Wet and windy Whitstable = a bit of sewing!

It has been a little while since I last blogged.

I'd kind of lost my sewing and my blogging mojo but I am feeling a bit more creative of late.
I think it has lots to do with the wet and windy weather we have been experiencing in our little corner of Kent. When it's awful outside, there is nothing like whirring away at the sewing machine and creating!
I've also been to IKEA for the first time in ages and ages. I could have spent hours just at the fabric section but my budget was tiny so I just decided to buy one metre (at only £1.99 a metre!) of this lovely fabric.

I am not sure what I am going to make yet. Mabye some more cushions (hell, I have so many cushion pads - they were the main aim for going to IKEA in the first place! They look as if they are breeding in our bedroom!) and I think it would look fab as a little skirt for D this Autumn, with black tights and boots? Hmmmm...

Back to cushions, I have made quite a few! These first 3 are in Taking the Plunge at the moment.

 

A Union Jack one...

A big cosy house one...

And a cosy knitted one, recycled from a cardigan!

I've also added this pear cushion and two Liberty print ones to my Folksy shop.



I think maybe I will make something other than cushion covers next! I think I'd better start measuring my little lady for that skirt tomorrow....

Falling off the track

When I first started my blog, it was meant to be about all things crafty and all my crafty makes.

I think I have fallen off the track a little

So...I think it's time to take a little break from the blog and you know, make some stuff!

In the meantime, here are a few crafty bits that I have made recently that you'll find in Taking the Plunge, Whitstable.

Post secret

I am just a little bit nosy (ok, ok a LOT nosy!), and because of this I am loving the Post Secret website.
Some of the secrets leave me cringing in my seat  -  it is very uncomfortable reading someones deepest, darkest and sometimes heartbreaking thoughts. But some of the secrets have made me laugh out loud and feel happy and excited for an anonymous stranger! How weird is that?

Hmmm what would your secret be?

Come rain or shine

I love it when lovely, lovely friends (who you don't see nearly enough) come to visit for the day and almost as soon as they arrive the grey, miserable clouds disappear and out comes brilliant, scorching hot sunshine.

 D and her little friend loved hearing the story of the rather large policeman who got stuck in Squeeze Gut Alley, where this picture was taken.

Incidently, almost as soon as our friends left to go home today - it didn't just rain, it poured.

Letting go

September is a month of letting go for me.

Letting go of a wonderful, sunny, happy summer and firmly embracing Autumn. Thankfully September so far has proved to be sunny and warm, so maybe summer is still hanging on by a thread...

The other BIG letting go is the BIG starting school one.

F started at his new Junior school yesterday.

It is obviously a big change, having been at his wonderful, nurturing Infant school for the last 3 years - to suddenly have to get used to new routines, teachers, children and buildings where he will spend the next 4 years. But we were so relieved when yesterday he came out smiling and happy, and it seems I was the one struggling more with the 'newness' of the school and all the new routines.

Now we are just playing a waiting game with D, who starts at the wonderful, nuturing Infant school on the 20th September. My last lot of letting go. She is missing her brother, but I am trying to make the most of the time with her, knowing that in a few shorts weeks the house is going to be quiet.
Very, very quiet.

I cried when F first started school as he just seemed so tiny and far too little to be experiencing such a huge, big thing as school without me right there by his side. He was of course fine.
But with D, she seems a whole lot older and more grown up and totally ready for this next big step in her life, I'm just not sure I'm ready for the big changes - it makes is so official. Her babyhood will officially be, OVER.
It's quite tricky this letting go thing!

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.