The post Christmas catch up.

Three weeks since Christmas and I still haven't got everything back to 'normal'.  I do love Christmas, with the tree and the food and the decorations and the food and a toasty warm fire, and did I mention the food?

Unfortunately almost as soon as Christmas was out of the way Chloe came down with ... something, although I don't really know what.  It's kind of a cold as she's all stuffed up, kind of a flu as she's sore, pretty grumpy and looks like a zombie most of the time and, from what I've read there's a small chance of it being whooping cough, help me the cough I've never heard such a noise coming out of a small child.  The bouts almost always end up in her being sick and leave her feeling shattered but unable to get to sleep before the next bout of coughing sets her off again.

So, basically, not much happening around here other than laying around snuggled under blankets and watching a lot of movies to pass the time.

I haven't really got my making mojo back just yet because I've just had too many other things to tend to and to be honest I'm just a little bit burnt out cleaning up after a sick little one.  She really doesn't get sick very often and almost never more than a dose of the sniffles ... I think I'm a bit spoilt:)

I did manage to whip up some new thank you notelets for my shops.  They're just 160gsm card cut down to A6*, I've added strips of fabric, offcuts and selvages mostly along with a handwritten "Thank You" (awful handwriting I know) on the front and space for a little personal note of thanks inside.  I quite like these ones and I've some more offcuts and a selvage or two still waiting to be used so they should keep me ticking over for a while.

I'm not doing too badly with the sky blanket either, it's nice to have a little something to keep my hands busy (and my sanity in check) in the evenings.  I've been sewing the squares as I go along, although I've four more to add since taking this photo and I've yet to knit today's darkest of dark grey square.

I've knitted the squares in two strands of dk yarn on 7mm needles, casting on 18 stitches and knitting 27 rows, casting off on the 28th row.  I've been knitting the squares in the evening and pinning them out to 13cm to block overnight.  So with the quilt being 18 squares wide and 20 long I should end up with a quilt measuring roughly 234 x 260 and it should fit Chloe's bed perfectly.

By the way, I got the biggest hug ever when I told her I was making it for her, but since she'll likely drag it around the house to make the little nests she likes to play and read in I'll probably end up knitting a border around the finished quilt and backing it with cotton, I'll hand tie the backing to each of the points where four squares meet.  Hopefully there'll be slightly less risk of snags and pulls once it's backed.

In the meantime in preparation for a time when I can get on with making again, I'm having a little bit of a January sale to make some room.  There's a little of everything in there, although quite a bit has already been snapped up but there are a few bargains left until the sale finishes on 31st January.

And now while my poor little creature snores her head off beside me, I might just try and sidle out for a mug of hot coffee ...

* Yes, you'll notice a couple of smaller cards up front.  I did say I was tired and suffered a very small brain fart and decided to make the cards to a specific size before I woke up enough to realise I should have made them A6 to begin with and I wouldn't have had any waste.