Nose Dived

It started on a high.

Christmas day was excellent, with 2 very excited boys who got everything I think that their minds could have hoped for!

It was a day spent in pj's, with not a care in the world. Even the turkey dinner went down without any major mishaps. J ate his way through a mound of cabbage declaring it to be the best thing he'd ever tasted!!! And A ate his way through a jar of cranberry sauce, well he would have if been allowed!!

Boxing Day continued in high spirits, with the boys choosing again to stay in pj's, this time spiderman pjs, a xmas present from my sister.

So far so good.

But then it nose dived. Holidays and illnesses go hand in hand in this house, so it came as no surprise when we started to fall!

The last couple of days have been spent visiting doctors, resulting in Mr D on antibiotics and 2 emergency appointments at different dentists across the region resulting in myself now being on penicillin . Not much fun for any of us. Though it is surprising how the boys can even find entertainment in a waiting room!!!

But finally this afternoon we've managed to get the caged animals out the house and to blow away the cobwebs with a walk in the woods and with a day out planned tomorrow,

I think we are finally on the mend!

Last minute

Never again, is what I'm saying to myself, though I know I'll probably be the same next year!



With the boys out fetching the turkey and the potatoes that I forgot in the shopping!
I've finally had the chance to finish my sister's present, and I'm really happy with the bag, in fact so happy that I've decided (in the new year of course!) to make myself one out of the fabric I have left.




Apart from some last minute wrapping I think we're finally prepared!!
Not sure how the boys are going to make it through the night as they are so excited especially J the 4 year old.
We must not J said, forget the beer (his words) and mince pie for Father Christmas and the carrot and water for the reindeer.
He would of course have it all ready for them now if we let him!!

A Happy Christmas to you all, keep warm, stay merry,
and I hope it's everything you wished for.

Festive Cheer

This is it, the xmas spirit has arrived - well nearly!
No more grumbling, no more visitors - yes they have all been and gone!
Christmas cards have all been sent, decorations are all up and snow is falling.
Pre-school has finished, J's first round of "education" is over,
and D has only 3 more days of work
I must stop worrying about J starting school
and start enjoying this festive time.



There's wrapping to be done last minute presents to be bought,
sewing projects to be finished,
Hot toddies to be drunk and mince pies to be eaten!
I want to stop saying every couple of minutes
"leave your brother alone"
and
"remember Father Christmas is watching you" !
And to start getting excited like the boys.
So I'm off to have fun in the snow.
Enjoy!

Ten days and counting

In ten days time Father Christmas will have been, fingers crossed!,
the lounge will be full of wrapping paper, the children will be playing with their new toys and Mr D and I will breathe a sigh of relief that xmas is nearly over!!!

That sounds terrible I know but right now I'm feeling just a little stressed. Apart from getting the tree up at the weekend little else was achieved. I spent most of the time recovering from mastitis, and then when the boiler broke Sunday afternoon leaving us with no heat or hot water until yesterday evening, the weekend was written off as a disaster!


But something strange happened yesterday afternoon I found myself with 2 sleeping children at the same time in the day, and with J at preschool it meant I finally got a chance to finish sewing on the binding on E's mini quilts.


So with two presents done does this mean I will get my sister's present sewn in time for xmas............
maybe, miracle's can happen!


Right now we're of to school to meet J's "new" teacher, sorry I mean "supply" teacher and he hasn't even started school yet, did I mention that I was stressed!
Oh well at least the sun is shinning!!!!

The eyes are watching you!

Are these the strangest xmas decorations you have ever seen!
I guess this is what you end up with when Mr D and the boys get together to make snowmen!

Parcel Time!

My favorite type of parcel arrived in the post yesterday, and yes it's taken me until now to show it to you!!!
I'm beginning to realize how everything just takes that little bit longer with an eight week old baby in the house. Oh I have so much I want to do! But for now I'll settle on showing you my latest fabric purchases.


You know the fabric isn't going to disappoint when its wrapped so lovely.


I couldn't resist ordering some more fat quarters from Erin McMorris's Park Slope collection when I received an email from a great shop called Saints and Pinners offering 20% off.
As if a fabric junkie needed a better excuse to stock up on some more beautiful fabrics!
I have ordered from this shop a few times and have always been pleased with my purchases. They stock gorgeous fabrics and patterns and the service is excellent with parcels usually arriving the day after ordering, and if that wasn't enough they have a great blog with ideas on things to make with your purchases!

As for this fabric, well I have fallen in love!!
I can really imagine a skirt made out of these prints, though I think that can be a project for the spring!
If you would like to take advantage of the 20% off go to
www.saintsand pinners.co.uk and enter SP2 at the checkout.
Happy Shopping.

And All Was Quiet.........

Today has been one of those days. One where nothing much gets done even though you are surrounded by jobs.
The weekend was one of those weekends that passes in a blink of an eye. An excellent time was had catching up with good friends who had come to visit. But apart from entertaining little else got done.
So today I found myself swamped in laundry and house work, and with over tired children, which was hellish!!!
But now tonight all is quiet, food is cooking, toys have been put away and the boys are asleep dreaming of the little elves who come every night to put chocolate in their advent calendars!

Loving the ducks but need to return to the blues!

One of my favorite past times is selecting fabrics for my next project. And today has been no exception. The completion of my first quilt its a great reason to empty my fabric cupboard out and stare and admire (sad I know) my fabric stash.
I'm pretending my UFOs aren't piling up on my sewing table and have already selected a quilt pattern from Amy Butler's "Little stitches for little ones" for my next quilt project.
It calls for 4 different prints for the quilt front and as its going to be a play quilt for my little girl I've selected these 3 prints by Lizzy House from her "Red Letter Day" collection.
As for the fourth, well I can't decide. I like using brown with pink and love both Kei honeycomb in cocoa and Jennifer Moore Monaluna Circles in Espresso but I can't find them on a UK fabric site.


It can be frustrating trying to find fabric in the UK. There are some good online sites that do stock a good range of fabrics like Carolyn Gavin's Wild Thyme but very rarely do they seem to stock a full range of one collection and then there's the wait for the new collections to arrive in the UK. I have only ordered once from the US and was really pleased with both the fabrics and the service but naively forgot about custom charges and got stung quite heavily!
I must be brave and try again!!


Whenever I start pulling out my fabric I immediately get drawn to my pile of blue and green prints quickly followed by my browns. This I guess is my comfort zone and however much I'm looking forward to cutting up those ducks! I can't wait to get back to the blues!

A little sewing

I've finally finished sewing the binding on my first ever quilt!
And I feel quite proud. I've made mistakes which annoy me, but I have to keep reminding myself that as long as I learn from them, it doesn't matter.


I must slow down.
I got so carried away choosing the fabrics and making up the blocks that I didn't keep an eye on how straight I was doing the cutting or the sewing. It wasn't until I pieced the quilt top together that I realized just how wonky some of it was which made the quilting in the ditch more difficult than it should have been.
Don't look to closely!!


I struggle to draw in a straight line, let alone cut a straight line and even with a rotary blade and ruler I seem to have gone all wonky.
Practice makes perfect and I already have lots of ideas for my next quilt.



The quilt measures 22 x 27 and it was a great way of using up some Amy Butler scraps I had left over from another project and mixing them with some thrifted fabric. The backing is a part of a duvet cover that I picked up from a charity shop.
It's very satisfying to recycle material and to bring new life into something that somebody else no longer wants.
And as for the new owner, well she seems quite happy with it, faults and all!!