A Squirrely sort of a day

Not much crafting took place at Casa Kitsch Stitch today as it's been really hectic.  My sisters children have unfortunately been ill (not that you would know!) and weren't allowed to go to school this week, after a long and boring week for them the sun finally came out and I arrived at my parents with Roux and Hurricane so there were lots of fun playtimes from them this morning.  

Mum has been sorting the lofts and let the children up this morning to have a mooch about and find all of mine and my siblings toys - some dating back to the late 60s!  After that, we had a spot of lunch and realised that the four of them were quickly becoming bored.  The cousins were absolutely mended and will be returning to school on Monday so we thought we'd be quite naughty and take them to a massive park nearby.  It houses a museum for a local hero, a lake, woodland, animals to feed and has just had an upgrade giving a brilliant play park.  

We started with a spot of football and frizbees then took a walk, it was such a sunny day with just a slight sharp wind but once you were walking you didn't feel it.  

The sunlight was breaking through the trees and there were daffodils scattered everywhere along with buds on nearly every bush and even some flowers breaking through

As I know my little family well I made sure that I had a couple of bags of these...

So we could feed these..

Which resulted in 4 very happy children, they all managed to be lovely and quiet and had fantastic fun spotting squirrels.  I find this fun but a bit difficult as in my last job before children I worked for a large country Estate that was in a red squirrel conservation area so we demonized the greys to quite an extent meaning that standing here merrily feeding them makes me feel a bit odd.  

On the way, we collected twigs, leaves, daisies and Hurricane decided this branch with leaves was absolutely critical to her enjoyment of the day.  It went everywhere with her and when we stopped to play in the park I had to care for it and for the ice cream break it was handed to her Nanny for safe keeping.  

Unfortunately, when we went to say hello to the goats one of them took an interest in Mr Bush and tried to eat it.  Hurricane gave him a severe telling off screeching "No Billy Goat Gruff, it's mine!"  We were all in fits of laughter as she was so indignant.  After that it was kept firmly at her side or behind her back while the goats were fed bits of cabbage and she kept an eye on them all.

After that, we had a quick stop at the museum and did some posing around the anchor and totem

Then back to the car (not an easy task), an attempt to convince Hurricane that Mr Bush did not need to return home with us and would be better off left with his 'friends' hidden for when she came next time.  Roux asked if we could go to a restaurant aka pub to eat.  He's quite the boy that likes dining out, sometimes I worry if this is because my cooking is so bad but he's just a fan of choosing from a menu and being served, also, eating out generally means he gets dessert.  They both went to bed incredibly happy and exhausted this evening.  Days like this mean not much crafting gets done as quite frankly, I'm exhausted too but it was worth it.  A friend is doing a fundraiser soon so I need to spend the weekend making monsters, hats and anything else I get time to do to donate to the stall.

52 weeks of Happy 1/52 or 16/52

I've been seeing a lot about this on various blogs that I read such as Little Tin Bird and Bunny Mummy to name but two, quite frankly if I named any more I'd be here for an hour cutting and pasting links!

The idea behind it seemed to be to find a few things every single week that make you happy. Such a simple concept but really something everyone should do, find those little things in life that lift your spirits and make you happy no matter what.  I think it might be something good for me to look over and read my posts when life gets stressful and I'm wondering where the light is at the end of the tunnel - I can remind myself just how lovely life can be sometimes.

Despite seeing it on so many blogs I'd struggled to find the source of this idea so I've spent a little while googling and here it is - Little Birdie is the clever lady that came up with the concept so if you like it, have joined in or are thinking about joining in then do pop over to her blog and say hi.

So even though this is my first week it's the 16th of the year and I know I'll get a tic if I try and start at week one 4 months into the year so I just have to cheat.

