Me, obsessive? Never!!!!!

Ok, so that's a big lie.

When I start making something I like I find it very difficult to stop.

So when this yummy new fabric arrived today


what do you think I did with it?

Yup, guessed right - more wallets!


I've even started a series of Paddington Bear wallets!

And there's another Easter one, a Russian doll one, a..........................


So now I have another 6 mad wallets to go into Etsy and even more planned so I really hope someone out there wants to buy them because I don't have enough money to fill one let alone dozens!

I was very lucky last night because a completely insane woman rang me up demanding to know why the Easter wallet I had blogged about hadn't yet appeared in my Etsy shop. She proceeded to bully me down the phone and forced me to load it up forthwith! She then, very sweetly, bought it and the pink roses wallet too!

And today, because I had taken in some parcels for her, I got chatting to one of my neighbours from across the road and not only did she ask me to make a doll for a baby due at the end of March but she also came back with a pile of lovely fabrics for me - all freshly ironed too!

Looking forward to playing with these too!

But I'm pleased to say I had a very "grown-up" moment today when I was asked if I wanted a stall at tomorrow's Mother's Day Coffee Morning at school. I thought about it, was seriously tempted, and then said NO THANK YOU! So finally I've learnt how to say No!

Not what you expect to find................

Hello again!

I don't really know what to write about so I will start with the obvious standby and say what lovely weather we had today! I'm telling you this so I don't forget that we had lovely weather today - sunny and nice - not that I did anything about it as we spent the morning at the dentist getting everyone's teeth checked and then I went to the pub for lunch with two of my bestest friends (I'll just point out here that I NEVER get to be a "lady that lunches" so it was a very pleasant experience!)

I have been working on some more wallets for etsy - although I'm sure I've got enough in there already! I just can't help making them when I am in the mood because they are such a fun way to play with different fabric combinations.

This is a pile of WIPs - wallets-in-progress!

And this is the particularly BRIGHT and CHIRPY Easter one I have just put in the shop.


The colours are well out of my usual comfort zone but just seemed to be happy together.


And I love the fact that I managed to put the carrot fabric on the inside of the zipped section. I really like "hiding" things like this!


I had an emergency call from a friend the other night to put my fairy-helper's wings on again! Her youngest child was about to lose his first tooth and was terrified that the tooth-fairy wouldn't be able to find it if he didn't have a special place to put it. After everything that could go wrong with it did, I managed to get this finished today (I don't know how so many things managed to go wrong with such a simple bit of work!!!)


It is not a very good photo as it is soaking wet! I had to wash it quickly to get the pen marks off and Finlay was so desperate to have it that they have taken it home like this to go in his mummy's tumble dryer ready for tonight.

Meanwhile, this happened to my own littlest darling:


so he is a little miffed that he hasn't got a special pocket for his tooth. Unfortunately he actually swallowed his!!!!! The tooth fairy still came though so we didn't have to do any excavations thank goodness!!!!!

And finally, to explain the title of this post....................


Not what you expect to find in the cupboard under the stairs.......................


Well, the mess was to be expected - but the little visitor was a surprise!!!!!

Not getting anywhere fast

I've got so much to do and loads of time now the children are back at school to do it in but I don't seem to be getting anywhere fast!

I have been feeling a bit under pressure as so many of you in the Bunny Hop swap have been making amazing creations already!

I spent yesterday messing about with a new bunny design which I need to get finished off. I was trying to design her dress myself too but I ended up adapting the pattern from Rosalie Quinlan's My Dolly Bekkie and just enlarged it a bit and changed the bodice bit.

The bunny is not perfect (and needs her limbs stuffing and stitching on which is why I haven't put a picture of her here yet) but I'm quite pleased with it as a prototype!

I have lots of things I need to send out to people - my PIF gifts for one (I know I'm allowed a year to do it but I should have got on with it by now!); Kitty's doll (her hair is done and the fabrics chosen for her dress!); a thank you gift for Anna (the things I want to send are made but the biscuits got eaten! I may just send the handmade goodies on their own!) one for Nadine from ages and ages ago; one for May Kristin (which is nearly finished) and one for Vicious Chicken - not to mention the things I should be sending to Lesley!!! (at this rate I will be saving the postage and taking them down to her in London next month!)

I really want to get these gifts finished and sent but I get to the point when I feel guilty about them being late so I put them off even longer! Does that make any sense?

So, sorry everyone! I haven't forgotten - I'm just really bad at getting things done!

Another thing I have been needing to do is update my Etsy shop so I am pleased to say that at least that has been done today.

