look away now, Auntie Jean!

My little cousin in Australia had a beautiful baby boy about....oh....6 weeks ago now? And this is me just getting round to making him something. Shameful. It's cute, though! A ribbon blanket (there's a great tutorial here - not a Taggie, nosireebob!) with a really soft and snuggly minky back.
Gotta love that Alexander Henry fabric! I appliqued his wee initial on. It's a nice easy letter, thanks for that, Jill!! *grins* It'll be in the post tomorrow with teeny wee shoes and socks (I cannot resist baby footwear!!)

Also today I got the most amazing surprise care package from the wonderful Dolores which included the most humungous bag of scraps (I lubs her scraps so - some of them are not-so-scrappy!), the coolest post-its (Frankenstein!!), stickers, a magnet which the Chook just discovered, a darling coin purse (which aye, Dee, the bairn has nicked!), a toy nascar for Spouse (he was totally chuffed to bits - and is well jealous of Big D's track time!!) and the dearest pot holder which, quite frankly, was too good for pots. And matches my living room too well. Lookie.

That's the backside! The front is more reds and - would you believe it - I'm gathering stuff for a red explosion in the lounge. Hurray! Oooh, and there was the COOLEST big hook. It's going in the kitchen for a quilt to hang on coz the one on the kitchen chair is always getting knocked off. I'll share when Spouse has put it up.

Thank You Dearest Dee!!!! *happy dance* It was just what I was needing this morning.

Bee Mental

I've joined a very small virtual quilting bee of a type I didn't even know existed! Basically once a quarter you choose a block and make up 6 of them (from your own stash) in your 6 partner's individual colours. Cool, eh? So at the end of October I should get 6 different blocks all made up in my chosen colourway of aqua, pink and chocolate. I made a test up of the block I plan to use but in my colours.

I'm pleased with both the block (I LOVE half square triangles!!) and my choice of colours, it's not like anything I have already. Which was the plan! Now, if you'll excuse me there seem to be some massive glaring holes in my stash - where is the purple? Oh, dear, I need to go shopping...

the sky is getting lower!

Yee-haw! Ride 'em cowgirl! Get off yurr horse and drink yurr milk......I can't think of anymore horse cliches.
I know this is probably incredibly boring for anyone not family to see but that's just tough tatties. *grins* Plus, it's a record of her riding - proper jumps today!! And doesn't Skye the pony look weird without her red ears on? Much prettier, I think. I'm planning on sewing tomorrow so there may be some non-family stuff to show. Maybe.

J is for jackpot!

No, not a lottery win (wouldn't that be grand? Think of the jellyrolls I could buy!) but my mini quilt from Doll Quilt Swap 9!! Would you look at that wee beauty? Made in Moda's HunkyDory fabric (which I adore) and just absolutely beautifully stitched by Rene at Luv 2 Kreate. Really, it's a work of art how she's put it together and I couldn't be happier. And there were extras, too!
A camera strap cover (it fits beautifully, Rene!), a fat quarter of that amazing binding fabric and look, a wee bat friend coffee cosy!!! He has velcro wings so he can hug stuff and the Chook has named him George. No, not after my Daddy, real life friends, but as a match for my other wee bat friend Fred. After the Weasley twins. Yes, we are having a major Harry Potter phase!

And here is "Everything's Hunky Dory" happily adorning the wall of my wee craft room. Looks like it was made for it, eh?

Thanks so much, Rene. I'm chuffed to bits and can't believe that I drooled over this wee quilt and now it's mine!!! YAY!

the Skye's the limit...

First jumps at Saturday's lesson! Okay, so they're teeny tiny but NO FEAR from our girl (despite what looks like a facial grimace!) and up they went - in the lead, you'll notice! And she's had her first non-accidental canter, too. Rubbish photos coz I forgot my camera so these are phone shots.
P.S. The post title? The pony is called Skye! She has become Chook's regular ride, is a big girl and a bit of a stubborn wench. Chook is getting good at her "firm voice" and bossing her into doing things when Skye either wants to stand still or canter!

dentists and asterisks

I think I may have mentioned before that my Chookie is terrified of the dentist. Not phobic but pretty darned close. What has made the difference the last 3 years has been the most amazing dentist and his darling wee assistant, Jenny. Now we had our 6 month checkups yesterday to discover that Jenny leaves for pastures new in a fortnight! Horrors!! I'm sure the Chook will be fine (as long as Marcel stays put for a while!!) but we will miss the wee bubbly blonde and have a lot to thank her for. Now I'm not in the habit of giving gifts to my healthcare professionals ("that was a lovely smear, have a box of chocolates, nursie" *blinks*) but given how Jenny helped the Chook get her fear under control I wanted to give her a wee something. But what to give? Not sweeties that's fersure but smellies are a bit personal and I don't like giving alcohol to not-friends.

Now, there's an interesting swap afoot on Flickr for "mug-rugs." They are basically a teeny quilt (or a huge coaster!) and I had been musing over what fabulous gifts they would make for teachers, especially if given with a matching mug. So it seemed like the perfect solution!

Cute, eh? And you can shove it in the washing machine when it gets dirty.

The free motioning on the star and round the outside was great fun! Definitely doing that again - I want one myself!

Also getting finished yesterday was this table topper for my Mum.

It's my ORB round 7 offering and I'm really pleased to have an asterisk done at all! I can't commit to a whole quilt (they take aaages to make but just look so cool) but could do 18in square! And Mum's very happy so I'm happy. Sorted!

a ridiculous indulgence

And not one of the fabric kind for a change! I've not got a sweet tooth. I've always been a carbs kinda girl - bread, pasta, crisps (nom nom!) but not so much of the sweeties and chocolate. Apart from ice cream. I developed a taste for Haagen Dazs when living in London a lot of years ago while sharing a flat with a bunch of other 18 and 19 year olds. We were volunteers in a facility for physically disabled adults and as such had seriously limited funds. Expensive ice cream was an indulgence we could afford and meant a cheap night in with a video. Coz, of course, this was pre-DVD. Anyways, the ice cream thing never really left me and I can happily devour a pint of HD in one sitting. Not so much the Ben & Jerry's though. See, they make much sweeter ices and I can only take about 2 scoops at a time before my body rebels against the sugar rush and I feel sick. Consequently, what with middle age and the fear of a rapidly expanding waistline fast approaching I am a traitor and have become a B&J girl. All the supermarkets have half price creamy goodness currently. This is the top drawer of my freezer.

*sniggers* That's twenty four quids worth of ice cream!!! (that's about $37 US for my foreign friends) For half of that. Woo-hoo! So far, the Chook's favourite is Baked Alaska. She's especially fond of chocolate polar bear hunting (dinner and a show!) She's working her way through them one after-tea dessert at a time. Me? I'm Fairly Nuts. Obviously. *grins*