Maybe some pictures???

Hi, I'm still here but my camera is not so lucky! It's had to be sent away for repair and might not be back for 8 weeks! Before I knew about blogland this would have been okay-ish but now it is a disaster. I managed to copy the photos on my card onto CD so I have a couple there and I have borrowed mum and dad's old camera but it is a bit unpredictable so the photos may not be great!

I'm not really sure what to blog about though! I think I will show you the pond we have been digging at the allotment as long as you won't complain about photos of black plastic pond liner!

(lots of people digging quite a small hole!)

Black plastic pond liner as promised

Ok, yes, that's me with my little monsters, trying to hide behind my hair and wearing my very unattractive "allotment coat" - well it's very cozy and it was raining by then!

Finally an introduction to the new members of our family:

"Mia the Funky Chick" and "TimTom"
(hopefully I will get a better picture next time!)

The children were looking over my shoulder as I visited MondaLoves fab blog and asked if we could make some monsters too. I got them to draw how they wanted their monsters to look and then helped them put them together. I did the machining but the children did all the handsewing. Dorothy's isn't finished yet because she was busy cooking garlic bread, soup and cakes in the kitchen with LSH while we were sewing (YUM!). Likewise, I was too busy helping Fred and Daisy to finish mine and LSH designed a very strange "Mr Turnip Head" monster that I am hesitant about sewing - it's freaky! (More about them in another post!)

Will you still talk to me without pictures???

My camera is still broken : o (
and I have a million things (ok - slight exaggeration) that I want to post pictures of!

We have been really busy this week with the end of term "stuff" that goes on and I nearly broke my arm this morning carrying a basket full of bottles of wine and boxes of chocolates for all the teachers, teaching assistants and lollipop man. Because the same teacher taught all three children in Reception I wanted to make something special for her to show how much I appreciated her kindness to the children and her patience with me! (I think mummies are meant to remember to send forms in on time (filled in too!), return reading books, label clothes etc - but I seem to be missing that important mummy-skill and their teacher has maintained her calm patience through 3 years of forgetfulness!) I was lucky that the children all had the same nursery teacher too and I made her a special present last year when they left - fortunately I already have a photo of it on my computer
I adapted it from a primitive stitchery pattern that said "Welcome" and their teacher was really delighted with it and the realisation of how much we appreciated her brought tears to her eyes.

This year I have adapted an Anni Downs picture from her Angel's Story - using an angel from one design and the flying children from another. Hopefully I will be able to post a picture later as a friend is going to take a photo of it for me. Fred and Daisy have also made cushions for their teachers so watch this space!

I am really looking forward to the holidays and the 6 week break from all the last-minute-need-to-get-everything-ready-can't-find-my- shoes /coat/bag/ brain(me!)-we're-going-to- be-late-stress of a school morning. Problem is I have been so busy crafting this week (also making a patchwork fleece blanket for an order and a birthday present for Dorothy as we will be in Italy for her birthday) that the house is a bomb-site and there is so much to do before the children and I can have fun. I can see a rota being created to get the balance of work/play sorted out. I have tried to explain to the children over the years that we need a relatively tidy house for them to be able to do the things they want - for example, you can't have a morning of painting etc if you can't find the table because of all the junk, or you can't play with your castle and playmobil if they are scattered across every room in the house and mostly buried under 4ft of clean clothes (that were in the drawer yesterday!) and so on. Does explaining work? Not so far but I live in hope!

I will, hopefully, add some more photos later. But please still talk to me anyway, Lucy

Oh what have I done???

Can someone out there please explain the logic of my actions to me because I am far from understanding them myself:

There I was at the beginning of the week complaining about "too much to do" with a list of all the things I needed/wanted to create - soon! On top of that there are still more end of year things happening with the children, the allotment is zooming out of control and the house looks more like a squat than a home, and as for the garden - is that what you'd call it??? (looks more like the council dump to me!) So what would a sane person do? (I've no real idea as I've never been one) What they most probably wouldn't do is sign up to a Pay it Forward scheme to send 3 handmade gifts around the world! I already have a yarn in a teacup swap to shop for! My only excuse for this sheer madness is that it did say I could take up to 365 days to send these gifts out and knowing me I will be staying up all night on day 364 trying to make them!

