A PAUSE IN LENT. SPECIAL THINGS #1

I think that Lent is a time when a lot of people take time to reflect on 'things',  I have chosen to reflect on the my own 'special things'...

We all had a great family day out in Manchester today,  days out have been few and far between in the last few months, Chris has been busy with assignments, (only one more to go and then his four year degree is over !), or one of the children have not been well...

It was great time spend a day all together away from the business of home where there are so many distractions and things needing to be done,,,

Chris wrote this poem last year as part of an assignment and it sums up perfectly our family days out.....



Days out




They’re special,our days out

Always have been, always will.

They mean so much.

Time spent together, always a picnic.




Are we there yet? Babies asleep

Mp3 noise or a Nintendo DS

Radio on,

off if we are chatting




Bags of sweets,drinks,

snacks, raisins,

The sun in childs eyes,

move the sun-shield someone




Castles, seaside, walks, forests

Somewhere to play, football,

cricket stumps, blanket laid out

so we can lie down




By a river, in field,

Wet or dry we are not bothered.

Not always prepared,

but we will be next time!




Buckets and spades, ice cream

Chips and Fish, leftover sandwiches

Finding a bin, tired children

Take off muddy boots




Wet clothes, get changed,

blankets and cushions, snuggle up warm

can we have our music on,

changed when asleep




Tired faces some stay awake,

Some go to sleep, very quiet,

Reflective and smiling,

We head for home.

Last week...

This week;

• I have made a couple of these little dolls bed/pram sets;

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They comprise of a quilt, sheet and pillow which all pack away into a little bag.

• Hebe and Clemmie decorated the gingerbread house we made (I know it should have been done at Christmas, but we forgot !).

• Chris took all four children out on his own for a couple of hours on Wednesday afternoon, Freya came back with broken glasses and Finn had been sick in a cafe...
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• Freya got new glasses !
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• Chris's cousin Matthew came over to teach the children to play the guitar and ended up teaching me, have almost mastered Amazing Grace..
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• The girls all had a haircut
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• I made quite a few of these;

and these;

Altogether quite a productive week...

A PAUSE IN LENT...

I have struggled to write my post this morning (I almost emailed Floss to say I would not be taking part), when Floss said she intended to do 'A pause in Lent', I wanted to take part as I had enjoyed taking part in 'A pause in Advent'. 

 I had not realised just how difficult I would find it to write about...  the posts I wrote during Advent were consciously written with no reference to religion and were more about my family's way of celebrating that time of year.

Writing about Lent with no religious connection seems more difficult and I obviously do not want to cause any offence to others..

I found this information on  http://www.humanismforschools.org.uk/

The name ‘Easter’ derives from ‘Eostre’, the goddess of rebirth

after the barren winter. Almost everyone feels happier as the days grow

longer and warmer, flowers and leaves emerge, and the birds start to

sing.

Our ancestors, who would have been cold, hungry and confined to

smoky dark homes for most of the winter, would have had even more

reason to feel happy, and they would have enjoyed feasting on the last of

their winter stores and some fresh foods, knowing that there would be

plenty more over the summer.

Even now, people who live in places with

harsher and longer winters than ours ( Eastern Europe , the Alps) seem to

make more of Easter festivities and decorations than we do.

Fasting and

feasting, as in Lent followed by Easter, derive as much from the rhythms

of the seasons as they do from religious tradition.

So I suppose Lent to me means looking forward;  to longer days, more time spent outdoors and to new growth (not just in our environment but in ourselves - trying new things etc)

My family celebrate Easter by enjoying a few

days off work, turning off the central heating and opening the windows, but mostly spending time with family and friends (more of those traditions to come)....

So there you have it, not the traditional take on Lent maybe, but a different take....

DECISIONS, DECISIONS....

A bit confused, I thought it was Sunday today, which would have made yesterday Saturday, but as yesterday was Sunday that makes today Monday...

I was to post this yesterday (Sunday);

• THIS WEEK:
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• Freya was visited by the Tooth Fairy who left her some money when she took her tooth away, and to think she doubted her existence.
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• I realised that you can not adequately dry a pair of school trousers taken directly from the washing machine with an iron with 5 minutes to go until you have to leave for school...
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• I learnt how to fabric paint using a freezer paper stencil.
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• I made six small bags like these;
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• One large nappy bag like this;
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•  Four 'Apple a day' bags like these;

• Freya had a friend for a sleepover for the first time ever.
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• Clemmie was sick AGAIN !
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• And I Spring cleaned the house from top to bottom.

I have also spent a great deal of time this week deliberating over where to place

the new Me and Ma items I have been making, do I go back to Etsy (had a couple of sales but nothing spectacular), or try Folksy or Misi ? Decisions, decisions....

FAVOURITE TOYS....

Freya and Finn both started going to Cubs about a year or so ago, Finn moved up from Beavers and Freya from Brownies (which was 'boring', her words not mine!).  They both enjoy Cubs and have been involved in some great activities, campfire nights, cardboard box cooking, kayaking, archery etc.

Above is Cuthbert the Cub (St Cuthberts is the pack) a child  is chosen to take Cuthbert home after each meeting, and Finn was chosen this week, we have never had Cuthbert to stay before so there was great excitement...

This week Floss did a post about favourite toys...

This is Freya's favourite toy 'Hippo' who has, still is and probably always will be well loved by Freya.  She was given to her by her Great Aunt Eleanor when Finn was born.  Freya would have been 15months. 