Here are some of the wallets that went in

Okay, so only 6 went in but the collage wanted to do 9 pics which is why there are repeats!

Finally, the very good news is that after last week's miserable half pound weight loss, I went to Weight Watchers today and had managed to lose 5LBS !!!!!!! Woooohoooooo! That means I have lost 11.5lbs now (only another 51.5 to go.................!)

I'm really pleased about this so I hope I can keep it going!

Hope you are all having a lovely Tuesday - preferably less windy than up here!

Lucy xx

P.S. only a few Valentine's swap parcels left to arrive but keep letting me know when you get them and please blog about what you have received (if you haven't done so already) so that you can publicly thank the person who sent it to you.

Half term is nearly over

Well the half term holiday is nearly over but we have had lots of fun - mostly doing nothing much at all!

One of the highlights has been the children's radio station "Century P.I.T".

The two girls came up with the idea early on in the week (I knew that hiding the Playstation was a good idea) and then Fred joined in later. The P.I.T stands for the initials of their real names (it's a great acronym because the house is always a PIT or turn it round and it's a TIP!)

Here is where it was located.

Well actually HERE!

Mr Locket and I sat in our comfy chairs and I was allowed to do my knitting while they entertained us with commentary, jokes, music, traffic and a Horrid Henry story!

Dorothy did the main talking
with Fred doing the jingle "welcome to Century P.I.Teeeeeeeeeeee!" and the traffic,
while Daisy was the DJ and story teller!

It was absolutely brilliant and lovely - and is something we will all remember far longer than hours spent on the playstation! The three of them are currently upstairs playing schools with Dorothy setting the other two loads of homework (a very regular game in this house!) They still keep asking if they can have the Playstation back but I am holding out for as long as I can! They only got it at Christmas because I have avoided getting anything like it and while it is good fun it can cause a lot of arguments so it has been hiding for about a month now!

We have also had more time sewing around the table with Daisy and Fred winding my threads onto cards and stitching their cushions while Dorothy "revised" for her SATs in May.

Mr Locket was on holiday yesterday so we had a day out. We headed about 40 miles north to Alnwick - not to visit the famous castle and gardens, but instead to go to Barter Books - an amazing second hand bookshop in the old railway station. You can spend hours there (but wrap up warmly because it is freezing!)

We all got lots of books - Dorothy got the second and third in the Philip Pullman Dark Materials trilogy because she has nearly finished the first, and some Nancy Drew books. Daisy got a large Beatrix Potter book in preparation for our holiday in the Lake District for her birthday and Fred got a gorgeous dragon book and Mr Locket got a biography of an athlete.


My book has to be the best of all (although I think the children would disagree). Mr Locket found it for me (which makes it special in any case) and it is absolutely lovely.


This is my favourite photo from inside (so far!) - this picture made from stamps is just amazing. I can't wait to read it all - and hopefully if I sit at the table with it I will be able to knit and read at the same time!

We have spent this morning with lovely friends that we don't get to see often enough - "HELLO TO ALL OF YOU!!!! Thanks for playing so nicely with the Little Lockets"

and I am meant to be sewing wallets now ready to go into my Etsy shop which is desperate need of an update! I'll let you know when I get them in there!

As far as the Easter swap is concerned, you should all have received your swap partner's questionnaire (it takes ages to get them all sent out but I have finished it at last!) - if you haven't got yours yet please leave a comment on this post as some emails seem to be failing to get through.

I realised today that I had made a mistake with the posting date for this swap. I put March 23rd which is actually Easter Sunday (durr!!!) when I meant to put March 17th. If you can possibly post by Monday 17th that would be best but I don't want this change of date to put people off. As long as you keep in contact with your partner so she knows when to expect her parcel that is fine.

Most of you have received your Valentine's swap parcel but I am still waiting to hear about 15 so could you keep letting me know as your parcel arrives and please blog about it to publicly thank your partner. Do let me know if there are any problems.

Sorry - this has been a very long post - congratulations if you have made it this far!

Have a great weekend. Lucy xx

Easter Swap Partners

Okay, so the partners have been allocated and this time because I ended up with an odd number I have decided to partner myself with two of you! I hope that is okay with everyone.

Hopefully I have managed to get everyones' posting preferences right and haven't doubled up on the Valentine's swap.

I will send out your questionnaire details to your partners tomorrow (hopefully!) - half term makes things a little unpredictable!

