THIS, this and that,and THIS !!

♥ 

Oh I had such plans for today.

Following a couple of super busy weeks at Nursery I had decided to take today off as the end of this week heads into another busy time of seeing all of our little pre-schoolers heading off to school.

It was just going to be a day at home for catching up with all the mundane kind of stuff but it was a day off never-the-less.

But ... whilst I really tried very hard to ignore it I had a very sore throat niggling away this weekend and then last night I definitely felt yuk.

And today I feel even more yuk.

I don't know anyone who has a cold at the moment so where the heck has mine come from ?

Its one of those horrible hot and cold, feeling a bit sick, wibbly legs ones,

so in my bed is where I am staying today.

But, here's the silver lining - I can still use my laptop in bed - yay !

And whilst not a huge lot of crafting has gone on this week I have a couple of things that just had to make it in to a post today.

♥ 

Firstly ......

our little Beth headed back to Bournemouth on Friday to pick up her degree results.

All very nerve wracking .. but she did it, she absolutely nailed it ...

she got a 2.1 - HOORAY !!

Those 4 years of slogging away were so totally worth it.

 

This picture is of Beth on her first day at school, standing next to big sister Meg.

And from this we now have two daughters who both have degrees behind them, Meg having graduated last summer, and we could not be more proud.

Our 'little' Immi is soon to head off to Surrey to start her Midwifery degree so lots of big changes ahead for us all.

♥ 

Whilst all three girls were off doing their own thing this weekend Dave and I felt that it was entirely necessary for us to celebrate anyway so we headed to our village pub,

 

that very conveniently is just 2 doors away,

to enjoy lunch in the sunny garden

under the shadow of the village church.

It was also a bit of an early celebration for our 27th Wedding Anniversary

 which is happening this week.

The only downside, or possibly upside, of a pub lunch is that its very difficult to summon up much energy to do anything much afterwards ....

 

 

but a little bit of gentle crochet fitted the bill perfectly,

 

whilst sat next to a very sleepy Itsy,

who managed to fall asleep with her tongue sticking out !

 

♥ 

I am still really, really loving working on my garden cushion covers.

The ends have now been secured and tied in,

 

and I have managed to find some perfect little buttons for the cushion backs.

Its just a matter of joining fronts and backs together now ...

 

and then I shall post the big reveal !

♥ 

 

BUT NOW ....

I can hardly wait to tell you .....

 

Look what Dave and I went to see yesterday...

that we may just have put a deposit on ...

who will be coming home with us in two weeks ....

SQUEAL !!

 

Meet Otto the Weimeraner,

 

 

a BFF for Lilou.

 

And, do you know where he comes from ...

Salisbury, where Dave and I got married in the Catherdral 27 years ago this Friday.

Full circle, fate, ... he had to be ours !

All sewn up ...

♥ 

It doesn't happen very often these days but every now and again my sewing machine

gets to have a little day out from its cupboard under the stairs.

Its usually for nothing more exciting than whipping up a pair of curtains

but on this occasion it was for a bit of a 'winging it' project.

A friend had recently given me a really pretty dress in a beautiful ivory kind of 

broderie anglais fabric and as much as I wanted it to look really amazing on me it

just didn't as the style is quite fitted with darts and zips and the like.

I'm more of a smocky, loose dress kind of person so after a bit of a think I set to.

 

 

I love a project like this but its always a bit nerve wracking making

 that first cut with the scissors.

 

 

But cut it I did ... eek !

Right across the middle.

This sounds like I was terribly hasty - but infact rather than scissors I used a

quick unpick, and whilst it wasn't particularly quick it did what it was supposed

 to do and unpicked very nicely.

 

I took out the two bust darts and the back zip and

cut about 3" from the bottom of the bodice part.

 

This is my little pile of surplus to requirement bits.

 

And this is what I was left with.

 

 

I then made a small opening at the back so that the dress could be slipped

on,edged this with ribbon to finish it off

 

and reattached the skirt to the much shorter bodice.

 

Usually I'm a bit impulsive and don't bother to pin and tack but this time I made myself
take that extra bit of care as I so wanted this makeover to work well.

There were several quick try ons to make sure it was all working as it should and
then the final stitching took place.

 

And here it is .... ta-dah !

Now its so much more me - and I love it.

( I am happy about it truly - just apparently not that smiley

 at the moment this picture was taken ! )

Anyway, as they say, one thing leads to another and before you could say cotton reel this

 low waisted denim pinafore dress had become a little summery smock.

 

And the cut off bits of fabric ...

... made the perfect frill to edge my new denim shorts with.

 

Ta-dah number 2 !

All in all a good day out for my sewing machine and three

 newly up-cycled bits of clothing for me.

♥ 

 

Of course my week would not have been complete without a little crochet action and I have been happily hooking away at my second  Little Woollie cushion cover.

 



 

Once I have finished this I'm going to sew both covers up and do a whole cushion inspired post

- so until then I'm afraid its just the one photo for now.

There's also been a spot of blocking taking place...

 

 

and once fully dry this little blanket will be pretty much cooked.

 

 

♥ 

But far more exciting than any little crafty projects that have taken place this week ....

my Giveaway prize from Mitzi at Lazy Days and Sundays at The Willows arrived this Saturday !

 

Mitzi began her Blog about the same time as I started mine and we have followed each other throughout each of our first years of blogging.

One of my favourite things that Mitzi has made is the beautiful Homecoming from Afghanistan Afghan blanket. Mitzi made 182 squares to make this blanket, the exact number of days that her son was serving in Afghan. The finished blanket is so stunning and so very special in so many ways.

 

The Giveaway package that Mitzi sent me arrived in this lovely hessian bag decorated

with a photo of a poppy that Mitzi took in her garden.

 

Inside there was an assortment of poppy bits and bobs , from a notebook to some poppy

 ribbon to one of the beautiful handmade poppy brooches that Mitzi makes,

to a little packet of poppy seeds for my garden. 

There were also two balls of DK wool in exactly my colour

 ( I'm already thinking over what I can make with these .. )

and all of this was topped off with a bag of scrummy strawberry sweets.

It was like Christmas all over again !

Thank you so much Mitzi.

♥ 

Anyway ..... probably time I got on really... but before I go I'm going to send you

 all a virtual bunch of roses that is currently in a jug on my kitchen table ...

I just wish you could smell them,

 I cant even describe it ...

 its just totally and utterly the smell of all things Summer.

 

G♥ O♥R♥ G♥ E♥ O♥ U♥ S

 

 

♥ 



4th July ...

♥  

Back in the day, before Leigh Cottage, much of my spare time was spent making Angels.

 In total I think I made over 300 and they are now in all corners of the world, 

from Bradford-on-Avon, to Singapore, to New Zealand and Jamaica. 

The first few Angels were made as presents to family in the first Christmas 

after we lost my beautiful sister-in-law Tracey in a car accident. 

From there they just seemed to grow and grow as people asked me to make them for them.

      ♥    

 Each one has an Angels For Tracey label sewn on the side of their dress;

     ♥  

We have Angels all over our house,

   ♥

  my kitchen Angel

    ♥ 

  the hall angel

  ♥  

the TV room angel

  

 ♥ 

 and my favourite,

 our bedroom Angel. 

She is the last thing I look at  before going to bed

      and the first thing I see in the morning.

♥

        Today it is exactly 11 years since we lost our amazing Trace,

 and we miss her every single day. 

♥