I have a great love for vintage items, crockery, fabric, clothes, furniture...you name it I adore it. The 50's and 60's are my favourite, mainly because the 50's were very much the housewife at home with the husband going out to work and not changing nappies, things were about to change so much and the items from this period are carrying almost an idyllic, innocent way of life in them. The 60's because things went haywire in design, the bolder the better, there was no more fear of mixing colours, it was about making a statement and it was exciting.
So you can imagine my joy at winning a fabulous 60's dress on Ebay. I'm always on the lookout for them but the sizing is so different from nowadays that it takes a while to find and then win a dress that will fit me. My dress arrived in the post and I tried it on immediately, it fitted like a glove and looked fabulous.
Fast forward to the weekend, Long Suffering Husband is off on the QM2 (working) and has decided to put on a few loads of washing (can you see where this is going?), first load finishes and unbeknownst to me my dress is in there, now this is fine because I knew the dress could go in the wash but then it passes from the washing machine to the tumble drier.
Fast forward to me emptying the tumble drier and finding my vintage, original sixties dress now only capable of fitting a 12 year old...I did try to shoehorn myself in to it but I'm quite fond of breathing and unfortunately this dress no longer allowed me to do that and that was without the zip being done up!
Fast forward to LSH now doing the ironing (I know, I know!), now anyone who has a man in their life knows that they do like to do ironing the manly way, as in setting the iron to the hottest setting. What LSH is unaware of is that our son's school trousers scorch slightly on the medium setting, not so much marking the trousers but leaving black smears over the iron.
Fast forward to Monday evening, LSH is now the QM2 and I am sewing, I am making a changing mat with the last of some Tanya Whelan fabric I have, there is just enough (again...I sure you can see where this is going), I sew two pieces of fabric together, back to back, flip them right sides together, make sure the iron isn't on hot, iron the seam flat...AAAGGGHHH...huge black streaks make their way across my fabric. I would love to type the words that came out of my mouth but my mother reads this and apparently i am not too old to be told off!
Fast forward to the next day and we are now a two iron household, one for LSH and one for me...mine is far superior...of course!
Welcome to Funky Sprog's blog! When you've finished reading the latest blog don't forget to click on the website link! I'll see you back over there!
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Thursday, 8 September 2011
Work-Life Balance and Hairdressers!
I had a phone call yesterday morning from my hairdressing salon. They like to phone me and send me text messages when I am about to have my appointment (which I need as I never write it down on my calendar!) but as I was talking to them I was thinking 'I'm sure it hasn't been 6 weeks' and then the awful news...Sarah is leaving...Aaaagggghhh! Only two days before I had told my long suffering husband how great it is to find such a fabulous hairdresser (he nodded in abstract agreement), now I am breaking out in cold sweats at the thought of a new hairdresser...the update on this saga will follow I'm sure in future blogs!
Anyway having my hair cut is one of those wonderful, precious times (as all mums will know) where you cannot take your children and are completely alone in an adult world of gossip mags, gossipy people and coffee (with the odd stray hair mixed in)...absolute bliss. Trying to find a balance of time to be you and not 'mum' is essential to keep the madness away!
I set up Funky Sprogs because of my passion for sewing, but it also meant that I could provide myself with a job that I love and still be able to be there for my children during the week (and the dreaded school assemblies!). Not forgetting of course the most important thing...having our family time at the weekends. Now I knew there would be craft fairs and markets but I promised myself that they would be kept sporadic because otherwise I would lose out on my family time.
Then I did my first fair...I loved meeting people and discussing my dresses and t-shirts and booties and sewing and fabrics...you get the idea and anyone who knows me will tell you that I love talking (which would explain how I ended up working in the Entertainments dept on Cruise Ships!). I also loved making money...it was an absolute joy to sell the things that I had loved making.
