production line

This evening I have a mini production line going, getting some cards all ready to go. This week seems to ge whizzing by, Stuart's fortieth is on thursday and I still need to wrap presents etc. I have been organised and got the presents, and a cake, and Holly is drawing him a card at this very moment. I hope she gets it finished before he walk in the door! : )

home

We are home from Brighton, exhausted after a wonderful weekend. We've walked miles, eaten lots, shopped even more and had an all round good time. It was a shame that the weather didn't match our mood, which meant that our walks along the seafront were few and quick, but I think generally we were lucky that it stayed dry most of the time. I made the decision to not take my camera, and just enjoy the weekend 'in the moment' if that makes sense, so I have no pictures to show you, so I am adding here a random picture of one of my favourite fabrics, which I think is a marrimeko design. I am looking forward to a nice quiet evening hopefully sewing, then probably an early night. Hope you all had great weekends too? : )

Off to the seaside!

We are off to Brighton for the weekend, as a joint wedding anniversary and birthday (husbands 40th next week!) treat. My in-laws are coming to look after Holly, and our bag is (very almost) packed. I am very excited, and my fingers are crossed that we have good weather. We are back on Sunday, so rest assured all purchases made over the weekend will not be held up and will be posted on Monday. : )

mothers day

I know I'm a bit slow posting this but I realised that in my last post about the weekend I neglected to make any mention of mothers day. My little sweetheart made me this gorgeous magnet which now lives on our fridge, and this is Holly and I after we had been bouncing on the trampoline - note the plate of 'barbecue chicken' we are just about to enjoy! : )

sunshine

What a glorious weekend we had here in London, sunny and warm, just perfect for spending outside. We spent all of Saturday in the sunshine, Stuart at the allotment and Holly and I in the garden. I spent most of the time digging and clearing - stopping for breaks to jump on the trampoline and eat pretend barbecue food made by Holly (yum, I wished it was real). Holly and I made the curtains when the playhouse was new, we finger-painted them together. By mid afternoon I had finished two new flowerbeds, and so we all went to the garden centre and picked out lots of lovely plants, which got planted yesterday. So this is the result of all my hard work, it doesn’t look like much yet, but it is such an improvement. : )

Yay!!

I was on the front page of etsy! Well, not me exactly but one of my leaf series artworks! How exciting! And another little notebook has made it as far as being listed, into my etsy shop this time. Is anyone else glad it is friday? It has been a really sunny and warm week here in London and I so hope it continues that way for the weekend. I have lots of garden things planned, and if the weather is horrible I will have to do paint stripping which I have certainly had enough of lately. Holly and I cooked this asparagus and pea frittata earlier, can't wait to get my teeth into it (Holly already has)! : )

new 'craft'!

All three little black notebooks have now gone to new homes, so I am in the process of making some new ones, this time with brown 'craft' type paper covers (still moleskines). This first one is listed now in my folksy shop, I have another two underway. I will be catching up with you all asap, we have been dashing all over the place since I finished work, we've just got in from Hollys first dancing lesson where she is dancing with a partner (it is very cute watching her do the jive and the cha cha cha with a little boy! They are better than I could ever be after only one lesson, and she didn't want to come home she was having such a good time) and then in 20 minutes I am off to my body combat class. After that I won't be fit for much! : )

catching up

This bag was the subject of fridays sneaky peek, it is a combination of one of my purse styles and the tote bags I made recently. It is quite small, a handy size to hold essentials to 'grab and go'. It will be listed in my etsy shop shortly. The weather here was glorious this weekend, so instead of spending it inside decorating, we were out in the garden tackling weeds, ivy and brambles. We now have a brand new flowerbed which just needs one more final dig to get roots out and then we can get some new plants, it has made such a difference to the garden already I am quite excited! : )

a peek and a parcel

I feel as if my poor blog has been a little neglected for the last few days, it seems to have missed out when time has been tight, but I'm going to try and make up for it now. This parcel has now arrived at its new home, it is one of my new notebooks and I wanted to show you the gorgeous paper bags that I bought off ebay a while ago. They are the perfect 'picciolo' colour, a sort of sea green and just the right size for sending notebooks on their way. And here is another sneeky peek, this item is finished and waiting for me to have the time to sort out the photos and list it - I'm very glad it is the weekend! What do you have planned? This week seems to have sped by so fast we haven't made many plans yet, which from where I'm sitting feels just fine. : )

notebook update

this little notebook has just been listed in my folksy shop. : )

new notebooks

Another project I have been working on lately is these little moleskine notebooks. Sewing through card was challenging at first, but it was a lot of fun to do something different. I don't think I would have been as pleased with the results if I had just used glue. They have ended up as quite tactile little books, perfect for everyone. The moleskine notebooks themselves are lovely, very well made with lined paper and a pocket at the back, some of the pages are also perforated. My husband has been a fan of these for quite a while now and I can see why. So far I have finished three notebooks, the bird one will be listed in my etsy shop first, hopefully later this evening! And these two parcels were posted today and are now on their way around the world. : )

treasury!

A quick post today after I missed last night and today time has run away with me (OK, really I was having too much fun helping to cut our loft ladder to the right length and then varnishing it). But I wanted to thank therainbowroom for including my new miniprints in her gorgeous treasury. My aim now is to catch up with a few of your blogs before enjoying a nice glass of wine. Hope you are all having great weekends! : )

sneaky peek

As the weather has been dull and I haven't been able to take good photos so far this week, I thought I would show you a sneaky peek of one of my new projects, hopefully proper pictures will follow soon! : )

fabric and parsnips!

An odd combination I know, but I couldn't resist showing you the fabulous and delicious parsnips (and purple sprouting broccoli) Stuart bought home from the allotment, they totally filled the sink! So far we have had parsnip mash and parsnip soup (which is just the best and we now have extra in the freezer) and we still have some left over. Yum! And here are some more of the gorgeous fabrics I have been buying lately, these two are from karaku , I already have one piece of the leafy one but couldn't resist another, and the other cute little birdy one is destined to become something for Holly. Not sure what yet, maybe another skirt as the first one , I made is getting short already! : )