Huckleberry Finn...

Knitting, sewing and gardening...this Mommy is having fun...I have been making more of these little mice to go with the tea cups I thrifted the other week... It is the most beautiful yarn and the buttermilk colour is gorgeous, I need to purchase some little seed beads for the eyes and sew on some whiskers and then these little 'Critters in Tea Cups' will be ready to find new homes.
On the gardening front we are now at the stage that the garden looks livable rather than the work in progress state of 'stuff' everywhere. The children and I are making a little pond, well actually a large sunken bucket! We have had so much fun, digging it out, filling it up and collecting the wildlife to go in it...yep we were regular Huckleberry Finn's with our little jam jars and string handles hanging from our fishing nets as we went off in search of tadpoles. Well we got plenty and the pond will make a great new home for them and a perfect educational feature for the children. I have been rather taken with 'Country livings' bring back the Nature Table' this topic has made me really think about how to encourage my kids to be more interested in nature.
So when we had a little rest time I picked up my sock knitting...yep I am actually knitting socks on what seems like cocktail sticks. I have been inspired by my knitting friend Caroline and blogging friend French Knots. I just love the way this yarn patterns up its very addictive...a few more rows just to see what happens to the pattern...
As for sewing, well I have been making some hair pins (yet to photograph) and I have been going through my stash of fabric and these two patterns are just singing to me...Oh the possibilities...

Moooooo!!!

Well I finally did it, I actually followed a pattern for a stuffie...you have seen some of my disaster...for some reason I just can not get my head around stuffies...I try and indeed I keep trying...so finally I gave in to the correct procedure and thought maybe following a pattern might be a good idea so I can learn to walk before I run... What a perfect pattern to work with, from Melly and Me, their super Moo Cow...in true 'Suzie Sews' style I just started cutting out the pattern before I read the instructions so I did move away from the instructions a little...which is just what I am like...I think he is super cute and I have proof too...
The recipient was very happy with his MOO, my little one sat at bedtime and told his usual bedtime cuddlies that tonight he would be cuddling the Moo, he gave each of his cuddlies a kiss and sat them down at the edge of his bed and Moo went in for the big cuddle.
In the morning I received a little breakfast made for me to say thank you...I enjoyed this pattern and whilst I found the little horns difficult to turn and stuff....I also forgot to sew in the ears so I hand sewed them on...I put patches on his back to add some personality of his own...I had fun and I was pleased with the results...so a little internet shopping later I have ordered a few more of their patterns...WATCH THIS SPACE!!! This might get addictive...
So the sun is still shinning and I need to spend some time on swapping my winter wardrobe over to my summer one...the problem being it is too nice to stay indoors and in the evening I sit and Knit...yep its all about priorities...so I have a couple of linen trousers, a linen dress (see how that linen takes over my life at this time of year) and a couple of Tee shirts plus last years rather beaten up crocs and that's my wardrobe so far...THIS WEEKEND...I plan to swap over the clothes to the right season. In the meantime the children and I have been doing some serious garden work, lots of exciting plants are being seeded and if they all grow we will have an abundance of loveliness going on around here...
The summer vibe really makes me rethink so many areas of my life and cooking is just one of them, actually this is a forced issue as my cooker has not been working for nearly three weeks now and I am relying on the hob and BBQ...but there has been a change around of cooking books in the kitchen...I have a whole of heap of cooking books each marking a time in my life from when I learnt to cook, from student cooking, single life cooking, dinner parties, feeding toddlers and now the more family orientated and organic style cooking...So this is the selection that has been pulled off the bookshelf and put on to my kitchen work space...The spiral bound one is actually my old school cooking book which is always to hand, well used as you can see, this has all the basic stuff in...pancake mix, different sauces and cakes made the proper way ( usually I just through all the ingredients in a bowl and mix it up!!!).
I am working on my summer menu planner so I can be more economical in my shopping...Well its a good idea in theory!!!

Its that time of year...

Is it really a year since the pressure washer came out? As I work I think of summer BBQ's, generally eating outside, a little crafting going on with the children on the patio and playing in the sand not to mention the splashing in the pool. The children race out each morning to see if their sunflower seeds have grown any bigger and last night my little one and I planted a whole heap of summer veg, my little guy has a sudden interest in all things gardening!!!
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The last couple of days we have been scrubbing, cleaning, mowing, digging and planting...
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Slowly the garden is coming back to life and getting away from the drabness of the winter, at present its a mess, but its a work in progress and soon, very soon, we will be able to enjoy the delights of outdoor living...As long as the rain keeps off that is!!!

