The Suzie Sews HOME at Christmas...

Wishing you all the very best for the New year celebrations, I hope you find the time to live in the moment, also reflect a little on your year and dream about the hopes of the new decade to come.

A few little moments captured here at my place...It most probably is the last Christmas we will spend in this home, the home I raised my babies in, memories in every corner, history painted into the walls, this place I call my family home. So we relaxed into the Christmas mode and celebrated the season with our loved ones and friends.

Hope you made some great memories this Christmas...

Handmade Christmas...
Family hands...
Bauble Christmas tree...
Sweet Christmas tree (made by my children)...
Christmas morning...
Baby its cold outside...
Snow Balls...
Knitted mittens...
Bunny love...
Getting the Christmas dinner to the home...
Santa's letters...
Decorating the home...
popcorn...
left over decorations put to use...
crochet trees being blocked...
From the Kitchen...
Christmas gifts...
Baking...
Adding sparkle (very Kirstie)!!!
Gifts from my kitchen...

WISHING YOU ONLY THE BEST AND LOOKING FORWARD TO THE GOOD TIMES AHEAD.

The earth moved...

OK so last night was a little creepy...I had had a bad night's sleep the previous night and at the children's bedtime I feel asleep in a big cuddle with my youngest...I awoke around 10ish and went downstairs to tidy up the toys. I sat for a while in the quite and got engrossed in a little silly sewing. You know me by now, silly sewing to me is totally useless little objects made 'just because'...When I next looked at the clock it was gone midnight. So I made a cup of camomile tea and headed up to the cosiness of my bed (pre-warmed by my heated blanket)!!! I turned off the light and snuggled down and felt that lovely relaxed state wash over me and I started to drift into dream land...Only to be pulled out of it by two odd noises and before I could register what it was the whole house quivered loudly...for a moment I was paralysed with fear...but then in an instant it was action stations, I sprung out of bed and checked on the children only to find them totally oblivious in their slumber. I looked down the hill and saw a neighbours light on with them also peeping through their curtains...Now I was wide awake and totally unable to sleep...
I contemplated carrying the babes to my bed, but I ended up staying awake till three-ish filling my stupid head with all sorts of stories from aliens landing to bombs falling etc...eventually I fell asleep only waking to hearing my youngest screaming...Panic again ran through me and when I looked at my little babe he had a nose bleed and he was upset as it had messed up his bed...Panic over, babe comforted and back to bed I went...
I was pulled sleepily out of my bed this morning by two lively babes 'Get up Mommy'...so I staggered downstairs and put the news on to see if there was any solution to 'things that go bump in the night' Yes we had had an earthquake, a big one by our standards bearing in mind the last one was over twenty years ago...So no aliens no bombs just an over active imagination of someone who was left standing in her kitchen trying to wake herself with a coffee and feeling pretty silly...
So on to the making...the silly sewing bug hit hard and I rummaged through my felt box and using my cheap felt I made a couple of eggs for the Easter Egg Tree...my children did not think they resembled eggs at all so I got out the good stuff...my much sort after wool felt and I prepared a little tray of hand sewing to keep me busy for a few hours...the results are much more pleasing...I wanted to be a bit more creative than just egg shapes so I pulled out an old copy of Homespun, I love this magazine it has such lovely stuff and is very inspiring...Unlike me, I copied the ideas pretty much to the directions, usually I go off in all sorts of tangents so I make the design very much my style...but when something works...why change it...the wool felt made all the difference, they do look homespun which only adds to their charm...
I still have a few more key rings to make to finish a small order so I am doing a few off each (keyring 'n' eggs) and really enjoying it, felt is so lovely to work with. As for today I have been busy decorating cakes as we have some children over for supper tonight and I was requested by my youngest to make some tasty treats...

Just for the fun of it the last picture is a corner of my home, right above my sewing machine in my sewing room...

The sun shines on...(Corner of my home)

