Contented

Swap Swag!

Warning - picture heavy post!

I've been feeling very happy today!  We haven't been anywhere exciting, but Will and I went into Tunbridge Wells this morning for some more back-to-school shopping (plus I also treated myself to that very expensive walking foot - don't tell Peter!) and when we got back there was not one, but two bits of post waiting for me.

The first thing I opened was this ENORMOUS box from Maxine, one of my Seaside Swap partners.

 

Now, I think I did put in the swap guidelines that the parcel should be no bigger than a shoebox, so Maxine has been very naughty breaking the rules, but who am I to complain when all this lot was inside?

 

First out was this lovely bag, made from the softest denim - yes, I know it's an appalling pic but I was very excited!  Here are some close ups:

 

  

There were more goodies inside the bag!

  

Two skeins of this gorgeous wool, (can you see? It's called "Sea Spray"!)

 

some ice-cream shaped sweets, a little pot of ice-cream lip balm (cookies & cream flavour - mmm), some real, vintage postcards,

 

a little fishy pencil (immediately claimed by Joe!), a flower-windmill and a very cute bucket shaped candle holder - that I think is intended to be stuck in a flowerpot (or sandcastle).

But that's not all!  In the box was one more parcel, containing this:

 

 

The most fabulous, beach hut cushion!  Thank you so, so much Maxine!  I absolutely love everything, you have been so generous and a wonderful swap partner!

Now, as if all that wasn't enough, I also received this lovely card and little gift from Jackie, as a thank you for arranging the swap:

 

 

Some gorgeous wineglass charms, with little seashells on them!  Thank you Jackie, they are lovely, that was so sweet of you!

Wow, it's taken me ages to post all that so I'll leave the photos of what I sent to my swap partners for the next time.

Don't forget, the swap deadline is tomorrow, so I hope everyone has sent their parcels off now!

Happy Thursday!

R x

Fabric show and tell

Hello!  How are you all today?  Good, I hope!  Well, I promised to be back with some scrummy fabric to show off, so here we go!  I had two orders arrive over the last few days, the first to arrive was this little bunch from Fabric Rehab:

 

Some cute owls, sweet Alexander Henry birdies and, in the middle, some Saffron Craig pink dandelions, which I am super excited about, it's so lovely!  And also from Fabric Rehab came these two:

Fabulous Parisienne ladies! 

And then on Monday, another parcel arrived, this time from Pink Chalk Fabrics, who had a sale on.

 

Some really lovely blue Olive Rose and then a bit of Heather Bailey Freshcut - I've had this before (I think it was actually one of the first fabrics I bought when I started sewing!) and I also think this is the first time I've gone back to buy more of a design.  I'd used up all I had and didn't even have a scrap big enough for my coin collection, so when I saw this on sale I just had to get some!

 

I also snapped up these two - pink woodgrain effect, which is rather funky, and another very cute Alexander Henry print called Petite Granville.  All this lovely new fabric has, as usual, got me itching to start making something!  It feels like I haven't sewn anything for ages, in fact, I actually cleared away all the fabric lying all over the place and put away my sewing machine at the start of the hols, but I think it might have to come out of it's hiding place sooner, rather than later!

Today I also finished the scarf I started, I really enjoyed this stitch, it needed a much lower level of concentration which suited me perfectly!!

 

 

What else was I going to talk about?  Oh, yes,  a film review.  On Sunday William and I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  It was ... well, okay.  I should point out that William really enjoyed it but I felt a bit lukewarm about it.  I will admit that, out of the seven books, this was probably my least favourite, and it probably didn't help that I re-read it just before we went to see it, so I was all too aware of all the stuff that was missed out - stuff that I personally thought was quite important to the plot - like the fact that the locket was supposed to be Slytherin's, what Dumbledore suspected the other horcruxes were, and the big battle at Hogwarts near the end - all missed out!  I thought it had quite a different feel to the other films too, the music was very different and it didn't seem to be quite as action-packed as some of them either.  (And ending on such a sad note kind of puts a downer on things too!)  

