I Forgot

I forgot what it was like to have a toddler in the house. It is many things. Delightful, full of giggles, seeing the world through a whole new angle - and messy. In a whole different way than my family is messy. Jenny is asleep right now, with her jet lagged, exhausted parents, but I hope to introduce you to her in the next few days because she is gorgeous. Inquisitive, funny, talkative and cheeky. I could go around and tidy up the toys while they sleep. It seems like a redundant idea though.

Now I am going to return to a few things that got left unsaid and unseen on yesterday's post due to me having a falling out with Blogger (which I have come to understand was not personal and happened to many). I did want to show you Emily, happily awaiting departure on her residential. I am missing her but trust she is having the time of her life (every finger and toe crossed here) -

They give you such a long list of things they need to take with them and then tell you that they will have to carry their bags themselves. Bless, the bag is almost as big as she is.

I also discussed cleaning Emily's room yesterday. What I wanted to bring up was that delightful toy Sylvanian Families (aka Calico Critters in America I think). Great toy. The girls love it and play with it often. They have a lot of it. Before you go thinking they are spoiled I will tell you that they saved for a lot of it themselves and request other bits for birthdays and Christmas. But that aside, you cannot hoover a room that has Sylvanian Family stuff in it until you have crawled around the floor and checked every nook and cranny because this stuff is small, and it gets everywhere. For example, here is the Bakery -

Can you see all those little cakes and buns in the window display. They are tiny! How tiny, ask those of you who do not have children addicted to this toy?

More Sylvanian Family accessories

That small. This is why it took me so many hours to get Emily's room sorted out yesterday. I have a great fear of  missing something that Jenny may put in her mouth. This is not a toy intended for an under the ago of two child.

On to more interesting stuff. I have been at it again. Yup! Making HSTs. Time for cushion number two for our sofa. I am so pleased with the first one it only makes sense to do another, at a minimum. So in the past couple of days I have managed to get myself to this point -

I am going to try and sneak in some sewing when I finish this post, while they are sleeping, before I really and truly must put away my sewing machine until Monday at the earliest.

Last of all, I have one Pinwheel left from making my Pips pinwheel quilt. It is the result of inattention and thinking I knew what I was doing. It was a quarter of an inch smaller than all the others. I think I will make a cushion with this as its centre.

The twist is the challenge that will be linked to this cushion. When I made the HST cushion I mentioned my fear of zippers - and the fact that I haven't actually sewed a zipper into anything - yet! Well at the same time Wendy over at The Crafter's Apprentice mentioned that she had never done proper binding - yet! Needless to say I picked up on this and told her that if she would take on a project that she had to bind, I would put a zipper in a cushion. Seemed like a fair enough deal and she thought so too. So when I have my wits about me again, and a machine back in use, and everyone out the house (husband, kids and visitors - so they can't hear me swearing or crying) I am going to take on the zipper challenge.

Who knows what new projects conquering this fear might lead to?!

And while I am doing that Wendy is going to be binding and becoming another of us quilting addicts. Warning Wendy, once you have done it there is no turning back!

Susan