1. Having a sunny trip in the car and actually being able to have the windows down, the three of us wearing sunglasses and singing along to the very chirpy Mr Blue Sky by ELO 

(photo courtesy of http://www.contactmusic.com)

2. Every night before Roux goes to sleep he likes to cuddle up to Peanut and shower my bump in kisses and squeezes whilst nattering away (generally saying he loves it) and often the odd song. It's very special and is a great way to end our day together.

3. The Sea. I grew up in a seaside town and have pretty much spent all my time living near the sea apart from a little stint of a couple of years. Even then, at least once a month I had to drive to the seaside and would hang out of the car window sniffing the air.  No matter how stormy the weather is seeing the sea always brightens my day. It also normally makes my children break into song, either oh we do like to be beside the seaside or Peppa Pig's I woke up one morning.

4. As much as I love my children, these lighter nights make me happy as it means when I put them to bed there is still enough light to sit at the window in sunlight and have a bit of time crafting.  Some of this is going to become a needle case eventually.

So that's it for this week, it's been nice looking back and finding a number of things that brought a smile to my face, I think taking part in this weekly challenge will be a lot of fun.  

Early Birthday Gift

I am incredibly lucky but also incredibly unlucky at the same time.  I have a bunch of wonderful friends that I absolutely adore and see as extended family but due to the RAF we've all been posted to different corners of the UK (and the World) so I rarely get to see them.

Due to a few issues I'm working through at the moment one of these fantastic friends sent me a little cheer up/early Birthday present.  I'm not ashamed to admit she made me blub a bit.

How amazing!  Along with Bees I do have a thing for Matryoshka dolls and she's so talented that she sewed this for me, it will make me think of her every time I use it. 

The crochet hook is in my favourite size (3.5) and is made with fimo I think. It took me an evening to get used to as the weight is different but now it's an absolute gem, it also warms in the hand as you use it which makes it so much better than a plain hook.  

Just one lonely hook in there at the moment, I'm tempted to buy a full set of these hooks and might leave this case to put my special ones in. It'll take time as they're handmade and do cost a lot of dollar when compared to the cost of a standard hook but they're worth it. Using this hook makes me smile and I feel quite honoured that she's done such a special thing for me.

Now for the bit that made me blub, she sent a card explaining the pattern.  Butterflies hold a very special meaning to my family so it's covered in butterflies because they mean something to me, a heart because I'm loved, a flower because I adore them and a star because I am one.  Like I said, I'm so lucky that I've got such wonderful friends but it makes me so sad that we're all hours away from each other so I just had to be content with thanking her minus a massive hug.  

A Vintage sort of Sunday

Today is one of my favourite days of the month because it means it's the For the Love of Vintage Fair. 

This is a fabulous fair that I only discovered at the beginning of the year, it's packed to the rafters with handmade goodies alongside vintage clothing, accessories and tit bits.  Mum and I absolutely adore it and for such a small little fair (approximately 17 stalls) we're there for HOURS.  It's the sort of place where you need to look around then go back to a few things that caught your eye, then start from the beginning again then have a cup of tea then go around again.  

It doesn't just have lovely stalls but it's such a wonderful atmosphere, everyone is so friendly, the stall holders actively want to have a natter with you as do most of the people attending it, there is such a vibe it's an absolute delight to be there and I'm usually still smiling a few hours after.  

Live music is such a wonderful thing and Becky who organises the fair always has a very talented (or two) local musician there to entertain us all.  This month I had Roux and Hurricane with me so frequently ended up jiving away with one of them.  Hurricane was quite taken with the music and spent a lot of time standing in the way of everyone swinging her hips to the beat.  What it is it about good live music that just lifts the spirits?

It's hard to know where to start first to tell you about this little treasure trove of a fair, I think I'll start with some absolutely DIVINE dresses courtesy of Devine Dolly.  I am such a Rockabilly girl at heart and it's a style I've drooled after for years but I never had the confidence to go for it, I'm getting there slowly but surely and for the last few months I've been styling my make up with a definite Rockabilly theme and am rarely seen without my bright RED lipstick.  Anyway, the fabrics the ladies at Devine Dolly use are such good quality and they have a collection of styles that I just can't wait.  Once Peanut is skin side and I've lost the baby weight I'm going to invest in some pretty dresses from here, it would be criminal not too.

