Rain stopped play...

Well instead of a fun afternoon in the garden with grandparents and sunshine, we were confined to the living room with 6000 decibels of excited children, a helium balloon and more toys than honestly necessary. I can still hear them all nattering upstairs in bed; the girls (and mummy and daddy) missed their big brother.

Earlier I got home from the supermarket to find I had a lovely bundle of post, new Cath Kidston magasine, new Living etc and a Dwell catalogue. I am so jumping ahead of myself, trying to decorate and furnish our 'new home' before we have begun selling, never-alone found the house of our dreams!

I sorted through my mini stash of fabrics too, trying to decide what to use to make a mini quilt for my cousin's second baby due in September. Inspired by Tanya over at that Cheeky Urchin, I'd like to give something really personal, so I'm off now in search of some more colourful bits and pieces, and will duly report back.

Typical!

The washing machine is on, it has just started raining, and I need to go to the shops, what happened to the summer!?

What a day...

Well I have sewn together my freebird quilt top.

I had second thoughts about the amount of white and I think it has turned out well - I didn't want it to be too huge, (I haven't measured yet but it is about 5' square), as I am still just getting to grips with this quilting mularky, and I don't want to get in too much of a muddle!

We had the house photo-call; so we can relax for a week until the viewings begin, (says She of great faith!).

The girls and I also spent an hour or so down at the beach eating ice cream and watching the completely mental kite-surfers. The winds have been tremendous the last few days, so it has been very busy on the water, and excellent to see.

Dear Son is back from my parent's tomorrow - missed the little monkey x

An apology...

I am very sorry for that last post, it was probably funny, until I posted it!

I have cotton, so I have completed the patch strips for the Freebird quilt this evening; tomorrow I hope to get everything pinned together. More photos coming soon.

We are also having the house all measured and photographed ready for sale tomorrow, so I have been tidying and re-arranging like a crazy woman today; no-one is allowed to touch or move anything until the man has been. I will post the link when we are on the market, so you can see where we currently reside - I'm sure we could negotiate a 'follower discount' should you want to buy it!

Funny...

Just seen this - if you like ducks and dogs, you'll be sorted!
Woof/Quack??

Don't you just hate it when...

Sat down all ready to get the remaining strips sewn together last night, and only had enough cotton to do 2 out of the 6!! Sooooo annoyed, and as we have been having a family day at my parent's today, no chance of getting to the shops until Monday, pooh-sticks!

Ho hum, I suppose I could start pinning the sashing to the strips I've done already, but that just wasn't the plan...

Today's delivery...

As promised, details of the girl's first quilts from mummy.

All the fabric I ordered the other evening arrived today from Prints to Polka Dots and I am very happy. Although there was no buzz from tissue paper and ribbons, sadly just a basic manila envelope and sandwich bags, the contents (and price) certainly made up for it.

This little pile will make a pair of complimentary quilts for the twins, and they seem pretty pleased with the lovely little birds and strawberries.

I think the Garden Friends by Jay McCarroll and Spring Fling spots by David Walker both for Freebird go really well with the Amy Butler Daisy Chain prints and the Jeane Morrison Picnic Parade stripes. The spots (at the bottom) are for the backings; one quilt will be predominately pink and the other purple.

I have got all my strips tacked for the Freebird charm quilt, so this evening I am going to concentrate on that. Is it just me, or does everyone have about 4 other quilts they want to get started on immediately they begin the first?

Simply Charming...

OK, so probably the most unoriginal blog title, but I have been busy arranging, and re-arranging my charm packs to make a rather adventurous quilt, (this is keeping in mind that it will only be my 3rd!). I opted for a 100% cotton sheet for all the sashing, as I could get this locally and strike whilst the creative iron was hot hot hot!


I took this picture then realised that all my butterflies were flying the wrong way!

I have tacked about half together this evening, and will hopefully get as far as the sewing machine tomorrow. It's so brilliant 'cracking' the look I was after. I was initially trying to be too clever, but settled on pairing the squares by colour, then splitting them, so there is a sort of method to the madness.

I am not particularly looking forward to getting all the seams pressed away from the 'white'; it'll be character building. I am also worried this is going to be a bit of a whopper to actually quilt on my little sewing machine, but I'm going to give it a go!

Amazing!

After our mini maze adventure, not sure we'd be up for these.

Holiday Report...

Well the washing has turned into ironing, but the sun shone today so at least we are not surrounded with soggy socks and towels.

Cornwall was great. The kids were not on their totally best behaviour, but they could have been a lot worse; they coped pretty well with the 8 hour car journeys (better than me!), and the weather was kind, only a day and a half of rain, which didn't affect our trip to the Aquarium, or a spot of retail therapy.

