LOVING IT!!!

Its my favourite time of year, no time table to follow, no place to be, no need to clock watch, just time to take it easy and do the things I love best.  Which of course means time at the beach with my guys...Eating yummy ice cream...
Taking time to appreciate the things that surround us...
time for creative play...
and of course some knitting and sewing time for Mommy...
What ever you are doing at this time of year I wish you love, peace, health, contentment and good company.

Yes these summer months are a time to treasure with loved ones and friends.

Book Club...Autumnal changes

Well its the time of year when I finally have to accept that Autumn is on its way, reluctantly yes, but never the less I am realising that I just can pretend no more, its time to pull on the long sleeves and feel almost claustrophobic with the layers of clothing after the freedom on light linen on my body.  Next week I will revisit the summer with a post of my favourite pictures and memories of the past few month, then I can really move on into the next season.Along with acknowledging the dark mornings and evenings, with the chill in the air that  brings with it the time to hunker down under quilts with a good read.  As you may be aware I am a bookie type of person, I adore books, old, new, story or factual...I do spend most of my spare pennies on books, ideally I like to buy them from small shops, the days of the book shop on the corner street are diminishing rather to quickly for my liking, a place were the shop keeper knows all names of the books they stock off the top of their head, when a cup of tea or coffee is placed into your hand as you parooze the shelves...yes sadly these shops are disappearing fast...instead we have the super bookshops and of course who can not be aware of the amazing savings through Amazon.

This pile of loveliness is my craft book purchases over the last month (I admit to having a pile of novels as well).  There are some great books here, I do sometimes get seduced into a book purely by its cover and when I get round to actually seriously reading the book I have been disappointed, not so with these books, full of inspiration for knitting and sewing alike, the Japanese sewing book is to be rated highly, full of all the projects we see in the adorable (yet pricey) magazines, but the best thing is the instructions and pattern sheets are in English. I gave up trying to work out the instructions from the magazines, sometimes life is just to short for that kind of thing.  It has some super projects in and I can assure you there will be some made here over the coming months.

I love dirt...its a good book, I feel its more aimed for the children to read, my older son loves it, it helps him to have more of a focus in his outdoor play but its nothing new. However its nice to have all the ideas in one place.

The Yarn Harlot need no explanation or description, just cool books that make you smile. 

I also guess most people who sew already own the beautiful Amy Butler Book, lots of adorable baby projects from cuddlies to nappy bags for the new Mommy.

So that's my inspiration pile for October and I am already looking up a few new craft books that are coming out this month...so much inspiration, my shelves are groaning under all of the weight.
Its been a big day today, I put on enclosed shoes and even pulled out my boots...I bought these pumps last week, whilst I do not really want to get back into 'proper' shoes, when they are this 'HAPPY' well maybe I can make the change with a smile on my face...
So with my weekly list of things to do...top of the list was my turn on the rota for church flowers...I thought I would do a pedestal arrangement to celebrate the fabulous colours of Autumn which are now all around us...
As if I needed to prove it anymore that the seasons have changed, this is a photograph of my little one at the weekend, without even knowing it I snuggled him up in a quilt of autumnal colours (backed in Boden Dalmatian baby soft cord)whilst he slept deeply after a day of playing on the beach...

The gift of being a MOM!

There has been a lot of Mother talk going on here and I am finding great therapy from all the issues in my knitting (The other bootie-see last post- was finished plus a pair of socks grafted and a new project started all in one day) I guess its that time of year when there is great appeal to be sitting in the failing evening light with a quilt pulled over you because its not quite cold enough to put the fire on... So busy was I in dealing with the issues of my own Mother I forgot that I to am a Mom, so when this moment, this precious moment, just opened up...I smiled...
My gorgeous boy, how I love you.  Sitting opposite me after a hard day at school. Munching on a cookie and looking intently at some toy, munch munch, yummy cookie... your just so darn cute.  Your curls tinted blond from all the days outside through the summer, you pull a curl out of your eyes with a slow swish  of your hand. You look up at me and you are aware that I am watching you 'I love you Mommy' Oh my sweet one I love you too, your tender hands and those arms that give the softest and tenderest of cuddles, the curve of your cheek, the bluest of eyes and that cheeky smile...Yes my sweet one I Love you...

I do not often get time on my own with my little one as my children are the best of friends and are  never really out of each others company, today though the big one is on a play date and I sit here and see how in the blink of an eye my wee one is now not so wee anymore.

Thank you for bearing with me.  Usual Suzie Sews blogging resumes from now on...

Bag it all up...

