Friday 16 November 2007

Retail therapy and Happy Families!!!

Retail therapy and Happy Families...well not quite. Its been an emotionally charged week which has left me with a serious need for comfort and in true style of a fabric and yarnololic I have been doing some serious work on my addiction...my own form of Prozac...buying fabric and yarn...When something arrives and looks this good...you can not help yourself as your smile creeps across your face until you look more like a silly clown than someone with the grumps!!! Hurrah! I found an Internet fabric shop that does not rely solely on paypal The shop is Button berry...so I rummaged through their on line shop and clicked away at all the stuff I have had my eye for a while especially the Melly and Me pattern's I have craved for for some months now...
Yer I know its not the greatest of pictures, let me assure you the goodies are amazing, as I type quite a few of the fat quarters of Amy Butler and Heather Bailey fabric are already cut up and waiting for me on my cutting board ready to be made into this years 'handmade' Christmas gifts for my friends...No I can not tell you what it is, although I am confident that none of them read my blog (except for you Caroline:-)...yep even you are going to be subjected to the usual 'Suzie Sews' handmade goodies...'Not again' did I hear then?)
Anyway I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to all the people who left me comments and emails about Wednesday...it was a difficult day, I spent a lot of it either in tears or trying hard not to show any emotion. I had my little one with me as he was still a little off colour and he was a rock for me. He gave me lots of cuddles and big smiles. I visited the Hospice where my Dad passed away and I spent a little time at the graveside. I saw the wonderful nurse that my Dad had called an Angel...I still could not go up to her and thank her as I was trying hard to hold it all together. Then I pulled on the armour to visit my family, my family are a bit 'stiff upper lip' so me falling apart just would not do. Sadly my brother did not make it and it was just my Mom, me and the little guy. I think I had rather thought we would all be there for each other, but maybe we are all emotionally in different places. I am pleased I spent some time in the place my Dad and I spent special time together before he passed away. I have a post in memory of my Dad, I will post it up to the blog maybe at a less intense time.

So it was ironic when I was thrifting on a retail therapy shopping trip...I found this amazing pack of Happy Family cards (see above picture) the cards are lovely...I have great plans for them...
What about these shell buttons...stunning...they are large and will make great corsages with some beautiful fabric...I use Wise Craft's tutorial a lot when I make my little flowers, if you have not tried it yet...I assure you its good results and very addictive.
Then I came across a scruffy little bag you could hardly see through...I had a peek and was delighted to find all these lovely vintage cake decorations ideal for little Christmas Fairy cakes on my Christmas Eve party table, OK the Shaun the sheep is not vintage but I know someone who will be very happy to give him a good home especially if he comes with his very own cup cake!!! (The jar of decorations came from my Mother in Law, I rescued them from being thrown away when she had sadly passed away.) With all that retail therapy what about a little crafting activity...Would I let you down??? I finally got round to making my Amy Butler tissue box cover (Search under Amy Butler in Amazon and the kit should be there) from the sewing kit box...I do find Amy's instructions very complex and it has put me off using her detailed patterns (I adore her weekend bag pattern) this one was marked as easy and I struggled to master it... especially the top bit with the hole as it is fully reversible...I unpicked it and put it back again...then the Penny Dropped...I got it, once you know how it really is easy...I took my time and followed it word for word...most unlike me as I usually go off and do it a different way...I like it...only my tissue box was not square...
Ah knitting..I feel I have neglected my knitting on my blog, yet I knit every day...I had bought a sale ball of this lovely red yarn and mixed it with a Debbie Bliss Cashmarino Arran yarn...as I mentioned I like to do it my way...I had no pattern for a little hat so I got a little baby hat pattern and tried to master the maths of knitting and make a hat for me. I think it was when I knitted the first couple of rounds I knew I had not worked it out correctly...stubborn me though I carried on...I worked all evening on it until the wee hours...assuring myself I could add a fleese lining it to make it fit my head add buttons and embroidery on to the stripes...Once finished I fell about laughing...It was HUGE. It was tried on by all the family amongst silly comments and giggles. Once the house was quite the next day I sat down looked at the hat and had a brain wave...its wool..I will felt it...now its perfect for my little one...Ah at last a Happy ending!!!

Have a great weekend and I will see you for cuppa on Monday!!!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

A woman after my own heart, to be sure! I'm glad you are feeling better! And if not, there's always more shopping!

Anonymous said...

Lots of goodies there! A little of what works to make you happy isa good thing--LOL! Glad you're smiling a bit again. Have a great weekend ((HUGS))

dutchcomfort said...

Enjoy your weekend!

tea time and roses said...

Thanks so much for dropping by for a visit! Have a most wonderful weekend...

Smiles to you...

Beverly

Anonymous said...

Glad you got through it, I'm sure it was hard.
My Mum used to have cake decorations like those, I remember she would make a Christmas cake and put those little bottle brush trees on it.

Anonymous said...

Have a great weekend.
Take care,
Alison xx

Anonymous said...

wow - what a fab blog - so much to read today! My Mum still brings out the same bottle brush trees every year !! I absolutely love that hat - clever you to make it up - the colours look amazing. Can't wait to see what you do with those cards - I'm sure it'll be something more creative than play Happy Families with them! Had to laugh at your comment about following the instructions on the tissue box cover - not you at all eh? Anyway, glad you are back with us and have a great weekend. xxx

Anonymous said...

Now this is a girl that knows how to take really good care of herself! Good for you. Have a wonderful weekend.

Louise said...

It certainly sounds like your retail therapy must have helped cheer you up a little, I know how upsetting it is to make the return journey back to unhappy memories, it is my mum's birthday on the 22nd and I will be making the annual pilgrimage up to the crematorium with some lovely flowers for her, I am hopefully going to do a post on my blog next Thursday. I have been going down memory lane today looking at old photos and had a few tears I can tell you. I have got a pack of happy family cards too, although I have no little ones to play the game with, I shall have to maybe challenge my other half to a game sometime! As for the Christmas decorations I remember so well very similar decorations coming out year after year on my granny's cake, happy memories. I know you like the odd cuppa, have you voted on my poll yet? x

dottycookie said...

I'm glad the shopping has helped! I've been meaning to place an order with Buttonberry too - then I look at the size of my pile of fabric and realise I just can't, not yet. Better get sewing to make a space!

Hope you're having a lovely weekend.

pinkgreen said...

Glad you are feeling better. It's amazing what a little retail therapy can do - it always works for me. I love those cake decs - very cute.
Cathy X