Olympic interference.

I know I've had sewing constipation recently but i think its going to be even more slow for the next few weeks due to Olympic interference!

(picture that my chum Marianne let me borrow, and yes she went to the Olympic tennis!)

I keep finding myself watching sport and doing very little else!

Is the Olympics distracting you or can you sew through it?

Art

As i currently have sewing constipation (yes my sewing gland seems well and truly bunged up!) today you get to see 'Art'. Well, i suppose you could call it that! I took my Little people to a drawing class on Sunday at the Barber institute of fine arts. They had a go at anatomical drawing!

First they did some warm up exercises - drawing a person very quickly

his

 and hers.

then they drew a foetus (from a picture of a wax model)

here is tinys

here is my version

and here is the lads, with a close up study of the head

then they tried to draw a wax model of an embryo

 first, mine and tinys (i drew it and she coloured, she was getting bored by this point)

and here is my lads

after this tiny decided to draw other things while my lad continued on to something else (i have no idea what!)

I think they enjoyed it, it was perhaps a bit advanced for tiny but they have some more over the summer which involve painting with scissors and wire!

visit here if your around brum over the summer and fancy doing some 'art'

Muppets

I've been sewing (very slowly) for swaps and can't show you it yet so, i though i'd let you laugh at my 2 muppets!

A weekends fun (cake is involved)

This weekend was tiny's 5th birthday.

i really can't believe she is five, doesn't seem 5 minutes since she was a really tiny baby. (she wasn't particularly small  but seems it now!)

i made her 2 new skirts (thank you kitschy coo), one with fairies ready for her fairy party.

Then, of course, there is the birthday cake. As you may have noticed i and a sucker for doing kids cakes and will perform to their whims! 

have you ever seen anything more girly! (yes they are dinosaur candles and that is a Lego figure skater on the top!)

The surprise come when you cut it open (mum fail - i forgot to take a picture of it) and it looks abit like this, but more impressive when it a whole cake and not just a slightly squashed slice!

thank you everything oz for the rainbow cake idea. please remind me next time i see a great looking cake not to show my children!

Anyway, she had a great party building fairy houses and looking for insects (slugs and toads!)

look at that big 'i'm 5!' smile

fabric and 60's cushions!

What ho,

A couple of weeks ago i was lucky enough to win some fabric but instead of posting it out to me, yesterday i met up with the lovely Rachel (who blogs here) for a coffee. 

I'm so jealous of all the lovely things she makes, and of her grans massive fabric collection, part of which is up for sale as she's emigrating. (if your in Cornwall this summer you could pop round and do some bargain shopping! just wish i could get there!)

here is the lovely fabric she brought for me

I'm even considering doing a little quilt with it (but don't hold me to that!)

 

Then we went for a shopping trip to the markets behind the bull ring.

I know mothers day was a while ago now but i need to get my mum her gift! I promised her some fabric!

Mum has decided that her cushion covers have had it

Yes, that is an original 1968/9 cushion cover. As you can see its got stained over the years and she wants new ones BUT the curtains (which i always thought matched but apparently are just very very close!) are staying so it has to go with this colour scheme!

A bit of a task i hear you say! Compared to everything on the market mums cushion cover is bright enough to require sunglasses!

Eventually with the help of Rachel and the fantastic chap on the fabric stall in the indoor market (he is fab, helpful and knowledgeable too) i got this.

Its a cord, it seems to match to colours in the cushion cover but will also go with the dark brown of her sofa.

I was wondering if some of the old covers could be salvaged to make edge strips/squares/flowers on the new cushions, tying them into the curtains.

What do you think?

swap goodies.

Today i recieved by goodies for the heart swap (i posted what i send here)

very exciting parcel (yes i put the little heart to one side)

it was full of little parcels (and some sweeties that i know a couple of small people will be interested in!)

The parcels contained...

so much hearty lovelyness. thank you swap partner :)

A little making

I have been very tired this last week and i think i now know why. The small people have infected me with some bug or other and its making me cough, thank you children!

