Rain Stops Play

Why is it that as soon as the builders decided to leave today the sun came out!!!

Both yesterday and today have been a wash out on the garden front but it is slowly coming together. I have taken a few photos of the path around the orangery and it has made a real difference as it seems to have pulled the buildings together.

This is my new front step, I have a lovely fossil leaf in the top middle one, we now have to touch up the paint on the small walls and add some plants.

One of my friends was saying that her husband would like to see some photos of our back garden and was asking about my workshop. Well here it is, looking more shabby than chic I'm afraid. I really need to get the dark oak stain out again and give it a coat and then when the builders have fimished the patio they are going to add guttering and waterbutts and hopefully it will look a little better.

I'm really pleased with the back step and path and can't wait till we knock through so that we can start using this new room.

Colour Swap

Today when Tomas and I got home from Mother and Toddler group there was a parcel waiting for me under the gate. Seeing that it was from Lorraine over at FairlyGirly I knew it was my Colour Swap gifts and was itching to open it. I resisted until I had put Tomas down for a nap as I wanted to be able to open it in peace and take photos of all my lovely green gifts.

As you can see Lorraine has sent me some beautiful, amazing, and gorgeous green gifts.

This notebook was soon nabbed by my daughter Rachel

And this candle is far too pretty to light

This is Lorraine's first attempt at crochet and it has inspired my to dig out my crochet hooks. isn't my bird just gorgeous..

I had admired these beautiful green flower beads over on Lorraine's blog (as part of her "pay it forward" gift) and she very kindly let me have some and made me this amazing bracelet.

I always have a book on the go, it helps me unwind and get off to sleep each night and now I can mark my page with this beautiful beaded bookmark, I love the delicate flower bead at the end.I've really enjoyed taking part in this colour swap and just wanted to say a big thank you to Dolly Dollop for organizing it and a huge thank you to Lorraine at FairlyGirly for all my gorgeous green gifts!!!! Lorraine your gifts are in the post - I hope you like them as much as I love mine!!!

Garden Makeover - Day 3

Today (wednesday) has had a slower pace to it, the past two days have been hectic and there seems to have been major changes to the garden and lots of lorries coming and going.
Nearly all of the 40 railway sleepers are now in place and as you can see from this photo I took from the bathroom the drive is now edged.


Below is one of the existing flower beds up near the gates and this is going to need a good weed to get rid of the last of the grass. It's looking a little wild at the moment, I need to put up some trellis on the fence to train the pyracantha, and I think there are two other shrubs at the back there that will need a little taming too. I did lose one shrub off this near end it but it looks some much tidier now. There is still a little more type 1 to go down and then finally the shingle.

I can't believe what a difference just one coat of paint has made, the house looks fresher and cleaner and we have finally painted the lead flashing under the windows black, after my several past attempts at green, black and just plain old grey!!!
Our front garden has the hump!! due to the old drain, the kids love to ride their bikes over it and it sort of peters out as it reaches the road. It means that we have had to raise the step slightly in one corner but I have some topsoil left over and where all those plants are now temporarily I will try and level out that bit so that you won't see as much of the sleeper. It's really weird as it dips then rise again under the window. Ben and Lee have laid a tiered bed under the window and I can now put in some lovely shrubs and plants. It's always looked a little folorn there as the bed it quite big and a bit sparce.

Talking of big beds, here is a picture of the enormous bed at the front of the patio, everyone just used to walk over the old bed has it had no edging and hardly any plants but they definitely won't be climbing over this bed now. I can't wait to sort adding plants to this area if you have any suggestions or favourites let me know otherwise you find me wandering up and down the garden centre not knowing what to buy...

Work has already started on the front step and I then tomorrow weather permitting I think they're off round the back of the house to start on the path and step out from the orangery...

Garden Makeover - Day 2

There I was happily snoring away on Tuesday morning when I was rudely awoken to "Come on get up the builders are here!!" No I hadn't overslept it was 6.30AM (yes AM) and they were there in my front garden getting as much use out of the digger before it was to be collected later that day...
Also very early today we had the slabs, edging bricks and cement delivered, can't wait to see what the sandstone looks like!

Well the patio has well and truly gone now and as you can see we have also decided to have the house and garage painted, so along came Dal the dab hand with a paint brush to help. The house was painted for the first time when we moved in in 2002 and we have had a porch added and new windows since then and it was really surprising how lovely and fresh it looks in the sunshine after its new coat of mushroom paint.

You can just see here what the house looked like originally as next door haven't painted theirs

This area down by the gates looks enormous at the moment and the railway sleepers are there waiting to tidy up my flower beds, all the type 1 has been rolled and whackered and the trench dug for the railway sleepers that will edge the grass side of the drive.

The boys also made us a lovely (if somewhat huge) flower bed up by the patio using railway sleepers apparently it is the same size as the original bed but now with the height from the sleepers it looks massive. I think its going to cost a fortune to fill with plants, luckily last year our local garden centre was having a half price day and I managed to buy some largish shrubs so may use those. If anyone has any suggestions for plants to use then that would be great...

Garden Makeover - Day 1 cont......

The second grab lorry arrives to take away the rest of the topsoil

The weed control layer is put down and the old slabs from the patio are removed, smashed and scattered over the top. As you can see my cup of tea must have done the trick as the railway sleeprs have been moved into position ready to edge the drive and tidy up my flower beds.

A large load of "type 1" arrives - again we're going to need another load...

