Tree Fall

Stripes

I've been finding it much harder than usual to post for the last few days and I have no real idea why. Nothing unusual has been happening, no major drama's, in fact there have been some wonderful, quiet and much longed for moments in the last week.  But I just feel so damned tired.
For the first time since starting this blog I've actually thought about stopping it. I'm not going to, and I don;t really want to but I just feel so overwhelmed by everything. I chose to take part in a couple of swaps before all the crap started, and I've been awful at sending my parcels out. Just awful. And I feel dreadful about it. I've also been awful at getting to the post office with everybody's parcels. I'm horribly late on a couple of commisions. And believe me, when I say horribly late, I mean that they should have been ready over a month ago.
Ack, just ignore me. I'm just moaning. Seriously, just shake your head and walk away.

Lets look at some puppies shall we? Much more fun than listening to me.

This is Oliver.

He's my bubblegum puppy. I love how bright and cheery he is.

This is Greyson.

Class. Pure class.

But a bit spotty.

And finally, Harvey.

He's my disco puppy.

Puppies. Or as Bella calls them, Mummy's Woofs. They're here, begging for a new home.

Corners of my Home

Even more brevity today I'm afraid. But I just quickly wanted to show you a photo of the mantle that a few people have asked about (I am getting work done and will have something to show for it tomorrow, honest).

We wallpapered the chimney breast last year a few days before Bella's first birthday, in direct response to the room looking old and dull after taking down the christmas decorations. We did the same this year with painting (half, it's still not finished) the room grey.
The paper is by Laurence Llewellyn Bowen and is still available at B & Q, I think.
The two framed pictures are a print by Camilla and a (still not finished - there's a theme here!), piece of textile art by me, that I started last year for Jim's birthday.
The mantle changes quite often although the clock is always there. It's looking pretty gothic at the moment, which may need to be changed as we enter springtime. We'll see.
And just in case anyone made the mistake of thinking that I live in an adults house, this is what my hearth looks like constantly.

Tomorrow, some very stripy and spotty puppies..

Fly by.

Busy day. Painting. Train rides. Gardening. And working with yellow. Finally truly loving yellow.

Sorry for such brevity (although you may not be!), I'll endeavor to return tomorrow with slightly more to say for myself.

Sunday

Yesterday was more of a challenge than I had wanted any of this weekend to be, but today has been exactly what the doctor ordered.
I'll let you in to a little secret, when I really want to get away from it all and ignore the stuff that just drags me down, I spend the night in my studio. Instead of sleeping upstairs in my bed, I sleep in the day bed that we have in the studio - (that makes it all sound so much more than it is - the reality is that it's the spare bed in the spare room, but I like how the former sounds  so much more). And for some reason I always wake up feeling a lot better and a lot less beaten down.
This morning was no exception. After truly feeling overwhelmed by it all last night, I woke this morning to a sunny Sunday and a beaming daughter. Which was exactly what I wanted.

We started the day with breakfast in the kitchen. All too often we end up in front of the tv in the living room in the morning, so it was lovely to start the day without distractions.
Bella decided that the piece of embroidery that I worked on until gone 1am was actually her placemat, and sat and had her morning cup of 'tea' with me.

Then, after croissants all round, we smooched a little.

Which led to this, because she's far too old to want to kiss her parents. Bluurggh.

Breakfast and kisses over and done with, we played. For a long time.

Then a quick trip out to the toy shop (can anyone say 'over compensating') and to the supermarket for some much needed supplies. Oh and of course a ride in Postman Pat's van and Bob the Builder's digger and back  home for lunch and naptime.

The rest of the day was a blur of vacuuming (Bella now has her own Dyson )  and playing with yet more Playmobil. With a spot of dancing and singing thrown in for good measure.
And then to make it just absolutely perfect, Bella ate all of the roast dinner that I cooked for her. She's had a real problem with eating real meals and up until now has refused most things other than pasta. But today I made a meal of roast chicken and roasted vegetables and she sat with Jim and I and ate the lot. Fantastic.
Honestly, she's been so happy today, just because she got to spend the whole day with both Mummy and Daddy for the first time in almost two weeks and it was a joy to witness.
Love that girl. And love days like today.

