Run out .....

Finally got a chance to do some of my mystery quilt again tonight

Some of an infill strip, not quite finished.  But nearly

Until this happened

I've run out of thread.  No probs I think, got some more in my little box.............oh no, actually I don't.  Flip! 

Snapshot

of a camera which no longer snaps!

it's been a good camera but given it's age (6 years) and cost of repair (at least £150) I think I may need to say bye bye to this beauty :(  But on the plus side this could mean I will HAVE to investigate the options for a new camera.  Oh the trauma.

A prize & a move

Every year there is a craft/hobby show in Glasgow in March and in October.  It's a good old mix of papercrafting of any description, some fabric crafts and anything else that is small and crafty, and very much aimed at the female market.

I've been going every now and again for years.  Some years are really good, some are less so.  I suppose it depends on if I have a particular project in mind or not.

This year I was in 2 minds whether or not to go, a friend at work was planning to go and I was thinking me and Moo could tag along.  But then it was ALL the way to Glasgow, on a Friday which is my full day off and kind of a freebie day.  So indecisiveness reigned.  Until I got some mail two days before we were considering going.  A hand written envelope, I rarely get mail that isn't some kind of bill these days, and it's even rarer to get a handwritten envelope!  But inside was this .....

In a moment of 'ah why not' I entered a competition in our local paper for a chance to win tickets and I won!  I think the last time I won anything like this I was 12.  It was a pink umbrella with matching head scarf from Mackay's (way, way before it was M&Co).

As for a move, my work has finally moved office.  It has been talked about for EVER (I thought I was going to be returning from mat leave last August to a new office) but as of last Monday we were actually in our new office.  So bye bye this place

and hello our new home

It's a change and it's taking a wee bit of getting used to but it's nice and bright and the building is maintained.  Somethings which our old building were beginning to lack!

Foto fiasco!!

We do not do good photos!  Point blank.  Attempting to get a half reasonable photograph is always a nightmare.  The Dude's nursery have asked for some photos - a baby one of him and a family photo.  Easier said than done when I'm generally the photographer at most family gatherings.  Like my Dad's 70th birthday meal last year - I was in charge of photos, so have photos of everyone else but none with me in them.  So I roped Granda in to be photographer, the results varied!

We went from the kids acting up (I have NO idea why Euan is giving the peace sign) and me talking to Pedro's lazy eye (which is only noticeable in photos!) making him look like he's half jaked!  We did get one or two which are ok (although Moo does look like she's about to dive off the couch!)

We'll eventually get a half decent family photograph, it may take years, but it will happen!!!

Ooops!!!

I've had a small hiatus!  I knew I hadn't blogged in a while, just slipped my mind the last time I blogged was November.  That was last year! and now we're very nearly, just a kick in the bum away from March.  That's a nearly a quarter into this year.  Flippin 'eck :o

But life has been busy, so it's all good.  The end of last year involved housey stuff (decorating, finishing stuff started ages ago), then it was Christmas and all that malarky, then we had an 'ill house' over the festive period that cleared up for everyone but me (yay!) so the rest of January/early February was dealing with health stuff.  That promptly brings me up to the last 2 weeks, just like that!

I have had a very luxurious 2 weeks off work, luxurious in that work is hectic at the moment and who really takes 2 weeks off in February?  One week for school mid-term but 2 weeks is a bit cheeky :)

In my defence I had annual leave to use up (ain't losing that for nobody) and the week after our mid term was my little pumpkin's first birthday.  Yes it's hard to believe, but our little girl has gone from this (where frankly she looks like a little doll)

Euan trying to look enthusiastic about his baby sister!

To this little person, who is constantly on the go.  She really is the giggliest little munchkin, it's a rare sight to see her upset thankfully.

I'm also massively thankful that her big brother loves her to bits.  I don't know what I'd do if there was any jealousy to deal with.  Parents who have to deal with that must have the patience of a saint.

So the last two weeks have involved 2 birthday cakes (2 separate birthday teas!), lots of attempts at cake pops - not as easy as I thought they'd be! and my first ever attempt to make macaroons (or macaRONs according to the Great British Bake Off!).  They weren't as scary as I'd expected them to be and even seemed to impress my very own Paul Hollywood (ie my dad - fussiest foodie ever!) who asked if I'd bought them ;) 

I've also managed to squeeze in a little bit of sewing

 (granted it doesn't look like much but it will become a revised Mariner's Compass!)

 (playing with hexies)

and even a visit to the Spring Quilt show at Ingliston yesterday where I picked up this fantastic panel - 'Hello Tokyo'

It's a rubbish photo, but you get the idea and I discovered while 'surfing the 'net ' that there are coordinating fabric too.  Yay!!!  This will be made into a quilt for Moo but I'm in 2 minds what to do with it - keep it as a whole panel, or cut it up and do some applique or something.  Needs more planning!

Right off to have a quick cuppa for me but I will be back soon :)

Treats!

Wow we're flying towards the end of the month alarmingly fast!

