So what did I get done?

Not everything on the list that's for sure!

But...........

I made 3 wallets! (Ok, so I had already cut all the pieces out the other day - but that's still good isn't it?) Two are for a friend who is taking them with her on holiday to Australia as gifts - so they have come from Australia originally via Melly and Me, have been made here in the UK with Japanese fabric (with a Russian doll theme in places) and are going back to Australia again! The second Russian doll wallet will be going into my Etsy shop soon.

I finished the "dog" cushion
An order from another friend.
I just need to get a larger cushion inner for it.

Top stitched some of the animal blanket - more to do today! I haven't finished putting the blanket together yet - it's easier to do the top stitching first.

And finished the stitchery on the elephant cushion but did none of the patchwork.

So I got a lot done - but not all. I've got some extra time though because Dot is off school so I can't go to help in the infant's this morning. We are going to watch Grease and I will sew, sew, sew - wish I could sleep instead!

Lucy x

Sunday To Do List

I know I have borrowed this cartoon from a couple of other great blogs (here and here) that have used it lately but it is so appropriate!



Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Ok, so I'm stressed out about all the things I need to make for orders and the craft fairs. It's great to be busy but I am really worried that I won't get everything done. So here is todays To-Do list. I let you know at the end (with photos) if (or what) I have finished!

1. Make Hedgehog wallet
2. Make Russian doll wallet
3. Top-stitch "animal" blanket
4. Finish "dog" cushion
5. Make patchwork for elephant cushion

I should be tidying - I really, really should be tidying. But I'm going to try to get these things done first/instead!

Wish me luck! Lucy x

P.S. Knitty people go and check out Patti's new blog Just Another Row.

P.P.S. I've just bought myself the most amazing watch for christmas (don't know who from yet) you can see it here

P.P.P.S. This is for Jonathan - sorry darling! I will tidy up one day!



Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Look what arrived today

I bought this gorgeous little house from Esther of my cuppa charms from her Etsy shop. She had it listed as a pincushion but it is far too gorgeous to stick pins in.






She also included a lovely mini wallet with an owl button closer. Inside was a panda bear clip and some mini post-its. Thank you so much Esther for a really cheerful parcel. Lucy x

Grandpa Biscuit

I am very lucky to not only have the most wonderful parents who have always supported and helped me but also to have a superb mother and father-in-law. You hear so many stories of people who don't get on with their husband's or wife's family but mine are exceptional. I can honestly say that Margaret, my mother-in-law, is one of my best friends (she as batty as me, definitely!) They are wonderful Christians who would do anything for anyone and are an excellent example for all of us. I love them dearly.

They were christened Granny and Grandpa Biscuit by Dorothy when she was a baby. Whenever we went to my parents' house she would start saying "Dohh Dohh" (Dog) as we walked to the door because she was excited about seeing their dogs. So they became "Granny and Grandpa Dog" - I'm not sure if they were very flattered!!!

At my in-laws' house Dorothy would say "Biscuit" (or something that sounded like it) because she knew her Granny was a soft touch! And the names stuck. Occasionally we group the four of them together as the "Dog Biscuits" but not if we want any supper!

Anyway, as most of you know, my father-in-law Andrew had two strokes earlier this year - the second one quite devastating. It has been a hard time for the whole family and I wanted to do something to show Andrew how much I cared - even if I couldn't do what I most wanted to, and magically make him better. So I decided to make him a small quilt. I found the Moda Chocolat plaid charm packs on the Hancocks website and they are so perfect for him. Calm, friendly and reassuringly lovely!

I have stitched a prayer onto the back that was written by one of his distant relatives when she woke in the night and felt compelled to put pen to paper. It so perfectly expresses what we want for Andrew and finally it seems as if some of our prayers are being answered. The really bleak days seem to have passed and he has been reassessed and is now receiving physio and speech therapy again. Our long term goal would be for him to be able to return home but he still needs to improve further before this could be possible.

I hope the quilt will show him how much I care for both of them. It is wonky and uneven and I have chickened out of quilting it properly because I always end up with huge puckers - so I have just sewn on some random buttons - but it is made with lots of love and I promise I will iron it properly before I give it to him tomorrow!

Lucy x

P.S. I have updated my Etsy shop

Autumn Days

Autumn days when the grass is jewelled
and the silk inside a chestnut shell
Jet planes meeting in the air to be refuelled
All these things I love so well

So I mustn’t forget
No, I mustn’t forget
To say a great big thank you
No, I mustn’t forget.

