Daisy Tops, Snow Suits And Favours

Well, we awoke this morning to the sound of Elizabeth barking, very bad cough indeed! We had only been asleep for an hour or so as Nathaniel had cried most of the night or coughed. I hate the lurgy! I feel naff and my lips look as if they may completely flake away at any moment.

My mood was greatly improved when shopping for bread and milk and fruit when I found this delightful daisy top for just £4;



And round the corner a knitted pink dress for Francesca that cost a mere £2.50;



Even though we are feeling so lousy we are not letting our germs spoil the planned outing to Blackpool tonight to see the illuminations! We go every October half-term and have our tea out and get the tram through Blackpool and 'ooh' and 'aah' at the lights. I must say that in recent years it has been the reactions of the children that make the evening so special.

In preparation I have hauled out Nathaniel's snow suit to keep him warm;




As you can see from the photo, he's not impressed!

Not as impressed as he was when he wore this scarf like pink hair;



And not forgetting the favour I mentioned last night......

My friend Julie is very ill at the moment, she has leukemia and is currently undergoing chemo therapy. When I asked her if there was anything I could do she said that I should shout from the roof tops and get as many people as I could to register on the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Donor List. Feeling small and quite useless I enlisted the help of the wonderful Mia at our local children's centre and we have arranged to hold our own recruitment clinic. We will be hosting the event on December 4th and I have made a book for people to sign for Julie, there will be many people there simply because they know her! I ask of my dear blog land friends that you send a card for Julie. None of this will make her better but I think she will find comfort and courage from knowing that so many people wish her well. If you would like to please email me (details on blogger profile) and I will send you my mailing address. My plan is to deliver a box of cards and goodies to her the weekend after the event and let her know how many more people are on the list!

For those not wanting to send card, there will be an e-flyer (soonish) about the event that I would love you to post on your blog until the event, you may not be near but some of your readers might be!

Thanking you all in advance, Daisie xxx

18?!

Happy Birthday Charlotte!!!

I can't quite believe that my baby sister is 18 but she is (we're all getting older......)

I made her this cute little felt badge;



And knitted her some buttercup coloured (as requested) beads;



And delivered them in this cute little gift box;






With matching tag;

And continuing this yellow theme, a ladybug card;

Bit blurry but cute!

We all went over for birthday tea and had cake!!

I had a great day out on Monday with my pal Gil and treated myself to some new scissors and she treated me to lunch! Very nice indeed!! Thanks Gil!

Yesterday saw an afternoon of making cards, eating cake and watching HSM 1 and 2 with some friends in preparation for today. 17 of us went to see HSM 3 at the cinema, it was heaving and there were a few squeals when Troy removed his shirt (not from the children but from pervy Mums, not me, I might add!). I really enjoyed it even though my nose was runny and my head was sore. Bloody cold virus!!!

Come back again tomorrow, I have a favour to ask you....

Daisie xxx

All Packed Up

Well, with my design skills (don't laugh) and Simon's technological skills (no, really, don't laugh) we tweaked the brooch card design and printed lots off. After a while with the guillotine and some sticky stuff my brooches looked like this;




Impressive or what?! Sadly though I hadn't yet read the comment that Ruth left on my last post so the pic is a little hazy. But after reading her comment and packing my little bottles of Christmas Cheer and some little bottles of Love and wiping my lens I took a much clearer picture;



A big thanks to Simon for being patient with me and a big thank you to Ruth for her photographic expertise (again, don't laugh!).

Today I am off out with my friend Gil and am leaving all the children with their Daddy! I am so excited, can't wait! And I have had a long time to wait as the clocks went back yesterday (bloody daylight savings, what a nightmare) and although it seemed like half past seven to three small body clocks it was only in fact half past six! Argh! But it gives me lots of time to get ready.....

Daisie xxx

Bargains And Brooches

Hello, blimey, what a lovely day we had yesterday. The children and I got up early, leaving Simon in bed (See what a good wife I am?) and made breakfast. For some reason we didn't hear the post man when he knocked to deliver these rather marvelous Jeremy Strong books that I won on eBay for Elizabeth. With a bit of luck they may last her until the end of the week, I have never known such a veracious reader at only seven years old!



So because we missed the postman and I am going out on Monday (with no children, woo-hoo) we decided to leave Simon in bed and venture into town and then along to the sorting office.

