A new project

I have been a bit quiet recently as we have a new project on the go. When we bought it you had to go up the grass and under the bush to the door, we have since found the path that was hidden by bushes. Inside needed a lot of work and we are slowly but surely getting there. I have a half cupboard and a broken cupboard in my kitchen but running water and a Rangemaster 110 ceramic hob in cream. I love my oven. I can cook more than one thing at a time and grill too! It's the simple things. The tins are piled up on the floor between the oven and the fridge and I have to empty the cupboard every time I want to cook but we are kitchen shopping in the January sales. The bathroom had to be ripped out and we have had the new suite plumbed in but that is all for now. Again, it's a work in progress!

When we bought the house you couldn't get into the back garden very easily at all. It was completely overgrown, we found a bay tree in a pot that was taller then the house and my sons could open their window and pick blackberries. However we had left it as we had more pressing things to be getting on with, (mould removal, painting and papering, choosing bedroom carpets. . . ), but then next door were having some tree work done so I had a word with their contractors.

And this happened! My garden it turns out is pretty big when you clear out all the brambles and overgrown shrubs! 

SO that's why I haven't been around much but I hope to get back into the swing of things again very soon.

Sewing up a storm.

So we are back. The holidays are over though the memories are still fresh in everyone's minds. We have 100's of pictures to sort through and a rather amazing stash of new fabric to sew through!

I felt it would be rude to travel across the ocean and not bring home a bit of American fabric with me.

Unfortunately the picture of the stash was deleted after sending it to a friend. But there was a lot of lovely stuff, starting for $1 a yd in the sales. Amazing!

My first project was for hubby, Jack Skellington PJ or lounge bottoms. I used the GBSB pattern in a small size and they are perfect, I had to use a ribbon rather than a tape for the tie as our hobby craft had no tape in stock. But I was happy and so was he. Next up was the same pattern but in this fantastic $1 a yd fabric.

I then used the CKC pj bottoms pattern to make two pairs of Iron Man bottoms for the boys. The pattern comes up huge in case anyone is thinking of using it. But we fiddled around and they are both very happy, they were on before I could get a picture.

Finally I made madam something last night. It's the Good Deeds pattern. I had the black off cut already left over, and the buttons were in the button jar. Mini Mouse was an American purchase. Pleased to say she loved it this morning when she saw it. I just need some red ribbon to trim the waist with and it's done. A little big so good with a top in winter and will still fit in the summer we hope.

 

My last make was using up an off cut from Mr Skellington. It's a Christmas gift so ssshhh.

 

It's a tablet stand for hubby. Modelled by my tablet. I am pleased with the result but were I to make another I would add more stuffing. It was fun and easy to do. Using an idea from Half Yard Home. I may make more as presents for others as I found it very stress free and I have lots of odd off cuts that I refuse to part with. I have lots more projects to be getting on with but for now I will enjoy a quiet afternoon with my little one after her first busy morning at preschool. Before we have to collect the boys from school later.

Have a Tiggeriffic day!

 

 

 

Trip across the globe.

I have been a little quiet recently as we were planning a holiday to see family of my husband over in America. We have been planning this trip for a while and now we have less than a week left of our holidays. It has passed really quickly but it has been amazing with some completely priceless moments. Meeting characters at Disney, seeing animals at Seaworld and meeting with their American cousin. I am writing from my kindle and don't have any pictures on here to show you but I will share when we are back. We are just having a storm which is upsetting the smallest  person. But hopefully it will pass quite quickly. They are all currently looking for somewhere to hide. I hope the weather for you is a little better. ;)

Anyone for cake.

Anyone who knows me knows that we always make birthday cakes in this house. You don't buy a birthday cake you create it with love. That's what my mother always did and that's what we do too. My husband was new to the idea of homemade cake when we had our first 1st birthday, (actually he was in Afghanistan but that's by the by), but now he has come to relish the idea of cake time. He even made the figures for our second's Christening cake himself. We have often been found the night before a birthday or party up in the small hours trying to get the cake finished in time, there was a memorable occasion when he went to the 24hr ASDA at around 2 am for more fondant as we had run out and Thomas the Tank Engine was half bare. We have never been quite that bad since we did run out of green food colouring but I remembered a stash of fondant pre coloured which we bought for a minion in Germany, the boxes of pre coloured were new on the shelve and only came in a box of three colours red, yellow and green. The yellow was all used up but we had about 4 packs of green still. I think that must have been for Mike Radowski (?) not sure on the spelling the small green guy from Monsters Inc. There have been a number of cake tales and I am sure there will be many more. But I thought I would share my two most recent makes with you.

