Three ta-das and two works in progress

Hello

Long time no see. Ada, of Vintage Sheet Addict, was completely right and I didn't blog while we were away, then we got back and I through myself into things rather and haven't managed it. Anyway I am here now and want to show you a few things that I have been saving up.

Firstly, remember these?

and these?

Well they became two little bean bags for my friends children who we visited on our hols.

 They are two and a half year old, boy and girl twins.

I think they were pretty pleased with them since they kept trying to bring them into the garden to play with.

The pattern is based on the one in this book but as usual I didn't follow it exactly!

The next thing I want to show you was very exciting for me - my first commission. Well, my first sewing commission. I was once asked to make a vase by the friend who now has the twins when I was doing a pottery night class. This time, as that, I was completely gobsmacked and delighted that someone thought the things I made were worthy of house room. The thing is, this time it wasn't for a friend who would be pleased with my efforts simply because they were mine. This time it was... professional... The lovely lady who is behind the St Abbs Market asked me to make some oven gloves for the cafe kitchen. Here was an opportunity to showcase my work, to try out a new pattern and to seriously fall out with bias binding!

Not content with wresting with the stuff once, I also decided to make some in an different colour combo for another lovely friend who we would be seeing on our travels.

I think it is pretty clear to me that I won't be making any more! I was please with the results in the end but nothing is worth that much unpicking.

While we were away my crafty efforts were limited to what I decided to take with me. After much thought I decided to return to knitting for the first time in months. Since teaching myself to crochet last year it has rather dominated my crafty output. I decided finally to do something with these.

 I always knew I wanted them to be a cushion cover but hadn't figured out how - knit/crochet, stripes/squares/hexagons/spots/flowers the possibilities were just too daunting.

I grabbed some needles and experimented with mitred squares. I tried some in stocking stitch but the complexity involved in keeping them square didn't sit comfortably with the simple feel I was looking for, so I tried them in garter stitch and was hooked.

I still have to figure out how I want to join them together and how to introduce the cream but I am on my way.

The last square is on the needles at the mo and might even be completed with my next cuppa.

The whole idea of receiving commissions may have rather gone to my head, but at the market my Mum has had to give several people scraps of paper with my contact details so I was persuaded to make these.

My very own business cards! I am totally thrilled about how pretty they are.

and can't wait to take them along to the market on Friday.

Lastly, I want to tell you how lucky I am with the excellence of the Smalls' grandparents. You might have already gathered that my Mum does a lot of looking after and playing with for me, enabling me to indulge myself with crafty makes and blogging, but J's parents really come into their own when a couple of times a year they take the Smalls away completely for a few days or even a week and let us catch up on time as a couple, unSmallfriendly jobs and sleep. At the moment Granny, Grandad and the Smalls are having a high old time wearing each other out over in Cumbria and I have been painting the porch.

This is a job that has been a work in progress for the best part of a year. Finally the entrance to our house won't be littered with paint pots and screwed up dust sheets. I have another coat of gloss to put on the front door tomorrow and then we can have a real flap on our letterbox instead of some rolled up newspaper to keep the rain out. This is making me extremely pleased!

Tomorrow I think I will treat you to some edited highlights of our hols. You'll be looking forward to that!

xx