Mix Mash

Well its a bit of a mix mash on the posting front today. Yippee the kids have finished school for two weeks. The last week was full of egg competitions, preparing clothes for drama shows...etc so any free time was grabbed between all this plus the usual household chores. This knitting project is on hold whilst I finish the baby knit, on to its sleeves now so I should get it done soon. This one only needs the neck worked on and then finished being sewn up.
Not much chance to get to my sewing machine this week so I have been carrying around my quilting bits and sneaking in a little here and there. (Sorry about the poor quality of the photo, the light was quite poor)!
Now with all the gardening that got done this week, and it is starting to look really good in the garden now, I thought I would get away from wearing my gum boots and treat myself to these clogs, they are a bit like crocs. Love the colour and they are SOOOO comfy! They are not that clean anymore.
OK so March is over, in like a Lion and out like a lamb. How true that saying is for this month. It started off blowing gales, we then had wind, hail, rain, snow and now warm sunny weather.
With the end of the month it marks the end of the Month of Moo. So as you might have guessed I do have a lots of cows, I still have many more, But enoughs enough, thank you for indulging me in this and the support in the emails. SO I shall leave you with this shot, made by oldest child when the nursery was getting ready for the baby. It always makes me smile.

So its the holidays now, I do plan to keep blogging but my priority will be my kids. So I guess I will no doubt share with you the stuff we will do together. So it will be more child orientated. So if you have children I wish you a great time with your babes. We have list of things already drawn up by my oldest child, baking, Easter Egg tree, Farm visit, riding bikes, swimming...the list goes on....

REALITY CHECK

Reality check...I get asked from time to time 'How do you manage to get so much stuff done' I smile sweetly and do not comment. I know the secret!!! I love blog land, its so lovely to see all the pictures of corners of peoples homes, and I admit I love some of my corners, BUT today I am showing you the picture that is the daily truth behind getting stuff done...you don't do other stuff!!! Like house work, well not until you can write your name in the dust! SO I was super busy again yesterday, In the morning I altered a skirt, seem to be taking in a lot of skirts in lately, is this good news or maybe I should not buy the ones that sit on you hips, no good after having a couple of children, not a good look! Then I sat and cut out the dinosaur patterns (more information on this to follow over next week). Ran out the door and left the above mess like this all day. My little helper and I spent the afternoon in the garden, mowing the lawns, sanding the wooden furniture and even started painting the children's picnic table before I had to leave that mid way for the school run... Early evening play outside (ignoring the painting of the table in the middle of the lawn) mostly playing in the sand pit. Then remembering we had an egg to decorate for my older child's school for an Easter Egg competition. Left the mess and then went inside to make more (creative) mess...
Introducing to you 'Chick and Bunny', their little hen house too. Now anyone know how to get superglue of your hands? the bits would not stick so in my wisdom I got my superglue out, not a good plan when working with two excited children, they were not allowed near it, I wish I wasn't!
So then it was bedtime, as the children chilled out with their bedtime milk and cookies I ran round the garden like a mad women clearing up the mess. Sadly I left the washing up, not like me I usually like to get this done first, now I know why. Children asleep, a quick tidy up of the dinosaur mess and a pleasant hour knitting whilst watching Desperate Housewife's, Ewww! Knitting with lumps of super glue on your skin is not a nice experience. Time for bed, OH NO NOT THE DISHES. I fell into bed just before midnight. Yippee my little one slept through and he was so pleased with himself (not as pleased as me!) 'Mommy I a good boy I stayed in my room'
Finally the Month of Moo picture, My friends know how much I love my Moos and this is a card I was sent a year ago and it takes pride of place in my stamping room. Have a good day...

WARNING WARNING WARNING

My spell checker is not working, I pressed it to go and it said 'DONE SPELLING' not a single spelling wrong, MMMMM!!!! This can not be right, I put in an incorrect word and you guessed it, it did not highlight it. SO I am a little nervous at posting this, I can not read my own spelling errors, cut me some slack today please, I apologise in advance.

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.

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.

Going round in circles

Oh My! yesterday was just such an unexpected social day. I spent the whole day chatting, I had an invite for lunch from a friend and before we knew it it was school run time, both our little boys had the best time playing together and they made some great ladybird cakes...flour everywhere!!! My friend has just stopped being a Bodyshop consultant and was getting rid of her stock...FAB FOR ME!!! I got a HUGE bag full of goodies. VERY HAPPY! Then I spent the early evening on the phone with various people phoning to see if our Friend had had her baby yet. It was good to catch up with old friends. Sadly my boys did not get much Mummy time because of this, but they got their Dino Track out and ran it through the house so they actually had a good time. In the evening I curled up on the sofa and watched Pans Labyrinth. I had my cup cake knitting at the ready(see above picture as proof of my not so good effort) SHOCK...the film was in subs, I had no idea, so it was knitting down, glasses on. It was a great film, two excellent story lines running through it, a little scary and in parts down right horrific but equally beautiful. It is as good as all the reviews say, I would say it would take someone with a good imagination to REALLY enjoy it, you do have to allow yourself to get sucked into the film or it just would not have any effect on you.
So with all this activity not a single stitch got knitted, not a single photograph was taken...No wait I did make a few patchwork stitches whilst at breakfast with the boys...That was it, I can not believe I did not take a single picture...
The latest Month of Moo picture is one of my favourites, I got the Moo on a holiday in Yorkshire with my boys a few years ago and its on the nursery bedroom door, its a very child like Moo and of course its wood and I have a real passion for this wonderful natural material.

