5 Today!

These two little girlies are 5 years old today...I am not quite sure how it happened...only the other day they were tiny babies...

They are the reason I started sewing clothes. (and not just boring curtains!)

And somehow they have become little girls, and in a few months time, they are due to start school, and I need to go shopping for school unifoms soon (or start making them!)....how does this all happen?



Yesterday one of their prescious teddies need some surgery to repair a hole beside his nose.... the two girls assisted me during the operation. I was not allowed to put a needle near him until the anesthetic had worked!

Happy Birthday T!

Our little man turned 7 yesterday....



How on earth did that happen....?



He got a new bike....



And a cake all to himself.....We did help him with it of course!




The strawberries are the very first of the season from my mother's garden.

He is such a wonderful boy, and we love him dearly! Happy Birthday T!

The Two are 3!

On this day three years ago, I gave birth to two little girls....look at them now....not babies anymore...sniff....


R and B

Realtin was born at 7.00pm, "normally"...I daren't say naturally, everything was managed to the last that day...and I could understand. Our pregancy was not without trouble!
Blathin was transverse, (I think she may still be!) and was delivered by C-section 32minutes later, at 7.32pm.
They were born at 36 weeks, weighing 6lb 10oz and 6lb 10oz.


B and R on day one!


B and R, ready for bed on thier first birthday.


R and B, with Daddy, having a snooze before their 2nd birthday party started.

They bring me delight every day. They are wonderful company....but when they kick off....oh my, can they test your parenting skills. So much so that my Mother congratulates me every year on their birthday, on making it to another birthday!

They love each other very much...


and their teddies too!

They also love having lots of fun....



This is them going down a huge inflated slide with C at a cousin's party....it was probably 15ft (4.5m) high. C would sit on the top, grippping the girls, and would have to rock himself to the edge, and then over it!

Negroni Shirt and a Birthday

Sunday was C's birthday and I made him the Negroni Shirt as part of Peter's sew-along. It was such a fun sew-along to take part in, as I have mentioned before Peter is a tonic!

I made the short-sleeved version, I felt a bit of a cheat, but C has enough long-sleeved shirts (plus it was easier!....see, I am a cheat!)

It was a really interesting garment to make. All the seams are flat-felled, a new thing for me. The yoke is doubled, and the method of putting that together makes no sense when you first look at it, but when you have the shirt to stage, it makes total sense.







I used Pamela Erny's tutorial to make the facing without any bulk. Another new skill learned....and it is a really nice finish.

The fabric is apparently ex Paul Smith, it is a tiny gingham check, it looks almost beige from a distance (which I don't like) but I think overall it is really nice fabric. It is very heavy for a shirting, and takes loads of steam to get creases out.

The only thing that I am not happy with is the bottom button, it is too low....I spent so much time working out the distance down from the top button, that I never considered how high/low the bottom button should be. I tend to panic when I get to the button and button-hole stage.



When I was trying to take his photo, he stood against the wall and was stock still....I told him to relax...so he started messing, as usual. So just as I'd try and take a photo, he'd jump about! This is what most of the photos looked like....



I also made a chocolate cake, his choice.


We also had roast leg of lamb with all the trimmings for dinner, his mother and sister joined us.

I wondered quite often during the preparations for his birthday, how much we would have done for his birthday, had it not been for four over-excited kids.
The kids really expected him to be as excited as they were, and while he had a really great day, it is hard to get excited about birthdays after about 21!

8 years

8 years ago we were still coming to grips with the fact that we were parents for the first time. Our Maeve was born on the 18th of August 2002 weighing in at 9lb 6oz (4.25kg)...She was a "Honeymoon baby". Born 9 months and 1 day after our wedding day!
She wasn't the easiest baby, or maybe I wasn't the most natural mother, but we muddled along and got through it.
Now she is the most wonderful young girl who amazes me daily...by being so good and kind.









Amongst her favourite gifts were a Knitting Dolly (knitting in her jammies, of course!) and an Usborne Doodling book...(or maybe they're my favourites!)





And of course Nigella's cake got an outing....again! (it wasn't so good this time...a tad heavy...don't know why....but the chocolate icing/sauce makes up for it!)

Can you handle another candle..?

That was the on the front of one of my birthday cards...sometimes I wonder! (However I could handle a new bag, some fabric and some new patterns!) It was my birthday on Sunday the 25th of July. I was 34.

I have had a really nice handbag for a couple of years now...I got it after the girls were born. I love it but it's getting shook...(local for wrecked/worn out!) so I suggested to my darling husband that another one could be bought on sale in a local shop...I also mentioned it to a few other family members and they suggested giving me money towards it...for my birthday..imagine that! So this is what I got..my choice.





It's an Orla Kiely bag...as was my last one. I am not usually swayed too much by designer names...but this is my third Orla bag and both my sisters are probably on their third ones too....I think it'd be fair to say we love them! The ones we have (can afford) are laminated cotton and wipe clean. She also does beautiful leather ones. And bed-linen and wallpaper, all of which I love!

