life in a Northern town Archives - Page 7 of 9

Light at the end of the tunnel

October 10, 2010

Autumn is well and truly upon us in my little corner of the world. As I’m typing this, on Sunday afternoon, the sky is cornflower blue lit by glorious sunshine and bereft of clouds.

It’s chilly, but only sweater chilly, and the kids are playing on their new little slide, which is keeping them out of the sort of mischief they got up to earlier in the week.

: Extreme Home Makeover – Toddler Edition

My Belle Epoch roses are still pretending it’s summer, much to my delight

and whilst there are still apples on the tree

we have been picking them and making them into delicious, if rustic, crumbles with blackberries picked from the hedgerows.

The turning of the season heralds the high-speed approach of That Bloody Wedding, and, despite all my protestations to the contrary so far, I’m starting to feel a little trepidation that the dress is still a pile of fabric and I’ve not even cut the pattern out yet!

Thankfully most of the other plans are falling into place. I have something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a sixpence for my shoe.

I don’t have lingerie! Or flowers. But I do have cake. Oh, and we’ve still to finalize the menu and wine.

We’re meeting with our priest on Friday and will have the hymns and music sorted this week.

The Ma’s have their outfits after a lovely day spent shopping in Manchester yesterday, along with a spot of lunch

We are making progress. And this week marks the turning point.

My final exam for my current degree module is on Tuesday afternoon, and by next weekend I hope to have the alterations done to Alice-who-isn’t-a-cat’s dress. Ma is cutting and sewing the toile for me this week so I can fit the dress next weekend and start cutting and sewing the following week. I will have 4 mornings a week for three weeks where the munckins are with their grandparents, plus naps and evenings. I should have no trouble getting the dress done in that time. Don’t you agree?

Now all I have to do is find the boy’s missing Croc (how do you lose a shoe in the house? I have no idea), and my Gardener’s Journal book (same question applies), so I can continue with the stitcheries. It’s driving me more crazy that I’ve lost these two things somewhere in the house than that my wedding dress isn’t on the table.

It’s say’s a lot about me, no? 😉

One of Those Days

July 30, 2010

Yesterday was One of Those Days.

What elevated it to capital letter status?

: I burnt a batch of cookies

: I fell over a brick, bruising my toe

: I broke a laundry basket

: I turned one of Mr S’s t-shirts pink in the wash

: I spilt acetone on the new leather sofa, necessitating a visit from the lovely repair man and a bill

: I broke a teacup

One days like this the only sensible thing a girl do is abandon anything that requires any level of accuracy and sit on the sofa stitching. So I left the big bridesmaids dress on the table and sewed the next stitchery for the Gardener’s Journal quilt:

: Birds in the Tree

I’d finished this one the night before:

: Dog House

5 down, 20 to go. These are such fun to do.

Thankfully today is less eventful. I’ve been in the workroom this morning and have sewn the bodice to the skirts on the big bridesmaid dress. Also the invisible zip has gone in. Phew!

And finally, today’s Extreme Toddler Sport is Naked Baby-gate Climbing. For obvious reasons I’m not posting a picture, but, good grief, it’s like living with Edmund Hillary!!!

Let sleeping babes lie

July 2, 2010

Today the babies were playing in their room. As usual they were noisy and boisterous, stripping cushions off the sofa and tipping toys all over the room. Pretty much standard practice for small children.

Suddenly I realised that all was quiet.

Most peculiar.

Here’s the reason why:Asleep where they stopped.

Too cute!

Happy Father’s Day

June 20, 2010

Happy Father’s Day, my love. It’s so wonderful to have our little family complete this year.

Father’s Day is celebrated Chez Stitches with a lie-in for Daddy, breakfast in bed, gifts (a bottle of his favourite brandy for now with another item en route from the States) then we are joined by the parents for the obligatory (and Mr Stitches’ favourite) Devil’s Food Cake.The cake is decimated because although Pa isn’t with us Pa SIL kindly offered to eat his share of the cake. What we’d do without him I do not know.

However. It seems that I’ve read far too much of the Selfish Seamstress recently, because although it’s Father’s Day, I’ve taken a leaf out of her book and successfully managed to make today all about ME!

It’s my birthday on Tuesday (yay!) and I really wasn’t expecting presents from the family because I really, really, REALLY want a digital SLR and, when asked, told them all not to bother with a gift, but to please all save up for birthday and Christmas until there was a fund sufficient to buy me a second-hand entry-level camera.

Well, whaddya know! They pulled a blinder!

My new baby!

For some time now Mr (Sneaky) S has been sat of an evening messing with his phone and when questioned has reliably informed me he was mooching round on eBay.

This is the fruits of his labours. Technically secondhand. Actually brand spanking new apart from about 10 photos that it took for its previous owner to work out he hadn’t got a clue and tootle off to buy something simpler.

His loss. My gain. I’m a VERY HAPPY BUNNY, so thank you family. I’m also very grateful.

Now…I have a manual to read and pictures to take.

Have a lovely Sunday.

Talking ’bout my girl!

May 22, 2010

It’s 2 1/2 years since Mr S and I began our adoption journey. It’s not a journey you undertake lightly, but the rewards are beyond measure.

On Thursday we took another step towards the end of our journey.

Button’s Adoption Day Ceremony was held in front of the Judge.

Followed by lunch at one of our local Gasto Pubs where we raised a glass to Button finally being officially oursGifts were gladly openedAnd a good time was had by allHopefully it won’t be too long before we do it all again for The Boy!

