Sew Very English.............

A Good Start to 2011

2011-01-16T23:03:00.000Z

These last few days have been so exciting, that it's left me feeling completely worn out and exhausted, although admittedly I haven't done very much myself but that's besides the point!

Firstly the new old Monster Printer has been installed in my dining room, a temporary thing I've been assured and is now working. Then I've continued mucking about with buttons, and RSS's, and URL's etc and some how or another I have managed to link some of my things together (FB, Twitter & Blogger) but it's not perfect........but at least there is some action in that department and I would really like somebody to just take the whole thing away and wave a wand and fix it all, but hey for a 'non-geek' I think I've done pretty well.

Thursday we celebrated Izzy's 14th Birthday, I had hoped on taking her out to dinner but mummy got dumped for her preference to stay at school with her friends for a few hours longer. I took a couple of boxes of cupcakes into her room at school so she could enjoy celebrating with her friends and this was a hit, no doubt she became extremely popular at this point in the day. When I got home I found Teddy Fluffybum curled up in one of the boxes from Izzy's packaging, why is it that cat's like small squashy spaces?

I have also been looking around for some more studio space that's all mine, my current space is far too small and I need to be able to spread my stuff. Also because my current location is so tiny it means that most of my things need to stay at home so I need to remember what I need to pack up everyday and then shuffle backwards and forwards to and from the car with bundles of bags, the sewing machine and the iron and in the rain that's not much fun.

But I have finally found a new location (fingers crossed) which I can move into from the middle of next month and then all my arty crafty sewing stuff can all live happily together again in one place. I'm so excited about this news, as I will have 2 whole rooms all for me....Yippeeeeeeeee and 7 windows, toilets and a kitchen!...these are things I'm currently lacking where I am currently so I've been doing sneaky jiggy jumps about the house with my good news.

I'm also speaking to other local crafts people about putting some of their lovely things in my studio, as I would like to use one room as a work room and the other as more of a shop/gallery and everybody so far is very positive about my idea.

Meanwhile Chris went off to London Thursday as well, he had a meeting at the offices of 'The Lady' magazine in Covent Garden. All went brilliantly well and he will now be working with them on the holiday side of things. More jiggedy hopping from me when he phoned to tell me the news. They also gave him a goody bag of things for ME!.....how lovely is that, so when he got home he spent the entire evening telling me all the chatter from the day, over and over again, he is a very Happy Bunny!

Norwich Shopping

2011-01-15T07:10:00.002Z

Today we went to Norwich shopping via an industrial unit somewhere. Other half had purchased a new old desktop laser printer for me which apparently I desperately needed that can print A3....Whooooooooooaaa!.....To me the use of the word 'desktop' meant something that could sit on a desk, so can you imagine the look on my face when two men had to carry this extremely huge gigantic thing to my car, then lay it down sideways to squeeze it in!!!!!......After this really exciting visit there wasn't alot of room left for any good girlie shopping.
Other half later informed me that I may be better off with an A1 laser printer!!!!....WHY!!!....I can't wait to find out what other really groovy things I need! 'Oh Please' I begged, 'why can't I just have the things that I want not the things that you want'........Last year I received a Hard Drive as a gift....What sort of a gift is that?, thankfully it wasn't for a Birthday or Christmas, so later this week just to thank my other half I'll treat him to some new fabric :-)

My Laptop is heading for the Window!

2011-01-09T19:07:00.000Z

I've just had the most horrible of weekends after having spent two days on the computer. And all I want to do is link twitter, blogger and my Facebook Biz Page together, it sounds easy until you get going. I've looked at tuitorials, loads of instructions, discovered a foreign geek language and eaten loads of chocolate. The problem is I don't really understand what 'RSS's are all about, how to find your URL for your feed, where do you find your feeds, do we have more than one, so much information to understand and the brain isn't coping well.

Every site has help solutions, but Facebook hasn't updated it's information on what I need to know so I'm completely stuck. Yesterday I thought all was going well for a few minutes and had managed to upload the blog to the Biz page, but today it's vanished and now I'm being told the URL of my blog doesnt exist....GGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

If you hear someone yelling at the top of their voice and a window being smashed, please don't panic as it will only be me throwing the laptop out of the window in complete frustration.

Last Year 2010

2011-01-07T23:47:00.000Z

I thought I would just upload some pic's of some of the things that kept me nicely busy during the last year. The blogging came to a big fat standstill as one thing after another happened, but the main events were moving back to the UK...Suffolk, and my daughter starting at a new school. I also have an incy wincey bit of studio space in Framlingham for the moment, and I've just started a Facebook thingie for Sew Very English. So for now enjoy the gallery, and hopefully more words at a later time xxx

This was a bag with attached scrappies that I made for my sister.

Personalised Placemats

Comic Book Laptop Cosy

Union Jack Tea Cosy

This 'Tea Chest' tea cosy went off to the Royal Albert Hall....Whoooooooaa!!!

Personalised Placemats again, these were used for a wedding, more pic's to follow

Little Union Jack iPhone/iPod/Digi Camera Cases that can also be Personalised

Christmas Tea Cosy

The Christmas tea cosy is personalised on the reverse.

Childrens Christmas Stocking - Miss Robin and Mr Reindeer

The Robin and the Reindeer Christmas Stockings up close!

Union Jack Personalised iPad Cosy in either red or black at the mo.

From my studio window in Framlingham

iPad Cosy

The Union Jack iPad Cosy can be made with or without the bows.

Getting things personalised

More Christmas Stockings being personalised.

The iPod iPhone Cosy Cover comes in four colours and shocking pink was the most popular choice.

Personalised Placemats at the wedding

Very twinkly wedding bunting which takes forever to sew with all the little sequins.

and the lovely little Bridesmaids holding up the Twinkly Wedding Bunting

Yep, I stitched all those sequins on!

The Personalised Cupcake tea cosy

Union Jack Cushions

Jemima and the Tea Buoy tea cosy

Little Personalised Hearts

More Christmas Stockings, which are all personalised and finished off in traditional blanket stitch.

and some smaller traditional Christmas Stockings that also have a bobble fringe

Oh, the bag has appeared again!

Crikey it's been yonks and Holiday Home in Hourtin.....

2010-07-31T00:00:00.000+01:00

Where has the time gone since my last post absolutely yonks ago?.....We have all been terribly busy but now things have started to get a little easier since we're not popping over to France every other week to do things to the house over there.

The house in Hourtin France is now in it's very first season of being rented out for the summer, so we are all very glad everything so far (toucher le wood) is going swimmingly well. The entire house has been repainted which took forever, and poor Chris was shipped over for 3 weeks to manage most of it himself whilst I stayed here with Izzy managing the school runs and just doing all the usual mummy jobs.

So if you fancy a renting a holiday home in Hourtin, Medoc County please do get in touch and feeding the ducks who are regular visitors to the house is compulsory!

Besides all of this very tiring business of dashing backwards and forwards like headless chickens, as it really was beginning to feel like that we now have 5 weeks at home to re-charge our batteries before popping back for a proper holiday at the end of August.............Yipeeeeeeeeee!

I made loads of lovely things for the French house before my last visit, lots of bunting, notice boards, nautical cushions, stuffed fabric ducks, wall art.....it was lovely once the house was looking all bright and fresh again to add my new creations, I just hope my renters like all these things as there are quite a few bits and bobs and I want to continue making a few more pieces for my next trip.

