RHS Rosemoor

I went to RHS Rosemoor with Maddie's class on Thursday. It was a lovely trip and the children were really well behaved, a credit to their school.

The children had a treasure hunt to do and we looked at leaves and flowers, talking about what they feel like, what they look like, the colours and shapes etc. Maddie loves the Lamb's Ears above, she says they feel like blankets and another girl in my group said they felt like donkey ears.


Rosemoor is stunning, I miust go back in the summer holidays and spend the day there. Although we had about 4 hours there last week, we were on a schedule and had 'educational' things to do. The children would have been happy playing in the new play area called The Brash - and I did let them for a while as it was a hot day and the play area was lovely and shady.

We watched the bees on this Helianthemum for ages, I hadn't realise they had been talking about bees in class the day before so I was pleased we had spent the time observing them. One boy even noticed that the bee was storing the pollen and nectar on his legs.

I have finished some sewing - this cute little needlecase from SewHip! You can find the pattern designer here .

It was really easy, only took me about 45 minutes!

I've been trialling different designs of ipod/phone cases. Not found the perfect one yet but my quest continues!

I leave you with some chocolate meringues....enjoy!

I went to RHS Rosemoor with Maddie's class on Thursday. It was a lovely trip and the children were really well behaved, a credit to their school.

Birdie, birdie, tweet tweet

I love sewing, I love the way you take a two dimensional piece of fabric and a few carefully placed stitches transforms it into a 3D work of art. (Usually.....)

This is a project from Cath Kidston's latest book Sew! It worked up quickly once I had figured that speed was not of the essence for this project. I really must learn to take more time over my projects, I'm sure I'll be less disappointed with the results then. It also made use of my favourite tool - The Mighty Glue Gun!

I hope the recipient likes it!

We've had a busy day at the park today. Devon County Council organised a Cycling Fun Day and although the girls scootered to the park instead of using their bikes we had a great day. Best of all was the smoothie bike - a bike attached to blender which created a yummy smoothie as you pedalled! The sun shone and the children were happy! All I need to be able to get on my bike is for Jez to give me back my front wheel and a seat on the back for Sullivan.

Our Garden

The Back Garden

We are in the process of updating/rejigging/sorting out our back garden. Jez built the raised beds last summer and we have been slowly filling them with top soil. We got a load from freecycle last year which filled one of the beds but the one on the side remained empty.

Last week I decided that the children's playmats (recycled car tyre mats for use in playgrounds) needed a proper home so I chose the location and we started digging. It took most of Saturday but we did it - well Jez did it! The soil that came out of the hole for the mats has filled in most of the long bed on the left of the garden. The next job is to fill the hole with hardcore, sand and cement to make a stable base for the mats. They are going to have a deckboard edge so the children are going to end up with about 2 square metres of all weather play area.

Photos taken from the top of the steps.

The big wall at the end of the garden is a flood defence wall, the River Taw flows behind it and it is a tidal river which often has 8-9 metre tides.

The photo above shows where we could site the chickens if the council allows us to keep them. I don't hold out much hope so it'll probably get filled with more soil eventually. The henhouse would go where you can see the shed and the square bed would become their run.

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The Front Garden

The front garden/yard is a hotbed of activity at the moment. I bought the plastic greenhouse today from Wilkinson for £12. A bargain!

In the greenhouse we have:

Sugarsnap peas

Mange Tout

Broad beans

Dwarf french beans

French beans

Courgettes

Butternut squash

Beetroot

Lollo Rossa

Chillies

Sweet peppers

Sage

Flat leaf parsley

Basil

Beefsteak tomatoes

Gardeners Delight tomatoes

Sunflowers

Rosemary

Fingers crossed for a bumper harvest! I still want some rocket and sweetcorn.

In the drainpipes we have carrots for our annual longest carrot competition. There's also chives, parsley, more rosemary, strawberries, salad leaves and a cranberry bush in pots.

Exochorda x macrantha 'The Bride'
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Emilia had her 9th birthday during the Easter holidays. She requested the usual stack of gooey chocolate brownies for her cake. Ooh yum!


She wanted a Roman theme for her party as that has been her topic at school. It was a fun theme and I enjoyed making their costumes. All the children who came had made such an effort too.

My little Roman Soldier.
and my army!


Emilia asked for a sewing kit for her birthday and choose this skirt from Clothkits.com. She was brilliant with the sewing machine and did loads of it herself. I can see Clothkits making me broke!

