Echoes of a Dream

T'was a labour of love

Amber is 13 next Wednesday and this year I am at such a loss for what to get her. Until now it's been so easy. She liked anything crafty so last year I got her a beading loom  She's an avid reader and books were always a good bet - she collected the Chalet School books, 1950's girls annuals, Trebizon, Anne of Green Gables. I surprised her one year with the Betsy Tacy books but nowadays she's reading books by Phillip Pullman, Malorie Blackman, Eva Ibbotson et al and I leave her to get her own books on eBay. So books and craft materials are not on the list this year. She also loves cooking and I've toyed with the idea of getting something related to that. One of the things I have thought of though is making up a CD for her of early Motown hits from itunes. I know she'll like that. But otherwise I think it's going to be mainly money for books and clothes this year.

However, a gal has to have something to open on the day so yesterday I spent most of the day making a bag for her.  Do you remember the beautiful bag that dolliedaydream sent to me a few weeks ago well Amber had her mince pies (eyes) on that and I rather impulsively decided to make her one. Making a bag has been one of those 'must give it a go' items for me ever since I saw this tutorial and bookmarked it. I've also swooned over the bags punkpolley makes. (Do click on the link because they're wonderful). So with the thought that Amber had no presents yet I set to. The tutorial is excellent by the way and I couldn't have made my bag without it. Incase you're wondering, I only had some grey cord material so that's what I used.  My first attempt was too long so I unpicked it and cut off 2 inches and then I had to put in a band of cord lining on the inside because it made it look classier. Then I decided to put a base in which is that red thing in the pic above - it's a piece cut out of a ring binder that was going in the bin. I was hoping to keep the project as simple as possible!  Well, it might have been a labour of love but at least I've ticked two things off my list of must try's (the bag and the yo-yo's).

Now I need design help please? I don't think grey is a girl's favourite colour so I made some yo-yos from Heather Bailey's tutorial using the lining fabric. But I don't know where to put them. Here are some options (click on pics for larger size if you have the patience):

OR shall I make another one from the shocking pink cord material that has just come through the post as I write. (I ordered it on eBay yesterday). It's supposed to be a bag for school by the way. I wish I could do pockets in like punkpolly does - his bags are really great. Oh well - one day. Actually I don't think making bags is going to be my thing really. Too much hard work!

Raj went to play at a friend's yesterday that's why I had all that time to make the bag. But by the time he came back I was in need of some fresh air so we went for a bike ride. Well he rode and I walked. It was such a lovely sunny afternoon.

This is what the lanes are like around here - one car size. Luckily they aren't that busy but you do get times when you have to reverse for horses or cars coming the other way. On the way back we picked all these to go on the nature table:

As you saw from the first pic my floor is a tad messy from all that sewing. So it's a quick hoover in here before I go off to teach. See you later............oh, do let me know about the bag!

Bunny mk II

I got this Japanese craft book a while ago and I really liked the bunny on the cover. So with the excitement of having a new pattern to work with I immediately got on with it. I must have chosen the wrong fabric for the face maybe because I just did not like the result and I abandonded the project straight away. I didn't like the way the pattern had three darts (is that what they're called) on the face making the face look sad or mean. There's a pic here of it.

Then yesterday I decided that I needed a break from knitting and I found the book on my shelves and decided to have another crack at it. This time I knew I wanted the face to look more like Jeremy's - a cat that I made way back and blogged about here. Have you met him before? If not go and have a quick peek - he's quite a character. Anyway, back to the bunny - I used the same pattern for the face but slightly smaller and I used an old woolen jumper. Happy with the results I proceeded with the rest of it and this is how it turned out:

There was a time when I'd make a face and just put the features on but I don't know what's going on in my head these days because I tried out a few ideas before I sewed them on:

Too much time on my hands I think. Anyway, I finally settled for the face in the main pic and that's that. I'm now inspired to make a few more things from my other Japanese craft books (I only have 4) as I've got back into the swing of it AND now that my fabric is organised and I can see what I have.

It was really nice yesterday because I got an impromptu making day. In the morning everyone was at home and then suddenly after a few phone calls everyone had gone to play or meet up with friends and I had the house to myself. Bliss. First off I made pumpkin pie as promised. I'd been sent a few recipes by you lovely folk and a few tips. There was a great recipe from Stephanie but I discovered too late that I needed tinned pumpkin. Never mind, I'll save that one for next weekend. Instead I used a recipe that Cristina had sent me for which I did have the ingredients. It was simple. I made the same pastry as I used for the prune and chocolate tart and the filling was a mixture of pumpkin, double cream, eggs and spices. The verdict?