However, I've had no real free time either, every day seems to be crammed with stuff of some description. The house we are living in now is I feel too small, especially as my OH is working now in the garage for some space!......and although I have a sewing area (hutch size), my fabric is stuffed under the stairs although rather neatly and my ironing board and cutting table have taken over the dining room!......and have I mentioned I live with the most untidy of chaps and teenage daughter :-( so it's all getting on top of me so I have taken some drastic action and advertised for some studio space locally, which will of course allow me to concentrate more without the distractions of the mountain of washing up there always seems to be waiting for me, the washing up fairy.

I've also been very busy stitching away at lots of new stuff but I'm not sharing with you yet, as I'm off to bed soon to get some rest before another busy day tomorrow. Anyway that's what has been happening of late, so Cheerio dear peops and I'll try to do another post soonish x

Suffolk at last!

2010-04-25T19:16:00.000+01:00

I have been away from blogging for a long time now, as we have left France and moved back to the UK, Suffolk actually so I've been rather busy. Packing and unpacking which just takes forever and all gets very stressful but finally we are almost straight.

Izzy started school last Monday and she loved it, lots of new lessons, activities and hundreds of new friends!...in fact she has just been exploding with info and stories at the end of the school day and it's all so lovely to hear how happy she is. So after completing her first week she was off to the school disco on Friday night which she especially enjoyed, and so very different to her school in France!

I will be opening my shop soon again with NOTHS but I do need to search out all the fabric shops and see what they all have to offer but firstly I need to find some?!!! Do let me know where they are all hiding please if you know of any good ones in Suffolk or Norfolk areas, as so far on my travels I haven't seen any :-( .............anyway lots to be doing now, as I need to rescue the school uniform off the line ready for the morning after spending the day stitching in a zillion school labels....I haven't done that in years and where on earth do you put name labels in socks?

Bye for now x

Last nights nightmare and we've got a 3rd on the way!

2010-02-28T19:54:00.000Z

Storms in France Kill at Least 45

Enlarge This Image

Frederic Girou/MaxPPP, via European Pressphoto Agency

Firefighters evacuated inhabitants of L’Aguillon sur Mer in the department of Vendée, in France, on Sunday.

PARIS (AP) -- A violent late winter storm with fierce rain and hurricane-strength winds ripped across western Europe on Sunday, battering France and four other countries, leaving at least 51 people dead.
The storm, named Xynthia, was the worst in France since 1999 when 90 people died. Prime Minister Francois Fillon held an emergency Cabinet meeting and afterward called the storm a ''national catastrophe.''
Many of the at least 45 victims in France drowned, while others died when hit by parts of buildings or trees and branches that were ripped off by the wind. At least a dozen people were missing Sunday and 59 others were injured.
Three people died in Spain, one person was killed in Germany and a child was crushed to death in Portugal. The storm also hit Belgium, with one death reported there. Although Britain was not hit, London's Thames Barrier -- the capital's flood defense -- was closed Sunday morning as a precaution.
Nearly 900,000 people in France were without electricity. Rivers overflowed their banks in Brittany, while high tides and enormous waves swamped Atlantic Ocean communities in the early morning hours.
Helicopters lifted people to safety from the roofs of their homes.
A retired couple who had parked their camping car on the waterfront in the town Moutier-en-Retz died when the vehicle was swallowed by rushing waters and they could not make it to firm ground.
The threat of avalanches was high in the Pyrenees Mountains and the southern Alps due to wind and wet snow. Roofs were ripped off, chimneys collapsed and the wind shattered the windows at a brewery in eastern France.
In Paris, winds knocked over motorcycles and spewed garbage around the streets of the capital. Flights were delayed and at least 100 were canceled at the two main Paris airports. A number of trains throughout France were delayed because of flooded tracks.
Winds reached about 130 mph (200 kph) on the summits of the Pyrenees and up to nearly 100 mph (160 kph) along the Atlantic Coast. The storm hit the Vendee and Charente-Maritime regions in southwestern France hardest, flooding coastal islands and tossing boats around in ports.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux planned to visit the worst hit regions Monday.
The storm was moving eastward and parts of France along the border with Germany and Belgium were on alert for heavy rain and high winds.
Officials say scores of flights and trains have been canceled or delayed in southwestern Germany. One person was killed in the Black Forest area when winds brought a tree down onto his car in the Sunday afternoon storm.
Fallen trees also closed many stretches of train tracks in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saarland.
High winds caused the cancellation of 119 flights from Frankfurt airport while scores of others were delayed or diverted.
Xynthia hit Belgium in mid-afternoon. One man was killed by a falling tree in his garden in Jodoigne, southern Belgium, broadcaster VRT reported. High winds also brought down some electricity lines, leaving many without power in the south of the country.
In Spain, the interior minister said three people were killed by hurricane-strength winds and heavy rainfall that lashed the country's northern regions over the weekend. Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the storm had been intense in certain regions and had caused the deaths of a woman in northwestern Ourense and of two people whose car was hit by a falling tree in Arlanzon just north of Madrid.
The national weather agency had warned that a violent cyclone depression had formed over the Atlantic Ocean and was to cross areas bordering the Bay of Biscay.

Latest Offerings..........

2010-02-15T08:20:00.000Z

It's been a very busy last few weeks with my quickie trip to the UK looking at houses and schools again, but I think I can safely say that we have found a house now in Suffolk.

A house move is being planned and so you will need to excuse my absence whilst I am occupied with lots of other stuff, namely packing and organising and all the things that need to be done during this stressy period. A house move is always horrendous but when you're living in a differant country things can be even more challenging and difficult.

We are all very excited about the move, Izzy cannot wait to go to an English speaking school and participating in all the lessons, especially the music and the arts.

Chris's mini empire of geekiness will be expanding, which is something that he is looking forward to, but I am looking forward to him finally having some driving lessons and being able to go to the DIY shop's by himself.

And me, well I'm looking forward to it all, the food shopping, London visits for inspiration, craft fairs and hopefully participating in some, cinema, and being able to go out to a big choice of restaurants that are open all year long! Catching up with friends and being able to spend more time with our families.

I made some more cosies last week, it will probably be my last chance to come up with some new designs before we move, but I thought they would be good offerings for Mother's Day.

The packing has already started and I don't think it will be too long before my mountain of fabric, books and machinery gets boxed up ready for their voyage

to their new home and much much bigger space...........Oh wow, will the creativity flow then!!! Phew, my life will be in shock as I'll be able to spread my stuff around me and not be limited to the one desk.

And so, with so much to do I had better get cracking, I still have some orders to make and some to finish but this is an exciting and challenging time, so fingers crossed nothing goes wrong, no spanners wanted just loads of luck, and we'll be on our way in a few weeks!

xxx

The Yorkshire Pudding Adventure!!!

2010-01-11T23:51:00.005Z

I finished another New Year Order today and had my camera on standby all day as I had wanted to get some more snaps of the gull's on my lake. After several attempts of charging to the window at full speed, armed with tea cosy, pin cushion and camera and being completely useless at capturing them I became convinced they were watching me at work and playing some sort of bird hide and seek game!

I had no more bread, or pizza crusts to give them, I did think they would like Izzy's chocolate cereal as this is a firm favorite with the ducks but then I found some of yesterday's leftover Yorkshire Puddings!!! I was sure I could tempt them back with these, and yes after throwing the puddings onto the lake and being very still inside my house at the ready I was able to get some interesting shots of the birds discovering the British Yorkshire Pudding.

As you can probably tell, this bird had completely the wrong idea as he tried using it as a sleigh or toboggan, something he has seen in other parts of the World, especially the UK I'm sure as the French don't go in much for Le Yorkshire.

