Me and Ma

Welcome to 2012......and simple pleasures....

2012-01-01T12:26:00.000Z

1st January 2012,

a time to look forward

like a clean blank page in a fresh note book

what will we write ?

Wishing you a Happy New Year full of opportunities and time to enjoy the simple pleasures...

The one where I was one the radio !

2011-12-07T20:09:00.000Z

I was invited on to Radio Lancashire as a guest on the John Gillmore show today, they wanted me to talk about the rising popularity of crafting. I was pretty nervous, but it went really well, I do think that they may have doctors my voice though, I'm sure I don't sound as Northern as that !...

Anyway; here's the link http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00lxmyn I am on about 1hour 30 Min's into the show.

All that talking about crafting and blogs made me feel sad about my poor little neglected blog. I now feel spurred on to pick up where I left off and try and make the time to blog again....

MACRAME - time for a reappearance ?

2011-04-15T19:06:00.000+01:00

Goodness it has been a while hasn't it !.....

What do you think of this little fellow ? He is made from macrame, when I think of macrame I think of those tiered hanging plant holders, which always seemed to have spider plants in them, were there no other house plants in the 1970's ?

Owls too, made up in natural coloured string and mixed in with brown wooden beads......

This is something different altogether, you could almost say it could make macrame 'cool' again....

I spent a lovely morning making these and turning them into key rings/zip charms, it reminded me of making friendship bracelets, and then I realised that they are made using macrame too !

Find a great, easy to follow tutorial here at

ArtMind

BIRTHDAY PRESENTS....

2011-03-30T13:46:00.000+01:00

I have made these Molly Monkeys before and given them as Birthday presents and they have always been well received.....

These two were made for a couple of school friends of Hebe's back in September...

The pattern to make Molly, which is free to download can be found here at mmmcrafts...

Larissa who devised the pattern also has more patterns for sale on her Etsy shop, these include the pattern for Katy Kitten, you may remember I made a few of these a little while back....

With the Katy Kitten pattern you receive a free pattern to make a coat and shoes for her, the pattern also fits Molly Monkey, so this morning I set to work making a coat and shoes for this Molly..

Gorgeous little shoes....

She will be in the post this afternoon, hopefully to arrive with my niece for her birthday on Friday....

DRESS UP FRIDAY....

2011-03-18T09:25:00.000Z

Well here they are as promised, the pictures of the children before they went to school dressed as Bible characters this morning. The school has been having a 'Bible Week' this week, culminating in dress up day today when they were to go dressed as a bible character.

So, here we have Freya dressed as Joseph in the technicolour dream coat....

Finn as King Solomon, not overly impressed I feel ! .......

And Hebe as The Queen of Sheba, Mmmm, not the best costume I know, but I was struggling at this point and we had this belly dancing outfit in the dressing up box....

Not to be left out, Clemmie as, well, Clemmie, who else....

As I said yesterday, they were not overly impressed with this, especially as it is Red Nose day and I am sure children across the country will be dressing up in all sorts of silly/fun costumes. they were even told they were not allowed to wear 'Red Noses'...

FINISHED !

2011-03-17T15:08:00.000Z

Do you remember this ? My granny stripe blanket that I was making for the soon to be revamped Wendy House...

Well it is now finished !!, I think this is possibly the largest thing that I have ever crocheted, it measures 200cm x 165cm, I am really happy with how it has turned out, I don't however think that it will make it into the Wendy House full time (perhaps it can just pop in for the odd day), as I think it looks quite at home here on the Playroom settee...

I used all the odd balls of double knitting I had in the house, nine different colours made up into 36 stripes, each stripe took 40 minutes to crochet, 20min one way and 20min back again, by my reckoning and allowing for time to complete the border edges and sew in the ends that means I spent approximately 26 hours making it ! Goodness that seems an awfully long time !........

I will miss doing those Granny stripes, it was nice sitting with the blanket draped across my lap as I whizzed back and forth, Clemmie would swap from sitting at one side to the other side as I worked so that she could have the blanket on her too....

It has been put to good use already by Clemmie who dragged it through to the living room to snug up under it to look at her new books....

The new books were sent to us from Cat all the way from New Zealand...

We have had a few conversations about Pukeko's before Christmas, and then last month this parcel arrived, so very kind Cat, and a belated big thank you from us ....

I am off now to make a costume for Finn, it has been Bible Week at the children's school this week and tomorrow they have to go dressed as a Bible character (this has not gone down to well with the children especially as it is Red Nose Day and friends are going to their schools dressed in red, silly outfits etc !), anyway, we are having Freya as Joseph in a Technicolour dream coat (finished that one last night), Hebe as the queen of Sheba in a belly dancing out fit (what else !) and Finn as King Solomon, so I better go and sort out a cloak and some head-wear, its a good job Clemmie is not at school yet as I think I would have been pushed to finish four outfits....

Will delight you with those tomorrow.....

HAPPY GIRLS......

2011-03-10T13:47:00.000Z

I have spent a lovely hour this morning making these little lovelies....

They were so simple to make, just string, felt and a bead....

But don't they look great ?

Arn't the colours totally fabulous ?

I found the tutorial to make them on this, new to me blog ArtMind, there are some fantastic tutorials there which are well worth a look....

After making I got a bit carried away playing, without even the excuse of a child being in the house, the older three were at school and Clemmie was at nursery for the morning !...

Wouldn't they be great tied onto a present, made into keyrings, hanging from zips, or strung up 'bunting style....

So many ideas, sometimes I think my head will burst...

N.B. They may not make it on to be any of the above, Clemmie has come back from nursery and whisked them all away to 'school', where she of course is the teacher !.....

MY FIRST BUNTY BUNNY....

2011-03-07T10:03:00.000Z

We have actually named her Dandelion Rabbit, well Clemmie has, best not to ask sometimes ....

I have wanted to make a knitted rabbit for some time now, I have admired these beautiful rabbits made by Julie at Little Cotton Rabbits...

Julie sells gorgeous knitted animals in her Etsy shop, although she does not have any listed at the moment..

I don't think that she sells the patterns for her knitted animals, but she does sell patterns to make these little fellows, how cute are these !, I have bought the pattern for this egg cosy bunny, but more of that in another post...

Back to the knitted rabbit, after realising that Julie did not sell patterns I continued searching, and found these patterns....they are by Debi Birkin, I actually found them on periwinklepark on Etsy, but they can also be bought from the Debi Birkin website...

She's made using James Brett Kool cotton which is lovely to work with...

I made Dandelion with detachable shoes, so that they can be changed, as can her dress and bow.

I am so pleased with how she has turned out, as are three girls who are fighting over her as we speak, I think another two are definately called for...

My original idea was to have a rabbit that would have her own little suitcase of clothes and perhaps her own bed, I will have to look through my doll's clothes patterns to se what other clothing might be suitable, Hebe has requested a school uniform, and Clemmie would like her to be a Princess...

There is even a Bunty Bunny knit along on Ravelry where people are knitting a different themed Bunty for each month....

WORLD BOOK NIGHT....

2011-03-05T19:50:00.000Z

Tonight is World Book night....I had heard of World Book Day, but not World Book Night, How has this passed me by ?,

World Book Night is a celebration of adult books which was started in 2001....

World Book Night website

Last year 20,000 'givers' were chosen to distribute 40,000 copies of 25 selected book titles...

This link is for an event in Trafalgar Square, London last night that was shown on BBC News (the coverage is15mins in, so scroll along to get to it), the event was attended by lots of Authors, including Alan Bennett who was a crowd favourite apparently, who read to the crowd, and more books were distributed...

Books were given away at events around the country, libraries and blogs, which is how I learnt about it...

Colette of Colette Moscrop had been chosen from thousands of people to be a 'giver' and had a giveaway on her blog to win a copy of...

And, I won a copy !

