WOYWW - well the floor in this case......

My mum thinks I am bonkers, I have been hoarding boxes for a few months, this morning we have built a castle! At the front the draw bridge goes across the moat........ A very happy little fella is playing inside while being 'subjected' to the best of Def Leppard :)

In other news I did make my first piece of clothing using my new (I am in love) Jenome sewing machine. If you want more info check out the previous post. For more actual desks hop on over to the queen of desks, Julia Dunnit at the Stamping Ground.

 

Posted with Blogsy

I made something at last

Well it seemed like a very long dry spell, I guess it is inevitable if you are so creative day in day out that suddenly you find your mojo has up and left. So how did I get mine back? 2 things, first I got a pattern I really liked, the bebe dress from Sew Serendipity, now it wasn't all plain sailing I am bigger cuddlier than even the xxl size covered but with the help of a book and a blog or 2 I managed to resize the pattern and using an old cotton bed sheet of my parents hand sewed a mock of the bodice and a sleeve :) and it worked! The next thing was I came across an ex-demo model of the sewing machine I really wanted, I am so broke now I old cry (but I do have enough material for 3 more projects so it is not all doom and gloom) and I love it, it made such a difference to my sewing it is amazing, hopefully I will get some tutoring come September and with Timothy starting school more availability.........

So what did I make? Well it is not all perfect, but I am very proud of it and I love the material, made me feel so happy to wear it the other day :)

Ok so I hope these photo's work, hedgehogs :D the second picture is just designed to show a close up of top stitching on neckline and sleeve (round the hem to) and the inverted pleat on the skirt (one on the back and one on the front). The dress is more generous than needed because while I don't mind sewing a zip I sure as hell can't be bothered trying to do one up at the back! Oh and it comes just above my knees (so I can finally crack out the 3/4 leggings!)

 

Posted with Blogsy

Rocking Your World Friday

Here we are again :)

Gratefully time so let's see

Making and baking with my son, grateful he is happy to do these things with me, we made a sponge cake, single layer and topped with fondant icing then drizzled with a cocoa icing mix. The theory was to imitate Mr Kipling angel slices the reality was T ate the icing and I ate the cake (he hoovers all of the Mr K cake..........) later in the week we made chocolate biscuits with white chocolate filling (heading towards Oreos) he wouldn't even touch those. Grateful therefore my husband is back and the goodies get shared.


Finally doing something! other than baking, creative. Finished the penguin pincushion I started in February.........

Although the general consensus in Coventry is that pins should not be allowed to enter it...........

The sun coming out on Tuesday for a few hours meaning we got to the park - and the slide is wide enough for adults to go down :D

That I had a few nights decent sleep and felt refreshed because the last 3 nights have been pants

For lastminute dot com for having an overnight spa break deal including bed and breakfast for £65 2 for 1, back massages booked roll on 19th August!

For the idea of a girls night out involving cocktails in Kenilworth to look forward to at some point in the future.

Right that'll do time to post, hope I have figured out how to post photo's using blogsy and check out the other Rockettes, always starting with Virginia at Celtic House, the beginning :)

 

Posted with Blogsy

Rocking Your World Friday

Baa baa lost sheep looking to return to the fold. Friday seemed an excellent day to get back in the swing of things especially when my crafting mojo is taking a while to rev up again. So here we go:




I am very grateful first off to have survived May and June. Earning the majority of our yearly income in 2 months is never going o be an easy task. I always pay for it o am week or 2 but no permanent harm done and mission accomplished.I am grateful for all my bloggy friends who forgive my absence and are still willing to chat and let me back in when I do re-emerge.

I am grateful for the friends who help pick me up when I am left alone with Timothy while my dh travels far and wide to conferences and for job interviews. Proud and grateful of my dear son who starts school in September (probably) for making me laugh, challenging me everyday and for waking me up at 5:30 with Where's daddy is he not back yet.......

Grateful and excited by the new fabric called Fox hollow by monoluna which is getting my crafting mojo to peek out from wherever it is hiding.