Which leads me neatly into my headless chicken mode of desperately trying to make it to a market that for some reason I thought was the be all and end all of Funky Sprogs...LSH had told me that he was working on the QM2 (oh the glamourous life that I don't lead!) that week and so I set about packing my stock, tablecloth, banner, mannequins, hangers, clothing rail into a suitcase and hiking rucksack...check...all sorted! Next finding someone to look after my sprogs from 7:30am to 6pm on a Saturday...bizarrely I had three offers (I have some really, really good friends!) and then I stopped and thought about it...it's one market, it could rain, my children would be spectacularly unimpressed, and I would be an unattractive headless chicken.
It would also completely defeat the object of why I wanted to set up my own business.
So instead I will wake up with my sprogs at a reasonable time for a Saturday morning, maybe take them to the park, maybe watch a movie with them...who knows...but I won't be stressed, and they will be happy and LSH will be on a luxurious cruise liner 'working'...ggggrrrr!
Anyway having my hair cut is one of those wonderful, precious times (as all mums will know) where you cannot take your children and are completely alone in an adult world of gossip mags, gossipy people and coffee (with the odd stray hair mixed in)...absolute bliss. Trying to find a balance of time to be you and not 'mum' is essential to keep the madness away!
I set up Funky Sprogs because of my passion for sewing, but it also meant that I could provide myself with a job that I love and still be able to be there for my children during the week (and the dreaded school assemblies!). Not forgetting of course the most important thing...having our family time at the weekends. Now I knew there would be craft fairs and markets but I promised myself that they would be kept sporadic because otherwise I would lose out on my family time.
Then I did my first fair...I loved meeting people and discussing my dresses and t-shirts and booties and sewing and fabrics...you get the idea and anyone who knows me will tell you that I love talking (which would explain how I ended up working in the Entertainments dept on Cruise Ships!). I also loved making money...it was an absolute joy to sell the things that I had loved making.
Which leads me neatly into my headless chicken mode of desperately trying to make it to a market that for some reason I thought was the be all and end all of Funky Sprogs...LSH had told me that he was working on the QM2 (oh the glamourous life that I don't lead!) that week and so I set about packing my stock, tablecloth, banner, mannequins, hangers, clothing rail into a suitcase and hiking rucksack...check...all sorted! Next finding someone to look after my sprogs from 7:30am to 6pm on a Saturday...bizarrely I had three offers (I have some really, really good friends!) and then I stopped and thought about it...it's one market, it could rain, my children would be spectacularly unimpressed, and I would be an unattractive headless chicken.
It would also completely defeat the object of why I wanted to set up my own business.
So instead I will wake up with my sprogs at a reasonable time for a Saturday morning, maybe take them to the park, maybe watch a movie with them...who knows...but I won't be stressed, and they will be happy and LSH will be on a luxurious cruise liner 'working'...ggggrrrr!
Wednesday, 24 August 2011
My Neglected Funky Sprogs and a Teensy Weensy Bit of Sewing!
So here we are, with only a week and a half to go until the end of the school summer holidays and my two sprogs, Dominic and Kaira have been fantastic if somewhat neglected in the attention department so this entry is for them...not that they can read it but it makes me feel better!
What can I tell you about my sprogs? Dominic is 6 and has the cheekiest grin in the world, he also has the most amazing memory, describing things from when he was two in amazing detail and remembering everything in day to day life...right now it can be annoying but I think once I use my skills to utilise this talent (like for shopping I need) it won't annoy me so much! When Dominic was 3 we found out he had something called Selective Mutism...the simplest way (for me personally) to describe it to someone I first meet is to say imagine asking a person with a phobia of heights to do a bungee jump, that's what it's like for Dominic to speak in front of people.
Fortunately, we caught it early (thanks to my friend Jemma in NZ), my doctor had never heard of it but that wasn't going to stop me fighting to get it recognised, I wrote to magazines, passed on leaflets to my doctor and Dominic's teachers from the SMIRA website. I also set up Selective Mutism New Zealand on facebook which, even after moving back to the UK, has provided us with a huge amount of support.
We have taught Dominic the skills to cope with his fear of talking in public and he has taken what we have taught him and literally run with it. He has moments of completely reverting but they are fewer and shorter lived. If you see the pictures of him modelling for me on my website (or look to your right for the DaWanda shop pictures) you will see that he wears sunglasses, he thinks that no one can see him when he has them on!
