Buzzing

I'm approaching the end of my last week at home full time with the children and I've been sure to fill it with stay at home mum clichéd activities. So there's been home-made houmous and flapjack, a promise to make bunting for a friend's wedding, meeting old friends for coffee, a picnic in the park, feeding the ducks and supervising countless artworks by Youngest. 

I even bought some shoes - ok so they're sensible Clarks ones for work, but y'know, all those Yummy Mummy points have to add up somehow...

All in all a pretty good week, the sun even came out several times, miraculous! I've also done all the practical stuff, including sorting out a rota of people to pick up Youngest from preschool, as although the job fits into a 9-3 school day, preschool sessions are only from 9-12, meaning a bit of juggling before we get to the school holidays (and the wonders of holiday club).

Yesterday evening I caught up on the most recent episode of The Great British Sewing Bee, where one of the tasks was to make a child's sundress. I've always wanted to make clothes, and this project seems simple enough for a beginner. I happened to have some shirring elastic to hand, so spent 10 minutes earlier doing some test runs on scrap fabric. I've found a piece of eye-wateringly bright floral fabric that was approved of by my daughter that should be just big enough for the job. I'll have a bash at it at the weekend (may not do such faffy straps as on telly).

I even managed to score a few buttons to add to the button jar at my friendly local charity shop. It did feel a little like buying something a bit 'specialist' as they keep them under the counter for the discerning customer...

If you're inspired by the BBC's Sewing Bee, A Hell of a Woman is running a Great Twitter Sewing Bee Challenge over on her blog, which would be great to link up with. Happy sewing :)

Ch ch ch changes...

This post has been swirling around in my head for the last week or two. I've not been focussing on the creative side of life so much recently and there's been a few reasons for that. One prosaic one is that it's been the school holidays and I've been a DIY widow for most of it whilst my husband and his brother fitted a new kitchen in their mum's house.

As my children get older and theoretically more able to entertain themselves I find that they often seem to want more of my attention when we are together. Riding bikes is more fun if a parent is there to see how proficient you've become, even better if they're happy to get on their own bike and ride alongside. I think we're all aware that we're moving out of the baby/toddler/preschool stage, as Youngest will be starting at full time school in September. I watch my fiercely independent daughter as she masters such tricky things as putting on her own socks, and tackling the fiddly zip on her coat. She's so proud of her achievements, but also needs the reassurance that she is still little enough to be looked after when she needs it. "I want to stay with you forever Mummy" is a fairly constant refrain.

The other thing that's been occupying my time is job hunting, and I'm pleased to say that this time it appears to have been successful. I've been offered a part-time admin job with a small local charity which should fit round school hours (bit of a holy grail post-children). It's my first step back into paid employment after nearly four and a half years at home full time. I'm nervous but excited to make a start on something new.

I should probably insert a cliche about new beginnings/springtime here... (but I'm sure you can provide your own).

The picure about shows the one creative project that I have on the go at the moment. It was a bit of an experiment with a couple of cheap rolls of fabric strips. It's pretty much done, I just have to finish sewing the binding around the edges. It's not huge, but should keep toes warm whilst curling up on the sofa of an evening (as it's still pretty nippy around here).

When I started this blog two years ago, one of the things I wanted it to be was a creative scrapbook of projects I've worked on.  I think I've managed to achieve that, and it's satisfying to have a record.  I'm not sure how much time I'll have for sewing and blogging over the next couple of months, but I'll check in when I can.

Thanks for reading :)

New Crayons

Do you remember how exciting it felt to have a new packet of crayons? All arranged in beautiful hues, neatly ordered, sharp points, endless possibilities...

I got these soft pastels as a birthday present last month. I've not really used these for drawing (they are the chalky kind), but the sun came out on Thursday morning and I decided to give them a try.

Rather than idly flitting on the internet during my coffee break, I decided to draw a picture instead, and this fruity sketch was the result. Sometimes I find it best to crack on and just make a mark on the paper, rather than worrying about setting aside lots of time or effort.

Here's to snatched moments...

Presenting Mr Wonka!

It's done, phew! Ok, so maybe a cardboard top hat of unusual size is not the most practical of headgear on a rainy day in Bristol, but we got there...

Willy Wonka

Hat: made from A2 piece of black card, lots of sellotape and swearing
Bow-tie: yellow spotty ribbon hastily stitched to a piece of elastic
Coat: purple velvet, lapels and everything, hurrah
Waistcoat: silky gold dragon fabric, made from my old dressing gown
Golden ticket: model's own

Very Hungry Caterpillar

And not wishing to be left out, youngest was happy to reuse a Very Hungry Caterpillar costume that I made a few years ago (we made a new hat together, so that cutting and sticking ain't faux naive it's just plain naive). The body bit is basically a sack with an elasticated neck and seams popped at judicious points to make arm holes. Thanks to Aunty C for coming up with the idea in the first place.

