At home with a cold

I think P. gave me this weird flu, he had it over the weekend, it comes with a cough and a temperature and a feeling like breathing superheated air and a headache! But I forgive him... I spent the day at home with the duvet, doing a good deal of sleeping and a bit of browsing all the great blogs out there! I only recently discovered bloglines and it's really handy!

I came across a good few new blogs in the last week, one being applehead with these cute frogs that I want to make (I'm adding to my long list of must-sew-projects...) .

I also discovered Rebecca's irish craft and eco blog, which is great, I can't think of any other irish blogs on these topics, but then, I don't get as much time as I'd like to, to explore blog land!

Another great discovery was a post on alicia's blog, with a link for a downloadable pattern for exactely the kind of smock i'd love to make for P.'s niece, (I already made her an apron, which she adores, so I'm told) I was going to try and figure out a pattern but I'm really glad I don't have to. Thanks Alicia! Hope there will be an adult version of this crossover smock apron, I'm sure some talented person out there will make one!

Which brings me to a question I'd like to ask the apron lovers out there; P.'s granny, who's going on ninety, and still bakes soda bread and cooks her own dinners (with a bit of help) has this crossover apron (a bit like a wrap dress) she wears all the time. She'd like a new one but can't find them anywhere any more, so i offered to make her one if I can find a pattern, but I'm also looking for some improvements. I think if I could make it with velcro instead of ties it would be much easier for her to handle, as she has arthritis in her hands. I also had the idea of the pippi long stocking type smock, but it might be hard for her to put on as well if it's a slip over the head type, (I'm not sure if she can move her arms over her head easily) or if there's fiddly buttons on the shoulders. Or maybe one of those smocks that tie on both sides, done with velcro, although they also slip over the head...
What do you think?

My friend Hel with her little boy (who's just about the wriggliest baby I've ever met) and her hubby were over yesterday for coffee, omelet and a game of settlers of catan! She was mentioning she's starting to look for bigger bibs that are harder for him to take off, for when he starts to learn to feed himself so I think I will make some kind of smock for him, it would have to be more manly looking though. I'm thinking thrifted checked shirt fabric, no crossover back but more like a shirt on backwards, velcro instead of ties, and it would have to be short so it can't be confused with a dress , which might damage him psychologically if his future classmates sees photos of him in it...

You see, A LOT of projects in mind, none started.
So I have nothing to show off tomorrow at the ' stitch and bitch' evening. I met Kasey, who does quilting and embroidery at a quilt show, and we discovered we live in the same village and we were the only ones under the age of sixty at the quilt thing, so we decided to see if there might be more crafty people around our age, and put up a notice. At the first meeting there were 4 of us, there might be 9 of us tomorrow, see how it goes! In our village there is no coffee shop, no restaurant, no evening entertainment apart from the pub, and the majority of houses are built within the last 5 years, so a lot of people live here and don't know anybody in the place. We think that's why the flyer we put up got so many responses, it's a way to meet people, we had a great time the first night, chatting mostly about roads and houses and schools and so on, while eating chocolate cake and drinking coffee.

Hm, P has put on a lamb stew, with some of the veg we got on friday plus a leek from the garden, I think it's ready, it's smelling delicious!