Autumn break catchup

So my gypsy travelling is now over for another year, I spend most of my Spring and Summer weekends heading out to the beach. With the last half term holiday of the year I headed out one last time to stand on a deserted beach, feel the sea breeze through my hair, take in the sights, sounds and smells of this special place, this place that makes me feel at peace with the world no matter what is going on in my life. Yes indeed, I have said it before and I will say it again, the beach is a special place for my the soul...
At this time of year it offers a place of solitude and empowerment, its vast expanse of sand and never ending sea makes me happy to be alive. So the children and I spent as much time as possible here, we set up camp near the sand dunes, a little camping stove to make a bowl of pasta and pesto to keep the chills away.
Whilst the babes played in the sand and ran their little legs off I snuggled up under a blanket and pulled out my yarn, yes many things have been knitted and hooked on the beach this year.
We stayed each day until the warmth from the sun dissipated and the light started to fade...
Of course time on the beach would not be complete without a paddle in the sea...
But it is Autumn break and this means lots of walks through woods, the simple pleasure of kicking up leaves and listening to the children giggle as they lose themselves in the piles of fallen leaves, collecting token gifts from the season, rich blood red leaves and acorn cups...
Yes the delights of the season we enjoyed to the full. It was a difficult time for me personally, this holiday marks the first anniversary to the devastating changes that have gone on in my life, this time last year my life was in a different place and I was indeed a different person, it fills my heart with sadness at the loss and pain. Then I look at the year I have been through and I gain strength through all I have achieved on my own, I am ME, if anything I am now a better ME as I am indeed happier. The people I spend time with now want to be with me, like me for who I am and allow my creative spirit to shine.
I am a Mom and my creativity is a huge part of who I am and why I mother the way I do. I have learnt a lot this year, I still have some learning to do. BUT... my children are the absolute centre of my world, the gift that they are fills me with awesomeness. Indeed my life my be different, with worries, uncertainty and instability BUT... it is filled with love, riches beyond the material world and full of existing opportunities...
When the going gets tough this family gets the paint out, finds a creative space and we do 'our thing' until our soul is settled again.
So the week drew to an end the leaves are now nearly all on the ground, the land is snuggling up under the earth to rest, ready to flourish and bloom again next spring...

I hope your week was filled with memories to warm you through the coming months, its that time when the nights draw in, getting cosy under quilts, watching movies, eating pop corn, red wine, deep baths with candles and fluffy white towels, flickering fires to warm your toes up on, beautiful wool yarn and creative evenings and wet weekends splashing in puddles...

Enjoy

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...

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...

Birthday break......

Its that time of year, strawberries and cream, champagne and tennis.  Which to me means its my birthday, half way through the year, June, the sun is shinning, the air is warm and its time to take stock.  Yes there is something about birthdays  that makes me want to think about things. The place  I am at, how I got here and what I want to do in the future, its often quite emotional as I go through this process, but its a positive experience a time to make changes and plans for the future.Yes its a 'Daisy' moment.  My love of the simple daisy and all that it inspires in me, simplicity and purity.  This little daisy was my birthday present from my youngest child, could you wish for a better gift?
So I took a few days off, the children and I headed to the beach.  It was all a little last minute (sorry I never dropped in to say goodbye) and as these things often turn out, It was a lovely birthday, sitting on the beach all day until the sun lost all its strength and I pulled a sweater over my shoulders whilst watching my children play in the water, listening to their laughter and the sound of the waves whilst sipping Hot Chocolate and eating birthday cake.  I had free time to think, to dream and to plan... 
Of course I took my knitting with me and I picked up a project I started a while ago and never got into, another pair of socks, well just one so far.  I turned the heel on the beach and settled in for the evening with a bottle of fizz and some nibbles and just let the yarn flow through my fingers whilst I relaxed to the sound of my babes snoring gently after a day in the surf.
The next day we headed inland, walking along the cliffs and sitting in fields of clover and watching the wildlife (thanks Spring Watch).
Sadly the birthday break ended in a trip to A & E with my eldest child cutting his leg rather badly, nine stitches later and a bandage from his ankle to his thigh, it was not how we planned to spend our last few hours away, it had been a lovely lazy, sunny Sunday afternoon.  A brave boy indeed and with a week off school I am pleased to have the company at home.

I hope your weekend was a good one and the hot weather is suiting you.  

Tinkering...

