FAL La La La La, La La La La!

It is the last day of November, and I want to skip over the dire week I have had making-wise, and the fact that I was sorting through kids' stuff from 8am to 3.30am today, only stopping for 10 minutes to feed the bloody mess-makers.

However I can't let this month go without celebrating the fact that I have finished all 7 of my fourth quarter Finish Along items already!  I had the feeling that my Retro Flowers marked the final project, but Rhonda's post earlier in the week made me check...

• Finish my Mouthy Stitches swap tote and keyring, and wrap up the swap with the lovely Susan and Cindy.
• Finish a currently secret commission for Sizzix - all will be revealed before the end of the year I think/hope, but it is almost done and has to be mailed this week - hence everything else has been on hold.  (I think today is the last day you will find the link for my Winter Warmers on Mollie Makes ).
• Make my contribution for the Travellin Pic Stitch blog hop - currently under wraps, but all basted.
• Finish my something Tula Pink for Sara's linky, all cut and ready to sew and stuff!
• Finish the Christmas something for a tbc blog hop - again under wraps, but pieces are cut and waiting in line, patiently. (The Sizzix Christmas Quilting Blog Hop pillows).
• Finish the Thank You gifts for Susan and Trudi for snapping my quilt at FoQ, I've completed the embroidery already;
• ...and finally my Retro Flowers Quilt!  I really want this one finished, really really I do!  And I really really did!

Here they all are...

So into December we go, with a million and one other things to start, finish and contemplate, hoping to end the year with a clear slate; well you never know, 'tis the month of miracles after all!

It's going to be fine...I hope!

I feel like my energy has been zapped completely this week.  Tomorrow I have the joy of an Inset Day and need to get the kids' rooms and playroom back to some semblance of tidy.  It is going to be a long, hard, thankless task, but I can't move in the house right now; and we won't be able to get from 'Birthday' to 'Christmas' mode without making space and having a clear out.

Wasn't going to leave you without a picture was I!?  Text charms...lovely!

This week's To Do list has got no shorter, and I am starting to worry a little.  Please bear with me!

I am hoping that this time tomorrow I will have cleared the decks and cleared my head a little so I can fall head-first into December with a smile.  Every year... oh you'd think I'd learn!

So if you are feeling a little overwhelmed right now, you are not alone xxx

Thank you for your patience...

Well the sun didn't exactly make an appearance, but at least it stopped raining.  The minute I got home this afternoon after the recorder concert, (not quite sure what Trading Standards would make of that, seeing as they have only learnt 3 notes; yes, one hour, 3 notes, many, many times!), I was out in the garden...

Here it is...

Denyse Sings The Blues - and about time too!

 You don't need to hear the 'poor light, looks better in real life blah', just use your imaginations a little.

The quilting is a made up of lots of squares of varying sizes - if I were able to get the hang of FMQing, I would probably have managed to do an all over interlinked continuous path, but for me, lots of stop-start and threads to bury.  After my initial reservations, I am really happy with how this washed up.

I love and probably favour dense quilting, but this is a lot softer and works.  I am not sure whether this will be for snuggling or show, it's too early - I am still in shock at actually finishing it!

The backing is a Klona blue and cuts of all the prints I used for the flowers.  Scrappy sashing, again with various lengths of the leftovers, with a long strip of white added in along one edge, which makes me smile!

It has shrunk up to about 58" square.

If you have not made a Retro Flowers block or quilt, it is definitely worth a go - I do love how it looks; just hated all the little sashing bits, and there are so many seams, so much pressing.  It is not the most complicated set of blocks I have made, perhaps the repetition got to me in the early days, but I am so glad I got it finished.

Still Raining...

No Retro Flowers for you today I'm afraid; I was only home for 30 minutes in what we can loosely call 'daylight', and it was raining, so I was not going out in the garden, and had a couple of Beavers badges to get sewn on anyway.

But on the bright side, and ignoring the second day of small-folk sickness, (I had an unscheduled day off watching ET and Christmas films yesterday, Daddy's turn today), I got mail.

