Summer 2012 (Part One!)

Warning this is a long and picture heavy post mainly for my own benefit, with little or no mention of sewing/craft! You might not want to read on (unless you are nosy like me and always read to the bottom of the screen)

"None of us can make it rain - but we can all use less water"

I think the saying “be careful what you wish for” rang true this Summer in the UK.
No sooner had a near-country-wide drought been declared in April and households were banned from using hosepipes, than the rain began to fall, and fall and fall for about 12 weeks solid. The wettest UK Summer on record.

The Little Man either outgrew or put holes in the knees of ALL his school trousers in the last 3 weeks of term.  So despite the weather he was packed off to Nursery in shorts that were made from his cut down trousers.

teacher gifts - IKEA spice jars filled with chocolates and a homemade card

 

 

We said good bye to The Little Man’s Nursery Class and The Little Fella’s Preschool with a Prom!!!!! Both boys have been through the preschool so I have known the staff for 3 yrs. Gulp!
I found it very hard to say goodbye.

I love this photo- you can really see their different personalities.

The Olympic Flag passed through our little corner of Suburbia.  We were the first stop of the day, so we had to get out very early.  I was amazed by how many people lined the streets. The boys loved watching all the sponsers trucks passing by but were not very impressed by some man running past with a torch.That man happened to be James Cracknell Oh well at least they have a story to tell their grandchildren.


We attended the Blessing of my Cousin’s Marriage.  I felt honoured to be asked to do a reading. (Good ole’ Corinthians 13) and I made a card which I know I took a photo of but cannot find it anywhere!



We spent the best part of the Summer at Hurley.  On the River Thames between Henley and Marlow.  We spent 2 weeks here as a family and then the boys have been back and forth, staying with their Grandparents.


Playing with cousins, messing in the river, long walks to Hurley Lock for ice-cream, even longer walks to Marlow (3 miles each way) and never a single moan, The rain finally stopped apart from the odd day so we were able to get out and make the most of what was left of the Summer.


Whilst the boys were away The Husband and I painted the house and attacked the very neglected garden (we hadn’t stepped foot in there since Easter!, overgrown is an understatement!)

There was also the odd day out. Legoland (NOT my favourite place to go in school holidays!) Chessington World of Adventures, The Look Out Centre in Bracknell and Playground at Swinley Forest, Kids club at the local Cinema (£2.00 per child and adults free ) and of course the local park. (Luckily the MIL bought us all Merlin passes with her Tesco points which allow us free entry into the main theme parks, London Eye and some Aquariums. (How can those theme parks justify their admission prices??!!)

Evenings were spent glued to the Olympics – didn’t we do well? just shows what a bit of investment in the younger generations can do! We have even managed to get some Paralympic Athletics tickets, I am so excited to be part of something so special!

I didn't manage to get much sewing done, although I got into hand-embroidery and completed a couple of projects whilst in Hurley.

I finally have new curtains for the living/front/family room.  However, I have a very wide 1930’s bay window which requires me to sew two pairs together and take up as they are also a bit too long.  My time at the machine has been so limited lately that I cannot justify using the machine for anything else. So the curtains just sit there, looking at me, waiting.  In case you are wondering, it still works out cheaper for me to buy two pairs and sew them together rather than making them from scratch (which would be slightly easier).

So until they are done, things are going to carry on being quiet round here!

And well done to any of you that managed to read this far! Part Two is coming up next...

Feeling Stitchy

There was a time, not so long ago when I would declare my hatred for all hand sewing.  I think the 90’s cross stitch craze put me off, all those lovely patterns which I never actually finished because frankly cross stitch was downright boring.  (All that repetition and counting tiny squares)

However,  lately I have started AND finished a couple of embroidery projects and developed a new love for hand stitching (although you still wont find me hand stitching down binding!) So on our recent holiday to Hurley I tackled a couple of projects.



