Monday 28 February 2011

Whoosh...........

Wow - that half term went quickly didn't it?  I must say, this week starts off with some trepidation as we find out tomorrow which secondary school we've got........so much for choice......I just hope it's the right one.  Keep your fingers crossed.  I'm stressed to the eye balls about it, whereas hubby is taking a calmer approach with the attitude of he'll worry about it if he needs to tomorrow.  I don't think men have the same emotional attachment with these sorts of matters!

Anyway, last week saw my new role as taxi driver to the two boys - fetching them here, there and everywhere.  I did manage to sneak in some gardening which felt wonderful.  It was only 10 minutes picking up leaves and clearing twigs and cutting back a few plants, but it's surprising how much difference it makes just doing that, and it's great to see new life emerging.








I also made this watch pincushion


from the Jean Greenhowe's Bazaar Knits booklet - lots of quick and easy projects, it was quite satisfying completing something!  My list of WIP's is ever growing, some of which I now don't fancy doing, em....

Lot's of baking was done, yum yum, including these Coconut and Lime Macaroons.




The recipe came from the BBC Good Food website which I'm a great fan of.  The only problem I have when making these is that they always seem to crumble.  They tasted anyway.

Anyway, have a good start to the week and I'll let you know how we get on with the secondary school choice later in the week, aagahhhh....

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Flying high as a kite

Toby's school project a few weeks ago was to make a kite out of anything we had/fancied.  In our case a bin bag and bamboo sticks did the job.  Not only did he have to make it, but he had to see if it would fly - fortunately it did!

I've always loved kites and as a child I always wanted to fly high up in the air on the end of one - freedom!

Coupled with his project and my love for kites I thought why restrict them to outdoor use - why not make one out of fabric, purely for decorative purposes which I did



again



and again



and again






My next task is to make some little ones in bunting form which would be great strung through trees in the summer and great for parties.  Watch this space!

Hope everyone's enjoying half term.  Isn't it great not to do the school run?

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Happy 9th Birthday

to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Jack, Happy Birthday to you!


Even brothers can show an act of kindness and love, just for 1 day!






Have a wonderful day (even though you're at school!).


Flurry of activity despite it being some ridiculous hour of the morning.......


See you when I'm back in the land of the living.....

Thursday 10 February 2011

Brighten the day

Earlier on in the week, the weather was glorious - hope you had plenty of sunshine and blue skies too?

I didn't quite realise what a difference a sunny day does to my mood.  It's been so yucky for so long you get sucked into feeling exactly how the weather is.  Maybe age has something to do with it?!

Anyway, I thought I would brighten up this damp and dreary day (hopefully) by showing you my completed curtains - yippee.


I'm really pleased with them and unlike the hall curtain where squares were made up of multiple triangles, I went for a more simpler square.  I never find constructing and sewing it the problem, or indeed the tabs at the top, it's the laying out, measuring and cutting of the lining.  Each curtain is big and laid out took up most of the lounge floor so you can imagine trying to do the lining was a little tricky.





I was then worried about making the other curtain not exactly the same length as the other one, but after lots of cussing and sweaty palms, I got there.  I've also repainted the room so it's very cheery.  The other 3 males in the house don't like the colour - tough really.



Lastly, my bargain vintage lucite rosebud necklace off Ebay.  The photo doesn't show clearly the lovely shade of green it is unfortunately.






I'll sign off now till next week - it's Master Jack's 9th birthday on Wednesday and we've got a little party this weekend for him so my head will be full of baking, wrapping and clearing up!

Have a good weekend!

Saturday 5 February 2011

Can a girl get excited

over a few brightly coloured plastic mixing bowls


or over a green pair of scissors


a pink potato peeler


a green sieve



a yellow plastic jug



or a few plastic kitchen tools



Sure, why not? (especially when the whole lot was less than £6 from Wilkinsons!).

Have a good weekend!

Tuesday 1 February 2011

A theme

Thank goodness for the 1st February.  Not quite out of the woods yet, but verging on it.  Isn't it great to have slightly lighter early evenings now?

Due to the incessant darkness of  winter, I've been drawn to bright colours at the moment and it had only dawned on me whilst curtain making and decorating that there's definitely a theme going on! - 










What colours are floating your boat at the moment?