Dressed for bed!

The home makeover shows always make a big thing about dressing a bed, and it is true that when they have finished with their mountains of cushions and swathes of beautiful fabrics, the beds and bedrooms always look wonderful.

Well, here is my attempt at dressing the bed in our guest room. The oversized cushion is made from the detachable arm cushions from an old settee. The fabric was given to me by my Mum. I made an envelope type flap for the closure. This is secured by some large wooden beads (rescued from one of those bead car seats) and some nylon cord made into loops (yes I do find it difficult to throw things away as I always have a suspicion that they will come in handy one day!). It is really lovely to sit up in bed leaning against this big cushion while reading.

The tulips beside the bed are silk flowers again given to me by my Mum. Every couple of months I drop some essential oil (currently frescia) into the centre of each tulip, then when the sun hits them they release a lovely scent into the room.

I keep meaning to find a band of blue material (perhaps petersham band perhaps?) to sew onto the bed cover, but I have not got it together to that extent yet! Anyway, I was very pleased with this little sewing project for the home.

Tagged people

At last... here are the 5 people I have tagged. I wish them luck...

Gabriella
Lisa
Chrysti
Jane
Amul

Fantasy tag list

OK, I did the real tag list (see below). But then, I finished putting my little boy to bed, got supper ready for my husband coming home from another week working away from home, and I got to thinking about my fantasy tag list. So here is my top fantasy item from each category (tagged people still to come tomorrow):

Handbag: Passport
Purse: A love letter
Fridge: Champagne or Apsparagus (or both!)
Wardrobe: An original beaded 1920s dress (and the figure to wear it!)
Car: luggage packed for a trip on the Orient Express or Trans Siberian Railway
Desk: A letter annoucing a mega payrise

"So I awoke, and behold it was a dream!".

Tagged (for my sins!)

I have been tagged by goodkharmabunny. This lead to yet another frantic Internet search to find out what it means! On my way I finally understood what a "meme" is thanks to the Pariah. This Blogging "ritual" is as strange as any, and with all its own jargon set to confuse us poor simple souls!

Anyway, on to the point - the tag.... It follows a standard format, so anyone tagged by me, now has to provide answers to the following questions:

Name 5 things always found in your:

Handbag/purse:
Shopping list
Money/credit card
Pen & Paper
Gooey lollipop for emergency situations with my little boy
Toy car or motorbike (for the same reason)




Purse/wallet:
Coins (usually small denomination!)
Toy library membership card
County library membership card
Receipts
Business cards (well, you never know...)



Fridge:
Opened bottle of dry white wine (unoaked)!
Mature cheddar cheese (or if I am lucky goats cheese)
Tomatoes
Selection of seasonal veg from my local organic farm or the farmer's market
Full fat milk for my little boy




Wardrobe/closet:
Pile of gardening/work clothes (on the floor)
My two pairs of ultra sexy shoes, protected in their boxes
My latest going out outfit (not worn enough) - currently black bootleg trousers and a black embroidered chiffon tunic top( - very 70s!)
Long skirts (ankle length - it's supposed to leave things to the imagination!)
Tailored blouses/ladies shirts - I am beyond tee-shirt days!




Car:
Map of the British Isles
First Aid kit
CDs (Currently Scissor Sisters and Arctic Monkeys)
Suntan cream (min factor 30)
Water


Desk:
Photos not yet put in albums
Cup of tea (maybe hot maybe cold!)
Spare toner cartridge
Notes/references for my latest project
Pile of bills



Five people to be tagged coming tomorrow when I have collected their URLs!

Forever my baby

After my little boy was born, I eventually got around to putting away the baby clothes. However I found that there were some I just could not put into the suitcase in the attic. These were mostly the items I had chosen to bring him home from hospital in, but also a couple of items given by friends.

As my baby grew and became a toddler, it was lovely to see these little scraps of cloth and remember how small he had been. I hit upon an idea that made it possible to have these clothes out and be able to fondly remember them every day - I made them into a "rag doll".

The head is a large polystyrene ball covered in flesh coloured felt, the body is simply the baby grow, with gloves sewn to the cuffs to make hands, and booties to the legs to make feet. The babygrow was stuffed with fibre filling, and all openings were stitched closed. The outer garments were then put on the "baby", and his first little shoes finished off the ensemble to give a life sized, 3D reminder of my baby. I deliberately kept the features very simple.

This really is a simple way of making rag dolls, and providing them with removable clothing.

Obviously, having had a little boy, I don't have much call for making dolls or dolls clothes. But a few weeks ago, I came to the rescue of a Barbie doll in distress. I am a volunteer at our local toy library (http://www.natll.org.uk/). We had a Barbie play set and doll donated. It was a beautiful airline set, and I think Barbie was supposed to be the stewardess. However, despite an enviable selection of luggage, poor Barbie had no clothes. It was felt that the set could not be loaned out either a) with no doll, and especially b) with a doll who had no clothes. Any way a few snippets of printed material, some elastic and a piece of ribbon meant I was able to provide Barbie with a sun dress. A very basic little outfit, but it did the job. I really enjoyed making it, and am now on tailoring duties for any dolls who need a new wardrobe at the toy library!

Empty nest

The blackbirds have successfully flown. They left our garden a week ago, but hung around in the surrouding trees for a couple of days. They have doubled in size and now have most of their adult plumage and also their tail feathers. Since we came back from our holiday, the bigger of the two has been seen feeding on the ground, accompanied by the ever vigilant parent. The smaller has been seen scuttling in the undergrowth. It is so lovely to see them around, and to know that there is a good chance one of them will nest in our garden next year.

I feel very privileged to have been so closely involved with them. It made me notice a lot more about our garden, and also blackbird behaviour.

Here are two pictures that evoke memories of my time as part guardian of the chicks. The first is a courgette flower, which reminds me of the hungry beaks of blackbird chicks held open for food.

The second is evidence of the blackbirds availaing themselves of our cherries.

Blackbird singing....

A departure from craft posts, but for the last 3 days my caged minutes have been taken up with little critters. We have blackbirds nest twice a year in our honeysuckle, and this time the chicks decided to leave the nest early. Barely able to stand let alone fly, they landed on our patio on Saturday morning, and we have been looking after them ever since.

The parents are still feeding them, but this is a big cat community (no, not big-cat!) - so we are on constant look out. We have put out water, and fruit, and the parent birds (mostly the male) are doing a great job of clearing our garden of insects in their quest to feed the hungry birds. My just planted out stocks have taken a battering, though. They were grown in, and planted out in peat pots, and the adult birds have managed to root out two whilst searching for worms. Each night, after the parents have gone to roost, we herd them to safety behind a big plant pot, and block each side so cats cannot get them, then one of us is up at 4:30 to make sure they can get out before the parents are back to feed them.

They are beautifully ungainly, with big wide mouths, and curious eyes. They hop all over our patio and are getting more adventurous each day. We have 12 steps up from out patio to our main garden - this morning one was half way up the steps. Soon they will be ready to fledge for real - their tail feathers are just starting to grow. I think I will miss them.

Tonight as I type I can hear their chirps and cheeps. A lovely backdrop to the end of a lovely day. Another excuse for a small piece of verse, this time from Joseph Addison: "I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs."

I was also caught by this one by Wallace Stevens (13 ways of looking at a blackbird): "I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections Or the beauty of innuendoes, The blackbird whistling Or just after."