bigbucketgirl

Giving gifts.

There is a baby coming soon..(NOT here!) and it needs gifts because it has been a long time in coming and put its mother and father through the wringer. I have abandoned my grand ideas of quilts and wallhangings, dresses and prints....and gone with a plan to go back to what I know...well sort of know. I have dug out some of my wool stash and enlisted the help of an old friend to create these...

Now, I know that they are not exactly cutting edge fashion, and that the colours may not be awe inspiring, but I used what I had incase it all went horribly wrong (which it did on several tantrum throwing occasions) and i used wools that had been part of other projects over the years for my family so that i shared a bit of us! Does that sound odd?

Anyhow, the vintage patterns I used were my late grandmothers and it was fun to do! The long nights of staring helplessly into my lap are almost forgotten and of course if they are not suitable for baby then i'm sure they can be used as doll clothes! I'm not against dressing a doll with my efforts!

No, not a jellyfish...a hat (of sorts!)

The blanket was easy...(the neighbours may say they heard screams but don't believe them), again using wools that i had here. The colours may be extreme and may not lead you to think newborn but hey, colour is big in this household and it's not in my blood to do pastels! My concern is that a few of the wools weren't the softest..no cashmere on hand....but as a playmat? a tent? etc? it's the kind of blanket that mine adore.

What do you think? Ok?, or should I go to Mothercare in the morning?

Oh and the photos are taken in the middle of the day with all the lights on in the house. Even the pantry. There is no daylight. Just rain. Perhaps that's why i used so many colours!

When you can't sleep at 3am

You know how it is...a little voice from the next room calls for milk in the darkest depths of night. The darkest depths of sleep that didn't come until 2am. Yes well..this is a tale of one of the mini inconveniences that come with being a parent. Once you've established that your little one is crying/calling and it's not part of the dream you were having with_______(insert your chosen fantasy/icon here!) then what is there to do but get up and grope for the milk bottle that is playing hide and seek, calm the little one, pop to the loo, shiver enough to wake yourself up, crawl back into bed next to the snoring mass that is DH, and then lay awake for the next half hour contemplating the state of my knicker drawer (Trinny and Susannah would be appalled!) and how I could convince DH that we need a battered, old vintage cabinet for the dining room. So, what else to do but get up and watch Project Runway that was Sky+'d and doodle with a needle and thread. There wasn't enough cohesive thought to plan a project or think at all about what i was doing and I couldn't trawl through my sewing stuff so had to make to with the scrappiest of scrap baskets that happened to be downstairs to hand.

The sun was something I'd started on another night like this but added it on to scan. It was intended as a patch for a doll that I'm making for someone for Xmas, but DD saw it and wants it for one of her denim jackets! She says I can make another sun. When I told her that I was sitting huddled with hot water bottles, alone in the dark, in the middle of the night when I made it..she gave me a look that said.."Yeah! and?"!

So until my sweet 6yr old learns the lesson of sleep deprivation from her kids(!) I will dutifully make another sun for the doll, and sew this sun onto her jacket (just preferably not at 3am!)

If by chance you've heard some hysterical laughter and joyous celebrations, regardless of where you live, it's probably been me. Me and DH have been high fiving eachother for finding the receipt and guarantee for our washing machine that died earlier in the week. The guarantee is up this month and if I couldn't present it to the engineer at 8am tomorrow then we'd have had a hefty, and I mean really weighty, callout charge, labour and parts to pay for. Phew! Just please fix my machine. Please.

Oh, and incase anyone was wondering who I was dreaming about...then i must confess to having had bizarre dreams about a washing machine repair man. Never met the guy coming tomorrow..he's just been on my mind! Here's hoping you all have sweet dreams tonight xxx!

Peek a boo.

Peek a boo., originally uploaded by big_bucket_girl.

The beginnings of a creature. Not sure what but he's growing right before my eyes! He keeps staring at me....

Something to dream about....

At the local May Fayre on Monday, with torrential rain and gale force winds, there was a book stall that was hiding under a marquee that was like a sieve! The roof of the tent was seriously sagging in many places and it was almost like looking through books in the shower!. Not one to give up easily when there's a chance of getting a vintage(old!) sewing book..I ploughed on and found some gems. There was rain dripping of my nose by the time I'd picked up half a dozen damp books.
There was a patchwork one that was particularly ragged and wet, but once home and dried out it is a real blast from the past. The patchwork dressing gown is wonderful I think, and I'd love to have a go and make one! The risk is whether or not DH would cope with me wearing one! I've got a feeling that he would run a mile. A very fast mile! LOOK!

