Shhhhh don't make a sound, no loud noises I don't want these ladybirds (or ladybugs, I'm not too fussy) to fly away home! A favourite red mug was broken recently so now it's morphed into a pair of ladybirds. Hopefully they will be happy in our garden, I'm sure I'll find them in many different places in the garden as miss E moves them around. The best kind of pets I think.
Just before Christmas a new thrift store opened up in our town. It's a very dangerous place to shop! It's jammed packed with amazing clothes, all the opening stock came from Australia so there were quite a few labels that we just don't see here in our shops. The quality and prices are oh so good, so good in fact I've blown my thrifting budget every time I've been in. Miss E and I went in one day and she is such a magpie (like me) and she spotted this lovely vintage skirt and wanted me to buy it. " You can cut it up and make me a skirt and a dress for my doll" she declared in the shop. Well OK, I can't argue with that. The fabric is much brighter in real life and in excellent condition. Last night I sewed a skirt for her and a dress for her favourite doll ( a beautiful cloth doll from the oh so talented melissa from tiny happy). Once finished I folded up the skirt and dressed the doll and popped them on the end of her bed for a morning surprise! She was very pleased with the results, thank goodness - I would have been in trouble if I had got it wrong.
I've been doing lots of mending over the holidays, most of it has been things that have been lurking around taking up space here there and everywhere. Others have been in use calling out to be mended, like a shirt I wear nearly once every week missing a button! Each time I put it on I think "must sew on that button" but never do. It is a great feeling to fix things and put them back where they belong. The funny thing is, that it didn't take all that long to fix all these bits and pieces, I really wish I had done it sooner.
We had some wet and wild weather over the weekend, even some flooding not too far away from where we live. We spent the whole weekend inside and while the children were playing with Lego and Duplo I made this rug. It's made from T-shirt kind of knit tops, mainly ones from miss E's wardrobe. Too small, too stained to pass on to anyone else, perfect for a crochet rug. The top photo was a progress one, shaky with the lack of sunlight! It was quite amazing how different it looked before a new colour was added on. It worked up really quickly, it took more time to cut the strips than the crochet. Now one from mr A's old tops, might take a little bit longer to make a rug this size, his tops are much smaller!
We are still very much in holiday mode and have one more week left until preschool and all our other activities start back up again. I have been doing a very small amount of crafting in between keeping the kids entertained which I hope to share next week. In the meantime - Happy weekend!
I started this mosaic project many, many months ago. I wanted to make something with all the little scraps from day to day broken plates and the "offcuts" from my pendant making. It sat with very little progress for months in our garage where we kept bumping into it and me worrying about it getting broken all the time. So I decided while I was still in holiday mode I'd get it finished. It didn't take too long, just a few nights with some rented DVDs from the library. I had a basic pattern in mind as I didn't know what colours I'd be working with and thought that coloured circles and lots of white in between would hopefully work well. I found the terracotta pipe in the inorganic rubbish collection and it forms the stem of the birdbath (in case it wasn't clear) very well. I'm pleased to have it finished and out in the garden and I'm vowing never again to work on such a big mosaic project, I like the speed of paving stones better.
The night that my husband and I spent away was at Solscape, in Raglan. We were lucky to go as a family member had booked it but was unable to go due to all the problems with the snow in London just before Christmas. It was so nice getting away just the two of us, a very rare luxury which made us appreciate it all the more. Raglan is a lovely small coastal town, the first time that I had ever visited it. The Solscape Eco retreat was a beautiful spot and we stayed in a converted caboose but you can also in a Tipi! We took a walk to see the Tipis while we were there and I really wished that we were staying in one, maybe a future holiday? It was a great break but as it is with preschoolers it was back to reality very quickly once we arrived home.
Just before Christmas I found this lovely vintage doll at the local Salvation Army shop. She came with a horrible dress but I knew beneath she would be just the perfect friend for miss E's other cloth doll that Melissa from tiny happy made. I'm not sure how old she is but we really love her and her printed body which includes a watch! Then with perfect timing a friend of my sister was wanting to find a home for some doll's clothes that her mother had made - they are so beautifully stitched and fit our new friend perfectly. Now we have tea parties for these two friends and they sleep together tucked up under a crochet blanket. Just perfect!
I'm finding it really hard to find my way back into this space. I'm in full holiday mode which means the kids are fed and little else is being achieved each day. We've celebrated Christmas, new year and a birthday. We've explored some local beaches, a new zoo, found some new parks, tried to escape the heat and burning sun rays. I've tried some new recipes, done very little gardening. Found some time to do some crochet for a friend. Had our first ever night without our children,(miss E will be five in a few months so it's been a long time) Phew! It seems we've packed a lot in over the last few weeks.
