Daisie Days

I Fear I May Never Want To Make A Cupcake Again!!

2012-02-12T08:46:00.002Z

My lovely friend was quoted a huge amount of money for 100 cupcakes for her wedding day. Someone, can't think who, thought it would be a good idea to make them for her as her wedding gift instead.

100 purple glittery cupcakes in die cut wrappers;

They looked amazing at the venue even though they came to blows on the way at the hands of the Groom the night before (don't look closely, some are a little squashed), I think most of the guests had consumed enough alcohol for it not to matter though!!

The beautiful couple Carrie and Adam, we wish you all happiness for the furture;

And in my panic to have enough icing for all the cupcakes (I would never have been able to get the same colour twice) I ended up with far too much and had enough for a weekend birthday cake for Francesca;

My Baby Girl

2012-02-08T21:40:00.002Z

Happy 8th birthday to my (still) pink princess!!

Francesca's favourite prezzie of the day her new hex bug (original apparently, means nothing to me) named Cherry;

And striking a pose in her new sparkling jumper;

Thank you for eight years of love and learning, you are my precious baby girl and I love you more than you can ever know.

Happy Birthday Francesca!!

Transformations

2012-01-10T19:59:00.006Z

Remember when the chimney breast in our dining room looked like this in early August;

And then we found some rather fetching wall paper;

And then it all got a little messy and disheartening;

And then it got a little cleaner, a little nicer and a little nearer the end;

And then it got painted properly and the walls around it changed colour and all it needed was the new floor;

And today the final ingredient arrived and it's a snuggly cosy place to stash the train track at the end of the day and a place to sit for stories and snuggles;

It makes me smile everytime I go past it!!

Daisie xxx

Completed Things......

2012-01-04T12:16:00.005Z

Happy new year to you all, we celebrated with an early night so we'd be fresh for January 1st (does that make us very old and boring?)!!

My knitty fingers have been busy so far this year, I completed this lovely bamboo cowl for my friend Gil, it was (and still is) a Christmas gift but as I knew I wouldn't see her until the new year there was no rush and it sat on the needles with just two rows knitted all through the festivities. I made it up all by myself and am rather pleased, it looks and feels lovely;

I knitted one in green for another friend and that was completed before the 'big day' and she loves it as much as I do although she called it a 'snood' which got me thinking what is it really?? Simon said it's a very short scarf but in the matters of the stitch I tend to ignore anything he offers! But please feel free to say what you'd call it.....

The bamboo was obviously lighter as I had much more yardage for my 100g than the cotton in green (which left me with literally seven inches over) so I knitted a picot edge (just the edge) and wrapped in round in a circle and finished it with the spare button (it was a set of four) so Gil has a brooch to match her cowl;

Which is more than can be said for the lovely rich purple wool blend I bought to make one for me!! It was expensive even in the sale. I would have had no worries buying two balls if it had been for someone else but it was just for little old me. So I got just 100g. The ball was shrinking fast and I rushed the button holes about six rows early and cast off early too and it's a little snug;

Simon said it looks like a surgical collar. I ignored him. It's lovely and purple and the hand painted buttons I added just make it fab and I will have the warmest little neck and shoulders standing in the school yard in the howling wind and rain! So ner Mr Davies!!

I also knitted a silvery scarf for my Francesca using the Rico Can Can that cost me a fortune and made my brain ache but stopped her from nagging me anymore and the smile made it all worth while;

The mitre square blanket is progressing; half way through square 12 with four more and a border to go.

Other high lights include: a completed floor, skirting board, radiators on walls (that get hot), quality family time (no DIY), a washing mountain that shifts a bit quicker now the house is warm, splendid meals eaten with special people, the In-Laws and the Out-Laws have been entertained, friends have visited, cakes have been baked and enjoyed, movies watched with popcorn but the biggest achievement of the last two weeks is this;

A naked bottom that potters around and wees in a pot!! Am super proud of my smallest man, the nappy era is nearly behind us forever, another milestone and a step away from babyhood into the unknown.

What have you done this year??

Daisie xxx

Happy Christmas From Daisie Towers

2011-12-28T17:51:00.003Z

"Aaaa pap pap crispie!"

Me and my beautiful girlies;

Snowman buns;

Presents under our tree (see, floor and skirting and everything!!);

And silly hats and whistles at lunch time;

We had a crazy crazy week sorting and cleaning and generally making ourselves very tired indeed. It looks amazing, will post some dedicated pics later in the week. We managed to get the tree up and we had friends round for crafting and snowman bun making. Christmas day was just seven, the six of us and Ant, the spare wheel on our family wagon. We did it all again on Boxing Day with the in-laws, my brother and his wife and my sister and her partner, it was great them coming here and not going there, easier for me and the children.

Lots of fun here, I hope you've all a wonderful time celebrating whatever you celebrate.

Daisie xxx

Oh Dear

2011-12-13T11:58:00.006Z

I do wonder why on earth we thought this was a good idea. I have no doubt that it will be amazing when it's finished but that doesn't stop me rocking in a corner sometimes when no one is looking.

This past weekend we dug out the old fireplace;

And Simon set to removing the knackered, old, holey, mismatched ( a bodge by a previous owner) floorboards;

It's so very cold and draughty, no fun at all.

We have had an old door for many many years that gets moved around the house and has never been put to use until now, a great place for an impromtu fish finger picnic;

They reminded me a little of that famous photo of the men eating their packed lunches on a crane with New York as the back drop, you know the one I mean, made me smile.

Needless to say but my good humour seems to have disappeared with the floor, am not such a happy bunny at the mo but last week of work, children finish school on friday and we can get cracking and sorting and be ready for a Davies Christmas to remember!!

Daisie xxx

Not My Finest Moment As A Dressmaker!!

2011-12-06T20:47:00.003Z

Nathaniel is to be a Prince in the infant nativity play later this week. School, as ever, left it a little late to ask for costumes, so I quickly cobbled together an outfit from an old bed sheet and some blue felt;

I was aiming for Prince but he saw 'Ninja';

Excuse his terrible skin, it's so dry and gets sore now the weather is colder, he is Diprobase Boy but still scartches when no one is looking.

But he is delightfully beautiful and his eyes sparkle so as he's been practicing his line; "I will bring the baby an enornorous emerwald!"

Really looking forward to friday afternoon now :)

And in other random news, there is a new boy in the reception class and...... he's called....... Nathaniel!!!! My boy is now known as Nathaniel D! Outrage!! My children have never had to use the surname initial before :(

Hope you're all surviving the cold/snow/Christmas preparations etc??

Daisie xxx

A Buttonie Wreath

2011-11-25T20:06:00.003Z

I have been toying with this idea for a while and on Tuesday I went through my button boxes and pulled out all the green buttons and a few red ones and created this;

Maud gladly modelled it for me to give you a sense of scale;

I am very much in love with it!

I am also making some smaller ones to hang from the tree.

Daisie xxx

AWI Annual Tea Party

2011-11-22T14:08:00.003Z

ooooh, I had a lovely afternoon out on Sunday, I was invited to attend the AWI Annual Vintage Tea Party, cake, tattooed ladies, singers, cake and fun.

My neighbour (and chum for the event) was the lovely Lindsay who makes bunting (needn't have killed myself making Christmas bunting being next to her!). I bullied her into setting up a facebook page which you can find here. Not much to look at yet but go like her anyway!! Her stall looked amazing;

My best sellers;

Maud up on high;

And my goodies were so many that I had to aquire an extra table from somewhere;

After the clean up the guess was that we'd made over £1000 for our chosen charity, which this year is, Derian House Children's Hospice. A charity very near to our hearts, one of the members, Kristianne, and our singing entertainment for the event, spoke openly and honestly about the care her and her husband recieved from Derian in 2007 before and after the death of their baby son Dexter. She was very brave and we were all moved to tears, sometimes we forget just how lucky we are.

Can't wait for next year!!

Daisie xxx

For Your Punky Christmas Tree??

2011-11-10T14:03:00.003Z

In have one very poorly Francesca so we all had an early night last night (well, the three smallest people did) and as Simon was working late Elizabeth and I sat in bed knitting and stitching. I formed this idea in my head (and a very bad sketch in my knitting ideas book) a while ago to make to hang on the girls' bedroom door. Simon and I have a felt heart because we are in luurve and the boys have a Gruffalo because ~~they are little monsters~~ they love the story so and the girls had nothing :(

They are both a little bit girlie underneath but have a rock chicky exterior which I am nurturing somewhat.

So I dreamed up some punky, edgey, slightly girlie skulls;

The first one I made was met with great delight by Elizabeth and so I thought maybe other punky princesses may like them and then I thought how cool they'd look hanging from rear-view mirrors or on a black Christmas tree.

A few more are cut out and ready to sew, some with flowers for 'eyes' for an extra girlie feel.

Daisie xxx

More Making

2011-11-09T13:13:00.003Z

I have been a busy making bee this week and have produced some more goodies for the up and coming Alternative Womens' Institute Annual Tea Party.

A lovely linen messenger style bag with plum cotton lining (yes, I know it doesn't yet have buttons);

A mini tote bag made with some off cuts that were too big to go in the scrap bag. A bag not big enough for library books but big enough to use as a gift bag or for taking your packed lunch with you in style;

Two more totes made using some lovely fabric that was donated to me when my parents emigrated last month;

A pair of super snuggly hand warmers in a silvery grey yarn;

And a daisy print slouch bag;

There are two more bags on the ironing board waiting to be sewn together and I have another project on the needles but I have had a brain wave for a little quirkie felt project so am off to do that first....

Daisie xxx

PIF Wanna Play??

2011-11-08T21:07:00.004Z

The lovely post lady brought me a very special parcel yesterday from the lovely Georgia over at Little Blue Mouse. See, lots of beautiful parcels;

I had some willing volunteers to help me open them;

And look what was inside, lots of wonderful purple goodies, I especially love the little needle book;

And this confused us all for a while;

We decided it was a little pin cushion ring (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong Georgia) and I think it's utterly fab. Thank you so much!!

And in true PIF style I now have to ask three friends to play. If you'd like to recieve some hand made lovelies from me just leave a comment on this post and something will be on it's way via good old fashioned snail mail.

I must 'fess up to forgetting to send the lovely Emma a gift from the last time I did this (slaps wrist) so if you'd like to email me you postal address (again) Emma I will send you some loveliness too.

Daisie xxx

Pumpkins!!

2011-11-01T12:48:00.004Z

Yesterday after school we got busy with some pumpkins. We cut their caps off, scooped out the middles and drew faces on the skins;

We sorted the seeds and dried them in the oven to make pumpkin seed bread at the weekend;

Nathaniel made a very smiley face and the girls made a more traditional scary face, Elizabeth experimented with just removing the skin in parts to make the detail glow;

We enjoyed pumpkin curry for tea and we have pumkin soup in the fridge for another night this week.

Can't believe it's November already!?

Daisie xxx

Making

2011-10-30T20:50:00.003Z

Some more makes for the Alternative Women's Institute Vintage Tea Party.

Some festive felt robins;

A pair of purple 'tweed' handwarmers;

A pair of green 'tweed' handwarmers with a frilly cuff;

And some inspired by Elizabeth dragon bracelets;

Some bags are cut out and ready to be made just as soon as I have a plaster-dust free surface on which to put my sewing machine!!

My mitre square blanket is now up to seven squares of sixteen but I'm now worried my circular needle will not be long enough to pick up all the stitches round the edge for the border. Just hope it's ready when the 'snig' is......... Can't wait to reveal to you the plans for the dining room. So very exciting now!!

Half Term

2011-10-30T20:30:00.005Z

Reasons to always have the ring sling in your handbag;

When you smallest boy insists he can walk round the park to feed the squirrels and does really well for hours and then gets freaked by a HUGE dog and falls asleep on your shoulder as the dog passes and turns into the half tonne baby as you haul him back to the car (which was miles away)!

Elizabeth, after months of thinking about having her hair all chopped off, finally decided to go for the crop. She looks amazing. She has decided to have some more taken off the back so it's more sculpted. Very grown up indeed. Am worried what the reaction at school will be tomorrow though *anxious mother alert*

We climbed some trees;

And found amusing things to do with peanuts;

We went and had a spooky party with some friends, I took two vamps and two tiny pumpkins;

We also had a playdate that turned into a carpet picnic for the children and an afternoon knitting for me.

We have lived in the bedroom all week while Simon has finished off the plasterwork in the dining room. Coving up next weekend and we're on track to have a Christmas tree this year :)

How was your half term??

Things Making Me Smile

2011-10-11T10:29:00.003+01:00

So far this week I am not liking the darkness, getting up in the dark, the grey grey sky that has rained ~~forever~~ for days and days and makes you all wet from the knee down because even though you have your longest waterproof coat on the wind is driving the rain sideways! I am not liking that I have put my Berkies away for another year and winter feet are upon us. Gone are the funky coloured nails (no one will see them now except me in the shower) and trimmed are the lovely nails I have cultivated in the warmer weather to protect my socks.

But what socks;

The children bought me these in the summer for the astronomical price of 50p! This is the first time I have worn them. I love them. My favourite title/name/label/occupation/vocation/passtime......

Also liking my brilliant door mat;

Isn't it fabulous and it cost me less than three squids. Much happiness when I saw it and the happiness continues ever day when I wrestle my way back home through the wind and rain and open the front door. The picture has been turned many times but blogger seems to like it sideways??

So to sum up; tis wet and cold and miserable but if you look there are always things to make life seem better.

What's making you smile today?

Daisie xxx

Attack Of The Gloom

2011-10-03T14:29:00.003+01:00

I got got by the gloominess over summer. The weather was bad, my sister suffered a terrible loss and for reasons of her own hasn't let me give her the support and love I wanted to. It brought back sad memories from my past. We're living mostly upstairs still and there being six of us made this an adventure for about three days before we all felt squashed and longed for some privacy. I feel a bit fat and a bit old and a bit useless. I feel like a bad mother and a bad wife.

