Birthday

I'm not doing very well with this keeping up with blogging, am I? *g* My birthday was the first of this month and, unusually, I was working. And for the first time ever Spouse was off while I was working (he'd had an accident involving a vase and his foot and was off sick) and so Chookie and him baked! Heh heh. They were delicious little mini Victoria sponges. 

And I was an extremely lucky girl and received a fabulous array of very thoughtful gifts. A jewellery box from Spouse for my Trollbead collection, smells for me and the house, fabulous hummingbird artwork from my Chook, beautiful objects, and geeky goodness including a Firefly compendium from my wee bro and a Hodor door stop from a dear friend (Game of Thrones watchers will get the joke. *g*)

But check this out! It's an over the door ironing board for my wee room!!! 

Thank you, Spouse, you rock. 

A decade and a half

Well now. I disappeared there for a bit, didn't I? I can't say there was a reason behind my extended blog hiatus other than a slowing down of the general blogosphere.  But I don't blog for anyone other than me so that's not really a reason, either.  Maybe I just needed a break after 7 years. Regardless, this morning I was looking for certain photos and *knew* I would find them here.

Y'see, today my Chookie turns 15. *blinks*

And it was rather lovely to be able to look here right back to her 7th birthday. So here we are again.

She asked for a camera - her artistic pursuits are very much of the photographic persuasion currently. And yes, she's had all her long hair chopped off and dyed bright red. I can't say anything, can I? *grins* That is also Harley Quinn Cons and a Sherlock tee she is wearing (with a pork pie hat!) - we have finally geeked her out! #parentingsuccess

She asked for her first birthday shindig this year, too. A group of her friends at the local Escape Rooms and lunch at her favourite fusion restaurant. One friend couldn't make it and the three of them failed to escape (but had fun!) and a building flood meant the eatery was closed so no Japanese food was available! But we made it work - another place does fab burgers and seafood so not a bad day after all. And the sun shone!

I'll keep it short and sweet for this first entry - there's not an awful lot to catch up on this year (mostly sewing and knitting) but we did have some sad events in the spring. More on that next time, let's not dwell on anything today except my decade-and-a-half girl!

Birthday girl

I'm kinda (very!) late in sharing my latest birthday! I was 42 last Monday - or, as I chose to celebrate it, 21 for the second time. *g* As per tradition of the last few years I received a card with money from Chookie (her own hard earned pocket money) but she had no notes of her chosen denomination. So I got coins. Heh heh. They bought the latest Harry Potter book!

My main gifts from Spouse were a beautiful silver Phoenix and the limited edition Deep Ocean Trollbeads. Those fishes are hard to find! Coz they're gorgeous. A pearl from my parents-in-law and a Positive Change silver from one of my friends completed my Trolly haul - apart from my lovely grey pearl ring, also from Spouse. The floral Pandora ring was from my own parents, don't they all play well together?

Another friend gave me lovely smellies for my bathroom which prompted a mini makeover in the wee loo. Oh, and the badger plaque! 

My other friend gave me (amongst other things) this fab hand felted pin. Isn't it perfect with my Pebble Beach Shawl? 

And Wee Bro and Wife spoilt me with a huge voucher to the local cinema. It'll see us there twice - Suicide Squad this weekend! It's not so bad this getting older lark.

P.S. No birthday portrait but I do have me-photos taken the day after. Close enough and I'll share tomorrow!

14

I say it every year but she is just growing (up!) so fast. Today is her 14th birthday and we're actually on holiday in sunny North Yorkshire. Here she is by the back door of our cottage this morning in her new Fall Out Boy tee, Twenty One Pilots style red beanie and Panic! at the Disco dog tags. It's all about the bands just now!

There may also be a new pair of Panic! gutties. There's a fab lady on Etsy paints them in all sorts of bandoms. 

And tonight? Well we've not strayed far from the door today, only a stroll round the Village and lunch in the nearby town. Chook wants her fave enchiladas for tea and we've chocolate birthday cake and a game of Pandemic Legacy planned. She really is growing up.

