Cushion Crazy!

I am so proud of myself. I have been learnng how to quilt and sew with the help of Frugal Queen and have had a fantastic time - so this weekend I decided to have a go at making a cushion (all by myself!!!).

I used some scraps of fabric that I had left over from a previous project and wanted to try and do something for my lounge... I am also in the middle of crocheting a cushion cover and so will have a range of colours and designs on our sofa!

I started by cutting the squares into rectangles and then assembling them in a pattern that I liked. I sewed them together and then ironed each piece as I went.... I had such fun!!

Here is the result of all my hard work:

 

I love it and cannot wait to snuggle up with it and a homemade blanket that I am working on together on my sofa in the cold evenings!

 

 

Taking Time Out...

I have to make a confession... I have at times been a complete workaholic and thrown myself into my career without thinking of the effect on myself or my family. These past two weekends I have made a conscious effort to take time out for myself and as a family unit and I really can say I relaxed.

Family time has always been important to me and I have always taken time out for that but the problem has arisen when I have failed to take time for myself or if work has encroached on family time...

This weekend I went to Frugal Queen's house to make a quilt! You must understand that whilst I love knitting, all embroidery and crochet - I have not really ever used a sewing machine! There I was off for a whole day quilting!! I packed the car and set off the 5 miles that lie between our houses... Upon arrival I was met with the most friendly of responses which continued all day. I was joined by 3 other wonderful ladies who I had never met before and then the five of us set off on our quilting adventure. A wonderful day with real laughter and fun. Everyone was so relaxed and 'at home'.

I feel that as British we are often too scared to say 'I am proud of that' but I am really proud of the start of my quilt that I had achieved by the end of the day! I will try and post a picture later but at the moment the camera is not playing nicely!

After such a lovely day on Saturday I was really looking forward to a family day out on Sunday.... I had recently been sent a Groupon offer for the Monkey Sanctuary in Looe... we have lived on this side of Cornwall for over two years now and up until yesterday we had never been to the sanctuary... it was lovely and really important place. You are not encouraged to interact with the monkeys as they are rescue animals and therefore they are trying to de-imprint the animals.... They are so gorgeous though and it is hard not to blow kisses at the various species.

I have a day off tomorrow and intend on having some guilt free fun tomorrow too! :)

Until tomorrow
V

Racing for Wildlife

Today was the day that DH had to face his first 10k run! He has recently re-started running and whilst he is a fit and healthy person, when he suggested a 10k run I was a little worried!! He spoke to DS who told him in no uncertain terms 'Daddy I want you to make money for the animals!' - melted my heart and sent DH on a quest for a charity to make money for... he found the Race For Wildlife in Penzance and swiftly filled in the forms and paid the entrance fee!!

At 7.30am this morning we set off from our moorland home en mass and travelled to Penzance... now you must understand here that DS has a love affair with Penzance like nothing I have ever seen a 4 year old love!! He adores the place (mainly stemming from the fact that his beloved trains end their journey there!) and we frequently have to visit there. He was about to have his perfect day but more of that later!

On arrival at the venue we had to park and then walk about 1/2 mile to the beginning of the race at Trengwainton Gardens (which are beautiful to visit)... the walk to beginning of the race was gorgeous on this glorious October morning...

 

 

 

 

DS strolled on ahead of all of us... he was a boy on a mission!

 

 

 

DH was getting ready for the 10K aheard of him!

 

With the sounding of a single gun they were all off...

We went for a walk around Trengwainton Gardens whilst waiting... there were beautiful flowers all around...

And secret passages...

 

and more gorgeous flowers like this agapanthus!

DS decided to stroll through the Autumn leaves... don't you just love doing that!?

The beautiful lane that we walked down to the finish line...

 

Well done Daddy!!

Then we went for a walk on Marazion beach... beautiful weather especially for October!

 

Barefoot on the sand!

 

 

 

 The sunshine on the water was amazing!

Playing on the sand with Grandad is the best thing sometimes!

Followed by a building of a model St Michael's Mount!

 

All in all a fantastic and wonderful family day that was completed by the best part (according to DS) - the train ride home where we had to be met by Nanny and Grandad who had driven the car back from Penzance!!!!

New Beginnings...

I apologise for the length of time between posts... I have been very busy here with moving!

We have been talking about a new move for a long time... two years ago we moved back to my childhood home county of Cornwall. Dear Husband (DH) fell in love with it straight away as did my then almost two year old little boy (DS) - I had always been in love with the county... although growing up on the wild North coast was very different to the tamer south coast. We moved into a really lovely house but it was rented... the whole time that we were there I was haunted by the fear that we would get notice that the landlord wanted to sell etc... I also felt haunted by the fact that we were pouring money into another person's pocket each month at an alarming rate! We began to have converstations with my parents who were also not happy in their house and so began The Plan!

