mr. monkeysuit

popping in

I'm just popping in to say hello. Hello. I landed a fun but quick turn around commission through Etsy so I am super busy with that. These photos have absolutely nothing to do with the commission just a little something I am working on...or at least I was, everything has been shelved for the next few days.

I am loving this color combination right now. Something about the cool sea shore aqua combined with that slice of fresh orange just hits all the right notes with me. Is it shouting summer to you too?

Hope you are all having a good one.

matchbook notepad tutorial

While I was wasting some time on Etsy yesterday I came across some members selling some matchbook notepads. Super cute they were too. So cute in fact I nearly bought some but then I realized I might, just maybe, have the skills and materials to make these myself.

They are super simple to make and would be a good craft to do with kids, especially because you can use up all your scraps of paper, so I wrote up a tutorial for making them. Though, honestly, they are so simple they hardly require a tutorial. (Can't believe I was actually going to buy these)

Nonetheless here are the links::

Matchbook Tutorial Powerpoint

Matchbook Tutorial Word

This is part of a bigger project that I am working on for the kids. More on that as soon as the other art supplies arrive.

Happy making!!

in the mood for

I am beginning to get my craft mojo back this week, starting off with a little painting.

It is Cissie's birthday in three weeks and I was very worried that I wasn't going to get around to making her something. A couple of days ago Cissie found Floyd's nesting doll set and has been obsessively playing with it ever since. He was never that interested in it. Of course I keep on hand a couple of blank sets (who does this??) so it was easy to sketch out what I wanted them to look like and get painting.

Like Floyd's I tried to link them to something about their character or interests. Cissie has loved tigers since she was born....no idea about that one. The pink snowsuit is from last year and the traditional Matryoshka is because she loves them......well at least until I give them to her at which point she will find them beyond boring.

While I was painting these Floyd came in and laughed out loud when he saw they baby ones together he thought they were so cool.

So I am definitely feeling more crafty after this activity and have even managed a bit of sewing. One thing I was not in the mood for though was cleaning the phone after I dropped it right smack in the middle of the paint.

Eh, we need a new one anyway.

she takes forever and then when she gets round to it....

....it's for the wrong season.

So, it is baking hot here. I mean really.....pretty hot now. Naturally I decided to pick up my knitting again. Wool, of course.

I started this little sweater for Cissie way back in colder weather and just got so tired of looking at it unfinished that I found a cool spot in the house and just got on with it.

I know pretty well what I am like about knitting now so I made sure to choose a bigger size so it will fit her right through the winter. I have to give myself a bit of wiggle room with knitting. Sometimes I am all over it, you know? And then other times it takes me months to finish one small project.  But I always have something on my needles because I never know when the mood is going to strike. Like say for instance right in the dead heat of the summer.

Things I have NOT been in the mood for lately::

::Posting on mr.monkeysuit. Sorry for the long unexplained gap. I'm a bit like that.

::Replying to emails. Sorry for that also, I know there are some way overdue ones.

::Cleaning the house. I just reached a limit and I simply couldn't do it any more. Like I physically couldn't bring myself to clean up one more time. Solved that by hiring a cleaner and embracing the chaos.

::Cooking. Other than jam. Andy has taken over cooking for the summer, with unexpected results. Good...mostly.

Hopefully I will be back soon with a list of things that I am in the mood for.

Cleaning won't have moved onto that list by then...guaranteed.

back again

Gloucester was great. The kids loved every minute of it. The beach had this fantastic inlet that wound around and through the beach so there was shallow, warm water for the kids to splash in, rock-pool for crabs and 'surf'.

News by Gloucester teenagers. Sandcastles by Tristan. Food by Ned's. Gossip by Peabody award winning Nuala.

Cuteness by Floyd and Cissie.

Today I'll be catching up on laundry, emails and thank you's.

Tomorrow I'll be back with some crafty goodness.

one more quilt and then I'm out of here.

Just look at that loose thread. Boy, is that going to drive me nuts.

Crib size bird quilt. Lots of different bird fabrics, including some of my favorite vintage fabric that probably deserves a post of its own. Concentric square quilting, duh? I really am so unoriginal. Backed in the same fabric as the borders in the squares. And even the binding has little birds on it.

So that's me for the week. We are heading off to Cape Ann for a few days at the beach. Floyd is wicked excited about it. He keeps saying it's 'awesome'...are we really there again already? Will the 80's never release their steely grip?

So wish us luck on our long, long drive and I'll be back later next week.

Awesome.

kid art

When Floyd finished school for the year we were presented with a plethora of his art projects from the year. So enamored with them am I, that I have to share them with you here.

::pumpkin bowl

:: finger puppet (?)

