Phil the Pheasant

My big brother's 60th birthday - what to get for a present...?  I was perusing the lovely homewares in John Lewis when I spotted this - gorgeous.  But maybe I could make something...? Decided to try my hand at something pheasant-themed - a bit dubious whether my rough and ready applique methods (pins / a spot of glue / machine zig-zag) would meet the challenge, but apart from the much-too-big feet which were hastily disguised, I quite liked the result.  Enough to wrap it up and give it to my brother anyway.  It reminds me of the beautiful cottage we used to live in - we had a pheasant that would eat out of our hands, and also a characterful neighbour called Phil, so it seemed appropriate.  Not sure my brother will call him that or anything else, but I hope he's a comfy armchair companion.

 

A Crafty Corner for the Summer

Dilemna - wanting to crack on with my little hexagons and also wanting to be outside in the sunshine. Solution - deckchair, table and tray - ta dah!

The weather was perfect this weekend and I really felt like I was on holiday, managing just a sprinkling of chores so I felt deserving of a few hours in the sun. I even invented a lovely summer drink to add to that holiday feel - ice, juice of half a lime, a couple of sprigs of fresh mint and lemon balm, fill to the brim with cranberry juice and top with an edible flower (chive in this case, which looked pretty and I couldn't detect any hint of onions!). Delicious and refreshing, and I suspect rather good with a splash of vodka too. How I love summer.

My other new obsession

Crystalised edible flowers - so pretty and really , really easy to make.  I finally got around to having a go after discovering I had aquired no less than three cut-out-and-keep recipes in my stash; to my delight they are really simple to do and look soooo pretty.  Probably a bit o.t.t. on this particular cake, maybe less is more, but I was showing off to my good friend Holly, the Queen of Baking.  I think it worked :)

My latest obsession

Hexagons.  Little patches of prettiness, so quick and easy to make, they multiply like little flowers blooming from tatty scraps of leftover fabric - so simple and yet so lovely.  This is a new discovery for me; my fabulous friend Jane sent me a little package ages ago, containing the templates, a few cut pieces and few extra bits of fabric - all for the princely sum of £1.15.  I've researched a whole new world of hexagonal quilts on Pinterest and I think I have decided that I like the randomly pieced ones best, which has the added advantage of not having to plan how many of each fabric to prepare.  Eagle-eyed quilters our there will spot that I started tacking my fabric right through the paper, but then I saw this and it's soooo much easier! Hoping to make a small-ish quilt/throw for Dolly, although my lovely husband said he quite fancies one for his den.  The way I am going at the moment, it will be no problem to make two!

Pretty as a picture

A little while ago my rather clever daughter showed me her first attempt in many years at putting oil to canvas and I was over-the-moon-impressed. 

Well, guess what? I am now the VERY proud owner of my one of her original artworks, which I absolutely love because a) it is beautiful, b) my fabulous daughter painted it and c) it absoutely encapsulates everything I love about our Nova Scotian home-away-from-home.  

What a very lucky Mum I am.

Cute as a Cupcake

My lovely friend Karen's adorable daughter Alice had her 3rd birthday last week; I decided to make her an apron as a present, but after hours of searching t'internet for a pattern for the kind I had in mind, I did a makey-uppy newspaper pattern, which is definitely not my forté.  I got the vital measurements from children's clothing retail sites and went for it - the inital idea was to have no bows or buttons, but I ended up adding buttons in case too small to go over her head!  In fact the whole thing looked worryingly small when it was done but I hoped for the best and popped it in the post. 

I was rewarded with the most gorgeous video of Alice wearing the outfit and saying 'thank you' - with her Mum telling her to 'Say 'Bye! Wave!' to which of course Alice responded with 'Bye Wave!'. Bless.

Spring is for... picnics!

I planned on making a picnic rug for someone for Christmas but ran out of time - so with my best friend Holly's birthday looming, March seemed like a good time to get down to it.  Learning points: 1. patchwork laid out on the table looks bigger than the finished article (kinda obvious but I forgot about the seam allowances :)  2. Batting looks thinner in the store on a great big roll than when it's squished between fabric and backing  3. I don't like working out technicalities such as fixing ties to the backing which would like up when the rug is folded / rolled - hence the carry-bag instead!  So although it's a bit small, I think its just about big enough for Holly's gorgeous baby boys to sit their behinds on and enjoy a good old fashioned picnic.  And the bit that made me feel fabulous was stitching on my little label - printed on this amazing cotton a that you can just run through your printer.  Happy days.

And - a couple of weeks after writing this post, I received this - I do like a happy customer!