My rational brain knows this is not true but it's how I feel.

My mood has improved some with the return to school for the children and work for me. The days in the week have some structure and I like the comfort of routine and knowing what's happening next.

Nathaniel is enjoying being a schol boy, he's learning lots everyday and loving being with his 'boy friends'!

Francesca has settled well into Y3 and has her favourite teacher again this year.

Elizabeth is adjusting slowly to the more intense pace of Y6 and we have been looking at secondary schools. When she brought the application pack out to me after school I thought I would sink to my knees in the play ground and howl at the sky. I was very restrained and simply burst into tears and hugged her (she was glad none of her chums were there to see).

Sebastian just gets bigger and bigger everyday, he jumps with two feet, he sings songs, makes jokes and is thoroughly entertaining from the moment he wakes in the morning until he goes to sleep at night.

It saddens me that they are growing and changing so much. every now and then it hits me how far they are from being babies. They are fierce independant individuals. They are their own people. They are my babies.

I am trying (as I did when Seb left the breast) to embrace the changes and look at this time as a new chapter in our relationship. A new adventure for us to share. A small part of me grieves though for my four tiny bundles. I feel powerless sometimes when they are hurt by their peers words or actions, when they struggle to achieve something they want to. Wrapping them tight in my arms and holding them to my body and loving every fibre of them is not always enough as it once was.

Anyway, enough random emotional ramblings for one day!!

I had a boost when a lady from the Alternative Women's Institute emailed and asked me to attend their vintage tea party again. I had a wonderful time last year and readlily agreed. That prompted a 'stock take' as making time has been on the small side since I started work. I was pleased with how many lovely things I have made and ready to go!

The party will be in the run up to Christmas so I have started to compliment existing stock with gifty type things. I have added some felt tree decorations to the Folksy shop and they will be coming with me along with some robins.

I have been knitting these lovely yummy hand/wrist warmers/fingerless mitts (whatever you want to call them). Each pair is slightly different and I love them all;

And for cold evenings I am knitting this mitre square blanket to keep me warm and snug;

2011-09-28T10:00:00.004+01:00

Happy Birthday Sebastian

Two years ago today our smallest boy entered the world and made our family complete.

It was a long hard day, after a battle with my iron levels I was eventually 'allowed' to birth him at home only for him to be ~~a million days late~~ over a fortnight late so had to go in and have my labour induced.

Nathaniel and I spent all morning waiting at the hospital waiting and waiting. They evetually got around to giving me the jelly at lunchtime. Simon arrived and took Nathaniel to school to fetch his sisters. My lovely friend Claire (don't know where we'd have been without her) brought them all back to the hospital with a picnic.

We spent the evening together as a family, I had a bath and the girls gave me some peer massage they had learnt at school, it wasn't what I wanted but it was alright. Just before 9 I wanted to push so after a quick shift change a new midwife took me down stairs, I delivered Sebastian just after nine. I fed him, introduced him to the rest of his very tired (but so well behaved) family.` I bathed and dressed, dressed my newest addition and drove us home. Everyone was snug in their bed before midnight.

I think he is the luckiest boy, he arrived and was so brand new and already he had five people that loved him so much!

He is built like a rugby player, he has shoulders like his father, big and strong. A fact we were grateful for when he suffered a terible bout of pneumonia when he was just ten weeks old. He walked and jumped early and is so full of joy. He hides his hands and makes jokes. He is kind and affectionate and we love him so.

Sebastian pretending he's a big boy with his brother Nathaniel;

Happy birthday little man, can't believe it's two years ago!!

Counting The Good Things

2011-08-24T07:43:00.004+01:00

There have been some very sad, heart breaking events in the past week or so. Things I am not able to talk about here because they concern others. Although I have cried, life with small people has to carry on in as normal a fashion as we are able.

I am trying to count the good things.

Fresh baked scones in my new cake stand;

A new wall, although the delight was not in having a wall but watching my big and littlest man 'work';

Finding pretty mosaics when stuck in Oldham waiting for Simon on a work mission;

And baking chocolate cake for our friend's 12th birthday, happy birthday Lily;

Daisie xxx

2011-08-18T12:57:00.003+01:00

ooooh, we've had a busy week this week, with Simon back at work and no major works going on I have been able to take the children out and not feel guilty about him working hard at home.

We've had two trips to the cinema, a marathon cake/scone baking session, a food shop (boring), a trip to Ikea for birthday meatballs and yesterday we walked in the sun through the woods over the road and had a fabulous, if a little muddy, time;

There has been some enbriodery, of sorts, and some other crafting going on, we have friends coming tomorrow and a new window for the dining room is being fitted, busy busy busy!!

Daisie xxx

Happy Birthday!!

2011-08-16T08:33:00.004+01:00

My beautiful baby girl is ten today.

Where did that time go??!

It seems like only yesterday and a whole life time ago since I held a tiny bundle to my chest and was so proud and so thankful that my daughter had arrived safely. After several years and several miscarriages I had feared I would never have my own child and here she was, small and perfect.

I love her a little more everyday.

She has taught me more than anyone else I have ever known.

She taught me to be the mother I am.

She teaches me something everyday.

I love her so much, my beautiful, big girl, Elizabeth;

Here she is last year, the year before and the year before that!

Big Boys And Pizza Packaging (Sketchbook Challenge)

2011-08-15T09:08:00.006+01:00

After the disaster that was potato printing I have been keeping my eyes out for other print block making materials. I have even eyed up lino blocks and cutting tools online, I used to love lino printing at school, the danger of the sharp little diggy-outy tool and the fact that it never quite cut how you planned but looked cool anyway. I think I may invest in some bits for Christmas card making...... a plan is forming.....

Anyway, with eating in the bedroom we have gone for things that make little mess that can be eaten with fingers and kitchen roll. The other night the children had pizza and salad. I folded the bases in half to a satisfying pop as they snapped and then thought, oh, I wonder;

They were big enough for me to draw my images on with the wrong end of a paint brush;

I covered them in some whispers ink from my stash and printed away;

I quite like the look, I think that the base was a bit soft and flimsy and the ink didn't cover as well as it should but I like the textured look of the prints.

I also managed to enlarge the images of my boys;

Something went wrong with Sebastian's lip, don't know what happened, I redrew it a few times, went back to my tracing and checked the small squares, went back to my original image to double double check. It seems he was pouting all along but I didn't notice until he was 'big'.

I mixed some water colours and made two new shades (tints?) of purple and mixed some grey tones for their background;

Simon is back at work today so the renovations will slow down now, we're going to do some washing, do a food shop, see if a friend's in for a play and get back to 'ordinary' life.

What are you doing today??

Daisie xxx

Some Creating And A Winner!!

2011-08-14T21:33:00.005+01:00

I was gifted some pink net and an idea formed in my head;

To hang on a bedroom door or a Christmas tree (apologies, I said it now). Quite pleased with how they turned out.

But this netty madeness planted the seed of an idea in Francesca's head and a while later with some off cuts of the net and a pair of last years' school socks;

She has some funky rock-chickie fingerless gloves;

*turns to hubby and says "pick a number from one to four"*

The reply is TWO so Little Blue Mouse please email me a snail mail address and I'll send you a little Daisie Davies something, just as soon as I've decided what!!

Daisie xxx

2011-08-14T09:12:00.005+01:00

All the rubble has gone!! Ceiling, walls, assorted stuff, all carried out of the house and into a big skip. The lead and copper piping has been removed by FIL to be weighed in for scrap. The plasterboard and battoning has arrived to build the new walls. The chimney has been dug out. I have vacced and mopped about a bazillion times which has enabled us to get the table up;

And allowed room for dancing after tea;

But the feet are still dirty;

I'll be mopping a bit more today and pulling nails from the ceiling joists and later this evening I'll be picking a winner for my giveaway.

Daisie xxx

601!! A Little Giveaway

2011-08-10T08:08:00.003+01:00

Ooooh, it was the 600th post last time and I've only just realised, how rubbish am I??! If you leave me a comment on this post I will pick a winner some time this weekend and send you some rubble!! Well, not rubble but I haven't decided what yet. It'll be a suprise!!

Yesterday was beautifully sunny so me and the small people set off to the park to meet some chums, have a picnic and play some ball. Sebastian walked lots but really didn't like any of the four legged friends we saw, he leapt into Elizabeth's arms at the sight of a furry tail;

Francesca found the tiniest acorn I have ever seen;

And we saw the oldest tree in Burnley, I'll tell you the story another time;

We had a great time and I'm so glad I decided to escape as today is really rainy and grey (again) but no matter as I'm at work today. Simon demolished alot more of the chimney breast and has dropped something on his foot, I fear he has broken a toe so a day for me to be in work couldn't have been better timed. They are off to get Elizabeth her birthday present and then I suspect they'll make popcorn and have a lazy afternoon with a movie in my bed (as long as there's no crumbs!!).

Daisie x

Dust And Stuff

2011-08-08T22:10:00.006+01:00

Even though I have duct taped the doors to within an inch of their lives;

The dust is still billowing through;

Only the walls down so far, I think it'll be a lot dirtier tomorrow when the ceiling comes down!!

The highlight of the walls coming off was finding this amazing bit of wall paper around the fireplace;

The low point was when it was revealed that there was no pretty arch in this room like in the frontroom;

Gutted doesn't do it justice!! I was so disappointed it ruined my whole day :(

Simon and his genius brain (the size of a small planet) has come up with a brilliant solution that has made me smile from ear to ear since he told me this afternoon, it's better than a pretty arch!! I'm not going to say anymore about that now and wait until it's done for a grand reveal!!

I have managed to take two nice picture of all the children together, now pick yourself up from the floor and look: on the window sill before we taped Daddy in;

And tonight eating tea on my bed;

Not a great place to eat steak pie, new potatoes, peas and carrots but needs must. The first evening was lovely and warm, Simon and Nathaniel had gone to Manchester to see the football, the rest of us sat in the garden and ate McMummy's and played hopscotch until bedtime. The second evening it was a bit dull and grey but dry, we donned cardigans and ate meatballs and spaghetti with spicy sauce. Since then it has rained and rained and rained. We are living upstairs. I leave the front of the house in the morning in my pyjamas and wellies and troop round the back to the kitchen and come back later with coffee and breakfast.

It's a glamorous life we lead!!

Daisie xxx

Sketchbook Challenge #2 (Well, #3 Really)

2011-08-08T17:35:00.004+01:00

Well the printing was a disaster, either it was the potatoes I was using, the ink or paints I was using, the papers I was using or just me. It didn't work one little bit. I was most disappointed as I spent ages chopping with my very tiny very sharp knife. When I have an idea of what else I could use around the house to cut a printable image with I'll come back to it.

The enlarging was fun, I did as Gina suggested and used L frames rather than a window;

I focused on the front of the children's faces;

I have, so far only enlarged the girls;

Mainly because I used L frames my windows were a little wonky and weren't a regular number of any measurement (metric or not) and it made my brain ache to enlarge the squares when I had divided them up!! There are lots of other factors that have made my brain ache this week but I'll come back to that later!!

I used a pink/purple again for Francesca as she is a bit of a pink princess on the sly;

And added some blue to the mix with some white (sorry to have called this a shade last time Gina, I have read your teaching words and now know that adding white is a tint and adding black is a shade!) for a more blue/purple look;

I am really rather proud of myself and think they look fabulous *blowing own trumpet* and will do the boys as soon as my brain recovers!!

Daisie xxx

A Bit More Demolition

2011-08-05T20:51:00.003+01:00

Well, here we are entering the final stage of our house demolition/re-build. The dining room, living room, train track making space, crafting space, you name it space. This is going to be hard. Very hard. It's the heart of our home, the hallway/stairs hallway of last summer was hard as wherever you wanted to be in the house meant passing through the mess. Now there will be no passing through.

I took these pictures yesterday when we had half emptied the room (yes, it IS half empty). Now it is completely empty. Tomorrow the walls start coming down. Tomorrow the mess and stress begins. We will be living upstairs and going out the front door and around the house to go in the kitchen to prepare meals etc. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the weather stays fine and we can eat in the garden.

I can't wait for it all to be finished, the dining room will match the front and our home will be so beautiful. Francesca is especially excited about planning our fabulous Christmas party. This year is going to be amazing; a proper sized tree and sorted house without tool boxes and bits of plasterboard everywhere for people to trip over!

Hopefully the time living upstairs will enable me to tidy and sort my den come stash room enough for me to continue making and creating.

Anyhoo, am off to enlarge part of my sketchbook!

Daisie xxx

Sketchbook Update

2011-08-04T09:45:00.004+01:00

Pictures wrong way round again, need to have a play when I get some time as it's infuriating me now!! I must also apologise for the two pictures of my clingfilm wrapped pages, they were pretty but not so sure you needed to see them twice!!

Anyhoo, I was pleased with how the boys looked and wanted to extend the images to make them actually kiss. I drew Nathaniel again and again removing detail each time, it became like a visual echo. My plan was to do the same with Sebastian but I thought it would make the page look busy and spoil the effect I had already achieved.

I then mixed some children's add-water-paint-block in a luverly shade of purple and painted his full face, I then mixed in a little white each time to lighten the colour on each of his echo phases (that sounds a bit poncey but my words are not working well this morning). I painted the girls too, adding some magenta to the mix for Francecsa and a little blue for Elizabeth; that picture has disappeared all together!!

We haven't had a go at printing yet, am trying to think of something other than a potato to print with.......? And we are once again packing our life into boxes and retreating to part of the house while the last section of the house is demolished and rebuilt by Simon. I'll explain more in another post......

