pancakes :: snow :: a quilt

In an attempt to record and share more of our days (because they are so immensely fascinating, you understand!) I am going to try to post often in the same way as Heather, whose daily posts have been a wonderful source of beauty and out-breaths recently.
We have taken to having pancakes for breakfast every Sunday and that little routine sees me jumping out of bed before the boys to pad downstairs and mix the batter, so it can sit for a while before we start cooking.
We each have our favourite topping.
Frank goes for agave syrup (although having read about it recently I will be removing it from the pantry soon) and Andrew and I go for lemon juice and maple syrup.
We get two pancakes each (big, thin ones like crepes) from a mix of 4floz oat milk, 1 egg, 4oz spelt flour, pinch salt and 1 tbsp oil.
It leaves us rather wanting a little more but that's no bad thing.

And the table always groans under the weight of Lego. Every meal!

We had snow last night.
About five inches and it drifted so in parts of the garden it was quite high.
Straight after pancakes we headed out, all layered up, to throw snowballs at each other and get thoroughly cold.
Today was the day when I realised I have a hole in my wellies and my feet were very cold very quickly.
My lovely blokes longjohns worked a treat though!

And in the late morning I managed to complete my first ever quilt. Here you can see it on the big bed, although it is for Frank and his little bed next to ours.
The fabric was from the V&A stall at a Knit & Stitch Show two years ago and is all based on fabrics from the V&A archives.
They are beautiful and I am so glad to have been able to keep them together.
You can see in this picture how we sleep.
Frank sleeps directly next to me in a little bed (Andrew cannily took a saw to a regular single bed and made a kind of Frankenstein's monster of a bed!).
Frank didn't used to sleep here, except when he was tiny, but I never rested well with him away from me.
This way we all sleep better and I can check on him frequently because, let's face it, the deep sleep we all used to enjoy pre-kids and especially pre-diabetic kids is AWOL for a while.
It works for us, for now.
He learnt to make snowballs today.
And throw them.
His little snow suit is one brought back from a Finnish flea market by a friend.
We rarely get this much snow but this suit is fabulous when we do.

Tomorrow the Wholefood Kitchen starts for Andrew and I.
Will post more on that in the morning.

Instead of stories ...

Sometimes, of an evening, Frank and I discuss what stories he might like to hear.

I love reading and being read to. Thus talking books are great for me, especially as I can cook and potter whilst following a story.
I have very fond memories of being in my mid-twenties and sharing a house with two other young female teachers, one of whom is still one of my best friends, Alex.
Alex is from Ballymoney in Northern Ireland and after a few years teaching here in Essex, followed her heart home and works now in Belfast.
On special occasions Alex would read out loud to me as we both lay on sofas in the lounge of the house we shared. He gorgeous northern Irish accent made every story extra special to me.
Well, Frank loves stories too, but is in that in-betweeeny phase at the moment of not really enjoying longer stories and wanting the same very young children's stories over and over.
I have no problem with this unless it has been a long day and I am in need of something a little more peppy!
This was the case the other evening and so I suggested we took paper, books and pencils and his bedtime snack upstairs with us and planned our Chinese New Year celebrations on the big double bed INSTEAD of stories.

We had a couple of books for ideas of dragons to draw and Frank erected a pillow barrier to prevent me from seeing the dragon he was drawing.

Here you can see his snack (apples slices and an oat biscuit) and in the background his little monster design book. This is just a small Moleskine book that he has by the side of his bed and in which he draws any good ideas for monsters when he's allowed ten minutes reading or designing alone before lights go out.
Monsters don't frighten him and he loves to design weird and wonderful ones.

We came up with this version of a dragon for our Chinese New Year celebration and Frank had a ball using his new chalk pastels to colour it in as they were so bright.

My point with this post is that we spent a long time drawing and reading and talking about our ideas and I think both of us felt energised by this new activity.

I firmly believe in routine and the support it provides for all of us but on the occasion that I have stepped outside the routine and done something creative I have felt amazed by the energy I have tapped into.
Rather than feeling more tired by our slightly later night we felt great and had shared some creative time and most definitely strengthened our connection to each other as two people that like to create, albeit he monsters and gross creatures and me slightly less gross things!
Instead of stories, create ...
Any other ideas for great bedtimes?

In these days of long shadows

We are busy busy, busy preparing for a season of gift giving: making cards, writing gift tags, making Christmas treasure hunts, knitting, reading recipes and making choices, baking and general elving.
A few days ago Frank and I went to Frinton for fresh air and a race on the beach (he always wins, but only because I cry less at losing!) followed by fish & chips and a great score of a Scooby Doo puzzle in a charity shop.
It was blissful.
Blue, blue sky and just me and my boy on that beach.

