The Final Week.

Okay, I think I am about ready for the kids to start school now. Not that I am sick of them, or even the holidays but I have to say, I am spent. I have loved the laid back pace, the lack of running around and seeing the boys just melt into the garden or spend hours building crab hotels at the beach. After seven weeks though, the thought of hiding out in my studio seems like heaven. Maybe that is the sign of a good holiday though, to feel as though every moment has been all used up and maybe, just maybe, a very quiet week is exactly what the boys need before starting a whole new year of school. Rain is scheduled so I will keep my fingers crossed, a few board games, a bit of knitting, the odd d.v.d. That sounds so wonderful. I think even if the sun is shining, I might just call it a rain day anyway.

Lots of love,

Kate xxooxx.

Notes on a Chair Bag (and a little bit of embroidery).

First of all, a quick peek at my next piece of tapestry.

A nice 'light' summer project - Archie's jumper has been abandoned for a little while. It is very thick with a 3x3 rib and takes up a lot of space on my knee (almost eight year olds require a lot more knitted area!!!) and makes me feel very hot and bothered.

Now, many of you were wondering what a chair bag is. Well, here we go - they go over the children's chair at school and they keep all of their books and pens and secret things in there. Archie is very excited because this year he is graduating on to a proper desk where he gets to keep all of his stuff inside it. Sadly, when this happens the classroom loses something as it's so lovely to walk into a room and see all of the chairs covered with their colourful and highly unique bags.

This is the pattern sent home from school and I am sure they wouldn't mind if I posted the dimensions. It's kind of like sewing a back to front pillowcase where the right side of the overlap is sewn against the right side of the largest piece of fabric (a.) and the right side of the pocket is sewn against the wrong side of piece a. and then it is all turned inside out. Hmmm, maybe I should take photos for a proper tutorial but if any of you are desperate for your own chair bag, hopefully this will get you started. Whenever I make one (that's only been twice), I always think I should make a set for the table as they are so handy for magazines, cook books, pens and paper. Maybe some oil cloth ones would be good....
Yes, oilcloth would be good - Hugo was so happy about his chair bag it kept him company as he ate dinner and after the odd stroke, left saucy fingerprints and drippings of yoghurt on it. Uh oh - I am supposed to be having a cooking and picnic today but I can hear my sewing machine purring...
Lots of love,
Kate xxooxx.

Hugo's Chair Bag.

With Hugo beginning school in a week and a half, I decided that it was finally time to sew him his required chair bag. It seems like such a rite of passage and surely it was only yesterday that Archie's one was finished - how can I be sewing my baby's chair bag????

Archie gently reminded me that Hugo's name had to be on it so I pilfered some melty counted cross stitch grid stuff from my new Cath Kidston book 'Stitch' (her best so far) and found some embroidery floss.

The melty-grid stuff is fantastic, I've never used it before but it is very, very easy. When you have finished your work, you simply snip around it and then soak it in water. Voila! The font pattern comes from 'Made in France: Linen and Thread' by Monique Lyonnet.

I had to share with you my sweet pea posy I picked for a friend today. Another use for washi tape - wahooooo!!! My new tapestry that I am currently working on is peeping from behind... I gave it a little premature fashion parade in the frame to see how it would fit. All very exciting.

I love washi tape.

Lots of love,

Kate xxooxx.

Hips and Stuff.

We have recently had many, many meals with friends as is often the way at this time of year. And with all of the festivities, I am beginning to feel very average, almost as though my skin has forgotten how to breathe.

So today, with my curly headed Canadian friend Delphine and our gang of children, we met up at the local school and had a hit of tennis while the kids dashed around the concrete pathways on their bikes. I perspired profusely which is a very good thing and the best part is that I barely noticed because I was having so much fun.

However, just towards the very end, I wrenched my hip and am now hobbling around like an eighty year old. How can this be? The funny thing is even with the pain I can't wait to get out there and play again. Sometimes sport is fun something that always leeks from my mind whenever I am confronted by peoplele dressed in lycra with terrifying and torturous looks on their faces. Sometimes sport can be a game. I am waffling a bit I know but it has been so long since exercise seemed fun.