I was soooooooo good over this past weekend of made-up holidays and bizarre excuses for sale days, and only indulged in a $6 Noodlehead Sidekick Tote pattern and a small selection from M is for Make; Loulouthi Hugs & Kisses and laminate, and a small bundle of scraps, as it would have been rude not to.

So today those lovelies and my free-shipping Spoonflower Heather Ross Mermaids swam into my grasp...

I also have a rammed full Inbox which I can't face right now, so please accept my apologies if you are awaiting a reply from me; I will hopefully have a clear down tomorrow after the recorder concert and ballet lesson, oh joy - are you jealous!? 

For now, I just need a cup of tea and an early night xxx

It was a cold and blustery night...

... and the Captain said to the First Mate, "Have you finished that $%@!ing quilt yet?"

I only went and finished the Retro Flowers didn't I!

The continued cold and blustery-ness has put pay to being able to show you it in its full glory, but this, as my longest ever WIP, is done, ticked off, finished, complete, sorted!

I started it as part of the Retro Flowers QAL back in February.  10 months of putting it off, now over!  I even linked it up as part of the My Precious QAL too, seeing as it is made of my hoarded DS, but no, I could not face all those seams!  The curves are a doddle - there were just so many, and all those little sashing bits, ugh!

No pain, no gain?  You will have to decide when you see it.  I just know that this is now off my FAL list at last, and thankfully I love it!!

Pictures, many pictures, to follow as soon as I can get some, honestly, I am not going to let this one be a one-post-wonder.

If excitement-slash-relief is measured in exclamation marks, I think you can tell how happy I am.

Let's hope the rest of the week is as satisfying, and the rain stops soon.  My cousin's place has had a starring roll on the Exeter/National TV news yesterday/today as they are now living in the River Ex x

Sunday Wrap Up

I hope you have had a good weekend, whether it has been a holiday, a super get-together, or nothing out of the ordinary.

For us is was a relaxing weekend, which itself is out of the ordinary, and hence very welcome.  We have watched family DVDs, The Lorax and The Pirates, taken in some Christmas films on TV and I even made a casserole and apple crumble today; I know in a months time I will be feeling frazzled, so it was nice to have a little time to take it easy.

This coming week we have Parents' Evening, Swimming, Ballet, Cubs, a Beaver trip and Recorder concert all before an Inset Day on Friday, so I am not hoping for great things in the making department.

But having laid out my plans last Sunday I managed to achieve the lot, and more!

I managed to get a couple of blocks made for Bee Blessed and waited all week for better light for the photos, but I had to snap these this morning so I can mail them this week...

All the strips of hexies for my Mum's cushion are now made...

...and I only have one edge of binding on my Retro Flowers left to stitch down this evening - woo hoo!

So this week... I aim to join Mum's hexies into a panel, decide on and make my Brit Bee Secret Santa pressie, mail my Bee Blessed blocks, Stitch Tease Secret Santa thingumy and LV Swap fabric, make a wall hanging for the downstairs toilet so the wall looks less scruffy at Christmas, finalise my Christmas Gift sewing list and make something for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!!!

Easy eh!?

Windy!

This week, my To Do list included making a couple of infinity scarves.

I made 4.

All Anna Maria Horner voiles and one with some velveteen as I was feeling a little extravagant.

I took them all out for a photoshoot yesterday afternoon, before the rain started, and incidentally has not stopped since.

OK, it was not my best idea.  The wind did not want to help...

So indoors for a final group shot...

I love how simple these are to make.  Mine are all made with WOF fabric pieces of differing widths, dependent upon whether they were cut from yardage or meterage. 

Also on my list, you may remember, was finishing my Stitch Tease Secret Santa gift, that's done too, but I won't or rather can't show you until the recipient has it in her festive mitts, but trust me, I would love to keep it/them.

Onto today, and I have buried 3 hours-worth of threads in front of the TV.  I was really not liking how my Retro Flowers quilting was turning out and had considered ripping out everything from the last couple of nights, but I kept going, adding more and more and now the tatty threads are gone, I am happy again.  It's now all squared up, ready for binding tomorrow, and I can't wait.

Don't you, forget about me!