So here are the partners:

Monda and Saraeden
Kitty and Suzie Sews
Katy and Gigi
Kitsch n zinc and Diane
Moogsmum and Est
Lucy Locket and Rachel
Tillyboo and Trashalou
Hannah and Jackie
Weird Bunny and Joy Michelle
Dotty Designs and Kae
Michaela and Working Mom Knits
Pollyhope and Stephanie
Jenny and Two Crofters
Blossom and Electric Daisy
Heleen and Jane
Kylie and Sandra
Sew to Bed and Levin and Emily
Annie and Fran
Jennie and Dotty Cookie
Tantehilde and Lucy Locket

AND LOOK!!!!!!!!

look at all the lovely goodies that arrived from my Valentine's swap partner Gemma!

this gorgeous stitched picture -
I am having to fight off the two girls who both want it in their bedrooms!

this beautiful handmade book

full of lovely poetry

and these wonderful heart earrings - I put them on as soon as they arrived!

I also got lots of lovely crafty goodies: a stamp, brads, beads, clips, hearts and stickers

and I would have shown you the sweets but the children got there first!

Thank you so much Gemma - the whole parcel was wonderful!

I now know of 33 Valentine's swap parcels that have safely arrived - but if any of you have received yours but not yet blogged about it or sent me an email to let me know, could you do so as soon as possible so I can keep track of how the swap has gone. If there are any problems could you also let me know - I don't want anyone to be left without a Valentine's parcel.

Thank you to everyone who has taken part - it seems to have been very successful!

We are having a good half-term here chez Lockets. The weather has been very bright and sunny and very, very, very cold - but it is so much easier to get up and get on with the day when the sun is shining, no matter how cold it is.

As I mentioned before, we started the holiday by doing our regular blitz of the two littlest Lockets' bedroom - I don't know how they do it but it gets absolutely horrendous to the point where you can't get in to tuck them up at night and it is such a huge job to tackle that I keep putting it off and focus on my crafting instead! (I really am a very "untidy mummy") But now it is lovely and tidy - and really quite a big room. And did you know, it actually has a laminate floor in too - I'd forgotten that!

This is the children "helping" to sort the clean washing yesterday morning - I have to admit that it had been accumulating in a corner for a while!


Mr Locket and I are constantly trying to get across to the children that much as we all hate tidying, it is so much easier to have fun in a tidy house, and this week seems to be proving me right.

Daisy and Fred have played so happily in their tidy bedroom and were able to have Patti's children round to play yesterday. And Patti and I were able to sit downstairs in peace doing our knitting whilst Dorothy typed a fantastic story on the computer and the four little ones played happily upstairs.

And with the sitting/dining room tidy too we have been able to extend the table to it's longest length to give them plenty of room for crafting.


We had a lovely afternoon today listening to Kim Wilde (the first album I bought as a child) whilst the children did their sewing and knitting and I sorted and ironed through a box of my best fabrics choosing different combinations for the wallets I plan to put in Etsy later in the week.

We managed to keep the telly off and just enjoy being together while doing our own things.

At the beginning of the holiday we made a "fun list" of the things the children would like to do this week (on the condition that we got their bedrooms tidy first of course!!!) and one of them was "go to the beach".

So even though it was freeeeeeeeezing cold we combined picking daddy up from work with a trip to the beach in South Shields

ice-creams included!

But I'm really only holding Mr Locket's ice-cream, honest!!

(Ok, so I had a little taste but not too much as I only lost half a pound at WW today - grrrrrrrr!)

Can you see how cold it was??????

I heard today that Gemma my swap partner has received her parcel and loves it - it is such a relief when you are sending something handmade to hear that it has arrived! Keep letting me know when yours arrive too.

Off to do some more knitting while the children sew and watch a film before bedtime.

Lucy x

Easter Swap Participants

Hi Everyone!

The list is now closed for the Bunny-Hop-Bunny-Swap and there are 38 participants:

Monda
Kitty
Katy
Kitsch n Zinc
Lesley
Lucy
Fran
Kae
Dotty Cookie
Dotty Designs
Jane
Weirdbunny
Hannah
Trashalou
Tillyboo
Michaela
Polly Hope
Jenny
Jackie
Blossom
Rachel mp
Diane m
Heleen
Two Crofters
Electric Daisy
Kylie
Sew to Bed
Annie
Gigi
Jennie
Stephanie
Est
Tantehilde
Joy Michelle
Susie Sews
Sandra
Levin and Emily
Saraeden

Thank you all for signing up - once again I can't wait to see all the bunnies hopping around Blogland!

If your name is in bold it means I need to have your questionnaire back before I can allocate partners. The deadline for returning it is Wednesday by 8pm (UK time) but the sooner I get them all in the sooner I can pair people up. Let me know if you haven't received my email with the questionnaire attached - cyberspace has a habit of eating them!

