Fabulous Friday

It is a lovely Friday and the rain seems to be holding off. My new log cabin cushion has been doing the rounds of the house today and I think it has found a new home on my nursery chair. Please excuse the ripped wallpaper behind the chair - I've only been waiting 10 years for our bedroom to be decorated. It is now being put off 'until we get double glazing' so could be another 10 years yet! Anyway I think it looks quite at home here at the moment.

After physio this morning I had a spot of banking to do which of course means a browse through the local charity shops. I was extremely pleased to find this lovely lot of material in one.

I'm very happy with this selection and I'm sure some of it may find its way into my 'Pay it Forward' projects.


I also found this cute little teacup and saucer.


As well as this pretty sweet pea teacup and saucer.

Our garden is in terrible need of weeding, the lawn mowing and a jolly good tidy up, but what with the weather and other things, we still haven't got round to it. Hubby has gone to mow the lawns of his fathers place and has said he will bring the lawn mower back this time so hopefully ours will be done this weekend - it is starting to get embarrashing, what with the porch re-cluttered with all the boxes and bags I've sorted for the charity shop that STILL haven't been delivered. There are still some lovely flowers though and I've taken some pictures of them.

Lots of lavender buzzing with bees.

Very difficult to take a photo of the bees as they just wouldn't 'pose' for me.

I must cut some for drying.


Beautiful velvet pansy.

Lots of apples on the tree this year.

The plum tree is also awash with plums although sadly we lost a lot due to a very large branch breaking during the heavy wind and rain the other day.

Kirsty, Marty and Lisa were the first three to comment on my 'Pay it Forward' post yesterday (in fact they were the only three!) so ladies if you'd like to email me your address (I've emailed you all) I can put my thinking cap on and decide what to make to surprise you with.

Oh yes and Master 18 is arrived safely in Johannesburg yesterday and after a very long overland journey is now at the campsite in Swaziland.

Pay it Forward

In June I was lucky enough to be one of the first three to leave a comment to participate in a handmade 'Pay it Forward' on lovely Nina's blog Tabiboo and today I received something beautifully handmade from her in the post.

Beautifully wrapped with a lovely card.

Simply gorgeous cushion, I really love it, thank you soo much, it is really special!


Tucked in the back in a special little pocket was this lovely bar of chocolate.

Now it's my turn to send three of my lovely reader's something handmade by me so if you would like to participate - and there is a condition - you have to be willing in return to carry on this concept by making something for three of your lovely blogger friends so that the idea continues, then please leave me a comment and if you are one of the first three I will make something handmade by me for you. Like Nina, I am going to keep the comments 'hidden' until I have received the first three comments. Good luck!

Thirst for Life Swaziiland Expedition

The day has finally arrived after almost a year of preparation, fundraising and planning for Master 18's trip to Swaziland with the Hertfordshire Scouts. The three week expedition includes attendance at a Jamboree Camp called Thirst for Life, working in the local community and a safari trip into the Kruger National park in South Africa.

The aim of the 'Thirst for Life' Swaziland Expedition 2009 is to provide teaching equipment to the 6 local orphanages that surround the Thirst for Life campsite and help complete 2 accommodation blocks as well experience life under African skies. The expedition will include assisting Swaziland Scouts who are working with 154 HIV / AIDs orphaned and vulnerable children aged between 7 and 18 years who live close to the national campsite.

I think the last few days he has been quite apprehensive (understandably) about this trip and certainly today he was rather stressed. But we arrived to the departure venue in plenty of time.

Waiting for the mini van with his luggage.

Luggage packed in trailer, and ready to board the mini-van.

'Right, I'm ready'.

Hope you have a fantastic time and make the most of the experience of a lifetime.

Yes more bags!

Well I've been a busy little bee again today. Been to the bank, done some washing, managed to buy a couple of as new long sleeve cotton t shirts from a charity shop for Mr 18 to take to Swaziland and made a couple of bags. The first one is for him to take with him as a hospitality gift as he gets to stay with a family for one night. I do hope they like it.

I wasn't sure how the pattern would look on this type of bag, but I must say I am quite pleased with how it turned out. Not bad for curtain remnants!

A couple of useful pockets inside.

Next I decided to try a new pattern. This bag didn't take me long to make at all and is also padded so is nice and soft on the shoulder.

Pocket inside.

Orange buttons from Liberty on the side.

Sits on the shoulder quite nicely. Not bad for some fabric I bought at a charity shop and again lined with curtain remants.