The most useful thing about having a 6 year old son is that he is fabulous at choosing boys fabrics for me, namely Michael Miller's Skate Park in Black (above), and it looks fantastic...he's also picked out a number of other fabrics for me and in return I have made him a tooth fairy cushion.
I am quite impressed with myself! Now up until this point I have discouraged the ritual morning wiggling session that I am forced to witness every morning, now I am positively encouraging it!!!
Now Kaira is 3 and was born in New Zealand (Dominic became Dom the Pom, she became Kiwi Kaira), although bizarrely her name originates from Denmark. Long Suffering Husband wanted Keira but I refused to name our daughter after someone he quite fancies!
Kaira does not have Selective Mutism...in fact Kaira is the polar opposite to her brother. She is confident, articulate, kind and puts up with me constantly trying out new designs on her...so basically the patience of a saint! She continually watches me sew, and when I get frustrated (something that happens more than I would care to admit!) she tells me that I am doing a great job. She brings out the best in her brother, and adores him to the point that she plunges into depression when he is at school and only recovers from the depths of her despair by Barbie, The Fairy Secret, every day...for those not in the know this is a film that lasts for one and a half hours...yes you did read that right!
Kaira is also extremely good at mimicking...this concerns me because I find myself listening to my phrases and watching my mannerisms to an alarming degree. Even more alarming is that it takes me a few minutes to work out where the phrase has come from, or the rolling of the eyes, or the look. At which point I stare at her horrified!
Really though it should be LSH who is more horrified, now he has two of us doing 'the look'!
What can I tell you about my sprogs? Dominic is 6 and has the cheekiest grin in the world, he also has the most amazing memory, describing things from when he was two in amazing detail and remembering everything in day to day life...right now it can be annoying but I think once I use my skills to utilise this talent (like for shopping I need) it won't annoy me so much! When Dominic was 3 we found out he had something called Selective Mutism...the simplest way (for me personally) to describe it to someone I first meet is to say imagine asking a person with a phobia of heights to do a bungee jump, that's what it's like for Dominic to speak in front of people.
Fortunately, we caught it early (thanks to my friend Jemma in NZ), my doctor had never heard of it but that wasn't going to stop me fighting to get it recognised, I wrote to magazines, passed on leaflets to my doctor and Dominic's teachers from the SMIRA website. I also set up Selective Mutism New Zealand on facebook which, even after moving back to the UK, has provided us with a huge amount of support.
We have taught Dominic the skills to cope with his fear of talking in public and he has taken what we have taught him and literally run with it. He has moments of completely reverting but they are fewer and shorter lived. If you see the pictures of him modelling for me on my website (or look to your right for the DaWanda shop pictures) you will see that he wears sunglasses, he thinks that no one can see him when he has them on!
Now Kaira is 3 and was born in New Zealand (Dominic became Dom the Pom, she became Kiwi Kaira), although bizarrely her name originates from Denmark. Long Suffering Husband wanted Keira but I refused to name our daughter after someone he quite fancies!
Kaira does not have Selective Mutism...in fact Kaira is the polar opposite to her brother. She is confident, articulate, kind and puts up with me constantly trying out new designs on her...so basically the patience of a saint! She continually watches me sew, and when I get frustrated (something that happens more than I would care to admit!) she tells me that I am doing a great job. She brings out the best in her brother, and adores him to the point that she plunges into depression when he is at school and only recovers from the depths of her despair by Barbie, The Fairy Secret, every day...for those not in the know this is a film that lasts for one and a half hours...yes you did read that right!
Kaira is also extremely good at mimicking...this concerns me because I find myself listening to my phrases and watching my mannerisms to an alarming degree. Even more alarming is that it takes me a few minutes to work out where the phrase has come from, or the rolling of the eyes, or the look. At which point I stare at her horrified!
Really though it should be LSH who is more horrified, now he has two of us doing 'the look'!
Friday, 12 August 2011
Computer versus Sewing Machine
Hello again!
