Thank You

Thanks for all the lovely comments and cyber hugs on my last post. It's comforting to know how many people are thinking of me. A long week ahead and a funeral on Friday now. Am crying less but my heart still weighs a ton and I feel very lucky and very guilty at the same time.

Hopefully I will be kept busy tomorrow and my glum face and swollen eyes won't put punters off my goodies at Guy's Thatched Hamlet, Canmalside, Bilsborrow, Nr. Garstang PR3 0RS. We are there from 10 til 4 so if you're near come along and say hello. It sounds like it will be quite an event and the Tweenies are even supposed to be making an appearance!

Daisie xxx

Julie

I have been neglecting my blog because of general pregnantness and preparations for up and coming fairs.

And now I am having a rest to mourn the loss of my very dear friend who lost her brave fight with leukaemia on Tuesday night. I feel pain for her lovely husband and cannot put into words how sorry I am for her two beautiful daughters.

Am angry, shit seems to happen to the very nicest, most undeserving people.

Goodbye Julie. xxx

Do You Like My New Banner?

Hello, only a quickie for now, I have two small boys today (Li-Bau is having a day with us) and although I daren't really mention it, all is well, no fallings out as yet.

My lovely friend has helped me create a banner for my shops. I don't do computer speak and have been trying to figure it out for an age. You can see it here and here. I think you can tell it's been made by a man but I really love the purple daisies!!

Have a happy Friday!

Daisie xxx

Excitement

Here in the Davies' household. My amazingly talented and genius like daughter (I have two but this case referes to Elizabeth) had been entered by her teacher into a children's literature festival competition. Elizabeth recieved a letter today at school, from someone not from school. As if this wasn't exciting enough it told her that her poem had been chosen and will be published in this years' anthology. We have all been invited to attend a presentation event on July 9th where she will be presented with her own copy of the book!

Today was already going quite well; I finished some more felt animals;


This time smaller and less time consuming but still cute. Apologies for the bad bad picture, the flash was way too bright on the lighter colours and made them look awful so I took a last shot of them in the kitchen. Not bad but you can see all the crumbs on my chopping board!

I also recieved a lovely email from a lady who bought a bright flowery shoulder bag from me at the fair saying how it was still making her smile and she would like me to come to her school craft fair so my stuff can make other people smile. How nice is that!!! Am looking forward to going and think that Swirly will be joining me too!

I also had a little accident here, ooops, more about that when it arrives, eek!

Daisie xxx

A Custom Bag

Well after much putting off the bag is finally made and the new owner is very pleased, phew!

Here it is hanging with my washing in the sun;


The fabric she chose is yummy, quite thick and canvas like with beautiful fluffy striped circles that are very very strokable.

Here is the zip that she requested;


I still added the ties as I would normally as the shape of the bag just didn't look right without them.

Behind the zip are four patch pockets;



And there was a little bit of the fabric left and I found a chocolate coloured zip in my stash so made her this little zipped pouch too;

I have given her some business cards and hopefully she'll big it up and maybe I'll get to make some more. The zip was a nightmare, the air was blue, it was like the okey-kokey gone horribly wrong! The zip went in, the zip went out, in, out, in, out and I shook it all about (swearing wildly), Finally it lined up and sat flat and I actually quite like it now :-)

And because I had the camera out in the garden I had to take a picture of my little poser;

Daisie xxx

A Second Birthday

Imagine the imposition, you get woken up, you get made breakfast and you have to open presents too;


It's obviously harder work than we thought!!

But after a little zen like meditation on his new cushion;



He was a smiley boy again;

The cupcakes went down very well at the course/creche this afternoon, think I may have to make cake for next week too!!

After school some of the girl's friends came to play and Nathaniel's chum Li-Bau came too. The dinosaur turned out (not as well as I'd hoped) quite well and at least everyone knew what it was;

Simon commented on the artistic way the dino had managed to poo!!

Nathaniel was sung to by many pretty girls;

And Li helped to eat the cake;

A lovely day was had by all, thanks to all those who came along to celebrate with us, it wouldn't have been the same without you :-)

Happy Birthday Nathaniel!!

Daisie xxx

Not More Cake!?