It makes me happy, this stretch of coast. Always.

And then we stay home a lot too; making things, crafting, elving and baking.

I took this picture as a way of telling the tale of how I reached without looking for my coffee and nearly took a swig of a bowl of beads today!
They actually had to touch my lips before I realised it wasn't my drink.
Must use my eyes next time.

And more elving, preceded by a fun afternoon decorating the ginger biscuits we made in the morning.
Oh yes, we had fun with that one!

Hope you are enjoying your winter too!

And take note: these biscuits are NOT BURNT.
Neither are they strangely blue!

Making & Hiding Out (d'you see what I did there?)

tea cosy for my sister for Christmas

Frank making golden bicycle wheels at our little class "Art Makers" at the new gallery in town : firstsite.

my tiny stash of very special material made into a little clutch bag, which I am using for small knitting projects. Note the reality of my crafting and do not for a moment imagine I have a "studio" or anything! Nope I craft right alongside the Lego and the puzzles.

updating the nature table with gnomes and gingham hearts from the Christmas decoration stash

Budd making a fabulous shed in the garden, he has worked really hard all week on this, whilst I have worked hard to keep Frank out of his way

Me, making a golden bicycle wheel, taken by Frank

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It has been busy around here with us making, building, creating ...
I finished the tea cosy for my sister for Christmas and am now making very few things for gifts. I made loads last year and it stressed me too much. Crafting and creating is something I do a fair amount of but I want it to kind of unfold naturally. I don't want to be handing over a gift that is only going to receive a lukewarm reception (it happens A LOT!) after I have sat up late trying to complete it. So this winter it's just a tie for Budd, a cowl for Frank and a couple of other gifts before I just knit for pleasure alone.
And next year I have already declared the year of knitting for ME!
That is going to be fun.
This week Frank and I enjoyed our second art class at the fantastic new gallery in Colchester: firstsite.
And Andrew has been spending the week building a shed in the garden; leaping out of bed once it is light and beavering away until it's dark.
He has done an amazing job.
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And onto the hiding out.
I have kind of been ignoring Diabetes Awareness month and not blogging about diabetes.
I think I have reached one of those phases of burnout and am just going with the flow.
In planing what to say here today I wondered if I should admit this.
A great deal of awe is felt here by me when I read other blogs, especially this month.
My stamina seems to have gone AWOL for November!
And, guess what, I wish it hadn't but I feel absolutely no guilt about it.
If I have learnt anything from this carousel of parenting a child with Type 1 Diabetes it is to trust my feelings and emotions and gut reactions to life and my moods.
I appear to have needed a quiet blogging month.
It certainly isn't all tea cosies and soup over here.
We have too many hypos and some ratios that have needed tweaking.
But the nights have been comfortingly predictable (for the first time in about nine months, I realised the other day! Jinkies! No wonder I look 93!).
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And this much I know:
Even when I lapse in regularity in my blogging.
Even when I am a bit lightweight with my post contents.
Even when I can barely function of an evening.
I feel the energy of all the other D-parents and D-friends out there.
Not in a weird way, just in a supportive way.
And I know that should I need to reach out, even after an absence, everyone is still there.
Just as I am.
Still here. Still there. Still reading.
Still Frank's Mama.

Soulemama and me

A while back the lovely Sarah asked me in the comments section what projects I had ever done from Amanda Bake Soule's books and how I found them.
I fully intended to let her know there and then but just didn't get around to it and then um, forgot.
So here , right now, is my reply.
And, Sarah, sorry for the delay!
I have two of Amanda's books : Handmade Home and The Creative Family. They are both fantastic and very inspirational. Amanda really does strike a great and sane balance between the desire to be creative and the reality of making things whilst being surrounded by children and having little time and limited resources.
Some of the issues facing parents who want to craft/create is that they have so little time, even to shop for the stuff for projects. Handmade Home addresses this by emphasising using stuff we already have: old sheets, towels, tea towels, children's clothes that they have grown out of.
The Creative Family is jam-packed with ideas for bringing just a little more creativity into the life of a family. Small steps and introducing some ideas slowly have been great for Frank and I. (Andrew loves the idea of it all but it tends to be me that does this kind of stuff).