Now to this scrumptious stall from Typically English.  I'm sure that she makes nearly everything on this stall herself and it's using the most gorgeous vintage laces and pretty vintage style fabrics.  This is one of those stalls that I kept returning to so I could touch things and on every visit (I think I counted 6) I noticed something else.  I'd love to spend an afternoon with Helen, as I'm sure her home or workshop is a very fun place to be.  Those 6 trips back to this stall may have, ahem, led to some purchases

Look at all these sparkly things! Courtesy of Ragtime Vintage.  They were also the sellers of the pink dress below.  I absolutely feel in love with some crystals in a bowl on this table but I'm on a budget so couldn't stretch this month.  If there still there at the next fair they are mine!

Look at this beautiful little number.  I drooled over this for a long time and I'm gutted to have left it behind but it's a few sizes smaller than I was pre-pregnancy (not many now I'm losing so much weight) and I'm not sure of my body shape after Peanut so the sensible thing was to walk away.  Ragtime Vintage is ran by a Mother and Daughter team and the Mother said that she'd be able to make me one whenever I need so I'm making sure I keep her contact details so I can hold her to that.  I need this dress in my life.

Next up was another treasure trove of a stall and another one that I kept going back to time and time again.  Also a peek of the Hurricane touching *rolls eyes*  I know she gets this from me but she just touches every thing and she's one of these children that always manages to get grubby no matter what I do.  She's cute with it though so I let her off.  Thimble-Stitch have some vintage haberdashery that my Mum laughed over as it took her back to her childhood along with the tins below, threads, buttons and pretty fabric. I may have made some purchases here too.

Well all that shopping gave me an appetite and I'd promised Roux and Hurricane that if they followed me around and let me browse without too much trouble I'd gift them with cake.  Roux latched onto this and declared "Ok Mummy, we get to choose it and you have to pay for it".  Hmmm, my boy is a bit too worldly wise for a 4 year old.  He's right though, that's what generally happens.  

The tea room at the fair is always ran by The Sitting Room (who coincidentally was where we stopped for cake yesterday) and they follow the vintage theme with an abundance of home made cakes and a very good cup of tea served in tea cups on crisp white table cloths.  

Roux was taken by some rocky road, Hurricane saw the rainbow cake and giggled that it was so many colours, Mum had Victoria Sponge and I had this lovely chocolate and hazelnut gluten free cookie.  I could have eaten this all over again and I wish I'd got one to take away.  Never mind, it gives me an excuse to visit their quaint little tea shop again.

This isn't my picture, I've been naughty and lifted it from their Facebook page.

So now to my purchases... the best bit.  I've been making lots of the monsters that I've briefly mentioned and family and friends are demanding more.  They only take scraps of yarn and I love making them so I'm using them to pay for baby sitting and other favours.  The jar of vintage buttons are intended to be monster eyes, a beautiful necklace from an up and coming business that isn't currently hooked up to the internet (Kitty Franks) She's now online, check the link below, the fabric, sequin trimmings and brooches are going to be needle cases for myself, Mum and a few as gifts. 

Hurricane spotted the flowery lace and asked if I could make it into something for her hair.  She's nearly 3 but very demanding! and the pin cushion is very strokeable.  I was considering making one myself but my wonderful Mother decided to buy this anyway as it so pretty.  

I should have been making a start on the needle cases tonight but I've spent so much time looking at the websites, facebook pages and blogs of not only the ones I've mentioned here but others that I couldn't photograph due to the sheer amount of people crowding the stall that I've ran out of time.  I'm itching to make them though so it won't be long!

I've recently been introduced to Handmade Monday, I'm not too sure how it works right now but I'm definitely a fan of home made, especially when you've got fairs like The Love of Vintage to go to and gather inspiration plus local goodies - spoilt for choice.

