The last day of the holidays

It's been a funny Easter holiday. Hoping so much for lots of sunshine and warmth to get out into the garden and out and about. But instead getting quite a bit of rain and a LOT of cold!

We did have Little H's Christening which was a lovely family occasion, and the sun shone weakly. He was a very good boy and only cried for a moment or two when his Great Aunty splashed his head with water.(Lovely S's Aunty is a Vicar so was supposed to be splashing him with water!) 

We had a couple of afternoons pottering in the garden and started to do a good bit of clearing and planning but it was sooooo cold and not the most fun in the World. 

So yesterday, with the promise of higher temperatures and a little more sun in the forecast we decided that we had to get one great fun day out of the holidays so headed off to lovely Dorset, one of our favourite places in the World. Luckily it was a great deal warmer than of late but unfortunately the sun only peeped out for a few short spells. Still, it was lovely to be out and about in the fresh air. We walked along the sea front at Swanage then hopped on a steam train to Corfe Castle. I did take photos but due to the lack of sun they really do look a little drab. The ride on the train had been a much looked forward to treat as little F is a huge Thomas fan but it nearly turned into a disaster as the sight of the huge engine coming into the platform was rather too scary for him. Luckily we managed to calm him down and once the train got going all was well and he loved it.

We had a lovely potter around the village of Corfe Castle and ate yummy pasties while being rained on for just a moment or two! Then it was back on the train to Swanage and into the car again to drive up to the lovely village of Worth Matravers. We normally camp just a mile or two from this pretty village so it's one of our favourite spots. We had a little drink in a favourite pub which has stunning sea views then wandered down the village green which was looking lovely despite the dullness of the day. Don't you just love the red phone box and the cute duck house. There was no sign of the ducks so either they were tucked away inside or have gone away to nest elsewhere. 

At the bottom of the green just behind the phone box there is a sweet little memorial garden that was bursting with spring colour. I couldn't stop snapping away at the pretty things that gave me hope the Spring is just about here. 

Finally we headed back to Swanage and went for the obligatory fish and chips. Unfortunately by this time it really was rather chilly so we sat on one of the little tables inside the chippy to eat, although still out of the paper of course. Poor Little H sat in his buggy looking longingly at the three of us tucking into our yummy fish and chips. I can't believe he will be five months at the end of this week and I think the time has nearly come to try some solids as he constantly looks longingly at what we're eating!

Finally it was back into the car for the ride back home. Little H was a little unsettled so in order to save Lovely S's sanity by not having to drive with a screaming child in the back, I squeezed in the middle at the back between my two lovely boys. It wasn't long before the sea air worked it's magic and I had two sleepy heads either side of me. 

So with the holidays behind us I'm feeling refreshed and ready to get back into our normal routine. Often I feel a little down when Lovely S goes back to work after the holidays but with the promise of Spring and Summer I don't feel so bad. I don't mind admitting that these last few months did at times make me feel very down in the dumps. Terrible winters and new babies do not mix well! But as I sit here now, I have windows and the back door thrown open and I can hear birds singing. I've had a row of washing on the line this morning and without getting boring on the subject(or getting into too much yucky detail) it has done wonders for all the baby washing. Washing dried on the line smells so wonderful don't you think?

Hope the Spring has arrived where you are. 

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A Present for Little H

The other evening Lovely S came home from work with a surprise from our friend Rachel, who he works with and who is to be Little H's Godmother. The surprise was this gorgeous quilted blanket which has been made specially for Little H by Rachel and her Mum. Little H's Christening is not for another few weeks but this is an early present and a beautiful one it is too. It had me in floods of tears when I saw it(still very hormonal 3 months on!)  especially when I saw the work that had gone into it and the beautiful meaningful fabric that it has been made with. All for our beautiful little boy.

Aren't the little birds on the tree cute? Here's a better image of the complete blanket. The colours go amazingly well in Little H's room as most of these colours are in his dotty curtains. You will also note that the purple bits match the lovely(not!!!) carpet! Hoping we will be able to change this at some point. Not sure he will appreciate purple as he gets a bit older.

Look at the detail. This picture below shows the backing fabric with the front corner folded over. I love all the different words. Beautiful advice for a Godmother to give her Godson. 

More of the backing fabric below. So sweet. I hope that Little H will love it as much as we do and will treasure it his whole life. 

I'm being a bit of a mean Mummy at the moment and have not allowed him to have a good lay and kick and attempted roll on it as there is currently far too much drool coming out of him. The poor lamb has just started teething and it's a messy business. For now this beautiful blanket lies on the back of the chair in his bedroom and it makes me smile every time I see it. 

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Little Stitches

Finally I've got some time for a quick update here. Life is pretty hectic around here with my two little boys keeping me very busy. I'm longing for Spring as we're getting a bit fed up with being stuck in the house. I need sunshine and blue sky and my little people being able to run around barefoot on the grass.

To cheer myself up I have been finding a little time in the evenings for re-stocking my Etsy shop. There are some little sets of felt hearts that can be used for all manner of crafty projects.

Then there are a few Easter Decorations

These are all in my Etsy shop or in the process of going in. I love doing this tiny stitching. It's theraputic and just what I need after my busy days filled with Fireman Sam and a teething baby!

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I'm trying to be organised...

So I got myself a lovely new diary. There's something I love about the new year and having a pretty new diary to fill. Makes me feel like I'm going to be a super organised person who remembers every Birthday, Anniversary, appointment etc rather than the slightly dizzy person I actually am these days! 

I had some John Lewis vouchers for Christmas so decided to splurge some of it on a rather lovely Country Living Diary this year. It's a really good size so there's plenty of room for writing everything in, and every double page contains a week, plus a beautiful image taken from the pages of CL mag. I thought I'd share some of my favourites with you.......

In case you're wondering how I'm managing to faff around taking photos of the pages of a diary, both the munchkins are currently asleep. Bliss. I know I could be catching up on the laundry but I'd much rather be taking pretty pictures instead. 

I've also been photographing some more felt brooches I made before Little H arrived which I'm planning to put in my etsy shop when I get a chance. What do you think?

So the smallest munchkin is starting to squeak. Feeding time again! Back again soon. 

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Cosy Sunday

 Enjoying the last day of the holiday ~ relaxing, playing,organising new things, eating a yummy roast, being cosy, being together.

Hope you've had a lovely Sunday too. 

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Welcome 2013

Happy New Year to you all. I'm sending you a bunch of spring tulips and wishing everyone a wonderful 2013 full of everything you wish for. 

We had a lovely first Christmas with our new little H. It was somewhat hectic. Things are never really going to be as normal when you have a five week old baby. But it was lovely nevertheless. Little H is proving to be very different to his big brother. Bless him, he is suffering terribly with colic in the evenings so we are feeling just a little tired out at the moment. Hopefully this phase will pass soon. I don't really have a lot of time for myself at the moment so posts here may be a little thin on the ground for the next few weeks but hopefully we will settle ourselves into some sort of routine as the weeks go by. I will see you all soon. 

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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

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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