This weekend in the Locket household

It has been a busy weekend chez Locket but first I thought I'd show you a sweet photo of Daisy and Fred happily reading their new books......................

and then once we'd started playing Bob Marley to them!!!!

Methinks they don't appreciate Reggae!

On Saturday Dot's school choir were performing at music festival type thingy at another school. We were told to go to North Shields which is about half an hour away by car through the Tyne Tunnel. Oh good, I thought, I can go to Ring-a-Rosie to get some more sock wool while we're there. We duly arrived at the school as directed and were mildly perplexed that it was locked and ours was the only choir there - but I think most of us just assumed that we were the most concientious.

Not so. Unfortunately we were at the correctly named school but in TOTALLY THE WRONG LOCATION!! Dot's school had made a mistake and told us to go to St Jo Bloggs School, North Shields, when we really needed to be at St Jo Bloggs, BLAYDON - a further 30-40 minutes away! So Dot and I gathered two of her friends whose parents had dropped them off and gone and drove off to the new location.

So no sock wool shopping for me then :o(

But fortunately the second school was right next to IKEA so on the way home we popped in to refuel the girls with hotdogs and I spotted this fabulous green canvas in the fabric section.

Aha! I thought. That will go nicely on my little wooden sofa with my Amy Butler cushions. (And it does)

It also goes very well with my lovely bird fabric so here are the three cushions I've made this afternoon for the blue sofa.

(they actually look better in real life - less of a stark contrast between the pattern and the plain)

I also finished sock No.4 and very nearly understood Kitchener Stitch!!!!! It isn't perfect but it's better than any other toe I've done.

Meanwhile in Locketland, while Dot and I were being musical, Daisy and Fred were earning pocket money by cleaning out my greenhouse ready for the new season of seed sowing. And they did a really fantastic job with all my pots neatly stacked and all the rubbish and accumulated grot of a winter of neglect cleared away.


Fred even decorated the birdbath - apparently they hope that as Magpies like shiny things they will come to visit.

Then after doing their exercises this morning

they decided to earn some more pocket money by cleaning the car

and got busy with the soap and cloths

or so we thought...........................

ok, so Fred scrubbed the car with his coat sleeve and Daisy used a Bob the Builder flannel!

I hope you've all had a lovely weekend too!

Lucy x

P.S. Dot was also busy cooking double chocolate muffins and flapjack and helping cook roast chicken for supper this evening - she's a star!

Little Lockets busily playing and other weekend happenings

Not a lot to say today (makes a change doesn't it???)

So I thought I would share some photos of the Little Lockets hard at play.

I promised Fred that if he put his pyjamas on yesterday I would put a picture of the lego house that he and Daisy had built..............

You should hear them playing together. It is so lovely listening to the role play as the different lego characters visit the house, use the "didgeridoo" (my parents' name for the garage remote control), steal things, get arrested, go visiting, "jump-fly" over the walls when the doors and windows are locked etc.

Dorothy has been busy knitting her rag doll Jemimah a scarf


And I have finished my first "pair" of socks!!!

(modelled by the delightful Daisy - there's no way I would post a photo of my legs on here)

The socks are so warm and cosy - I am wearing them right now - and it is a good job because it is freezing!

Lots of people have had some proper snow today but we have only had intermittent heavy showers with nothing lying.

But Friday, by contrast, was a lovely day! And I even got Mr Locket digging at the allotment on his day off (I'm nice like that you know!)

I just wish we could have done more up there this weekend - I have nearly been bitten by the gardening bug again! But in the meantime I am off to do some sewing with the Little Lockets - I'll tell you more later!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend - and thank you everyone for your lovely comments on the previous post.

Lucy xx

better bunny!

Well I'm happy to report that I have improved my bunny "design" and my new creations no-longer have any owl genes!

I made this one for my friend's birthday present and included some of the gorgeous new washing line fabric I found on Etsy. I'm quite pleased with myself as I didn't have anything ready for my friend by yesterday afternoon and we were all meeting up for a special "Thursday night sewing" to celebrate her birthday. I'd had lots of ideas but nothing had come together. So I sat at the sewing machine last night and managed to whip Mr Bunny up in about an hour - in time for our little party!

I also made her a very simple little card to match but I couldn't get a decent photo - it has shell buttons in the middle but you can hardly see them! I followed Leanne Beasley's tip and used UHU Power glue to stick the buttons on - it really works!


Earlier in the day I decided I needed to take Monkee Maker's advice and check out Aldi for knitting needles and wool. I may have corrupted a bloggy friend who is not meant to be buying any wool until Easter and made her come with me but I won't tell if you don't!


I got these acrylic needles (that I really don't need - but they are pretty!)


And this incredibly cheap wool (acrylic) - 5 x 100g balls for only £3.49! That's amazing! And I plan on persuading my corrupted friend to show me how to make granny squares with it.

Talking of knitting here is my first creation from my mother's day book

happily standing in the sunshine with his new friends Wol and Antonio Bunderas (nobody has actually told Antonio that he looks like a mutant bunny/owl so please don't spill the beans, he'd be terribly upset)

Finally Lynette Anderson and Carey of Blueberry Lane are having a giveaway and have asked that we show our pin-cushions so here are mine - all in use, and all from lovely bloggy friends.

Mr Bunny is from my lovely friend Thimbleanna and arrived with all the ingredients for making some yummy S'mores!

The beautiful felt heart was a bloggy giveaway that I won from the very talented Joni of Yummers - I love the central button!

The little Christmas house is from Esther of My cuppa' charms - I initial didn't think I would be able to stick pins in it as it is so beautiful and detailed!

And the scrappy cabin is from my role-models Melly and Me!

I love all my pincushions and love the fact that they all have such wonderful origins - before I started blogging I just had a very tired looking pumpkin pincushion that wasn't very happy at all - these four make me smile every time I use them!

Ok, so I've already failed...............

I have to admit it.

I had a drink on a Tuesday in January!

Cider.

But we were out for a meal and it was new year's day so that's ok, right?

I have a few cute photos to show you of the children at new year and then one, not so cute, of the allotment in dire need of a lot of work!

Fred and Daisy with their Ukeles on the way to our musical New Year's Eve party!

Daisy and Dorothy looking very grown up and beautiful at the party

A very untidy allotment with a lovely bonfire!

And this is the knitting I have been doing

A hat, initially for Dorothy but now for me because it is the first time I've found a woolly hat that I don't look really awful in (only a little awful in this one!)

My Noro scarf - again kindly modelled by Dot

And this is how far I've got with my first sock.

I bought sock wool and needles for my my mum, sister and sister-in-law as part of their presents and mum has got on really well - Apparently she has already finished the first one and worn it!