Very quickly - Amy Butler baby dress

The Back

And the front with knickers.

I've just finished this super cute baby dress and knickers for my friends little girl who is 1 tomorrow.

The pattern is from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones and was a complete joy to make. I did modify the pattern slightly - I couldn't work out what to do with the 'V' in the front of the bodice so I ignored it and I ignored the front band too. I was tired and it was late!

I hope she loves it as much as I do :o)

More tomorrow including photos of our Mother's Day walk around Baggy Point and Croyde.

Ali xxx

I won!!!

The lovely Kerrie at Hipknits had a competition on her blog to name the latest yarn from Hipknits. She wanted Shakespearean womens names and I suggested Emilia, as it is a beautiful name for a beautiful yarn! I'm not biased at all :) She chose my suggestion above all the others and check out what she sent me! It is so beautiful, and the skein of silk was a totally unexpected and very welcome surprise! I have a red winter coat and thought I may make a muffler with the silk. I can't wait to make the capelet with the lilac Emilia yarn :) Thank you so much Kerrie, you've no idea how happy your gift has made me.

When I told Emilia about all this she said 'When the yarn arrives I'm going to have to keep cuddling it.' I think we have a budding yarnographer in the making!

I made these bags last night, only 8x8" but perfect for treasure. The flowery one is a gift bag and has a pair of socks and hat in for a friends baby.

This is the material for the front room blinds, It's so heavy and strokable!And finally as I really muct go to school and get Emilia, my nursing pillow. It's so squooshy and really comfortable! I wonder if I'll use it?

Lotsa Knits!

Here you all are, the promised pictures of my latest makes, I'm on Dh's laptop and he doesn't have any editing software so I haven't been able to crop the pictures. I've posted them as small images but please click on them so you can see them better :)
This is the Amy Butler ditty bag and I absolutely adore it. It took about 2 hours to sew and about 45 minutes to cut out. It's perfect for Emilia's Forever Best Friends and Bratz dolls. Barbie will be getting a bag too!

Here's my youngest ballerina in her new ballet clothes, she's meant to be wearing 'proper' uniform but that would cost £50!!! I think little girls of 3 should be allowed to dress like a ballerina princess if they want to :) Emilia has her show soon, it's costing a fortune! We have to pay £45 for the 2 costumes, we get £20 back but no costumes after the show which I am appalled at. Last week they told me I needed to get her some white tap shoes for the show even though I'd just bought black ones (which is the colour for her tap uniform). AAARRRGGHHH! I found some second hand ones on eBay for £1.99 which do the trick, but aarrggghhh all the same! It's a good job she loves her dancing, her teacher says she is getting on really well this term, remembering all the steps for the show etc. Well done Emilia xxx

Do you like my funky changing bag? I subscribed to my favourite baby/child magazine - Junior - earlier in the month and this bag was a gift for the first 75 subscribers, I didn't believe that I would get one so I was over the moon when it arrived yesterday. I've not had a proper changing bag before, just the free one from the Huggies club! This one is made by Pink Lining and retails between £55 and £75! I'd never buy one in a million years! Exclamation mark!

I made up the pattern for this baby hat, I put the green leaves in using fair isle and it puckers a bit, I'm going to make another one using intarsia and see if it works better.
Another pinwheel blanket, this time in King Cole Aero super chunky. It's about 29" in diameter, perfect cot, pram size. I'm putting this one on Etsy.

This is my oldest WIP, now my newest FO!. I was full of grand ideas to make the Flower Power throw from Debbie Abrahams' Blankets and Throws to Knit but got bored so I stitched the squares I had made together, did a moss stitch border and then backed it with a lovely heavy but soft checky cotton which hides my dodgy intarsia ends. It's got a wonderful weight to it and I can't wait to use it :)

This baby is still back to back no matter how much time I spend on my hands and knees. My poor tummy feels so bruised from all the kicking and pushing. I can't wait to meet this fidgety little herbert! I've been weighing myself once a fortnight just to keep track of things, I've put on 22lbs so far which seems quite good, hopefully I won't put on too much more in the next 6 weeks or so.

Well, take care everyone and I hope to hear from you soon :)

Yes, I've been sewing again. I designed this circular needle roll last night and I am really pleased with it. I used a button and elastic fastening rather than ribbon and find it to be more secure...time to find some knitting related buttons!


I also made this little denim tote bag, I really like her and plan to make a bigger one with two pockets this afternoon...if Millie lets me!



