Half Term

Things are looking up - the snow has gone and it's half term holidays - shame the timing wasn't a little later and don't get me wrong I love the snow when it first comes down. Everything looks so clean and pretty but the past week of slush and black ice has been horrible. I have four of my after school club staying all day this week. I have been a registered childminder for 5 years and unofficial carer of small people for the past 27 years. My eldest hits his 27th birthday in a couple of weeks and my youngest reaches the grand old age of 21. There are two more in between - one is the father to my Charlie and my other daughter is a midwife so we are never too far away from babies and children.

We spent this morning sorting through all my papercraft bits and pieces and making collages - glitter, sparkly bits and scraps of fabric and paper stuck everywhere. Following lunch we chilled and watched Willy Wonka (the original - as much as I love Johnny Depp he just looks like a pervy Michael Jackson in the re-make) and it has been board games this afternoon. We are having an early Pancake Day as a trial run for next week coz making pancakes for six children plus the grown ups keeps me tied to the griddle for quite a while!! A busy day but I like to keep everybody occupied as it makes life much easier all round - there is nothing worse than bored 8 year olds. I would love to post some photos but am unable to because of child protection issues - although I have parental permission to take photos they cannot be used on the internet.

All this business has curtailed my bargain hunting quests this week but look what I found at the weekend - a lovely glass cake dome (£2), a pair of pretty floral cornucopia vases (£1), Painted Furniture book (75p), two beautiful white linen table cloths plus hand sewn Willow pattern embroidered tray cloth, napkins and teapot cover (the whole lot for £2). I then came over all queer and actually paid shop price at Waterstones for this lovely book by Emma Hardy called Sewing in No Time - it has some lovely projects so I thought I would treat myself. Can't wait till the weekend when I will be off again.

Past Times

Just thought I would share this with you. It comes from a children's book from the 1880s which I found in a little antiques fair in Lyme Regis last year - a bit tatty but it was only two quid and it just cried out for a new home. There are some lovely illustrations inside and this one is for February. I was at first sorely tempted to dismantle it completely to frame some of the prints but I have always felt this is sacrilege so it still hangs together (only just!).

Sore Finger !!

Oh my poor pinkie!! Have finally finished another project - a Laura Ashley fabric patchwork quilt and I have hand sewn all the hexagons together - lost count of the number of times I have stabbed myself or attached myself to the thread and now have a very crusty middle finger to show for it. However I do feel that it was worth the effort and the finished article is now available at www.lalabibaby.com.

I have been looking at many blogs of fellow crafty people and am gobsmacked at the number of beautiful pictures of all things vintage. So have now decided to dedicate this weekend to sorting out my clutter and begin putting together an organised work area in my box room. I currently work in the organised chaos way and must mend my ways.

Last year saw my first forays into local Craft Fairs - they were great fun and met some very nice people and obviously spent all that I made on buying other people's handmades. What a great way of recycling and supporting each other. I am so pleased to have been asked to take part in the Delapre Abbey event in Northampton at the end of April and must get my head around formulating a theme and new ideas. Easier said than done !!

Love Letters

Still confined to barracks due to weather conditions - I am heartbroken (not). Grandchild number 2 Charlie Brown came for sleepover last night - he is such a cuddle bunny and is good as gold - went straight to bed and you wouldn't have known he was here till 8.30 this morning. Then grandchild number 1 breezed in - Ellie the bouncing bomb who doesn't know the meaning of keeping still. She is a whirlwind but keeps us on our toes and makes us laugh. Anyhow, she has just departed for home before the next snowfall descends - some more forecast in our area tonight and tomorrow.

In between entertaining them and clearing up I have been finishing yesterday's project - some pretty Love Letter Valentine Cushions spelling out L O V E which are now available in my online shop http://www.lalabibaby.com/

Lovely telly evening for me tonight - Time Team, Antiques Roadshow, Larkrise to Candleford and then Lost - my eyes will be watching but my fingers will be busy creating something new. I am not a big telly watcher and hate all that reality crap but when I do settle down I have to be doing something else I can't just sit watching.

Time now to put the kettle on and have a read of the Sundays.

Time for bed zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I don't know what has come over me today - strange side effects of all this pretty white stuff engulfing us again. My small people have again spent some quality fun time at home with mum after a false start this morning when her employers decided at 6.30 am it was safe to travel in (a fool could have looked out of the window and decided not a good idea!!). The boys were walked to my house with dad in thick snow and by the time they arrived mum had received another call from work to say don't bother (she was stuck by now in one of the horrendous traffic log jams shown on the Eastern region news). I know Luton is a dump at the best of times but even the local Council told people to stay away today which I found amusing. Anyhow they returned home at 10 so I had the day to myself again - deep joy - I hastily dragged out the sewing basket and finished the needle cases I started yesterday. It's now nearly 1.00 am and feeling a little guilty at neglecting the housework I had a power surge and have had a good tidy up. Completely knackered now so off up the stairs to Bedfordshire .. hope the old man isn't snoring his brains out again.

One small step for womankind !!!

Praise be for the inclement weather - heavy snow overnight has ended in the usual chaos around these parts of darkest Bedfordshire. I am close to Luton Airport and everything just ground to a halt this morning. My darling midwife daughter had a 2.5 hour journey home from the hospital after a busy night shift - this journey should take 20 minutes. All of the small people I usually look after and take to school had a day at home with their parents due to school closure and chaos so I used this precious piece of me time to create a website of my very own. I have been using Ebay for years now but have been getting a little fed up with their increasing charges so have decided to take a new route via the good old interweb and local craft fairs. Please take a look at http://www.lalabibaby.com/ - the name is derived from the nickname of my midwife child Lala and of course the new life she helps bring into this strange old world.

I have had a pleasant evening with the sewing box once again and watched Victorian Farm - yes times were hard then but we could learn a lot from that time. Just watching Question Time now to remind myself of how much we have progressed !!! I think the best images of this week have been watching families finding time to spend together and having carefree fun in the snow - it is amazing how many people stopped to say good morning when I look my Molly for a walk to the park this morning - the challenge of getting through the past few days seem to bring the best out in some people. The worst in others - for example the idiots driving too fast having only cleaned a porthole in the windscreen with no lights on in thick fog whilst chatting on their mobile phone.

Sunshine, snowdrops and snow !!!!

Just when you thought it was safe to venture out here comes the Arctic weather again. Oh well batten down the hatches and back to the sofa - time today to complete yesterdays sewing project - a bright patchwork throw and cushion and to pick up on another incomplete one. I have a habit of starting something, getting a little bored and moving onto something else - they do all get finished eventually. I have just joined some fantastic Craft websites in order to sell my little creations and am now contemplating the next big step of starting my own website shop. I have been using Ebay but find that it is now getting harder to attain a reasonable price for anything - will have to blame the credit crunch again. I see myself as a domestic re-cycler - I use fabrics both old and new together with ribbons, buttons and trimmings reclaimed from old garments. It is most satisfying to complete a project and even more so when somebody likes it enough to part with some money. Perhaps we should all move to buying more hand made goods to help the economy at the bottom end and give the big boys a boot up the bum for their mass produced rubbish.