Saturday 28 February 2009

Ooopps, Sorry I forgot

I was sorting out my pictures when this jumped out at me and shouted "You forgot about me!!" I had and I am sorry Julia at Primrose Corner.

I often collect items in my pictures for use later on as I forget where I saw things etc. Not much use if I then forget them when they are in my pictures file. To be fair it had slipped down passed my line of view. Anyway I have seen this little one around other blogs so if I name you and you already have it never mind I missed the boat with it. if not then do take it with you. I will confess now that I do have another award and a tag in the queue as well. I think that I need my wrist slapping I have been a bad blogger this past few weeks!

There are some rules ( I prefer guidelines or suggestion for awarding)

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these kind writers. When you pass the award along

I think that this must have been written by the original sender. 8 is a lot to come up with so I shall leave it up to you.

So I would like to pass this on to some new and current blog friends (notice I avoided the 'old' bit).
1). Jenny Flower for organising a great mug swap and fellow EG member.
2) Tiny white Daisies for spoiling me in the mug swap and I hope will keep in touch.
3) Marmaladekiss for her interesting posts and fellow love of garment making. (I must do some more of this myself)
4) Summersadie For seemingly having very similar likes, hobbies etc to myself and great quilting.
5) Twiggypeasticks for posts that make me laugh.
6) Nannybird for the speed at which she knits, crochets, recycles and the many funny moments that she shares. A real tonic if you need to cure a bad day. You come way smiling and feeling better.
7)Picciolo for her lovely use of denim and colour. (My first blog giveaway winner too).
8)Tall Grass Prairie Studio for a friendly way and jaw dropping good quilts.

There done it! It is at this point that I discover that my links do not work!! They are all in the side bar if not. Crafting has been very thin on the ground this week although I have just been out to buy some gingham today as I feel all gingham as I think spring is around the corner and this always reminds of summer dresses etc.
Mr Tickle is being assembled today and painted tomorrow so I will take some pictures. This had been our main activity all week and he is starting to look good. The quilt and knitting has not really been touched this week but I have had a headache that has literally lasted all week, I even woke up with it this morning. Been to ballet to day and they had their first tap lesson which did not do my head much good either, but whilst writing this it seems to have gone!! Yipppeee. So I am off to make Mr Tickles blue Hat.
Take Care
xx

Giveaway....

Not mine but at Jelly Belly Jelly Brain for her 252 posts milestone. Pop over and take a look. They are unusual handbeaded watch straps in several colours. The rules are at the bottom of the post. back with more craftyness later today.
Bye for now.
xx

Thursday 26 February 2009

Purses that match....

You may remember that I made this cute little bag a little while ago. I have another in the pipeline, I really like the delicate floral fabric and the beige linen feel fabric too. I felt it needed an addition so...

Well, I also cut out two of my favourite purses in this fabric too. Now, I decided to go back to my smaller size for this purse so that is would not take up too much room but would still be functional.
I decided to use both of the fabrics. The top of the front pocket is bound with some of the beige fabric with the floral fabric playing the main feature.This is the back of the same purse. The lining is a combination of the beige, floral and crisp white cotton.


But, you know me I did not stop there oh No!! Made this one too...

It is virtually the same except that I have added the loop and clip.. This one is lined in white cotton only and has a floral back like the first purse. I have enough fabric to make another bag which I am going to try and add some external pockets as well as the zip pocket. I will have to see how that goes for too much bulk at the front of the bag but you do not know until you try it do you? I have really enjoyed making these, especially the bags as I have developed them myself. My husband thinks that I should do a PDF pattern and instructions for the bag but I am not sure about that yet. I shall be listing the two bags and purses at the weekend, probably one set in each shop. Would anyone rather have BUY NOW buttons on my blog? I can sort of do this , you still need pay pal or I will except a check but it will have to clear before goods are sent, just like Ebay, but I realise that not everyone has a pay pal account. Let me know what you think.

Well Mr Tickle is coming along nicely and I am now off to paper mache his legs to his feet! Hubby and Sophie are in charge of body and arms and Sophie will be the main painter hopefully on Sunday.

Take care

xx

Tuesday 24 February 2009

Knitting Marathon..

I have a few new pictures of my never ending knitted throw that I am doing. I seem to have been knitting squares for months, hang on a minute I have been knitting squares for months! I subscribed to a magazine called The Art of Knitting to help with my own knitting and the idea of trying different stitches in squares and then sewing them together seemed a good idea. However, there was a 6 month break due to publishing problems and then I got behind. So my wool mountain soon grew. I am determind to reduce this mountain and so far the start of 2009 has seen quite a few of them having been made. These are the latest...
They do not look very exciting to they? One of them has my beloved Moss stitch and the others are mainly knit stitch. I can embroider on these if I want to. The white one is quite a complicated one and I managed to do that one whilst if Disney in the evening. Each square measures approx 15 cm x 15cm.

