Toy Story and the Big Apple

With Tompom growing rapidly and with him taking his arms out of the car seat straps every time we strap him in it was time to buy a new car seat....as soon as he saw this Toy Story one that was it, luckily for us it was also in the sale so a great bargain too.

Looking very pleased to be in his new big boy car seat.

Although this new car seat is very comfy and Tompom is keeping his arms in the right places I did notice that the seat belt strap will rub on his neck especially in this hot weather so after dropping him off at pre-school this morning I headed off down to my workshop to make a seat belt cover. I've had this Woody fabric for ages and after a quick search of a couple of tutorials and a nice cup of tea I whipped up this...

Tompom was chuffed when I picked him up from pre-school this afternoon at least it took his mind off the fact I hadn't made his Wales cushion!

As for the Big Apple, look what I picked up at Matalan the other day, a giant ceramic red apple, not sure what I'm going to put in it yet - might be my secret stash of biscuits!!!!

Monthly Makes - June

There is a definite theme to this month's makes and that is all things Welsh....
Despite being born in Essex and only being half Welsh doesn't dampen Jack's enthusiasm for Wales. He has previously told people that he was born in Swansea!!! and would prefer to cheer on Wales rather than England in whichever sport they are playing so this has prompted me to start the
Neat Ripple Blanket

featured over at Attic 24, I had previously tried a sample piece for this pattern and what i love is that once the pattern is in your head then you are away... As this is my first real (big) crochet project and I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out I picked up some large balls of DK from my local charity shop (at £1.30 a ball it doesn't matter if Jack takes one look and it and pokes out his tongue!!) There was obviously only three choices of colours and that was red, white and green.He wants his bedroom decorated soon and I have seen some Wales bedding so am hoping that the blanket will look great at the end of the bed.

Even though it is acrylic the wool is easy to use and has already started to drape well.

Don't you just love that wavy stripe?

The Welsh theme continued with the one of the cushions that I made for Paul for Father's Day, I opted for the traditional red white and green for this one and have now got to make two more, one for Jack and one for Tomas. Tomas keeps asking where his cushion is so as he is at pre-school tomorrow morning I may just get another cushion finished.

Rachel didn't want to be left out but as the red, white and green wouldn't go well in her bedroom I made up a shabby chic version with some fabrics that I had in my workshop and finished it off with a pink dragon.

I'm really pleased with how it's turned out and it's definitely more girly that the traditional one.
 

I also picked up so lovely soft merino wool in Hobbycraft to start another blanket for Rachel and I'm trying desperately hard not to even get the wool out of the bag because once I do it will be on the hook and I shall have two blankets on the go at once. Right I off to finish one more stripe before bedtime....

Father's Day

This post is for Paul, the best Daddy in the world.....

Rachel popped some of those money tissues in her card it's probably the only time she'll be giving money not asking for it.

I have come to the conclusion that I work better under pressure and you can't get more pressure than making cushions the night before can you??? Paul has been asking for months for me to make a union jack cushion and a welsh flag cushion and I just kept putting off doing them always making/starting something else first or using the excuse that I didn't have the right fabrics!!! Well like most men he isn't easy to buy presents for and although we had a couple of small things for him I was stuck for ideas. On Friday/Saturday he hinted that I must have been burning the midnight oil in my workshop making his cushions (I hadn't I'd been crocheting in front of the TV) so last night I set about the task of making two cushions and instead of fannying about I just got on with it and cut out a dragon made stripes and started sewing. Needless to say it was a bit of a late one but he was chuffed with his cushions

 and now I've got to make the kids a welsh flag one each (pink for Rachel and red for the boys). I was a bit worried that the union jack one was a bit girly but wanted to keep with the green and red theme as it is to go in the orangery on the green chesterfield.

You can't see it very well but the red felt is glittery for just that little bit of sparkle!!!

I have to say having now cut out three dragons (only one more to go) my thumb was a little sore from the scissors!!!

Rachel has also put in an order for a pink/green one of these - I knew there was a reason I bought all those cushion pads...

After opening his presents we all sat down to a lovely full english breakfast made by yours truly

We have spent the day just taking it easy and we're looking forward to a lovely roast lamb dinner in about a hour...
I hope all you Daddy's/Dad's have had a great day!

Summer Swap Goodies

Like lots of you I signed up for Beki's Summer swap and was partnered with the lovely Julie over at KC'S Court (which is a fab name for a blog - it pretty much describes our house most days!!!).

Yesterday I received my swap goodies from Julie and as Julie is new to swapping she was a little worried about her parcel but as all of you lovely ladies know it isn't about the amount that's sent it's about the sending and receiving and the thought and care that goes into swapping...as Carole (my button swap partner) said "I'd be happy to receive a postcard!". So here are some pictures of what Julie sent...

My fabric wrapped parcel tied with pink ribbon

I love the idea that the wrapping is a present too!

Giant buttons - one purple one red - I can't wait to use these in one of my projects

These note cards are of a cross stitch sampler that Julie made, photographed and printed.
(I might just have to "borrow" this idea!!!)