Scarf from Handmade Home. Made for Sev's birthday. Hidden behind Frank (he wouldn't leave her side for the photo call!) are some vintage buttons, courtesy of my Great Aunt Dolly.

Wall hanging with pockets for Frank's room from Handmade Home. Made from old blankets and bits of fabric I had at home already. It is hanging from an old curtain pole! And just above it the DREAM banner made from an old army blanket and some felt, also from Handmade Home.

Bunting banner. I have made loads of these, as you all know! They are such a great way of using up old fabric and people love receiving them as gifts.
From the birthday banner idea in The Creative Family.

Bath mat from Handmade Home. This was made from an old pale yellow towel I already had (it is around 25 years old as I remember having it when I was a student!). The floral material is an off cut from some curtains I made years ago and never threw away. Many people have commented on this and asked where I bought it.

Pillow Case dress from Handmade Home. Made for my sister's littlest girl, Nancy.

In all honesty, I have made other things too. I just forget to photograph them!
The Family Heart from Handmade Home has been a great hit with Frank, who puts a piece of my jewellery in its little pocket whenever I go out.
And the Silky Eye Pillow has been made many times as gifts for friends and to use the fab lavender I managed to bag from a friend of a friend's garden last summer.

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And Amanda has a new book out next month. I am twitching for it already.
Tomorrow we are running a cycling event to raise awareness of Type 1.
Back soon with photos from that.

Look Out, Look Out, There's a Dragon about

One of the reasons for my absence from this space over the past couple of weeks is that I have been beavering away on a dragon costume for Frank for the Colchester Carnival that took place this weekend.
I try hard not to use the computer during the day when I am with Frank so I tend to write in the evening.
Well, over the past two weeks all my evenings have been spent getting ready for Frank's birthday last weekend and for the dragon this weekend.
I am ready for a rest and for a couple of weeks of no deadlines like these!

But it was so very worth it.
Frank had a ball roaring at his friends, most of whom were dressed as knights, and chasing them at speed around the Abbey Fields before the procession set off and he joined his Daddy on the trailer bike.
Andrew had kitted the bike out with a little castle for the dragon to live in complete with windows for him to peep through.
It rained cats and dogs all day.
Downpour after downpour and yet it stopped just for about an hour and a half, and that just happened to be the hour and a half that we were walking through town in the procession. Serendipity indeed.

We have been really struggling to bring his blood sugars down over the past month. We are rarely seeing anything under ten and I am not a happy bunny with this trend.
But, last week we had pump clinic in Cambridge and his HbA1c came back as 7.6.
Holding steady.
Not as high as we thought it might be. We were relieved.
Numbers were crunched at the clinic and we adjusted some ratios and now we try to bring those numbers down.
It is relentless (but I don't have to tell most of you that) and I don't like winning often enough, but hey ho, it is what it is.
I hope to be here more often very soon.
I miss ruminating on life to my small (but, surely adoring) public ... ahem.

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Loving all your posts, will find time to comment as soon as I can.
Love to all.

this week

This week

• I am admiring the third Milo vest I have completed, this one is for baby Ruben's first birthday. He is one in October and I can't quite grasp that I have this ready in June! Andrew's Christmas jumper is still languishing in the knitting basket. He might get it for his birthday in August. Or next Christmas ...
  

(this is an owl cable, can you see why?)

• I am working hard to get on top of the spread of toys and laundry around the house, hoping to get things cleared enough to think straight when Andrew goes away for eight days very soon.
• I am loving the Frank's-eye-view I get whenever he borrows my camera and pads around the house capturing his world.

in our bathroom, which is the Sea Room, part of Frank's "My Museum" that takes up the whole house (complete with whale sharks and "sea dinosaurs")

• I am pleased to have found time to watch "The King's Speech" and loved it. The only strange moment that had Andrew and I laughing out loud was seeing Tim Spall being Winston Churchill. I am a big Tim Spall fan and his face was almost too well known to be Churchill. I felt that by then I had already accepted far too many well known faces as other people to take anymore. Mr Darcy is Bertie, Duke of York? Bellatrix Lestrange is the Duchess of York? Elizabeth Bennett is now married to Jeffrey Rush, the ghost pirate? And now Peter Pettigrew is Winston Churchill! My brain was melting with all the cross-referencing!
• I am finding joy at rediscovering an old habit; that of knitting whilst watching flickr slide shows of my favourite creative bloggers or photographers whose work inspires/relaxes me.
• I am loving the full-on rain we have had. Our crops and gardens SO need this. Farmers around the country, I am sure, are breathing sighs of relief.
• I am battling BG numbers in their teens and a boy who scarcely eats a whole meal but wants to graze. Grazing is good but hard on the D-parent sometimes,
  
