Memories in stitches

Whilst the rain poured and Violet napped yesterday afternoon, I tiptoed off to try and organise a few boxes of my possessions; in the hope that I could do a spot of de-cluttering.  Some of the boxes haven't been opened in years.  In one such box I came across a carrier bag of what felt like material.  Inside were two cross stitches and two parts to a tapestry cushion I'd stitched in, what felt like, a past life.  That may sound strange, but it's true. I'd done all of these projects whilst still living at home, pre marriage, and at a time when both my parents were still alive.

1994, 16 years ago - wow.

I remember my mum sewing the fancy seam around the edges.  I never did get the opportunity to ask her how she did it. 

The cushion covers were the first things I stitched on my floor standing tapestry frame, which had been a 21st birthday present.  All my aunties had clubbed together to buy it for me.  I was overjoyed when I unwrapped it. 

I have memories of my mum desperate to have a go because she could see all the lovely bright colours I was using.

Perhaps it's about time I got my finger out and actually sewed them together.

I got particularly sentimental over this cross stitch of a white tiger..

I'd been making it as a present for my dad, who really loved tigers.  Sadly he never got to see it.  He'd gone into hospital for a triple heart bypass operation.  The operation was a success, but he had a major stroke whilst he was recuperating on the ward a few days later, and by the end of the week he'd died.

It appears that I've just stuffed all of these into a bag so I wouldn't have to look at them.

Isn't it funny how you can get really weepy over three pieces of stitching?  

I think it's high time I did something with them.  They don't deserve to be just packed away in a carrier bag for the rest of their days do they?  Especially when you think of all the hours each one took to do.

Some wounds never heal though, do they?  Maybe I'm not quite ready for them to be out and on display just yet.

Where's my hankie????

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Wishing you all a very lovely weekend.

Let's hope the sun makes an appearance.

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There aint no stopping me now.....

I'm on a roll.

This appalling weather has meant yet another day being spent indoors. So the sewing machine has been out again.

Can you believe that it only took me 45 minutes to make this...

I've only used about a third of that Ikea fabric I purchased recently - so that works out at about 50p worth.  The cushion inner cost about £1.50, and the zip was a couple of quid.  So I've got a bright new cushion for Violet's room for under a fiver.  What a result. 

Can you guess that I'm gearing up for something else?

Last week I spotted a display of Amy Butler patterns, and before I knew it, I'd purchased this pattern....

.....together with some beautiful fabrics in which to make it.

Pattern £7.50

Fabric £24.96

There are so many Amy Butler fabrics to choose from and they're all beautiful.  It's a pity they're so darn expensive.

This project is a little daunting for me, mainly due to the cost of the fabric, but now I've mastered the art of putting in a zip, I'm sure I can master this too.  Plus, if it turns out OK, I might be making more as Xmas presents.

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Good morning.

Finally, I can sit down to write a short blog post today - I've spent the last 20 minutes or so, trying to remove 5 toys, which Violet had dropped/pushed/stuck down the back of the radiator - not an easy task I can tell you. 

Anyway, first off I'm going to introduce you to my friend's new little baby - Rosa.

Check out what she's wearing.

Yay - she's sporting one of the baby cardies I knit for her. 

Rosa's as cute as that little ladybug button - OK, she's cuter. 

Before I get too broody, I'll get onto the second thing.

I've been trying to organise a couple of boxes (ahem!) of all my cross stitch paraphernalia, and have discovered that I have two of these....

Here's a closer look at the picture.

The pattern is called Winter Queen, and was designed by Nora Corbett.

I haven't got the foggiest how I ended up with two copies of it.  So I thought I'd offer one of them to you guys gals.

If you think you might like it, just leave me a comment on this post.  If more than one of you fancy it, then I'll obviously have to put all your names in a hat and draw a winner.

This is a really beautiful cross stitch to do - I should know, I stitched it for an aunt of mine about approx 14 years ago. 

