Today, this day...I am a city girl!

I swap my boots and pull on my posh shoes, throw my handbag over my shoulder and meet up with a friend and head for the city. A country girl, that's me, not a big fan of city living and not really a good shopper, but on this beautiful sunny autumnal day with the leaves falling like confetti I swapped my usual day to day routine for a trip into the city...

As you would expect the day included drinking and people watching in funky little cafes...
A little bit of retail therapy, topping up on my bead stash...
Looking around for views the city could entice me with...
A stroll around the Craft Village and a fabric shop, yes all in all, this was my kinda day in the city, no chain stores, no being elbowed by grumpy shoppers. A gentle stroll around the best the city can over in the way of crafty goodness, retro magic and vintage chic. Oh and followed by a long and lazy lunch, a treat indeed.
After all this retail therapy I am taking my head full of ideas of things to make, a box of felt n thread, a bag of yarn and of course my two most favourite people in the world and we are heading to the beach for the half term break. A crafty box is all made up for the children for the days when the weather keeps us indoors, our wellies are packed and our winter coats, hats and gloves are all ready for us to head off for a few days.

I wish you a fabulous week, what ever you are doing... now how much felt do you think I can use in a week.......................................................

Car Portraits and stashing up...

When I first started to read blogs about three years ago, there was a real pattern to the way our community would blog, I liked it, it was a routine, it became familiar and each day I would look forward to the different theme of that particular time. One of the photographic inspirational headings was 'Car Portraits' various snaps taken in the car,  now if you have little ones you will understand this heading, because a lot of time is spent in the car when your babes are young. It might be taking them to the park, or a play date.  Maybe your just driving around in desperation of getting your baby to sleep, yer I guess most of us have done that, I used to take my knitting with me and a flask, I would pull up in a nice spot once babe was asleep and have some creative time.  The thought of taking pictures and portraits of those snatched moments in the car when your rushing, not thinking about taking pictures, well I found it appealing.  So I have been doing this, but not of me, of the babes, which is why I have not shared it before. Today though I was sitting in the car, having had my morning swim and I was just flicking through the pictures on my camera from the weekend... Click... One self portrait... 
The power of a picture is quite amazing.  It was the Harrogate Twisted Thread show this weekend and for the last five years I have attended, this year was the first year that I was recognised.  So that little square inch of a picture of me really must look like me if someone I have never met can say "Are you Suzie Sews?"  It was nice, I had that 'community' feel, a group of people who would never normally meet say "Hi" and open up a whole new friendship, yes it was nice...

So as this was a stocking up stashing event for me, I knew what I needed and I went straight for the goodies.  Buttons...
Some fun Japanese fabric...
Stocking up on Boden fabric from my favorite fabric supplier...
Being the Boden girl that I am!
I bought the new Knitting kit that's just hitting the UK market... its a present so I can not share to much more at this stage...
Of course I bought some sock yarn, and within an hour of getting home I got it on the needles...
So with all this shopping, selling and chatting... my little feet needed a rest and what could be better than a moment or two with a pair of the most beautiful feet in the world...

I hope you all had a good weekend and I look forward to catching up with some of my favorite blogs in the coming week, I think its a busy time all round with the plans of Thanks Giving and Christmas getting in full swing, I peeked back to this time last year on my blog and I wrote about it being a quite time then, funny how these patterns are formed...

Giveaway winner is....

The winner of the Autumn Break Giveaway is...The lovely Beverly who pens the beautiful Blog, Tea Time and Roses.  Well done Beverly, if you email direct with your address I will pop them in the post to you.  
So I mentioned in my holiday post that I wanted to share with you a little shop I found whilst away.  I took a couple of snaps so I could share with you the interior and you too can go Ahhhh and Ohhhh.
I actually spent most of my holiday pennies in this shop, even my babes enjoyed poking around the shop.  The really good thing was you could browse without interruption, you know what its like, you go into a lovely shop and you feel eyes on you and just do not feel comfortable enough to shop... which is what your there for! Not here you could browse and shop away...
The funny thing about this shop is I have been to the town previously on other weekends away and gone into the building but had no idea that this haven was there.  Its in the beautiful Yorkshire Market town of Pickering, just a short walk away from our cottage, its actually a Newsagents shop.  I nipped in hopping the 'now available on  the high street' Yarn Forward Magazine would be sold here...
When I was looking around a door caught my eye with a lovely wreath on it...so I ventured through the door and found all this loveliness... Its a great little shop and with an Internet shop too I feel I will never struggle to buy gifts either for my friends or myself...Go check it out and say Hi from me... Made And Found Market Place, Pickering. 

