Apples and pears with a disaster thrown in...

You know when you see something in a magazine and you think 'I could make that' well this is what happened to me this week... I saw this picture in a magazine and as you may be aware I do love apples and pairs, I am sure you are familar with my much loved Treefall pair cushion. Also pre sewing days when I used to sell cards one of my most popular cards was a pair design...I made so many of these and they would go within days...So when I see anything in a pair or apple design I am drawn to it. I thought this would be a nice easy project with a lot fun thrown in...
The thing is I have enough cushions so with the bulbs popping up in the snow, a sure sign that eventually spring will be with us I thought I would make a bag using the design...it is a gift for a friend many miles away from here and when its spring here its not in the place she lives...Australia. I think I am safe posting this as she does not read my blog often...So I went to town selectiong the fabrics and drawing up the design...
I got busy with the bonaweb and iron on wadding (never used iron on before and I will not be in a rush to buy it again) I put my little belated birthday gift together...I just sort of 'did it' I went with what felt right...I like the contrast in the lining and I made ipod size and maybe a mobile phone or a collection of pens size pockets. A magnetic glasp...if you have your ipod in there you want it to be safe...
I even played about with the staps to get them just right, to fit comfortably over your shoulder, not to long and not to short...I am happy with the outcome of the bag and I might even make myself one...I was worried about the linen, but with the iron on wadding it seems to be maintaining a lived in look rather than creased look...so good all round...Yikes!!! I hope the receiver likes it!
Now for the disaster...I am actually shaking as I type this...what a BAD evening I have had. Whilst knitting this weekend I have been so proud of my swing coat and encouraged the children to make all the right Oh and Ahs 'look at how much knitting Mommmy has done...its so big...all that knitting' well tonight as I sat and worked on my knitting I got to thinking that it was big...no real BIG!!! So with only another inch to go before the back is finished I lay it on the floor and measured it all...its about four inches to wide, the lengeth is OK but it is so wide, well its a swing coat...do I carry on or do I chance it? I think I found out the problem...my needles are 4.5 and not 4mm. For me to get the size of needles wrong I must have done it for a reason...but I can not remeber doing a tension square...although I am sure for the cost of the yarn I would have and that would make sence for having the larger needles, it would also explain the largeness of the coat....WHAT DO I DO NOW? I feel sick, yer I know there are worse things in life and it sounds daft but I really could cry...Frog it or carry on???

Spell Check...still not working, you may have guessed that...is anyone else having this problem?

Snow business!!!

What a weekend, after all the illness and bleakness of January...February swept in with a flurry (or two) of snow...
The long awaited snow eventually (the children have been so wanting snow since before Christmas) arrived and I had two happy children...On Saturday morning the children raised me from my slumber by one child jumping on me whilst the other pulled back the curtains and both shouted 'Mommy Mommy its snowed'
So without losing any time...on went the winter layers, the hand knits, we pulled our wellies on and ran into the garden giggling...
Ofcourse with all this activity in the garden one of our other family members could not wait to get out and join us. Archie the rabbit so loves some company whilst he is free ranging...He binkied about (jumped and lept...which is rabbit speak for 'I am happy') and we generally all got very wet...

After a couple of miss-fired snowballs Archie gave up and had a little grooming session...
Meanwhile a snowman HAD to be built...OK its a little one...but never the less he is still our snowman and deserves his own nose and eyes...
The stream at the bottom of the hill I live on looked ever so sweet....almost fairy like...
After a few hours the chill factor started to reach our toes and the rosey cheeks started to turn a shade near to blue...so we came inside and warmed our hands and tummies with some proper Hot Chocolate made with melted chocolate and some muffins....
PS My Spell check on my posting is still not working EK!!! So I am going to hold on to Weird Bunny's comment on my last post...Yep thats a good one;-)

busy little hands....