Oh, and one question, where has the sunshine gone? Have you got it? Want to share??

Daisie xxx

Sketchbook Challenge #1

2011-07-31T19:33:00.003+01:00

Blogger being difficult again, not sure why it doesn't like me at the moment so the pics are out of order yet again :(

I have bought myself a new sketchbook that has a deep purple cover with the image of a tree on it, will see if I can get a good pic at some point but it's not really about the cover. Purple is my chosen colour (suprise, suprise)! I don't have a supply of good arty materials but we do have an endless supply of felt pens, crayons, and coloured pencils (see above) so am going to work with what I have and see what happens......

These were the things I used last night for my first pages;

A ranekin of luke warm water, a decorating brush and some free-with-a-magazine Barbie paints.

I brushed away on the page and covered it in clingfilm before bed;

I did some scribbling on the first page so I'd have a double page spread for each inspiration from Gina;

When I read what the title was to be for this year's challenge I instantly thought of the children. They are my home. I love our little house and little garden and all the things we have collected together over the years but it all amounts to nothing without them. We could live in a one room flat or a cardboard box and they would make me happy. It may just be a bit ambitious but we'll see.....

The first inspiration was to look at outlines so I trawled through the photos and found one of each of the children in profile and printed them out in monochrome;

I then did some jiggery pokery with some greaseproof paper from the kitchen drawer;

And then some more jiggery pokery to transfer the images into the sketchbook on my beautiful (if a little pink) rippled surface;

I love the page with the boys, they look like they are getting ready to kiss each other.

Here is my book with the clingfilm in place;

The children's images still need some work, I'm going to improve the image with some purple ink pens and maybe do some shading with chalks.

Watch this space......

Daisie xxx

PS: Please excuse the rather tired looking ironing board cover but it was in a good light spot in front of the window!

A Busy Week

2011-07-30T21:34:00.004+01:00

Blogger is being very difficult tonight and I am too tired to think of a way to get it to behave so my pictures are all over the place!

It has been a hot sunny week, the first of the long summer break :)

It started by dismantling Francesca's bedroom, disposing of lots of crap, and getting ready to paint. The girls have moved back in together, for reasons that will become clear, and they had to choose a colour for the walls (Elizabeth refused to sleep in a pink bedroom). Initially they said black, I said no but somehow they managed to bamboozle their Daddy and have ended up with a black bedroom (I was never allowed a black bedroom and am quite bitter, I'd like to say I'm joking but I'm not!). But see how happy it made them (picture above).

The reason for the girls being together again is that young Mr Sebastian has grown enough to be in his big bed *sob* Nathaniel is so big and grown up he is now sleeping near the sky (his words).

Here they are on their first night;

So small and beautiful.

It truly is the end of an era. I have had a child in my bed, in a cot at the end of my bed or in my belly for most of the last ten years, it's very strange to be just Simon and I again. Seb is not sleeping well, the others took the transition in their stride and we'd cracked going to bed on their own in just a few weeks but I feel this may take some time. He is like no child I have ever had before. He is soooooo stubborn. I have no idea where he gets it from. Simon and I give in all the time, always take the path of least resistence, anything for an easy, harmonious life. Pick your battles wisely they say and I do!! I haven't had chance to miss him much as have been in and out all night long since he moved but it'll soon settle and I won't have his cheek pressed against mine as I drift off or his sweet breath in my face or his hot little body pressed against mine like a limpet.

Now you can see just how naughty blogger is being. Back to the girls room....

We kept the hot pink accessories that were Francesca's and I think it looks fab. They have black and white floral bedding and hot pink sheets, black rugs and fluffy hot pink cushions. This is a terrible pic taken at bedtime but you can sort of see how nice the chandelier looks against the black;

And then after a week of mess my baby brother got married yesterday!

We trooped off on foot to the church in our finery;

The children were fabulously well behaved during the long catholic ceremony (Seb went out for a run around with Simon for just the last fifteen minutes after an impromtu rendition of 'row your boat' threatened to spoil the vows) and they were the most beautiful children there (even if I do say so myself);

Nick and his new wife, Kirstin, my two sisters and all my babies;

Me, my little brother Nick, my sisters, Naomi and Charlotte;

We stood in numerical order, me being the oldest but someone *ahem* Charlotte commented that I should be at the other end if we were in size order! It's a constant joke at family gatherings that I am the little big sister!!

Again, bloody blogger, grrrr!

I tried, as usual, to get a shot of all my babies together before we left home, this was the best I could manage;

Oh dear me!

I have bitten the bullet and have decided that I will join in with Gina and Mrs Moog and take part in the sketchbook challenge. I bought myself a new book today especially, and some new pencils!! Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow (or the day after) with a progress report.......

Daisie xxx

Thank You

2011-07-18T18:33:00.003+01:00

Thank you to the wonderful teachers my girls have had this year.

Cushions so their seat can always be theirs :)

Thanks Mrs Stowell and Mr Farrar for teaching Elizabeth this year;

And thanks to Mrs Baron and Miss Robinson;

I know, you thought I made a mistake there but Miss Robinson is getting married over the summer and will be Mrs Tomlinson in September!!

I made a cushion like this for Miss Hall at school years ago (may have been blogged somewhere but really can't be bothered to check) and next year Miss Hall and Mrs Baron will be teaching the Foundation Stage together (where Nathaniel will be) and I thought it would be nice for them both to have a cushion, didn't want Mrs Baron to feel left out and stuck for inspiration I just carried on making cushions!!

Wonder how long before each teacher at school has a daisiedavies cushion.....??

And Mr Farrar's cushion is in blue not because he is a boy but because I ran out of green floss!

Daisie xxx

Some Actual sewing!!

2011-07-17T10:12:00.002+01:00

A bit of a rush job early (6.30am) on Saturday morning. Franecsca's chum Amy is seven next week and having a birthday during the summer break means an early party. We had lots of trouble with Elizabeth's being in August; people are away or say yes and then forget, so Amy's Mummy very sensibly took a group of the girls to the cinema and out for lunch yesterday.

Francesca asked me to make Amy a bag like her school bag, she chose the fabric and everything, super organised but there hasn't been time this week. Work has been mental busy and I have been bringing stuff home to do in the evenings which would normally have been sewing time. I assured Francesca that it would get made but as it's not quite Amy's birthday yet maybe I could sew it all together on Monday and she could take it to school? Oh no, that was just not good enough!! So early morning sewing it was;

It's a scaled down version of my slouchy bag. I am very pleased with how it turned out (hope I haven't made any mistakes with rushing), the little zippy pouch matches the bag front and back!

I hope she likes it, happy birthday Amy!!

What have you been sewing this week?

Daisie xxx

2011-07-09T15:37:00.004+01:00

I have been admiring the Kuhn Rikon icing utensils for ages (late night shopping channels when up with a poorly baby or early morning TV infomertials when same baby misunderstands the concept of a lay-in) but I have just never felt I could justify that much expense to make already perfectly tasty cupcakes look pretty. Then today when out shopping for a "foundation garment" (that's a story for another day) I stumbled across this lovely set;

In The Works (you know, the cheapy book shop) for just £3.99!!! I was a happy girl. It looks almost identical to the Kuhn one and was really easy to use and clean. I do need to go visit youtube and learn how to make spectacular cupcakes, I mostly just squirt randomly and hope for prettiness. Not nearly as pretty as Emma's new creations but yummy none the less.

I think I may have to have a practise with my camera too as the focus here seems to be the case when I had been aiming for clarity on the icing, nevermind, you get the picture;

And because I just couldn't resisit sharing these (am sure he's too small to be horrified at his nakedness in public), some baby caring au natural;

Hope you're all having a splendid saturday?

Daisie xxx

2011-07-04T19:46:00.002+01:00

A lovely sunny day in the garden with my two favourite boys;

With a fish finger butty and nice cup of tea;

My lovely day has been clouded by some sad news, I'm not going to discuss it here but want to say my thoughts are with the extended Davies' and my love and thoughts are with my Mother-In-Law.

Daisie x

A New Bag, A New Trick and A Birthday

2011-06-28T14:32:00.006+01:00

Get me with these catchy, imaginative post titles!!

The lovely Lynsey over at Swirlyarts kindly donated some fabric to me in her marathon destash of late. Beautiful, yummy fabrics, all for me :)

One I particularly fell in love with, just my colours, just my style. I haven't done much making of late but couldn't wait to chop into this and make myself a new bag;

A messenger style with a 'lid' (as Francesca calls it) and big chunky wooden buttons (from Duttons ages ago);

Pockets inside for all the ~~crap~~ stuff I have to carry about;

And a little matching zippy pouch for my lip grease and tampons, so they don't get lost at the bottom under all the ~~crap~~ stuff;

After weeks of rain and misery the sun has been out and my littlest man has become brave (still screams like a girl when we go near a swing mind) and has learned to slide without clinging to the sides shouting for Mama to come save him;

He very sweetly sits at the top shouting 'ready, ready, goooooo'!!

The children and I made cards and a lemon cake for my MIL's 70th birthday at the weekend;

I cannot believe that she is that old, not that seventy is especially old but I find it hard to get my head round. We all went across to sing to her and eat cake! Happy Birthday Mavis!!

Hopefully some more makes coming soon, the new fabric has inspired me somewhat, thanks Lynsey!!

Daisie xxx

2011-06-15T21:26:00.004+01:00

I cannot believe our baby boy is four today, where did the time go?!

Cake makes you do a happy finger dance;

Happy Birthday Nathaniel, we love you more than you can ever imagine!!

Sunshine!!

2011-06-08T22:19:00.004+01:00

With a return to school came a show of sunshine that allowed a little more time outside for sliding;

And some see-sawing (with cheeky tongues);

And a mammoth bedroom cleaning session that meant clean sheets all round and clean 'special' teddies dried in the sun before bedtime.

Elizabeth's Albert the cat;

And Francesca's teddy Bo;

Today we have had sooo much rain but with some time owing from work I've had a day at home alone to clean like a mad woman, it's amazing what you can achieve with no small people about to 'help'!

Daisie xxx

Half Term Holidays

2011-06-06T17:36:00.001+01:00

I just love the first weekend when we break up from school/nursery school/work, a truly magical time; a Sunday when you don't have to do the iroing!! I look forward to the coming days of us all being together.

This last week has been plagued with illness, first Sebastian with a three day temp of 39.7, on the first day I gave him paracetamol, plenty of cuddles and fluids and thought he'd be ok but alas, oh no, off we went to the doc's and my poor baby boy had tonsils that were meeting in the middle and weeping puss!It looked and smelt horrific, didn't put him off eating though!!

Once Sebastian's antibiotics had begun to take effect and I could put him down for a moment or two to myself I became unwell. I started just needing to go and pee far too often, mmmm, little cystitis I thought. Off to the pharmacy to get some powders, doubled fluid intake, got some cranberry etc.... Within six hours I had a raging temp, could not stand straight for the pain in my abdomen and lower back, I could only pass small amounts of urine and the blood content was high! Very scary how quickly it took over. Sorry, probably far too much information but I have never had a 'water infection' before and I can, hand-on-heart, say I have never experienced pain like it. I'm not a wuss, I have birthed four children on two paracetamol for goodness sake! Anyway I managed to contact the out of hours service in the middle of the night and a lovely local GP saw me at the crack of dawn the following morning and confirmed I had a bladder infection but he didn't think it had quite reached my kidneys. Mega antibiotics that have made me really sick but at least I can pee again!!

But inbetween all the medical drama we have enjoyed snuggly movie afternoons when the weather has been wet;

We've enjoyed fun in the sun at the park;

We found big sticks;

Composed poems;

And did butterfly impressions;

We had mini tea parties;

Swept the back garden in our sister's party heels;

Does my bum look big in this? Think I may have lost one;

Hope you all enjoyed the break too?

Daisie xxx

Things That Have Made Me Ridiculously Happy

2011-05-24T14:25:00.003+01:00

My lovely boobie chum Laura gave birth to her third child at the weekend, welcome baby Megan!!

I used some black and unappealing bananas to make cake (avoiding being the person to eat them as I don't like waste but the rest of the household don't like 'yucky'bananas!);

I have some new footwear for the summer;

And best of all, the hallway is beginning to take shape and is becoming a fitting entrance to our home;

A far cry from how it looked last summer;

Hope you are all well?!

Daisie xxx

A Long Weekend

2011-05-01T14:02:00.002+01:00

Thanks to the Royal Wedding we have all been at home together again, so soon after the long easter break, makes for one happy Mummy!! And what makes me happier is the beautiful sunshine we've had;

We met some friends in Towneley Woods and explored, one little man didn't spend long in the pram this time but it's still a great place for sun hats, snacks, blankets and abandoned cardigans to be transported about;

We discovered some wood carvings that we didn't see last time we went;

And I nearly got the perfect picture of all my babies together;

I did say nearly!!

Hope you've all had a lovely long weekend of sunshine too!?

Daisie xxx

A Happy Pink Francesca

2011-04-26T17:23:00.003+01:00

The post arrived today and made one little girl very happy indeed, Francecsa won the giveaway over on Emma's blog last week and we have been waiting for the postman for aaaages because of all the silly bank holidays going on around here!!

Here are her pink parcels;

She was very excited indeed;

Her beautiful cushion is now nestled on the sofa in her bedroom for cosy girlie story time;

And as a little extra Emma included this pencil case for her too;

Thank you so much Emma, you have made her day very special indeed!!

And if you are liking Emma's handmade loveliness you can get some yourself, here and here and here!!

Daisie xxx

Woolly Spaghetti Baskets

2011-04-24T21:45:00.003+01:00

As you know we don't do god in our house but I do like the older idea of a new beginning, a new start with the finer weather, a chance to enjoy the coming year. The children are exposed to the Easter story at school/nursery school and by the chocolate industry.