As is the mysterious way with flickr swaps, for all the time and energy spent commenting on pictures in the pool, and the stalking then second-doubting of what I mail off to my secret partners, I always forget about the flip-side, and it comes as a total surprise when a swap parcel arrives for me!

My neighbours kindly took in a delivery yesterday, and after school I had to wrangle the stamp-covered jiffy bag from the hands of my 3 eager beavers; I was so excited to recognise the name of the sender.

Everything was out of that envelope before coats were off!

Wonderful Marg sent me a fantastic selection of scraps, some chocs, a sweet Camper magnet and the most wonderful pin cushion, so brilliantly channelling my Scrappy Swap inspriration mosaic...

Didn't I do well!

I have already thanked Marg, who is now on her holidays, (Susan, you don't have to act as special envoy!), and I am planning on making a dent in those Koalas very soon!

Earlier in the week my parcel arrived in the US of A with my partner Karen.  Karen was co-host with Kat, and so I had to be on my best partner behaviour, and I am pleased to report that the typewriter frame purse went down rather well.

Big 'Thank Yous' to Kat, Karen and Marg for a fabulous swap.  I have a couple of Bee Secret Santa's in the pipeline then my 2012 swapping is complete.  It's been such a good year for swaps!

Sizzix Quilting Blog Hop!

I am really excited that it's my turn to extol the virtues of my Sizzix cutter especially in relation to Christmas!  I know it is Thanksgiving elsewhere in the world today, but we'll gloss over that for now.

Did you see all the ideas earlier this week?  And there's more to come...

Monday 19th November - Angela Southey

Tuesday 20th November - Tacha Bruecher/Fat Quarterly

Wednesday 21st November - Katy Jones

Thursday 22nd November - Hadley Gordon

Friday 23rd November - Lynne Goldsworthy

Saturday 24th November - Lory Bucaria

Now, I am all for quick finishes and anything that makes my sewing life simpler and cheaper, and although I love stitching from scratch, as Brit quilters know, fabric is so expensive compared to our US friends, sometimes it is way more economic to buy ready-made items.  Using my Sizzix and beloved hexie dies, my first project combines the best of both worlds.

Thrifty Hexie Christmas Pillow Case
You will need:

Sizzix Big Shot Machine
Sizzix 1" Hexagon 658317 Die
Sizzix 1 1/4" Hexagon 658318 Die
Brushed cotton pillow case (I got a pair from TK Maxx for £5, flannel fabric would cost at least twice that)
Fabric pieces - I used mostly Cherry Christmas, with a few scraps of pink and yellow.
Bondaweb, or similar
Copy paper
Greaseproof paper
Sharp scissors
Thread, sewing machine & iron

• Measure the width of your pillow case, and calculate how many hexagons you will require, multiplying by the number of strips you wish to use; my pillow case required 10 hexies x 4 columns.
• Cut the number of hexie papers you require using the 1" hexagon die; folding a sheet of A4 into quarters and running through the Sizzix cutter will yield 16 perfect hexies.
• Prepare your fabric, giving it a quick press and layer 3 or 4 pieces onto the 1 1/4" hexagon die.  I used a combo of small scraps that covered a single hexagon up to 5" x 10" pieces folded in half to cut 8 hexies in one pass.  You can be as efficient with your cutting as you want.
• Baste and join your hexies using your preferred method.
• Once your panel is complete, press, remove all papers, press again, taking care to make sure the edges are all pressed under.
• Cut a piece of bondaweb slightly larger than the panel.
• Affix Bondaweb as per manufacturers instructions - I place the paper side up, on top of the back of the panel and place the whole lot on a piece of greaseproof paper to stop any ironing board catastrophes.
• Trim the Bondaweb as close as you can to the edge of the panel.
• Remove the backing paper and place in your desired position on the pillow case.
• Press with a hot iron to fix.  I also stitched round the edges of the panel at about 1/8" to make sure it wasn't going to come off.  If you apply to the side of the pillow case without the extra flap bit, it will be easier to manoeuvre.
• Fill with a pillow and admire your lovely new bedding.

As I had a pair of pillow cases, I made matching ones for the girls to have at Christmas already.

