An adventure in cushion making

Thank you for all the lovely comments welcoming my granddaughter to the world.  Mum and baby are doing fine, they came home on the Sunday.  I think they have had a few sleepless nights, which is to be expected but I think it still comes as a shock to the system doesn't it.

I managed to get a couple more photos on my phone this week when I popped round, I loved this one showing her chubby cheeks :-)

They have named her Bonnie.  

Mmmmm, I must confess that her name is going to take some getting used to, she IS bonnie, there's no doubt about that, but as a name?  I'm not sure.  But as Mark has pointed out to me, it's not up to me.

I've had a lovely few days off work this week, it's been nice to have a lie-in and potter about the house in the mornings.  On Monday I went to Willow Brook garden centre, we had passed it on the way to Stratford a week or so ago and I made a mental note then to pay a visit.  I went early enough to treat myself to breakfast, I had eggs benedict, which went down a treat with a pot of Earl Grey before having a wander round to see what was on offer.

I picked up some plants on sale, some perennials which will fill a couple of gaps in the boarder for next year.  They were also putting out the spring bulbs so I picked up 3 packets of Alliums because they reminded me of pompoms :-)

On Tuesday night I went on a cushion making workshop.

I was browsing the internet in the morning and somehow managed to find myself following a link and a shop called Gutheri & Ghani popped up.  Apparently the co-owner was a finalist  on The Great British Sewing Bee, (I  must confess, I never watched the programme) but what caught my eye was the Piped Cushion Workshop which was happening that night, I ummed and ahed for an hour or so and then thought, why not! so I signed up.

Now I'm not very good at sewing, I'd like to be, but I do get in such a pickle with the cutting out and seam allowances and measuring, It's all just so daunting, but nothing ventured nothing gained eh?

Everything was provided and I paid online so all I had to do was show up.  The workshop ran from 6pm - 10pm but was in Birmingham, not the best place to be heading into at rush hour, consequently I was late because the sat nav wanted to take me on the busiest stretch of road, I had an idea there was a quicker way with less traffic but not knowing for sure I had no choice but to follow it.  I eventually turned up 20 minutes late, not a good start!

There was only 4 of us and it was a  really good class, there was a choice of material and piping and a paper pattern and work-sheet provided and we were talked through everything step by step. 

Here is the finished article :-)

I'm quite chuffed with it :-) The piping's not perfect at the corners but I think it would pass unless you wanted to be really picky, but I did make a pretty good job of the concealed zip, even if I do say so myself, lol.
 It's given me the confidence to have a go at home, I already have some material I'd like to use and I've had a trip to Birmingham Rag Market this afternoon to get some other bits and pieces I needed, so watch this space :-)

I  hope you all have a lovely time until I see you again next week

-X-

Welcome Baby :-)

Well she just couldn't wait to make her grand entrance :-) arriving Saturday 12th, two weeks early and really taking us all by surprise, here is our beautiful granddaughter, 20 minutes old :-)

She weighed 7lb 6oz, a good weight for an early baby :-)

Joanne, looking a bit shell shocked.

Me and Mark had gone down to London for the day, we were doing the Royal Tour at Buckingham Palace, ( this was another one of the Christmas presents that the girls bought us).  We had planned to go last week but with one thing and another that didn't happen.  Joanne phoned me just as we had come out of the last bit of the tour, about 3.30 to tell me not to panic but her waters had broke!!!

Off they went to hospital and they said she was just in the early stages and sent her back home.

We decided that we would catch the 10 past 5 train home, expecting to be back well before she had to go back to hospital.  I called her  a few times on the way back, she was getting pains so I called daughter #1 to ask her to go up and stay with them till we got back, I'm so gad i did because before our train got into Birmingham they had to take her back to hospital.

We had another 25 minute train journey, from Birmingham to Stourbridge and we got there literally 2 seconds after she was born!!

