Rocking Robin

Christmas is nearly upon us so my decoration making has started in earnest.  I always like to have a few new homemade cuties to add to my tree this year and for 2017 it’s going to be a couple of …

Tweet Tweet

I’ve been working on this little flock of birds and having quite a bit of fun doing them, they’re very easy and just take a scrap bit of yarn, some scrap fabric (2 pence size), felt fabric glue and a couple of beads.

I’m thinking I might do my first tutorial on these – what do you think?

Easterific times

Gosh, I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve blogged, this Easter half term has just taken away all of my time. I think I should really learn how to do this on my phone or iPad as I’m terrible for getting the laptop out.

Anyway, it’s been a busy busy time here at Casa Kitsch Stitch as it’s half term and not only do I have Roux and Hurricane but I’ve also got my niece and nephew for the next two weeks. It’s quite hectic, noisy and FULL ON with a 6 year old, 5 year old, 4 year old and 2 year old. Lots of fun though.

The weekend got off to an amazing start when I got to meet my peanut for the last time before he/she arrives. The scan was wonderful, it’s the best I’ve ever had, the sonographer kept the monitor at me the whole time and talked me through each measurement. She was an absolute darling and made me feel happy and relaxed, she almost seemed to share my excitement and clearly adores her job. When it came to checking the heart she put colour onto the scan so one side was beating in red and the other blue. It was breathtaking. I had my parents and Roux with me and we all had fun counting fingers and toes. The sonographer had a good look at Peanuts parts and could tell me whether I’d be having another boy or girl. Unfortunately, at the moment I can’t share but I can say I’m very, very happy with what I’m getting.

Here is a grainy picture of a picture – I think I might do a little sweep of gender and weight and have a prize for one of my followers.

My home town and the where I should be returning to soon has opened a tower Vertical Pier called the Beacon, it’s umm, interesting and looks like a bit of a Helter Skelter.  I’m really not sure about it but it’s definitely caused some consternation in the town as it’s cost a lot of money had has had a lot of problems.  It’s also a bit of an eyesore but is the start of a huge regeneration project in the town so I’m hoping for good things.

It was officially opening Easter Weekend and the celebrations were supposed to start on the Friday.  We dragged the children out promising them a funfair, rides and lots of fun things.  What we actually got?  Biting wind, no rides and snow!  It was freezing and not a very nice experience, turns out that although the Beacon was open, nothing else was so we had a quick trip up to the top then ran back to the car to go and get warm again.

The Helter Skelter or Vertical Pier.

Not such a pretty beach as where I live now, they’re building a wind farm as you can see. Roux is fascinated by it all and often wants his binoculars so he can get a better look.

An example of the lovely artwork that adorns the whole seafront.  I think these are my favourite things about what they are doing along there.  I’ve had lots of fun games with the children spotting all the things in them.

Views from the top

On Saturday we went back and the town had a small market, lots of rides and we had such a fun packed day.  We ended up staying out so long that we went to a restuarant for something to eat and Roux had an ice cream the size of his head!

Easter here was very lovely, Roux and Hurricane had received quite a few Easter Eggs that they might need help eating so I didn’t want to buy any more. Instead, the two of them woke to Easter Bunnies courtesy of a pattern found on the lovely Green Dragonfly blog. Roux especially was ecstatic! I think nursery have been discussing the Easter Bunny as he’s been acting like he’s the same as Father Christmas and he truly believed that the Easter Bunny had delivered his rabbit to him – good job I made them while he was in bed I suppose.

Very soon after opening that we travelled further up North to see some wonderful friends who had briefly returned from Cyprus to hold their daughters Christening.  It was a 3 hour round trip and proved to me just how hard life as a single mother can be at these sorts of events.  The after do was held in an upstairs room of a social club and trying to keep my eyes on both children as they climbed onto the stage, tried to escape, drink other peoples dregs, fight, run away etc was exhausting.  Even a trip to the toilet meant I had to take both of them as if I went on my own leaving someone to watch them the little blighters just followed me and being that it was so close to the stairs and the way out I couldn’t take the risk.  As much as I really enjoyed the day I was so glad to get back home and put them to bed.

The rest of the week was spent cooped up at soft plays, the library, the house and having play dates at other peoples as the weather has been so bad.  After days of this we got so fed up we had to go somewhere so took a trip to a local woodland.  The hail stones started as we arrived *roll eyes* and I did wonder if we were doing the right thing but they cleared up and running around the woods certainly warmed us up.

It’s got lots of tracks that are full of wooden gym equipment and carved animals, the children had lots of fun jumping on them and demanding photographs.  Plus collecting twigs and leaves and trying to carry heavy logs.  We came across a logger using a beautiful working horse to help him load them onto a wagon.  We spent quite a while watching them work together but I didn’t want to get too close, I do wish that my DSLR wasn’t missing in action so I could have got a better picture.