Proud of my tutee who I home schooled for just over 2 years in science and maths who really knuckled down in the last 2 months and now we wait nervously for August and to see if she has the grades for her college course.

Very thankful for the school holidays that mean I can take a few weeks break from tutoring.

Grateful for brilliant athletes. I didn't watch the end of the Andy Murray match because Timothy was asking me to read him stories and getting annoyed when I got distracted by the tennis then I would get cross so I took the tennis out of the equation. I can't imagine being one of the best in the world the at anything, I hope he does win Wimbledon one day I am sure he can.

Grateful for the seaside. I will go and visit some, somewhere, before this excuse of a summer is over.

I think that will do a wide and varied list me thinks........Happy Friday :)

 

Posted with Blogsy

Checking back in

Wow nearly 2 months. No crafting has happened, no art has happened. It hasn't been a bad time lots of nice has happened. I just ran myself down. Too much staying in and being on my own with the little fella. Far too much illness, nothing serious just colds, tonsillitis, infected blocked sinuses but worst of all no energy. Easter helped a lot, rejuggling my tutoring should help further. The next 2 months ar hard. Lots of tutoring and exam marking get some pennies in storage. My little fella starts school in September, possibly in Coventry who knows husband still searching for the next position. Need a holiday but there are no spare pennies. So here is how it will be, no room for air working wise until the jun 20th ish, there will be a family visit to Scotland and 2 birthdays to celebrate. Then some time, T still in nursey and therefore Mondays and Thursday's free. Gardening must happen or food will not grow. The world will be re-entered into. While I may not post I do promise to come and visit which I have also been bad at............... Hope you are all well and busy :)

Rocking Your World Friday

Friday again - anyone else finding this year is slipping away real quick? Time to reflect on all the good and happy moments from the last week to remind ourselves that no matter what there is always something right somewhere :) Started by Virginia over at Celtic House and championed by a faithful team of Rockettes / Rockers.

Let's see people wise first up are my Mum and Dad. Who lovingly put up with myself and toddler for 2 nights to give me a break while dh was swanning around Boston and yes 3 days might have been work, but 2 were jollies (and your still not forgiven for going there when there is the rest of the planet to choose from). Said toddler always loves the excuse of a train ride that visiting my parentals invokes and was happy running trolleys around the fabric warehouse my mum and I visited and charming all the people there.  I am grateful for his personality, ability to entertain himself without causing havoc when needed, his unconditional love and the joy he gives me every day.  

For the friends who come round to visit when dh is awol and give me some grown up time especially Dott who I haven't spent one to one time with in a long while. As a person I survive the day to day by talking through things but that does need a person on the other end.

For the mouthy stitches swap which just worked so darn well.  All credit to the mama's that headed it up. The idea was that we were assigned a partner, stalked them then put together a plan. We then posted up hints and ideas about our plan on our flickr group and then waited for people to comment and hoped that the intended recipient made a comment so you could make sure you were on the right track. I am sure it worked to varying degrees depending on how well partners commented but I did just splendidly both ways. On Monday I arrived back from my hour and a half adventure to deposit child at nursery (my fault never learnt to drive and no desire to  - Toddler enjoys bus rides and of course has to do lots of exploring on the way - dh arrived back 8:25 very jet lagged and deposited himself in bed for a few hours and then on the couch). So anyway I arrived back home and there was a most definitely zippy pouched shaped parcel all the way from Australia :D  and only 8 days in the travelling (amazing). Now when I was looking and commenting (yes I'll show you in a minute stick with me) there was a lot of work that I admired, people from the quilting world. But there was one pouch which I fell in love with and it was the one that arrived on my doorstep :) my partner was Dolores who blogs at labouroflove, I nicked this photo montage from her site because it was so much better than anything I took.........

Turns out that W was for Wendy (and womble and woolly mammoths (furry elephants (and cows for that matter) are brilliant)). Not only is that pouch and all my scraps fantastic but it comes on the back of the fact that Dolores's favourite colour (and 80% of her stash) is the colour I hate most in the world (pink). Which links me nicely into the recipient of the pouch I made whose favourite colour was also pink and therefore provided me with a challenge. Cindy's response was everything a girl could hope for from a swap partner and blogged here. I am very grateful to Cindy for introducing me to Kate Spain's Terrain range of fabrics many of which I adore although they are quite difficult to get hold of here in the UK.

