best made plans....

I have found it quite difficult to manage my time between the regular housework, to creating our new home and then finding time and justifying that time for crafts.  Then, disaster strikes.  I had a very embarrassing and painful incident that I fear will go down in our family history last week when I put my back out getting dressed.  I was in the flat on my own with 2 toddlers and our baby with no phone to hand when my back decided to temporarily stop working causing me to collapse onto the bathroom floor. 1 hour and 40 mins later, 4 paramedics arrived, and with the use of lots of gas and air and a stretcher, I was taken to hospital.  I stayed the night and then returned home to the sad realisation that all my plans are on hold.  I may be able to resume some crafty projects but I cannot attend the sewing course I have registered for or use my sewing machine for a while.  Alas, I am feeling sorry for myself in the sewing regard.  All is not doom and gloom though as there are plenty of other avenues I can pursue including turning my doodles into scrapbook pages and the purchase of a new toy!  I will try to post again soon :D

Doodles

I mentioned in a recent post that I had been doodling more since my sewing machine was still in a box and thought I would share a few of the sketches.  I think with the coloured zentangle stuff will make it into a scrap book with more detailed arty writing of quotes and song lyrics. The black and white pics I am going to scan into the computer and then print them out onto transfer paper to then iron them onto fabric and sew around/ through.  I'm thinking they will be panels on tote bags with appliqué detailing.

                             

 The other thing I have been working on is a dresser I bought from the auction a few weeks back.  It will house lots of my fabrics in the new sewing room and lots of my organisation is on hold until this is completed. It looked awful after it's first coat and I really thought I was making a mistake by painting it but 3 coats on and it is looking promising.

  

I will upload more pics to chart my progress but I'm off to do some more now!

Birthday season

We have now entered Birthday season in our family beginning with my brother in law on the 3rd, right through to the end with my other brother in law on the 28th.  In between there are 11 others which includes my own, my first born and now the birth of my good friend Becky's new daughter, Olivia.  October brings almost as many which is not only expensive but busy with parties.  Fiona turned 5 this week and is now at big school which has now impacted our day to day routine.  I am a girl who likes routine though and admit I have found our disorganised life of boxes quite challenging so I am looking forward to getting organised... finally.  Birthdays do offer the opportunity to get crafting though so I hope to share some pics of makes soon.  I was asked recently to make some things for a raffle- actually I was given things to 'pretty up' which involved making.  For this, my sewing machine was unpacked- YAY.  I have missed 'Tony'!  It took a little while to get started though as I couldn't find the Bobbin case.  After 1/2 hour, I found it in the last place I looked (Peter Kay says of course it is the last place 'cos you don't keep looking once you find it) which when you see the following pics, I think you will agree, I did well to find at all.

This my daughter's shopping trolley which she fills each day with attractive objects.   This week, her magpie eye spied a shiny silver circle that she then added to her trolley.

Luckily, it is shiny and thus caught my eye in time to make some little toiletry bags.  Take a look at the project 52 page for a full description of the makes and extra pics.  Here's a sneaky peek.

time flies

I'm really not sure where the time goes.  I knew I hadn't written on here this week but hadn't realised it had been 2 weeks!  I had a head cold and felt fuzzy for a few days- perhaps I 'lost time' then.  I have been getting ready for my daughter to start school this week which brings mixed feelings from pride and excitement for her but also pangs of sadness that my eldest is a proper big girl now.  August and September are busy birthday months for us so we have been dashing around getting presents and attending parties and it is by no means over yet.  Sadly this year, I haven't made too many presents whereas usually I would have made a few bits to add to people's presents.  When Fiona starts school, I am expecting/ hoping I will be able to finish finding places for our belongings and then get creative in my crafting room.  I have been drawing again and doodling which I will upload pics of when finished but I work on them for a little while, put them down and then come back to them at a later date.  I will aim to do a few more craft sales with Christmas approaching which will also hopefully allow me plenty of crafty bits to make and share but for now, I can simply share what I love that others are making.
I have mentioned a few times how much I love pinterest which I confess, I am a little addicted to.  I have also now discovered channel 4 have a scrapbook which allows you to save things to your own 'scrap book' including clips from programmes and recipes etc.  You can add to it from other websites too so not exclusive to channel 4 programmes.  As it happens, Kirstie Allsopps programmes are divided into projects which I have been able to 'cut and paster' there including the leather notebooks, changing mats and lamb kofta biryani.  The latter, I attempted last week with some success with a few alterations.

I followed the recipe fairly closely but did add a red pepper to the lamb mix before rolling into meatballs.  This was quite different to the process I would usually do for meatballs as it has no breadcrumbs but instead uses an egg.

Once rolled, I covered them and placed them in the fridge for an hour which is supposed to help them bind together and stop them from crumbling when frying later.

Meanwhile, I began on the sauce which I used my hand blender to chop the onions very finely and again, I added a pepper.  The recipe said 2 onions so I used one red and one white.

With the spices added, it looked and smelled lovely especially since I was using my new pots.  The recipe said to leave the tomato and onion mixture to boil to a pulp so I stepped next door to do some jigsaws with the girls, however, I burned the sauce and had to start again :(

Fortunately, it was only onions and tomatoes that were wasted.  The recipe said apricots but I used peaches as I couldn't get any apricots earlier that day but they worked well too.

The last stage was to then layer the rice, fruit, koftas and sauce and then cook in the oven.  It was a little too spicy for the girls but tasted good and I will definitely do it again; quite possibly a contender for a dinner party even.