Lamp. Post.

I've been getting a lot of questions lately about the standard lamp that you can see in a lot of my photo's and thought that now would be a good time to talk about it. I apologise to anyone that read all this the first time around and I suppose I could just direct anyone interested in the direction of the original post, but the only other option today is to listen to me moan about having just spent an afternoon  in the company of every pregnant women  or mother to a newborn in the world - and frankly I'm bored of that post already and I haven't even written it yet.
Soooo...... let's talk about the lamp instead.

I bought the original base and shade last year at a car boot sale mainly because they were very cheap and I wanted to see if I could make a patchwork lampshade.
The shade itself started out a disgusting, old, faded pink with gold tassels.

At first I intended to strip it back to just it's frame and try and make a whole new shade for it, but I'm truly awful at maths and it has all these angles that hurt my head when I tried to work out how to do it. And the original fabric is very much on  it's kast legs so I didn't think it would survive being taken apart and used as a template.
So instead I decided to use Heat N Bond and attach the fabric scraps directly to the original shade.
With Heat N Bond you iron it on to the fabric scrap, peel off it's paper backing and then iron the scrap directly on to the exisiting shade. It works great for pieces like this, but I'm not keen on using it for applique that needs to be soft, because it makes the fabric just a tiny bit stiff and I don't like that with clothes or quilts. It's great for making fabric cards though.

When I work with patchwork I generally just make it up as I go along. I never cut the pieces for an entire quilt in one go the way you're supposed to, because I find that I often want to change it midway through. Fabric works differently in small pieces. Pattern play is affected by the size of the individual piece and until I see how the fabric truly works together I don't like to make up my mind about it. I don't know if that makes any sense or just sounds stupid, but I really do hate to decide before hand exactly how something is going to work. So I generally pick a load of fabrics that I  like the look of and take it from there.
Which is exactly what I did with the shade. Except that because I was using a permanent adhesive, I did at least pin the fabrics on first.
Before I decided to use Heat N Bond I tried spray adhesive, but I just found it too messy and impossible to use without a lot of screaming.
So anyway, once I was happy with it, I started ironing the scraps directly on to the shade, which was a little more difficult than it sounds because the shade is actually concave and that makes for an interesting ironing experience.

The shade has a flat edge along the bottom that was too difficult to iron on to affectively, so I decided to bind the shade just as you bind a quilt to finish it off.
I cut binding for the top edge and bottom edge in contrasting colour ways of the same Amy Butler print and hand sewed it on. Which took A. Long. Time. But was definitely worth it.
Oh I should probably explain that the original shade had two layers - one inside and one outside the frame, which was how I was able to sew the binding on.

The finished product isn't quite as 'finished' up close - the original inner lining is torn and I can see it every time I sit down. I just haven't worked out the best way to repair it yet. And I've never been 100 % on how the lamp looks with the light shining through it. I over lapped the fabric pieces and that looks a little messier than I would like when the light illuminates it.
But in general I love the lamp. I love the fact that it's completely original and totally recycling and reusing. And I love the fact that it looks even nicer since I painted the front room grey.

(sorry for the repeat in pictures - but this one makes me happy)

(can I just say that I'm not bored of the pregnant women or new borns - I'm very happy for all of them - I'm just bored of  me dealing with it - I don't want anyone out there thinking that I've turned in to one of those women that resents pregnant women, because I haven't and wouldn't. Just wanted to say that. )

Love to Bake

Wow! Thank you all so much again for your kind, kind words and support. The good news is that both Bella and I are on the mend. And I am determined that we will actually manage to have a relaxed, normal weekend this weekend. D'ya hear me world? Normal. Relaxed. Please.

And now I think it's time to leave the Blog of Job (as I now refer to TreeFall), and return to the fun stuff of crafting.
I mentioned the other day that I'd been working on something new and here it is....

