cat

cat, originally uploaded by glassmountain.

a picture of one cat all by himself, simple but such fun to do

detail of embroidery of little blue girl

detail of embroidery of little blue girl, originally uploaded by glassmountain.

I managed to get a better picture of my little blue girl, photography when there's no sun!

sailing, flying and sewing

My blog posts have become very sporadic recently, not least because my laptop only boots up intermittently (rather annoyingly). I am something of a luddite when it comes to technology so I have a tendency to ignore my computer when it's not working properly. But we have been busy starting a new book...

I love Arthur Ransome, and fortunately so do the children. I think this could be a third reading. T has a burgeoning interest in all things that float on the sea for now it's going to be satisfied by the canoe club but I think by the end of the book I'm going to be looking into the sailing club!
Another overwhelming obsession in our house at the moment is flight. Everyone seems to have developed an interest, so we are doing something that is rare for us, a project on flight. We're starting with the myth of Icarus and Leonardo's designs that he never made and then we'll move on through all the different ways people tried to fly. We spotted this film and remembered it from childhood. I think the pure craziness of what people did in order to be able to fly appeals to all of us.
Finally there's been some cat sewing, a pin cushion and some embroidery going on. the cats have become quite addictive, I was just going to sell them on a craft fair but I might put some on folksy as well, they are fun to do. I like the idea of going three dimensional.
This is my latest little girl, the photo is a little dull and hazy but the sun just won't come out for me! I rather like her, at the moment she is an embroidery but I am working on making her three dimensional too, a new adventure in sewing for me.

A knitting update

There have been many days when I have wished that these socks finished and on my feet keeping them warm but patience is a virtue and they are slowly, line by line, here and there, coming along

I have one whole sock, and it is so warm and so soft and so cosy that I really really want two socks but I have to knit when there is time which tends to be in the inbetween moments, of which there have not been enough lately, but they will come and line by line I will finish my socks
The toe grafting on this one is a little bulky on the corners, this always seems to happen and I'm not sure how to improve it really. It's still comfortable, the toes just look a little squared off. The pattern came free with some Regia sock yarn a couple of years ago and apart from my dodgy toe grafting it works every time.

eastery sewing

I've been busy making egg cosies as easter presents for some friends of ours. They have six children and I'm just about half way through!

funky rabbits for the older ones and cutesy rabbits for the younger ones
The egg cosy pattern is from Poppy Treffry's sewing book, I like the contrasting loop and border around the bottom
and this has nothing to do with sewing but one of the boys must have taken it last week when we spent a gorgeous afternoon on Sennen beach and I couldn't resist putting it in because the sea is sooooooooooooo blue and it makes me feel as though summer is nearly here!

Idling

At the moment I'm reading (amongst other things as I can never stick to one book) 'The Idle Parent', I have read this book before and I have read 'How to be Idle' many times, I love Tom Hodgkinson and all that he stands for. This isn't quite as terrible as it sounds, he points out that we don't need to sell our precious time to others quite so often if we don't join in with the consumer culture, a belief that I completely agree with. We certainly have less money than we might have had but our time is so much more valuable than a giant TV or trips to theme parks. This week I have been reminded that children really don't need much to be happy. A whole afternoon was taken up by an old kite in a field, A was ecstatic and I couldn't have imagined that she would want to spend so much time flying.

Then yesterday we got to the woods only to discover that A had her party shoes on, fortunately when she looked in the boot of the car she found her wellies. For two hours she trudged through mud and then streams, avoiding all the paths and when I pointed out that she hadn't needed to use the paths at all she said 'Oh I love wellies'
Wellies and a kite, much cheaper than an xbox or a dolls house and she's occupied for hours, and, as Tom Hodgkinson points out, occupied children leave their parents free to idle.

The sea is calling despite coughs and colds! It looks so blue and inviting, the sun is actually warm on our faces but the winds are just soooo cold.

A in particular is desperate to get in but this March just feels colder than usual, so the sand has to do for now. Hours disappear on the beach while T and A explore and play, dune surfing, leaping streams and photographing, and of course digging and burying each other, you're never to old to want to bury your sister in the sand.

And to urge spring on a little T and A have done a little planting of seeds, now all we have to do is remember to water them (more difficult than you'd think)
And finally high tides, we've had incredibly high tides this week, this means we've also had very low tides which are usually more interesting but when bits of town start flooding (less dramatic than it sounds) high tides are more fun.

linen girl

spring has arrived in our yard, we have very little space out there (mainly filled with a kayak and body boards) but we do have a few pots with crocuses in them that T has photographed beautifully (his home education at the moment seems to mainly consist of photography).

The other thing about spring is that everyone gets a bad cold, it seems to happen every year and this year is no different. As soon as it starts I have fears of us all going down with it at the same time (the description of the whole family getting ill in one of the little house on the prairie books was so convincing that it springs to mind every year) but it's been one by one this year, a conveyor belt of lemon, honey, quilts and brow mopping...
but I have done just a little sewing, this little girl with her basket. I loved doing her basket, I vaguely remembered seeing directions for sewing a basket but I couldn't remember where (as is usually the case!) so I improvised and just did the downward struts then wove the threads in between. I wanted a quite sketchy feel but I'm sure you could get quite a convincing basket if you filled it in more.
The colours are a little pale in the photos so it's hard to see her eyes but she does have some!

and this is the whole of her, so when I next have a little moment she needs a garden around her.

linen girl, originally uploaded by glassmountain.