Technological seperation

Two weeks ago, I misplaced my phone which was a challenge although I still had access to the internet until  my laptop charger decided to totally stop working without warning.  No computer and no phone is difficult without a land-line and my husband was away thus I have been technologically alienated from the world for 10 days.  A few beautiful days ago, my new charger arrived and then last night, I found my phone- whoop whoop.  I am able to re-connect only to say that the crafting drought still continues as I still haven't unpacked properly or organised my craft bits.  I do have a few things to share of a home-making theme which is, probably for me, what most of my craft stuff orientates around anyway- home and family.  The projects I will be adding to the project 52 page are therefore quite child and home focused- possibly a stretch in the 'craft' category but gardening and baking from the picking stage are new to me and have definite creative aspect.
On a slightly separate topic, note to self and fellow readers with antique enthusiast husbands; do not send one husband to the auction alone!  My very well meaning hubby returned with lots of furniture which, pretty as it is, we hadn't necessarily needed, yet I concede that I am economical and will therefore do my very best to use them.  To date we have purchased the following items for our new home from a combination of the auction, car boot and second hand shops:

2 chests of drawers (one 2 drawers, and one 3 drawers)
2 tall floor lamps, both with shades attached,
2 small cabinets and one set of cluster tables
Tall Ercol corner what not
Antique plant stand & small plant stool
Large 2 door glass cabinet
Blanket box
Numerous framed pictures
2 jardinières a jug and a few other porcelain pieces for gardening purposes.

All the furniture is dark wood shades and a quick tally estimates this has all been just under £180!  I think Kirstie Alsopp would pat us on the back, especially since all the pieces are at least 40 years old with some being considerably older.  (I have enjoyed her programme 'fill your home for free!) Buying old does mean thoroughly cleaning everything though.  One set of drawers were particularly filthy and required a lot of clean in resulting in my still undecided on whether or not to paint them off-white.  I love the shabby chic look but hate feeling that I am just following a trend and am tempted to leave them as they are as the wood is beautiful when clean, even if that isn't anyone else's taste.
With all the furniture finding homes, I am beginning to love our new home, especially the living room, despite it being more granny chic than shabby chic.  As I complete sections of rooms I will try and upload pics of them.  Here is one section of our living room with a few of the named purchases.

The curtains and cushion were from our old house which be bought from Dunelm Mill a few years back and happened to be the same size as our new sash windows.  This is a new lamp, bought this week from a second hand shop for £10 again.  The shade is a pale green which ties in with the muted tones in this room and so the other lamp with the cream shade is now in our bedroom.  The cabinet/ telephone table came from the auction this week with the cluster tables in one lot (of which I am not a fan- why would I need 3 tables?!)  It's a very handy cabinet though, with 2 drawers for TV controls, spare batteries and other bits (and the girls love the little tables).  The cupboard section can house a few colouring books and jigsaws which I will rotate but means their toys are hidden from view and tidy.  The small plant stand/ stool was also from a second hand shop for £5 which is cute and functional but he plastic plants will soon be replaced by a living one hopefully!  The window sill isn't tidy yet but will have a collection of candlesticks and photo frames.

This is one of the sets of drawers which were grubby to begin with.  I love the handles though and little feet.  After cleaning the insides of the drawers with disinfectant, I have lined them with these lemon grass liners which leave a subtle scent on clothes whilst deterring moths etc.  

Purchases pour la maison

I mentioned last week that we would be taking a wee trip to the auction rooms here in Malvern.  We saw quite a few lots that we liked but on the day, the furniture was selling for higher than we had agreed to pay and thus, we missed out.  However, there were a few other 'bits n bobs' that we agreed to have a cheeky bid on and hence, one did not come home empty handed! I am pleased to say, several were of a crafting variety- specifically cross stitch which I am yet to master, but the pictures are all the more appreciated for my lack of patience.  Here are some snaps I took- apologies for the lack of artistry of photography.  I know I should 'stage' them a little more but we are still dishevelled from the move! (That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it for a little longer)

I was delighted to win this.  It was in a bundle of what I initially thought was 5 pictures but it turned out to be 10- all of which are quite large.  I have decided to go with a Noah's Arc theme for Michael's room and have several pieces already.  This is such a find and works out to have been £2 ish! I admire the skill and craftsmanship in addition to the theme, not to mention the green border.

 This was also in the bundle/lot along with another large sampler.  It doesn't have much age to it and so doesn't hold value in many eyes but I love it.  It's simple and naive but very neat and reminds me of place mats my mum had when we were little.  I have a few samplers now and will be looking for a little corner to display them all together soon.

 These have to be my favourite though.  When we went on Wednesday afternoon to view the lots, we took the girls with us who saw this little pram and loved it.  I thought it was cute but have watched antiques raod trip/ bargain hunt et. al and know that these can be collectable and thought my husband would never agree to buying it.  I hadn't realised the chair was in the same lot so when the bidding started at £2, I thought it would be rude not to at least have a few goes and as you can see, it paid off.  They're more shabby than chic, and I love them.  The chair is really heavy, solid wood and very comfortable.  It shall be my new sewing chair in my sewing room just as soon as I get round to organising it!

This isn't actually an auction buy.  They didn't have any lamps there much to my dismay as I would like quite a few.  But my husband, knowing I wanted one scoured the carboot (He's done 4 this month) and then happened serendipitously upon an antiques shop so asked the proprietor if he had any.  This shop, I was informed, was full to the rafters with furniture stacked on top of each other with bric-a-brac dotted in between.  The old man took my husband straight to this lamp- the only wooden one they had in the shop and after haggling, my husband came back with this oak beatuy and the shade was thrown in too.  They were double the price on ebay, without the shade (or plug) and we'd have had to arrange collection.   I think I could get used to living here; auction on my doorstep and antique shops cheaper than ebay!

The new house pre-move in!

Our New Front Door

 The Living Room

 Master Bedroom and

 Hallway 

Girls Bedroom (left) Michael's bedroom (right)- stairs lead to my sewing room!  More pics to follow in coming weeks....