Once again it has been a frantic two weeks which will account for my tardiness in not writing last week, made even more frantic by the fact that it is the joyous time of school summer holidays, two children home all day with only me to provide entertainment...no problem. Throw into the mix my long suffering husband (LSH) who has turned the tables and got his own back by taking two weeks off work to install our new bathroom, all I can say on the matter is aaaggghhhhh!
Anyway back to the title of this blog.
When I set up Funky Sprogs I had this vision of being at my sewing machine...a lot.
I wondered how the logistics of this would work alongside two small children, a house that needs renovating and a 150ft jungle of a garden.
I had no idea really did I? I knew I would need to do a bit of promoting...a facebook page for Funky Sprogs, maybe a twitter page (Funky Sprogs Twitter). It makes me laugh now. The internet is such a huge resource for businesses that you would be foolhardy not to take full advantage of what is out there and so I discovered that I had to grow a few more arms and create a few more hours in to the day in order to become the internet wizard that I have now become (without driving myself ever so slightly demented!)
My efforts have paid off, my webhost for Funky Sprogs is Moonfruit, they have a Facebook page and everyday ask for you to submit your website for Site of the Day. To be honest I was full of good intentions but kept forgetting to log on, then I remembered and submitted my site and won it, which was great, a bit of free promotion. Then they featured me on their main website...hooray!
Then Yummy Mummy - Business Mums (another great facebook page that allows you to promote your website as much as you would like) has a competition, I thought I would enter because the prize was more promotion and won....hooray! Check out http://www.jill-morethanmummies.com/p/feature-on-funky-sprogs.html, also follow Jill's blog which is great.
Next my t-shirt supplier put out a casting call for children to be in their next catalogue, I emailed them pictures of my sprogs (pics from the website of course!) and they were picked. So off we went to London on Wednesday, nearly cancelled because of the riots but then everything seemed to have settled down and off we went...fantastic day and I can't wait to see the pictures. It's going to seem a little strange seeing their faces in the catalogue as I am putting in my orders!
Finally, I use Shop Integrator on my website, it is a fantastic service that enables e-commerce sites to have the ability to provide international delivery, adjustable postage options according to the weight of products and also stock control as well as so much more. They had developed a new format that would be more compatible with Moonfruit and had emailed me with the details. I spent hours changing over all of my HTML snippets (yawn) and grumbling at my LSH who handed me another glass of wine! My efforts paid off though because Shop Integrator came back to me to say could they use me as a featured shop on their website....ooh let me think about that...hhhmmmm....thinking....thinking...ooh go on then!
So now after typing this blog I do believe that my next shift is the sewing machine, that is if my children don't get in first!
Once again it has been a frantic two weeks which will account for my tardiness in not writing last week, made even more frantic by the fact that it is the joyous time of school summer holidays, two children home all day with only me to provide entertainment...no problem. Throw into the mix my long suffering husband (LSH) who has turned the tables and got his own back by taking two weeks off work to install our new bathroom, all I can say on the matter is aaaggghhhhh!
Anyway back to the title of this blog.
When I set up Funky Sprogs I had this vision of being at my sewing machine...a lot.
I wondered how the logistics of this would work alongside two small children, a house that needs renovating and a 150ft jungle of a garden.
I had no idea really did I? I knew I would need to do a bit of promoting...a facebook page for Funky Sprogs, maybe a twitter page (Funky Sprogs Twitter). It makes me laugh now. The internet is such a huge resource for businesses that you would be foolhardy not to take full advantage of what is out there and so I discovered that I had to grow a few more arms and create a few more hours in to the day in order to become the internet wizard that I have now become (without driving myself ever so slightly demented!)
My efforts have paid off, my webhost for Funky Sprogs is Moonfruit, they have a Facebook page and everyday ask for you to submit your website for Site of the Day. To be honest I was full of good intentions but kept forgetting to log on, then I remembered and submitted my site and won it, which was great, a bit of free promotion. Then they featured me on their main website...hooray!
Then Yummy Mummy - Business Mums (another great facebook page that allows you to promote your website as much as you would like) has a competition, I thought I would enter because the prize was more promotion and won....hooray! Check out http://www.jill-morethanmummies.com/p/feature-on-funky-sprogs.html, also follow Jill's blog which is great.