We made woolly baskets by soaking lengths of wool in PVA glue and draping them over upturned glasses and plant pots covered in cling film;

Elizabeth opted for a fine yarn with felt squares along it's length, she also picked the biggest pot on the table hoping she would get more chocolate (she didn't);

Francesca chose a deep pink yarn and I knittted her a coordinated chick, see the 'necklace' that Francecsa chose from the button box;

Nathaniel opted for a traditional yellow and a varigated green/yellow yarn for his chick;

I love his chick's eyes, he looks a little mad and geeky!

So happy springtime all!!

Daisie xxx

2011-04-19T15:52:00.002+01:00

It's been far too long how the devil are you?!

Well here at Daisie Towers there has been a wedding attended, (which was really nice, I went alone but had the nicest time), some small people have been poorly (nasty sickie bug doing the rounds at nursery/school), some more plastering has been done (in the hallway), some exterior stone has been painted (window sills), some sunny days have been spent preparing the garden for the summer (flower baskets and strawberries growing nicely);

Some woolie things have been created and left to dry in the warm spring sunshine;

There are more wollie thingies needed to add to these creations for sunday, pictures will follow.

And today we went here to buy the tiles for our hearth in the front room, nearly finished now!!

On the way back we spotted a park so abandoned the car and spent the afternoon in the sunshine reading, laughing, running and enjoying being together.

My beautiful boys;

My beautiful baby girl;

And my beautiful big girl;

We had planned on going to see Stan while we were over that way but just had too much fun in the great outdoors and lost track of time so can home for an ice lolly and tea! Another day Stan, fear not, we will make it over to marvel at your enormousness!!

I won a giveaway on behalf of Francesca, she is now waiting for the postman with great excitement, thanks Emma!

I will be back to show you the finished woolie lovelies before too long.

Take care and enjoy the sunshine, Daisie xxx

A Belated....

2011-03-29T13:12:00.002+01:00

.... Happy Birthday to my lovely Simon;

He got to lay in bed and was brought presents and Elizabeth-made jammy toast when ~~I had had enough of the over-excited children and was ready to kill them~~ we felt he had rested enough. We had a lovely day together, his Mum came for a huge roast beef lunch and we all snuggled and watched a movie in the afternoon. The children and I made his favourite cake and one big and one small boy (Nathaniel) thought it was fun to try and steal the decorations from the top;

The girls made some beautiful gifts for their Daddy, I'll post some pictures soon.

We've been enjoying the spring sunshine;

And I have knitted a cat;

It looks much better in the 'flesh' and is for my friend's birthday. I will definately be knitting another before long!

Daisie xxx

I Knew It Was Bad But Really?!?!

2011-03-22T20:25:00.004Z

The cupboard in the sideboard where small people's books live, getting changed regulary with books from upstairs to avoid reading the same story every single day;

The boys love to choose books and look at pictures and tell each other stories;

There are very few books in the kitchen as I tend to not follow recipes or follow them only once and modify for our use;

The fancy book case for fancy books which now lives in the new space we have created between the front room and the dining room;

The new mega bookcase in the front room, the books continue to the floor behind the sofa;

There are books on the unfinished landing awaiting a new shelf to reside on;

The bookcase under the window in our room, the middle shelf is currently empty as some of these books have moved downstairs, I don't think it'll be empty long;

The shelves next to our bed (my side, excuse the debris) for current reading;

The "over-spill" bookcase in Elizabeth and Nathaniel's room;

The bookcase behind the door;

Nathaniel's bedside table;

The shelf above Elizabeth's bed;

The book case behind the door in Francecsa's room;

And the shelf above her bed;

Francesca hasn't had just as much time in Waterstone's with Daddy that Elizabeth has yet but am sure she'll catch up soon!

So there it is in all it's glory, am sure there are worse habits to have and instill in your children?!

Daisie xxx

It's Been So Long Since I Blogged

2011-03-22T10:08:00.002Z

That I forgot Blogger puts the pictures into a post in reverse order and I can't be bothered to find the time or the energy to change it so this post will be upside down, sorry!

There are signs of spring in my garden, one solitary daffie, sitting proud under the grey skies;

Red Nose Day last friday, the girls were asked by school to come dressed in red, not having anything red or the money/time/inclination to aquire a red outfit for each of them we opted for red hair ties and red nails;

I went to work in my pyjamas, as did my collegues, haven't lost my marbles (well, not quite), we did something funny for money, some of the staff got sponges thrown at them, we all baked cakes for an after school sale and one member of staff painted faces for a donation. It was a great day and ~~being a fool~~ forgetting about the attire for the day I had booked some home visits, none of the families I visited seemed to mind much but I did get some funny looks in the chip shop at tea time!

I've had a birthday. I got some lovely little gifts and some generous donations to the "Hearth Tile Fund" from family and friends. My MIL bought me these sunny daffies;

The bookcases are filled (and are not big enough as I expected), please remember back-to-front pictures, and the house is coming together, the dining room has been rearranged and furniture is now in it's proper place, the house feels bright and airy, there is more room for train track building;

And wheelie-bugging and ball rolling and story telling and cosy knitting and chasing games and space of your own;

We really do have a book problem though and may soon need to attend BA: Hello, I'm Alex and I'm a bookaholic. I'll have to take you on a pictorial tour of the house and then you can see our problem in it's full glory.

Apart from a chest infection (or three) nothing much has been happening round here, I finished Francesca's hand warmers and they have not been off her hands since, I am currently knitting a birthday gift for someone, shhhhhh, and the girls have been off school so far this week feeling poorly and taking antibiotics and regular paracetamol so we have enjoyed the time together for snuggles and crap telly watching and they have been crafting away for their Daddy's birthday at the weekend.

Hope you are all well and enjoying these early signs of spring.

Daisie xxx

Lordy, I Think We Own A Library!

2011-03-06T07:42:00.004Z

Well the book shelves are up (except the bit on the left that we need to Dr Bob the shelves for to make it fit from wall to wall);

They are 2.4m high so just enough to stand books on the very top if we run out of room, as I suspect we might! It feels a little full, for want of a better word, dark and crowded. It will be fine and just adds to the comfy atmosphere of the room. It's always hard when we come to refill a room. We empty it, pull all the walls down, rewall, plaster, sand and paint, the room is empty for such a long time that when it has furniture and life back in it it always seems like a tight squeeze.

That feeling is not helped at the minute by the sheer number of books waiting in an orderly (?) manner to join their friends on the shelves;

Simon spent all day yesterday carrying boxes out of the attic and down the stairs, I think he has muscles on his aching muscles this morning. We gave up at 11 and went to bed with the shelves half full, hopefully the boxes will all be empty by tea time!

In other ~~long overdue~~ news one of my monkeys got a mention by Tanya over at Cards With A Difference in her regular Folksy Friday blog post. Thanks Tanya!

And Little Blue Mouse awarded me a 'Stylish Blogger' award (here I must confess I have forgotten to nick the picture to add to the post so you'll just have to wait and see it in the sidebar when I get round to it). Now I have to nominate people, which I'm not going to do (bad me), I'm going to say if you'd like it then you have have it as long as you tell the blogiverse seven things about you. I need to now tell you all seven things about me that you don't know but to be honest I'm not sure that there are seven things that you lot don't already know. But I''l try.......

1. I am the oldest of five children and I was home educated until I was 11.

2. You all know that I like to cook and bake but I love chopping veg, lots of veg into small regular pieces for soups and pasta sauces etc, when I am having a bad day it soothes my soul (now you really know I'm a nutter).

3. I look at motorbikes longingly, Simon and I went everywhere on his bike before I learned to drive and unless it was a food shop or me going to work we still went everywhere on the bike. He took us on long journeys and I would often fall asleep against his back. I haven't been on the bike since I fell pregnant with Elizabeth. I can't wait for the children to be all grown up so I can tuck in behind him again and we can have adventures.

4. I'm a laundry sniffer, nothing smells better than a load of freshly washed clothes hanging to dry!

5. I always wanted to play the saxophone when I was younger but never learned.

6. I'd love to have the money and live in a suitable location to run a little tea/book shop. I think it's our retirement dream for Simon to be pottering around with old books all day while I bake cakes and brew big pots of tea for visitors.

7. One of my favourite lunches is houmous and avocado snadwiches, mmmmmmmmm!

I suspect that not alot of that was new to you but I like to try.

Anyhoo, I need to go off and dye my hair, we all had a haircut yesterday, I've had mine chopped back again like I did in November and then when I went for weekend supplies I found some amazingly purple hair dye down from £8 to £3, it would have been rude not to bring it home really! Then I am hoping to pop out without the small people in search for a wedding outfit. Wish me luck!?

Daisie xxx

I Can Now Announce

2011-02-26T21:14:00.003Z

that we have a full compliment of downstairs rooms again! I really was so very excited I nearly did a little wee! We spent two days with all the furniture in one room again while we waited (and waited) for the floor varnish to dry but it was worth the wait and allowed plenty of piano practice;

My little workie man found space for his tool station when all the big scary tools were put away until next time;

Simon and I put some of the furniture in late on Wednesday night;

Can you spot the button flowers that Lynsey made for my birthday gift a while ago? Have a look Lynsey, you'll be pleased that all the buttons are still twinkling away in the jar and have not been tipped out and used elsewhere!

I am so pleased. Book cases needed now, the wall behind the sofa will be full floor to ceiling, it'll make the room all the more cosy, I am contemplating referring to it as the 'snug' because it's so warm and cosy and 'the front' just doesn't do it justice.

The lovely Ruth from TipTopToppers came today and was the first official visitor to the snug, she made suitable noises of admiration so will be invited again. She also brought a HUGE bag of clothes that no longer fit her big boys that will suit my small boys down to the ground. Recycling at it's very best. Thanks again Ruth!

And I eventually made the fingerless mitts I bought the wool and pattern for at the Knit and Sticth show in November! The yarn is beautiful, the colours are so vivid and it's so soft but the pattern was a shocker;

It all came out just a little too long and just didn't sit right. I rehashed the pattern a bit and made these purple ones;

A much better fit (I may frog the first pair and reknit them). These are for my friend Claire at work who donated lots of this lovely yarn to me ages ago. I have altered the pattern again to make a smaller version for Francesca who just loves them!

I have had a sock monkey featured on a blog and have been given a blog award but I'll mention all that tomorrow, am planning a little light knitting and an early night.

Daisie xxx

A Nip In The Air

2011-02-20T15:28:00.002Z

oooooh, it's gone all cold again! The sky is grey and dull. After a lazy morning in bed thanks to a lovely hubby I got up and changed all the beds, bathed all the children and wrapped them up and headed out into the grey cold air to go to the woods.

There are signs that spring is on the way;

We had a good stroll;

Fed some ducks;

My beautiful babies;

Half term week ahead, dentist tomorrow, visits with friends on tuesday and wednesday, floors to sand and varnish, furniture to move and time to be made for knitting.

Daisie xxx

A Day Of Daddies

2011-02-16T05:19:00.002Z

Thank you for all the beautiful kind comments left here on my last post, I have replied to some of you but ran out of time, if I don't get around to replying please know they were much appreciated!

Well, it turns out I was right to worry about the MOT, infact I had 315 reasons to be worried but the car is road worthy for another year and a diet of beans and whatever's lurking at the back of the cupboard never killed anyone!

I left for the hospital very early yesterday morning, before anyone was awake. It was strange going out in the dark so early, reminded me of when I worked shifts and the only people you see en route to work at 6am are those like yourself off for an early start or those on their way home after a long night shift.

I was first on the surgery list. Which was good but the pain when I woke up was unbelievable. I joked with the staff nurse when I went down to 'get the kettle on' but it took me ages to feel well enough to have a drink. I would rather have given birth, the pain is much easier to stand. My belly was huge (still is a bit but going down all the time) because of the air they fill you with. My stitches are pulling and I cannot wait to remove my surgical stockings when I go in the bath shortly, they itch like mad! But I did see a photo of my uterus and my ovaries, don't suppose there's many women can say that are there?!

Anyway, the Daddy bit. I was so soon out of surgery that friend Claire was not finished work (we had arranged for her to collect me) so I rang my Daddy and he came to escort me home. I was expecting to find Sebastian and Nathaniel with their Daddy but I also found Simon's Daddy with a small boy asleep on his chest;

I had a relaxing afternoon being tended by the men folk and was so pleased to see the girls on their return from school, I think they had been worried about me.

Then friend Claire came and bought me a red rose;

I was in alot of pain last night and have been unable to sleep for very long but my tummy is much softer (and smaller) this morning and to be honest I feel better for getting up and about and having a cup of tea (even if it is silly O'clock), am off to have a bath and remove my dressings and stockings (yay!!!!) and if I still feel like I do now then I'm off to work to face Ofsted, wish me luck!

Daisie xxx

Roll On Friday!

2011-02-14T10:59:00.002Z

What a week I have ahead of me! Thought I'd blog today to vent and to remind myself that life is good really even when it seems bad.