Wow what an Autumn we are having we have just had five days on the row with glorious Sunshine and no rain, the sun is pouring through all the windows and in its rays of light it veils the rooms with a dusty glow...Its been a bit of a roller coaster this week, Lots going on and after my time withdrawing from all around me, I do this when I am feeling down, I have started to get out there a little. Including an emotional trip to my Moms today, the first trip without the boys in eight years, its nearly two years since my Dad passed away and at this stage he was very ill in hospital as yet he was not diagnosed with terminal cancer. So to do the trip home and continue to go through his belongings is just so hard for me. My Moms healing is keeping herself busy sorting out the house, for me I can not cope with all the change. Anyway the visit is done now. A few funny moments to confirm just how different my Mom and I are. Anyway I will not go into all the details, but just say blogging and 'making' are, well for want of a better word 'odd' to her, when you can go out and buy something why on earth would you waste your time on making something? This is from a women that made me amazing party dresses when I was a child and I have many memories of her sitting knitting, sadly though never teaching me...All that said it was lovely to sit and chat without running around making sure the children did not mess up the house!!!
As for the crafting this week, it has slowed down, to carry on at the pace I was doing might not have been a good plan, a girl need s to sleep occasionally...I did sit in the garden and finish off my rabbit, the pattern came from an old Homespun magazine, I love this Australian magazine, so much great stuff in it and two large patterns that do not need to be enlarged. I used some gorgeous fabric that I bought in the summer and added a little lavender bag (using vintage Laura Ashley fabric, that will not be seen, but I know its there!!!) into her tummy so she will help to keep the moths away from my fabric stash as she was made to sit on my sofa in the sewing room.
I am leaving you with a beach shot taken this time last year of my little one, you just can not beat a picnic on the beach all wrapped up against the cold, accept of course unless its the summer and your in your swimmers!!! I am having a blog break for one week only, the boys and I are going to spend some time together and I can not wait, come rain or shine I am sure there will be a few visits to the beach. We plan on getting the fire foing and snuggling up in the evenings with taosty toes and reading our new books and I have few projects planned, some knitting , a little sewing and of course my on going granny squares thanks to the inspiring Simple Sparrow. I wish you an amazing week, may this fantastic sunshine continue to come out to play...

I had been tagged by the fab Weirdbunny-7 honest things about me...
1) I am amazingly messy, I would love to be tidy but this is something that has always stopped me being creative, once I get into the flow of creating something I forget that I am actually making a mess, if I stopped to tidy up I think I would never make anything.
2) As a child growing up into a women I believed with all of my heart in a knight in shinning armor, who would whisk me of my feet and treat with like a princess and hang on to my every word...Mmmm then I grew up I guess!!!
3) Having my babes really is the best thing that has ever happened to me and my love of my children often overwhelms me.
4) I am a depressive eater and an eater of chocolate, when I am down or worried...well I eat and preferably chocolate!!!
5) I have a weird thing about smells, when pregnant anything that smelt, good or bad, would make me feel so sick, since then I am really sensitive to smells, especially anything chemical, I loath air fresheners, they really irritate me, my nose and my head hurts, so I go around opening windows in the morning and if I want to freshen the air I use candles, but only certain ones, Ikea vanilla is popular with me and Emma Bridgewater candles, her older ones (no longer made) are much nicer than her newer ones.
6) Two years ago I learnt to mow the lawn, I now find it to be a hugely rewarding experience, yer I know... sad isn't it?
7) I have more books than I could possibly read in my life time, that goes for fabric, yarn and wooden stamps!!!

So there you go, a little more bizarre 'honest' information about me. Now I need to pass this on. I do not want anyone to feel any pressure, so if you are reading this and would like to join in...have a go, you might learn something about yourself...


So many words today, thank you for still reading!!! Added late....I have just read over this a day after I had posted it and felt it was rather depressing, I assure you all is well in the Suzie Sews household, I am just still trying to adjust from the empty nest feeling so a week with the children is just what I am needing at the moment. Have a great week and sorry again for adding even more words to this post!!!

Corner of my home...the peaceful place...