Ah the sewing has begun... my sewing machine and I are back to working as a team. As a knitter and a sewer it always amazes me that sewing comes together so quickly... Once you know what your doing and the pieces are all cut your only a short while from having a finished project. After seven weeks of being away from my machine this was the perfect project to get me back into sewing...My bag for autumn. Predominantly brown but with some traces of green too. It is rather loosely based on the Amy Butler Swing bag, the one with the big floppy bow... as I am not one who likes rules and following direction I made some changes... first I made an Ipod pocket with a little removable loop to hold my ear plugs so they do not get all twisted and knotted together (very annoying)...
Then instead of the big floppy bow I added interest with a few corsages (courtesy of wise crafts tutorial) which gives me the option to remove one or two to add to a cardigan or jacket.
I am pleased with the general look and style of the bag, its big and roomy for all my 'Stuff' so I think this will carry me through the change of the seasons quite well.
The weekend got off to a poor start and has left me feeling like a cloud is following me, my motivation is slipping and trying to focus on day to day activity is getting increasingly harder. The first thing that goes with me when I am upset is my ability to sleep which is the last thing needed in being able to handle the current situation. What has coursed this BLIP? Well the time of year never helps, the children go back to school and I miss them so much, the change in the weather knocks me for six... this time though its more than that... My own Mom has fallen out with me. I try to keep personal stuff like this off my blog but I guess as my family do not read my blog, means that I will not be hurting any ones feelings. Since my kids came along I have a need to be around my family, we moved to be closer to my family. This proved to work the opposite way, my Mom and Dad had got used to us not being around so we actually saw less of them once we became within an hours drive away. Over the last few summers I have made requests for the children to be more of a focus to my parents. Sadly this never happened and whilst I know they love my kids very much it still hurts me immensely. So I do the best I can and this year we spent most of our time away, I asked my Mom if we could all stay over sometime but the invite never materialised. So when I get a call on Friday and I was asked by my Mom what I was doing this weekend? I told her rather excitedly that I was going to my sewing class... well I was shouted at for being self centered and generally not a very nice person, I remained calm, I pointed out that I had made various requested to see her and invited her to stay with us at our caravan, all of which got met with hostility and eventually the phone was put down on me. I am at a loss now, I feel sad, nothing I will do or say will be right, I know I need to swallow my pride and agree with all my Mom says about me and go and visit her with the children. I am also cross I let it upset me so much, my eyes are still sore from tears and I feel like a lead balloon moving through my day... I love my Mom very much and I find it hard to accept that she can be like this with me. I know I have faults too, we are so very different, but I still feel like a thirteen year old clumsy girl who gets it wrong all the time yet still constantly tries to seek her approval. OK enough personal stuff! This was to explain my glumness... I tried hard to have a good weekend, my sewing class was great and helped to lift me a little. On Sunday I took the boys into the city, first stop had to be Starbucks for my enormous mug of coffee and sugar fix.

Later an early supper (as we had got to the city rather late in the day) its a routine to us, our city trips. I like the security and comfort of a routine when I head to the city, I aways was a country girl at heart. So we headed off for our pizza, dough balls and of course a little bit of pasta...you can't go to an Italian restaurant without having a little morsel of pasta...
After this pudding was consumer (with speed) so with our energy tanks now filled to overflowing, we went to explore...
We walked through the city spending most of our time looking up... I tell the children to always look up when out and about as most of the interesting things to see are above you. We visited an art gallery which had an excellent interactive show on and I was rather taken with this simple mirror arrangement...what could be more scary than hundreds of 'Suzie Sews'? We returned home, overtired and in need of our beds...

Your still reading...I thank you, like I say I try not to put 'too' personal information in my blog, it is my happy place after all, sometimes though, life just gets in the way and its about who I am... it has a big effect on my creativity... I thank you for still being there...

cup cakes anyone????