A packet of mixed seeds - now I have explained to Julie that I am not much of a gardener
(too heavy handed with the secateurs and not too regular with the watering can I'm afraid) but I have been looking at these mixed seed packs every time I visit the garden centre and now I have some I can give them a try.

How fab are these chocolate insects - the kids and I shared them last night whilst watching Waterloo Road..nom nom

I always say that I wish blogger had a smell button because if they did you would be able to smell the gorgeous lavender in this beautiful handmade heart.

And finally a delicate purple butterfly (he's waiting for me to plant the seeds so he can flutter on by them!)

Here's a picture of all my summer swap goodies together which just leaves me to say thank you to Julie for being such a great swap partner it turns out that Julie grew up not far from me here in Essex and now lives in Minehead just around the corner from my friend, so next time I'm down in Minehead I might just pop round to a cuppa!!!

Also a big thank you to Beki for organizing such a fab swap
I know Julie has now received her parcel so here is a little collage of what I sent her....

Wednesday Weekly Woundup

Sorry should say round up but i couldn't think of anything else to that started with a W to describe my lacking of posting and this catch up post..
I've started so many posts (alright I only started one in blogger but lots in my head!) this past week but time has been against me so this is a quick reminder of what I have been doing. As most of you know last week Jack was away on his year 6 PGL trip and on Friday we trundled up to school to wait for their coach to arrive bringing them home... Jack was first off the coach and from the huge smile on his face he had had a great time/was pleased to see us!

He was extremely tired after his adventure and after a quick tea and a bombardment of questions from us as to what he had been up to he took himself off for an early night!!!

Needless to say the weekend involved a lot of washing!!!

Paul and I decided that as the builders were arriving on Monday morning to start of the bathroom revamp we'd give them a head start by getting all the tiles off the walls, removing the shower cubicle and stripping the walls.
Under the lining paper I found the paint samples from the previous owners...
some rather unusual choices, especially the day-glo green.

When we moved into this house back in 2002 the lady that lived here was very into paint effects (there were different ones in each room) and the bathroom was painted in stripes with a seaside theme here are the last remnants that I found under the lining paper. It doesn't look too bad in this small section but in the whole room it was a little overpowering!!

and if you think that's bad then you should have seen the room that Jack's now in, they had three boys sharing the room and each wall was painted in a different scene, farmyard, circus and even the ceiling was painted blue with clouds. It took several coats of white just to get it back to a blank canvas.

We don't always have a chair in the shower although after a hectic day if would be nice just to sit there and let the water fall all over you!!!

One bathroom, stripped, detiled and ready for action...

Whilst we were emptying the huge cupboards that are in the bathroom (they are like the tardis as the go back over the stairs) I found a load of quilts that I had completely forgotten about so I took them downstairs to give them a wash a little later I found Tomas tucked up on the floor in the kitchen (no he's not really asleep just pretending!)

The builders arrived early Monday morning and work began in earnest, Tompom was most upset when on Tuesday they "broke" his bedroom by taking up the floorboards to lay a cable for the new electric shower!! Although I have to say the Lee the builder left the room tidier that Tompom (and me) had all week.
So now I have a new shower tray, new tiles, we kept the old bathroom suite and a new radiator we're not quite finished as the tile adhesive needs to set before they can grout and fit the shower cubicle but it is all look very grownup and I can't wait to try out the new shower!!! I shall post some photos after Monday once they have been back to finish off and I have been into town to buy new fluffy towels.

Button Swap

My Button Swap goodies arrived this morning all the way from New South Wales Australia!!! I've never had a parcel from Australia before so I was a little excited to say the least, but I had to be very restrained as we were just going out the door when the postman arrived to take Jack up to to school for his year 6 trip to a PGL adventure holiday. He was very excited this morning and it was smiles all round as we waved him off on the coach. He is in for an thrilling and exhausting week but it is going to feel really strange at home not having him around!!!

When Paul and I got back he tucked into his leftovers Indian lunch and I went off to open my parcel...

See all the way from Australia!!!
My swap partner was Carole from Serendipity, Raindrops and Roses (A Blessed Life!)
Carole and her husband deliver all the post in their rural community so she will deliver my parcel to herself (how cool is that!!!)


Everything beautifully wrapped in pink tissue paper

A gorgeous drawstring bag which Carole tells me for for popping my coffee cup in when I go out but I think I might use it to keep some of my sewing bits in....

Some lovely smelling fabric door hangers

I think I shall pop these on a pretty coat hanger in my wardrobe to keep my clothes smelling of roses.

A thimble (or is it a kiss!!!) and a tiny drawstring bag to keep it in!!

A fuchsia pink notebook for me to write all my ideas and to do lists in.

A lovely card with this inspiring quote

Some "Gorgeous" Milk Chocolate Truffles which I will enjoy later with a cup of tea... edit these were delicious and I even shared them with Rachel!!!

A Vintage pencil tin from the Lake District containing lots of vintage buttons

and finally a paper rose

Here all all my goodies together I can't quite believe that these have travelled half way round the world in less than a week to be delivered right to my doorstep. 

I love everything in my button swap parcel so thank you Carole for being such a great swap partner for my first ever overseas swap and to Lucey at Lemonade Kitty for organising such a great swap in the first place.