I am grateful to the couple of new bloggy followers/friends I have made through the swap and hope there will be more. I love the chance to chat to people.

I am grateful to Boots decongestant tablets and nurofen express that allowed me to get through a ten and a half hour tutoring session yesterday. The joys of being self employed, no work no pay. Once this is published I plan to do as little as possible today (having woken up at 3 this morning, gave up and got up at 5, all the chores are out the way so it is just the feeding that is essential left to do and hope toddler can mostly entertain himself.

Hope you have all had a splendid week to :)

WOYWW

Right at this minute (due to be removed for 11:30 so my tutoring can start) Chusby station (elf is looking a bit bedraggled at the moment as we are fighting a crusty scalp so he has been oiled!)

The reason we have made Chusby station is so that the train below on its tracks can pick up the passengers (which will be our family next time we get the paints out)

Also recently I finished the mini quilt that I have entered without much hope into the modern mini challenge (button over there somewhere). I say finished but I plan yet to do some more silver cloud quilting in the sky and quilt the curves that form the grass. A girl needs something to do of her evenings see..........

Oh and last but no means least the happy 17th birthday card mum that I was commissioned to make and was very well received (does it help if I tell you that the mum in question was born on the 29th Feb?

I am sure by now you are all familiar with Julia at the Stamping Ground (see WOYWW linky on the right if not) and fly visit desks, lots of desks and find everything from paper to fabric and in between.

Modern Mini Challenge

Right, it has been a year of firsts so far for me. I apologise for my quietness in some areas of my blogging life I will be back soon. The reason for my quietness is that at the beginning of the year I decided to join 2 challenges the first was the mouthy stitches zippy pouch swap and my pouch is winging its way across the oceans and I wait somewhat patiently to see what that person thinks and for my pouch in return. Hot on the trail of the Mouthy Stitches I found out about the Modern Mini Challenge over at Jennifer's blog.  I so enjoyed making my pouch that I checked I could make a 'circle' and I could, so I set about my plan, It is finally done and is definitely a tad quirky but I am happy.  

The quilt is 18" in diameter. My photography skills are needing some improvement so here are a couple of close ups to show the hedgehog with his rainbow crosses between his spines and body :)

And a close up of the birdies (plus the cloud complete with a silver lining ;) 

Thanks to Jennifer for giving me my next sewing challenge and Mouthy Stitches for providing the original boost! I am off to see the other entries (some which I already know are amazing) and to dream up more creations for my rainbow hedgehog :)

Rocking Your World Friday

Getting back on the wagon, seems I am an all or nothing girl at the moment.So having WOYWW on Wednesday and postcarded this morning the final thing left to do this week is to celebrate the positives of the last few weeks since I last joined in with Virginia and the the Friday Rockettes:

There has been bronchitis type stuff and busy type stuff but there have been smiles through it all.

My little man continues to make me smile, I am so grateful for having a healthy and happy boy. One who communicates better and better each passing day so it makes it easier to sort out issues as they come up. This week I drew Puffer Pete the train so he could paint him and his response was 'Thank you mummy, it's wonderful. There also followed 3 carriages and some paint and some stamps. I got to paint my daffodl postcard for Darcy's challenge :)

My MIL came down for a few days from Scotland. We didn't manage to get her down here last year with one thing and another other than for a flying visit around T birthday (which made the little fella happy). I have a good relationship with my MIL so I always look forward to her visits and she helps get me back on the straight and narrow I guess because I just feel that I have had a few days of support with the mundane in life.

I finished my pouch for the zippy mouth swap. Posting commences tomorrow. Excited to see what I am getting, nothing has obviously called out as being mine and all mine but there are a fair number that I would happily give a home to.