The house is so silent, its also a huge mess after the summer, its kind of creepy,I miss the endless shouts of Mom can you, Mom will you...I roam from room to room with an ache inside I can not describe.  The post holiday blues are well and truly kicking in, it happens every year.
I have a head full of ideas and a sketch book of drawings filled with ideas of things I want to try, yet here I am feeling lost... I need to get a grip,  I WILL sew today, Oh My! it will be the first time in six weeks I have sewn on my machine!
I spent most of my creative time knitting, its easier to fit in around the children, you can pick it up and put it down quite easily, especially the cupcakes, I think I can make these in my sleep now, these are the latest batch, a few more changes, I am not so sure about the decoration...it well, looks a bit like... Oh I shall leave that up to your imagination.
SO already I am missing the beach, sitting on a deserted beach when everyone has gone home and just looking out to the splendor of the sea, the sheer size and power of it thrill and scare me at the same time, last weekend I watched two lone surfers in wild waves, the sky was grey and the rain was the kind of see through rain that without you knowing it soaks you to the skin, the surfers battled against the elements for a few moments of triumph when they finally caught a good wave...thrilling to watch.
So whilst it rains, and rains... all the more reason t0 spend some time in my sewing room today, I have a bag I am putting together...a bag that marks the change of the seasons, its roomy in design and will suit my life style and once made it will no doubt be filled with the usual bits of Mothering nonsense that seem to collate in each bag I own, a couple of toy cars, little pencils and a pad, wet wipes and tissues and the lipstick that loses its top and get covered in crumbs despite having no crumbs in my bag???...I love being a MOM!!!

Personal...(off topic)

Thank you so much for your comments and personal emails yesterday about my hospital appointment...The appointment went well.   I had minor surgery... what can I say, maybe you can learn from my error... As a child I remember my Mom always telling me to get my face out of a book and get some sun on it, a tan was healthy and the knowledge we have about the sun today was not widely known to my parents generation, so I burnt and burnt yearly as a child under the suns rays, then as a teenager sunbed salons became the thing to do, so I followed the trend and spent a good few years using sunbeds, I burnt once under these rays so bad I blistered... Then I went to work in Europe and spent most of my time outdoors using factor 4 suncream, which then, was thought of as quite a high factor as various people still used coconut oil.  I am fair skin, blue eyes, I freckle, my skin is covered in little moles, which might sound unattractive but I kind of like them.  So I am a big girl now and I have the knowledge about the dangers of the sun my parents generation did not have... my boys are smeared in suncream and its reapplied every few hours, we avoid the mid day sun and I try and keep hats on them, as for me I use sun protection all year round, I have sun damaged skin and I want to stop it getting worse, factor thirty+ for me, I go and have my skin checked yearly after I had a skin scare.  So this year was no exception, only this year I did not get the all clear... so I sit here a little less of me than when I last blogged... Ouch it feels like bee stings...and really does not look pretty, its a preventative option and I am blessed I have that option... But if I knew then what I know now, I would not allow my skin to burn, I never even went brown...  Now I use a high factor suncream and apply it regularly I get the healthy look, but the damage is done for me, maybe not for you though...

Time for some sewing....

A Bird in the hand...

Look at the pretty lady that arrived in the post for me this week, just what I needed to chase away the effects of all those Glitches. Is she not just the sweetest little thing? the workmanship is just superb. Her name is 'Poppet' and she now lives above my work station in my sewing room. She came from the very talented hands of Pink Petal Designs...I Thank You Sarah... I have a little extra company at home at the moment, my wee one is running a fever and is spending his time in the day tucked under a much loved and now slightly worn out looking (because of the amount of love and cuddles it gets) quilt. You just can not beat a homemade quilt to cover yourself up in when your feeling poorly. At night, well that's a different story, he spends his nights climbing all over me, so this Mommy is rather tired and the lack of sleep is seriously starting to show now...
So today I will be getting lots of cuddles in with my little one. The weekend was full of lots going on, we have just finished eating all the cakes, on Sunday we discovered a bird in our garden that could not fly, I phoned round various places and I was instructed to take our bird to the local Bird Sanctuary... Once we had got her out of her hiding place I picked her up and put her into a pet basket and off we went for a drive of discovery...Sat Nav decided not to work and I had no idea how to get to the sanctuary, an hour later and having asked five people the way we took in our bird, I was worried due to the amount of time we had taken. I am pleased to report that they thought she would pull through...
The boys and I got treated to a tour around the place, which was a lovely way to spend the afternoon. That evening my older child was singing in a choir to raise money for our local hospice, it was a sell out and the children sang lovely, they ended the concert by singing 'World in Union' which was very moving considering what is happening in this world and to hear the children sing the meaningful words. I had a big treat this week, as a birthday gift from one of my friends (I hit a big birthday next week but the less said about that the better) I was taken to the theatre, I have not been to the theatre for ages and I had forgotten how much I enjoy it. It was a great night and the play itself was just Fab.


With all the stuff that's going on I have not picked my needles up this week so its no wounder I am a little twitchy...I need to get some sewing and knitting time, maybe later today...I am working on an order so that should push me a little, little Yo Yo hair slides...



