frogs+sprogs

Work In Progress

2011-06-15T14:13:00.000+01:00

I have spent the last week cutting scores of fabric into squares so I can finally starting making my patchwork blankets. It's great fun then arranging them into the final designs. Here's a preview of the very first one, many more are to come.

Patterns Galore

2011-05-30T20:52:00.000+01:00

First of all: this is not an offical product review, i.e. I have not been asked to review the following products or been offered anything in return for this. In fact I will never use this blog for any official product reviews, because this is not what this blog is for. So the following is purely something I came across and wanted to share.

I am not a huge magazine reader, they often just end up in a big pile beside my bed and eventually with huge delay I manage to get through them. But when I found myself in a newsagent's a couple of weeks ago with a few minutes to spare, I browsed through all the craft magazines that were for sale and two in particular caught my eyes, so I bought them - and have been very pleasantly surprised:

Both magazines offer a great selection of various craft projects, some of them I will be trying out myself soon. And amongst the advertisements I found a link to the Coats Crafts UK website, which features a large selection of free patterns for knitting, crochet, stictching and sewing. I am particulalry interested in all the patchwork patterns as that is next on my list so I can start using up my fabric scraps. What's on your list?

Colour Sorting

2011-05-25T19:22:00.000+01:00

I bought this lovely wooden box on Sunday. 

In the shop it was sold as a Tea Box, which sounds lovely but you would  need to be a regular tea afficionado and also have the space to display  the box in your kitchen somewhere, which I don't.

So what should I use it for?

Thread reels?

Buttons?

Ribbons?

Family Market with Peas and Pods

2011-05-19T18:31:00.000+01:00

So I've finally signed up for my first event here in Ireland and it will be right on my doorstep! I am really looking forward to it.

Peas and Pods also hold a family market on the second Sunday of the month at the Dublin Food Co-op, the next one is coming up on June 12th. More details about them can be found here on their website or on their Facebook page.

Every Girl Deserves A Dress

2011-05-07T11:58:00.000+01:00

At the moment I tend to work on four or five projects at the same time - not something I recommend! I have also started signing up for a few events here in Ireland over the coming months so really need to get my act together and start working on my stock. But before that there was something else I had to do. A few weeks ago Louise from Sew Scrumptious wrote about the charity action Every Girl Deserves A Dress. I couldn't help but feel inspired and so decided to take part. In the process I also convinced my mother, who is a very talented lady, to take part and this is the result: four gorgeous little dresses that will go in the post on Monday.

Let's hope they will bring a little sunshine in some girls' lifes, wherever in the world they may be.

Easter Break

2011-04-27T20:25:00.000+01:00

I haven't been able to post or read much this week. School holidays and preparations for the little boy's birthday party this week-end are keeping me busy, as well as several orders that I have worked on. So it'll only be next week when I will finally get to finish the new products, let's hope the weather stays as nice as it is now for some product photos. Hope everyone has had a nice Easter week-end. We spent time colouring eggs, but most of all growing our cress-egg heads.

Come And Be A Fan

2011-04-17T20:55:00.001+01:00

I have finally gotten round to setting up the frogs+sprogs facebook page - click on the badge on the right and come and join us. 

And with all the new fabrics that arrived last week, I now have a lot of new projects on the go that will be in the shop soon:

New apron designs ...

Funky Bibs ...

Mini Counting Bean Bags ...

New Crayon Rolls ...

Extra Large Toddler Blankets ...

Hope you have all had a nice week-end!

Meet Sanchez!

2011-04-12T13:24:00.000+01:00

Somehow I doubt I'll be getting much done this week.

Fabric Love

2011-04-08T06:50:00.004+01:00

Here is just a glimpse of what arrived this week. Now the task of cutting has begun, lots of new products will be in the shop this spring.

Have a lovely weekend!

P.S. This is the first time I am posting from my phone with a Blogger App - apologies if it looks funny in any way. But if it is good it will make posting a whole lot easier in the future.

Mother's Day Swap

2011-04-03T10:38:00.001+01:00

A few months back I also signed up to another swap, organised by the lovely ladies on the Babyledweaning Forum - it was the Secret Mother's Day Swap. The only guideline was that it had to be handmade, cost you no more than £5 and reach the recipient by today. Now I was so much in a rush to get my swap parcel in the post before we left Spain that I completely forgot to take photos, I hope my swap partner will take some. But today I opened my parcel, and it contained this lovely bag:

I am also very pleased to have found a nice spot in our new garden for future product photos, and the sun seems to be on my side at the moment. Speaking of products, this week I spent an obsence amount of money to refill my fabric stash, I am very excited about the parcels that should be arriving in the next couple of days. I have worked on a lot of new ideas for the shop and am now looking for a few nice craft markets or similar where I can start taking a table and get out there again.

Have a lovely Sunday, and to all the mothers out there,

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Postcards Part 2 Or Meet The Queen of Selvedge

2011-04-01T19:57:00.001+01:00

There I was trying to figure out other designs for my postcards when I came across this blog where a lovely lady called Karen gives you all sorts of ideas about quilting and also what to do with selvedge, and she has a fabulous tuorial on how to make selvedge postcards. So now I have turned into the Queen of Selvedge ...

But I had great fun finishing my postcard project. I'm quite sure I will be making many more of these in the future.

Time to get them to the post office and start working on my next project.

P.S. This post has been edited - there seems to be conflicting opinion as to how to spell selvedge and I have now adopted the latter version. I'm sure every version is a little bit right.

Four Down, Six To Go ...

2011-03-29T20:43:00.000+01:00

Here's a sneak preview of my postcards for the 2011 Postcards Swap. I finished four within the last 24 hours so should have no problems finishing the remaining six until next Wednesday.

For a few days I played around with my fabric stash and scraps, browsed the web for inspiration, emptied out my large basket of ribbons, purchased some stick-on gems .... until I finally found the right combinations.

I also, for the first time, started sewing on paper and gave the postcards a decorative stitch on the reverse.

I'm quite pleased with the result so far... I'd love to keep them myself I think! I hope the person who receives them will be just as pleased.

Another Swap? What was I thinking?

2011-03-22T21:04:00.000Z

Well I just couldn't resist. It's the same every time - whenever I need a little kick to get my creative gears in move again, I find a swap. I don't even remember why or how, but the other night whilst surfing from blog to blog, as you do, I landed on the incredibly creative blog of ihanna, and ever the sucker for creativity that I am, I instantly fell for the Postcard Swap 2011. I have a few ideas but nothing started yet, but fact is that by April 8th, I have to have 10 completed postcards. I've never tried sewing on paper so might give that a try. Unfortunately registration is closed now but do keep an eye out for the results, I think it'll be fabulous, check out last year's cards here.

Better get started!

Forgive The Silence

2011-03-16T19:42:00.000Z

Thank you for your lovely comments following my last post. It is difficult finding the right words and blog post subjects for the one after your baby has died.

We're doing ok.

I think that's probably the best way to put it. They say the pain of losing a child never goes away, it just becomes a little smoother aorund the edges, and I couldn't have found a better description.