It's stitched on 32 count linen.  There's beading involved, but this is very easy to do, and some very fluffy 'whisper white' thread is called for on the Ermine edging of the ladies dress, which might make you sneeze alittle when it goes up your nose - ATISHOO.  Gesundheit.

Have I tempted anybody to give it a go?????

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If you want to see what Louise won in my surprise giveaway.....

...... pop over to Louise's lovely blog.

I'm sure that you all guessed that one of the surprises, included in the giveaway, would be a cross stitched lavender pouch. 

Here's a close up of the one that I sent to Louise.

Material - Belgian Natural Linen (32 count)

Thread - DMC (dark purple)

Chart - can be found in Silhouettes in Cross Stitch, by Julie Hasler

In the book, the pattern had been used as the base for a tea tray.

I know my gran, and possibly my mum, would have used a tea tray, but I'm not quite sure whether people still use them these days.

I've been asked to make a couple of lavender pouches for my aunt, who wants to give them to friends as Christmas presents.  It's lovely to be asked to make something for somebody else.  I just need to decide on the designs I'm going to use.

I was hoping to make as many Christmas presents as I could this year, but time is slowly slipping away and I haven't even started on anything even remotely Christmas related yet. 

Last year I made some truffles and they were a very big hit.  I always assumed that truffles were difficult to make, how wrong was I?  They were so simple and utterly delicious.  I'll go and search out the recipe I used and share it with you all. 

Sorry to mention Christmas when it's only August - it's just been on my mind.

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And, on a totally unrelated note:

At the weekend Violet kept asking her dad and I for a song called 'Honey Bee', but we didn't have the foggiest which song this could be.  This morning enlightenment dawned when 'Imma Be', by the Black Eyed Peas ,was played in the car. 

She's a very big Black Eyed Peas fan.  I should have known - bad mum!

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Making Monday Moment

We're having yet another day of torrential rain here again today, so Violet and I are staying indoors where it's warm and dry.

While Violet sat on the sofa watching Shrek earlier this morning, I thought I'd get out that Clothkits bag kit, which the other half bought me for my birthday, and make a start on it.

I was enjoying sewing it so much, that in no time at all I had created this....

 I can't tell you how chuffed I am with it.

It's lined, the stitching is neat and everything.

As soon as I'd photographed it, Violet immediately claimed it as her own, and tootled off to do a pretend shop with it slung over her shoulder. 

It's not very big, but I can't wait to use it.

After achieving success with the bag, I thought I'd tackle the purse that also came with the kit.  Now this was gonna be tricksy as I had a zip to sew in this time.

I did struggle alittle with the zip, but the finished article doesn't look too bad.

This is just the right size to keep a couple of nappies in, so will coming everywhere with me now.

Sewing both these in just a few hours has given me so much confidence.  I'm not ready for anything fancy yet, but I think I could definitely tackle another bag or maybe a cushion cover - where did I put that Ikea fabric???

I've also been thinking up some new designs for my new obsession with making lavender pouches. 

I sat down with some graph paper on Friday evening.....

and by Saturday night I had created this....

Material - Belgium natural linen (32 count)

Thread - DMC

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Violet's creative space

aka - a bomb site!

Buzz grins and bears it - the sign of a true Super Hero.

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Violet's question of the day: "where have all the dinosaurs gone?"

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This landed through the letter box on Friday....

It's something I've been dreading. 

Picking out a nursery school for Violet.

My heart lurched when I opened it - I don't want her to go, I don't want her to go.

We've been inseparable for over two years. 

I'm sure that picking out a school is hard at the best of times, but when you don't even come from the area and know nothing about the schools here, the decision is going to be nigh on impossible.

I don't want her to go. 

