Mothers Day goodies

There was much excitement among the little peapods at the patch this year in relation to Mothers Day. Friday evening after school saw several whispered exchanges between munchkins and Dad - plus nods, winks and a few under bed 'hiding' missions all the while mentioning that it was all a great big SECRET. Bless!

By the time Sunday arrived it was anticipated with almost as much excitement that a birthday normally generates.

Pressies were:

A homemade card ...



Complete with a beautiful display of Reu's fast improving writing skills ...



A Betty's bun (only the box survives, contents were devoured before the camera came out, but it is such a pretty box I can't bear to throw it away yet) ...




And a pin board ...



This last one is an old thing of my Dads that was rescued from the garage a few months back. Dave saw its potential, acquired it (much gratitude from Mum who is always looking to get rid of the remaining piles of garage tat) and has secretly renovated it for me, all with Caleb's help - he apparently pitched in with the sanding! It is now duly mounted and waiting to display the daily deliveries of artwork and stories that arrive home from school.

Toodle pip
J
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One wedding quilt - done!

ok, so it has been a while again. Once more life kinda got in the way of coming on here to record the mundane and the creative. Then I remembered a couple of photos lurking on the pen drive which I never sorted out and the spark re-ignited. I've at least got to add the completed wedding quilt project.

So I'm proud to present ...


Mr & Mrs Lewis 2012 Wedding Gift Bed Quilt



I managed to get it done well within my self imposed deadline of one year - months in advance of their first anniversary in fact. It came together lovely and quickly once I got started and it was a very enjoyable one to do.

A bit more of a close up, unfortunately my snaps still don't show some of the lovely detail in the prints we found (there are plenty of chickens in there!). It looked so lovely and at home on our bed it was quite a wrench sending it off to its new owners.



Well the quilt has gone off to a very happy home and I understand it has been doing sterling work keeping the newly weds toes toasty over these winter months. Next up is youngest sister, she gets married in October this year and has also requested a quilt for their gift. The aim this time is to get it done before the wedding, wish me luck! First fabric shopping trip coming up on Monday :)

Toodle pip
J
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Random round up

A couple of completely random pics to round off this weekends triple posting. No hang on a sec, there is a theme, they are both related to purchases made last weekend during our "date" day. Mum came and sat on the kids for us so us grown ups went out to lunch and for a mooch round Harrogate. I found a fabulous material shop and completed buying stuff for the wedding quilt I'm making, three nice fat piles - about a thousand - are now sat awaiting their stitches ...

 

Laying out is booked for next weekend, yay!

The second treat was a set of Orla Kierley storage jars ...



L-R ..... Branflakes, adult biscuits and green tea bags. Scrummy!

Toodle pip
J
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Peter piper picked a pair of pretty posies

Despite the lack of sunshine the garden is producing the odd bloom here and there, enough to supply the windowsill with a wee jug of colour. Not quite the cutting garden I'm aiming for yet but hey, these things won't happen overnight.

Toodle pip
J
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Progress in the pantry

A bit late recording this here but our renovation of the main pantry is now completed, same colour scheme as the previous cupboard including more spotty mats!

Very much before ...



The work in progress ...



Jobs a good'un ...



Freezer homed elsewhere and shelves restocked with all the bottles and jars ...



Next job, a garden gate. Our current solution to garden closure consists of a pallet propped between bushes and it drives me nuts!
Toodle pip
J
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How to kill off the sunshine ...

I seem to have killed off the short window of nice weather we'd been having. Let me explain.

I've muttered about getting myself a traditional deck chair on and off for quite a good while, but I was finding the high price of "nice" ones off putting. The ones I could afford looked cheap and nasty with flimsy looking plastic bits doing the job on the holdy uppy part, now as someone still carrying a tad too much baby weight (ahem I mean toddler weight these days) that concerned me.

So, when him indoors returned from his usual jaunt to the Saturday morning car booty on the York racecourse clutching this beauty I was tickled pink. And this one came in at the bargain price of £10 ker-ching!



So I set to work scrubbing/brushing/hosing down it to clean it up - I think I got a tad over enthusiastic on some bits. Once I was done and it started to dry the canvas started looking a tad thin, the muck was obviosuly holding it together. So twenty minutes and a good a pootle round Google later I came up with this corker of a web site - Deck Chair Stripes - and ordered me some stripey fun. A short wait for mr postie to deliver the goods and ta dah!



Courtesy of an antique wax rub down for the frame, the stripey fun and a batch of upholsotery nails I now have a stylish new perch for flopping out in the garden. The rain aint stopped since, typical!

Toode pip
J
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N-ice cubes

One of my good friends has just announced the safe arrival of her second bubba, a not so little baby boy weighing in at a whopping 10lb 6oz. Yowzer.

On hearing the happy news I immediately whipped out the sewing machine and whizzed up a batch of baby cubes. I made a set of these while I was pregnant with Reuben and my boys have thoroughly loved them - they still get played with today, all be it in a more rough and tumble toddler fashion usually involving hurling them at each other. This game got delightfully named as "bonking balls" by Reu - only toddlers eh? Ah-hem! (Note to self: I wonder if Blogger will allow this post or whether bonking is on some kind of banned words list?)



I don't get to meet up with my friend very often these days as she lives over in Dubin and we now both have two small people to add into the logistical mix. We're lucky if we manage to pin down our schedules to the same country every couple of years, but when we do meet up we always chatter away like we last saw each other a matter of days ago. As someone who doesn't make friends very quickly or easily our ability to do this always surprises and greatly pleases me.

I'll be posting off my congratulations package this weekend.
Toodle pip
J
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