OK I confess, I have an inability to concentrate at the moment, tick tick tick...I find I am just watching time passing me by a second at a time.  Some days I awake and I am in 'full on' action mode, the washing gets done, the house gets cleaned and I even manage some time sewing.  Then there are those other days I struggle to get out of bed in the morning and the day just sort of gets lost... I have noticed I am am having more of the latter than I find acceptable,  despite the present situation I find my little family in.  So I am trying to take action.  Whats a crafty girl going to do when the going gets tough??? Well get crafting of course... now inspired by some yarn and a knitting book I bought a while ago I finally got round to some chicken knitting.  I had planned to knit these a while ago and when I saw .....Periwinkle Park.....  (8th May 09) results I was inspired to pick up the pins.  Something that needed shaping, a little concentration even but, quick results...
So I sat there on Saturday night in front of the fire with a quilt over my knee and watching a tear jerker of a film with a good glass of wine for company I got clacking (or should that be clucking) away.
Ahhhhhhhh I am now on to the crochet bits, as I do not crochet very well this could be challenging...

I have been really good this year on my book buying and only actually bought a couple of books.  Recently though I have had a desire to hold some new inspirational books in my hands.  So I took a peek through blogland and noted down the books recommended and made some purchases.  As the books arrived the guilt of buying myself something kicked in.  It disturbed me a little, I looked back on last years 'May'  postings and I discovered I had bought a pile of books at just the same time.  SO I am guessing its a season thing with me, after the bleakness of winter passing and the promise of sunny days, the in between stage of rainy days and gloriously sunny days, it aspires me to get lost in the beautiful pages and the wonderful photographs of these books...
I am slowly working my way through them, devouring each book with passion, my head is spinning with ideas and my design pad is getting scribbled in daily.  My guilt in these purchases is still there, but I justify them against the price of a meal out or of a few drinks in a county pub on a Sunday afternoon, things I just do not do anymore, and I feel that taking that into account, these books are good value, and what is more they will last me for years to come.  I am especially enjoying the Homemade book, to be fair its nothing none of us will find new, but the photography is superb and I adore the feel of the matt pages, not shiny and glossy but a lovely smooth papery texture...just beautiful.  Should you buy a book for beauty alone...I should think so!!!
Its also that time of year when the food I feed my family changes.  The heavy warming stews cooked in the slow cooker and the thick creamy soups of winter are now not being made.  I sift through my cookery book shelf looking for brighter, lighter summery dishes.  So once again fresh inspiration is required... with books like these, Voluptuous delights, Family cooking and the wonderful Bill Granger's Feed me... well there will be some goodness  being put out on the dinner table this summer that's for sure.  My favourite cooks are the fabulous Jamie Oliver who's energy and zest for living really speaks to me.  The other favourite is Bill Granger, his books are always so beautifully photographed and the lifestyle he puts over is incredibly appealing to me (OK I give in I also find him very attractive)... 
The opening words from his cookery book...I really don't think we can underestimate the importance of good food in our lives.  Providing nutritious and delicious meals for loved ones-and taking time to eat together-is one of life's prime sources of satisfaction.  It is also fundamental to good health and happiness.  But, in today's world, where the pace of life seems to be ever increasing, and we are all juggling competing priorities, time for preparing and sharing meals can easily be compromised.  But it needn't be... and should not be.

Well I could not have said it better myself if I tried...The book is filled with family orientated food, with excellent (and available) ingredients, all laid out in easy to follow  chapters with stunning pictures.  Yes maybe its a lifestyle kinda thing but his books are the most inspiring for me and if you get a chance to watch his cookery programmes, pull on your shades, imagine the sand between your toes and the salty sea spray as you enjoy outdoor eating!

Music I am listening to... Nelly Furtado In Gods Hands

A beautiful person with a stunning voice, a song that rips through my heart about love lost, trust and sadness. 

Let them eat cake...