Today the car is in for it's MOT, this always worries me enormously; will it pass, will it need loads of work, how long will it take? And then I have the fear of excessive cost, will I have to sell a kidney or offer sexual favours to pay to get it back?! All unnecessary but still a worry. So to combat today's troubles I'll show you Francesca's birthday cake. A deep vanilla sponge with a white chocolate finger fence filled with vanilla cream and strawberries;

Tomorrow I am in the hospital all day. I am being steralised, I have reached the point where I realise that emotionally, physically and financially I cannot afford another pregnancy. It is a decision I have thought long and hard to make and am sure it's the right decision for me. Simon will have sole care of all the children all day. I know he is perfectly capable and I know they are safe in his care but I worry that it will be raining and they will get cold and wet waiting for the bus to school, I worry that the bus will be late, I worry that Nathaniel will not like the change in his routine and be a pain for his Daddy, I worry too much really. Again unnecessary but a worry nonetheless. So to combat tomorrow's worries I am going to show you Francecsa's Learning Log (each child at school has a big book and each friday the class are given a word to do a piece of work on, sometimes it links to something seasonal, something they have been doing in school or something really random. Each piece of work is the child's own work so for some may just be a picture, sometimes more), this weeks' word is Valentine's Day. Francesca disappeared upstair yesterday with glue and paper and an endless romantic nature and came up with this;

It says; "Valentine's day is celebrated every year on Februaury 14th. The day is named after Saint Valentine - the patron saint of lovers. Traditionally people show their love for one another by sending flowers, chocolates and cards known as Valentines." I did try to get her to put that we don't do Valentine's day in our house because my Daddy is a tight ass but she didn't go for that!

On Wednesday and Thursday Ofsted are coming to inspect us at the centre. I know that we all do a brilliant job for the families we work with but the inspectors want to come and observe my baby playgroup. I know and understand the EYFS guidelines we wrok to and the Every Child Matters outcomes we work towards, I know what impact the sessions have on our families but fear I may be the sticky cog in the team as I have no formal EYFS training. The peer support role I fulfill I have no problem with, I know my stuff (and was auditted for the BFI last week and came away confident in my skills and knowledge). I know it will be fine but I am worried how my physical state will be after Tuesday's surgery. To combat the Ofsted worries I am going to show you the start of our room finishing;

The walls are coloured, the chimney breast is pointed and painted, the electrics are in, the skirting board is varnished and waiting to go on. It's all looking rather good!!

Roll on Friday!!

Daisie xxx

My Smallest Girl

2011-02-08T13:30:00.003Z

Is seven today!!

This time seven years ago I was waiting for the jelly to start the journey of her birth. Elizabeth had convinced us that we were expecting a boy baby called Peter. Elizabeth, aged just 2, was with us in hospital and although at the time it was frustrating because that was not the plan, in hindsight it was magical and so special that after me Elizabeth was the first person to hold her baby sister, she never mentioned boy baby Peter again, she was so in love with our new bundle. Francesca was a whopping 8lb 9oz and was so perfect (she still is). I never imagined that I would love another baby as much as I loved my first but a Mummy's heart has infinate expansion room. Francesca explained to Nathaniel when we were expecting Sebastian that when a baby arrives so does a new lot of Mummy love so they all still have the same.

She is beautiful;

And a bit of a Rock Chick;

A wonderful big sister;

And I love her so much my heart could burst!

She is funny too, she spent a while the other night reassuring me that we'd be safe in the jungle because man eating lions don't eat women!

Happy Birthday Francecsa!

Lighting!!

2011-02-05T20:58:00.004Z

It's been a long hard week at work, just getting into the swing of it, think it'll take some time. Just taken over another worker's case load of core visits, hence an extra day at work, of sixty families, yes sixty families, that is one scary number. But atleast my working 'week' will fly by as my days will be so full!

But in the good news, our walls in the front room are all smooth and lovely and Simon has been priming the plaster to paint. He's slopping on a coat of white to the cieling before bed as we speak. I have been and chosen the colour, decisions are so hard. I have a picture in my mind of how the room will look and it took a while to find the right colour, it's called 'Espresso Delight' and is a beautifully warm but not dark tone, like a very milky coffee. I can't wait for it to go on tomorrow :)

As usual time and money have got in the way (or disappeared) so the book casing will have to wait for another pay day to come and go but hopefully there will be enough in the pot to get the skirting board on and get a blind made for the window so we can at least redistribute the furniture and get the telly out from under Seb's cot and up on the wall!

Francesca came with me today to help get the last of the paint and painting supplies, good job she did as I got distracted by light shades, we need three for the mo (hallway, bottom of stairs and front room). There were lots of shades in the sale, not having Simon with me to bounce ideas off I got the camera out of my bag and my lovely assistant helped me record our finds to bring home to my lord and master for inspection.

This is one I liked for the hallway, as yet unpainted, will be glistening white and airy, we have blackened iron coat and shoe racks, pram, wellies (the usual gubbins), as we can't afford to replace the staircase we paln to paint the very worn treads with a high gloss paint, at the moment we seem to be agreeing on a deep green, I thought this shell shade would be nice;

Then on the shelf full of shell shades I spotted this one, reduced to a fiver, that might work in the front room;

But this one kinda goes with my ideas too;

This one is lush, the picture doesn't really do it justice, it's about two shades lighter than the walls will be and has minty green, black and dark brown branches and leaves, also massively reduced to just £10;

But this is the one I fell in love with, it's very seventies in feel, it has a central shade (so you can't spy the light bulb, always a winner) and three floating bands around it;

It's probably darker than what I had imagined but it's all a new game as we have only just taken down the Ikea paper shades we've had for about a million years. Now the question comes about the dining room, it will be (hopefully by the end of the year) gutted and redone in the smae colour as the front room, we knocked through under the stairs and although they are two well defined spaces they need to marry, do I have two shades the same, or the smae colour, texture or completely different, these decisions are so hard!

Francesca was no help at all and found the shade that she would choose;

I think not love!!

We had fun though and looked at mirrors and other finishing touches too. I can't wait for payday!!

My two interior deisgn assistants;

The sky here is so dark and the rain has been falling for days, our moods seem to be matching the weather this week so am going to indulge in far too many cuddles tomorrow and perhaps some popcorn and a movie!

Hope you are warm and dry too!

Daisie xxx

Adjusting

2011-01-29T20:19:00.003Z

I love my new job, I really do, and have had a slight 'promotion' and am now working three days to make time for the new responsibilities but it's taking some adjusting to. Nathaniel is tired doing three 'full' days at nursery school. Seb is a little more clingy in the evenings. The girls are the same as ever; sometimes good, sometimes not so much. It's such a big change of pace, having not been in the work place for a decade! I am ultra prepared. I make evening meals days in advance and stash them in the fridge or freezer for work nights so I can just come home, stick something in the oven, put some veg on to steam and just be with the children. Even if all we do is pile on the sofa and chat. No reading books, no story books, no confines just catching up and being together. It's good and in some ways I value that tired, slightly grumpy time of the day because I have been apart from them for such a long time and not in their compmnay alone from the time they woke that morning.

Not sure I'm describing this as I was hoping to, always sounds better in my head! But work is good, home is good, knitting time is none existant!

Triceratops took forever, as I was reminded daily by Nathaniel, but here he is;

The pics are awful because of the flash, he's much better looking in the 'flesh'. Nathaniel loves him very much indeedy;

See him roaring, don't think Elizabeth was impressed when I handed over the finished dino right in the middle of a Dr Who episode!

So I am hoping to find time for a little more knitting and maybe some sewing time too, I have lots of ideas in my head but am struggling at the moment. Am sure I'll be back into the swing of things and will become less tired and more organised soon. Who am I kidding, that last sentence suggests I was in the swing of it before and to be honest I can't remember a time when I was. Ever.

Nevermind, soon be half term with loads of time for knitting and snuggling!

Daisie xxx

2011-01-17T16:48:00.003Z

"But who is this creature with terrible claws

And terrible teeth in his terrible jaws?

He has knobbly knees and turned out toes

And a poisonous wart at the end of his nose.

His eyes are orange, his tongue is black;

He has purple prickles all over his back."

"Oh help! Oh no!

It's a gruffalo!"

An idea intended for our christmas tree that never quite got made......

A gruffalo for my big boy.

Inspired by the beautifully illustrated story The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.

Daisie xxx

The First Completed Make Of The Year

2011-01-10T13:52:00.003Z

May I please introduce Steggy;

The newest Mummy made dinosaur in our house. I made a stegosaurus with felt for Nathaniel when he was two and he is so well loved that I had to make some more dino friends. I will admit with shame that this was an intended ~~birthday~~ christmas gift for Sebastian but luckily being the age he is time has no meaning, phew!

There has been quite alot of debate about who actually owns the knitted dino;

It all got rather heated;

Nathaniel has asked me to knit him a triceratops, I think I might just be able to manage that and with him nagging me it shouldn't take just as long as Steggy did! He's just come back from having a wee and said; "well, is he ready yet?" think this may be a week of late nights to get dino production up to speed :)

Daisie xxx

A Great Last Day

2011-01-05T10:46:00.002Z

There is always something sad for me in the last day of the holidays.

The girls have returned to school this morning and Nathaniel has returned to nursery school, they were all eager to see their friends and share what exciting things they each recieved at Christmas time, they are looking forward to play times and catching up and being independant people but I miss them so!

Yesterday was magical, we woke to find snow! I had promised them a new year walk in the woods so we put on our wellies, wrapped up warm and went out to enjoy our last day together;

We made footprints, looked for birds, counted doggie tracks in the snow. We got very cold indeed and then came home and had hot chocolate and cosied up in the warm.

A lovely time to end the festive holidays before the return to 'normal' life.

Daisie xxx

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T10:00:00.002Z

Goodbye 2010, what a year it has been, it started nursing a small boy after a winter of pneumonia and worrying everytime he slept. We got lots of snow in January and enjoyed the slowness of walks out and about and being warm and cosy when at home. We have celebrated a 6th birthday, a third birthday, a 9th birthday and a first birthday. We have celebrated five years of marriage and sixteen years of sharing our lives together. I graduated boobie school and my qualifications, ability and passion have been recognised and rewarded with a part time job supporting women to breastfeed their babies. Nathaniel started his schooling career at nursery school and is loving it and growing more everyday. I have learnt that I am more than just Mummy and feel it kind of suits me, I hope to find the balance that works in the coming year so I can be a happy well rounded person and not feel compromised as a parent. I have watched my babies grow and learn and become people I am proud of.

And I have also learnt that it doesn't matter what presents arrive in our house at christmas time, the recycling is still lots of fun;

So share a sparkly bun with us and welcome 2011;

Happy new year all!

Daisie xxx

2010-12-29T08:26:00.002Z

It hasn't been all poo and trouble, I got some lovely new slippers that make me smile;

The utilities company still hasn't been to sort our little problem but I am trying not to think about it too much, instead I am looking forward to a play date with my lovely friend Laura and her beautiful children.

Daisie xxx

Looking On The Brightside

2010-12-28T14:20:00.002Z

I currently hate, yes tis a strong word but it's what I feel, the local utilities company. On Christmas morning the toilet was flushed and our bath filled with sh*t, oh yes it did, merry christmas all! And to make it even more horrid, being at the end of the terraced block, it's not just our sh*t. We were reassured, after being on hold for almost an hour waiting for someone to answer the phone, that with the frost most call outs were for the fresh water team and the drainage team were relatively unbusy and raw sewage in the house would make us a priority case. I braved the In-Laws alone on boxing day while Simon waited here hopefully, they eventually came out yesterday, jet washed our bit and said they would send a camera team out today (no sign yet). After Simon rodded the drain over 5m and could not reach the blockage we are sure it's a problem in the main sewer and needs sorting pronto. So no solids through the toilet, in a house of six it has not been pleasant but any more information that that is unnecessary to share.

On the brightside, which I must look to or else I will cry, I got to do this with Sebastian;

And for maybe the last time ever I also got to wash Nathaniel in the kitchen sink;

Daisie xxx

2010-12-26T21:38:00.002Z

Christmas Day started at 1am when Nathaniel was woken by his big sister going for a wee, who in turn woke Francesca and we were all awake until 3am. Elizabeth woke again at 7am, very respectable, but as all her siblings were still asleep and she wanted to wait for them before she opened her stocking she joined me down stairs where we prepped the lunchtime veg and made toast and coffee. When we got back upstairs, the turkey safely roasting in the oven, we all sat on the bed and the children opened their stockings;

Simon bought us a new camera, hurrah! And these were the first two photos we took;

I love this bit of the day best, when it is just us. I love to hear their excited squeeks and see their smiling faces. I sometimes feel I am the luckiest Mummy in the whole world with the most beautiful babies ever known;

I am also amazed by the sheer joy bit of shiny tat can bring;

Later in the day Iron Man came to see us;

There was some serious Mummy Bag Love going on;

We had a wonderful lunch and lazy afternoon, enjoying Dr. Who before bed.

Today has seen a bit of a rerun at the In-Law's.

I hope each and every one of you had a special day too.

Daisie xxx

Bad Pictures Of Good Makes

2010-12-23T21:30:00.002Z

How on earth is it Christmas Eve Eve already, argh!!!!! Pass me some more wrapping paper and a couple extra days please!?

Well there are several things that I think were just wishful thinking on the 'list', the placemats are not made, but we don't really have space for a big fancy table for lunch on Saturday as the front room is not quite habitable yet, so that matters not. The bears/robins I had planned are nowhere near even cut out but the small people they were destined for have lovely gifts regardless. Elizabeth's skirt remains unmade but there is a reason for that which I'll share later. My cardigan still has only half a back and I only have half a wristwarmer. But the people who are important to me all have a small gift, be it planned or improvised and that's all that matters really.

Simon has had some small workie men 'helping' in the front;

I did manage to knit some deep red wool petals and felted then in the sink to make my friend a flower brooch similar to one she saw at K&S which was £28! It's not just as delicate as I had hoped for but am quite pleased with the outcome and hope she will be too;

Nathaniel's bag has buttons;

I made this from two huge napkins I got in the summer at the scrap store. There is enough for a pencil roll but I just haven't had time, a new years gift maybe.......

This is why I haven't made Elizabeth's skirt yet;

I got this fabby fabric at K&S for a fraction of the price I had seen it at elsewhere, still expensive to me but well worth it. I haven't made the skirt as I think this fabric would make a great swishy skirt with a net lining, kinda rocksbilly? I want to know what she thinks before I cut into the rest but didn't want to show her as it would spoil her bag suprise.

