gentlytiptoe

sometimes.

2010-11-13T00:14:00.002Z

sometimes I worry about what I will post. sometimes things seem too mundane, or the photo isnt good enough, or its too long ago, or no one reads it anyway. sometimes then I dont post for months. then I remember, and I am sad because I haven't kept a record, for myself, not for any other reason but to look back on and smile. and I promise myself I will do it tomorrow, because i know i am queen of procrastination. sometimes I stop mid sentence and think, 'is that all I have to say?', or 'did I really just say that out loud?'....

recent finds

2010-06-03T23:12:00.002+01:00

...from the charity shop.

undercover pics from Liberty -fave bits!

2010-05-30T00:25:00.007+01:00

flying origami cranes

over matching flowery blouses

really nice sofa

kids bikes

I-want-one lamps

glowing.

its hard to hide a big camera, next time I might take a smaller one for this purpose!

saving the scraps...

2010-05-29T00:06:00.001+01:00

spent a day in London this week without the kids, as other half had a brief moment recording for a bbc programme. I treated myself to some new goodies in Libertys. The top picture represents a leaving gift for one of the childrens teachers, I made a linen tote bag lined in some of the liberty fabric and L decorated a matching brooch with pili palas (butterflies, some welsh names are just better!). A late-night crafting session that I totally forgot to photograph, and now the gift has been given. Loving that I can afford the flip flops that are 'Liberty for Target', they hurt my feet a bit but I am pretending they don't as they are so pretty.

string fun

2010-05-04T22:34:00.005+01:00

Saw this idea somewhere a long while ago, and can't remember where now, but thought it would be fun to do across the whole of our little garden. I began by tying wool between the two hedges, and criss crossing it across the garden. soon the children wanted to join in too. except the eldest, who wanted to rationalise it. me and the little ones had great fun though, creating a maze of threads, like a loose weave, across our little piece of land.

Soon a little spider had been added to the giant web, and it had been declared great fun 'can we keep this up all week to play under.?' of course we can.

May!

2010-05-03T23:26:00.003+01:00

shame on me! look where we are, i seem to have missed a whole season. hey ho. not much has changed anyway. there, we are all caught up!. some pretty blossom so we don't have to keep seeing my feet in the snow.

snow days

2010-01-15T18:15:00.002Z

been crocheting triangles...

2009-12-05T21:37:00.003Z

When I saw how lovely this bunting by tania of Ninon is I knew I had to try to shamelessly copy it! only for my own personal use and I do hope she doesn't mind, take a look at the awesome stuff she makes while you are over at her site. I have only really dabbled with crochet before and had to kind of make it up as I went along. I also crocheted 17 triangles, yes 17! I am very bad at doing anything more than once, I get bored easily, so I was very pleased with myself. It is also a long time since I last made pompoms, and they did turn out a little huge and over-enthusiastic, but I like their exuberance!

and then, while I was uploading my photos, I came across these pictures of Isla playing ('scuse the mess, its always like that here!) and was reminded of a few more little bits of crochet I have done, The bunny is a hand me down from a friend(bought), but I made the little orange doll last christmas, and also made the little blanket some time this year, I don't think I have ever posted them here before. I love seeing her play with them and enjoying them.

vintage swap-sent items

2009-11-29T21:22:00.000Z

just looking through my photos and realised I never added pics of what I sent to Merle for the vintage swap. so here it is. just because I am nosey and like to see what other people have got in the post, and maybe other people are just as nosey as me??!!

the cup very nearly stayed with us, it is a kind of copper colour print and is so kitsch, love it, queenie dear!

upcycled linen napkin doll

2009-11-25T22:19:00.010Z

These slender feet belong to a little doll I have just finished for my good friend Julia. She is made from old linen napkins, including a lovely embroidered one for her bodice.

I gave her frilly pantaloons so as not to lose the nice green edging. The buttons are vintage too, in face the only new bit is the silk dupion for her hair. a bargain from a recent shopping trip!

She turned our really elegant, don't you think? I love all her different textures, she was a little hard to wrap up and post, and I had to grit my teeth and say 'no' when the post office man asked me if there was anything of value in the parcel. Glad to bring a smile to a good friend, she arrived safe and will, I'm sure, be loved.

vintage swap goodies

2009-11-16T21:42:00.004Z

this happened oh so long ago now, but every day I think about posting and it doesn't quite happen. so, gonna do it now, even though my photos are wonky and blurry. had a lovely parcel from Merle with fun and crafty items for my enjoyment!

I am really looking forward to having a go at the garland kit, once I have got on top of some of the current projects; finishing a doll for a good friend, making my son an Ash costume (fantastic mr Fox's son!) and, biggest of all, a 3 way bedroom swap (thats every bedroom) upstairs. I will leave you for now with a still life from my bedroom.

a night in a castle

2009-11-02T22:46:00.003Z

to make last weeks half term more memorable and holiday-like, I went in search of somewhere fairly nearby where we could stay for a night. It had to be close and reasonably priced - I never thought we would find a castle, but look!

a castle!

slightly scary twins at castle, actually Lucie and her little cousin playmate.

the stairs to our bedroom in the tower, where they locked us up at night (really!). they spiralled steeply round the corner there. The bedroom had bunks and single beds in typical YHA style, but deep deep walls and inset windows.

stocks in the castle grounds, and there was also a jail, which the people who checked in before us had to sleep in. a great adventure that we will all remember for a long time.

collecting in the sun

2009-10-01T21:17:00.004+01:00

We have been at it again, collecting conkers, So nice to have enthusiastic children set out with empty bags to see what they can find. And this is a new stomping ground for us, a park in a neighbouring town that has a veritable avenue of horse chestnut trees laden with conkers, brilliant! It also has a few funky tree sculptures, like this one Luce is admiring.

Back indoors, I have wanted to fabric-wrap a traditional lamp shade frame for ages since I saw the idea in Marie Claire Idees. I finally found a suitable lampshade at a local charity shop, and when my favourite green linen trousers became threadbare this month, I decided to chop them up! So here it is, not a very good pic as the sun is making it tricky :)

Micro beer festival

2009-09-27T22:06:00.000+01:00

Last weekend my husband had a gig with his ukulele band at a lovely little beer festival. It had a lovely atmosphere and lots of chilled out crafty kids. It was at some artists studios, and we had a lovely day.

Today I ate 1000 cupcakes

2009-09-17T23:04:00.002+01:00

(awaiting photos!!)

Well ok, so maybe not 1000, but a good few! This week is National Cupcake Week, so really, it was the least I could do. We have a tradition of Cake Day among some of my friends here, so we had the perfect excuse. It is such a lovely way to catch up with each other, relax and let our children hang out together, and even to get some new garden furniture built. I must take photos of that too, as this is a really random stream-of-consciousness post without pics!

tibetan prayer flags

2009-09-10T22:25:00.007+01:00

After seeing this different take on a type of bunting, I knew we had to make some. So, one rainy summer day we set to cutting squares from my extensive scraps collection. the children drew images to do with summer using fabric marker pens on some old calico curtain fabric, then we sewed them together, sometimes with a line of stitching, other times using buttons or beads.
I also made a 'summertime' stamp in three pieces on three tiny erasers and stamped some squares with those.

This is how I would like more of our free time to be spent, all happily crafting away, but so often more time is spent setting up and then tidying up afterwards. The girls especially really liked doing this though and it kept us busy for most of the day! And Lucie revealed herself to be a talented little seamstress, sewing more than her elder brother and sister put together, unfortunately I didn't have the camera out then, and just realised I havent got any pics of the finished flags, now they are all hung up.

summer in a tent

2009-09-09T20:57:00.005+01:00

The summer holidays always involve lots of camping trips, long weekends and weeks away, festivals and camps with groups and with friends. We have taken all the children since they were tiny, Lucie was 7 weeks old on her first camping trip. They always seem to sleep better too, all that fresh air and fun!

in no particular order

2009-09-08T23:51:00.006+01:00

Fancied a return to blogging. no really. I was never any good at keeping a diary either. And Blogger is as good a place as any, what made me think a different host would make any difference? so i return. so here we are a diary of sorts. to inspire me. day-to-day. and to share. This photo is one of many from our summer holidays - collecting conkers in August. Autumn is here before we blinked in the summer sun it seems.

a few tree moments.

moved out

2009-03-23T22:52:00.004Z

fancied a bit of a change to revitalise myself a bit so I have moved my blog over to wordpress, I am still gentlytiptoe so please come and see me there!