Also on the subject of films, I was quite excited to see a trailer for The Time Traveller's Wife, a book that I really, really loved - although, perhaps excited is the wrong word - just watching the trailer made me cry!  Imagine what I'd be like watching the whole film!!  I think I might have to wait until it's out on DVD and I can watch it on my own and boo my eyes out without getting embarrassed! 

Finally, I promised some news about my secret project!  Well, it's going to be a new blog, set up by myself and my lovely blog friend Emma, and it will be launching next Wednesday, the 5th August!  We are both really excited about it and hope that lots of you will want to join in too.  I can't spill any more beans just yet, but stay tuned, and don't forget to come back next week for the big launch!

R x

A grand day out

This week Peter is off work, so we're trying to get out and about on some fun outings while we can.  Today we set off for Drusilla's Zoo in East Sussex.  We've never been there before but it looked pretty good and we had a really great day, even though it was VERY busy (but that has to be expected in the school hols, right?!).  There aren't any of the "BIG" animals (lions, tigers, elephants etc) but lots of smaller, cute and furry ones, as well as loads of interactive stuff for the kids (I really liked the free "spotters" books - at various points there were stamping stations where they could stamp their books once they'd seen a certain animal).  And, of course, a huge adventure playground.  William was so good, keeping an eye on Joe while they climbed on all the equipment. 

Here are just some of the many animals we saw.

 

 

 

I think the meercats were my favourites - there were even a couple of babies, just a couple of weeks old, that were just so tiny and cute! Awwww!

 

Joe loved the fruit bats!

 

These little fennec foxes were absolutely beautiful too!

 

Joe's a bit camera shy at the moment!

It wasn't the cheapest day out but I think we got our money's worth - we were certainly all pretty pooped by the time we got home!

I'm hoping to be back again tomorrow with some gorgeous new fabric to show off, a film review and a bit more info about my secret project!

R x

School's out

The kids broke up from school on Monday, and I will admit that I did feel a little sad.  Partly, of course, because William has now left to go to secondary school in September (apparently there were lots more tears in assembly that morning - though again not from Will - he is far too chilled out about it all!).  But I also felt quite sad for Joe (perhaps even more so, if I'm being totally honest), because he has to leave behind the most lovely and wonderful teacher and TA.  However, the good news is that Kate, his "special helper" is moving up to year 2 with him, which is fantastic!  Even more fantastic news is that we finally got our appointment for the Social Communications clinic in just a couple of weeks!  I really wasn't expecting this until October/November time, so this is a huge bonus.  I don't want to get my hopes up too much but I am now wondering if there is a chance we might even get a diagnosis before going back to school?  I don't know how quickly they'll be able to do that - if this assessment is all that's needed or if there'll be more to follow?  But anyway, it's all good and going in the right direction at least.

We're taking things easy this week, easing ourselves in the holidays gently.  We have some friends coming to visit tomorrow and next week Peter is off so we'll hopefully be able to head off for some days out.  In the meantime I'm knitting (the scarf and I've also cast on with that gorgeous sock yarn), reading (just started re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and Sewing Green arrived in a parcel from Amazon this morning - lovely!) and working some more on my secret project with my lovely blog friend Emma.  It's all coming together really well, so look out for some more cryptic clues next week!

 

This photo has nothing to do with anything, but how cute is that kid?!

Enjoy your hols guys!

R x

Weekend catch up

Well, there's lots to talk about today, so go and get yourself a cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit and make yourselves comfortable - this may be quite a long one!

 

Some beautiful sweet peas, given to me by my mother-in-law when she babysat Joe on Tuesday evening.  They smelt amazing!

Tuesday evening we went to Willam's leavers service.  It was absolutely lovely but, man it was emotional!  One by one it seemed, all the girls started crying (and a few of the boys) and I think most of us mums joined in too!  I can't believe that seven years could go by so quickly.  William, of course, was completely laid back about the whole thing - I think he just can't wait to get to secondary school - and didn't quite understand what all the fuss was about!  All the children were given a special leavers book which has their pictures from reception and year 6 in, poems that the children had written, messages from all the kids and staff and lots of pages to fill in with their favourite memories, clubs they participated in etc.  A lovely reminder of the fabulous time he's had there. 