This bird obviously thought Le Yorkshire was alive and kicking and thought he had to batter it to death and finally once convinced it was moving no longer took it off away with him far far away!

The End!

It's Getting Colder

2010-01-10T22:23:00.002Z

Temperature's have dropped slightly and everywhere else in France seems to have snow apart from here. The lake outside my kitchen door has frozen over now and we've taken to feeding the birds our pizza crusts which they seem to thoroughly enjoy!

We've also looking after another cat (almost a homeless animal) which I'm furious about. Not the part of the looking after her bit, but the fact that her owner lives just 5 houses away and doesn't give a damn about her.

Most of my neighbours do think I'm quite bonkers when it comes to the animals here, and are all amazed when they see the ducks and the babes all visiting my house, coming into my kitchen and eating out of Teddy Fluffybum's cat bowl. Teddy does nothing to prevent this happening and just watches in complete disbelief, however I am straying from my story.

Two years ago, my neighbour's cat has kittens and I saw him drown them all in a bucket outside his house. I was mortified but what could I do. Quite a few months later, one summer night when we were fast asleep in our beds I was woken up by a scratching on the bedroom veranda door, it was so persistent I had to get out of bed to investigate what it was. It was my neighbour's cat and I didn't have a clue why she was behaving like this, so I just told her to go away and I went back to bed.

A couple of hours later I was wide awake, it was definitely morning time and as I looked out onto the veranda I couldn't believe my eyes. My neighbour's cat was giving birth to more kittens, I woke Chris up and he had to act as midwife, as one of the kittens cords had wrapped itself around the leg on a chair and needed to be saved. Chris to the rescue, cut the cord and saved the kitten.

I phoned my neighbour to tell him what was going on, he was away for the weekend but would return at some point and deal with the kittens! OMG, we had a family crisis meeting and decided that we would not give the cat or the kittens over to my neighbour until he had agreed to find homes for all the babies and took some responsibility for his own female cat by taking her to the vets, and we would keep them all here at our house until they were old enough to leave their mother. Finally, in his own French way and after alot of bullying from other neighbours he finally agreed.

Now up to present date......he went on holiday at the end of November for 6 weeks, he made no provision for his cat, no food, no one was asked to look after her and so as usual she was hungry and scavaging for food. Chris made some sort of cat house out of my greenhouse box, we stuffed it full of fabrics, newspapers and straw and so she slept there, with us feeding her and some of my other neighbours.

Then the weather changed and it got horribly cold, My neighbour returned from his holiday and still the cat was hungry, and still she had nowhere to sleep as he kicks her out the house. We are convinced she will die in these temperatures and so she is now sleeping in our house, currently asleep on a warm chair.

Yes, I'm having a rant, it just make's me so utterly mad, I don't want someone else's cat here, I have a lovely handsome Teddy already but I cannot be so heartless and see her freeze and starve to death. My French isn't so great that I could strop over and give him a piece of my mind, but I have thought of presenting him with a bill for cat food, front line and other misc things that we have purchased, or maybe I'll just do nothing and stay disgusted....after all....I should be used to his typical uncaring behaviour and he'll only wind me up even more.

Bonne Année............eeeeeer Yes Happy New Year 2010

2010-01-05T23:32:00.004Z

Well I'm hoping everyone had a super super Christmas, but I can't help feeling that I'm glad it's all over for another 12 months. And so we welcome in the New Year, freezing mornings, more colds and snuffles and a host of new ideas and creativity....well it did say that in my horoscope at the weekend!......Apparently this is going to be 'MY' year but I'm slightly miffed as I seem to recall reading this virtually every year for the last 25.....Still it's nice to believe it

- if only for a few minutes!!!!

I received my first order of the year on New Year's Day, so this may be a sign of good things to happen.....or not, but I was still very happy as I had thought I'd be twiddling my thumbs and catching up on more Bernina Bedtime reading for months!
The new machine is going well and has been out of the box now for about 3 weeks! I jumped in at the deep end, right in the middle of my Christmas orders and just thought I must confront my fears of using such a complicated machine and just get on with it. However all that said, most of the bits and bobs are still in brown packaging until I have another brave moment and try them out!

Another flight is booked now for a quickie visit to the UK this month when we are house hunting again in Suffolk so I hope all that snow I keep seeing on the TV has gone otherwise I don't think we'll be going very far except round and round my mother's garden.

It's all very dull here in Winter and far too cold for people to visit, even my Dolly Wabbit has shown extreme signs of boredom by teaching himself to read one of Chris's books. Teddy Fluffybum has also taken to hibernation on anything box like by sleeping for days on end and thought Christmas was fab as there was a bigger selection of things to sleep on and in.

No more news from here in the Medoc, I'm hoping for this year to bring a house move back to the UK, a new school for Izzy, lots of exciting stitchery stuff and a bigger space to work in and not to see my ironing board permanently up in the middle of the lounge..............or am I just wanting too much!

My new year resolutions are the usual - lose weight, lose weight, lose weight.....Oh God, it's painful just to see those words and the regime that will be necessary for this to happen. I really am such a failure where this is concerned so will have to be very strict with myself. My good friend Sarah has asked us if we want to start a variation of speed walking in the mornings with her again after the school run - great idea but is she completely mad, this morning it was -2 degree's, so 'NO' I don't fancy it at all!.....I want tea and toast and more tea at that time...

Happy New Year Folks
Love Tracy x

My New Bernina Toy.....and my lack of time!

2009-11-19T08:45:00.007Z

Gosh it's been absolutely yonks since I scribbled down my last little bit of blog, so It's about time it was updated only I don't have very long as I'm extremely busy en ce mo.
Well very recently I was at the fantastic knitting and stitching show in London and finally managed to order my new super duper fantazioli Bernina sewing machine. As my friends well know it's not like I have a shortage of machines as the house already has 5, but this was my long awaited dream machine.

It was finally delivered last week, and I was numb with excitement, all three boxes of Bernina sat on the floor whilst I just stood over them and stared at the wonderful packages infront of me. Teddy Fluffybum had other ideas, as he jumped up onto the top parcel and started to snuggle down, why do cats love boxes so much?! So after Teddy Cat was removed from the brown mountain (his new bed) I did need to open them and check everything out.

So finally, I started on the unwrapping, the smallest first stuffed full of accessories, then the middle box with all lovely embroidery stuff in and then..............lastly......my beautiful dream
machine.

Once everything was out, a trial was needed so I plugged the Bernina in and watched the screen come to life. Without reading the manual I thought I would just have a little play with some of the functions but had to keep switching the machine off and back on to get me back to the beginning as I had no idea what I was doing and kept getting stuck......Oh La La.......Yes, I think it's complicated.

There is no comparison to my current vintage Bernina which only has about 5 stitches to offer
so I put my new toy back into all the boxes and there it has stayed for the last week, my new brown mountain lounge feature!..... I did want to spend at least a couple of days playing and ploughing through the book but I just don't have the time at the moment. My Christmas orders are keeping me extremely busy and my new baby needs me to have a clear head which I'm not sure is going to possible this side of Christmas............but we'll see.

So I've been making tea cosies galore, Christmas Winter Tea Cosies...........

and Cupcake Tea Cosies.................

.....and more Cupcake Cosies. The Cupcake Cosy was my featured product in the recent catalogue with 'Not On The High Street' so I'm just grateful that I'm not stuffing these scrummy little cakes and just stitching them, even so the waistline is still not decreasing.