We have decided to leave Spain, well as a matter of fact we had already made this decision at the end of last year but the plan was that Joshua would be with us. It has been for various reasons, mainly for additional support through family and friends as Mr Frog is originally from Dublin. Also we had made contact with the Jack & Jill Children's Foundation, a wonderful organisation providing care and support for children with neurological development issues. Sadly Joshua never made it to Ireland, but we arrived 8 days ago and have now more or less finished unpacking the boxes. We are in the lovely countryside of County Wicklow, but only 40 minutes from the centre of Dublin, our new house is lovely, the school is great, the sun is shining (that probably won't last long) and we're slowly recovering from the strains of the last 12 months. We are taking things easy and are being kind to ourselves, which is the most important thing at the moment.

So on the eve of our first St. Patrick's Day celebration on the Emerald Isle, here's to the future. Let's take it an hour at a time.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Shona Duit!

In The Arms Of An Angel

2011-02-04T12:34:00.001Z

Our beautiful boy Joshua Rafael passed away on Saturday 22 January. He never fully recovered from the pneumonia at Christmas, and that combined with all the problems from his prematurity and complications at birth just meant that he had fought for so hard for so long, but it was not meant to be. He died peacefully at home in our arms.

We have had 10 months and 3 weeks with him that were filled with laughter and tears, worries and hope and he will always be part of our family. We will forever miss him and love him, but we take with us his fighting spirit and the knowledge that no matter how hard the situation was, he showed us not to despair but just to hold on and cuddle him.

Godspeed little man, sweet dreams.

Comfort Food For A Better New Year

2011-01-01T16:53:00.000Z

Eight days into his battle on the intensive care unit, Joshua is a little more stable but still on the ventilator. The doctors have reduced his sedation and we try to spend as much time with him as possible. Christmas and New Year has gone by in a bit of a blur but we still maintained some of the traditions for Luca. Today we made some comfort food - pancakes with sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice.

I have also spent some time with my sewing machine - in these last days of uncertainty, sewing is like therapy and it is very rewarding to come away with a result, something that brings colours into our everyday life. I will put some photos up in the next couple of days.

In the meantime I wish everyone a Happy and most of all Healthy New Year 2011.

Say A Little Prayer For Joshua

2010-12-27T09:52:00.000Z

Our little boy Joshua was diagnosed with Bronchiolitis and Pneumonia and admitted to hospital on Christmas Eve. During the course of the afternoon his condition deteriorated and he was transfered to the pediatric Intensive Care. On the morning of Christmas Day he had to be intubated. He is now stable but still fully sedated, we're hoping to see an improvement in his condition in the next couple of days but he is still fighting for his life.

It's Beginning To Smell A Lot Like Christmas ...

2010-12-21T22:41:00.000Z

Christmas Potato Stamps

2010-12-19T16:49:00.000Z

We've had a lot of rain recently - I know, a lot of people have had snow but that won't happen in our neck of the woods, but let me tell you we've had rain. A lot. And so we had to find things to do inside. The other thing that has happened is that this year we have none of our Christmas decoration. I don't fancy going out buying a lot of things just for this year so instead we spend time making things. It's a bit limited what you can do with a 3.5 year old - he is really into MAKING things but that doesn't mean you can make the most complicated things. So we opted for potato stamps:

First press cookie cutters into potato halves, about 1cm deep. With a knife take off the surplus of potato that is outside of the cutter shape. I wouldn't recommend using plastic cookie cutters, the metal ones are just easier to get into the potatoes.

Get colours, glitter and paper ready ....

Once finished, let your stamps dry fully.

Cut out and place in a heavy book overnight to flatten them. Then stick around your fireplace, voila.

And if you're still looking for some last Christmas cards, print off some free ones here at Dawanda. Christmas stress? Pah!! [frantically buys last-minute Xmas presents online with no hope in the world of receiving anything before the end of January]

The Race To The Finishing Line

2010-12-10T13:11:00.000Z

It's been a bit of a mad month - first I decided to re-open my frogs+sprogs shop and on Dawanda. I didn't really expect very much to happen, but how wrong was I ... several of the lovely snuggly blankets are now in the post, as well as a few of the funky crayon rolls. I hope their new owners will enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.

Then there was the advent calendar project .... and since I had now dusted off the sewing machine, I decided to go for option no.1 and voila ....

I am quite pleased with the end result - I know it still has a number missing, but the little man hasn't noticed so far, and to be honest I doubt he will. I'm planning to stock these in my shop for next year so I'll soon start working on them.

And last but certainly not least there was the Christmas Swap organised by the lovely Louise over at Sew Scrumptious. I was lucky to be paired up with Louise herself, and the directive was one christmas card, at least one handmade christmas decoration and some Christmas chocolate. Her parcel arrived a few days ago and look what got: (apologies for the poor photo quality, it was evening time and I managed to get photos done just before other half launched himself onto the chocolate):

The cutest little christmas stockings with my sons' initials:

A gorgeous fabric wreath:

And some more chocolate ... but that was gone by the time I finished the photos.

My parcel is now on it's way over to her, here's a little preview.

I now have one project to finish before Christmas and am also working on lots of new product ideas for the shop. Surely an excuse for some more fabric buying?

The Crafting Mojo Is Back

2010-11-09T20:15:00.000Z

With all that has happened this year, I haven't even looked at my fabric stash once. It was just too depressing, so I just buried that subject somewhere, but I always knew that one day I would start again. And voila, I am happy to report that the crafting mojo is back - in fact I have spent the last couple of days scouring the internet and discovering various incredible blogs of fabulously crafty people. More of that next week.

I always had the idea of making an advent calendar for the little man and I doubt I'll have the time to start and finish it this year, but it will definitely be a project for the next year. So far I have found a few that I like, now all I have to do is decide which one to go for.

I love this design, very simple but relatively easy (ha ha I'll probably regret saying that ...). It's from Lina at Linaloo.

This one is probably even easier, all instructions here from the ever inspirational Martha at Martha Stewart.

And last but not least, I also love the idea of these tins on a baking tray, from TyAnne at inspiremecrafts.

Decisions, decisions ...!

Stew Good

2010-11-03T14:52:00.001Z

Temperatures have started to drop a little here, mind you it is still sunny and about 18-20 degrees during the day so not too bad. But we're a far cry from this:

I'm a big fan of throw-together-what's-in-the-cupboard and this quick stew is perfect for this time of the year.

Chorizo and Chickpea Stew

(this serves about 3-4 people)

600 g Chorizo, sliced into halves
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
good handful of dried herbs (oregano etc) or fresh thyme, whatever you have to hand
1 can of chopped tomatoes
Boiling water
Vegetable stock powder
Half a head of Savoy cabbage, sliced
2 cans of chickpeas, drained
Salt and pepper

Heat a heavy pan and fry the chorizos for about 10 minutes. Stir regularly as you don't want to burn them. You don't need to add any oil as the chorizo will give off its lovely paprika-coloured oil
Remove chorizo, gently fry onion and garlic
Add dried herbs
Return chorizo to the pot and fry for 5 minutes
Add chopped tomatoes. Fill the empty can twice with boiling water from the kettle and add to the pot.
Sprinkle the vegetable stock powder over it, let it boil for about 7-8 minutes
Add the savoy cabbage, let boil for about 5 minutes.
Add the chickpeas, stir well and simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

This is best preapred in advance and eaten later in theday or even better the next day. Serve with crusty bread and a nice glass of Rioja.

Look at you now!

2010-10-31T14:27:00.002Z

Thought that the blog needed a bit of an update so forgive me for playing around a bit with it these days. In the meantime have a look at this video, isn't it wonderful?

