Ay up me draught excluder

I have a very good friend from Nottingham.   We met when we worked together in London, and a mutual friend introduced her to her (southerner) husband.   They had a son together and settled in Hertfordshire.   One Christmas I saw a remote controlled duck that you use in the bath.   As we frequently ribbed each other about the differences in my Highgate accent versus her East Midlands one, I thought a bath duck (barth duck vs bath dook) would be a little joke, as well as being a great present for a little boy.   He loved it, the joke was appreciated and it began a long saga of duck related presents.

Mother and son moved back up north and the little boy became a fluent East Midlands speaker.   Ay up me duck and all that.   We have carried on exchanging presents for years now, and each birthday and Christmas we increase the duck related merchandise.   Duck tape anyone?   Yes, I have done that!

She moved house last year and her new front door is very draughty.   I said I’d make her a draught excluder, but events overtook me and she had a draughty winter.

She is coming to stay with me at the weekend, so I made up my mind to get it made.   I can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner.   It was so quick to make.   In fact the thing that took the longest amount of time was chasing rogue polystyrene balls around the carpet.

I bought the fabric at the Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally specifically because it had ducks (dooks) on it.   I still have more so she may get something else made from it at Christmas.

As well as the polystyrene balls, I added some lavender.   The front door is where the footie trainers are kept, so a bit of lavender may help matters.

I still have some polystyrene balls left so I may make some more for my Christmas craft fairs.

Linking up with the Handmade Harbour Handmade Monday blog.