The five legged cat with an umbrella

Hello everyone. I hope you had a nice weekend. This is the story of a rainy Sunday afternoon in Bedford (which is, the centre of the universe).

First up is a picture that now makes me smile every time I walk past the fridge. The middle girl is learning to read and write, so she can now write about the pictures she draws... five legged cats and all. I can only imagine the umbrella was an afterthought, and therefore the cat needed a fifth leg to hold it with..? 

The girls pottered and played quite nicely, to the point that both me and the hubby settled in to do stuff we wanted to do. For me, that meant pulling out some pretty prints with the aim of making some Gathered Clutches.

And then, well, just as I'd sat down and got started, they all kind of ran out of steam with their dressing up games and colouring, and, you guessed it - they did what comes naturally, and started annoying each other. And me.

What to do on a wet afternoon, when you'd rather not pull on Wellies and take them outside for a stomp around... offer a new toy, of course!

I was given this for Christmas when I was about nine and loved it.

I was sat with my sewing machine. What better toy to offer than my old hand operated Singer from childhood?

Forgive my smugness, but, given they managed an hour and a half of (pretty) happy turn taking at making dotted line creations without either sewing through their own or their siblings' fingers, I am feeling pretty pleased about this. Not least because the littlest girl got up this morning, requesting to play with my sewing machine again.

Not for her a simple letter to follow - an elephant was the shape requested by the three year old for her first attempt at stitching.

"Keep watching the needle - and mind your fingers!"

I didn't bother threading up the machine for them - just card with simple letters and shapes drawn on for them to try and follow. But this takes a lot of concentration - especially when you are only three! The result is a happily calmed down household, contented by the fact they all feel they have been let loose on a grown up toy (that admittedly, also has the potential to do create some unforgettable childhood memories for them if they sew through their fingers).

What did I manage to do? A surprising amount of my own sewing - given that I had to keep a pretty close eye on the girls and their fingers.

The clutches are almost finished now - and just need a few bits adding to them to prettify them a bit more. Oh, and the insides sewing up. I always forget about that bit!

I have no fixed plans for them - they'll probably end up as presents, maybe paired up with matching covered notebooks, given how much I'm enjoying using this lovely apple one my friend Sarah made me for Christmas. I am finding it surprisingly satisfying making lists of all the mundane things I have to remember to do when the lists take place inside a good piece of stationary.

And finally...

Roast chicken for dinner!

What better way to round off a wet Sunday afternoon?