My book arrived this morning, just in time for me to join in tonight, and Colette had included some chocolate and a lovely colourful bookmark....

In the back of each book given away there is a unique identity code, receivers are encouraged to pass their book (once read) to someone else, who then passes it on and so on, a bit like book tag....

You can then 'track' the book as each new owner registers the book on this website and see its journey, How cool is that ?....

So, who should I pass the book on to ?

I thought it would be nice to pass it on to a reader of this blog..

So tag, you could be next, the first person to comment is it......

If you go on the World Book Night website you can register for next year....

EASY PEASY BOOK PAGES BUNTING....

2011-03-03T20:23:00.000Z

As you probably know it's World Book Day today, I was a little disappointed that the children's school did not have them going in dressed as a favourite book character as they have done in previous years, I have fond memories of just managing to get a stripy jumper finished off the night before for for Finn to be Dennis the Menace, and still pulling bits of wool through an orange net to make him a black wig as we were going out the door to school, and cutting up old tights to make different coloured stockings for Freya to be Pippi Longstocking...

Anyway, to get back to the point....

I saw the idea for this bunting here at Amelie's House ,if you have time have a look at the book character biscuits that she made for her children to take to school for World Book day, amazing....

I used some old Charlie and Lola sticker books that Hebe had completed, I ironed 1" bias binding in half down the length and slotted the pennants into the fold, pinned and zig zag stitched along in a contrasting thread...

I used what was left over from making the large bunting to make a smaller one to hang across the fireplace...

Great use of something that would have gone to be recycled, and a brilliant way to brighten up the playroom...

I am eying up some old annuals on Finns book shelf now (Beano would work well I think), and what about maps ?, the possibilities are endless......

MONTHLY MAKES FEBRUARY 2011...

2011-03-02T14:19:00.000Z

February gone already !, and I am late with my post for Annie's monthly make, so apologies to her..

Anyway, here are a few of my February makes....

WHEN THE SUN CAME OUT...

2011-02-24T18:52:00.000Z

Half term this week, and I know that we should not really expect anything less, it is still only February after all, but the weather has not been good this week....

That was until today, when we woke to blue skies and sunshine, so we loaded the children in to the car and headed up the motorway to the Lakes District and our favourite place Brockhole (or broccoli as Clemmie calls it ) visitor centre...

The sky did get steadily greyer as we headed up the M6 and it was pretty cold down by the lake ..

But when you are having fun at the adventure playground you really don't feel the cold...

Do you like Hebe's luminous hoodie that Auntie Ellie knitted, can't miss her in that !

Especially when you have a big brother to keep you warm...

Off to put two tired little girls to bed now, and I think that their older sister and brother will not be far behind...

THERE WERE SIX IN THE BED AND THE LITTLE ONE SAID....

2011-02-14T18:44:00.002Z

roll , roll over over...

Do you remember these monkeys?

I made them for a couple of Hebe's friends last year..

They are made from this free pattern available at mmmcrafts..

Larissa at Mmmcrafts also sells patterns at her Etsy store and after loving the Molly monkeys I bought the pattern for Katy Kitten...

Do you ever think to yourself 'I'm making one so I might as well make a few more'?...

Well, I often have that thought...

So,

seeing as I had lots or different coloured cord left over from making dresses..

I made six....

They make me smile so much, how cute are their little faces ?

They are all sitting on the drawers in my sewing room ready to be parceled up for any lucky birthday girls we have in the family....

Freya would really, really really really really pleeeeease like this one....

Doesn't she look at home sat here on Freya's bed next to the cushion that Freya made ?

But, as I said to her "You will have to wait and see !" - I know, such a Mum thing to say.....

Which is your favourite ?......

GRANNY CHIC ?....

2011-02-11T21:59:00.000Z

I have been dabbling in crochet since last Summer when I taught myself through online videos and tutorials, I found it very frustrating and was all fingers and thumbs, granny squares were as much as I could manage really, but as I became more experienced I began to find it very relaxing and almost therapeutic..........

Lately I have wanted to have a go at a blanket, I found the pattern for this Granny stripe blanket on Attic24, so I fished out all the odd balls of double knitting that I could find, added to it with a few extra colours and started....

I love making this blanket, although it is very time consuming, I gave myself the goal of two stripes a day, and so far have kept up with this, each coloured stripe takes 40 minutes, 20 minutes one way and 20 minutes back again ( yes, I timed it, I am so sad and geeky sometimes !).....

Do you see my Granny square cushion in the pictures ?, if you remember Iwas a bit concerned about the unflatness? of the squares when I joined them, but with a good press it turned out just fine..

Did you notice my stripy sausage dog too ? I knitted this a couple of months ago, I used up the rest of the Rico cotton yarn I had bought when |I first started to crochet, although I loved the colours available, I found that it split as soon as I looked at it, however when knitted it was much more manageable, I have no idea why....

I have borrowed this book from the library a few times, it has some great images...

This is the dream I have for our allotment shed , Chris and Hebe (#3) have painted it 'heather' this year, I have not seen it yet, but what I saw of the colour splashed on Hebe looked lovely...

This is a favourite picture in the book, how fantastic is the gypsy caravan ?, I have a feeling that this is Emma Bridgewater's as I have a vague memory of seeing it in a magazine article about her home a few years ago (don't quote me on thet though !)...

It was the stripy blanket hanging on the washing line that set me off making my stripy blanket...

I have an idea to redecorate the children's wooden Wendy house in the garden in this theme and fill it with lovely bright crocheted blankets (for den making) and cushions (for lounging)..

I picked up this floral quilt cover in Ikea that I will use to make curtains for the Wendy house ...

What do you think ?

WHAT A WAY TO SPEND A SATURDAY MORNING...

2011-02-05T16:17:00.000Z

A friend texted me on Thursday night to say her husband who is a farrier had been given two ducks and a couple of geese by a customer. She would not let him bring them into the house ! She asked if we would like a couple, another friend Lynn had already said that she would take two.

So, this morning found me and Lynn up to our arms in feathers, you would not believe the mess, and Lynn up to her arms in other things that I can not mention...

We googled 'How to pluck a duck' and found a short film on YouTube where an American guy showed us exactly what to do, although we did find it a bit disturbing when he kept saying to lick your thumb to get a better grip on the feathers, yuck !.....

So we plucked, gutted (Lynn did that bit !) and cleaned, and three hours later we had four prepared birds.

Look at Hebe watching Lynn doing the gory bit !...

They look a bit battered and bruised in this picture, not sure if that is normal or not...

Funnily enough neither of us could face eating them today, so we wrapped them in freezer paper and have put them in the freezer for another day...

I can think of better ways to spend a Saturday morning, but the sense of achievement of doing something that neither of us had done before will stay with me for a long while....

DO YOU REMEMBER PIPPI LONGSTOCKING ?

2011-02-03T14:44:00.000Z

This is me aged about 6 years I think (circa 1975), I am dressed as Pippi Longstocking for the fancy dress competition at the local gala ( I won first prize). My mother must have made the costume, and I seem to remember the boots belonged to my Grandy. I don't know who the toy monkey (Mr Nelson) belonged to as I can not remember it being part of our household, maybe we borrowed it from someone...

I have a vague recollection of watching Pippi Longstocking on T.V., but am wondering if I imagined it, as when I googled it, there was a series made in Sweden in 1969 which was televised, but it was shown in the US and the UK is not mentioned. Does anyone else remember it ?

This is a picture from the 1969 series and it does look familiar....

Anyway, I definitely had the books which I clearly remember having read to me.

When Freya was little I found a couple of the story tapes, in Ikea of all places, and she enjoyed listening to them, (as do Hebe and Clemmie now) ...

The original stories were published in the 1940's, and have been republished many times since. In 2007 Lauren Child (of Charlie and Lola fame) illustrated Pippi Longstocking and it was published as this lovely gift edition which I bought for Freya...

