Secret March Makes and Keeping Busy

There have been some secret makes in March which I couldn't share until now.  4 cute trousers and cardigans for a friend with 4 special Unicef dolls named after the Walker children in Arthur Ransome's Swallow and Amazons series.

 4 crocheted decorations.

 My version of a bright and cheerful kingfisher. I think he's a little plump!

A crocheted onion holder or even a project bag.

 At long last our bedroom walls are painted plain clean fresh white. It feels lovely!

 More painting! This morning I painted the inside of the herb bed green to match the outer. It was too full to paint last Summer. Nice to have that little tail end of a job done while the sun is shining. I came across the buried slab when wondering why the grass wasn't draining properly in all the rain we had. I decided to leave it in but expand the lavender bed up to it. I had some of last year's lavenders which needed to come out of the blue pots. The bees will love it! The geranium is plonked on the corner to stop the hounds from walking on the bed when they cut the corner.

 We sponsored young Flores a Palm Nut Vulture (they hang upside down in palm trees like bats to eat the palm nuts) from the International Bird of Prey centre nearby.

With the UK finally joining the lockdown of Europe, so many animal charities and rescues are facing hardship. If you have something local to you please give a donation. They will be finding it impossible to adopt the animals they have. The small organisations may not even have enough food to tide them over the lock down. Amazon are prioritising food deliveries which I think include sacks of dog food, if you don't want to send a donation.

In these "interesting" times, we need to be trying to help where we can. If you have an elderly neighbour play adult postman's knock and leave some food on their doorstep, ring the bell and run. (I may have actually ran as I needed a bit of fun.) I left a note with our phone number on so one man in his 90s can call us if he needs anything, even a chat. Socially isolated doesn't need to mean lonely.

We have to look out for one another as its going to take a while before the authorities get properly organised. We really needed a 24 hour notice period before the lock down to make sure the most vulnerable were sorted. Its been an utter shambles with people not even knowing if they should go to work or not the next morning as the Prime Minister made the announcement in the evening when businesses were closed.

 A local lady spun the alpaca fluff I had been buying from Ludlow Medieval Christmas Fair for years. It is gorgeous and feels so natural and wonderful. I need to find the perfect project for it. I'm thinking about something possibly with a feather colourwork graduated through the coat/cardigan. It's got to be special for such a special set of yarns.

 The friend who has 4 Unicef dolls named after the Walker children in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazon books made me 4 dolls named Nancy and Peggy Blackett, and Dick and Dorothea Callum. Of course they have accessories for their adventures, so needed a bird and water themed bag to store them in. I had lots of rectangle scraps which I pieced ad hoc to make one side.

Another bag!

 I used stashed bright rat/ mouse themed fabric to create a 3 way bag. It can be a rucksack like the photo above or a shoulder bag or tote below, depending on how you thread the straps through the rings.

 I made an internal divider and lining from a jacks game themed fabric.

 "Rats and Jacks" bag!

Yesterday was my birthday. I have started re collecting the Sindy and Barbie things I had in the 1970s. You can still buy knitting patterns for them on ebay so I indulged in using a bit of leftovers to make this slightly longer birthday skirt. I need to sew poppers on next. It didn't take long at all so was very satisfying.

I think like many of you we are looking at our stash of yarn and cloth and wondering what we can make from it during Lockdown. Scrap projects like dolls clothes are viable. I'm still making a flag a day for my bunting where I fold a square into a triangle over the cord, then sew the raw edges wrong sides together. A simple make but it helps shape my day and gets me looking at my red white and blue fabric. Yep I've gone patriotic in the hope that the cheerful bunting will go in the garden when we are all free to mingle again.

The food shops have gaps in the aisles when you have to go out for supplies. I sowed a few veg seeds at the beginning of the month, but now I am more seriously hoping that they will be a success. I never thought that reading The Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society book last year and then researching the real life events and visiting Guernsey would now have such a practical use. I'm not exactly Digging For Victory, but my potatoes are in.

Keep Calm and Carry on Crafting dear sisters around the world.