Friday 16 September 2011

it's dreich out today ....

If you are Scottish you will know what this means ;-) .... safe to say that is is autumnal here today and as i type this from a warm and cosy spot on my living room sofa I can see all the leaves on the trees... green, yellow, orange, some even red... beautiful! But dreich!!

I have been sewing up a storm all day, working on the Christmas bunting. I like to do it in stages ... first cut out all the pennant fronts, then the backs, then pin, then sew then all, then make the bias binding, then sew up the bunting ... I prefer to do it all this way as it means less stopping and starting.. although some of the stages are a tad zzzzzz .. yesterday I cut out over 200 triangles!! But it is all starting to come together and look beautiful. Orders keep flooding in and I am so glad that I started now.

Daddy picked Ethan up from school, so I didn't even have to leave the house, popping in for monkey and a change out of uniform. He is coming back post Dr Who tomorrow as Daddy has another run.. so we will get to spend another Sunday together. I can't wait. Think we will head along to St Andrews with friends, explore the beach, make use of our very neglected Historic Scotland passes and have tea in Pizza Express!

Tonight I am going to chill, eat lovely food, catch up on my Sky+ and have a wee glass of wine. Got a customer coming round in the morning to look at fabric samples for an order, then it will be back to the sewing...hohoho!

Right, I have the school uniform to iron (yes it is washed and dried already!!)
Em xx

Wednesday 14 September 2011

Very lucky

yes, as the title says I am a very lucky girl .. no I didn't win the euromillions jackpot (over £120 mill!!)... lots of small things. But the sweetest in the early mornings when I have been up with the sun and creating into the wee hours the night before, is that I don't have to do the school run in the morning!

Recently (pretty much anytime I need it) Ethan has been getting picked up by Lucy (well, not literally Lucy as she is only 7, lol!) on their way to school. This is fantastic, a huge help on the mornings when i am teaching or when we have Joshua... this morning I have a very special meeting at 11, so I am still chilling in bed with the laptop. I have been up since 6.00 and saw to Ethan getting ready, prepared a nutritious packed lunch and delicious breakfast. Have done 2 loads of laundry and cleaned the bathroom .. but it is just nice to do it and not rushing around like a banshee!

It is great to have a small support network of mums at the school. It is reciprocal too, for 3 days this week we have had Lucy after school. Today we are going into town as I need to take Ethan to Clarks for new wellies and some yummy M&S foodhall goodness. So I said I would take them to the bad place (McDonalds!).... I have lots of issues with children eating here. I swore when E was born that I would never take him, and i managed to stick to that until he was nearly 4... but it is hard...they lure children in. BUT it isn't a regular occurrence, and day to day he has a very healthy diet...so a little bit of badness isn't going to kill him! (he made me laugh yesterday. I get his packed lunch organised the night before, except fruit/yogurt and sandwich , which i do in the morning. and i was asking him what fruit bar he wanted as we had just been to the health food shop to stock up. I also got some lovely sugar free fruit lollies as a treat and he said one of them. I said NO, that you couldn't take sweets for break...my argument is that at 10.30 it is too close to breakfast for sweets! he then told me that everyone else has crips, chocolate, sweets like wine gums etc, some even have mini bottles of fizzy!!!!! ... and there was him with his 100% dried fruit snack, lol... I suddenly got flashbacks to my childhood... everything brown. Brown rice, brown bread, brown pita bread...nothing refined or processed! So today as a treat I let him take some crips - baked crips, so at least they are not THAT bad...! So i am still the hippy farm girl at heart. I guess I have my parents to thank for that!).


This week also saw the anniversary of 9/11... we all remember where we were ...! It is still so raw. So shocking. I still gasp, sobbing big fat tears of sorrow. So painful. All those people.. those mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, friends ... people who just never came home! It has been really hard trying to explain it to Ethan. As it really doesn't make any sense.. still. But we need to remember, it has changed the world we live in... a scary, sad world... hard to explain that to a child without frightening them .. . But it is a day we should never, ever forget!





I have been really busy making Christmas stock this past week. I don't want a repeat of last year, when my every waking moment was spent sewing and getting stressed (although thankful for the orders). So I have started early. I want to get the samples done so I can take pictures and start promoting... but once again facebook is an excellent tool... I already have orders for 4 personalised tees, 2 sets of Christmas bunting, 6 personalised decorations, 2 Christmas cushions and 2 Santa sacks... and i literally only put a few sneak photos..ho ho ho ...My very own Santa's grotto!