Anyhoo - here are a few more photos from my last couple of days. I have to remember to go easy on dressing the whole family in stripes. I am beginning to get too many comments on us all wearing matching outfits and I don't necessarily think that is a good thing. The green jug is a present from Bride-Stef and the buns below were for our picnic dinner down by the beach and were stuffed with ham and corn and red onion and cheese. Picnic food is the best and I love how virtuous I feel when it is lovingly bundled up and packed into a basket.

Better pop along and cook tonight's dinner now.

Love Kate xxooxx.

What we really looked like... and how we really are.

I felt I should include some photos of the wedding that show the truth of who we are... Stef with facial expressions beyond the spectrum of serene and me as the wedding junkie, only making the posy so I could walk around the house pretending to be the bride (whenever I was alone...).

Can you see me saying to Ellie and Stef... "Are you sure you want me to be in this photo with the two of you... really truly?".

"Look at me, I'm with the cool girls". Stef is a long-suffering friend.
Best moment of my life ever.

Begging to have a photo with the posy in my possession.

Having the wedding at my house really wasn't really the selfless act I would like people to think.

Stef really is very supportive.

And doesn't mind being seen in public with me. So that's nice.

Not all photos need a bride in it you know.

Just thought you might like to see.

Love Kate xxooxx.

Fat Stanley and the Tapestry.

After completing the tapestry last night, I decided to have a play around with a simple pattern for a little bunny knitted in once piece and using scraps of wool. And so, Fat Stanley was born. He is sort of the post Christmas and New Years Stanley, chubbier and perhaps slightly more happy.

I don't have time over the next few days to turn the tapestry squares into anything so it has been temporarily put into an Ikea frame... however, you know how these things work. It will probably be up on the wall for quite some time now.

In this photo the navy blue appears to be black but really it is a beautiful dusty colour.

Stanley before the end/beginning of year celebrations and after. In fact, if I am honest, it is a reflection of how I am feeling. I don't know if I told you the results of my Weight Watcher's jaunt but I ended up losing 13kgs!!! The last few months have seen me cope just with maintaining it but after Christmas/New Years/Wedding I am feeling pretty sluggish again and have to now face being sensible. The problem with teaching your body how to be healthy is that it rebels when you go through a not so great stage. So yes, back to listening to my stomach again.

Teeheeheeheee.

There he lies bloated and happy, dreaming of being able to roll on his side.
Lots of love,

Kate xxooxxooxx.

Fresh Crafts.

I haven't played with tapestry since I was a little girl. I still remember the first time I was introduced to it at the age of eight and we had to make a bookmark for Art and Craft using simple blocks of colour and stripes. As so many of you out there would have experienced as well, I was filled with the absolute awe and excitement that I had 'created' a piece of fabric. And added to that, one of the best moments in my entire school career happened (the following nine years never did top it). Miss Ed took me with my book mark hot in her hand around the school secretaries and then on to the school staffroom to show them my work. Can you imagine!!!

After a while I discovered cross stitch and then fancy work and so tapestry was forgotten for many years...

That is until Mum gave me Cath Kidston's new book 'Stitch' and it all came flooding back. I wasn't quite game to jump into a big project so I thought I would start small using squares of my favourite wools. Now of course I am realising that it is one fantastic way of using up leftovers as a little length stretches a lot further in tapestry than it does in knitting. And also, 8 ply wool is fine to use. Wahoo!!!

A little aside - Hugo is very chuffed as I bought him a brand new jumper in the post-Christmas sales. I think it might be his first non-hand-me-down jumper ever. And he can fit Ted-Ted in with him.

Tapestry is portable - here it is pictured at the beach. It had a lot of fun.

So too did the boys.

But probably not so much the crabs. You can just make them out as they cower in the mudflats, quaking with terror as their homes shake under the boys' thundering footsteps and searching little fingers.

Lots of love,

Kate xxooxxooxx.