Somebody's Birthday

It was a very, very special somebody's birthday this weekend.

Mr Long-Suffering-Husband-and-Super-Dooper-Daddy!

As he was out at an archaeology conference all day on Saturday the children and I had time to make a special book for a very special daddy. So I am going to bore you all silly by showing you it.

Page by page!

Yup, he does!

That too.........

very!!!!

Great portrait

They know not to ask me about maths (even with a calculator!)

very, very, very kind!

Singing is not one of his strong points

Yup, that's me, still in bed with the pillow over my head by the looks of it!

This is Daddy as an octopus doing everything - as drawn by Fred from an idea by Dot - brilliant!

He loves us all - and we love him!


Now I know this doesn't show me in a very good light - particularly the one with me fast asleep in bed while daddy gets up early to do everything - but it really is a pretty accurate picture of a really wonderful man who we all absolutely adore. I love the children's illustrations and the sentiments were ones that they came up with by themselves.

On a redeeming note, Daisy said "You're cuddly too Mummy" and Fred piped up "and you sew things for us!" well that's a relief! Maybe they will keep me a little longer!!

I did try to do some nice things for his birthday myself. I made him a birthday cake! Unfortunately I dropped it on the floor part way through cooking it :(

Fortunately I had also made some of Lesley's chocolate banana muffins (see previous post) with melted Galaxy on top and I iced some biscuits so the children could decorate them. And even more fortunately Granny Biscuit (his Mummy!) had made one of her fantastic chocolate cakes for him so my splat on the kitchen floor was no longer missed!

He also got what every daddy of 3 needs for his birthday

lots of bottles of beer
(there was one more but that has already been appreciated!)

And finally, and probably very strangely, this was one of his presents:

No, not a NEW kitchen, but a TIDY one!
Very, very tidy if you had seen it before...............!

I remembered reading Tanya's blog back in May where she posted this story. Because Jonathan does so much for us we spent most of Saturday blitzing the house so that it would be nice when he came home - it may not seem much but we all worked very hard.

"Long walk part of gift"

In which Charlie gets the fright of his life

Poor Charlie. He was minding his own business, dreaming of banana milkshakes and Lesley's chocolate banana muffins and thinking of his maker when suddenly he got the fright of his life!

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"What is it?"

"Are you sure it's safe to look?"

"What do you mean, he's a relative???????"

Well guys, let me introduce you to Jim who recently went to live with our friend Ben. He was on his way to a car-boot sale before he was gallantly rescued! I asked why he was called Jim - because he's a "Jim-panzee, of course!"

After a while Charlie overcame his initial fear and hysteria and soon he and Jim were the best of friends (with a large dose of hero-worship on Charlie's part)

"Did ya really?"

"Hey you!
Wanna piece of me, huh??"
Charlie was clearly getting a bit cocky now he had a big lad on his side

Now, just incase you thought this was turning into a blog about monkees made of knit, I'd better show you some of my own successes and dismal failures!

Okay, failure first! Our school craft night where I took the grand sum of £12! Mostly earned by selling my friend Kerry's little boxes and tags! (We are going to split the proceeds and go for a fabric shopping outing- don't think we'll be buying much!)

Remind me to never, ever, ever do the school fair again! People were just not there to spend any money and there were far fewer there than in previous years.


On a more succesful note here are the blankets that I made for my friend Krisha to give to two new baby boys.

Teddies

This is the back panel of the teddy blanket

Zoo

Krisha was really pleased with them and now only needs to nag me to finish her christmas orders!!!! I'm working on it!

Hope you all have a good weekend. Lucy x

Presents, Parades, Monkees and More

A mixed bag today. I haven't really got time to blog (especially when my friends have taken to nudging me to get on with their orders in my comments - you know who you are Krish!) but I thought I'd better say hello before you all give up on me and go and read "something less boring instead"

On Saturday I tried to get on with some sewing whilst J took the children out in the morning but I didn't get much done. Then I went shopping for more "posh bag" fabric.
J had meanwhile been tackling Daisy and Fred's bedroom (AGAIN!) so I helped out with that and cleared out a rubbish sack of clothes for charity and one nearly as big of clothes for me to cut up! Okay, so that just means I have only moved the clutter! In the evening I made this cushion as a present (by the way, the stripy fabric is from one of Daisy's favourite T-shirts so I made good use of my bag of clothes straight away!)