A little while ago I saw this great Pippi doll made by

mmmcrafts

It has been on my list of things to have a go at for months, and then when I needed a Birthday present for a nine year old I thought that I would give it a go....

I bought the book to go with the doll, and then made this book bag on which I ironed an image of the book that I had printed out onto that iron on photographic paper...

Pippi's head could have done with being a bit less elongated/alien like, but the birthday girl seemed to like it...

So, Pipi Longstocking a favourite of mine 35 years ago, and still a favourite now...

MAKES FOR JANUARY 2011....

2011-02-01T14:06:00.001Z

I have learnt to make a mosaic today, I used this website http://www.bighugelabs.com/ which is free to register and create all sorts of things, thank you to Emma at Silverpebble for telling me about it...

These are all my finished makes from January...

I am also counting these as my contribution to Annie's - A MAKE A MONTH 2011...

This was my January to do list....

I have actually done all but one of these, which is the metal stamping, I did buy washers ready to stamp yesterday , so I think that counts as an almost there..

I worked out how to crochet my granny squares together, although the seams don't seem very flat, will they flatten when pressed or have I done something wrong ?

This is my first attempt at African flowers, I think I need to have another go with the tutorial in front of me as they do not seem to be quite the same shape as the ones on the African flowers Flickr group !..

The main thing I feel that I have been getting the hang of this month is, just being, it could be all the crocheting along with some knitting that I have been doing, which I do find very relaxing....

I will list my February 'to do' list tomorrow...

2011-01-30T14:49:00.000Z

This is what I found on the kitchen table when I came down this morning , these two are Hebe's Jelly Cat's, she has two as having found out from bitter experience with her older brother and sister, much upset can come from the loss of a special toy...
So now she has a spare, but as she tends to take them both everywhere with her we would have double the upset if she lost them !, so that Idea has not really worked...

All my children have 'special toys', from left to right we have 'Hippo' belonging to Freya 11 years, 'Monkey' who is Finn's aged 10, ' Jelly Cat' (the one pictured here is the sad one apparently, and if you look at the picture above the one on the left is the happy one and the one on the right is the sad one, who would question the thoughts of a 5 year old !), and lastly we have 'Rabbity' who belongs to Clemmie aged 3 years...

Anyway, back to Hebe and her Jelly cat's, they had had an accident, one (happy) had bumped into a house and broke it's leg and the other (sad) had fallen out of the rocket it was flying and broken both its arm and its leg !

Goodness, it was a good job nurse |Hebe was on hand to administer first aid and stickers, the stickers were for being good patients, like you get when you go to the dentist....

UPDATE : the happy Jelly cat has recovered from a broken leg and arm and is left with only a little spot, but unfortunately now has a broken ear, I am glad to say that 'sad' jelly cat is fully recovered....

A FEW MAKES...

2011-01-25T20:19:00.001Z

I seem to be the pump bag queen at the moment, its strange how things seem to come in waves isn't it, at the end of last year it was cushions that were the order of the day, but January seems to be the month of the pump bag...

This little pile were last weeks orders from the local cafe I supply...

Did you notice the heart picture in the background ?, I was so pleased with the one I made for Uncle Bob using cut out maps that I thought I would have another go, not sure whether to put this in the cafe or on Folksy to sell, although it does look rather nice sat on my dresser and I might just keep it for myself....

I had another birthday gift to make last week, this time for my older sister Pauline, she had told me about the Kindle she had bought and how the covers for them were out of stock, I remembered seeing a tutorial for a Kindle cover here at Junie Moon so I gave it a go and am really pleased with the result, it even has a little pocket on the back to store the charging cord...

We have had some really miserable weather the last few days, which makes me look forward to the hopefully fairer weather of spring, all that thinking of Spring saw me dig out some nice spring like floral fabrics and run up a few little bags to sell in the cafe.... so pretty....

FREE SEEDS FOR SCHOOLS....

2011-01-17T10:13:00.000Z

I know that this is primarily a craft blog, but I just had to share this with you.

When you stumble across a company that offer great products and service, you feel as though you should tell other people about it..

This is the case with this company..

seedparade

After having looked through the many seed catalogues that drop through the door at this tine of year and thinking that they were a tad on the expensive side, my husband started to Search online, and came across Seedparade, they sell seed at a very competitive prices (read cheap), they can do this because the seeds are packaged in minimal packaging (polyethylene bags) rather than fancy seed packets. The seeds arrive with no sowing instructions, but these can be viewed and even printed in a printer friendly version from their website.

The other great thing about this company is that they are taking part in the 'Seeds for Schools' project.

If you email them at supportatseedparade.co.uk and put seeds for schools as the subject on the email they will send £15 worth of seeds direct to your local school (you obviously need to put the schools address in the email), our school got a big package of seeds within a couple of days...

They do say that priority is given to primary schools, but I think that if you asked and they had the supplies they would perhaps donate to other children's groups....

INSPIRATION...

2011-01-12T20:09:00.000Z

Where do you find inspiration ?... Mine comes from all sorts of sources....

Could I replicate this cobweb effect in white cotton crochet I wonder ?....

I think Autumn has such a stunning colour palette, a Autumnal quilt perhaps ?...

I use hearts quite a lot in my work, I wonder who MH and BB are ?....

Red and green, such a great combination....

Just look at the reflections in this ball sculpture at Trinity College, Dublin....

Another piece of artwork, again from Dublin, this time from the Museum of Modern Art. It makes me want to have another shot at lino printing....

Inspiration often comes from objects in my home, how lovely are my new Rob Ryan plates ? a much loved Christmas present..... paper cutting, something to try in 2011 ?...

Rainbow bright coat rack on the back of the door....

The lining of Freya's new jacket.....

Hebe and Clemmie's tea set...

Wooden figures...

Of course the more traditional medium of books inspire....

As do magazines, I have piles and piles of ripped out pages that I constantly use to get my creative juices flowing...

HEART ART.......

2011-01-10T10:34:00.000Z

This has been an idea that I have had floating around for a while.....

Such a simple little make, but one that I am mighty pleased with......

This particular one is heading to Uncle Bob for his Birthday....

The maps used are from his 'patch' around the Leeds area.....

My problem has been photographing it, so much reflection !, what am I doing wrong, there must be a way, but how ?....

THE LAST ONE STARTS NURSERY.....

2011-01-06T09:36:00.001Z

Clemmie (#4 aged 3 yrs) started at Nursery on Tuesday, she was very excited ! It seems for ever that we have been telling her "In January", in reply to her question "When can I go to Nursery ?". Although when we were walking up on Tuesday she did ask if January would be there, I think she thought it was another child !....

Just look at her with her new Peppa Pig bag filled with her most important things - 2 loo roll tubes, 1 sheep, 3 rabbits, 1 Christmas card and an old mobile phone...

She will go to Nursery on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning from 9am-12pm, leaving Monday and Friday free to be at home with Mum.....

We consider ourselves very lucky that all four of our children have gone to this Nursery which is in a spare classroom of the Primary School that the older three all attend, and that they have all had the same three teachers as well ! (quite surprising with the usual turnaround of staff in private nurseries)....

Clemmie has really enjoyed her first couple of days, doing lots of painting, sticking and threading....

What a lovely way to spend the next couple of years until school in 2012.......

CATALOG CARD GENERATOR...

2011-01-05T10:06:00.002Z

Have you seen these ?

Catalog card generator

If you go to the link you can type in what ever you like and print them off...

What about typing favourite recipes, printing and keeping to hand in a nice box, contact details to have next to the phone, lists, etc .....

How cool are they ? the uses/possibilities are endless...

What would you use them for ?....

SEWING WITH MUM....

