Feeling Festive

Despite life being totally crazy at the moment we have managed to get the house looking Christmassy. Here's a little peep. Edited this way so you can't see the piles and piles of babygrows, muslins and endless other washing!

:: Little reindeers on my German roundabout candle  :: My Grandma's vintage baubles and Little F's first advent calendar  :: Little F's second wonderful advent calendar recently bought by one of his fab Godfathers
:: A little scene on our sideboard  :: Detail at the top of the first advent calendar  :: Grandma's baubles  :: My German smoking man bought at the Aachen Christmas market, a little elf and the bottom of my Christmas candlestick  :: A gingham Christmas cushion  :: The Tree


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He's here!

My new little boy, Little H arrived safely but somewhat traumatically into the World last Wednesday. Little H is doing very well, Mummy feels a little battered but getting better every day. He is completely gorgeous and I am head over heels in love! Will be back again with more, hopefully before Christmas but for now our little complete family is snuggling down and enjoying some recovery time. See you soon.

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Happy Birthday

We celebrated a Birthday over the weekend but not a Birth day. Luckily baby is not going to share it's birthday with it's Daddy although that means I'm still sitting here, the size of a house and feeling rather fed up. 

It was lovely S's Birthday on Saturday and I ignored his claims that I shouldn't be baking cake in my condition and made a very simple plain victoria sponge, iced it with plenty of buttercream and let little F choose what decorations. If I say so myself it was delicious. The three of us have more or less polished the whole thing off. And despite the no baking comments I'm just about to start on a banana loaf now. Keeping busy is best right now, and I hope that I may encourage baby to come if I keep on my feet and stay active. Tomorrow is officially 40 weeks so it could be any time now. I'll keep you posted. 

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Edit - You may have noticed I've made a few changes around here. I've been feeling for a while that everything was looking a bit cluttered and busy and I wanted the pictures and text to really stand out. So I've cleared all the background stuff and deleted quite a bit of stuff from the side bar. Also, I've gone for just one side bar. You can now find my list of blogs I love via the tab at the top of the page which will take you to a separate list. I'm just in the process of adding links to that list. I've also dropped the label list and archive down to the bottom of the page. I've written a new 'about me' page which you can access again via the tabs at the top. You can find the link to my email address there and I may add to that page from time to time. Hope you like the new uncluttered look. F x

Bright and Cheerful

Hello. Ok, so I just couldn't resist. I know I said I was going to wait until after baby arrives but I changed my mind.

I've popped all the new items I've stitched recently into myEtsy Shop. 

I've been loving making some little felt and button brooches and I had an idea to make some felt tissue holders. It is tissue time of year after all and something pretty is nicer than the plastic wrapper they come in. 

I've got some more things on the go in the making tin and I'm also going to list a few of my older items over the next few days. 

Today we're mostly hanging out on the sofa as little F has some sort of bug. Occasionally being sick and just not really himself. Luckily Fireman Sam helps to make my little boy feel better. That and lots of snuggles from Mummy. Hopefully see you later in the week. 

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We're ready Baby

Morning! I finally managed to take some photos in baby's room this morning although the light is not exactly brilliant. Above is the little nursing chair that used to belong to my Grandma. I made a loose cover for it when I lived in Kew. It's a green denim and isn't what I want on it long term but it kind of works for now. Actually, when I had this chair in Little F's room I had his patchwork throw over it which looked really nice. I'd like to do something similar in this room but will wait until we know what baby is. Above is a lovely picture that my extremely talented Sister made for me a few years ago. She's a textile designer and like me makes accessories and pictures for the home. She makes some really beautiful things, mainly to order sold locally through friends. I keep telling her she should open a shop on line to share her prettiness with everyone. She currently is a child minder so does the making in her spare time but when her youngest starts School next year she's planning on dropping the child minding and going back to the designing full time. I'll keep you posted if she opens an on line shop as you'd love her work. 

Here are the pictures I was making a month or so ago. I'm afraid I didn't get round to filling the fourth frame yet. I will definitely do it, just can't quite decide on the design yet. These are above and to the side of the changing table so will give baby something bright to look at. 

