Monday 30 March 2015

Work stuff, cats and grandkids!

 
Well no, this cute cushion was in a charity shop and took my eye, though I didn't buy it, but I did think it was a fun pattern idea.

Now first there was this mod roc'd balloon ~ at work


which became this turnip, though it does look like an oversized raddish really!



Our 'The Enormous Turnip' storysack had gone missing, though it never did have a big turnip in it, so I decided to remake it for work.
A teacher from one of the special schools had wanted to use the story and had wanted the book itself recreated differently, to how I normally make them.
So after some discussion, I made up a Velcro A3 board and some on/off characters to use on the board.
I also made up a zig zaggy board book, with the same characters, so the teacher could read the story from the back, whilst showing the kids the characters on the front pages - if you understand what I mean?




 
Anyway its been flight tested by the teacher now and has come back in and was successful by all accounts. The Velcro board and on/off characters are the most successful method of teaching our special needs kids we have found. But equally, its a fun method to sue with any child I have found.
I made up laminated word cards too for use with other children that will use the storysack later in time. Plus I put in various copies of the commercial book for children whose sight is reasonable.

I also made up a tactile book to include in our Stone Age topic box, this is the style I generally am asked to make up.



I bought one of those long tubes for the cats to play in...

 
Harvey dicing with death here ... Hilly cat within ...

 
yup.........there followed some fisticuffs lol

So Harvey took himself off to hide ..



Today was a joyful day with both Evie AND Jack to look after, on the same day - suffice to say I am on my third glass of wine now they have gone home!

Each adores the other, devoted cousins both. He is enthralled that she understands him and she simply idolises him!

Okay I will read to you Evie ...

just love the way she tucked her legs under his lol


Are you sure that's what it says Jack?

 
This is harder than I thought it was going to be Nannie!
 

Then ... she was determined his pants went on this way ... lol

Sunday 22 March 2015

Loopy Linnet hare

I treated myself for Mothers Day to a Loopy Linnet hare picky.
Her delicious artworks pop up on Facebook quite frequently but I'm invariably too late for buy one but I struck lucky this time : )


I went to the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) yesterday with our stitchy club, by coach. It's sad to say, that although I found fabric to buy - big surprise eh - I took not one single photograph!
Now the NEC are hot on you not taking pictures but there was nothing that inspired me to sneak one none the less.
And, it was a much reduced show all round I thought.
Mind you Doughty's fabrics were selling Kafe Fassat fabrics at only £8 a metre, so naturally I had to buy some for the millefiori rosettes!
AND I didn't even buy a book, which is unheard of, me going to a show and not buying a book - but then there was only one book stall to speak of anyway.
Spring seems to be upon us here, after an impressive Solar Eclipse, our Spring has made entrance and today was warm, bright and sunny.
In fact I spent most of today in the garden, filling the raised beds with soil and tidying up generally.
My apologies to those of you with snow : ( 
           

Last week we had grey days mind you ~

She's behind you!!


Phew! that was close ............




Saturday 7 March 2015

Bargain wool

You know sometimes, just sometimes, I do something daft .....
no really, I do!
So there was I, week after week seeing ALOT of cones of what looks much like Shetland wool in a charity shop.
First they were £1.50 each,
then a £1 each and none of them got sold,
perhaps because they were oddly wound.
There are 2 colours, 2 shades of brown and a cream, but wound half n half on each cone, no idea why.

I guessed they would felt up after knitting but wasn't going to pay a £1 a cone, although in truth they were worth that and more. So I just looked at them each week.

Then off the cuff, I asked the manager how many of those cones there were and would she maybe take 50p each cone, if I bought them all?
Not really expecting that she'd agree you know?
Cough ... cough ....
39 cones ......................... yes 39!


So of course I bought them all, and having crocheted a hexi shape, it does soften up nicely when washed and felts up too, thankfully! 
LOL




Sunday 1 March 2015

Meant to show you -

I have had to remake a storysack for work, based on the book
'Owl Babies'
 - I love that book, so its been no hardship!
When our Service was split up, several resources mysteriously disappeared or failed to be returned, and we are 4 storysacks adrift,
so I am remaking them.

I have gathered in owl info, night time animals and owl books, made up Owl Babies related word cards and made a large print version of the story book. I shall braille the words too next week.
I made up plushie owls for the sack and also 2D owls to Velcro on/off  the pages of the large print version.




 Oh and whilst researching about owl pellets, as you do, and it's fascinating what's in them you know!
Well I found this aide memoir to identifying what teeth you might find in the pellets - along with skulls and other small mammal bones -
cough -
and I couldn't help but think that there's a quilting pattern in these somewhere! ( If I could only machine quilt ~)


The great 'Comic Relief' event of the year is almost upon us, where we donate to our hearts content to the Comic Relief charity.
This year the idea is to do something funny to your face for Comic Relief
and Evie got into the spirit of things today with her lunch lol