A week by the sea

Spring bank hols 2013 we managed our first family holiday in four years. For the first time we weren't moving or pregnant and we managed to scrape together the pennies for a lovely week at the seaside. Ladies and gentlemen welcome to Sandsend ...

 

Certainly the place to be seen this summer, we are pretty sure Mary Portas was also in residence!

Here was our cottage ...



And the view, oh that view...





The weather was gorgeous for most of the week and early mornings I'd open that door and lay on the sofa sipping my cuppa and listening the the roar of the waves. I would so love to live right on the beach one day, well I can dream! The week was filled will little boy centred activities, such as creating beach creations with a load of washed up bamboo...



And the more traditional castles ...

 

Wearing our comically over sized sun hats ...

 

Spotting the vintage buses, what a beauty ...

 

Failed attempts to do crab catching ...

 

Amassing large fossil collections ...



We took trips to Staithes, Robin Hoods Bay and a couple of jaunts into Whitby ...

 

Including one with Nana where we partook of refreshments at Sherlocks tea rooms ...



We found a converted park "boat", which was perfect for pirate games ...



And overall we had lots of fun. We grown ups slept like logs (sea air!) and there were lots of laughs and lovely memories to keep forever ...

 

Start the saving for next year!
Toodle pip
J
x

Captain Peapod's Log #2

Captain Peapod's Log #2

Back on the bookshelf:
The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver
A chunky read, very readable. Whipped through the second half while recovering from a tummy bug.

On the TV:
Case Histories
Not quite as good as the books but a good night in front of the TV.

Film night (x2!):
Chronicle - another total risk of a film which was completely entertaining, exciting and really enjoyable.
Argo - again enjoyable watch. Lots of suspense and 70s facial hair.

On the needles:
Socks - one pairs finished and posted off as a birthday pressie for my sister. Second lace sock casting on shortly.

In the sewing basket:

Half started some dressmaking. Enjoying it but creating a totally unwearable nightmare thing of a top. I keep telling myself it doesn't matter if it is unwearable as long as I enjoy putting it together. Sigh!

Also Jo's wedding quilt,only a few done this week. I've had a press on socks with a deadline looming!

Gym bunny session:

Wednesday - lunchtime swim
Friday - Gym session
Then petered out a bit due to tummy bug :(

Toodle pip
J
x

It lasted just a day...

This is an unhappy tale - misadventures into wholly unsuitable school uniform making. It started out very promising, the knitting went well and the lad liked it ...



I got the wool and pattern as a Christmas present and I really enjoyed knitting this one up. A lovely chunky aran wool and a nice and simple but effective fisherman's rib pattern. When the weather warmed up he proudly donned the said tank top, he looked like a total cutie. Nice and retro, Mama was proud of her home made efforts.

It came home 6 hours later a total wreck. He'd got hot and tried to take it off, the wool got caught on the buttons on his polo shirt and it got pulled to bits. He arrived home with it on inside out with about three 3ft loops of wool hanging off him. I could have cried!

Toodle pip
J
x

Captain Peapod's Log

Captain Peapod's Log is designed for me to simply jot down a few facts, the plan is to record stuff regularly to keep track of what I've been up to. Just for my own records and so I don't have all those, have I seen that/read that moments :)


Back on the bookshelf:
Prisoner of Heaven - Carlos Ruis Zafon
Loved this one, a real page turner with great characters. Finished it in about 3 days flat.

Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures - Emma Straub
Less of a page turner than the one above (tiny print) but an interesting portrait of the rise and fall of a Hollywood movie star. Not as gripping as I would have liked, I read it after I heard it reviewed on the Radio 2 Arts Show - I find picking up recommendations from there always produces mixed results.

On the TV:
Not much really :(
Really missing Great British Sewing Bee

Film night:
Friends with Kids - a total risk of a film which turned out to be very entertaining indeed. Made a change from the teen movies I seem to have picked in recent weeks!

On the needles:
Socks - two pairs, muchos excitement as loving these!

