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.......................................................

Watching the seasons pass by...

Is it an age thing, that suddenly the time is going by too quickly? Is it that I see my children growing too fast? Is it the end of another summer, time to hunker down for the worst of the British weather...

I am aware of each and every passing season this year, more so than usual, the changes, the smells and mostly the colours that each season brings with its own particular time.
The way the light changes, the warmth or lack of it from the sun, the colours of the moors around me, what the farmers are doing with their crops and what animals are snaffling around.
The seasons are also marked by my hands, what I desire in my hands changes with the passing of the seasons, cooling cottons in the summer and rich warm wool in the winter, I sew more in the summer and I knit more in the winter. The food I cook changes also, my cookery books lay out before me as I try and look for economical heart warming dishes and I think about getting the slow cooker out for another stint of 'stew' cooking...
So as it gets darker and the weather chills the heart of the home, a new 'hottie' cover is made to keep me snug at night...
I love this spotty fabric, I love spots, but I bought this years ago and have used many meters of the fabric, it always makes me smile, especially when I look at my youngest babe and I remember I made fleece nappy covers with this happy fabric, hard to imagine now as my youngest runs into school with mischief in his eyes... Yes the passing of time features daily for me at the moment. Lots of thoughts of this time last year, so much is the same and equally so much is so different.

Whatever you are up to as the last days of Autumn pass us by I wish you happiness and good health. Half term here next week, I am busy sorting out crafty things for the children and I to do as we run off for our last week to our little place by the sea and bid it a heartfelt sad goodbye.

Chasing away the blues...

As another evening brings the weekend to a close, I sit here at my kitchen table while my babes sleep peacefully, a glass of rich red wine in hand to send a glow to my cheeks, I reflect on the last few days. The coughs and colds have dragged us down a little and halted our usual play. Not one to miss an opportunity though I did snuggle up under the quilts with my wee ones and start to sew together my blanket...I am so loving the colors and the peaceful therapy the repetitive action this project brings to me.
Its also been a time for catching up on a few unfinished projects, including the knitted cupcakes, usually finished off with a cherry I thought a change was in order and I used the lovely personable 'Little Cotton Rabbits' free pattern for a cupcake flower, rather pleased with the results too.
There is only so much of 'staying in' my boys and I can cope with... so when the calpol had kicked in we escaped for the weekend by the beach, only we never got to the beach, we relished the gifts of Autumn and went on a little nature walk in its place.
With the trees showing off their own fireworks, the chill in the air and the beautiful light that filters through the late afternoon air, it was a perfect day for a walk through the woods. The children running through the fields and splashing in the stream...
...yes if only Autumn did not mark the end of the summer I could truly enjoy this season...

I hope your weekend was bathed in the rays of the Autumnal sun and your time was spent with loved ones...

Bag it...

We have been hit by swine flu... well a bad cold or what ever seems to be the thing that's going around. Its meant time not leaving the home for many days. With lots of cuddles and calpol!!!Nights spent checking temperatures and days changing bedding. But with a few hours of children spent curled up on the sofa covered in quilts sipping juice, I actually sat down and got my sewing head on...
Its Autumn, which means a new season which in turn equals a new bag...
So taking my inspiration from the colours of the season I played about with some scraps and put this little number together...
A bag that makes me smile!!!
Amazing what a little bundle of felt can inspire....

Accepting Autumn...