And just before my new machine arrived I celebrated my October Birthday, Chris had organised an amazing party for me for Halloweeeeeeeeen. Chris designed the invitations, Chris organised all the people, Chris made all the food, Chris put up an outside Cinema Screen to show Halloween type films, Chris decorated the front terrace by the lake, ...Yes... Chris did absolutely everything except.... Ssssssssshhhhhhhh....He's not very good at cleaning the kitchen! But Hey, the evening was wonderful and everyone really had a lovely time, and if Chris ever reads my blog 'Thank you Hon, it was really appreciated'.

Izzy, Lea & Juliet in their Halloween Costumes!

Kids Spooky Food....Made by Chris!

Christmas Stockings à la plage!

2009-10-28T09:26:00.004Z

I finished these new Christmas Stockings earlier this week and went off to the beach to take their photographs. They're smaller than the ones I have made before, but still have the hand embroidery and this time round I've also added a lovely cotton bobble fringe to the front.

Anyway more from me later, I've got alot to do, usual domestic goddess stuff :-( and I'm still sat here in my jim jam's drinking delicious George Clooney coffee.

Disney Paris for Halloweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen

2009-10-26T21:12:00.008Z

My Cat Burglar

2009-10-20T22:40:00.003+01:00

We arrived back from Disney very late Sunday Evening after a huge long drive and feeling very tired. Once all the bags were in the house and Izzy was nicely tucked up in bed I made some hot tea and opened up my emails, and this was my favorite from our friends who had been looking after Teddy Fluffybum & Dolly Wabbit.

Hi,

Hope you all had a great time !

Saturday morning and we found the aftermath of Teddy's party !

All the other cats had left, leaving him (or us actually) to clear up the debris !

As you can see, he's over the hangover and tucking into a big breakfast........

Have spoken to him about taking responsibility etc but as he says: 'when the owners are away, cats will play !'

I really did need a good laugh after the very stressful journey home and this did the trick nicely.

Unfortunately, having caught up with my friends today I then found out that Sue had initially thought I'ld been burgled and immediately telephoned for further assistance and the camera from Andrew...........I just can't believe Monsieur Fluffybum was so very naughty, but he does seem to have some deep rooted emotional issues when we go away, but breaking the crockery was a first!.........I've now booked him in for some Kitty Counciling for Anger Management, but I daren't tell him yet just in case he goes for all my Emma Bridgewater!

NOTHS Catalogue Tea Cosy and lots of other strange stuff

2009-10-12T23:54:00.008+01:00

I've been ignoring the blog thing for a while as I've been very occupied with all sorts of stuff lately. I spent last week back in the UK and the time flew by very quickly but the most important piece of news is that I have now purchased a shiny new machine and can't wait for it to be delivered. I think it will probably take me a few months just to read the manual as it's a very grown up model with more gadgets and gizmo's than what I'm used to, but I'm very very excited and will soon have it programmed to sew whilst I sleep!!!......wishful thinking on my part only I don't think they've developed that model yet!

The Grove

I also went to see 'Calender Girls' in Covent Garden with my mum, and we also went to the fab 'Knitting and Stitching' show. I was truly amazed, I loved my visit there and in the foyer was a knitted sailing boat (full size) complete with fish, life buoy, and a fish and chip supper in the boat and all knitted, it must have taken yonks to make but it was incredible to look at. Unfortunaely I forgot to take my camera with me so I have no photo's to share with you.

My mother and sister also took me out for a pre birthday celebration at 'The Grove' near Watford somewhere and that was a really super treat with lots of scrummy flavours and champagne. I even managed to sneak in an indian meal during the week which was also delicious as we don't have anything even vaguely Indian near me in the Medoc France. In actual fact we don't really have anything nice at all for me to eat but there is lots of wild boar on the menu at the moment here as its hunting season once again but I don't like that either!

Just before I left for the UK my lovely friends had a little party and we all got up to some pretty interesting stuff, lots of singing with actions including the Hokey Pokey and some very bendy games. To make the evening even more fun, half of the guests were French and all seemed to have a lovely time even though I'm sure they all think we are totally bonkers and were not too sure what they were singing about or even doing?!

An International male bonding ritual

Now this is a super photo of my bum!......yes incredibly huge and I must remember to thank my friend for taking such a lovely photo of me!.......Now I had never played this game before and its very simple, both feet on floor, cereal box in front of you, and you need to pick it up with your teeth. The only rules are that you cannot use your arms, and you cannot put your knee's on the floor.

The ceral box gets cut down a little after each round until you have a winner. It's not an easy thing to do and you just hope that nobody is going to fart with their bum stuck up in the air!

This is Tony having a go.

.....and another go.....

and now he's given up, but just look at how small that box is next to his arm, he did amazingly well.

Now's its Chris's turn.......and that's all we have from him as this is all he could manage in the bendy cereal box game!

And apart from all of this fun I've managed to finish another Tea Cosy (right at the top).....and the winter catalogue from www.notonthehighstreet.com featuring my cupcake cosy (shown in a previous post) is now in print. This is a World first for me, having a piece of my work in a catalogue so fingers crossed everything goes well.

That's it for now, still got loads to do and must get back to the machine.

xxx

Ps....spell checker still not working on the blog, anyone else having a problem with it?

The 'Cosy' is Black, and Pink, and Blue and Ivory!

2009-09-09T22:07:00.002+01:00

I thought summer was over here in South West France but last weekend temperatures started soaring once again and yesterday was just awful at a sweltering 42 degrees. I happen to like the sun and the warm weather but I was stuck away in my little room and it was horrendous and difficult to keep going at a speedy pace trying to get these new cosies finished.

Anyway this design is suprisingly called 'cupcake', and it's personalised on one side and it's also my piece that is going into the Winter Catalogue with www.notonthehighstreet.com .

At the weekend I never thought I was going to finish anything, my machine wanted to start playing games and after a 2 hour mechanical overhaul I gave up, rushed over to my friends house to borrow her machine and by the time I got back mine had decided to start working.

This isn't the sort of behaviour you expect from a machine that is only 6 months old, so I am feeling pretty cross about it and have just ordered a favourable back up for future use or main use until I change mine.

I'm flying over to London next month and going to the 'Knitting and Stitching' show, I adore these shows and seeing all sorts of bits and bobs, and being over here in very rural France you don't get to see anything at all unless you have a passion for pine tree's and vineyards (which I'm getting bored with now), so I'm trying to save my pennies to return here with lots of lovely sewing bags and a new machine hopefully and a sneaky trip to Selfridges!

My Five Minutes of Fame!!!.............

2009-09-04T23:52:00.008+01:00

Izzy

My most exciting bit of news was a piece of my work appearing on the blog of 'Not On The High Street' http://blog.notonthehighstreet.com/2009/9/1/personalisation-on-a-higher-level
I was absolutely delighted to see this and you can just imagine how happy I was, being a newbie still, fingers crossed all goes well as we need some good luck for a change.

I popped into a rather small and limited fabric shop yesterday with Izzy, I was after something but not quite sure what, when my eyes caught sight of some white felt. I wanted to know if the felt had any wool in it or if it was just synthetic fibres, so I asked the assistant for help in my best French. 'Please can you tell me if this is wool'?.....nice simple phrase, nothing complicated with that and I know the word for wool, c'est laine.

Izzy has now burst into fits of giggles,which is very annoying and the assistant was telling me that she didn't know. What I had infact asked was if the felt was made from a donkey!!!............OK, so my French needs improving and my pronounciation needs desperate help but at least I tried, I don't know how the assistant managed to keep a straight face and be so polite.