This lovely lady is part of a year long stich-a long by lilipopo.  She is the 3rd Princess in the series but the first I have stiched.  I have to say out of all the Princesses, she is my favourite. I am fairly happy with her, I need to work on my stitch length a bit more, but that will come with practice.  The Princesses are all free patterns, but you will need to email Lilipopo for the patterns.  Details are on her blog.

I wasn’t sure what to do with her once finished, but then remembered that I have a Christening coming up. So I added Babies' name and popped it into a frame. Voila

haha I struggled to get a good photo without me reflected in it and thought that I had succeeded

I couldn't find my photo of the finished embroidery, the pattern is from Bustle & Sew.  If you are into your embroidery , then I recommend you subscribe to the monthly e-zine, although it is also worth signing up to the newsletter & blog as well. Helen often posts wonderful freebies and Ben the dog is very handsome!



I fell in love with this pair, well that was until The Husband declared that I was just like the hedgehog (humph)

So I was on a bit of a roll when I spotted this, on the Comfortstiching Blog so promptly booked my place.  Henley is just a tiny bit up the river from Hurley, So Hubby & the boys will spend the day at his parents caravan, playing by the river.

My mum commented on the price, as materials are not included, but we live simply and within our means so we are able to spoil ourselves once in a while.  So the cost is irrelevant in a way.  I am sooo excited.

ugly/uglier

Jo, recently shared a child’s car playmat, that she had made for her son using a fabric panel that he had chosen. 

Jo declared the fabric the ugliest that she had ever used, however she did back it with a rather lovely Japanese print.  (how she can bring herself to lay the gorgeous & expensive Japanese fabric face-down in the dirt I don’t know)

It reminded me of a WIP that I have had for well over a year, maybe nearer two, using similar fabric.  Shameful I know, but I had a vision in my head of some kind of storage box-come-garage-come-playmat-come-overcomplicated thing, that I couldn’t quite work out, surprisingly!  In the end I got as far as quilting the panel, by following all the road outlines and then abandoned the project.



So in the end I made a little Quillow type pocket to fold the quilt into and stitched it to to the backing. I avoided all Jo’s binding problems by sewing the top & backing right sides together, leaving a turning gap and then top-stitching around the edge of the quilt for a nice finish. 

I then added carrying handles which were a real pain as I should have stitched them on before I stitched the pocket to the backing. (actually it still only has one carrying handle as I am too lazy to hand sew the other one)



I think my choice in backing fabric makes me the winner of the Ugliest Playmat, what do you think?



The backing is a Curtain my dear Mum picked up at a car boot in the “style of” Disney Cars. (I really don’t think it is the real McCoy lol)

Like Jo’s Playmat, mine has also been a great big hit. It has already accompanied us to a wedding where we found a quiet corner for the boys to play.  They also managed to stuff the bag with crayons, colouring books and a few random toys which managed to keep them entertained all day. (and into the evening)

Bye Bye Baby,

The Little Fella turned three over half term. 

 
We had a smallish “Royal” themed fancy-dress party in the local Church Hall.  We played pass the parcel, iced homemade crown shape biscuits, decorated crowns to wear, and coloured/painted some Royal themed pictures. 

I made both boys very, very quick “Mike the Knight” costumes from charity shop tees and some felt.  They already had helmets, swords and shields.

I created this masterpiece, which actually took less time than the (insert rude word of your choice here) crown biscuits. (too much rolling & putting in/out the fridge)



The Dummy fairy made a visit to our home a week or so after, swapping all the dummies that he put into her bag for some much desired Mike the Knight toys (which our little local toy shop had managed to stock before any of the big giants) So far so good! I am very proud of him.

So now my baby is officially a little boy and no longer a baby. (He tells me his brother is the Big Boy and he is the Little Boy)

Where has the time gone?