Now ages ago, pre computer glitches I was tagged by the lovely Miss Sew N Sew...I enjoy reading these tag answers as I think you can find out a lot about the blogger so I thought it was about time I answered the Tag...(Go and check out her blog she has just returned from a great holiday, she has some lovely pictures to share)...







1) What was I doing ten years ago?I had just got married and was living a life which evolved around my career, yes I was a career girl, I was also into entertaining friends by cooking huge dinners. I was busy setting up home and adjusting to sharing after living a life of Independence. We starting to think about having a family but at this stage all that 'trying' was just good fun!!! I was a serious drinker and into having a serious good time BUT I also worked seriously hard too...Oh how things have changed!!!
2)What are 5 things in your to do list today? Just Five??? Well everyday is different...1)I have some house work to get on...ironing, bed changing that sort of thing. 2) A birthday cake to bake for someone. 3) An order to work on. 4) Mow the lawn and then plant up some seedling with the children. 5) Find out how the bird we rescued at the weekend is getting on at the bird sanctuary. Then again I might just be cuddling my sick babe!!!
3)Snacks I enjoy:Chocolate, Avocados, Pistachio nuts, Olives, More Chocolate
4)Things I would do if I was a billionaire Of course I would make the donations that would help people less fortune than myself. Live by the Sea and have my own beach hut.Own a fab shop, a mix of yarn and fabric and all things in between. A place to relax in and meet up with people for a coffee whilst you poke through all the delights on offer.Take my children to see my soul mate and her family in Australia.To stop worrying about not being able to provide for my children, saying this they still would not get everything they want, but I would know I could take them on holiday, eat good food and provide the education they require as they move through life and set them up as they enter their adult life.
5) Places I have lived inParis/France. Crete. Rhodes. Spain. United Kingdom-in the UK I have moved around a lot, saying that I have never really settled until I had my children and have now been in the same place for a number of years.
6) Jobs I have had I qualified as a florist and spent quite a few years in this industry, sadly it was so poorly paid I couldn't pay my bills, so I up and went off to see the world and worked my way round a few countries working for a holiday company as a Holiday Rep, I returned to the UK and worked at a luxury Health Spa then I fell in to training and recruitment...LONG HOURS but GREAT PAY, it suited my lifestyle at the time. I also spent a short time working as a Veterinary Manager...this was a great job I spent a lot of time just cuddling little puppies...As a child I always had little jobs to earn pocket money...I sold homemade perfume to neighbours when I was a wee girl, I also spent time helping in a library, a florist as a Saturday Girl and a garden centre. Throughout my adult life I have also volunteered for charity work...I am a big believer in the community and being part off it and helping...basically you get out of this world what you put in...
7) Six peeps I want to know more about:-
I am so rubbish at this bit, I am reminded of the dreaded chain letter as a child, so rather than state names I give you an open invitation, if you have not done this please feel free to consider yourself tagged by me...See Miss Sew N Sews blog for the rules...

Giveaway on its way....

And the winner is....

To be announced tomorrow...no I am not trying to tease you, I just want someone other than myself to draw out the winner so I shall have to wait until my babes are home from school!!!Posts have been a little infrequent of late as I try desperately to find my new rhythm and new role as a stay at home Mom who's just waved bye bye to her youngest as he goes through the big old school doors with a hesitant glance over his shoulder and a plee for 'Mommy come with me...' This is not helped by the fact that the small village school is going through some changes and one being no parents allowed to take their little ones into the class room...heart breaking for me I can tell you. So this last week I have wondered around the house in a pathetic state with no car to get out and about, mostly with tears in my eyes. Today is the first day I feel OK about the whole thing. SO when I am down I shop, usually fabric...check out the new fabric...it arrived two days after my order and with not one but two free fat quarters. I am so impressed I thought it deserved a mention as the owner of the shop was so nice to me and combined all my postage as well. http://stores.ebay.co.uk/SALS-FABRICS-AND-CRAFTS_W0QQsspagenameZMEQ3aFQ3aSTQQtZkm If you get yourself over there and are tempted to purchase please say hi to Sal from me. Her shop is http://salsfabrics.co.uk/
Mmmm now what goodies to make with it...
I have also noticed that the thrift and charity shops are now back to selling the wool sweaters so I have been doing a little felting and designing a new coat pin/corsage with tweed. I am sure I will share with you the outcome of both. So I have been in my sewing room a lot and I have started on the big clear out of toys so I can claim the whole room, the spare bedroom is going to be made into a den for the children, keeping me company throughout the day so I am not completely on my own has been my faithful bunny...Archie, he is such a poppet!!! He so enjoys the company. As for the piggies (Charlie and Lola) they are still fighting...I think I am getting somewhere though, I am having to give them lots of individual cuddles and they are now a lot calmer, but they are still nipping each other and sleeping at opposite ends of their house, this makes me very sad.
Why the 'Super Boy' picture, well why not...indulge me as I am missing him like crazy...I thank you all for your lovely caring comments about him, we had a lovely day (except for the cough obviously) on Monday...Big cuddles all day and we even took a long nap together in the afternoon...the next day he was well enough to go into school...I was quite upset about this, not that I wanted him poorly, it took a lot for me to take him in, I thought...Oh just one more day. But that would have been wrong, right???