Beach dreaming

Well its been four days since I have been to the beach and I am missing it so much, I think I need to move to be closer to the Sea. I guess you have had enough witter about my holiday, I am sure you can tell it was a special time with the children. So this is a picture to make me happy and I hope it does you too. My little one, the beach boy himself!!! The weather is stunning so I am going to make this a short post as I want to be outside. I have been asked for an update on Charlie and Lola (the piggies). I must take a photo, they are twice the size now and are just the funniest things you have ever had the pleasure to watch. Chatter chatter...they live indoors in an open run/cage in the same room as the computer, so lots of company for me. At the moment they are in an outdoor run being closely watched by Archie bunny, who let me tell you is a real softy at the moment. He is so after attention, if your about he's by your feet pushing you with his nose for a tickle behind his ears. On Monday I was bringing the piggies in when one made a bid for freedom. PANIC!!! She ran in to the plant boarder which has totally over grown into the cottage garden look. It took me a good half hour to catch him. I was shaking by the time I got him and stupid me burst in to tears once the drama was over. So I hope it will not happen again, just in case I took action on the garden yesterday...Big gardening action, my hands are sore, my back is stiff, BUT the garden looks good, no the garden looks FAB!!! I went to town on the boarders and re cut into the grass boarder so it is all neat, it looks very manicured at the moment, maybe even a little to much. As a treat for clearing the boarders I am off to buy some nice flowering plants for some impact as its all green at the moment. No blog tomorrow, I am off to Ikea with a friend and taking our youngest ones with us. I am only after candles but I am sure I will buy some fabric...See you Friday for WIP day!

Garden of delight! Wittering on totally off topic...

OK so I am on day six of this beastly infection, my throat feeling worse than ever and I am not getting enough sleep to recover form it. I am not very patient with myself when it comes to coughs and colds, instead of just accepting I am poorly and I need to rest I almost up a level to compensate. So every now and then my body shouts ''Slow down Suzie if you will not I will make you' do I ever listen...So here I am once again feeling grumpy and frustrated with myself for my lack of getting things done. This was not helped by yesterdays 'Manic' day. Some days just go kind of crazy. I must have loaded my little one into and out of the car at least 14 times. Plus its been walk to school week here (no easy task with two children in two different schools, Oh! to be home schooling) so that was one less trip, but the two mile walk to and from our village school just about finished me off for the rest of the day, I felt like someone was stomping on my lungs. It was also a PTA event and along with baking and running children back and forward it was all to much. To add insult to injury I had to leave the event without tiding up as it was so late and I had to put my kids to bed. As a committee member this did not go down very well. I get so cross that sometimes people can not see that without any help I do the best I can, most members had left the children with partners or sitters, I do not have this luxury.

HEY what happened to my picture???

OK whinge over lets talk holidays. Yippee my older son breaks up from school today and we are both so exited. We have so much planned and have spent nice moments sitting this week planning our time ahead. We have started to pack up this holidays craft box, I love this bit, I even bought some funky clothes for the children. So far we have organised to spend time with some friends, a trip or two to the beach, BBQs, lots of fresh air etc...

Now the weather here is a bit of a joke, we had a fab April but May is a wash out. The good side to this is the garden is lush and green and its all going rather mad. Listening to the forecast is its going to be a wet Bank holiday and may improve later in the week. So I think I will keep those wellies out a bit longer...
Due to my lack of crafting, I have just flopped most evenings instead of my usual flurry of knitting and sewing. As I mentioned yesterday I have been rather active with the camera. We had a good day between rainy ones and I took some snaps in the garden. The view is from my kitchen window, kind of cool do you not think, this is also the view form my bedroom window, of course my bed faces the window and its such a great view. The others are my boarders, they need a lot of a attention, but they have that lovely cottage garden feel at the moment, not to groomed if you know what I mean. This shot is a tease, my favourite flower is a peony and they are just getting ready to bloom, they usual come out around my birthday and I have to admit to chopping them and bringing them into the house for a little treat for myself.