My second project was so quick and simple, I whipped these up within a couple of hours from when inspiration struck... emergency last minute gift anyone?!

Drunkard's Coasters x 6

You will need:
Sizzix Big Shot Machine
Sizzix Drunkard's Path Quarter Circle 657169 Die
Sizzix Drunkard's Path Arch & Fan Background 657168 Die
Sizzix 4.5" (4" finished) Square 657609 Die
Selection of fabrics at least 5" square - again, lovely Cherry Christmas
Heat resistant wadding
Thread, sewing machine & iron

• Cut 6 x 4.5" fabric squares for the backs.
• Cut 6 x 4.5" squares of wadding.
• Cut 3 pairs of Drunkard's Path pieces using the dies to create 6 DP pairs.
• Pair up the cut fabric pieces to make a pleasing arrangement.  
• Sew you Drunkard's Path blocks using your preferred method, lots of pins, no pins, flip and stitch, they all work!
• Quilt your DP blocks to the wadding squares as desired.
• Place the backing and DP block right sides together, stitch round using a 1/4" seam, leaving a 2"-3" gap for turning on one edge.
• Turn through, poke out those corners and press; stitch round the edges with a 1/8" closing the gap.
• Pour yourself a drink, sit back and enjoy, whilst making sure not to slop your beverage of choice on your pretty fabric!

I hope these have given you some ideas for Christmas, with or without a Sizzix cutter, and if you are making do without, read on...

To be in with a chance of winning a Big Shot machine and a selection of quilting dies worth over £130, click here! Closing date: Wednesday 28th November 2012 at 10am GMT.

Sadly this is open to EU residents only.   
For more information about the Sizzix patchwork and quilting range, please click here.

I am looking forward to seeing what Lynne comes up with tomorrow.

Teachers...tick

The teacher Christmas gifts are complete.  It didn't take long to attach the buttons and pins, so I can show my face at school without a guilty conscience.

These are the best pictures I could muster under the dreary circumstances today...

I spent the rest of the morning making a couple of blocks for Bee Blessed, pictures to come, and piecing the backing and binding for my Retro Flowers quilt.  I am on a roll with this one, it is my 'want to' make rather than my 'have to' make right now.  I am hoping to get it basted and quilted before the end of the week so that I have some nice binding to finish off over the weekend.

This weekend is our only 'unfilled' weekend until the New Year, so in my head I am already planning a lazy Sunday afternoon on the sofa, stitching and snoozing, let's see what happens eh!

Travellin' Pic Stitch...

It's my turn at last!!  It seems like an age ago that Laura and Katy asked for volunteers to join them on their travels, and what travels they have been!


So I had a ponder, as is my way, and tried loading a few pics into the Play Crafts palette builder to firstly come up with my colour scheme.

I thought I would stay local, a local block for local people everyone!

For those who don't know this part of the UK, I live on the beautiful South Downs about 10 miles north of the West Sussex coast.  I work and previously lived in Worthing, a seaside town, predominately inhabited by the older generation.  On a sunny day, coach loads of even more older people descend to look at the sea.

Anyway, I tried some pics from my village...

 

A bit dull?

Some of the autumnal foliage...

A bit too, um, yellow?

A trip to the beach on a cloudy day...

Too grey, and too brown.

Another trip to the beach on a sunny day...

Perfect!

So I showed you my first attempt before...

Shocking to say the least!  But there was deep thought going on here, see those little diamonds on the front of the beach huts and everything!  I don't usually throw away any fabric but these, once they were partially sewn, were so horrible, dear friends, they went in the bin!

And so to my beloved Sizzix-cut hexies.  Now these I adore.  There was no plan other than fabrics I love and random.  So much more me...

A bit of a cheat?  Well the text print is from Crabtastic, and we all know that the British seaside is where you go to eat fish & chips out of old newspaper!

I immediately made this into a whopping Open Wide zipper pouch and have been using it for hexying on-the-go ever since!

So there you have it, my interpretation of my locality at its best.

Thank you for stopping by if you are new to my blog, and thanks to Laura and Katy for a superb idea, even if they were the only ones who actually got to gad about the Wiki-wiki Wild Wild West.