These next ones taxed my brain a little bit, especially the burgundy one with the hearts knitted into it.

The little bits of paper have numbers on so that I now where they should be when sewing them together. It does not sound difficult but I have knitted squares coming out of my ears, During half-term Sophie and I tried to sort out what I had and what I still needed to do. Honestly, you had to be a fly on the wall. Needless to say we gave up and I decided as long as I had enough I was not going to worry if it was not in exactly the same order as the magazine! Rebels aren't we?!

So I draped what I have sewn together over the sofa. It is not all here ...


I do have another section to add to this where the gap is. The colours are fairly repetitive but it does mean that you can use up all of the odds and ends.

I have many more to do but I thought that you might like to actually 'see' an update of the the blanket. This and my quilt are my main projects at the moment. I do have a couple of smaller items to do in between.

Well, this evening the three of us are going to start making a paper mache Mr Tickle for Book Week at Sophie's school. It is a competition and needs to be on display in the school hall by next Monday! The things we get up to for our children.

Bye for now

xx

Monday 23 February 2009

Am I going Mad??

Many thanks for your lovely comments about my necklace. Will work on the matching bracelet too.
Now I think I must be going mad or my maths is worse than I thought but I thought I saw 37 followers in my sidebar at the end of last week now there are 35! Now, I could have mis-read it, a couple of late nights, may not have had my glasses on at the time etc, but I have been left a bit baffled. So if you have removed yourself then please come back!! I am 40 this year (shush keep to quiet won't you?) so 40 followers is my secret wish. This seems to be happening quite a bit in this house at the moment. Does this mean that middle age has suddenly sneaked up on us and is now biting us on the bum! Or are we/I just a little absent minded. I believe that my life has too many things going on in it that I have to remember that I can not fully cope with it all, so some bits get left out or forgotten completely. I have not done that which some of my friends have done such as forget to pick their child up from school, oopps! Or forgotten anyone's birthday, or other major event etc. However I do find it harder to remember everything. Yet I am expected to, and not just for today either, but last week, last month and for, pete's sake, today I was asked about something last year!!! List might help, yes? Well only if I can remember to take it with me or remember where I left it.

I do like post-it notes and if they are brightly coloured and in funny shapes such as lips, even better. They do help, but it does not help me with the 'I thought I saw..'scenario.

The picture below made a laugh. My desk at work is not quite as bad as that, but it could be if I let it!

So if, and I mean if, I saw 37 which is now 35 please come back so that I do not feel that I am losing the plot. Am I the only only one who experiences this? What have you forgotten that you never used to, or thought you saw something.

How do you remember things? Tie a knot in a hankie, write a list, ask someone else to remind you, an item such as post-it notes etc?
I have also forgotten where I parked the car in a multi-storey car park as well. Plus being rung at work by my hubby telling me that I was supposed to be at a hair appointment, yet I was sitting at my desk thinking how much work I was getting done!. Luckily I have a very understanding hairdresser, felt a bit of a twerp though.
Anyway, I think that I will go and have a sit down and a nice cup of tea using this, to rest the brain cells or is it my eye sight that is the problem?

Thank you Maxine..

(Honestly, I could have sworn it said 37.....)
Bye for now...

xx

Saturday 21 February 2009

Button Magic

In January I talked a little about buttons and recently I joined Button Floozies. I have liked button jewellery ever since I went to creative stitches in one year. So a couple of weeks ago ordered a button necklace kit from the Button Company.

The above picture shows what it should look like, hopefully!

So I set everything out on my favourite board which I set on my lap. There are loads of buttons of different sizes.

The instructions started by saying...

'First up, don't panic. This necklace is not as hard as it looks! Take a deep breath, relax and enjoy making and wearing this unique piece of jewellery.'

I then sorted out the buttons into sizes, in the centre of the board is part of the clasp. I then unraveled the nylon thread and attached it to one half of the clasp.

I then needed to put the buttons into an arrangement to check the order and the possible final length of the necklace. I decided to use a needle to put the nylon through the buttons as I soon got in a bit of a of a pickle trying to thread a double string of nylon evenly through them. Following the instructions I got started and by following them the necklace grew surprisingly quickly.
Within an hour I had a finished necklace.

The hardest part was trying to attach the other end which kept slipping and sliding all over the place. I got it in the right place in the end. The above picture is what I ended up with. I did take out a few of the buttons otherwise it would have been too long. So I am going to see if I can make a bracelet to match.

I layered the three buttons in the centre front. They are also the ones which are decorated too to give a focal point.

The clasp is very ornate which I had not expected and is only a hook and loop so I shall have to be careful wearing this.

Once I had finished it, I was intrigued by the colour and texture of the BACK of the mother of pearl buttons. The colour is so different, I almost have two necklaces for the price of one.