I apologise for the lack of crafting and I hope you hang around whilst I get back on course. I will be quite next week as I will be spending much loved time with my children, however they always inspire me to be creative which of course I will bore/share with you with you the following week. I know I have this button on my blog, but I wanted to bring it up today. Throughout our village on every lamp post and rail someone had tired yellow bows to throughout the night. It was a shock to see, mixed feelings of it looking so pretty, amazed someone had done this, talk about giving up your own time for others...and so utterly saddened that this little girl is still apart from her Mommy and Daddy. My heart breaks for all of them. It seems like the world is praying for them, as day by day goes by and the news covers it less and less my heart as a Mommy weeps. Hold your little ones close to you and be thankful that you are not going through every Moms worst nightmare.

Putting my foot in it!

Well after the success of the the trousers and by that I am not complimenting my own work, I mean how happy they made my wee man. I actually did use up some of the bits of fabric left over and made a couple of embellished Tee's. We went with white and navy. I copied a pattern pocket so it was nice and neat. The buttons came from my Mother in law, when she passed away I got lots of lovely sewing treats. They are the cutest little while rabbits and I have wanted to use them for a while. The card said they came from WHSmiths, I never knew they once sold this kind of stuff.
I am sure you are aware how I love my machine, well there are still a few things I have not used or are a little unsure to use. Only once before have I used the button hole maker foot and I adore my button foot, this saves so much time, especially when you have numerous buttons to sew on. So I had a little time to play so I got them out and as if by magic...perfect (well as perfect as I can manage) they did the job just great. I am so loving this button hole foot, I hated it on my last machine it took for ever and had rubbish results.
So there you have this weeks 'makes' a groovy pair of trousers and two matching Tee's. The knitting's coming on, the front of the tank top is finished and I am half way through the back. As for the other WIP, the quilt, Mmmm I am having fun with this, regret buying cheap padding as it is not going through the quilting foot very well, its been unpicked a few times, I also have no quilt pins to hold it together well, I think I might have to resort to tacking...Ek!
Managed a little bit of gardening yesterday, in the rain...I did my daily blog reading and I got quite giddy when I saw what French Knots had come up with. The tea cup idea is real cool! Now I have a lot of tea cups, I have a bit of a thing for them, but none I wanted to fill with soil, so I paid a visit to three charity shops in our village and eventually came up with these sweet ones (I also got a lovely skirt, an embroidered Victorian style nightdress, a hand made crochet bed jacket and some smurf dolls for my boys-I used to collect these when I was little). Its funny I did not want the saucers so I asked if they wanted to keep them and sell them on. He said I am sure we could come up with a price for just the cups. The teacups has been priced at 50p for the three, he them charged me 75p, I questioned this (embarrassed as it was all ready ridiculously cheap) but he was very confident and said no it was 50p a cup and saucer. On returning home the label said 75p for a set of three. It was nothing to do with the money I just felt a bit, well, stupid really. Anyway are they not just super? I think they look very good around the table. Thanks French Knots, I have a feeling these might be popping up all over the place, a 100% of the credit to you, she has such good ideas.


Have a great weekend, I am off to pull together an outfit for my child's Drama class tonight and prepare lunch for eight hungry people...

Please Note Sorry about the pictures, the colour is not good, I think we are about to have a storm its so dark here and its only 10.30am

I Have Been Tagged!

Sarah from Small Fox has Tagged me, Mmmm I have to write seven random facts about me and then tag seven more people for them to do the same. I have enjoyed reading these, they give you a little more insight into the lives of the authors of blogs that I read regularly, Sarah's facts centered around toilets!!! What does that say about her (cheeky smile from me)!

Fact 0ne Since I can remember I have always been arty, as a little girl my Dad used to bring me home lots of pads and pencils from his work (it was his own company so, NO, he was not stealing). I used to play for hours imagining I was an artist or a teacher or in worse case scenario anything that involved paper, pencils and glue like working in a postoffice.

Fact two I nearly got in to art college, this was my dream, my ambition, I so wanted to spend all day doing arty stuff, I spent most of the play times at school in the art room, I had a real cool art teacher who would allow me into the classroom to work on my projects, I even went there when I should have been at other classes..tut...tut... she was so supportive. Sadly this was not the chosen career my family wanted for me and despite getting to the interview and loving the whole experience I was diverted from the path. I went to floristry college instead (a much more suitable profession for your daughter I guess). This is when the rebellion started, yer yer! I am older now with children of my own and I realise that we all go through it. I did get to work in a floristry shop that provided floral decorations for the Royal family so I must have done something right.