Tomorrow my lovely friend Sara of Sew Sweetness takes the TPS baton, and I cannot wait to see what she has come up with.

Don't forget that on 30th November everyone can link up for a chance to win these fabulous prizes!

Sponsored by Paperpieces.com, Fabricworm, Pink Castle Fabrics ,  Marmalade Fabrics, the Fat Quarter Shop, WantItNeedItQuilt, and Aurifil.

Full details for competition entry can be found here.

xxx

Here we go...

So I can tick off this week's first little task, hurrah, cutting the charm squares for Lolly-Jane's Low Volume Charm Swap.

I had plumped for some nice pale spots, but they had gone out of stock, so with a bit of to-ing and fro-ing of emails with Jo at the Brighton Sewing Centre, I opted for some more super-duper Velocity by Jessica Hogarth...

The buildings are a larger scale than the grey print that I used on Kelly's tote bag, and when the whole meter was laid out for a quick pre-cut press, I was a little sad to have to cut it up, it's such a great print.

But chopped I did, and now I will be able to get these in the mail and await an awesome mix back in return.

Now to get my Travellin' Pic Stitch post written for tomorrow...

Hop to it!

So now I have the birthdays under my ample belt, I, well not just me, have just over a month to get ready for Christmas.  I have a HUGE list!

This week I plan to finish the teacher gifts, (Helen, they were still in the same place they were this time last week), finish my Stitch Tease Secret Santa gift, make a couple of infinity scarves, crack on with my Mum's hexie cushion, cut my Low Volume Swap charms and piece the backing for my Retro Flowers for my own piece of mind!

I will also be appearing in two fabulous blog hops.

Tuesday is my day on the Travellin' Pic Stitch epic world tour; I have been using my finished make for weeks, after the horrible false start, I think I came up with the goods.


Then on Thursday, (please remember to pop back after your Thanksgiving creamed corn, my US friends), I will be offering up some Christmas ideas as part of the Sizzix Quilting Blog Hop, look who else is on the list...

Monday 19th November - Angela Southey

Tuesday 20th November - Tacha Bruecher/Fat Quarterly

Wednesday 21st November - Katy Jones

Thursday 22nd November - Hadley Gordon

Friday 23rd November - Lynne Goldsworthy

Saturday 24th November - Lory Bucaria

How excited, and perhaps a little out of my league, am I!?

So there's no escaping it, Christmas is well and truly coming, and I am going to be ready... ha ha ha!

I heart Pizza Hut!

To hold a party for 16 very noisy and enthusiastic 6 to 8 year olds, get them all to make their own lunch, eat a bit of salad and then a lot of ice cream, (OK that bit was easy), all without me having to prepare a thing; worth. every. penny.

The quick trip at the end by a poor Pizza Hut chap to Sainsbury, to get a birthday cake (they had not noticed we had ordered one!), was more amusing than annoying, (but then we didn't have to pay for it - bonus). 

No clearing up, no washing up, and considering the amount eaten, no throwing up.  A great party.

Dear son's birthday, even having to share the party with his sisters, has been declared another 'best one ever'.  The surprise Nintendo 3DS went down as well as the Leap Pads last weekend; so now they are all tech'ed up, bring on the quiet times, and fingers crossed, lots of sewing time for mummy!

Tomorrow, I can seriously start thinking about Christmas... just wait for the screams! x

Friday Night Deja Vue...

One more sleep until dear son's 8th birthday.

So I have spent another Friday evening wrapping presents and getting psyched up for the Pizza Party tomorrow!

So all done now, and I have just watched the Olympians/Children In Need number - oh I miss the summer!

Have a peaceful weekend chaps x

Random bits and karma...

I have had a rummage through the random photos and findings that haven't made it to the blog over the last week or so, so bear with...

When we went ice-skating over half term, I think I forgot to mention it was held in a church to celebrate the Festival of Light, (a tenuous link I am probably missing - walking on water?), but as we were leaving, I spotted this beautiful creation...

All the crosses are made by different methods, appliqué, embroidery, some crochet, beading and all sorts.  Each square was about 3", I took the photo on my phone and promptly forgot about it, until now.

