poppies

from spikey alien-like pods burst



glimpses of pinkness



a mass of petals



each one more tissue paper pink than the last

half term plans

where does the time go?
Saturday was spent shopping, for wedding outfits for J's sisters wedding in September.
J had the task of helping the groom, who didn't want a suit, to choose a suitable outfit, with E and Miss K in tow, and I got to go with his sister to look at wedding dresses. Neither of us could decide who had the worst deal, but as they took 2 hours at a outlet with all the shops under one roof, and sticker books to entertain the youngest members of the shopping spree, and sister in law and I trailed for 6 hours across town (why are dress shops positioned as far apart as is physically possible?), my sore feet will tell you I got the worst deal.
We did however have success and ended up with something that fitted, (well nearly, alterations to come), in the sale - therefore in the budget, and didn't require 6 months ordering time - which we don't have.
some of the dresses were like this

some were like this

but in the end we found something, and the transformation from tired shopper to fairytale princess was astonishing.

In one of the shops I amused myself by trying on the bridesmaids dresses, I already have a dress but I was quite taken by a dark red full length skirt, and a fitted bodice, and now have the desire to try and make myself a replica of the top, - although it wouldn't really be suitable for doing the school run, or the supermarket shopping in.....

Sunday we thought let's have a quiet afternoon, and invited some friends to join us for a play at Lotherton Hall, which has a lovely bird garden and a playground, and some nice gardens for walking, and ball games, and kite flying. All was lovely, until their 5 year old decided she'd had enough of looking at the birds, and took herself all the way back to play on the slides, but without telling anyone......... After 20 minutes, when we'd had all the ground staff, and quite a few other visitors looking for her, and we were just about to ring the police, she was found queueing for the zip slide, oblivious to the panic she had caused.

Yesterday we managed a walk to feed the ducks and that was quite enough excitement for anyone, Miss K and E have just learnt to play chess, and I think that rest of the half term will be spent lying on the living room floor debating the movements of the "prawns"

blossom fun

when this

becomes this

and this

then this is just too tempting..

practising quilting

I decided to use the practise rainbow quilt to do some practise quilting, before I attempt to quilt the rainbow quilt. I'm really pleased with it, for the first time I seem to have control of the tension on the back!

now I just wished that I'd pressed the coloured seams inwards, and trimmed of all the loose threads - which on close inspection show through

which is why we practise things!

contents of my wallet

I know that several people have done a "contents of my handbag" meme, but after this mornings fun I thought it might be relevant for me to assess the contents of my wallet, and once I'd got everything laid out it just begged to be photographed......




lots of cards stuffed in




to be precise:
3 bank cards, 4 library cards, 6 loyalty cards (one out of date), 2 prepayment cards (one out of date) 2 gift cards, 5 membership cards, 6 photos of E and Miss K when they were much younger, nothing less than 3 years old...., 5 1st class stamps, one drawing I was presented with by a little boy who I used to teach 10 years ago "so the bears don't get you", a piece of paper with the first time Miss K wrote her name (don't tell E that I don't have the same for him - he'll get 2nd child syndrome) 3 loyalty cards for coffee shops of the get 10 stamps and get a free coffee variety - 2 from the same shop... and £11.75 I knew I had, and a £20 note I found tucked in a tiny pocket with Miss K's signature.

all of which is very useful, except that of the 3 bank cards I only know the pin number of one of them, and that would be the one I used to before I did a huge supermarket shop, and then got to the till to discover I hadn't got my card...... and of course they don't take cheques any more..... I had to persuade the checkout lady to get the manager to over ride the machine, so I could use my other card and sign for it....

oh and then drive back to shop number 1, where of course the nice lady I'd been chatting to at the checkout had put my card for safe keeping in the till.

lesson for the day, maybe carry less stuff, and take care of it!

a walk in the woods

trilliums (I think)



white bells



bluebells



and cherry blossom.

if only there was a way to capture the smells, and the sounds of the bird song, and the tranquility..