Children's apron and baking sets.

The set includes an apron suitable in size for a 2 year old and upwards. And 5 wooden child's utensils, including a rolling pin and pastry brush. It also includes a tin of super cute metal number cookie cutters, that I'm really loving! And all of it fits in to the matching mini tote.

I originally came up with this design when I was working on party bags for Bella's birthday. Because there were only a few children coming I decided to make each one an apron with some cookie cutters in the pockets.

But after the party was cancelled (twice) I decided to just run with the idea and came up with the super, super cute utensils and tote.
I really loved the idea of a complete baking set in a bag and am just disappointed that I couldn't include a book too!

I think the set is suitable for any child from two onwards and with that in mind have tried to make it as safe as possible. I was really aware that when Bella wears her (store brought) apron that it would be possible to get the neck strap caught and choke her, so I've attached one end of the neck strap with a strong velcro, that will come apart if pulled.

I've also made the straps long enough that there's plenty of room for growth.
I've had a lot of fun with these sets and there are definitely more to come. In fact I've just ordered a ton more fabric just with these in mind!
These two are in the shop now.

Along with these three pretty girls...

This is Poppy..

Gracy...

And Daisy...

Thanks again and again and again to everybody for all your support. No amount of words could come close to explaining just how much your comments and emails mean to me and Jim.
Hopefully with the end of February next week, we can move onwards and upwards and get back to some form of normality - including a lot more crafting!

Back

I'm back. Bella is still at my mom's for a previously scheduled visit but I am now home trying very hard to ignore the rising panic at having just walked out and left it all just sitting there.
After the 'difficulties' of last week I decided that I really needed a couple of days away from the house and away from Jim (for both our sakes) and picked up the babe, a couple of books, some puppies in the making and descended on my poor unsuspecting mother and father.
The plan (not that there was one) was a few days of doing not too much and then leave Bella there and have a few days back home to get back on track with work.
The plan (not that there was one) didn't work.

Monday morning was  fine, apart from Bella doing a damn fine impression of a two year old in the local supermarket. Monday afternoon I asked my dad if he would take us to a toy shop to buy Bella some more Playmobil (it's addictive, worse than crack) and he kindly agreed, so off the three of us went.
Having chosen a couple of new super sets, dad and I got ready to go and it was at that point that we noticed that Bella was walking strangely.

And I am going to down play the next bit, because to be honest it I think about it too much it makes me want to vomit with fear. But Bella was walking in a way that suggested something incredibly wrong with her head. She was walking as though she was hallucinating. It was so bad that dad (who is a retired army medic) and I literally grabbed her and threw her in to the car and drove straight to the nearest childrens hospital.
At first the doctors couldn't really understand what I was describing when I told them how she'd been walking, but as soon as they saw her do it, I saw a look on the doctors face that did not make me feel better.
Anyway, I'm going to cut a very long story short, and say that Bella was eventually discharged with no one being any the wiser about what the hell is wrong with her. And we are left with a little girl that has suddenly gone from being the most confident walker and climber (just the other day my mother asked me if I had intended to give birth to a mountain goat) to  one who is seriously lacking in confidence.
It's not an ear infection and we don't think it's her eye sight. It may have something to do with the virus she had last week but we just don't know. And at the moment we don't want to subject her to some scary (for everyone) tests that may not be necessary, so we're just to keep an eye on her and get her straight back to the hospital if she acts the same way again. But in the meantime she seems to be fine. Thank goodness.
So that all was fun.

So after much, much soul searching and guilt ridden questioning I decided that Bella would still have her little stay with mom and dad, who know that if anything happens they take her straight to the hospital and we can be there within 40 minutes. Because I still haven't had any recovery time and frankly I've been desperate.
So my new plan (hah!) was to come home last night  and have the entire day today  and tomorrow to rest (still waiting to rest) and work.
And you see, one of the reason's that I've been so desperate to rest is that I've had quite a substantial pain in my side since miscarrying. Which can't be good, can it? Especially when it's getting worse.
So this morning instead of getting up late and having a quite, slow morning, I got up and phoned the hospital. Who said that I had to come in immediately.