<center><a href="http://handmadeharbour.blogspot.co.uk/"><img border="0" src="http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/handmade-monday1.jpg" /></a></center>

In an effort to buy local, hand made beautiful things I'm trying to keep a record of shops/individuals that sell amazing creations and items.  Here's todays list of places I think you should visit.

Typically English - Helen, typically.english@yahoo.co.uk

Ragtime Vintage - ragtime-vintage@hotmail.co.uk

Thimble-stitch - Kate Watson, https://www.facebook.com/ThimbleStitch

Devine Dolly - https://www.facebook.com/devinedolly

Kitty Franks - https://www.facebook.com/kittyfranksvintage

Freda's Vintage Clothing and Accessories - https://www.facebook.com/FredasVintageClothingAndAccessories

Niamh's Boutique - https://www.facebook.com/niamhsboutique

The Profile Gallery & Sitting Room - https://www.facebook.com/Profile.Gallery

Sunny Saturday

Spring is here!  Well it felt like it today and every single person I saw seemed to have their mood lifted by the sunshine, it made for a wonderful day.

Last night, I was quite bored and in desperation left the children in bed with my Dad watching and took Mum to a large 24 hour supermarket for a potter.  What has my life become?

We bought a few little bits for Peanut and I got a couple of bits of clothing for me as despite me being pregnant I'm losing weight.  I never thought I'd buy a size down in 'normal' clothing for a 22 week bump.  One of the things I got was a lovely black and white silky maxi dress, dressed up with a little black short cardigan and huge silver earrings I felt very glamorous.  It didn't feel like I was swishing around a small Farmers' Market in a small Victorian North Yorkshire Seaside town, oh no, I was in the South of France in my mind!

It was the first time I've been to this Farmers' Market and it certainly won't be the last.  It's small but perfectly formed with everything from home made pasta, homespun yarn, baked goods, gifts and everything in between.

As we walked into the little square I was totally taken by these two stalls.  All that yarn!

Isn't it just delicious!  I spent a long time touching and stroking all this loveliness whilst trying to do a good impression of someone herding cats trying to keep Roux and Hurricane next to me.

The first and second pictures belong to Tim and Denise who run Willo Fibres, they were absolutely lovely and have a mountain of sock yarn in so many wonderful bright colours.  It's the sort of yarn stall that makes your mouth water.  If you're lucky enough to attend Wonderwool, Woolfest, Yarndale or one of the other shows this year you're bound to see them.  I will be making a bee line for them when I got to Yarndale in September.

The last picture is courtesy of Pauline Drew of Gillbeck Homespun.  She owns the sheep, shears them, spins the yarn and then lastly dyes them with a selection of vegetable and other natural dyes.  The smells coming from them was absolutely amazing.  I was very tempted by the bright yellow just to the right of Hurricane's hand.  I can see a black and yellow nappy wrap... I don't think I've shared my love of bees with my followers yet.

Well, I couldn't walk away without making any purchases.  This isn't a clue as to which flavour Peanut is so don't get excited, I have a few people around me pregnant at the moment.  I've fancied having a go at this pattern (with collar) for a while now and I thought this beautiful 50% British Falkland yarn would be just perfect.

I can't wait to see how it crochets up.  Do you also see my other naughty purchase there?  It's a yarn bowl and is so tactile but smooth and very pretty.  I couldn't help but keep picking it up and touching it so my Mum decided to take matters out of my hands and buy it for me.  I adore it.

After that, Roux started the badgering for food.  A chorus of "I'm hungry" followed me around while I looked at some lovely jewellery, vintage style sewn gifts and tried to look at some pottery.  The pair of them wanted crisps and cake so we took a detour by The Sitting Room and both children instantly decided they wanted a slice of Chocolate and Raspberry cake.  I never got chance to actual take a picture of the cake as no sooner had I sorted out serviettes, water and sat myself down this had happened.

