Sun and Sewing = Fine and Dandy

I find that there is so much going on at the moment in life, and it can be easy to get bogged down in the mechanics of it all. A lot recently I have found myself running in and running right out again. Taking no time to actually enjoy life.

All the things that are making me busy are good things... things that make life better, like making our house a home and keeping fit, and earning a living, but they don't half get me worked up into a tizzy.





Yesterday I did some sewing, the first in what feels like forever, and whilst Mil napped, I sewed and ironed and measured and I was totally calm, even when I made a mistake... and the sun came out.




And, before I ran out to run in a race (bananas, I know) we sat in the garden, Brendan had a glass of home brew, we admired the tulips and Mil watered the plants.


Life is okay...

No Peeping!

The blog has slipped down the list of priorities, hence the lack of posts. It is crazy in our house at the moment and we are all suffering from stress related ailments. But, we are making progress of the painting/ decorating kind with much help from one particular family member, and carpet has been going down, and the like. The end of all this building cannot come too soon. There hasn't been much going on in the way of crafting but here goes...

It was my birthday a week or so ago, and Brendan (that's the one I'm going to marry) made me a cake. I came home from a work trip to this:



It was very hard to follow the rules, but I did and the next day he produced this:


Yum! a polenta/ orange/ almond/ honey cake. Just as well I'm marrying him, huh?

And here is a little bit of knitting... I did these try-outs a while back, and now feel ready to tackle some sort of jumper for the boy, just need to find a pattern suitable for such a beginner.

Moss stitch: *K1, P1* K1

Tracks: Row 1: *K4, P6* Row 2 and alt rows: purl, Rows 3 and 7: Knit, Row 5: *P5, K4, P1*

Chevron Moss: Row 1: *P1, K3*, Row 2: *K1, P5, K1, P1*, Row 3: *K2, P1, K3, P1, K1* Row 4: *P2, K1, P1, K1, P3*

Ridge Stitch: Row 1: Knit, Row 2: *K2 tog all across the row*, Row 3: K into front and back of each stitch, Row 4: Purl.

And I got some lovely yarn for my birthday too, so ought to find a pattern... any suggestions?

Two

Our little boy, Mil, was two today. A whole two years old!


We had a little party in the morning with 7 of his buddies over for some playing and some party food. Sadly, Mil wasn't on top form and was feeling a bit out of sorts, but muddled his way through. That's him amongst the balloons waiting for his guests to arrive.


I decided to make bags for give-aways. I hate all the tat that can come with the idea of a party bag, and the tat ends up costing a fortune! So all his buddies got a bag, a packet of pens and a bag of chocolate buttons. And, of course, a balloon on a ribbon.


Then after his nap, Mil was sick and spent the rest of the day in front of the fire in his pyjamas doing jigsaws.

Two years. Gosh.

Tiny Hand-Warmers

I've finished my first knitting project! A very shonky pair of hand-warmers for M. With little blue star buttons and a plaited string to loop through the sleeves of his jacket.

The knitting is of terrible quality, but I don't care. I set out to make these, and I was going to finish them whatever. They are functional, but have no function at all as obviously M doesn't want them near him and pulled and yelled until I took them out of his coat. This, actually, was the predicted outcome, but I thought that maybe the special buttons would sway him - no such luck!

Oh well, I am wondering who I might be able to give these to, but fear I am giving away the gift of a battle with your child.

I don't mind, I have finished my first knitting project and have been spurred on to start another, so the exercise has been worthwhile. And, what I didn't want was another unfinished project!

Sack of spuds

We have a basket in the corner of our kitchen called 'the basket of plenty'. This basket was acquired on a not so successful camping trip B and I took to Northern Spain in a very noisy and unreliable car when M was just a twinkle in our eyes. The basket of plenty is where we store our vegetables. And at the moment it is looking rather un-plentiful in an end-of-the-month way.


We do usually have potatoes in it though, and this is a source of annoyance for me, as we tend to buy potatoes from the supermarket and they come in horrible plastic bags that get torn open and then our potatoes sit in the light and go all green and sprouty.


Not any more, they don't! Ta-dah! One drawstring bag for potatoes, whipped up from some canvas salvaged from a cushion cover, a few scraps to applique 'POTS', and a drawstring from a box of old sewing bits from my Nanna's house.


This makes me very happy. Happy Saturday everyone!

Invites out

We sent our wedding invites out this week. It was quite an operation, and I am glad that the job is done. We have been dithering about how to keep them cheap and personal, and with a handcrafted feel, but without making too much work for ourselves. In the end we decided to draw each other and print this on the front of the card with the date. There is also a green paper insert that is tied into the invite with some jazzy wool.


I'm pretty pleased with them. The picture of me actually looks like me, I think, but the the one of B is a very poor representation, but we thought people would get the idea. If you want a laugh, have a look at some of our other efforts below. As you can see, I am a very poor drawer, where as B is much more accomplished. I do have to say that one of those that I drew was a joke, but perhaps it is hard to work out which one!

Anyway, they're all in the post now, bar one which I am still waiting on an address for, and so I guess we're gonna do this!

Lift off!

We had our carpet fitted in the attic on Wednesday... oooh, there's nothing quite like a new room with new carpet! My in-laws also arrived mid afternoon for a three day visit and to take over childcare duties so my time was freed up to sort out the house re-arrangement.

B and I put together all the Ikea drawers on Wednesday night and dis and re-mantled the bed so the big stuff was done. All day yesterday was spent cleaning and moving and cleaning and sorting. The transformation is incredible. We are not finished yet, and I still have to do another Ikea run - why we can't organise ourselves to get it all in one go, I don't know. Actually I do, it's down to mind changing and indecision!

The top picture there is our new attic room. We are yet to put up clothes hanging rails in the eaves, and a curtain rail, on which will hang a curtain (yet to make) to cover up our drawers and associated tat.

And now for the studio/ office... please see before photos: A nightmare of a situation where we had office (in my day job I work from home), and bedroom, and storage room all in one. As you can see, it is not a good look:




But hey! Look what it is like at the moment: Lovely new desk arrangement, shelves with space on them, a standing height work desk... hurrah!

B will have a desk and music set-up in the right hand corner of the bottom photo, and I will have another little desk for my sewing machine. It's coming on, no?