• I am still shocked at visiting my parents and going with them to their local supermarket to witness my nearly 80-year old mother take a small and very sharp serrated knife out of her handbag. She then proceeded to chop the stalks off the broccoli she was intending to buy. My gasp of horror led only to her explaining what she was doing and saying that as she didn't eat the stalk she didn't want to pay for it! I now await the knock on the door as the police arrive to tell me she has been taken into custody for WALKING AROUND WITH A WEAPON IN HER OLD LADY HANDBAG.
• I am really pleased with myself for chatting to the manager of Starbucks in town and securing the Community wall for a little exhibition of photos I want to put up called "The Face of Diabetes". The idea is to counteract the ongoing struggle we seem to have to make people recognise that Type 1 diabetes is not the same as Type 2. That wall is mine in November! Just have to get myself organised, it could creep up on me. Thanks to Jen for motivating me to do this. I'd had the idea for a while but just hadn't done anything about it. Then the day after I did this we had a new TV ad here in the UK about going to local pharmacies to get yourself tested for Diabetes. Not Type 2 Diabetes. Just Diabetes. Well, the Type 1 D-parents and D-adults swung into enraged action and the ad was altered with a message along the bottom of the screen saying something along the lines of "Type 2 diabetes only. Not for you if you are under 16 or have already been diagnosed with diabetes". The D-Community was absolutely right to swing into this action not just because of the lazy labelling and consequent emotional pain and possible medical confusion caused but also to raise awareness of diabetes and its complications there has been a sculpture of LIMBS in Trafalgar Square as a shock tactic. What four year old Type 1 diabetic doesn't need to see a pile of limbs as a warm-hearted message about his condition, eh? (That was a sarcastic, rhetorical question by the way!)
  
• I am mostly wearing cardigans and my clogs. And channelling Jesse from The Fast Show. (Just look for The Fast Show on You Tube for it. It's all good! I loved this show.)

Happy Weekend to you all!

Done & Dusted

Excuse the fuzzy photos but this boy just will not stand still.

And, before anyone asks, it's still all about having the tongue hanging out over here!

Today I coaxed Frank into wearing this hat as I needed to get it parceled up and sent off to Dorset to my sister's little girl, Nancy, who turns two this week.

Originally I made this hat for Frank but he refuses to wear it as it's "itchy".

Pure Michigan wool sent from good friends in Detroit and it's rejected within a nano second by the boy.

Ah, well, Nancy will look great in it with her red hair.

It's a weird project though. I like it very much, don't get me wrong, but it uses so very much yarn and most of that yarn hangs down the child's back. It seems a waste. I'm all for style and love little elf-like hats and stuff but this seemed over the top.
Can you see how far it hangs down Frank's back?
Almost as far as his tongue hangs down his front!

And here is the little button to hold it on.
I was struck by this picture of my boy's chubby four year old chops as I'd been chatting to a friend whose child was diagnosed just a few months ago. We were saying how gaunt our boys had been before they'd been diagnosed. And they had both been quite well, all things considered.
It has taken two years for Frank to go from skinny to normal and he is pretty average just now in terms of both height and weight.

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And then onto another completed project : Boot Gnomes!
How cute are they???
I made fifteen of them today, some to give as gifts and some to attempt to sell as stocking fillers.


They are super easy to make and the idea is from this book (as is the knitting pattern for the hat).
They are used to hold wellies together at the top, particularly useful for a pre-school or family with lots of kids, I imagine.
We use them because they're gnomes and they're cute.


Now, Mr Muffinmoon is out at Pudding Club this evening and I am alone with my green tea and about to start making his Christmas present.
It's a linen apron that I intend to customise just for him.
I am entering this project most nervously as we have ten people here on Christmas Day and he will be opening it "in public".
It could all go tits up (nod to Reyna here for inspiring me to be colourful in my use of language!!) but I promise to post about it anyway.
Happy Tuesday all.

The Diabetes Toad

My cousin, Maggie, lives in Ottawa and kindly sent me a special feature from The Globe and Mail all about Diabetes.

She, herself, was diagnosed with Type 1 in her forties.

A huge shock and I happened to be over visiting when the doctor rang with confirmation of the diagnosis.

I remember her son, Jorin, hugging her and them both crying and I quietly left the room to let them talk and be together before I spoke to her later about what it meant and how she felt.

I was clueless.