So just a quick post today, off to my knitting group and I also need to take my photo for Kitchen Poetry which is being hosted by the lovely Simple Sparrow...I am running mine through my Suzie Sews Flickr account.

Weekend madness...

So the weekend is over and it went by so fast...time spent with a special person...memories made and the warmth of the autumnal sun shone down on us... I managed to catch up with some knitting before the airport run...cute little booties for a new arrival (I have no idea if its going to be a girl or a boy so I will be knitting a blue pair as well).
A quick little beanie hat for the change in the seasons, made with super soft yarn, in a delicate shade of green.  Once the knitting fix was sorted I headed to the airport with my excited children to pick up my friend, she arrived bedraggled through customs (minus her luggage which went astray) after five flights and travelling two days she was seriously tired.   Over our weekend we spent so much time chatting, catching up on news and solving the worlds problems, we ate too much cake, I have renewed my love of jam donuts!!!
Lots of retail therapy...
With the clear signs all around us now that Autumn is on its way, we walked through the park, content after our shopping spree, the littlest one enjoyed an ice cream we sat in the park and did I mention we chatted... My poor friend got to see more of the area than planned with a little impromptu trip to A and E (hospital) as my scar from my stitches on my leg went 'POP' and reopened, time spent in an emergency waiting room was not really part of the plan, but these things are sent to try us.
A return trip to the airport leaves me alone again, but she will be returning in two weeks as she flies back out.  Time to do a little sewing and catch up. 

Mom update...

Now this is the last time I want to mention this as it really must be a bore to read... The situation with my Mom is ongoing...  we talked after she received my card with no mention in the conversation about it (other than she had got it) and that we would speak once my friend had left.  This morning I awoke up a glorious morning and thought today is the day to chill out a little and do some fun stuff... I started the day off with a call to my Mom, full of good intention, an offer of a weekend at our caravan and also to arrange for the boys and I to go over for tea next week.  What can I say, again she put the phone down on me, I tried to be more assertive this time and try and point out that I was hurting too... She has finally made it clear she does not want to come away with us, and I will go and see her next week so she sees the children.  As for me well I have to accept the situation and make the best of it, I guess I want ever be the daughter she wished for but despite this she's my Mom and I love her.

On a roll...

I am on a roll, the sun is shinning, the grass is green, the sky is blue, bird song fills the air...Oh it really feels like the grey damp weather of the past five months are behind us now and whilst it was not a harsh winter it was so grey and damp that it felt like walking around with your own personal rain cloud. As you may be aware I am a summer girl, its MY season, I adore the way Spring fills us with so much promise, but for me its the long lazy days with the feel of the warm air on my skin...

So its no big surprise that with our fist warm weekend, and a bank holiday one at that, I made the the most of this amazing weather. On the first day of the three days I did the chores and went on a little shopping trip with my children, which involved a visit to the local yarn and patchwork shop, so some new stuff got purchased which is always a delight and it was nice to catch up with people. The children and I love thrifting together so we spent a little time peeking around the goods on offer, just mooching through the charity shops and we scored some great stuff.
We pulled together some yummy delights to eat and had a little picnic in the garden before we got down to some serious garden maintenance...I power washed the patio (with a little helper who really did not help, although the sounds of giggles made it all worth while), I cut back some trees and even managed to put down huge amounts of top soil in a very bare area of my lawn and seed it all...
A short break was required when our neighbours children wanted to show my children the frog they had caught, so an impromptu stop with a shared glass of cold crisp white wine before we all got back to our gardening duties...At the end of the day we sat and enjoyed the satisfaction of looking at our hard work before we all headed off for a jolly good wash...Gardening is dirty work you know!
The Sunday brought rain (just what the seedling needed) so any outdoor plans got scarped, instead we had a big Sunday roast and cuddled up on the sofas for some reading, playing and a little bit of sewing and knitting. When the next day arrived the sky was clear, we packed up our bag and headed off for the beach...
Oh to feel the sand between our toes and dip them into the cold sea...what a joy...When the sun started to set we thought we had better head home, I arrived home with two very sleepy children who needed carrying to their beds dusting the sand off their feet before I snuggled them up under their sheets for a night of contented sleep...

Pictures...1) Knitting...Finished!

2 &3) Tissue holders...Finished!

4) Linen birds...Finished!

5)Buttons...Thrifted £1.00 per pot...Happy me!!!

And the rain just kept on raining!!!