On Sunday, we accompanied dear Beaver son to a different church for the Remembrance Sunday service...

All the uniformed groups marched about half a mile to the church; the village had not seen anything like it for 18 years apparently; it was such a success, they are already talking about a marquee in the graveyard and a TV link for next year as there wasn't enough room in church for everyone!

Last night whilst flitting through blogs I spotted both Krista and Nova's gorgeous 2 Zip Hipsters.  I had, (note, had) this pattern on my imaginary list of 'wants' for ages, and so how brilliant when I remembered I had seen it at Michelle Patterns, and look, it was only $5 until 25th Nov.  I have it now!

 

Another bargain to partake of, if you haven't heard already, shipping is free to anywhere in the world from Spoonflower today - so be quick... a lovely yard of Heather Ross Underwater Sisters is heading my way ;)

If you need a laugh, this is the funniest post I have read in a long time; you've heard of Jake the Peg, well this is Jan the Jeg!

And finally, don't let my beady eye scare the children; an unsuccessful photo to show you my new hair!  You'll have to trust me that it is the cut I wanted.

Linking with Cindy and the Random Thursday folks xxx

No time to lose!

Today I thought I would sort through all those home-school letters, invitations, club notices and what-not that have been piling up and giving me the evil eye from the corner of the kitchen for the last few weeks.

My first reaction was big !&*%@?! mistake, but now it is done, at least I know where and when I will be, pretty much every minute of the next 6 weeks!

I have filled in raffle stubs, paid for Christmas performance DVDs, mailed off all my completed blocks and swaps, and ordered fabric for another.

Take a look at my calendar, you don't need to be able to read my writing, but you can see the frequency of 'events'!...

Just bearing in mind, anything that appears in the kiddies' columns also requires parental involvement in the form of either driving to and fro', and/or costumes!  The next couple of weeks are just as full, and this is just the family stuff that I know about at this stage.  It doesn't include all the makery and things on my To Do list, nor Christmas shopping and all those preparations!!

So the arrival of a timely Stitch Tease block and accompanying card from my wonderful friend Di, told me what I should be doing...

... but for now, I am still resisting the urge to 'Panic and Freak Out'!

Seeing Red!

Actually, today has been rather fine with minimal red mist, (bloody cold-calling PPI touts, please be gone!); I got a good haircut with a new hairdresser, my cousin gave birth to a baby girl and I got to play with lots of fabric.

Before I even began on November's Brit Bee blocks I had to nip back out to the village for thread, not normally being one of the red-persuasion.  The local quilting shop saved the day again, and almost tempted me to a one-day FMQ class... maybe next year!

Anyway... lovely Sarah posted a mosaic of blocks by Marianne of The Quilting Edge (new to me), and it was a bit of a shocker!  OK, not so much of a shocker of Jennie's face-off block, but just a teeny bit out of my comfort zone.

But hey, that's what Brit Bee is all about, for better, for worse and all that!

So head down, a little sketching and then I came up with these...

I am really pleased with how they turned out, although the backsides leave a little bit to be desired (so not new to me), and I really tried to get some decent photos to show how rich the shot cottons are, but red fabric and dull days never play nicely.

Tips for my fellow BBs, I didn't use any of the interfacing, I did use some of the shot cotton for the curves, it's not quite so easy to handle as the regular cotton, but I did those 2 DP sections without pins too. Plan your under/over strips carefully, or you may end up having to do a right-angle seam if you wish to avoid a join; I cut my strips to 1 1/8" but probably could have stuck to 1" to get a 1/2" strip, as some of my pieces are a little over 1/2", sorry Sarah.  I pieced all the strips, no appliqué.  There are a few slightly wonky bits, but I am sticking to the tried and tested theory that some quilting and a wash 'n' tumble with get rid of those!

I hope these fit in with your vision Ms O, I am sure you are going to have a corker of a quilt!

On my plate...

...this week, is mostly birthday cake; it is dear husband's big day today, he didn't want anything handmade **gasp** so he had to settle for a Kindle Fire (without a quilted case, oh the shame!).