I got more tutoring, yay, so more pennies which will hopefully mean I have more chance of getting my mitts on the electronic goodies I want to get my mitts on now that the flat is no longer sucking us dry! Hopefully a girl can start to build a reputation (as the last 2 are based in schools) and I may get requested in the future. Also got invited back to do exam marking between May and June, gets a but crazy but worth it for the pennies boost.

I got commissioned to make my first card - hurrah and they approved of the sketch I put together. I finished the card a couple of hours a go but will wait until next week to post as they won't have it in their mitts until tomorrow.

Hope you are all well I shall be over at the weekend to catch up :)

Postcard challenge weeks 6,7 and8.............

Well it took writing a list - in all fairness Belgium was done it just needed assembly and writing. I managed to catch up on postcards on Wednesday while T painted and stamped on big drawings of a train and some carriages I drew for him.........

So I give you in very particular order, Belgium, Wales and Cuba and I'll see you at some point across the next few days........

Woyww

Hello, lovely people how are you all. I decided not to post the last couple of weeks as I had no hopes of getting round anyone - sickness then folks visiting. I probably won't do much better this week but I do miss the whole crazy Wednesday thing - what crazy Wednesday thing why all the desks that come via the head honcho Ms Julia Dunnit (woyww link on the right). So this week as I type this is exactly what is on my table of determinate crafting purpose (at the moment) now: 

A quilt I am doing for a thing, an online thingy - I really should get the button that might help. Then I have been asked to make a card (my first commission :D) so this is an initial sketch idea........(very initial).

Last but not least here is the zippy pouch I was working on last time I was about - all finished and awaiting posting!

Keeping it brief, that's all from me, have a good one!

Rocking My World Friday

Hello Friday rockers (no need to run this time Sandee - *wave*) courtesy of the very splendid Virginia over at the Celtic House we love to gather together on a Friday and look at the good things that have happened in our week, because there is always something good, no matter how small.

Firstly a BIG thank you to you all for your lovely words. The writing the experience down and having a little weep has left me feeling a LOT better this week. I think that at some point if I can get myself to journal some of the harder experiences that will be positive too :) So my first positive was offloading and getting some relief!

The weekend was rare family time. It was my sisters birthday and we all piled over to my parents house on Saturday afternoon and to spend the night.  I had a cunning plan. Our boys (it is my dad's fault he wanted boys and go 2 girls so now Susan and I have 3 boy's between us........) are at that age when anyone's presents are up for grabs. Now I don't know about you ladies but I am still very much in the category of I love having presents to open especially surprises!  So in a cunning moved I scoured the house and found 3 animal badges that needed making, some thread, beads with letters and shapes to string on (enough letters for each of the boy's names) and a finger puppet. I wrapped them in tissue paper and just as there eye's popped out of their little heads at sister's presents. I presented them with their little gifts (these were promptly ripped open and then they sat quietly on the floor in a different room making badges and name thingies - result.  My sister opened her presents in peace! I love it when a plan works.

My second positive of the weekend was very inadvertent. When my sister came to visit with her boy's the other weekend (this is an unusually large number of visits we can go weeks without connecting and I am looking after them tonight over night to........) Anyway's my sister had asked if I had any good books and I gave her my copy of Moon Called by Patricia Briggs which I had really enjoyed. So this last week S's youngest fella had been off school with the high temperature bug that is doing the rounds and with a loss of what to do she promptly ordered off Amazon (2nd hand) the remaining books in the series, read them and then presented them to me as a bulk offering.  I have to return all but the last book (which she got a copy of for me) because she wants to read them all again - but how good is that! :D

Sunday I got home from parental's via a friends new house (this friend is someone who I grew up with from 10 - 18 then we lost touch and found each other through friends reunited, both pregnant with 2 weeks to go and our boy's were born 5 days apart. We got together 8 weeks later and have kept in contact since!). To find the lovely Sarah (hello lovely Sarah) had squirrelled a bag of fabric scraps by my front door when she had been up watching hockey at the Skydome. When she said a few scraps I hadn't expected a bag full. People are so lovely you know :)

