an at home holiday (part 1)

August 19, 2014 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)63 Comments

As you might have noticed if you visit with me often, I do rather a lot of knitting but sewing is never part of my days and in truth is something that I find slightly scary. I've never felt that I was much good at it – probably thanks to the disparaging comments of my teacher about the skirt that I made in needlework class (though they were not undeserved – it was an awful skirt and was never worn). I do envy those of you who can effortlessly whip up new outfits from beautiful and unusual fabrics but the intricacies of insetting a zip or hemming on the bias bring me out in a cold sweat. Sewing by hand though is something I can just about handle (though not something I've done for years and years) and when I saw the achingly sweet little animal kits that Alicia (Posie gets Cozy) created a few years ago I had to buy one. It has sat on a shelf ever since waiting for the perfect moment, and that moment arrived earlier this week.

Cutting into the first piece of pristine felt made me rather nervous – the kit is so beautifully presented and I really didn't want to mess up, but happily I got all of the pieces snipped out safely and I settled down in the intermittent sunshine with my radio and a cup of tea for some quiet and therapeutic stitching.

Maggie making

Maggie

On the first day I sewed miss Maggie herself and yesterday I worked on her clothes. The fabrics that came with the kit are lovely but I wanted to use some from my stash and so I substituted a dotty blue for her inner ears and used a different fabric for her dress (which is probably a little too heavyweight but I am in love with the pattern). I added a scalloped crochet edging to her cape and also made a little pair of woolly socks (which were not part of the pattern) as it gets a little chilly round here in the winter and warm socks are definitely needed, though they have made her boots a bit of a snug fit.

Bunny3

Bunny4

Boots - Copy

Bunny5

Bunny6

Bunny9

Working quietly on this little bunny over my two recent Toby free days has been so enjoyable and I feel a bit sad to have finished her. I've kept the pattern pages intact though (tracing the pieces onto baking parchment paper) so I may well make another one in the future. I am really thrilled that she has turned out so well and rather surprised (given my lack of sewing skills) though I shouldn't really be as the pattern is exactly what I would expect from Alicia, well thought out, perfectly explained and very sweet.

Bunny2

Having a finished bunny on my shelf instead of just a kit is making me happy and I'm rather in love with her.

That's item number 2 ticked off my 'holiday at home' list and I've found my two Toby-free sewing days very relaxing – it's definitely been nice to do something that I'd not normally do. As a result I'm all topped up on positive energy and ready to tackle the upcoming Toby-full days 🙂

general stuff

free time

August 14, 2014 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)44 Comments

The last few days have been a bit dramatic for my liking with H being rushed by ambulance to hospital at the beginning of the week with severe abdominal pain. He was kept in overnight and had lots of tests which showed he has a kidney stone. Happily he’s now home again and has plenty of pain killers to keep him comfortable until it passes (hopefully soon).

As a result of the extra drama my energy is flagging a bit but luckily Toby has 3 perfectly timed sessions of respite care coming up and I’m looking forward to some time to call my very own. As always I have a list of things to do, people to email, chores to tackle but the thought of carrying on like any normal week has me feeling a bit melancholy.

At this time of year so many of my friends are away on family holidays, enjoying beach time, family adventures and most of all a break of the normal mundanity of life. Family holidays are something that we no longer do because those that we did have when Toby was younger so often became more stressful for all of us than staying at home. I’m hopeful that holidays will be a part of our future family life (perhaps on the other side of Toby’s teenage years) but for now they are out of the question. Anyway, since we are not going away I decided that instead of carrying on with normal stuff I would set my Toby-free-time aside for a little holiday-like activity of my own.

I’ve taken a leaf out of Nina’s book and complied myself a little bucket list of things I’d like to do over the next week, things that are not usually part of my everydays and that I hope will help me capture that lovely lazy freedom feeling that you get when you are on a proper holiday.

Home holiday

Home hols

I’ll pop back and let you know how I get on and if I find my holiday nirvana 🙂

summery snippets

August 5, 2014 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)37 Comments

Some moments from the first two weeks of our school break…

Amy’s summer hair, dip-dyed blue (which will hopefully wash out before she goes back to school or it will be time to get the scissors out!)

Bluetips

Days of absolutely torrential rain fall (with some local flooding) and others full of sun and red skies at dusk

Raining

Storm

Sunset

all of which make for a lovely lush garden

Hydrang

Veg garden

we’re having a good harvest of peas, lettuce and broccoli but the french beans have been rubbish thanks to the slugs back in spring. I’m rather excited about my kuri squash plant which is growing like stink and the squash themselves are like little balloons which get bigger each time I look at them.

Squashflower

Squash

Squash 2

Squash - Copy

I’m looking forward to making squash soup if we get enough of them.

Tobyswing

Toby is enjoying the garden too, kicking back in his swing with his lego and occassionally having a burst of energy on the trampoline. We’ve also been swimming a few times and had lots of walks in the cool woods which have been lovely on the hottest of days (no pictures yet as Toby doesn’t like me to stop – he likes to keep moving when we’re out walking.)

Cowl

There’s even been a little knitting. This was taken at 10.15pm this evening when I was cowl knitting by candlelight in support of the #LightsOut campaign commemorating the start of the first world war 100 years ago.

#LightsOut’s inspiration stems from the then foreign secretary Sir Edward Grey’s famous remark on the eve of the outbreak of the war. He said: “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our life-time”. Britain declared war on Germany at 11pm on 4 August 1914.

So with that sobering thought, I’m off to bed feeling grateful that those dark days of 1914-18 are long distant and hoping that we don’t see the like of them again.