I Caught This Morning

Here are my morning minions

De-burring a towel that had fallen in the prickle bushes at the beach and was covered in tiny burrs that  needed to be removed by hand. Preferably tiny little hands...

Wait a Minute Mr Postman

There has been a lot of letter and card writing in these parts recently.  There was Nina's ongoing correspondence on behalf of and to Miss Snug:

Ruby's lengthy letter to 'Humusonbarly' recounting exploits on the River Nile

Birthday cards for each other:

Nina's card for Ruby

Dear Ruby I hope you love your presents and cards.  Just to tell you my card is these little poeple who love to sing and dancing.  And one day they find a big sign saying Ruby is the Best and another smalla sign that said I Love You and they start Dancing and Singing.

Ruby's card for Nina incorporating within the number 6 the world of the 6 year old - including the bank, cafe, bakery, toy shop.

Never never never have I ever ever ever seen a cleverer 6 year old

And a letter to break the heart of the working mother....

Recent makings

Two recent birthdays required some sewing.

Ruby's messenger bag

This bag came from this book.  If I'd anticipated my wonky sewing of the bias binding (need a teflon foot for that Mexican Oil cloth I suspect)  I possibly wouldn't have chosen contrasting red thread....

I've heard a lot of good things about Oliver + S patterns and they are rather lovely, with interesting details like side pockets and front flaps.

And places inside to put pens and an address book.  Very well received by my eight (!) year old.

Nina is very keen on letters at the moment so this seemed just right:

Possibly the easiest thing you could ever sew - even if you can't sew, you could sew this.  (from here)

A book of stamps, a special pen and some envelopes completed the gift.  The fabric is Heather Ross from 'Far Far Away II'.  How is that owl?  And that pussycat, trailing its arm in the water and looking, frankly, less than than enamoured.  I guess after a year and a day even a cat might tire of hearing what a beautiful pussy you are you are.

Nina had been asking for a ragdoll.  Because of Little House I knew she'd want one with boots and a bonnet and bloomers and a Victorian dress.

Chartlotte

I more or less made up this one up, based on an earlier doll I'd made Ruby years ago.  I borrowed the face embroidery and hair from one of the dolls in this and broke a vow to never make dolls clothes.  These were actually fun to sew and the lace is beautiful Italian lace that Grandpa and Alex brought back from Venice.  In a way this doll is not really my cup of tea but for a six year old it was just perfect.  No surprise that Nina instantly named her Charlotte.

Six Days and Nights

Was it really only six days and nights?

There was reading;

Knitting - my first foray into circular needles

Lily's swing jacket in malabrigo Bergamota

Lots of eating

Easter Lunch

Hunting and finding

Grace finds the caramel eggs

New things growing

But is it edible?

Firewood being chopped - thanks Pa

Sorry Ginger and Sassy, your New Years Eve tree cubby is no more....

Learning to roller skate

Creating

Sand eggs

Playing - a new family favourite 'Jumbling Towers'

Celebrating - two birthdays

Ruby turns Eight

And swimming, always swimming

How fortunate we are to borrow this magical space and how blessed we are to have friends who let us.

Ruby Red

It's almost too obvious, but of course Ruby's favourite colour is red.   This quilt pattern seemed to lend itself to a red on white quilt. As I'd already done a nine-patch for Lily I thought I'd let it all hang out and do another one, 'crazy' style.  (I do rather like to think that skew-whiff cutting is as crazy as it gets in the quilting world.)

Elizabeth's instructions for cutting the blocks were eye-opening to me.  So much time saved.  And so worth investing in a rotary cutter.

Cutting the blocks

Theoretically each block ends up with nine different fabrics, and each block is unique in the arrangements of those fabrics.  I came acropper somewhere and ended up with half my blocks having a replicated fabric.  I had to think whether this would bother me enough to unpick and redo and decided it wouldn't.  And it hasn't.

Previous quilts had been stitched in the ditch, but that would have looked odd on a crazy nine- patch.  I quilted irregular horizontal lines.  Hard work pushing it through the old Singer.

Quilting it up

The right backing fabric was difficult to find.  I had in mind a particular green floral print which evidently does not exist.  I'm happy with this though.

Backing fabric and binding

Ruby Red:  bright, orderly, and just a little bit crazy.

Crazy nine patch lattice

Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon

Ruby and Nina wanted to knit this afternoon.  Lily was happy to stab balls of wool with knitting needles and Grace occupied herself experimenting with a stitch holder and some fluffy pink wool.  I read and helped with dropped stitches.

For a few moments, just a very few moments, all was well with the world.