Kaffe Fassett Spots!

Oh my its Friday again and already the end of April? Where has the week gone, let alone the month? 

I've finally managed to convince #2 that nappies are yuck and the potty is the place. So potty training is now in full swing and with a bribe in place, so far so good! Though thank goodness for wooden floors.
I've also managed to keep the postman busy!

I couldn't resist these spots when I read that saints and pinners were celebrating their first anniversary with a sale. There is something about spots that I find very addictive so this super duper fabric pack of Kaffe Fassett's prints is perfect!

It comes so well presented that I nearly resisted taken it apart, but eventually the draw of playing around with the spots got to strong!

These 14 fabrics are a great addition to my stash, which is growing quite large and I wonder if I'll ever get round to using it all!

Maybe that should be my challenge! I'll save that thought for another day as right now I need to persuade #2 to wear a nappy for the school run. Very confusing for the poor boy whose now left wondering whether mummy really does think nappies are yuck or actually very essential! 

A Gourmet Mushroom!

I have been eagerly waiting for the postman to knock at the door for some time now. Every morning I have been checking almost stalking the poor postman for I have been waiting for a lovely prize to come all the way from Canada.

A while ago I stumbled across deedee9:14  a great design blog. I think it appeals to me as it features a lot of posts on vintage chairs and they are something that given more space and a lot more money I know I could quite easily become an obsessive collector of!

 Whilst I was taking a look around I happened to notice that they do monthly giveaways. Now normally I don't enter, I tend to have a "I never win" attitude but for some reason I was feeling very positive and thought what the hell. So I'm sure you can imagine my surprise a few days later when I read that I had won the April giveaway a pair of vintage wooden mushrooms from "hindsvik" who were sponsoring the giveaway and have an etsy shop selling vintage home decor and furniture.

 I must say I'm very taken with these little guys. I love the fact that they have flown over the Atlantic to get here, making them better travelled than I. There cracks give them aged beauty much like the wrinkles around my eyes!!  And I no longer have the opinion that I never win anything, in fact seeing as it's Wednesday maybe a should pop off and do the lotto.

Well you just never know, think of all those chairs I could buy!!

Lizzy House

Remember the ducks?
Well I thought it was about time I started cutting into them and finally make a play quilt for #3.
She could do with it right now, the way she rolls around on the floor, so before it's too late and is no longer needed I've been busy with the rotary cutter!

It's taken me a while to choose the forth fabric. I've finally settled on "Wild seed pods" by Carolyn Gavin and I'm pleased I did. The combination of pink and orange has grown on me the more I have worked with it and now I'm feeling really excited about how it's looking.

 This is only the second quilt I have attempted and will also be the largest. I am following a pattern for the play mat from Amy Butler's "little stitches for little ones." Its the first project I have tried out of the book and so far so good! I do however have to keep reminding myself that she uses a 1/2 inch seam allowance. I've got so use to using a 1/4 inch and I must say that a half inch does feel like an awful waste of fabric, though I guess that's just me being "fabric" stingy!!

I'm hoping to get a chance to finish the top of the quilt this weekend. Though all this sunshine is highlighting the many jobs that still need to be done in the garden and more importantly the allotment, so I do feel a little torn between working in the sun or sat at my sewing machine.

But I have a sneaky feeling that the ducks might just win!!

Anyone for Rhubarb

Our allotment may not be dug ready for the new season.

 The winter vegetables may still be in the ground.

But my gawd  do we have some rhubarb,

So now my mind is racing with ideas for recipes,

for jams and chutneys,

crumbles and pies,

fools and cakes, 

 

Though someone has ideas of their own!

Their thinking umbrellas and dens!

I'm thinking that there is going to be more than enough to go round!

A shock to the system!

A shock to the system was exactly what I got Saturday morning when I left my "tribe" to go back to work.
Now I can't really moan, or shouldn't, (well not much) as I'm only returning to work one day a week and I have the lovely knowledge that the kids are being looked after and having fun with Mr D.

Now this has only become possible due to our little baby reaching her 6 month milestone, this also came as quite a shock, I mean where does the time go? Of course 6 months means this;

The starting of solids and so far so good.
Now returning to work meant I had to think about something other than feeding and nappies and I must say my brain, or what is left of my brain since having kids is a little rusty to say the least, especially the memory part! So with my brain not quite co-operating even with the most simple of tasks and with the lack of sleep that we've been having lately, Saturday felt like a very long day, but what was amazing was the realisation of how much you can get done when you have no "little" distractions around! And just to make my first day back at work even more difficult the sun shone and shone making it the warmest day so far. How typical!
 So Sunday was declared beach day.

