Summer giveaway...

As promised..the summertime giveaway, you know what to do...leave a comment on this post and you will be in the draw...(knitted cup cake, hair clip and gingham button pegs)...How can that be...only two weeks left of the summer holidays...well I plan to make the most of every moment with my guys..so I will be off line and as soon as I return I will pick the winner...
So its been a holiday made up of special moments with special people...we have been away a lot, as much BEACH TIME as we can manage and a few days out to various places.  Eating outdoors has been a major part of our holiday time with picnics and BBQs...you just can't beat eating outdoors, especially with children, less mess to clear up and they eat so much more and food they would not normally eat...
Water is a big feature of our time out and about, from the wild sea to the calmness of the canals...
and why does Hot Chocolate always taste so good when your all sandy and curled up after a chilly dip in the sea?
For some reason when I look at my summer photos there are so many pictures of daisy's, I think they sum up our time together, simple, sweet and a wonderful symbol of summer time fun...

Summer has been all about knitting socks...addictive!  Lots of plans for new sewing designs and makes are all ready to be put in to action come September but, for now I am enjoying as much 'play time" with my children...We have a cool camping trip planned, to spend a week body boarding...the camper van needs a good clean out as we have not made the use of her this season, we have new body boards so there is no stopping us...unless it rains...Ahhhh camping in the rain!!!

Thank you so much for the thoughtful comments made on my last post, what can I say...you guys are the best!

Wishing you a healthy and happy couple of weeks and may you be blessed with good weather...

Thinking out loud

Thinking out loud...yes, there has been a lot of this of late...what am I doing, what direction do I want to go in, what do I want to achieve??? I have spent my whole life trying to live out someones else's dream, to be the person they want me to be, well I am a big girl now and its time to take responsibility...MY WAY!!!The holidays are going so well, I am seeing very little of anyone its just the children and I, we are having a fab time, lots of lazy morning and walks along wild windy beaches with a fabulous day in the sunshine thrown in every so often...once the babes are in bed, a glass of wine waiting and the needles clicking nicely in my hands...well I have been thinking. With no Internet and no phone line for most of the time whilst I am away at the beach I have really been thinking about the direction I am going, especially when it comes to my blog, sewing and knitting.

May be its just me but, blogging seems to be more of a marketing tool now, a platform to self promote, to sell your creative work or if your really lucky may be even write a book.  This is an amazing community we are all involved in and I think we are all different and that is the very thing that makes it work so well.  So why do I feel intimidated?  I do not promote my stuff, sure I get a few great orders from my blog, which helps support the fibre and fabric addiction, but I blog to simply keep a record, a place to store my pictures in a more creative way than just in a computer file, a place I connect to other people and stop feeling so isolated because I have this NEED to make things.  There is no chance of a book deal coming my way...some of my own close friends will not read my blog due to my dyslexic meanderings.  I read (or listened to) an interview a while ago with a rather well known blogger who said if she thought other Moms felt they did not live up to the expectation of motherhood and all the crafting it would be upsetting and not what she intended.  So what direction am I going in? Do I let all this stuff fuddle up my brain? Do I stop blogging all together? Do I make a plan...my creative endeavours do seem to have a market so do I open a shop?   May be this is all part of the journey, may be you have been through this thought process...I am working on a few 'NEW' ideas including some drawing and I have even been approached about an  exhibition of my photo's and some crafting for an arts festival...but my mothering is the most important thing to me at the moment and with the children at home it seems wrong to go take my attentions away from them...after all they will not be little poppets for ever, being with my children is what sets me free from todays world to be creative, its not for everyone BUT it is for me! SO the thinking cap remains ON and as it seems to be summer vacation time in blogland I intend to use this time to find my direction which still might remain to just carry on as I am doing...who knows?

Still reading, you deserve a medal and my personal thanks for your loyalty...

 
So on to something a little less serious...The crafting is taking the form of mostly knitting, its the most portable, lots of small things, a shrug, socks (half way through my next pair...funky colours), a scarf that sort of thing, not to mention more of those cup cakes, I am struggling to keep up with demand for these...I can take it no longer...I have to sew...so on my next little break with my kids the sewing machine is coming with me and I might just work on a few patterns I have in mind...

Edited to add...

Please note that in no way is this post about upsetting anyone, we are all different doing our own thing... 