The dinosaur still needs legs and Francesca's lacy scarf needs finishing, there are a few presents left to wrap and some alcohol calling my name so I'll be off for now.

Daisie xxx

*The pictures are awful, am hoping Father Christmas finds time to bring me a new camera and if not some daylight :)

Custom Monkeys

2010-12-14T10:05:00.002Z

A while ago, well bloody ages if I'm honest, a friend asked me to make two monkeys for her two sons for Christmas. Being a friend and me knowing that they weren't needed until late in December kind of pushed them down the 'to-do' list. I feel bad, very bad. So yesterday while at home with a poorly Francesca (she was too ill to do her play *sob*) I cracked on and got them done;

They are steampunk inspired;

I love the guy on the right and his little felt waistcoat with silver button and vintage key;

The other one I'm not just as keen on. I wanted them to be different as they are going to live side by side and need their own identities but I would have loved them both in waistcoats with funky button watches! I had it in mind to make some flying goggles, I made some in felt but then abandoned that idea as I didn't want to give the poor little boy nightmares! I ended up embroidering around his eyes, they look a little more like specs than goggles but I'm pleased with how it makes his face look.

I so hope they're not a let down after the loooong wait!

Daisie xxx

The Law Of Sod

2010-12-10T21:21:00.002Z

It was July 2001 the last time I was employed (thrity six weeks pregnant with ELizabeth, huge and hot) so it's been a very long time. Starting work this week was a little scary, I feel alot of guilt at leaving Seb in someone elses care while he is so small but to be honest he's having a great time with his new carer and new friends and has barely missed me at all. I feel bad that Nathaniel is spending two full days at nursery school. I have been trying to convince myself that I'm not a bad mother. I take them at nine and collect them again at half three so not a long day away from Mummy and time enough for cuddles and fun before tea and bed.

I was welcomed warmly on entering the centre yesterday and asked to sign the staff work sheet, all felt very official. I felt like a proper grown up and everything! I am working in the baby stay and play group first thing so I set up the creche with lots of enticing things for very small people. There were some of 'my' mums in the group that I have been working with for sometime, one lady asked me where Seb was, I replied he was with the childminder. She looked shocked and when I explained that it was because I was being paid for these hours (he comes with me for my volunteer hours) as they had given me a job she jumped up and embraced me and said it was 'about time too'. I went on three visits with the family support team and met two expectant Mums who I hope to be seeing again when their little bundles arrive.

All was going great when nursery school phoned at 2 and asked me to come and collect this;

And then school phoned and asked me to come and collect this;

We have all had the sniffles and a bit of a cough/cold for a week or so. Seb has antibiotics for a chest infection, he is somewhat prone after his pneumonia last winter, but is quite happy and smily in himself. The centre manager was very kind and supportive and we all made jokes about what the odds would be!

It was the staff Christmas gathering last night (I had already been invited as a volunteer but it was nice to be 'real' staff and not feel like a fraud) and we all went out for a curry, really nice to be together outside the centre.

I came home to some very poorly children indeed. So after a trip to see our family doctor today my fridge now looks like this;

I think it may be a long weekend!

A big thank you to my MIL for popping over this morning to sit with the poorly people so I could go and do my baby group and get some paper work done and a thank you to for my manager for not minding that I didn't quite complete my first week at work!

Daisie xxx

I Learnt A New Trick!

2010-12-06T20:43:00.002Z

Thanks for all the lovely supportive comments on my last post, I must apologise for not emailing back but it's all been a little mental really. I've done most of my staff induction, Sebastian has been visiting the childminder with me and his brother and goes for a while by himself on Wednesday. I start work on Thursday, argh! It's like being a proper grown up and I feel slightly out of my depth but in a giggley excited way, am sure I'll get scared at some point soon!

The dinosaur still needs some legs knitting and Nathaniel's lovely bag still needs buttons, I have knitted half the back of a cardigan for myself (will tell more soon) and knitted half a left hand warmer, Elizabeth has been measured and a muslin of her skirt has been made, two fronts of placemats have been quilted (and are the right size)!

Here is some of the Christmas bunting I made (and a dinosaur having a snooze);

This one is spare, I was going to put it in my shop but the pictures are awful and the light is terrible but if any of you are interested email me and it's yours for just £8, would make a lovely seasonal gift for the person who has everything?

I only had a small amount of this blue with festive bears on so I made just two sets of bunting for two special little boys who made an appearnace this year;

And this is the new trick I learnt;

Look closely, are you impressed? I am! A lovely customer (my bestest customer ever, who had me make a bag for her a while ago and then make another and another for many of her friends who also want to stash their essentials in the most amazing bags ever*) asked me to make a very understated bag for her 16 year old little sister. I was assured that this was the upmost in flattery that a girl of such an age would want to own one of my creations. She specified a black bag with a bright pink lining, a loop and button closure. Check. But my lovely customer just thought that was all a little bit boring and not very DaisieDavies at all and asked me to make a funky corsage to go with it, that way the customer could attach it and try to influence her sister's style but her sister could also remove it and wear the bag as she wanted to.

I would usually have knitted a flower or rosette and embellished with beads and buttons but felt this would be wrong for the bag owner so I found a Kanzashi flower tute and some bright pink scraps and the twin of the button on the bag and created this lovely thing;

I hope she likes it!

Daisie xxx

*blowing own trumpet, please forgive me! x

A Working Mum

2010-12-01T18:26:00.002Z

Ooooh, I have had a busy day! A fornight ago an advertisement for a part time family support team member offering specialist breastfeeding support appeared in a children's centre where I do some volunteer peer support. I applied. I got an interview. After slogging through the snow to nursery and then school and then the centre I just had time to swap my wet wellies for some smart shoes. I had a haircut last weekend especially. I bought new trousers (and managed to escape the house without snot or banana on them). I was grilled (or it seemed like it) by the head at school and the centre manager. I left feeling there were so many things I wanted to say but forgot. I felt like I had completely fluffed it. I got a phone call an hour later. The post was mine, did I still want it? YES!!!!! It's just two school days a week and they have allowed me to work termtime to fit in with my own children. I am over the moon. I start next week. I haven't stopped smiling yet.

Back In Blogland

2010-11-29T13:46:00.002Z

The good old HP is back at home and the best news is it still has all my pictures and other stuff intact, needed a new fan or something, didn't really understand the guy in PC world, not technically minded, so just nodded, smiled, said thank you and legged it from the store to come home and stroke my 'pute!

So quick update, although I don't have pictures of everything to show you yet.

Some sparkly buns, I really love the specialness that glitter adds to cakes but the day I made these I also managed to make a sparkly curry and potatoes and naan, well, when there's a theme work with it I say;

Please turn head to left shoulder;

This was the view into my mega stash cupboard that once upon a time was half full, really tidy and well organised and is now, well, words fail me. I have managed to get some sorting done and have cleared a high shelf for storing the festive gifts from small hands and eyes.

I also sorted a pile of coordinated fabrics for my fabric buckets (as yet unmade) and placemats;

I mentioned before I made one and it was a little small, I have upscaled the pieces and have them all cut out but just haven't had time, this is the first one for you to admire. Front;

And back;

There are now a whole party of monkeys in my Folksy shop ready to be rehomed in time for Christmas;

I have made several custom order slouchy shoulder bags, here are two;

I went yesterday to the K&S in Harrogate, we got there early as we'd left plenty of time not knowing how far the snow had spread, it wasn't too bad here and the roads had been cleared etc. We had a great day and I have lots of buttons and some lovely things for gift making and a personal knitting project that I will share later in the week. It started snowing, alot, around 3pm so we revisited one or two stalls we wanted to go back and grab bargains from, went for a wee and set off to the car. It was hidden by about five inches of snow, horrid, cold, blowing horizontal snow. It was like being held hostage in a Christmas card!! We set off very slowly, the roads had not been gritted! It was very slow indeed, especially when there was a lorry stuck in Blubberhouses, it was very slidy and very scary, from skipton it was gritted and still slow but moving in a safe manner. It took us three hours to drive what had taken us 45 minutes earlier in the day! I found this vid of skipton to blubberhouses on youtube, it shows you what the road is like, it wasn't sunny, or light, or clear, you couldn't see the edge of the road or the car in front or the sky or the sheep!

Anyway, we made it in one piece with only one hairy moment which I'm not dwelling on today.

Off to find a blanket and some knitting!

Daisie xxx

I Said It So Well Last Year

2010-11-25T07:49:00.001Z

I said it so well last year that I'm not going to say it again, nothing changes, it's still the same, we're just a year older but no wiser :)

Happy anniversary Simon, xxx

Slow Down Time, Please

2010-11-23T07:43:00.002Z

Another pictureless update;

The computer is still languishing in it's sick bed, oh come on already will you HP!!

I have completed five sets of festive bunting and posted two off already, I have lots of triangles left so am in need of making some more!

The manbag still has no buttons, I am just too fussy and cannot quite find the right ones.

The dinosaur has a body that is stuffed, a row of knitted plates on his back and is just awaiting some legs.

The hat/scarf combo is finished and ready to wrap.

The place mat pieces are all cut up and pieced ready to sew together when I get some time.

There is a Francesca Mummy made gift on the needles.

Elizabeth's measurements are in need of taking and I must get cracking with her Mummy made gift.

And, I saved the best until last, we have a wall, a proper hallway and everything. We have a shoe rack and coat pegs and am so happy with it I want to keep going out so I can open the front door and walk into it :))

Ceilings next Saturdy and K&S on sunday, a lovely weekend ahead, just have to get throught he week first!

Daisie xxx

Triangles, Trianlges Everywhere!

2010-11-08T21:21:00.002Z

Only a quick update as the computer has followed the example of the camera and has died a death on me, it's currently at the HP hospital and I am awaiting it's return to me soon! Elizabeth has very kindly allowed me to use her tiny wee acer (good job I don't have fat fingers is all I can say!) so I thought I'd drop in to let you know that the hat/scarf combo that wasn't on the list is nearly complete and Nathaniel's manbag is made (and looking rather brilliant) and just awaiting buttons, I have cut out about forty thousand festive traingles, have sewn some together, have ordered and taken delivery of the tape to make them into the ultimate in eco decorations. I made one placemat but it all came out a little bit smaller than I had planned so off to the greaseproof paper to draw up another pattern. Not bad progrees on the list front and we have taken up all the floorboards in the front room and replaced them with spangely new ones, I really was that excited I nearly weed, can't wait to be able to show you some pictures. Please remember when I say we I actually mean Simon!

Daisie xxx

I Would Really Like.....

2010-11-05T12:56:00.002Z

..... to make several gifts for Christmas this year as well as things for my beautiful, coming along nicely thank you, will be habitable by the end of December, handmade home.

I have lots of things planned in my head and wanted to just write them down for the record (I may make a list in the sidebar so you can see my progress and shout at me if it gets too slow).

For the house (you will soon realise Kirsty is not a patch on me)!

2 (if not more) quilted fabric buckets to sit beside the sofa for knitting and magazines and such stuff that usually clutters all surfaces in our house.

8 quilted table mats, I have taken inspiration from several posts about mug rugs, up scaled the whole idea and have a plan!

A table runner to match above.

A curtain to hide the bean bags and vaccuum behind in the cave under the stairs (which will be much more visible when the wall is knocked through and needs to be pretty).

For Christmas Gifts

1 knitted dinosaur (started but a long way to go for young master Sebastian).

1 man bag (for Nathaniel).

3 sets of bunting made with festive fabric.

1 funny hem skirt (Elizabeth's request, I'm going to measure her and do the Cal Patch thing and then get her to draw me the hem line she wants and do it in secret for a brilliant christmas suprise).

A mahoosive blanket/quilt affair for our bedroom, a gift to Simon and myself.

A fruit cake.

Several batches of mince pies but will leave til December.

A festive robbin.

3 fleecey bears.

1 green sock monkey.

I'm sure other things will pop into my head but I can't think of anything else I need to make at the moment......

So I just need to cram all of that around four children, school, nursery, seven hours peer support, playgroup, cooking etc.

Thank goodness I have someone to help with the house work;

Daisie xxx

Boo!

2010-11-01T08:03:00.002Z

I have never gone in for the Haloweenie thing, it just doesn't sit right with me. I feel like the Celtic new year celebration and some roman catholic saints celebration has all been mashed together and hijacked by big companies trying to make money. It has got bigger and bigger in recent years and I feel it's very much an American import. Haloween was never like this when I was a child.

Anyway, thanks to Disney and Club Penguin (social networking for small people) my girls have been a little obsessed this week so I gave in and we had a great afternoon carving pumpkins;

Elizabeth drew on the eyes, Nathaniel was in charge of noses and Francesca designed the mouths, I then got to work with a very sharp knife;

And we had delicious pumpkin and chilli soup for our tea;

We have saved all the seeds from the mush within and I would like to dry them out and make some pumpkin seed bread, any top tips on drying seeds?

We have had a busy half term holiday and progress on the house is amazing, we have a bit of the new floor down and it makes all the difference, we have walls and a newly cupboarded electric metre (phew). We still have a way to go but I have been looking at paint which means the end is in sight!

Today is the last day of the hols, all small people at home today, Simon at work so we are having a major clear out up stairs while he is not here to ~~hear me shout at them~~ help as I find it untrue that many hands make light work (think it must depend on the hands?!

Daisie xxx

Maud's Having An Outing

2010-10-23T20:49:00.003+01:00

I've only put this on as I don't like posts without pictures;

Maud is coming with me and all my handmade goodies tomorrow to a massive (yes really huge) gathering of local crfaters at the ACE centre in a nearby town to sell alongside all the musicky charity fund raising that is Oxjam. There are fifty confirmed stalls, it's going to be a great day, I'm really looking forward to it!