We have had a lovely sunny weekend, more titivating of the bedrooms, book sorting, crap disgarding, the usual really but hopefully that is an end to all things DIYish (for a while at least). The bedrooms all look fab, most things are back where they belong and we can once again spread out into all of our house!

Saturday saw a lazy breakfast of croissant and coffee, even the girls joined in;



A quick trip out to get a new basket liner for the hanging basket at the front of the house and some screws for shelves and the children managed to blag a table and chairs for the garden out of Simon but at £2 a piece I didn't feel robbed. They spent a pleasant lunch outside;

Nathaniel pottered aorund and 'helped' while Francesca and I planted out some seedlings we had kindly been given. We filled in gaps in the border and filled a basket and even managed to fill her window box with trailing fusia and other pink delights. I will show you some pictures when they all come in to flower.

Today we have been visited by my parents and brother in advance of tomorrow's celebrations. I have made many cakes;

I have made lemon sponge buns for the children in creche and the other ladies that will be on my course tomorrow. I have also made a huge vanilla sponge that will soon be smothered in green icing and if my artistic skills are anything decent will become a dinosaur. Hopefully.

Just some tidying and icing and balloon blowing and a quick wash of the floors and then we will be all ready for the morning!

And before tomorrow's pictures just go and have a look here, blimey, how quickly a year passes!

Daisie xxx

It's Not An Elephant!

Firstly last night was ok, I missed the boy and went to check on him far more often than was entirely necessary and consequently am knackered! He slept well, waking only once and soon dropped back to sleep when I made an appearance and gently stroked his hand for just a few moments.

He has clung to me all day though and told anyone within earshot that; "is mine mama!"

He looked so very small;


And I finished the birthday project, another soft toy but this one is no elephant;

I have done it slightly differently than the pattern suggested so have ended up with something very unlike the picture in the book but I love him! The pics are not great and he looks a bit washed out because of the flash. He is made from grey felt with blue and purpley coloured felt spikes/fins/spines/whatever they're called.

The pattern suggests making the dinosaur in cotton inside out and then turning the right way in to stuff. I chose felt so I could do some work on him during the craft course that I help run. The project this week was one of mine (a felt covered folder type thingie) and having already made one didn't really want to do another! The plan was that this could be an ongoing project that we can add scrapbook type pages too and turn them into photo albums. So once I'd shown everyone what I had in mind and the materials we had to hand and some basic embroidery stitches I settled down to do my little beast. Oh, sorry the point to all that was that I can't use my sewing machine at the centre as it hasn't been tested by their fire crew and would therefore invalidate the insurance should anything happen, so he had to be made in felt.

I have blanket stitched all the seams bar the one along his back as I couldn't quite figure out how I could continue the blanket stitch around the spines, so I did the back inside out. I quite like the way it looks on his legs and feet, it looks like he has millions of toes! The legs are supposed to be jointed but I thought this might be a bit of a headache so have attached the back side of the leg with a circle of stitches and then sewn the rest of the leg on and stuffed them, It means that he can make walking type movements but the legs don't turn full circle, if you know what I mean?

Anyhoo, there is the dino and lots of waffle about how he was made, sorry.

I have been asked if I was going to make any to take to craft fairs with me. The materials were not expensive but he was very time consuming and if I made them as a commercial venture would be looking at charging between £12 and £15 for one. Do you think anyone would pay that for a felt dino? I could do pink ones too? Any thoughts would be nice, thanks!

Daisie xxx

A Quickie

I have been working hard today, I have humped mattresses from one room to the other, carried boxes of books down from the attic, moved a book case, laid rugs on floors, realigned a wardrobe and tidied until I could tidy no more. Feels a bit like extreme nesting!! All the bedrooms are finished, bar small adjustments and the need for more book shelves! Elizabeth is in her lovely Dr. Who room and Nathaniel is snuggled up in his dinosaur covers beneath her (they have bunks, we're not weird, well not too weird), Francesca can finally be sleeping beauty alone and is nestled in lovely soft white covers under a pink net canopy.

