Roarsome

 The love affair with sewing clothes for the grandchildren continues! Indeed, the eldest grandson now assumes that any item of clothing he receives from us must have been made by Granny :)

I knew as soon as I saw this panel that our elder grandson would love it, but it took a while for me to find a pattern that would work with it. This top is the Altitude Pullover from Peekaboo Patterns. I have made several of their pullover patterns for the boys in the past so knew that this would be pretty straightforward to put together, which it was. 

There wasn't enough of the lava fabric for a hood so I used the cowl neck option instead. With necklines like these I always have a hard time working out which will be the right side and which the wrong as you will see in the top below made for the littler grandson :)

He loves a Highland Cow so when I came across this fabric and the matching co-ordinate in a destash group I just had to have it! The cowl neck took three attempts on this one as I strove to avoid having upside down Highland Coo's :) I ended up with the back of the topstitching showing on the collar, but as it is in a very jolly rainbow thread I didn't mind too much!

Of course I cannot make for the grandsons and not make something for our gorgeous granddaughter too! These are the Beep Beep Raglan and Lightening Leggings patterns from Waves and Wild. I was able to get the top from remnants of some lovely, soft brushed back French Terry so the little lady will be warm and snuggly in her new top. 

On a recent trip to Newcastle I bought a load of swim fabric at 1st for Fabrics, which I have never sewn with before so that will be a new challenge for me. Wish me luck and if you have any tips I will be very happy to receive them :)

Hairy Companion

 The theme for this quarter's Endeavourers Challenge is Animal Kingdom. As ever, it took me ages to decide what to do for the Challenge but, a recent trip to Mull provided the perfect inspiration. 

Our younger grandson shares his name with a Highland Cow character in a series of books that we have bought for him over the years. Living in Northumberland he doesn't get the opportunity to see real-live Highland Cows that often, so he was delighted when we sent him this photo from our holiday trip. 

His bedtime story pick often features his namesake books, so I decided that my project for this quarter's challenge would be a reading pillow featuring his favourite character :)

Given that it needed to be fairly robust, little boys are not particularly known for their care and consideration for cushions and pillows (at least not in our family!) I opted for simple raw-edge applique for the face and horns. 

Two black button eyes peek out from behind that mass of hair. The fringe is a piece of faux suede stitched in place and then cut into strips. I like the tactile nature of the suede and thought that it would not fray, but it seems to be fraying already on the cut edges, so it might not be as small boy proof as I had thought :)

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My original intention for the background was to create some sort of landscape with various different fabrics, but when I came across a piece of this lovely AMH fabric tucked away in my stash I thought that it was a much better idea. Spiky, thistle-like plants and Highland Cows are the perfect match, don't you think? 

The boys are coming to visit this week and we have a new book in the series to read, so with our comfy Highland Cow pillow behind us we are all set for bedtime reading :)

Head on over to the Endeavourers blog to see all the amazing makes my fellow Endeavourers have produced for this month's challenge, you will not be disappointed!