Needless to say I have been on a happy boat all week. I took myself in hand made a list of things I needed to get done and jolly well did them. This meant I finally had sometime to craft this week and make sure that I got my postcards for Darcy's challenge caught up and completed for this week :) 

I have also started walking once a week. The new student I am tutoring lives in a part of Coventry with the most rubbish bus route ever. Generally Coventry is pretty good for buses and being able to get around. On Thursday's I am averaging an hour to an hour and a half of walking - this will not being doing me any harm.  I am hoping if dh work situation can resolve itself that I can get myself to aqua aerobics again. I have always enjoyed doing that and unfortunately the local classes are in a nearby hotel which will be expensive (in comparison to the local  sports centres which tend to be £20 a month but there isn't one in a sensible place to here........

Lastly for now is the Mouthy Stitches swap that I am taking part in on flikr. It is so much fun seeing everyone's work, although I am more of a sneaky peaks showing person. But the positive comments are so lovely (and when 2 people pinned the finished owl as a favourite that made me fair beam!). My sense of humour tends to come out in my commenting and I have already gained some new friends from it - hello *waves8 to mammafairy and Diane. It is lovely having new friends :)

Right lots of look forward to this weekend too, more about that next week! Hope you are all having a splendid time and I shall be round to see what is happening in your worlds.

Darcy's Postcard Challenge weeks 4 and 5....

Ok playing catch up so keeping it brief. China then France.......

Right not sure when, probably Saturday evening, I'll be playing catch up on postcards too......

WOYWW - back to the sofa

Good Morning (ish) lovely Wednesday people. If you are wandering by my blog and are a new follower - run, run now. Only joking you have found yourself in the middle of a pathway to inspiration, everything from papercrafters, to fabric people and the odd jewellery crafter and everything in between. What will you see, who knows but it starts with a desk, a single desk of Julia Dunnit and flies outwards (WOYWW link on the right).

This week the table of indeterminate purpose is being a determined dinner table. I have transferred with some stitching to the living room (which has retained its new formation since the Christmas change around (and the sofa has a new cover.....). So any-ways I am working on my pouch for my Mouthy Stitches swap:

I had never heard of Kate Spain and her terrain fabric but I like what I have of it so far. The pink is way out of my comfort zone but I am pleased with how it is going, Just keeping my fingers crossed that the sewing machine will go through all the layers once I put the whole thing together.......... Once the owl is finished and stitched on to the branch I have some sequin flowers to sparingly sprinkle around.

Hope you are all having a good - preferably lurgy free (whichever of the horrible nasty things that are going around at the moment). week :) 

Rocking my World (might be more rocky world this week.....)

Hello Lovely positive Friday people time once more for:

Hosted by the ever positive Virginia over at the Celtic House :)

This has been a week that should be happy and was full of so many positives but add in a poorly toddler (which is why I am typing this at 5am in the morning) and just the weight of everything that has been dealt with (and the fact I'm not at full fighting fitness meself) and the celebrations are not what they should be.

So at the beginning of last week (or the weekend as it is generally thought of by the many) we celebrated for the third year Chinese New Year (a day or 2 early) with friends of ours and other friends. We have a number of traditions that are slowly arising around our circle and this is the 1st one of the year. We all take around a Chinese dish or two and feast like kings my friend. My lovely husband (who is 1/2 Chinese from his Hong Kong Dad) made a Chinese curry - yum yum and experimental prawn toasts - because under my expert supervision we baked rather than fried them to reduce some lard content - and my friends not a one of the 50 odd triangles was left at the end! My contribution was a baked (unusual as they are usually steamed) cake - it was so so light and very yummy definitely to be made again :) 