2011-01-03T15:19:00.000Z

Did you sew as a child ? I can remember my Mother buying those ready printed panels when I was a child, the ones where the cushion, toy, stocking etc was printed out onto fabric for you to cut and sew....

I had not really thought about these printed panels for some time, but then came across this Patty Young rag doll panel on seamstar (however,when I have come to look at them again they were not there so maybe Courtney has sold out ?), and thought what a great little project it would be for Hebe (#3 aged 5 years old), I put it away ready to pop into her Christmas stocking, but then forgot, only remembering it this week...

So we set to work, cutting out......

pinning...

sewing, Hebe guiding and me pedaling...

all sew up and ready for stuffing....

I gave a bit of help sewing up the opening of the stuffed doll...

And 'ta da' , the doll was born....Hebe was very proud of her doll that she had 'made' herself, and called her Daffodil ? (who am I to question why !)...

Of course as soon as little sister Clemmie saw Daffodil, she wanted one too, so half an hour later Elena was ready to play......

On Patty Young's blog there is a free downloadable pattern to make dresses for the dolls, so as soon as the fabric choice is decided upon, that is what we will be making next.....

It was fun to spend time with Hebe doing something that we both enjoyed, and I think that I may well be looking out out for other simple 'makes' such as these in the future....

A YEAR IN PICTURES....

2011-01-01T12:28:00.001Z

Our year in pictures......

JANUARY.....

FEBRUARY.....

MARCH....

APRIL.....

MAY.....

JUNE.....

JULY.....

AUGUST.....

SEPTEMBER.....

OCTOBER.....

NOVEMBER.....

DECEMBER.....

I think that I have fallen out of love with my blog of late, it has almost become a chore to me, just something else on that seamlessly never ending to do list..

But, putting together these collages and reliving the memories of the last twelve months have rekindled that love and reminded me of why I started blogging in the first place, how else can I keep such an accessible record of family life, achievements, goals etc..

I am looking forward to 2011 with a skip to my step and hope in my heart........

GOODBYE 2010....

2010-12-31T18:38:00.002Z

2010 is on its way out and 2011 is just around the corner, I wish my friends and family a Happy New Year and hope that they all achieve everything they wish and hope for......

SNOWY WALK...

2010-12-24T12:40:00.000Z

We had a lovely walk through the snowy woods yesterday, this was the first snow of the Winter here (arriving as the children finished school last Thursday), in the ten years we have lived here I think I am right in saying that it has only snowed twice in our corner of Lancashire...

It doesn't take much imagination to realise how excited the children have been...

A first time for sledging !.....

Delight at all that untouched snow at the park to run about in...

A nice warming hot chocolate and biscuits at the park cafe, and then more excitement to find that you have the whole play area to yourselves...

So, here we are on Christmas Eve !, and I want to say Happy Christmas to you all and I hope that you are happy where ever you may be or whatever you may be doing, I also want to spare a thought for the people for whom this time is not such a happy time and hope that they have the strength to get through....

MAKES....

2010-12-09T09:51:00.000Z

A few makes from the last couple of weeks to share with you...

Rocket Rascals pump bag, I love this fabric, particularly teamed up with the red gingham, this one is a Christmas present for a 4 year old boy, perfect.....

Another pump bag, very pretty, a birthday present for one of Hebe's friends....

Sock monkeys - always so popular, I have lost count of how many of these I have sold lately, and my own children STILL do not have one of their own !.......

Personalised denim bags, another best seller, these are going great guns on my Folksy shop.........

Named key rings - for a friends daughter to give out to her friends as Christmas presents....

Crocheted flower brooch's, I really enjoy my relatively new found love of crocheting, I find it quite relaxing and a welcome break from all the sewing....I think that these would also look great sewn along the hem of a dress, might have to give that a go.....

Hand embroidered linen Christmas stockings, I did enjoy a bit of embroidery for a change...

Lastly, messenger bags, I have made a couple of these for Freya's friends as birthday presents and they have gone down really well with that pre-teen age group...

BEEN A LITTLE WHILE...

2010-12-03T09:06:00.001Z

December the 3rd, how did that happen ? I seem to have been in a whirlwind the last couple of weeks. The two little ones have been particularly poorly with horrid colds, and so has the laptop, not with a cold obviously but a nasty virus, all sorted now though and everyone seems to be on the mend.

December means Advent calenders of course, and we have this most beautiful one this year that I had lots of help making from the girls in the THE QUICK CHRISTMAS BEE, is it not just gorgeous ?..

It has the most perfect sized pockets to fit 4 little chocolate mice and four little bits, beads for the girls to make up into a bracelet and MatchAttax football cards for Finn..

I have been busy doing the round of craft fairs and Christmas markets, and then having to restock in between them, MY FOLKSY SHOP has also been busy the last couple of weeks too, its good to be busy and I do thrive under a bit of pressure...

Just off to deliver some stock for a stall at a local Christmas Festival, luckily I do not have to man the stall, I think the girls will need their thermals on today !...

I will pop back soon with pictures of new makes, some presents and some to sell....

FREE CHRISTMAS MAGAZINES...

2010-11-07T08:26:00.001Z

You may have to forgive my excitement over this post this morning...

I came across these links from Natasha at 5 minutes just for me, she wrote a post this week about these TWO, yes TWO fantastic free online magazines..

I did not even know that such things existed, am I just not down with the kids ?

Anyway here you go...

First up is the truly incredible AMY POWERS HOLIDAY MAGAZINE which has fantastic makes and links to lots of free printables etc..

Amy's blog Inspire co is also well worth a look...

The second magazine is GIFTED which is put together by Ez (pronounced Ee-zee) of Creature comforts

Another fantastic magazine which can not fail to inspire you...

So if you have a spare 5 minutes today, have a look, and see if you are as excited as me !...................

PATCHWORK CUSHIONS....

2010-11-06T07:56:00.000Z

I really do seem to be the cushion queen at the moment....

I had a call from a friend of a friend who asked me to go to her house to discuss about making some cushions for a new chair she had bought...

The chair was a sculptured black leather one that sits on a open landing at the top of her stairs, around the landing she had some large pieces of artwork...

The brief was to make two cushions that picked up the colours of the artwork...

I was given a free reign (always a bit nervous when someone does that, because your interpretation can be completely different to theirs !), the client said that she liked patchwork, and I immediately thought of the really bright velvet and satin patchwork furniture that I have seen on the pages of Elle decoration this year...

I mentioned velvets, satins etc and it was agreed that texture would be good, so off I went and these cushions are what I came up with....

I used velvet, shot silk, cord, satin, an Amy Butler print and even a bit of Kaffe..

I enjoyed making these, although it is a bit difficult working in different textures as the fabrics slip about and stretch in different ways, but I and am pleased with the result, and more importantly so was the recipient when she picked them up last night..

Cushions, cushions and more cushions....

2010-11-03T13:59:00.001Z

There has been the most beautiful home shop opened in our town recently which sells really stunning pieces, and I have managed to get them to stock 'Me and Ma' !

They placed an order a couple of weeks ago for linen cushion with 'Love' and 'Home' on, similar to these, but in a cerise and turquoise colourway...

Then at the end of last week they rang to order some Christmas cushions....

Here are a few of them before I delivered them this morning....

FOOTNOTE : FORGOT TO SAY THESE ARE ALSO AVAILABLE ON MY FOLKSY SHOP AT £15.00 AND IF YOU ARE A FOLLOWER OF MY BLOG AND WANT TO PURCHASE ONE OR ANYTHING ELSE IN MY SHOP I WILL NOT CHARGE POSTAGE...

DAY OUT...

2010-11-02T08:38:00.002Z

We had a great family day out yesterday at Brockhole - The Lake District visitor centre..

We go here quite a lot at various times of the year, but Autumn is particularly stunning...