Autumn is a funny time for me, I appreciate the beautiful colours I even look forward to the warm cosy evenings snuggling up in front of the fire with beautiful wool to knit with or cosy cord to sew. Spending time in my kitchen in the day cooking up hearty meals and of course getting my slow cooker out for all those warming stews and casseroles. But... I am a summer girl and of course Autumn marks the end of those long lovely days out in the fresh air, time spent on beaches and swimming in the sea, eating food outside and BBQs, flowing easy dressing, make up free thanks to the freckles the sun has blessed me with. Yes its a time of sadness for me. However with so much change going on in my life I am more accepting even welcoming this year of the visible changes on the land that mark the passing of time.
Yes, accepting... enjoying the dew kissed grass in the early mornings as I let the animals out to play for the day, the change in clothes as I pull out all my beautiful knitted tops which wrap around me like a second skin, re heeling my favourite boots and sorting out my socks and funky tights ready for the cooler days.
Of course if your a blog reader you can not helped but have noticed the many posts about the seasonal fruits, sadly my pair tree has a nasty disease and the pears are inedible this year, but the apples (not from my own garden but a welcome gift) are a treat this year, so on a cooler, wetter day whilst the babes worked hard at school, this Mommy peeled chopped and baked...
Topping up the larder and the freezer, little bags of apple sauce ready for a winters worth of roast dinners and of course Christmas Dinner with homemade apple sauce and pies for those times when you need a treat of a pudding... did I really say Christmas then?
Yes I accept the changes around me and this year I even embrace it, without even realising it I have noticed my selection of colours has changed from bright to darker earthy tones in what I wear and indeed what I sew.....

I wish you a wonderful week as day by day the leaves on the trees change and the grass needs mowing less...

Happy Hooker

Back in my kitchen after a couple of glorious days on the beach, it felt like the last few days of summer and as the seasons are changing I wanted to get out there and make the most of the warm rays of sunshine on my skin before I pull on the long sleeves and boots! SO forgive my absence but I was doing what I do best and spending time on the beach.
When not on the beach this past week, I was sitting in my rather overgrown garden (due to being away at the beach all summer) trying to teach myself to crochet, you may remember I tried this a couple of years ago and I just got frustrated by all the ends to sew in. A little wiser now and with the desire to make a ripple crochet blanket with stash, (my yarn diet lasted 9 weeks, then I needed to finish a project and had to buy a couple of balls). The desire outweighs my capabilities and as I poked around blogland I saw I was not the only one with this desire, must be the thought of the cooler and darker evenings. The lovely MOOGSMUM directed me to ATTICA24. A delight of a blog, and with the news of a new baby, I poured through the many pages of this informative and beautifully put together blog.
SO I sat with my laptop and my knitting bag and worked through one of her tutorials. Within a couple of days I was one Happy Hooker...
But what about the sewing? Well my thoughts have returned to my sewing and its just time that is keeping me away from my sewing room. So it was a delight of an opportunity to go and spend a day with friends doing a little hand sewing using the fabric that I had dyed earlier in the year. (See this post).
After selecting my design, I light boxed the pattern on to the fabric, layered up with wadding and backing muslin, with the 'rocking technique' I sewed little stitches all the way around the pattern. Therapy for the soul indeed, I felt calm, relaxed and happy as I sipped my tea and eating too many bickies, chatting and catching up with what my friends had got up to in the summer, yes a pleasant way to spend the day indeed.

Back home...

We return to normality, if you can call my home life normality. The summer holidays are over and both children reluctantly went into school. The summer holiday was a huge success, a feeling of 'I done it' fills my heart. My first year as a single Mom, seven weeks on my own with (in my opinion) the best two children in the world. It had its challenges, but we tackled them head on and came out smiling.So after weeks of living out of ikea bags I am now spending a few days being intimate with my washing machine!!!

The family home feels empty, unloved, and kinda soulless so I am moving from room to room removing dust and plumping up cushions. Attacking the post pile and paying the bills. Making phone calls and cleaning up the mess.

Every so often I pop into my sewing room and I get that tingle in my fingers, itching for some free time to spend creatively. Ahhh my beautiful sewing machine, give me a day or so and I will be with you.

So as I get in to my rhythm, after the cleaning, food shopping and baking are done I will be resuming normal Suzie Sews 'STUFF'...

I reluctantly welcome in September and all that Autumn brings us.

gypsy...

