An intrepid adventurer

I should have known that my little green friend would be a feisty fellow................
(I mean, look who designed him)


I just didn't expect him to be such an intrepid adventurer.

After out-staring the fiercest of animals


until he had him tamed

he then decided a spot of tree climbing was in order

although I think he began to wish he hadn't looked down at this point.

He then jumped into my bag and came up to the allotment where he found as many things to climb as possible

And when he'd run out of things to climb he decided to go and chat with the tadpoles (yay my very first tadpoles!!!!) and I had to grab his foot to stop him falling in.

But, on reflection, it's probably a VERY good thing that he is so brave and adventurous, considering where he's going now....................................



Oh yes, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ally!

Love you really!

And your present is only late because it is taking him so very long to crawl down south!
;o) xxxxx


P.S. Jodie - this pattern is FABULOUS! You are a complete star!

Rag Bag

Today's is a rag bag post full of lots of pictures from the last couple of weeks (but hopefully not too much wittering!)

At the very beginning of the Easter holidays I read this post and swiftly organised the Lockets for a day trip to visit Katie's wonderful new shop

It is all looking fabulous and there is also a wonderful bakery/cafe on site where we had a delicious lunch. I just wish it was a little nearer - although it is probably better for Katie's sanity that it is too far away for me to move in on a daily basis! ;o)


We saw this fabulous rainbow on our way home - you can't really tell from the photo but the end of the rainbow was just near the wall - unfortunately there were no pots of gold or greedy leprecauns to be seen!

The children had a lovely holiday with trips to the beach, Easter Egg Hunts in Granny and Grandpa Dog's garden and pottery painting as well as trips to the cinema, visits to friends and far too many hours in front of the telly or on the Wii.
And here is Fred dreaming of ice-cream at the beach............iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice-creeeeeeeeeeeeeeam!

Lovely Diana sent me this gorgeous apron with apples on one side and sewing notions on the other and Daisy says I have to mention the gorgeous girl modelling it!

We've been to the allotment (a bit) and it is looking a little better (especially as my friend Bernie has taken over a couple of beds to help me out). Hopefully the childrens' new wigwam/den for beans will encourage them to help out a bit more as there will be plenty of room for them to hide in there once all the plants grow.


And I've managed to do some of my sewing, although not as much as I would have liked.


But I can't show you the main sewing project I achieved just yet...................!

However, the most important event of this week has been the start of my new job........... I know it's early days but I can honestly say that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!!!

Sew many ideas

My shiny new job (fewer hours, very local, and very interesting) doesn't start for another week (when the children go back to school after the Easter holidays) so for now I am
ON HOLIDAY!!!

And my head is fairly BURSTING with sewing plans and ideas!

I spent the winter cosily knitting - and knitting is fabulously portable so I was able to take it to work each day - but now I have the freedom to think big, sewing-y thoughts - Hurrah!

I have a very big secret project that I can't show you yet (or for quite a long time actually) which is a shame as it is rather clever (for me, anyway) and very beautiful.

But I also have a pin-wheel quilt in my head which I plan to make out of this charm pack of Urban Chiks' Sweet range.


I initially wanted to have a white background as I am currently in love with quilts that have lots of white in them - like my spidersweb blocks


selvedge blocks


and my Christmas ZigZag quilt


but the background of the Charm squares is more cream so white would look awful.

I then went for a bright yellow - trying to move out of my comfort zone - but when I started sewing the pinwheels I just didn't like it at all.


So I am going to play safe and use this beautiful Bella Solid called Blue Raspberry


that I used for the border in my very simple charm pack quilt made from the previous Urban Chiks range called Swell.



My other major sewing project is going to be a slip cover for my new, second-hand IKEA chair.

Even though it is second hand the cream cover is immaculate.


The problem is, I know it will never stay cream in LocketLand!

So I plan to make a heavily quilted cover inspired by SewTakeAHike's brilliant Quilt-As-You-Go-along using all my scraps.


The chair is fabulously comfortable.............