Ben the builder and Lee the labourer worked really hard today (didn't leave until gone 6pm) and we (I mean them) seem to have acheived a lot today...

Garden Makeover - Day 1

No we haven't got moles just one Ben the builder and his digger - all the grass is gone and there's no going back now!!!

A little self promotion by the builders and yes he is holding a cup of tea in the other hand!!!

The grab lorry arrives to take away all the soil - but there's so much we need another one

The 40 (it was originally 30 but this seems to be an ever growing project!!!) railway sleepers arrive, and poor Ben and Lee have to move them all by hand as there was no grab arm on the lorry!!! I popped in doors to make more tea at this stage as a way to make it up to them!!!

Now it seems that I can only upload 4 photos at a time using picasa so this post will have to be continued......

Garden Makeover!!! Part 1 Before......

We're having a garden makeover, all the rain and snow over the past few months has made us realise that our drive is too narrow and we are forever getting muddy shoes when we get out of the car and hubby thinks he is a park keeper by shouting "GET OFF THE GRASS!!" at us all the time.
Now my darling hubby doesn't like to do things by halves so not only are we having the driveway widened we are also having a new patio and path laid as well. So on Monday Ben our builder arrived at 7am to start. These are the photos that I took to show the before.

This is the view from the house

and from the road

and our lovely (not!!) patio - no wonder we never sit out here!!!

and the front of the house with its lovely new porch door which means we can actually use the front door as a front door instead of using the back door (which is actually at the side of the house so is technically a side door - but you know what I mean!!!)

I think over the next two weeks my blog posts are going to be mainly a progress report as too how we (I mean the builders) are getting along with a little crafting in between if I can tear myself away from taking photos....

Baby it's you.....

I don't know how but somehow today my baby turned 2!!!

It only feels like yesterday that there I was in the throe's of labour whilst my darling hubby was calmly sipping tea with the midwife...and here we are two years later and my baby isn't a baby anymore.
As you can see we have been invaded by Bob the Builder, and the living room is beginning to look like there has been an explosion in a toy shop. I'm not quite sure where it's all going to go but luckily I have some Bob the Builder fabric and will make a couple of bags to at least keep it all together.....

Latest Makes.....

I just thought I post about my latest makes and I wanted to try out my new camera too...


In the Night Garden

I recently bought some In the Night Garden curtains to make a toy bag for Tompom to keep all his favourite characters from the show in instead of them being spread all around the living room. I have lots of fabric left over so I decided to make some smaller mini totes too. This one shows Upsy Daisy

and I have Iggle Piggle and Maka Paka cut out and ready to sew over the next few days. I've tried to make them so that each bag has at least one character on and then the back is from the same fabric but has a random print. For the lining I found some vintage stripe Laura Ashley fabric which co-ordinates well I thought. The bags measure approximately 9" x 10" (not including the handles) and are great as book bags. I will be making some larger bags too and maybe even some little handbags.. If you know someone who would love one of these bags then let me know I will hopefully be listing them in my Misi shop over the weekend.

Paris in Springtime

I just love this fabric and have used it too make a few of these small handbags. This one has hot pink handles and lining and is just gorgeous. A real must have for anyone planning a trip to Paris.

Thanks for looking I feel that a little of my Mojo is coming back now that the weather is brighter so things are looking up. I even took some photos of my workshop but when I looked at them on the computer I realised that

a) I think I might have slightly too much fabric (and am ashamed to have that much but still can't resist buying more)

and

b) my workshop is still a little chaotic so I think I might tidy up first and then post some pictures...

so until next time au revoir......

New School Bag No 6 I think....

My daughter Rachel started secondary school in September last year and we duly went out and bought a new school bag, a messenger type one large enough to carry all her books etc, she then decided that this wasn't the right size bag and she didn't like the fact it crossed her body so she asked me to make her one, which I did and you can see here. She uses this bag for the days when she doesn't have many books to carry. Then there are the days when she has lots of books so she asked if she could have a large rucksack type one, so we searched on ebay and found one that was ideal or so I thought. Last week she said "Muuuummmm!!! (you know the way they do when they want something!!)can you make me a new bag with a bottom, because this bag is too small this one is too big etc etc..... So off we go to my workshop and discuss styles and fabrics and this is what we have come up with..

I bought the fabric last year to make some cushions and bags for her new bedroom but hadn't got round to using it (you know the way that these things happen!!!) I have to say that I'm really pleased with the combination and am tempted to make one for myself, but I am under strict instructions that the same fabric cannot be used so I just need to find some fabric for me.......

Happy Birthday to me......

Happy Birthday to ME......I can't quite believe it but today I turned 40...yes 40...gasp!!! Where has the time gone, where did all these grey hairs come from...and who are these three kids running around my house..I'm not old enough to have kids, especially one at secondary school and one under 2 and one in between who will be taller than me in no time at the rate he's growing.
I just wanted to share some of my birthday gifts with you today I've been really lucky this year and have some fabulous presents to show you. I received a lovely watch from my Mum and Dad (no excuse for being late now!!!) and a necklace from my sister, money from my Nan which I used to buy another necklace over at floralbankjewellery, two lovely bunches of flowers,

a friendship notice board

My darling husband bought my a new digital SLR camera which I have coveted for a few years now, I've got a nice shiny new Nikon D40x which comes with two lenses and lots of buttons and bits and bobs and i will now be photographing anything and everything that I can, below are two photos that I took today!!!

My three wonderful children bought me a new camcorder to capture all their antics, so I think all in all a very happy and wonderful birthday all round....