london at a standstill...a kimono for Martha...some slippers for some feet

we had some snow...it brought the country to its knees...apparantly 6 million people couldn't get to work yesterday...that's some "duvet day"! those of you used to snow must be hysterical with laughter...

a street junction just up from my house...

the bird house in our back garden...

poor birds must be having a rotten time...mind you we ran out of bird food so they got to enjoy some of my organic super omega wonder food seed mix (at a cost of approximately 10 pence per seed I reckon)...I hope they enjoyed it

there were people snowboarding and skiing (yes, really) in the central London park down the road from where we live (while my kids descended the hill on a small tin tray which they had to fight over...poor sods)

I had my laptop at home so was able to work from there...this is my favourite bit about working from home...mmmm, proper breakfast...


other news... my good friends (fellow campers and dinner circle founder members) Anna and Fraser had themselves a bonny baby girl...as is my wont I had to indulge my love of knitting baby kimono cardis with this result...


NORO Cash Iroha yarn - silk, cashmere and merino - yum yum yum

(I made a change to the pattern this time and only put one button - I like it)

(that little Martha is fairly scrummy too I can tell you - was nearly tempted until I remembered I'll be 40 next week and more nappies might just hasten my end...) (can't believe I just shared that particular piece of info)

(what's with all the brackets?)

(must be imminent senility)

and finally, a visual update on the now felted slippers...


sweet huh?

on staying warm...or, I do like a cup of hot coffee on occasion too ...

Contrary to popular belief it is not all tea round here. From time to time (read that as every day at 10am) I like to make a cafetiere of coffee and indulge myself in a blast of hot strong caffeine but all too often my pursuit of this little indulgence gets interrupted (spouse/children/work/doorbell...you get the picture) and I get back only to be faced with the disappointment of a luke warm pot of coffee and a choice between throwing it away or microwaving it. Neither of which pleases me.

Obviously something needed to be done...enter the cafetiere cosy



I made this in less than twenty minutes while also watching Ms Bester do some drawing, so it really is a very quick and simple project (that may just revolutionise your life)

Here is how to make one:

From your collection of felted sweaters choose one whose colour fills your heart with joy.

For a small cafetiere (bodum one cup for example) you’ll get away with using a sleeve, for anything bigger you’ll need part of the body.

Measure the distance between the top and bottom of the handle (by eye, measuring tape, bit of string, holding a section of the felted sweater (whose colour makes your heart sing) up against it – these are all permissible techniques) and cut a long rectangle from the sweater. Make sure it is long enough to go all around the body of the jug and have a little bit (say two inches) to spare.

From your collection of beautiful wools and flosses select one whose addition to the felted sweater will enrich your warm coffee experience as much as you can bear. Use this to blanket stitch all around your rectangle.

Then choose a couple of nice buttons (from your extensive button collection) and cut slits in one end of the rectangle of a size generous enough to accommodate those buttons. Blanket stitch around the slits to make pretty buttonholes.

Attach buttons to opposite end of rectangle in the right places so that they meet the buttonholes when the rectangle is stretched snugly around your cafetiere.

Embellish the cosy to your hearts desire.

Put kettle on. Make pot of delicious hot coffee. Apply cosy to said pot using pretty buttons to secure.

Snuggle up with great book/the newspaper/a craft project/your darling/whoever was at the door (maybe omit the snuggling for this last one, unless you know them well of course) and forget about it for a while.

Remember the coffee, pour into your favourite cup (milk and sugar as you wish) and delight in the fact that is still toasty hot when you finally take a sip.

Enjoy!

Am off to Switzerland on Friday to check out my new nephew (and hopefully drink lots of nice hot coffee with my sister!).

swaps and general wonderfulness...

sorry I have been absent even longer than usual...putting my back out a couple of weeks ago has wrecked havoc with my normal fairly sedentary, fairly hunched over, happy existence. Apparently (or so the osteopath and physiotherapist tell me) in order to avoid more of the same excruciating indisposition, a body has got to exercise. Which really is not compatible with spending all one's free time crafting or blogging. Is downright inconvenient to be frank. But I'm doing it (through gritted teeth) I may now seriously have to consider giving up the day job (sitting in front of a computer is very bad for me you know) ...there simply isn't enough time in the week to do it all, work, craft and exercise too. Bah!

anyway...there has been much wonderfulness since I reported last...

doll swaps received...(swoon!)


a beautiful bag, containing my doll from from Emily at Ravenhill


Gorgeous isn't she? I have never seen a more charming tea lady in my life. She is currently guarding my precious tea stash and administering to my beverage requirements beautifully.