This is a view of the back of the necklace. I intend wearing this necklace to work on Monday. For some time I have been singing the praises of buttons and their uses. Lets see what is said about this, if anything. I like necklaces, just like bags, I perhaps have too many of them

I have really enjoyed making this necklace and I would like to make another. There are other kits on the Button Company website.

What do you think? Have you ever made something like this? I would like to see what this style would look like with more irregular multi-coloured buttons. Could be fun.
Take care, back tomorrow.
xx

Friday 20 February 2009

Mug swap has arrived.....

I signed up for a mug swap and when I got back from Disneyland it was sitting in my neighbours house. At first I could not think what it was as I did not remember ordering anything. I had been to my sewing group with Sophie in the evening and did not actually open it until after 9pm. What self control!!

It was packed, and I mean packed with lovely goodies from Maxine @ Tiny White Daisies (who I will be adding to my link list).

I was good and managed to take pictures as I opened it up. However I did manage to take a few pictures as I was unwrapping before I realised that the memory card was not in it AARRGGGHHH! Sorry. Anyway, lets get going, firstly

a lovely handmade card from Maxine. Simple but very effective, especially the left in one of the petals. Then...

a lovely stripey BIG mug. I love mugs of tea rather than cups and this is certainly in my colours. On the edge you may see a bendy spoon! Sophie was fascinated by this and I spent quite a while answering a barrage of questions! I may have to fight her off this quirky little item.

Some lovely lovely tea.

I am not sure that this picture does these lovely buttons justice. The four in the middle are fabric covered buttons but the rest, and this was a surprise, are made of glass! Very unusual and I shall blog about these on Button Floozies asap. Maxine had been looking at my blog and picked up on the fact that I like buttons, as she does as well.

This was then followed by some bright red vintage buttons on their original card,a lovely smelling Cath Kidston candle, shall be lighting that in a minute, and some Amy Butler fabric covered brads which I have never seen before. Very generous!


That is not all... Some lovely blue and red fabric plus some pinky Amy Butler fabric plus some lovely tape with ladybugs and blue apples on it. Very unusual tape, I will have to think very carefully as to what to do with that! Now, school starts next Monday so this next item is going to be sooooo needed....


My hubby and I laughed when we saw this, Maxine seems to have learned much from my blog. Many thanks for this, I am going to take it to school and see what is said at break time!

This final pictures shows items that Maxine made for me. The pink corsage is lovely and Sophie has her eye on that. You know I think this child will have a blog of her own soon! The blue button bracelet is in my colours and is made a little like a charm bracelet. Clever. This will further support my claim to my students about the versatility of buttons. Finally a cute pink painted wooden heart which I have already hung up in our bedroom.

Maxine has put so much time and effort into this parcel that every itemwill be used, eaten or looked at carefully. I have personally emailed Maxine and I hope that I put across just how much I love and appreciate what she has made and sent.

Many thanks.
I have nearly finished my items for my partner, going to you know where put me back a few days. I shall show them to you once I know that my partner has received them.

Enjoy your evening, I am off to watch The Golden Compass on DVD.

xx

Thursday 19 February 2009

Disneyland Paris 2009 Day 3 and 4

Day 3

Ahh.... bet you thought I had finished didn't you? Our holiday booking meant that by having early and late flights we were able to have nearly four whole day there.
So day three we decided to have a bit of a lie-in and had our breakfast at nearly 10am. We then decided to go into the Disney Studio Park and for Sophie we aimed for the Toon section..

We visited the Animation Gallery which we really enjoyed and had a go at drawing a sequence that would move when put in a zeotrophe (hope I have spelt that right?).

Here you can see us busily being creative. (I do not look my best here, it has been an intensive few days so please for give me!) We then put our strips of paper in the black cylinder on my left in the picture.

We then took part in a cartoon class where we were shown how to draw Mickey Mouse. Sophie did very well despite the fact that the lady went a bit too quick but her drawing is very good. I then splashed out and got a book which we can use to draw some more.

There were lovely colourful slides/pictures of many well known scenes from many Disney films..

Plus some fun interactive items..

Unfortunately that was really all that Sophie could do in this park. We went to see a 'show' about how they make cartoons but it did not really make sense to us and was more entertainment rather than fact. So we went back to the main park and looked in some of the shops because Sophie had been given some money from Grandparents and it was starting to burn a hole in her pocket. Then it was dinner back at the hotel this time and walked it off in the evening. We did spend some time in the bar/lounge where they had the biggest log fire I have ever seen! Then bedtime.
Day 4

Being our last day we decided to what round areas that we had missed. A very pleasant ride on a Mississippi River boat in the bright sunshine was good. We gave the haunted house a miss and the Wild West section or the idea of it simply went over Sophie's head so we left that too.
We had not queued for any 'meet and greets' but being the last day we decided to join the queue. Guess who came out to see us all...?

