Three boxes of tissues later...

Finally seeing the back of our flu after working our way through 3 boxes of man sized tissues and all the odd ones tucked in bags and pockets.  Together we managed to cut the front and garden lawns today which are now mostly nice and green after 20 mm of rain and lower temperatures ! But had to have a long lay down with our books at afternoon tea break.  Veg garden and field will have to hang on a few more days before we can do any serious work.

The flowers on this bush produce a deep red berry on the ends of springy arching branches. The blackbirds are desperate to get them and lurch up and down and tumble in and out.

What else is happening here?  Tomato crop is producing well. We have been unsuccessful at selling surplus at the gate this year as the main road in the village has been closed for road works for 7 weeks and everyone is going round the other way!  So lots of tomato soup this week to help with our sore throats. Sweetcorn is ripening now and providing some nice quick lunches.

In my sewing cabin I have been going through a box of 2-3 year old toddler clothes left by one of my sons for recycling. Here are two polo shirts, a pair of pyjamas and some shorts.  What to make?

I cut the clothes along seams to give as much flat material as possible.  Did not need the shorts. A shopping bag is tried first, using the rocket theme to reflect the print material.

The back is a patchwork of left over rectangles. Avoiding the hole in the left knee of the trousers and using any logos which had cheery messages.

Lined with some new calico curtain lining.  The polo shirt material proved quite thin when cut into so I used some old cotton fabric from some summer trousers under the applique rocket and under the patchwork.  (I must try to get some cheap fusible backing material for these projects.) So the bag is quite soft and padded.  I was going to use the old collars to make handles but they are quite narrow and would not quite fit round any strengthening cord I had available.  So used some straps from an abandoned apron for handles.

They also left a lot of odd baby socks.

If you cut down back and sole you get quite a lot to work with and the heels and toes make good ears and noses for SOCK MONSTER PUPPETS!