Still fighting strong

2010-10-30T20:02:00.005+01:00

Hello there, yes we are still here, are you? Well meet Joshua, who is now 8 months actual, 5 months corrected. He finally left NICU on the 5th of August, a little more than 5 momths after being born, and came straight home. He has since been readmitted twice with bronchiolitis, each time for a week, and we have just gone through another cold, luckily he escaped hospital this time round.

The fact that he is home doesn't mean that all complications from his prematurity have been resolved, far from. He has Chronic Lung Disorder and is still oxygen-dependent, but hopefully his lungs will grow stronger and he will eventually not need the extra help anymore. He never developed a proper sucking/swallowing reflex and is therefore still fed by NG-tube which is very very uncomfortable and causes many problems for him and us. Getting him off the tube will be our objective over the next months, but it will be a hard task. Worst case scenario he will have a g-tube where he is fed directly into his stomach. The fact that he has spent so much time in hospital also means that his development is quite delayed, but hopefully he will eventually catch up. Usually for babies with lung problems the first year really is the hardest, especially the first winter when the flu season starts. All we can do is try and keep him away from possible infections, but when you have an older toddler who goes to pre-school that is quite hard.

But despite all the the problems and worries we are so glad to have him home and take each day as it comes.

Hello world!

¡Hola!

2010-06-18T22:42:00.000+01:00

Nearly four months after my last post .... and we're still here. I thought I should really make an effort and write something - I know I've been pretty bad at posting but I have been a little busy ... we are still in Spain and our little 'miracle baby' as they call him is improving but still in the intensive care unit in Malaga. He weighed 900g at birth (2lbs) and has now gone up to nearly 2.9g (coming up to 6lbs) - he is doing incredibly well in many ways but his little lungs are still very weak, hence the reason why he is still in hospital. He has also had pneumonia which didn't help making his lungs any stronger but for the last couple of days he managed to breathe nearly unaided. It's been a scary time so far but I am so incredibly proud of him given everything he has already been through in his short life. Initially we had hoped he would be out of hospital by his due date (which was at the end of May) but he could well be there for another two to three months. The next challenge we now have is that he has to learn to suck and swallow so that eventually he'll be able to take his milk independently whereas at the moment he is still being fed via tube.

I often miss the life I had before all this happened and I admit I don't read any of the 'creative' blogs that I used to before not only because of the obvious lack of time, but because I miss my sewing machine and my fabrics. But as soon as I walk into the ward, come up to his cot and see his perfect tiny face it's all forgotten and so worth it.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-03-10T21:14:00.000Z

The One Where She Has The Baby

2010-03-05T23:08:00.000Z

Exactly a week ago I wrote that I would spend 7 weeks in hospital unless there were any complications .... well the next day there were. Just after lunch time I suffered placenta abruption and within 40 minutes our son Joshua was born by emergency cesarean at 27 weeks of pregnancy. It was a very scary day as we did not know if he would make it through the day, his brain was deprived of oxygen at birth and in the first hours the doctors had very little hope of survival for him. But he made it through and we have now made it through the first week. We are grateful for every additional day we have with him and take every day as it comes.

So just when I thought I would have all this time on my hands the game plan has changed again and we are now settling into a daily routine of new nursery (which the little man adores, in fact so much more than his nursery back in the UK) and then going to the hospital twice daily for the allocated visiting hours ... oh and me expressing milk about 8 times a day which really is what I do all day long, at least it seems that way.

The neo-natal unit in the hospital is fantastic, in fact if it had to happen anywhere in the world we are very lucky that this particular hospital in Malaga is one of the best places to be under these circumstances.

So again I'll keep the blog updated with progress but I'm kind of hoping that it'll involve less drama in the future!

When The Unexpected Happens ....

2010-02-26T13:50:00.000Z

Three weeks ago we decided that we'd had enough of the cold and that a short break somewhere further South would do us good. As always thanks to the internet, flights and holiday home were quickly found, and last Tuesday we were on our way to the Costa Tropical in the South of Spain for a week. My pregnancy, then at 26 weeks, was without complications so off we went .... And then it happened on Sunday morning: my waters broke. Dash to the first hospital, referral to the second, and here I am now 5 days later flat out on my hospital bed in Malaga. Luckily so far baby decided that it was better to stay put but we will now be here until further notice. If all goes well and no complications, labour will be induced at 34 weeks so another 7 weeks to go of keeping my legs well crossed.

To say that this was a shock is an understatement, but we are slowly building a little life here - well when I say we it's really my other half who has been absolutely amazing rushing around organising thing whilst always being here by my side when it mattered. Luckily he can do his work from here so doesn't have to go back home, and we've now also found a nursery for the little man that he'll go to for a few hours every day as from next week. He'll be fluent in Spanish soon ....!

So the frogs+sprogs shop is taking a break until further notice, I'll still update the blog because I have a feeling it'll do me good to write a little bit from time to time. But the focus will have changed a little. And I finally have time to read up on everyone else's blog!

Blankets, blankets and more blankets ....

2010-02-12T10:42:00.000Z

So the sun finally DID make an appearance and I got to take all the photos I needed of the new blankets which are now in the shop. I am trying to pick a favourite but simply can't - I think baby no.2 will have A LOT of blankets ...

Wordless Wednesday

2010-02-10T09:46:00.002Z

Snow Visitors

Fabrics and more fabrics

2010-02-07T16:53:00.001Z

As I said in my last post, before Christmas and in the last two weeks I spent some time on my favourite fabric websites and a few days later these arrived:

Most of them have already been turned into lovely soft and snuggly blankets, all I need now is the sun to come out so I can take photos of them .... phew!

And here is where I sin:

Fabric Rehab

Saints and Pinners

Fabric Inspirations

Celtic Fusion Fabrics

fabulous*fabric

M is for make

I have also used the months of January to have a good clean-up in my fabric stash and use up all the fabric scraps, the result of which are lots of new crayon rolls and bibs (still to be finished). It's been a busy month!

Now I just need more time to put them onto the website .... there definitely aren't enough hours in the day!

Hello .... Remember Me?

2010-01-29T23:08:00.002Z

Yes it's me, the one that used to be on here regularly and update this blog. Don't ask what happened, time flew by, Christmas came and went, the snow came and went and here we are at the end of January. Oh and this happened too:

It's now 24 weeks and the new addition to the family should be with us at the end of May.

I've been busy busy busy with fairs before Christmas, some great, other not so great (not to say disastrous) but overall I've learnt which ones are better and which ones I should better avoid. I really enjoy doing the fairs but because of bump and then babe I'll be doing less this ear and concentrating more on my website and others that feature my products. There as well I have learnt which ones are better to use and which ones aren't.

Before Christmas I also indulged in some serious fabric ~~porn~~ shopping, I'll post some images tomorrow. Brace yourself and hide your credit card, because I'll also be telling you where you can find them.

Latest additions to the shop: aprons.

So tell me, are you still with me?

Remember Remember The 5th Of November

2009-11-05T13:46:00.001Z

5th of November 2005

I'll Try With A Little Help From My Friend

2009-11-04T22:16:00.001Z

Sorry I've been away for a while, things just went a bit mad and there was no hope in the world I'd get 10 minutes to blog, let alone read other blogs. But it seems to quieten down a little, so hopefully I'll be back a little more often. I've hired a new help in the house to make things easier, he's still a little unexperienced and unorganised but hopefully things will improve soon.