Boo!

Well I am in the middle of a number of projects at the moment, to many to go into and some so nearly finished...(usual story). So today is a bit of a disjointed post until I get organised. Yesterday was such a treat, after all the excitement of the last two weeks we had a quite day at home, my little poppet spent the afternoon playing in the garden, the sun was warm and quite bright, so whilst he played in the soil (planting all the birds sunflowers seeds) I sat with a pot of tea and tried my hand at knitting in the round...AHHHH I have always been so scared to to this but I so wanted to knit a cup cake...We are not on are own in the garden, Archie our pet rabbit was lopping around, he just popped on to the blog to say...BOO! Anyway the knitting did not go to well, I manged to knit in the round, messy but I did it, the case was done and it looks cute, when I came to make the top, I tried twice and each time it was far to small. So I nipped to the local charity shop today to pick up another set of sock needles (18p) so I can have a try with larger needles, it does say this on the pattern but I am not one for following direction, maybe I should? SO after one bad knit I thought I would show you one that turned out well. I admired a scarf like this last year in a knitting shop (which sadly is now closed) it was crochet, well I can chain and I can make my own flowers but I can not follow a pattern so I gave up on making one. Then I found a really easy pattern for the same style scarf but knitting. Its done in Debbie Bliss wool, Oh how I love her wool. I am really pleased with it but it has been more of a decoration rather than something to wear.
So here is today's Month of Moo picture, which is also a corner of my home, its my art table. I bought the Mug from the hospice that my Dad passed away in so it has huge sentimental value for me, when it got cracked I was so upset, my friend suggested using it for storage, so that's what I did and now I have it for inspiration by my paper arts corner. The blue storage with flowers on came from my best mate in Australia, she made it for me...cool eh?

NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS...
My friend who moved away in January, has just phoned me to say her waters have broken and she is on her way to hospital...I am SOOOOOOO excited. It only seems like yesterday that I was sat with her at knitting night while she was trying to get pregnant and was feeling very upset and warn out by it all as each month passed, so today is a HAPPY day, God Bless you my friend and the soon to be new arrival.

Lets go outside...

Lets go outside (George Michael song now going around in my head) This reminds me of no appropriate behaviour's blog, I had been reading for a few months before I realised that all her title's are songs...Mmmmm that was a Homer Simpson 'DOH'! moment for me. Sometimes I can be so so thick!;-) Anyway we went out yesterday and when we returned home it was snowing with a good layer of snow already on the ground. My oldest was SOOOO happy, sadly my wee one was fast asleep. He did not miss out as when they awoke this morning it was bright and sunny (yer around 5.30am) They pulled on their wellies and ran into the garden with shouts of glee. So strange our weather at the moment, whilst it is snowy it is lovely and warm, not hot but no need for coats. So I thought I would show you a few views from my house, personally I think they are lovely but then I chose to leave here so I would I guess... The first one is the view from my wee ones nursery, I remember all those days and nights nursing him in his big rocker and just starring at this view, we call it cow hill for obvious reasons. The next one is from the front of the house and the third one is the stream at the bottom of our grove. Blue skies all the way. Mothers day was a good day here, I did get a lovely treat and a hand made bunch of flowers. After a lazy morning we all piled into the car and drove to my Mums, picked her up and went for dinner at my brothers. He does not have kids and he adores mine so they just had the best time. Mothers day always makes me a little thoughtful. I am adopted so I tend to think about my birth Mom, oddly on the trip home my oldest child asked me completely out of the blue why my Mom had given me away, it threw me somewhat.
Anyway whilst with my family my blog was mentioned, my Mum's just not interested and changed the subject quickly, and my brother, well lets just say he likes to have a bit of a giggle about his little sister. Its so funny, the person they chose to think I am, every few years this opinion changes but mostly they just like to have a laugh at me. DO I mind? sometimes yes and other times I just enjoy the fact that they have this funny picture of me, its quite endearing. I am happy with who I am. I do have this incredible need to make things, it can be quite overpowering at times and they can not understand why I do not just go out and buy what I want. I can not really explain it myself, I have had this need all my life, I have always sewn, played with wool, painted, drawn, cooked just made things...some good some not so good. SO how do you help someone to understand that this is crucial to who you are when they do not have any of these needs.
Oh that all sounds rather serious and its not its just a light observation of family life and the dynamics that go on within it. So its birthday party time tomorrow and I have heaps to do. So I better away and tidy up the weekends mess and start with the Super Hero cake. Today's Month of Moo picture is my cow from the cow parade, its a 'Super Moo' he wanted to get in on the outdoor action but despite being a Super Hero he still gets cold feet!!!