I did however manage to finish the bag i was making for a thank you teacher gift. I have previously not made gifts myself for teachers at the end of term but bort them from this lovely lady. notebook covers with the teachers name on. This year my lads teaching assistant is the same lady he had last year so I've made her a bag instead (i know her reasonably well and think she'll love it)

Please excuse my manky carpet! 

I have made 2 so if anyone likes it the other one is available and i may get round to listing it some time in the next century!

I also got party bags made for Tiny's party (she's going to be 5!!!!!!)

Pink for the girls and blue for the boys

And although the party isn't till next weekend they are filled and ready to go!

Swap things

Hi all,

 OK here are some snaps of some goodies i sent for a swap. This was a heart swap so everything is hearty.

 I made a buttony heart picture, a lender heart and a magnetic one.

 I popped into our British heart foundation shop and found this pretty green heart (not handmade but very appropriate i thought). some love heart sweets and a lollipop in the anatomical shape of a heart (how could i resist!)

 A roll for crochet hooks, so my partner can have a go at making crochet hearts

 and a bag (i like making bags)

 yes, its lined with heart fabric and its empty like a heart ready to be filled.

TTFN!

Everything OZ

Hello chaps,

 Sorry its been while, Things have been really hectic and I've hardly had a chance to breath.

Well just before i went off on my boot camp (see my last post) i was sent a book to review

Its the all new and very lovely Everything OZ, the wizard book of makes and bakes.

This is the sequel to the inspired Everything Alice. The whole book has that turn of the century 'show' feel. Its in the type print used and its filled with lots of lovely snippets of the book and circusy poster.

As with everything Alice it has a multitude of different crafts, cakes, hair pieces, eye masks and of course ruby slippers, there are even doggy treats (for Toto).

I can't help but like this book (who doesn't like the idea of squashed witch cupcakes!) Its not as party themed as everything Alice but there are still ideas which i shall be using for Tinys forth coming birthday party (rainbow cake anyone?)

Having looked at the makes, i do find that they take up as little space as possible (so as to cram in loads) but then a little detail is lost in the instructions. I'll still be trying them though.

  Tiny and my lad got the chance to try some out at the weekend. Waterstones in Birmingham held an everything OZ craft session.

They tested muffins and rainbow cake.

Then they both made dancing tin men (and yes tiny had her face painted)

All in all a fun book with lots of lovely fun (and emerald green) projects.

something completely different

I know i normally tell you all about my latest make but today i wanted to tell you about my weekend away.

My hubby got me one of those KGD deals for christmas. It was for a weekend away at GI jane bootcamp.

Yes i did type that correctly - BOOT CAMP! 

Me, the sofa surfing queen of lazy doing excersize!!!!!!

Well off I went on friday, trainers and jog bottoms packed. My train journey down was exciting as train journeys generally are. On the train was a lady, with a bag and i wondered if she was bootcamping too. At the station i went out side to wait and lo and behold she joined me and we got chatting. As we did andother 5 ladies joined us and then we all piled in a taxi and set off. 

The place where the bootcamp is held is beautiful and the view out of the room i shared with 2 other lovely ladies was magnificent (but i failed to take pictures so you'll have to take my word for it!)

We got started once we had all been weighed and measured, situps, pressups and a 1.2mile run!

The next 2 days were packed with strenuous activities, hard work but utter fun . Our trainers were fantastic, pushing us to achieve everything we could. The sunday afternoon assult course (complete with wooden guns) was tough but even i kept going for the sake of the brown hens (our team, named after one of the hens that was wondering about and i kept eyeing up for dinner).

In the evenings we had salsa dancing and a body image talk. I also ventured into the 'ice bath' (big blue barrel filled with really cold water, and i mean really!) We also had a presentation from the nutritionalist.

I lost a little weight and some inches but more importantly i had the most fantastic weekend and have made some fantastic friends. I'd go again but not straight away, i need my muscles to recover first!