Yay my Easter holiday shift is over ... back to normal

whatever that is!!!

Our school had teacher training today so I had three children to look after  ..... tomorrow is back to school day and I can't say I am sorry.  I love them to bits but I am really looking forward to getting some time back for myself during the day and already have the rest of the week planned.  No doubt a spanner will be put in the works now I've said that and it will all go pear shaped. 

We had such a lovely week weatherwise and the garden was taken full advantage of .... it has been such a long winter and I think we were all getting a little stir crazy after being indoors for so long.  Last week we went to the park and visited the museum where they had two exhibitions .... one of local lacemaking and the other called squashy sculptures. 

The house and parkland was once a private house which was purchased by two local councillors in 1904 and generously given to the people of Luton.  It is one of the few green areas left in the town.

Tich and quackers

The colours of these primulas are an inspiration aren't they

This is the first sculpture .... all red and soft with some comfy seating inside

The second is like a giant mollusc and there are special lighting panels inside giving this effect

Car boot season is now in full swing ... me and the Ellie monster went off on Saturday morning to bag some bargains .... turned out she got more than me!  We came home with another Baby Annabel pram and doll (how many does a girl need??)  and from the same lady a lovely Triang 5 way sit in car for Jack which was absolutely pristine together with a ball tent and zillions of balls.

On Sunday morning we went off again, this time Ellie's parents were selling at the boot so she wandered round with me and the pram.  This time it was my turn and I went for quality rather than quantity.

A pair of Ikea Rosali roman blinds, a length of Laura Ashley Summer Palace fabric, a Laura Ashley candlestand, Annabel Karmel cook books, an M & S retro notebook, some pretty gingham hankies and the print was on the stall opposite my daughter .... the more I sat and looked at it the more I liked it .... I think I've finally decided on a pink and green colour scheme for my re-claimed front room (I'm getting there very slowly) so this will be perfect.  Total spend was £21.

Tomorrow morning after I have dropped the children at school I am off to the Watermill to get some dog & chook food and hey ho there just happens to be a bootie there too ;-) 

I hope you all had a lovely Easter x

Don'tcha just love it when a plan comes together ......

I've been stripping for months now ...... strictly on a crafting basis you understand ;-) all in aid of the no strings challenge.  As I have sat stitching strips to square backing fabric it occurred to me that if each square had the same fabric as the starting centre piece, a clearly defined border would start to emerge.  Surely the same principle would apply to a rectangular shape and it did.

So the old brain cells got going and I sat with pen and paper working out how to place colours to produce one of the old favourites and here it is .......

The no strings Union Jack which at some point this week will become a cushion cover. 

Just made with four rectangles and the only piece of fabric to be sewn on when it was assembled was the centre horizontal one.

We've had a lovely sunny but chilly Easter Sunday here and this morning was the opening of this season's car boot at my favourite local site .... it doesn't open till ten so I don't have to drag myself out of bed at the crack of dawn.  I really didn't expect it to be on as we'd had some heavy overnight rain which must have put a lot of sellers off because there was only a fraction of the usual number there.  The vultures were in position and swooped on the poor sellers before they had chance to get their doors open.  This is one of my pet hates but sadly there is no way of keeping them out of this particular site until the sellers are ready.  The pickings were very slim but I did manage to get one bargain ... a Royal Worcester three tier square cake stand .... it is plain white but for £3 I think I got the real deal.

and of course some baking had to be done to fill it when I got home .... you will notice that there are some gaps and I now have a grown man sulking because he got told off for pinching them before I'd taken the photo .... I turned my back for a minute and they'd gone!  The green glass sundae dishes in the background are from a set of six from the charity shop purchased a week or two ago.

When we left the car boot we headed for two little monthly antique fairs in neighbouring towns .... we hadn't visited these for ages and were pleasantly surprised to find new stalls and sensible prices.  My one little temptation here was a cute Arthur Woods Piggy Money Box for £3

He goes very well with this little bear ... also from the charity shop .... I've decided to break the line of blue & white on my dresser and these pretty colours are just the job.

The day has finished with a family dinner of traditional Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding and now I'm off to munch on some choc and get the crochet hook working.

Hope you all had a lovely relaxing day x

Easter Weekend

Well the weather was typical Bank Holiday naffness in Bedfordshire this weekend ... we had grey skies, fog and rain which has meant that I couldn't do my usual rounds of car boots :-(

Not to be deterred we went to Stockwood Park yesterday where they were holding their first country fair. The park is one of the few jewels in Luton's crown and was originally a large country house which was left to go to rack and ruin by the local council in the 1950s ... it was eventually demolished and all that is left now is part of the walled gardens, the coaching section and stable blocks. Over the past few years a lot of money has been spent on providing a Visitor's Centre which is such a bonus and the gardens are a treat. The fair was a little disappointing - no sewers or knitters to my dismay (shame because they had a wonderful quilt exhibition last year). Ellie enjoyed herself and shows off her Easter Bunny face painting and the flower hat made in the activity centre. She likes to pose and here she is in the walled garden

The horses were out at the stables and there was also a lovely shire horse walking round

The weather did eventually brighten up today so we have been continuing with our planting in the garden. My childminding children return tomorrow, I will have six here for my sins so I have been baking biscuits and flapjack and making some fresh lemon curd because they are all like bottomless pits asking like Oliver 'can I have some more'.

I do hope that the weather keeps bright but the forecast is not good .... will be stir crazy by the end of the week if we have to stay indoors.