Showing posts with label Will. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Will. Show all posts

Monday, 28 June 2010

It's too darn hot...




... generally I refrain from mentioning the (infrequent) warmer weather we get here in the UK . Given that I spend so much of my life being cold and moaning about the freezingness of the great in and outdoors it seems churlish to have issues when the sun shines in a warm and long term manner. HOWEVER... the sun has been warmy and lovely for nearly two weeks now and I am more than a little pissed off that for the first time in many years my hayfever is back. And rocking the dripping nose. I sat watching England lose their lifeline game with TWO hankies to hand and v. scritchy eyeballs.

All of this is exacerbated by CK's brilliant plan for the weekend of 'sorting out' the garden. In reality this meantSaturday was spent shifting a few pots, finally aiding the children in planting up their tomato plants, organising the dust into little piles for Pr. C-W and d/Boy to sweep up and wrestling with making Maria officially topless. Exacerbated because I swept and planted and was left with dust covering not only my clothes but up my nose and through my hair. Cue more sneezing, snotting and general scratchiness.

The Family Fun Evening was in fact fun, not least because of the warmth, and ended with CK making a surprise appearance clutching a bottle of wine and my assistant, both children being invited to share Dervish & Dynamo's tent and the most spectacular moonrise I have ever seen. A glowing, orange, full moon seemingly just feet from my outstretched finger tips. A bit weird to be sharing food and wine with Moriarty but we managed to mutually ignore each other without too much antipathy. But by midnight my hayfever was exhausted and so I dragged CK away from the firepit and went home to fight with my duvet cover.

Sadly I lost the fight so covered a snoring CK with Pr.C-W's duvet and went off to sleep in her bed under d/Boy's one. It was an interesting experience, I know now why my girl wakes so early; I need to invest in a blackout blind for that window. By 7.30 I was rushing down the hill with breakfast of bacon, pancakes and cereal to prevent the emotional destruction that can be wrought by the empty-bellied destructoBoy. Fed half the campsite, found the lost football, drove Pr.C-W and two chums around in a topless Maria, had a falling out with an officious dad, moved my car and found the missing sleeping bag cover. Retreated up the hill with fingers crossed that Maria would make it and NOT run out of fuel leaving me stranded halfway up a 1:6 hill (=v. steep). TG we made it to the top and as far as the petrol station where patient and dirty children were rewarded with bottle of cold water and a Bounty each.

Home just minutes later meant shoehorning filth and face-paint covered children into the shower before everyone collapsed in a darkened room for the day. It was at this point that someone decided to continue with the Aran-weight (10 ply) knitting of a slipover top for Godson Will's Christmas present. Due to focus being on the situation in South Africa the band was ripped back three times and the whole lot flung across the room twice. It looks awfully big but he is visiting for the day on Wednesday so I shall measure it then. Fingers crossed he may even fit it by the holiday season.

Wednesday, 16 June 2010

Unbeliveable! (in a good way)

Happy second birthday beautiful BabyWill Godson-extraordinaire.

Monday, 7 June 2010

Is it wrong to have a favourite number at bingo?

Two and six!

Girls night out at a fundraiser for the NICU* Baby Will and his big sister both spent some weeks in when they first arrived.

It is incredible how seriously some people took the loss of a chance to win a bottle of bleach and cleaning cloth. There was much sighing and shoulder-slumping each time Bingo! or House! was called. The venue was the local 'Social Club' but I reckon feeling like I needed to go home and 'Silkwood' scrub my skin was worth it for the 300 (or so) pounds raised.
(NICU - Neonatal Intensive Care Unit)

Sunday, 20 September 2009

Ever fallen in love, in love with someone ever fallen

How do you like my new avatar? A self-portraitDonkey!

But that is not where the love is, oh no. There is more.

Do you remember last year my friend had a wee, early baby, Baby Will? He was not very well at all but she breeds them tough and now he has even started walking :-) A couple of weeks ago she rang and asked me if I would be his godmother! So in all godmotherly haste I considered just what would be a suitable Champagne and Races Godmother gift.

Way back at Christmastime I bought a selection of prints to do a quilt for my oldestfriendintheworld's new baby boy but I am slack and crubbish and suffer very badly from 'finishitis' and thus it never happened however I still loved the fabrics very much so I pulled them out from the many hidey-holes around Trash Towers. This was when I discovered several other fabrics purchased in the intervening months that toned in fantastically so they got thrown into the mix too. One six inch square template, one large cutting mat courtesy of Sylv's horror at my weeny one, a new blade on the cutter and a vague idea of what I was doing resulted in this.

Last night I laid it all out and pinned it and now have to think of how to quilt it. I am guessing probably 'in the ditch' because that is a really good idiot-proof method. The backing is the Ikea hippo fabric in green and I shall bind it in the dots.

It is not perfect. The lines are not 100% matched. The cutting errs towards the wonky side of things and dare I suggest some fabric is cut across or against the grain but I am truly and deeply in love. I love the colours. I love the dots. I love the different textures but most of all I think I love the turtles bestest.

It is a quilt for snuggling under, for making dens, for dragging into the garden and pulling up into trees. It is for feeling sick under and getting better under. It is for storytelling and playacting. It is for hide&seek and for quiet times.. These were my half-formed thoughts while I was making it and I know that Will's parents will understand this and appreciate the handmade aspect of it. It is a joy to give to people who 'get' that homemade is handmade, it is not cheap in terms of labour or effort, it takes time in both planning and execution but that all of this is done freely with joy and love.

I hope Will spends many hours under his quilt laughing, reading, chatting and playing.