All is calm. For now. Am not sure how tonight, or the coming nights will be for Nathaniel, he hasn't slept alone in a long time, I will miss his small warm body next to me and his breathy kisses first thing in the morning. And when I am feeling this loss I quickly remind myself that I will not miss his physical interpretation of the swastika or his finger in my belly button when he wakes and needs comfort!! I am going to enjoy the closeness of my husband (happy anniversary darling) and the amount of space we have to spread into until our new bed sharing bundle arrives.

I am spending this evening completing a hand sewing project of the birthday variety, exciting, but soooo time consuming!

But I just wanted to pop in and tell you to go see one of my smocked dresses on the lovely Anna. How cute is she??!!

Daisie xxx

A Wet Success

The fair in Lancaster went really well. It was cold and wet while we set up and no one was very hopeful but the rain soon stopped and although the sun didn't shine it wasn't unpleasant. We were in a small marquee (which Francesca summed up perfectly as a 'fancy tent') which meant I could hang my washing line along the wall, my table was next door to Swirly and she very kindly let me hang stuff along the wall behind her too (very fortunate as there was no room for my hanging rail although it did make loading and unloading the stuff much easier). People really liked my handbags :-)) and t-shirts, I sadly didn't make sales of any of the smocked dresses or sunhats but personally I blame the weather!! I sold lots of hair clips and button bracelets so need to make a few more before the next fair.

I have a custom bag to make this week but the buyer has requested it has a zipped main pocket, my brain has been itchy with thinking about how best to do it. Am quite confident that I could do it with a bag with a square top (good old youtube) but the bag design she likes has a curved edge that runs into the straps. I am thinking of doing the zip in a gusset (?) so you get a rectangle with a zip through the middle and attach it to the lining so that the outside look of the bag is not changed but the pocket would be more square once you are inside. Will have to try it out with some old sheets me thinks before I chop up the lovely fabric she has bought especially!

And because it is just plain rude to post without pics here is a little snap of the children doing an impromtu 'show' on a bench in the willow walk when we went to Wycoller;

Daisie xxx

Daisie Babies

Here are the massage dolls from the centre, they came home with me this afternoon, I did get some strange looks walking through the playground at hometime with two naked babies under one arm!

We dressed them as soon as we came home but they may have a costume change before tomorrow;


I think they'll look rather nice sitting on my table and Elizabeth is rather taken with them too;



Here is my boy in his nascar short set;

Sticking his belly out for some reason? And here'sthe view of the detail I added to the back of the t-shirt;

Off for an early night.

Daisie xxx

Tomorrow

I will be appearing at Piccadilly Garden Scotforth, Lancaster LA1 5AA (just incase you want to put it in the ol' SATNAV). It will be a fun family day with lots of craft and fund raising stalls, refreshemnts are available and there will be live music too. The bestest bit though is that they are giving away a free sunflower to every visitor, there are five of us, am wondering if we'll get one each and then I can have a vase full?!

Am having a lazy afternoon, another late night last night, must stop this burning candle at both ends, haven't got up and gone to sleep in the same day for quite some time now, am starting to look like a pumkin with huge bags under my eyes :-(

Just a chilli to make for tonight's meal and the table cloth to iron for my stall and then that's it, am sitting down with a cup of tea, my book and a boy to snuggle!

I spent hours yesterday ironing all the stock and putting on price tags. I have little standie up prices for things like cards and hair clips and stuff that will be on the table but with having the clothes hanging around in different places and the bags being different prices depending on style, size and the fabric I used I thought it best to tag each of these items, I spent ages stamping them so they would match the paper bags I use to pack purchases and tie in with the whole daisy theme;



They look really rather professional (even if I do say so myself) and not too girlie on the boy stuff.

If you're that way tomorrow come and say hi, Swirly will be there too!!

Daisie xxx

The Midnight Mad Hatter

Well, not quite midnight but you'll soon see where I'm going.....

Firstly a big thank you for all the lovely comments on yesterday's post :-)

Tonight I've been making hats for the fair (as well as putting recycling out for collection, washing dishes and paint brushes, tidying round in general and putting away clean laundry).

Sadly all children asleep so have no model, here is hat one, note the pleased expression on my face;


Pleased also at being able to take my own picture!

Hat two followed after many interuptions of the husband and feline variety, bloody hurrah;



The strawberry hat is my favourite but I have mad starey eyes;

Must go to bed before I turn into a pumpkin!!