It's been a busy month so far, this is our birthday month - me & Pedro - so there's been a little bit of celebrating and spoiling going on.  I was definitely spoiled.  My lovely husband replaced my missplaced/stolen Kindle with the new version. Loving the ability to read in bed again without having to put on a light!  He also got me a lovely necklace from the children which is also a baby teether, it is fantastic and saves me from being garoted by my normal everyday necklace (a Hot Diamond star) as it is yanked by Little Miss.  Only I've just realised I haven't taken a photo of it, but this it the link.  It's absolutely fantastic, pretty enough to be worn with any outfit, to work, etc without looking like a novelty but also really practical that it can be chewed as much as my baby sees fit and it still looks great.

I bought myself a little birthday present too, I need to get my scrappy trip quilt top finished and I decided it needed a border as it's very, very scrappy to a did a little online shopping at Backstitch and bought some lovely solids.  I'm really impressed with the excellent service from Backstitch, ordered fabric on the Sunday night and I had it by the Tuesday lunchtime.  Can't ask for better service than that can you!

Now I just need to decide which colour is the inside border and which is the outside - I was thinking slim green border then wider blue border but looking at that photo I'm leaning more to a slim blue border and wider green.  Still debating!

I also got a fantastic gift from the lovely Lynz, a book all about Zentangle, a little notebook, the best Sharpie pen I've ever seen and a gorgeous handmade pouch to keep it all in.

Basically Zentangle is just fancy doodling, you are supposed to go into a 'Zen' like level of concentration when creating your 'tangle' - yeah, yeah, yeah.  I just wanted to find out how to do cool wee doodles.  The book shows you 2-3 different techniques every day, with the idea of building your skills over a period of 6 weeks.  I've never really been one for following things exactly to the letter, so I've dipped into to techniques from the start, middle and end of the book.

I've had a couple of wee shots and I'm pretty impressed with how well they have turned out.  Just after an hour or so of playing about. 

I also got some money which I used to go clothes shopping for the first time in ages.  I'm not very good at shopping, even less so having lost weight.  Yes it was a great feeling trying on sizes which I haven't worn for quite a few years but I have no idea what suits me.  So with the forthcoming festivities I'm utterly clueless about what I should get to wear to a couple of parties I am going to, or what will even look remotely decent.  It's not a big dilemma to have, but it is confusing me!!

Productive

I've been busy in the last week.  Really busy.  I had a couple of days off which I'd planned shortly after returning to work from mat leave (I was being super organised and putting in for my Christmas holidays what with being part-time and all I need use annual leave for public holidays and stuff and just decided to book the rest of my holidays til end of March!).

Anyway I had time off arranged for last week and decided at the last minute that I was going to decorate our bedroom.  We've talked about it for AGES, but like most things with us, we talk about it but never really get round to doing anything.  So I decided to just buy paper and do it when I had the time off booked.

But I forgot to account for the many other things going on last week (and for the time taken up actually looking after children!).  So my great plan was to start painting the bedroom ceiling maybe Tuesday night or Wednesday morning then the walls on Wednesday night and get the papering done on Thursday when No1 child was at nursery ........ well that didn't really happen!

By the time I got myself and kiddiewinks home on Tuesday and did bedtimes I was exhausted so all that was achieved was emptying the room of unnecessary 'stuff'.  Wednesday morning I was helping out at Nursery to make 70(!) cupcakes for the Halloween party.  I eventually started to paint at 9pm on Wednesday.  This resulted in us having to camp out in the livingroom

 

(we were joined by a small person and lots of toys just as we were waking up!)

Then Thursday morning we had nursery halloween party so rushing about making sure that we had all of the Dude's Spiderman costume  - superheros can't leave their masks behind! 

Cue 3 walls very hurriedly painted while he was at nurser.  What was intended to be a quick trip to the Baby Clinic early Thursday afternoon ended up taking most of the afternoon and us leaving without being seen so we returned home one grumpy, tired, hungry baby and one highly unimpressed mummy.  Painting resumed after kiddiewinks bedtimes!

Wallpapering finally happened Friday morning - we went from this

 to this in just over 2 hours (all done just by me - I'm really chuffed with myself!)

The room is nearly finished, I've put up the new curtains and shelves are back up.  I need something for the wall facing the bed but not sure what yet - picture, mirror, shelving?  Can't decide what I want yet but I'm not in a rush so I can look about till I find something which is just right.

Over the weekend the Dude also got his first swimming certificate (a Duckling award!), we feed squirrels in the park on Sunday, I got a lovely delivery from Backstitch of goodies to finish my scrappy round the world trip quilt top and I paid a visit to Tesco at 2.30am (yes am!) on Sunday morning to buy essential teething granules for Little Miss who decided her top teeth needed to come through and we were reminded just how useless teething gel actually is.  Tonight the Dude and Daddy went to the local firework display while I stayed home with Little Miss - 8 months is just a tad too young for her first firework/bonfire event.