I am also taking part in this craft event this weekend ... it is all online - so pop along and have a look. Lots of beautiful things to tempt you! (blogger not letting my upload the photo - will try again in a mo!)

Right, I had better shift it..have a great day everyone. The sun is out here, so I am happy!
Em x

Wednesday 7 September 2011

Windy Wednesday

... I really shouldn't of bothered doing my hair this morn, as I looked like a banshee by the time we had been blown up the road to class ... ach well.. I shall just call it my 'autumnal look'! Despite yesterday being v wintery, today is actually nice and sunny, albeit V windy.

Joshua has just fallen asleep on the sofa, I will let him nap for 20 mins or so.. while I do some blogging and sort through my recent photobox delivery. As well as more photos, I also got a beautiful photo-book, that i made using some (i have over 700!!) photos from Florida! It is lovely, a real coffee table book and i am definitely going to be making more of these as it is a great way to preserve and present the memories!!

That is me finished teaching for the week, although I still have some design work and some sewing bits to do. I have also been commissioned to make 200 invites, so need to get cracking on that... but just now i am enjoying sitting here and enjoying the sunshine...It is bound to turn colder soon, so tomorrow I am off to our new and improved M&S to stock up my autumnal wardrobe as they have some gorgeous dresses and knitwear in .. and I do so love Markies :-)
I am also looking forward to Friday, my first day of all-to-myself peace for over a week! Much needed, and then on Friday evening Ethan and I will have one of our 'family-date-nights'... we try and do these every Friday that he isn't going to his dads... Basically at suppertime, so when he has had tea, is bathed and in pjs.. we prepare a wee feast and some cocktails (me, wine. Him a made up concoction of freshly squeezed juice and ice) and snuggle under a quilt and watch something like Miranda or Outnumbered, which are our 'family' favourite comedy sitcoms!

Love these daft wee traditions!
Right .. need to wake my little monkey
Yiasu
xx

Sunday 4 September 2011

Sunday snuggles

Afternoon everyone













I write this from my sofa, snuggling next to Ethan while we (well mostly he) watch Alvin and the Chipmunk's (the squeekquel)... it has been really nice to have this sneaky little extra day with him, as we have been really busy and had Joshua all last week.
So sometimes it is just lovely to have some one on one time with my boy. Daddy was running the great Scottish run today, so E came home post-Dr who (how scary was that!!?) last night and we have very much made the most of today!

We had snuggles this morn and then went down to the park to blow the cobwebs away, obviously since it is nearly autumn, the sun is out in full force today and it is lovely and sunny with clear blue skies! Then we came home and got creative. Part of his homework (and he has LOTS .. writing exercises, word wall, reading, maths, spelling test) was for their medicine project, to create a magical medicine. Design something and create a 3d model and write up some information on it. Obviously Daddy and I both do homework with Ethan (although Daddy to be honest does more than me as homework is from Friday to Tuesday, so it falls on his days!) but whenever there is a creative element this is strictly my job! So today we created 2 magical medicines .. Mr Muscle (which makes you strong) and Army (a medicine which helps you to grow extra arms!)... this kind of exercise is great fun, Ethan has an incredible imagination and he is extremely creative (wonder where he gets that from?!) so it was lovely to work with him....we are currently waiting on some glitter drying and then we are going to adorn some buttons with hot glue!

Then we did the regular Sunday packed lunch bake off (he actually prefers to take in my baking to things like kitkats, bless!), made some chicken soup, pear and apple crumble and some scones... i did all the boring bits like ironing. Tended to our tomato, chili and herb garden (blooming and fruitful are two words that come to mind!!). We read some of our Roald Dahl books and now we are having a much needed chill.

We get Joshua again tomorrow, until Thursday so another busy week. But I finished off and delivered an order yesterday. So that takes some of the pressure off.. which means hopefully it wont be so frantic and I can (fingers crossed) get some scrapping done. I need to catch up on Document 2011 and LSNED ... am also waiting on my Studio Calico kit, this months looks lovely so can't wait to get to grips with it...

Right, I need to get off here and get back to some boy cuddles.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
em x