Daisie xxx

A Rack, Some Shorts, Some News, A Rant And Some More Shorts

A rack;


I spent today ironing all the clothes I have made for the fair on Saturday. I have arranged to have my pitch somewhere I can have a washing line for my aprons and t-shirts but didn't know how much I would be able to display like that. I have also arranged to borrow two massage dolls from the centre so will be able to dress them in Daisie Davies stuff. I didn't want piles of folded clothes on my table as I would spend all day re-folding them or people would be too shy to come and investigate. Anyhoo, with the reshuffle of our house and the creation of the princess room we now have a place under Francesca's bed to store (hide) the dressing up clothes, brilliant but what to do with the amazing rack that I rescued from nursery years ago when they upgraded lots of their furniature? It's a breast height (for want of a better description) hanging rail with a deep box beneath (where the dressing up shoes and hats were kept) on wheels. Simon had the brilliant idea of using it for fairs. I can hang stuff so it won't get creased and crinkled and there is lots of room in the bottom to transport all my other stuff without carrying it. Fantastic!!

Shorts;



Nathaniel is very taken with his new car shorts and t-shirt, he has counted them and told everyone who passes what colours the cars are. I wanted a pic of him wearing them and said show me your shorts, what a fabulous pose, a model in the making?!

Some news, guess what;

This is baby Davies #4. Remind you of anyone we know;

I am now 25 weeks pregnant and am trying to be as bright as the weather but it is not nice being huge in this heat....................here comes the rant.....................my ankles are huge!!! They trob :-(

I am big in the belly department already, I know that with subseqent babies you get bigger quicker because your body has already grown to bursting point and has lost all powers of resistance but this is ridiculous! Nathaniel and I went to the post office to post some parcels today and a very kindly lady noticed my fat legs and swollen middle and red sweaty face (and it was only 9am) and commented: "not long now...?" I had to bite my tongue and busy my hands so as not to smash her in the face! I smiled nicely (I think) but was thinking, only a lifetime!

But I sound negative and I'm not, we all got to go and see our baby a few weeks ago and we discovered together that he has a willy (so can't be named sleeping beauty as Francesca wanted to call the baby if it was a girl, phew!). Elizabeth over the moon! Francesca not disappointed (phew!) and pleased when she realised that she'd still be the littelst girl. Simon's smile was so huge you could probably see it from outer space, like the great wall of China! Nathaniel terminally confused by talk of a baby in my tummy although quite likes the idea of one coming to our house so he can 'tickle toes' like we do with the babies at boobie club. I am pleased too, it feels good to know I'll have a big girl and a little girl and a big boy and a little boy, balance has been restored in the Davies' household.

And because the shorts were such a success I made some more with some vintage nascar fabric I got a while ago;

Phew, mammoth post, must go and put my feet up (yeah, right)!

Daisie xxx

A Hot Busy Day

The girls were back at school today so Nathaniel and I can now return to our manic schedule.

We did the supermarket shop this morning, came home (via the stationers for tags, explain later) prepared all the veggies for tea, Nathaniel settled down with a banana and some juice and I knocked out a few girlie t-shirts before lunch;



Made us both a sandwich and had a little snuggle before returning to the sewing machine and making some smocked dresses for the fair and some shorts and matching t-shirt for my baby boy;



Nathaniel is very little and skinny (don't know where he gets it from) and when I dug out the summer wardrobe for him it just looked ridiculous. 18-23 or 2-3 are massive, his tiny shoulders disappear in t-shirt and shirts. And don't get me started on the shorts!! So I managed to find some things from last summer but the shorts are great round the waist but too short from crotch to waist :-( no boy wants his bits squashed up when it's hot and sweaty!

I'm quite pleased with how they turned out and am very glad I bought the car fabric when I spotted it on ebay ages ago. I also have a piece of nascar fabric in blue so there may be more summer ensembles for my little man.

Hopefully I'll get some pictures of him in them tomorrow, before the sun disappears. Apparently it'll all be cold and grey again by wednesday, makes me very sad.

Then we hot footed it to the centre where Nathaniel went to play in the creche and I went to drink tea and talk about sex (again)!!

Daisie xxx