We had a little celebration in the 'Suzie Sews Household' a little birthday party.  Which was just the excuse I needed to pull out my favourite table linen and use my brand new muffin tray.  (Bought from the Pampered Chief at a PTA fund raising event).
Now I am not a big fan of gadgets and despite one of my favourite places within my home being my kitchen and I love baking, I actually have very little on the gadget front.  Now do not get me wrong, I guess if I thought about it I could easily go out and buy all sorts of goodies, I particularly lust after the beautiful food mixers that are indeed a piece of art in their appearance alone, oh and Santa if your reading this I would like it in red!!!  But the thing is it costs £300.00 and I use a hand blender that I bought many years ago and cost under £20.00.  It takes up less space so means I have more space for my ever increasing obsession with plates and crockery.
No, my kitchen is no show kitchen, it is the heart of my family, its the place we start the day and its the place most of our family time takes place in.  Its busy, its messy, usually noisy and quite frankly could be a lot cleaner.  The kitchen table is the centre of the kitchen, it is always cluttered with my latest knitting or sewing project, papers to sort through, the children's homework, a glass of wine in the evening, and of course we also eat at it.  Yes the table to me is more important than the gadgets I could have. My table itself has history as does the miss matching chairs, there is love, tears, joy and sadness polished into the wood of the everyday trails and tribulations of family life.  Shiny and new it is not!
But saying all of this I was particularly excited about my NEW muffin tray, I fell for all the talk of perfectly cooked moist cakes and the perfect Yorkshire puddings.  SO I thought I would have a play and I was not disappointed.  Later that evening we sung Happy Birthday before eager hands reached out for cakes...
Yes my kitchen is a welcoming place, as long as you like the 'homely' look.  Minimalist and designer are not words used to describe any place within my home.  Sometimes I lust after a simpler less cluttered area, that was easy to clean, but then I know my lifestyle would have to be different.  Personally when my children come home from school and they walk through the door, the smell of baking greets them and they squeal 'Mmmmmmmm Mommy's been baking' and they rush to the kitchen to see what after school snack awaits them, I smile, surly this is better than having a clean, tidy and trendy home, well almost!

Show and tell next, I have been busy...

A place of peace...

When life gets the 'Suzie Sews family' down we head off to the beach.  This weekends was the first time this year it felt like summer.  There is something about days like these, there is a smell, a sensation an excitement that words just can not describe.  So after a morning of an alfresco breakfast under a tree (our family tree called Leafco, yes we really do name our tress), we packed up the car with windbreak, buckets and spades, yummy food and the essential flask of Hot Chocolate.We set up camp on our favourite beach, the children made sand castles, because your never to cool or too old to make sand castles.  A rather nice person helped me with my windbreak, juggling two children and all the beach stuff I am unable to carry a mallet for the windbreak so I rather clumsily dig holes and post in my windbreak, this exhibition of silliness usually takes a good 15 minutes and takes all three of us to complete. Apparently it was causing a family some delight and eventually my 'Knight in shining armour' came over, mallet in hand, and within moments I had the best windbreak up on the beach, come gales this thing was not going to blow over, 'I thank you kind Sir, who ever you are...'

So whilst the children played I pulled out my sock knitting, yes its beach season and the socks will once again be knitted, each one will have a memory knitted in to it of warm days, ice cream smeared faces and sandy toes.  So when I pull on my socks in the winter the memories of better and brighter days will always be with me.

Just a short post today, mostly to thank you for the lovely thoughtful comments  about my present situation.  I thank you for your words and support, each comment is held in my heart. Its not easy to show your failings in life, yes my blog is a happy place but it is also a real place for me so it was important for me to share it with you.  Thank you...

PS Very excited to be finally working on my summer quilt, its good to sit in my sewing room and watch it come together under my hands.

 

Some head space.....

I know I know, I am failing miserably in my blogging.  Life is really just getting in the way.  Adjusting to lots of new things going on around here and I am trying to go with the flow. Most days this happens, however every so often life just flaws me. I think you are aware that my life took a change in direction at the end of last year.  So its a time for healing, adjusting and making changes.  I have always viewed change as a good thing, so I assure myself in the long term all will be good. So as I cope with my life as a single Mom there are days when I just need a little head space to accept the past, present and future.  I take comfort in my children, my creativity and my friends. Please forgive my sporadic posting whilst I get back my groove...

Let them eat cake...

How quick the time goes... two weeks over with just like that.  I have to confess to it all being a little hectic and possibly not really the weather I was hoping for.  Yes I know the sun shone on most of England this past two weeks but sadly I seemed to have followed the clouds.It was all a bit mad, as it is when your with your children, managing play dates, cooking, serious crafty time and even getting some sleep in.  Our little break away by the sea was filled with lots of wellie walks and the usual Blyton-ess adventures.  Eating lots of yummy food and of course lots of chocolate eggs.
As for the Suzie Sews creativity, well that was a little slow on happening.  Some stuff was made including some summer sewing and of course I knitted whist sheltering from the rain, this helped keep the clouds from dampening my spirits.  
I spent time in the company of good friends and the children giggled their way through the days.  A special visit to a friend to attend the Christening of her special little girl, and it was a real honour to become a Godmother to her.  What a treat to be welcomed into the family and made to feel part of the gang.
So the children returned to school and to beat the post holiday blues I have been baking...raspberry and lime cake which came from the lovely Vintage Heaven.  A little time spent pottering around in my kitchen without the endless juice runs, can I have something to eat, can you come in the garden and play etc... so suddenly the house is quite and as I sat with my afternoon tea the silence was deafening...
The children returned home in a whirl of excitement, chatting away and up to mischief.  As they sat at the kitchen table and tell me the stories of their day I throw us a little supper together before they sleepily climb the stairs. Once  again the balance is restored...