Button Your Eyes

2009-02-06T23:03:00.006Z

Tuesdays snowman must have known about this, a new film Coraline that is out this week in the US, not sure when it comes to the UK, soon I hope. After first reading about it at Craftzine blog I have spent the evening watching trailers and playing with the website and looking at the boxes they sent out to 50 different blog sites to promote the film. check it out, it looks really cool. It is stop frame animation, and has lots of crafty things, tiny knitting, sewing, circus mice, cool music including a song by They might be Giants, and of course buttons! you can download the button poster(above) and several others from their site, you can find it in one of the pictures in the sitting room of the house. I am going to frame mine and put it on the wall, its slighty creepy, but I like it.

snow day

2009-02-03T20:34:00.004Z

Esme's mini snowman.

Please bear with us if you live somewhere snowy, but it doesn't happen much here, today it snowed! We made a big snowman, bigger than the children, and some mini-ones, threw lots of snowballs, and sledged down the main road, as there were no cars and the roads were snowed over. Then back into the house for homemade soup and homemade bread, and to warm up in front of a cosy log fire.

I am regretting throwing out my wellies a few weeks ago, my shoes aren't really up to snow play, being open on top and smooth underneath, which is kind of skiddy when pushing big snowman body parts and at the same time carrying a 9 month old in a sling. all good fun though, now the gloves and hats are drying out, I wonder if there will be any snow left to play in tomorrow?

paper butterflies

2009-01-30T17:10:00.003Z

I have been enjoying cutting out lots of these little butterflies this past week, an instantly gratifying craft activity.

I have been using the teensiest cuticle scissors, and tracing the butterfly images from a book of insects and flowers. All the butterflies I have cut are native to western Europe. Way too chilly here for butterflies at the moment though, maybe we will have snow this weekend?

Hello again!

2009-01-26T21:29:00.003Z

I guess I should first wish you a happy new year. It has been a while hasn't it. Sometimes, with 4 kids and all that, stuff gets hectic. Excuses, excuses.

Anyway, I crocheted this little hat just before christmas using a ball of lovely wool that I received in a red and pink swap from Amity a gazzilion years ago (a long time anyway). I got the pattern from this funny book of crazy hats. Strangers stop me on the street to comment on it, I think that means it is cute, thats the reason I'm hoping anyway. I went in the Pound shop this afternoon and the lady on the till said to the other assistant, look, its that baby in her sling with the hat who we saw this morning.

I'm the talk of the Pound shop.

pumpkin fun

2008-11-03T21:30:00.006Z

We dont really do halloween, but I do like a pumpkin, so last Thursday we went to the pumpkin farm and chose a nice big one to carve. They were quite pricey so we all shared one and squandered the rest of our money on the other goods for sale; locally made ice cream (for the children) and hot chocolate (for the grown ups) to enjoy at the farm, and a jar of fresh honey to take away with us. There was also a walk with clues that took us into the orchard, past the henhouse, through the vinyard and back to the pumpkins. The children charged round, it was freezing but very sunny, and we had a really lovely afternoon.

autumn acorns and mice

2008-10-19T00:58:00.005+01:00

Getting into the Autumn groove, I have been enjoying making these acorn caps over the last week or so, I am not so good at crochet really, but these are easy peasy! The children have been enjoying the Brambly hedge Autumn story. We love the detailed illustrations of the little mice houses.

(ps, the acorn cup pattern was not originally by me, I found it on whip up (I think!) but now i cant find it to put in a proper link)(link added, it was via crafty crow!)

small things of beauty

2008-10-06T21:20:00.002+01:00

I have to show you this moss.

It grows on a wall I walk past most days. I first noticed it on a really really rainy day, I was walking home up the hill, pushing the baby in her pushchair, with my toddler by my side walking, and we were drenched, to the point where I had just decided we couldnt get any wetter.

We slowed down to a stroll, and looked around about us, and there was this moss, luminous against the dark, nearly black-wet stones of the wall. It was so green and soft and velvet and lovely, and we just stood and looked at it and touched it.

Now I cannot walk past without touching its loveliness, and I may not have even seen it had we not got so wet.

coasters

2008-09-30T17:47:00.003+01:00

I was inspired by some ric rac coasters I saw on whipup to make some for myself. I had already been thinking I would make some quilted ones from this lovely tree mushroom squirrel fabric. I cut rough squares, hand sewed them and stuffed them with a piece of old woollen blanket to make them able to withstand lots of heat. I found it tricky to get the ricrac round the edge, I think I was probably doing it wrong (I didnt read the tutorial!), but they turned out sweet and make me smile and only took an evening to make.

cake day

2008-09-29T16:27:00.001+01:00

Chocolate chip cookies, Lemon syrup cake, Praline cake, Devon apple cake and a carrot.

A few days ago we had a long-missed cake day round at my house. We used to do this more frequently but have got out of the habit!

It involves everyone baking the day before, then bringing a cake to share, and we sit about and chat and drink tea, all day. There were the usual cake day group of friends plus a few newbies as my sitting room isnt too big, but we have lost some original members to full-time employment. We had a little collection for the Christian Aid Mad Hatters Tea Party (like we needed an excuse to eat cake!) I also made cheese scones for lunch, one friend brought round fresh chives for these and another bought olives - the carrots were for the babies!

tree report

2008-09-17T18:16:00.004+01:00

Over the summer a flock of beautiful birds have made a new home for themselves in my little fabric tree. The branches are rather crowded but no-one seems to mind. The bird pattern was from ....

and here is the progress of the weather tree after almost a month. I think I could have picked the colours better in hindsight. I will continue this year and change them for next year I think.

And Esme has been thinking about trees too, she drew this one last week.

so excited

2008-08-19T23:16:00.004+01:00

...to receive this in the post!

It is a weather tree, and I and my sister in law Red Rapunzel have been searching for this poster for 5 years since we first saw one. We were staying in Ilam hall youth hostel and there was one in the shop window, but it was the only copy and not for sale. since then we have been unable to track one down, and after many phone calls to the YHA I had all but given up. But she has managed to track them down and buy one for me too! And, on what I think is a new website, you can buy one for yourself here.

You assign a different colour for each type of weather condition, and then each day of the year you colour in one leaf according to the weather, we are going to use watercolour pencils. So you eventually get a pictoral record of a whole years weather. you can start at any time during the year, we started ours yesterday.

how does your garden grow?

2008-06-14T23:16:00.003+01:00

recently we took charge of our neighbours garden while they were away on holiday. I had a little willing helper, to water the many pots. We then went back to our garden, which is mostly lawn and plastic toys, and felt inspired to attempt to grow some of our own. here there should be a photo of our great success, but the slugs and snails all seem to live on our side of the hedge!

trip to the beach

2008-05-23T23:24:00.006+01:00

My love of the seaside has meant it is never very long before my babies get to see the sea. This has to be one of our favourite beaches too, it has rockpools, nice smooth sand when the tide is out, (although an alarmingly quickly incoming tide!) and an exciting hidden walled garden with heavy weathered gates and turreted walls, great for hiding and chasing about in.

We spied this garden display belonging to the little house right next to the sea, how did we miss it before? One day I want to live by the sea just so I can have a wall like this!

Isla was not phased by all this though, cosy in her sling, she just came for the ride!

what shall i call this - blimey a post???!!!!