I should have been Joanne's second birth partner and I'm gutted that I missed this little one's entrance into the world, but they are both ok and that's the main thing, and Jenny got to see her little Neice make her entrance and I think she is so proud and happy about that, she was in floods of tears by the time I got there, I think she was as shocked as Joanne at the speed of it.  She was only in labour for 4 and a half hours!!!!  

The midwives just couldn't get over it, first baby and such a quick labour, they said it hardly ever happened like that, lol

They are back home now, mum is giving breast feeding a go and so far baby, (no name decided on yet) seems to be taking to it ok.

Phew, what a weekend!  I was going to tell you all about our London visit (which was fab) but I think this news beats that hands down, don't you?

As luck would have it I'm off work all next week, I had planned on days out as Mark will be at work, but I will stay close to home just in case i'm needed, Gavin does have 2 weeks paternity leave so I will only visit if they ask me too, I think it's important that they have time to themselves.

I'm behind on blog reading so will try and catch-up this coming week.

Have a lovely time until next week

-X-

Happy Monday, after the baby shower weekend

I quite like Mondays, brand new week, new beginning and all that, but I woke particularly chipper this morning considering the very hectic weekend I've had, lets hope the mood continues through the week :-)

We hosted Joanne's baby shower yesterday, preparations had been going on all week but I had a bit of a melt down on Saturday afternoon thinking that things wouldn't be ready.  Of course they were, it was just me feeling a bit overwhelmed with things, as I tend to get sometimes when there is lots to do.

As usual, I needn't have worried, it all went off great, the rain came in short light showers so we even managed to sit outside for some time, everyone seemed to enjoy the afternoon and the food and Joanne was given some wonderful gifts, all in all the afternoon went well.

I won't prattle on today, I'll just leave you with some photos of afternoon.

Fun trying to break open the pinata, lol

Even MIL had a bash!

The home made scones with jam and cream went down a treat

I can't take credit for this cake, it's so cute though :-)

But I can take credit for the nappy cake :-)

I made this little keep sake for people to sign too.

I also sat up till goodness knows what time on Friday night making pom poms from tissue paper and hanging raindrops onto cotton!

It was worth the late nights and the stressing to see everyone having a good time.

Only 27 more days until her due date now!

I'm sure that time will fly by.

We are all so excited to welcome this new addition :-)

I hope you all have a wonderful time until I see you next week :-)

-X-

Lazy Sunday afternoon

It's been a very quiet weekend, Mark has had to go into work so I have had the house to myself.

Joanne and Gavin asked me round to have lunch with them this afternoon and I have just got back and put the kettle on to settle down with a cuppa and some knitting and perhaps a catch up on some podcasts. I have no problem with my own company :-)

I found some white yarn out the other day and thought I would try and knit one more small blanket before this baby arrives.  They don't recommend having larger blankets folded up over baby anymore so I shall just keep this one big enough for a moses basket, it's just a plain knit from corner to corner with a YO at the beginning to give a pretty boarder

I have got one more cardigan on the go to but only the back is done so not worth a photo.

Last Sunday I also cast on a sock!

I know I've been banging on about socks for so long and I have tried with various needle methods but I just wasn't feeling it.

This time I tried magic loop and I think I like that best.

This is how far I've got.

(I have no idea why my camera want's to show this yarn blue, it's more turquoise)

I did get almost as far as this with the other sock I cast on but I just wasn't happy with how the stitches looked.  This time, although it's not perfect I'm happier with it.

And in true sock knitting fashion of course it had to have a project bag.

Not an expensive one though, this one I picked up in the £1 shop, lol

I like it, and it does the job :-)

Next weekend I'm hosing Joanne's baby shower, I must admit that I'm starting to wonder what I've let myself in for and wishing we had hired the church hall or something.  I've got my fingers crossed for fine weather :-)

In preparation for that I tried out a scone recipe in the week.  My scones usually turn out more like rock cakes, but these I must say looked the part.

They passed the taste test too, although I will probably not cook them for quite as long next time.

