Ridgeway Cottage anyhow

I would be a very mean mummy if I didn't let my own children get involved in designing their own Christmas paraphernalia for me to make.   Josie has designed a simple classic that she tells me she can keep forever because it isn't too young.   So far I've done the basics and have started crocheting the numerous snowflakes with which it will be adorned. I'm not sure whether all the snowflakes are to be individually hand crocheted or whether their might be some felt ones. I guess I'll just have to check with the designer With each snowflake needing to be blocked and starched, I'm quite glad this stocking is not flying off around the world and I have until Christmas Eve to finished it.   Posted with Blogsy

Felt is so easy to work with that it's fast becoming my new favourite. I haven't even crocheted anything for the past two days. I've been busy making up Christmas orders for stockings and monsters. I love children's drawings and I just thought it would be a lovely idea to have children design their own monsters and for me to make them. A very nice friend of mine agreed with my idea and got her two boys to draw their own monsters and I have been working on them this week. This monster is called Sam, designed by the younger boy. Apparently he's a sea monster and he was actually quite easy to make. Her older son designed a far more complex project with the most incredible detail. Garjydoodle even has knuckles and what I can only assume is a monster style six pack.   Following the success of my stockings on Etsy ( I count two orders as a success), I thought I may as well add design your own monsters to my shop, so if you are stuck for a Christmas ...

I am very excited to say that I now have Christmas orders. I received my second request for a handmade stocking today, I have felt monsters to make, along with numerous other Christmassy orders for my own loved ones on the go. I have finished Naomi's stocking and I am pleased with it. Wouldn't it just be so fab to spend every day making stuff? Today I worked my normal day job and then spent the rest of the day working on Christmas orders. I loved it. I am totally envious of these crafty people who've got their studios, orders and making based days. One day .... And I will also be needing a vintage caravan to work in Picture curtesy of http://www.snailtrail.co.uk/retro_rentals.htm Posted with Blogsy

Each year my fondness for the classic Christmas combination of red and white increases. It looks so festive , bright and brilliant. I like the Scandinavian style and might be collecting a whole dr host of inspiration from another red and white favourite, Pinterest . I'm still working on a Christmas stocking order ( I like to talk as if I have loads but I do only have one) and even that fits in with my red and white theme.   I went for a spot of machine and hand quilting.       Posted with Blogsy

Christmas is my favourite time of year for crafting. It's cold outside, there's presents to made and I just so love the holiday theme. After a bit of a break from blogging, I thought it might be nice to get back into the whole collecting of thoughts and ideas by spendding December recording all my favourite Christmassy things.   I recently made stockings for my brand new nephew's first Christmas and his bigger sister (I didn't want to leave her out) and it was such fun. I decided to post them in my Etsy shop as a made to order item and I got an order. I was so excited, someone in Canada wants a stocking made by me! This is how it's looking so far. There's a bit of hand quilting to do before I can put it all together and then it's got a long journey to Toronto ready for Christmas Eve.   Posted with Blogsy

Have you ever wondered what happens to the words that are no longer used? They become classed as obsolete, confined to only the largest of dictionaries by lexicographers (those guys whose job it is to compile dictionaries.) As new words are created to fit with our new fangled lifestyle, old words are inevitably pushed out and lost. You can't really be a literacy teacher without spending a large amount of your time thinking about words but it wasn't until last week at Ally Pally when I saw a collection of endangered knitted specimens that I started to worry about their fate. Some might say do we actually care but I'm with Safia Shah and I'll happily join the campaign to bring words back to life especially if it involves knitting them.   Who better to involve in such a virtuous adventure than my own child, along with a friend, especially as they were off school today due to teachers striking. The girls embraced the idea of saving these dejected words and with very ...

Today I asked Charlie what he learnt at school. He replied "We didn't really learn anything thing today. It was science day so we just did science." I do love how clearly he seperates learning from doing. For my little six year, if you haven't learnt some facts about a subject then it doesn't really count. The facts can be as random or specific as you like. For example did you know that more people are killed each year by dogs and pigs than sharks? No? Neither did I until Charlie told me. I'm in the business of education. Yes that's right, the business. I am employed by a corporation, our college is branded and everything in my working life is driven by targets. However from deep within my paperwork based uniform almost extinguished by performance related statistics, you will catch a small glimmer: a spark to light the fire of possible of cognition in my students. Ask anyone who their favourite teacher was and why and I doubt very much that they...

Once a year, I get to go back to London to my beloved Alexandra Palace for the Knitting and Stitching Show. It's the mecca for all stitchy ladies (very few boys I'm afraid), like a giant magnet pulling us in by the knitting needles, armed with shopping bags and packed lunches. There is so much to see, I feel like a child in a sweet shop, dizzy with excitement and slightly battered by the hardened elbows of veteran bargain hunters. Despite manners being slightly amiss amongst the crowded aisles of the great halls of the palace, I challenge even the shyest of people not to make a friend when they sit down for a drink and the stall holders and exhibitors are the loveliest people in the world. Habu Textiles  is an old favourite now and it's my first port of call. I love the colours, the texture of the yarn and the exquisitely delicate garments created using their products. Mostly I like the linen and the paper threads and this year discovered a new stall,  Namolio ,...

Today has been such a glorious day, it feels like the warm weather will never end and it's easy to forgot that those chilly days are on their way. It was perfect weather for a stroll along the seafront at Broadstairs and it as packed as on any summers day. The chalk cliffs of the East Kent coast are always spectacular in bright sunshine and their crumbling nature allows for transient graffiti artists to adorn the concrete esplanades without reprimand from their parents. And mini explores can hang precariously from the rock face without safety harness or fear   I have huge admiration for the plants who appear to be oblivious to the eminent hostility of their location. Nestled in crevices Holding fast to walls With tiny seed heads capable of surviving the harshest conditions. Posted with Blogsy

I am not a naturally tidy person. That isn't to say that I don't like stuff organised. In fact living with children has left me craving neatness. It is quite astonishing how a small person can destroy a house that has taken all day to tidy in a matter of minutes. But seriously do we actually have time to fritter away our precious life on housework. Last week I went to Josie's assembly and the headmaster told us that we'd blink and it would be their leavers' assembly. I don't want to blink and her last year in primary school to have vanished. I often worry whilst hanging out the laundry that time is slipping away, second by second, sock by sock. And there's the dilemma, how can I keep and tidy home and not waste my opportunities to make life memorable instead of dust-free. I'd like to say that the photo above is a representation of how I normally layout my new projects but it isn't. I usually get so excited about my ideas that I just dive head f...