Family Time

We’ve had a lovely family weekend.  We celebrated our 5th Wedding anniversary, so it was nice to stay local.

I treated my boys to a breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup which went down quickly.  I’ve never (shock horror) made pancakes before, and I’m pleased to say they turned out well…I even flipped them successfully which my little boy thought was splendid fun.  (Somebody else’s “flipping technique” was not so  flipping good…cue pancakes all over the table!).

We went for a lovely walk in the forest…

We spotted lots of acorns and mushrooms.  We rustled around in the dry leaves.  We said hello to lots of dogs.  I’m surprised at just how far his little legs can carry him! He is a strong walker (…and a strong whinger when he’s had enough!).

My little man also got his first party invite from one of his nursery friends who was turning 3! It was for a couple of hours at a local village hall and it was nice to meet some of the other parents and children properly.  There was a bouncy castle, balloons, and lots of toys to play with.  It was nice to sit and watch them enjoying together.  They all sat alongside each other to eat party food and sing happy birthday.  I was surprised to see how well they all behaved.  The water pistol that was in his party bag has already been put to good use…he loves shooting his mummy and daddy with it and having a good old belly laugh when he succeeds!

It was fancy dress, and I wasn’t sure I could pass him off as a vampire again so I went to find him an outfit.  I don’t really think he’s interested in dressing up yet, but thought we’d make an effort.  I went for a costume that had a zip up front, very similar to a coat, as I thought we’d fool him into thinking it was a new coat!

On the day he had to be woken from his nap so he was already Grumpy…and then came…The Owl!  He’s so going to hate me when he’s older. But it’s a mums rite of passage eh?!He doesn’t look very happy in this picture on the way to the party…I was just chuckling at how cute he was! Okay so it stayed on for maybe 5minutes after we arrived at the party, but then I used bribery the next day to get some more photo’s…and it stayed on longer the second time around!

He’s showing you the impressive wing span!

He even kept it on to do some puzzles!

It was a nice party, and it gave me some motivation to throw our little man a party in the new year to celebrate his birthday and get his friends together.

We’ve also done quite a bit of Christmas crafting this weekend, of which I will show you in due course.  I am starting to feel decidedly festive as the weather is getting dry and crisp and cold!

We’ve got lots of fun things planned ahead for this weekend, so I shall keep you updated with our adventures!

Hope you are all getting out and about at my most favourite time of year.

Love from me and my little man x

ONE YEAR!!!!

My blog page has been going for ONE year! 

Do you remember when I set up camp here? It seems like only yesterday.

I’ve made a few things over the last year: Bibs, Bag Holders, Bunting, Memo Boards, Christmas Decorations, Willies, Wooden Signs, Grave Markers, Team Flag, Passport Holders, Kindle Covers, Pictures, Easter Decorations, Mixer Covers, Bookmarks, A Quilt, Peg Bags, Teddy Bears….

That’s quite a lot. I am pleased with my accomplishments.

Hopefully some more for this next coming year.

Thanks for sticking with me and reading my blog.

Love from me and my little man x

Wellies and Willies….

We went for a lovely walk last weekend for a bit of fresh air.  We are so lucky to live with the New Forest on our doorstep and lovely countryside just a 5minute walk from our house. 

We came across a few creatures and critters… some big and some small…

Blue skies and countryside.  I love that crispy fresh biting air, when it’s cold, but the sun shines warming you through. 

On a slightly different note, this weekend I’ve been on a hen do of one of my lovely Uni friends.  We went to Milton Keynes for an afternoon of sledging and an evening of 80s fancy dress partying!  Sledging was hilariously good fun requiring quite a lot of energy to run back up the slopes.  The little kids made it look effortless. I felt like I was a snow queen…but had more style than speed. Actually it was less style and less speed! There were a few collisions, none were life threatening thankfully!

So after an afternoon of extreme sledging, out came the heels and legwarmers, the back combing and hair spray and we were ready to Parrrrtay!  Here I am in my 80s gear.

There had to be a surprise appearance from someone else for this hen do…remember my post here…it was the tales of an adventurous lone willy crafted by yours truly.  Well, true to form, I was obliged to get crafting again…

This time I chose to crochet this Willy…tediously amusing.  Here he is…a slightly bigger, fluffier version than before…

This is when he was presented to the bride to be…he stayed cosy there all night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a fabulously fun weekend, and I feel I need a weekend to recover!  I have one of my Uni friends left to get married next year, so I’ll have to start pondering my next version! Hmmm……

Love from me and my little man x

My Birthday!