From what I can gather, it is all verrrryyyyy competitive these days.  What with everybody trying to get their child(ren)  into the bestest, best of best school.  I even remember one of my own friends turning to Catholicism in order for her children to go to, what was thought of as, the best school in her 'catchment area'.  Turns out that little Catholic children bully other Catholic children the same as in any other school.  Her eldest son, even though very gifted academically, suffered a miserable 5 years at senior school.

The thought of your child being bullied must be a parent's worst nightmare.  I know that it's one, if not the, biggest concern of mine.

I don't want her to go.

Is it always harder to send your first born off to school do you think????

I don't want her to go.

There are Voluntary-Aided Schools

Community and Voluntary-controlled schools

Registered day nurseries

Registered pre-school groups

And, what's 'Reception Class'??

I don't want her to go.

I'm sure my mum and dad didn't have this sort of choice (or worry). Both my brother and I went to the local nursery, which was just a five minute walk up the road.  Infants, and then Junior school followed.  It wasn't until we were about to leave junior school that our parents gave us a choice of secondary education.  My brother, being the bright one, went to Private school, and I chose the comprehensive, which was at the bottom of my street.  OK, so I might have made a big mistake, but I was 10 and all my friends were going to the local comp. Needless to say, that my friends changed as soon as a new term at the new school started.  Oh well, I didn't turn out too bad in the end.

I've got 69 pages to trawl through, so I'd better get on with it.

I DON'T WANT HER TO GO!

(If I say it loud enough someone will hear me).

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Picking a winner

(Sorry for the really crap photo, but Violet's hand was as quick as lightning picking the winning name - and this was the best I could do).

And, the winner is....

A very big CONGRATULATIONS to Louise (if you can email your address please Louise).

Thank you to everyone who entered.

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Love cross stitch chart

A few of you have asked me if the pattern I used for my latest Lavender Pouch, which I revealed in yesterday's post, was my own.  The answer is sadly, no. It's a Bent Creek chart - Book number: BC1059

I've used it several times before for weddings and anniversay presents.  It's a very easy chart to follow and is finished off in no time at all. 

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Thank you for all your positive comments regarding my new look blog (and header).  You'll be pleased to know that I'm gonna stop playing about with it now and just 'let it be'.

(Deep sighs of relief all round).

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A Ta Da moment

I've finally found the time to sew together my latest creation.

People call these 'Ta Da moments' I believe.

So, Ta Da......

Another Lavender Pouch.

You're probably really bored with these by now, aren't you?

It's turned out great.  I'm so happy with it.

This one is destined for my brother and his wife's first Wedding Anniversary at the end of this month.

It's a bit of an unusual gift, but it's useful in the way that it keeps your undies smelling nice.

After yesterday's post about how woeful I had become over losing my blog template, I spent the evening playing around with some of my photos over on Picnik.  After a little tweaking I've finally created my very own blog header.

It'll take some getting used to, but I think it looks rather cheerful.

What do you think?  Hope you like it too.

It makes it feel more personal now that I've actually used one of my very own photos (it's that beautiful Click yarn you can see in the background). Now that I've learnt about sizing etc, I think I'll be changing the header every now and again.

Hope you're all enjoying your day.  We've been baking.

Remember to leave a comment on Saturday's post, if you haven't already, for your chance to be in the draw for a surprise giveaway.

I'm soooooooo cross with myself.

Why-O-why did I come over all cleverclogs and try and change the layout of my perfectly lovely blog??????

I was attempting to change it from a 2 column blog into a 3 column one, and I failed miserably. 

I've now lost my original 'classic' template - that I'd tweeked and moulded into something that I loved the look of.

I just pushed my computer skills a tad toooooooo far, and now I'm upset and extremely mad with myself for even attempting it in the first place.

What you see before you now is something that I'm not happy with at all.

I've tried and tried to recover my original one, but alas, it is lost to me forever......

Woe is me,  woe is me.

It's at times like these I wish that I was a total computer geek.  Moss from the IT Crowd springs to mind.