Fat Quarterly Retreat – The classes

Some time before the Retreat, we were sent a list of 10 different classes to rank in order of preference. It was a really difficult task to do, especially because I had no idea how many classes we would be doing over the weekend.  In the end I did,
Freezer Paper Piecing with Kerry from verykerryberry

Kerry was a really good teacher but I am afraid to say this really wasn't for me.  I have been following Kerry’s blog and seen the amazingly detailed freezer-paper pieced quilts/art that she does and really wanted to give it go. However, my freezer paper refused to stay stuck to the orange fabric, I found it far too fiddly for my chunky digits and I just didn’t have the concentration required on the day. So I only made one of the four blocks that Kerry had provided.
Embroidery with Aneela Hoey from Comfortstitching
 

I was looking forward to this class the most, as Comfortstitching was one of the very first blogs that I followed. Aneela was just as lovely as I had imagined. She taught us a variety of stitches and I managed to complete  this cute Robin. We were also given a free pack of Cosmo embroidery thread!
Foundation Pieced Union Jack Pillow with Lynne Goldworthy from Lily’s Quilts

I woke up on Sunday morning with a really sore-throat, probably from all the chatting on Saturday lol.  Which was probably for the best as Lynne's class like Kerry’s the day before required quite a bit of brain power. Lynne herself described the technique as Marmite (you either love it or hate it) I found it took me a while to get going, as you are having to work back-to-front, but the results are so good it is worth it. I went for a London theme but swapped one of my pre-bought fabrics for a freebie from my goodie bag. I only managed to finish one quarter of the flag in the class but I have been working on it this week, so should have a finish to share with you soon (who just laughed?)
Wonky Log Cabin With John Adams from Quiltdad

This was the perfect class to follow Lynne's and to end the weekend on.  The class and technique were both a lot of fun to do.  No matching up seams or points just sewing and trimming. Just my thing!
I was really pleased with all of my classes (even if the Freezer paper piecing wasn't for me, I am glad that I gave it a go), however after seeing all the samples produced, I really wish that I had also signed up for Lucie Summers Portholes class and either of the Purse classes (zipper or frame) Although given the chance I think I would have loved to have done every single class on the list – there is always next year.
The Fat Quarterly Special Retreat Issue is now available to buy (although I was gutted to see no Portholes tutorial ) It contains tutorials and patterns to make many of the projects taught in the workshops over the course of the weekend as well as some extra projects.  It is well worth the $5!

Fat Quarterly Retreat – My Reflections

 Apologies for posting this twice, It is my first time using livewriter & I needed to change a couple of things that I wasn't happy with.

Time flies!  Almost 3 weekends ago, (Jubilee weekend) I was at the Fat Quarterly Retreat and it is only now that I have had the time to write about my experience.
  
In the time since,
We have had half term, I have spent a couple of lovely days with the family by the River Thames at Hurley, redecorated the hallway (I spent weeks deciding on the colour to find once the paint had dried it was very almost the same colour as before sigh) Did lots of baking for my baby boys 3rd Birthday Party (just when did he grew up?), Went To Paultons Park aka Peppa Pig World (I absolutely LOVE that place and will have to do a review one day)as well as all the usual day to day running around/chores and going to work. I have been working a lot more days than I usually do, as I won’t have any work over the school holidays.

So the retreat (this is going to be quite a long post)
 
I went wearing this

a lovely name badge that had been made for by Kathleen. 
I had entered a surprise name-tag swap. My allocated person was Jo from A life in lists.
She sells Liberty fabric bundles so I used a piece of fabric that I had bought from the remnant box in John Lewis.  I thought it might have been Liberty fabric.  I wanted to have a London theme, so I used double sided tape to put the fabric thought the printer to print a London Skyline onto it. I then appliqued a little aeroplane and hand-embroidered Jo's name. I am not really into hand sewing so that took me a while to do.  When finished, I decided to give it a quick press with my new iron but....  scorched it! 
The lovely bluey-green fabric completely changed colour and I melted the ribbon loop.  I showed it to the husband, and he agreed with me that I couldn't send it.