Happy Birthday my boys

Welcome back, its still the month of Moo so here is today's Moo. Its been a great couple of days, thanks for coming back to me. Well I took off for a little holiday, I went away for a couple of days to really celebrate my boys big days. We went to the cottage and just had the BEST time. It was sooo relaxing and the weather was fab, sunny and warm, we even had a birthday lunch out on the terrace in the warm sunshine. Lots of swimming, walking and bike riding was had. Plus lots of opening gifts and even lots of sleeping...
So Happy Birthday my boys you are the best guys and I love you so much.
This is the view form our backdoor, it does not really show how sunny it was but believe me it was great. A real treat to get away from it all. This is what I got up to, I have been going to knit this for ages and I wanted something to take with me that I could do without to much concentration. I was put off that you have nearly 6oo stitches to cast on. Anyway I got busy, carried it around in a little plastic baggie and it went on the walks with us, to the pool, sitting in the sun and curled up in front of the fire until it was complete...
It goes great with a spring pink linen coat I have. So roll on spring time, the lambs are being born, the trees are in blossom, the daffodils are in full bloom, is life just great? You Bet!

Shopping goodies

After another try of ringing British Rail lost property today, we have accepted that the present is now for someone else or is on sale at EBAY. Feeling very sorry for myself especially after another horrendous nights sleep. My youngest basically was awake a number of time through the night and decided he might just as well get up...yes it was still the early hours and there was no going back to sleep. Anyway lets talk quilting. This is really coming on now I have around twelve blocks. I am learning so much stuff on this course and its such a nice way to focus on just one thing. The first block is a little bit sugary in colours but it does blend in well with the overall colour scheme.
This one was a tricky one, a lot of thought in getting the fabric the right way so it stretches correctly. I really like these colours. The shop attached to the course is selling second hand books, so I picked this one up for the price of a magazine, it has some really fun ideas in it. Also the Homespun book, this is a great reference magazine and has a really good pull out that you usually do not need to go to a photocopy store to get enlarged. This bugs me when I am wanting to make something then realise I need to get the pattern enlarged.
These are some of the new stunning fabrics out at the moment, so yummy, they remind me of sugar almonds, although not a good photo I admit, it was late last night when I took them. Some nice textures going on within the fabric.
Finally my Month of Moo picture. I had been looking at Frenchknots lovely frames and I think this is why I picked this one up. It was only when I got home did I realise the sewing was not finished off at the foot. It is a mass marketed product so its not a surprise I guess. I was cross, as a crafter I would never allow my work to go out like this.
Well its birthday week for my children this week. I am going to be spending time with them and doing the last minute bits, baking cakes, sewing a hero cape etc... so I am going to take a couple of days off the blog. I will be back towards the end of the week, please stay with me, you are keeping me sane at the moment. Do you know anyone of my friends or family that know I keep a blog just think I am a bit odd, well actually sad (Oh accept for my mate Caroline, who is a great pal who understands the need to create). I know I should not get upset about it as they think the fact that I make rather than buy is sad so its nothing new. When I discovered all the craft blogs I remember feeling that actually it was OK to be like this and in fact it was actually something to be proud of. Why do people who do not see the world the way you do assume you are the silly one. OK off my soap box now and once again thanks for taking the time to read my witter...

Have a great few days.

Oh Bum!!!

Well after the busy day yesterday I settled down in the evening with a glass or two of wine before I organised all the 'stuff' I needed for the workshop. It was such a treat, I so enjoy these classes. I worked on two blocks, photo's will be posted tomorrow if all goes well. I bought some new fat quarters, LUSH!!! I bought a secondhand book, a new Homespun magazine and a felting tool. SO quite a good day. Eight hours later I was back home, greeted by demands of milk and dinner from my little poppets. I really enjoyed the day and was generally feeling good about life. The boys had spent the day in the city, they had bought my Mothers day present. Suddenly there was the realisation that the gift did not come home with them but, had been left on the train. I did not get too upset, Mother's day gifts are usually a token and the home made card is the important part for me, or in one years case a cool little handmade book with lots of hand drawings in it held together with a safety pin. Apparently this was a VERY special gift. It was a speaker and dock for my Ipod!!! Man can you believe it how great is that, after numerous calls to British Rail's lost luggage, its no surprise, it has not been handed in. Someone someplace is holding a very exciting FREE gift. I am lost for words, it was a real big thing, as money at the moment is an issue, it being Birthday Month. The boys are upset, and not wanting to sound materialistic so was I. So that's our great news for today...Oh Bum!!! A nicer post next time with some photos of this weekends goodies.