Next my t-shirt supplier put out a casting call for children to be in their next catalogue, I emailed them pictures of my sprogs (pics from the website of course!) and they were picked. So off we went to London on Wednesday, nearly cancelled because of the riots but then everything seemed to have settled down and off we went...fantastic day and I can't wait to see the pictures. It's going to seem a little strange seeing their faces in the catalogue as I am putting in my orders!
Finally, I use Shop Integrator on my website, it is a fantastic service that enables e-commerce sites to have the ability to provide international delivery, adjustable postage options according to the weight of products and also stock control as well as so much more. They had developed a new format that would be more compatible with Moonfruit and had emailed me with the details. I spent hours changing over all of my HTML snippets (yawn) and grumbling at my LSH who handed me another glass of wine! My efforts paid off though because Shop Integrator came back to me to say could they use me as a featured shop on their website....ooh let me think about that...hhhmmmm....thinking....thinking...ooh go on then!
So now after typing this blog I do believe that my next shift is the sewing machine, that is if my children don't get in first!
Saturday, 30 July 2011
Driving Tests, Craft Fairs, Doctor Who and New Bathrooms!
Ooh...so much to catch up on since I wrote the last blog...serves me right really for not having prioritised!
Well first came my driving test, I realise that as you are reading this you are thinking that I must be incredibly young as I am not yet driving...well I'm thirty four and I realise that most people will have gone through this rite of passage that most experience in their teens but not me. I never got round to it as a teenager, then came uni when I never had the money for the lessons and then I worked on cruise ships for 7 years. There is very little use for the ability to drive when you are sailing round the world and on my leave there was never enough time for lessons. Then I met my husband (soon to become long suffering husband, LSH) who tried to teach me to drive and discovered the new manoeuvre ' the foetal position' which involved me panicking, and lifting my hands and feet up until I was in the foetal position...strangely LSH decided not to continue our lessons! Then we moved to NZ and I promised LSH that I would learn to drive but there was a train station at the bottom of the hill where we lived in Ngaio and train fares were so low it was silly not to use it!
Anyway, we come back to the UK and suddenly I realise I can't put it off any longer and start lessons with Sabreena from Relax Driving School (who I would like to say I would recommend to everyone), she is brilliant but unfortunately unable to give me the magic words that will create calm and tranquillity in my head and I failed, have I mentioned I hate roundabouts?
So next came the New Milton Craft Fair, it was quieter than the one in May that we did but still a good day, what was wonderful was a lady who had bought a dress for her daughter, Esther, had returned and bought a second dress from me. For all of the rain that fell that day though I have to say it is always a delight to meet the other stallholders, especially Michelle from MW Jewellery, her mum was helping out that day and her wit and sarcasm knew no bounds which was highly entertaining especially when she was revealing Michelle's secrets!
...and so we reach this morning, I had the Baby and Children's market this afternoon but yesterday I had started playing about with new fabrics for the baby booties we make. When LSH returned from work they were thrust under his nose as he walked in from work! I had expected a placatory 'very nice' but instead got a 'wow, they're fantastic'.
And so began a frantic Bootie session!
I have now learned the lesson that you do not leave things until the last minute because unfortunately life doesn't take into account that you are busy. My son felt it was of utmost importance that his Doctor Who Monster Invasion cards had to be logged into his account this morning, so he sat next to me while I sewed and he typed in his cards. Then the phone rang to say our new bathroom suite was arriving in 20 minutes, my daughter wanted a drink, LSH asked if I could possibly get him a plaster, I got up from my sewing machine to find large amounts of blood dripping from LSH's finger. The doorbell went, it was the bathroom suite and I burst in to flames...oh no I didn't...just felt like it!
Anyway, booties were finished, LSH made the Sprogs their lunch and I got to the market on time...oh and did I mention I hate roundabouts?