My heart lifts in the summer, it fills me with the desire to travel. To spend time with friends and to eat lots of yummy food in the sunshine. Yes endless picnics, hearing friends laughter and finding sand in places that, well, sand just should not be!!!My Mom has always called me a gypsy, as a young adult I always moved around and never really laid roots down, If I was unhappy at work I would up sticks and move someplace else. A year was the average time for me to stay still. Then I hit thirty, it was a life changing time for me. I got married, I started to save money, I made a home and I grew a little baby within my tummy. Yes for the first time in my life I put roots down. My little family was added too. Two children, rabbits and other small little animals I made a little nest and felt complete. The desire to travel and experience life left me, I no longer had the need to to live out of a suitcase or always be looking at what I could do or be next.
But you know, life is a funny old thing and things change. You just do not know what is around the corner ready to shake you up and change your whole view on the world. I do not feel 'nesty'and secure anymore, the need to move and experience life is getting back in my soul. It scares me, it also excites me. This summer I have hardly been at home and to be honest I have not missed it, OK I confess my sewing room has a pull on me. So this seven weeks of time with my children, we have hardly been at home except for a day here and a day there to wash our clothes and pack for the next trip or fulfill a commitment. I have spent hours sitting on my veranda at my beach house (caravan;) !) sipping fresh coffee and knitting whilst my children run around in the sunshine. Sharing good times with my children and friends.
Days spent on beaches, each beach offering a different view, a different memory from East to West of the United Kingdom, yes this summer we have so enjoyed our beach time despite the intermittent rain.
The children laughed and played and I believe they have grown flippers instead of feet...
For years, I dreamed about having my own camper van, and this summer I have in fact lived the dream. Making camp by the beach for a few days or just making a Hot Chocolate to warm us up on a wet windy day, or using it as a dressing room after a dip in the cold sea, yes my little camper has been a treat.

Life changes and sometimes its not pretty, I guess this time next year the camper and the caravan will no longer be ours, someone else will be enjoying the life we love so much. For my children I think this is the part I find so sad, BUT I will not let this take the fun out of the moment and as we approach the last week of the holidays I am off again for a week by the sea, the animals are being looked after and bags are packed, this week I am even taking my sewing machine with me...

SO before the autumnal days crisp up, before the nights close in, just give me one more week of living for the moment, a week by the beach, some sun and most of all... my children.

Normal craft blogging will resume in September... until then let me make the most of the last days of summer.

Be happy...

Beauty all around...

It never stops to amaze me that no matter what is going on in your life, how ever sad or confused you might feel, if you take the time to open your eyes there is so much beauty all around us.  Now I admit I am more optimistic than most, it has been commented on that I live in a bubble gum world, but you know there is so much sad and bad things going on in the world I don't consider this a negative remark.  What can I say, its the British Summer time, yes the rain continues to fall and the days can be grey but when the sun comes out and you feel the warmth on your skin, how can you not look around and smile... especially with your children..The writing is a little slow, to be fair it is pretty much none existent, I apologise, the children are with me and we are making the most of every moment.  When we have a little spare change in our pockets we treat ourselves to afternoon tea with scones and cakes...
If we are a little short then its a little pic nic on the beach.
Whilst Mommy keeps up with her knitting...
The children wade off on  sea adventures. (My sons leg is now healing well, I thank you for all your comments of support, fabulous scar though!!!)
We play on a beach that has a never ending supply of natural clay... Mmmm I am getting quite a few dried out little 'makes' around the house and my holiday cottage by the sea, which is of course my caravan ;)

I am home for a few days, longing to get back to the beach.  Whilst home I am spending the evening in my sewing room, the vibe is starting to come back and whilst I know September brings many changes into my families life, I think the sewing groove will see me through, my head is so full of ideas and how can I not be inspired when I sit in my little room, surrounded by fabrics, rows of books filled with inspiration and my much loved sewing machine...

Happy days to you and yours...

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.