She handled it then and handles it now with her usual, and enviable, forthright attitude and determination to look it in the eye.

With Frank's diagnosis, somewhere around fifteen years later, I was still clueless.

Maggie never made a big deal of it but just got on with it.

Nothing was hidden, but I never asked many questions either.

Now we see each other every six months and have so much to talk about.

Not that we ever struggled but the Big D does make an appearance in our conversations now more than it did before Frank's diagnosis.

Knowing what I now know, I feel ashamed of this, of not finding out more and being more supportive

So, Maggie ticks along managing her Type 1 brilliantly. She chooses to not have a pump and that works for her.

We want a pump for Frank to let his tiny body have less daily invasions.

We are all doing great.

And then I sit down to read the articles from The Globe and Mail supplement.

I read a few lines and this incredible physical, totally physical, feeling rises in me, like a submerged toad that has been in the pit of my stomach, rising and rising to my (now constricted) throat and I close the paper, and feel the hysteria subside.

What on earth is that?

It's the Diabetes Toad.

It lies there, watching and waiting and rising to strike when you let your guard down for a second.

All seems well and then all of a sudden up pops the freaky toad, all full of its own importance, and I am knocked for six again.

Like it happened two weeks ago not two years ago.

I have been pondering this post for a few days now and was interested (and relieved) to read both Meri's and Reyna's posts saying very similar things.

Sometimes the magnitude of DIABETES and not the numbers or the carbs or the exercise hits us all and we crumble a bit.

For a while.

And then, well, what are our choices here?

Let's be honest.

Are we able to say, "Nope. Can't do it anymore. Too scary. Gonna give it to someone else?". Ha!

We want to do it because we need to do it because we have to do it.

The momentary wobbles are about looking into the abyss and then going back to the coal face (crazy mixed metaphors, I apologise!).

And at the coal face is where we belong.

I certainly wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

So, day to day, the Diabetes Toad is pushed down by life. Everyday life.

And to lighten the mood here are some images and thoughts of this week so far:

1. I've been sewing to YouTube of The Dick van Dyke Show. I love him so much. And I hear even porpoises love him these days. I've always said porpoises have good taste ...
2. We've got snow and lots of it. Frank is a happy boy.

3. Snowmen have been built. This was the first one after just a night of snow. He's kind of small but the latest two are much bigger.

4. A Christmas Cake has been baked. I soaked the required tonne of dried fruit in brandy for a day and then made the cake. We don't normally have one but Sev and her friend Louise are with us over Christmas, along with my parents and aunt so a cake might be called to do service!


It gets wrapped like a parcel before going in the oven for three hours.

And looks like this when it emerges.

I will "feed" it with brandy every few days up until Christmas and cover it with fruit and nuts and then glaze it with apricot jam.

Traditionally it is eaten with a chunk of crumbly cheese but most people these days probably go for a cup of tea alongside instead.

I will happily post the recipe sometime if anyone is interested in cakes that are so heavy with fruit they could sink a ship!

It tastes great, I assure you.

And

5. Mr Muffinmoon is out at a Poetry Slam this evening, performing as Fred Slattern: Slum Poet. What have I planned? Tamari cashews and a gin & tonic, that's what! Oh, and knitting like a mad witch as it's already December and I've been slutty with my handmade promises ...
Much love and peace and great BGs to you all.

Two Things To Make You Smile

First smile comes from our winner today of this priceless book (ahem).

Frank picked all the names from a cereal bowl this morning whilst I was pricking his finger so I am afraid I didn't get any photos but the lucky person is : Amanda from Felt Finland!!!!

Hooray for Amanda!

Can you e.mail me your address (I think you already have my e.mail address) and I will get your prize into the post next week.

The second smile is a humdinger, so brace yourselves, it's a bit of a story.

I am pleased that my hedgehog house and fuzzy bra have brought smiles to you all and add now this tale from yesterday evening:

Picture the scene of an English pub, let's call it The Fat Cat (for that is its name!), on a Thursday evening. It is busy with a youngish clientele, mostly late twenties and early thirties, good beer and great chunky wooden tables.

At one of the tables every two weeks or so I meet with a group of fabulous crafty and creative women and we sit knitting and sewing. Sometimes we have a brief like the knitted bras and sometimes we just get on with our individual projects. On any given evening a mixture of both is going on, such as yesterday evening.

So we women sit chatting, knitting and sewing and are joined by two guys wondering what we are up to. They are pleasant enough and trying to be charming but clearly have had a beer or two.
None of us are phased by this, we are there to be together and are happy to show people what we are doing if they show an interest.

