Weston Super Mud!

It only takes 18 minutes on a train to get to the beach at Weston Super Mare (or Weston Super Mud as we used to call it as children) but I never seem to go now. I dont know why when its so close. I think I have been a bit snobby over the years wishing it was cooler like St Ives or Brighton but this week my friend Debi and I decided to have an adventure so off we went on the train to Weston and it was brilliant! We did lots of old fashioned sea sidey things. We ate sandy sandwiches on the beach, had ice creams, went on a horse drawn Thomas the Tank Engine, went to a fantastic funfair full of old fashioned beautifully painted roundabouts, fed donkeys on the beach, wrote our names in the sand etc etc. The kids absolutely loved it. The only sad thing was looking at the pier which I really loved as a child which burnt down last year. Thanks to my friend Debi and her little boy Sawyer for coming with me and making it such a laugh. BIG thanks to the nice man at the station who helped me carry my buggy down two flight of stairs and must have bruised shins (train stations are obviously designed by men without children!). You are spared lots of photographic evidence of our fabulous day out only because for some reason the photos look a bit fuzzy when I upload them and I'm too stupid/lazy to work out why.

If any of you are close to Bristol, another great day out will be the Bristol International Kite Festival which is being held on 12/13 September at Ashton Court in Bristol. I'm a bit biased as I used to help organise it but its a great day out (I have no interest in kites either!). Its a really chilled way to spend a couple of hours watching people fly kites (honestly!). There are usually free kite making workshops for children and they have all shapes and sizes of kites flying from massive ones to tiny ones that fight and cut each others string! Theres also a beer tent and loads of yummy food. Its free to get in - you just have to pay for parking. Check out the website.





© Bristol Kite Festival 2008.

A true inspiration

A while ago I spoke about an inspirational friend of mine called Karen who is running the Bristol Half Marathon in memory of her 2 young daughters who both tragically died last year (one from heart failure following a heart transplant as a baby and one from meningitis). Her story is heartbreaking and I know some of you VERY kindly sponsored her and left messages of support. Thank you so much. It really means a lot that complete strangers would do that for someone they have never met. I thought I would update you slightly. Karen has today been featured in the Bristol Evening Post. The paper followed the story of her oldest daughters search for a heart when she was a baby and have featured her today in the hope of helping her reach her target of raising £20,000 for the Bristol Childrens Hospital. If you would like to read more about Karens story then please have a look at the interview (it will make you cry) at Bristol Evening Post

On a positive note Karen has so far raised over £8,000 towards her target. She has a gorgeous little boy called Sam who is nearly one who is helping her stay positive and is surrounded by her family and friends. Her story certainly puts all my problems into perspective.

If you would like to sponsor Karen the link is Holly & Olivia Fundraising Page

Dont leave dad in charge....

I leave the house for a couple of hours and Jon decides that its time for Sam to learn how to feed himself and this is the result.....

First we have pasta in tomato sauce





lets add in some yoghurt



To be fair it had all been cleared up by the time I got home so all I saw was the photographic evidence! Its just nice to see Sam smiling after a week of teething troubles!!

Little Bird Two is having another giveaway - some fab little apple message cards. Well worth checking out her blog.

Jib Jab!

Check this out - Sam and Izzy are really good at dancing now!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

I would like to thank...

Emma at Little Bird Two has nominated me for a Blog Star Award. How exciting! Thanks to Emma and anyone else who reads my inane ramblings on this blog!



If you have been nominated for this award, you must pay it forward. The rules are, you must post an acceptance speech on your blog (feel free to thank the academy!) and then nominate as many other blogs as you wish and, if you have been nominated, feel free to post the above award proudly on your blog!

So I am going to nominate rebellious domesticity I came across this blog on British Mummy Bloggers . Its a really interesting, thoughtful and thought provoking blog about changing your life once you have a child and is just really well written. The kind of blog you look forward to reading. Check it out!

If you are in need of some light relief, have a look at Cake Wrecks (when professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong). Its really funny.....

Who said romance is dead?

My other half gave me a lovely present yesterday the romantic fool. It was a........



Yes thats right it was a paper trimmer!! It actually was a really thoughtful present as I had been playing around with making business cards and packaging for the things I sell and was finding it really frustrating trying to get them looking professional cutting them out with scissors. Now tho I can have professional straight edged cards and packaging so I am actually very happy and can't wait to try it out. I am soooo easily pleased!!

I can't stop buying fabric. I love it. My latest order arrived today from Fabric Inspirations. I sold a tooth fairy cushion and a buggy blanket this week so figured I was allowed to buy even more fabric. I was quite restrained tho and only ordered









I've come accross a couple of lovely fabric websites recently which I thought I would share in the hope that if anybody knows any others perhaps they could leave a comment with the details. I can then maybe add a list to the side of my blog which I can keep updated.

i'll start.....

Fabric Inspirations

Saints and Pinners

Fabric Rehab

Gone to Earth

GaGa Fabric

Nuno

SuperBuzzy

I know there are lots of USA based websites that sell super cheap lovely fabric but i'm a bit wary as last time I tried I got stung for import duty which made it cost as much as buying it in the UK. Also I'm too impatient to wait for it to be shipped! Any other good UK/europe fabric websites you know of??

Patience is a virtue (I don't have!)

Making jewellery is hard. I've been trying to make a necklace tonight from a kit I won in a giveaway on Talking Beads blog. Easy peasy I thought but its actually harder than I thought. I thinks its me though rather than the kit. I just have absolutely zero patience so trying to get small beads to sit right was never going to be easy for me. I've decided to put it on hold until tomorrow and then have another try. It always seems to take me a while with new sewing patterns too. I have to reread them about 100 times before it finally sinks into my brain what I need to do - thats baby brain for you! Will keep you posted.