Apart from all of that the new school term has just started along with getting up especially early and it's getting a bit chilly now too. Izzy didn't seem to mind at all as she has the 'Must Have New Seasons Bag' along with co-ordinating pencil case and a zillion books, pens and rubbers. Anyway I'm sure this eagerness to get to school will quickly fade once the whole school have seen the bag and homework starts coming home!

Summer Sunshine, Speedo's & Spiders!

2009-08-31T22:53:00.008+01:00

We've just had a fab couple of weeks and a stay at home holiday with the arrival of our friends from England. Everybody had loads of fun, and sunshine and we've all put on lot's more weight!

It was an eventful 2 weeks to say the least, firstly and without boring everyone with too much detail, it was decided that a day at a very local campsite with lots of swimming pools and water slides would be lots of fun for the children.

I decided not to participate in this activity and had just arrived home when the telephone rang and it was Chris phoning to tell me that they had all been asked to leave, chucked out actually!...........Apparently there was a disagreement about the length of the their swimming shorts, far too long by French standards and all the boys were asked to change into their speedo's! OMG!!!!.............How many men wear speedo's?!!!.... All that Meat and Veg shoved into a little squashed space of speedo lycra, what a revolting thought!

Anyway nobody here owns speedo's so everyone left after a further disagreement with the establishment there. The French management had not bargained on Izzy being bi-lingual and understanding every insult they muttered, and were hugely embarrassed by the whole saga when she opened her mouth to speak to them and were even more red faced when they found out that we lived in the same town..............Oh la la!............I have to say that their attitude changed at this point when they then wanted to shake everyone's hand and become friends!.....I'm suprised they didn't try planting a great big 'Bisous' on Chris who really isn't into all the French kissing that goes on here.

Chris demonstrating the water slide in his long shorts.

Anne

Simon at the BBQ

Izzy at Chateau Lafite Rothschild

We had another lovely day visiting the local Chateaux, especially close are Lafite Rothschild and Mouton Rothschild just 20 mins away. I have already mentioned in earlier posts that Chris used to work as a sommelier for Marco Pierre White amongst other places so he has a good sense of understanding the wine and explaining all the processes that occur.

Chris in the vineyard

The vines at Chateau Lafite Rothschild - very boring to look at but a fab day!

It's impossible to get a wine tasting here at Lafite but you are allowed to walk around the beautiful grounds. Chris ignored the 'Prive' sign and decided to investiage further by finding an unlocked door and decided to go in. Actually the seven of us decided to go in!....The most beautiful whiffy smell of red wine filled the stone building that we had now entered.

Chris 'Prive' means Private.... NOT 'Enter and nose about'!

Shona in the whiffy stone building.

Anyway once inside Chris found a stairway that went down into somewhere else, but when he came back up he had managed to gain the company of two French companions who were very politely telling us all to leave......in a very posh way, much better than at the campsite! They were much much better at chucking us out so we thought we'ld give them a good score of 9/10 besides we had all been rather cheeky!

Chateau Lafite Rothschild (above)

Chateau Mouton Rothschild

Our next stop was at Chateau Mouton Rothschild, where we all had a good look around the shop, and the gardens. We bought some wine to have our very own private tasting at home that evening under the supervision of Chris, who had everyone swilling, sniffing and swigging the wine and examining all the other bits and bobs.

Another big Chateau we found along the way, somewhere not too far!

The two cars on the Wine Route Day out.

Anway enough about wine for a moment, one evening when everyone was safely tucked up in bed and I was alone downstairs, I came across Incy Bloody Wincy!

Normally we all scream for Chris to assist but he was asleep, so I thought my baby Dyson would do the job just fine. So I picked up my handheld mini hoover and hovered over the top of Incy but he did not move, the suction was not strong enough to get him, he was enourmous, as big as my hand with hairy legs as long as my fingers and a big fat body. I can honestly say that the only spider I have ever seen of this size is a tir-ran-chew-la!

Eventually after hovering the Dyson over the top of him for a few minutes he had finally disapeared up into the clear plastic bowl with all the hoover dirt. OH YES!.......I had got him, but instead of finding him dead, he was running around the bowl so I quickly ran outside and left the Dyson outside for the evening just incase Incy decided to crawl out and climb back onto the sofa!

Yuk......Incy.....look at his hairy legs!.....AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

Corporal Chris

A thin building?

This is why I'm not getting any thinner, but they are all very small!

Me....after my ordeal!

But the funniest day I've spent this last week was at Parc D'adventure (similar to Go Ape).
I am not a natural climber, more of a bulldozer really and after the trial run under supervison we were all left to our own devices. The children disapeared quickly leaving us four adults to sort ourselves out, actually Chris and Simon both had hangovers so were not much help to me and Anne who stuggled round the course in fits of giggles mostly.

Trouble came when I was faced with the cargo net to get across, what you need to remember or perhaps what I should have remembered is that I was wearing a harness and strapped in securely and had zero chance of falling to my death. But failing to remember any of this I threw my arms around the net and wouldnt' let go, I was hanging on for dear life and couldn't work out how other people had managed to get across so quickly.

People were shouting out instructions, I'm sure they were getting very inpatient with me for spending so long stuck on the rope and a big queue was now established on the tree behind, but I was completely fixed on not letting go or even moving. A small crowd had now gathered on the ground beneath me, waving their arms in the air, and taking photographs of the stupid blonde woman stuck on the sodding cargo net.

It was hugely embarressing and after a short while my arms could not carry my weight any longer and I had to briefly let go before quicky clutching for safety once again on the net. I had only moved one rung further on, the whole ordeal probably took me half an hour to get across, and after this I had a huge fear of ropes and net's for the rest of the day there.

Chris having a go.

Me.................this was the very last nightmare for the day, a bungee jump off a very high platform which swings me into an even bigger cargo net. I had to be rescued off this net by the staff as I couldn't move at all!......Somehow I don't think I'll be going back to this place.

Chris doing some balancing.

Chris modelling his new hat! Me & Izzy have needed to hide his other ones!

Anyway I've had a super week, and Chris has also bought me a new camera, so I'm very happy and will be driving everyone mad with my super zoom lens. Me and Simon got up really early one morning and disapeared off to another part of the lake and catch the sunrise with our camera's. Anyway I'm really chuffed as I've been very spoilt this month plus I have another secret weapon of sewing gadgets arriving later this month so can't wait to get my hands on that.

Izzy & Shona posing for the new camera!

My super Zoom catching Anne

Now Catching Callum

And finally Simon & Chris

2009-08-12T16:35:00.001+01:00

I've had a fab few days, Chris is back and installed once again at his computer, but not for long as he's not happy with the lack of attention I've been giving the lawn in his absence! He also returned with some wonderful gifts for Izzy & me, Izzy now has an Apple powerbook so the two of them have become my pomme geeks and I have a beautiful swarovski charm bracelet.

Last night we had our wonderful friends Sandrine & Jerome over for dinner, Chris did all the cooking and we all sat outside until very late to wait for the shooting stars. We all made lots of wishes for every time we saw one, but Jerome was very funny, after he had wished for all the usual sensible things - health and happiness - he then moved on to wishing for the new Mac Netbook which made us all laugh.

I had my first order with www.notonthehighstreet.com, I looked at the email several times to check it was quite real, and then asked Izzy to check as well. After this we did a merry dance around the house and Izzy gave me loads of hugs. The order was for a personalised tea buoy tea cosy and its pictured above. My customer was Sophie Cornish, one of the two founders of this great company so I was really happy and very flattered. I wrapped it up yesterday, tied the string around the parcel and sent Chris off to the Post Office.