Five things I can tell you about the past weeks and the next days:

The last fair went really well, I had a lovely day with lots of sales and am now getting ready for the next event. My new blankets are selling really well which makes me very happy.
I am a very lucky girl this week-end as my husband has decided to take me on a surprise week-end for our 4th wedding anniversary - well it's now no longer a surprise because after the consumption of about a bottle of wine last week-end, in front of me he told a friend that 'we're off to Flor....' and then realised what he was doing. I figured that a week-end was too short to go to Florida so yes, we're going to Florence this Friday. Hurray! Without Luca. For the first time. Gulp!
There are 6 weeks left to Christmas and I officially started browsing for Christmas gifts and wrote down my list of Christmas cards whilst the photos were uploading for this blog. There is no escape now.
Toddler lunchtime naps are highly overrated - at least this is what Luca decided, and so we don't really do them anymore. Help!! Mind you maybe we can use that time for some more household cleaning training.
I am desperately trying to come up with a 5th point but it's getting too late so I'll give up before I start writing rubbish.

Sunday Family Event

2009-10-24T09:10:00.001+01:00

If you're anywhere near the South East on Sunday, here's a great day out for you.

Foodie Friday - Brownies

2009-10-23T10:37:00.001+01:00

I was going to post this at the beginning of the week but then I had the idea of 'Foodie Friday' so this is my new regular feature, a regular little culinary contribution to the week-end.

Last week was National Chocolate Week and I managed to resist the urge to indulge in something chocolate-related on a daily basis, but on Friday we made THE MOST YUMMIEST BROWNIES.

Breaking up the chocolate was the perfect job for my little helper

You need

400g dark chocolate
350g unsalted butter
6 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
300g caster sugar
40g cocoa powder
80g plain flour
1tbsp of vanilla extract

Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C
Butter a 20cm square tin and put some parchment paper on the bottom
Break chocolate into piece and melt with the butter over some hot water, stir and leave to cool a little.
Beat the eggs, yolks and the sugar with an electric mixer until it is pale and creamy.
Stir in the chocolate mixture mix gently.
Sieve the flour and cocoa powder in, add the vanilla extract and continue to mix gently until all ingredients are combined.
Pour into the baking tin and bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. The edges should rise slightly and the surface in the middle should be slightly firm. If it is still a little wobbly leave it in the oven for another 5 minutes.
Leave to cool in the tin, then take out and cut into squares. They should be firm around the outside an slightly gooey inside.

I love these with a glass of cold milk. They can be frozen and defrosted in the microwave in about 45 seconds - perfect for a little afternoon treat.

Words and Pictures

2009-10-20T19:28:00.000+01:00

The lovely Sandy at Baby Baby suggested a Photo and Book tag.

These are the rules for the photo tag:

Mention who tagged you.
Go to your photo files…Select the 6th photo folder.
Select the 6th photo in that folder.
Post that photo along with the story behind it.

Here we go - my photo folder goes all the way back to 2001 and in January 2002 I had the chance of travelling to Antarctica with my mum. After a long flight to Buenos Aires, then another long flight to Ushaia, we boarded the ship. Three days through the Southern Ocean and we finally arrived - it was, and still is, a truly magical place where we had the chance of staying for three weeks. I think I came back with about 700 photos and the one above is just one of them.

***

The rules of the book tag are:

Collect the book that you have most handy.
Turn to page 161.
Find the 5th complete sentence.
Site the sentence on your blog.

Oh this is going to be a boring one:

"A Creative Commons license is a way to tell them what they can do."

from "Get to the Top of Google" by David Viney. I'm currently reading it because I haven't done much in that sense for my website and I certainly won't have any time for it in the next two months but it's on my to-do-list for the New Year. The scary thing is that that's only two months away.

So if you fancy it, go and do the Photo and Book tag yourself and see where it leads you.

The Thing With Toys

2009-10-14T10:38:00.000+01:00

Last week our local NCT branch had their Nearly New Sale, which is always an excellent opportunity to clear out and sell old and not wanted toys and find nearly new ones for Christmas/birthdays at great prices. The advantages of the clear-out are obvious:

1 - all the space you suddenly have
2 - a bit of additional money which always comes in handy
3 - an afternoon of entertainment for your little one as you get boxes of old toys out that they haven't seen in while

The disadvantage is that said little one could re-discover THE. MOST. ANNOYING. TOY. that you have been trying to hide for the past 18 months and decide to turn it into his favourite toy to the point where it has its own place in his bed at night and you are woken up by it every morning.

But as I started to think about what to get the little man who is now 2 1/2 for Christmas I thought I'd share my his list of favourite toys:

1- Red Bobby car. Still a hit after 1 1/2 years
2 - Quadrilla Marble Run. Age recommendation is from 4 onwards but it's been a great hit since last Christmas when he was 20 months old and I think it will be for years to come.
3 - Brio Train Set. It sometimes stays in the cupboard for a few weeks but when it comes out again it's a hit. And can be extended endlessly.

And these are the ones that were quickly hidden from his view:

1- said most annoying toy that now sleeps in his bed. Actually looking at the Amazon page that the link goes to, I noticed that 17 out of 24 reviewers give it only one or two stars. I am so glad to see I'm not the only one!!!
2 - this wooden push-along. If you have tiled flooring the noise is horrendous. Mind you, it made good fire material for the log fire we had last winter but I think it's a little too expensive just for that.

I can't really think of many more, luckily we are in a position where we can give recommendations to family as to what to buy him for Birthdays/Christmas.

He likes to help out in the kitchen so a toy kitchen came to my mind - but I really don't want to pay over £100 for a nice wooden one. But after a bit of searching I came across this brilliant Blog called Ikea Hacker - basically ideas of what people have made out of Ikea products. And within that blog are a couple of amazing ideas for play kitchens - so here is my pledge: I will make a play kitchen from one of these tuts, I have two months, a saw and a shed, and an Ikea shop not far away. And no excuse now that I've written it here.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-07T13:04:00.000+01:00

Baking cakes ... it's his favourite pass-time at the moment. Bad for my waistline but good for the morale, given that it's been raining non-stop for the last three days.

Holiday Guilty Pleasures

2009-10-01T20:24:00.000+01:00

Recently when we were on holidays it struck me that every time we go away and rent a cottage, we have a tiny fridge. And this fridge is never very full, in fact last week it looked like this:

Given that we were 3 adults and one toddler (who really eats just like an adult), it amazed me that our holiday fridges always seems so empty. At home our fridge is gigantic, you could literally fill it with food for a small army. So I started questioning my shopping habits at home, wondering if maybe we just bought too much of unnecessary stuff. But we're quite good and hardly throw anything away. And then I realised that

a) we don't have a little corner shop within one minute where we can quickly stock up on a pint of milk or a box of eggs when needed. No we are in driving distance of event the smallest of shops.

But most importantly in dawned on me that our holiday diet consisted of a whole lot of these

and those

and occasionally even this (mind you this was a kids portion ...)

If you ever pass within 5 miles of Padstow you MUST stop at the Chough Bakery * - but be warned, those are truly the best sausage rolls and raisin buns in the world. I promise you will not be able to eat a different sausage roll ever again ... now come to think about it that might not actually be such a bad thing.

* And if you follow that link you will see that they even do NEXT DAY DELIVERY, although I have chosen to ignore this for the time being.

