There were suspicious noises and curious noises when we tried to get some photos of my new dress.  The friendly sheep were sneaking up on me.  They are not even my sheep.

The empty section next door is hos to a range of animals that come and go as the neighbors try to keep the grass down.  The sheep are usually content to follow us along the fence line.  Sometimes they will even try to stare down unusual visitors - from the safety of the other side of the fence of course.

However, today they had other ideas.  This one wants to be a model and write her own pattern reviews.  I am imagining something along the lines of "... romney wool vest with interseasonal adjustments, fits well, rather flattering on the more rotund sheep, looking forward to getting into the summer length sometime soon..."

For more about the dress, the pattern review is over here.

 While the sun was shining, we bundled the kids into the car and headed to the beach to see Grandma and Granddad.  With buckets in hand we were off on a beach walk.  Sticks were collected for magic wands and growing gardens.  We saw tiny washed up jelly fish. 

When armed with a camera, E takes a little more time to see what is going on around her.  It was also a enlightening to see what she had seen when we got back home.

I am totally enamored with a two year old called Abraham.  He's a rose.  My husband gave me this rose for my birthday last year.  It's called Abraham Darby and finally has enough flowers for me to cut swathes and bring them inside. 

As I get to grips with gardening, I am discovering why standard roses are desirable - easy to weed around.  Perhaps this should have been planted closer to the wall - again, easier to weed around.  Though, I am loving the sneaky iris stems that make their way through the rose bush and the aquilegias that pop up everywhere.  It looks like I have a lot to learn.

Floral arrangement is not one of my talents.  I live by the simple Martha Stewart ethos - 50 of anything will look stunning.  One day we might even have enough roses to get 50 of something, for now I'm just pleased to have enough to bring inside.

I was fortunate enough to find these Maudella patterns in the op shop recently.  It was an introduction to the beauty of both Maudella and non printed patterns.  I had never heard of this brand but was delighted to hear about the cottage industry beginnings of this pattern  on the BBC website.  Who would have thought that a Yorkshire woman toiling in her attic would launch a whole company that lasted close to 50 years.  Apparently some of the appeal lay in the name. While Maudella does sound a little like a feigned french accent saying 'model', the name has more to do with the designer being called Maude.

I love the hand (or possibly machine) punched labels, tack marks and diamonds.  I look forward to making one of these someday soon as they are just the right size for Little E.  She tells me she likes the top left one the best.  This is not because she likes the stylish kick pleats, instead she really wants the high heels that the model has.