:: bell

:: mouse

:: aquarium

They are tiny treasures aren't they? We currently have a display of his art work on our mantle and he is just so proud to have it all up there. Not as proud as I am though. Most exciting of all today for the first time Floyd drew a rocket ship and it really looks like a rocket ship. Actual representational drawing. Can you hear the giddiness in my voice? I have been waiting a long time for this.

big daddy

vintage sheets quilt

A while back I was lucky enough to meet Vicki from Hollyhocks and sweet as she is she gave me a gift which included some vintage sheets, handily cut into 7" squares. But ahh what to do with them?

I alternated the sheet squares with some pink polka dot fabric. I didn't want to use anything to busy that would distract from the gorgeousness of the sheets.

I backed the quilt with some larger polka dot fabric. Some similar fabric found its way into this lovely pink creation. Must be something in the air.

I used a cute Liberty fan print fabric for the border. I know I have to say it every time but, I LOVE LIBERTY FABRICS. There is nothing like them.

The quilt measures 38" x 74". I used the Denyse Schmidt Quilts book to look up the measurements but clearly I was not giving the task my full attention. They give two measurements, one for the size of the mattress and one for the size the quilt should be. No prizes for guessing which one I used. So instead of being a proper twin size i.e. 64" x 87", this is a small twin quilt....or a lap quilt.....or whatever.

The thing is I used all but three of the squares that Vicki gave me so if I had made it any bigger I would have run out of squares. Synergy, right folks?

This was my first time using a free motion stitch on a bigger piece. I used what I think is referred to as a meandering stitch. Andy calls it a wibbly wobbly stitch. Same thing. I had a little trouble at first keeping all the stitches an even size but it got easier as I went along and dang, it is quick. I never understood what all the fuss was about free motion quilting, but I tell ya', I'm a believer. I think I quilted this whole thing in about two hours.

So, a big thank you to Vicki for the lovely gift. I am excited for her to open her own etsy shop, where I am sure she will have enough vintage goodies to bring a tear to your eye, but I think she may have some more pressing issues right now. Namely the arrival of twins later this year. So exciting!

We've been having the most wonderful weather so we are out into the garden this weekend to scoop up the millions of helicopters in our newly landscaped lawn. Wishing you a sunny weekend!

dog days

 

 I made this little number for Cissie for the summer. Not this summer though. More like summer 2012.

This was not intentional. I don't really now how it happened. It was from a Japanese pattern book so there is every chance I misunderstood something. Somehow the directions seemed so clear and yet.....here I am staring a shirt that, at a push, could fit Little Claire.

By the time Cissie can fit into it I am fairly sure she will object to the vintage fabric I chose. Though it has dogs on it (she is an an animal lover) so there's a chance she'll still go for it. On the subject of dogs look at this little cutie who came to stay for the night.

His name is Jake and our friends just got him from the SPCA. He stayed with us while they went away for the night.

Here is our unfaithful old beagle, Emlyn. You may remember that my husband is the family namer. Will love anyone for food. Will eat anything(except raw spinach and Vick's Vapor Rub).  Will steal food from anyone, anywhere but in return is very loving and hardly ever complains about the lack of walks he gets these days.

I have a lot of stories about Emlyn. How he managed to open a lockedsuitcase to find some chocolate. The time he ate my father-in-laws blood pressure medicine - I don't recommend trying to induce vomiting in a dog as a pleasant way to pass an afternoon. The time he ran to a neighbor's's house and ate not 1, not 2, not even 3 but 4 bags of Halloween candy. 

Almost all stories about Emlyn involve stealing food or running away or most often a combination of both. My favorite being the time we got a call from the fancy cake shop near us saying that he just walked in the door and sat on the floor staring at the cakes. I think he was trying to place an order, but they didn't take MasterBeagle.

We got Emlyn about two months after we moved to the US. We moved here for Andy's job and though I had a good job in London, I wasn't able to work here at first because of the kind of visa we were on. Those first couple of months were really weird. I'd left behind my family, my friends, my job and we got married just two months before we moved so I was getting used to a new name too.

I found Emlyn in a car park of an Italian restaurant. The owner wanted to find a new home for him. He was originally her husband's dog and after he'd left her for another woman Emlyn needed to go too. I took him home and washed him and loved him. I walked him three times a day, took the best care of him and then along came the babies. Emlyn has faithfully stood by this family, never getting cross with the kids, never chewing my furniture when I no longer had time to walk him. He has learned to love the kids, seeing them as dog sized waiters continually running round with hors d'oeuvres for him.

He has been such a good companion to me and I am so grateful we found him. He drives me insane with his relentless food obsession but he is a loyal and loving hound and for that I will always love him. And even occasionally I'll let him and his new friend have a nap on my bed.