Time To Get Sewing Again

2009-09-29T21:06:00.002+01:00

I was going to call this post 'Time To Get Sewious Again' but Other Half thinks it looks like a spelling mistake so I won't give you that but you get the idea - holidays are over and it's time to get busy again. Since my last fair I have done very little apart from working on orders but I now have three, yes that's THREE, fairs looming between the end of October and the end of November. Oh and I might throw in a little Christmas event in my local area just because I haven't got anything better to do - ha!

So on the 25th of October I'll be at the Southern Baby Event at Fontwell Race Course, West Sussex. Then two weeks later on the 16th of November at The Designer Baby Show in Berkshire and finally November 20-22 it's the Life Crafts & Gifts for Christmas Fair near Guildford, Surrey. If you're in the area come along, say hi, ~~buy me a cup of tea~~.

I still have a bit of stock from my last fair so don't need to go too mad, but it's still a little daunting to be having three of them and not too much time in between to get new stock ready. Also at my last fair I had an open space whereas the next three are in a shell space so I've got to rethink my stand layout again. Well only for the first one, after that it should be easier.

I enjoyed the last fair so much, I'm really looking forward to these. But at the end of the year I'll be reviewing my 'fair experience' and deciding which ones to do next year.

On the sewing side I have found a lovely fabric called Velboa, I didn't even know it existed in the UK but it's similar to what the Americans call Minky and it's super soft, perfect for baby blankets. But oh this morning I had a quick try at a small blanket ..... it felt like a snake trying to do ice skating under the needle, the fabric is so stretchy it doesn't stop moving. Not a good moment! So if anyone has any tips and hints how to make this easier fire away, I'm all ears. Right now the fabric is in the washer/dryer but I can't wait to get going again in the next days.

On the blanket front I have been making more, they're not yet in the shop though.

I also finally got round to making one of my crayon rolls as a pencil roll.

It was only afterwards though that I realised that I haven't got any of this fabric left so that'll be one off then. Duh .... holiday brain!

A Little Piece Of Paradise ... No Matter What They Say

2009-09-21T21:34:00.000+01:00

Sorry for not having blogged much these days - we're away. In fact we're enjoying a week in Cornwall in a beautiful little fishing village, we have rented a gorgeous little cottage, we have fabulous weather, it couldn't be any better (well apart from the fact that I didn't expect it to be THIS warm and didn't bring ANYTHING for the beach. But that's just an excuse to go shopping tomorrow).

It's a real shame that villages by the seaside like this are hard to find, luckily the people here are preserving what they have whilst still making it attractive for visitors. But it seems that not everyone is so happy with this.

Last night we enjoyed dinner in a little restaurant and left around 9. We (myself, husband, mother and 2-year old) stepped out of the building onto the very narrow road, just as a car came speeding around the corner. As my husband signaled to the driver to slow down, said driver let out a few words that I won't repeat. Just then a second car came towards us at an even quicker pace, and again we tried to slow him down. But the driver just poked his head out of the window and shouted 'oh just get off the f***ing road'.

It was a stark reminder that all may not be well in paradise - what a shame. But I won't allow one idiot to spoil a fantastic week.

And The Winner Is ....

2009-09-17T14:17:00.010+01:00

...... TA DAAAA

Ok so I haven't figured out yet how to put this widget on the blog but Randomiser says that it's entry no. 6 from all those that wanted to enter the Baby Blanket give-away, which means it goes to the lovely Sandy at Baby Baby. Congratulations!!

I am once again packing as we're heading off to Rick-Stein-Land where I'll be scoffing posh fish & chips and wash them down with a nice glass of rosé ..... aaaahhhh! Before that though we have to attempt the little man's first haircut this afternoon - I think a little bribery may be required.

Food Glorious Food

2009-09-14T13:57:00.012+01:00

Autumn is nearly here - and how do I know this? Because yesterday we re-introduced last year's tradition of Sunday lunch at Wagamama. We would drive to either Brighton or Guildford and indulge in a noodle-edamame-gyoza feast which meant that no dinner was required afterwards. We stopped doing this once summer arrived because traffic was just getting too bad and frankly it was much nicer to stay in our garden with the sun shining down on us than sitting in the car for 45 minutes. But yesterday we were back and Wagamama is probably Luca's favourite restaurant, after Pizza Express (or any other place that serves pizza).

January 2009

9 months later - grilled chicken noodle dipped in sticky sweet sauce is still the favourite.

When Luca was six months old we decided we were going to do 'Baby-led weaning' (BLW) with him, meaning he has never had a spoon of puree in his mouth or seen a jar of baby food. No spoons, no mush, no purees, it allows a baby to control his or her solid food intake by self-feeding from the very beginning of the weaning process at the age of 6 months. Well if this meant less work for me, I was all for it.

At 6 months, babies learn to chew and grasp objects with their hands, making it the ideal time to introduce finger food. They often begin by picking up and licking food before progressing to eating and at first, very little food is actually ingested as they tend to be more interested in exploring textures and tastes, but soon they start swallowing and digesting. It is important that milk (breast or bottle) is continued together with weaning until the age of 12 months. The belief is that self-feeding supports the child’s motor development on areas such as their hand-eye co-ordination and chewing and it encourages the child towards independence, which can provide a stress-free alternative for meal times. Some babies refuse to eat solids when offered with a spoon, but happily help themselves to finger food. It is important that no salt is added at the beginning which means meals should be cooked from scratch, and you can add salt after you’ve taken babie’s portion out. But within a few months they can pretty much eat what you’re eating, meaning less cooking and work for you.

At first we were worried about choking so we attended a first-aid course which put our minds at rest. Soon a first plate of steamed and roast vegetable was laid out in front of Luca and within a week or so he had figured out what to do with these odd bits and pieces and the result could be seen in his nappies …. Luckily there is no history of allergy within our family so soon I started to introduce soft boiled pasta which still today are his favourite, with various sauces, as well as bread, egg and finally meat and fish.

I don’t know if it is because of BLW, but still today Luca will refuse anything offered to him on a spoon, unless it’s yoghurt. Everything else must go on his plate first and then he decides which bits he wants to eat in which order. He loves strong flavours such as smoked mackerel and olives, and pasta is still a big hit. Messy? Yes, very but as with everything you learn to relax about it, and it does get better. In the meantime an old newspaper or a towel under the highchair certainly help, or a dog (so I have been told). Also there were weeks when he was eating like a log followed by a week where he wanted to prove to us that you can indeed survive on a handful of grapes and a cup of milk. But deciding to wean him this way was certainly one of the best decisions we made, it made the whole process very stress-free and a lot of fun.

These are a few basic principles of BLW:

At the start food is offered in baton-shaped pieces or in natural shapes with a ‘handle’ (such as broccoli)
Food is not cut into bite-sized pieces until the baby has mastered the pincer grip.
First foods are soft cooked, steamed or roasted vegetable and fruit. Harder foods are lightly cooked to make them softer.
Dangerous food such as nuts are not offered and raw food such as carrot and apple withheld until the child is able to handle them.
No sugar or salt is added to food.
Meals should not be hurried and water offered at all times.
Child is allowed to decide how much he/she wants to eat.
Food can be offered on a spoon and baby should be encouraged to grab spoon and guide it to the mouth.