Warning...Spell Check is not working today...if your precious about good grammer and spelling do not read on...unless you want a laugh!
Three cheers for February, phew what a month January was, usually I like this month, this year however it stuck to the tradition of being a bleak month!!! So lets move on and get on with the nicer things in life. I started the day off with a swim, the pool was vertually empty and I enjoyed listening to the swishing of the water as I ploughed up and down. I came home via the supermarket and filled the fridge with food for the weekend, a nice cup of coffee, I made a telephone call I was not looking forward to and now its time to relax a little in blogland... SO what have these busy little hands been up to? Quite active actually...I mentioned in my previous post I had got my hands on some super cute and excellent quality baby fabric so I made some bibs. I had one of my bibs out for a test drive to make sure they wash well, the hole is not to big or small, the fastening is suitable etc...I did ask the tester (well the Mom of) what her feed back was, I had to tell her not to be polite I really wanted to know.
Anyway it was all good feedback so I went ahead and continued with the pattern to make up a couple of batches...
As promised...my cards. The link is How about orange. You know how it is when you surf and you start reading blogs you do not usually read...suddenly one really grabs you and gets you so excited...well this one had me...so much lovely stuff and to come away with the print out to make these cards and less than an hour later to have a whole pile of cards using up some of my cute buttons...EXCELLENT. Go check it out, the PDF is linked from the post dated 29th January.

Now its not just been me that has been nimble with the hands...my older child, who is now much better...just a little wiped out by the illness, made this bird with the foil that his cookies, in his lunch box, were wraped up with. He just fiddled about with the foil and when I next looked...
Now there has not been much retail therapy in January as I have been watching my pennies, but when a couple of cheques came in...well out the money went...After all the playing with felt I did the other week I needed (OK OK wanted...) to top up my felt stash, so I poped over to paper and string and she had a little sale on...Whats a girl to do? Oh and it all arrived so fast...the felt is a nice quality and as for the purse...it is making me happy. Plus a little freebie (we all like freebies) a roll of her super cute tape with little ducks on. I am keeping this away from the children...Thanks Sarah.
Knitting...well I have to admit I have been buying yarn more than actually knitting with it and its all Dunelm's fault...Remeber a couple of weeks ago my friend sent me a box full of big wool at a silly knock down price of 99p a ball (should have been approx. £7.99). Well I paid a visit to our nearest Dunelm last week in search of a pattern and they had different yarn, still Rowan ,so excellent quality and again for 99p.
I ask you again...'What's a girl to do?' ... One huge pile of Holiday yarn and I have the pattern book for this yarn...Not all of it is for me...9 balls are heading to my knitting friend, I am now officially overflowering with yarn stash...
I have a cupboard filled with yarn, a basket in the livingroom and one in the sewing room, a big underbed storage box full and now this...I better get knitting!!!

Wishing you a happy and healthy weekend...

The breaking of a new day...

As we sat and eat our breakfast this is the view we looked on to... After all the rain, wind and floods, not to mention the absolute bleakness of this time of year... Today seemed to be the start of something NEW. This month really has been full of illness and apathy. My poor little patient is now on the mend, although his hearing is still quite an issue, he went into school today and I have just come from giving him his medicine and he seems to be coping well, he has a great 'Best friend' which is helping. SO after a week of 'full on' nursing I have taken the time to tidy up, to fill the cupboards with food, and catch up with general household duties...This afternoon I am going to hit the sewing room...YIPEEE!!!!
My head is full of things I want to make, I got some beautiful baby fabric so I am thinking bibs with matching blankets backed in soft fleece, maybe even a nappy wipe bag....how I hated the plastic of those nappy wipes...I have my bag design to finish off, nearly there with that one. I also have the binding of my sons Pokemon quilt to finish off.
Last night I made a whole load of cards to top up my card box, pre sewing days I used to make so many cards and sold them to businesses around the village I used to live in, once card making became so popular...my arty cards where not really what people spent their money on, so I slowed down my production and made them just for me. A few friends request customised ones every so often. I do however like to keep a nice pile for my own use. I came across a free design on a blog and thought 'OH that looks lovely' so an hour later and I had a great pile of button cards. I will take pictures and give you the link later in the week as its such a simple 'Happy' design I am sure you will all like to have ago. I managed to finish the two quilt blocks off whilst I looked after my little poorly chap. I love the colours on the first block, I am not so sure about the second one...SO not a complete lack of crafting and I am getting back to it now...
So yesterday was the first sign that good health was returning to the 'Suzie Sews household' and I managed to tempt my patient into eating a little food, it helped that we had all the quilts on the sofa and the fire going with a DVD to watch.
Ah after a little food we managed to get the energy to get dressed and we spent some time in the kitchen together...nothing like the promise of having your favourite cookies made for you to get you into the kitchen...whilst Mommy baked a little friend joined in for some cuddle time. Charlie one of the GPs from Charlie and Lola fame is actually my older child's GP and she is so skittish. In the company of her owner however she is just the sweetest thing and so loves a cuddle...although eventually I had to sit with Lola as she was squeaking for some attention too...