Now the next part I alluded to last week, first I shall explain a little bit because Carmen aside you won't know the background and appreciate the true momentousness of it all. So are you sitting comfortably.......... In 2005 (the year we got married) my husband and I purchased out first home together. What followed on and off was bullying, harrasment, threats and other things from the person who lived below us, a man who was unemployed, likes his alcohol, probably also played with drugs and decided to make my family his full time entertainment. We stayed so long, because we naively assumed that with right and good on our side we should be able to sort out this social tenant and stop it happening to someone else (we are sure that he was the reason the previous owner left) . But it turns out no. In 2010 things escalated somewhat and someone glued our door lock, a week later our car was keyed down one side from light to light. Then it want quiet for a few months before a full bottle of beer was thrown through our first floor flat kitchen window (still grateful it wasn't the other side which was T bedroom) we were out at the time and had friends babysitting. Then a week later we found both wing mirrors ripped off our car. I can't even begin to tell you what a state I was in by this time. I was afraid to leave my home, afraid to come back to it. Terrified something would happen to us (which was the next thing threatened). Still the police and Whitefriars (responsible for their tenant) could do nothing. No proof, sorry can't help you get any, can't do anything unless you have some. Just before the 2nd lot of incidents and following good advice from lovely blogging friends like Carmen and Donna (She of Doone fame) we had put the flat on the market. After the incidents we did some sums and decided that safety and happiness were more important than money and we moved ourselves into rented accommodation on the 1st of February last year. Much to the relief of all who know us.  Now it wasn't 7 years of bad, our lovely son was born and it was really only the latter half of 2009 and 2010 that I really started to struggle. The last year has been hard financially but better in many other ways. We have taken a massive negative equity hit in order to sell it but the help of family means that we are financially stable again. So the good news, as of 11am Monday just gone the flat belongs to someone else.  I wrestled a lot with this, but I do believe that while that man will never make anyone's life easy he had a strong hatred for us. We have to be grateful that because there was no proof there was nothing to declare. Whitefriars regarded it all as tit for tat noise complaints (I have that in writing when they sent a reply to our MP when I asked him for help). So there are no records anywhere, so we can move on with a clean slate.  My husband is smiling again as he doesn't see all his wages disappear out every month. Me I am sitting here crying as I write this, the whole thing affected me a lot more. I am not one to dwell this is the last time I shall write of it all. I am not a bad person, he was and I am assured karma will get him. I am glad I won't be around to see what happens to him. I truly believe that someone who gets pleasure from tormenting others like him is a miserable person and so he already suffers everyday. Me well I laugh a lot (maybe not so much this week). I smile everyday because I do have a child like ability to appreciate the little things in life.  I want to feel joyfully happy and relieved. Instead at the moment I feel angry and tired and really fed up. At the moment I just have to let myself feel these things as part of the whole healing process. I am not so far gone that I can't appreciate the lovely fabric that turned up on my doorstep this week. Or when my son utters 'that is the right way to do it' at something on the tv. Or the I love you smile that my husband gave me last night (and it's been a while, he really is relieved and happier) in response to something I said.

So my new friends I do not apologise for this post, but I do promise not to write another one like it again.  I look forward to my husband securing his next contract before the end of the year. Growing more vegetables in my garden wherever that may be. Furthering my sewing skills and at the moment more importantly getting some decent sleep (because that surely doesn't help). Hope you have all had a good one and take care of each other.

WOYWW

Hello Wednesday workdesk hoppers. How are you  all? First let me avail you of the lovely contents that were in Annies blog competition (they were on my workdesk Wednesday evening last after all ;)

All stunning creations made by Annie herself. The felted card and picture are just beautiful. My favourite thing of all is Cyril the bear (who comes with his own adoption certificate :) I for one will be toddling along to the sisters crafty creations shop when I am looking for a little something special for someone! As for this week:

At the back left was the Brazilian 'eye' flag that I created for Darcy's postcard challenge last week, it sits on top of a paper dragon, one of which found its way to a friends house where we celebrated the Chinese New Year with friends. To the right of my little netbook is the start of my mouthy stitches pouch swap creation ( and if you look up at the top you can see the Daffodils in their new home :) The stuff laid out at the front is ready to work on my postcard for this week - China.

So just before I head you on your way to Julia's gateway to WOYWW extravaganza (link on the right) firstly if you like sewing and fabric see the previous post.  More importantly - drum roll please................