Here's a close up of the little nursing chair. I've popped a cushion on it that I made ages ago. I used to sell this design in my shop but had a couple left. It's a tiny red polkadot with some little floral hearts appliqued down the centre. The two little softies have been around for a while. The cute little bear was purchased from this cute shop on Folksy before I even became a Mummy just because I kind of fell in love with him. The little rabbit was originally bought for Little F but he never really became attached to it. He already has so many favourite softies. So I thought they'd look cute in baby's room instead. 

Here's a better look at that cute heart picture from my Sis and the bunting I've made. The curtains were bought for Little F originally and were from Mothercare. They're just a simple polka dot in multi colours. I've tried to pick out some of those colours in everything I've made and added to the room as they are fairly unisex for now. They also match the linings of the Moses basket which will spend some time in here although for now it is in our room where baby will sleep to start with. 

We moved the cot into here the other day which is earlier than expected as we won't need it for a while. We were planning on buying Little F a 'big boy's bed' after Christmas so he could go into it a month or two before baby needed the cot, but while we were Christmas shopping in John Lewis last week be happened to see a perfect bed for him at a fab price so we bought it then and there. It was delivered on Monday and thanks to my lovely Daddy is now up in his room. We weren't sure if it was all a bit early as he only just turned two but he's taken to it like a duck to water. Suddenly such a big boy. I have to admit to having a little cry on the first night after he'd snuggled down. I'm not very good with these milestones. 

I hope you liked the little look at the nursery. Sorry they are so dull. Would have been better on a sunny day but they're in short supply around here at the moment. 

So I'll leave you with some brightness. A sneaky peek on some of the things I've been working on the last few evenings. I'm gathering quite a collection of new designs for the shop. I really want to get them in the Etsy shop but I'm thinking it might be easier to wait until after baby is here in case I make any sales and can't get them posted due to be in labour! I'll let you know when they're available. 

Have a great weekend. 

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Sorting

Hello, hello. How is everyone on this lovely sunny Autumn day? I'm still here, getting bigger by the minute! Just two weeks to go until my official due date but I'm hoping it will come sooner. I am trying to keep really active, cleaning and polishing everything in sight! 

I've also been doing a lot of sorting and organising. On Saturday I decided that my sewing things needed a major sort out. I had stuff all over the place in lots of different boxes and containers. All my large fabric pieces are fairly organised in big bags so they didn't need dealing with, but it was all the small stuff that needed attention. Buttons, fabrics, ribbons and accessories were in a state of disarray.

As well as starting work in the evenings on new items for my etsy shop, I also really really wanted to get back to my little hexie project that has been on hold for longer than I care to admit. I was inspired my Mrs Bun's mobile making box and decided to make one of my own for hexie making. Sorting through everything I realised I had about three tins all of which were filled with very little so I emptied them all out and began again. I decided to use this pretty blue one for the hexies. I went through the fabrics I'm using for the project and cut a load into squares then cut a lot of paper bits too. I added some thread and a needle as well as a small pair of scissors and now it's ready to go. It's pretty small so will fit into the baby change bag. I actually couldn't resist starting on a few last night while watching Downton(so sad it's over) and they're so quick to do. I've enough now to start adding to the patch shown in the last picture. 

A second  slightly larger tin has been filled with small scraps of felt and some bits I started but didn't finish and which now may become part of something else. 

The third tin is for current projects. So it's sort of like the hexie tin but for items I am making to sell. I'm really loving the idea of having everything organised like this. I know that once baby arrives time for me is going to be in short supply so knowing that I have everything handy is a wonderful feeling. I know that even if I get just 10 minutes to myself suddenly I can open up one of my little tins and get on with some stitching. 

You'll notice that there is a lot of felt in these pictures. It really is my favourite thing to work with at the moment  and a lot of my new products are going to be using it. It's so lovely to work with and it means a lot of hand sewing which to be honest is going to be the best way for me to work in the coming months. Despite being a stay-at-home Mummy and very soon having two small people to look after, I do have the need to be creative and I do have the need to make just a little bit of money. Being able to work on small hand stitched projects is perfect for this. 

