A week in pictures

lamp shade for dolls' house

Another week has flown by. A week closer to Christmas. I know this mainly because all three girls have been coming home singing the songs they have been learning for their nativity plays. (The Baby Cheese-us features quite a lot again this year.)

A lot of Marmite on toast has been eaten, mainly by me, although I have succeeded in corrupting the girls into the ways of it.

bowl and spoon with breakfast 

`Rachael's Makes' continue to be as prolific as ever. This was waiting for me on the work top when I got back from the school drop off one morning.

icing conceals the burnt bits

The status of the oven's health is terminal. After two months of the bottom oven being out of action due to the inner glass spontaneously shattering in a dramatic fashion one teatime (with fish fingers and chips still inside), followed by successive burnt offerings emerging from the top oven due to what we think is a broken thermostat, tomorrow is new oven day!

The biggest girl is now completely complacent about my latest purse making stint. "Oh, another purse," she said, barely looking up from her book, after I showed this to her.

On Thursday, my back felt better than it had done in ages. And so, six months after moving in, I decided that this was the day the picture graveyard would cease to exist. Never underestimate the power of a lady on a mission with a drill. Pictures up, guitars up on the wall, too - all very satisfying.

And, as usually happens in a house with children (or, at least, in our house it does), no sooner is a space emptied, it is filled with something else. But I am happy that the wheeled things have got a place to park that is not right in the middle of the hall or some other place I will trip over them.

The tree outside is now more or less naked. As shown by our front step. I have commissioned the servants to sweep regularly, but it is very hit and miss, and largely determined by whether or not they feel like doing it at that precise moment in time. 

Using some scraps from the sewing night with friends, I made a birthday card for one of them. And then made two extras. Cue miniature smug dance at a) having some blank cards ready in the drawer; b) proving to myself that even teeny tiny scraps can be used, and, being brutally honest c) saving myself money and a walk to the shop when I had remembered on the day of someone's birthday the need for a card.

Charlotte continues to be the most contented baby ever. The thumb has been the biggest break through for this, although having three big sisters to fuss over her and make her giggle (yes - the cutest development of late) is lovely too.

Saturday morning saw me and the girls doing some mini junk modelling to make dolls' house bits and bobs. My favourite one is the lamp shade, which was made from an egg box and PlayDoh (base), lollipop stick, pipe cleaner and bottle top covered with ribbons. The middle girl then added a light bulb to it, using her preferred medium of paper and sticky tape.

table, lamp shade and (matchbox) bed

More makes followed.

And after some attention from me to help with the dolls' house making, they disappeared upstairs to play/argue on where to position the new stuff.

Guinea pigs

My children would undoubtedly prefer some guinea pigs instead of the cat they actually have as a pet.

They know that the guinea pigs their cousins have are cute fluffy things, that enjoy being held and petted. Our cat, on the other hand, is far less child friendly, and has clearly not got over the fact she no longer lives in an adult only environment. Hostile would be a better description of her attitude towards our girls, and, due to the many `warning' swipes she has taken at them, they have a healthy respect/fear of cats in general. As a result, the eldest girl no longer feels the need to be particularly tactful about wanting to own either some guinea pigs or a dog when the cat eventually decides to shuffle off this earth.

On Saturday night, I hosted my very own group of guinea pigs. 

It was not hard to persuade some friends to come and let me show them how to make Fondant Fancy Purses, ready to help me spot and iron out any potential difficulties beginners might experience when making them on the workshops I'm planning to host next month.

I like the range of colours these frames come in - it gives plenty of possibilities over fabric choices.

I had a small mountain of fabrics for them to choose from, including bright printed cottons, linens, and some vintage silk scarves to chop up and use. It's always fun seeing what people come up with, as inevitably, they think of combinations that hadn't occurred to me.

There was a fair amount of purse envy on my part by the end of the evening.

I tried to convince them all they should leave their purses with me to look after, you know, as a sign of appreciation for the fun had by all.

Needless to say, they were having none of it!

A teatime conversation

For sale (money goes here)

Conversations at teatime can be a hit and miss affair in this house.

More often than not, they are punctuated with endless requests to `sit your bottom on your chair', `watch out, you are about to spill your drink', `don't eat your spaghetti with your fingers', and so on. I try my best to instil a civilised tell everyone something about your day and listen to each other nicely kind of approach, but to be honest, this often fails miserably. I have times where I sit at the table with my children, wishing I could send them to boarding school or some other institution that would provide them with all their meals, purely so I can escape the daily torment of trying to teach them to use table manners.

Yesterday, the free newspaper had arrived, and (probably trying to ignore what was going on around me) I had started reading it during the long wait between the end of my meal and them finishing theirs. The biggest girl asked what I was reading, and so I told her. And, as often happens when I stop nagging them and talk to them all like adults, they listened. They were silent as I explained how a local man was going to fly to the Philippines to go and help the people there who were affected by the typhoon. What is a typhoon, they wondered. Oh. Their faces fell as they started to grasp what it meant for the people living there.