We decided that we could begin to look for somewhere to live together... there were stipulations that were put into the mix from the beginning... we would each own half of the property and that there had to be separate living areas. We began the search one (very rare!) sunny July afternoon and were crossing houses off our short list at a rapid pace.... too small, not enough space, small garden, main road.... and so the list went on! We were soon nearly out of hope for the afternnon and we drove around the corner to see this:

We all fell in love straight away and the long and short of it is that it is now ours after a long arduous battle with solitors etc... We moved in over the last weekend of September and had amazing friends who came to help us! We have been living out of boxes for two weeks but there seems to be some kind of normality descended on us now.

The living arrangements are perfect... company when we want it and privacy when we want that... bills beginning to be less due to splitting down the middle and most important DS has all of us under one roof! He loves it and splits his time between the lounges choosing where he wants to be at that moment!

As well as all this new moving I had also been desperate to learn to crochet because of this ... I wanted desperately to make a version of this and so decided that I would learn!

I went to the local wool warehouse in Saltash which has wool from floor to ceiling as I wanted to see the widest selection of colours that I could together to make my choices. I chose a selection of 6 colours plus a base of cream.

I then began to crochet... after a few battles with the hooks I began to produce something that resembled a crocheted circle!

This is the result now...

And here....

I am now waiting for some more so I can then make them into the first stripe for the blanket as I think I prefer the 'mass makeup' method.

I will keep you updated... until soon xx

Tea Cosy

Today I was sat despairing that I was not going to get the tea cosy finished in time for the birthday next week but I then broke the stitches down into days and feel that it is achievable!
I am going to knit at least 20 rows tomorrow and hope that I can keep the level up over the weekend...

I have chosen a fairly simple design as I need to finish it quite quickly and with work commitments and a three year old this is not always easy!

Until tomorrow...

Scrapbook/Diary ideas....

I am a complete camera addict and would love to follow my Dad's footsteps with his talent for photography... Last year he upgraded his camera (to an eye watering one!) and I was the lucky person to get his 'old' camera - it was only a couple of years old!! It is a 'proper' SLR camera and I love it - this means that I take many, many photos when out and often wish that I was able to be more creative... that is a story for another day! I have decided that I am going to make a scrapbook/diary/album using all the pictures to document our family life over the year.

I try to enhance Ethan's life by taking him to experience many different things and it is an important part of my life. I love spending time with him exploring and experiencing things - many of our adventures do not cost anything or are part of a membership scheme such as The National Trust and so we often spend time out without spending any money - an extra bonus! I felt that it was a travesty to leave these photos in their digital form and so the idea of the scrapbook diary was born. I have spent time scrapbooking before but never really developed it. I have decided to make a visit to Trago Mills (a recent bargain store) and gather resources and will have a go at the beginning stages this weekend.

I really think it is important to document our lives (even things such as first time washing the car with Daddy!) to pass onto our future generations and not only that but also to look back on personally and see the things that we have shared together over the years. I hope that it becomes a family treasure...

Until next time...

Amazing surprise winter walk

Today my Mum came over to see us and just spend some time not really doing too much but the weather was so lovely that we looked out of the window and over the estuary and decided to go for a walk. We asked Ethan where he would like to go and he said 'I would like to go to Cotehele'. This is a local National Trust property close to us and has the most gorgeous estate walks.
We started off at the Quayside (along the estuary) and it was gorgeous in the late afternoon sun. There were loads of birds rooting around in the mud flats and Ethan had a great time looking through his binoculars! Yes, he does know how to use them and is able to do so with good results! He said 'Mummy, I can see a seagull, a black bird (cormorant) and a heron' I am constantly amazed at the knowledge that a 3 year old child can retain! We went for a walk along the water's edge and Ethan was able to participate in his favourite pastime of throwing sticks into the water! Why this is such a fascinating thing for a child to do - I am not sure! We saw some gorgeous signs of Spring including catkins starting to come through, daffodils beginning to come into bloom and buds on trees... Spring comes early in Cornwall!!
We completed the afternoon with a drink and scone (without cream - got to think of the diet!) in the tearoom at the Quayside. I think that it is great that it is still open in mid January and that more importantly it was being used by others - not just us! Ethan was still talking about the impromptu walk whilst going to bed... this was a fantastic way to spend time with my Mum and Ethan and I had a wonderful unexpected afternoon!

Feeling Protective!