Well first came my driving test, I realise that as you are reading this you are thinking that I must be incredibly young as I am not yet driving...well I'm thirty four and I realise that most people will have gone through this rite of passage that most experience in their teens but not me. I never got round to it as a teenager, then came uni when I never had the money for the lessons and then I worked on cruise ships for 7 years. There is very little use for the ability to drive when you are sailing round the world and on my leave there was never enough time for lessons. Then I met my husband (soon to become long suffering husband, LSH) who tried to teach me to drive and discovered the new manoeuvre ' the foetal position' which involved me panicking, and lifting my hands and feet up until I was in the foetal position...strangely LSH decided not to continue our lessons! Then we moved to NZ and I promised LSH that I would learn to drive but there was a train station at the bottom of the hill where we lived in Ngaio and train fares were so low it was silly not to use it!
Anyway, we come back to the UK and suddenly I realise I can't put it off any longer and start lessons with Sabreena from Relax Driving School (who I would like to say I would recommend to everyone), she is brilliant but unfortunately unable to give me the magic words that will create calm and tranquillity in my head and I failed, have I mentioned I hate roundabouts?
So next came the New Milton Craft Fair, it was quieter than the one in May that we did but still a good day, what was wonderful was a lady who had bought a dress for her daughter, Esther, had returned and bought a second dress from me. For all of the rain that fell that day though I have to say it is always a delight to meet the other stallholders, especially Michelle from MW Jewellery, her mum was helping out that day and her wit and sarcasm knew no bounds which was highly entertaining especially when she was revealing Michelle's secrets!
...and so we reach this morning, I had the Baby and Children's market this afternoon but yesterday I had started playing about with new fabrics for the baby booties we make. When LSH returned from work they were thrust under his nose as he walked in from work! I had expected a placatory 'very nice' but instead got a 'wow, they're fantastic'.
And so began a frantic Bootie session!
I have now learned the lesson that you do not leave things until the last minute because unfortunately life doesn't take into account that you are busy. My son felt it was of utmost importance that his Doctor Who Monster Invasion cards had to be logged into his account this morning, so he sat next to me while I sewed and he typed in his cards. Then the phone rang to say our new bathroom suite was arriving in 20 minutes, my daughter wanted a drink, LSH asked if I could possibly get him a plaster, I got up from my sewing machine to find large amounts of blood dripping from LSH's finger. The doorbell went, it was the bathroom suite and I burst in to flames...oh no I didn't...just felt like it!
Anyway, booties were finished, LSH made the Sprogs their lunch and I got to the market on time...oh and did I mention I hate roundabouts?
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Why New Zealand Is Good For Your Health!
Well, it's been an interesting week, Simon was disappearing off for three weeks to Sydney for work, the house was calm and then the following morning I was ill. Nothing major but five days later I was so ill that I ended up being admitted to hospital. Fortunately I was able to call my mum (an advantage of moving back from New Zealand, I think a 24hr flight may have been a little beyond the call of motherly duty!) and she looked after the sprogs for me (Thank you Mum!).
I am heading in the right direction health wise now but of course my mum has returned home and Simon is still away.
This is the reason for why New Zealand is good for your health. We moved to NZ in 2006, and lived in a suburb called Ngaio in Wellington. Having moved from the UK where we didn't speak to our neighbours and didn't really know anybody in the area we lived I found I had to completely change my attitudes or lead a very lonely life!
I made wonderful friends in Ngaio. Paula, Pip, Jemma, Ali, Jo....in fact too many to mention. They all showed unconditional friendship and never hesitated to help when they could (and there was always a least one of them in Cafe Villa getting a coffee!). In fact I nicknamed Pip, 'Pip of Ngaio' because there wasn't a person she didn't know or who didn't know her.
When we made the decision to return to the UK I said I wanted to emulate my life in Ngaio back in the UK, I wanted to be Toni of Southampton. Now to be fair I had forgotten quite how big the whole of Southampton is but I made it my mission to knock on all of my neighbours doors (no matter how peculiar they thought I was!) and to talk to every parent at my son's school and basically 'network'.
It worked because during this last week I have been overwhelmed by the support I have received from neighbours and friends, from phonecalls telling me they're going to the supermarket and do I need anything, walking my sprogs to school, driving my sprogs back from school, knocking on my door to check that I am still upright and generally looking out for me.
