Buttons, school kit bags and handbags

Have a had a lovely sewing frenzy and have some cute buttons, a handbag and some PE kit bags in the making. Decided to make kit bags that were all different so that the child knows which bag is theirs by the design and with no two bags the same teachers should be able to find the right bag.

Just need to think of some more lovely designs but am thinking boats, cars, aeroplanes, hearts, geese, birds and cats would make nice additions.

Exhibit number one from my new sewing machine!

As you may have guessed from the title I have a new sewing machine as my old one spluttered its last stitches at the weekend. It was the most basic of basic machines so when my new computerised machine arrived this afternoon there was great excitement!

So as soon as the children were in bed I prioritised making something over all my other tasks and after a lot of swearing at this and that I finally produced something! It still needs a red button to finish it but all in all it was a fun little project.

Lau Lau the golden apple snail!

Just as the title suggests we have a new addition to our fish tank!

After a conversation with a friend on friday who told me about Golden apple snail, my husband trooped out with the children on Saturday and duly purchased one. I have to say I was a little sceptical about its ability to clean the tank but oh how wrong I was it, its fantastic!

The girls have spent most of this morning drawing pictures of the snail who has now been joined by some rather unhealthy looking plants and a lump of cucumber. (the snail will apparently munch away on this if is gets bored of eating algae)

Ok I am off to have a go at doing some freehand embroidery on the machine of some snails after reading the beautiful book that Poppy Treffrey has just written I feel inspired to give it a go.

Keep a look out for snail pictures to follow x

London Bus & The Queens Guards

Its been a lovely weekend and a visit from Granny and Grandad to make it extra special!Grace and Lottie managed to stay asleep till 6am before they wanted to wake Granny and Grandad up, goodness knows what time they shall want to be up this Christmas!

As the weather has turned colder Finlay's newly acquired hat bought from the gorgeous stealing candy http://www.stealingcandy.co.uk/has both come in use and inspired me along with a card that I bought months ago (I don't seem to be able to part with it) the two items seem to have a similar lovely childish feel about them. So today I set to and had a go at a "Queens Guard". Not sure where he is heading, either into a picture frame or maybe onto a bag and he could do with some tweaking but he seems to have a worthy character so he may well get some friends to join him!

Numbers on the stairs and Finlay the dog.

This week has also seen the return of the numbers to our staircase. As Lottie our 2 year old is getting to grips with counting we thought we would help her out a little or at least get her past 1, 2, 3!

With so many things to do over the next few weeks to get sorted for the up and coming Fayre's making a dog for Finlay was really not high up on the list of priorities yet sometimes you just need to ignore the lists and have a bit of fun! So last night when my 3 beautiful children were finely off to sleep I had a go at making the Cath Kidston dog. Not something I would ever mass produce as I have neither the patience nor the skills however as a one off he was fun to make and is now hanging next to Finlay's cot.

Bitsy Birds

Well our lovely new Cath Kidston book arrived this week called "Sew" filled with lovely sewing projects that I know my daughters will love and I am sure I can find something that even Finlay may like!

So this Sunday afternoon we set to and made a couple of birds from the book that my eldest daughter Grace has named "Bitsy's"

I am sure that the Bitsy'swill be joined over the next few days by some more friends to keep them company, we may even attempt a dog!

More Hairbands

Am really pleased to have more hairbands available especially with the Victoria School Christmas shopping evening coming up! At the bargain price of £2.95 a hairband I suspect there success will continue.

I have now promised to make some up in red dot fabric to go with one of the other local school uniforms. They really are a great way to keep hair out of eyes and as you can label them with your child's name it means you are guaranteed to get it back at the end of a school day unlike all those missing hair clips we have lost over the last 6 months!