The New Machine

A few months ago the wee girl requested a sewing machine for her birthday but since then 'mean old mum' has not had the time to get it out and show her how to use it. Frequent requests and a big promise from me resulted in the aforementioned machine being lifted from its box today with great excitement and squeals of delight ( making me feel even more guilty than than I already had been!!) 

After setting up, Little Em chose some fabrics from my enormous stash and ,as a special treat, I let her play with a lovely variegated machine thread by Oliver Twist.

She set to work with great enthusiasm  practising first on some paper following some straight and curvey lines and then quickly progressed to the fabric (which was much more fun), cutting small pieces and sewing them on.



Not bad for a first attempt I thought.

As the wee thing got more involved and used to the machine my help and suggestions were no longer required. As usual she was doing her own thing her own way and I wasn't allowed to look !!!!!

Some time later the masterpiece was finished ......... a blanket for her little sister Hanni !







Making Progress

Having attended lessons at the dojo for more than a year I have now become an expert in white and red belt judo techniques and am now ready to progress to the next stage. I  realised, all be it a little late in the day, that while  the children were fully occupied with tai-otoshi and kesa- gatame  I had the luxury of two hours of totally uninterrupted craft time!!

A while ago now I bought myself  Laura Longs lovely book 'Knitted Toy Tales' with the belief that at some point I would learn to Knit and make some of the adorable characters inside....... that day finally came !

I armed myself with a 'how to knit'  book and all the necessary equipment (wool and knitting needles ) and got clicking. Over the past few weeks I have knitted, purled, undone, restarted, dropped, picked up, increased , decreased and finally........... followed a pattern (hence the distinct lack of blogging !!!!)

First off the needles was my new friend Pussy Cat and having completed this little fellow I was quite content to rest up for a bit and move on to other things on my to do list. However , after looking at Pussy Cat all alone I couldn't help but be compelled to reunite him with his dear ol' pal and sailing companion 'Owl'.

It was off to the Dojo again for some more clicking and, after learning some new techniques, Owl and Pussy Cat were soon reminiscing about old times and talking about their distant travels. Watching them there was nothing for it but to provide them with that all important missing item...... their Pea Green Boat.

Now complete Owl and Pussy Cat are ready for some new adventures, the little people are happy and I can happily move on to my next task.!!!!