2008-05-21T21:02:00.004+01:00

Thought I would share some most recent gifts, it was my birthday on Monday, a pretty jar of buttons, arranged in rows of colours, a gift from Julia (thank you!) and a hand spun and handmade bracelet, a gift from non blogging (yet - though she should!) kirsten - thank you too! (fabric behind and on top of jar is from Julias recent trip to London, I must let her do a guest blog in the next few days and tell you all about it!)

Baby Born keeps freaking me out, Esme has taken to dressing her in the babys clothes, borrowing the moses basket and putting baby born in it, leaving her lying on the floor, that kind of thing. You can see why, they are pretty similar!!

I haven't fallen off the edge of the planet after all. here I am. And its not the babys fault, its my stupid Internet provider. it mostly isn't working. roll on June, and hopefully a smooth switch over (another) to someone better.

busy little blackbird

2008-04-26T23:12:00.007+01:00

From my sitting room window I have been watching this female blackbird collecting materials to build her nest. She has chosen a beautiful spot, deep among the flowering clematis right next to the window. We cannot see the nest, and I am guessing now she is getting ready, or maybe even sitting on her eggs already, as I have only seen Mr Blackbird the last few days, taking mouthfuls of worms to the nest.I am hoping soon to see baby blackbirds taking their first flights, how lovely.

And here is my newest little bird, we have named her Isla, after much pondering, choosing names is so hard. I have been enjoying dressing her in the nighties that I wore when I was newborn - they have lasted well!

She's arrived!

2008-04-18T10:03:00.000+01:00

Yes, the moses basket has a new resident! We have a beautiful baby girl, born at home on Monday evening.

quick, sew!

2008-04-10T22:29:00.002+01:00

After seeing the lovely job Kisskus did on her moses basket, I decided maybe I would have one too this time. I won the basket on ebay last week for a bargain £3.80, and immediately ordered myself some scrummy japanese fabric. I admit to blatantly copying the simple style of basket cover from kisskus, hope she doesnt mind. I also decided to make a miniquilt to go with it, using every last scrap of my japanese fabric, and joining it with some of my favourite green linen fabric, which goes on forever (but is hard to sew with, as it has so much movement.)I also stole the idea for the strip of patchwork down the quilt from someone in blogland, and when I rediscover who it was I shall ask their permission and give credit!! (was it you???!!!) so, in 2 days i completed this fun task, and I am pleased with how it turned out. All ready now!

Today, Weirdbunny - my guest blog writer!

2008-04-10T22:08:00.005+01:00

(no news on the baby front yet!)

Hello Weirdbunny here.

Thankfully Hannah has let me invade her blog just for today to showcase the wonderful bunny I received from Suzie Sews. Yes I've finished my blog, but I just had to let everyone see the bunny Suzie made me as part of an Easter Swap we did. Thank you Suzie !
Julia x

38 weeks

2008-04-08T04:22:00.003+01:00

I was taking a few pics of the nearly completed bathroom at the weekend and decided it was about time I had a photo of me during this pregnancy! so here we are, 38 weeks and hoping baby will come anytime now.

Oh and this is the bathroom, the walls are a kind of grey, with the bottom half tiled with big white brick shape tiles. it needs some other stuff on the walls too, like a mirror and maybe some sort of art over the bath, as its a bit plain at the moment. other than that, its turned out really well. Oh, need some new towels too.

and another one of me, dont you just love stretchy dungees!

Birds

2008-04-02T22:46:00.003+01:00

Laurie has been drawing some great things this Easter holiday, especially birds. He drew his Nana a card with a jackdaw on for her birthday last week, and it was the beginning of many more bird pictures. I especially liked this little blue one.

Pirates, rabbits and snails

2008-03-26T21:53:00.002Z

A random snapshot of our life here today! I have been meaning to make this pirate T-Shirt for ages now, we have this cool book called 'Tim, Ted and the Pirates' that had an equally cool scull illustration that I have always wanted to print onto a shirt. I was going to use freezer paper, but decided to use fabric pen this morning on a him. It turned out pretty good I think.

Next, Lucie poses with my Yo-Yo bunny, from Jackie as part of the Easter Bunny swap organised by Lucy Locket recycled. It is for the new baby, but try telling Lucie that!!

And finally, the (pet garden) snails have had babies, they thrive on neglect it seems.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T23:46:00.004Z

Hi, I am of course back home, blogging very infrequently again I am afraid, still trying to finish the bathroom, and every other room in the house seems to be affected too, you start moving one thing around.... Hubby laughs and says I am nesting. 4 weeks to go until baby is due - not long now thank goodness. I also lost my camera lead, have found it now though. wanted to share a great book I bought at the nursery booksale recently, Henny Penny. Does anyone remember it? It is such a reminder of childhood for me, look at the picture story inside!

We made Easter hats the other day, the children wore them today proudly. they involved lots of pens and glue and general stickiness - great fun!

Is anyone else having trouble uploading pictures to blogger? I cant seem to load a single picture easily since about christmas, it takes ages and sometimes just doesnt seem to load at all, so I have to keep cancelling. It doesnt like it if I put on more than one photo at a time either. Its driving me mad! (had to backdate this post a whole day as pics wouldnt upload at all!)

indoor fun

2008-02-28T23:51:00.005Z

Still away from home, we have been doing lots, inside and out. A few days ago I discovered this great idea for making little magazines (or in our case books) from one sheet of paper, Esme in particular has been enthralled ever since and has been busy making up stories.

The two younger children have been discovering some of the toys that used to belong to me and my brother, I love that they take pleasure in playing with them, even though they are worn and chipped and dont make loud noises or need batteries.

My weetabix racing car.

Little people.

daffodil woods walk

2008-02-25T23:30:00.006Z

We are away this week visiting my parents while at home hubby is in charge of supervising the man rebuilding the bathroom (how exciting!). Today we went on a lovely walk through Betty Daws Wood, the children, myself and Grandpa. The hundreds of daffodils are tiny and grow wild here, they are so pretty.

There were many snowdrops too.

blue skies

2008-02-22T17:45:00.006Z

Another week (or two) and no posts, oh dear. been busy, the children were home last week on half term, we had a lovely chill-out week, and the weather was really good to us, resulting in some al fresco eating of lunch, in the park and at home.
(there should be a pic of lunch here but blogger doesnt like it and refuses to load it!)
One day we had some friends big and small round for a clay-day, which was great fun for all of us.

I really must also announce the winner of the oops magazine freebie, which was...

mijk of mijk improves, picked out by Esme "Milk, it says milk mum, oh no, thats a J, it says...(followed by a long silence)...". she got confused by the name that looked like neither English or Welsh! So, another parcel to Mijk, as I noticed she just won Julias 300th post freebie too!!! lucky girl! I will get the parcel in the post as soon as I can.

Sun Monkeys

2008-02-08T23:01:00.000Z

I have been enjoying making these monkeys up for the last couple of evenings. And today they were able to bask in some rare winter sun. Still to decide if they need clothes, I kind of like them without. When I made Betsy, my first sock monkey, I tea dyed her to make her look old, and stuffed her with old cut-up shirts, so she is heavy and lumpy. These two are lovely and squishy and soft though.

oops, anyone like a freebie?

2008-02-07T22:35:00.000Z

I bought 2 copies of this months edition of Country Living (UK) by accident. the second time, I thought some bits looked familiar but just thought I must have browsed it well in the shop. when I was reading it at home, I was convinced I already had it, but a search of the magazine pile didnt find another copy.

Well, yesterday I found the first copy, with a different pile, of books. So, if you would like me to send it to you, leave me a comment. I would prefer to send it outside the UK, to someone who cant just go into a shop near them and buy it.(otherwise it doesnt seem worth the postage). I will get one of the children to pick a name from the comments in a few days. I will be popping in some other little bits with it too, to make up a nice parcel.

Crempog!