So I feel the need for a summer giveaway...this will be  on my next post...  

Summer sun... long may it last...

The summer holidays are about half way through now, I am enjoying every minute of it and for the first time in ages I feel relaxed and happy and my creative vibe is well and truly in full flow...
OK, I might not have the time to actually make all the crafty goodness but the ideas are fully formed and I just need some time to put them in to being.  Once the summer holiday is over the post holidays blues will kick in, so this is when I will get my ideas and sketch books out and start the 'MAKING'...So its back to full on Mommy mode, the buckets and spades are packed, the picnic is coming together, the wine is cooling in the fridge and we are off for a couple of days by the beach...off to pack the knitting bag, will I take more sock yarn or something a little more substantial? 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

Today we are loving: The Charlie and Lola craft magazine... all the cutting out, gluing and sticking, stickers and stories...

I am enjoying reading a 'new to me' blog the Simple Mom blog, I love the way this blog gets me thinking about the way I mother and how I do things...this can only be a good thing.

Circles in the sand...

So our weekend was a little more than a couple of days, we had so much fun we thought we would stretch it out a little...
 This visit to the beach was yet another success, we had a couple of days of great weather and a couple of days of rain...as you would expect with our British summer.  Lots of playing got done, both by this Mommy and the children...The silk socks got finished... 
...and the boys spent lots of time rolling around in the open air...
A small amount of sewing has been accomplished, I am so missing my sewing time, I know however once the summer is over I will be back to it so I comfort myself with a small projects just to keep that addiction fed! So another block for my latest quilt is complete...

The weather was set to change so we thought we would head home, we spent the morning on the beach and then hit the road...

As I drove the rain came down and what should have been a couple of hours in the car went on to be nearly five hours, driving through torrential rain and at one stage I was unable to see the markings on the road...scary...I arrived home and went straight out to my knitting night...It was good to be back home and  immediately slipping back  into the the rhythm of home life...when I returned, I popped a pizza in the oven and caught a glimpse of myself in the oven (we have a mirrored oven) due to the stressful drive I had huge panda eyes, as I had rubbed my eyes whilst driving to try and relieve the stress of all the concentration needed to NOT crash the car...I ran in and then out again and had not looked at myself...So I should now rename the blog...PANDA SEWS, KNITS, CRAFTS AND MOTHERS!!!

Carry on being silly....

Yet more of the silly stuff...
The little cup cakes are just such a quick and fun project, very suitable for the school holidays when time to sew or knit is so limited...I am saving my better ones (knitted with 4ply on small needles) for sale, but a few of the first ones went missing and I later found them in my youngest child's play kitchen all ready to serve up with a pot of "pretend' tea...
Well if my Mom thought my cupcakes silly, goodness knows what she would think of my latest project...Last night after the babes had all drifted off to sleep, tired after a busy day playing, I spent a good hour putting the house back together as we had had a few friends over to play.  I poured myself a rewarding glass of chilled white wine, opened up the french windows and watched the night roll in over the hills whilst cutting up little bits of paper...to make my own little beach hut...you  know how much I love beach huts...now I have my own...only it did not stop there...I got a little carried away and made a whole beach full!  I got the idea from this months Craft Beautiful magazine, I am not really a big fan of this magazine, I feel it has got a little too run of the mill, but being the summer holidays and wanting fresh ideas to entertain the children I picked it up and I have a plan to make a few little things from it.  Talking of idea's if your looking for fun stuff to do with the kids get yourself over to The Crafty Crow, there are some great inspirational ideas, and if you have no kids, its still worth a look.

This week has been spent at home with the children, we have had lazy mornings, 'lie ins' with a pot of tea for Mommy and glasses of milk for the little ones, time to read a selection of books and magazines, and even make a cupcake or two, all before breakfast.  We have spent time with friends and had a few days splashing around in wetsuits getting very wet indeed...This weekend we are off to the beach again and we are hoping for the weather we had at the start of the holidays...I shall be taking my sock knitting with me and I am in the process of looking for a small hand sewing project to keep me busy.  I am so missing my time at my sewing machine, I keep wondering into my sewing room and picking up my fabric and longing to make things...
So may the sun shine on us and here's hoping for another weekend filled with memories that will keep us warm when the winter chills blow in....Have a good one...