Linen and Roses

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All Change

Hello. Anyone still there? Sorry for the unplanned break. I really didn't mean to go away from here but sometimes life just gets in the way. That's how it should be really. 

After much thought though I've decided to stop blogging for now. I just can't give it the time it deserves anymore. I've got two very busy and wonderful boys who take up a lot of my time and I'm trying to make a small business for myself with my sewing. I've been spending a lot of time on my facebook page and that is where I will continue to be if you would like to keep up with what I am doing. I find it easier to write there as I can write small snippets or just post a quick picture or two. I also feel that it is a more appropriate place to develop my business as that was the reason for starting the page over there. Somehow I have always felt awkward pushing my wares on here. So for now I will be concentrating on that and on enjoying life with my lovely boys and Husband. Maybe I'll be back on here at some point. We'll see. But for now I just wanted to bring it officially to a pause. I'll still be checking in on all of you and leaving a comment or two when I have a minute.

Bye for now. 

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52 Weeks of Happy (5/52)

 

I've been pretty bad this week about photo taking. Partly it's been the weather and partly it's been me being a really scatter-brained Mummy forgetting to take my camera. For example we went on the loveliest walk on Sunday along a stretch of the Thames and I didn't take the camera. I was so annoyed with myself as it was a wonderful afternoon. So pretty and lots of memories to capture. It was a new walk to us so we're definitely going to be doing it later in the Summer and I promise to capture it next time. So yesterday afternoon when the sun finally came out I popped into the garden and captured a few images of how it's looking now. Problem is the camera doesn't really do justice to just how much better it's looking now than it did last year, hence all the fairly close up shots. So here in words are my happy things from the last week even though I don't have pictures to go with them all 

:: Making a Fathers Day gift for Lovely S with the boys. Little F painted a card and we also made hand prints of both of them which I put in a frame. ( I will take a photo to show you when it's on the wall as I'm really pleased with it)

:: An idyllic walk along the Thames. Sunshine, flowers, wildlife, fun, laughter and some seriously stunning riverside properties for Mummy to look at!

:: A day spent with my Mum and the boys. Dad was away sailing so we had a slightly more girly day together. Lots and lots of chatting and a lovely trip to the park plus window shopping in a lovely little town not far from here. 

:: Doing a lot of creating and getting my first sale via my Facebook page. I've been working really hard on Linen & Roses in the evenings and I'm loving it.

Hope you all had a good week. See you again soon. 

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52 Weeks of Happy (1/52)

Hello, I'm back. Well sort of. I think all I can manage at the moment is one post a week so I've decided to finally join in with 52 Weeks of Happy as I way of encouraging me to write. Yes, I know I'm very late to this particular project but better late than never.

So here are some happy moments from the past week -

:: My lovely friend Maggie and her sweet boy popped over for a cuppa last Thursday and arrived baring a gorgeous bunch of larkspur. The smell is fab.
:: Finally picking some flowers from the garden. I couldn't have imagined that last year. We have a small lilac which is an off-shoot of one growing next door. I love lilac so I'm encouraging it. It managed just one bloom this year so I decided to pick it and enjoy it inside along with forget-me-knots which we have a lot of.
:: Enjoying lots of time in the garden pottering and playing

I need to get much better at capturing the happy times. There are many but sometimes they get lost amongst the hum-drum of everyday life. I'm hoping this project is going to give me some focus.

I hope you're having a happy week. See you again next week.

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PS I'm still sharing odd snippets over on Facebook in the mean time.

A bit of stitching and a little break

Over the last few weeks I've managed to find an odd moment here and there to do a bit of 'proper' sewing. I've opened up a second Etsy Shop to sell larger Home items. There will be lots of lovely cushions, bunting and table linen eventually with the odd vintage item as well. I decided to open the second shop so that I can keep my home items separate from all the little felt things I've been making lately and which I intend to keep on with.

 

I really loved doing some patchwork again after so long and I'm really happy with how the cushion turned out. I'm selling it as a cover only so that I can keep the postage costs down and make the item more affordable. 

 

I've decided to take a mini break here. To be honest I'm finding it really hard to keep on top of everything at the moment. My boys are adorable but such hard work. Little H is still waking a lot during the night and it is making me exhausted! I need to find a bit of time for sewing as to be perfectly honest I need the money I make from selling my work. So something has to go for the time being and unfortunately that's the blog. I intend instead to post more regularly on my Linen and Roses Facebook page as I can do short quick pieces over there. If you're a facebook user please come and say hi. Hopefully I'll be back here in a few weeks when my littlest boy lets me have a full nights sleep. 

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Comfort

Don't you just love the simplicity of a plate of fairy cakes? You can go from a feeling that you might quite like them to this.......

  

Then this.......

This.......

And finally this......

Ready to go with a nice cup of tea this afternoon. That's what I call comfort. 

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Eggs for the boys

A couple of years ago I stitched a little felt egg for Little F to hang along with my other Easter decorations. So of course I had to make one for Little H for this year. 