2008-02-05T22:56:00.000Z

Some welsh words are great, and Crempog is one of them, its up there with Sboncen (squash - the game of). Crempog is Welsh for Pancake, so happy Pancake Day!!

cabinet for threads

2008-01-21T23:58:00.000Z

Last night I made little shelves for this cabinet, it was originally a photo storage box. I will hang it on the wall, then I can always have my cotton threads to hand (out of reach of smaller hands). I need some more reels of thread now though, to fill it up.

some late sharing

2008-01-18T23:08:00.000Z

Blog etiquette seems to suggest it is still ok to show some christmas stuff in January. I have been waiting for a bright dry sunny day for nearly 2 months to take photos of a swap I received, and the weather just isn't playing. so here is a bit of the lovely swap I had from Bridie, I will put more pics on flickr. (check out the teensy ric-rac!).

This week Julia also finished and gave Lucie her fabric notebook, It is lovely and has been out with us on several trips already, 'drawing' relieves the boredom of sitting in a cafe with Mummy and her friends! I especially like how the vintage style fabric on the front of the book has a girl, and her back on the back, a coincidence Julia assures me, but a very happy one!

(will edit to include more links tomorrow when I have more energy!)

tiny patchwork

2008-01-13T18:44:00.000Z

For a while now I have been wanting to do some little patchwork hexagon handsewing. So on New Years Eve(while sitting in and watching Take That on TV!) I began this little project for myself. The tacking is still in (and there's a loose thread there), but here is a bit of it.

I was going to make a dolls quilt for one of the children, but the pieces are very little (smaller than an inch across) so it is going to be very labour intensive for an item that might get dragged about and left out in the garden, and I am also not sure whether the tiny seam allowance would stand up to too much play. I haven't quite decided what it will be yet, maybe a cover for a new diary or notebook, or perhaps just to frame and put on the wall.

I like the back, it shows all the work involved, especially the paper piecing that I havn't really done before (with excellent triangle graph paper from here). At the moment I am just going round randomly, adding hexagons to one side then the next, and I will stop when I am done. Any other ideas what it might become?

a late present

2008-01-09T16:18:00.000Z

Not even late for christmas (I haven't got there yet!), but for a new baby in the extended family born a few months back now. I made this lion softie from the book Embroidered Treasures by Claire Garland, then adapted the lion head and mane to make a matching little top.

The stripes are actually dark brown and white, its difficult to see in the rubbish light we have here at the moment, and the lions tummy is yellow and spotty. (and yes, I vandalised a second teeshirt to make the stripes matching!). The embroidery is mostly chain stitch and french knots, I am not good at chain stitch, if I think about it while I am doing it it goes wrong. I think I got away with it though (tried to switch off my mind and just do it). Hope they like it, it should be with them in the mail anytime now. and I don't think this branch of family read my blog so I shouldn't be spoiling anything by showing you here.

In full bloom

2008-01-06T23:47:00.000Z

Happy New Year, I knew I would get round to blogging again sometime!! So, christmas has been and gone, quite hectic in parts, and tomorrow the children go back to school and we begin over again, another year.

I treated myself to these lovely tulips today, they were reduced, and a bargain at 75p for 10. As I climbed into the car with them and told my husband they were 75p, obviously pleased with myself, I saw the look he gave me, that my father and I used to give my mother on such occasions, and knew exactly how unimpressed they were, and yet now I could feel exactly how my mother felt, (Im sure) too. So there we go, 2008 and I am becoming more like my mother every day. Worrying.

I too am blooming, 25 weeks pregnant now, and suddenly I look very expecting, 3 weeks ago you could hardly tell, now I have a huge belly. Pregnancy gets less fun each time I do it, Im sure there should be some deal where you get less time for good behaviour or something. I am looking forward to the nice baby reward at the end.

Dont mention my big tummy though, I am a bit shirty about it, If you see me, tell me I look tiny!

sing choirs of angels...

2007-12-14T18:15:00.001Z

This week we have been mostly doing christmas concerts. The children have been angels, Mary, Joseph, a star and a cowboy!! I didnt get many photos from the concerts themselves- why do I always end up with a seat at the back?? So this was a little home concert Lucie did for me (in pretty bad light, it has stopped getting properly light here these days)...because angels always wear berry hats, or didn't you know?

christmas tree

2007-12-14T16:51:00.000Z

I have been trying to post this all week but have not been able to upload the pics. either blogger is playing up, or it just doesnt like my new(ish) camera. really annoying anyway, but at least it has worked now.

I always find it hard to photograph the christmas tree, it never comes out looking as twinkly and pretty as it really is. This year we have a teeny real tree on the windowsill, and I have left all my usual ornaments in the attic, deciding this year to have a change. I wanted to keep it really simple,because it is so small, and have just got white handmade decorations. Me and the kids made these, using cookie cutters, rolling pins and Das clay. we made patterns by rolling the clay out on (free!) textured wallpaper samples that I got from the DIY store when we bought our tree. I am really pleased at how they turned out. I found the sweet pompom garland at paperchase.

advent

2007-12-08T16:36:00.000Z

Granny has been really busy, these are the lovely paper advent calendars she made and sent for the children this year. Each day they find a chocolate coin, a tiny handmade card, or a little toy and a sweet. They look really festive on our door too!

I can show this now

2007-12-03T22:27:00.000Z

Took Julias pressie round to her today, so now I can show you. It is a crochet hook roll, for her new hobby (well, possibly, she has a book on it!). On the front I embroidered mushrooms with cake on (of course), following my 6 year olds picture guidelines...she had seen my sketched ideas lying around, had coloured them in, then asked 'why are you drawing aliens Mum?'!!! So I thought it best she drew up new ones. Inside I put in a few hooks to start her off, with Fimo Mushroom ends - a great idea that I stole from my sister-in-law.

I had also given Julia a little green bird from the country living fair, and she had been on a shopping trip to cardiff, and bought me...a little green bird!!!

And I wanted to show you this picture that Esme drew yesterday during a visit from Nana and Grandpa, I found it once they had gone, and it makes me laugh each time I see it. Look at my Dads great angle, and his big feet!!!

Productive

2007-11-30T20:31:00.000Z

Today started out interestingly. All week I have had a nasty cold/flu-y thing, and I am just getting over it. Anyway, Esme has come down with it too, so I had decided not to send her to school today. We still had to walk down the hill in the wind and rain though, to take Laurie to school and Lucie to Meithrin. When we arrived at school his teacher came round the corner of the yard, surrounded with children. 'No school today' she told us, 'the classrooms have flooded!!'. (at this point I am wishing I had stayed in bed) Luckily a friend offers to walk Lucie round to Meithrin and another offers to collect her later. So we walk back up the hill, with one sick child and one sad-not-to-be-at-school energetic one.

Things went well after that though, the children played happily together, and because I didnt have the littlest one around I was pottering around and decided to get out my sewing machine for some projects I have ongoing. Now, they are ongoing because my machine needs a service, and only works when it feels like it. When it doesnt feel like it the bit under the foot doesnt feed through, and it is disasterous and tangly. Today though, it chose to work!!! Hurrah!

So, all in all the day turned out pretty good. The childrens birthday projects up top begun and finished, and this little project for my friend Julia nearly completed (its a surprise, thus the vague and dodgy photo!), just needs a little bit of hand finishing...and only a month late for her birthday!!!

vintage stocking swap

2007-11-29T22:25:00.000Z

Last week I received some amazing post! I recently took part in the Vintage Stocking Swap over on flickr, and the person sending to me was the lovely Bridget. I have sent my parcel to Maria but I was a bit late sending out, it is on its way now though Maria!

I was so excited with my stocking, absolutely full to overflowing with goodies, look she even had to put some in a little box for me too. I took photos of the stocking and the detail she added - a vintage silver teaspoon with my initial on it!!

After this I became so interested with the contents that my camera was laid aside, so I will have to show you the goodies another day, if the sun ever comes out here in rainy Wales again that is.

London

2007-11-25T16:25:00.000Z

Last weekend was very exciting! My sister in Law flew over from Northern Ireland, and on the saturday we caught the train to London for a weekend away. It was the first time I have ever left the children overnight, (they were with their Daddy) and it was really nice.