Well what can I add to the mass of comments about our lovely British summer. All our usual summer activities are on hold for when the sun does shine! Instead of photos and chat about beach days and never ending evenings with the smell of coconut suncream and long lazy meals outside, we are all wearing wellies and rain coats, running in out of buildings, still enjoying Hot Chocolate and Marshmallows. Its just not right. Although I am so glad to report that we are not actually flooded out here, I am in a part of the country particularly used to rain. I just had to share this picture with you as it really captures the mood of the moment. It was taken between showers, a picnic packed, which of course was eaten in the car, we got wet, OH so wet, we walked and played and found a few animals, as we started to feel wet and cold and getting to the miserable stage we had the blessing of a beautiful rainbow sky.
So if you can not escape the rain, why not go with the flow, so to speak!
The kids had a great time splashing, swimming and sailing in a Lake, here is my youngest taking his first steps in to the cold water, just before the heavens opened and the rain came down, yet again, Hey who cares when your this wet already...OK I got a bit fed up on the bank, wish I could have gone in with them.
Keeping with the thought of the sky, this is a safe sky, hopefully no rain here (although you never know) this is one of my children's bedrooms. Its a surf dude/pirate room and I painted the sky myself when I was rather pregnant, I remember standing on a chair and painting on the clouds literally not looking as I was trying to keep my balance with my big BUMP, it worked out just fine. With my love of Gingham and thinking of summer time fun, I made the bunting, this is so simple. If your thinking of buying some as its so popular at present...try and make it yourself its so easy and quick!!!
Another little trip this week, we headed off to the moors and the mills, I was after some wool, yes well I needed to top up my stash! Look what we came across, how cool is this, an original cotton mill spinner, sorry I do not know its proper name. The children had such fun asking lots of questions and playing with the bobbins etc. Rather sadly someone had put some dirty nappies in one of the baskets, I know they are a little worn, but why people do this kind of thing is beyond me!!!
SO what wool did I buy? Mmmmmm lots!!! A huge bag full, I got some beautiful cashmerino super chunky at a fantastic price, I wanted this in the Autumn but felt it was to expensive. I also got some beautiful silk in brown and green to make the top that I showed the pattern of a few postings ago. All the wool was Debbie Bliss, I am a bit of a fan of her yarn. Oh and this little fellow, Pinkie the mouse, well first there was one and now.....well lets just say they are quick, easy and fun to make so for a quick fix of knitting whilst the children are around they are multiplying. SO I bought a couple of balls of different wool to play about with. They are not very professional looking at the moment but I am working on that, but they are a heap of fun....

I have noticed how quite blog land is at the moment, I to am not able to get to blog daily myself, I guess everyone is busy with the summer holidays and it will all pick up again in the Fall. I do still intend to blog a few times each week so until the next time we get together for a chat and a cuppa I wish you good health and lots of fun...With or without rain!!!

Doll Quilt

Wow, take a look at this beauty, I am so impressed, its stunning. I adore the colours, they are so not what I would pick and yet I love them. I think this is one of the things I like about this swap as it really does open you up to some new things. My beautiful quilt is made by the very talented Sara from Odd Dotty Dollymaker. Her work is really good and it was all wrapped up with a lovely matching bow. What I am very impressed with is the fact that she bothered to take inspiration from my own blog. My love of tea...so she really thought this one through. I love the hand stitching for the steam of the tea. Their is a funny story about this quilt. I was reading the update on the Doll quilts and saw this one posted (click over there and check them all out) I went over to her blog and commented on the fact that the recipient should be a very happy person, it must have made her giggle as it was on its way to me!!! So I think it was all meant to be.
I understand my quilt has arrived as I have been eagerly checking out her blog as she is in the middle of moving and I was scared it might get lost between addresses. Anyway I am very happy with mine and I think I will be popping over to Sara's blog more as its got some cool stuff going on. Thanks Sara, your a star!!! Go and log on to her blog to see the full impact of this quilt, I was to eager to photograph it before I unwrapped it and put it in its place of honour in my sewing room! Its worth it I promise she has lovely pictures of the back and the beautiful bow...
Well we are still soaking over here, the rain just keeps on coming. Here is a snap shot of all my lovely summer dresses which I am not getting to wear!!! This is the first year for many years I have been able to wear dresses, having breastfed both my babes for a long time, this is the first year of not doing so, so I have really made the most of wearing dresses...I would just rather wear them with summer shoes and not boots or worse yet Wellies!!!
Oh for some sunshine, everyone I know is in a real moody groove, when the sun shines things just seem so much better...it is summer after all!!! The mad thing is we still have water shortages!!!

