18 things recently

 Recently, I have:

1. Walked through a lot of muddy puddles - fun
2. Had a number of picnics
3. Made lots of baby food
4. Worn lots of baby food
5. Watched lots of Olympics (bmx racing anyone?)
6. Built a cot bed for RG with my friend - yay!
7. Dropped the cot bed side on my toe - ouch!
8. Thought I must wear shoes when building cots
9. Hosted various nine and five year old friends
10. Had my house thoroughly dissed by a five year old guest (On entry: "Hmmm....this place is still a mess.  Why is that?"*)
11. Been asked by a shop assistant (male) if I was certain my car was three door, not five (My answer involved the phrase "How stupid do you think I am?")
12. Had various small chidren stand on my bruised toe - ouch! 
13. Considered steel toed boots
14. Sewed up my Anna Maria Horner top
15. Dropped my folded big heavy pram on my bruised toe - ouch, ouch!
16. Thought about making these trousers with my blue fabric from the previous post...

Or the dress above....

17. Finished a very scrappily sewn maxi skirt refashion. 

18. Packed up my THREE DOOR car for a trip to Devon.  See you when I get back.

PS: What have you been up to recently? Met any patronising shop assistants? Dropped large objects on bare feet?  *Or have you met any cute looking five year olds who seem possessed by a 60 year old lady?

Lovely lovely parcel

Last saturday I had the best surprise - a parcel from the lovely Jessica of Ayenforcraft.  I had forgotten that she ws sending me something for taking part in her project ridiculous challenge of last summer.  It was a fantastic box of goodies.  It cheered me enormously as I am currently in the midst of summer school holiday madness.  This is the part of the blog where perhaps I am supposed to be a "cupcake blog" and tell you how heartwarming it is to have the summer holidays, add in some beautifully photographed childrens' activities and wax lyrical about how wonderful my life is.  Um...to be honest summer holidays are HARD WORK!  We are having fun, but also we are having some humdinger brother/sister arguments, some almighty unphotogenic messes, plenty of olympic watching, lots of conversations where both children talk at me at the same time about different subjects,  and not much sleep for me.   So, I was feeling a bit worn out, and Jessica's parcel came along and cheered me up mightily. Shall I stop wittering and show you the contents?

Pretty floral cotton - not sure yet what to use it for...

Stripey cotton - I am thinking baby trousers?



This is much darker blue then camera shows, linen-y fabric, with gingham binding and three gingham buttons.  I am thinking possibly a pair of trousers with piping details. 



A pair of handknitted socks - they didn't fit Jessica but happily fit me!





Oooh, it got even better....a Colette Crepe pattern, and a sneaky baby hand trying to grab it.  My first Colette dress pattern... I am thinking and planning what to sew it in.  I showed this to several people saying breathlessly  "it's a Colette pattern" but they just didn't get it. Blank looks all round.  This is why I like to share here cos I know sewing bloggers out there will get it! Won't you???





This gorgeous Anna Maria Horner fabric.  I had been admiring this for ages on the AMH blog.  Once again, I say breathlessly to my friends, "It's Anna Maria Horner voile".  They look blank.



Some more cotton fabrics



RG trying to get in on the actionA

A huge thank you to Jessica and I am putting together a return parcel for her!