I will post the winner of 'Little Pinkie' tomorrow, she is very excited...she wants to take a trip round all your homes as you have made her feel very welcome!!!

Went away came back again!!!

Oh man, what a start to the summer holidays, we are only on day three without school and sooooooo much has happened, which is why I have not been around to reply to all your lovely comments, I will get to you eventually...The first day was so relaxing we had a lazy morning and eventually got ready around lunch time and off we went to a little end of school celebration for the children. This was great fun...came home and hastily packed for a week in the English Yorkshire Dales for a little holiday. On the way I had a flat tyre, as I had no idea what place I was in I was very silly and drove on the flat to the nearest place. Great start... When we eventually got to the idyllic cottage retreat we nearly turned around because of a horrid smell that just jumped at us as soon as we opened the door. The next day after nearly being 'ick' (as the children politely say) a plumber came out...horror it was not a drains smell it was a rotting animal under the floor boards. As you can imagine we came home quite quickly...
So the children needed some fun, we started a fresh day with home made pan cakes and chocolate sauce, its all healthy stuff around here at the moment!!!
'Mommy can we make a project' my usual reply 'Oh yes, what could we do?' to which both children shout 'painting' So that's just what we did, we got my Dads treasured box of paints out and we each picked our own colours and mixed them up with white to see the colour change.
We had a little practice each and had some fun with the cleaning up of messy hands and feet. Let me tell you, we are all very happy with our art work, what do you think?
Just a few canvases I had picked up cheap to originally do some Baby and Christening paintings to give as gifts, sadly it never happened so I thought I would put use to them, the kids are at an age now that they like to see an end product, gone are the days of just a colouring book and a few pencils...Once we had cleaned up it was time to take a break and enjoy our hard work which is now displayed up on the kitchen wall. What better way to make everyone happy on a dull wet day but Hot Chocolate and marshmallows, I know this health kick we are on is just too much.
SO we all went to bed happy and content with our lazy day at home looking forward to the next day, sadly this brought a flood, no not the horrendous ones that have been doing so much damage around the UK, no this was more of an over active bath time, my two children, a deep bath and a pair of goggles each...OK I saw a bit of water go over, when the electricity went out I thought it was a storm, now once the boys had got out of the swimming pool, whoops I mean bath! I realised that the reason I had not seen the water was the loo roll holder full of rolls had absorbed the visible damage. I went down stairs and it was here I got the full picture of the damage, coming out of one of the rooms under the bath was water, the light was blown and the bulb full of water, the ceiling of this room and into the kitchen was a dirty big water mark. I went to bed reading with a camping head torch, it took hours and hours for it to dry out enough, of course that meant no computer, no telly, radio or cooking...So forgive me for being a little quite over the last few days, its been a bit of a drama to say the least, still to the floods that so many have had, it just makes a funny story really...No seriously I am laughing...Honest!!!

I did managed to get some knitting done whilst the TV was out despite my still sore arm, wow such a great bruise so many colours! I have been making little mice, the first one, well he had character, they get better as I make more, so a trip to the wool mill today to cheer myself up and buy some odd balls of wool to fulfill the desire to make a ridiculous number of mice...Oh I feel better already, yer OK I admit I bought more than just the odd ball...

Here's to the sunshine...

UPDATE UPDATE....My doll quilt has arrived and it is just brilliant, I will not spoil the surprise, I will get a good picture and share with you all the info.