I have been on a hunt for black leggings all week to wear with my knitted boots and big jumper. So we went into all the cheapie clothes shops and at first I could find no leggings but I did find this beautiful skirt;



For only a single pound, how good is that?!

Really rather summery but I may wear it over my leggings and boots with a big black jumper? I did manage, eventually, to find some leggings, they are few and far between. They were everywhere last year, look at me being a fashion follower, ha ha!

After lunch Lynsey came to call to give us one of her beautiful invitations and also to give me some of her amazing 'freecycle' envelope stash! What a great pal!

Then Simon's Mum came and joined us for a cup of coffee and a catch up.

I spent the rest of the afternoon knitting a lacy scarf for me (yes, for me!) with some brownie- purple yarn that I picked up last year with the intention of knitting something for me. The time has arrived. I am making nothing more for the fair until it is finished!

While I knitted Simon made the card backs for my brooches;

I used a free printable backing paper pattern I got from my Artymiss subscription but printed it out at A4 and then printed the text over the top. Because I did it like this and not smaller blocks of the same patter it means that every one is slightly different depending where it was on the sheet and where I cut it.

I think they look really good;

The photos are a bit bad as the flash is now insisting on going off for all photos as we enter the dreaded British Summertime!

Daisie xxx

Hurrah!!!!!

It's Friday, it's after 4pm and all my children are here with me. We have all hugged together and jumped up and down and squealed because it's the holidays!!!!!!! They are delighted because we have so many lovely adventures planned for the coming week and I am pleased to not have to pack lunches! The cries of "I said get your knickers on!" and "Where did you put it?!" (when asked where kit bag/reading book/lunch box/spelling book is) and "We are going to be late for school!" will not be heard in this house until 8am on Tuesday November 4th! Woo-hooooooo!!!!!!!!


And due to my busy-ness yesterday morning (before going for a lovely play at school with Francesca, we had a great time, she introduced me to all her friends, showed me all her books, around her classroom etc. Nathaniel had fun too, his favourite was definately climbing in the yard on the climbing frame and going down the slide!) of chickens and stuff I managed to sit down last night and knit these lovely rosettes;



The beads and sequins are ready to go on them tonight!


And here are my babies post celebration squeeze;

Daisie xxx

A Quick Update (and cup of tea)

One taggy blanket. Super fluffy egg yolk fleece on one side and a soft white cotton filled with flying kites on the other;



There are twenty ribbon tags, sadly not each one is different but there are not many repeats. I seem to have (on closer inspection) a wonky ribbon but hey, for a first attempt, I'm very pleased!




A family of chicken hotties, complete with bottles;



And a red dragon pie ready to go in the oven on our return from school;

Veg peeled, chopped and loaded into the steamer.

Floor vaccuumed but not mopped but it's not that dirty.

Nathaniel had an early lunch and has gone for a snooze.

I am now going to sit with my cup of tea and log into my browser and see what the rest of you have been up to!

Daisie xxx

The Death Of The Chicken Hottie

The death of the chicken hottie (not The Death Of A Disco Dancer!), how sad. I have cut my last piece of yellow fleece with amazing scalloped edging (an IKEA bargain) into four chickens (2 small, 2 full size). I am very sad as I love these little fellows. Here they are waiting for faces and wings;


They will go to the fair with me. May have to have a trip to Ikea and See if I can get another but I haven't been lucky on that front for quite a while :-(

There were a few off cuts that are on their way to becoming taggy blankets for the soon to be arriving babies. Here's one I pinned last night;

Just need to find a nice gender neutral cotton for the back and hey presto!

I have a busy day ahead. I have been invited into Francesca's class this afternoon (in lieu of a parents' evening meeting) to see how the class works and to watch Francesca in her school environment. I am quite excited about it really. There will be time for a one on one chat with her class teacher too. I just hope that it's not like Elizabeth's first parents' evening when I came home in tears! Long story. The only sad thing is that because it's so early in the day Simon can't come too.

Then I am collecting Simon from college at half past three as we have an appointment with Elizabeth's class teacher just before 4. Then we can collect the girls from their sports clubs (Elizabeth is doing dance and Francesca is cheer leading!) and come home all together and eat together and maybe Simon will listen to reading books and read stories at bedtime. I am very excited and pleased as punch to have him home on a week night!

In between all this school/parent activity I need to make a red dragon pie, wash the floors, sew four chickens and try and get Nathaniel to have a snooze before we go to school and maybe even have time for a cup of tea!!

Daisie xxx