Journal Your Christmas day 11 - the birthday guitar strap

I'm going off-prompt today with my journal and am taking this "easy day" as a chance to actually show something I've made this last week. Because I can't share Christmas gifts yet it's a wee treat to be able to show something and I was a bit pleased with this one.

My brother (and his wife AND my dad!) is a December birthday and had asked a few months ago if I thought I'd be able to make a guitar strap pad for him. Upon further chat and investigation it turns out there's a real lack of cool straps themselves available - so I had a bash at making the whole shebang.

You can buy the leather ends in the States (or a kit for making your own strap) but not here in backwards Britain. So I really did make the whole thing - I bought leather and had a go at sewing it. I even had a punch I bought years ago for setting eyelets in my scrapbooks! The hardwear came from a cheap strap I bought - the hardest thing to find was 2 inch square rings. You can't get them for love nor money here!

It worked pretty well and as soon as I saw that paisley fabric I knew it was perfect for him. The pad itself is lightly padded with 3 layers of quilt wadding. I did have half a notion to cut down a pair of memory foam insoles for stuffing but wasn't sure if that would make it too padded. So I decided to caw canny* with the prototype.

It was gifted on Tuesday and happily received, went straight on on of his eleven guitars (eleven!) and tried for size and deemed perfect. So we will see how it goes. I've warned him not to be too Pete Townsend with it until we see how it wears. I'm worried about the thickness of the leather, the stitching on the leather, the buckle slipping and it just generally being not fit for purpose. But it looks great! I've said if it works (or needs minor adjustments) I'm more than happy to have a go at another since I like a challenge and he has plenty other guitars!

* a Scots phrase meaning take it easy! Your vernacular lesson for the day. You're welcome. *g*

Christmas and birthdays.

Scrapbooking, that is. Yes, I've been having my (almost) annual urge to get out the stickin' and gluein' supplies and get Chook's birthday and Christmas pages done. 

First up her last birthday. Which was only 6 weeks ago - check me being all organised! This was one of those chuck-everything-on-a-page-and-see-what-sticks layouts. There's chalk spray splattered underneath, a framework of washi tape and border stickers and various bits of cut-apart elements from paper sheets (like the "Sweet Child o' Mine" phrase) and I tried to keep a slight musical theme on account of the ukulele giftage! I wish now I'd used a different font for the "thir" in the title so that the "teen" was highlighted but that didn't cross my tiny brain at the time.

Last Christmas. This is a terrible quality photo snapped on my phone during a rushed lunchtime before the school dance. But I failed to take any on Christmas day and so this is the only record I have of her fox dress finery. Christmas present list is in the spotty envelope and the orange accents (like the holly berries - I'm so glad I kept that little leaf punch!) were to pick up on the foxes on her dress.

And one other Chrimbo page - this one an 8in size for my Christmas album. The Christmas Eve bauble box! I appear to have a thing for enamel dots just now, eh? *g* And that wee holly leaf punch turned up again - I wish I hadn't chucked my heart one. 

So that may or may not be me done scrapping until after this Christmas. I do have a coat to sew, you know (yes, a coat!! I may have bitten off more than I can chew this time...)

Busy, busy

So there's been lots of... stuff... happening the last few days round these parts. The nicest of which was me turning another year older! 

My Wee Chookie outdid herself and asked my mum to take her shopping to spend money she'd saved from her holiday fund. She had asked if I wanted anything in particular and under duress (13 year olds are past masters at pestering, no?) I mentioned the photo frame for my favourite photo* had finally bitten the dust after one too many paw-pats off the window ledge. Her choice of replacement is sterling, I think. There was also favourite chocs, nail varnish and a killer solar powered dragonfly for the garden. The girl done good!

I had asked the big members of the fam for Trollbeads for my necklace. They did not disappoint!! And my friend totally hit the nail on the head with that wee dragon on the top, heh heh.

(that bottom bead,"Blizzard"? Glows in the dark!)

Ooh, and these chaps? These are about to be bought with the voucher my brother and his wife furnished me with for that finest trainer emporium, Schuh. And Adidas Gazelles are just about the finest of finest in the gutties stakes.