Eye Candy-lots of words-you pick

Woosh and the weekend is over, my how quick it goes. Only a couple more weeks then its long lazy days with no school runs or time restraints. At the moment I am busy with lots of appointments, sorting out school bits and pieces and a few medical appointments for me. Then its time to relax and get the summer rhythm going...yippee! I have been giving school a lot of thought, I would so like to home school, being dyslexic though fills me with lots of worries about my children's education, I know, if your reader of this blog, I do make more errors than most. I am a believer that this is communicating and it's only recently that it became so important to communicate properly rather than just gets yourself understood. As a mother we want to give our babes the best start in life and that's usually a priority. This weekend I have been reading the blogs of a few favourites who home school, and I have found it fascinating. I have come away with the need to research some literature on the subject. Thanks to Soulemama's recommendations. I met a Mom in a thrift shop recently and we had a really long chat, she talked about her children, they had been removed from school as they had been told they could not be taught and the disruption they caused was not fair on the other children. So with an independent spirit as a single mom seems to have, she moved away and lived in a farmstead in the local hills near by. Numerous years on her children are all in amazing careers, from Doctor to Preacher, she believed in her children and let them just enjoy life and go with their own thirst for knowledge without a timetable or classroom. Amazing story, an amazing women, I wounder if I will ever meet her again. Its parents evening for us tonight and I have so many worries about my child's school and education, his hearing issues have held him back and his report says he is a quite student. Then I think about all this stuff 'Why am I worried, he is a fantastic character, he is kind, caring and such fun to be with, and a great thirst for knowledge and adventure'. I have mentioned previously that a lot of my friends are teachers and if you mention school to them in Mom talk it is difficult to get an unbiased opinion off them as they stick up for one another, I guess if you have worked so hard to become a teacher that's only right, but then I am left feeling worse. (In case your reading Caroline this does not include you, your cool). I think it must take a huge amount of inner confidence to home school. Anyway that has been my thought process for much of the weekend.
So on to the weekend, what goodies and delights have I to share, well first of all I took the boys to the local patchwork and thread shop as it was sale time, I planned for some threads and the sashing fabric for my large quilt, I did buy lots of threads, just too good to resist. The country embroidery machine threads by Brother, half price which made them an even better buy than day to day thread, so I went a bit mad and spend all my birthday money on them. (Thanks Mom , you did say treat yourself to something for me and not the kids, I know she will be horrified I spent it on thread, but it makes me happy). I did not buy the sashing fabric, instead I bought two fabulous fabrics that I have had my eye on all season just not been able to justify the cost. So with 30% off I made the investment.
We returned home to brighter weather, NO RAIN for at least an hour, would it stay off for our school PTA Treasure Hunt around the village...YES!!! The kids really enjoyed this and then we settled in for a BBQ and wore the kids out on the bouncy castle. A great time was had by all, and we won the booby price for taking the most time for doing the treasure hunt!!! Hey we won a bar of chocolate the kids thought it great!!!
SO after a good nights sleep and a bright start to the day, the garden was looking promising, just as some of the work got going the heavens opened. This was tragic as in the afternoon we had friends coming for a little birthday celebration. So in true British style we went ahead with the plans but did get rained off and had to come inside. It was Champagne and strawberries, after all it was the Wimbledon finals so we watched the end of the match shouting at the telly having had one to many glasses of champagne!!! The kids had a great time, the adults became a pile of hopeless giggles and we ended the get together with birthday cake. Now I usual make a cake for my friends birthdays, but I bought one, the reason being it was an operation cake (remember the 70's game) well it was cool, my Friend is a GP, that's Doctor not animal! So it was a joke really, but we dutifully played the operation game before we all dived into the cake with shouts of 'I want the legs' or 'I want the heart' LOVELY!!!!
So we start a fresh week, the Doll quilt has been finished, I have found out I am allowed to show the picture, also the person I am sending mine to does not read my blog as far as I am aware so I have posted the full pictures, so all my swaps are up to date...wounder what I can do next...

Pictures...
1) EYE CANDY...the new threads
2) CHAMPAGNE AND STRAWBERRIES...a little birthday nibble
3) COW HILL...one of the views from my home, cow hill, the children spotted the calf having Mommy milk and wanted me to take a picture, I love this hill, it makes me very happy!
4) DOLL QUILT SWAP...Front of finished quilt
5) DOLL QUILT SWAP...Back of finished quilt

Its all going on...

