mr. monkeysuit

Dear Claire,

Sorry I missed your anniversary (by some considerable distance) but you have this to look forward to in the post.

Pretty ain't it.

Also I love your new kitchen but I thought it needed a finishing touch. So here are some linen tea towels and a crocheted dish cloth. All made by me...for you.

Look what I found for you from eBay,

and I thrifted this,

plus one of your favourite plates.

All I need to do now is get to the post office or in other words Merry Christmas.

from a friend

What a sweet gift. In return for the bib pattern.

vintage wooden spools, lovely buttons, a collection of buttons plus some cute fabric,

and some gorgeous vintage yo-yo's

Thank you so much Susanne.

Thank you to everyone else who sent a little something as a way of saying thank you. It 'warms the cockles' to know that you liked the pattern and I am going to get on with some more freebies for all you lovelies.

pajama-rama

New pajamas (pyjamas if your British) for Floyd. Fitting in to my new policy of using up some of my stash I didn't buy anything new, I had some flannel which was warm and cozy for the winter and I thrifted the t-shirts and appliquéd them.

I used Simplicity pattern 4381, which frankly is not very well written. Does anyone else find Simplicity patterns poorly written ? I had my sewing teacher help me with some of it, it got so confusing.

Anyway, I liked them so much he ended up with three pairs. Kind of revealing how much fabric is in my stash, isn't it ?

sunnier now

Thank you to those of you that left me comments. I am definitely feeling a bit sunnier now.  It is nice to know you all have those moments too.

This weekend we :

collected acorns - It is certainly one of my proudest moments to see *both* my kids scooping up acorn tops into our bag to take home for crafts. Andy laughed out loud when he saw Cissie joining in before Floyd. My little 14-month old craft cutie. She takes after me in so many ways....especially that stubborn streak.

built a post office - Floyd's delighted, at last we made him a little post office out of cardboard boxes, complete with stamps, envelopes, parcels and a post box.

strolled on a beach and let the wind blow away the cobwebs.

cooked a yummy roast dinner including apple crumble with a very dear friend. (Can you tell we've been apple picking recently?)

didn't buy this fabric from the newly revamped Kitty Craft. Managed to hold off but not. sure. for. how. long.

thrifted this cute scale for the aforementioned post office (subsequently to be used for weighing dollies in the 'baby center', I think Cissie will love having a day washing, drying, dressing, weighing and feeding her dollies before putting them to bed).

won a competition. Can you believe it? So cool. Thank you for choosing me!

Hope your weekend was as sunny. If anyone would like some acorn caps I have two small bags going, just leave a comment. If for some reason they are a surprisingly big hit, names will go into a hat.

Happy Monday.

blergh

That is kind of how I have been feeling this week. Not bad, but kind of not great either. Totally not hitting my groove, especially when it comes to crafting.

(shot of my study post-kiddos)

I have been starting lots of new projects and not finishing anywhere near enough of them and finding myself feeling very frustrated by it all. I really want to get a little Etsy shop going but damn it all I just can't seem to do it right now. It seems like such a simple idea but I get so bogged down but wanting to make it just right and so I can't seem to actualize it.
Cissie has been teething something rotten and has decided that the quickest way to get service in this joint is to screech. I guess she has a point but it is not so pleasant to listen to.
And the weather here is just too darn hot! I know it is crazy to say that especially given we will be in darkest winter soon enough and for far too long but it's true...it is too hot and I don't like it.
So that's me so far this week, just waiting out my grumpies until I start feeling like I can cope a bit better and finally get some stuff finished.
I'll try and be a bit more upbeat next time, in the meantime thanks for listening.

shorts set

shirt

embroidery on shorts

polka dot shorts.

Pattern is the same as this outfit.
Liberty fabric for the shirt, Joann's fabric for the shorts. I am really getting a jump start on next summer's outfits because not only is the weather finally beginning to turn cooler, this one is wayyy to big.

I am really trying to make make make as much stuff in the house as I can now. I have increasingly felt the urge to make things rather than buy them as do so many of us now. (check out this great angry chicken post if you haven't already).

Obvious things like the kids clothes, but also blankets and bedding for the house, presents for people large and small, pajamas for my little guy and the larger fella too. I have a moratorium on buying toys now. It's not that I won't buy any again but just that we have so much and how much do we need? The kids always play with the same things anyway so I am asking for experiential presents for a bit.

We have also decided on a 'homemade and books' Christmas.

I am not committing to anything crazy like no more shopping at all (lets face it I couldn't keep away from the thrift stores if I tried), but I am definitely going to spend less time (and money) buying and more time making, only buying something when we need it or I have a set purpose for it and enjoying what we already have.

This article about the connection between affluence and a whole slew of dysfunctions and disorders was really interesting. I'd like to think we probably have enough stuff in our house now and that we would benefit from doing more rather than buying more.

After all I really have a lot.....and I am really grateful.