What's going on?

I seem to have these 'your photo has been removed' icons from Photobox? What's this all about?! I can't seem to get rid of them and it looks so urrrrgly!

It's been quiet....

...but not quiet in the Sew.Vanilla household!

Our house- after three months of packing, wallpaper stripping, endless trips to Ikea, scrimping, saving, dusting, cleaning, priming, painting, glossing, sanding, wallpapering, curtain making, flatpacking, back to Ikea to pick up spares, and so on and so on, we are IN!

I love my new house! Our builders were fab, our plasterer was less so but we have smooth walls so can't complain. I don't think we'd change a thing. It's really going to have a positive effect on our lives. We're so much more organised now and we've decluttered to the max. Liam is loving the openplan nature, running in and out, in and out, all day long.

I love what we've done- the colours, the furniture, the light that comes through, the kitchen, the flooring, the bathroom tiles- oh my goodness, the bathroom tiles! I can't wait to show you pics but we've hit a wall as there are still things that need to be unpacked but we haven't done that yet cos frankly, unpacking is boring.

My sewing stuff is all unpacked though, of course! Everything has a home now, so it's going to be much more fun sewing now. It won't take me all evening looking for a seam ripper. And....I have my very own, brand new sewing machine! It's not a cheapo, and it's not my mums trusty New Home- it's mine, all mine! I got it for my birthday- can't wait for Ricky to come off his stupid night shifts so that I can make some noise!

Oh and I'm back to swapping again! I'm not going to do as many as before because I was just spending too much time and money, neither of which we have much of at the moment but I'm hoping to do a couple between now and Christmas!


...but not quiet in the Sew.Vanilla household!

Our house- after three months of packing, wallpaper stripping, endless trips to Ikea, scrimping, saving, dusting, cleaning, priming, painting, glossing, sanding, wallpapering, curtain making, flatpacking, back to Ikea to pick up spares, and so on and so on, we are IN!

I love my new house! Our builders were fab, our plasterer was less so but we have smooth walls so can't complain. I don't think we'd change a thing. It's really going to have a positive effect on our lives. We're so much more organised now and we've decluttered to the max. Liam is loving the openplan nature, running in and out, in and out, all day long.

I love what we've done- the colours, the furniture, the light that comes through, the kitchen, the flooring, the bathroom tiles- oh my goodness, the bathroom tiles! I can't wait to show you pics but we've hit a wall as there are still things that need to be unpacked but we haven't done that yet cos frankly, unpacking is boring.

My sewing stuff is all unpacked though, of course! Everything has a home now, so it's going to be much more fun sewing now. It won't take me all evening looking for a seam ripper. And....I have my very own, brand new sewing machine! It's not like the cheapo ones that I have bought and failed to even turn on, and it's not my mums trusty New Home- it's mine, all mine! I got it for my birthday- can't wait for Ricky to come off his stupid night shifts so that I can make some noise!

Oh and I'm back to swapping again! I'm not going to do as many as before because I was just spending too much time and money, neither of which we have much of at the moment but I'm hoping to do a couple between now and Christmas!

My last night in the 70's time machine

Well the day has arrived at last. Everything is packed for the holiday and the house is almost empty off everything we own.

We've taken stuff to mums (a LOT of stuff), Ricky's Godfather and parents have a few bits, we've auctioned a few items, sold our sofa, and have boxed stuff up and put in a corner of the front room in the hope that we have dainty fingered builders. We go away tomorrow, the builders come in at some point next week and then it all begins...

I hope it all goes smoothly but these things never do so we have to be prepared. After much stressing about getting the right building control permissions in place I have told Ricky that it is down to him and the builder. I am taking a back seat until its time to paint.

I can't say that I will miss the house. Not as it stands, anyway. We have zero storage space, the bathroom and kitchen floors are grim, the bathroom suite is grimmer and the kitchen units is the grimmer-est. The carpets throughout are just eye wateringly bleugh, the walls are faded and musty and well- you get the picture!

Hurry up August!

In other news (though slightly related) I have received this lovely parcel from Ciara , as part of the Pretty Pockets Swap. It's so, so pretty.

The pockets will be the first thing that I will put up in my new kitchen. It will be perfect! Sorry that the pic is the wrong way round- I can't seem to rotate it! I love all the other bits too. She also made me a ring made with buttons which isn't in the pic - I couldn't find it at the time, but then later realised it was on my finger...