Busy little soul

Oh Mann! It has been SO busy around here, I thought this week was going to be an easy one, who was I kidding!!! Restaurant Thursday went off well, the sign was finished and put up, the bell is for my oldest to ring to say the restaurant is open, its a great way to get him to lay out the table. (Note: the cow, this is a sneaky 'today's' picture for Month of Moo). The food was all eaten up, the waitress (me) had to work real hard, and these little customers give a great tip...lots of kisses!!!
I have spent a lot of time sitting here over the last couple of days between school runs etc...
Busy making these, all finished now... Party Bags for the 'Super Hero party'
These are the recipe cards, thanks Caroline for emailing me the the recipe. Can you spy all my lovely papers...
Its my patchwork course tomorrow and I can not wait. A bit of luxury time for Mommy. Today has been manic, a whirl wind of people and children through my door and a visitor for dinner tonight...I thought I had a clear morning to write my blog, after I had made some soup and filled the slow cooker with a Greek Stew the door bell goes, two friends popping in to say Hi, after the nursery run a couple of friends and their four children arrived for lunch, the kids had a GREAT time, off to the library for story time and then the school run. At home for a breather then off out to collect my oldest child just in time for our guest to arrive...Phew, take a breath Suzie...
Have a great weekend.

Corner's of my home

Corner's of my home... I am slowly giving my kitchen a bit of character. I spend Lots of time in there, its my favourite room in the house. So its quite messy and a bit busy. I have lots of things out on the units as I have to be in there so much I can not be bothered with all the reaching in and out of cupboards for things like tea, herbs, mixers etc... SO I am trying to make it better. The kids have their art table in the kitchen and we have a cushion laden sofa in there too. As its a wooden style floor it also makes a great runway or train track for the children...get the picture? So I have bought a few bits over the last few months, quite a few Nigella tins. A new table cloth and ironing cover not to mention seat cushions. So really I should bite the bullet and paint the magnolia walls. Not keen on the work involved in this so when I saw this great idea on SouleMama's blogs I thought 'MMMmmm that would cover up that space and hide the crack appearing in the wall.' SO looked at the tutorial at Purl Bee and with in a few hours it was complete. I like the idea that I can change it when the mood takes me, could do with a few more hoops.
SO I am back to juggling a few projects on the go at once, its birthday Month for my kids and I am busy thinking about my youngest child's party, just a small gathering this year. I usually throw myself into party's and end up decorating the walls and have been known to produce a rocket and a castle made from boxes. But it will only be for a coupe of children this year. So this is the start of the goodie bags, very basically made. I need to find an easy recipe for cookies to go in the back with cookie cutters I have...or maybe some play dough? Any idea's welcome.
Month of Moo picture. I was asked about 'Why Moo' yer its kind of silly, sorry to bore you...but I like my collection of Moos and I am just showing them off...please forgive me...

Half a stone

There is a good reason for not posting for the last couple of days...I will fill you in later. So on Friday after much running around I manged to get everything done. Even the flowers turned out OK, I had my little helper with me, this normally makes it a very long job but he was very good and quietly played in the corner whilst Mommy got busy with her scissors.
Our friends coach was late which sadly meant I was unable to meet him in the city as I had the school run to do , so I met a rather bedraggled friend from the local train station after a six hour trip. I managed to get the dinner cooked so that we could all eat together and we had a nice friendly supper with us all together catching up on things and some rather nice wine, well I had actually bought a rather expensive bottle which was sadly corked but the cheaper one went down well. The boys had been given some brilliant gifts from their God Father and they had played with them all evening and fell asleep quickly despite all the excitement.
On the Saturday we took a drive over the moors to a market town, had lunch in an 'average' pub then went for a walk, first around town, lots of great charity shops here but sadly did not get much thrifting done...well none actually. Then for a walk up to the woods. The weather was dull but it was dry. All the blue bells have started to leaf up, I guess spring really is on its way...yippee. I had planned another nice meal for Saturday evening, this time without the children. I was putting the boys to bed so I could get on with supper when I felt most odd. I carried on through it and eventually I had to throw in the towel... Oh boy...I do not need to give you the details all you need to know is within six hours I had lost half a stone. I was awakened at two in the morning by my older child feeling sick with tummy pains. After a cuddle and a bowl by his bed he eventually drifted off to sleep. He awoke fine, I on the other hand felt like I had been in a boxing ring. I wounder if our friend will ever come and see us again...
Today's Month of Moo picture.

Due to illness no crafting accomplished...