the baby blogger I've been engaged with making a doll quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap No 5 (first one I've joined in with)


I used some of my favourite fabrics and made an attempt at a flying geese pattern. Don't look too closely though as if you do you'll see my geese are a little random and not so keen on flying in military style formation

Pesky birds!

I enjoyed making it though and have great plans to make quilts for the girls, and even one for my own king size bed one day. Whoa...hold on there girl...

(you can see more DSQ5 pictures over on flickr)

What else? oh yes...every cloud has a silver lining...as you may recall I lost my fancy dangled harmony option needles on a train from Liverpool and so have been a bit stumped on the knitting front (well, until yesterday when the replacements finally arrived - Hallelujah!). I was forced into using some old plastic ones from the days I used to buy up lots of vintage knitting needles on ebay which brought me the very pleasant experience of knitting with red malabrigo on pretty green needles...

...was almost worth losing the needles to enjoy those contrasting colours together...

In the background there you can see my lovely Cath Kidston bag sent by my even more lovely friend Katy when I moaned about not being allowed to be in her draw due to being a UK resident. Always worth a little moan I reckon. Thanks Katy. Mwah!

The knitting ended up as a tea cosy for my old school friend Siobhan. She had requested a red one as recently as November 2007 (my ability to procrastinate knows few equals) and I managed it in time for a belated Birthday Present this year. Happy Birthday dear hope you like it!

The weather in London this month is a strange mix of beautiful, clear crisp Autumn days and dark days of non-stop miserable rain. Last Sunday was one of the former and we got out to the woods, taking coffee and bagels with us.

It was a lovely little excursion and one I hope to repeat often this Autumn and Winter.

Hope you are managing to enjoy Autumn (or is it officially Winter already? I always get confused) wherever you are, or Spring I guess, if you happen to be down southerly ways...