Thank you so much for all your well wishes, especially for the comment about getting my child to read to me when he can not hear me to do any story time...this worked out a treat. Thank you again and hopefully with the end of January insight, the sun shinning, the rabbit is lopping around the garden and the promise of a few hours sewing...life is starting to enter into a better rhythm...

Corners of my home...the sewing room!

Corners of my home...a peek into the magical world (well it is to me) of my sewing room. I still have a little patient at home which means not a lot is getting done around here except being on call for drinks, cuddles, cool flannels and medicine giving...
So its 'Nurse Suzie' rather than 'Suzie Sews'.
Along with this new role comes the sleep deprivation...up most nights with my little one...The ability to concentrate is quite poor at the moment...if you read my blog you will know that spelling is a little off in this space anyway so when I am tired...well its best just not to write much...
So its mostly eye candy today of all things that make me smile in my room...

Piles of yarn, batches of fabric ready to use, rows of books oozing with inspiration and of course little tokens of love from my children...pinkie pig to some cbeebies buttons and woolly sheep...
I am working on my knitting in the evening and trying to finish a few sewing bits. OK I am trying, actually if I am honest I am just collapsing on the sofa in a bit of a daze...
My patient is on the mend, although he is still worn out from the virus and his hearing is working at about a 90% loss...so I can not even read to him at the moment.
For a little chap that loves his story time this is quite hard.
Still we find happiness in other things, cuddles on the sofa, lining the cars up in neat rows, trying to draw Pokemon and finally getting around to making all our thank you cards for all the gifts at Christmas...If you look hard enough there are always simple pleasures and silver linings...until next time...keep well...

Keeping the patient happy!!!

Well, this weekend has been all about keeping the little patient happy...Once we eventually had the temperature under control and the sickness had worn off, my little chap was left feeling like he had been in a boxing ring (not that I know what that feels like)...So what's a Mommy supposed to do? Get a craft table going...what would you expect from this household? Well thanks to Simple Sparrow, I read her post about her origami lights...I had forgotten about all the origami the kids and I had done in the summer...so I pulled out all those prefect squares and we got busy, although I think I enjoyed making them the most. So once we had a huge pile of these little beauties we went through the craft box and pulled out the pirate ship kit, this was such good value it was only £2.50, I wish I had bought a few more...anyway we had great fun, painting and putting it together...it now lives on display in the living room.
I have to admit that this past week has been rather emotional, watching your little ones in pain is such a hard thing to do, I am fairly laid back about the kids being poorly, I am not a fan of sitting in the Dr's waiting room...but I did have a few hours when I was torn about what to do especially when a few friends asked if had I taken him to the Dr. which made me feel worse, not that I could have moved my poppet...some friends helped out with the my youngest, which was such a blessing so I could concentrate on the patient. Eventually the fever broke and it was just a case of waiting and nurturing until it passed. I found it hard to sit and do anything, I spent most of my time just watching my babe. At night he slept with me and I was unable to settle or sleep, every cough or move I was up checking him...I was feeling a little low myself...so when the postman knocked on the door on Saturday morning with a parcel..my spirits lifted somewhat...
Just look at all those goodies...once again I say 'How lucky am I?' Two great magazines to read, a whole heap of beautiful fabric, some great felt to top up my box after all the felty things I have been making lately and some zippers...you never know when your going to need zippers!
Just have a closer look at these, gorgeous cool pink elephants and this adorable dog print...
Who sent me these goodies...well the wonderful Lin of Queen of the Froggers fame this girl's knitting is amazing!!! She emailed me to say she had a few bits she is not using and thought I would like them...How is that for perfect timing? I thank you Lin, such a kind thing to do, I really am overwhelmed by the generosity of this crafting community of ours.