On Sunday afternoon we went to town, where my local fabric shop was having it's annual remnant sale...How nice of them to have it on my birthday...(yes a Sunday), when I have a childminder (their father!)
So I treated myself to a few pieces of fabric. Mainly cottons, all lovely.

My sister also sent a lovely Boden top...another brand I can be swayed by!

I also ordered a couple of sort-of Birthday presents for myself from Colette patterns...a Beignet skirt and a Lady Grey coat.



I have the Beignet made...but I am finding it difficult to figure how to wear it...It has a high waist and most people seem to wear them with tops tucked in...which makes me look worse than usual!... so when I figure what to do....I'll get some photos of me in it! In the mean time...what do you think of the colours...the fabric is wool, so it'll be for winter. I am wondering if olive green buttons might be better...(all 12 of them)...although I love the colours together...I wonder if they'll be limiting?



To top off my birthday...my husband cooked dinner, sort of...he organised it, but he had to go milk the cows Sunday evening, so I cooked it and we all ate it together when he got back...that was good enough for me!

Have a wonderful weekend!

My Boy

Our boy turned 6, last Saturday. Instead of the usual family invitation for cake and coffee, he had two friends over to play. We had cake with them instead. The cake is from Nigella Lawson's book Feast. The mothers stayed while the boys played and Colm took a few hours off and joined us. We had a lovely afternoon, sitting outside, while the boys played with Lego and generally acted like boys! ie...shouted, tumbled, ran around and jumped off things!

His name is Tadhg and for those of you not familiar with the Irish language, it is pronounced Tye-g, and has apparently no true English version, but Timothy is the closest.

He was rather a large baby when he was born at 10lb 4oz (4.72kg, apparently)...

He has had problems with nightmares for the last few years and frequently came into our room in the middle of the night, until a couple of weeks ago. He also slept with a sheet/comfort blanket every night. A while before his birthday he told me he was ready to kick both habits! (Apparently the nightmares have lessened) And I am very proud to say he succeeded with both....

As he went to bed on his Birthday....We had a lot of this....


To get a photo like this..... sans spectacles

He is an incredibly curious boy and likes to know how things work. (unavoidable, I'm afraid, it's in his breeding)...he is brave and kind and we love him dearly.

Hospitals, Owie Dolls and a Birthday Party

Well, life has been pretty busy here recently...hospitals seem to feature a lot in the lives our extended family at the moment! Thankfully everyone is ok now, but we've had a few hairy moments...
My Husbands brother and his wife have four children too, and their 3rd child ended up in hospital with a drain in her chest to take fluid off...scary stuff...she's only 3 and a half...poor mite. My SIL stayed in hospital the whole time the little one was in, which ended up being 3 weeks..she didn't get to see her other children that whole time. It was a worrying time for everyone.
To help keep her entertained, I bought the "Owie Doll" pattern from Lier. It is such a clever doll and perfect for my niece's age group...

The pattern includes loads of instructions for accessories...too many for me to make, I did make lots, but certainly not them all!

The instructions call for a fabric that I wouldn't even know where to look for around here, so I chopped up a hand-me-down micro fleece jumper of Maeves...ssshh...she doesn't know! It worked quite well, the velcro stuck to it quite well. I don't think mine is the most photogenic doll, but she's really cuddly...(a bit like me)
My mother went into hospital for a fairly routine epidural to relieve pain from her curved spine and had an "episode" (for want of a better word) and had to have CPR! The team doing the procedure got more than they bargained for with her! They kept her in overnight and thankfully there's no stopping her now!

We had a little family get together on sunday for the girl's birthday....

The photo above was taken about 30 minutes before the guests arrived...

the calm before.... 8 kids under 8...but I was just glad they were all here safe and well...


And of course we had cake..well...cakes, actually...there were two cakes back to back.

Saturday is Tadhg's birthday...so another cake is being planned....I think Nigella (Lawson) might win out this time...

We are also back on track for our camping trip to Creiff in Scotland in a few weeks. I had become overwhelmed with stuff here and had changed my mind about going, but have since realised that a break away would be the best thing for everyone. I am in the process of buying a new tent...our Lidl one has had it's day!

He has caught up...again.

Yesterday was my husband's birthday and being nine months younger than me, he has caught up with me for a little while.
We baked him a chocolate cake and filled it with raspberry cream. I topped it with cream swirls and raspberries (out of the freezer, originally from our garden). The end product is not very masculine, but I didn't hear any complaints!

I used a piping kit that I inherited from my Aunt Maggie. It works brilliantly, except for the time I squirted cream up my sleeve....The children found this hilarious!



I made bunting a while ago and it made it's debut appearance yesterday.

For his gift, I ordered a print from Dee Beale. I bought it from her etsy shop. I got it framed locally, I had wanted to get it done in a white frame but sadly they didn't have the right one.



Colm's mother came over for dinner in the evening, and of course the cake died a quick death...only a bit left for coffee today....

So slightly belated, Happy Birthday Colm x x x