Everything was going well until the Post Office worker started ranting away in French, Chris could tell she had an anti-string thing going on and he suggested cutting it off by using his sissor hand gesture. The next question she asked was the content of the parcel, again Chris demonstrated the word 'fabric' by pointing to his shirt, the woman wrote down 'chemise'............ah well never mind, Sophie Cornish thought she ordered a tea cosy but is now being sent a shirt according to Hourtin Post Office!

Simon my friend from graphics college 25 years ago is arriving next week with his family, so I'm hoping the good weather continues as they will be camping in the garden. Max, another very old friend of Chris's is also visiting again soon, so the house will be bustling with lots of people, bbq's and laughter. Teddy fluffybum will no doubt have a big sulk and go and live somewhere else, he's a very strange cat sometimes!!

Christmas Stockings, Turtles & Ducklings.....It's All Happening Here!!!

2009-08-06T00:46:00.008+01:00

Only 3 days left before Chris gets back and I've just finished my stockings, taken all the photo's and started the huge task of tidying up my beautiful sewing mess, which has taken over the house in his absence. I've even managed to make the stockings for Teddy Fluffybum and Sonny, the cat and dog Christmas Stockings. They took a while to figure out because of their shape, but I'm happy with the results.

Izzy Wizzy has also had a very busy few days, she's started making pom pom's with this new contraption thingie I purchased and now has 27 of them on display. She's very happy because unlike the slowness of making a traditional pom pom she can whiz these out in roughly 5 min's, hence the fact we now have so many and I have a large supply of wool!

Her Friend Estelle knocked at the house yesterday with a living gift for her. It was an unusual gift, one with four legs and a waggy tail, but only about 20 cm in length. It had the usual naming ceromony but we couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl and after examing the creature we were none the wiser. So the three of us decided to call it Chris, but only because this is a little family joke. Today however, Estelle arrived with more news on how we could identify its sex, turn the creature upside down and blow on its tail?!!!!!!.............by this point I was completely confused, and Izzy didn't really understand everything Estelle was telling her but we all nodded, and after demonstrating this identification process, Estelle announced it was a girl.............therefore Chris has now become a Cress!

Izzy spent most of the day making a new home, as the blue bucket really wasn't suitable so we decided to transform a wine barrell into a new pad for Cress. By the evening Izzy had decided that perhaps Cress would be better off in her own natural habitat, this was a very hard decision for her to make, but she took her new pet down to the river bank and set her free. When she got back she was very upset but I'm happy she reached this decision all by herself, but is now looking on the internet for tortoises to buy in England......if we ever get there!

Anyway, Cress was a European pond turtle and was caught in a fishing net. But there is other very exciting news, Jemima Puddle Duck now has 12 ducklings and so far they are all surviving. Lots of pictures below of all this activity, but now i'm away, still lots to do including some rest.

It Feels Like Christmas............

2009-08-01T20:24:00.006+01:00

We are now into week 6 of the summer holidays and its only the 2nd August, the weather is fantastic and Izzy is having a wonderful summer holiday. Her friends Lea & Estelle have arrived and they are having a fab time together, and when they are not on the beach they are normally scurrying about in her bedroom turning themselves into pop stars ready for this years X-factor auditions.

Chris has been away for almost a month now in the UK, so I have managed to turn my home into a winter grotto with all my Christmas sewing. Everyone is very confused who visits, the temperatures outside have been scorching hot and I'm surrounded with my Christmas Decorations and Stockings.

I'm a newbie with www.notonthehighstreet.com and everyone was asked to submit some Christmas Entries to be chosen for the winter catalogue. I thought I would have a go and see what happens, but generally I don't have much good luck but will keep my fingers crossed. It's not that i'm pessamistic, but its quite true that some people have all the luck (selfish lot) and the others (me and anyone associated to me) never get a look in.

My mother says 'As one door closes, another slams in your face' and this has been my month so far, I think I am fairly justified in not jumping around for joy at the moment. Firstly to begin with Chris flew off to the UK for 5 days, managed to catch 'oink oink flu' and and although he has now recovered isn't flying back for another 8 days.

Secondly, I found three rental houses for him to view in chosen village in Suffolk. It's no easy task travelling 500 miles on a train from the North to the South of England. Initially viewings were going to take place on a Monday, then a train strike was planned so Chris didn't go anywhere that day.

Another day was organised, and then Chris had a cancelled train, lots of stress but did finally get to the village. He managed to see all three properties but one was too wierd, one was too small, and one was just right. The following day the agent called to say the 'just right' property had now been taken.

Well the good news is that we all have some new Christmas Stockings and lots of cuddly Christmas Tree decorations. Chris will be very pleased he has his very own posh stocking, he may forget to ask his mum to look for his 'Star Wars' pillow case this year!

I love Christmas and have lots of idea's for things i'm going to make this year, but it's a nightmare sourcing winter fabrics in July and August..............and in French its even harder!....Obviously I'm just another completely mad English person judging by their response to my questions.

This Busy Month......Tea Cosies and Cushions!

2009-07-02T23:19:00.019+01:00

Its been a very busy month with lots and lots going on. Izzy finished school last week, one whole week ahead of schedule due to teacher strikes or something like that and she's already got the big boredom factor setting in. Its been super hot and we've been going off to the beach for the evening which seems pretty bizarre but its still wonderfully hot at 8pm and she's been swimming in the lake which is just like an oversized bath at the moment, the water is fantastically warm.

My friends the ducks (above) have not been hanging round quite so much but did mangage to visit me quickly last week for a quick bite and clack.

As you can probably tell i've been sewing...and sewing....and sewing, loads more tea cosies. I keep saying to myself 'Right Gal, thats enough' but can't ever resist the temptation of making more of the things.

Tea is my favorite drink after all and I drink loads of the stuff, never mind all those red grapes that are growing so close by, they can stay on the vines for all I care, besides I only drink white!

But I have been really busy and even made some cushions and also been thinking up logo's and all sorts of stuff.

Chris came back from one of his trips recently and bought me a drawing tablet thingie for the lappie here, so i've had loads of fun with that but the results don't want to be examined too closely (as you can see right at the top) as I still need lots more practice!.....like another 5 years possibly! and maybe designing logo's isnt my thing anymore!!!

So I've asked my friend Simon from graphics college 25 years ago, to help me now with the website and all the visual stuff, so then Chris can put it all together and do all the difficult mechanical part and create something wonderful.

Unfortunately, Chris is getting a bit peeved off with me and the website, he's tried several times to surprise me with idea's but i've not been that keen on any of them and i've been waiting for this website for yonks now. I thought blogging was going to be impossible until I tried, but I don't think my brain will cope with website design and all that code and funny squiggly writing that Chris is always looking at on his PC and getting very squinty eyes.

Anyway Simon has now produced a real logo for me, the only trouble is I have no idea how to get it out of its application and onto here to show you all, never mind you'll have to put up with my pathetic effort for now.

As you can see i've gone Union Jack bonkers and have really gone mad with the themes, Izzy is trying to claim everything I make at the moment and smuggle the cushions up to her room, but I keep telling her that if her clothes were not decorating the floor she might have some space available!....She's not impressed!

Izzy's favorite cushion is this one called 'Showtime Union Jack', she loves all the frilly ribbon but i've now claimed it and its sitting quite comfortably on the sofa.

I made the tea cosy below in aid of Marie Curie and to support the charity with all their Blooming Great Tea Parties they are having this summer. They contacted me recently and may use some of my photo's next year in their campaign which could be exciting. I made some key fobs as well with dangly daff's on but they didn't look too fantastic so I may abandon that idea for the time being and have a re-think?!