If you're looking for more info have a look at this website and also the fabulous ladies at the BLW Forum, they have been a lifesaver on many occasions. If you have a little one and are coming up to the six months mark, please please please think about this, it's great fun, you won't regret it and you won't spend hours pureeing and mashing food that might end up on the kitchen floor.

So to celebrate Luca's love of food, here are some of my favourite glorious food moments.

October '08: And we're off .....

Broccoli? Not sure!

I thought I'd just move this around the tray a little ....

... and then stick it in my hair.

Multitasking - two plates, cup, fork and spoon? Easy!

Beetroot is good for you!

And mixed with tomato sauce makes a fabulous face mask.

And finally: Proof that food is fun, fun, fun!

Goodbye Life

2009-09-10T14:47:00.000+01:00

I have succumbed ....

You Can Always Count On A Scot .....

2009-09-09T11:28:00.001+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, Mr Frog and I went to see U2 at Wembley ... we had a great night out, got drunk, had a kebab at 1 in the morning, in short it was brilliant.

And this is what it looks like when 90.000 people hold up their mobile phone as requested by the men, Mr Bono himself.

But I thought I'd share this little anecdote with you.

U2 were playing at a concert in Glasgow in 2006, when Bono asked the audience for total silence. Then in the silence, he started to slowly clap his hands, once every few seconds. Holding the audience in total silence, he said into the microphone,

"Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies."

A voice from near the front of the crowd pierced the silence...

"Well, f***ing stop doing it then!"

OK sadly this is only a rumor but it did made me laugh when I heard it for the first time so I had to share it.

5 Things .... And My First Free Give-Away

2009-09-08T00:02:00.008+01:00

Today I feel a bit like this:

Because ...

5 Things I Am Doing At The Moment

- filing bills, invoices, bank statements
- tidying my desk and slowly trying to reduce the number of messages in my inbox
- emptying the suitcase from a week-end away, washing + folding laundry
- tidying the house
- emptying the garage of all items for this week-ends car boot sale

A-List-Of-Things-That-Could-Go-On Forever Of Things I'D Rather Like To Do

- make more baby blankets
- make a new nappy bag since we've lost ours
- make a wallet/organiser for my bag
- think about new curtains for Luca's room or amending the current ones
- work on my webshop
- look at fabrics
- watch a nice movie
- read blogs

I think I should have my own reward chart where for every task accomplished I'm allowed 30 minutes with my sewing machine - the problem is only that once I start it's hard to stop. Last week I was all set to go for a run and just quickly went upstairs to check on a fabric and before you know it, I came out an hour or so later with this:

My first baby blanket. And because I wasn't really supposed to be there doing just that, I've decided that this will be my first free giveaway. If you think that you should be the lucky receiver of this gorgeous soft blanket, post a comment with the reason by Thursday 17 September, the winner will be chosen at random by myself at 13.00pm UK time. The blanket has a cute owl design with pale pink, blue, yellow and blue owls on a white background, and a super soft pink fleece on the other side. It measures 31x39 inches.

Bag Lady

2009-09-02T07:19:00.003+01:00

A mother's bag can contain a wealth of hidden treasures. My son knows this, every time we're out and he starts rooting through my bag like a little animal, I know he's hungry because he knows there is always a little treat in there for him. Unfortunately my bag also contains A LOT of other things ... as of this morning the list is as follows: One purse, one diary, two lipsticks, a pack of chewing gums, a crayon roll, one envelope with cards, one babybel, one nail polish, an endless number of receipts, one pair of sunglasses, one case in which the pair of sunglasses should be but aren't, one packet of Oaties, two toy planes, two packets of tissues, one passport in case I want to run away from it all, one mobile phone, one digital camera, three pens, one concealer, one packet of raisins, two stale biscuits, a toddler water beaker, one muslin ... Just imagine if I had a bag like this, all the things I could carry around with me!!!

But the problem lies in two items - the toddler water beaker and the digital camera. Because the toddler beaker keeps emptying itself in my bag. Now the inside of my bag is water proof which is great in theory, but in reality it means that two weeks ago my digital camera had a little swim .... and then sadly died. This week-end I purchased a new camera and I thought I should really give it it's own bag. The sensible voice says to buy one of those really functional camera cases but the creative voice says 'No No think of all the lovely fabrics in your fabric stash, there are some that you've always wanted to use' so there I am now trying to make a bag for my camera. I haven't got a tutorial so god knows what the end result will look like but I've decided to make two little bags for my handbag with these lovely fabrics.

And if they do turn out well my poor family will be getting lots of bags for Christmas. Only 114 days left, did you know that?

It's Never Too Early To Find Your Career Path

2009-08-25T19:21:00.003+01:00

And so it seems my son has found his.

Ok so this is what the end result looked like ....

but it's early days ... . I mean can you see how SERIOUS he looks?

Craft Fair Do's and Don'ts

2009-08-24T20:19:00.008+01:00

It's been a brilliant week-end, my first craft fair has been a great experience, thank you to everyone who came and to anyone who bought something from me and all the great feedback I got, it's been an incredible confidence-booster and learning experience. This is me at my stand , and given that I am sitting, it brings me straight to my do's and don'ts list:

DO

- set up your stand at home before, it saves you invaluable time when you do your actual set-up as you can try things out at home and then get whatever you need to make it look better
- bring a box of essentials with scissors, pens, marker, sticky tape, rope, blue tack, stapler, upholstery pins etc
- buy stick-on velcro tape. Whoever invented this deserves a medal!!
- have spotlights to enhance the look of your products. Also if it's a cold day it'll create some warmth for you
- if you bring lights and extension leads, get a PAT (portable appliance testing) certificate for all items, some event organisers will ask for this
- you may need to get PI (public indemnity) insurance for the events, again some event organisers may ask for this and you don't want to wait with this until the last minute
- bring easy snacks that you can graze on like nuts and dry fruits
- bring water/tea but not so much that you need the loo every 30 minutes
- create height on your stand, the visual impact is important

- depending on your price range, see if you can take credit /debit cards
- have a money box with lots of change
- know what to do when someone hands you a cheque
- bring a stool (see below under Don'ts)
- have a layout that invites people INTO your stand
- have special prices for someone placing an order on the day, i.e. no postage fee, and have an Order Book for said orders
- have a large banner with your company's name displayed at height so that people can see it even if your stand is busy
- have cards
- have bags and tissue paper
- have baby wipes to keep your hands clean
- have a few sweets in your bag to keep your spirits up when things are slow

DON'TS
- don't sit on a chair. Never. You can perch on a bar stool (which I highly recommend, it made day 2 and 3 much more comfortable) but do not sit on a chair. Ever.
- and finally do not bring a tuna salad. You'll be drinking water or looking for mints after every bite. Ooops.

Craft Fair Here We Come

2009-08-20T22:39:00.006+01:00

If you're anywhere in the South and have no plans for the week-end .... come to Live Crafts & Food at Parham Park near Pulborough. Well that's where I'll be anyway. My stall is set-up, the weather forecast is ok-ish and I am knackered before it's even started, so hopefully I'll be able to report some good results by the end of the week-end.

Oh yes in case you're wondering - I will not be standing behind two empty tables, I will actually have products to sell. But more of that tomorrow, when I'll also be able see if all my organisational skills have paid off. I feel quite excited, a bit like a kid on Christmas Eve ... will I be able to sleep tonight?