But whilst the birthdays are being ticked off, the Christmas list is rattling its cage for attention, so I started on the 'teacher' pressies already.

The felt I bought at the weekend was picked with this in mind.  I had a Sizzix die I was wondering what to make with, (I don't think that is even proper English, sorry), and so a new bunch of victims class teachers, means a new brace of Christmas brooches!?

I cut two sets of flowers and layered them up to give a nice weight brooch, the button holds all the layers together quite nicely.  Totally quick and easy, and so with the prototype deemed a success, I will get on and make some more and take some half decent photos... (then put them somewhere out of the way until the end of term, and then end up buying chocolates at the last minute when I can't find them!).

Speaking of Sizzix, keep 'em peeled my friends, fun stuff coming next week!

Oh and with it all being so busy here the last few days, I never got round to saying a big thank you to everyone who voted for my mini quilt over at Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival - I did not win my category, Elizabeth-Don't Call Me Betsy did, but she probably has 6-squillion more followers than me, so that's my excuse, and I am sticking to it!

11-11

Happy Day!

It has been officially declared the best birthday ever by the girls, not bad as it is their 6th already!

It was an early start, but I managed to delay the first request for presents from 5.15 to 7am!

The pressies went down a treat though - we hid the Leap Pads until last, as we didn't want one spoiling it for the other; the cases fit!  Spot the picture when Ms P spies what her sister is opening!

We went over to Chichester at lunchtime, I popped into Eternal Maker for a pit stop; Anna is in Japan, on a buying spree with the Man from Del Monte Kokka, so no nattering, well maybe just a little.

Wool felt, AMH voile, Echino deer with glasses & Cosmo thread = happy me!

McDonalds for lunch and then Madagascar 3D for the afternoon.  It was actually way, waay better than I was expecting, and the kids all absolutely loved it.

Home for birthday cake, lots of Leaping, and now all is calm.  Well they are probably definitely still playing in their beds, but we can't hear them, so a success for everyone!

I love days like these xxx

One more sleep...

...if they would actually go to sleep!

I am sat here with a big bag of birthday pressies waiting to be wrapped, sellotape and scissors at the ready, but whilst the little darlings are still running about and chattering way too loudly, I am in limbo-land!  They are likely to come crashing into the room at any point.

So I shall make another cup of tea, track down some biscuits and wait...

I know, it's a very boring picture, but it's the best of a bad bunch this evening!

Sadly the late night will not mean a lie-in tomorrow, their body-clocks are as good at telling the time as they are!  Ooh, an idea for Christmas pressies!

It's going to be a long evening and short night; I hope your Friday night is more exiting than mine! x

Juggling...

I have so many balls up in the air right now, I am feeling just a little bit anxious that I have forgotten something major.

I have just sewn up a little Christmas project - I had the urge, and also the raw materials, so I can at least tick off one of my insane amount of  'to dos'.

I will try to clear my Inbox later and comment on as many blogs as possible, but in 5 minutes time my favourite lady on TV will be back on the box, so you will all have to wait in line behind Kirstie!

So as not to leave you picture-free, here is the current batch of hexies being taken from pillar to post, hoping to eventually be a Christmas present for my mum...

The low value fabrics are rather calming, which is just what I need right now.

Let the Panic begin!

At this time of year I get in a complete panic when it comes to thinking about Christmas. 

I have the small matter of all the others in the house having birthdays within a week of each other starting this weekend.  List writing goes into overdrive!

Today, to try to get something ticked off the Birthday list, I did some satisfying sewing for the girls. 

They had selected their own fabrics for a 'bag' each, which I said I would make for them.  But sneaky Mama instead turned them into Leap Pad cases. 

They have been going on and on and on about having Leap Pads, so we have told them that they would have to wait and see what Father Christmas is bringing; but only 3 more sleeps and they will find out!

I found this brilliant tutorial last night, and made this pair in a couple of hours this morning; and that included a lot of cutting pieces; I hate cutting.

A big zip pocket for extra games, Velcro to close, no fiddly buttons, nice flannel lining and fingers and toes crossed, once the consoles are out of their vacuum packed packaging, they will fit!

Next!