Clouds that look like familiar faces
And winter’s moon with frosted rings
Smell of bacon as I fasten up my laces
And the song the milkman sings

I went to Fred's Harvest Festival the other day and nearly cried as I listened to all the little voices singing this song. I'm sure we used to sing it when we were young too. It is such a poignant and heartwarming song and we've had a lovely day to match it today!

The children and I went up to Chopwell wood with our friends S and P and three of their children plus two of their friends. Fred was in seventh heaven as four of the boys were teenagers and spent a lot of the time throwing a rugby ball around - and including HIM in their game! He was so delighted to be a big boy with them and they were absolutely sweet with him.

We stomped our way through the woods, losing the path, getting lost, slipping down slopes and generally being intrepid explorers and the weather was absolutely beautiful. There were also some amazing sculptures in the woods.

At one point we found a circle of trees and played the game "Budge-it!" I've never played this before but what you have to do is choose a tree each and then one person is it and has to tag another. The person being chased runs to the nearest tree and yells "Budge It" so the next person has to leave that tree and be chased, so they run to a tree and yell "Budge It" and so-on until someone is caught and becomes "It".


We had our picnic at a wonderful spot with a view across the tops of the trees. Fred gradually wriggled along so he was sitting in between two of the big boys! Ahhh!




The amazing coincidence about this walk was that it occured just near The Fat Quarters - my local-ish patchwork shop - pretty impressive considering I hadn't chosen where we should go! I have been wanting to take S for ages as she was keen to get some batik fabrics and I knew Kim had a good range. So we had a good look around and both came back with some goodies. I also let the children buy some fabrics. Dorothy and Daisy got a little pack of scraps for £1 and Fred got a 10cm strip of dinosaur fabric - he wants me to help him turn it into a cushion (NOW!)

While we were there I finally managed to meet a fellow blogger, Helen of Piecemaker. We have very nearly bumped into each other several times but today we actually met! It was lovely to put a face to a name - she felt like she already knew the children and even when I introduced them by their real names she said she would always think of them as Dorothy, Daisy and Fred!

I've just been over to her blog to get the link for above, and seen her entry about today - apparently I look like a pumpkin!!!! thanks Helen :o)

P.S. J has just noticed that somebody has stolen our door-knocker!
Can you believe there is a knocker-knicker out there? Bizarre! And it wasn't even our next door neighbour who normally plays daft tricks on us like this

From This to ....................

A few weeks ago I gave a Moo card to one of the mums from school as she had asked me what kind of things I made. I had a call from her about an hour later saying how much she loved everything on the blog and asking whether I would be able to make something for her baby daughter.

I called round to see her and whilst we were chatting I mentioned that I loved making things from childrens' clothes. Clare's eyes lit up and she fetched a bag of her daughter's first baby clothes and we agreed that I would make her a quilt from them.

And here it is!

I really enjoyed making it, using the pockets and decorations from the tiny clothes. I had to piece it with a layer of cotton underneath as the fabrics were all different weights and varied from fine cotton to stretchy t-shirt material. Some of the squares were made up of strips of t-shirt hems sewn to make a block, or the trimmings from the collars of tops with picot edging, or the ruffles from the bottom of trousers and dresses. All the fabric came from her clothes and a spare gingham curtain from her bedroom - so everything means something special to her. I made up a few little appliques of hearts, elephants, butterflies and birds but the majority of the designs were already on the clothes, including the lovely large elephant and the deep pink strawberry. Because of the different textures and layers of fabric it doesn't have perfect seams and would be impossible to quilt properly but it has a charm of its own. I just stitched a few heart outlines at various points to quilt it (I even had Mum helping me with it when we visited them yesterday - it was really lovely to sit and sew on the same project together)

My friends had told me off recently because I always get a bit anxious when I have finished a project that it is not good enough and the person won't like it so I often end up handing it over in a cheap plastic bag, almost apologetically, like "here you go, but you won't really like it!"
So they told me I had to improve my presentation! They would have been very proud if they had seen the beautifully tissue-wrapped and be-ribboned parcel in a white paper carrier bag complete with Moo sticker that I gave to Clare last night!

Clare loved the quilt - it even made her cry! And it was lovely to see her little baby lying on it gurgling at us.

This is definitely something I would love to do more of - being able to preserve the memories attached to individual garments by turning them into a quilt, cushion, bag or doll's clothes, is such a lovely idea and is something I have been doing for my own children for quite a while - hence the name Lucy Locket Recycled Her Pocket. I really do recycle lots and lots of pockets!

Craft Night

Finally I can pause for a moment and STOP SEWING for 5 minutes!

Now you all know how much I love sewing but it has been manic here this week.