busy weekend

wow, that was a busy weekend, I need a week to recover.
Saturday we needed to go into town, I wanted to go to a gluten free food fair that was on, as part of gf awareness week, which was wonderful, wandering around eating free samples of cake/bread/biscuits/crackers, all yummy and gluten free - well that's not true, some gluten free stuff tastes like cardboard, but most of it was yummy - I bought a few treats to stock up the cupboards and I even bought a chocolate cream eclair, which I ate later with a cup of tea in the park - heaven.
We'd cycled into town along the river path, it was the first time we'd gone all the way into town, it's about 2 miles, K and E did really well, the hardest bit is getting from our house to the river path, (because of the roads), we wind through the side roads, and get off to cross the main road. there were lots of people cycling and walking, and we really enjoyed it, we'll do it again!
the not so fun part of the trip was buying K new school shoes, hers were rubbing, after a 45 minute wait in one shop, and lots of pairs of shoes tried on we left empty handed, and ended up in the most expensive shop in the world, but of the two pairs that the very lovely lady assistant brought out, they both fitted and so she got to choose which she wanted, unheard of, usually it's if we can find anything that fits you have to have it.
yesterday I braved the world of the car boot, for the first time in about 12 years, to try and sell some of the clutter we sorted out last week. not really my idea of fun, getting up at 6 to stand in a field for 5 hours, and slowly get sun burnt to a crisp (despite the factor 50!), but I sold quite a lot(one bike, one easel, two baby seats, 7 barbies, 6 action men, some playmobil, some cook books, some children's books ..............................), although the car is still packed to the brim ready for a trip to the charity shop with the rest. and I didn't buy anything!
no photos today, but instead a link to something which I found the other week, it made me stop and think........

not much sewing going on

I'm beginning to get withdrawal symptoms for my sewing machine, with the weekend away, and lots of other stuff going on I feel like I haven't sewn anything for weeks, it's not that long really but it feels a lifetime.


the only thing I got done last week was some quilting samples for the wallhanging I'm making, and after lots of attempts, I'm finally getting some control over the tension on the back......... not prefect, but much better.




all the rest of my time seems to have been spent doing HOURS of decluttering, so we can get the house valued. Yesterday a friend came round to help me "house doctor" she was a real slave driver, but the results are impressive, I have a HUGE pile of stuff to go to a car boot sale on Sunday (with same friend - she's making me go, I'm scared of car boot sales!) three VERY tidy bedrooms, and a sparkly bathroom. I just wish she was coming today to do downstairs, because I'm much more tempted by the garden today.........


she wanted to take before and after photos, but I was too ashamed, especially of Miss K's room, why do 9 year old girls have to keep every little bit of string/ribbon/paper/plastic fish/old crayon that ever existed, and store them in endless little boxes that they squirrel away as if they are precious treasures? lots of stuff has gone in the loft too, I hope the ceiling doesn't fall through....


Miss K has gone off on her school trip, the house is very strange without her, another friend lent us a DVD of ratatouille for E to watch last night in case he missed her, which was very sweet. I'm glad the weather is nice for her, but I bet she still gets really muddy!

more flowers - it must be spring!

it was so lovely to see some sun I went a bit mad pottering around the garden looking for things to photograph.



and then I loaded them all to flickr so I could play with all the photo manipulation stuff at bighugelabs. When staying at the grandparents it's always important to look like you are doing something essential on the computer, and then you can avoid the washing up........
I just love all these flowers, I can't decide which I like best today,



maybe best of all the mint is growing again, which means soon there'll be Pimm's

and I've reloaded the lilac photos from the last post, so you can see them now! more fun with photos......

lilacs

lilacs remind me of my gran, she had a lovely rambling lilac in her front garden.



when we lived near Boston we always had to go to the Arboretum each year to see the lilacs, they have a fantastic collection, and it's such a beautiful place.



we have one in our garden, it didn't flower for years after we planted it, and now we're thinking of moving...




I guess I'll just have to enjoy choosing which variety to plant next time, or maybe two, or three......

dotty cookies

last night we made dottycookies's dottycookies, they were a great success.

Thanks Val.!

yippeee

I'm not usually a self congratulatory kind of person, but I won!



I entered the rainbow quilt tutorial in the sew mama sew tutorial competition, and I found out yesterday I was one of the 5 winners! I get a $25 voucher to spend in the sew mama sew shop - can't wait - what shall I buy????!

back to the real world we have to go on a trainer hunt after school, as Miss K is going on a residential activity trip with school next week, and they need 2 pairs of trainers - I'm expecting them to come back wet and covered in mud, so we're aiming to buy cheap and cheerful!considering last time we went shopping for shoes I wanted to divorce both my children I'm not expecting it to be easy.........