Small things

'm very lucky (and grateful) that my pace of life has slowed these past few months to allow me to take time out for small incidental things that make me sooo happy such as ..... making Lara little dresses and loving the way she is putting her awl into modelling this 'autumnal trees, squirrels and mushrooms' little number for me .....

.......trying out our new wellies by spending a lovely sunny morning pottering in the garden ...

...... then indoors to fiddle with my new display of haberdashery nostalgia (many are recent car boot finds) ........

...... I made the pincushion mouse last week (fiddly but fun) ........

.... these were fun too ... little hats for smoothie bottles (in aid of Help the Aged)

...... most days we're off on various jaunts around the village, trying to use the bike for as long as possible while the weather continues to be good. Enjoying the fact that we can stop off at the park if we want to because we're in no hurry .......

...... in the evenings Toby is reading this book to me. It's spooky (in a nice not too scary way), a great Halloween read (but we'll probably have finished it by then) ......

..... getting ready for seven (!) craft fairs is keeping me busy - but in a good way - I like working at my own pace and on what ever I fancy at the time. Here's one of my stall displays (my dad made me the tree decoration display stand, I'm very pleased with it) ......

.... it seems early to be thinking 'Christmas' but this will only be the second year in twenty where I have not worked Christmas eve nor had to go into work between Christmas and New Year so this will be a special 'family' Christmas and I'm getting excited already!!!

Arty, crafty week

Lara and I have been homebodies this week - we've popped out to our usual clubs etc but no major outings - reason being we're potty training. After a tricky couple of days she is doing fabulously well and is wearing pants at all times (except for sleeps). It's another milestone - those baby days are slipping away faster and faster.

I brought out Lara's easel yesterday - I put it away a few months ago as she seemed bored with it. But straight away she took up the chalk drew her brother 'naughty Toby'. I'm very impressed with her artistic ability:

and this is her self portrait:

At the weekend we all went along to an EcoFestival at a city park. A lovely sunny afternoon and lots of interesting ideas, crafting activities etc. I picked up a flyer from one of the stands for a 'Play and Recyling' scheme in town which is open to anyone who crafts with children. Local businesses donate unwanted items that would suitable for reuse. It's an Aladdins cave with all sorts of stuff on offer. They charge £6 annual joining fee and for £3 per trolley load (!) you can help yourself to anything. Here's my booty ... wool, fabric scraps, sewing patterns, interfacing and lots more:

In my load I picked up some paints for Toby which are actually Warhammer paints so he's thrilled to bits as he is totally addicted to painting those little orcs, elves and whatnots. I also got a large piece of grey felt and am planning to make mice with Lara tommorrow.

I've been whizzing out some crochet this week. I completed these wrist warmers for me from a pattern I saw here. They were very quick and easy and are suprisingly very warm and cosy. They will be perfect for some winter car booting as they will keep my hands toasty but fingers free for rummaging. This isn't a good photo - I struggled to get a shot in which my hands didn't look like some strange poised insects.

I've also got four craft fayres booked in over the next couple of months so I've been churning out some hats. I do so love making these. I'm also proud that well over half of all the yarn I use is either bought second hand or is from 're-purposed' garments.

My latest style is the Cherry Bakewell hat - two of my craft fayres are in Bakewell so I hope these will be popular.

The winners are .......

I completely forgot the draw for my giveaway yesterday - the days simply fly by - but better late than never here's Lara enlisted to pick out the two winners .....

and they are ......

Well done ladies I'll get in touch for your addresses and get your goodies in the post shortly.

I'm very pleased with my new strawberry jam pot in the pictures above (50p from Sunday's car boot sale) although I never got around to making strawberry jam this year and this does remind me of my failings on the preserves front this summer (will try harder next year!!).

I had a fabulous haul from the car boot sale including 11 balls of pink cotton DK for £2, a full spool of fine vintage cotton lace for 50p and best of all I picked up this vintage clothes horse, I've been desperate for one as despite the lovely sunshine I just can't bring myself to peg washing out anymore as there are just too many fat spiders lurking (yuk!) - indoors there's only a fat cat lurking .....

The end of the holidays ... and a little giveaway

We’re just back from our wonderful hols in Ibiza. We stayed at Portinatx next to a beautiful sandy cove where the sea was teaming with fish and was very shallow (perfect for Lara) and also so warm it was almost bath temperature!

Oh happy days .... but now the cases are unpacked, the ironings all done (phew) and our family unit is splintering off again with hubby back to work today and Toby back to school tomorrow. I spoke to another mum today who can’t wait for hers to be back but I never feel like that. We’ve had such a lovely summer – I always feel quite sad at the end of the holidays and am already looking forward to half term.

To avoid me moping around the house today with post-holiday blues the three of us went for a longish walk/blackberry forage as it turned out to be a nice sunny morning. Lara did incredibly well as we walked over two miles without her needing to be carried and she worked hard at picking the fruit too.

We retraced our steps from last year but have really missed the season this time as we only got enough for two small crumbles which, although is better than nothing, I had been hoping for a batch of blackberry brandy – oh well maybe next year. To make up for the lack of blackberries we stopped at the deli for ice cream and cake as it is conveniently at the end of our outing.