Sophie's face light up yet again. The queue was HUGE but she definitely wanted to meet them. Guess how long we queued? I could not feel the ends of my fingers or the end of my toes due to standing still and getting cold. We had a really good chat to the family behind us who have been to Disneyland Paris 17 times! We waited and waited and waited...nearly 2 blooming hours!!!!!! The things we do for our children. I do not usually like to put pics of Sophie's face on here but due to the time it took to get this picture I will...

The costumes were really lovely and look just like the characters in the films so there was no disappointment there at all. Sophie does think that they are real and these have been her favourites since she was old enough to look at them. We had to go for a hot chocolate and a large cookie to warm up after that! Then some more shopping. We were eventually Disneyed-out so we went back to the hotel to find our luggage and make our way to the airport. We eventually got home at 1am on Wednesday morning, exhausted but happy. Thank goodness we have the rest of the week to recover! It was well worth it all and even us adults got a lot out of it. It was pure kiddie fun and we are both kids at heart anyway, what is the point in having children if you can not enjoy this side of things too. I will end with a mixture of pictures. Crafting will resume asap. Take care

XX

Wednesday 18 February 2009

Our Trip to Disneyland Day 1 and 2

Day 1
On Friday 13th I had a staff training day while Sophie and hubby got the car ready and took Tiger to the cattery for a few days. Once I got home we drove the Bristol and stay in a hotel near the Airport so as to reduce the driving and chaos on the day of flying. On Saturday we got up at 5am for breakfast (too early for me but I will never say no to a cup of tea at any hour!) then off to the airport, parked the car and then got ambushed by a lady with a clipboard and questionnaire of all things. I left hubby with that as it was for too early to think of answers, I am not good in the mornings. Check-in was easy and quick then an hour wait for take off. We arrived at Disneyland Paris at about 9.15am with the time difference and the temperature was 0 degrees! We put our luggage in a secure area got a park map and off we went!
What I was waiting to see was the look on Sophie's face because I knew what was coming. Hubby had not visited before either.

We got to the main entrance and still Sophie made no reaction as such.....
She was impressed with the size of it.
We then walked through into Main street and she saw this...

The pink castle. Now I can not put into words here the reaction we got from Sophie, but the waiting, planning and saving had been worth it. We were bombarded with loads of questions, the first being 'is that castle real' well yes in that it is not a picture but we knew what she meant. I think that at this age if she wants to believe it is real that is fine. It is a bit like Father Christmas, things will change as she gets older. We looked at our map and because I had been before with the school three years ago I suggested that we started with Fantasy Land or the pink zone.
As we made our way down Main Street we heard an announcement and I asked Sophie to stand on the pavement and watch. This came around the bend...



Sophie has always liked roundabouts but she could not believe her eyes when she saw this.

There is a lovely little boat ride called 'It's a small World' which is great for little ones and Sophie has been humming it ever since.
We stayed until about 5pm when we decided to get our bags and head back to the hotel to have a bit of a rest before dinner, what was that? A rest Mummy, no way a quick trip to the swimming pool please it has a slide. Silly Mummy of course we must go swimming first!

Day 2

We decided to get up really early and take advantage of using the park for two hours before it is officially open. So the alarm went off at 6.30am! At this point I was wandering what I was thinking if anything at all! Our breakfast had been pre-booked for 7.15am! Sophie was not very impressed at all but that did not last for long and the joy of being 6 years old is that she bounced back quicker than we did.


We travelled down to the pink castle in this which was fun but very very cold.

Due to the early hour and it being Sunday the park was almost deserted and we were able to go on so many rides by 10am, mainly the ones that would always have a long queue all day. This was the only day that we were mad enough to do this. This is a pretty exhausting 'holiday' but you have to make the most of the time you are there and it is part of the fun. Sophie really loved it. Going swimming again before dinner was our only mistake, she fell asleep and was not happy when we woke her up for dinner. Oh dear!

We had dinner at Cafe Mickey which she did enjoy but one character, who I could not work out which film he was from, surprised her so much she nearly cried. Once Pluto appeared she was happy again, the meal was rather pricey but we had more fun than we have ever had at a meal out!

We were seated right by the entrance where all of the characters came out into the cafe, lucky or what! Tigger was by far the best and the look on Sophie's face was brilliant.

Whether she knew they were people dressed up I am not sure and I am certainly not going to find out and run the risk of ruining it.

Once dinner was over Sophie did not want to go back to the hotel, typical, so we wandered around and ended up back in the park which was nice as now all of the lights were on and we saw this...


The pink castle all lit up you could see it from the main gate. Now I have not seen that before and it certainly was quite impressive, a lovely colour.

More tomorrow as I do not want to completely bore you and it is getting late again.

xx

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