New Growth

The leaves have all unfurled around here now and our house renovation is finally underway.

***note: this is going to be a very photo-heavy post so please be patient if it takes a while to load***

Before I show you the progress on the reno, here are the mice I've been working on:



a white pair,



one that ended up a wee bit wonky (I'm not sure why),



an albino mouse (requested by Ian),



two heathered mice, one grey and one beige,



two dark mice (I'm not so fond of this colourway - it's hard to see their eyes),



and three zombie mice (chartreuse with red eyes),



Adorable, no?

And now for the reno... snaps from yesterday:

here's the original house from the back - can you see I'm trying to choose a paint colour. I'm partial to one of the bright greens - maybe with red trim . Zombie House! (The contractor is trying to talk me out of it):



the interior of the sunroom, south wall:




the interior of the sunroom, north wall:



First thing this morning workman appeared ready to get cracking. We did a quick hello, then I went to walk Gus. Twenty minutes later almost all the windows were gone, as well as a good chunk of panelling.





Hoorah!

The dogs had fantastic ring-side seats.



They work incredibly effieciently. This would take me years to accomplish...







By lunchtime there was no roof at all...







and by half-past three, the sunroom was no more.





Holy Dinah!

Done, Done, Begun

The Molly Ringwald Cotton Shell. DONE!



The baby Cardi in need of seams and buttons. DONE!



The discovery of a new addiction. BEGUN!



Oh yeah!!!

On an unrelated note:

I found this creature in the garden the other day:



It gave me a starteled, "Sir, Yes Sir"



and grabbed a cold one.

Nice!

Look what I got for Mother's Day!



Can you see the pile of yarn almost out of frame?

Everything is being neglected in favour of my new best friend.

Snow in May

We woke up this morning to a May snowfall.









It didn't last past noon, and the skies cleared later in the day, and a lovely fresh smell was left behind - just like rain, and it was very pretty...

but, really now. It's May!

Crazy!

I went to a baby shower this afternoon. It was a very civilised affair - not like the baby shower we had for wee Ian. Today, it was all very lovely - the weather had cleared, the company was polite and the little Luisa Juniper was lovely (she screamed her head off for a moment and then settled right down).



I made her the Hayfield Baby set - my go-to pattern for new-borns. It always impresses people, but it's in fact, quite simple.

Do you want to know about Ian's shower?

We had it at The Red Cactus, that's a local bar, while I was still hugely pregnant and an ex-boyfriend showed up hammered out of his mind and asking to borrow money. Swish!

Let's move on...

I bought a lovely vintage sterling locket on e-Bay a while back.



I had searched and searched for one I liked (I wanted it to be BIG) and finally found one - it's an inch and a half tall. I put it on a super-long 32-inch sterling chain, and I love it. I wear it almost every day.

The back is inscribed with a quote from Shakespeare's Sonnet 116:



Love is not love
Which alters when it alterations finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! It is an
ever-fixed mark
That looks on Tempests
and is never shaken.

Inside are photos of the kids.



Now, understand, the Tempests are the kids, and my love for them is true, despite them, and how they drive me batty.

So don't go telling Elly I'm sentimental.

She'll just tell you I'm mental.

Hiya

I've almost finished the little cardigan for the baby due in June. I still need to sew the last seams and find five wee matching buttons. You probably think that in that vast stash of buttons I have there would be five that match, and yet...



I made a new start on the second Molly Ringwald. The one I made last summer was all together too big and was dismantled and re-knit into a fine linen shell earlier this spring, and now I'm using the lovely cotton I over-dyed and working the pattern one size smaller. This knit is super-quick and I've already finished the front.

I've almost caught up on all those unfinished projects (understand please, that doesn't include all the materials, tools, patterns and what-not that have been purchased for ALL the projects swirling around my head - just the ones that had ACTUALLY been started). The exception is, my knitting friends know, the Seaweed Stole I started last summer. It's just a huge beast of a project - very time consuming, and takes up a large work-space. I have to have a dish of beads, a small crochet hook, the yarn, the needles, the pattern as well as near complete silence. I've been foolishly thinking I can work on it during the house reno this summer - crammed into a much tighter living space, dust flying everywhere and the constant drone of power tools. Perhaps in the autumn, yes?

Last week I was out for a gander at Mike's General Store and found some old magazine adverts that I just couldn't resist. My plan is to frame them up and perhaps have them hanging in the new craft room.



From the twenties, look a little closer, it says Smart Frocks for Small Maidens
- so sweet...



Also from the twenties, Daintiness and Durability - honestly, what kinda gal could resist that?



And from the forties,



Yup, Wired for Witchery. I think this would be a great logo for an online psychic. I fear I may have to battle Elly for ownership of this one.



Elly sent a wee parcel this week filled with all kinds of delights. Some fantastic stationary stickers from Paris (for Mother's Day) as well as a great load of Miniatures for the dollhouse from a shop in Dublin . I'll have to start working on that dollhouse again (hmmm....pre- or post- reno, I'm not sure). I'll show pictures of all my little mini treasures another time.

She also sent a box of chocolates from Paris.



They're not ALL gone. Not YET.

She also sent us these crazy new flavours of crisps.



Yes, that does say Cajun Squirrel (which wasn't too bad). Onion Bhaji was the best and Fish and Chips was absolutely revolting. I also thought Builder's Breakfast was quite foul, but Ian and Nigel disagreed.

Don't expect any of these flavours to cross the pond.