In other news, Liam is still very tantrummy, still a fussy eater but still very cute. He had a little accident at the park a week ago- they have this water park in the middle of the playground. Not the brightest of ideas seeing as you get crazed teenagers who fill up bottles and then chase each other in some kind of mass water fight. The climbing frames and slides were all slippery- not safe at all. Liam got knocked over by a teenager and went flying. He had a bloody nose, split lip and bruise. Poor thing screamed his head off. I was not happy and have contacted the park to see if they could manage the area better. Teenagers should not being in a toddler play area. What happened to a good ol kickabout with a football?

Anyway I am going to sit back and enjoy the rest of the last night in my bad taste house!

Calling all my swap partners!

Ladies I am so sorry! I mean to post everything yesterday but Liam has been so very testing lately. He woke up really early and I was hoping I could put him down for a morning nap in his cot so I could be naughty and sneek one in too. I am in desperate need of one. Unfortunately he didn't go down until 1pm, then I had a lady come round to pick up our corner unit so we never made it out.

I packed them all up and left them by the door intending to grab them on my way out to work this morning but I was treated to another early morning call. Poor Ricky has been run ragged at work so I got up again and was in a daze when I finally left so forgot the packages by the door.

Part of me feels so guilty for being tired and antsy. Ricky helps loads and my mum is an angel but I feel like my early morning wake up calls are driving me insane. But the main reason for my rattyness is that Liam is just not eating. He's always been a fussy eater and will happily eat fruit, bread and yogurt but nothing else. He'll kip up a fuss and 'tell' me (no words still but lots of noise!) that he wants food, act all impatient in the kitchen whilst I make him food, then shake his head vehemently and push the food away. Then he'll point to the kitchen and when I let him out of his chair, he'll run and grab the grapes. I am forever in the kitchen hiding food, making food and pulling my hair out. Oh, and eating the food that he doesn't eat- cos I hate waste. And I love food.

But I have a plan. Two plans, in fact. But my mum has to agree to it otherwise it won't work (she looks after him most days whilst I work apart from one Friday and one Monday a month when he is with Daddy, aka Best Friend).
Plan 1- is to get Liam involved in the food prep. Show him what I am doing, get him to spread the butter on the bread or mix the muffin batter.
Plan 2- if he doesn't eat his food, he won't eat until the next meal. He isn't a baby anymore- he is a toddler and he needs to learn. No subsitutes. So I'm making a weekly menu and I (and he) will stick to it.

Ok so this won't solve the sleep problem but hopefully he'll be happier and no more constant running to the kitchen. Then he'll have to find things to do, instead of the kitchen relay- like play with his toys and sit down with some paints. Oh and maybe he'll learn how to bake me cakes...

Girls- packages in post either tomorrow or by next Wednesday. Promise!

xxx

My latest goodies

I recently took part in Clasheen's Spring Swap and was paired up with the talented Jude who sent me this parcel

The brooch is on my jacket now and I can't wait to use the deckchair fabric for something! The scarf is amazingly beautiful and soft- its a nuno felt scarf and I have never seen anything like it so that's what makes it all the more special.

Unfortunately my parcel was damaged in the post. I am so, so upset. I'm no amazing seamstress at all but I put a lot of effort into it and the main part (an owl and tree and leaves appliqued onto a cushion cover) wasn't in the parcel. So sorry Jude- I feel awful.

My next swap parcel was from Annie, the Felt Fairy which was part of Em's Swap- Good Enough to Eat. She made me two knitted cupcakes (Liam ran off with one)- they are so cute and perfectly knitted! I could never do anything like that! And I love the colours- they remind me of cakes that I can only wish of making!!

I made her this apron which I am so proud of! I might make one for myself. I also sent her some smelly (in the nicest sense) bath stuff, a cupcake book, a bar of chocolate and something else -mummy brain has taken over!

My last two swaps are from Swap Bot and the Secret Post Club- the first is a cupcake swap and I got this Ok so it's... cupcake fabric, cupcake lip balm, ribbon, a stuffie,buttons, stamps, pen, a grow your own cupcake (cute!), notebook and card! All so immensly lovely!!!