The winning just keeps on going, Capello from No Appropriate Behaviour the winner of the 100th post liberty giveaway emailed me to say she is not a knitter so I will swap the shades of blue yearn for a fq of some fabric from my stash. Which means the yarn is up for another chance to win, or should I keep it my stash??? OK we did another raffle, this felt like a fair thing to do for a few reasons, as I have two children, two more names, the yarn being one little giveaway (unless this winner is also a non knitter) and the other will be a handmade pin cushion.
So in second and third place of the raffle the winners are...Joanna from On the Blossom Trail and Julia from Vintage Heaven. So get your address over to me and the goodies will be sent at the end of the week.
Ok that's it all done, now to concentrate on the next 100 posts... I had to throw in these two gratuitous photo's of flowers, I blogged about them earlier this month. They are my favourite flowers and as a florist I like a LOT of flowers. They are from my garden and the previous post about them was when they had just budded. Well they are now picked and in my kitchen. A whole week earlier than usual. They are my birthday flowers. I love flowers in the house and these are just special to me. Since the first year I have lived here (they only got planted in the first year) they always flower on my birthday. So they will have blown over by them sadly, but I am enjoying them now. I am hoping to buy a little treat for myself from a fellow blogger, you know when you look at the stuff bloggers sell and you really want it, but don't do it. Well maybe this time I will...I believe in making birthdays special no matter what age you are, the gift of life is a precious thing and should be celebrated. Also being adopted Birthdays can make me quite sad. So I always like to chase away the blues by making it fun and what could be more fun than sharing it with my children.
Now talking of children, this is the moment I have waited for...whilst my youngest slept in the garden on Sunday my older son asked to play with my sewing machine. I had gone to great lengths to get him one for Christmas, a child friendly one with a safety cover by the needle. Well I agreed we would set him up, he was so excited. We pulled out the safety machine (my child has suffered from poor hearing and it has had an effect on his hand eye co-ordination so I was a little concerned). I watched his face fall as the silly little machine was utter RUBBISH!!! We hit the garage looking for the box that had stored away my VERY OLD and well used first machine, it had discoloured somewhat, but it did work. He took to it like a duck to water... NO, straight seams are not for him, with in minutes we had mastered circles (admittedly a little wonky) and he just took to changing the stitches without any advise form me. The end result is a picture of a little stick man. No photograph of this as its in my sewing room ready to be turned into a fabric quilted picture. Talk about a proud Mommy moment. This was a nice moment as it was fathers day and as their Dad was too busy working and I was missing mine it helped with the emotions of the day.
Anyway this sort of play continued, my child just itching to do the stuff that he sees his Mommy doing. Whilst I was taking some pictures he wanted a go. This is just one of his photo's, his first self portrait. As a family we do this style picture in the summer on the beach as you get great shadows and contrast, I have a record of them growing up just from this kind of picture.
So its all going on here...all the busy stuff I had on last week is done, the flowers in Church turned out OK, not as happy with them as usual but I was racing the clock, not to mention a little helper who wanted to run off with everything. The school fair was a success, I had two helpers in the craft room this summer and they really did a good job, the children enjoyed it and it was a lot easier as the things we made did not need so much one to one help. The sell out was the Grass Heads, so if your about to arrange a summer fair I can recommend this one, the kids love it and our grass head (Bert) is getting watered daily on the kitchen window ledge. I so love watching kids do art work, allowed to do their own thing the work and ideas they come up with are so inspiring.

Last but not least...
I was delivered some joy by the postman, my swap with Rebecca from Crafty Goodness arrived. I had expected one possibly two magazines from her and look at the bounty of stuff I got. Plus some cool vintage goodies. I am so enjoying these magazines, I have really dipped into them over the last couple of days, a joy indeed. Over the pond the magazines are sooo much more interesting than the ones you get here. Country Living, Coast and the new Charlie and lola craft mag are about as good as it gets here. So I thank you Rebecca from the heart, the postage on its own was a fortune. I really appreciate it and I hope you enjoy your goodies.

This and that

My blogging today is like my life, all over the place, about this and that and generally off routine. I am trying to go with the flow and establish some sort of rhythm, but you know, its not happening today. So I think I shall throw caution to the wind and see what happens if I just let go of trying to control it. I feel much better after my emotional out pouring yesterday and again thank you for you comments, I will be emailing you personally when I can. Some words of wisdom going those comments. So amongst the emotions this week it is a happening week. Its our school PTA summer fun day and as usual I am in charge of organising the craft room. I love doing this, but this Saturday I have no one to take the children around the school whilst I do the crafts. So I have roped someone in to cover for me and I will stay as long as my children will tolerate it, bless them. Its so hard doing these things when you have to keep an eye on your own children, I want to do so much more, but I have to realise I have limits without support. So I will be organising it and setting up, lots of running around this week getting all the last minute bits for it.
We are setting up to make grass heads. The craft bits are pin wheels and flying bugs, plus an open table to make cards, lots of cutting and sticking I might even venture in to taking some of my stamps. I am a little worried about the ink pads getting ink of clothing, anyone any thoughts on this? This week it is my week for flowers in Church Busy! busy! busy!
SO you will be surprised to know I finished off knitting the handbag, I just kneed to felt it now.
Talking of bags, this is just a little snap and not a good one (the light was so poor) of a bag I made for my friend...Hey Caroline are you using it? Its just the right size for nappies and wipes and all the baby stuff...NOT!!!