His is looking a little plumper than the original one and I'm now wondering whether to re-do Little F's. I love being able to make things for my boys that we will keep and treasure for years. They both have matching Christmas stockings (I'll have to remember to show you those in December) and I've made bits and bobs for their bedrooms. 

Being boys I do wonder how much they will appreciate these hand made pretty things, but at least they will always be special to me.

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Red and Pink

Who says pink and red don't go together. Personally I love the clashiness of this combination of tulips bought for me on Saturday by Lovely S and Little F. They're really cheering up the dining room today which I need as I've got a poorly sick big boy to look after. Hope you're having a cheerful Monday. 

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This and That

It's been a nice weekend despite the chilly weather. Lots of pottering and lots of cosiness in the house. Doing some stitching and eating a yummy Sunday lunch cooked by lovely S for us and my Mum and Dad. The boys have learnt already that the way to Mummy's heart is via chocolate and home made cards. I have a huge box of yummy Lindt chocs that I'm trying to make last but the reality is that with this miserable weather, they'll probably be finished by the end of the week! I'm still really enjoying stitching tiny things for my shop. I'm loving little birds and there will be a number of them fluttering into the shop in time for Easter decorations.  There are also more little brooches in the pipeline. A little Spring colour in this miserable weather. 

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Garden hopes

The opening pictures are not pretty today I'm afraid but I wanted to share them because I want to remind myself just how far we have come with our garden and hopefully by the summer I can show even more progress. 

The first three photos here show how our garden looked in August 2011, approximately 4 weeks after we moved in here. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of how it looked on the day we moved in as I didn't get my camera out quick enough before Lovely S went to work on the jungle! But what I can tell you is that only about half the amount of grass was visible due to the amount of growth that over hung from all borders. Most of it was pretty ugly greenery. Certainly nothing much worth saving. 

Last year we started to make progress but it was frustrating for me as my pregnancy meant I couldn't be hands on. Lovely S enjoys dealing with his lawn and doing the basics of the weeding and plant care but I'm the one who is really passionate about planting. I am so excited to get out there this year and start turning my garden dreams into reality. 

On Sunday I had a brief hour when both the boys were napping so I took the opportunity to get out there and start assessing. I swept the patio first then did a spot of weeding along border. 

Here are two butlers sinks that Mum and Dad gave me. I'm hoping to remove the concrete treatment as I actually prefer the original look. These will be moved down close to the shed as the garden gets sun there all day long. I plan to plant one up with herbs and the other with salad leaves. 

This border down the left may not look like much yet but it is the one we have done the most with. We've planted a number of evergreen plants to give it some structure all year round, including the box balls which I love. Everything is quite small at present but I hope through this year things will really get going. Looking at the picture below I'm thinking that I seriously need to do something about the lawn edging. I love to see a nice crisp edge to a lawn. 

I still can't decide what to do with the shed. Do we paint it? Do we leave it? Do we keep it?Do we knock it down? It's not really in the best state close up but I do like the focus it gives the bottom of the garden.The wall is looking a little sad as well with the selection of random pots sitting on it. These pots are definitely coming off. I think it will look better bare with larger pots sitting in front of it and flowers behind.  

The bird table has been moved a lot but I popped it here on Sunday. I think eventually it will be in the border in front of the patio though. This border below needs some serious work. We have put some box in here too and there are now three roses. One of the roses is one that my in-laws gave us as a first Wedding Anniversary present. It has never done well as it lived in a pot for a while as we knew we would be moving and wanted to take it with us. When we moved it was a while before it was planted because of the state of the garden. In the end my Mother in law just plonked it in somewhere just to get it in the ground but it wasn't really the right place and last year it didn't thrive. So my Mum moved it to this border for me at the end of last Summer. I'm hoping it's going to prefer it's new home as it will get a lot more sun. It has two new friends in the shape of two David Austin roses that Mother in law bought us for Christmas. They went in bare rooted in November and are showing signs of springing into life right now. There are two more in the other main border. I can't wait to see how they all do. I miss the beautiful roses that we had in our old house. 

The patio is looking fairly bleak at the moment. Most of my big pots are in the garage as is the bench that usually lives out here. We really didn't make much of the patio last year and this year I want so much more from it. 

I want to paint these railings outside the back door and I have a vision of pots of geraniums on the steps outside my kitchen door

So that is where we're at now with the garden. The sun has been shining today and I'm imagining how this garden is going to progress over the Spring and Summer. I can't wait to share it with you here. I have such hopes. 

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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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Just a dusting

Morning. So the promised snow has arrived but just a dusting. Lovely S was very disappointed as he had to go to work. He was hoping for a phone call early to say that the School was closed but there's not nearly enough of the white stuff for that. 

Me and the boys are taking it slowly this morning. Little H is still asleep after an early feed and Little F and I are still in our jim jams keeping warm and cosy. It's been a particularly testing few days with Little H still suffering very badly with windiness and Little F being rather unsettled with a lot of night time wake-ups so I'm just going to take it easy today. I think there will be a lot of tea drinking, biscuit eating, computer browsing and cbeebies watching for Little F! 

Have a happy Monday. 

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