Little F has gone for a nap now so I'm going to put my feet up and open one of my tins right away. Hopefully I'll be back again in a few days to share with you pictures of the nursery. But if I go a bit quiet you'll know little munchkin has come early due to all my manic cleaning activity! 

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Loving Autumn

While I do miss the end of the Summer days, I do also truly love Autumn. I think if I'm honest it is my favourite time of year.

I love the beautiful colours and where we live we really do get to see a lot of those colours. We're in the heart of the Chilterns and although we're on the edge of a town, we can be in stunning beech woods within a few minutes walk, or more stunning countryside just a short drive away. There is something particularly beautiful about beech in Autumn. They really do turn the most vibrant orange colour. At the moment there is still a fair bit of green mixed in but this just seems to add to the beauty of the orange shades. 

I can't admit to taking these lovely photos as they were taken by lovely S on Saturday. He and little F went for their first proper Father and Son adventure leaving me to 5 hours of peace with my sewing machine. Most Saturdays since the beginning of this year have been christened 'Daddy Day' as they always go out together in the morning to have a bit of time together and to give Mummy a bit of peace, something I've really especially appreciated while pregnant. Usually they end up in town and often meet Nanny and Grandad for coffee. But last week S announced that they were going for a walk and taking a picnic. They did a walk that S did as a child which we've been meaning to do. Part of it involves going to the top of a lovely hill, part of it is through beautiful beech woods and part takes you round land on the 'Chequers' estate. You can see the house in the picture above. Not sure if the PM was in or not! Little F absolutely loved it and came back covered in mud with tales of all the things they'd seen as well as a big stick he'd collected and some dandelions for Mummy. It's definitely a walk I'm looking forward to doing once I'm more mobile again. 

The other thing that I love about Autumn is that it is the start of snuggly cosy season. It's a time for lighting candles in the evening and making everything snug and warm. 

I had a re-arrange of the mantle-piece the other day to make room for lots more candles. I would really like to paint the fireplace as the wood is a little orange, but as I may have mentioned before, lovely S is not quite sold on my desire to paint everything in sight and is currently resisting this particular paint project. So for now it stays wood coloured and I'm putting up with the blue tiles that I don't really love either. I'm still happy with how it looks though now I've got all my cream candle holders arranged. It did make me realise that I need far more though. What I really need is some cream candlesticks as all I seem to have is lanterns or tea light holders. One thing I did do to create more holders was to use a cream pot (second from the right) to hold a tea light. It's added more in the way of cream to the shelf, and although you don't see the actual candle, it gives off a lovely glow from the top that works really well. 

Back again next week hopefully with some nursery photos. It's just about done but I still have the pictures to put up. Have a lovely weekend. 

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Candlelit Breakfast

Here we are at Friday again. Can't quite believe it. The weeks are flying past at the moment! Doesn't seem a minute since last Friday when I spent the morning in my PJs baking little F's Birthday cake.

It's very gloomy here this morning so I lit a little candle for us to eat our breakfast by. For a 2 year old my son has quite sophisticated taste as he loves it when we light candles while eating. I guess it's the pretty flickery light. I can't wait to see what his reaction to all the Christmas lights is going to be this year. I reckon this will be the first Christmas where he will be properly excited by it and may even remember some parts of it in years to come. I can certainly remember some things when I was two.

Despite the gloom and drizzle we're going to venture out and about this morning. We have library books to return and I desperately need to buy a new iron as ours decided to drastically overheat and die on us last Sunday while lovely S was in the middle of ironing his work shirts. Luckily he was on his last one but it was completely ruined and our ironing board is now sporting a lovely black iron shaped mark right in the middle of it. He was not impressed! Apart from needing the ironing to get on with the general ironing pile(yes I am a bit of an ironing freak and even do my teatowels!) I also want to spend tomorrow morning while S and F are out on their usual Saturday morning 'boys time' completing new curtains for Little F's room so that I can move his current ones into babies room. My super Daddy put up the blackout blind and curtain pole in babies room yesterday so I really want to get the curtains up now as that will really start to pull things together in there. I promise I will share pictures once it's all done.