And you know? This week was supposed to be easier than last week. Pah!
Anyway, another long, long, boring story short, I am now on some freaky pills that do not make me feel good and make sewing a slight challenge. And I just have to wait and see if the minor complication from the miscarriage that is causing the problem goes away within the week.
Oh, do you see my face? Yep that's me ignoring what will happen if it doesn't sort itself within the week.
And apparently it's only Wednesday....

Now, if there is anyone out there that still comes here for the craft, rather than the spectacle that is my life at the moment, then I thank you and would like to share my latest cushions with you.
I made these two cushions (green one not finished) on Saturday night and I am super pleased with them.
They are a combination of a vintage cotton and some 100% linen and are obviously a variation on my previous fruit cushions. I like these a whole lot more though.  What do you think?
I'm going to keep these two, but if I ever have time to finish anything ever again, then I'll have a few in the shop soon. Along with some pups. And a whole new range that I'm very excited about...

Whoa, if you made it this far, well done. And thank you. I am now off to take some more funny pills and then possibly out to dinner with my very long suffering and rather gorgeous husband (that must be the pills talking).

Away

Bella and I have gone away for a few days so I won't be posting until I get back. Bella's very much on the mend but I need some time to recuperate without all the stresses of being at home.

Back soon xxx

Bit by bit

Ahhh, we're finally on the mend. Although Bella is still feeling rotton, her temp has been normal all day and the little bursts of energy have been more frequent and lasting longer. Of course that also means that she's been getting bored with having no energy and has been getting progressively grumpier! Nice.
She also finally hit teenagehood and actually rolled her eyes about me today. Yes, about me, not at me. She didn't know I could see and she rolled her eyes! My daughter, that I have been selflessly taking care of for days, rolled her eyes at me singing Do Ray Me! Ouch, that hurts.

Rolling eyes or not, she's pretty darn cute in her pj's, no? Although I hate the fact that she's lost a lot of weight over the past few days. Her gorgeous chubby cheeks are looking a bit too slender for my liking. And the fact that her tongue is covered in ulcers means that she just can't eat anything at the moment. Poor thing.
Doesn't stop her from rolling her eyes though!

I have another litter of the full size pups on the go at the moment, but I couldn't wait to show you Hildy. I love her grey/sage/cream colouring.

She's a bit of a classic beauty, in her grey Argylle sweater. But she's not big headed about it at all.

She's here.

Japanese craft book

I've been meaning to show you my new Japanese craft book for a while now. It's a great book with some lovely patterns aimed at mainly mothers and daughters. Although obviously you need to be neither a mother or have a daughter to want to make any of the gorgeous smocks or bags shown in it.
I was really pleased when it arrived, and I love it. However, I don't love it so much that I need two copies of it! Yup, I somehow ordered the same book twice. Duh.
So I'm offering the unopened, still in it's bag copy for sale to the first person that comments that they want it. I'm charging £13 ($26), with free postage.

It really is a lovely book and I do recommend it and not just because I want you to buy it!
Like I said, just leave a comment saying that you'd like to buy it and I'll email you a Paypal invoice and get it in the post to you asap. Thanks Lucy!

Bella still isn't well at all. We've finally got her on antibiotics now though, so I'm hoping to see a marked improvement tomorrow.
It was of course supposed to be Bella's second day at nursery tomorrow and I have to admit that knowing that I've got a day to try and physically recover from the (still ongoing) miscarriage has been the only thing keeping me going this week. The fact that she's not going to be able to go is not good news. But all I want really, is for her to just start feeling better.

And ahh crap, can I just apologise to everyone that is feeling very ignored by me at the moment. I have a million emails that I'm trying to work through and a number of swaps that are horrifically overdue. And I also have some  big thank you emails to write.
If any of the above sounds like I might mean you, please, please, please know that I' desperately trying to catch up and that I'm grateful for everything and will get everything replied to and posted to and thank you'd  to as soon as I can.