I’ve finished off the week making LOTS of monsters but that’s for another blog post…

Hope you had a wonderful Easter, I’ve been reading so many blogs of all the fun things people have gotten up to, I should have put more thought into this and had some links ready.  Next time, always next time.

 

Coffee and Softplay

Wednesdays here are quite good fun for me as I generally get a bit of a ‘me’ day and this one was no exception.

Both children are dropped off at nursery then I usually go to the community centre for a bit of child free time with some friends, tea on tap, biscuits and normally as I’m not running around dealing with my two I get to do a spot of crocheting. Today was slightly different as the community centre is still being worked on so it was back on the mini bus and off to camp.

The local camp isn’t normal by my standards, over the last decade I’ve grown used to uniformed guards and having to flash a pass to get on but this one holds some sneaky beaky stuff so not only are there armed guards but a selection of armed Police, a number of gates and lots of barbed wire. You’d certainly be safe from a zombie attack here! One of my favourite things about the camp is tucked just behind the guard station, I’ve never fancied asking anyone if I could take a picture so I managed to get a drive by one from the minibus window today – A red telephone box!

How random! I’d love to know the history behind this and if it’s ever used.

Coffee morning was utterly lovely, we were on large comfy sofas in the Officer’s Mess with tea served to us, lots of crocheting and some good chat. Next week is going to be very different as it’s half term here so there will be a lot of noisy children, I don’t really think they know what they’ve let themselves in for.

After being chauffeured back to town I collected the children and we came home for a yummy carpet picnic lunch then went to the local soft play for the afternoon. There are no time limits on it so you pay your money and can stay as long as you like. The food, as is normal with these places, is pretty extortionate but it’s big, clean and my children adore it. They’ve just got to the age where they can run around it without me (bliss!) so I met up with a few more friends and 5 of them ran off together to have fun so I got some more chat, a nice coffee and a spot of crocheting with just the odd break to go weeeee down a slide or help them over an obstacle.

Any guesses as to what the crocheting is going to be?

It’s become tradition that when we go to any soft play that cake makes an appearance. Not for me of course as I’ve never found one serving gluten free cake but definitely for the children. They are most insistent! Today they opted for a large cooking to share and it lasted seconds.

And just because I can and I adore this picture, lots of giggles and spinning.

I’m due to go for my 20 week scan tomorrow (excited much!) and the hospital is near to my parents so I travelled to theirs after our fun and that’s where we’re staying the night. My niece and nephew were already here and the two girls bullied me into make some bed spreads for their dolls. They didn’t take long and I didn’t really mind so I scouted around my Mums for some scraps and turned this…

With a helper, into these…

They aren’t brilliant at all as my eager helpers were rushing me a lot and demanded they were finished right now. I’ve been informed I’ve got to make a few more so if any one does want a step by step tutorial I’d be more than happy.

Last but not least, I’ve had a sneak peak of one of the photographs of a prop I made for the lovely Helen Jane Photography. I can’t wait to see the rest!

What a lovely baby model we had too!

The ‘where is Spring?’ daisy chain.

Today was apparently the first day of Spring and the Equinox brings with it 6 months of days that are longer than the nights. A tentative yippee you might think… Not here in my corner of blustery North Yorkshire.

This morning I woke to a bitterly cold day, the type where just strapping the children into their seats leaves your fingers numb. The sea looked quite univiting this morning on the school run but even when it looks grey, cold and dangerous I still think it can be breathtaking. I never get tired of seeing this.

I normally drop both children at nursery on a Wednesday but The Boy decided he didn’t want to stay, he’s been quite clingy lately so after persuasion didn’t help he came home with me. Usually, I go to coffee morning at the local community centre but its having work done to it so we clambered into a mini bus and were driven to camp and the journey took me by surprise, it’s in the middle of the Moors and about 20 minutes from my town, we left a cold grey seaside and entered a winter wonderland.

drive by shots from the minibus window

After a spot of crocheting, some tea and copious amounts of biscuits eaten by my boy we got on the minibus for home and within ten minutes were back to green fields.

What *is* going on this March?

The bad weather and lack of oompf for going outside was the idea behind my latest project – an eternal daisy chain. There are lots of patterns out there for this but it’s basically a small flower and a stem with a hole in it so they can be threaded together to make a bracelet, necklace or whatever your imagination decides.

I used Lucy’s teeny tiny flowers over at Attic 24, added some embroidery in orange as my yellow looked too wishy washy with it and then sewed on the stem. The stems are various lengths as I wanted it to be as true to life as I could so I changed hook size a couple of times for the flowers and the stems were made of chains that were 10, 12, 14, 16 or 18 chains in length, turned and then slip stitched up part way, 3 chain, miss 3 stitches and then continue slip stitching to the end.

They’ve been really hard to photograph as the light here in the evenings is so bad and if my daughter sees them during the day I immediately have them confiscated so she can play. They’ve been loved by everyone that sees them, adults and children alike which makes me very happy. I’m hoping to do a few charity craft fairs and I think I might include small packs of these. What do you think?