Today I was reminded of what a long journey we have had as a family over the last few weeks. Ethan has always been a very sociable and happy little boy - right from a few hours old. So when his behaviour started to deteriorate a few weeks ago it was a marked change! He then started to become withdrawn and then one day after attending nursery he remarked that a child had been hitting him! He was very distraught and showed me the marks. I of course returned to the nursery and asked why I had not been informed of this - to which they responded with 'sorry, we weren't aware of it!' This continued the following week but Ethan told the staff this time and they told me on 3 consecutive days that there had been problems with the other boy (F) hitting Ethan. Meanwhile at home, Ethan's behaviour was erratic - on a Thursday (after attending nursery Mon-Wed) his behaviour would begin in a negative way but would improve throughout the day.... I knew that the two things must be linked. He then reeled off lots of children's names saying '.... is not my friend anymore'.

The major heartbreaking crunch came the following week when on our return home from nursery in the car I asked Ethan 'Who did you play with today'? His awful reply was 'I don't play with anyone else Mummy - I just play by myself because if I play with the other children then F hits them'. I was distraught all evening and first thing in the morning I went to the nursery.... they were fantastic and investigated it straight away. The upshot was that basically F had been bullying all the other children and threatening them that if they played with Ethan then he would indeed hit them! The reason for this intense hatred of my little boy? Well, apparantly Ethan had refused to misbehave with F and so he 'hated' him! I think my disbelief at hearing these words was written all over my face! F's parents were called in and I thought that would improve things but sadly no, he remained against Ethan and he continued to come home upset.

Two weeks before Christmas I could take no more and investigated other childcare options - these are very limited in the small Cornish town where we live. I luckily found a FANTASTIC pre-school attached to the school that we wish him to attend in a couple of years so I applied for him to attend... they only had some part time hours so after sweet talking my Mum into having him on two mornings a week, he now is attending there part time and his old nursery on a day when F is not there (I only work 3 days most weeks). He attended there yesterday for the first time and loved it.... his response to Grandad when collected was 'Grandad, they all played with me!!'.

I had my old Ethan back again over Christmas and he was as lovely as he had always been with just the normal boundary pushing that you get from any child... until today! Ethan arrived at his swimming lesson to find that F was in the same group! Ethan got extreamely upset and F made a beeline straight for him! I walked straight out to the pool reception and requested a different group... I understand that some people may think that I reacted quite quickly to this situation but I have never seen such a small child be so vindictive and nasty to another child and result in such mental turmoil! I am a teacher and like to think that I am level headed and understand children and this has shaken me to my emotional roots over the last few weeks... I have learnt that actually whilst I knew that I would protect every hair on my child's head, I didn't realise how him being upset would have such a large impact upon my own emotions... I just pray that all is not lost with F and that there may be some way for him to learn to interact correctly with other children and not be a bully.

This all said and done the day did finish in the most lovely way though.... Ethan gave me a massive cuddle and said 'I love you Mummy - you are beautiful'.

New Year!

So over the last few days I have been thinking about the things that I have achieved (or not!) over the last year. It has been a very hard year with family bereavment and illnesses meaning that I have seen a lot more of the inside of hospital wards than is right for anyone to experience... so although I am not a great one for New Years Resolutions, this year I am going to make some choices to enhance my life.

I aim to:

1. Spend time with my family.

This is a very important part of my life already and I aim to spend time with my family every weekend but sometimes I need convincing of the fact that we don't have to spend time out of the house to enjoy this! I will also continue to make a lot of use of our National Trust membership as we are surrounded by properties that make for fantastic family time!

2. Lose Weight to make myself healthy.

I am not going to let this one become the usual failed resolution as from previous years... this year I have already managed to lost 1.5 stone and hope to maintain this level of loss....

3. Try something new every month.

I am to try something new every month - this could be a big thing or small but I am going to try 12 new things over the year. I will then blog about the experiences on here...

4. Plan a baby...

We would love to have another baby in the near(ish) future... this means that I have to plan ahead because as a teacher I have to be in post for a set time before gaining enhanced maternity - this is the only way that we can affford the 5 months off!!! Watch this space for progress on this later in the year!

5. To be a successful blogger...

I have recently begun this blog and aim to continue it - even if it is just for myself and I have no readers!!

6. To knit an item for myself...
I constantly knit items for other people and this year I am going to make a cardigan for myself! I have the yarn already and the pattern (finally after having to re-find thanks to the wonders of Ebay!)...

7. To try and include at least one vegetarian recipe each week into our diet...
Following a request from my OH I have made this a concious decision for this year... we will see how this goes!

8. To use a new recipe each week from my books...
I will blog about each new recipe on here and chart the ups and downs from this challenge!

I will blog over the next 12 months about the successes and failures that I have in relation to these goals - I will be brutally honest as I think that this is the only way to be!

I would like to wish everyone the best of wishes for 2012 and hope it is a fantastic year!