So I have spent today packing and getting ready for that and also cutting out a mountain of felt, I am running a workshop at the LET project as a member of the Art Exchange, I got to do a children's workshop (think I got the short straw) so opted for making christmas tree decorations as the ages range from 5 to 12. I fugured with the shapes precut and lots of buttons, sequins and glittery thread we can make it as easy or as complicated at the child wants. We can sew or stick,. whichever is easiest.

A busy start to the half term holidays! I have also been trying this week to sort out the cluttered space that is my den/cupboard/wardrobe. Remember we built an extra room(ish) when we gutted our bedroom and remember how empty and lovely it looked?
Well, needless to say it doesn't look like that anymore, it is bursting at the seams and with recent mad crafting it has become somewhat of a mess! I took 'before' pictures on monday and am not yet ready to reveal how it looks 'after' - another million man-hours needed I think. Progress is slow with so many small people to ~~get in the way~~ help me!

The renovations are finally coming together, Simon and I (well, mostly Simon) put the hallway wall up this morning and with him at home this week the plan is to lay the new floor and put the ceiling up. It's all very exciting but I feel so near and yet so very far.....

Daisie xxx

A Literal Mind

2010-10-20T07:28:00.002+01:00

Last night, picture the scene, if you will, we'd gotten cold and wet at school so had bathed and donned PJs when we got home, we were warm and snuggled. We expected Simon in for his tea (doesn't happen often so a bit of an occasion) but by six with no Simon we sat down to eat before the boys fell asleep. The conversation was usual, who we'd sat next to at lunch, what writing/number work we'd done etc.

I said, casually 'I wonder where Daddy is?'

Nathaniel looked at me as if I was a bit stupid and said (in a tone to match the look) 'he's at Burnley College'

Elizabeth expanded the theory and said 'I think he's just got stuck at work'

After another minute or two of noshing and chatting Nathaniel looked at me very concerned and asked 'will someone get him out?'

'Who? What?'

'Daddy, if he's stuck someone must get him unsticked and tell him to go down the stairs and come home'

Wonderful images of Pooh stuck in a hole came to mind.

Needless to say he was 'unsticked' and was home for kisses before bed!

Decisions Decisions!

2010-10-17T16:34:00.002+01:00

I am a one woman making machine today, my womanly bike has returned again so I have not got dressed today, love a lazy sunday, especially when I ache all over and feel a bit poo!

I have knitted these little bootees and matching hat for a teacher at school who is expecting a baby girl in around three weeks;

I have finally finished some bunting for my friend's little girl (only been making it forever), this is just a sneaky peep as she's not seen it yet, don't want to spoil the suprise too much;

And I made my funky purple zig-zag bag, ooooh, I love it so much but can't decide which button I want to go in the loop to keep everything inside;

This is a slightly better picture;

If we number them 1 to 5, left to right, I like number one best, Simon says number three, Elizabeth likes number four, what do you think?

Daisie xxx

Oooooooooooooooh!

2010-10-14T14:13:00.003+01:00

Lookie what I got;

I went out with a friend from playgroup, she's hunting for bunting fabric for her shabby chic vintage tea party themed wedding next year, I took her to a place I hadn't been before, oooh, lots of lovely fabrics at amazing prices. I found this, it's quite heavy, upholstery type cotton, the colours are much brighter than they are in the pic. I took the roll to the man at the big table as I couldn't find a price on it. He said "It's 5.99 a metre", more than I would spend on fabric for me but if I got 2mtrs I could make a bag, sell it and cover my costs so I asked for 2. He said "there's a bit more but I'm not leaving it on the roll, do you want it?" "erm...." dither dither, thinking does he want more money..... So I bit the bullet and said yes, he folded it as only a man can (badly) and handed it over and asked for £11. Now my maths is not great but..... I asked was that right he said yes and there you have it, I have nearly four metres of this delish stuff for a mere £11. I do hope he doesn't get into trouble when the boss gets back!

And I have had several harsh words with my camera, I really do need a new one, and managed to get it to work long enough to take some half decent pictures of the changing bags I've made this week;

I took Amanda's advice and threw in a little 'free' gift with each bag;

Especially pleased with how the owl turned out;

Both bags are now listed in my Folksy Shop so we'll just have to see what happens. A big thank you to all who commented, your opinion really matters to me.

Daisie xxx

A New Design

2010-10-10T20:26:00.002+01:00

The changing bag is finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The fabric my customer chose is just yummy and perfect for a girl or a boy. There was some wastage as I cut the pieces to show the pattern off to it's best.

The front;

I managed to line the top flappy panel up with the print on the front of the bag to keep the zebra in all his glory;

I used two of my lovely Dutton's buttons (well, she is a very special customer) to keep the front shut, I figured most Mummies can do buttons one handed but maybe not tie a bow?

The back shows the lion;

There are monkeys (monkies?) climbing up the side panels and I cut the straps to show the giraffe's long neck at both the front and back when worn cross body;

I am really pleased with how this turned out. There is a large middle section to the interior with four large patch pockets each big enough for a packet of wipes or a couple of nappies, spare clothes etc, I didn't add any external pockets as I didn't want to spoil the images on the fabric but think there is more than enough storage space for a day out with a baby.

I think I may be under selling myslef slightly though. I know there is alot about pricing going on at the moment and nothing annoys me more than someone selling the same sort of item for half what I'm selling for but equally I have trouble putting a price on my time and care and lack confidence in the value of my product. Gina has talked about this recently as has Nifty, there has been lots going on on the Folksy Forums today too but I haven't been to look yet.

The customer is paying me £15 for this one of a kind, handmade, designed by me changing bag for her daughter's new baby girl. She came to choose fabric for a shoulder bag for herself, I charge £15 for my slouchy shoulder bags, they sell well and people like them as much as I like to make them. Some of the fabrics I use cost little and some cost more so pricing the bags like this means the profit I make for each is different but felt I needed some continuity and that it would all 'even out in the end'. The changing bag took me longer to make, partly because it's a new design, partly becasue there are more components which makes construction longer and harder. I am thinking that maybe I should be charging twice that for such a lovely item. But then I think what would it look like sitting next to an equally lovely shoulder bag at half the price on my craft fair stall, is one too expensive and one too cheap?

This bag will go for £15 becasue that is what I quoted the customer and becasue she is so lovely and I know the bag will be loved (and lets face it yummy baby bags are probably worth their weight in advertising).

I need to do some thinking and would be grateful for any input.

Thanks, Daisie xxx

I Am Still Here (Somewhere)

2010-10-07T20:20:00.005+01:00

I seem to be lacking in the blog spirit at the moment, there is lots going on but I have been feeling a little ~~shit~~ ill with a week long cold, sore throat, headache, hurting all over finished off with a three day migraine, am feeling slightly more normal today so thought I'd make an appearance and ~~make excuses~~ explain where I've been.

I have had a custom order for two bags, a shoulder bag made in fabric of the customers own choosing (she came and sat on my bed and rummaged through my stash), I was quite proud of myself as I didn't hide anything before she arrived and let her choose whatever she wanted. Mandy chose this rather lush chocolate fabric with gold embroidered leaves and red berries for her new bag for her new job;

Sideways picture and not the best but you get the idea! She also asked me to make a changing bag for her daughter who gave birth to a beautiful baby girl this week. It was a challenge for me as I had to incorporate things that I don't normally but out came the good old greaseproof paper and I chopped and eyeballed for days and came up with a design I'm happy with. The bag looks amazing and is just waiting for me to undo some top stitching and redo it, ever the perfectionist that I am and it needs some button holes and buttons to finish, hopefully will get it done over the weekend and will share then.

This small person has been throwing herself into school life in Y5, reading more than is natural and talking non-stop about vikings and equivilant fractions;

This small person has been driving me up the wall everyday since we went back to school, I am sure that "put your shoes on" is not too difficult an instruction but I think when you are a pink princess that lives in fairy land it loses something in translation and I therefore have to repeat it about a gazillion times between eight and eight thirty;

But she is forgiven because today the boys and I were at the centre and we went outside for a play as it wasn't raining (for a change) and when she spotted us while she was doing PE in the yard with her class I could see her waving hands and hear her delighted screams all the way across the playground! It's lovely to know that she loves me just as much as I love her!

This little person is finding it hard being a nursery boy with three hours away from us each day. He is enjoying all the new things to play with and the new things to learn but is tired and grumpy because of it;

And this little person has not slept for weeks and weeks, he has the snotty snozzle that we've all had and four (yes, FOUR) molars have sprouted in his mouth in the last three days, he has not been happy, I have been tired and unwell, it has been a hellish time. I am hoping that now they're through he should start to feel a little happier and more settled;

He is lovely though!

I have taken on some new groups as a peer suporter which has been going well. Busy fun packed weeks for me now.

And the highlight of this long, busy, poorly week is meeting my sister who is flying ~~from the other end of the earth~~ up from Newquay tonight and meeting me for lunch tomorrow, don't think I'll be able to sleep with the excitement! The last time I saw her was after my massive walk when we wnet shopping and my feet would have dropped off if I'd not have loved her so much!

Daisie xxx

A Whole Year!?

2010-09-29T20:48:00.003+01:00

I can't believe that yesterday was a whole year since our littlest boy arrived in our lives;

It was a long day for us all and not at all what we had planned but he arrived safe and sound and within three hours of his hospital delivery I was snuggled up in my own bed at home, so not all bad really.

I feel like a really bad mother after the train crash of a birthday cake;

It tasted good though!!

Sebastian was slightly alarmed when we all sang to him;

But soon got over it when he could get his hands on the goodies;

Happy Birthday baby Seb!

Knit, Knit, Knit, Knit, Knitting!!

2010-09-26T13:45:00.003+01:00

I haven't done any real knitting for ages, please bear in mind that I only do little projects anyway as I like to finish and move on, instant gratification and all that. Last night I knocked out this funky girlie beanie hat for me (well, it has to be for me as I made a small mistake in the pattern and although I have been reassured by everyone in the house that it's not visible, I know it's there and couldn't be bothered to frog). It does look good though and is rather cosie;

There must be a way to take good pictures of yourself, tips anyone?!

In my new knitty mood, am sure it's the colder and darker evenings that drive me to it, I got out all the boxes of yarn that are stashed upstairs looking for inspiration, I found some beautiful and silky feeling yarn I bought at the Knitting and Stitching show last year. It was a big twisted skien and looked so amazing and professional until I wound it, badly, into this uninspiring 'ball';

But then I turned it into this;

Ooooooh, it's pretty and is available (with free postage and packing) in my shop!

I'm not the only one knitting in the Davies' househlod this weekend, a crippled Elizabeth (she tripped last night and hurt her toe, I told her to not be so silly and get some sleep and it would be better in the morning, actually by this morning it was huge and purple, it is the worst bruise I have ever seen!), slippers for school tomorrow! While she's been laying around feeling sorry for herself she has started on her finger knitting christmas gift list;

Don't you just love her old lady slippers!? Am hoping that the children will get me some for christmas.

Daisie xxx

A Quick Round-Up

2010-09-24T11:59:00.002+01:00

This week has just gone in a blur, there have been so many changes to our lives this last few weeks, the most amazing is that my big man Nathaniel has started his nursery school place, all three and four year old children in the Uk are entitled to fifteen hours a week (term time) of free education. This can either be knocked off a full time place at a private nursery or, like we do, five mornings or afternoons at a nursery school. He is very tired but is having an amazing time, playing new games, making new friends and learning lots during his play. It's a wonderful opportunity for him but I miss him very much indeed;

An awful picture of me (because I took it) but I just love his cheeky face!

There has been lots and lots of independant standing from this little man;

On the floor, on the bed, on the stairs (argh) and even on the Wii balance board;

Last night after tea he took three steps, I'm surprised you couldn't hear the cheering and clapping where you live! I don't think it'll be long and then it'll be time for shoes, he has grown so quick, has so many words and I can't believe we'll have had him for a whole year next week.

Sebastian is missing his big brother too and goes around the house in the morning looking under tables, in other rooms and over the stair gate shouting 'Nan-Nan', I'm sure when he gets used to his absence he'll love the time when he doesn't have to share me with anyone else.

He still won't nurse at the breast and I'm still pumping, how long for I'm not sure yet but am sure it'll be a discussion for my other blog before long.

I've spent the week filling custom orders from last Sunday and have set up a facebook page for my creations (go me)!

We, as volunteers are now being managed by the nct which is really rather good, we all met our new training bod yesterday, she's very nice and I have a feeling that we will continue to work well together. It was lovely to meet up with the girls that trained with me and have a good old gossip about what we're all doing. We have booked our Christmas gathering and someone suggested a night out too, maybe I'll get a bit of a social life going on now too.....?!

I have been asked to extend my peer supporter role in another children's centre in the town and things are looking good for my future with that in mind.

It's all very exciting and very busy at the mo, but good busy, if you know what I mean?

Daisie xxx

Let Them Eat Cake!

2010-09-20T12:25:00.002+01:00

I had the most fabulous day yesterday having a charity fundraising vintage tea party with the Alternative Women's Institute.

There was more cake than you could shake a stick at;

This is where I chose to sit, next to the kendal mint cake cheese cake (OMG, I can't tell you how wonderful it tasted);

There were lots and lots of beautiful china tea cups, saucers and side plates from a very generous lady's collection who allowed us to drink tea from her treasures.

There was bunting and an amazing party atmosphere;

It had taken us two hours (and some) to get to this point and it was destroyed in a matter of minutes when 90+ vintage clad ladies turned up to eat cake.

I wish I had taken more photos of the amazing outfits that were worn, I opted in the end for a slim fitting black wrap dress, high boots and funky purple tights with my cloche hat and fancy flower brooch. I thought I looked rather fetching but as more and more people arrived I beagn to feel decidedly under dressed. I was driving too so was the only sober person by the end of proceedings. It was such fun and I can't wait until the next one!