It was delicious. Soft like egg custard. Subtly spiced. I can't believe that I haven't made it before. I suppose I only buy pumpkin once a year for halloween and I use the innards of that in soup. This is the first year we've grown it. Well, I still have some more in the fridge and a couple in the garden so I'll be trying out the recipes you all sent. There's a particularly nice sounding one from Max too.

As I was saying I got the pumpkin pie made first and then I stuck some pork in the oven to cook for 24 hours. Then I started sewing. Various people came back for lunch and then suddenly we had extras for supper and two friends staying overnight. As the children grow older I guess it's going to be more like this. Well, I have to go and supervise breakfast now...........

A damn good buy.............

It's not often that I shell out for something and then not regret it. I'll buy a craft magazine or book on impulse and then if I can't make anything out of it I feel really guilty for wasting my money. It sits on my shelves sending out a signal so that I am constantly aware that it's there and I haven't used it. I bought four Japanese craft books a while ago, flicked through them, got inspired and then realised some weeks later that I wasn't inspired enough to make anything from them. Thank goodness for e-bay because I just put them on there and they went like hotcakes. I think it's got something to do with the cost of the said items. I'm fine if I've just spent a couple of pounds on something (on e-bay or in a charity shop) but it's the £15 or £20 on new books that bothers me. I feel that I have to justify the expense by making lots of things. So glancing up at my shelves I notice that most of the new books I own are well used and others are charity shop finds. All this leads me to share a book that really was a good buy.

I knew that it had the scotty dog pattern in it and I decided that it was worth the cost just to get this pattern. I didn't know that I'd make a lot of things out of it. Here are some images from the book:

and these are some of the things I have made:

You can definately say that I got value for money with this book.

I notice that I have three impulse buys on my shelf at the moment that I would like to get rid of. They are Pretty Party Cakes, Tiny Patchworks (a beautiful Japanese craft book) and Sadi Thread Embroidery. You can see pics of the covers if you click on the names. Also the tiny patchworks book is featured on this website if you want to see more pics of it. All are brand new and unused. I'd sell the cake book for £5, the Sadi Thread book for £5 too and the Japanese book for £11 if anyone is interested. Or I could do a swap for materials like buttons, beads (that would make eyes for softies), 100% wool felt, knitting wool or toy patterns. E-mail me if you are interested. Must dash I'm teaching in half an hour.

Father's day

Poor Tom he was supposed to get a lie-in this morning and come down to a scrummy breakfast but instead he woke early and couldn't get back to sleep so he went downstairs leaving me to have the lie-in. Still he did get some nice pressies from the children and yummy Indian mangoes for breakfast. He went off to play cricket this afternoon taking the boys with him and I was supposed to go to the supermarket as the cupboards and fridge were a bit bare. But you know I couldn't be bothered. I really couldn't. I just needed a quiet, restful day. Instead I sat in my room and did some sewing while Amber lay in the hammock reading. I sewed this little kitty from a pattern in a Japanese craft book:

I'm really pleased with how the face turned out and I'm going to finally dye some blankets this week and make a few more. I did manage to get out of the house to go and bring the boys home for supper. Poor things was it worth it - all we had was beans on toast! I justified it by telling them and myself that they had a had a nice cricket tea at 5 o'clock.  I wouldn't be surprised if someone starts telling me they're peckish - better get them off to bed before they realise.

I'll leave you with a pic of Amber's amigurumi that she finished last night:

Isn't it sweet? It's made from alpaca and so soft.

The story of Fergus and Lucy

Fergus, would never forget that summer he met Lucy. Until then he had been a happy chappie quite content with his life with the human family he lived with. There were three children that doted on him, wonderful food and companionship from all the family. He didn't want much else from life just a good walk everyday in the woods, a cosy basket to curl up in and lots of titbits from the dinner table.

Then that summer he and the family went of to Cornwall for a weeks holiday. They said they needed a change from the usual place they went to in Wales and fancied trying somewhere else. Who had made the decision that would change Fergus' life forever, he couldn't remember now but what an important decision it had been. A decision that had changed the course of a dogs life. He saw her on the first day, dainty in her pink collar. Her nose and mouth were a deep pink. He couldn't take his eyes off her nose and he bounded over to say hello. They greeted each other shyly and rubbed noses and that was it............Fergus knew at that moment life was never going to be the same again.

An idyllic week, helped by the fact that both families got on well together too. So they were inseperable, never giving a thought to the end of the week that was looming nearer. They pledged undying love for each other and it was a good job because one morning Lucy just wasn't there. Her family had returned home at the crack of dawn they told him.