Time for some serious time in my sewing room...............................................................

Pictures 1 Break for afternoon tea 2 raspberry and lime cake 3 in the mix 4 tea in the sunshine 5 supper  

Happy easter

Wishing you a very Happy Easter, yes spring has sprung, there is new life every place you look... its more than just budding its positively blooming... So the holidays are with us and its that time when I say Goodbye for a few days whilst I spend some quality time with my children. We have lots planned, as you would expect we are heading off towards the beach, the windbreak, buckets and BBQs are packed along with our woolly jumpers, because you just never know what the weather might bring us at this time of year.

So I take this opportunity to wish you all the very best for a special time of year. A time of joy and sadness for all that Easter means.I leave you with joy in my heart, bags full of crafty things to do and of course my camera as me and my guys venture into the great outdoors...

Have a wonderful week...

I just wanted to say a personal thank you for all your messages of support on my last post...I so appreciate your words.

boys will be boys...

With all the talk recently about mothers it has made me think a lot about my little family.  I am a Mom to two active boys.  Now there is nothing unusual about that you might think... but being a bit of a girlie girl I really notice how boyish my guys are...  All around my home their personality creeps in...The girliest room in my home has to be my sewing room, all the pretty fabric and thread, lots of floral fabrics and many textures and textiles... but as I sit at my sewing machine I look up to my cupboard and there is the boys pirate flag left over from a weekend play date when my gorgeous sewing room was transported by imagination in to a pirate ship landing on a island to find buried treasure... 
I sat this morning to write my post and there on my Mac book is a little interpretation of Indiana Jones as if he was saying  'Go on Mom...if you think your hard enough'
The children being close means buying things for my guys is easy, usually what one wants the other one does to, so its usually safer to buy things in pairs...
Being of the beach liking kinda family our beach equipment is usually all over the place, even in the winter, a pile of wetsuits waiting to be tossed into the back of the car for a day playing in the sea...
I am not trying to stereotype here, my boys are creative little souls and they both lean in different directions when it comes to what they like and dis like, It has been known for the boys to sit at my sewing machine and produce their own little bits of art, of course drawing is a daily occurrence in the house, we have pots of pens and paper in most of the rooms.  Of course we have the musical side to... with guitar and violin lessons weekly and practice through the week it can get quite loud some days.
Some days its so easy to be with my boys, they love a disco in the evening, only they are not swishy or swirly like me and they do not sing in to a microphone.  No they leap off the the sofa or chairs swaying their heads rather violently from side to side and up and down with air guitar in hand. But some days I get a little lost as my female ways are completely lost on them...I smile at the way they think burping and farting are just the funniest things in the world, how no matter how many times I ask them not to play rough they always end up playing Cow Boys and Indians, with one of them playing dead in the most dramatic and gory way possible.  How when we go into the garden they want to dig it all up rather than plant pretty flowers. 
When they say 'Mommy will you play a game' I have an idea of nice things not Star Wars or Ben Ten...How their favourite toy  LEGO is all over the house, from the proudly built trucks that sit like ornaments around the house to the Lego man that falls into my candle lite bath in the evening, or the bit I crunch under foot as we rush out the door for the school run...
The mess that seems to lie in the wake of these two little people never stops amazing me... the bedside desk with ever possible need catered for, a midnight snack or a mammoth night reading under the covers with your head torch to the all important trading cards ready for swapping with play dates.
The endless piles of stuff I pick up every day, the toilets that need to be flushed, the plates hidden under the sofa...
Is this the reality of little boys, is this really my poor mothering techniques... what ever it is, I could not be more proud of these little characters  and all their quirky ways...  So if you have boys or girls or may be your blessed with both... do you scream at them to tidy up, put away, keep clean, do this do not do that.... or do you look at the house when they have gone and enjoy the feeling that they played, they left their mark and tomorrow if your lucky it will happen all over again...

Show and Tell on the crafting front for my next post...