So, after a few minutes of chat the first guy starts to ask what we are all doing. He is probably in his early to mid-thirties and is well-dressed and well-spoken and has a confident air about him.

So, around the table we go sharing our projects.

He has no idea what is about to hit him ...

Polly shows him the Waldorf doll she is making for her daughter. This evening she is weaving in the hair.

He admires it and moves onto me and Rosie.

We are both knitting; me a lacy scarf and Rosie a pullover for a doll for her little girl.

He asks "pertinent" questions about speed of knitting and whether I could knit a whole toilet in a week.

Then he moves on to Natasha and asks her what she is sewing.

"A vagina" she responds without missing a beat.

He blinks a couple of times and says "Sorry?" so she lifts her lovely silk and cotton work of art and shows it to him.

For the first time in half an hour of pleasant but tipsy rambling he is struck dumb.

Natasha explains that we are all going to contribute a piece of work for a huge quilt being pieced together in London to raise awareness of Female Genital Mutilation. He blinks a few more times and seems suddenly less tipsy.

Go figure.

Then he says he'd like to contribute in some way, even financially, to the work on FGM Awareness.

He heads off back to the bar leaving us all smiling about what he will think when he wakes up in the morning.

"I had the weirdest dream last night, mate. I dreamt I saw these women in the pub making vaginas! I must drink less."

He gave me my biggest smile of the week!

When a man walks unprepared into the Land of the Women who knows what might happen.

I wonder if he'll be there next week or if we've put him off popping out to his local for beer?!

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I am taking a few days off from this screen. I love it so much I am not getting much else done. Back next Thursday with tales of cheeky monkey four year olds (Meri you were so right with your comment a week or so back about "dethroning the king") and German Christmas Markets.

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Much love to all and a happy weekend!

Here is something to speed you on your way courtesy of Armstrong and Miller, two very fine performers.

Psyched

A good friend of mine is a homeopath and makes natural skin remedies.

She is a great inspiration to me in how she lives and works and has kindly given me the opportunity to sell some of my handmade, upcycled stuff at the Christmas Open Evenings in her home.

The first one was this evening and we spent the afternoon setting up. My little bits and bobs looked so lovely in her pretty home and I don't really mind if they sell or not, I am just so pleased to be putting my work out there.

I gave up teaching a year ago now to be at home caring for Frank, and have not regretted that for one moment.

However, I do miss making a little money for my family.

Maybe this is a way to do that?

Next stop an etsy shop, eh? (Joy and Peace bunting)


( Lavender hearts with vintage buttons and lavender dream pillows)

I will keep you posted about how it all goes.

Being creative in this way is healing me so much after the shock of Frank's diagnosis.

Who would have thought that some answers can lie in recycled materials and local lavender?!

Been Craftin'

In my few spare moments over the past month I have been sewing a lot! The knitting happens in front of the TV or whilst playing board games with Frank or listening to music but sewing is an altogether more difficult thing to arrange when there is a four year old to amuse.

However, after setting the boy up with his own little sewing table along with scraps of cute fabric and safety scissors I have managed to get a few items actually completed as he chops his fabric up.

First up, the bath mat from Handmade Home by Amanda Blake Soule.

It's a great book and one I would highly recommend for its straightforward ideas and methods.

It advocates using what you already have, which ticks a lot of boxes for me as I have lots of old sheets and towels, for example, and will be able to run a few of these up for friends in future without buying anything new at all.

This one is made from an old yellow towel and some curtain cut-off material. I have also been making little bunting messages for friends for Christmas pressies. None of them read my blog so it's OK for me to post about them!

The blanket cost £2 at the Salvation Army shop in town and I've spend ages hand sewing the letters and hearts on them and I think they look so cute.

There is a tactile warmth from blanket and felt that will look great at Christmas time.

I am also using a lot of the lovely vintage buttons I inherited from my Great Aunt Dolly (real name Emily Lucretia. How's that for a great name? Frank escaped only by being a boy!!).

I will be taking a long weekend away from the computer as my sister, Heather, and her family are coming to stay and I want to soak up every moment with them. We haven't seen them for eighteen months. They live on a dairy farm in Dorset (Thomas Hardy country) and this is the only weekend they have before the cows start calving! Cool, eh?
See you next week and have a fabulous weekend.
Mine will be filled with kids, sisters, red-haired dairy farmers, beef joints fresh from Dorset, chats and wine (ahem ...).