A little bit of making

Well I think that's it. For the UK at least it seems summer is over.
Much as I love Autumn, it does seem to have crept in a little early for my liking. I am keeping my fingers crossed for a sunny September though...

We are all set for school, which starts again next Thursday for one little person in our house. The uniforms are brought, everything has been labelled, new shoes and lunch boxes purchased so we are just about ready...begrudgingly though. I am not looking forward to those early mornings again.

My littlest, D, doesn't start in Reception until the 20th September, so still a few weeks of holidays for her - which means we can help F settle into life in his new Junior school.

Talking of F - I forgot to post a pic of the quilt and cushion I made for his 7th birthday on the 1st August.

Sorry it's not the best picture! It is made of quite big squares and backed in the same fabric as the binding.  I always feel so guilty with the kids, making things for presents, shops etc - that I never end up making things for them.  I made D a quilt for when she went into her bed, from her cot but I had never made one for F, so I thought it was about time.  He's a 7 year old boy so his reaction wasn't WOW a quilt, just what I always wanted!!! But he seemed pleased and a few days later when I was tucking him into bed he told me that he loved it because I made it.  That was good enough for me!

I've also made a couple of make-up bags. 

All bunting inspired as you can see!  They are in my Folksy shop at the moment, and I am in the middle of making some for Taking the Plunge in Whistable too.  More mermaids being made at the moment too!

Before I finish this post, I must say Happy 7th Birthday to my lovely neice Kyra whose birthday is today xx

Windy Miller

A few months ago, my mother-in-law discovered a little Windmill in a place called Sarre (near Canterbury), totally by accident, when she was on her way somewhere else. We have been meaning to visit ever since and finally made a little trip there a couple of weeks ago. It was cheap too, £2 for adults and £1 for kids.

The working mill was so interesting - the kids liked climbing up all the ladders to the top - although D got a bit scared when we were up there and we had to come down pretty sharpish! There is also a lovely teashop there, with gorgeous vintage books, packaging, toys, cookers, prams, signs etc all dotted around. I could have spent hours just looking at them.

F especially liked the old toys and cars.

And D liked the local cats, which we were told were wild but decided to make themselves at home in the mill. Now I'm not a cat person at all, but they were beautiful looking cats and one in particular liked to wander round and then made itself at home in a little basket in the Mill farm shop!

It was a lovely day. Before we left though,  we happened to see this gorgeous wood burning stove in the shop.

You might be able to spot the For Sale sign on it, but well...it's not anymore! No it wasn't me, it was my mother-in-law! She showed the picture to her husband that night and said the magic words 'it used to live on a french boat' and she was back to buy it the next day! Ha ha!

I didn't come away completley empty handed, I did buy a bag of Mill flour!!! Not quite a gorgeous stove, but good enough for me.

Seven

Our lovely little monkey turned 7 on Sunday.  I kept sneaking looks at him all weekend thinking how amazing and special this little boy is and also HOW did that happen?

And what is our funny little man like?

Well he is.......very handsome, never without a smile (he even got a certificate at school for always smiling). He's funny, crazy, loving, loud, excitable (he jumps up and down when he is really excited), warm, jokey, happy, stubborn, an extrovert and skinny as a bean. He loves drawing,  has an amazing imagination (if he doesn't have it - he will make it out of whatever is to hand!), he hates ice-cream but loves lollies and white chocolate, his favourite food is fresh pasta and he loves fruit. He's an entertainer, is confident and quirky. He cannot sit still for more than a couple of minutes and is normally running up and down the length of the lounge with a toy in his hand (this currently involves a toy red arrow plane). He loves his little sister, but can also fight like cat and dog with her. What can I say, he's amazing.

And now he is seven.....and I love nearly* every minute I spend with him.

Happy birthday number seven monkey.

*Much as I love him, he does drive me bonkers sometimes!