Here is my small corner;

It was a bit slapdash and cobbled together as there were only round tables for us to use (?) so it all turned out a little higgeldy piggeldy but I made a healthy number of sales and donated a cut to the charity pot, I met some fabulous women and came home with some custom orders to fill!

Best get some sewing done!

Daisie xxx

My Poor Cat

2010-09-18T08:23:00.002+01:00

What a week I have had, not to mention the poor cat. The boys and I popped to Staples after the school run on wednesday morning, when we returned home I could hear a cat crying. Had a little lookie around the street and at the back of the house, couldn't see anything so went inside to unpack etc. The guy from the end of the road came a knocking and said 'have you seen that cat' I told him I'd had a look but couldn't see anything but hoped it wasn't one of mine. He told me it was under a car near his house and was in a very bad way. I went to have a look and horror of horrors there was my very old man cat covered in blood, laying peculiarly crying his little heart out. I ran home and rang my Dad and asked if he'd come and sit with the boys, the cat had been hit by a car. I grabbed a towel and went to bring him in. He was a long way under the car and I had trouble reaching so lay down in the road and shuffled under the car. It was pouring with rain. Vincent was very wet, very cold and had obvioulsy lost alot of blood. I brought him in and dried him off a little, wrapped him in a new towel and put him in the ring sling (cat carrier down at garage, too far to go with two small boys and poorly cat). God knows what the other pet owners thought as I entered the vet visibly crying, wet hair, muddy jeans, cat in baby carrier......? We found two big wounds and he had no claws left (classic with car accidents, they extend their claws on impact to try and stop themselves moving and of course they just get torn out) but luckily nothing was broken or dislocated. The vet seemed to think that he was ok just in shock. I left him there for soem fluids, pain relief and extra TLC. He spent the night in the animal hospital in Preston and I collected him to come home on Thursday evening. It seems on closer examination that it wasn't a car but was either a dog or fox, he has lots and lots of puncture wounds all over his body, two that are quite big but they will heal in time. He has been shaken and may be brain damaged; he's having trouble walking but otherwise is his usual loving slef. I am so pleased that he is ok and in our home again. he is a very old man at more than 14 years old and I really did think this was the end of him. He is a tough little cat!

When I went to collect him our vet (who is brilliant but a little dippy) said that she'd tried to give him a wash as he was 'quite bloody still' and she knew there were children at home and didn't want them to be distressed. When I thanked her she said; 'don't thank me, he was bloody, now he is wet and bloody'

I have the alternative WI party tomorrow afternoon and feel like I am just not ready, looking forward to it thoguh :D

Daisie xxx

A Safe Place?

2010-09-13T20:35:00.002+01:00

Just a quick set of butterfly pictures, the children and I spotted these while out and about with my parents on Sunday;

And, you know when you put something in a safe place and then can't remember where said safe place is? Well I did that and have spent almost a week looking for my empty key fobs so I could add my button photos to make them super yummy;

You like?

Daisie xxx

Blimey,

2010-09-11T12:27:00.002+01:00

folks might actually think this is a crafty blog this week!?

Another pinny, pink and lovely;

Another on not so pink but just as lovely;

I made this with realy long ties at the waist for a humongous bow;

I love this fabric, the flowers are printed in a style that makes it look like chain stitch embroidery;

And it has a mint green lining;

I have made small zippy pouches with the off cuts from these, waste not want not etc etc, pictures tomorrow.

I am going to the wonderous shop of Staples this afternoon with Elizabeth in tow to find some more manilla tags for vintage button sets and then we plan on a lazy day while Simon continues to slog away in the front of the house, more news on that when it looks different; the battoning takes an age so we have square walls and corners but doesn't look like anything until the plaster goes up....... hopefully next week.......

Daisie xxx

Please

2010-09-11T07:40:00.002+01:00

go and do this to your google reader!! It's fabulous, you can see everyone's pitures and words in their natural habitat! I love it, thank Jackie for pointing me in the right direction! x

Fancy Maud

2010-09-10T21:17:00.003+01:00

Maud (well Lynsey did say they had to have old lady names) has been hiding out in Francesca's bedroom while the demolition/reconstruction is in progress. I have managed to get a bit more fair sewing done today so trooped upstairs to get Maud to model something for me. She looked mighty fine when I got there though;

This is what I managed to get done today;

I thought a pinny would be just the job for this fabulous fishy fabric.

My little helper told me it needs a good iron;

And then he took delight in the debris that covers Francesca's bedroom floor just hours after I have spent ~~a lifetime~~ and afternoon cleaning it;

Daisie xxx

Lovely Buttons

2010-09-08T20:26:00.002+01:00

In preparation for the local Alternative Women's Institute gathering where I will be holding a stall on the 19th, I ordered some adjustable silver ring blanks and then I turned them into these beauties;

It was hard deciding which bits of my stash I would be willing to part with but after the first couple they just looked so brilliant it spurred me on and I have twenty or so ready for sale.

I also had the photograph I took of my buttons many moons ago printed as I had a brilliant idea but alas, could not find the other main component part, tsk, will have another search tomorrow. Typical though, isn't it? You put something safe and can you remember where it is, never, bloody baby brain :(

While trawling through my boxes (of which there are many) I came across many fifies sets cut from garments that haven't seen the light of day since I found them and put them in a box! So thought it was about time they had a new home and some love, or purpose;

And because it's nearly Christmas (oh yes it is!!) I have made some more ice skates;

These are now snuggled in a box with some felt christmas trees with button baubles ready for the fair.

The Alternative WI was set up by eight local women who hire a venue, invite all their friends, all of whom buy a ticket and bake a cake, we then gather and eat said cake, bitch, nag and everything else that's good in a women only environment. There is a raffle and games and this year me (donating 10% of any sales) stuffing my face with cake, all money raised is donated to charity, the chosen charity this year is papyrus. And to add even more fun to the proceedings, this year we have a bar!!

Can't wait ;)

Daisie xxx

PS: if anyone fancies any of the rings (£2) or button cards (priced in picture) please let me know before the 19th and you can have them instead, you are my favourites after all! x

A New School Year

2010-09-06T21:30:00.003+01:00

I seem to be a very bad blogger at the moment, sorry.

I can't believe that my girlies go back to school this time into a year five and year two class, scary indeed;

I may be a bad blogger but have been a good Mummy and made Francesca a new book bag;

She loves it!!

I love this picture I took of my Dad and Sebastian;

We have been making lots of things which include these yummy cakes;

And these very funky bread 'rolls' (I use the term loosely) to go with soup for our tea, Elizabeth crfated some beautiful plaits and Nathaniel made some cottage loaves because he liked sticking his finger all the way through and Francesca made a pair of snails;

I do worry about them sometimes......?

Daisie xxx

A Funny Old Week

2010-08-29T08:43:00.005+01:00

I can't believe it's been a whole week since I last blogged, we've been busy, I feel like we've done more this week than we've done all holiday mainly because the rain has been in short heavy bursts and not long drawn out wet sessions as it has been which has allowed us to get out and about without drowning.

Monday we had a mega clean, bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen in an attempt to minimise the horrid dust that is still settling from the demolition. Then we went off for a long overdue cup of tea and catch up with the lovely Lynsey and her beautiful girls. Lynsey and I met when Francesca was nearly a year old at a local playgroup and we have spent many a happy hour chatting and crafting together but since the girls reached school age we have seen less of each other as I am busy with my boys and boobie stuff and Lynsey is busy with Cuteable and Swirlyarts. We really shouldn't leave it so long next time!!

And then I took delivery of an electric breast pump, you can read more (if you're so inclined) on the other side.

Tuesday was very wet indeed, so we hid out at a friend's house and drank tea and watched Kung-Fu Panda.

Wednesday we awoke to a funny yellow light in the sky so we did a tip run, hung lots and lots of washing to dry in the garden, packed a picnic, mopped the floors and headed out to meet some friends for lunch in the park. We played football, ate sandwiches and then, against my better judgement, we allowed them to play on the 'play park' there is lots of sand and a water pump and massive swings etc. It was all very wet. And muddy. We enjoyed four hours of silliness but Francesca got so wet and muddy we had to hide her behind the prams, strip her off and put her in my friend's little girl's spare clothes (Holly is just two and potty training, hence spare clothes, a good job Francecsa is so tall and skinny or she'd have been coming home naked) to stop the hypothermia!

Before we got wet;

Thursday we ventured over to Wycoller Country Park with another picnic and some friends, we had great fun paddling through the stream, corssing bridges and rolling down the big hill;

We found a huge apple tree and spent a while with Francesca on my shoulders pulling down branches so we could harvest some apples for crumble;

Sebastian joined in too, crawling aorund the field getting wet muddy knees and finding sticks;

When we got home Elizabeth and I sat at the table and made some button bracelets and Christmas cards for a couple of fairs I have in the coming weeks;

Please tell me it's not too early to be crafting for Christmas!?

Friday the children came to join me at Baby Drop In/Clinic where I had a great morning with my BF mums and saw a lady I haven't seen for a long time, since she went back to work, and her lovely daughter.

It was brightening up nicely so we came home for lunch and hung some washing out and then headed off to the woods with a friend and her daughter (Nathaniel's girlfriend), we thought we'd pick some blackberries to go with the apples in our crumble but someone had beaten us to it. There were plenty of green ones left so we'll try again next week. They are growing really well because of all the rain but not ripening as we have had no sunshine. We paddled in the river, climbed trees, spotted carved animals and walked for miles and miles. Nathaniel and Erin found a very high climbing frame and to be honest we didn't think that they'd climb it but they did, I took this picture standing underneath with my arm stretched up, it was that high;

Yesterday we had a wonder into the town so the men folk could get their hair cut, a very brave Nathaniel waited with his Daddy and sat in the big chair and is now convinced he is grown-up as he had his hair done at the barbers!

Today we are being lazy, I got a big piece of beef reduced at the supermarket that is soaking in a bottle of wine in the oven and making the house smell devine. I am going to be Simon's lovely assistant and help him do some more battoning and boarding out in the house. Then an early night for all as we are very tired at the mo (wonder if we're coming down with something?) and restore our energy and see how much we can cram into the next three days before the girls go back to school :(

Daisie xxx

It's The Small Things

2010-08-22T15:16:00.004+01:00

That have brightened my cloudy, miserable life this week.

Buying school shoes was much less of a trauma than I had expected, with one daugter wearing an EE fitting and the other in a H it can be sad sometimes that they have so little choice in good fitting school shoes, shoes they wear everyday. They both had four or more pairs to choose from today and everyone came out of the shop happy.

Then we went welly shopping (for park/woodie adventures next week) and again each child got a pair that not only fit but that they liked too!

And then I had to have a little lookie in the sale pile and look what I found;

Super bargain they were too!!

And then I found these with no tag;

But they lovely lady at the till said I could have the white pair for the same price as the pink ones;

Two pairs of new shoes!

And the best bit?

The tag;

Happy days ;)

Daisie xxx

A Grand Day Out

2010-08-20T20:31:00.002+01:00

We have had lots of short dashes to the park inbetween showers. I am totally sick of the rain, with the house like a building site it would be wonderful to have time to flit in and out of the garden and to have the door open to just come and go and make our usable living space seem a little bigger. Bah and pish to the british summer :(

We had a vaguely sunny day (only rained for two quite heavy but short bursts) and we set out to a different park with my fellow peer supporter, Laura and her two children Daisy and Bowan;

Francesca always did want a little sister;

We saw some lovely rabbits and some chickens too;

And we caught this lovely shot when Bowan shared his hat with Nathaniel;

And there was, of course, time made for swinging;

A lovely day!

Daisie xxx

My Little Workie Man

2010-08-17T08:29:00.003+01:00

Nathaniel is loving the renovations, he likes to help, he has his wheel barrow, which was put to great use the day we filled the skip, he has his own 'measure' and 'level' and likes to poke his screwdriver into holes. He also likes to climb ladders;

Which is very very scary!!

Work has slowed down somewhat beacuse Simon is back at work. We are boarded out upstairs and my FIL has replaced the old bathroom door (that was cut at an angle at the top to fit the badly made hole many years ago, because we have taken the wall down we could make a square hole for it, looks much better), most of downstairs has been battoned out so the walls will be straight with proper corners, no more slanted bookshelves for us!! With the walls to finish, plaster and a new floor to lay we're not expecting to start decorating until the October half term holiday. Simon will plod on doing bits after work and during weekends. It will be worth it (she says repeatedly as she rocks in the corner).

Yesterday was a relaxed affair, Elizabeth and I are planning a late night cinema adventure together later in the week so we just had friends visit and we made cake yesterday. Prue Leith's amazing chocolate and orange cake;

And for the non ~~human~~ chocolate eaters amongst us an orange sponge with orange buttercream on top;

Seb has his first slice of birthday cake and enjoyed it although he lacks finesse;

There have been some crafting activities but they are for presents so I'll share them at a later date.

Daisie xxx

My Elizabeth

2010-08-16T22:15:00.003+01:00

Elizabeth is beautiful and has amazing deep brown eyes that change depth of colour with her mood, she has too many big teeth for her small mouth which is making them crooked at the moment and makes me think they'll end up just like mine. Her hair is getting darker as she gets older, she is clever and funny and great company. She is a fierce friend and a fantastic big sister.

When we converse it is like looking into a mirror and like talking to one too whcih I find enchanting and infuriating in equal measure.

Thank you Elizabeth for helping to shape me into the mother I am today, for teaching me things I never dreamed I could learn, for loving me even when I am cross with you, for knowing when to crack a joke and when just to be near me.

Happy 9th birthday my beautiful baby.