She was accompanied by a selection of vintage buttons and a doily...which just had to be put in one of my vintage china saucers as that is what you do with vintage buttons in the overmilkwood house (Ms. Reva's latest edict)



so now I can show you what I sent Emily too...most of these pictures are from Emily's blog as she takes a far meaner photo than yours truly. Her little daughter Lilly (isn't she the cutest?) seems to really like Ms Myrtle (yes, Ms M really does spell it like that, no-one knows why) which makes me very happy indeed


What fun I had making this, my first doll. I have plans for many more

The dress was made to be easily put-on-take- offable by a three year old, the cardi was a variation on the kimono cardi I knit a while back, and the books were made by Ms Reva and Ms Bester

In further swap extraordinariness I was the lucky recipient of these pieces of functional felted perfection...

made by Lisa at lilfishstudios who actually made the felt herself...I kid you not...you just wouldn't believe how beautiful, soft and tactile it is in the flesh (so to speak)...these came wrapped in tissue pattern pieces which was a small touch I loved...

finally, this weekend was the Reva Girl's 6th birthday (nope, I have no idea how that happened, seems like only yesterday I was marvelling at her tiny starfish like hands and skinny little jaundiced legs) and here is a taster of the sewing kit I put together for her

which was inspired by her recently developed passion for vintage buttons and the ilk (oh what a proud, proud moment that was for me, when I walked into our craftroom to find her marvelling at old glass buttons and rushing to the kitchen to find a vintage saucer in which to place them to best advantage)...I'll get the other photos of the little kit up during the week I hope...watch this space...

swap goodies, an exhibition and a meeting...

On Friday myself and Ms Bester met with the lovely Katy from imagingermonkey and her son, ginge ( obviously that's not his real name). We visited the Skin and Bones exhibition at Somerset House where I was delighted to bask in Katy's reflected glory....the woman was only wandering around the show with one of the exhibition items on her back...I tried to persaude her to hop up on the plinth and be done with it but strange as it may seem she managed to resist. The show was great. Lots of very sculptural fashion pieces juxtaposed with interesting architectural models, designs and photographs. I was most interested in the clothes: think Junya Watanbe, Yohji Yamamoto et al etc along with Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood from closer to home. Well worth a visit, if only to see Mc Queen's amazing appliqued skirt with leather bodice - I almost wept. Don't go expecting pretty floral prints and a fashion trends to follow for this season, this is serious stuff, imprevious to such paltry concerns...

We then retired to Gabriel's Wharf for some lunch and swapping of our sewn goods.

Katy produced a beautiful Astronoughty for Ms. Reva's fifth birthday in a couple of weeks time



and a great bag for all the child's bits'n'bobs...

how cool is that, it's even got a tag with her name on...she is going to love it!

and for me a really lovely little tea coaster...

Katy has obviously been paying attention to my interminable ramblings on the subject of that fine beverage. Ms Reva set up the following shot, to showcase both the lovely new coaster and my favourite vintage teacup as well as the teapot she helped me paint when she was two years old.

See that blob inside the lid? That's Reva Girl's thumbprint...

Thanks so much Katy - you are a star!

I mentioned to Katy previously that I was thinking of making an owl and pussycat mini-quilt, she said it was her favourite piece of nonsense verse and I didn't need any further encouragement...


here's the back:

difficult to see much with all that Michael Miller stripe going on but as I was making the quilt I reflected on the fact that I actually sometimes like the backs of such things more than the fronts. After I had done the appliqued front with the owl and cat on I just loved the wrong side with the stitched outline (before I added the striped backing). It reminded me that when at art school most of my drawings focussed on negative spaces rather than positive, there appears to be something about what is absent rather than present that attracts me...hmm, may need to give this a little more reflection...

other swap news:

sneaky peek of my actual Lucy Locket mini-quilt swap for Marie


I really hope she likes it...

and a finished Functional Felt Swap pincushion and needle-roll soon to be off to a surprise recipient

These are made from a thrifted felted scarf (the blue) and cashmere sweater (the pages in the needleroll) along with some really pretty vintage trims that were in my stash. I really want to keep them for myself as I need one of each (well, I actually do have a needle book but the cashmere pages in this one are just gorgeous so I want it!). The pincushion was inpired by this tutorial right here...I didn't follow the tutorial right to the letter (far too lazy for that) but the end result is pretty much the same.

next up - the doll swap...am nervous about this one I must say, never having made a doll before...wish me luck...no, more than that send me inspiration...

