Resuscitating A Wooly Blankie

This is a tale about my grandson's blanket:

It is a well-loved blanket that he has been devoted to since he was a baby. We tried to replace it with a similar one, but he still prefers "Old Ooo-Ooo" (his name for the blanket - he used to make this ooo-ooo-ooo monkey noise while hugging it, so we began calling it Ooo-Ooo, which is now its rightful name!).

However, Ooo-Ooo was in a pitiful state, near death really. His (and Ooo-Ooo is a he, according to Tyler) backing had completely separated from the seam joining it to the soft wooly top. The edges were ravelled, so the backing was now smaller than the top. Julie had safety pinned it back together, which wasn't working too well and caused some holes to form. So as a nurse, I decided to do some emergency surgery and resuscitation to see if I could bring poor Ooo-Ooo back from the brink. After scrubbing in (a gentle washing of the two parts of him in the Delicate cycle), I began.

First, in Ooo-Ooo's first of several surgical procedures, I excised (trimed off) the ravelled edges and sutured (patched) the holes. I didn't want the patches to be on the outside, because Tyler loves the soft backing. So I patched from the back, and then zig-zagged the openings of the holes so they would no longer ravel, leaving as much of the backing intact as possible in spite of the odd shapes this produced:



Next, I surgically removed (cut with scissors) the old seam off, in order to make the top and bottom the same size and not be bulky at the edges:

I basted the top to the backing, then sewed white satin blanket binding to the edges to finish them off nicely (plus Julie, his mommy, loved the the satin edging on her blankets when she was his age).

Ooo-Ooo had a quick recovery from the trauma his surgeries inflicted. Here he is, resting on the couch, regaining his strength (and it is impossible in this house to recover from anything without a cat):

Of course, it wasn't long before he was pressed into service again with the blessing of his surgeon. No rest for the weary. But I think Ooo-Ooo is happy to have not been given up on. His owner is surely happy!

London Final Day - Going Home

To sum it all up, this was one of the nicest trips ever. I am so glad I could share this experience with Kristin. We both had a marvelous time, saw amazing sights, met new friends, and enjoyed each other's company. I would love to go to London again, and this time with my whole family. I know Paul would simply love it, the gardens the palaces and the museums - he would be in heaven. My dream now is for our family to save up enough so that we can all go together, including little Tyler of course! I am so grateful to Jennie Chancey of Sense & Sensibility Patterns for making this trip possible for Kristin and me.

The View From The Plane - Homeward We Go

London Wednesday - Greenwich

Wednesday, our last full day in London, found us traveling to Greenwich. There we toured the tiny but beautiful Fan Museum, home to some of the most gorgeous historic fans you will ever see:

Here is a little cat that we made friends with after the tour (he and his buddy, the big, orange cat, tried to sneak into our tea later on):

Here is a view of Greenwich, taken from the top of the hill where the Royal Astronomical Observatory and the zero degree longitude mark is:

Here is Kristin, with one foot in the eastern hemisphere and one foot in the western hemisphere:

After touring the Observatory, we ambled down the huge hill to The Queen's House, which once was a royal residence but now houses nautical paintings. To be honest, we found this to be a little ho-hum, but the view back up the hill was very nice from the veranda:

After a few hours of touring Greenwich, we returned to the Fan Museum to have tea in their Orangery. This was one of the most beautiful tea houses I have ever had the privilege to be in. The walls were covered in trompe l'oeil paintings, so it was as if we were out on an open veranda:

I am over to the far left, wearing my Romantic Gown

The ceiling - breathtaking

The view to the outside


The garden