..............as long as you want to sit looking at the ceiling.

Unfortunately it is NOT a good chair to sit in to watch telly while knitting as you end up getting a very sore neck as you try to keep your head facing forwards (not ceiling-wards).

But never mind.

It will be a very beautiful day-dreaming chair!

Finally, a very exciting sewing project arrived on my doorstep this morning......................

pattern-testing the fabulous Ernst!


Oh, how I love that tortoise and his heart-rending love story!


Locket xx

All change

I finished my job at Newcastle University yesterday - where I had been working as a secretary for the last 7 months to cover Maternity Leave - and while I will miss all the students and my colleagues, I won't actually miss the job itself - too many meetings and minutes and agendae for my liking! ;o)

I received some lovely presents including this HUGE box of chocolates


and flowers from my colleagues in the office


and this whizzy coffee machine from two of the lovely lecturers


who also took me out for lunch at this restaurant - really delicious oriental food - my favourite kind of meal with lots of different tastes to try.

But I was absolutely stunned when my lovely knitting friend/student, Maura, arrived with a present from all the students and I opened it to discover this box

Hmmm, that bird looks familiar, I thought


then I turned it over and saw a message saying "Lucy's Locket"

but even then I didn't guess that this beauty would be inside


My very own Lucy's Locket made by the lovely Emma Pebble!!

I have been wanting one of these ever since Emma first posted about them but didn't dream I would get one.

But clever Maura had remembered a conversation we had had back in February when she had asked me what I would most like for Valentine's Day from Mr Locket and I had replied that what I would MOST want was one of Emma's lockets but that I would probably get a CD instead. So when the students had a collection for me Maura decided to make my wishes come true! And I am so delighted that she did - and amazed that she and Emma managed to keep it secret for so long!

I also received this beautiful Chinese lipstick case as one of the students had wanted me to have something from her home country.


And lots of the students sent me really lovely emails saying how much they would miss me and how much they had appreciated my help which was really rewarding. Although I had only been in the post for 7 months I started at the same time as this batch of students so everything had been new for us all.

They were such a lovely group - from a really broad range of nationalities - and I will miss getting to know them all.

But for now I am on holiday until my new job starts so in the next post I will tell you what I plan to do with all this free time! ;o)

Sock wool, eggs and cats - hmm, interesting mixture

I've had a lovely day today. After taking the children to school I popped into Sunderland to meet Lisa and little Gabriel at the museum for a cuppa. We then caught the bus to Lisa's VERY local wool shop which has the most amazing bargains! There is a branch of the same shop nearer to me but the one near Lisa is the main shop so they carry all the stock - and what a lot of stock there was!

They were selling Regia sock yarn for £1.20 a ball - normally it costs over £4. So naturally I had to buy a lot (even though I bought a lot last autumn when they had it in at this price)


And naturally I had to ring Moogsmum and see which colours she would like me to get for her (even though she bought a lot last autumn when they had it in at this price!)


But that's not all I got.

Not even slightly!

I bought some fabulous Rowan kits (that I can't show you yet unfortunately as they are a secret) - but the discount was truly INCREDIBLE! Lisa had originally bought 2 for me as I wasn't sure I would get to the shop in time but I also managed to buy another today!

I bought this Kaffe Fasset fat quarter for the grand sum of.............

...................50p!!!

This Kid-silk haze scarf kit, complete with needles came to the princely sum of...............


.........................£2!

And I also got these leather slipper sock bases, and special latex gel for the bottoms of socks


and these super, short metal needles which will be perfect for the Little Lockets.


So it was an incredibly successful shopping trip!

And guess what?

They have a website!!!



What makes the day even better is that both Fred and Daisy did really well in their Easter Egg competition at school!

Fred won with this version of The Stegg (The Stig)


and Daisy was a runner up with her Dippy Egg and Soldiers


And so that Dot isn't left out, here are the fantastically mad cat brooch and finger puppet that she made for one of her best friends' birthday presents last week


So, that's why this is a post of sock wool, eggs and cats!