I’m just catching up with everyone’s blogs(such a lot to read over the past couple of weeks). Meanwhile thanks all for your encouraging comments about Lara’s dress from the previous post – I love the comment from Sewing Room Pat about patterns all fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle which makes it all sound less daunting as I’ve seen some lovely things I’d like to make one day (thank you Pat for the award too!)

Now for a little giveaway on the sewing theme – a larger crocheted cake which is a nice size for a pincushion and aptly coming from Derbyshire it’s a cherry bakewell . I’ll pick two winners next Monday to each win a cake along with one or two surprises – just leave a comment to enter, good luck x

A dress for Lara

We're away shortly for our summer beach holiday in Spain and once we return home Autumn will be pretty much here. So last week I'd been sorting through the children's clothes whilst packing summer things for our trip and seeing what from last year has been outgrown and oh yes there's lots on the 'too small pile' and not much left in the children's wardrobes!

I had a trip into town to look at the new seasons ranges and couldn't find anything for Lara. I really like tunic dresses for her worn with jeans or trousers over a long or short sleeved t-shirt (girly but functional) but I didn't see anything at all. I then decided to dig out a pattern I'd bought from Etsy a couple of months back. I 'd originally looked through the instructions but promply filed it away deciding that it was too ambitious as I'd never made anything from a pattern before. But I decided I should at least give it a go using some 50p fabric from a car boot so that it wouldn't matter if I made a complete pigs ear! I thought it would take me a week to make but I'd finished it within an hour and made proper button holes too for the first time ever.

I'm completely shocked that I've actually made a dress that is pretty much what I wanted and it vitually fits (a bit long but it is for Autumn).

I'm not ever so keen on the fabric but it had grown on me and will look nice with a brown top and tights. It's reversible too - how clever is that? (the pattern not me I should add!). I'm going to make a shorter tunic version perhaps in a thicker fabric and with a front pocket for hankies ready for winter sniffles.

Seaside at home

Well, our Cornwall hols are a distant memory and our next beach holiday is still several weeks away so I 've injected a bit of the seaside into our home .... and here's my very own little piece of coast ....

After the loft conversion earlier this year we have aquired a small top landing which was orginally going to be a large walk-in store cupboard but I changed my mind and fancied a galleried landing. In retrospect the store cupboard would have been more useful but it would have made the new stairs very gloomy. This little area is the perfect place for all my seaside bits and bobs (the things I pick up from naf souvenir shops as holiday mementos but then don't 'go' anywhere once I get them home!!)

'm planning to paint the three cupboard doors in funky beach hut stripes ... I will stop short of putting sand down in place of carpet though!

Buy, Buy ... Sell, Sell

It’s been a whirl of commerce just lately in my little world. I’ve had three stalls at various carnivals and fetes over the last three Saturdays so have been a busy bee making things and trawling the car-boot sale to restock my stall in between. Each Saturday rain had been forecast but we’ve so far escaped a drenching with only a few short showers or the barest of drizzle. I actually quite like the rain showers as it does bring a little crowd under my stall!!



I think we’ll all miss the end of the summer fayre season. The children have had oodles of fun and I’ve absolutely loved it all.



This was Melbourne Carnival two weeks ago. I was next door to the firemen :-)




Here's Lara de-merchandising the stall - put it back Lara!






I’ve another stall lined up at a local farm shop opening in a fortnight so I’m thinking of some farmyard themed makes (crochet animals, piggy cushions etc) although once Toby breaks up for the hols on Thursday my ‘free time’ will seriously deplete so I don’t think I’ll accomplish an awful lot in time.
These have whizzed off my stall (thankfully they are very fun and simple to make so I've topped up the bowls again)






The car boot sales have been great over the past month – there seems to be a lot of stalls but less customers than in the past. I’ve found lots of goodies to put away for Christmas stalls (funny no one else is buying xmas decorations in July!!). The most difficult thing is parting with things to sell on my stall. I only buy or make what I love so then I have to be so strict with myself not to keep everything.

I originally made this cushion for my stall. Other than the inner pad it's entirely reclaimed fabric and lace. I took it to the fayre then put it back into the car as I just couldn't part with it. It's my first attempt at machine applique (inspired from this great book which had been on my Amazon list for a while then I realised one of the co-authors was one of the first bloggers I'd found - isn't blogland funny!)





Despite the recent extra income I’m going to have to watch the pennies as I’ve had a bit of a splurge recently.
I treated myself to a lovely twelve person teaset from an auction last month. I’m planning on a family garden party soon and am thrilled to find to a big set as I’m not one for mismatched china (although similar pieces are okay)





I‘ve also won a bundle of Irish table linen at last week’s auction. I can’t pick it up until tomorrow but v. excited as I’m into vintage linen at the moment (an appreciation which is slipping into a collection).


I rarely buy ‘new’ clothes but couldn’t resist this vintage style story book theme dress for Lara – especially as the style is called ‘Lara’!! She looks so sweet in it.



And I’ve just won a gorgeous bed for Lara off eBay, this is the sellers photo:.



I’ve been intending to move her into a big bed for sometime but I’ve been loathed to make any changes as she sleeps so well. But she’s had a growth spurt over the past couple of months and looks too grown up for the cot. I think she’ll love her bed as she’s always tucking up her toys in mine. I've started her bedroom 'makeover' in readiness,. Bye bye baby room :-(