So New Zealand (or at least the way of life) is most definitely good for your health!
I am heading in the right direction health wise now but of course my mum has returned home and Simon is still away.
This is the reason for why New Zealand is good for your health. We moved to NZ in 2006, and lived in a suburb called Ngaio in Wellington. Having moved from the UK where we didn't speak to our neighbours and didn't really know anybody in the area we lived I found I had to completely change my attitudes or lead a very lonely life!
I made wonderful friends in Ngaio. Paula, Pip, Jemma, Ali, Jo....in fact too many to mention. They all showed unconditional friendship and never hesitated to help when they could (and there was always a least one of them in Cafe Villa getting a coffee!). In fact I nicknamed Pip, 'Pip of Ngaio' because there wasn't a person she didn't know or who didn't know her.
When we made the decision to return to the UK I said I wanted to emulate my life in Ngaio back in the UK, I wanted to be Toni of Southampton. Now to be fair I had forgotten quite how big the whole of Southampton is but I made it my mission to knock on all of my neighbours doors (no matter how peculiar they thought I was!) and to talk to every parent at my son's school and basically 'network'.
It worked because during this last week I have been overwhelmed by the support I have received from neighbours and friends, from phonecalls telling me they're going to the supermarket and do I need anything, walking my sprogs to school, driving my sprogs back from school, knocking on my door to check that I am still upright and generally looking out for me.
So New Zealand (or at least the way of life) is most definitely good for your health!
Sunday, 26 June 2011
The Party's Over!
Hooray!
My son's birthday party is now but a distant memory. Now don't get me wrong, I adore my eldest and am thrilled that he and his friends had a great time (as the mud up my carpet stairs is confirmation of) but blimey it was stressful. The Pinata, that my exasperated husband (EH) always takes great pleasure in making, was going well until EH decided it would be a stroke of genius to make it using wallpaper paste...cue the next scene of me with a hairdryer the day before Dominic's party. Sadly to say the pinata didn't dry out (which it
would have done has we used flour and water as we were supposed to!) and we had to buy a shop bought one. Fortunately I did learn something new...6 year olds have no emotional dilemmas battering a Winnie the Pooh pinata with a baseball bat!
Anyway, once again I digress. I now have my dining room back (since I burst all of the balloons with my dressmaking pins!), obviously I have to share it with my family but primarily my fabrics are slowly taking over again...oh the joys!
Currently Tanya Whelan is featuring prominently right now on my table, I am a huge fan of her Dolce collection but am quite taken with some of the prints from her Delilah collection, the Rosie print is very much like Buttercups from Kitty Yoshida's Prospect Park (one of my all time favourite fabrics).
Most of all my daughter loves Tanya's prints...I mean what better confirmation can you get that a fabric is perfect for a dress than the opinion of a three year old funky sprog!
My son's birthday party is now but a distant memory. Now don't get me wrong, I adore my eldest and am thrilled that he and his friends had a great time (as the mud up my carpet stairs is confirmation of) but blimey it was stressful. The Pinata, that my exasperated husband (EH) always takes great pleasure in making, was going well until EH decided it would be a stroke of genius to make it using wallpaper paste...cue the next scene of me with a hairdryer the day before Dominic's party. Sadly to say the pinata didn't dry out (which it
would have done has we used flour and water as we were supposed to!) and we had to buy a shop bought one. Fortunately I did learn something new...6 year olds have no emotional dilemmas battering a Winnie the Pooh pinata with a baseball bat!
Anyway, once again I digress. I now have my dining room back (since I burst all of the balloons with my dressmaking pins!), obviously I have to share it with my family but primarily my fabrics are slowly taking over again...oh the joys!
Currently Tanya Whelan is featuring prominently right now on my table, I am a huge fan of her Dolce collection but am quite taken with some of the prints from her Delilah collection, the Rosie print is very much like Buttercups from Kitty Yoshida's Prospect Park (one of my all time favourite fabrics).
Most of all my daughter loves Tanya's prints...I mean what better confirmation can you get that a fabric is perfect for a dress than the opinion of a three year old funky sprog!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)