On a happier note; my friend gave birth to a beautiful baby daughter, and she's been named Rosa. 

Welcome to the World Rosa.

Remember to leave me a comment on yesterday's post for a chance to win goodies.

Number 100

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Well today is my 100 blog-post. 

Yippee!!!

In celebration of this fact, I'm going to hold a giveaway.

Yay - we all love a giveaway and the chance to win a pile of lovely stuff don't we?

So, what can you win?

Well, I'm actually gonna let that remain a complete surprise, but you can be sure that a parcel full of loveliness will be delivered by the postman, if you're the winner.

All you need do, is leave me a comment at the bottom of today's post and I'll let Violet pick the winner on Sunday 15th August.

For those of you who are unable to leave a comment on this blog for whatever reason, then just send me an email telling me that you'd like to enter, and your name will go into the draw too.

My email address can be found on the sidebar.

Good luck to everyone.

Jill x

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I've been thinking alot lately

.....about my blog, and how other people may view it.

I know I like it, which is the main thing I suppose.

Anyway, I thought a few more photos along my sidebar wouldn't hurt.  These pics of Violet make me smile and I hope they'll make you smile too - some of you have seen these before in previous posts, but they seem more permanent when they're sitting along side don't you think?

Whilst on the subject of blogging, I was flicking through a book about creating a blog yesterday, and the following made me laugh, so I thought I'd share it with you.  It relates to blog names.

Who Represents - (www.) whorepresents.com

Experts Exchange - (www.) expertsexchange.com

Pen Island - (www.) penisland.net

Italian Power Generator - (www.) powergenitalia.com

Lake Tahoe - (www.) gotahoe.com

I think penis land made me laugh the most.

OK, OK, I'll get my thoughts out of the gutter and show you what I was hanging my nose over yesterday.

This Clothkits catalogue dropped through the door, it's full of wonderful things I would love to be able to make.

Very pretty dresses for Violet.

And, couldn't you just picture her in a pair of these babies?

They look soooooo 70's,  I'm wondering whether my mum dressed me in something similar when I was a toddler.

It isn't just the kiddies clothes that have got my heart a racing.  Oh how I would love this skirt.

What gorgeous fabric.

Then there's......

Aren't they fab???

I know, I know, I haven't even began to sew that lovely bag kit yet, which the other half gave me for my birthday.

Perhaps when things are a little more settled, I'll be able to do an evening class to really get to grips with the old sewing machine.

Anyway, I'm now off to take Violet to do abit of train spotting at the station - oh how she loves those choo choo's.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend everyone.

Jill x

PS - remember to tune in to my next post, because it will be number 100, and there'll be a giveaway.

Cooking & Stitching

The weather was on the crappy side yesterday; so after taking Violet to buy some new Schleich animals, and popping into Pets at Home to look at the real life fish, guinnea pigs and rabbits (I very nearly bought one for Violet, they were so cute), I came home and decided to cook something from this months BBC Good Food magazine. 

It was soooooo delicious that it would be extremely selfish, and rude, of me not to share this recipe with you.

SAUSAGE ROLLS

12 sausages
2 slices white bread, whizzed into crumbs
2 tbsp chopped sage (I used dried sage because I had some in the cupboard)
500g pack puff pastry
3 tbsp caramelised onions (I used M&S)
flour for dusting
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tsp sesame seeds

Heat oven to 200c (180c fan)
Remove the meat from the sausage and mix it together with the bread crumbs and sage.
Halve the pastry into 2 rectangular blocks and roll each block lenghways only until you have 2 thin sheets, about 20 x 45cm.
Thinly spread the onions in a strip over the pastry, leaving a 3cm border along one edge of each sheet.
Divide the meat along the onions, shaping into a smooth roll.
Brush just the border with the beaten egg. 
Folder excess pastry over the meat and press to stick to the eggy border, trim this edge, tuck under slightly to hold, then brush all over with egg.
Scatter with sesame seeds and slice each roll into 5.
Bake on a baking sheet for 35-40 minutes until golden and cooked through.