THE FLAT IS SOLD - yehaa, Monday at 11am it became the property of someone else and good riddance! There is still some healing to do (and may well always be a little) but as a wise friend pointed out recently there is no point holding tight to the past it gets you no where.  It will take us a large number of years to recoup are losses but we dream of our own house by the sea someday and what is a person without their dreams?

Resolve to Sew 2012 - giveaway

Over at Veryberryhandmade.co.uk Ali the hostess has lined up no less than 11 prizes in a blog giveaway of fabric or vouchers to purchase fabric. All she ask is that you tell her what you plan to sew this year, go and look at her website to see the yummy prizes and for all the details :)

I started crafting again in the paper world and was positively smitten by all the beuatiful papers avaiable to make lovely thngs with. Turns out fabric is just as exciting.........
I started sewing again (since 1990s ish - [probably a couple of cushion covers to be honest] and last year it was bags with a zippy thing thrown in for good measure. The reason I started making bags I want to have a go at sewing my own clothes and needed to start somewhere.  I have kicked off 2012 taking part in a zippy pouch swap (button over on the right mouthy stitches). My intention before 2012 is through is to have made either a tunic top or a dress............

Thanks to Gone to Earth for the heads up on the giveaway and if I won I would probably ask for the fancy moon prize as I am just starting out the more help I cna get the better!

Darcy's Postcard challenge, week 3 Brazil

This week I got out the paints (inks) and pencil crayons and pitt pens - it was fun!

While I have you here oh wise people. I like my inks I like the intensity they give. I want to get some acrylics to play with (not the tubey you can get me form hobbycraft kind). the look at the intensity of colour kind - any recommendations?

Rocking my World Friday

Hello Friday people :)

There is something a building - it will be revealed next week but the start of the happiness happened this week :)

Saturday I made someone else's world, my sister came over with her two lads (5 and 7) they were fed lunch and dinner and Susan sat in a chair and read a good book (passed on from me) all afternoon - what more can a mum ask for in life eh! no cooking, no clearing up!

Out for an adventure on Sunday with the little fella (potty in a bag) didn't want to go down the park so we walked to Coventry's main train station, caught the train to our local station (they are about the same walking distance) then wondered home. My husband and I shared one of those moments you know them. The scene - child in pants doing ritual clutch of self as need to pee becomes stronger, child also holding on to toy cow he has taken with him on the trip. Husband 'where's Timothy's cow?', Me - 'he is clutching it along with himself - please don't let that become a euphemism' - husband 'no because we don't want to milk it'..........................

Monday I had the satisfaction of starting to sort our front room, everything got dumped up there over Christmas and my MIL is coming to stay mid February (this is a good thing we get on very well), so the great sort out commenced. It also involves sorting out some of T baby things to pass on to friends of ours who are expecting there first child at the end of March.

Wednesday was a good posty day. I found out Monday that I had won a friends blog competition by rightly guessing 88 (we had been given clues relating to years, and I am my friends a child of the 80s (not born then good gosh no) but I got into to music and films and books between 82 and 88 (then gave up on the music and went backwards to 70s, 60s and 50s!). Anyway she was sending me 'a little something' for getting it right..............

All made by Annie herself, the card was brilliant to start with, the picture is amazing but my favourite is Cyril the bear (complete with adoption certificate :)

Then Thursday was another good day, You know the old adage if you don't ask you don't get? well I went for barefaced cheek and asked a blogger friend who I know sews a lot if they would mind sending me some fabric scraps (for practise, for appliqué work and general making). She was most obliging and this was what greeted me :)

It is brilliant as I wouldn't buy pink because well frankly I don't like the colour but it doesn't mean it won't work well in some things and other people (madness I tell you) do seem to like the colour?  I have signed up to a zippy pouch swap and now I know I'm good to go!

Hope you have a had a good week to , Seems I've had something positive to reflect on most days (plus no accidents for T all week!); Head on over to Virginia's the lovely lady at the Celtic House who started this splendid focus on the good in our lives because it's out there and sometimes you don't have to dig very deep at all :)