And besides an awesome birthday? Well there was a less-awesome unexpected trip to the dental hospital when the top of Chook's zombie tooth turned pink. Pink!! Turns out it's her gum growing inside the tooth. Which should give you some measure of how truly fecked the root is inside. So we're at the end of the road for the valiant wee tooth - what is left of it gets pulled at the end of September (10 days short of the 5th anniversary of it being knocked out - it wasn't expected to last 6 months!!) and we find a new kind of normal for the time being with a brace-with-tooth plate type thing. Here's her brave-girl sushi on the homeward bound train. 

And Spouse is unexpectedly working in Ireland this week. Including an 8 hour journey there yesterday and the same home today. Great planning by his work!! I'm on holiday myself until Thursday and spent yesterday watching Thor 2, Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America: TWS, Step Up and Save the Last Dance. There is a Lynz-shaped dent in the couch. I may try and make it out of the house today. Or, I might start my new Moss Mini with this awesome canvas!

But I think I may knit some of my shawl. Decisions, decisions. *g*

*The photo was sneakily taken by the photographer at my brother's wedding in 2006. Chook's looking really anxious having just done her flower girl aisle walking duties (only me and her will ever know what it took that shy wee 4 year old to actually do it) and I'm in the middle of telling her how perfect she was and how proud I am of her. And that's Beloved Wee Granny smiling in the background. Best reportage ever!

An adapted Lola

So when I bought the "Unicorns are Jerks" colouring book for Chook's birthday I bought new coloured pencils, too. I really wanted a set in a nice tin but couldn't find one. So a new pencil case was needed - and it had to be with unicorns, amIright? 

This is Svetlana at Sotak Handmade's "Lola" pouch but with different dimensions and no boxed corners.

Mostly because I love that recessed zip with the binding but hadn't a zip long enough!

The opening is only 4 inches wide but was surprisingly easy to work with. Especially since I always hand stitch the outside of the binding.

Necessity really is the mother of invention! And Chook loved it. Job done! 

13

So yesterday I became Mum to a teenager. I'm pretty sure it was only a few years ago that I turned 13. *blinks*  Here she is showing off her newly dyed birthday hair and one of her favourite gifts - a handicorn.*

This is what she asked for - a ukulele! She had a guitar block at music last term and wasn't fussed for the 6 string but loved the uke. 

And the red thing clipped to the headstock? A tuner!! It was part of her gift from my brother and his wife. Unky G is a mad keen guitarist and loves to indulge and encourage so this was a no-brainer for him.

There was also model ponies and accessories, jammies, Lush smellies by the... er... bathful and a big swadge of cash! Unicorns featured heavily, too, my favourite being the "Unicorns are Jerks" colouring book. Heh heh. 

(yes, I did a weenie spot of sewing - I'll show properly another day)

And we were wakened this morning not by a shouting cat but the tinkly tones of a ukulele playing a 12 bar blues riff. Happy days! 

* a handicorn: a unicorn hand puppet. Obviously!

The Instapurple quilt

I can show you my latest quilty finish now! (it's also a finish-along entry - the proposal is here) My Mum's birthday was yesterday so she received this guy along with those socks I showed you the other day. They matched too well to not give her them!!

Now, if you remember she asked for a purple cushion for Christmas. And then dropped a hint about having a matching quilt (and when I say hint? She said "you could make me a purple quilt for my birthday"!!) so I got to it. And then discovered I had almost no purple fabrics and couldn't find any small cuts to buy - I wanted scrappy, y'see. Well, my buds on Instagram came up trumps and a group of them sent me lovely little piles from their own stashes!! Marvellous, right?

I bought that little bolt-end strip of Indelible at Christmas for the cushions and didn't use it. It played so nicely with the subtle Wildwood main print. Simple diagonal quilting with ivory since the front is so busy.

Mum loves birds so this was a total shoo-in.

Course, I had help with the photo shoot. We shot out inbetween showers. Jones is just nosey.

And a good mid-purple (not too dark) for binding.

Tah-daah! I love the scrappiness of the different low volume prints and there's loads of wee bits of other quilts in there.

I am forever indebted to Tracy, Helen, Jan, Troods, Emily, Sadie and Claire. You guys rock!!

