Tuesday, 11 June 2013

A Block for all Seasons.....

Look what came through the post yesterday morning........


My gorgeous Four Seasons blocks from Annie over at Birdcages & Butterflies 

Summer (when it finally arrives!)


Autumn


Winter (there is only 196 days to go)


Spring


Which still leaves two faces so we have 


and


Now I just need to hide them from Rachel otherwise they could end up in her room!!!



Friday, 7 June 2013

Busy Bee

Lack of blogging can only mean one thing - I've been a busy bee!
I can't quite believe a whole month has passed without me writing anything, I have been trying to read most of your posts so I haven't been out of the loop completely.

So what have I been up to..... Well on the crafting front I have made two HUGE beach bags and two matching drawstring wet bags.


A lovely bright summery paisley fabric.   


the inside with lots of pockets.


Beach huts fabric 


with a lovely co-ordinating stripe fabric for the lining.

These bags have waterproofed lined pockets on the sides for drinks bottles and the drawstring bags are lined with waterproof ripstop fabric too for wet swimwear.

Two personalised swim bags


and a cute messenger bag from fairy fabric


And over the past few days I have been making pirate outfits for Tomas and some of his friends for Treasure Island/Pirate day on Friday.


a green swashbuckling pirate


a pink girl pirate, the skirt is based on handkerchief/bandana style skirt that I found on Pinterest but adapted slightly, changing the wide elasticated waist band to a narrow covered waistband.


a black and red shiver me timbers pirate


and finally my very own Tongueless Tomas pirate.

There was lots of very excited pirates in school this morning and I picked up a very exhausted pirate this afternoon.

I also finished off a secret present today which I can't show you until next week when it has been received but I am rather pleased how it turned out!

We have also started working through our home decorating list starting with Tomas' room which hasn't been changed since he was a baby and really needed doing. So we emptied the room, selling any unwanted furniture on ebay to help pay for the new furniture which i had ordered to make the most of the special offer and had stacked in the garage waiting for me to put together. We then removed the old border, filled holes and rubbed down woodwork before going out to choose some paint. It seems that it has been some time since I bought any paint because I nearly fell over when having had my chosen paint made up I got to the check out and it was £40 odd for the emulsion and £20 odd pound for the gloss!!! I must be getting old! We also bought a huge tub of magnolia for the ceilings which was cheap in comparison. We live in an old Victorian house which is beautiful but has the drawback of single skinned wall (no insulation) and as Tomas has one of the only north facing external walls I lined it with polystyrene to add a little warmth. We also found some textured star paintable wallpaper which I used over the polystyrene. I'm just hoping that Tomas doesn't do what his older brother did and make lots of little marks in the wall with a tiger!! With all the prep work done, Paul painted the ceiling and I painted the walls and glossed the woodwork and the radiator. The next job was to order the carpet, just as we are leaving the house I realised I didn't have the room measurements so popped back in doors to get them. When I got back in the car I said to Paul "oh by the way I measured the hall stairs and landing carpet too." He just nodded and knew what was coming next, my logic was if the carpet fitter is here fitting one carpet then he might as well fit two!!! This did mean that I had to get two rooms finished before the carpet arrived and although it was tiring it was worth as the hall, stairs and landing definitely needed a freshen up and I needed a kick up the bum to do it!!
I haven't got any pictures to show you yet but I will take some as soon as the finishing touches are in place.
There is so much more to tell you but it seems I have rambled on long enough and It doesn't help that I have been writing this post over several days TTFN.






Friday, 3 May 2013

Somehow or another Rachel turned 15 on Wednesday


 and one of her presents was this DWEEB crop top

 (don't ask but apparently that or NERD and GEEK are the things to have written on your top) 
the only thing was she didn't have a skirt to wear with it for youth club this Friday so who does she ask to help her out in this fashion dilemma - good old mum!!!

Rachel : "MUUUMMMM!!! can you make me a black skirt by Friday??"

Me : Let's look on pinterest, do you like this one???


Rachel : Yes!

Luckily Paul and I popped into town on Thursday to

A) order me some new glasses and 

B) to pick up some bits and bobs from the haberdashery stall on the market

which meant I could get some 4" black elastic which I needed for the waistband.
I already had some black fabric so it was just a case of using my brain to calculate the radius (as per the tutorial) of the skirt which turned out to be as easy as pi (sorry I couldn't resist!)

One pattern was made, one skirt was cut and then today all I had to do was make the elastic waist band, serge the edges of the circles, attach the skirt to the elastic and sew the hem!!! EASY!!!

and I have to say it was one of the easiest things I have made in a long time





although this does mean i have had a request for more skirts! 