We're off to town in a minute, the craft set I bought her on Wednesday (from M&S) doesn't work too well, the glue they supplied doesn't actually stick the mosaic pieces to the photo frame and box, it just dries and then they ping off. So, I'm putting my consumer rights hat on ans we will be finding her something else...hopefully to keep her busy whilst I am sewing!

We go away on sunday for a week, DH has a course in Southampton and his company have agreed to pay for a bigger hotel room so we can all go. It will be great to be able to see old friends and family as well as being able to go shopping in a city again! I'm really looking forward to the journey down as we are planning to go via Ikea in Bristol and have a hot dog/chips/icecream lunch...followed by copious amounts of Dime cake! (Almondy)

Take care
Ali x

More sewing

Last night my sewing machine was singing to me. I'd already been up in the loft and found oodles of curtain fabric which was pleading to be sewn into something useful, rather than languishing in brown cardboard boxes. And so, the needle roll was born. I made 2 small ones for DPN's and crochet hooks and 1 large one for longer straights. I'm going to get my thinking cap on and make on for circs tonight.

I've been to the physio this morning. I'm basically doing all the right things to prevent the SPD getting too bad, but as baby grows I don't really have any control over how my body reacts. I'm now wearing a rather sexy support belt which is keeping me tied together and I have to go back in 2 weeks to see how I am doing. I hate having to take painkillers whilst pregnant.

Off into town in a while, going to treat the girls to a craft kit each from the Early Learning Centre. We'll have fun this afternoon!

Take care
Ali xxx

Knitting blahs

Ever had the knitting blahs? I've got too much on the needles at the moment and don't want to finish any of it. Some of it I must finish, but some of it can wait. Time to prioritise I think, and put the fun back into knitting. I just want to be sewing at the moment!
I took E to Arlington court again on friday, they had a free dance workshop happening and she enjoyed every minute of it. She puts everything she has into dance and it is so wonderful to watch.
Here I am, looking dour and yuk! I've got a headache and my pelvis is playing me up no end today. I'm 27 weeks tomorrow, not looking too fat yet...The pinwheel blanket - I've been working on it for months now, it is my car knitting and I really enjoy it. I'm using odds and ends of acrylic/wool mix for it and it is growing nicely. I plan on using a garter stitch picot cast off.This is what I have been sewing! I have also made 2 more Miffy bags but I let the girls have them as washbags. There are also 6 more that I have made in the same curtain fabric as E's blind...hopefully to help her keep all the little things that 6 year olds collect together!I'm selling on etsy again, my username is Faerynuff - funny that!


edited to add - I will be selling on etsy again soon, once I can upload photos again.

Sunshine, Sewing and Sknitting....I wanted another S word!

I've been busy again the past week or so, we've been doing lots of playing and I've been doing lots of crafting and baking :) I hope this intense hunger passes soon or I'll end up the size of a house before baby arrives!

Also have been in quite a lot of pain with my pelvis, walking is getting increasingly painful but nothing I can't cope with. I've got a physio appointment next week and the Health Visitor is meant to be contacting me about joining a prenatal depression group...watch this space!

I'm 26 weeks now and we still haven't bought anything, I'm being ever so relaxed about this baby, it's quite refreshing!

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Maddie's nursery told us last thursday that they were having a Circus day today, and all the children were to dress up. Everything was put on hold whilst I made her this dress. From Zoe Mellor's Adorable Knits, the bodice is knit in Knitpicks Shine sport and the skirt made from net. In total this dress cost £3.20! Bargain!

I finally got round to making a little bag yesterday, I'm really pleased with it and will be making more tomorrow. Do you want to do a swap for one? Let me know :)

************************************************************************************ My latest way of getting the girls to stop arguing is to throw out the front with an assortment of paints, pens, glue and sparkly bits to make as much mess as they like...they are creating some wonderful things!Yesterday we went to Arlington court for a Victorian Garden Party. It was fun playing on the coconut shy, throwing horseshoes around a pole, splatting a rat and table skittles. The girls enjoyed rolling down a hill the most though!

It was a beautiful day yesterday...look at this lonely cloud! Unfortunately it is not so sunny and warm today but it is still dry :)

Jackie - the slate fire surround didn't sell this time, but the cast iron fireplace did. The auction will hold on to the surround until it does sell.

That's all for now folks! I need to make lunch and get Maddie to nursery.

Ali xxx