British Cream Tea : Delicious British Felt Food Sculpture

Gift Wrapping the Japanese Way

This is a fabulous way of wrapping!

I wish I had more fabric lying around...I don't think it would work with felt...

01st December 2008

Outside My Window...

is the River Mersey, dark and cold.

I am thinking...
of making handfuls of felt walnuts to pile into bowls and a banner out of the mountain of pretty paper and ribbon I have accumulated, almost by accident!.

I am thankful for...
the approaching first Christmas with my baby. I had thought I would never celebrate it as a mamma.

From the kitchen...
wafts the smell of cookies...chocolate chip and cassis cookies ;).

I am wearing...
pyjamas and thick stripy woolly socks. It is freezing!

I am creating...
this post.

I am going...
to stay in an hibernate under a cuddly blanket.

I am reading...
this month's "Country Life" magazine. I never thought I would chose it over "Vogue" with only £4 in my pocket, but my life has irreparably changed!

I am hoping...
that the freezing fog will have gone by the morning.

I am hearing...
the sound of baby chatter, "Wild China" on the television and the creak of a bouncy chair.

Around the house...
all looks bare without any decorations, apart from the fabulous yarn bearded Santa Claus I bought this morning!.

One of my favorite things...
is the chocolate wafer sandwiches we bought from the Chinese supermarket on saturday...I think I am addicted...

Seasonal Scrubbing

This week I have undertaken a scrub of the flat before the Christmas season really takes hold and I don't have time to scrub behind the fridge or above the cooker hood.

It has, however, not been as successful as I had planned due, in part, to a teething baby and some lovely orders!!

but I have tidied cupboards, made draught excluders, bought essential and fragrance oils as well as a powder blue scales and enough natural cleaning product ingredients to last a long time...and the flat is definitely looking brighter for it ;)

A flowery china ball, a scallop shell filled with pink roses and lavender and my oil burner.

Wild flowers, some of my work and my Grandparent's silver cruet set on a starched table cloth

A hyacinth bulb, hopefully ready to sprout

Two terracotta pots on the kitchen window sill with coffee and lemon plants (Billy says they will never grow!!)

A temporary draught excluder made from a fleece blanket and pink ribbon

My essential and fragrance oils in my china cupboard

The cupboard under the sink!

Today's daybook 29 Oct 2008

Outside My Window...

is the River Mersey, choppy and dark in the low Autumn sun.

I am thinking...
of completely turning out the bedroom and remaking the bed in fresh white linen with lavender.

I am thankful for...
my baby son. I could not even begin to Put into words how much he means to me.

From the kitchen...
wafts the smell of vanilla extract I made last week, slowly developing in a jam jar in my baking cupboard.

I am wearing...
pyjamas and thick pink woolly socks. It is cold!

I am creating...
a set of conkers to replace the pair I sold last night.

I am going...
to baby yoga in a couple of hours...unless it is heaving down with rain in which case we may stay in and cuddle under a blanket.

I am reading...
"That is not my tractor" for the 3rd time today. I really need to buy him "That is not my bunny"! He loves the touchy bits on the pages ;)

I am hoping...
that we can talk Billy's mum into babysitting next week so we can go to the flicks and satisfy my ongoing and lifelong love of James Bond. Note: she never needs persuading!!

I am hearing...
the sound of baby laughter and the creak of a bouncy chair.

Around the house...
there are not enough flowers, the DVDs have yet again grown into piles and need put away and the dining table is covered in folded clean baby clothes.

One of my favorite things...
is the custard tart I have in the fridge!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing...

(Click the first image to go to the Simple Women's Daybook page ;)

A "real" Mamma to a growing boy

This afternoon, with Toby asleep on my lap and the Olympic rhythmic gymnastics on the television, I sat down to do my first piece of mending of Toby's baby clothes.

His beloved knitted dungarees had lost a button and sewing it back on made me feel motherly and warm and like a completely new person!

I grew up able to sew, my aunt taught me well, but I have never really thought about how it made me feel before. I was also slightly smug at the fact that "my" button was so much more secure than the one remaining shop sewn one...maybe I'll remove and reattach the buttons on his next size up...

Once the button was suitably reattached I folded and smoothed them and put them away in the box I have put aside for those clothes of his that I want to hold onto...

...as yesterday I had to put him in his first piece of 3-6 month old clothes.

He is no longer tiny!

Most of the clothes he has grown out of so far have been plain white baby grows and vests so, apart from one of each to keep in his box to show how tiny he once was, I have put all of them in a vacuum bag under the bed, ready for baby number two or, more likely to come first, any baby cousins...but some things I couldn't let go of.

Also into the box went his white baby cardigan with a little knitted teddy bear in the pocket, his favourite brown cardigan, all of my favourites of his too small fluffy socks and the selection of mink and duck egg blue vests with tiny hints of burnt orange.

Luckily I have the next size up in the socks and vests (I wish I had bought a few more sizes before they stopped being sold) and have replaced the brown cardigan with one in deeper chocolate, safe in the knowledge that this one is still available if I want to add this to his 3-6 month clothing wardrobe...

I know it may be me being unfair or odd but all the cartoon covered, neon and primary clothes, so bright they hurt the eyes, have never really looked right to me. I have bought greens and reds and oranges and browns as well as the usual blue, but I will not be putting him in cartoony, cutesy clothes...he looks far too much like a little man for that ;)

(The hat is far too big but will hopefully fit come winter...he needs a couple of woolly ones too...I have to learn to knit again!!)