At this point I would love to tell you about how wonderful our day was, spent frolicking at the beach, but this couldn't be much further from the truth. Oh no! After a journey spent listening to a chorus of "are we there yet?" we made our way down to the beach like donkeys carrying what felt like everything but the kitchen sink to find the most gorgeous setting but also one of the most windiest. We managed to settle our rug on the sand without it flying away and we all sat there with our backs to the wind, looking enviously at the families who were snuggled in their beach tents!

We ate the obligatory "sand" sandwiches, made a few sandcastles and then had to admit after putting on all our extra clothing that we had with us and with cries of "can we go home" coming from the boys that the wind was freezing cold, a little reminder that it is still only early in the year. So we packed up and got blown back to the car! Not quite the day we had planned but at least it got us away from the chores at home, though Mr D and I did spend the drive home discussing what we could have got achieved at home in the garden! And for me it meant a whole weekend went by without time spent on my sewing machine. I think I'm going to have to get very organised if I'm to get much time to sew, and unfortunately organisation is not a strong point of mine!

 

Middle Child

Do you believe in the "middle child syndrome"?

The jury is still out in my mind, having no experience of it in my childhood as I only have an older sister. I can remember the benefits of being the younger sibling, watching my older sister carve the way so to speak, I can already see the downfalls of being the older one when I study our three. Being the first must at times be difficult, but what of number 2, not the oldest or the youngest, the biggest or the smallest just the middle one!

Our #2 seems quite happy with his position. The arrival of #3 seemed natural to him, I would go as far as to say he seemed not to notice, but maybe I am wrong!

It all began when #1 was having his feet measured for his school shoes in December, one of those mundane chores that you think will go unnoticed until #2 decided he thought it was thoroughly unfair that he wasn't having his feet measured for a pair. Now these school shoes aren't exciting, no they're a pair of black shoes but still #2 howled and yowled the whole shop down. I'm sure #1 would have quite willingly given his position up knowing that these new shoes meant school but still we left the shop with #2 firmly held under our arm like a rugby ball still shrieking "I don't get anything"!!!

This didn't end up being an isolated incident, oh no! The same happened when we were shopping for #1's school uniform, another shop left rugby ball under arm. I must say if this ever happens to you it's best not to glance back over you shoulder and note the amazed and dazzled looks on the faces of the passers-by, just keep walking head in the air, what noise, what child screaming!! What mine!

Then silence, a calmness with #2 back to his chilled somewhat horizontal self, that was until this........

When I was pregnant with #3 I made two blankets for her here and here #2 paid no attention where as #1 asked for one, so being the good mother I am (!!!) I obliged. We choose the fabrics together settling on fabrics from David Walkers Robots range and I set about making him a cosy blanket, all the time #2 was blissfully unaware. Even the result #2 seemed to not notice so I decided to use the fabrics to make him a log cabin quilt for when he made the change from cot to bed. Though when he saw the blocks he was so unimpressed that I must say it's become a WIP and he moved into his bed with such ease that his "settling in quilt" never transpired. And then a few weeks ago whilst being put to bed #2 suddenly spied #1's blanket as if for the first time and suddenly declared "I WANT ONE". Now this could have been a one off, but no, for the days that followed we heard questions like "why does he and she have one and I don't" so being the resourceful mother that I try to be I remembered that I had more of the minky fabric that I had used to back #1's blanket with and gave him this and for awhile this has been fine in fact he has taken it everywhere with him.

So problem solved you may think until the other day when out of the blue #1 thanked me for his blanket, just there in the lounge whilst cuddling it. A lovely moment when the hours you spend sewing are appreciated, though the moment was quickly dashed when #2 followed suit and said "yes thank you mummy for mine" whilst he cuddled up to his piece of minky well my heart became to weep, what cruel mother could let their son cuddle up to what is just a remnant piece of fabric. So that was that, other projects have been discarded and blanket for #2 has been made priority.

It's been good to make something again as there were things I didn't like about #1's blanket mainly the minky I used on the back it's ever so soft but not the easiest to work with so I've been more prepared for it this time round! The choice of fabrics have had to be the same well almost, so it's been fun playing around with them to make the blankets subtly different but in the eyes of #2 "the same"! And the most important thing is, he seems happy with the results. And happy children mean peaceful households! For the moment at least!!