And then I read on, and explained how another local charity will be collecting money in the town centre this weekend, and how that will go to help the people we had just talked about. The biggest girl immediately announced she would like to give fifty pence of her money. The middle girl followed suit. And the littlest big girl whimpered about not having her own purse. Once we had established that did not matter, she joined in too.

I kept on thinking about this after they had gone to bed. I want them to be aware of what is going on in the world, to be compassionate, but I do not want them overwhelmed by it all. I want them to grow up thinking they can make a difference. Fifty pence is a good start when you are seven.

As I was making fortune cookie clutch number two later that night, and thinking about how terribly pointless it felt in the light of the current situation in the Philippines. Bingo. I like making things. A lot of people tell me they like the things I make. Make some stuff to sell.

It didn't take even my sleep deprived brain long to work out that I do not have enough hours in the day to make loads of stuff so as to single handedly run some kind of pop up crafty shop where local people could all do their Christmas shopping.

So, this morning, I went to my favourite meeting place and bent the ear of my friend Gemma. And then, between us, we talked to Saffron, the owner of said office. She didn't take much persuading to jump on board either.

Here is the plan. A pop up crafty shop - a bring and buy affair - where all the talented crafty people of Bedford will (hopefully) turn up throughout the day (or in the days before) and generously donate one gorgeous creation. Shoppers and cake lovers will come in their crowds, crispy notes in hand, ready to exchange in return for something wonderfully unique and lovely to wrap and put under their Christmas tree. Every penny of the money people spend will be counted up and go straight to the DEC Typhoon Appeal. There was even talk of a live band, a raffle, and Saffron and her baking gurus getting in on the act, making cake eating a thing to be (even more) encouraged for her customers on the day of the sale. Such fun.

Here's the date for your diary if you are a local reader:

Crafty Bring and Buy Sale

Saturday 30th November 2013

9 am until 5 pm @ Fancy (Roff Avenue, Bedford)

Please, please, pretty please, leave a comment below if you are going to join in with this. That will ease my middle of the night worries that no one is going to turn up.

And, if you happen to be on Facebook or Twitter, please make my day by hitting the little icon at the bottom of this post and sharing it so we can spread the word without the need to fork out on expensive posters.

Fortune Cookie Clutch

There is nothing quite like the thrill of making something for the first time to brighten up a damp November night.

Recycling a dress to make a messenger bag for the three year old might be pleasing on one level, but last night's creative effort on my part was a purely selfish just for the heck of it make for me.

At the moment, I am teaching some lovely ladies how to make clutches. Everything about the process is a pleasure to me. Even if the beautiful fabrics they bring with them onto the course only serves to tempt me into more shopping.

But, fun as it is to introduce other people into the joy of making things, one reason I limit the amount of evening teaching I do is so that I can save enough time to enjoy the making process first hand. I know I am feeling less new born induced sleep deprived now, as I am increasingly getting the itch to make stuff again.

This clutch pattern was one I had logged on my mental list of things to make ages ago. The design is from Lisa Lam, and the instructions were included in a Mollie Makes magazine from a few months ago. A long term fan of her patterns - and shop - I'd bought a couple of the frames a while back, with the intention of having them ready to go when the urge to make something nice came to me.

The sparkly scarf pin on the front of the clutch came from a local shop in Bedford, called Rose Tinted Vintage. Another reason why my home town is worth a visit, should you be near enough to contemplate one, as there is always something to catch your eye in that shop, whatever your style. I had bought the scarf pin about a year ago, thinking it would finish off a silk bag of some sort. I am going to call the butterfly silk used for the lining vintage, on the grounds I have had it for ages and it was originally given to me by an elderly lady called Barbara, and she had no doubt had it festering in a cupboard for many years before that. The green silk was given to me by a nice lady called Anne, who came on a course last year and was generous enough to share after my gushing about it. Last night was the night that everything came together in my head and the little clutch you see here was born. I love it!

I was going to just sew the scarf pin straight onto the finished clutch, but it didn't look right - the oval shaped yo-yo seemed to provide just the right lift and I am really happy with the way it has all come together.

The instructions and pattern were quite easy to use. The only fiddly bit was squishing the purse into the metal frame without getting glue in all the wrong places. Squint and you'll notice some glue still on the frame, that I didn't get to before photographing the project. I plan to make another one of these clutches - but in a brightly printed cotton for a daytime look.

And I have my friend and fellow school mum Lisa to thank for the pictures - she was kind enough to indulge me by being my photographer as I posed whilst we were waiting for our daughters to come out from their classrooms at the end of the school day. We got some strange looks, as some probably wondered what on earth we were up to. The embarrassment I am willing to put myself (and others) through for a picture...

As to when I will use this little beauty - who knows! Anyone fancy coming to babysit for me so I can dust off some heels and go out and dance around it?!