This one is called 'Rose Union Jack' tea cosy and has a little applique heart on the back which looks very sweet, Chris thinks this is one of his favorites, which surprised me as it's not very blokish but very country garden and quite differant to alot of the other stuff I make, so I made some cushions as well in the same design which are very pretty.

And this one below is called 'Jackson Union Jack' tea cosy.

We hired a boat recently, a very very slow boat but Chris managed to get it crashing through the little waves on the lake until a big wave splashed in and soaked all of us and my camera, which is now completely dry and still won't work, so I'm looking around at new ones at the moment with a big zoom so I can capture all the wildlife we have here.

I chased a hooper (not sure how you spell this) bird around last week on my bike and got several shots of him but then when I looked back at the images you could barely see him at all. These birds aren't here very often but they look like they have two beaks but it's their odd hairstyle that gives them this appearance and they're generally not too shy except of course when being chased by a mad 44 year old woman on a bike, complete with wicker basket, crockery, a zillion cakes, 8 tea cosies and a bunch of flowers!

We also have lots of falcons, another type of bird that is similar to a heron but completely white, eagles and lots of woodypeckers making a right clatter at the moment.

Chris is the only man I know who doesn't drive, he isn't banned or anything like that, its just that at 38 years of age he's never had a driving lesson. When we finally get to England, he WILL be having some of these alien things and doing the big test!.....So on the little boat outing it was rather nice having a rest from the wheel and letting Chris take the controls.

We did manage to crash the little boat as well, when we were trying to reverse the boat out of the marina!.....you needed to pull up the thing at the engine end and at the same time the boat person was telling us to put the gear stick forward at the front end. This resulted in the engine being started and us going forwards and straight into the engine of a stationery boat!...Oh crikey we got that bit bloody wrong, but the rest of the trip was lovely!

Izzy loves helping me when we go off and take photo's but mainly due to all the edible goodies that come with us which she'll eat before we get home, her treat for helping mum.

This one is 'Jack Union Jack' tea cosy.

Teddy Fluffybum Cat and Dolly Wabbit - An interesting meal together especially as Dolly was more interested in what was in Teddy's bowl!

Here above are my 'Rose' Union Jack Cushions, and below are my 'Hot Pot' tea cosy's for all the Aga fans.

So that's it for now, i'm going to start on some Christmas decorations soon and be really organised, I've got lots of idea's as this is my favorite time of year although its pretty odd even mentioning the 'Christmas' word in July but then I think its odd seeing Christmas wrapping enter the UK stores in August.

I've also a new partner with http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/ so after spending days uploading images and editing bits and bobs i'm now just waiting for approval before my 'goods' go live on the site.

So now i'm going to have a little rest and paint the kitchen!

See you next time x

Blooming Great Tea!.............And other Stuff!

2009-05-28T08:39:00.012+01:00

A moment of creativity hit me just before the weekend and being in the right frame of mind I decided to put thought to fabric and see what the end result would look like. I've decided to take the photo's as I go along this time, Teddy was very happy to pose but really I know what he is secretly thinking, he was just waiting for everything to be tidied up and taken away as he loves sleeping on clean linen and leaving it nice and furry!

This cosy is called 'Blooming Great Tea' and I love the bright yellow fabric with the fatty flowers on the top. I'm sure there is some wonderful sewing term for these flowers but its completely unknown to me, therefore for the moment they are just the 'fatty flowers'!

I always take a zillion pic's, and then I like to look at them for a while to see which one's I like the best, before deciding on my favorite or a bin job! I studied photography at college in 1982 as it was part of my course, however I have no memory of anything I learnt, so its all trial and error now. Anyway these are my top pic's today, tomorrow it may all change!

The cosy below is called 'Ginger Tom' and has no resemblance to Teddy Fluffybum, who would be very insulted by this as he is a strawberry blond sort of colour and he has a bell on his collar and not a red lovey heart!

And the last of 'Blooming Great Tea'.............are you bored now?

Izzy helped me with all the photography as we searched around on our bikes for interesting and fun locations, however living close to nothing very exciting it was a difficult mission! I have lots of idea's whizzing in my head which generally involve people, and strange places for my tea cosy shots but I'm just not confident enough to take these idea's any further, so in my head they'll stay for the time being.

My mission to try and return to the UK for the moment has been dashed, we received the 'school full' letter, so now we will have to appeal and live in the catchment area, which isn't very easy when you're in France and not down the road in Suffolk. I think all of this is very stressful and one of the reasons I'm struggling to keep myself motivated with my sewing and get on with all the other ideas I have. I love moving house and always find it very exciting, especially looking for new houses on the web. A big motivation is having a sewing studio all for me and a key on the door, so everything will still be in the same place when I return. Chris is always pinching my scissors which drives me potty and Izzy just loves getting everything out but forgetting to put it back!............My studio is currently a desk in a tiny room I share with Chris and his computers, discs, wires, various man drawers full of useless things and and loads of very dull books usually with brown covers. So I allow myself this fantasy although the reality will probably be a bigger desk!

The other tea cosy that got half made over the weekend has now been turned into scrap. I used a stabilizer fabric thing that claims it will wash away and the only thing left will be the stitching. Huh...........not in my case, the fabric was in fact washed by hand twice and the gummy paper wouldn't move off the stitching at all, this was then followed by the washing machine. The end result at least 2 inches of frayed edges and the bloody gummy stabilizer was still stuck on my stitches. To make matters worse, where I had tried for such a long time to scrub if off the thread was now resembling wool and completely awful. So I'm after a product I can use that will actually do what it says...........

As for poor Jemima, its dating season in duck land here and she's so popular with all the boys, that she often escapes into our house to get away from all the attention she's getting, and of course a take away of bread, pizza, sponge fingers, cereal, and now she's also regularly got her beak in Teddy's bowl for his wet and dry food............Teddy does absolutely nothing and yesterday Izzy saw them both having a little kiss, hmmmmmmmmmmm not quite sure about this one!

Tea Bags!

2009-05-11T23:36:00.005+01:00

The Last of the summer cosies, unless I get some free time to whip up some more soon. These are the Tea Bags with Gold and Silver Handles. I should also be concentrating on other things as well like the possible move back to the UK, the school application letter has been sent and now we have to wait. I know everything is going to happen at the last minute and have been told we may not have any news until the beginning of July, so am dreading the mad panic rush that's ahead of us. Of course if Izzy doesn't get a place then we have to start the whole process of looking again, ideally I should have a plan B and C but I don't at the moment. Moving or Not Moving - that is the question!

Tea Chest Cosies

2009-05-11T23:32:00.002+01:00

I thought i'ld just upload these final images of my summer tea chest cosies, one with pink gingham and the other with black gingham and try to finally get away from the computer if only for a short while. I have so many idea's whizzing around in my head for stuff I want to make that its getting frustrating being the 'geeky girlfriend'!

QUACK, quack quack quack & Cake

2009-05-11T22:38:00.004+01:00

Its been a difficult week, mainly due to the fact that the very brand new shiny sewing machine has been made redundant or that's how it seems. I still seem to be catching up on myself from being away and all the blogging, investigating, computing is driving me nuts and to make matters worse my eyes keep going fuzzy, this is due to looking at this horrid screen for too long when I'm not used to it, the table is too high for me to sit at which then gives me old woman's back ache, and the sodding exercise my osteopath recommended for me is impossible!...........Yep I'm hacked off.......can you tell?!.............I'm sure we all have non productive days, weeks, months!!!!!!!