Can You Feel The Heat

2009-08-19T22:15:00.003+01:00

Last week-end we finally made it to West Dean Gardens, a place just 15 minutes from us and in the two years that we've lived here, we hadn't been there before ... wow! If you're anywhere in the West Sussex area, do stop by, it's beautiful, a lovely place for a walk and then a pit-stop at the coffee shop. Mind the wasps though, they are quite aggressive.

At the beginning of this year I had a brief intention of starting my own little vegetable patch, but that was before I sat down at that fateful sewing machine and never got up again. So I hang my head in shame at the planned vegetable patch that is now a weed garden, especially after having visited the Walled Kitchen Garden at West Dean. It is so beautiful that you immediately want to go and grow your own vegetables. Somehow though on the way out we got distracted at the coffee shop and the vegetable patch will have to wait a little longer now.

They run a few events during the year, one of them being the Chilli Festival and I never thought there were so many varieties in the world.

So on the subject of chilli, I leave you with the recipe for my favourite Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce - you should always have a jar of this in the fridge, it's delicious added to stir-fries, with cold meats or pretty much anything that requires a little bit of heat and sweetness.

SWEET CHILLI DIPPING SAUCE
Makes 200ml

250g large red chillies, trimmed
5 garlic cloves, trimmed an chopped
120g light brown sugar
3 teaspoons white wine vinegar

Combine everything in a pan with 150ml water, bring to the boil and simmer until soft. Blitz in the blender, add a bit of salt. Return to the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Cool and refrigerate, it will last for weeks in the fridge.

Toddler Logic

2009-08-15T23:57:00.004+01:00

There could be a really long post and list to this title but I just have one very simple example:

TWO yoghurts must be eaten with TWO spoons. Is it about mixing the flavours? I don't know. Sometimes it's better not to ask too many questions.

Display Dilemma

2009-08-14T13:28:00.005+01:00

Still here and still trying to recover from a great week-end with the family. At the same finalising everything for the craft fair next week-end and for the last three days I have been racking my brain to find a nice way how to display my things. I wish I could take my garden with me (or part of it) because then it could look like this:

But I can't take the garden with me so I'll have to be creative with two tables and a few clothing racks. I am starting to really look forward to the event, just hoping the weather will be ok so that the turnout will be good. Am I asking too much if I want ANOTHER week-end of sunshine??

Try This

2009-08-06T19:50:00.007+01:00

I love going on holidays in May because if you go somewhere warm, it really gets you in the spirit of summer once you come home. This year we spent a week in Positano, Italy, and I have a feeling we might be heading back there next year. Whilst sitting on the piazza in front of the beach, I discovered this - now I'm not one to entice you to drink, but really you should try this, it's just so lovely. It requires a little organisation because you can't find it in the regular shops and will have to order it online, but boy is it worth it.

APEROL
Throw a couple of ice cubes in a tumbler.
Add
1/3 Aperol
1/3 Prosecco
1/3 Sparkling Water
1 Orange slice

Sit back and enjoy.

Time For A Drink

2009-08-05T23:14:00.005+01:00

This household is getting ready for a rather big party this week-end with the little man's christening (I know, he's nearly 2 1/2, it was about time) and my birthday, and so far the weather forecast is looking good. I'm squeezing in as much sewing as I can but I fear there won't be much done from 2pm tomorrow until Monday morning. But remember my baby shoe post here .... well ladies and gentlemen, today I give you, ....... ta daaaa, 35 pairs of shoes. Whohooo!!!

I've also had quite a few orders for monogram sleepsuits, here's just one of them.

And finally the magnetic blackboard in the kitchen is being put to good use - thank you once again to the dear friends who gave Luca the fridge phonics (I know you're out there ;-) He loves them.

I feel I deserve a drink or two this week-end. Which brings to my favourite summer time drink, but more of that tomorrow. For now I need to go and ~~have another one~~ get some sleep.

State Of Panic

2009-08-03T20:23:00.003+01:00

Yesteday we went to the Live Crafts Show which is exactly like the one I will be doing in 2.5 weeks and this is how I feel now.

Because:

- There are only 2.5 weeks left
- I will be selling for 3 days
- I don't know if I'll have enough stock ready
- I don't know if I'll manage to finish everything I want to do
- I now have to work out what my stand will look like and how to make it look really nice and inviting
- It's costing serious amount of money and I'm hoping I'll recover some of it.

OMG OMG OMG.

Quickest Pizza In The World

2009-07-31T17:02:00.005+01:00

Honestly I'm not lying - it's 25 minutes from you entering your kitchen to the pizza entering your mouth.

You need:
4 parts plain flour
1 part butter
a splash of milk

Heat oven to 200°C. Mix flour with butter - I usually grate the butter straight from the fridge into the bowl. Add a splash of butter and mix with a spoon until you have a little dough ball. Make small handsize rounds and place on a greased baking tray. Add topping of your choice. Put in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove, cool, eat.

Normally I would have been more creative in regards to the topping but today it was all about speed, so the one on the left is red pepper pesto and grated cheese and the one on the right is green pesto and tomato slices. What more could a little boy want on a Friday evening? (Well actually a lot more but for the time being he is quite happy with this.)

N.B For these two I used 100g of flour and 25g of butter.

Slaving Away

2009-07-29T20:40:00.004+01:00

I'm busy finishing all those shoes and a whole load of crayon rolls I'm working on, here are a few finished ones - I'll let the photos do the talking.

What's That You Say?

2009-07-27T22:40:00.005+01:00

Luca's vocabulary is coming on leaps and bounds but he does tend to repeat words .... A LOT. So here are, in descending order, his favourites (he has said some of these in his sleep, but I won't count those):

10) Bubbles ... after he was given a bubble machine last week, about 25 times a day
9) Mama Dada Guca ... in various combinations. Often it is just Maaaaamaaaaa
8) Up .... so he can press the button on the coffee machine, operate the toaster, open the door, lock the door, look inside the microwave, look out the window, open the fridge, look inside the fridge, you get the point
7) Bread .... after he has said 'up' enough times and is now sitting on the kitchen top next to the toaster
6) More .... after he has been popping slices of toast endless times in the toaster
5) Cookie ... after he gets bored of bread
4) Horsie .... for no particular reason
3) Milk ... this becomes a favourite by late afternoon
2) Noddy .... always in combination with the latter, in Luca's world one always comes with the other

and at

no 1) Oh no ... About twice every minute, which on a basis that he is awake for 12 hours, makes this 1440 times per day.

Oh no! Oh yes.

Rich Pickings

2009-07-25T19:25:00.008+01:00

It's already Saturday and I haven't blogged at all this week - it's been such a busy week with orders coming in and family visiting that I've hardly had time for anything else. Except today when the weather was lovely and it actually felt like summer again. Our fruit trees were mostly bare last year but it looks as if it's going to be a whole different story this year ... in fact I think I'll need to think about storage for all those apples soon. If you're in the area, stop by and I'll send you on your way with a kilo of apples and pears. I will spend tomorrow browsing my books looking for appropriate recipes.

Remember I mentioned those personalised T-Shirts? Well they seem to be flying of the shelves, I think I'll choose a few more fabrics this week for them to have more varierty. Here are a few that have gone out this week:

I've also had to source for a new fabric for a third crayon roll that would go with the two star fabrics so these three will be going in the post on Monday:

I haven't done my usual Etsy trawl this week but I have ordered a hoodie for Luca from this lovely lady at kitschycoo, she makes fabulous children clothing and has a sale on at the moment so go and have a look whilst I retire to the sofa with that bowl of plums.