The dining room table (extended to its limits) disappeared under piles of scrumpled fabrics, folded fabrics, ironed (wow!) fabrics, patterns, books, threads, buttons, ribbons, interfacing, wadding and lace and the floor was completely covered with scraps and threads! Meanwhile I pretty much disappeared as far as J and the children were concerned while I sewed, and sewed and sewed (and did more ironing!)

The reason for this chaos was a last minute invitation to have a table at a Save The Children night in the local pub function room. I knew I had stalls coming up in November but this one really caught me on the hop and I didn't have enough stock. So I have been burning the candle at both ends trying to have enough to show - especially as this would be a chance to show my work to a different audience than at the school fairs (although many of my friends came last night too.)

Things went rather pear-shaped when J rang from Newcastle where he was totally stuck in traffic for ages - I wasn't even sure he would be back in time at all. So I abandoned all plans of a nice shower and change of clothes and Dot and my friend Alison, who had called in for half an hour to see if she could do anything, helped me finish getting everything ready and labelled. My neighbour Pam had also been helping me earlier in the day - I've got really kind friends.

Now, Dot really, really, really, really wanted to come with me but I had said no because I knew it would be really crowded, but she was so helpful before I went that I relented. But............

Unfortunately.........

Just as we were getting into the car (late), poor little Dot slammed her hand in the car door! She really hurt her index finger but was even more devastated because she thought she wouldn't be able to come. So we plastered her up and set off again - even later than ever with a last minute panic to try and set everything up.
But HURRAY! It was a success! I sold three wallets, some purses, 3 bags and an art bag plus orders for 4 more and orders for a little doll and ........................

A Princess and the Pea set!!!!










I had taken the children's dolls along as samples along with the new Christmas Angel that I adapted from Rosalie Quinlan's Bucket full of Angels pattern as an order from a friend.

A lot of people took a card and several were interested in my fleece blankets and cushions so it was a very successful evening.

It wasn't as successful for J though! Poor Fred spent the evening being rather poorly with an upset tummy. Not pleasant! Sorry I missed that really.

Today has been spent trying to find the dining room table and floor (done!) and layering and attaching the binding to the baby-clothes quilt. I just need to do a bit of quilting and then stitch the binding and it will be done! (I know you are meant to quilt before attaching the binding but I am only doing a little bit of quilting and it will not be properly flat because of the thickness of some of the squares) This has all been done with the dulcet tones of C-Beebies in the background while a perfectly healthy Fred kicks a football around the sitting room!

I will re-open my Etsy shop next week for a fortnight until my next show. It will have my new stock and also my Princess and the Pea set to order.

P.S. This bit is especially for my sister Ally
Guess what Fred had for lunch?
2 lovely runnnnnnnnny dippy-eggs with soldiers! and I had an egg mayo sandwich with lettuce from the greenhouse and sweet chilly dipping sauce! Are you still glad you asked me to update my blog?
You do LOVE eggs don't you Ally?

And the Winner is........................

So, I was meant to be spending the day sewing to make stock for next Thursday. But then my ex-boss Linda said that her aunt had some carpet for the allotment to make paths so I went with her to pick it up and then took her to see the allotment. She then decided that she wanted to do some digging! Good Plan! So I went back to pick up J and the children as two lots of the children's friends were there too.

Have you noticed that I am deliberately waffling to keep you all in suspense over who won?
Mean?
Me?

We ended up staying at the allotment until 6pm! No sewing has been done yet today. Not quite how I planned it! But the allotment is looking much better - Linda dug over several beds, we had a bonfire, J laid loads of carpet on the paths, I pulled up all the dead veg plants and we had a lovely lunch of potatoes, salad, bacon and fried courgettes all cooked on our little stove.

Have I kept you waiting long enough?
Are you sure?
Really sure?
Positive?
Okay then. The first thing I did when I got back was write everyone's names on a sheet of paper. Then I cut it into little bits ( I did tell you I was creative didn't I?) Then I folded them and put them in a bowl - see?

Then, when the children came down from their bath, I got Fred to pick out the winner - see?

And the winner is ..........................

Congratulations Linda! If you send me your full name and address I will get your prize into the post next week.

BUT!

Because the girls wanted a chance to pick as well I will send a bar of dairy milk chocolate of their choice (that I haven't made myself!) to Sarah (Daisy's choice) and Monkee Maker (Dorothy's choice) if you send me your addresses!

Next week I should be able to show you some photos of the baby-clothes quilt - that would have been ready if I hadn't spent the day playing outside! It was a beautiful day up here and I am really glad that we got to enjoy ourselves at the allotment - I'll just have to work even harder next week.