Check out this gorgeous dress from Sugarmouse.

She spotted the 'mod' dress I made from a Whole Grain Baby pattern on my blog and ordered the pattern for her little girl. Look at how fab it looks. I love the flowers on the yoke and will be borrowing (stealing!) that idea for the next one I make. There are more gorgeous photos on her blog.

I've just distributed the first copies of 'We need to talk about Kevin' to my reading group. We're hoping to meet in about 6 weeks (I know its ages away but we've all got small children) so if any of you fancy reading it too it would be really interesting to get comments from you. A kind of virtual on line reading group!

I'm going to do another giveaway soon so watch this space......

I feel soooo relaxed!

I've had a lovely day today. Izzy was at nursery and my mum offered to look after Sam so I had the whole afternoon to myself so I had a massage AND a hair cut AND a cup of tea in a cafe.....ALL BY MYSELF!! It was fab and I am feeling very relaxed and groomed for a change. I actually like my hair too which is very unusual. I usually come away from the hairdressers feeling very disappointed that they haven't actually made me look like whatever celebrity picture I've taken in forgetting that there is a limit to what a good hair cut can do!

A while ago I won a giveaway with a twist. I had to make a necklace from a jewellery kit sent to me by Jean at Talking Beads and give her some feedback on how easy it is to make. Its now arrived so I'm going to have a go sometime this week. Here is the before shot of the kit and in a couple of days I will hopefully show you the finished article.

I think my children watch too much TV. Izzy asked me today if I knew where fish came from and then informed me very seriously that they come from Morrisons. The power of advertising!

Woo hoo!

I sold 3 bibs and a tooth fairy cushion today so am really excited as I haven't even listed the bibs yet just shown them to a few friends. Got some great feedback on the fabric, design (made a baby and toddler version) and price which is great so I'm going to sell them at £7.50 and see what happens. About to list them on folksy and misi in a mo.

I've been testing them out on Sam too and they seem to wash really well so I'm happy with the quality of the towelling fabric that I am using on the back. Not sure what the washing machine is going to make of the bib below though. Sam had his first italian meal in a restaurant today to celebrate his birthday and he officially LOVES pasta. He was so pleased being able to feed himself. Although his face, the bib and the table got absolutely covered in tomato sauce he didn't get ANY on his shirt. What are the chances??? Must be those fantastic bibs!!

I've just booked myself in for two Christmas markets so I better get busy making! The people behind the Misi website have organised a big handmade event in Bristol on 7 November at The Paintworks - a really cool arts venue so I'm really looking forward to that. I'm also doing the Southville Centre Christmas Market on 5 December. I did this last year and it was great fun. Lots of really cool stuff to buy for presents and I sold lots of things so had a great day. If you live near Bristol come and say hi! I'll be the one eating cake and drinking mulled wine!

Happy Birthday Sam!

Today is Sam's first birthday! I can't believe that this time last year I was pacing round the garden having contractions before going to the hospital and demanding an epidural before they even opened the delivery room door (I got one immediately - in fact I got two........only neither of them worked - I hate that anethsitist!). Given that he was 9lb 13oz I think I deserve presents more than Sam. Its gone so quickly tho I can't believe he is one already. He has been complete joy and we can't imagine life without him now.

As you can see most of the cake ended up on the kitchen floor but I think he liked it. Izzy bought him a little toy monkey which I get the feeling he will not be allowed to play with as shes currently sleeping with it in her bed. Its the thought that counts tho right??

Controlled crying update - Its works!! (says with fingers and toes crossed - this is sooooo going to jinx it). Last night he slept from 7.30pm to 8am without waking up. Hurrah!!

Check me out!

I came across this lovely blog called Whole Grain Baby a couple of days ago and completely fell in love with the 'Mod Dress' that was featured. I then realised that I could actually buy the pattern from their etsy shop and make it myself so feeling rather brave after my recent pattern testing experience, I went to the website and within half an hour had the PDF pattern and instructions. I gave it a go today and I have to say it was much easier than I thought and only took a couple of hours. My version is not perfect but as a first attempt and only the second item of clothing I've ever made its not half bad!! What do you think??

Is it me or is it really hard to get children to pose for pictures when you make something and want to show it off. I had to bribe Izzy to put it on and then she kept making silly faces and wouldn't stand up....Arghhhhhhhh!

I've actually set up my reading group now. I'm on a one woman mission to start using my brain again with the hope that soon I will actually be able to string an intelligent sentence together. My reading group is imaginatively called 'Louise's Reading Group'. I know its clever isn't it? I was trying to think of something intelligent and funny while in the library but Sam was screaming and the librarian was giving me filthy looks so all I could manage was 'Louise's Reading Group' - how pathetic is that?? I wanted to call it 'drunken mothers reading group but I wasn't brave enough as the librarians where I live are SO miserable. Joining the reading group was like having teeth pulled and took ages. The librarian made no attempt to hurry up despite my obvious frantic attempts to soothe my bored cross baby yet managed to look disapprovingly at me and him when he cried.

Thanks to everyone who commented regarding Sam's sleep issues. Last night we got a bit tougher and waited 5 mins each time before going in when he cried. We didn't speak or pick him up, just lay him down and walked out again and it seemed to work - within 20 mins each time he went back to sleep and then slept through to 7.30am this morning. Fingers crossed for tonight!

One last thing. I'm about to list my bibs on folksy and misi. I've made 2 sizes - small (birth to 9 months) and then toddler size (9 months to 2 years). I think the smaller ones should be slightly cheaper (less fabric) but my other half disagrees saying they take the same amount of time to make and its only marginally less fabric. Who do you think is right?????