We spent Saturday afternoon walking around Marylebone High Street (funny video I just found), a great place to spend a few hours. We had lunch at Eat and Two Veg, which again I can recommend.

Early evening we braved the short but very busy walk along part of Oxford street and round to Liberty, where we browsed fabric and trimmings and buttons, before stumbling into their cafe for coffee and cake. We did have to put up with some most disappointing lemon cupcakes, they were solid and heavy and could probably have done some damage if thrown at a wall, which is all they were good for. It was nice to sit down though!

We stayed at Jurys in Islington overnight, then on Sunday we went to the Country Living Christmas fair. We met up with another Sister in law, and had a lovely day the three of us walking around the stalls, mostly browsing. One of my favourite stands had to be Made in Hastings, it looked beautiful and had so many nice things for sale. The fair closed at 3pm as it was the last day, and we JUST got round in time!

We had time for a quick meal in Wagamamas before it was time to head back for our train. We did have to spend longer than planned on Paddington station, due to a last minute platform change on the train we were supposed to get on, but our wait was eased by KrispyKreme donuts.

It has taken me all week to recover, I think, but we must do it all again soon!

bonfire night week

2007-11-08T17:47:00.000Z

On Monday I tried making toffee apples for the first time. They were delicious, I vaguely followed this recipe (I didnt watch the video so I dont know what its like, I just read the recipe) but I used Muscovado sugar instead of soft brown, and "butter me up' (!!!) instead of just plain butter, because that is what I had to hand. I also used red apples, which gave them a fantastic colour. They were good, The kids loved them, and Hubby declared them the best toffee apples he had ever tasted. I think the 'fake' butter, with veg oil in too, kept the toffee a little soft, and the muscovado sugar made them taste like treacle toffee. I shall be making more of these!

Awol

2007-11-06T20:30:00.000Z

Bet you are wondering where I have been (I am kidding myself someone still reads this), I have been awol a while haven't I??! Well, I have some excuses. As well as my normal excuse (general laziness) I have two other good excuses.

The first is that last week we were in Cornwall on holiday with my parents. We stayed in a little place called Polruan, which is near an only slightly bigger place called Fowey. The two are connected by passenger ferry (a 12 seater boat) and a small car ferry, both of which we used a lot. Its a really pretty place, the photo above is Readymoney Cove (which sounds like it is from a James Bond film or Famous Five Book), where we spent several afternoons searching about in rockpools and generally having fun.

My second excuse, is that I have been rather more tired than usual, due to the fact that we are getting a new one of these in April!

I am feeling a lot less sleepy now I am 16 weeks pregnant, and thankfully the morning sickness was fairly short-lived too this time round. We always hoped to have 4 children so we are really pleased, and I just love babies, they seem to be everywhere right now, I can hardly wait!!!

My friend sends me food parcels

2007-10-11T23:15:00.001+01:00

lovely newspaper packages tied up with string, full of vegetables from Julias garden. plus, as Lucie could hardly believe, the biggest leek ever!! it was almost 5 foot tall! vegetable hotpot for tea tonight, yum.

at last, the 7 things meme

2007-10-10T17:33:00.000+01:00

I have been putting off blogging because nothing much has been happening here. I have also been tagged by Lucy Locket, and have been struggling to think of 7 serious things about me! Not that I have thought about it any more now really, but i must blog or you will think I am doing something more exciting, which I am afraid I am not!! Oh and last week I finished the shire horse square, so I thought I would show it here.

here we go then, 7 serious (kinda) things about me (ok, they arent really serious, but I guess they are true, so there we go)

1. I am really messy, I know everyone has said this, but I am. really REALLY messy

2. I am not very good at routine, following a schedule/timetable, or doing anything when I must do it. Some people call this rebelliousness, I like to consider myself free spirited/artistic!

3. a bit similar to the last one, but I am not good at doing repetative things like knitting something big, or at completing projects that take a long time. see for example my Grandmothers quilt (of which the shire horse is a block). I like doing one block, I can do one in 2 evenings, but then I dont feel like doing another block straight after. so, thats why things like that take me ages.

4. I am left-handed. When I was in Junior school I had a teacher who told me left-handed people were superior to right-handed people, that we were better at art and craft, and just generally better. I have never been able to fully shake this from my head.

5. I wish I lived somewhere pretty and sunny

6. at this point I can never think of any more things, isn't five enough, no?

7. I love collecting conkers, I drag my children out to get them, they don't mind, but I think I enjoy it more. I will leave you with the findings of a recent conker search.

Julias desert Island plans, and a pig

2007-10-01T20:48:00.000+01:00

Here first of all is a pig square, towards my ongoing quest to finish my Janet Bolton Grandmothers Quilt miniquilt. I dont like his spot, it is too dark, I might rip it out and replace with a lighter fabric, if I can be bothered. It is a longstanding UFO so i have become a bit fed up with it. not far to go now though, only a few more pieces to do.

Secondly, Julia suggested I should write a list of the things I would take on a desert island with me, as she did a few days ago on her blog, in fact she wanted me to tell her last night but I refused, I was still trying to think of them...

so here we are,
5 essential things

...a nice man (gonna get in trouble for this one) who can fetch and carry for me and do any hard work that comes up.
...a tent (what, I can carry it, or my man can)
...flint firelighters (never managed to get a magnifying glass to work for me)
...a knife
...axe

5 luxury things
...big box full of cake and chocolate
...nice quilt (comfy in day, cosy by night)
...new pair of crocs
...My grandmothers quilt wip, see pig square above
...helicopter to get us out once we have had enough

eek, im gonna get told off!! Anyway, Julia wont be cross that I have broken her rules because she is too nice, imagine the lovely time we had last week when I visited her for the afternoon, heres a little peek...

Bugs and flowers

2007-09-30T18:15:00.000+01:00

Im a bit poorly, Lucie bought a sickness bug home from meithrin, and all the girls in our house have had it...so far. It seemed to go through the children quickly, but is lasting longer for me. I am hoping I am over the worst of it.

Anyway, Last weekend we went to stay with hubbys Auntie and Uncle in Hertfordshire. We also have a friend who lives nearby, who Hubby was doing a gig with on the Saturday night, but me and the children enjoyed spending time with family who we don't get to see very often.
The children had great fun, they especially liked storytime and piano singalongs with Auntie

watering the vegetables in the garden, (does he look like he is up to something? seconds later he turned that hose on us and we were soaked!!)

And going on some nice walks, which invariably involved collecting conkers. On the Saturday afternoon we went to Hertford town parish church to a flower festival.

There were so many lovely autumn colours and the children enjoyed searching for hidden church mice, all with different names, and they loved the miniature gardens made by the sunday school children from the church.

They wanted to make gardens too, so on Monday back at home, we went and collected some (mostly wild!) flowers (weeds),soil and moss and they had a go.

This was Esmes finished garden, I shall add more photos on flickr later, especially of the original gardens, most were done by older children and some were amazing!!!

here I am!

2007-09-25T21:24:00.000+01:00

Ok, that was a bit of a break, but its nice to have a break sometimes. I have still been doing stuff, although admittedly not loads, but the back to school thing, getting back into a routine, is always a struggle.

So, I have lots of things to show, hopefully in the next few days. Firstly, I have actually made something!! I know, its been so long, and it was only an evening project, but it feels nice to be making again.

Esme has to take 20p fruit money into school each day, to buy fruit at break time from the school shop which is run by older pupils. In the first week, she seemed to mislay this money, be it in a purse or an envelope with her name on. So, I made this little purse, so she can wear it across her body all day and not lose her money. It fastens with velcro 'Mum, my friends don't believe you made it beause it has velcro on...' and has a strawberry button on the front and an apple on the back. I made it by hand, not bothering to get out the machine for such a small job.The purse is small, Esme can just get her hand in, it is lined in spotty green fabric, and the predominant red matches the school uniform. She loves it, and as yet has not lost a penny from it!!!

at the library

2007-09-10T22:59:00.000+01:00

As my youngest has begun Meithrin (welsh playgroup) this month, on Monday mornings I am a lady of leisure. After a quick stop in town with a friend(it was breakfast time!!!) I had intended to go home for an hour, but on passing the library decided to go in and have a nice quiet morning reading their magazines.

