The old ones are the best ones ….

No Ben, I’m not talking about you … though of course to me you are the very best senior Newfoundland dog in the world!

I was thinking of patterns (more of this later), though in fact this saying came very much to mind as Rosie and I did a car boot sale this morning.  She and Dan are having a mega-clearout in preparation for the baby’s arrival, and as well as lots of books, DVDs and general household items we had some wedding items to sell too.  So as the forecast was good we packed the car last night and headed off to Bath racecourse this morning where we had a lovely time.  Rosie was very good and strict with herself, resisting the temptation to wander around the sale, looking at everyone else’s old and unwanted items.  I must admit however, that I did come home with a couple of really nice little glass  cloches ….

Seen here on my conseravatory windowsill next to my flask (also quite old!) which has been washed and is drying.  Although a lovely sunny day it was very chilly to begin with and we were glad of a mug of cocoa each. The cloches are a lovely quality glass and about 8″ tall.  And at only £1 each – bargain!  They’ll look lovely with a little plant beneath – or perhaps sheltering some baubles or other decoration at Christmas.

Behind them you can see one of my little succulent mini-hoops – part of a set of four for the October magazine.  Also in next month’s issue is a revised, updated and very much improved Charlie the Patchwork Elephant pattern.  Charlie has been one of my most popular designs, but I’ve been wanting to improve him for quite some time …

That’s the new Charlie on the left.  I think he has a friendlier face now I’ve turned his trunk upwards and given him shiny (slightly repositioned)  bead eyes rather than buttons.  His ears are more curved as well and rather than faux-hexagon patchwork I’ve used stitch and flip for a stronger, more robust body.  Importantly too, I’ve now included the templates at full size so there’s no more fussing around resizing the pages.  I think he’s a perfect example of creating something really fun from a collection of scraps.