In the sewing basket:

Jo's wedding quilt, steady as she goes. About 50 squares done. 800 odd more to go!

And the scariest category of all ....

Gym bunny session:
Tuesday - power walk lap of the racecourse
Wednesday - lunchtime swim

Will update this last one as the week progresses!

Toodle pip
J
x

Birthday weekend

Well, another year older and wiser for me this week. I observed the tradition of not working on my birthday so enjoyed a long weekend with a couple of days off work.

The boys were very excited about birthday stuff as per usual and were really hyper about their present to me. Shrivelled apple Emporer Palpatine anyone!?

Reuben made me wear my birthday stickers...




Not quite the same as wearing your 'I am four' badge eh?

I accomplished lots of crafty stuff too including the laying out and coding of Jo's wedding quilt and creating miles of wedding bunting - no photos till after the big day!

I also sewed a replacement cover for Dave's car boot find of a beat up old directors chair.

From this...



Via this...



To this...



I ordered the material for our bedroom curtains AND I made a table cloth ...



Boy what a busy few days :)

We had some good stuff - grown up tea out for the two of us, first time in goodness knows how long . And some usual stuff too - family snuffles coming on and appalling customer service and traipsing about trying to get my watch fixed! Such is life.

I'd just like to ask one question. How did I get so old?
Toodle pip
J
x

Putting shelves to good use

Following our recent push on putting up our alcoves of shelving we found we had capacity issues. Some of them were looking a little empty and a bit forlorn, oh what a lovely problem to have! It won't last.

In lieu of ever having again a house big enough to have my own craft room (only occasionally do I miss those pre-children days when space was so much less of an issue) ... I now have some craft shelves :)



Mmm, that'll do!

I also have recently made myself a craft storage box. The green spotty thing on the right.



The pattern comes from this book and overall it was really nice and simple to make. Unfortunately, I managed to buy the wrong type of interfacing - it was really expensive and good and stiff, but it was non fusible. Grrrrr! This made the construction a little tricky in places and the end result isn't quite as stable as I would like it to be, but it looks darn pretty up there. I think I'll give another one a go some time, when I've got hold of the proper fusible stuff that is.

I'm very proud of my little pair of crafty shelves. I can't decide whether to make a cover for my sewing machine or not. It kind of needs the blast of colour up there, but I also like seeing the shape of the machine on show. One to ponder.

I came home the other day to see that a small array of lego spaceships had been added to my little patch of creativity. Is it wrong that I immediately removed them from said shelves and found alternative homes elsewhere? Gerrof your Mum's shelves small people!

Toodle pip
J
x

Easter round up

Our Easter hols have started to fly by, only a few days left to go before it will be back to work for me .... boo :(

We seem to have achieved quite a lot and have had a very busy week so far.

On Good Friday we packed the car to the gills, steeled ourselves for five hours of driving fun, and headed back to the hills for a few days in order to visit Grandma and Grandad. The weather was freezing but at least the sun shone. We managed a brisk walk along a bit of the seafront at Aberystwyth ...

And the boys enjoyed zooming around the castle re-enacting star wars and pirate battles ...

When the wind got too cold we retreated back indoors so I managed to get quite a bit of crafting done. Paper squares are currently being taped into 864 of these lovelies ready for the next wedding quilt ...



And I finished a last minute knitting project for me, inspired by the chilly spring weather we seem to be stuck with ...





Planning for the next house projects also started today, complete with two trips to the timber merchant to stock up on more wood. Most of it the right size - eventually! So while the tiddlers go to Nana's for a sleep over on Saturday its shelves for him and curtains for me. Here is a sneaky peak of my project ...



Very excited indeed to be finally doing these :)

Today was a chill out day in the main so I even managed to dust off my griddle and whip up some goodies inspired by our trip to Wales ...



Twenty one of these sugar coated Welsh Cake yummies were produced at tea time, but only nine were left by the time I found the camera. As quick as they came off the griddle they were getting snaffled up. Ah well, at least they were appreciated.

Toodle pip
J
x