Fact Three I buy fabric, wool and paper stuff, I do this instead of taking Prozac!

Fact four I am adopted and the name my birth mother gave me was Dorothy, may be that's why I have a lust for red sparkly shoes?

Fact five I always wanted to marry a vet, well that did not happen. I did, however, work as a Veterinary Practice Manager (OK when I started doing the job it was more like receptionist). This came about as I was told it was unlikely I would have children (Oh how I remember that day, I cried for so long) it was suggested I take a less stressful path in life. I talked it over with my partner and I went for a job in a vets. It was great, I have such great memories of that place, I sat one day with the cutest poorly puppy on my knee, he had a drip in and had to be kept warm, Oh it was such a hard job I can tell you... The worst part of it was the smell of autopsy work on sheep, OH MAN!!! that is such a bad smell.

Fact six Despite being told it was unlikely I would have children I now have two great kids, yer I had a few problems and my body is paying for it, but they have just completed my life and made sense of it all. I think being adopted I went through my life with no identity, I was even teased about it at school, suddenly it all made sense. Two little people I grew inside of me, and continued to feed myself and watch then grow, its amazing, it totally changed my life, the person I was to who I am , the values I had to what I have now , to my faith...
Fact seven I think its really important to think of others. It shocks me how little people actually do this. Its one of the things I teach my children, always think of others.

From silly things like when buying someone a gift, to really give it thought...what would they like, how can you make it extra special, making a cake when someone is feeling sad or a meal if someone is ill-through to the big things in life, thinking about the children who live in boxes in our cities, how hate causes so much pain and suffering. If you are aware of these things you can make a difference.

OK that's my seven facts...a bit serious possibly...maybe the next tag of seven facts for me should be silly facts about me...Do you know I was going to do this four days ago and since then most People I would have tagged have already done it. So I make an open invitation...if you have not been formally tagged, consider yourself TAGGED by me.

I have been surfing a lot lately and found some good blogs and I will gather their addresses up and get them linked up later in the week so you will have some places to be linked to.

PHOTOS (1) The finished Tank top (2) Look Mom I can knit, OK he is pretending, this is the next knitting project the small sized tank for the little one! (3) Who's sand pit is this? (4) I snapped this flower in the garden on a mega photo session, the flower itself is not so perfect but I liked the composition of the flower and the sky.

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...

Happy Easter

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. I have been off line due to a huge computer problem, after four days it was eventually sorted out. After almost nine hours of being worked on it got fixed. Anyway on to the good stuff, this is a corner of my home, my bedroom at about 12.15am Easter morning. I had just finished doing the preparation for the children's Easter Hunt and wrapped the gifts up and it hit me that I could now EAT CHOCOLATE!!! SO that's just what I did whilst reading through a little gift to myself. Yummmmy. By the way this little sewing book and kit is really sweet, I thought it might be a bit too childlike, but it has some good tips and great transfers and despite the plastic hoop, its a fab little gift, and under a tenner! I like the way the book is written, its very friendly and jolly. Just before the chocolate outbreak, hey come on I did just about manage to go the full 40 days and 40 nights and as a chocoholic that's going some, which is the whole point of the exercise! I was keeping my hands busy and spending some loving time with my sewing machine, I made two Tee's for my kids. Little chicks, you might remember some time ago I got the fabric and mentioned I had an idea of what to do with it, well that's the idea now complete, it looks great, one is much better than the other, my work really suffers when I am tired. When I bought the fabric it said it was Anna Maria Horner fabric, which I was very excited about as you struggle to get it here in the UK, I have checked out her web site and not found this design but hey its really cute and I love the fried eggs, but I especially love the colourful hens and chickens fabric, which is used at the back of the Tee's and I still have half of the fat quarter left.
The weather was so stunning all over Easter, we really made the most of being outside, as you can see the garden is starting to lose its drabness and is coming into colour beautifully. The grass needs lots of attention, not helped by a rather busy day when a couple of friends came over for the day, with nine children between us, it was a hectic play day. Boy did the kids have fun.