The children had fun on the adventure playground and had it virtually to themselves as the local children must have all been back at school (our do not go back until tomorrow)....

Because it was so quiet, Clemmie got to have her first turn on the zip wire, suffice to say she loved it !

There was the obligatory stone throwing down at the lake...

Although not quite the same as in the Summer....

Clemmie managed to skid down a hill almost on her head !

The views are just gorgeous...

And the colours speak for themselves...

This little robin appeared as we were having Hot Chocolate after our walk ( well the grown ups had Hot Chocolate, the children had ice lollies ! Brrrrrr ...

FRESH AND FUNKY QUILT BLOCK BEE..

2010-10-19T17:51:00.000+01:00

Owls is a tree block...

This is my October block for the Fresh and Funky quilting bee, it was Cat's turn this month and she wanted tree blocks to make up in to a quilt inspired by 'The seasons' quilt in Material Obsession two...

Cat had some great inspiration pictures on her Flickr, I was particularly taken by this girl on a swing picture...

There is a great tutorial for this HERE. The block is made using raw edge applique and free motion stitching..

I was not sure about the block at first as you can obviously see the raw edges of the squares used for the background, but now I really like the messiness of it..

The block will now be flying across the other side of the world to Cat in New Zealand, lets hope that she likes it....

PUMPKIN PATCH SWAP AND SUNSETS...

2010-10-12T09:36:00.000+01:00

My parcel from Crafty Helen's Pumpkin Patch swap arrived yesterday, I was partnered with Aija of Crafty Smiles, these are the parcels sat in a little patch on sunlight on the kitchen table...

And here they are all opened up. What goodies Aija sent me; a lovely zippered pouch, a Halloween pot towel and pot holder, buttons, fabric, sweets, chocolate, a vase, wooden pumpkin and bat and a great recipe for cookies...

Thank you for such a great parcel Aija...

Thought I would share the next couple of photos with you that Freya took from the car window last night on the way to be dropped off in Blackpool to walk through the illuminations with Cubs..

This one is the windmill on The Green next to the estuary which is two minute walk from our house...

And this one is the sunset over Granny's Bay which is about a 20 minute walk from our house, round the other side of this bay are a stretch of sand dunes and then you hit the bright lights of Blackpool...

Sally Ann's Shop...

2010-10-11T10:18:00.000+01:00

My friend Sally Ann opened her first shop on Saturday, it is just on the outskirts of Blackpool town centre...

and she is a ...

How cool is that !

The shop looks really great and Me and Ma coordinates so well with Sally Ann's wooden painted gifts..

So I wish Sally all the luck in the world and hope that her shop is a huge success...

EVALUATION...

2010-10-05T17:05:00.001+01:00

Do you ever take stock and evaluate your skills ?

It is not something that I do very often, and as I have been self employed for the last eight years, I have no employer to do it..

But just recently I have been looking back at various things I have made, and I am pleased to see some sort of progression in what I do.

The above block is an example of what I mean, it was the September block for the Fresh and funky quilting bee . Crystal asked us to make a spiderweb block from this tutorial, the fabric parcel arrived weeks ago and has been under my sewing table ever since, it looked way to complicated to me !

But, when I actually sat down this morning and made a start, it was not half as bad as I thought, and I managed just fine... and although I felt out of my comfort zone, it did make me think "You know, I can do more than I think I can, and I am not that bad at what I do !"...

CRAFTY SUNDAY # 17

2010-10-03T10:10:00.000+01:00

I finished this Advent Calendar this week, with help from these great girls Julie, Marg.Lynz and Jo, they along with myself are The Quick Christmas Quilting Bee 2010...

I am so very pleased with the finished calendar, it is just great on so many levels, little pockets big enough to fit four little gifts for four children, lovely bright fabric and the perfect size to hang on a door..

This was my first time at free hand quilting, and I really enjoyed it, but I did learn a thing or two along the way !

* The slower I went on the foot pedal the larger the stitches became, I persume I need to try and keep at a constant pressure which is easier said than done !

* It is very easy to catch your fingers , ouch !, I think that is probably because the darning foot is a bit flatter than other feet..

* Would it have been better to draw the lines on in a disappearing pen ? Mine does look very scribbly, which I don't actually mind, but maybe if I had lines to follow it would be neater ?

Any advice on the above points would be most welcome...

A big thank you to the girls for all their help, I am sure I will have four very happy children come advent xx

PINCUSHION SWAP

2010-09-28T10:26:00.000+01:00

I have taken part in the pincushion swap organised by Beki of The ramblings of an everyday mummy, I was partnered with Vicki of

Vintage Vicki....

My parcel from Vicki arrived on Saturday morning, with lots of little tissue wrapped parcels inside and a great retro looking Blackpool postcard which is very apt as we are just down the road from Blackpool...

And inside the parcels, lots of fabulous goodies...

A gorgeous little house pincushion, wouldn't it be great to have a whole little street of these !

As well as the pincushion, there was some lovely fabric, a Sew Hip magazine, ribbon and beautiful buttons that I must ask Vicki where she got them from, particularly the spotty ones from...

So, Thank you Vicki for such a thoughtfully well put together parcel...

and thank you to Beki for organising the swap :)

CRAFTY SUNDAY #16

2010-09-26T16:57:00.000+01:00

Sunday again ! I just don't know where the weeks are going at the moment, although we have been in a bit of a birthday whirl here..

Clemmie had her 3rd birthday a fortnight ago when we had a house full of family, then last weekend her and Hebe had a joint birthday party for their friends, and today is Hebe's 5th birthday...

My crafty Sunday is a bit of a cheat this week, as I did not actually make it.. It is two gifts that the girls received from my friend Kate (Mum to Elliani and Keisha)...

Kate made them the most gorgeous heart shaped name plaque for Clemmie..

And the equally beautiful name hanging for Hebe, which looks stunning hanging on the end of her bed..

I was just saying at the beginning of the month about homemade presents and how I make and give a lot, but receive so few back, so the fact that Kate had taken the time to make these for the girls makes them extra special...

Thank you Kate x

Happy 5th Birthday Hebe xx

LAURA'S QUILT..

2010-09-16T11:55:00.000+01:00

I have just finished this quilt this week, it was a commission from the daughter of Hebe's nursery teacher Mrs Hopper..

Mrs Hoppers daughter Laura is at uni in Aberdeen and wanted a quilt to cover the sofa in her student house ...

Laura wanted the quilt to be in oranges and reds, and she chose these gorgeous fabrics...

I really hope that you like it Laura....

CRAFTY SUNDAY # 15

2010-09-12T09:43:00.000+01:00

This will be a short Crafty Sunday this week, not because I have not done much crafting, because I have been very busy and will be getting more so as there is a very exciting project in the pipeline, but I will save that for another day..

This week I have made lots of pump bags (you have seen plenty of those before I know), but have also made a few of these aprons..

I really like these aprons, both my 'little' girls have aprons of this style which they obviously use when baking, but I also pop them in my bag if we are going out to eat, great for protecting there clothes when they are to 'big' for a bib...

So that's it for today, we have a house full arriving shortly to help us celebrate Clemmie's 3rd birthday, so all that remains is to wish our #4 a very Happy Birthday...

BACK TO AND STARTING SCHOOL.....

2010-09-06T18:57:00.000+01:00

Freya and Finn both started back at school today, Freya into her final year at Primary (Year six) and Finn into Year Five. They both seem to have enjoyed their first day back and Finn really likes his new teacher (Freya has the same one that she had last year, who she also likes)...

It was only when I looked at this photo that I realised just how alike they are, it is no wonder that they are often mistaken for twins ! There is actually 15 months between them..

It was Hebe's first afternoon at school today, she will do afternoons this week, mornings next week and will then be in full time...