This week I have celebrated my birthday! The last year of my twenties so I’d better make it a good one.  Is it downhill after 30?!  Some people said they felt a bit unsettled/uncertain when they turned 30…so I’ll put those thoughts behind me and try and make the most of sounding younger for one more year! (Although some work friends actually put me straight and said I’m already living in my 30th year…oh yeah that works out right…Humph!)

Our house has been bursting at the seams this last weekend.  My parents, my sister, brother-in-law and nephew, and a surprise visit from my brother for the weekend.  We went to a local farm for the day, ate lots of food and cake, played games, went for long walks, saw the fireworks, shopped…. It always ends so quickly.  It’s important to make the most of the times we can spend together.

My birthday is on the 5th of November…those fireworks are all for me! Oh Yes! And anyone who doesn’t get me a birthday present gets volunteered to be the Guy for the Bonfire! (ye…that bit is a joke…but maybe my family are secretly scared as they always spoil me with lovely gifts!)

Here are some of my most fabulous presents…

• Some wonderously whiffy bath treats from my brother.  I love a nice hot bath as long as there are nice bubbles/smells to make it feel indulgent.  I don’t seem to make time for my baths as I used to, so these essentials are for indulgent ‘Me’ time and they shall be implemented ASAP!
• A gorgeous Cath Kidston ceramic rolling pin and flour shaker from my sister and her family.  I shall now have to get rolling some pastries and what-nots and make sure I use them rather than stare at them in a cupboard keeping them pretty.  They are so gorgeous they will make any of my cooking attempts divine for sure!
• The most marvellously stunning leather cross-body satchel from my parents.  LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! It smells of scholarly leather and it is just…LUSH! Funnily enough I had spied it in a local shop to my mum on their Facebook page and enquired re: price…she’d only gone and blinking bought it!  I am going to buy a nice small purse to go in it and then it shall follow me everywhere….*contented sigh*….
• Hearts galore from my little man who had spent his hard earned pocket money on that swish White Stuff scarf.  It will look so nice, and I will think of him as I wear it.  I wonder who helped him buy it…hmmm?!?!?….

Lush.

Lots of cards from friends and family…some lined with silver which will help me buy that purse…and other goodies….!

The one on the far right was designed by my nephew.  The one with flowers popping out of the card was from my little man who had adorned the inside (and out) with decorations and scribbles.

Birthday flowers from my man….

 

….and also

LUSH NEW BOOTS!

I love my new boots.  Apparently I now sound like a morris dancer as the buckles jingle a bit…but I love them jingle and all! My man did good!

Working on my birthday, I opened my presents and cards in the evening and then my husband cooked me a birthday tea and he got me a birthday cake too…

I have been well and truly spoilt!

I’ve always believed that I can stretch my birthday bossiness and privileges for at least a week around my birthday.  This week though I have been struck by some sort of something which has left me with the worst of headaches, tired and achey.  My eyes feel they may fall out at anytime and getting to the end of this week and through the weekend has been tough and fuelled by Ibuprofen!  Not the end of the birthday week that I had hoped for, but I have been looked after by my two men.  Maybe this is the sign that I am getting older…

Love from me (the birthday girl) and my little man x

Happy Halloween!

I think I prefer more of the treats than the tricks…so we stocked up our sweetie bowl ready for the onslaught of masked crusaders in search of their sugary treasures.  Luckily for us this year we had one (very loud) knock at the door…two boys stood on the doorstep looking particularly un-spooktacular...and that was it!  Lots of sweets for us then…Hoorah!

The nursery had a Halloween party so my little man went as a vampire.  The coat was the only thing that kept him from pulling off his cape, but he did wear it for a good time in nursery with his friends.  I think he looks cute.

In nursery he decorated his own Halloween pot and it was filled with goodies.

We had some pumpkin carving at home, and Wills popped the pieces out to make our friendly, toothy ghoul…

He enjoyed lighting him up in the dark to see him glow. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Love from me and my little man x

PS…I have been busy squirreling away in the Craft room.  Two homemade presents wrapped and sent down to Wales already! One homemade present waiting to be wrapped, and two more imminently starting!  I had a friend to keep me company earlier this week. x

Time to refocus.

