Extreme

I've never known a year when I've thought more about the weather, talked more about the weather, or watched the weather forecasts more closely, than 2012.  Everything about the weather has seemed so extreme this year - in a part of the country, and indeed the world, that generally has such very unremarkable middle-of-the-road weather.

After a dry, bitingly cold winter which triggered an official drought, we moved into record-breaking high temperatures in March, followed by some of the most persistant and heavy rain I have ever experienced in April.  May started off very cold indeed; just last week I still had the central heating on once a day, and Olivia was going to school in thick black tights and her winter uniform.

And now...now it seems to be set fair.  There is sunshine all day long, and the temperatures are soaring towards the high 20s.  Olivia is wearing summer dresses to school and the hens lie panting in their dust baths.  The flowers in the garden are burning with colour.

Bee lavender

Fuschia

Geraniums

It is these prolonged extremes of weather that I find so un-British.  Most of the time in East London we bumble along with mild, dry-ish weather, punctuated by occasional scorching days in summer and icy days in winter.  The distinct, and extreme, phases to the weather that we've had this year feel new. 

Mostly I suspect that these extremes are the result of climate change.  But then I look at the children, and they just don't care about the weather in the same way I do.  Cam moans when it's hot and his hayfever is bad, and Olivia likes being able to wear hats that Granny has knitted her when it's cold - but mostly they just ignore it.  Could it be that rather than climate change I am just getting middle-aged and like nothing more than a good chat about the weather?

Set fair

Felt lavender toys

The bag of felt monsters that I made for one of my baby nephews for Christmas was a hit.  He loved taking them all out of the bag, and then posting them back in.  He could happily squish and chew them too.  Since then, I've been thinking about making something similar for my Etsy shop, but with some lavender stuffing.  Everybody who saw the monsters asked if they were filled with lavender, and each time I explained that they weren't, I thought to myself what a good idea.

So after much thinking and a few experiments, I made these felt lavender toys at the weekend.

Their bodies are filled with toy stuffing, and the fabric circles on their tummies are filled with lavender.  The children are enchanted with them, but I'm not so sure.

I find their faces a little creepy - embroidered faces are difficult to get exactly the way I had imagined. I'd planned to leave the edge of the fabric circle raw and unfinished, but when I finished them, I thought it looked a bit messy.

This purple one had a different mouth to the other two.  I prefer this big smiley mouth, but the children said it looked wrong.

The combination of toy stuffing and lavender stuffing is good though.  They smell strong, because the fabric containing the lavender is just thin cotton; but they are still soft and squishy to hold.  C and O love them, and have put them in bed, next to their pillows.  That's a pretty good recommendation.

I think I'm nearly there - perhaps just a few more experiments with embroidered faces are required.

Patchwork

I have done some spring cleaning over at my Etsy shop which has been sadly neglected over the past couple of months, as I was so poorly before Christmas and then became pre-occupied with G's birthday quilt.

I've just listed some great little patchwork lavender sachets like this one.

I raided my scrap basket for fabrics in my favourite sort of spring flower colours - pinks, lilacs, creams and the occasional dash of red.  The sachets measure 10cm square and are stuffed full of my Mum's homegrown French lavender, which smells gloriously pungent thanks to all that Mediterranean sunshine.  Just a little squeeze of the sachet fills the whole room with the smell of lavender.  Go and take a look at them here.

My mind has been on patchwork in more metaphorical ways too.  I am currently figuring out how I can get back into work over the next few months, and have been struggling with some conflicting claims:

• my accountancy training, which I would like to keep using in some way
• the need for flexible, local and part-time work which will fit around the rest of the family
• my creative life - sewing and writing - which perhaps should also be incorporated into my working life in some way

I've been tumbling over all these thoughts for a few months now and not reaching any useful conclusions.  I am also increasingly intimidated by the actual process of looking for part-time work in such a challenging economic climate - writing a good CV, filling in application forms and actually working out what jobs are out there.

In the New Year, help and support came in the form of a phone call from Women Like Us - a recruitment agency (currently, sadly, only based in London) that specialises in bringing employers and mothers who want part-time work together. 

At an hour long coaching session at Women Like Us earlier this week, my new career coach and I talked about patchwork, and she pointed out that taking a new direction in my working life may not be a bad thing.  My career overall may end up resembling a patchwork quilt - with some very different fabrics in there - but if there is a common thread holding them together, that's okay.  Not surprisingly I liked this analogy very much.  I came away from our session very motivated, with much food for thought, and also with a list of nicely practical things to do before our next meeting.  If you live in London and are looking for part time work, or a part time employee, I can't recommend Women Like Us highly enough.

In other news, excitement for G's 40th birthday on Valentine's Day is building rapidly.  I have a whopping great leg of lamb marinading in the fridge ready for a family party tomorrow, and this afternoon I am making a start on the first of two birthday cakes.  Pubs, fancy schmancy restaurants and top secret presents are also involved!

Happy weekending everybody!

Lavender love

I still stir my hands through the lavender bowl whenever I walk past, and think of what designs I might use to make some lavender cushions and lavender sachets.   My fabric scrap basket is quite literally overflowing, so I might need to incorporate a solution to that as well.

I finished the three stalks of knitted lavender last night, and those are also featuring in my lavender cushion  and sachet plans.  They are knitted from Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino yarn and the pattern is from this glorious book.  The pattern is very easy and once I had it memorised and did not have to keep looking at the book, I could knit a stem in well under an hour.

Next up might be woollen snowdrops. They're not out in the garden yet, so why not knit myself some?  I also see with excitement that Lesley Stanfield has 75 birds, butterflies and beautiful beasts to knit and crochet coming out next month.  I could knit myself some worms to improve my soil quality!