So I made another one.  This time I had no more little aeroplanes so made the nametag to look like a London street sign.

On arrival we were given an amazing goodie bag of lovely things from the Retreat Sponsors. 

We were also given a "bingo" card of names and had to go and find all the people on our lists, a great ice breaker. The room was full of very excited women (and two guys) and so many conversations started like this "Oh hello...(reads name badge) Tammy, who are you?" meaning what is your blog name/flickr ID.  In the end it was easier to say that I don't blog as my blog is so tiny I very much doubt any of my readers where there (where you????) 

I also signed up for a sample swap, the rules were to simply make 4 useful items to swap, we would be told who to swap with on the day in a random draw. I wasn’t going to sign up for the swap as I knew I was going to be quite busy, but I was tempted by all the lovely things appearing in the Flickr group.
Unfortunately, I ended up finishing my samples late on Friday evening and forgot to take photos.  I made little pouches/purses from a  Keyka Lou pattern. 
These are the lovely swap items that I came home with

A London Pouch containing a Retreat Survival Pack from Amy A Prism Pencil Case from Christine Flower corsage from Mary and Boris the Bear Embroidery from Jo 

I also received the little blue pouch in the photo (with a tape measure inside) from one of the lovely ladies on my Iron Man team, who was only there on the Saturday (and whose name I have shamefully forgotten! Sorry & Thanks)I think that I did very well in the swap! Thank you ladies. 

Here are a couple of more swap photos that I “borrowed” from Amy and Christine. (can you guess which one is me?)

Somehow I signed up to participate in an Iron Man competition.In groups, we had to make a quilt between us over the weekend.  We didn’t win, but it added to the fun of the weekend and the quilt will be going to charity. Ours is the large Orange/Yellow one, 4th from right. (can you spot me again?)  

Photos once again borrowed from Amy & also Muriel

On the Saturday evening, I wanted to eat before heading home. I ended up tagging along with a group heading out to a restaurant nearby.  We were quite a big group but I ended up sat with just three other ladies and had lots of very grown-up and sensible conversations.  (covering all sorts of taboo subjects, such as mental health & politics) Such a nice change from the usual yummy-mummy conversations I seem to have these days. (I seriously don’t get out enough lol) Thank you, Shevvy, Judith and Jennie for a lovely evening.

After the retreat, I was reading all the blog posts here, and I was a bit embarrassed to find out that I had gate-crashed a pre-planned booking (oops) and most of the ladies “knew” each other through belonging to the same online groups and quilt guilds.  Very typically Me!
 
Still, the meal reflected the whole spirit of the weekend which was Community. Despite not “knowing” anyone, I never once felt excluded or lonely and spent the weekend in the company of some lovely people and had an amazing weekend!
You can read more reviews/reflections about the Retreat here. 
 
Next up, the actual classes….

FQ Retreat - Last minute rush

I would rather be an hour early than 10 minutes late.  For someone who absolutely hates being late, it may come as a surprise to you that I always leave everything to the last minute.

It is not always my intention, but other things always manage to get in the way.   This week, has been a bit of nightmare for that!!!

I have had job applications to do and then an interview to prepare for and attend, as well as  three days work on top of the say spent at the interview (which I didn't get) and the usual chores that come with having a home and two under 5's.  One of whom has been total  nightmare this week,  I started to write done some of the things that he has got up to this week, but it is enough for several posts! So for once, I was actually rather pleased to see the pair drive off in the back of Nanny's car.  (Nanny as in Grandma not the Mary Poppins type) They have gone to Hurley for the weekend.

So I have just about managed to finish my samples for the sample swap tomorrow, sorry I can't be bothered to take  photos, will do that tomorrow, and I am now (ha ha) in the middle of packing.

Except - I cant blimming find anything!

However, I am now really excited and cannot wait till the morning!

whoop whoop!

(and completely random, but I really enjoyed the Prince Charles documentary that was on BBC1 this evening. God Save The Queen.)