Creating...

There's been quite a bit of creating around these parts of late. I gave BabyG a sewing kit for her birthday along with a gorgeous child-friendly learn to sew book with lots of projects. I had to borrow her measuring tape the other day as I couldn't find mine, and I found this:

Yes, 20 odd pins stuck randomly into the lid, silently waiting for the opportunity to drop out into the carpet and stick in some glorious, soft, cherub underfoot. I dug into the bag of fabric scraps I was about to donate to the kinder, and pulled out some fleece. BabyG found the project for a pincushion, and drew a heart on a piece of paper. Here's the rest of the process:

Basically, she cut out her paper heart, pinned it to two pieces of the fleece, sewed them together on my lap, guiding the fabric around the machine, flipped it right side out, stuffed it with cotton wool (oops), then handsewed it closed. Gorgeous:

I was also immersed in the creative process myself, and the 1980s, while I think of it. Over a year ago, my aunt was throwing out a pair of ottomans, and I snaffled them. The quality was fantastic, there wasn't a mark on them, and they're a really good size both for seating and for beside the bed to hold cherub toys. Here's them in all their Laura Ashley gloriousness:

I had grand plans to bring them into the current decade by recovering them, and bought some fabric, the black stuff that goes underneath, and a staple gun. They've sat in the girls rooms since I brought them home with my grand plans. Then a few days ago, I was flicking through the latest Laura Ashley catalogue (tre divine, all of it), and there was these ottomans, of course different fabric, but exact same basic structure. And they come with slip covers... Cue head smacking moment. Well duh... Why would I fluff around with a friggin' staple gun?

I made an extremely precise pattern:

And a couple of hours later:

OK, they're more than slightly dodge thanks to my attrocious maths skills, and not having quite enough fabric over to make a decent ruffle, needed due to my afore-mentioned maths skills. But they look really cute in the girls' respective bedrooms, and it's one thing off my burgeoning to-do list. Win-win...