So I need to get off to the post office, BIG PARCELS to send out...The photos today are as much of a mish mash as I am at the moment. The first one is a snap, I saw it on a walk with the children and thought that's cute. The second one is a corner of my home...a brave picture to show you from me as its one my bedside tables. Only a few more posts till the 100th post and the liberty fabric giveaway...

P.S. The visit to the vet proved to be 99% certain Charlie and Lola are both girls, I guess they are just a little frisky...I wanted to type so much cheeky stuff here, but I have restrained myself because they are just to cute...

Ups and downs (emotional witter-you have been warned)

Before I witter on I wanted to say a big thank you to all of you that left a comment. I am still at the amazed stage of blogging that people actually read this and more importantly take time out of your own busy crafting time to leave a comment. I thank you, you guys make me smile. So a week since the holiday and the tearful mood has not left me, its Monday now and I have finally worked out why, I will explain later on...So when I had one of those moments, the kind when you think all is right with the world and your so happy to be alive, it felt good. On Friday I was planning on inviting a couple of friends for lunch, one of my friends is very tidy, I am not, before we go to her house, which is a lovely house I must add, she cleans it for us. This is so nice, but I feel I should return this and clean and tidy up pre a visit here. Now I do not get this amount of 'making and playing' done without something being missed out... and that's HOUSEWORK!!! My moto is...
Clean enough to be health and dirty enough to be happy
So I was in the middle of numerous projects, gardening and playing with my youngest...I just did not feel like doing the cleaning for a visit. This makes me so sad, I would love not feel like this and most of the time I don't, but this day I decided to isolate myself. After school I went to the library and got a ton of books out, the children asked to go to the park, it was dinner time , but so sunny and no one was there so I thought 'What the hell'...

Our park is in the valley with the most spectacular scenery, all very green and beautiful blue skies with Simpson clouds. I had picked up the latest Debbie Bliss knitting book and I sat on the grass and all three of us just read our books. When the boys did go off to play I watched them. This amazing feeling of peace and contentment swept over me. The view, my children and the solitude. OK we had a late supper followed by a late bedtime, it was so worth it. Once the house was put back into some order I felt the need to sew. I finally cut into this lovely fabric. I had planned on something really special for it, I am now seeing this fabric pop up all over the place so it does not feel as special, I pulled out the cutters...One project finished. I especially love my IPOD pocket inside. Also the straps are long enough to go over my shoulder. My summer bag. Saturday was a lazy day, in the morning my children watched a movie, Just because they wanted popcorn, my little poppets had made the living room into a cinema, including all the other viewers...DO you recognise any of the viewers?
Finally on to the tears, When I was away I met up with some of the school gate Moms and their children and we went to a Farm. One of our friends is rather ill, she has had an ongoing Battle with Breast Cancer, once been given the all clear and then diagnosed again, since then it has spread quite viciously around her body. She has amazing spirit and had touched so many people with her strength. Anyway she was staying up for the week with one of my friends and had gone back for treatment for the day and we all had the pleasure of having her children play for the day (her children are a delight). I spent some time talking to one of my friends about this nasty disease and shared the personal story of the last twenty four hours of my fathers life. It was unemotional at the time, it was about facts not emotion. So I returned home and carried on and tried to get into the grove of the day to day rhythm of my life, it never really happened and its been a funny week. After a visit to my home to see my own Mom, always emotional for various reasons which I want go into. There was a flower in the garden which my Mom commented on was my Dads rose, I pulled out my camera and took the picture. This then opened up a conversation about my Mom wanting the camera back. It was my Dads, we spent many hours discussing photography and it is the thing he has passed on to me. To use his camera daily to take a picture knowing his hands had held it means so much. I know my Mom just wants to have it for emotional reasons and who could blame her. But it will not get used and this saddens me. When I came home later in the evening the tears rolled down my face, I miss my Dad.

If your still reading your doing well. This is not a post for sympathy, its a good post for me as its out there now, I now know why I have been emotional and that's OK. I try not to think about my Dad then suddenly it just hits me. The tears do help and the photography...well thanks Dad you taught me well.

Need to dash...the piggies are off to the vets to be sexed...frisky activity going on last night and I think they actually might be a Charlie and a Lola, although the frisky one is actually Lola, Oh the joys.