Its strange listening to other parents talking about what they will do without their babies and how they are going to cope..I seem to look at it in a different way, I think its great that the children are all growing up into such great individuals and think that independence is a good thing... Maybe I am the strange one !...

Crafty Sunday # 14

2010-09-05T16:10:00.000+01:00

It seem ages since I did a crafty Sunday post, I have certainly missed a few of late..

This week I have some bags to show you..

I am a big fan of the messenger bag, which is ideal for me as it leaves me 'hands free' to manage children and pushchairs etc..

I have made numerous messenger bags, such as these..

But I was really after making one with a flap, which I felt would be a bit more secure for when I had my purse and phone in my bag..

I came across this great tutorial by Larissa at Mmmcrafts she is the same talented lady that had the tutorial for the Molly Monkey doll that I made as presents this week...

So here is the first one I made which was for Freya, I really like this Michael Miller 'Peace' collection fabric, and Freya was made up with it, I also made her a zippered pouch to keep her DS in and a little diddly drawstring bag to pop the games in to...

She loved the fabric so much I even made her a new pump bag for PE from the left over fabric..

This fabric came from Celtic fushion fabrics I made all of the above from a £5.90 mini cloth stack. bargain !

After using Freya's as a test I made this one for myself....

It is perfect and even has pockets inside for my phone a purse...

HOMEMADE PRESENTS...

2010-09-01T13:30:00.001+01:00

What is your opinion about home made presents ?

I have made home made presents for almost everyone I have needed to give a present to in the last 18 months. both young and old...

But I do wonder if people actually like receiving something handmade, or whether they secretly think me a little tight !

I get next to no homemade presents, apart from when I take part in swaps, (maybe that's why I enjoy taking part in them), I would love to receive more handmade gifts as I think there is something special about being given something that someone has taken the time and effort to make themselves... but maybe that is just me ?..

I have quite a lot of birthdays in September, the first ones are for two of Hebe's nursery friends, one has just turned 4 and the other is almost 5, just about a year apart but they will actually both start school with Hebe next week..

I found the tutorial for this gorgeous Molly Monkey at mmmcrafts where you can download the pdf pattern, she actually has little shoes and a beret to go with her which I have not made yet..

So I have made this Molly Monkey and intend to make a second one today..

I hope the two little girls will like their Molly Monkey's when they get them, all packed up in a nice cotton bag with their name on..from the reaction I have had from my own girls, I think they might just, and I also think I might have to get on with making a couple more ! (Hebe and Clemmie turn 3 and 5 years in a few weeks)...

HOURGLASS QUILT FINALLY FINISHED...

2010-08-18T15:42:00.000+01:00

I started this hourglass quilt back in April, I even did a tutorial on how to make the blocks which can be found here Part One and Part Two.. and then it has sat in my sewing room with the top completed until this week when I decided to finish it off for a friends 60th Birthday at the weekend...

I sash-ed it with plain white cotton and bound it with hot cerise pink...

The fabric is Tanya Wheelan , Kaffe Fassett and a bit of Park slope....

I quilted it with straight horizontal lines and am really pleased with the finished quilt, which I am sure the recipient will like too...

CRAFTY SUNDAY #15

2010-08-15T18:44:00.000+01:00

I have missed the last two Crafty Sunday's as we were in Ireland enjoying our holiday. The day before leaving, and in between packing and other more important things I should have been doing, I put together the packages of fabric for the four other members of The quick Christmas bee...

I really wanted to do a Christmas bee, but then realising that time was running out decided to organise a UK based one with just five of us, as I thought that we could all manage to have a finished project in that tight time scale.

I have been wanting to make the children an Advent calendar with pockets for a couple of years, last year I made a Advent bear/mouse which my husband said was the most bizarre thing I have ever made !

I must admit it did not turn out as I had envisaged, especially as I had loosely based my idea on these...

I know, you can stop laughing now !....

Anyway after much searching I found this fantastic Advent calendar tutorial on Sew Mama Sew..

How gorgeous is this ?

So this week I did my pockets for the calendar...

I am really pleased with them and so simple..

Here they are with the five that arrived from Lynz..

Looking forward to receiving the remaining from the others in the group and getting it all quilted.

Then I just have to work out what I can put in the small pockets for four children..I did think maybe a piece of Lego that would buil up into a small model or maybe a bead each day that could be threaded into a necklace ? Any other ideas would be much appreciated....

IRELAND 2010

2010-08-11T12:25:00.001+01:00

We have just returned from our family holiday in Ireland...

We had a couple of days in Dublin...

Modern Art Museum...

Visited the Temple Bar area...

Trinity College...

And my favourite, The Natural History Museum...

When we opened the door into this room a wall of noise hit you, I have never seen so many excited children in one place, it was great to see (and hear !) their wonder at seeing the animals...

Of course we needed lots of running about to let off steam between all this culture...

After a tiring and packed two days in Dublin we headed over to East Clare...

Visited King Johns castle in Limerick, where you have to have the obligatory photo taken on a cannon...

We had the windiest and possibly the coldest day on the beach..

Clemmie obviously does not feel the cold like anyone else....

Ireland does have some of the most spectacular beaches though...

After the beach it was a brisk walk to the top of the Cliffs of Moher...

The sun even peeped out for a little while....

But the wind did not stop....

So that's another family holiday over, tiring and busy days, but happy easily pleased children who enjoy nothing better that the simple things like playing in streams...

Playing together...

Or alone with favourite toys...

FRESH AND FUNKY QUILT BLOCK BEE..JULY..

2010-07-27T13:31:00.000+01:00

At last I have finished my blocks for the July Fresh and Funky bee ! I don't know why they have taken me so long as I started making them weeks ago, and then abandoned them in my sewing room where they became hidden under a pile of stuff, only to be unearthed when I finally had a tidy up in there !

* Note to self - Make up and post blocks as soon as you receive them so this does not happen again !

Anyway here they are....

Lynette who's month it was sent us a great selection of fabrics in her chosen colours of pink, turquoise and lime green...

She asked us to make people and house blocks to make up into this 'burbs' quilt..

which is taken from Material Obsession by

Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke..

If you would like to see the blocks that the other members of our group have made you can find them on the Fresh and funky bee flickr group

CRAFTY SUNDAY #12

2010-07-25T17:18:00.000+01:00

Crafty Sunday this week is a bit of a re-make, I made this play kitchen for Freya almost 10 years ago...

I remember going to B & Q with a rough picture drawn on a scrap of paper and measurements of how big I thought each piece of would need to be. I managed to persuade the man in the wood cutting department to cut out each piece for me , he had said that he was only meant to make one cut to a piece of wood for you to fit into your car etc not cut out individual pieces for projects, but I think he felt sorry for me when I explained I really wanted to make this for my baby girl !

It is made from MDF, as everything seemed to be at that time, and incredibly heavy !

As you can see it has been well played with over that time and was looking a bit worse for wear...

The doors had fallen off, we had lost a knob and the paint work was in a very sorry state. I decided that it was time for an overhaul...

I had some lovely duck egg blue paint left over from another project and decided to go with that ...

I still need to put the doors back on and replace the knobs, and I would like to add some sort of 'tap' to the sink unit (which was always my intention, but never happened)..

But I am very pleased with the progress so far and the two little girls (and Freya and Finn, although they would not admit it !) have played with it all weekend...

A while a go I saw this fabulous play kitchen that a German blogger called Catherine Hug had made for her daughter and posted about on her blog Hyggelig..

Can you believe that she made this from THIS....

Very clever, and isn't this just the sort of cabinet you see outside junk shops ?

Next I intend to recover the girls ironing board, perhaps make them a little peg-bag, oven gloves and aprons to match, oh, and maybe some of the great felt food I have seen around...

SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER...

2010-07-22T08:25:00.000+01:00

Well, that's it for another School year and six weeks to enjoy before we have to start it all over again !