I didn't go without either as there was a stall selling gluten free foods that all looked yummy.  The company specialise in tasty gluten free products and I feel like I bought up half the stall.  I'm usually one for making things from scratch and rarely buy pre-prepared products but when you spend your life not having a choice over whether you have to make everything yourself or just be able to buy something it's such a treat to be able to actually buy food.  I got a tear and share garlic bread, a cheesy bread, cherry scone, cherry pie (notice a theme there), stilton quiche, quiche lorraine, bakewell tart and a corned beef and potato slice.  These were just my tasters, if I like then I'll be back to buy more.

I couldn't wait so the Corned Beef Slice was opened immediately and half of it devoured.  I'd have eaten it all but Peanut is not very keen on any food so I was lucky that I was able to eat any of it really.

Whilst we were munching, Roux looked up and noticed a tree in the middle of the square that was covered in knitted eggs.  We were all delighted and I can't believe we'd never seen it before.  The town is known for it's yarn bombing and this was obviously and example of it.  We'd all been there at least an hour and still missed it, he was very proud to be the first to see.

By now, the children were getting a little fed up of shopping but thankfully the local Steiner Waldorf School came to the rescue with a little crafting stall so 5 minutes later I had two happy children letting their birds swing in the gentle breeze.  I've just taken the Easter Tree down but Roux suggested I put it back up and we fill it with birds.  I guess that's going to be this weeks job then.  The school run a Parent and Baby group locally so I think when Peanut is no longer a bump I might have to go along.

After that we went to another craft fair in the same town and it was full of goodies but the children were becoming quite restless so we walked back to the car and went home for a quiet afternoon.  This morning the lovely ladies at BC Crafts (previously mentioned here) delivered a Raphael and Princess Aurora.

I know I could have crocheted versions of these myself but I love supporting local businesses and the ladies that run this are so very talented and unbelievably reasonable.  I think they should double their prices as I know how much work goes into these beauties!  Both children were so happy and not only took them to the market today but they're both tucked up in bed with them this evening.  I've got a lot of knitted dolls from my childhood that I've passed onto the Hurricane and I tried to explain to her this morning that she's not just making toys, mine prefer these to plastic ones and they've made memories and heirlooms.  I'm looking forward to these two toys being a part of our life for a long time.  Roux has already made me promise that I'll order him a Michaelangelo when we move house.

Tomorrow holds a vintage fair and I'm very excited about it, for now I'll leave you with a list of the suppliers where I got my purchases from today.



Gillbeck Homespun - Handspun wool coloured with vegetable dyes and small handknitted items.
Pauline Drew, Glaisdale, YO21 2QA, 01947 897363

Willo Fibres - Exotic Fibres and Hand Dyed Knitting Wool
Tim and Denise Newey, Middlesbrough, TS7 8JB, 01642 315485

Gluten Free Food Products Limited - Gluten and Wheat free products
Mandy, Bishop Auckland, DL14 7NF, 0845 4670701

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I've been working on this little flock of birds and having quite a bit of fun doing them, they're very easy and just take a scrap bit of yarn, some scrap fabric (2 pence size), felt fabric glue and a couple of beads.

I'm thinking I might do my first tutorial on these - what do you think?

Easterific times

Gosh, I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged, this Easter half term has just taken away all of my time. I think I should really learn how to do this on my phone or iPad as I'm terrible for getting the laptop out.

Anyway, it's been a busy busy time here at Casa Kitsch Stitch as it's half term and not only do I have Roux and Hurricane but I've also got my niece and nephew for the next two weeks. It's quite hectic, noisy and FULL ON with a 6 year old, 5 year old, 4 year old and 2 year old. Lots of fun though.

