Confessions

My name is Katie and I am a poor example of a blogger.  It has been over a month since I last posted.  I had so much to tell a month ago with visiting the Showground, Sports day and then Sickness (dum dum duuuum).  It started with Michael getting sick- hand, foot and mouth amongst other things followed by me getting ill with a Gastric flu type bug right before we were due to go to Prague  to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary.   It was a 24 hour jobby so although weak, we went away leaving the sprogs with lovely (brave) family members.  Mikey's sickness and my bug ended the 1 year breast feeding fest a little too abruptly for my body resulting in a bout of mastitis.  Not to be deterred, I had a lovely sojourn with my good friends at my Father in Law's caravan in beautiful Bewdley.  That brings us up to date with yesterday's hat festival here in Malvvern.  I have hundreds of pictures from this month so here are just a few.

This was an outfit I hastily made a few years back for my eldest daughter for a jubilee party.  Fast forward a couple of years and it's still going and here is worn by my middle  lady for the commencement of the World Cup.  Needless to say, she hasn't worn it since this day!


On the same day as the other pic was taken, we collected wild flowers for Nanny from the park.

These are pictures taken from the 3 Counties Show which was fab!  There was a tent devoted to forgotten skills- weavers, spinners, rope tying people, whittlers of wood and others I can't recall now.

The girls had their face painted and the  lady was  brilliant.   I especially loved the dragon.

Pictures of a Prague skyline taken from the palace.  No photo can do the view justice though.

 Outside view

 Inside view!  Just stunning

Charles Bridge from Lesser town

 Lesser Town from the foot of Charles Bridge

 Stalls from a flea market

 Had to get a pic of these Tone Finnager creations!

 One end of Wenceslas Square

 The other end of Wenceslas Square 

 An average market stall selling tourist trinkets in the daily market.

 The restaurant we ate in at  St Nicholas square

 The food- delicious!!!

From Prague to sunny Malvern Hat festival.  Me and the girls with a lovely Community Officer who allowed the girls to 'decorate' her hat.

 Some paraders

Girls enjoying the activities 

 This was my creative efforts.  I'd been  on pinterest and  thought a bonnet may be achievable so set to work the night before sketching a basic idea and cutting out the concentric circles with the big shot and then old fashioned drawing around a plate for the bigger ones.  I was interrupted by my teething baby which meant that I only came to do all of the sewing on the morning of the parade.  I began around 10:15 and finished just after 11:30.  My machine is a bit sticky on the zig zag stitch so I gave up on the top band (which is now already fraying so I will have to go over it.  I had hoped to have brooches  and corsage embellishments but just ran out of time.  I will complete it and perhaps keep hold of it for an Easter parade in the future.  I really am  pleased with it and am happy I managed to make something as it has been ages!
Here's a side on view.  Other than the pink lace (which I bought in France on a market 2  years  ago) all of the fabric was from charity shops or the car boot.  My sister bought me the Cath Kidston binding tape which really finished it off for me.  Lastly, here's a pic of me in it.  I did get a lot of amused looks throughout the day but I figure, it's just a bit  of fun and I want the kids to get into the frivolity and celebratory spirit so why not?

Princesses and pottery

This will be a very short post but I wanted to share some of my moments this week.

I bought these two plates one afternoon after popping very quickly into a charity shop.  I knew they would be a good match for the cushion covers I have been making.

Then on a different day and in another shop I saw this and decided to buy it too.

Here they are with the cushion covers which I have since finished adding the crochet doilies to (but forgot to photograph!)

I washed the girls Princess Dresses and had to take a picture of them on the line as they were so bright and pretty.

After a lovely day at a local fete, I was very very tempted to get fish and chips but we passed Tesco first so we went there and bought healthy-ish food instead.  Salad with my special dressing (Okay so just a basic Italian one I learned when I worked at a restaurant many years ago; Olive oil, vinegar, dash of mustard, tspn honey and black pepper) , cheese, peppers, celery, houmous, tomatoes, chicken pieces, ham, salami, tomato and red pepper pasta and pate smothered baguette- it was delicious!

Half Term Hiatus

During Half Term I admit it is difficult to write my blog despite having more to say with it being a busy break from the usual housework chores and more child friendly activities planned.  My sister was visiting from Kent and we visited new places with the weather being pleasant most days.  Malvern had a food festival on the Bank Holiday Monday and we visited Croft Castle on Tuesday.  I went to a few car boots and charity shops and managed to pick up some pieces which I hope to share over the next few posts.  For now I will simply include a few pictures from the last week.

The Food stalls were in the grounds of the priory which is a beautiful setting and the sun shone making for a very relaxed atmosphere with the smells of delicious food mixing and wafting through the air.

I really love seeing the vibrant colours displayed together and most were small businesses using local produce.  This fellow wanted us to believe he was French but alas, could not respond to any of the French my sister spoke!

This is the entrance to Croft Castle.  I think the children could have stayed here all afternoon enacting every fairy tale they know where there is a fair maiden or princess in distress.

Did I mention we were ree-decorating?  Here is our new living room.

Okay, well perhaps not but these are some pictures of the rooms in the castle which cannot do justice to their elegance.  I love wood panelling and particularly like dark furniture despite it not being very trendy.  The huge windows let in so much light that the darker shades don't feel imposing but instead are warm and welcoming.

There was so much attention to detail everywhere that I cannot include pictures of everything, but i did love these menu holders and the thistles on every chair throughout the house.

Outside in the castle grounds, there was a play area with this castle construction in the centre.  We had 4 very happy little girls and one sleepy knight who each happened to be aged, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

As we were leaving, we visited thee Castle shop where I bought these books.  We've been taking the children for walks and drawing attention to nature including birds, flowers and butterflies but I didn't know the names of them all.  These were £7 for 5 and are the perfect level to get them started in appreciating what is all around  us.

I realise my interest in these things has been recently awakened and reminds me of being aged 10 in school where our teacher, Mr Dutton ended our school year with a residential trip to Whitby.  Throughout our last year, the curriculum was based all around Whitby itself; the history of being a whaling town, it's religious significance including the history of the Abbey, the role of the lifeboats, it's proximity to Robin Hood's Bay, Fossils and the life within rock pools.  We read books based in or around Whitby and learned of it's famous 199 steps and the equally famous 39 steps.  Much of our research year also included the wildlife within Whitby and I remember drawing pictures of the plants we saw on our nature walks there.  These were the days before a national curriculum but I know that nearly every classmate and other alumni remember their last school year and culminating trip with much fondness.  It was possibly the best educational year I experienced and I am keen to pass this experience onto my children too.  And so it begins with their introduction to flowers, butterflies, trees, birds  and insects.