I just wanted to say thanks for all the lovely baby blanket comments. You're all so kind. I know how busy everyone is but I do so love to hear from you all.

Have a lovely weekend.

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Baby Blanket 'Ta Da'

I've been meaning to show you this for the last few days as I finally finished the blanket some time last week.

I'm really happy with it. I'm not the Worlds best or quickest knitter and considering the last time I did something like this was seven years ago, I don't think it's too bad. It does look a bit wobbly in places, particularly as the stripy squares turned out a slightly different size to the cream ones and I had to pull them just a bit to get them to fit together. Yes I know, those of you who are fab knitters will probably be cringing at that!

But generally I'm very happy with the end result and I don't think it looks too girly which is something I was worrying about despite there being blue and green in the stripes as well as pink. I'm sure either a boy or a girl are going to look at home snuggled up inside it.

I just hope it's going to be big enough to wrap around my new little babe. It measures 55cm x 65cm. In my head I just can't visualise how big this baby might be having had such a teeny tiny prem baby the first time around. I had a scan last week and they estimated baby to be already 5lb5oz. Little F didn't get to that size until he was 2 months old. With potentially 5 more weeks growing time plus the week we've just had I guess this baby could be up to 8lb or a bit more. Little F didn't reach that weight until he was 4 months old and by then he didn't seem like a new born. We'll see. I'm sure the blanket will be snuggly enough and I'm just so pleased to have been able to make it. I really enjoyed the knitting and would like to do more now.

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So much I would like to do

My brain is popping with ideas and inspiration this afternoon. There is so much I would like to do. Things in the house, ideas for the garden next year, new crafts and creative things I would like to try. So so much, but as I am currently the size of a house with very little energy I am contenting myself with sitting on the sofa, eating the remains of the chocolate buttercream I made yesterday for Little F's 2nd Birthday cake, and taking a good browse around the internet adding to my inspiration.

I started the afternoon by visiting Jen's lovely blog and got all inspired by her beautiful holiday journal. I so want to create one for our honeymoon which is three and a half years ago! I also want to do some sort of journal/album for Little F so far and a new one for the new babe when it arrives. Seeing Jen's book has made me really determined to achieve these goals.

I then skipped over to Claire's inspiring blog and have spent almost an hour reading all about her journalling and notebooks. I love notebooks and want to do more with the ones I have.

The other day I was tagged by Ada on VintageSheetAddict. I'm not normally one for tagging but I'm going to partly participate in this one. These were the rules.

The Rules:

Each tagged person must post 11 random facts about themselves.

Answer the 11 questions set by previous blogger.

Create 11 more questions.

Tag 11 more blogs, with less than 200 followers.

Inform the blogs they've been tagged! 

I'm going to do half of this by giving you 11 random facts and answering Ada's questions but I'm not going to tag anyone else. 

Random Facts - Autumn is my favourite season, I hate spiders, I love the smell of woodsmoke in the winter, I'm currently addicted to Nutella, I hate tea when I'm pregnant(but love it normally), red and blue is my fav colour combination, I don't like heights or tunnels but went to the Alps as part of my Honeymoon(only mentioned this to lovely S as we were driving up our first hairpin road!), I love Christmas, I'd love to learn to dance properly, my favourite film ever is The Railway Children, I hate flying but love watching planes.

Now for the questions - 

What's on your bedside table? - a pretty lamp, a tiny painted cabinet of treasures, two pretty boxes containing some favourite jewellery. 

What's on the top of you wardrobe? ( being nosey, was what caused me to set off the alarm!) - Not very pretty. Just a small selection of overnight bags, one of which is going to be coming down today ready to be packed for hospital. 

Happiest memory? - I have two. Our Wedding Day and the moment I first saw Little F in his incubator 10 hours after he was born. 