Well time has a whole new meaning for me, for the first time is sooooooo long I actually have some to fill, using my own initiative to fill it, rather than having it filled for me by looking after little people. Its been a difficult week and not helped by the fact that I am car-less, so I am at home in the school hours and getting stuff done...boring stuff like housework, after eight years of surface cleaning I am finally doing the real thing...
So when you get sucked into this world of cleaning, I can not believe I am actually talking about this as I loath cleaning with a passion...I escape to my peaceful place for some sanity. Now I have taken up the challenge set by Monkee Maker (go read this girls blog if you don't laugh out load you don't have a pulse) on the 14th September she asked if we would share with blog land our favourite knitting spots, well I have a few, but this one is my favourite. My BED!!! Once the kids are in bed, the animals are fed, lunch boxes packed, toys put away etc...well its some down time. I like nothing better than making a pot of tea (all special with a tea pot, pretty tray cover and milk jug maybe even a homemade cookie), plug in the ipod or put on a movie and just relax...I have big feather filled cushions and with the dark nights setting in I love the colour of my bedroom (yes I know I wanted to change it in the summer, it is a winter colour...great at Christmas) its warm and cosy and just for ME!!! So with all this Autumn cleaning I have been doing I took a break early in the week and made something just for ME! (See the 'me' word again...so not used to being on my own it sounds indulgent) Now I adore the Heather Bailey range of fabrics, it also helps that I read through, as most of us did, the whole experience of her going from an idea to the fabric being in the shops. In the UK we are always so slow to catch on to things and the fabric was unavailable unless you had a pay pal account. The wonderful Small Fox and I did a swap, I sent some Liberty fabric and she sent me the Heather Bailey fabric, in four different colour ways. (We swapped other cool stuff too).
It has been on top of my Fat Quarter shelf all summer, to scared to cut into it. Now I was doing a search on ebay and came across a sale in the UK, just a one day one, with the wonderful H.B. fabrics...I ordered some straight away, infact I went a little mad. SO this meant I could dip into my stash without fear, they had been ear marked for a handbag and small quilt...Not anymore...
I had embroidered the tea cup and 'Suzie Sews' on a piece of linen scrap, one of those project just lying around to pick up and do a stitch here and there. So I put the two together and two hours later...Hey presto!!! a personal cushion, I adore the colours and the way the textures of the fabric really sing together, I did a fold opening as to a zip as I hate it when you snuggle in and the metal gets you just in the side of your face...OK! OK! its also much quicker and easier...
As if by magic, just as I finished it the postie arrived with my new batch of labels.
Have a great weekend, if I can work out some transport its my patchwork course this weekend, a children's party and no other plans...hopefully a relaxing time should be had.

A good day

What is it that makes me grumpy? What is it that soothes me when I am moody? The need to play, the need to create. I Just get twitchy when I am not making something. Its like every day I have to feel I have made something, be it a big project or just a little thing. Yesterday was a good day... Google has been down so I was unable to blog...Ek! Calm down Suzie calm down Suzie...So I went into my sewing room room and looked at which project I should work on. Ah! the trousers for my wee man. There is a reason I felt this was THE project. Its a friends pattern, my friend that moved away in January, well she let me have the pattern until she was settled as with moving and a new baby on the way, I guess she knew she would not get much sewing done. This is such a great pattern, between the two of us we have used it for so many things. Simplicity 5807.
It has a cape sort of coat pattern on the front of the sleeve, but we have used it to make towelling robes for all our children, they are so cute and great for the beach and much cheaper than the ones you see in children's designer style catalogues.
Anyway as her new arrival is sleeping like a dream and generally fitting in with the family, at the moment they have seven people in the house! I guess she feels ready to get her beloved sewing machine into action. So the pattern needs to be put in the post. With this in mind I needed to get on with the trousers. I selected the fabric, I love this, is really funky fabric and suits a little long haired curly topped boy. Its from my local patchwork shop, I bought what was left in the bargain area. Just enough for me to make a pair of trousers and maybe patch a pocket on a plain white Tee to finish the out fit off. I have a little left over which will go in my patchwork 'BITS' box.
So what do you think? I was going to bind them at the bottom with some blue bias tape, as I had made them a little longer than needed I made a large double hem which not only looks kind of cool, but helps them to hang well so I left the bias off. I tried them on him at various stages 'Mommy they too big' and 'Mommy not pins' to 'Mommy they fit, my cool trousers' and ending with 'Mommy are they PJ's'
Once at the right size, they would not be taken off his little body, so after a bit serious crafting we even wore them to pick up his big brother from school, he went running around the school yard shouting 'Mommy made these' Ah how to make you feel really special...
I leave you with the kitchen table, we are on a bit of a Charlie and Lola frenzy at the moment. I will share with you tomorrow why...

Getting stuff done

OK so I was going to wait to show you these little mitts, changed my mind... I am pleased to say that they are totally my design, I could not find exactly what I wanted and I only had one ball of this lush wool to work with, so I made it up as I went along, OK I ripped them back a couple of times before I got it right. I am doing my first BLOG SWAP with Small Fox I am knitting her a pair of gloves. Small Fox sent me a couple of pictures of what she had in mind and a colour list, I went with sherbet colours. Once finished I wanted to add a little bit extra so I got some LOVELY silk yarn (Debbie Bliss) and a crochet hook and got busy, again making it up as I went along. I was told to go crazy...I guess I did. I also made a little flower pin to match to pop on a jacket. I am nervous though, will she like them? will the colour be OK? will they fit? I have added another knitted item, but I want to keep that a secret, plus some lovely Liberty and some patches of Cath Kidston fabric that I know she will LOVE.
The bank holiday weekend was fun, I did not take the children away in the camper van as it was forecast rain, and it did rain. We had one Fab day on Saturday, I spent all day in the garden with the children, not that they needed me to play with them, they seem to do that together quite well at the moment. Although I was not really allowed to get on with my knitting due to requests for drinks, I am hungry etc...
I like these photo's they really capture their relationship at present.
Remember all the good weather last week resulted in lots of fabric getting washed? Well it meant a lot of ironing, I am getting there, I just need time to get on with the making. I am at present on top of my commissions, I am quilting the quilt, I stated it on the machine, unpicked it and then forgot to buy the cotton I wanted and pins to hold it all together when I was shopping at the local quilt shop at the weekend. There was a reason for forgetting, I was rather giddy about collecting an embroidery machine to try out, its my birthday next month and this could be the treat I am hoping for. Just waiting for a free hour or so to get it out, so far I have read the instructions and learnt how to thread the needle...