Now where did I pin that tutorial on dyeing elastic?????

Monday, 29 April 2013

It takes two......

Thank you for all your lovely comments about Tomas' first day at school, sorry I haven't had time to reply. I do love reading your comments so keep 'em coming!
With a change of school has come those rushing around jobs of buying forgotten bits and prices needed for the new term. Swimming is on the agenda during the summer and because the pool is outdoors the children need a towelling robe to wear from the classroom to the pool and back again. But it would seem we all like snugly warm fleece dressing gowns for our children and I was struggling to find a towelling one anywhere. After a day of searching and not finding anything suitable I decided that I would have to make one so I bought two beach towels, nice a light weight but soft and snuggly.




I searched the Internet to see if there were any tutorials and find one that sort of described what I needed to do but it was a little vague in places??? I wanted to make it nice and simple so it was basically rectangles for everything. I used a fleece dressing gown as a size guide and got cutting. I wanted the stripes to match so used one towel for the back and the other for the fronts. The sleeves are exactly the same too, slightly anal I know but I cant help it! The collar and the front facings were the most vague on the tutorial and I think if I made another one then I would adapt these a little but the finished robe was quite a triumph I think!




Tomas seemed to like it and it did a great job keeping him warm and drying him off on his walk across the school grounds. The kit needed for swimming also meant that a bog standard swimming bag was going to be too small so after choosing some fab tropical fish fabric I made a personalised extra large swimming bag too. I arrived at school this afternoon to one delighted if not tired little boy who had thoroughly enjoyed his swimming lesson and whose swimming bag was almost as big as he was!




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Wednesday, 24 April 2013

A new start.........

Tomas started at his new school today

and I'm not sure who was more nervous, both Paul and I had butterflies this morning and Tomas had a little wobble when we arrived but was soon back to his happy self.
So today will be a waiting game, I can't wait until 3.15 to find out how he got on.



Thursday, 18 April 2013

Charity shop buys

I've been a bit quiet again, the Easter holidays kept me busy and with Tomas changing schools and Rachel being away this seems to have left me with no time to craft or blog! But now Rachel is safely home and Tomas starts school next week so things should return to "normal" very soon!
Today I managed a few child free hours in town, picking up new school uniform and visiting the charity shops. This is what I managed to find....


Rowan cotton glacé all for £2 not sure what I'm going to make but I seem drawn to all things grey at the moment, any ideas would be gratefully received!


This fab breakfast set for £5.25, I have been using on of Tomas' china soldiers for my egg but now I will feel more grown up whilst I dip!


I'm always on the look out for clothes for the kids but Rachel seems to fair better than the boys for some reason, does anyone else find this too? I spied this pretty dusky pink netted dress on the bargain rail it was only £3.50 and the belt was 50p. She was very pleased when she got home from her school trip. I also found some pretty picture frames but Tomas nabbed one of them for a present for Rachel so I didn't get a chance to take any photographs.
Unfortunately the fabric shop is also in the same road as the school shop and the charity shops and it would be rude not to go in and say hello. I was very good though and only bought two metres of fabric for some personalised swim bags I am making for a friends twin girls. Bright purple and pink were the order of the day and these were definitely bright.
Not a bad days shopping I think, it's back to tidying up my workroom tomorrow as in my attempt to tidy up I seem to have made things worse!!
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Tuesday, 2 April 2013

Spring Bouquet Swap

Thanks for all your lovely comments on the bag I made for Andrea, in this post I will show you what Andrea sent to me as part of the Spring Bouquet Swap organised by Betty the Wood Fairy.
Pretty packages....


Cute cotton coasters


in spring colours....


A very pretty potholder, this is far too pretty to use as a pot holder and will be put on display in my workroom.


A close up of the pretty centrepiece.


Creative cards ready to use for pen pals and swaps.


Easter ribbons and a bit of CK writing paper.


All of my wonderful goodies together.


Another glimpse of my coasters, which andrea has assured me wash up beautifully and therefore I can put my mug if tea on them!


For those of you that haven't been over to Andrea's blog yet here is a close up of her gorgeous work. How pretty is that edging!


I've really enjoyed this swap and the wonderful goodies that Andrea sent me, teamed with the fact that spring is just around the corner (please Mother Nature!) my days are much brighter!! Thank you to Andrea for being a brilliant swap partner and to Betty the Wood Fairy for organising another excellent swap!

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