I managed to finish off the the little pouches that I made for the children's teachers...

I hope that they liked them....

I think this Amy Butler fabric one was my favourite...

So, what have I planned for the next few weeks ?..

A bit more of this....

....name tape sewing, I have always used the sew in woven labels, but now having three lots of uniform to sew labels into I am questioning why I have never gone for iron on !...

I need to update my Folksy shop and list some new stock, as well as contacting some 'real' shops that have been expressing an interest in my 'stuff'.

But the best thing is not to be bound by school runs, and not having to be any particular place by any particular time....

CRAFTY SUNDAY #11

2010-07-18T16:13:00.000+01:00

This weeks Crafty Sunday items are thank you presents for the children's teachers at both school and nursery..

I wanted something that was relatively quick and easy to make as I have left it (as usual) to the last minute, school finishes on Wednesday...

I went for these easy peasy zippered pouches which can be used for anything from Make-up, pencils, sewing kit etc...

I found the tutorial on Make it perfect blog, and they really are as the title says 'Easy peasy'....

And a great way to use up scraps...

also odd buttons....

These are the fronts ready quilted for the rest of the pouches.

As I said in my post yesterday I was featured on My passport to style this week, Sharon featured this pump bag (amongst other things) and said she would like one as a wash-bag for when she goes on her Summer camping trip, well, funnily enough the Mum of the little girl I made it for asked if I could make her a wash-bag and also applique her name on to a towel for her take to brownie camp...

I lined the wash-bag with a piece of white shower curtain, which worked really well..

And there will be no chance of this towel going missing..

AS FEATURED ON...

2010-07-17T13:23:00.000+01:00

I have been featured on

My passport to style

Sharon who is a style consultant and freelance fashion writer wrote a great post about me and featured some of my items, pump bag, dresses etc...

Its great to see feedback and to know other people like the things I make too...

Another place I received very positive feedback was at the school Summer fair yesterday afternoon, Lots of orders taken and sold out of a lot of the little hairbands, key-rings, slides etc that I had made...

So, off to get all my orders made up now, and I will see you tomorrow for Crafty Sunday...

GRADUATION DAY..

2010-07-13T10:01:00.000+01:00

Christopher Anthony Tierney BA (Hons).

Fast forward 11 years !

Congratulations Christopher we are all very very proud of you xx

CRAFTY SUNDAY #10

2010-07-11T13:38:00.000+01:00

I have been very busy with my crafting this week, preparing things for the stall I will have at the Children's School Summer Fair that will be held on Friday....

As well as the usual things I make I have tried to keep a large percentage of items under the £10.00 mark as I find that people don't actually take a lot of money to these type of fairs...

I have made a pile of these.....

Great little pencil wallets with coloured pencils and little sketch book....(£7.00)

A few of these denim Union Jack messenger bags...(£10.00)...

And lots of bits for a few pounds....

Little cotton bags with elastic made to French skipping and Cat's cradle lengths...(very popular)...(£3.00)..

Cotton head bands.....(£3.00)

Felt bead jewellery.... (£2.50)....

These 'Flower power' headbands on elastic that the older girls all seem to like.....(£3.00)...

And button hair slides... (£3.00)

THE ENVELOPE PROJECT UPDATE.....

2010-07-09T10:22:00.000+01:00

I had a lovely surprise when catching up on blogs this morning, Hebe's envelope for the Meet me at Mikes envelope project has arrived at the Meet me at Mikes shop in Australia !

Pip who owns Meet me at Mikes empties the envelopes contents, photos the envelopes and puts them in her shop window...

The picture Hebe drew on the back of her envelope is on Pip's blog HERE

This is Hebe's envelope here in the UK...

And here it is in Australia ! How cool is that ?............

Photo taken from the Meet me at Mikes blog...

Can not wait to show Hebe when she comes home from nursery at lunchtime...

The winning envelope will be chosen at random on 2nd August, so if you get a envelope there by then you can still take part.....

WE ALL WENT TO THE ZOO TODAY...............

2010-07-08T21:50:00.000+01:00

It was Hebe's pre-school trip this morning, the trip is the same every year, they always go to Blackpool Zoo. I must have done this trip about five times over the last seven years as Freya and Finn both went to the same nursery....

Younger brothers or sisters can come too, and it is very exciting, going there on a coach...

Spotting the animals...

Playing on the playground.....

And seeing lots of sleepy animals....

A lovely morning spent with friends, but two very tired little girls when we got back home.....

DRESSES FOR GROWING GIRLS.....

2010-07-07T15:59:00.000+01:00

The children keep growing !, especially the two younger ones, although I do feel like I am saying to the older two "Have you not got any jeans that fit ?", or "Do you not have another top ?" a lot lately... Is it me or do they really grow more in the warmer weather ?....

Freya (10) is terrible at giving things up and replacing with new, I tried to go through her drawers a month or so ago to sort out things that were to small and said I would buy her new and was met with cries of "But there my favourite P.J.'s !" or "Please don't get rid of that !", even though they were probably two sizes to small for her...(I actually sneaked things out when she was at school and she has not yet noticed !)....

The two little girls Hebe (4) and Clemmie (2) love getting new things, but a bit of dress making was in order, they chose the fabrics themselves...

The spotty and the turquoise above are both Ikea fabrics...

As is the heart fabric...

And this daisy fabric was found in a basket of offcuts in the local fabric shop...

So they are both now kitted out for the rest of the Summer, I had to make them both one in each fabric as they like to 'match', no idea why ?...

Simple, easy and quick to make dresses that are very easy to wear....and can be made for Summer or like this one made from cord for the Autumn/Winter to wear with tights and over a long sleeved T.shirt...

I feel as though I never really mentioned Finn (9) in my posts, but that is not because he is forgotten, just that he is not of an age when he really wants anything 'made' for him !...

CRAFTY SUNDAY #9 (ON A MONDAY !)

2010-07-05T11:16:00.000+01:00

Had real problems with the computer yesterday so could not do my Crafty Sunday post, all sorted now though, so here we go , better late than never ?

I have had a lot of orders for pump bags this week from the children that will be starting school with Hebe in September...

They need a pump bag for P.E. and one to put outdoor clothes and wellies in...

My crocheting is coming on a treat, and I seem to have mastered the simple granny square...

These will be made up in lots of bright colours and joined together with white to make a blanket to snuggle up on the chair in the little girls bedroom when we have bedtime stories..

I bought this rainbow pack of cotton yarn....

The colours are fantastic, really bright and vibrant, but oh how it splits ! I know cotton is more prone to splitting, but this is ridiculous, however, I will persevere making it up into these lovely little jewelled squares as I can not see it go to waste...

We have had a couple more people sign up for Crafty Sunday this week, I will put their links on my sidebar so you can see who is joining in....

STRAWBERRY SWAP

2010-06-30T14:31:00.000+01:00

A lovely parcel arrived in the post this morning, It was my strawberry swap from Pixiedust who organised this swap on her blog Faerie Nuff..

Inside the main parcel were these beautifully wrapped little parcels...

I had some help opening the parcels from Clemmie who had just got up from her nap..."Ooooh bubble stuff Mummy !" was her comment...

Inside the bubble stuff was this gorgeous Cath Kidston strawberry mug !

The rest of the parcels contained, a strawberry notebook, shower gel, a bag that folds up into a strawberry, homemade strawberry jam (my favourite jam !) and the most beautiful little fabric strawberries in a jar that smell just divine !

Thank you so much Pixiedust AKA Louisa, you put a lot of thought putting together the perfect parcel and I love it all...

HERE'S OUR ENVELOPE...

2010-06-29T13:14:00.000+01:00

Hebe and I spent this morning (while Clemmie napped) to put together our envelope for the Meet me at Mikes envelope project...

The brief was to send an envelope containing bits (light to post) such as stickers, postcards, cuttings etc..