Refocus looks incredibly wrong.  Re-focus looks much better…but who am I to argue with the dictionary?! I am struggling to accept that my last blog post was back in August.  People have now started to comment on my quietness…so I’d better get blogging again!

We had a brilliant time in Portugal in August. Hot sunshine and lazing around make the perfect combination.  My little man did well with everything new that comes with travelling abroad and settled amazingly well.  A daily holiday ice cream was also definitely a winner!

Me and hubby managed to sneak off on a much needed “date night” which was one of my most favourite parts of the holiday.  Having time out to recognise who you are as husband and wife, rather than mummy and daddy.  That makes sense right?! We still make each other laugh, we still have lots to talk about, and we can simply just ‘be’ together…almost 5 years married…and I still love him. Pics from our date night… (a very small one of my husband as he will probably sigh, roll his eyes and not thank me for putting his picture on here!)

Another fun thing that has happened (which has even included a tiny bit of crafting) was a work camping trip.  A bit of team bonding in the ways of 2nights camping locally.  It was much fun and definitely to be a yearly event for sure.  The rain poured the first night and it was a tad chilly but we embraced the onesies to keep us warm! I was one of the pretty pandas!

What crafting was needed for camping I hear you ask?!…A team Flag! I whipped this up so quickly, but it did the trick…

 

As well as fun times we’ve also had sad times over the past few months…we had to have our pesky Timber cat put to sleep.  He was quite poorly and it was the kindest thing for him.  You can read a little about how we came about having Timmy here.  It was the saddest thing we’ve had to go through in a while and I still don’t think we’ve come to terms with the fact that he’s not around.   

To do something nice for Timmy, I have painted a marker for where he’s buried (a grave-stone just sounds too morbid…).  I was never very good at drawing/painting…but I’m pleasantly surprised with how this turned out.  I have popped it in the garden, and we’ve planted lots of bulbs around too.

I think Tim’s just catching lots of slow worms wherever he’s gone to…!

To regain the blogging/crafting mojo I have taken in lots of deliveries of gorgeous fabrics in order for me to get crafting again. Admittedly the majority are Christmas presents in nature so how much I will be able to show you on here will be debatable.  Maybe some sneek peaks, and if not some quick crafts to keep my hand in!

I hope you are all well.

See you soon.

Love from me and my little man x

First Quilt

I needed to think of a present for a friend who was due to turn half a century.  I thought it would be more special if hand crafted so I thought I would crochet her a blanket.  But more and more I was getting the vibe that she was more of a quilt than a blanket person.  Would I dare to try my first quilt?! My sister has made me 2 quilts, and has made a few for herself and friends so she has a bit more experience…She warned me of the time and cost, but encouraged me to have a go.  Could I make one?! Well let’s see…

I found picking material the worst bit! I ummed and ahhhed for ages over pictures on the internet (not quite as easy as seeing things in the flesh).  I went with one idea, then changed colours, then questioned myself.  I think I’ve had this problem before…picking for someone else is a lot harder than picking for yourself.  I went with blues in the end, and I half cheated as I went with a pack of materials with co-coordinating colour/patterns so that I could be half confident that they would match.

I went for simple squares. I did a lot of cutting out, a lot of ironing and a lot of sewing.  Here are 2 lines of the quilt top…

We all know my cutting out is not great…hence the not so exact alignment of the squares…but shhhhh…no-one needs to know that!  So on we went and soon I had a quilt top.  After waiting for the wadding to arrive, and picking the backing material I was ready to assemble the quilt.

CRUMBS!

How hard is it? Very!  I think one of the main problems was my little bluebell! She is a small machine and there was a lot of material to contend with.  I had 2 needles bend on me during this project! There was a lot of puckering, and even more unpicking.  I founds using pins more of a nightmare then holding the material.  It took me ages to get it in an acceptable state!  And then binding…oooh la la! It kept not catching some of the material…so more unpicking and re-sewing…!  I think I got the hang of the corners…but the binding I bought was of cheaper quality than I hoped for (too little time to re-order unfortunately) and wasn’t great to work with. BUT…I got there!!!!

Here are some pictures of the finished item…

The birthday girl said she loved it!

What do you think?!

I’d like to do a quilt again…to have another go…and see what happens!

Love from me and my little man x