Apart from all of that Heston Blumenthal has a lot to answer to. My lovely partner Chris used to work for Marco Pierre White a zillion years ago as a sommelier or smellier as Izzy say's, anyway he still has a huge passion for wine and scrummy food. He also loves to read so its always easy finding things to buy him apart from the usual man socks and pants, i mean 'boxers'! He has a Heston Blumenthal book, nothing wrong with that until Chris decides he's going to make an 8 page Chicken Tikka Masala followed by individual Black Forest Gateau's for our weekend guests. Yummy me thinks until I remember the chicken recipe needs to be started 3 days in advance and if followed correctly I'll end up with a hole in the garden being the tandoor, luckily for me Chris omits this part and makes do with the rotisserie in the oven. The end result was delicious and the cake divine and very chocolaty and extremely fattening, I'm quite sure at the moment if I fell over I'd roll away - I simply must start a diet sooooooooooooon!

The Ducks are still very happy being here and Jill (the other female) was spotted having a little bounce on the trampoline whilst the boys queued up for their turn! Izzy and me thought it looked very funny but they are all very content.

Easter is over and Summer is on it's way 2009

2009-05-01T23:08:00.009+01:00

Easter has come and gone and i've been really very busy. I spent some time in the UK hoping to have my sewing machine fixed but ended up buying a new one, not the one I've been dreaming about as thats still out the budget. We also needed to look at some new schools as we are hoping to relocate back to the UK this summer providing of course Izzy is offered a place at desired school, so early days still and fingers are all crossed.

I also took quite alot of photo's and have added some of them to the blog, i'm hoping by the time the website comes along i'll be able to see which one's I like the best, but it all gets very confusing when there are so many to look at. There are so many things I want to make I really don't have enough hours in the day to do everything, i've spent a long time concentrating on the tea cosies and my little hearts and now want to get cracking on some of the other ideas i have. Chris tells me I have turned into his geeky girlfriend, all this web stuff takes too long and editing photos takes ages as well, how does everyone else do it and make the stuff as well.

I'm pretty sure the animals all missed us when we were away although Chris stayed behind to look after them all. We now have over 12 ducks who have started sleeping outside the front door which is very amusing in the morning when the door bursts open and we're doing the school run. They are all flapping and quacking up the path and then make their way round to the kitchen door for their breakfast. People are now stopping and staring in disbelief when they see the new duck colony in full residence here, its very funny!.....Chris however, is getting a bit peeved because its his man job to get rid of the duck poo all over the terrace so I think some more training is needed! Teddy Fluffybum sort of acknowledged that we were home but then really tried hard to ignore me for a couple of days before allowing me to pick him up for a cuddle and now everything is back to normal. Dolly Drop the lion head rabbit has a big treat this month for his birthday, lots of rabbit toys Izzy found in the shops in England, i'm sure he'll be thrilled with all the fun he's going to have!

We stayed at dads house and met Squirrel Nutkin and 'Odette' the swan, and the lambs were near my sister's place at Westmill Farm, Hertfordshire. On leaving the farm one day I had noticed a hot air balloon heading over in our direction, my sister told me this happens sometimes and last year one had flown straight over the barns. I wasn't quite ready for what was going to happen next though. Now some people have bad luck and others have really bad luck and I generally fall into the latter group and driving my dads car i'm always a little bit nervous, but this day I don't know how i avoided having a heart attack at the wheel of the car. I just kept thinking how I would explain to my father that the reason the car had so much damage was because a hot air balloon had landed on its roof!........thankfully this didn't happen at all but it was all too close for my liking and I don't fancy a repeat perfomance at all. Anyway I can blame it on 'Virgin' hot air balloon services and don't think its passengers that day will be re-booking!

Well thats enough from me, Chat again Soon x

More of them...........

2009-05-01T22:31:00.004+01:00

Westmill Farm, Ware Herts May 2009

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Mum's garden

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Hearts & Flowers.....mostly roses!

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Happy Days Nottingham 2006

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Full Frontal...Tea Chest Cosy

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Rosy Lee Tea Cosy Full Frontal!

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Royal Tea - Tea Cosy

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Jack -Brewed in Britain Tea Cosy

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Tea Cosy - Tea Buoy, this is Jemima Puddle Ducks favorite, she thinks its perfect for Homes & Garden!

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Jemima Puddle Duck is the latest addition to our family. Not wanting to miss a photo opportunity she quickly jumped out the lake and into the garden to pose very nicely next to the tea buoy tea cosy. I'm sure she would have liked the afternoon tea especially the scones, jam and clotted cream but she was only offered the crusts off the bread............maybe next time!

Tea Chest!.............One of my favorites

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Rosy Lee Tea Cosy

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This is just a pic of some of the detail on the reverse of this Tea Cosy, three roses sculpted from differant fabrics. The flowers seem to work well with its name Rosy Lee, my inspiration came from one of my upholstery pieces I made whilst I was a student.

Tea Buoy Tea Cosy - The reverse side

2009-04-04T16:29:00.007+01:00

Jemima Puddle Duck seemed really interested in examining my work, but after a short while when there were no crusts left to feed her she decided to come indoors and look for Teddy Fluffybum's food bowl. Teddy was waiting outside in his ready to pounce position and besides I don't think he was too keen on sharing his whiskers purple pouches with a duck. Everything started to go badly wrong, in trying to protect Jemima I closed the french windows to keep the animals apart, Jemima spotted Teddy and started panicking. Poor Jemima couldn't work out why she couldn't leave my kitchen, and kept beak butting the glass doors, flapping and flying round the room whilst Teddy Fluffybum looked on from the other side highly amused! I however have run around the house to the other side of the door to pick up a very smug cat and open the glass door for Jemima to fly off faster than a Boeing.

I'm very confused about having a duck for a pet, actually she isn't really but she seems to have adopted us all here along with all her ducky friends and there are quite a few of them that visit. Jemima was the first and the favorite, but she's quite cheeky and usually starts tapping on the window in the morning for her breakfast, if the door is open she walks straight in and starts eating the crumbs from under the table. She has a nest quite close to the house but so far her chicks havn't survived. The problem is that once they are in the lake they can't get out and drown, so Izzy and me are constantly on chick alert and scooping them out the water with our fishing nets to pop them back onto the nest. Life can be very interesting sometimes!

Oh La La ...Tea Chest!.......Tea Cosy.

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I have made a few of these now and I love all of them, I just think they are fun and quirky and and amuse everyone.

Chris & Me

2009-03-30T23:40:00.003+01:00

March 2009

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I've been wanting to do a blog for absolutely ages but just thought it would be too difficult for me to cope with. Well here I am - sat at the table in the quiet of the night, computer whiz boyfriend either reading or sleeping upstairs and daughter all tucked up. I was spurred on to do this blogging thing at the weekend, somebody asked me if I had a blog or a website, I had neither until now, which is rather daft seeing as it wouldn't take boyfriend very long at all to do it for me and for me its a major challenge. I'm sure things will become easier if I manage to keep it going!

So once I get this up and running, the next step will be the website which boyfriend will need to do as that is something I am not going to try or even attempt.

I've made several things over the last year, mainly tea cosies and little hearts, but last week it was a pair of clown trousers for the carnival that my daughter wanted to wear. It was halfway through sewing these that my main machine started growling and making screeching noises at me before finally stopping altogether. My other machine couldn't help me out as she is very limited on her stitch selection, but the trousers got completed and I've not been able to sew since then.

Its a funny thing although I'm not laughing, but I just hadn't realised how much I would miss my sewing, its almost as bad as losing the car for servicing. The difference being that my machine is not going to be fixed until next month and that seems like ages away when Izzy and me return to the UK for the Easter Hols.