Auntie Ellie also gave Finn a similar toy cat at the same time, 'Cat' was lost ,we think on the way to Nursery when Finn was 3, we searched and searched but he was never found, Finn was obviously upset (so was I !), but 'Cat' was replaced by 'Monkey'...

and all was well.

Hebe came next and 'Jelly cat' arrived from Father Christmas in her stocking on her first Christmas...

Jelly Cat 1 was joined soon after by Jelly Cat 2 (in case of loss), but Hebe says that 2 is a sad Jelly Cat, I can see what she means.....

Last (definitely) but not least came Clemmie and Great Auntie Ellie came along with 'Rabbity'....

So that's the four...much loved constant companions who are taken everywhere...

 When I was working as a Nursery Nurse before I had children, there was a child who literally did not let go of her favourite toy from the moment she arrived at the Nursery until the moment she went home.

I remember saying to a colleague that when I had children I would not let them them become so attached to something.. ha ha.. I had no say in the matter, children become attached to what they will....with me it was a linen pillow case...

FREEZER PAPER STENCILS

I made this using the freezer paper technique, I had never heard of this until I read about it on

http://www.lilbluboo.blogspot.com/ where Ashley has a number of tutorials.

I has never heard of freezer paper in the U.K. either (it seems to be an American thing) and could not find it in any supermarkets here.

I eventually found it at http://www.troll-uk.co.uk/   50ft for £3.80, I also bought fabric paint from there.

The paper is glossy on one side and matte on the other, the glossy side can be ironed on to fabric and peeled off again without leaving a mark. 

I printed the robot (download on Lilblueboo) directly onto the freezer paper, cut it out with a craft knife, ironed it onto the T.shirt, painted it, allowed it to dry, peeled off the freezer paper stencil and hey presto ! The paint needs 'setting' with an iron, but then you are good to go...

I havn't washed it yet, so that will be the real test, but as long as that's ok I think that this is a great technique with lots of possibilities.....

SNOWDROPS AND MORE SNOWDROPS..

Just back from a snowdrop walk with the children this afternoon.  There is a local hall 'Lytham Hall' which opens its grounds for 'snowdrop walks' on every Sunday in February...

It was a lovely morning today, bright blue skies and sunshine, but by the time all four children were ready to go, bikes and scooters found etc it was rather cloudy, still had a nice walk though...

And saw lots and lots of snowdrops........

THIS WEEK;

• We celebrated Finn's 9th Birthday by having his favourite Chinese food
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• Hebe dropped a drawer full of videos on her big toe turning it blue..ouch !
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• Made play-dough
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• Spent a day with my sister- the first in months...
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• Discovered where to buy a roll of freezer paper in this country (more of that to come)!
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• Had a really good idea
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• Finished decorating Finn's bedroom for him to move in to
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• Slept upstairs in a bed ! The first time in 3 months (we had to move downstairs whilst we had building work done)
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• Listened to Freya playing Mama Mia on the the clarinet and was pleasantly surprised by how much she has improved
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• Found out  that it is Clemmie who goes into my new sewing room and empties out all the buttons !

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This has been my project for this week, it is a cot quilt for my niece who is expecting her fourth child in May, she knows that she is having a boy and wanted to go for a yellow and green colour scheme in the nursery. I told her that I had a lovely green, blue and gold fabric pack from http://www.saintsandpinners.com/ it is called 'Botany' and as far as I know is still available. It is made up from Anna Maria Horner Good folks range, olive and gold from Amy Butler and Parkslope leaf dot green.

I had wanted to have a go at making a 'proper' quilt and thought this cot quilt was the ideal size to practice on...

I used proper batting for the first time (Hobbs Heirloom), I went for 100% cotton, there are lots of different types and it is quite difficult to know what to go for, but I think I made a good choice because it really was a dream to sew. I bought myself a walking foot as well which does make the job of quilting so much easier.

I even managed to bind it, finishing it by hand on the reverse side, although I have now found a great tutorial for machine binding on http://www.redpepperquilts.blogspot.com/. so will give that a go next time....

I have learnt a few things as I have made this quilt; I think it would have looked better if I had chosen a toning green thread for quiting the squares and I made the binding to wide, making it wider on the back of the quilt that the front and the most important thing I learnt is that you have to be EXACT when cutting out....

All these things will be rectified on the next quilt I make, and it just shows that you really do learn as you go along......

PARCEL IN THE POST...

I love getting parcels, especially when they are as beautifully wrapped as this one from http://www.saintsandpinners.com/  (great choice of fabric and service).
 It always feels as though I'm getting a present, even though I have obviously ordered it myself and know what is in it !

In this lovely package was....

Lotus full moon polka dot cherry, Lotus full moon polka dot slate, Lotus morning glory linen and Lotus wall flower sky, all by Amy Butler.

I also bought this; Park slope circles and stems in lime.....

Planets yellow....

and Kaffe Fassett moss dots......

As well as selling individual fabrics Saints and Pinners also put together some gorgeous fabric packs, I made this cushion for Hebe from the Blueberry fabric pack...

I liked it so much that I made one for Clemmie too......

Its been a bit of a week for cushion making, I made this one for Freya with the tiniest strips of scraps of Amy Butler fabric.....

Finn is going for a red white and blue theme to his room, so this was the order of the day...