Joy and sadness

I had no intention to post today, I kept the morning free to catch up on return emails and reply to some of the lovely comments I have had lately, as usual this somehow leads to reading more blogs than I should. There seems to be a run of awards for blogs at the moment, not very big here in the UK, but all the same quite a few. I am not a very competitive person, in fact I am that Mom who gets worked up at Sports Day, when you watch the child who comes in last, the sadness as their heart breaks as they realise just what has gone on, Oh I feel uncomfortable just thinking about it. So I am never going to be a big fan of these things. Maybe because there is no hope of me competing let alone winning, but WHY OH WHY...do they leave you feeling vulnerable...Anyway today was a day spending time with my little one, we played trains and all the usual things, then ventured into the garden, that sand pit was the best garden toy we have, hours of fun. So as I was not needed, Mom or sand pit...yep sand wins!!! I mowed and strimmed the lawns. Timing was perfect, as I finished my little one was ready for the next adventure. An afternoon snack was due, so we did a bit of baking together, Oh so kitch in our matching aprons! (Thanks Caroline, still loving our Christmas present) -A friend made them for us all and with our names on, who needs a Cath Kidston apron when you have your own? My little helper really enjoyed this little task, he got, well, stuck in, flour all over the kitchen, an uncontrollable giggling session set in when it was tossing time!
Nothing is better than eating it all up though, Oh Boy! Chocolate and Banana...Yum Yum. I was instructed to leave some so 'My Brother can have some too' just so cute...
So it was time for bed, I had managed to get some knitting done, nearly finished now, the first picture of knitting is the pattern picture, the second is mine, its all done from stash so the colour is not as bright as I really need to use up some of my stash. Bedtime was the usual mass of cuddles and giggles and a few 'calm down' comments from me. The phone rings and its my Mom. The call I have been expecting. My cousin, who has been in a hospice for over a week now, is VERY ill. Her being ill is nothing new, she is an inspiration, three years ago she was given three months to live, her cancer was in-operable, over the last year she has got worse, I want go into detail. I am finding it really hard to move freely at the moment, I am weighed down by this sadness.
I have such a mental image of what is happening in her room as I write. Some of you know, if you have been reading for a while, my Dad passed away over a year ago now, I stayed with him and we spent his last night together, it was the saddest and most emotional night of my life. I can feel the love in the room, the utter sadness of the moment and the anger that this disease stirs up. The irony of it...my cousin was so very close to my Dad, she asked only last week if he would look after her. I pray that she has peace in her heart.

So on that sad note I shall away, I worry this is too person a post, I appologise if it is and I hope that you will understand, most of us know someone or more than one person with this disease, my heart goes out to you.

I need to hold my children tight.

Corner of my home (Reality shot)

The witterings of a busy MOM...
A lot of playing got done yesterday, the weather was good enough in the early part of the afternoon to play out but once we had picked up my older child from school it had just got to cold to play out. So they piled in the house. With all this playing Mom did not get much chance to get any making or housework done. I just about managed to make the dinner. I had to rush out early evening to get the flowers as its my turn to do the church flowers again. After the children finally went to sleep I came down to be greeted by this! This is only one room, trains in the living room and rockets and space ships in the play room. SO its not a surprise I did not get to sit down till 10.oopm, too tired to even pick up my knitting whilst chilling out to Desperate Housewife's!

I am not feeling great today and its always the way when you have a lot on...I mentioned Church flowers, I have two Tee's to applique for birthday gifts, I have a commission to make (Yippee), its story time at the library and my older child need to be taken to his Drama class...Busy Busy Busy, its the same over the weekend too, not one but two fund raising events, a forty-ith Birthday dinner, children's party and I really hope to get some housework done so I can find some 'making' time for next week...DO you get times like this when you just can't see the wood for the tree's?

Have a good weekend and I hope you get more crafting done than I am at the moment..its starting to get me DOWN!

PS I drove the route of the Road Rage incident today, yep I made myself, my heart was in my mouth and I found myself getting emotional, BUT at least I did it.