Oh well. I'm off to dream about patchwork gowns and attempt to conquer my ironing mountain. I have caffeine and a jar of black olives. Comfort food for ironing!

Hope the day is drier where you are...this lashing rain is no fun. No fun at all.

Work in progress

work in progress, originally uploaded by big_bucket_girl.

Posting from Flickr means at least something will get to be seen! This is a thrifted bargain lot, a 3yr olds pink cord jacket, purple trousers and a brown pair too! The clothes are in a great condition and well washed which means they're soft and snuggly. They have been purchased to make an Springtime suprise for my DD. There are two in the thoughts process for the DS's but I'm still hunting for that perfect used fabric. The clothes for this WIP cost an astonishing £1.35.

It hasn't escaped my attention that 'proper bloggers' post WIP's on 'proper' days but hell, I'm juggling enough laundry to sink ten ships and i'm ironing in my sleep! That and I've taken to wearing a new perfume...Eau de Dettol! This means that I have WIP and I have 10 minutes to post. Adding 2 and 2 means POST IT NOW! My WIP's are going to be coming when they're ready, rather than when I am! I know that some people would rather run a mile than unpick the garments but for some reason I love seams! Re-using old clothes(to call them vintage may be stretching the definition!) is an easy challenge that I can do infront of the TV. Give me a few days and I will have the finished article. I'm thinking rabbit but then again..haven't you heard the one about the Spring Moose!?!
Oh and the weather again here is SO cold that I cant knit! All my Xmas knitting books are gathering dust. How on earth when we went skiing in Austria in minus 15* conditions i could knit. Why wont my hands do it here!? Again, my bones are cold and my nose wouldn't be colder if it had frostbite! So, coffee here I come, and then an attack of the scissors. Snip, snip, snip...Springtime Eel?

stocking#2 and #3

Here are #2 and #3 of the advent calendar. I'm loving this night time sewing...curled up with a sherry and some wonderful cd's. Tonight i've had Take That and Duran Duran with the cricket about to start. Mr Flintoff. (enough said)

One of our most favourite books here is 'The Elves and the Shoemaker' and the colours that the kids are asking for are all based on our dog-eared copy from the early seventies! They are choosing the felt , threads, buttons and braids etc ,leaving them out when they go to bed and coming down to find a new stocking on the string. Hee hee. Much fun to be had. I recommend this to anyone!

By the way, incase anyone thinks i've sewed them with boxing gloves on...the deliberate handstitching is supposed to be there! Although the shoemaker used tiny, invisible stitches, we in this house like them to be seen! The kids are using oversized stitch marks in their drawings at the moment and its so endearing.

And yes for those of you with better mathematical skills than me, I know it's the 4th of December and you have only seen 3 stockings but my photos are taking an age to upload and  as a) the cricket's about to start, b)Flintoff is on the screen and c) FLINTOFF IS ON THE SCREEN, (sorry) I cannot stare at this monitor a minute longer. Tonight...life is for sewing, sherry and cricket, and stitching suprises for my kinder while they sleep soundly upstairs.

Hope you all sleep as well as them.....hope the bugs don't bite....

Advent Calendar

birthday stocking 031, originally uploaded by big_bucket_girl.

Further to the post i tried on typepad earlier, here is (I HOPE) a larger photo of the first stocking. I'm as excited as the kids to see a new stocking each day until xmas! I musn't relax though or i'll forget that I have to make one each night!
I'm really looking forward to the chill out time that it will eman. Hand sewing felt makes me think of learning to sew with my grandmother. It means I can curl up on the settee with my buckets and baskets of stash and sew merrily away. Merrily would be he correct term as 1st december means I start my annual sherry drinking season!
The kids get advent stockings, I get sherry. Life is good.

W.I.P photo

Beaded heart, originally uploaded by big_bucket_girl.

Don't shout at me! I KNOW it's not riveting or the least bit intriguing BUT at least its a WIP and its going to be picked up to be finished as soon as I turn this off!