I walked in, grabbed a couple of magazines from the shelf of current copies, and sat down. Seconds later a librarian walked over to me and said 'can I get you a cup of tea or coffee, we are having a coffee morning' to which I replied 'oh are we? how lovely, could I have a black coffee please?'. And so, the rest of my morning was spent sitting in almost-silence in the company of newspaper reading pensioners, enjoying free magazines and coffee.

A nice way to start the week, I think!

Two posts in one day - makes up for all the days I miss huh?

day out in Bath

2007-09-10T10:35:00.000+01:00

The collection of a new ebay purchase, a 3 wheeler pushchair to replace my old broken-on-holidays one, meant a happily impromptu trip to Bath at the weekend.

We were on a cost cutting mission - free things to do while you are waiting for a pick-up time to arrive, so we headed over to Victoria park. Its lovely, big with lots of room to run around, and we even managed to avoid the man-made climbing/slide 'childrens area'. The children played in the trees and on the big stone gateways, chased each other, lay on the grass, and collected the first signs of autumn.

Of course we had to have a little trip into the shops, for drinks and cake, and we managed to find this beautiful little shop that Julia had told me about after her last trip to Bath, it has a cool wall of cuckoo clocks, and loads of pretty things. I was very good and just looked around, but I can tell I will be heading back there again!

the end of the holidays

2007-09-04T13:52:00.000+01:00

Ahh, thats it, they have gone back to school (kicking and screaming, in the case of my eldest child!).Now I have to just tidy up all the holiday mess...or perhaps I will just sit here with my back to it, that sounds like a better idea.

We had a great holiday last week, first to the Greenbelt festival in Cheltenham, where we like to go every year, and then on to Woolacoombe in north Devon. It was lovely to spend time with friends on both holidays, and to catch up with an old friend and her lovely family too at Greenbelt. We had fantastic sunny weather and I am now nicely bronzed.

North Devon must be the fudge capital of the world, and it seems most of my photos are of shop windows. Yum, and we did buy a fair amount too!

Nougat cakes - looked amazing!!

a few warm days

2007-08-22T22:33:00.000+01:00

finally we seem to be being blessed with a few warm, sunny days. I am so pleased, not least because it means I can wash all my clothes and have them back in cases for this weekends camping trip.

We have had a nice day today, not on the beach (I am using photos from earlier in the month, and longing for a new camera, the 2mp cameraphone is no longer exciting me!) but relaxing in the garden. The children turned the playhouse into a shop/cafe, they have been gradually heading towards it for a few weeks, but today we made silver coins for shopping, and raided the kitchen cupboards for any empty or nearly empty packaging as items in the shop, along with some old plastic playfood. I am being mean and not letting them take the wooden playfood into the garden, as I know it will get lost or trashed and I like it too much! They didnt seem to mind though, and real packaging is better anyhow. They played for ages, opening and shutting the shop, and serving each other various weird and wonderful meals 'would you like some face cream with your soup?' And I was able to sit and enjoy the sun for a bit. mmmm

been camping

2007-08-18T18:45:00.000+01:00

oops, forgot to mention I was going camping!! We camp a lot with various groups/festivals etc in August, such fun, and we are here, there and everywhere. back now for a few days, just long enough to wash everything and repack it all. it would be nice to make something this week too, it has been so long. oh well, we will see!

horse parade

2007-08-07T22:53:00.000+01:00

above, my favourite bit of the best horse at the parade we went to see on sunday, look at his lovely flowing ankles!!

we also watched a driving duck display, which was fantastic, a sheepdog herding running ducks, round various obstacles, including ornamental bridges, play tunnels and at one point a whole load of children including my Laurie! unfortunately my photos are all rather full of lots of other peoples kids so i dont feel i can share them online, but it was great!

making me smile

2007-08-03T23:20:00.000+01:00

My friend Julia made me this sweet little jar of lavender flowers while my husband gave her daughter her Ukulele lesson this week. Isn't it lovely, you can see more of it here. And she sent me eggs from her Bantam hens, as she often does when she has enough, she is so nice - thanks Julia!!!

Today I took the children to the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. After terrifying the two littlest ones with the dinosaur section, we took an animal prints workshop, where we learnt lots about animal tracks and got to make our own, designing our own stamps and using lots of glue and black paint!

ps - note I am trying to post more - 6 posts in July, surely my worst month for blogging since I began! (so now you may get to know even the most mundane stuff in my life, brace yourselves!)

was that it for summer?

2007-08-02T13:27:00.001+01:00

Well, haven't been blogging as we have been enjoying a few sunny days. the rain is back today though, unfortunately.

The other day the children enjoyed a spot of water painting, They had a pail of water, a variety of brushes, big and small, and painted the paving slabs outside. good cheap entertainment, though I guess it wouldnt work too well if you lived somewhere really hot as the water would dry up frustratingly quickly. fine for british summer days though, the ones when the slabs arent already soaking that is!

exciting mail

2007-07-25T22:00:00.001+01:00

We got exciting mail for the whole family this week, a really big parcel from family in Northern Ireland, with presents for all our summer birthdays.

I have to show you what I got, the really funky felt ring above, and oven gloves from Emma Bridgewater,

lots of scrummy and bright fabric,

a new cath kidston-esque oilcloth bag, and my favourite, a new Japanese book, Cafe Kids.

Lucky me! now, to decide what to make.

birthday weekend

2007-07-23T23:09:00.000+01:00

another birthday weekend, and now I am mother to a six year old. imagine.

42

2007-07-16T21:26:00.000+01:00

When I wrote the last post I didnt realise that in only a few days, the head-count would be 42!! Again, I havent been on ebay, but a kind friend who I mentioned my playmobil man pursuits to, offered me a great big box (and a big bag) overflowing with all sorts of forts, garages and so on. the kids have had great fun and have played with nothing else in the house for days. I love hand-me-down toys, Thanks Kirsten!!!

I haven't been blogging much the last week, life sometimes takes over, nothing bad or drastic, we have just been busy with the everyday stuff.

2007-07-07T23:36:00.000+01:00

A strange thing has been happening in my house this week. Men have been appearing from nowhere. Last week I searched for 'vintage playmobil people' on ebay. I was watching them, but didnt bid on any and didnt buy any.

Throughout this week these little men have been turning up around the house, I didn't know we had them, and they weren't all in one place, they just seem to keep popping up.

So far we have 4....

brighten my day

2007-07-02T20:45:00.000+01:00

It is still raining here (no light, as you can see) so I thought I would change my tree to cheer me up. I love wrapping things in fabric, and the tree is now so bright and colourful, my favourite incarnation of my little ikea tree so far!

10 things

2007-07-01T21:06:00.000+01:00

A couple of days ago I discovered the :10 things flickr group via happythings flickr pages. I don't know of you have heard of it (seems to have been going a while) but basically you post 10 photos a month to the group pool, photos of things you are grateful for, things that have made you happy, things that inspire you. There is also a 10 things blog that was the inspiration for the group. I thought I would join in for a few months at least, as a mini challenge to myself. June was tricky, as I joined the group with only about 26 hours of the month left, but I think I posted 9 photos, and now seems a good time to begin properly, on the 1st of July. why dont you join too?

Other stuff, I have completed 2 more blocks on my Grandmothers Patchwork Quilt, the geese, and finally finishing the embroidery on the cockerel. The bottom picture is all I have finished so far, so you can see how it is coming along.

