Sewing a cube

What a difference a day makes!!  With a good start to my day, a tidy house and a clear head I set myself the task of mastering a cube.  I chose some pretty fabric (unlike yesterday) and thought about what I was doing instead of rushing in 'guns blazing' and guess what - it worked.  Thinking back to a year ago I have to laugh at how my life has changed.  I get so much more satisfaction mastering a sewing project than I ever did mastering VLookups on Excel spreadsheets.  Little Kirsty might just get her fairy doorstop yet.



My trial cube - turned into a pin cushion



As pin cushions go I still prefer this one I made a while ago

A Grumpy Old Woman

Today has been one of those days where you know you should really just have stayed in bed.  I am lucky enough to be a stay at home Mum with a great workspace to tinker about with my sewing machine creating lots of lovely pretty things all day.  In reality those kinds of days are few and far between.  A year ago, a bad day at the office would have consisted of a nightmare commute into London at the break of day, endless meetings with nothing to show for by the end of the day, trying to be polite to people who really P you off (something I found particularly hard to do towards the end of my time), the same commute home, etc, etc.  What you can do after such a day is off load to anyone in the same predicament.  In my case it was my good friend Amy who was going through pretty much the same thing as me and incidentally is now also a stay at home Mum, or to your other half over dinner and a glass of well deserved wine.  Being a stay at home Mum does not allow you this outlet of frustration because you run the risk of sounding ungrateful and being reminded how much worse your life used to be.  Well this is where blogging comes in useful.  I am going to have a good moan about my day to nobody in particular and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

My day started off by getting up late.  Normally this would not be an issue, as I usually have no set plans.  Today however I had an early morning appointment that I had to get to.  Again, I would normally be able to round the kids up, give them breakfast and have them in the car within half an hour.  But no, not today.  Today was Kirsty’s 2^nd day of potty training.  Anyone having gone through this process knows that a great deal of patience is required – something I seemed to be lacking in today.  After sitting on the potty at least 15 times in the space of half an hour and telling me that she had done the necessary only to find she had done nothing, I finally decided to get her dressed in her clothes for nursery sans nappy.  Yes – you guessed it – she wet her trousers and had to be changed.  Again, this is not as straightforward as it sounds because ‘big brother’ has to come and investigate what is going on and proceeds to try and give her a lesson on what to do.  Any other day this would be fine – but not today.  I finally get the kids to nursery without any more mishaps and make my way to my appointment – my gym induction.  The lovely young chap who has a permanent smile starts by asking what I would like to achieve with my time at the gym.  Is this a serious question I ask myself – why would you go to the gym for any other reason than to get fit.  I politely answer that yes I would like to get fit and if possible gain the body that I had in my twenties (like he has never heard that before).  The next 45 mins are hell – I am puffing and panting, trying to wipe my sweaty brow on a miniscule towel all the while listening to my friendly young trainer chatting away.   Can he not see the pain on my face – I don’t want to chat!  I finally finish my session and head off for the changing rooms to be confronted by a bevy of elderly ladies walking around in the buff.  Why, why, why is it necessary to parade around the change rooms doing your hair, shaving your legs, doing your make up with absolutely no clothes on?  It is just not necessary.  I make my way home for some well deserved peace and quiet, forgetting that the house is in a mess.  For the next couple of hours I move toys around from one room to another – because that is where they are supposed to be.  Why?  The place will look a mess again by the time I go to bed tonight.  I finally sit down to think how I am going to spend the rest of my day.  I decide to make a doorstop for Kirsty’s bedroom.  They are very in at the moment and I am constantly trying to keep her door from swinging closed.  I am in my comfort zone now – I am in control.  I decide on a square shape that will have embroidered fairies to match her room décor.  I have tried my hand at most things when it comes to sewing but never a cube.  OMG how frustrating.  I could just not get the measurements right and eventually gave up on the cube.  My next idea was a toadstool but found that I didn’t know how to sew a circle on to a rectangle.  Any other day I would probably be able to work out what I was doing but today is just not one of those days and it didn’t help that I was practising on the most hideous fabric.  Oh well tomorrow is another day.

My conclusion is that for today I am just a Grumpy Old Woman – or some might say I am permanently a Grumpy Old Woman.

My next embroidery project from http://www.embroidables.com/

A bit of fun

Well it has been a while since I was last on my blog but we were lucky enough to be able to spend the last month in France and there was so much to keep us busy that crafting was the last thing on my mind.  The good news is that we are now home and ready to go again.  A friend had borrowed my sewing machine while I was away so I had to find something different to do when we got back.  Sean's nursery school teacher is going on maternity leave this week so we decided to make her a 'Nappy Cake' which involves no sewing at all and was something easy for the kids to help with.  We glued a cardboard tube onto a cake board and then placed the nappies around it to form the cake tiers.  In between the nappies we put some rolled up onesies, bibs, socks, mittens and a few baby toiletries.  To hide the nappies we used a couple of baby blankets and burp cloths folded and wrapped around the tiers to form the icing on the cake.  To keep it all together we tied ribbon around each tier and a little cuddly toy on the top.  We also popped a little onesie into the top of the cardboard tube to form the candle.  Kids and I had great fun...