I wish you a good weekend and I will catch up next week...

Everything stops!!!

Every thing stops...no matter how many plans and commitments you have it all stops when one of your babes are ill. SO forgive my lack of posting this week as its been a bit of a poorly household. Since January all of us have been poorly in one way or another and with two hospital trips to boot...well how does that song go 'January I am sick and tired of you hanging on me' well that's how we feel. I know I am not the only one with this miserable January vibe...after all its the worst month of the year in this part of the world and has been for many hundreds of years. The last twentyfour hours my older child has been poorly. He is all curled up in bed and I can hear him give out the odd cough...Oh bless him, a friend is picking up my youngest from school so I don't have to drag him out, not that I could anyway!!! SO with all this going on not much crafting has got done, I spent a few hours this week working on a bag design, a belated birthday pressie for my friend in Australia...I need to put it all together...I have completed my quilting blocks from the weekend and that's about it...Today I have been anxiously curled up next to my sleeping child...
SO as not to have a post full of just words I went through my January file and pulled out these pics...A little corner of my home...this is it in the evening state, after all the toys have been put away. I love this time in the evening, usually after a cuddle filled bedtime for the children, I venture back downstairs and tidy up...then there is a moment and it is just a moment...when the silence is pleasing and a sense of peace flows over me...or maybe it the glass of wine waiting to be drunk that does it. Its a time to be on my own, usually I sit for a few minutes and reflect on the day and then either curl up to watch an hour of TV with my knitting or read or maybe if I am feeling very creative I hit the sewing room...
Now the second picture I would love to tell you that I made these socks...OH how I wish I could knit socks...No, my knitting partner who know lives too far away for us to knit together anymore started these socks when she came for a visit pre Christmas...I was inspired but not enough to pick up the double pointed needles myself...scary. She only got one sock made for her hubby in time for Christmas...but look at her go, a couple of weeks later not one pair but two...Just how cute is that picture?

The last picture is just for cuteness too, a Christmas present of a Country Living basket filled with lots of chocolate goodness and these amazing mugs...

Accept my apologies for the rather random post, I am sure you can understand that I am just popping in with a few words and pictures to say Hi...

Weekend baby!!!

Not a lot got done this weekend, but do not get me wrong, it was a good weekend. On Sunday I spent most of my day being snuggled up with my babes especially the littlest one as the wind and rain continued to attack the area...We did a bit of this...
Why...Mommy had the day sewing on Saturday and had a rare day away from the children...well they missed their Mommy and Mommy missed her babes so the next day my cuddle tank got filled to over flowing...
I did have a good day sewing I spent the day working on some basic blocks, I worked on three in all and just need a little time now to finish them off so they can join the pile for my next quilt...
So at the start of the week its been an exciting day, mostly filled with water...lots of water...I am surrounded by floods, the school evacuated some of the the children for fear of the roads becoming to flooded to use. I drove past a house I love in the village and have enjoyed watching the convertion from a derelict barn to a lovely family home, as the water rushed over all the sand bags straight into the front door, such sadness...
The Suzie Sews household is actually quite safe at the moment as we are on a hill, so after all the excitement, the children asleep, the house is tidy...its time to relax and I will worry about tomorrow when it comes...for now though its a glass of wine and a bowl of cherries!