(double click on photos to see them bigger.)

cake day

2007-06-29T18:56:00.000+01:00

Our more-or-less-monthly cake day. clockwise from top, chocolate nut brownies, cherry and coconute cake, baklava and chocolate fridge cake. I should have taken photos of lunch too as we had a fantastic selection of yummy salads and quiche. oh, and then we had a chocolate fountain with fruit and marshmallows, and of course we had to try dipping all of the cakes into the molten chocolate too.

just another healthy eating day really.

apple tee

2007-06-26T23:05:00.000+01:00

ok, so the phone/camera doesnt perform so well at night.

I got Esme a T-shirt in her school house colours today (it was really cheap) only green girls tees are hard to find, and I thought it was a nice green. When I showed her she screwed up her nose and said 'its plain', so I said what do you want on the front (...imagining a nice applique or somesuch). she said, "an apple, a green apple...where is the t-shirt paint..." and off she went. So I found the green paint, told her to remember to do it nice and big, and this is what she did. I tidied up the edges of her lines so they were nice and crisp, and painted the leaf "just there (pointing)".

pretty good joint effort I reckon.

a week of bears

2007-06-24T21:27:00.000+01:00

A few days ago we went into cardiff to get Lucie a special bear made for her at the bear factory. (its just a glorified shop really, but hey its a fun way to spend birthday money). Both the other two got bears from the same place last year... remember these??? Her new bear is the third one in from the left in the top picture. (This post could end up with a lot of pics on, so you can see the bear being chosen and made over on flickr.) We did not choose any clothes for bear yet, I was going to make her a dress, and we did buy 2 ear-flowers and a ukulele, however Lucie will not allow the flowers to be worn, when I asked why she told me bear was a boy! I guess I wont bother with the dress then.

So, then yesterday we braved the great british summer weather we are having (think rain) and set out for the woods, with our teddies and friends, for a picnic. at first it was a bit wet, and the new shelter came into its own.

but after a bit the rain calmed to light spots, we moved to try to avoid the midges that were eating us alive (they followed) and eventually the rain stopped altogether.

We sang happy birthday with cake number 4 (see previous post for more cake!) And I can safely say I dont want to make another cake for a month thankyou.

Then we played (on the dry courtyard),

went for a walk,

played deep in the forest,

played some more

until it was time to go.

A fun day, well, (apart from a few moments of trouble with icing not behaving...) a fun week.

new phone

2007-06-20T21:28:00.002+01:00

I have purchased a new mobile phone. I lost my last one, but it was never much good anyway. so this time I wanted one with a camera so I can use it for more than just calls. It is only 2 megapixels but these fuschias look ok, dont you think? (and I had to crop my hand out of the bottom of the photo). I think it will do fine.

Remember my thing about owls? Well anamama did, she sent Lucie these as part of her birthday present, and look at the fantastic packaging!!!

They tasted delicious too, we ate them today.

[edited 23:22 - can you see this posts photos? they aren't loading for me now]

Two

2007-06-18T21:56:00.001+01:00

It is all so exciting when you wake up (with big hair) to the sounds of your big brother and sister singing Happy birthday to you, and then you have to open all your presents before they 'help' too quickly and do it for you, sometimes you just need to lie down and enjoy the moment, paper, toys and all!!!

Two today, Lucie enjoyed her first birthday cake yesterday with Nanna and Grandpa, who we met up with for Fathers Day. (no battery in my camera so I am awaiting photos by email, they may be some time!!)

The second cake at Ti a Fi this afternoon (we spent the morning cooking, melting and icing various cakes!) with friends (a four-storey-high chocolate crispy cake mountain).

third cake for tea at home, a mushroom fairy house.

And fourth cake still to come next Saturday at her teddy bears picnic party.

Lucky she is a girl after my own heart regarding cake isn't it???

Happy Fathers Day!!

2007-06-17T21:16:00.000+01:00

Happy fathers day Dad!

In this photo I am the same age as my youngest daughter, and my Dad is younger than I am now.

My Dad tells me the T-shirt he was wearing was provided by his drama group for his part in their latest production. My Mum added that in the photo I am not wearing any knickers under my dress. circa 1977.

surprise mail and more sweet peas

2007-06-16T22:52:00.000+01:00

More sweet peas from my neighbours garden, the rain this week has really made them flower, and I am under instruction to cut them so they will keep on coming!

Today I got exciting mail, unexpectedly. Mary Ann and Jo sent this fantastic heart shaped tea strainer as a thankyou for being a part of their You're my cuppa tea partyflickr group/swap a couple of months ago. It was good fun, we had a swap partner, sent them tea and other goodies, then on the agreed day we all got to enjoy the tea we had been sent 'together'! I see on the group page there is a midsummers tea party which I have missed sign-ups for, will have to keep a better eye out for the next one!!

Anyway, thankyou girls for having me on your swap, and thankyou for your surprise mail!

7 random things

2007-06-12T23:24:00.000+01:00

I was tagged by Anamama, I have been thinking, and this is all I can come up with.

1. I can write with either hand, but if I need to think creatively at the same time I have to write with my left hand.

2. I believe in fairies

3. I eat more chocolate than anyone I know

4. I am naturally rebellious, I dont like constraints like time, and am mostly late.

5. I would like to be barefoot all the time

6. I love the smell just before it rains in the summer

7. Today I have been enjoying sweet peas from my neighbours garden (top picture), freshly picked, and smelling totally wonderful, and tiny sweet wild strawberries from the bottom of my garden (in an eggcup).

(I know, this is cheating, but I couldnt think of 7 things!)

my favourite (new) things

2007-06-10T22:02:00.000+01:00

just look at these. lovely vintage pegs, my favourite thing that Julia bought me back from her hols. aren't they just the best things??? I am so pleased I think i am going to put them in a box so I can just look at them and touch them from time to time.

(I can just imagine my husband reading this in a sarcastic voice when he gets it on his reader, but I will ignore that!)

Here are all the things she bought me, I will put them on flickr with more notes if you want a closer look see. Some are for my birthday, which was a few weeks ago, and the red painted chicken toy is for lucie, but i have kindly offered to look after it in my high-up cabinet for her so it doesn't get broken. Lucie got a present as while in scotland, Julia officially became Godmother to my youngest daughter, a position she has of course always held unnofficially. Thanks Julia!!

an elephant pocket

2007-06-07T22:04:00.000+01:00

I found this great spotty cotton, which in its former life (yesterday) was a big ladies nightshirt on sale for a bargain £2, to me it was begging to be turned into a little girls pinny/dress. And doesn't the sweet elephant pocket make you happy? I love this pattern for its simplicity, I made the changes I had planned to the original pattern, straightening and extending the sides, and sewing a join at the shoulders rather than a tie or button, and it all worked very well.

I love how I can whip one of these up in no time at all, so satisfying, and I haven't been able to help but smile today seeing my little one wearing another dress that I have made her. We spent a lot of today at the park, and the rest at the cafe. We also met up with Julia, back from her Scotland jaunt, and she bought me back many presents, which I will show you tomorrow.

moving on with grandmothers quilt

2007-06-05T17:28:00.000+01:00

I have been trying to get back into doing my grandmothers quilt applique, from Janet Boltons book, so this week I have done these two 'squares'. Funny how sometimes work grows on me, I started off doing the cat because I liked the look of that square, and was putting off the dog and sheep one, as I didn't like it much. I modelled the cat on 'Butterscotch'- our family cat when I was growing up. Now they are both done, I like the dog and sheep one much better.

The next square I am looking forward to doing as it is geese, and I love the movement it has. hopefully tonight.

swinging

2007-05-31T23:25:00.001+01:00

We bought a new swing from Ikea last weekend, and the kids have been having so much fun on it. There is something lovely about swinging isn't there, Well worth its money already. Haven't blogged for days because I promised myself the next post would be something handmade! oh well, it isn't. next time.

Just been looking at photos saved on my camera and found some I was going to blog about but didn't, from a recent visit to the Japanese food shop in cardiff. I love going there, and usually try to pop in when I go to Cafe Junior(which is a great place, if you are ever in Cardiff with small childen in tow), as its just round the corner. Heres what I bought this time.

