Too Much To Do

It is getting really busy around here at the moment. "Dorothy" was in some brilliant performances last week. For two nights she was dancing the overture to Cats at a local theatre in a schools dance festival and for three nights she was singing in the choir of a musical at the local senior school. I'm really proud of her. We have also had 2 sports days and one special assembly for "Fred" with another this week for "Daisy". I have been wondering whether I should be referring to the children as DD1, DD2 and DS as many bloggers seem to, rather than using their nicknames, but I have decided not to as they identify with their alter-egos!! I think, though, that I will refer to my long suffering husband as exactly that: LSH.

I have so many sewing projects on the go at the moment that I don't know which way to turn! I need to make a special present for Fred's reception teacher as she has taught all three children and I really value how lovely she has been with them. I am planning to make Annie Down's "Flying School" Angel from her Angel's Story book, Fred is also stitching her a cat picture. Daisy wants to make something for her teacher as well - probably "Charlotte the Shopper" from the same book which will need some help from me. I already have my star/house quilt to finish as the extra fabrics have arrived from America and I am meant to be progressing with my 365 challenge quilt but that has been on a back burner for a while so I need to catch up before it becomes too big and scary to contemplate. I have also received an order for one of my fleece blankets in pinks for a baby girl who is due in August.

In the meantime I have set myself the challenge of making 3 other quilts: Some of you may already know that my lovely father-in-law had a devastating stroke in March. He has been left really incapacitated and it is terrible for the whole family. My mother-in-law is finding it very difficult to cope and we are all feeling very frustrated as there is little we can do to help. So I am making my mother-in-law a "comfort blanket" in quilt form - just so that I can do something for her that shows her how much I love her. My in-laws are committed Christians and I am stitching special quotes from the Bible on the quilt so she can have the comfort from them too. I am sort of trying to design the quilt myself although "design" is probably too grand a word for my "put together" efforts - maybe "create" is a better word. I'm going to make my father-in-law a strippy quilt as well, using some 3 Sisters "Chocolate" charm squares. I think doing this is really as a comfort to me - so that I can feel I am doing something.

I am also making one for my Mum's birthday in August using these fabrics from 2 Blackbird Designs' Chelsea Boutique Charm Packs. It will be a strippy quilt too, like the Wuthering Heights one.

On a happier note, I thought I would finish with some allotment photos of the children. Dorothy wants to do drama classes
so she decided that she would sell peas at the allotment for 1p each! She roped her little sister and brother into helping her pod them and thought she was onto a good scheme until I told her that she couldn't sell the peas as I wanted them for lunch! Well it was a good try anyway! (and look at the size of those peas!!!)