 

On Wednesday I went with Joe on his first ever school trip, to Hastings.  As it was their first trip the kids were extremely excited, and very, very loud on the bus but, luckily, I'd brought an MP3 player with me so Joe and I listened to music all the way there - I think it helped cancel out some of the noise from the other children so Joe was very quiet and calm.  Once there we went to the Underwater World aquarium.  Joe really likes this kind of thing, so we had a nice time looking at all the different fish, crabs, and even some poisonous tree frogs!  There was a little talk given, and Joe even answered a couple of questions - I think he felt very proud that he knew stuff the others didn't!  We then went out onto the beach for lunch.  As you can probably tell from the above photo, it was rather grey and blustery, but at least it didn't rain and we didn't get attacked by seagulls!  One of Joe's front teeth, which has been hanging on for dear life all week, decided to fall out on the pebbles but, luckily, we managed to find it.  (He now has a VERY gappy smile, with both top front incisors missing - it looks so cute!)  I think it was quite a successful trip - nobody threw up on the bus, nobody misbehaved and I didn't come home with a migraine (like I did the last time I went on a trip with Will in year 5!)

 

A scarf I've been working on this week.  Some of you may recognise this yarn from here (scroll down, it's at the bottom of the post) - I originally started the My So Called Scarf pattern but, whilst I really liked the pattern, and it was fairly straightforward, I did find that I had to really concentrate on what I was doing and just found it really slow going.  I admit that I got bored and frogged it.  Then I saw this lovely scarf on Ali's blog and decided to check it out.  It's a very easy pattern and is knitting up much faster too.  The perfect project for working on in front of the telly!

And then this gorgeous package arrived in the post this morning!

 

Beautiful hand dyed sock yarn from this Etsy shop.  Asti had a giveaway on her blog recently and I knew that if I didn't win (I didn't - boo!) I would definitely be making a purchase!  The colour is called Prize Fuchsia, and my photos really don't do it justice, the colours are much richer and jewel-like in real life!

 

I can't wait to start knitting with this!

A quick reminder that the Seaside Swap deadline is the 31st of July.  It's been lovely to start seeing photos popping up in blogland as parcels are received.  I sent my two off this week, I know one of them has been received but I'm going to wait until I know the other one has arrived safely before I show you any pics.

I've also started working on a little colaborative project with a bloggy friend - but I'm not going to tell you any more just yet - ooh, the suspense!  Hopefully, we'll be able to let you in on it all very soon.

In the meantime, have a great weekend all!

R x

Where does the time go?

I can't believe there is only a week of school left.  I'm not ready!!  I feel like there is still so much I need to do and not enough time to do it in.  I also feel like I have loads to blog about, but my thoughts are all a bit jumbled up and over the place, so forgive me if this seems like a bit of a mish mash!

 

I received this lovely, seasidey piece of fabric and the card from Julia of Hand Knitted Things as a thank you for arranging the seaside swap!  Julia, that was so kind of you, thank you! 

I have also managed to get myself pretty much sorted with my own swap stuff, and am now ready to post!  Here are a couple of sneaky peaks:

 

 

I hope that doesn't give too much away!  Don't forget, the deadline is 31st July and the Flickr group is here.

On Friday evening we went with some friends to the Tonbridge music festival.  It's held every year on the lawn in front of Tonbridge Castle, but this is the first time we've been.  We took a picnic and had a fab time!

The main acts are usually tribute bands, and we saw the Bandit Beatles and Abba Magic.  The Abba band were definitely loads better than the Beatles (their fake voices were awful!) but there was a really good atmosphere, especially once it got dark.  At the end there was a fireworks display, so I got to try out the fireworks setting on my camera!