Favourite toy as a child, or adult? - Ted H. He was my first Christmas present when I was just 3 months old. He is currently living in our new nursery and is very very thread bare and loved, not to mention well travelled. 

Your perfect holiday destination? - Anywhere in Europe, especially our favourite town of Ieper in Belgium. 

Spring or Autumn? I think it has to be Autumn by a whisker. I love the colours, smells and general feeling of being able to get snug and cosy again. But I do love the beauty of Spring too. 

What's your moto, number one rule, you live your life by! - Try to treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. 

If you had a time machine, what year would you like to land in? - I'm happy right where I am. 

Roast dinner or fish and chips? - Roast dinner cooking by lovely S, just like the one I enjoyed a couple of hours ago!

What makes you 'belly laugh'? - So many things but I love laughing the most when it is my little boy or Husband that are making me laugh. 

Favourite outfit, past or present?  - Anything that's not maternity as I'm longing to get back into normal clothes again. Actually it's probably my Wedding dress which I adored. I know it's a bit typical but it did make me feel like a princess. 

Today's pics are all pretty old so sorry if you've seen them before. They all come from some pages from my inspiration journals. 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend. It may be nearly over but at least we've still got Strictly and Downton to look forward to. 

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Decision Made

Thank you for your responses to my previous post. Having thought about it I have finally made some decisions about my shop. Firstly, I have opened up my little blog shop again. You can find the link to it at the top of the screen just under my banner. I will be adding items to it as and when I have the time for the time being with the not too distant arrival of baby. I've added paypal buttons to all the items so purchase is simple and you can leave me a comment if you want any further information about something of if you would prefer to pay for an item by cheque. It seemed from what people were saying, etsy is more popular than Folksy which I have long suspected. So I am slowly running down my stocks in Folksy as items expire or are sold and I will be concentrating on Etsy in the New Year. Given that my time is going to be very limited until Christmas I don't want to revamp the Etsy shop until the New Year as I want to do it properly. And as I have my little blogshop my shock can go in there for now so it is still available. I'll let you know when the Etsy shop is open again though. So that's that. Decision made. Thanks for your advice. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Trying to decide

I'm trying to come to a decision as to whether I should stick with selling on Folksy or not. It seems like just when I think it's really not the best place to sell because I haven't had a sale in weeks I go and sell something new. I'd made this decision a few weeks ago and was slowly letting the shop run down. As things expired I wasn't renewing them so the stock levels were gradually going down. But this week I sold a lovely ticking cushion that I'd actually been starting to think I might keep for myself. It was a good sale so now I'm wondering again.

At the moment and probably until next Spring, I don't have a lot of time for making many new items, but I do have a long term plan to keep my little business going and hopefully do more. So I feel I need to keep an on line presence with my items but the answer is where?

Do I stick with Folksy? Do I try Etsy again as I still have a shop there? Do I open up a little shop here attached to the blog or do I sell via my Facebook page as so many people seem to do? I just can't decide. Despite the fact I can't make many new things, I do still have a lot of stock here that I would love to sell. These three are just a few of the pretty things available that are no longer in the Folksy shop.

I love to hear anyone's thoughts on this. Do you sell on Folksy or Etsy? Which one works best for you?
I'm sure I'll come to a decision soon enough. I'll let you know when I do.

See you soon.
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Comfort

Comfort food is what I need right now so you can't beat a bit of Friday baking. In the last few days my energy levels have really dropped and my hunger levels have gone up. I suppose this is normal in the last few weeks of pregnancy. It's ok, I'm eating lots of fruit and veg and healthy stuff as well as stuffing myself with cakes!

I'm still trying to work my way through my to do lists but I have to admit that progress has slowed considerably. Little F is so full of energy and a lot of chat that when he goes down for his nap in an afternoon I tend to crash out on the sofa rather than get on with things which was the norm up to a week ago. I find this very frustrating as I really want to be organised. However, I did find the energy to do some sewing this afternoon while crashed. All the knitted squares are complete and I'm slowly stitching them all together. I managed a row this afternoon so now have four rows done. Three more to go. I keep looking at it and imagining it wrapped around my tiny new born. Can't believe how close that is now. I have also been working on another little picture for the nursery to go with the other two. This one is just simple felt ABC and 123. They're all cut out but need to be hand stitched to the linen. I'll show you when I'm done. 