The good, the bad and the ugly

April 27, 2010

The good:

::sneaking out for a swim today whilst the wee beasties were visiting grandparents

::making bread from the recipe by Richard Bertinet in his book “Dough”. Seriously. Go buy it now! It’s amazing.

::It’s sunny. In Lancashire. Crazy but true.

::We start work on the garden this weekend. The landscaping chappie comes in 6 weeks.

::The Boy shouting “Mama, Dada” at the top of his not inconsiderable voice.

::Button climbing on my lap just before bed just to tell me “I love you, Mummy”.

::Button telling me I have pretty hair. Aaaaah, the innocence of children.

:: Mr S giving me a Sunday lie-in until 10am. Bliss.

::Escaping for supper on Saturday to celebrate Himmelbjerget’s birthday and eating the most amazing food in the most wonderful company.

::Coffee and cake and sand pits and climbing frames at Lara Croft/Indiana Jones’ on Sunday. Button learned to climb. I never want her to lose the feeling of absolute joy in her achievements that she felt.

::The socks for Mr S are so nearly finished I can taste it!

The bad:

::Button deciding a new brother is the perfect segue into the terrible twos. Who knew she’d be so good at it?

::The Boy deciding that 5.45am is the perfect time to get up. Every day. Bleugh!

::I’m too tired and too busy to sew. Since my last post all I’ve managed to do is buy lining fabric (we’ll not mention the jersey I also bought for a top. Sssssssh!), wash and press the fabric, and draft a pattern for an a-line skirt. Good grief.

::Still not studying. Supposedly I’m working on an assignment tonight, but here I am, chatting to you. Ooops!

The ugly:

::Hmmmmm. Nothing to tell. What can I say…life is good.

Mummy squared

April 17, 2010

3 days in to The Boy being home, we are slowly establishing a new routine.

Despite having to take a reciprocal saw to our old sofa to enable us to get it out of the sitting room. Then having to remove the sitting room window to enable us to get the new sofa in!

And despite Button developing chickenpox yesterday.

As I type they are both having a nap, having played happily together all morning. They are as thick as thieves already and totally inseparable. We couldn’t have asked for more.

So, my mind is turning to sewing. Maybe, just maybe, I could squeeze a summer skirt or two into the mix over the next few weeks (especially as Mr S is on leave for another week). Hmmmmmmmmmm, where are my patterns????

It’s oh so quiet…shhhhh! shhhhh!

January 14, 2010

It’s quiet here.

Too damned quiet if you ask me.

The dog is asleep in front of the fire.

The cat is asleep behind the filing cabinet.

The baby is asleep with her arms around her favourite toy puppy.

Mr S is in a hotel room in Wimbledon, working.

I hate it when he’s away. I’m not frightened in the house without him. I’ve lived on my own for too many years to be frightened in a house on my own. And I have a big soft dog who does a great impression of Kujo and a very grumpy cat.

No. It’s just the quiet. A little too much of it.

No rubbish TV programmes. No kisses on my cheek as I cook dinner. No stupid jokes. No conversation. No hugs.

No snoring.

Ah…I knew there had to be an upside!

That, and finally getting up into the workroom and finishing the last seam on the face fabric of the kitchen door curtain!

: Ready for stitching!

I do miss him, but I do get stuff done! Tomorrow night it’s hems until he gets home. And he’s away 3 nights next week. So you never know. I might actually finish this sooner rather than later.

Now. Where’s that glass of wine I promised myself……..

Tomorrow is another day

January 13, 2010

Today I had a long list of things to do. Most of them fairly easy to box off. All of them pretty mundane:

1. Now the roads are clear (ish) again, get my lardy arse to the gym and start doing something about it. Check…not a huge workout but definitely better than nothing.

2. Do my roots…4 weeks since the last colour and I look like Mrs Badger. Check…Badger tendencies at bay for another couple of weeks.

3. Organise Button’s birthday get together for the weekend. Check…messages sent to all concerned to let them know it’s going ahead.

4. Laundry. Check…this is easy enough to work around other stuff. Although I’ve still two loads to do. Which begs the question…just how much laundry can three people create?

5. Ironing. Are you serious!!!!!

6. Fix my embroidery frame to stop it whizzing round and releasing the tension on the fabric. Check…Turned out to be a 1 minute ‘remove washer’ fix. Hurrah!!!

7. Study.

8. Finish sewing the face fabric panels together for the kitchen curtain.

Hmmmmm!!! 7 and 8 are where the problem arose. In the form of a tiny, blond time thief who flatly refused to have a nap and screamed the house down if you tried.

So I managed all of about 20cms of hand sewing on the curtains. They are starting to feel never ending. I’ve only managed to get two of the three seams sewn on the face fabric. The lining is still a crumpled pile of fabric. And the pole arrives tomorrow.

So…we did what any sensible girls would have done at this point:

We twirled!!!!

We played with Timmy and Yabba and Dolly.

We read books about a cake baking Bunny.

We ate birthday cake.

We tickled.

We ran up and down the hall shrieking like a banshee (obviously I passed on that particular one).

What the heck…tomorrow is another day.

More Snowflakes

December 29, 2009

We had the most magical Christmas. Strangely every photo I took was of a certain wee small girl looking festive and happy:But I was also pleased to have a warm and cozy Mr Stitches in his finally finished Snowflake Jacket:I’ve adjusted the buttons to ensure that the pattern actually matches at the centre front!But I’ve discovered on more problem with this pattern….getting Mr S to stop wearing it!!!!!!!!!