All this Fergus was remembering as he set off one night in search of Lucy. He had never known heartache like this. For months he had pined, he'd lost his appetite, he knew he had to find Lucy and be with her.  When he was a young pup he had listened to the One Hundred and One Dalamations as it was read to one of the children and he recalled how Pongo and Missis had set off to find their puppies. Well, if they could do it so could he. He would search England for Lucy.

Well, that was the story I started when I made Fergus and Lucy and a couple of people asked me what happened next. To save you all from pages and pages of rubbish I will just tell you that he did find Lucy eventually, and they were married and had these three children.

They called them Scotty, Duncan and Violet.

My children were so taken with Fergus and Lucy that they decided to make them some children. Raj made Scotty, Rohan made Duncan and Amber made Violet (I helped Raj to make the nose and mouth and do the stuffing on his). So my thanks go to Jennyb for her lovely free pattern.... look what you started Jenny.

Funky fabric

A friend of mine moved away from the area recently and gave me a bag of fabric (or material as we used to call it). I didn't look in the bag until last weekend and imagine my delight in finding this over-the-top funky fabric. With all that feather like patterning it seemed to be crying out to be made into a bird of some sort. Sadly, I cannot draw anything - so I didn't even attempt to draw a chicken but I found a pattern for a goose. It was fun chosing which bit of pattern to use for which bit of the bird. I'm particularly happy witht the right side and the wings. The feet were a bit of a pallaver - they didn't work in fabric so I used felt instead with pipe cleaner in them. I still have lots left. I'd like to make a couple of more geese or ducks and possibly a beach bag like the one big and little made.

Apart from sewing the goose the weekend was spent reading this little gem - The Magic Apple Tree by Susan Hill. I found it on Posy's blog under what she's reading at the moment. The book is about a year in the English countryside and chronicles the life of the author and her family and is so beautifully written. One of the amazing things about the village that she lives in is that it's only five miles from a city (Oxford I think) but it seems so cut off from the world. You can just hear the frost crunching under footsteps in winter, sense their numbed fingers as they go around carol singing, see the fox sniffing around the hen house, imagine their delight at being snowed in for a few days.  It makes you appreciate living in our often grey country. The reviews on Amazon do it more justice then I can. An author I'll be reading more of I'm sure.

The photo of the funky goose is in the previous post.

Baaa baaa

We're off to visit my parents tomorrow and then heading back via the Black Country Museum which has an open weekend. It's a really great place and well worth a special visit to.

Last night's lambs inspired me to make one of my own - thanks to the free pattern over on turkeyfeathers. I had a really nice, clean, thick baby blanket that a friend had given me so I used that. Little lamb needed something around her neck so I stole the ribbon from Amber's lindt bunny (I don't think the lindt bunny was too impressed). Then I remembered that being the hoader that I am I already have about 5 or 6 of these bells and ribbons stashed away somewhere (the children always get these bunnies for Easter).

I'm on a bit of a roll now and I want to make more of them. They really are cute and adorable. Thank you so much Vicki - looks like Jeremy and I will be taking you to tea if you ever come over here.

Can't decide whether to take a book or sewing with me to my Mums or to watch the telly (only opportunity I get to watch something as we don't have one).  I'm sure I'll end up taking far too much for one night just in case.....

Blanket statement

It all started with this project we were doing at school with blankets. At the time I had a great idea but no blankets so I did my usual asking for blankets and visualising them (I had just been reading 'Ask and it is Given'). So the next couple of times I walked into a charity shop there were these blankets. Pure wool and some very good quality. I didn't think that I only needed a couple and why not leave the rest for some other poor soul .... no I grabbed the lot of them. I got them home and hid them in black bags and put them in the understairs cupboard. So far so good. I then used two of them, cut them up, dyed them. I think the rest started to breed in the cupboard because when I opened the door yesterday this is the sight that met my eyes. Ughh.

Now I am normally a very tidy person but when I get an idea in my head that's it. Search for what I want, toss everything else aside, throw things back. This is why the cupboard is in such a state (I wonder if I should post it up on flickr under 'Corners of my Home' !)  The shame of it.

Anyhow, something has to be done. I will dye some more next week and use them for rag rugging with my pupils and I have been inspired by this idea over at turkey feather's blog. I too will see what I can make out of my blanket(s). Coincidentally, I also found this  on my shelf last night. It's got some lovely ideas for felt which work just as well with blanket.

So last night I set about making this dog. He was going to be white, then he ended up being a sort of liver spotted dalamation (I know nothing about dogs) and then the children woke up this morning and said he looked like Cadpig in One hundred and one Dalmations (the book not the film).