Sunday morning was spent watching Dot carry the flag for the Brownies in the Remembrance Sunday Parade

We went to a fun birthday party in the afternoon (with the cushion!)

I finished off another "posh bag".

And then sobbed my way through "My Boy Jack" whilst getting some of my hand-sewing done.

Fortunately there was a funny post from Moogsmum and a comment on it from Monkee Maker that sent me to bed smiling!

The most important piece of news I have for you is this:
Yep! Charlie and Choc-Chip were temporarily reunited this morning on Patti's stairs before Charlie was unceremoniously dragged across the road for a cup of tea and piece of toast with Helen.

What I've been up to

(My new quilt curtain from Alison - definitely keeps the cold out!)
I've been doing my usual trick of being far too busy with orders to get on with the day to day housework, shopping, being organised stuff - but then messing around and not actually getting on with the sewing! So nothing is being achieved!

I think I was in such a rush last week to get things made for the Saturday craft stall that I have relaxed a bit this week and done a lot less than I should have done! Next week I will no doubt feel very stressed with the craft fair on Thursday evening.

I did make this bag yesterday and am planning a larger one - although that does mean buying a little bit more fabric.......................!
I need to unpick the corsage and make it into a brooch as the bag is fully reversible - velvet on one side and printed tafetta on the other - quite grown up for me!!!

And this is a photo of a photo of a bag I designed and sold a the weekend. My camera batteries ran out so a friend took a photo of it that she gave me yesterday.And my fabric from Hancocks has just arrived. The blues are to make a quilt for my Mummy! I was going to make her one from a couple of Chelsea Boutique charm packs but when I saw these blues I knew they were far more "her" (and she agreed!) When I will actually get it done is another matter as she and dad are still waiting for a chicken fleece blanket I started about 5 years ago and a stitchery I designed for Mum's 70th birthday present 2 years ago!

Finally a photo of a Janet Bolton picture I made for my friend's 40th a while back
This is her original design from her Patchwork Folk Art Book:So mine is pretty much a direct (not as good) copy but I used fabrics from my friend's children's clothes for many of the little pieces to make it personal to her and the book is a "how to" so I hope that it's ok! Interestingly, this is the version I made about 12 years ago when her book first came out so you can see how my work has developed!

Not HP4?

"What do you mean you're not HP4?"

(mumbled monkee mutterings)

"What?"

(more mumbled monkee mutterings)

"HP10? Are you sure?"

(mumble mumble mumble)

"Well, I must apologise profusely Mr Monkee!"

Fancy calling him the wrong name for a whole day! It's taken him until this morning to get over his initial shyness and correct me! Poor little monkee! Maybe that explains his behaviour yesterday.

It all started out innocently enough

There he sits, looking adoringly up at me as we walk up the road to my friend Kerry's house.

But the minute we were in the car he turned on his Joey act

"So, how are you doin?"

What a flirt!

Once we arrived at the shop he just wouldn't stop messing around!

First he dived into a bin full of very dubious "wool" then he played hide and seek in the cushions

I can see you by the way!

Then he started hassling the shop assistants:

"You can't have this fabric! It's mine!"

"Are you sure you cut it like that?"


But even worse he then started messing around at school!

"I could do your job! Do they make monkee sized yellow jackets?"

"Can I go in too? Pleeeease?"

"Will someone be my friend?"

"Ok, you'll do! But stop feeding me flowers!"

"Gimme that banana! NOW!"

Finally we managed to get him to walk home sensibly. Well, almost...........

"1, 2, 3 wheeeeeeeee!"


So, having made the initial name mistake, and given his behaviour, we have decided to call him Charlie. Very very Cheeky Charlie!