...on being three...

my baby girl turns three this week...I am going to be away on the day so we designated yesterday her official birthday and did all the things you do on such a day...it was marvellous...

the day before - cake and jelly in preparation



the scene in our back garden upon rising on the big day, snow on your birthday - how exciting is that?


the badge of honour (which of course she wouldn't wear but which will join the others on her shelf of birthday cards with badges made by mum)




the gift opening by a very excited pair of sisters, Ms Bester from my friend imagingermonkey was a huge hit, thanks again Katy : you are a star


the party table (yes, in time honoured mean mom tradition I did force them to eat some "healthy stuff" first)


the finished cake (didn't get to photograph the jelly as the party guests got there first...the bunny didn't stand a chance...top tip for 3 year old parties - do jelly, they'll love it!)

she had requested a strawberry cake and this is what I came up with, mostly as a result of the current lack of oven situation...a party game for grown ups did emerge during the mayhem of the afternoon, with about 5 of them standing around umming and aahing and trying to fix my oven, convinced it is just a timer problem, unfortunately there was no winner but I think they had fun

a very tired but happy girl before bed (when she got there she insisted the cot bed be turned into a bed as she is now offially a big girl)


what a lovely day for a truly lovely girl, forgive me for being soppy but that child really does make my heart sing...she's hilarious

There was another birthday girl this week too, my darling friend Ms D with whom I celebrated in style on Saturday night in the company of Mr G, The Wolf and the King and Queen of home entertaining...unfortunately due to a prior engagement I had to forego her oyster eating extravaganza yesterday afternoon (too busy forcing jelly rabbits on unsuspecting 3 year olds) but I hope she had a wonderful time. Happy Birthday Ms D.

I am away from tonight...visiting Ireland to give my dad a big hug as he has been a bit poorly and to sing happy birthday to my sister (hopelessly out of tune) ...back at the weekend

1, 2, 3, 4.....felt

my eldest daughter has now been stricken by the chickenpox...so a day at home for all (Thursday is my day off from work so I could rest easy and not worry about deadlines and schedules while pandering to a sick child, tomorrow will be quite another matter)

we spent our morning making these...




I was in charge of the 4 one, but Ms Reva took total charge of the felt portrait one...she had been asking if we could put a picture of Lara onto the first but my energy/creative/hassle levels were low and I kept saying no I don't think we'd be able to do that (which is very unlike me when making stuff with the kids, the one good thing about having me as a parent is that I'm normally game to rise to any creative challenge) however the girl persevered and in the end she put it together herself. Hats off, she did a great job. I was then left to do the stitching (in a kind of renaissance master:minion operation) while she reclined on her sick-couch, spent from her exertion...

I've been making little badges since the kids were younger...I attach them to a blank card for their birthdays and then keep them on a shelf in their room all year...here is Madame Esther's from last birthday...
do you think there is a name for the disease whose main symptom is the desire to put little tags that say your name on everything? If so I'd like to know it...because I've gone down with it...and it appears to be hereditary as the kids are also showing an unhealthy interest...

(come to think of it I was just like this with labelling things at school too)


I haven't forgotten about the giveaway...pop back next week and hopefully I'll have had a chance to get it together. In the meantime why not pay a visit to LucyKateCrafts where there is a very sweet little critter looking for a home right now...

this'n'that...

things have been hectic in the overmilkwood homestead this week...plenty of winter ailments that you'd rather not hear the finer details of and now smallfry#2 has come down with tonsillitis...she is a pathetic little sight (very cuddley though, now that she is forced to stop for breath)

I've been busying myself with random crafting activities, as you do when ailments strike. It's been rather pleasant actually!

some knitting got started...and completed...


(it's a tudora scarflet in case you were wondering, a lovely couple'o'nights knit and very snug. Oh, and the green is much greener in RL, which pleases me)

the Le Slouch got blocked over a dinner plate and now looks much more, erm, beret like (now I know the beanie style had some professed fans, but I think you were all just being polite)

it got augmented by a pretty little flower made from a felted sweater...



which in turn led to the creation of a rather terrifying looking corsage...

(I promise I won't wear both at once)

I finished making my swap object for Lucy's Valentine Swap which will shortly be winging its way off to Jo In Tas (who has camped near some VERY strange critters indeed!)

Have chosen 5 images to print and decide between to send off to my partner in scentofwater's photoswap...hey, maybe I'll post those next time and you guys can help me decide which to send

and started to think about what the hell I'm going to do for ElsieMarley's Mobile Swap (beginning to think I was MAD, quite MAD to sign up for this one actually)

meanwhile the arts and craft brigade on my tip top parenting forum [that'll be the one that has kept me halfway sane over the past 5 years] are setting up a swap so I need to think about that too...

good lord, I think I need a lie down (preceded by a nice cup of tea of course, wouldn't like to be TOO rash)