 

 

The deadline for the first Wordplay challenge is tomorrow - and I haven't done it.  I feel bad, falling at the first hurdle as it were, but the idea that I had just didn't pan out as I'd hoped, (the word was "sugar") and my mind was just a complete blank for any other ideas.  Plus with all the other end-of-term stuff going on, something had to give and this was it.  I'm definitely planning to try again with the next word though, so I'll keep you posted on that.

This morning I was helping in school with some of the other mums, preparing a load of Spanish food for Year 6 to have a little fiesta, to celebrate the end of their Spanish lessons.  We made 3 kinds of paella, Spanish omelette, bread & chorizo and some kind of potato dish that I forget the name of (fried potato with a spicy tomato sauce on it).  We dished it all up to the kids and they all seemed to really enjoy it (most of them that is, William, typically, found it all too spicy!).  When I left at about 11.20 they were all up and dancing with their Spanish teacher and having a wonderful time!

Right, must go, loads to do!  Have a great week, everyone!

R x

Coin collecting

 

Coins of the fabric variety, of course!  I don't know about you, but I do tend to buy fabrics just because I love them, rather than having a specific project in mind.  And then I often have trouble deciding exactly what to do with them, what wonderful project could possibly justify cutting into that beautiful material?  And so the fabric sits in my cupboard, patiently waiting.  I sometimes take it out to look at it, have a little think about what I could make with it, try it out against some other fabrics - and then put it back in again.  I know that I will use it eventually.  But the thought that I might use it up and not "have it" any more is always a little bit of a worry.  (How does this happen?  How does someone become so addicted to something so quickly? Is it just me?)

 

But then I kept seeing all these gorgeous coin quilts all over blogland, and had a bit of a lightbulb moment.  I could cut just a tiny piece of fabric and put it into a coin quilt, and that way would always have a little piece of it to remind me, whatever should happen to the rest of it.  So that is what I am doing, collecting coins from my most favourite fabrics.  They are quite small pieces, just 3.5 x 5.5 inches - small enough that I don't feel too bad cutting into the fabric but big enough to show the beautiful patterns and prints.

 

It's been quite an interesting exercise too.  You can REALLY tell what my favourite colours are, can't you?!  But I do like other colours too, like red and green, and darker blues & purples, as well as these sugared almond shades you see here.  So maybe I need to be a bit more mindful of that when buying fabric in the future.  In the meantime, I shall just keep adding to this little collection, until it is ready to be turned into a quilt. 

And I know it will be wonderful!

R x

A perfect day

 

On Friday Peter, myself and my parents spent the day at the beautiful Eastwell Manor, near Ashford in Kent, for the wedding of my lifelong friend, Jenni.  Quite literally lifelong - our mums were friends and we were born just 5 weeks apart.  The day was absolutely perfect - the weather was, thankfully, cooler than it has been recently, but the rain held off and it was still warm and sunny.  (So sunny in fact that I caught the sun quite badly - it had never occured to me to take sunblock, I supposed I'd assumed it would be inside).  The ceremony itself was held outside under a lovely gazebo (I very nearly blubbed but just about managed to contain myself, just as well really as once I start I can't stop!) and then there were drinks out on the terrace while all the photos were being taken. 

 

 

We then had a delicious meal of onion tartlets followed by beef tornadoes and then Kentish strawberries and cream, before moving downstairs to the disco.  Peter & I went for a little walk around the grounds and had a game of boules, then Peter wanted to inspect the golf course, before we headed back to the disco.  I even managed to get Peter up on the dance floor! 

 

Jenni & Lee, the wedding was beautiful, we had a fabulous time and are so happy for you both!

(And when we go to the next wedding in September, I will remember the sunscreen!)

 

R x

Check this out!

 

Free downloadable posters in the August issue of Ideal Home magazine.  I initially thought the middle one would be perfect for the seaside swap, but then I thought there might be a chance of everyone having the same idea, so I thought I'd just share the love instead!  The link is here.

 

(We live nowhere near the sea of course, but I can dream can't I?)

R x