I would like to make these ahead of next Sunday and it does say you can freeze, but can anyone tell me, do I make them up and freeze them uncooked ?  or could I make the dough up on Saturday, leave in the fridge over night and bake on the Sunday morning?

I would like them to be as fresh as possible so I would love any advice.

A very quick catch-up this week, I'm off for that cuppa now

Until next time, I hope you all have a lovely week

-X-

(I used  this Mary Berry recipe for the scones, if anyone is interested)

Cottontail Rabbit and the cheat

Hello again, these Sunday post do seem to come round quickly.

The weather forecast for today was hot and sunny, but there is drizzle in the air and a gentle breeze  so I've taken the opportunity to get though a pile of ironing this morning, a thankless task at the best of times but when it's hot it's a job I tend to put to the bottom of the list, so i'm glad that's out of the way.

A few months ago I came across a free knitting pattern on Deramores, Cottontail Rabbit by Erika Knight.  I thought it was so cute and it reminded me of a little red knitted teddy that my sister used to have when she was a baby.  I already had some Stylecraft Classique cotton 4ply so I cast it on right away, but then I ran out of stuffing, so it was put to one side until I could (remember) to get more.

I'm quite happy with how he came out :-)

The green velvet ribbon was just some I already had and I was going to change it for a little knitted scarf, but for now i think it looks ok.

I just love the little pom pom tail :-)

Joanne thinks he is cute so he will be going to live in his new home in the nursery now he has has his debut.  :-)

On Friday it was the sports day at Oliver's nursery so I popped along with Jenny to cheer him on.

He took part in 3 races, hurdles a balancing-a-bean-bag-on-your-head race and one where there was a series of hoops which they had to stop and put over their body before running to the next one.

Yayyyy, he won the hurdles :-)

Mmmmmm, he cheated on the bean bag, held it in place and just ran.

Not surprisingly he won this one too, lol

He also ran right past all the hoops in the hoop race so was the first a t the finishing line again little monkey :-)

I think that's all for this week, while I've been tapping away on the laptop the sun has slowly made an appearance so it looks as though the rest of the afternoon is going to be much brighter.

I hope you all have a lovely week, until next time

-X-

All the knitted things and the mum-to-be

I hope you are all well on this fine Sunday afternoon and making the most of this wonderful weather?

It's been beautiful all week here which means the tubs and baskets need watering every night, a bit of a chore but worth it when they reward you with such lovely colour :-)

I'll share some photos later, but first I wanted to show you some of my knitted finishes.

I have been in a very knitty mood lately, finding it much easier to pick up and do a bit when i don't have time to sit for long, and these little cardigans don't take long at all.

The first two cardigans are the Puerperium cardigan, a free pattern which you can find on Ravelry .

I knit both the long sleeve and short sleeve version, personally I prefer the short sleeve, which is showing up more blue in this photo than the duck egg colour that it actually is.

This one is also a free pattern, JAY Baby Cardigan, again from Ravelry

The ones above were all knit top down.  I'm a new convert to top down knitting, it's so quick and easy, and no seams to sew up!

These other two were done a while ago just form a basic baby cardigan pattern (and before I discovered top down)

I've been trying to use stash yarn, hence the same yarn colours and you might have noticed that I have yet to sew any buttons on.  Despite having a ton of buttons I hadn't got any that were really suitable for baby cardigans, so a trip to the shop is planned this week and I can sew them all on together.

And here is the mum to be :-)

Only 6 weeks left to go.  Poor thing has been suffering in all this heat.

We went out on Saturday and she caught sight of herself in a window and said, I forget how fat I am until I see myself in a mirror.  Awwww, bless, she not fat is she, she's blooming :-)

The bite on my ankle has healed, well all except for the part that has scabbed over that is.   

Thank you for the get well comments on my last post, it seems that quite a few of you suffer the same sort of reaction when bitten, I feel for you, it's not pleasant.

I've avoided doing anything except watering in the garden this week.

Here are some of the things that are looking good out there at the moment.

I hope you all have a lovely week

Until next time

-X-