Quilty deets: 

Pattern: I haven't a clue whst this block is called, I saw it somewhere and figured it out.

Fabrics: everything and the (purple) kitchen sink.

Quilting and thread: diagonal lines with Gutterman ivory cotton

Size: oops! Must measure it next time I'm at Mum's.

March makes

I squeezed in one final March make yesterday and it might be my favourite one! Chook's friend has a birthday tomorrow and she loved the Sew Together bag I made for Chook. So a less-involved zippy was definitely in order.

This is a Lola pouch, the pattern is by Sotak Handmade. Svetlana has knocked it out of the park with this one, it's a fantastic design! I adore that binding and the recessed zip.

And being the first of the month means a look back at my other makes of March. Hey hey, I made more than I thought!

Linking up with Lynne at Lily's Quilts as always.

2 more days of work and I have some days of annual leave. Super-duper!!! I love Easter.

all about the feet, 'bout the feet, no fingers

This post is brought to you by the letter F. No, not that F word. Feet. And also finish-along. But more on that later. And please excuse the grainy photos, if I waited for some decent daylight I wouldn't blog til about March!

After the great wardrobe renovation of last weekend my thoughts have turned to my own closet. I've had a bit of a clear out and unwittingly caused some horrified exclamations on Instagram when I announced I was chucking these shoes in the direction of the charity shop. You see, they are my wedding sandals. Dun dun duuuuuuuun!

I haven't worn them in the 15 years since my wedding, they cost £15 in a local cheap shoe shop (I'd been thwarted at every turn getting fancy ones) and they are hopelessly dated. Not to mention the soles are starting to lift and the glue is showing. They are taking up valuable real estate in my wardrobe and need to go. So they have. It's not like it ruins the outfit since I hired my dress!

However, these chaps found down the bottom of my chest of drawers? They are very much staying within my sentimental clutches - they are, of course, Chookie's first shoes. I have her first boots, too! I think I'll buy one of those deep shadow frames and hang them on the wall!

And these chaps? They are my first finish-along tick! Gifted this evening to a birthday-having friend. Yaay!

In the interests of easy finish-along checking my original proposal is here and now I need to find something else to occupy my pins! Oh yeah, there's another sock-lover birthday on Sunday. Day-um...

Yarny deets:

Yarn - 2 50g balls of Superwash merino dyed with Dylon dyes
Needles - 3.5mm dpns
Pattern - the KnitFreedom Beginner Sock for magic loop adapted to give a 4 and 2 rib.
Stitches - 48 cast on with a Fleegle heel

witchy woman

I took a brief break from the obsessive knitting last night for a wee painty diversion. You see, I bought a meaningful little print with some birthday money from my Aunt and Uncle (the rest went on my first sock yarn and pins!) from this brilliant artist Steelgoddess, you'll find her Etsy shop here. I forget what I was browsing for but her illustration of a grumpy fairy trapped in a jar caught my eye. And then I spied this auld girl and it was kismet.

Yes, that's a steam punk witch leading the geese flying south. Heh. Family legend has it that my Beloved Wee Granny is a bit of a witch. It's okay. She's a good witch. And look how amazing the packaging was! Hee! I do love some whimsy in my letter box.

Anyways, I was after a black baroque curly-wurly frame for my wee 5x7 print (all I have room for!) And I came up empty after 6 weeks of hunting. Harumph.

Then today I found this guy when out buying air freshener and toothpaste. It's the wrong colour but the right size and style. Hell. I could fix the colour!!

So I bought it and a can of black, matt spray paint. Here's my supplies - the Plastikote was bought for the steam punk Halloween outfit 2 years ago.

I took the frame to pieces and gave it 2 light coats of the black. Then let it dry for half an hour (that paint dries super fast, I've used it before.)

And then I set about dry brushing the brass on. See how it shows all the detail? Perfect!

Popped the glass back in and my print et voila!

Here she is on the landing (steam punk central!) with a few matching bits. 

I'm thrilled to bits with how she's turned out.  The frame was found in Poundland and is plastic - I'll let you figure out how much it was. *g* And the spray paint was from there as well. So for two quid I found the perfect frame and can display my precious wee print. No bad, I reckon!