I've no idea what I'm going to make and even less of a clue of when I will find time to do it but it did seem like a really nice idea and I get to have something handmade by Leanne of the Stitching Room - she's good!

Another awful thing happened to me this morning - my camera broke! How could I blog without a camera? How could I live without my blog? (in a much tidier house probably!!) Fortunately it has revived and is working once again so now I need to decide what photo to post.

Well, first of all I'll show you the second swap parcel I got from my Scrappy Cabin swap organised by Melly and Me. Debbie had already sent one parcel out and then followed it with this! Gorgeous yummy things and an article on Janet Bolton in the magazine!

Hang on - camera still not working - I'll add the pictures later! (hopefully)

Pass it Forward

I saw this on Leanne of The Stitching Room's blog and decided to join in too:

"I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don't know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week... LOL... but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

So I look forward to hearing from you!


Here are some nice photos of the quilts I loved at the Quilt Show at Allington House in Durham on Saturday - what patience it must take to make them! They are called postage stamp quilts and apparently the lady that made them used to cut out the squares and take them on long plane flights! I wish I could do work like this.

Too Much To Do

It is getting really busy around here at the moment. "Dorothy" was in some brilliant performances last week. For two nights she was dancing the overture to Cats at a local theatre in a schools dance festival and for three nights she was singing in the choir of a musical at the local senior school. I'm really proud of her. We have also had 2 sports days and one special assembly for "Fred" with another this week for "Daisy". I have been wondering whether I should be referring to the children as DD1, DD2 and DS as many bloggers seem to, rather than using their nicknames, but I have decided not to as they identify with their alter-egos!! I think, though, that I will refer to my long suffering husband as exactly that: LSH.

I have so many sewing projects on the go at the moment that I don't know which way to turn! I need to make a special present for Fred's reception teacher as she has taught all three children and I really value how lovely she has been with them. I am planning to make Annie Down's "Flying School" Angel from her Angel's Story book, Fred is also stitching her a cat picture. Daisy wants to make something for her teacher as well - probably "Charlotte the Shopper" from the same book which will need some help from me. I already have my star/house quilt to finish as the extra fabrics have arrived from America and I am meant to be progressing with my 365 challenge quilt but that has been on a back burner for a while so I need to catch up before it becomes too big and scary to contemplate. I have also received an order for one of my fleece blankets in pinks for a baby girl who is due in August.

In the meantime I have set myself the challenge of making 3 other quilts: Some of you may already know that my lovely father-in-law had a devastating stroke in March. He has been left really incapacitated and it is terrible for the whole family. My mother-in-law is finding it very difficult to cope and we are all feeling very frustrated as there is little we can do to help. So I am making my mother-in-law a "comfort blanket" in quilt form - just so that I can do something for her that shows her how much I love her. My in-laws are committed Christians and I am stitching special quotes from the Bible on the quilt so she can have the comfort from them too. I am sort of trying to design the quilt myself although "design" is probably too grand a word for my "put together" efforts - maybe "create" is a better word. I'm going to make my father-in-law a strippy quilt as well, using some 3 Sisters "Chocolate" charm squares. I think doing this is really as a comfort to me - so that I can feel I am doing something.

I am also making one for my Mum's birthday in August using these fabrics from 2 Blackbird Designs' Chelsea Boutique Charm Packs. It will be a strippy quilt too, like the Wuthering Heights one.

On a happier note, I thought I would finish with some allotment photos of the children. Dorothy wants to do drama classes
so she decided that she would sell peas at the allotment for 1p each! She roped her little sister and brother into helping her pod them and thought she was onto a good scheme until I told her that she couldn't sell the peas as I wanted them for lunch! Well it was a good try anyway! (and look at the size of those peas!!!)

I'm still here - just busy!

Hi - a very quick post to say that I will leave a proper post soon - too many end of term things going on with the children! Talk to you soon. Lucy