Following on from his Minion theme last year, (Minion bowling), we had a request for Minions on a bouncy castle. I cheated and ordered the figures. He loved it.

Top shot of all the Minions. The party cake went down well. It was banana and chocolate with vanilla pillars. There was a slice left that ended up going to the birds as it had gone a bit hard.

The second cake was for the husband. The people were an added after thought so the size is completely off to the crabs but the original idea was for a rock pool and crabs, we then spent the day out by the coast with friends and had a ball. So I decided to add us.

Three crabs as caught by our sons on the day out and our daughter in a nappy which is how she decided to spend most of the afternoon. She only fell in the sea twice I think. And our boys on the edge of the pool. We were too big to stand on the cake so are propped up next to it.

I made a third cake today because two in two weeks isn't enough. . . As our son's birthday is in the holidays his party was before his birthday which is the first time it's been so far from his birthday so we have made a cake for birthday tea tomorrow too. I will try and remember to add pictures at a later date.

I must say one thing I learnt this time around was if you are going to make figures do them in advance not on the day. ;)

Real Tomato Sauce.

So we were recently sent a bottle of Hellman's Tomato Ketchup to try for free courtesy of Hellman's.  I insisted our small people and the big one come to that finished the old bottle of supermarket's own before we opened the new one amidst rather a lot of grumbling, but it was almost out.

The bottle we were sent is a different shape to the usual squeezy bottles we get and actually this seemed to work as each of our children, 2, 4 and 6 were able to squeeze a reasonable sized amount without making a mess.

There was a slightly out of the ordinary element of excitement perhaps as we had received it for free but after the initial taste test I received verdicts of 'more Mummy', 'yummy' and 'absolutely yummy'. The large person said, 'I like it it tastes more tomatoey than the other one'.

We had burgers and buns for tea tonight and as I was putting sauce in the buns I realised we had run out already. There was just enough for four buns but the other two had to make do with some garlic herb dip I scavenged from the fridge door. I also noticed that the lid was sauce free. None of the usual build of of sticky gunk around the edges.

The final verdict - We would definitely recommend this new ketchup and we will be buying our own bottle now the free one is finished.

Farewell Suffolk.

So I haven't been around much recently as we have been busy selling our property in Suffolk. Today the solicitor called to say it's official we have completed and the keys have been handed over. It's a strange feeling, on the one hand I am incredibly excited about the future and what the next chapter holds, on the other it's quite emotional. We are both from Suffolk and our roots will always be there even though we are not. That was our first house, bought early on in our relationship as the opportunity arose, we had only been seeing each other 3 months when we made the decision to buy, we had known each other a lot longer but that's not quite the same. We were married when we lived there and I fell pregnant with our eldest while we still lived there. Lots of lovely happy memories.

However we are moving on and into another part of the country where my husbands work has taken us. Perhaps we shall put down new roots for our children here or perhaps we shall wait a while and see what the future holds. Either way it's an exciting time.

What's no so exciting is the rain, and the fact that it's the school summer bonanza later this afternoon and we are going to get very wet if it doesn't let off soon. In fact it has precisely two hours to clear up and give us all a reprieve and then if it can hold off for another two we shall all be very happy.

What's new on your street?

Is it or isn't it. . .

Summer that is. Cold one day 26+ the next. Hot in the morning, jumpers at lunch time and 25 by school run time. I do wish it would make up it's mind. Yesterday I wore a bright summery outfit in an attempt to encourage the nice weather and I received some lovely compliments.

The skirt is a new look pattern, the fabric was from a shop in one of our local villages. It was on sale so I thought it would be rude not to take any home with me.

In other news I have been clearing out the cupboards in an attempt to de clutter our space, I have been putting a lot aside for one of our preschool Mums who collects and fills boxes for Skoolz4kids. Preschool has been sponsoring a child since we have been there and we have provided a few bits for the child but this Mum fills boxes to be distributed to other people in the village as well as the sponsored family. I took a look at the website and some of the pictures are very humbling.