How many cakes can you cuddle?



Kirsty determined to get the cuddly toy

How time flies

I can't believe it is over a month since my last post.  Can you believe we are in the middle of Spring already!!!  I defy anybody to say that this is not the most beautiful time of year.  Just looking out the window at the lovely spring blossom on the fruit trees lifts the spirits.  Of course Spring is the time of rebirth, renewal and regrowth so I have been working on my new baby cushion.  I just love this one with the four little 'spring' animals looking up/down at the sleeping baby.  It is such a huggable cushion - as I was photographing it Kirsty ran in to give it a big cuddle - aaah.



That really is a carpet of spring blossom on the ground



Ethan? this is my cushion

Wedding Of The Year

Yes, it is finally happening - the wedding we have all been waiting for.  How long have we been asking ourselves "Will he, won't he?"  Well finally he has seen the light, finally he understands that this is what the people want.  Something to look forward to in this tough economic climate.  Our shy, retiring (nearly retired at his rate), fair-haired chap finds his beautiful, dark haired heroine and sweeps her off her feet.  He has done the sensible thing, taken his time, making sure the lovely lady gets used to 'the family' before popping the question - after all it is a very unusual family she is marrying into.  My good news is that I have been asked to make and quote a price for a ring bearer cushion for this very special occasion.  As if I would charge for this very special honour.  Just to be part of this huge ceremony is payment enough - I could be famous after this.  Who had heard of Elizabeth Emanuel before she had made Princess Di's dress?  Ok so it is only a ring bearer cushion but we all have to start somewhere.  Anyway I am waiting for details of the colour and fabric choice but obviously this is all top secret information and I will be unable to share with the general public.  In the meantime I had a little practice session with a piece of silk from my stash and tried out my new software for my sewing machine.  And just like all fairytale endings ....

Don't they make a lovely couple

(Permission has not been granted to use the above picture so I may be asked to remove it 
(for security reasons) but then again I only have 5 followers to this blog so not much
chance of anyone seeing it.

Tooth Fairy Cushions again ...

I wasn't going to show these little tooth fairy cushions on my blog but I received an email yesterday to say that someone was going to showcase one of them on their blog (http://myblogfinallymadeit.blogspot.com/ ).  It is such a nice feeling to have a complete stranger pick out an item you have made from hundreds of others and put it out there for others to see.  Thanks Linda.

Lovely Lavender

My Mum & Dad paid us a flying visit last week on their way back to France and I was able to show them some of the crafts that I have been able to produce using my new machine.  My Mum suggested that I should make a few small items that she could sell at some of the French country markets.  Now the thought of selling at a market gives me the heebie jeebies but I am quite happy to make the stuff so I set to work.  Of course the first product that came to mind was lavender bags.  Not very original I know but we all know that the mere mention of lavender brings to mind colourful fields in France, relaxation and sunshine.  Lavender has been around since the early Egyptian times when it was used to wrap the dead and has continued to be used for all sorts of ailments and beliefs.  My favourite use has to be the Victorians who used lavender in crafts and love spells.  It was said that clothing rubbed with the fragrant flower, or lavender placed in drawers with clothing would attract love.  What better reason can there be for the use of lovely lavender sachets?  I placed my order for 1kg of Provencal lavender and searched for my design for the bags.  The lavender arrived 2 days later and I think it is the first time that our postman has knocked and just left the post outside the door.  When I smelt the package I figured that he was none too pleased at having such a pungent, feminine smell in his van for the whole day.  I did begin to wonder if I was going to be able to work with the lavender in the house because the smell was so strong but it has definitely ‘calmed down’ and we just get a very pleasant scent every now and then.  I made up some drawer sachets and also went back to my wardrobe bags but this time I put a lavender sachet inside so that it could be used to lightly scent a room.

Whilst I was searching for lavender suppliers I kept reading about how wonderful lavender is for those suffering from insomnia or sleep apnea.  It is suggested that you add a few drops of lavender oil to your sheets or place a small sachet of lavender flowers under your pillow to help you get some zzz’s.  This got me thinking about Kirsty who is not a great sleeper – she is 2 years old and still wakes up through the night!!  Why not try a few lavender sachets in her room?  A great excuse to come up with another design and she loves them.  Sean did begin to ask if I could make soldier lavender bags but I draw the line at that.  Absolutely not.