The weekend got off to an amazing start when I got to meet my peanut for the last time before he/she arrives. The scan was wonderful, it's the best I've ever had, the sonographer kept the monitor at me the whole time and talked me through each measurement. She was an absolute darling and made me feel happy and relaxed, she almost seemed to share my excitement and clearly adores her job. When it came to checking the heart she put colour onto the scan so one side was beating in red and the other blue. It was breathtaking. I had my parents and Roux with me and we all had fun counting fingers and toes. The sonographer had a good look at Peanuts parts and could tell me whether I'd be having another boy or girl. Unfortunately, at the moment I can't share but I can say I'm very, very happy with what I'm getting.

Here is a grainy picture of a picture - I think I might do a little sweep of gender and weight and have a prize for one of my followers.

My home town and the where I should be returning to soon has opened a tower Vertical Pier called the Beacon, it's umm, interesting and looks like a bit of a Helter Skelter.  I'm really not sure about it but it's definitely caused some consternation in the town as it's cost a lot of money had has had a lot of problems.  It's also a bit of an eyesore but is the start of a huge regeneration project in the town so I'm hoping for good things.

It was officially opening Easter Weekend and the celebrations were supposed to start on the Friday.  We dragged the children out promising them a funfair, rides and lots of fun things.  What we actually got?  Biting wind, no rides and snow!  It was freezing and not a very nice experience, turns out that although the Beacon was open, nothing else was so we had a quick trip up to the top then ran back to the car to go and get warm again.

The Helter Skelter or Vertical Pier.

Not such a pretty beach as where I live now, they're building a wind farm as you can see.
Roux is fascinated by it all and often wants his binoculars so he can get a better look.

An example of the lovely artwork that adorns the whole seafront.  I think these are my favourite things about what they are doing along there.  I've had lots of fun games with the children spotting all the things in them.

Views from the top

On Saturday we went back and the town had a small market, lots of rides and we had such a fun packed day.  We ended up staying out so long that we went to a restuarant for something to eat and Roux had an ice cream the size of his head!

Easter here was very lovely, Roux and Hurricane had received quite a few Easter Eggs that they might need help eating so I didn't want to buy any more. Instead, the two of them woke to Easter Bunnies courtesy of a pattern found on the lovely Green Dragonfly blog. Roux especially was ecstatic! I think nursery have been discussing the Easter Bunny as he's been acting like he's the same as Father Christmas and he truly believed that the Easter Bunny had delivered his rabbit to him - good job I made them while he was in bed I suppose.

Very soon after opening that we travelled further up North to see some wonderful friends who had briefly returned from Cyprus to hold their daughters Christening.  It was a 3 hour round trip and proved to me just how hard life as a single mother can be at these sorts of events.  The after do was held in an upstairs room of a social club and trying to keep my eyes on both children as they climbed onto the stage, tried to escape, drink other peoples dregs, fight, run away etc was exhausting.  Even a trip to the toilet meant I had to take both of them as if I went on my own leaving someone to watch them the little blighters just followed me and being that it was so close to the stairs and the way out I couldn't take the risk.  As much as I really enjoyed the day I was so glad to get back home and put them to bed.

The rest of the week was spent cooped up at soft plays, the library, the house and having play dates at other peoples as the weather has been so bad.  After days of this we got so fed up we had to go somewhere so took a trip to a local woodland.  The hail stones started as we arrived *roll eyes* and I did wonder if we were doing the right thing but they cleared up and running around the woods certainly warmed us up.

It's got lots of tracks that are full of wooden gym equipment and carved animals, the children had lots of fun jumping on them and demanding photographs.  Plus collecting twigs and leaves and trying to carry heavy logs.  We came across a logger using a beautiful working horse to help him load them onto a wagon.  We spent quite a while watching them work together but I didn't want to get too close, I do wish that my DSLR wasn't missing in action so I could have got a better picture.

I've finished off the week making LOTS of monsters but that's for another blog post...

Hope you had a wonderful Easter, I've been reading so many blogs of all the fun things people have gotten up to, I should have put more thought into this and had some links ready.  Next time, always next time.