Lucy x

What?

I was just looking at my blog profile to check that the email address link is working and I saw that I was listed as having "accountancy" as my industry! Where did that come from then? I didn't do it!

Accountancy??????

I've never been able to make ends meet and my maths is appalling!

The only thing accountancy and I have in common is the useful word "creative" that apparently gets lots of businesses out of trouble!

Maybe blogger felt sorry for me as my occupation is "untidy mummy" and there is no industry listed to match that.

Anyway, back to that good old word "creative" - here is one of today's productions, shown here specially for my big sister Ally as I was describing it to her on the phone this afternoon.It isn't really triangular - it's just my rubbish photographic skills.


If you are having any trouble leaving comments on the last couple of posts you can now use the email link on my profile. It sounds like I'm desperate for people to sign up to my giveaway - I'm not, but I am aware of big difference between visitor numbers and comments left and blogger wouldn't let me leave a comment on someone else's site this afternoon - for no apparent reason.

Competition

If anyone is having a problem leaving a comment on the previous post to be entered into the draw for the pincushion you can leave a comment on this post too. I will be drawing the name on Sunday at lunchtime. Lucy x

50th Post!

Well, it's my 50th post and in true blogger style that means there's a giveaway!

Up for grabs is this little spotty pincushion with a stitchery from one of the Japanese books I got for my birthday and a little co-ordinating tag.

So if you would like a chance to win please leave a comment on my blog before 12 noon (UK time) on Sunday 14th October and I will draw a name out of the hat - or use a random number selector on the computer if I am inundated with replies (as if!)

Lucy x

P.S. I will be closing my Etsy shop briefly from next Wednesday as I have a craft fair coming up so if there is anything there that you fancy, in the words of Janis Joplin, "get it while you can"!

Messing About

I have been messing about lately. Loads of ideas are buzzing around but I don't seem to be able to sit down and do anything really productive. I have quite a few orders at the moment for fleece blankets, cushions, quilts, wallets, pictures, dolls and so on but I am finding it really hard to knuckle down and do them! I think I must be a very primitive hunter-gatherer type - I like going out and getting the work but get distracted when it comes to doing it!

I'm probably being too self-critical. I have pretty much finished the baby-clothes quilt top (although I can't show you it as my friend who ordered it may look on here) and I made Grandpa Biscuit's quilt top over the weekend - these both now need to wait until Friday when I plan to go shopping for the wadding. I've also made these little purses that will be going into my Etsy.

I didn't manage to do much crafting yesterday except for this little elephant purse because I went back to school! I have volunteered to help in Fred's school on Monday mornings and yesterday was my first day. I spent most of the time cutting out on the guillotine but also did a bit of colouring in and shape-drawing-round with the reception class. In the afternoon (which I had forgotten until the day) I had meet-the-teacher in Fred's class so I had to rush back up to school and then rush home again as I had arranged for my friend Jackie to call round to discuss fabrics for a cushion she has comissioned for her sister. Then I rushed back to school to pick up Fred and Daisy, called in on Daisy's friend who was off poorly to give her a comic and then went back up to collect Dorothy from her guitar lesson. She then had Brownies! So it was a rushy-around day.

My next post will be No.50 and I plan to have a little giveaway so I am playing around with some ideas this morning for that. So watch this space. Lucy x

P.S. Thanks for all of your amusing comments about Dorothy's doll - perhaps we should call her Peg, not Annie! What made me laugh most was the fact that I wasn't even trying to be funny! The doll was made from a kit and we have genuinely lost one of her stripey legs! I suppose I could make her a plain one - then she would really fit in with our family as we all wear odd socks!

P.P.S. I have changed my "name" for commenting on other people's posts to "Lucy Locket-Pocket" to avoid any confusion with "Gill at Lucy Locket" who already had that name when I joined blogger with "Lucy Locket Recycled Her Pocket" - I just didn't realise until it was too late that there was another crafty "Lucy Locket" blog.

Thank You!

Strips it is!

Thanks for all your advice on my father-in-law's quilt. I went with the strips - which is what I really wanted to do all along before I dithered! Here is the finished quilt top - it's not very accurate and unfortunately the border fabric is rather stretchy so it didn't really behave very well when I was sewing it on. But I don't think Grandpa Biscuit is going to complain.

Daisy has been at a friend's house today so we have had a day of only 2 children - so Fred built his wooden castle and played with daddy while Dorothy and I finally put together the doll that we have been making for about 4 years! She has sadly lost one leg over the years of construction so we just hope she is good at hopping!