What's Been Up

Finally, I can dig my head out

and blog a little...

 Summer has been a great time for creatures.

Creatures in the house however have NOT been great.

This cat is on probation for Mousing!!!

(Trying to find a mouse under the sofa 

at one in the morning is not my idea of fun! 

Not finding it is even worse! 

Wondering for a few days if the half a mouse 

outside the back door was the same mouse is no good either LOL!)

*****

The school holidays are finally over and the little people

in the Kalico household are (mostly) back at school.

I didn't get much sewing done over the school holidays,

just a few dresses for Miss Kalico.

I cut a new dress pattern for her

and although it's a little on the large side,

she'll grow, and these dresses can be whipped up 

in a day...

Great for playing (and potty training!)

I made a reversible dress:

Roses on the one side... 

And baby cord with a pocket

on the other side...

*****

We had a week in South Wales: fabulous!

Family time is just so precious.

The other few weeks we were around and about locally... 

and just enjoyed the lovely weather...

A friend (and fellow blogger) 

and her family came to stay....

It was great having 'Southerners' to stay with us 'up North'

as we got to do some great walks and explore our local surrounds.

This is the walk from Clapham to Austwick 

and I had never done it before...

In Wales we'd done a 'herb walk' at the Botanical gardens

and I'd learnt that these were Burdock pods:

 Nice and sticky LOL.

We all walked through the tunnels to Clapham

 that were built by the local landowner many years ago 

so that he didn't have to watch his workers walk home...

Bit of a cheek, me thinks! But a nice walk.

*****

And now that the kids are out of the way ;o)

I have been able to quilt again

And why, yes, before you ask,

Miss Kalico does need another quilt :o) 

I cut the binding without measuring to check I had enough,

as I sewed the first side and a half on, I remembered I was going to measure...

But it fitted. Phew!

 With only a small piece left to spare!

*****

The next quilt is ironed and ready to be loaded.

Oh, I do love my Longarm machine!!

Happiness is...

Happiness is...

♥ Quilty mail from bloggy friends...

May Britt sent me a stitchy get well gift in the mail.
It really brightened up my day!!

She also kindly sent everything I need to do the stitchery

including needle and thread!

So generous and so thoughtful.

Plus, I am now the very proud owner

of one of May Britt's beautful crochet owls!

Thank you so much May Britt!

*****

Happiness is...

♥...Kitty Love!

*****

Happiness is...

♥ Sleeping on the window bench in mummy's room
(under her Double Delight!)

*****

Happiness is...

♥ Letting little Kalico's scribble on your cast

the day before it came off!

*****

Happiness is...

♥ Brotherly love!

*****

Happiness is....

♥ Acting like a child when you are only five years old ;)

*****

Happiness is...

♥ Being one step closer to walking again!

Down came the wall

There's been a lot of bashing in this house again!! DH is preparing the downstairs for the new kitchen. So the children and I have been camped out upstairs with the hopes that we won't fall through the floor LOL. I've been sewing, the kids have been doing puzzles and watching DVDs on my computer and DH and friends have been going "thump, thump, grind, saw, bash, thump" all day.

I have managed to sew my embroidered roses into my quilt just to see what they would look like...



And the postman managed to drive through the snow today to deliver some great post from Birgit who sent me these fantastically fabulous fabrics:

Birgit also included alphabet noodles for the kiddiwinkles...

(Is it dinnertime yet? Want those noodles cooked please, Mum!)

Whenever I go to Germany, I fill my suitcase with these noodles (and fabric from Birgit's gorgeous shop). The kids love them even if they end up all over the place (as does my fabric!!) :-)


And on Saturday, I was spoilt rotten with some gorgeous surprise fabrics that arrived from Nicolette:

(Sweets? What sweets? Oh! Those ones! Yes, they were luverly! Thank you)

Thank you both so much. They have already been cut up and some are already in 'the quilt'!:

(Can you see them? Some of them are right next to the embroidered rose.)

We had an inch or so of snow today, with more forecast for tomorrow...

I'm glad I'm still not able to drive...

(and therefore have to clear the windscreen LOL)

(Not sure if Birgit sent this snow too!!! As a thank you for the snow I sent her previously LOL)

Because building work has resumed. The little boys got in the mood...


And the big boys took down a wall

No going back now!!
"Thump, thump, bash"

The Feast of Stephen (A letter to my brother)

Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even...

(I remember pounding away at this song on the neighbour's piano! LOL) The snow is not deep, or crisp or even, but it has been snowing and apart from driving in it, it's great!


Outside DS1's school this morning, a classmate plays with the snow


The only way to travel to school...



A snowman seen on the way to DS2's playgroup...


Outside playgroup...



DS2 and friends go for a walk on the fields




Well Stephen, it's snowing! Not sure it will last until Christmas, but Mother is here and she's feeling the cold.

I just wanted to say thank you for your very thoughtful gift (yes, I opened it... no surprises there then LOL)


...beautiful silkscreens, printing ink, fabric and wonderful looking squeegees to print my own labels.

Such a wonderful gift. Thank you dear brother.


ps Just one thing you forgot to include..... some more hours in the day :-) And I know you could use them as well!!!

I want to lay me down in a bed of roses

I realise I am becoming a bit of an old rose lady! Especially as Andrea bought me some rose fabrics at the Great Northern Quiltshow at Harrogate.




Thanks so much Andrea. They will be absorbed into my rose quilt (just as your kind gifts for the boys have somehow been absorbed into the house LOL) ((And the lovely Sarah of ifonlyihadchocolate sent me some... chocolate(!) which has also been absorbed - so no photo! But it was yummy! Thanks Sarah!)

So what's the big plan with all these rose fabrics that my lovely friends send me??

Well, years ago my mother made a hexagon quilt from scraps and I just love it. I used to sit and try and find all the roses. So I decided to make my own, but with mainly rose fabrics. There are some leaves, some neutrals etc here and there to add a bit of variety, but it's mainly roses for me!

And now the current plan is to include my paper-pieced rose by Ula Lenz....




I laid the hexagon panel I've finished with the paper-pieced rose on my bed and then just sort of filled around it will loose hexagons...



Here's a close-up.



I think this is approximately the layout I'll go for, obviously I have a long way to completion as I want to make it about King-size!! But I see it as a sort of long term project that I'll pick up every now and again when I need to do some handwork :-)


On a family note, there are other people with other plans in this house too! My 'big' boy will be 4 at the end of the month.



He gets the John Deere catalogue out every now and again to remind us of his birthday hopes.