From dress to messenger bag

There is no doubt that having four children of the same gender has its advantages on the handing down of clothes front. Perhaps not quite as much as people might imagine (tomato sauce being one reason), but a lot of stuff does get passed down as children grow out of things. 

This can at times mean that it feels worth the effort to make stuff for them to wear. Although, I hasten to add, I am not aspiring to make all or even a substantial amount of their wardrobes - but, there are times when a fabric catches my eye and I can see it as having the potential to be a great item of children's clothing.

I made the littlest big girl as she is now known this monkey dress last year. A victim of its own success, she has been reluctant to part with it, even though it is now bordering on the indecent/pointless as a dress even with leggings underneath. Not to mention that it is hardly the right weight fabric for a little girl to be wearing in autumn in terms of keeping her warm.

But she likes it, and I guess I should be flattered when the pain of parting problem occurs with an item of clothing I have made them.

This is all that is left of the original dress.

As of lunchtime today, with its owner at my side (which explains and excuses the ropey stitching in places if you ask me), the dress got chopped and transformed into a messenger bag.

The idea had come to me a few mornings ago. Some mornings with children are glorious. Others are not. You get woken to the sounds of an argument, and asked to referee before you have had chance to have a morning mug of tea to wake you properly.

One such argument happened over bags. Yes, my three eldest were arguing over handbags before 7 am. It occurred to me the littlest big girl has not got a `special' bag made for her by me, and that maybe that explained her theft of the middle girl's elephant bag. So, although the words `please be quiet, let me have a cup of tea and I will make you a bag of your own, darling' didn't quite leave my lips at the time, it did later occur to me that I could kill two birds with one stone and do a bit of recycling with her too small dress.

She's very happy, and wasted no time in a) filling it with a very random collection of stuff until it would barely shut, and, b) showing it off to her sisters at school pick up. Cue another argument...

Wondering where the time goes

I often get to the end of the week and wonder where the time has gone and what on earth I have done with it. In my head, it is mostly sucked up with washing up, laundry, changing nappies, feeding the baby, making packed lunches, wiping down work tops, nagging the girls to pick up their things, walking backwards and forwards to school... you get the idea.

It's only flicking through the photos I have taken in the last week that I realise it was a pretty productive one the creative front. (In case you were wondering, yes, not much more than a slice of toast gets buttered around here without a picture being taken. He, he.)

There were the makes that happened with the girls. Like a robot costume (cardboard box covered in foil and smothered in random stuff from their art cupboard) and a tree outfit (brown leggings and cardigan with leaf shapes loosely sewn on) for the school disco. Oh, and sparkly chocolate cakes.

the big knit 

And the (very random) makes that happened alongside the girls as they got on with things they wanted to do. Like bobble hats for drinks bottles. And super hero capes to take to parties.

The other makes needed more time, and mainly happened after the girls were in bed.

The Fondant Fancy purses were the first things to be finished.

One was a birthday present to my niece, and the final hand sewing was finished in the car on the way to see her, so no picture of that one. Nothing like cutting it fine. But here's how the rest looked.

As I am forced to admit I do not need all these little purses in my life (much as I love the frames and Japanese fabric), these are all destined to be presents.

Wrapping on a budget - tissue paper (10p from art shop), pack of purple trims (£1 from Poundland)

When I have enough time, I love giving people home made presents. I enjoy choosing things that I think suit them, and I like thinking about them as I make their gift. But, when time is limited, much of this pleasure can turn into stress, silly mistakes and then general grouchiness on my part. That's why my Christmas making list is now always tiny - just one thing for each of my own girls and nothing else.

But birthdays - well, they are spread out, aren't they?

That said, I like having a few quick to make projects up my sleeve for when a run of children's party invitations come flooding home from school. The super hero cape made its way to a little boy who loves dressing up and jumping off sofas. And the covered notebook was coupled up with a pack of felt pens for the biggest girl to give to a friend. She and her friends have hit an age where stationary is a welcome thing, and so this quick make will no doubt be repeated a few more times.

I'd first made some covered notebooks at the start of the summer - in a not very subtle bid to encourage a bit of writing to go on. It worked. Sort of. I'd love to boast that the books were filled with miniature novels by the end of the summer, but alas, the novelty was short lived. They all still use these books for drawing in, though. I'm glad they have them, as they are more likely to survive the regular rounds of clear ups and recycling than scrappy bits of paper.

This week, it seems everyone in the household is tired and ready for half term. (Well, maybe except for baby Charlotte. How can someone who sleeps most of the day and night possibly be tired, huh?) Judging by the amount of shouting, growling and races down the stairs to be the first to tell tales after a squeal is heard from the girls' bedroom that all happens several times an hour (oh I wish I was exaggerating), they are in need of some rest after a busy couple of months at school.

I know (or, I hope) that once half term starts, and they have had a couple of days of doing not a lot, calm will be restored. They will be nice children again, and not just the temporary angels their teachers see each day. Until then, I am going to have a good sneaky flick through their notebooks and remind myself that they aren't really imps.