Once cool, freeze in bags. defrost overnight in the fridge.

The other half even tried one when he came home from work and gave it the thumbs up, which is a great result because he's so picky when it comes to food.

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I meant to say a very big thank you to eveyone for all the great compliments, which I received for the Strawberry Lavender Pouch  I posted about recently. 

Some of you asked if the pattern was my own design.  Unfortunately not.  It's one, which I've had it in my possession for a very long time though.  I'd cut it out of an old magazine of my mums.  I just had to wait for the right project to come along in order to use it.  In the magazine the pattern had been used as an edging for a pinny - just check that ladies hairdo out.....

What do we think, 80's????

The Lavender Pouch I've stitched for my brother's 1st Wedding Anniversary just needs sewing up.  Hopefully, I'll get chance to do this later in the week, so will be able to post a photo very soon.

I've also started yet another one - can you tell how much I like stiching these?

I don't want to give too much away about this one though as it's destined to be part of a giveaway I'll be doing for my 100th post, which is only two post away.  Oh my gosh!!!!

There'll be lots of other goodies added to the haul as well, so I hope you'll all enter for a chance to win.  I don't have that many followers, so the odds of you actually winning are very high.

I took this photo of the sky from out of our living window the other night......

..........it was beautiful.

Wishing you all a lovely day. 

Jill x

Disappointment

Did you all have a good weekend?

The weather was a little hit and miss wasn't it?

Did you get upto anything exciting?

Yesterday we decided to pay a visit to Warwick Castle. 

Apparently it's Britain's ultimate castle - I'd prefer to say ' Britain's most expensive castle'.

The other half and I had already paid this great place a visit pre-Violet, and really enjoyed it.  So when we came across a 2 for 1 voucher we thought it would make a great destination for a clan outing. 

It's only about 20 minutes journey away, so no hardship there.

On arrival the first thing we noticed, and which we thought was a little cheeky, was the parking charge.  You have to pay £4.00 (per car) on top of your entry ticket price. 

Not only did we have to pay for the priviledge to park, but then had a 20 minute walk to even get to the entrance.

Lucky for us that we had the 2 for 1 voucher, because we would have had to pay a King's ransom to gain entrance otherwise.

As you can imagine, it was extremely busy, what with it being a Sunday and the School Holidays.

It was all very exciting for Violet, who just wanted to run off at every opportunity. 

Feeling a little bit peckish I decided I'd try a Roast Hog Sandwich (£4.50) - So expensive and so not worth the money, as it totally lacked any taste.

Violet then wanted an ice cream.  £1.80 for one scoop in a cone.  Now, I wouldn't have minded this fact, except that they'd obviously whipped the stuff to within an inch of it's life, so it was more air than actual ice cream. 

Next we took Violet into the Princess Tower - basically you get a timed ticket, sit in a stuffy room for 15 minutes whilst the little ones have a little story, then you go into another room where they can dress up as a princess or a knight.  After much pushing and shoving by 'the little princesses' and their mothers, you have a photo taken, then you're whisked off into the gift shop to collect said photograph.  Violet's turned out really well, but at £5.00, it was far too expensive. 

There were lots of activities to keep the older children amused.  I noticed a signpost for Archery at £5.00 for six arrows.

Fankly, I was very disappointed in the place.  Everything seemed very overpriced, so in my book, that doesn't make it very family friendly.  This sounds odd, I know, because the whole place is geared up for families.  If that family has pots, and pots of money that is. 

Sadly, we left after only a couple of hours.

I wish we'd gone to the 'Around the World and back home for tea' event, which was being held at Packwood House - at least that would have been free because we're NT members, Violet could have run her legs off in the stunning grounds, and we could have enjoyed a nice slice of cake on the lawn for less than a fiver.

Rant over.