Frank and Josie's House

Sometimes there are things that wind everybody up and there's nothing you can do about it. The whole family is feeling it at the moment. The big move. That move to France. I said to my best friend the other day were not allowed to start crying now where only allowed to start crying in August. Did I keep that promise? No, no I didn't. It's one of the hardest promises I've ever had to keep. And it's not even August yet! I feel the tears well up every time I have to say goodbye to somebody else. Already things have ended for the children, various clubs that they do. Each time was a little harder than the one before. The kids are showing their love and strength of character in every single thank you card they write. And even as I write this now I can feel the lump in my throat. There are so many goodbyes. Goodbyes that you don't even think about. The people that you take for granted and assume you're going to see again. Every day people. Like the teachers at sch...

No, I've not turned into a kitten with a fondness for soft furnishing mountaineering. I've not done a sewing blog post for ages so thought I should, especially as I made a curtain yesterday. It was a completely impromptu make due to the scaffolders. Yesterday I returned home from a nice dog walk on the beach with the kids to find that as I sat on the toilet I could hear the scaffolders directly outside the bathroom window. Eek!!! I had to hope they were facing the other way as I hurriedly finished and escaped with some possible dignity intact. At that momemnt I dived into my sewing drawers, dragged out some material, dusted off my sewing machine and set to work. In just over an hour I had finished my new bathroom curtain. No more showing workmen my backside intentionally or otherwise!!! It was all quite simple as I wanted the curtain to let light through so I decided not to line it. So it was just one layer of material with some tabs to hang from. I chose this pretty flower fab...

Since the kids have gone back to school life has ramped  up to craziness. I know that sentence doesn't quite make sense but I'm tired and wanted to write a blog post about how wonderful I am. (Now there's a statement of self-confidence if ever there was one). I've been neglecting my lovely crochet and prioritising singing. I was asked to be a soloist in a concert (ok so I was asked by my dad but the local paper gave me a good review), I had a gig with my a cappella group and I was in a play (in which I did more singing than had lines ironically, but it was super fun). All of it was great to get the creative juices flowing and the vocal chords warbling.  Here I am doing my thing  But now I'm back to crafting and starting with a little upcycling (I'm still unsure about that word). Basically I wanted to clear a few things out of my house. My son's duvet got trashed by going through the eash, despite carefully followed washing instructions. The outside covering ...

Life has been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to write anything on my slightly neglected blog. I've been busy creating for various family members but also (and most importantly) I've been busy parenting. With half-term and children's social calendars full let alone my husband away on business, it's been difficult to think once they're asleep, let alone write! But hubby is back ("yay" for reinforcements) and we're settling back in to school routine after a mental start to the term. School decided to celebrate the start of the Olympics and the last term of the school year with a bang- Ancient Greek Day! I knew this was coming before half-term began but due to several social engagements I also knew I wouldn't start it before the last weekend of the holiday. This was nearly my downfall. Now those of you who've read my sewing entries before will know full well that my sewing skill is often outmatched by my ambition. Merida's costu...

How I created Toothless and Hermione costumes There's a certain smugness about me today. Entering the school grounds with both my children in costumes that I created made me feel really good and serves to remind me why, when I'm stressed about it in the future, I do it. Because they love having something created by mummy and it makes me feel like I've done my 'good mummy deed' of the month....oh and I actually really enjoy letting my inner child loose to create these costumes. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1832"] Toothless prepares for take off[/caption] If I'm honest sewing isn't my forte. In fact I think I'm rubbish at it, but I've been on somewhat of a voyage of discovery throughout these particular creations and have come to the conclusion that I am not rubbish at sewing, just rubbish at following a pattern. Ask me to sew a pinafore dress or a pair of pyjamas to a pattern and something won't fit right....

For past years I've tried making everyone happy and last year I made pyjamas, Christmas stockings, a big blanket, an advent calendar- the list goes on. This year I thought I'd focus on a couple of items and chose to focus on the kids. Mermaid tails My daughter had requested mermaid tails for some of her dolls and was very specific as to what she wanted: a blue crocheted tail for Rapunzel, a green sewn tail for Arial and a gold sewn tail for Snow White. "Well at least she knows her own mind", I thought. For the sewn tails I went simple and cut out the mermaid tail shapes, sewed them wrong sides together, created a small folded over waistband and placed a piece of small elastic to secure it. They were a little tight but worked although I did swear at Snow White for having fat hips (something greatly unjustified). But I had success. Then on to the crocheted tail. For this I had decided to create a scale effect by using a shell shape. I started from the stomach and worked...

Last year I created an advent calendar for my children. It was made up using small amounts of Christmas fabric with simple patch pockets on a larger background. This was my way of giving the kids whatever treats I wanted to over advent. I was brought up in a household that wasn't allowed chocolate advent calendars so we always had ones with pictures. This has been passed on to my kids by my parents and they love it. It keeps Christmas about the magic rather than over-eating and consumerism. In this vein I wanted to make the calender as colourful and Christmas-like as possible. [caption id="attachment_125" align="aligncenter" width="343" class=" "] The first advent calender[/caption] I was new to sewing so kept the first one simple using only patch pockets rather than anything more complex, making sure there was an extra special, larger pocket for Christmas eve. My brother-in-law saw it and asked for one for his daughter and my sister followe...