The Pink Room Is No More

2009-07-20T11:31:00.007+01:00

Wow, what a busy week-end it has been! And it involved a lot of paint. The little man and I made our way to Homebase on Saturday morning and for a while it looked like the room was going to be painted in 'White Apple'. But for the simple fact that the colour had run out, the room is now painted in 'White Apricot' and it's lovely. The final touches were applied this morning and I think I might actually move my little sweatshop in there because I like the room so much now.

So whilst the man of the house was busy painting upstairs, I decided to tackle a different project in the kitchen - for weeks I had planned to paint the blackboard in the kitchen with magnetic paint and it was finally done yesterday. And with all this painting going on around him, Luca decided to get in on the action and paint my hands. At least that was easy to wash off, it could have been far worse, given that painting is one of his favourite pass-times a the moment.

Obviously we couldn't get through the week-end without the few odd tears so here is Luca discovering a hole in his sock for the very first time:

Checking that the sock monster hadn't bitten his toe off:

and all was well in the end.

And whilst you're reading this I am working on some new designs for lovely personalised T-Shirts so hopefully I can show them off here tomorrow. Now that's what I call a reason to come back!

The Comfort of Hot Buttered Toast

2009-07-18T08:08:00.004+01:00

Is there anything more comforting than hot buttered toast? I am not sure. Yesterday the little man and I had a few moments in the morning that ended with him spending a bit of time in his 'reflection corner' and once he had calmed down he came back into the kitchen and we shared a few slices of hot buttered toast.

Now we're off to the DIY store to chose paint - the family committee decided last night that 'the pink room' in our house will now longer be pink but painted in a different colour. I'm thinking of a pale green maybe? So whilst we're away have a look at this house ... what do you think - mad or genius?

Heat Wave Predicted For This Summer!

2009-07-15T20:56:00.008+01:00

Heat wave? What heat wave!? It seems like winter out there! It's mid-week, the little man decided that nap after lunch was a no-no so to pass the time a little quicker, we went to our favourite cafe for a little it-should-be-summer-but-it's-awful-outside treat.

Just to make it clear - he did NOT get a treat for not sleeping at lunch time .... His bed recently changed from a cotbed to a junior bed and whilst it all started well (in fact he loved it), it's going downhill at the moment with him going pretty mad whenever we tell him it's time to sleep and he refuses to lie down. I'm not sure who was more traumatised tonight, him or me, but in the end he went to sleep and I went to get a glass of wine so it was win-win ... well for me. If anyone knows how to get through this phase a little quicker - I'm open to suggestions.

Shoes, shoes, shoes

2009-07-14T19:13:00.007+01:00

Two more orders have gone out today. The ice cream T-Shirt is now becoming a firm favourite, and two sleep suits will shortly be making their way to Germany - wohoo!

I've also had my first wholesale inquiry, another website that wants to feature my products which is quite exciting, let's see what comes of it.

There is no space in my living room at the moment because this is what you'll find on the floor ...

it makes me dizzy just looking at it. The end result will hopefully be a total of 35 pairs of baby shoes!

With all this work my fabric stash is dwindling and as a little treat I thought I could lift the ban that I had placed on new fabric acquisitions two months ago. I discovered the ladies at Saints & Pinners and couldn't resist ... and the parcel arrived today.

I'm actually planning to use these to cover some cardboard boxes that are used for storage in my studio.

So whilst I have been so busy that I would like the day to have 48 hours, here is my son's day in a few numbers:

- time he woke up: 6
- number of times he wanted to sit on the toilet between 3 and 5 pm: 5
- results: 0
- books read while sitting on said toilet: 20
- litres of milk he drank today: 1
- number of strawberries eaten: about 30
- number of times I had to rebuild the marble run after he knocked it down: 3

Time for bed ... and that's just me!

The F-Word

2009-07-12T12:57:00.005+01:00

My other obsession ... food. Or rather cooking. As anyone who has been to my house can confirm I have a rather large collection of cookery books, and I can often be found lying in bed in the evening reading on of the books and then dreaming of all the lovely dishes I will be making.

I often get asked if I actually use all of these books and the answer is, yes, I do, well most of them. Some I would probably not buy again but others are fabulous, and this is my list of top 5:

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Meat Book. I often refer back to this when I'm not sure about a specific cut or how to prepare a certain piece of meat.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Fish Book, for the same reasons
Nigella Lawson's How To Eat (Pleasures and Principles of Good Food). I always enjoyed food and cookery but I think it was after reading this book that my fondness of all things related to food and cookery became even more pronounced.
The Cooks Book. It's really the only book you'll ever need when it comes to techniques and classic recipes, all explained by top Chefs but in a language you can understand and with lots of photos
And finally Ottolenghi The Cookbook. I envy anyone who lives in London for the simple reason that you can go and eat their food all the time in one of their outlets, but when you are far from London like I am, you can resort to making their dishes with the help of this book and they are all divine.

Since I discovered fabrics I have spent less time cooking (to my husband's dismay) but the last one we bought is this Indian cookery book, by Anjum Anand and even though I had never been a huge fan of Indian food, this one is fantastic. In fact I think we've been having curry every night, something my dear husband is certainly NOT complaining about.

So What Is It You Do All Day?

2009-07-11T09:55:00.007+01:00

So this week whilst I was ~~cooking, cleaning and caring for my huband and son~~ browsing through my favourite shop , I found a few new treasures and I've decided to select a few every week for my blog.

I would like to have a daughter just so I can buy her this dress.

These prints are lovely, in fact I have bought two from this shop to go on the wall in my studio.

These tissue holders are adorable, so much nicer than just having lots of loose tissues lying around on the bottom of your bag.

I totally love this Amy Butler fabric, in fact I have some of it myself but haven't found the right thing to do with it yet. This wallet is a great idea.

Somehow I Don't Think This Would Sell

2009-07-10T18:23:00.009+01:00

This morning I managed to finish a new design, I had tried out a few other airplane shapes but this one just seems to work best. I always only get a few seconds to take the photo before Luca runs off into the garden or wipes his nose on the sleeve, which I don't think would help selling it. But in any case I don't think this photo would help selling it ...

Luckily he is quickly getting the hang of all this posing malarky.

Friday is 'our' day where we usually have a lazy morning, go to playgroups or the farmers market, and since there were no plans for the afternoon I was very glad when a friend suggested a trip to the beach. It was far too windy and soon three crying toddlers discovered that sand in their eyes really wasn't a good idea but luckily we managed to find a secluded space.

Off to see 'Revolutionary Road' tonight although I fear it might be a little too depressing for a Friday evening?

In Case You Thought I Didn't Have Anything To Do ...

2009-07-09T14:03:00.016+01:00

... I now have a blog - hurrah! This morning I have been working myself through a pile of T-shirts to prepare my first craft fair, Live Crafts at Parham Park at the end of August. I know it's still a few weeks away but I've got a lot to prepare and this is what it looks like:

I am very glad I've got my own little sweatshop sorry place where I can do all my sewing and don't have to pack everything away every night.

I have also worked on an order for two sleepsuits and two pairs of the most adorable baby booties, I think I am secretly in love with them and will not want to hand them over.