Linaloo

Sewing at last

A little bit of craftiness to show you finally! I'm involved in local women's group who are raising money and support to help a nearby women's shelter. We've been tasked with completing their playroom in their new building. Along with all kinds of furniture and accessories, Ikea have been amazing and have donated us a heap of fabric from their new range which is adorable. I'm head sewist and have been tasked with making floor cushions, roman blinds and curtains. Here are two of the floor cushions - simple envelope style with velcro so they can easily be removed for washing.

I love the tree fabric. I think I'll be making some curtains of my own out of this too.

We're off to Vermont for the weekend - hubby's 40th birthday getaway. I asked him if he wanted to go away, just the two of us and he said, "no, I want to be with my children on my birthday". One of the many reasons he's a keeper! Happy Birthday my darling.

Blossoming

When Ruby was born we planted this Ruby Magnolia in our garden and it never flowered. When we moved to Canada we dug it up and Grandad planted it in his. My mum sent me this picture yesterday of it flowering.

I've been feeling a little frustrated by the lack of crafting time in my life lately. We seem to be entering the busy years of family life - you know when suddenly you realise that your little lovelies have social lives busier than your own? Gone are the days when being at home with a baby could often make for a long and never-ending, clock-watching day.

The delicate act of balancing work, family life and crafting has been tricky and my house is a tip, disorganised and pretty grubby. The garden is looking worse for wear with more weeds than plants and we seem to be running from one birthday party, chore and family visit to the next with little time for respite in between.

I need to keep a little perspective on it though, we're happy, healthy and living life to the full. There'll be plenty of time in the future for a quiet (and clean) house so I'm trying to let go a bit and enjoy the children before they grow up even faster. We've a hit a few milestones this week - Tommy writing his name for the first time and Ruby taking her first few strokes by herself in the pool. Now I just need to chill, relax and soak it up. The crafting can wait.

Happy Mother's Day to all that celebrate on Sunday.

Somebody save me...

from my macro mania...I can't help myself.

Remember the alien shoots? Turned out to be bleeding hearts.

And although the weather is warm, the daffodils planted by the children last autumn have still not opened yet!

I'm hoping to get some sewing done this week. How about you?

How to use thrifted sheets part 3

Remember these? They have been used for this and these and now I present their use as bag lining!

I hosted an evening with my craft group this week which involved 7 ladies making a small lined tote. I precut all the fabric in advance to save time and quickly learned that I will never have my own Etsy store as I couldn't possibly bear to do that much cutting. Anyhow, it was a great project for beginners especially as half of the group were using a sewing machine for the first time and were absolutely thrilled with the end result.

Happy weekend all!

Weetabix Honey Muffins

I've been meaning to find a recipe using Weetabix for a while. It's my favourite cereal ever and I remember eating it every day for breakfast without fail for years as a child. These muffins are pretty healthy and tasty too.

Makes 12 Muffins

1-1/2 cups unbleached flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
5 Organic Weetabix Biscuits, crushed
1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 cup yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
4 Tbsp. honey

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease muffin cups or use paper baking cups.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in the Organic Weetabix and sugar.

3. Mix the yogurt and milk together in a bowl and beat in the egg, melted butter and honey.

4. Mix wet ingredients into dry, mixing only until just combined.

5. Scoop batter into muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes, or until the muffins have risen and are golden brown. Turn out onto a rack to cool or serve warm for breakfast with yogurt and fruit or at snack time with coffee, tea or milk.

Thanks for all your words of encouragement re the macro project. I really don't have many tips to pass on about photography apart from some obvious ones:

Good lighting is a must (my flash photography looks horrid).
If you take hundreds of pictures - at least one will be okay!
Snap from lots of different angles.
Oh and photoshop is a bad photographer's best friend!

The last one

My first knitting project.

So I'm a photo or two short of completion, (the story of my life!) but I'm finished with the macro project I think. Thanks to Karin at Orange Flower for organising this, I've really enjoyed the challenge but am relieved not to be on my knees shoving my camera perilously close to all manner of subjects whilst onlookers stare in bewilderment at my antics. It's also been a huge learning curve, which may result in spending my next pay packet on a proper grown up camera.

And a note to all those who unsubscribed from my blog during my month of macro photos (but I guess you're probably not reading this he he!) that's OK with me. Really, I understand how I might bore you senseless. I'm happy to admit that I really am this nerdy and dull.

Day 26 - My big fat Greek Easter.

My husband's parents are Greek and we celebrated Easter today with his family. Not the roast lamb on a spit in the back yard that you might imagine, but we did have a big family celebration which involved a great deal of eating. If you haven't ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, you should, it's a frighteningly accurate representation of Greek life - there are so many cousins, aunts and uncles I lose count, many of whom share the same name. But they are without doubt the friendliest, kindest bunch you could meet.

One tradition in my husband's household is dyeing eggs scarlet to signify the blood of Christ. The eggs are hard boiled and distributed around the table, we rap them against everyone else's eggs and the owner of the last uncracked egg is considered lucky.

Christos Anasti!

Day 24

Friday night is movie night in our house. We've been doing this for over a year now and I'd thoroughly recommend it.

There's always pizza (mostly homemade).

Followed by popcorn.

And of course a movie.

And, because it'd be a shame not to, there's the post-movie family bike ride!

Day 23

Sunflowers.

Not the prettiest of pictures but the children are very excited to be growing their own plants. We've been watching their progess on an hourly (no joking) basis!

Day 22

Bath anyone?