We included a picture printed onto calico from Judith Kerr's "The Tiger who came to tea", one of our all time favourite reads, a Guinness for strength postcard, Union Jack bunting, a Burnley FC ticket stump, London Underground postcard, sticky stars and some wildflower seeds that were given away in the library..

Pip of Meet me at Mikes takes photos of the envelopes when they arrive with her (then displays them in her shop window) and puts them either on her blog or onto this flickr group, we will be watching out to see if we can spot ours..

At the end of the six week project one envelope will be chosen and that extremely lucky person will receive everything from all the envelopes sent to Pip, such a cool idea ......

There is still time to join in....

CRAFTY SUNDAY # 8

2010-06-27T10:31:00.000+01:00

This week I have (at last) learnt to crochet, something that I have been wanting to learn to do for such a long time.

After being disappointed by the lack of crochet books in the local library, I turned to the web and came across the video tutorials by Pip at Meet Me at Mikes, she has a whole series of them called Crochet school which has 10 lessons starting from the very beginning, how to hold your hook, make a slip knot etc. Pip then goes on step by step to show you how to crochet a granny square.

These are my first attempts and I am really pleased with them...

I have come across some fantastic crochet blogs this week in my searches, Attic 24 is written by Lucy, who has some gorgeous patterns and tutorials, below is the start of a birdie decoration that can be found on her blog.

When it is finished it should look like this.. Mmmm not sure I have actually started mine right, may have to pull that out and start again, but I will get there in the end !...

Photo - Attic 24

I think now that I know the basics I can have a go at other things, I found these lovely African flowers via Jo at Bearpaw,

photo - Jo- bearpaw

Jo posted about the very talented Elizabeth Cat who has the most gorgeous crochet on her blog, she also has a flickr group for the above African flowers which also has Free pattern for African flowers.

So, now that I can crochet I can sit outside and enjoy the sunshine, whilst doing something I enjoy !

WE ARE OFF AND RUNNING..

2010-06-24T11:36:00.000+01:00

The first parcels of fabric for the Fresh and Funky quilting bee have been arriving with all the group over the last week (this is my selection above) or so, Lynette is setting us off for July and has chosen the theme 'People and places" inspired by a quilt in this book..

Material Obsession by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke...

Burbs quilt....

Lynette intends to make her blocks up into a wall hanging for her office...

My second lot a fabric this week came from a brand new online fabric shop called

Simply solids

Simply Solids has been set up by Mandy and specialises in Robert Kaufman Kona solids which are notoriously difficult to come by in this country.

A big plus of this site is also the free delivery on orders over £15.00..

I ordered a Timber fat quarter pack by Jessica Levitt...

I was also lucky enough to receive two fat quarters as a free gift for being one of the first 10 people to place an order, Mandy chose the two stunning solid grey in the forefront of the picture. I see this being made into a quilt for our soon to be decorated bedroom, very pretty but in a not to girly way, if that makes sense...

Lynne at lilysquilts.blogspot.com is hosting a huge giveaway for simply Solids, it is open to international entries too, so well worth having a look at...

THE ENVELOPE PROJECT..

2010-06-23T16:54:00.000+01:00

Have you seen this ?

I have been learning to crochet this week (that needs a whole post of its own !) and found some excellent video tutorials by Pip Lincolne of www.meetmeatmikes.blogspot.com , anyway as I was on Pip's blog I saw this envelope project that she is doing.

You send Pip a decorated envelope to the address above, inside the envelope you pop any bits you like (must be lightweight), that are recycled, or handmade, such as a magazine cutting, photo, stickers, swap cards, piece of ribbon etc. Pip will display the envelopes in her Melbourne shop window, check out the pictures on her blog...

The project will run for six weeks (they are at day 9), at the end of that time an envelope will be randomly picked and ALL the items from ALL the envelopes will be sent to that person ! How cool would it be to win that ! As they say, you have to be in it to win it, so go on over to Meet Me at Mikes to join up and read the rules.

I think that this is a great idea for children to join in with (it is open to all ages) and my older two are very keen to join in and I think the younger two would enjoy decorating an envelope too...

It would me so cool if we saw our envelopes in a photo of the window across the other side of the world !

There are more photos on the Flickr group as well...

CRAFTY SUNDAY #7

2010-06-20T07:36:00.001+01:00

My make for this week is something from one of my very first blog posts, and I have returned to make more of these this week.

I first saw the idea for these in a magazine that my Mother passed on to me, I adapted that idea slightly as the original 'beads' were made with tiny beads threaded onto the thread that is wrapped around each bead. I wanted these to be children's jewellery and so wanted to limit the amount of small 'bits'.

If I was making them for very small children I would not include any beads at all and just use the felt beads.

So here is what you do...

You start by cutting out strips of felt to the width you want your bead to be and about 15cm long. Then pulling it taut start wrapping the felt around a skewer/knitting needle..

When you have your felt all wrapped up into your bead shape wrap it with embroidery thread and tie it securely..

That's it really, it is easier to keep the beads on the skewer/knitting needle until you need them, just keep pushing them up as you make more...

When you have your required number of beads, (how many depends on how big you want your bracelet or necklace to be, or if you are adding other beads) thread them onto some nylon bead thread.

I really like these and so do all the little (and some big !) girls I have made them for. The other great thing is if they do manage to pull them enough to snap the bracelet then you do not end up with tiny beads everywhere (done that many times !)...

If you check out Annie at The Felt Fairy I think she will have packs of different coloured felt in her shop.

P.s Happy Fathers day to my Dad , Chris's dad and also to Chris from Freya, Finn, Hebe and Clemmie xxxx

MORE DRESSES..

2010-06-18T13:24:00.000+01:00

Just a couple of little dresses to show you that I was commissioned to make this week..

The dresses button up at the back..

I like the fabric of both the dresses and think that the large pattern works well with this very plain design....

CAN YOU HELP ?

2010-06-16T10:24:00.000+01:00

These little mice in a matchbox are made by Maileg and can bought on the Internet for between about £15 and £21 (a little pricey me thinks !) each...

Our two little girls Hebe and Clemmie (actually probably a not so little girl called Freya too!) would like these mice, but can I justify spending that much on one 11cm mouse ? (No!)..

Here's where you lovely readers come in...

Has anyone seen a pattern for something similar to these ?

You can even buy this little mouse house for them, I won't tell you how much they are, you might have heart failure !..

I would however like to source the wooden 'matchboxes' or something similar, so if you can help, I would be ever so grateful, as would two (make that 3 and a Mummy) little girls...

Failing that I suppose I could adapt the pattern for the TILDA bears and cats, make it smaller and change the face shape, What do you think ?

HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY GRANDPA JOHN...

2010-06-14T17:40:00.000+01:00

It was Chris's dads 60th birthday (I know 60 ! it seems quite young really for a grandfather (my father is in his 80's), but he was only 18 when Chris was born...

We went out for Sunday lunch yesterday with Grandpa John and his partner Sue..

The children brush up quite well...

Just never seem to be able to get a photo of them all looking the same way !

I made new dresses for the younger two girls. One of the nursery mums gave me some Laura Ashley fabric a few months ago and asked if I could make use of it, can I ever ! I think that it looks great with the Amy Butler Sunspots..

I made Freya a top ( it was actually meant to be tunic length, but I was chatting to a friend when cutting out and cut the front to tunic length and the back to top length !), using this Amy Butler pattern..

She chose some fabric last time we went to Ikea, I was not sure about it at all, but when it was actually made up I think the bold pattern looks quite good and suits her colouring..

Freya was very happy with it and has asked me to make more in different fabrics but in the tunic length, I think it would be nice done in cord and worn with bright tights..

We had a lovely meal, but the highlight for the children was going back to Grandpa Johns house for cake..

And for a balloon fight !....