So my children loved their Tee's and wore them all day, I have some great photos of them hand in hand doing the Easter Egg hunt, holding their cute baskets and helping each other out, this idyllic image soon changed once they were sugared up!!!
I leave you with a picture that just about sums up this Easter for me. My own Easter bunny (Archie) beautiful Cath Kidston fabrics, my favourite blue gingham and my knitting! A corner of contentment.
Its Easter Monday today and after all the good weather we are now getting none stop rain, grey skies and rather miserable. We started the day off with pancakes (well it seemed like a good idea as that's how we started Lent) fun was had tossing the pancakes, lots of chocolate spread and banana's. The children have now gone out for 'pictures and pizza' so I am catching up with a bit of housework and if I have some time (after blogging) I might get some projects worked on, nearly finished the baby knit, on to sewing it up. I need to get up to date with my knitting as I am venturing into my first blog swap and I am doing a knitted project...worried it might not be good enough. I shall tell you more later in the week. It should be good fun and I am keen to get going with it.

Spring into action and lucky finds

Super active today, lots of outdoor cleaning. I have been longing to get into my garden and give it a bit of a makeover, certain areas have gone to ruin. More rubbish cleared away and the cleaning began. Power washer, I have a thing about these, I like to be careful with water, I turn my tap off whilst I clean my teeth that sort of thing. So it goes against the grain to use a power washer, but once a year I spend a very wet couple of hours cleaning the patio. Yep that's my dirty patio!!!The 'Suzie Sews' is how it all is now.
I had a break mid afternoon and had my lunch outside, Oh I can not wait till I am doing this for all my meals. Smoked salmon and scrambled egg and a big mug of Lady Grey tea, my everyday choice of tea, sorry I am not pretentious about tea so I have milk in it.
Whilst clearing out the green house I found this pot, a few bulbs that had not been replanted last year, its amazing how they grow, hardly any light and no water, how cool is nature? My little helper got busy cleaning, I had bought him a cleaning unit with his birthday money, oh Bless him, he was moping, brushing and polishing the sandpit and his pedal car, with comments like 'just like Mommy' now would that be very PC or very un PC? Who cares? I thought it cute and I was able to get on with jobs and he was HAPPY!
I started the day off with a trip to my charity shop, I had spotted some wool in the window, WOW, I am not usually that lucky but I got a big pile of Tee's for my older one all very Surf Dude in style, a couple of books for the boys, seven balls of wool and this fab crochet blanket. Now it is made of acrylic:( it even has that sort of sparky feel to it. I am showing it off to its best advantage, but I think it will be an outdoor blanket, even with its down side I think its great. I bought a cool tent for my boys, the cow boy tent from Cath Kidston, I think it will be ideal to use in here as the evening chill approaches in those long sunny days or it might end up in the camper van on those evening after a day on the beach to snuggle under.
Month of Moo picture today is a small selection of my stamps, as a rule I am not into cutie ones but I loved these and they have been used for party invites, Christmas etc. when sending out things from the children.

Weekend activity

Well its been the usual mix of weather this weekend, Saturday was dull and cold so I stayed in the warmth and got to grips with the cup cake saga!!! I say saga because this is the first knitting I have found hard, if your a die hard white water rafter type knitter you are allowed to laugh at me now. Please remember I am teaching myself here and I eventually got it, well, sort of right. After three tries of knitting the icing I eventually went away from the pattern and just made it up as I went along. Finished, Yippee! So when it came to my afternoon tea break I thought I would present it to my child...he was about as impressed as I was:-(
I obviously need to really practice this knitting in the round...I hope Little cotton rabbits is not reading this, her knitting is fantastic.
Now Sunday was FAB weather, so after doing some chores we hit the garden, the clocks went forward Saturday night and it really marked the change in daylight hours. The children had a great time, all the old summer toys came out, we emptied all the dirty pots and planters, we filled three bin bags full of garden bits ready to go to the tip, so it has started...getting ready for the good weather.
The boys did start cleaning things for me but they ended up filling the paddling pool (including the cleaning water) and out of the recycling made these little boats. How clever and they did float too!

So I have one more week before I need to think about Easter so I am planning to actually get some making done this week. One thing I am knitting is the cutest top for my friends New arrival, but as she reads my blog I can not show you pictures! I also plan to make some dinosaurs and I need to alter some clothes...I better get off my Bum and get on with it...
Wooops forgot my Moo picture I will post it on its own.