To Ali, With Love

Well well, a whole week has zoomed passed in a whirlwind!  So much to share with you!   Firstly, I finally decided to make the move away from breastfeeding.  It had been a long hard and exhausting experience and one I was determined to give my best go, I am very sad to be stopping, very sad, but at the same time I am now emerging faster and stronger (and ever so slightly fatter) from this post-natal depression.  For the first time in over three months I straightened my hair, bought a new top, stopped subconsciously wearing only black, started enjoying my baby.  I am still feeding her every evenng and there is a lot to say about this whole story, but another time. 

This week is half term and it has been insane here.  My first week alone with my two girls has been...brilliant.  Granted it has been hectic, messy, nuts, noisy, stressy, sometimes verging on impossible but on the whole it has been so bloody rewarding, the sense of achievement I get from surviving the day with nothing to show for it but two exhausted, snoring and happy girls I can't put into words.  Plus, we've had four nights with the baby sleeping through (touch wood) which means I can finally indulge in a couple of well earned glasses of wine :)

Two other things have brought smiles to me this week - both of which arrived via snailmail...

What's my favourite colour? That would be yellow.  What's my favourite combination of colours?  Um, yellow, orange and pink actually.  What's my favourite craft?  That'd be crochet. 

The ever glamorous and ever fabulous Charlotte who writes the hugely inspirational Lottie Loves blog sent me this scarf.  It was a huge surprise when I reached into my mailbox (yes we have a mailbox) and retrieved the parcel.

"What is it mummy?", asked Lillia. 
"I don't know but it's from America", said I.
"Ooooh, Amerwica...can I open it?", said Lillia.

I shall be wearing this scarf until the weather turns spring-like and warm and the other mums on the school run think I am nuts.  Ha!  Thank you Charlotte, it really has made me smile :)

The second snailmail surprise I received was this utterly gorgeous print...

Gretchen, who writes at June at Noon, has been a long-term bloggy friend, but she is also somebody whose work I am in awe of.  Her sewing and embroidery is amazing, but her illustration...well...

I just love it, it is totally my "thing", completely my style.  I love to collect original prints of art that just appeals to me but I don't often treat myself.  Hubby surprised me by ordering me this print of Gretchen's "unexpected" illustration for Valentine's day.

Included was a small print of her "catch" illustration too.

I am a lucky girl.  I have a friend who cares enough to make me something gorgeous just to cheer me up, a bloggy mate who is an inspiration on many levels, a husband who surprises me with something he knows I will love.  Plus I have two beautiful girls who I am at last appreciating and enjoying fully.  And it's only February...

:)

Friday Club Home Carnival - My Granny's needle

I've been thoroughly enjoying the range of interesting topics and posts in notesfromhome's Friday Club, so I thought I'd have a bash myself.  This week's topic is to write about a cherished item I have in my home, what it means to me and why.  I had a wee think and a look about and then I decided to tell you about this...

No, not the purse, but what's inside...

Safety pins? Nooo. I use those for stitch marking.  Look closer...

Yes, it's a needle. 

No ordinary needle though.  This is the needle I use to weave in ends when I am making my crochet creations.  My mum gave it to me, and my paternal grandmother gave it to her.  So it's pretty old, it's pretty small and it means a lot to me.  My grandmother and my mother used it in knitting, I use it in crochet, but we all used it for our own creative things.

I never met my paternal granny, she died a few weeks before I was born so it means a lot to use something every day that she used many moons ago.  I came to crochet on my own, nobody taught me, my mum never crocheted.  I saw my sister doing it and thought, oooh, I fancy a go at that, and bought myself a book to teach myself.  The rest is history.  Could it be a genetic predisposition to crafts involving yarn? :)

I still do lots and lots of crafts, even sell my clay creations (though my shops are on vacation mode right now) But crochet is my chill out craft, my sit-back-and-relax activity, my treat on bad days, my occupation on long car journeys.  It's good to know that the granny I never met is somehow with me whilst I while away the cold winter evenings with crochet hook and needle in hand. 

So to me this tiny little slither of metal means a lot and I am hoping, if I am very careful with it, it will pass on to another generation of crafter.  Unless of course my girls prefer football and sport to sewing and crafts.  But you know, footballers will always need socks...

For more stories from other Friday Club participants see below....
Making It Up gives us her favourite cherished items.

The Diary of a Frugal Family shares her family's most Special Things.

Scribbling Mum tells us about her photo wall.

Make Do Mum writes about a precious item in Tick tock tick tock.

Cheeky Wipes gives us her cherished item in Tables Aren't Just For Eating At....

Red Ted Art tells us about her DIY Hobby Horse.

Snipsnaphappy tells us about her cherished item in My Granny's needle.

I Need Curtains for the Window inside my Head writes about the pieces of jewellery that mean the most to her.

Tiddlyompompom tells us about Adopted Ted.

Freckles Family shares A treasured possession.

Mymumdom posts about A Small Boy's Treasure.

Notes From Home posts about her cherished reclaimed box.

Happy belated Valentine's day!

Ok so I am a day or two behind...oops!  The rather simple heart pattern I was saving for a Valentine's post proved rather more difficult than I expected...so I was still hooking and cursing away on Valentine's night whilst sipping white wine and eating my Valentine's chocs.

I finally conquered the pattern yesterday though and here's the result...

Ta dah!  Cute isn't it?  If you want to try it for yourself the pattern is on Ravelry here.  Hope you all had a lovely Valentine's.

xx

February

Ok so I am a little late in welcoming February but boy am I glad it's here at last.  I don't mind January at all, in fact I quite like it, but this year January felt lonnnnnng.  I am most pleased to see the start of a new month.

February to me is a month of new beginnings, it is the first month to start planting seeds for the vegetable patch, the air changes and, if the last few years are anything to go by, it'll probably snow!  February is the month the year gets going. 

That said, February for me is looking remarkably like January so far...

Baby days are still very much in progress, lots of guesswork, lots of feeding, little sleep.  On we go...

Big Happy blanket update - January

When we last saw the Big Happy it was a respectable size given it had been in the making a mere six weeks (even if I do say so myself.)  And here it is as of yesterday afternoon...

It hasn't grown massively but it has grown...

I am glad it is moving along slowly, because my recovery is slow, I think it has to be really.  It feels like the blanket is progessing at the appropriate pace for how I am feeling.  After all, slow and steady wins the race :)

I am loving this blanket - I love the colours, the stitches, the ease and rhythm of it, the long-termness of it.  It helps me look forward towards a brighter (and not too distant) future.