Acheivement and another bag

Well yesterday I set myself some goals to achieve today and I'm pleased to say I am almost there. What I didn't take into account in my list was that in order to tidy the lounge I had to do the ironing - and what an ironing pile it was. The men in my house wear far too many clothes! Still school shirts etc... are all ready now for September.

My list for today was:

Finishing the lounge - reorganising, tidying, vacuuming, dusting. Almost done, just the dusting to do. After nearly three hours ironing I need a bit of a recharge of the batteries.

Sew badges on teenage boy's shirts ready for his trip to Swaziland on Wednesday. Done!

Water plants on porch - long overdue! Plants no longer thirsty.

Take the 8 bags of sorted clothing to the charity shops. In car boot ready to go, will probably have to be tomorrow now as too late for the charity shops.

Something that wasn't on my list but that I started on last night was a new bag, which I completed this morning.

This pattern is from Alicia Paulson of Posy Gets Cosy. She has a lovely blog and makes some really beautiful things. I have added my own touches to this pattern to make it my own, but am very pleased with it. Nice and easy to follow.

We've got a scout barbecue to go to this evening for the scouts going to Swaziland on Wednesday. Master 18 is pretty much all ready armed with first aid kit, mosquito killers, mosquito nets etc... and antiseptic hand wipes and more. Not sure he is going to have room in his bag for clothes! I've still got to make a couple of little light weight gifts for him to take with him as hospitality presents. I was thinking along the lines of a couple of bags and needle work kits - better get my act into gear, only got tomorrow to get the things together!

The Polka Dots have arrived!

Well the postal service did itself proud this week and delivered the package I sent across the world to Tracey in record time! So what did I put in the package?

Some pretty fabrics including one with spots - that I went all the way into London to Liberty for!

A dotty mirror and its little purse

A dotty bag from Past Times

A handmade flower brooch with polka dots.

A handmade crocheted heart with buttons 'dotted' around

A handmade needle holder

Some handmade polka dot coasters, pot holder and tea towel.

I also included two lengths of polka dot ribbon.

This was fun to do and many thanks to Stacey over at Polka Dot Daze for organising such a fun swap.

Carboot and the week ahead

Although I didn't achieve much yesterday around the house, I did manage to pop over to the car boot sale as well as going for a lovely long walk in the woods with my lovely hubby and our sheltie.

I managed to bag a few items from the carboot yesterday which I'm quite pleased with.

A tin full of buttons - 50p

A brand new crochet book - £3 - I was happy with this as I have been borrowing this book for ages from the library as it has a couple of patterns in it that I really like.

New single sheet, fitted sheet and two pillow cases £1

A picture of a bully - 30p

A lovely hand embroidered tablecloth for 50p

A new lampshade for a £1 which is now hanging in our bedroom.

Despite my good intentions today, I still didn't achieve a lot and didn't manage to get up until quite late this morning. However I did go for another lovely long walk with hubby and our dogs and have made some progress in our lounge. My MIL popped around for a couple of hours so we just sat and chatted while she was here which was nice. She liked my new dresser.

I am going to set myself some goals for tomorrow as I feel like I am just not getting the things done that I need to. Motivation or rather lack of is a serious issue with me at the moment. So need to make a written committment to get things done!

We have seven rooms in this house - 3 bedrooms, kitchen, lounge, bathroom and conservatory/utility room so I am going to have a seven day plan and try to get one room done a day. Some won't take a day, some will!

Hubby has promised me he will tidying up the front garden before Friday - so watch this space! He did manage to trim along the edge of the path in the back garden today and it looks lots better so hopefully we can start to make some progress.

So tomorrow I hope to achieve:

Finishing the lounge - reorganising, tidying, vacuuming, dusting.

Sew badges on teenage boy's shirts ready for his trip to Swaziland on Wednesday.

Water plants on porch - long overdue!

Take the 8 bags of sorted clothing to the charity shops.

Polka Dot Swap

After collecting the carrots and bran for the piggies from the farm shop this morning I discovered a parcel waiting for me! Exciting - my first 'swap' parcel. This parcel has winged its way from Down Under in just five days!

All wrapped up with a lovely dotty ribbon and lovely hand made card.

A super collection of goodies for me. A lovely fabric bucket, some polka dot muffin cases, complete with a recipe for wholemeal cheese muffins - yummy! (watch this space...), two lovely polka dot buttons, some dotty fabric, a packet of smarties, a little needle book and a fab pattern for making a patchwork cushion. Thank you so much Tracey they are really lovely and I am thrilled to bits with them and can't wait to make the cushion! Thank you to Stacey at Polka Dot Daze for organising this Polka Dot Swap.

Well better go and actually get some of my chores done for today so I can actually do some sewing later this weekend!