Brown paper packages

Busy, fun, boxes and rain, that just about sums up my weekend. Man this week is going to be really busy also, then its school holidays...Yippee!!!!! As its the end of the school year and I have two children in different school I have lots of shows, school parties and dress up days to be going to, the children are moving in a zombie like state as they are just sooooooo tired. Its all good fun. Yet more rain again this weekend, so the garden still resembles a nature field, Archie went out yesterday for some fresh air and ended up looking more like an enormous hedgehog than a rabbit, all his fur was wet and sticking up in spine like points!!!!
So not a lot of crafty goodness took place although plenty of housework got done, I had a visit from my Mom and brother and it was all worth it as for the first time ever my Mom did not say a negative word about the way I run my house. Although she was a little uncomfortable about the piggies (Charlie and Lola) being in the living room.
My Boden sale order arrived...Yummy only one thing needs to go back. I did manage a little sewing time as I wanted to alter a top I had got in my lovely Boden box full of goodies and pretty tissue paper!!!I am such a sucker for these details....
I wanted this top for a while, but being large in the bust department, but petite in height I did not think this top would fit well. It was such a good buy in the sale I took the chance. Well I was so right, it fitted the bust, but far to long in the straps, it is one long binded piece, so with a faint heart I took the scissors to it. Chopped a good inch off each shoulder strap, hand sewed the hem and got busy with my button hole foot. I could not make my mind up on buttons and after a lot of playing around I went with the aubergine colour of the bust line, I still felt it had a look of a maternity top (although that is what is 'in' at the moment) so I darted the front. I am rather impressed with the results, now I just need some sun shine to wear it... I leave you with a rather blurry bit of crochet. I have been trying in vain to master the granny square, I need someone to show me really, so whilst away I played about with spare wool and came up with my Ipod bag, yer its a bit naff, but it does the job and stops me worrying it will fall out of my pocket as I move around.

I have had little time to blog (write or read) this weekend, I caught up on a few comments (still have a few to reply to) this morning and I read one blog that positively had me in heaps of laughter, if you want to have a laugh out loud moment click on to MonkeeMaker and go back to the post 'How camp is my Monkey'...such fab pictures, as I am thinking a lot about camping at the moment so it especially touched my giggle button...go on put a smile on your face...

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

Back in the swing of things

Things are retuning to some normality after the much need break, I still have so much to share with you about my special week, watching my son painting a landscape, decorating cookies, some great photography by my babes, endless amounts of origami, we all enjoyed playing with paper this break. For now though I am still thinking Doll Quilt Swap, I have seen a few people post pictures of their quilts before they have sent them out so I thought I would show you the WIP...Here is the label I did on the new 'LOVE OF MY LIFE'... Here is the front of the quilt, I have tried to incorporate different techniques to keep the interest going for the the receiver. That's the first hand embroidery I have done in years, I mean years...since I was a child I think! The weather here is still raining and gloomy so all pictures need better light, if I waited for it though you might not see any pictures for ages.
So as I mentioned yesterday I was off to buy the binding and some thread, I went with a friend who at the time of leaving had to feed her little one so I called into a garage sale on the way to waste a little time. Oh joy! I am so glad I did, look at the yummy goodness I walked away with, and I have to confess this was not all of it! Just look at this lovely bowl set, its very kitch and very ME. I can not wait for the summer weather to be dipping into a bowl of strawberries or cherries or better still home made trifle, my Mom says it has to be made with sponge not jelly to be a real trifle!!! I especially like it if the sponge has been soaked in Madeira. This beautiful cake stand said 'BUY ME', but it weird as I am sure I have seen this before as if I have already owned it, very bizarre, but how sweet it is and even better as the glass cake stand I had got broken being washed up after the babes birthday party.
Of course I need another tea set, I really must show you my collection...I just can not help myself and whats a girl to do when it was only a pound. My tea sets used to be displayed on my kitchen window sill for me to enjoy looking at, I got asked once did I not have any cupboard space for them, I was devastated, I could not understand how people could not get the joy out of them like I do, it seemed odd. I was adamant it was not me in the wrong, BUT sadly the joy of looking at them diminished as worry took over that when people visited did they think me slightly mad. So they are now all stored in my glass fronted cupboard, I have to say the kitchen does look brighter and the the cupboard looks real 'eye candy' so once this lot has been scrubbed up and shiny it will join the others.
Garage sales are not big around here so when I saw this one I had to have a poke around, the ladies that ran it could not have been nicer to me and so happy to see my little babe, they even offered me a drink in their kitchen, sadly I had to decline as I had my shopping date at the thread n fabric store.

I took my little helper to his nursery today only to find it was the open day for the new intakes and we had to come home, I was delighted, so as soon as I have finished this and made the beds we are 'Baking Cookies' the apron is already on and I have a little person wanting my attention...