Our chalet at Notter Mill was perfect, the site was so quiet, the swimming pool a little chilly (but that didn't stop me) and the blackest black at night; we'd go back, and we are very picky!

Eden was as brilliant as ever - we had a great day, even did a bit of 'den-building' and a lot of shopping!

Other things we did included Looe Monkey Sanctuary, a Maize Maze (we spent an hour trying to retrace our steps to escape the 3 miles of paths of 8' high corn, managed to find 3 of the 10 puzzle stations, more than once, but admitted defeat and retired for pasties and the play area!). We also spent a chilly morning at the tiny beach at Cawsand.

My plans to make lots of 'felt things' fell at the first hurdle - eco-lightbulbs are not made for sewing! I tried and failed although I did take advantage of the rainy afternoon and made these for the girls and myself:

The pictures are a bit blurry, but you get the gist.

Last night I ordered some fabric to make the girls their quilts, a (hopefully) really good website - I will let you know the details when the fabric arrives. About £1.50 per FQ, and £2 for Amy Butler, which I thought was fantastic!

We have come back with itchy feet and are planning on moving along the coast, so bring on the stress! Having taken a drive round our preferred locale this morning we are are now raring to go... I will keep you posted!

Hi ladies, I'm home!

So much to tell, but it will have to wait until tomorrow as I am shattered!! Lots of pictures to upload, but barely any crafty business to report I'm afraid.

Hope you are all well - will catch up with everyone after a good night's sleep and 8 loads of washing :(

One more sleep...

We are almost ready for the long haul to the west. Hopefully it will stop raining by the morning so we don't get drenched packing the car; that'd be another thing for the kids to moan about before we get to the end of our road!

There now follows a brief interlude, and I shall be back next weekend.

Have a good week everyone, take it easy.

Eden, here we come!

I have been browsing the Eden Project online store and I am already excited at all the gorgeous things they have to tempt me! The bamboo nesting baskets and Eden sketchbook already have my name on them, and I would love a deckchair to while away sunny afternoons.



For anyone who has never made the trip to Cornwall to seen the magnificent biomes and landscaping, it is fantastic. Eden is not to be missed. Their website just doesn't do it justice; we have been twice before, and are looking forward to see how it has evolved and changed since our last trip 4 years ago, when I was pregnant with the girls.

We're all going on a summer holiday...soon!

OK I may be exaggerating a little, but this is how it feels getting packed for all weathers, five people, at least 3 of which will want or need to get changed about 4 times a day for a week! We need a bigger car!

Amazing Man

Topic of Cancer Culture: vanityfair.com

I have just read this article and I cannot ever imagine being so strong.

Hair today, gone tomorrow!

The girls got a haircut this afternoon, it wasn't too traumatic (for any of us, but the other customers may disagree!). So here are the before and after shots:

I also bought a few laser cut felt flowers and dragonflies on ebay to add to my holiday stash. I grabbed a few images off google to give me some 'direction'; I will try not to copy too closely!

I am excited about the dragonflies as they are my most favourite creatures ever so I am looking forward to making something extra-special with those.

All sorted...

Well Gaz and Charlotte will be having a wonderful weekend at Big Chill c/o yours truly, they seem like a sweet couple, so I know I have passed my win on to deserving folks.

I think I should pay my due to the designer of the sock monkey, KatieMac. Her monkeys are in a league (troop?) way above mine as you will see in her Folksy shop.

The house is starting to show signs of an impending holiday, piles of clothes, cases and towels in unexpected places, the children will now be clothed whatever the weather.

I have stocked up with felt, buttons and thread to try my hand with some 'smaller stuff' whilst we are away - I will try to remember to take plenty of photos of my attempts to be creative.

Winners and Losers...

This morning I won Culture Label's competition to go to the Big Chill Weekend. Unfortunately it clashes with our family holiday, and I never thought for a minute that I'd actually win, so I have offered my tickets (all £300 worth!) to a lad who follows them on Facebook a lot more avidly then me. Hopefully he will get back to me in time for the tickets to be sent to him.


Not quite as exciting, but Monkey number one can see! He is a bit scruffy, but that's 'character'!

Mostly 'armless!

Monkey number one is almost complete, and I only started him after lunch!

Only arms and eyes to go, but I am waiting for better daylight tomorrow as my top-stitching isn't the neatest at the best of times, and I am feeling weary!

I didn't venture to the Open Homes after all this weekend. A shame, but I had a constructive and creative weekend, including post-it sticking all the things I want to try in the latest Sew Hip and back issues.

I need to start thinking about our holiday - less than a week to go, and I have written a list of 'things to do', but tackled none...

A very happy boy!

...and a very tired mummy! I was still sewing the binding at midnight, and was finally defeated as I was unable to focus to re-thread my needle! All finished this morning, and looking pretty good I think.