More Valentine's parcels are popping up around blogland so keep those photos coming in so I can do a concluding post.

Meanwhile, it's half term here now so my creativity-time is dramatically reduced but I hope to get some sewing and knitting done soon or I will go bonkers!

(Okay Lesley, I know, I'm already bonkers!)

Swapsies

I currently have 29 participants in the Bunny-Hop-Bunny-Swap so if anyone else would like to join in please leave a comment on this post and send me your email by 8pm Monday 18th Feb (UK time)

So far in the Valentine's swap I know that 12 of you have received your parcels which is great. Could the rest of you let me know when your parcels arrive and send me a photo of what you received - then I can do a concluding blog-post, thanks. If anyone has any problems with sending their parcel please contact your swap partner straight away and let me know too.


It has been a totally uncreative weekend in Locketsville as we have been doing our regular excavation of the two littlest Lockets' bedroom - it always takes about 3 days to even find the floor and we have had to resort to keeping both their toys and their clothes behind locked doors!!!! (perhaps it would be simpler to keep the children in the cupboards instead????)

We are now going to watch the childrens' half term DVD, Nancy Drew, whilst I do some therapeutic knitting (and wine drinking of course!)

Easter Swap - Sign up closed

Ok then, plenty of you seem interested in an Easter Swap, even though I am as late as ever at organising it, so here goes:

The Bunny-hop-Bunny-swap

This time the swap parcel will contain

1. A handmade bunny softie of any design - (crocheted, knitted or sewn)
2. A handmade Easter card

(I'm not suggesting chocolates this time to avoid any potential problems with customs and because there will be quite enough chocolate around at Easter already! I am also leaving out the "stash goodies" to make it simpler.)

The rules of this swap are

1. The sign up list will close at 8pm (UK time) on Monday 18th February (or earlier if I reach 50 participants) - by which time I will also need everyone's contact email address
2. I will send out questionnaires to anyone who has not taken part in the Valentine's swap and will need to have them back by Wednesday 20th Feb at 8pm (UK time)
   
3. Partners will then be allocated (I will choose them by picking names from a bowl but will re-draw them if there are any duplicate pairs from the previous swap - so everyone gets the chance to make a new friend)
   
4. Once you receive your partner's details you should send them an email to say hello and introduce yourself
5. Parcels must be sent on or before 23rd March
6. You should send an email to both me and your partner to confirm that you have sent your parcel
7. If you have any problems with posting it please let your partner know as soon as possible and send me an email too.
8. Once you have received your goodies could you please blog about them (if possible) to publicly thank your partner and then send me a photo of what you have received so I can do a concluding blog post.
9. Most importantly - have fun!

I'm sorry that this is a short-notice swap again - but my good ideas only come to me at the last moment and I had sworn that I wouldn't be organising another swap for a long time (as many of you have reminded me!)

I look forward to hearing from you all!

Lucy x

P.S. I will send you the code for the swap-badge when you sign up in case you want to include it on your blog

So much to show you

My ever-so-lucky-streak has just kept going with two more lovely bloggy gifts this week!

I was delighted to hear that I had won the bloggy giveaway on May Kristin's blog, especially when I realised she was sending out some Tilda goodies, but you can imagine my complete amazement when I saw what was in the parcel

loads and loads of wonderful Tilda fabrics and ribbons and a stitchery pattern AND a full kit to make this beautiful angel!

Thank you so much May Kristin - this is an incredibly generous gift and I am completely overwhelmed! I can't wait to start playing with them and I already have an idea of a little something to make to send back to you!

A completely unexpected surprise was this gorgeous Valentine's card from Anna.


I had admired it when she blogged about them but didn't imagine she was sending me one! I love this idea of crocheting around a picture - I really want to learn how to do this! Thank you Anna!

I managed to get my Valentine's parcel sent to Gemma, my swap partner yesterday so hopefully it will be arriving shortly as she lives in the UK.

It has been lovely seeing all the wonderful parcels arriving in blogland - if you haven't already done so it would be great if you could send me a photo of what you received so I can do a big blog post to finish off the swap.



I've been enjoying knitting from my new book


and have nearly finished this doll


This cushion order is for a little girl who clearly loves pink!!!



and I have also been working on this


for this challenge.


On a new blogger note, Rachel, who I have "known" for several years (as I used to buy all my Rosalie Quinlan patterns from her Ebay shop before they were available over here), has finally joined us all in blogland so it would be great if you could pop over and say hi. Her work is lovely and I'm delighted to be able to "meet" her properly at last!


Finally, in my madness, I have started thinking of organising an Easter Bunny swap! Would anyone be interested?

Lucy x