Those pink things, I only bought for the packaging, and because they were cheap. they were also horrible.

These were really yummy though, like pocky.

And these were yummy too, not Japanese, from Korea I think but I cant remember 100%, but they were really nice(despite scary looking potato on the front), we tucked into them on the way home. The other things in the picture are buckwheat noodles and sesame seeds(nice packaging), still in their shells, which you crack open and eat a bit like pistachios. yum.

Also got grape scented incense from the reduced section. how I love grape flovoured things, Britain doesn't do grape anything, such a shame.

Now however, my house is grape-scented.

catching up

2007-05-25T21:55:00.000+01:00

Curly girls.

Lucie and her cousin Ana had a great time at the wedding party on Saturday, as we all did. This photo should have been much better than it is, but the girls wouldnt go closer together unless I had pushed them, and we were in a dark corner, and Im just not very good! You can see their matching curls though. There was yummy food, lots of wine, and we didn't get home until 1.30 in the morning.

So, bearing in mind that on Saturday we drove to London and back in the day (more than 3 hours travelling each way), whats the best thing we could have planned for Sunday?? A birthday party in our little house - yay!

It was only a few of Lauries closest friends though, and the weather was lovely so they all just played in the garden, someone bought him water pistols, two people I think, so there was a big waterfight at one point. I will show you his cake as I have hardly any other photos, but dont judge me, its a bit of a butter icing monstrousity, as I didnt get round to getting rolly-out icing, and secretly I like this stuff more anyway tastewise!! It is number 4 from the Numberjacks, for those unaquainted with British kids telly (oh if only!)

The sun cream tube at the top is not a part of the cake, just an indication of the heat of the day and another unprepared snap photo. Oh, and the candles are angel candles, lit but invisible in this photo, they have different colour flames, but dont really work outside, as you can see!

Ahh, a sunny day

2007-05-21T21:58:00.001+01:00

Painting is so much better when it can be done outdoors. This was todays after-school activity, Esme always likes there to be something planned, I usually get in trouble on the walk home from school for not having thought of something for that day 'but Mum, thats what you are supposed to think of during the day...' like I have no better things to do - while the coffee shop and bakery remain open, mummy is a busy woman!

And of course then there are charity shops, and more goodies to be had there. Look what fell into my pushchair basket today.

I know, I know, I bought cups and saucers just last week, do I really need more? my husband will go mad when he sees them, I got told off for the first lot. But, he broke a saucer yesterday, so Im one down already, and these are green, and they have side plates, no, CAKE plates. And its typical, I have been looking for cups and saucers for so long, and finding nothing, then 2 great retro designs in one week. Of course they didn't fall into my basket, I did pay for them, but they were only £2.79 for all 6 like this, and I saw them last friday and didn't get them, and they were still waiting for me today, so I thought it must be meant to be. The plates had a price on too, but she wouldn't charge me extra for them. Now I just have to bring them out of hiding, when its safe!

I also took my long overdue library books back, paid up my fines, and found this book in the ex-libris box for 20p

Original Red Riding Hood?? I remember this book from when I was small, and it has great illustrations, Granny gets taken cake and wine, eaten whole, and the wolf gets filled with stones and dies at the end. I will put more photos of the illustrations on flickr, go and look, they are great.

I have so much to say today, we had a hectic weekend filled with parties, I have to go through the photos, so more on that tomorrow maybe. In the mean time, look at the present I had from my Brother and Sister in law, there is a great little chocolate shop just yards from their house, and they bought me all these yummy bars (they know me well!!)

packaging

2007-05-18T23:50:00.000+01:00

I had been looking for a picture for my blog today, but now it seems immaterial as blogger isn't letting me add a photo tonight. thankyou to those who gave me blogs for the dress on the last post, it was The Mayfly where I got the patternand I had also seen it here originally, printed out so long ago I had forgotten.

I went to a local creperie today in celebration of my birthday, which is tomorrow, with friends from school and all the pre-school age kids we have collectively, 8 adults and 7 two and three year olds!! I think it took the owner/chef by surprise a bit, even though I had booked last night, he had to run around a lot as he was cooking and serving on his own. I should have taken my camera, as the food was very pretty and tasted yummy too.

Tomorrow we are going to a wedding party, and the next day is lauries birthday party, he was 4 earlier in the week, so its all party party party here!!! must go now and survey the crisps and cake situation!!

a little linen apron dress

2007-05-17T21:41:00.000+01:00

I have had a whole week with no internet - cut off from the rest of the world!! never mind, I'm back now, with a new ISP that is finally (just about) working as it should.

Last week, the night before I was cut off, I got round to making one of these smock dresses that I got the pattern from ...

[wheres it from?? - i just spent about an hour trying to find who has this pattern on their blog - help!!] *** edited to add - found it !!! here at The Mayflys blog.

Anyway, I made it from lovely green linen I bought ages ago really cheaply from Ikea, and lined it in a cotton voile to keep it light. I put buttons on the shoulders instead of ties. it crosses over at the back, my model wouldnt stand still and kept running about so most of my pictures were blurry!

Im pleased with it as a first attempt, and hopefully will make more, I have an idea to alter it a bit, and then to make a bigger one too, as Esme wants one like her little sisters.

"there's something good...."

2007-05-09T19:10:00.000+01:00

Do you ever get that feeling that there is something good just waiting for you? Today as I walked past one of the local charity shops I had just that feeling.

So, I went inside, to look what it might be. I have been looking for some nice retro or vintage cups and saucers for ages, so thats what I was hoping for, but I looked and there wasn't really anything that caught my attention. I mooched around, and found an embroidered tablecloth, nothing too exciting, but maybe that was it, it was cheap. so I took it up to pay, and behind the till, I saw these!

I speeded round, was amazed at the price tag, and grabbed them quick! There were 6 saucers but only 5 cups, and now they are mine! They are british mde china and quite delicate, and such a pretty shape (that was hard to catch on the photographs) , they arent like the clunky opaque glass or stoneware cups you sometimes see in a similar printed design. And no chips or cracks. And all for only £1.99!!!
So now I am happy, and you can come round for tea and cake if you like, I'm ready!!

WIP-been crocheting

2007-05-07T22:32:00.002+01:00

Last week Julia gave me a little present, this book. I have been trying to make the dress for Lucie. I am not very good at crochet though, I only learnt a few years ago, and have never really got going with it.

I am also very bad at following instructions, or indeed sticking to them, I have a rebellious nature, i can't help it.

So, anyone with half an eye for crochet will see I havent been following the pattern, but rather making it up as I go along. I did try, but I couldnt understand it, so I undid a lot, and have simplified it. I do one row of the holey pattern, followed by 2 rows of half double crochets. this gives me a repeat of 3 rows rather than the 9 they were suggesting. seems to have worked so far, but then I hit another problem. I ran out of yarn!

I am using Patons cotton rich in apple(I know the pic doesnt look like apple, but the light must have been bad), and I do have another ball of this SOMEWHERE?? I bought it from ebay and cant see any online today, so I need to extend my search of the house for it!

pretty

2007-05-06T09:55:00.000+01:00

I found this lovely wrapping paper at paperchase. Look, it has pretty trees and owls and birds, I wish they did it as wallpaper, I would like to do a whole wall in it!

blackboard projects

2007-05-01T22:05:00.000+01:00

A while back i saw this great idea for canvas squares painted in blackboard paint, so you can draw your own pictures for the walls and change them whenever you like.

Yesterday I painted 4 of these square mdf pictures I had hanging around (originally modern art things from ikea that i dont know why i bought) for my daughters room. look, we got pink blackboard paint, she approves.

after I had painted them there was paint left so I started looking for more things to paint.

like a half-wall in the playhouse outside. also a great success!!! I had to paint the rest of the insides of the playhouse white then, to brighten it up and make it pretty.

Now I got paint on my jeans and I think I am over my painting spree.