Next year I'm totally stitching gert big leaves to this costume and calling it a Beanstalk...

You can read more about creating the Wonka costume here. And Mumsnet is hosting a Blog Hop about World Book Day costumes here.

World Book Day

My son and I have a deal for World Book Day. He's just got into reading Roald Dahl, and one of his favourite books (I've read it at least 10 times mum!) is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. So the deal is... I will attempt to make a Willy Wonka costume for him, but if it doesn't work or doesn't get finished in time then he can go as Charlie Bucket - which is basically your own clothes plus a golden ticket. Excellent.

Having never done any dressmaking (bar a circle skirt for a party last year), it seemed that a purple velvet tailcoat for a six year old was the perfect place to start. I made a paper pattern by drawing round the boy's school jumper, and worked out that one metre of fabric should do the job. Fabricland provided some fab velvet of just the right shade of purple. I cut out the pieces, and was even clever enough to cut out two sleeves.

Then I threaded up the trusty sewing machine with some purple thread and got going on all the seams. It was all pretty quick and dirty, as sewing a fancy dress outfit is all about what the costume looks like on the outside, for one day. Well, that's what I kept telling myself. Turns out velvet frays quite a bit, ho hum.

I re-used the jacket pattern to make a waistcoat from an old dressing gown of mine. Turns out (cheap) woven silk frays even more than velvet.

By this point I decided that velcro was the way to go for fastenings, as I'm not spending hours handcrafting buttonholes for a costume that will probably be trashed by the end of the day. As luck would have it I still had just enough left over from the Dolly Nappy.

Current state of play is that the waistcoat is finished, the coat is just waiting for final touches. When the boy gets home from school we're planning to wrestle with a large piece of black card and make a top hat. Oh and a bit of spotty ribbon has to transform itself into a bow-tie.

Only slight fly in the ointment is that youngest was sent home from preschool today with possible ear infection. Main symptoms seem to be lots of whinging/crying and clutching ears. I do so enjoy craft sessions with the accompaniment of a poorly child. Still, amazing what a dose of Calpol can achieve.*

Suddenly that Charlie Bucket costume is looking very attractive...

*other super sweet kiddie painkillers are available

A Bit Sketchy

When I was in paid employment, I used to be sent on training courses. These would invariably start with a session with the flipchart with lots of earnest batting about of words such as 'synergy' and 'facilitating outcomes'. Still, the refreshments were usually good and you'd occasionally meet someone with a really interesting career history (sadly this was not often the person leading the course).

So now I'm one of those 'Stay at Home Parent' types, are there the same range of exciting development opportunities available? Well, not really. .. There is an incredible amount of noise around all the baby stuff I admit, much advice is thrust at you from a variety of sources, some more credible than others. With my first baby I dutifully trooped off to a post-natal group when the boy was about 3 months old. The first session involved going round the room and telling about our terrible birth experiences (no flipchart this time). I was last in the circle and by the time we'd sat through a litany of emergency caesarians, horrific instrumental deliveries and episiotomies, I was a bit embarrassed to mumble that I'd had a fairly straightforward birth and felt pretty much ok about it thanks.

Now my children are past the baby stage there seems to be an expectation that as I've managed to keep them alive and unharmed for this long, I must know what I'm doing. So instead of taking on a training course along the lines of of "7 Habits of Effective Children" or "Feel the Playdoh and Do it Anyway", I decided to do something more fun, which is where the picture above comes in.

I've been saying for ages that I want to do more drawing, but I never got round to doing anything about it. So I've signed up for 5-week 'Learn to Draw' course at Bristol Folkhouse, which is a fantastic adult education centre. It's been going in one form or another since the 1870s, when it was founded to keep working class men out of the pub and give them a chance to learn to read and write instead. These days it's a charity and a co-operative and runs a whole range of arts, crafts, music, languages and fitness classes. I did a pottery course there a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it. I have plenty of wonky pots dotted around the house too.

The first drawing session was yesterday and I really enjoyed myself. It's a really good basics of drawing course, with a wonderfully encouraging tutor. We looked at basic shapes and did some simple exercises before sketching some rosehips. Next week we're moving on to tone.

My youngest loves to draw, and does so with the absolute self-confidence of a four-year-old, producing vast quantities of artwork (Octonauts often feature). Next time she sits down with her crayons I think I'll join her, take a line for a walk and see where it goes...

Cutting and Sticking

Lots of projects under way at the moment, but nothing finished, so no blogging from me recently.

Instead here's the Valentine card I made for my husband. An old pair of embroidery scissors, some scraps of pretty paper, a bit of PVA glue and quite a lot of muttering... and ta da!

And done whilst participating in a fairly mind-bending circular conversation with the four year old, who is seemingly competing for the title of Clingiest Child Alive. Not bad, eh?