Candy!!!

Have you got any candy, chocolate and other goodies left from Christmas? We are nearly through it...just this one jar and a few luxury chocolates. I love this jar, I made a few jars up for pressies this year (the idea came from the Country Living magazine). I saw a box of sweets from my childhood and thought they would make a great gift for someone I know with a sweet tooth... The little box was £40.00 I had a closer look at the contents and worked out that there was only about £10.00 worth of sweets, so whilst the box was adorable the gift was for a man who would just not appreciate the box so this was my solution...Of course I had to check that the sweets really did taste like they did when I was a little person...
Now on to a candy of a different sort...eye candy...more to the point my WIP...I bought this fabric pre Christmas and fell in love with it, I was planning on a wall hanging...nothing fancy just pinning it around a board and hanging it up...then I was looking through my latest copy of Homespun and saw this lovely wall hanging with an embroidered centre...so I copied the bird and sat the last two nights embroidering it, picking up all the colours form the fabric, hopefully later on today I will make it into a cushion...
I have also being playing with buttons, all the lovely button wreaths over Christmas and also some super cool buttons from artsycraftybabe gave some inspiration here. So I got the glue gun out and had a little play...what a mess...I am still picking buttons up days later...anyway I made a load of pins which as usual I gave away to some friends, but I made a special one for my new coat, yes its from Boden, a beautiful green velvet coat, it can not have escaped you that green is my favourite colour, usually I struggle to buy clothes in green, at the moment it seems to be everywhere, I don't know if I am happy or not about this, as it will still be my favourite colour once the fashion designers have moved on to another shade. Anyway I am very pleased with the result and it was just so SIMPLE!!! Glue a few buttons together and glue a pin to the back of it... Here is the funky scarf for my youngest. Last Christmas I made one for my older child, a blue one with a boat design, it was a fun and easy project to do over the busyness of the holiday period, not much thought needed and very portable. Once the desired length was achieved I lined it with some fleece for softness and warmth, as soon as I sew together all the pieces of the sweater to match it, it will be a cool set for my little chap...
Yes once I sew up the sweater, all the pieces are knitted I just need to sit down and sew them together...actually I have a couple of knits at this stage, I am always so eager to get on to the next project...as you can see from my current knitting basket which sits next to my chair so I can curl up in the evenings in front of the fire and click away.

I have recently started a HUGE project for me, a swing coat...now this will be an ongoing project, I imagine until this time next year, I know I will not have the commitment to stay faithful to it...Oh look...its green!!!
So here are the new additions to my fabric stash, mostly bought in the sales, first from my favourite ebay shop...Sal has some really super stuff that you often struggle to get in the UK and she is so so generous, I have always had one or two extra fat quarters in my order and on this order I got some little Christmas blocks for the children and some great little patchwork squares that I am itching to put together. Thanks Sal. You can link to her shop through her blog... I also made two trips to a patchwork shop sale, I was buying some fabric for my current quilt, but also to stock up my stash for the year...so yes I did go a little mad...
and there's more...
Of course storage is always a problem so I purchased another rack for my new goodies... With that lot, I am moving happily into the New year with lots of projects in my head and some already in progress...So much so, I shall away and get an hour in the sewing room before the school run...

PS Thanks for all the reassurance about the dynamics of friendships and the relationship to the status of children from my previous post, its good to know its not just me.

One lump or two?

As soon as I had finished the blog yesterday and the morning chores my little babe and me set to the kitchen...'Baking time Mommy I want to bake cookies' So this is the end result, kind of sweet eh? Well what a mess we got into, but what fun we had... First we put our aprons on and washed our hands with our new smelly soap. Then we greased the trays...
Made messy blobs of dough (with chocolate and cranberry) and once that's done its the fun bit of cleaning out the bowl...
Round two, time for the crispy cakes..gooey, runny, lovely, melted chocolate, look at this little poppet, doing a good job I think!
Funny how they disappear when it comes to the clearing up, the tasting was much more fun. Which brings us back to the first picture, we took the tray into the playroom and had our afternoon tea on the floor like a pic-nic, well with all the miserable rain there was no hope of having tea on the lawn!!!
Just so you do not think its turned into a baking blog a quick snap shot of my work area, well it is WIP Friday. As my work area is an ongoing work in progress it seemed like a fair photograph to post up today. Believe it or not this is actually the put away version. I am so inspired by all the lovely work rooms out there in blog-land and I have followed their progress with much love and interest...one day one day I might get round to doing something with mine, for now though as time is so precious I will make do, no not make do I love it, it was only a few months ago I moved off the kitchen table...Have a great weekend.

WIP friday and other stuff!!!!

Our little visit to Ikea actually turned out to be a whole day event. I went with a friend and her little boy, needless to say the two children started off having a great time, I say started off as later in the day my little one ended up being in the wars. He thought it was great as I had relaxed some of the rules, and guess what...He got hurt, two incidents, one his cute little smiling mouth got busted and the second his finger got caught in a trolley wheel...Ekkk! I do not often see my little guy cry, but we had big dew drop tears. Anyway after lots of cuddling from Mommy he was much better although a little bruised. I then picked up my oldest child who had been hit in the mouth by a rounders ball by none other than his teacher!!! To round it all off nicely I am off to the Doctors for some tests...All fun going on here at the moment. So that's the bad stuff on to the goodies...YES I did buy more than candles, how did you know? So here is a little shot of my booty. Loving that fabric and the little bags are so cute and useful. I always get some pens for my children also they are good for little extra birthday gifts.
As for the WIP this is my bundle. lots of knitting to finish and they are so near to being finished. The heather one has been on the go since last half term, I did not pick it up for ages, took it away with me and I am now only 16 rows from finishing it. The tank top just needs its arm edging finished, again only one evenings work. The colourful one is the holiday project that got put aside due to the playing with the crochet hook. Its a felted (or will be) hand bag. The sewing bits are two blocks for my quilt, again both near completion...
As for my little piggies, Charlie and Lola, look how big they are now. You asked for a picture and here they are...cute... cute... cute...They say 'hi 'and love your comments it makes them feel like film stars!
I leave you with a little garden play. Teddy bears picnic, enjoying the delights of Houmous and nibbles. Need to dash, sorry to be short on words to day...

WIP..just a few

OK, I thought I better show you the finished gloves that I nearly finished at the half term holiday break away. After the school run I sat in the back garden (the first time its been light enough to do this in the early evening) with my boys and I took a peaceful ten minutes to sew in the lose ends and buttons on. The children playing happily together fishing with sticks from the boat (sand box) and the sea (the grass) was choppy. Ah! a blissful picture of family life. Once again its been a social day, lots of chatting and lots of children playing, its funny my youngest is now old enough that when he is playing with his friends I actually miss him, he is so happy and they play so well together that you would not know he was there. Anyway it was good to catch up with people today and it always starts the week off well.
So that's the gloves finished...just in time for summer!!! I am really pleased with them...they fit like a glove! Ha! how appalling is that cheap gag?
So as to the WIP as usual too many to mention, but the one I am keen to finish is...
The baby knit, for my friends new arrival. I guess if she was still in the area she would know what I was knitting so I made the decision to show and tell. Its so cute...
Its being Knit in the lovely new sublime wool, this is such a beautiful wool, although it does need to be taken care off, possibly hand washed but hey, its so soft.
Knitting it in white, so its careful knitting...no knitting in the garden with this wool. I shall away now and watch ER and get on with it. Oh and the Charlie and Lola knitting bag is just the latest thing in cool...well my little poppet thinks so.
Month of Moo picture today is my lovely ceramic buttons, to nice to use, they are on my notice/inspiration board in my sewing room.