Sunny Spot...

Between the homework and ironing, when the kids and himself went out and about to let me have a little headspace yesterday, I finally stitched up the birthday present that was needed for last night's 'late night disco', (yep, an Inset day today, I know, already), and the sun even came out for the photo call…

Jeni Baker's free pattern is always a good, stress-free little make, thankfully, because apparently last year's zippy pouch and key fob went down so well, shop-bought was not an option.  I had my orders.

Today, hubby was on Inset duty as I had a course at work.  An all-day course.  I have not worked a full day for 10 years!  To say I am exhausted is an understatement.

It was nice to come home to a present of biscuits - made by the kids, decorated by daddy…

Forgive me whilst I go rest my brain with a cuppa and the last crumbs!

Patchwork pressies...

Two simple patchwork pencil cases ready for the girls to give as birthday presents in a few weekends time...

Some Posy mini charms, along with mirror ball dots for fun(ky) interiors; and not too shabby zipper end tabs, because that is obviously what the 7 year olds will be checking out!

Being so organised will probably mean that I will put them somewhere safe and have a last minute panic trying to find them again!

I am knuckling down for four consecutive days at work, but there'll be a long weekend reward at the end of it; please excuse me if I get progressively grumpy as the week goes by, I am such a lightweight.

Harry Potter and the Birthday Party...

Dear son is off to his friend's for a birthday afternoon on Saturday.  The birthday boy was meant to be going to Harry Potter World, but by the time his mum went to book, it was sold out until Half Term.  So, if the boy can't go to Harry Potter, Harry Potter will come to the boy!

I was convinced I had seen an HP cushion/block pattern, but googling, flickring and searching about revealed nothing, (maybe I did see one and it got pulled due to copyright of something), so I did some maths based on some pics on Google, and drafted my own.

So if you check the link you will see that I have not been original, definitely don't claim to be, but to be honest it was so simple, you couldn't 'sell' a pattern!

My basic measurements for the 15" cushion were a 6" (finished) strip for the face, a 4" wide scarf of 2" stripes, and a 5" cloak strip.

The hair was drawn onto bondaweb then cut, and after pressing onto his head, I top stitched as close as possible to the edge to make sure his locks won't flop off in the future.  I drew round a cotton reel for his specs, backstitched those and his scar and added a couple of buttons for eyes.

Fusible fleece and a piece of muslin on the back of the front(!), and simple envelope back.  I finished off by binding the inside edges, because I didn't want to break up to look on the outside; I could have used french seams, but I had a piece of left-over binding and fancied a bit of sofa time before the kids came home - I am back to work tomorrow, so this was my last bit of me-time!

The hair and cloak are from my ever-useful and sadly diminishing piece of Sketch flannel from Simply Solids, I think Kona Raisin scraps, some yellow Sketch and no-idea neutral.  The back is some bargain dots from here.   All pieced in magical Aurifil.

Dear son was satisfyingly jealous, and only happy once I had confirmed, on the way home from school, that it was smaller than his Batman & Robin cushion!

And the best bit for me, another instant project 100% from stash; told you I was going to bust it this year!