Have a lovely weekend.

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The View Through.......

I used to hate the view when I opened our front door. Now I love it. It used to include our very horrid kitchen and dull magnolia walls in the hall. Now I'm greeted by our vibrant yellow hall walls and the view through to our lovely new kitchen. I look up the stairs and see our photo gallery that is taking shape(sorry, I've cropped all but the very edge of that off the picture) and the jolly blue gingham curtains I've just completed. I've even grown quite fond of the twirly 1960s banister now. Somehow it sort of works in this house and with the yellow walls. 

I had a dream of living in a home decorated in shades of elegant neutrals but I've really realised with this house that you have to listen to the building. It was painted all over in neutral cream when we moved in and after living with it for a year we realised that it just didn't work that well. It's a 1960s house with no interesting architectural details and  huge windows that let in a lot of light. It was crying out for some colour. When we first started rolling on this yellow I did have a moment of mild panic. It looked unbelievably bright. But now it is finished and we have pictures and curtains up it just makes me so happy. 

You'll see from the above photo that there is some neutral going on. We've painted the living room in a Dulux shade called white chiffon but we do have a feature wall in the dining end of the room that is a deep cherry red. Despite the fact that the walls are painted in there, it's still a work in progress so I won't give you a look at that just yet. You'll see that the skirting boards are still the hideous orange wood we inherited and we're living with the horrid blue curtains that the previous owner left behind. The woodwork will get done in bits I suspect(unless S has a fit of energy during half term!) and we don't have the budget for curtains for now unless I can find some super bargain fabric or cheap but lovely ready made curtains on line. 

I'm very happy with my little kitchen now. I love to spend time in here cooking and baking. We decided to go for colour in here too as the units are neutral. I initially picked out a blue that was almost the exact colour of my cornishware collection but then decided it was too deep and was going to make the room too dark. This is perhaps the smallest window in the house and as the kitchen is north facing I didn't want it to feel dark or cold so we plumped for a paler shade of but still with the same tone as the Cornishware. I'm really happy with how it has turned out and I love the contrast of the red gingham blind against the blue. Are you getting the fact that I love gingham? I really do. I'd have it at every window if I could get away with it. In fact I'd quite like red and white in the living room but in a much bigger check. Something like a 2" square if I could get it. I haven't run this past lovely S yet though and somehow I'm thinking that he wouldn't be up for that idea. He's definitely getting better at accepted my taste but we've still had a number of 'discussions'. For example he thinks that our bedroom is too feminine and girly. It's really not. I'll share some pictures of that soon and you can let me know what you think. So I'm going to slowly work on the idea of the large gingham check in the living room.

Back to the kitchen. Here's the view from the door. Well at least some of it anyway. The view to the right was looking a lot less tidy but I was feeling impatient to write this post so you're just getting the tidy views for today! Can you spot our little 1960s serving hatch? It's still wearing the orange pine look as well so needs a coat of paint when we do the woodwork through on the other side. I hated this feature when we first looked around the house. 'How naff' I thought. But I have to say it is absolutely fab. I couldn't live without it. Because the kitchen is too small for a table we use the dining table through on the other side all the time. This hatch saves so much carrying. When preparing a meal I just put everything in the hatch then walk through hands free to collect it from the other side. And clearing the table at the end of the meal is a breeze. Just pop everything back through the hatch ready to be dealt with sooner or later.  Love it! It's also great for when little F is sitting in his high chair and I need to go through to the kitchen for something. I can still chat to him through the hatch while I'm preparing stuff. Great!

Well I hope you've enjoyed the little wander through my hall and kitchen today. See you later in the week. I'm hoping I might be able to do a baby blanket 'ta da' soon. 

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