Monsieur le cow

A few days ago I set to work on making Bella a pair of trousers. Within two minutes Sam had hijacked the project, presenting me a cow softie pattern from Meet me at Mikes Crafty Journal book.

It was a fun project and and is made of scraps of a vintage pillow case, Bella's old dress and shop bought fabric. Sam loved it as a puppet (the next project maybe?) and the finished product is now tucked up in bed with him.

This weekend

Starting from Friday, the weather was lovely but it gradually became colder  - icy cold and windy! I walked around the village with Bella who desperately wanted to go inside the church (where Scott and I got married), picked a few flowers and more gardening for a change. We ate our homegrown salad and I carried on recycling clothes. This time a top that is too small which is now going to make a nice cardigan.

Bits from last week

Here are a few (quite a few!) photos from last week, before I file them away in my flickr filing cabinet.

:: Bella playing hide and seek with grandad and wearing bling from nana.
:: Using an old jumper of Bella's to sew onto a dress I bought from the charity shop.
:: Bella reading my book in her bedroom.
:: Sam took a photo of his doudou.
:: Lots of sewing.
:: My 3 euros rug/mat from the secondhand shop.
:: Bella keeping warm next to the fire on a rather chilly day.
:: Yellow cardi and blue chair - just because :)
:: Joanne Harris' cook book. We've been making most our meals from here this week.
:: Bella playing with chalk and water and she's wearing another re-cycled top - the sleeves are from Sam's old t-shirt.
:: Vintage fisher price sandals from here.
:: A view from the garden.
phew, time for a cuppa!

Chairs!

Bella and I nipped to the charity shop last week. I took the van because Scott needed my car to drive south to see a client. We went straight into the clothes shop, as we always do. Then, having 30 minutes to spare we took a look outside in the 'junk yard'. I can sense colourful objects I think and tread through broken glass and nettles to get to 5 chairs. Three metal and wood chairs and two rounded back chairs for 20 euros! So, with the help of a nice man, we crammed them in the van and quickly shut the boot door.

Funnily enough, the children love sitting at the table now, to eat and draw. Sam showing me what he's been working on at school. "J'ai fait des boucles en classe!" And tonight, we sat and went page by page and by minute detail through everything he has done since last November. Incroyable :)

Simple pleasures

Tall bamboo still shedding it's leaves after a harsh winter.
Nettles for nettle pesto. Reciped at http://black-eyedangel.blogspot.fr/2012/03/nettle-pesto.html
Vintage goodies for Sam and Bella from Little Reader Vintage.
Bloomers I made for Bella from vintage fabric.
Trips down the river fishing for crayfish.
And a much happier upbeat moi. Thank you soooo much for all your wonderful comments re. my last post :)

Things to do

A little of what I've been up to when I have a bit of time. I have a lot of fabric and a lot of cushion inserts. I made a start with some Orla Kiely fabric to make and then recovered an old canvas print with scraps of fabric. 

My style is increasingly chintzy of late, which is just as well because I can make use of my vintage plate collection. 

Thankyou to Kerry from Seventy Tree for awarding me the sunshine award :))