mr. monkeysuit

Thank you

I am just popping in quickly to give a quick update. My brother-in-law, Tim was taken to hospital in the UK ten days ago in a coma. He opened his eyes for the first time today and made some other encouraging signs. We are praying that this is the beginning of a full recovery, but there are some complications, the depth of which will only unfold over time.
I really just wanted to say thank you. Thank you so much. I cannot begin to tell you how each kind word has helped me. Thank you for your sweetness and support. Thank you for leaving a comment. My mother-in-law always reads this blog and I know she will be so touched that people she has never met have such kindness towards our family.
This last week has been one of the worst of my life and yet I can only be grateful. Grateful that things weren't worse. Grateful for the hope that Tim might be okay. Grateful that my Mum and best friend have been here to look after me. Grateful for my friends. But most of all grateful for my family, my wonderful kids and my amazing husband who has been a constant support to his parents and held us all together.
Come home soon sweetheart, we love you and miss you.

sadness

I won't be in this space for little while. We have had some very bad news. Please keep us all in your thoughts.

two rolls

Easter/spring presents for the kids.

We are not much into Easter in this house. Except for the chocolate. And the decorations. And talking about the Easter bunny. Did I mention the chocolate?
Like I said not much into it here, but I decided to give the kids an Easter basket with an art theme this year. So this morning I made them each a crayon/pencil roll.

Cissie's crayon roll.

I figured the only way to decide on what fabrics to use would be to pick a theme. Cissie has all Liberty fabrics and Floyd has all polka dot fabrics. Honestly the amount of fabric in this room can be more than a little oppressive when it comes to making a choice. (Note to self: stop buying so much flippin' fabric you fool. It could take a lifetime to use what you already have and yes, yes there is a lot of cute stuff out there but COME ON!)

Floyd got pencil crayons and a cute lining..

I got the idea from Last Minute Pathwork Gifts and just changed the size of the strips and used this super cute number ribbon instead of twill tape. Has anyone noticed how much cool stuff ReproDepot has right now? It is making my note-to-self hard to remember.
Judging  by the book's Flickr group I think this is a pretty popular project. In fact Karin over at Orange Flower has one up now she made especially for crochet hooks. Cute!
So the kids will be getting these, a sketch book and some stickers. They are mad into stickers at the moment.
Oh and of course they might just be getting a little bit of chocolate.

arrggg

It is a certain someone's birthday at the beginning of next month and he has requested a pirate theme for his party. (Hint: it's not my husband)
Getting a jump start on all the crafting, I appliquéd a skull and crossbones onto a plain t-shirt. It was so simple. This is my new easy-make gift for every kids party for the foreseeable future. If you iron on interfacing to the fabric first it adds stability making it easier to sew around and cuts down on the fraying, though it doesn't eliminate it altogether.

This is the template I drew. If you click on it it should get to the size I used but it would be easy enough to enlarge or reduce. I sewed in two tiny eyes, ed emberley style. Love him. And that's it. So flippin' easy and versatile. I am already dreaming up all the possibilities.
I bought my shirt from Jo-ann's for about $4.50 but then I saw this organic version for not too much more which I would be totally into. There are some organic baby sizes too and this super cute set, the trousers would be fun to do too.

Other news :
Loving this amazing house. Though I am sure the woodland elves would all be pestering you for a cup of fairy dust all the time.
Want this like all get out but thinking some of these might be more likely for Easter
Lastly, thanks to Alex for her sweet post on a long ago gift.
Phew, sorry for the link-heavy post.

3 visitors

and 3 excuses for my absence.....

1. A little friend came along way to spend the week with us. Bliss. I miss my friends terribly. Luckily they have been very good about coming over to visit us and one way or another we get to see people pretty often. But it is a special joy to spend the week with this very crafty lady. She helped me spring clean my craft room and boy-oh-boy we blitzed the place. Two car loads to goodwill and another one on the way. The room feels positively lighter. We did quite a bit of crafting (though not as much as we'd have liked - see #2) and managed to update this old Ikea bookcase.

We covered the back board with a layer of mod-podge and fabric but you could use paper too.
Check out Orla Keily's version via decor8 .

Perfect for toys that need to be out of a certain little muppet's grasp.

2. 24 hour stomach flu. We all blamed Little Claire for being the carrier. Until her last day when it became perfectly she wasn't the carrier. Sorry love. Luckily it bought her an extra day with us.

3. One and a half feet of snow. And just like that we are sucked back into winter.
I don't mind though my craft room rocks and I am happy to be ensconced  in here like a crafty gnome.

sunny side up

A new spring garland for the mantelpiece.

The weather here certainly suggests spring. A sunny 58 degrees. And if I didn't know the forecast for tomorrow (winter storm warning: sleet, snow and ice rain) I could almost be fooled.

Garland : felt daisies (the yellow center is stuffed with a little wool then stitched on) and pompoms strung on green embroidery thread.
Simple and fun.
And most of all, not red.

Not red, strawberry quilt.

scarlet?

rose?

ruby? magenta? fuchsia?

cardinal? vermilion? crimson?

Alright. It's red.
But tomorrow a different color. I promise.