This was a general swap- the whole idea of the Secret Post Club is to send something- anything. My parcel was sent by Younger and Younger and she couldn't have picked a cuter package

My camera isn't great so apologies for the really shiny picture! It's a red polka dot windmill (which Liam finds HILARIOUS) and a HUGE polkadot bag made from recycled glass bottles. Except its not a glass bag. Eh? Who cares- its cute and so hand for us when we go shopping!

I love a good swap!

Out and about

What a lovely weekend we had! Unfortunately Ricky had to work but he was back early on Saturday so we went here.

It's almost on our doorstop and it is fab! It's so big- that's the main reason why I love it. We have a great park but the play area is often over taken by the teenagers. I don't mind them being there, I just wish they wouldn't go on the toddler bits. They have swings, a zip wire, water fountain things, a trampoline and a huge climbing frame so what is the attraction with the pirate ship or the tiny roundabout thing? It means the other poor toddlers don’t get a look in. Oh and whilst I am having a crazy rant, why is it so hard to look after your toddlers at the park? I have caught two toddlers as they try to jump off places that they shouldn’t be jumping off and no parent in sight. I’m all for letting your kids explore and discover but when they are two and trying to climb the monkey bars- it’s just not on.

And off my soapbox!

Well, Liam loves Hall Place so much, he decided to move in!



He’s decided to chase the locals away though

I love this pic of my boys….

I can't get a look in!

Update on everything!

I really need to update this blog more often! It's been ages since I last wrote and such a lot has happened! The main thing being, is I am now a mother of a TODDLER! Yes, my baby boy turned two 11 days ago and is now legally allowed to throw tantrums.

Ok so as we're on the subject, I guess that is where we start- with his birthday. I tried to make him a cake- well, the 'making' part was fine. Apple muffins, blueberry muffins and carrot cake. All yummy. But the icing- urgh! I bought pre-made frosting, much to the disgust of my aunt who decorates cakes beautifully. But I am not my aunt. I then tried to colour it. The more colouring I put in, the more watery it got. So I added icing sugar. And it got paler. See the dilemma? Then when I put the icing on, it just sank into the cake and dripped off. It had been so absorbed that the following morning you could hardly tell there was icing on it. I rescued the carrot cake by just putting on the frosting which went down well with Liam.

He even shares!

The party on the whole was a success. The weather stayed warm enough to sit outside and Liam was in good spirits all day! He had lots of pressies, including the new England kit from us, a Trunkie from my mum, sand table from his uncle and aunt and lots of messy play bits! My uncle also gave him his old set of drums- Indian Tabla- look at my rockstar son!

Now the party is over, the real hard work starts. We've stripped the hallway and downstairs rooms (anyone in this position? I reccomend steamer-things. Obviously not the correct technical word but it's a thing that steams. Anyway, they are fab!), and have cleared out the shed and made some order in the loft. Practically every space in the house is going to be done if funds allow so we have very little storage space. So we've shipped stuff to our parents homes and we'll have to find more dumping ground soon! Ricky wanted to throw these out, much to my dismay. So we left them in the front lawn waiting for the scrap folk to do their rounds. Meanwhile I looked to see how much they cost to buy new- £75!! We've got two deckchairs and a directors chair! The fabric will cost about £45 to do all three so I ran out and grabbed them before the men came round - reprieve!

Finally on to my swaps! The lovely Lisa sent me this, as part of the Fabric Addict swap. I have such a wonderful collection of FQ's now!

And look at the little purse! So cute! I wish I could sew as neat and straight as that!

Then I got this from Jude, . It's part of the Spring Swap that Clasheen was running. The scarf is a Nuro felted scarf and is the softest thing I have ever owned! It's a craft I have never tried but once the house is done I might give it a go. I've also got some intriguing looking chocolate, a lovely broach which is now on my jacket and a cute stuffed heart as well as the lovely deckchair fabric.

I did get a couple of parcels in the post just as I was leaving for work this morning. I had to run for the train so I have put them up high where Liam can't reach them as he has a habit of running off and hiding things before I can take a picture and admire my goodies!

So my swaps are nearly at an end...I've just got a few more bits and pieces to do then they'll hopefully go off in the post on Saturday. I've promised Ricky no more swaps until our house is done as I have a list of things to make for us! He's such a party pooper but he does speak the truth!