Where were we...

Life is flying past. Busy, busy, busy. Baby E is 7 months, how did that happen? Little R is 2 and a half. I get so much pleasure from these two little people each and every day but they leave time for very little else, that's for sure! But oh my word, I love spending my days with them ♥♥ 

In the last few months we have redone the damp proofing in our house as the previous owners did a right botch job. This wasn't easy with (at the time) a 4 month old and a 2 year old. Not to bore anyone but this involved my husband and Daddy chipping plaster off walls, then the damp proof was done and then plaster put back on and then redecorating. At one point it looked like this...

I can't say it was easy doing this with two very small children (It was hell on earth! Dust everywhere and entertaining two little people from our bedroom and kitchen out of bounds!) but we want to sell next year and it needed done, timing wasn't perfect but hey. I'm so proud that we did it. We probably prematurely aged during that month but we did it! and survived to tell the tale. And one big bonus is that now everywhere is painted white - my new all time favourite wall colour.

Craft has been very slow but I have been working on a few things...

 A brooch for a friend

 A quilt for Baby E, similar to the one I made for Little R

I started work on this blanket but I don't think I'm sold on the colours. It's on hold for now...

Mainly I have been working on a new crochet blanket and I just finished it today (never mind that I started it late in May and it's only a giant granny square!). I guess this is a Ta-Dah moment!

 I made the cushions too!

I think I am a happy with this blanket. I had a crisis of confidence over the colours as usual and also wished I had done a different pattern rather than something so simple but I'm up against it time wise. So anyway it's done now and I can't wait to snuggle under it when it gets colder.

Oh and we potty trained Little R over the summer too. So very proud of him. So yep like I said busy, busy, busy. 

I am loving my maternity leave so much. I love spending my days with Little R and Baby E. They just make me so happy. Baby E is the happiest, smiliest baby. He giggles so much, usually at his older brother. He has the most intoxicating laugh. And Little R is a wee chatter box. We were at the fruit and veg shop the other day and he was wittering on about the names of fruit and a little old lady said that I wouldn't be lonely with him around and it's totally true, I love his chit chat and his company. I don't want my maternity leave to end, I would love to spend my days with them forever but in January I will be going back to work. I will probably be crying my eyes out again but for now I'm not thinking of that, I'm enjoying every second (well it's not all bliss, Little R is a toddler after all and babies aren't entirely easy!) with my little family. I know it's a total cliche but having children is probably the best thing I have ever done, I totally understand why some people say that now. I have a PhD, I have worked hard but it's my babies that bring me the most joy and contentment and I don't care if it's trite, it's true.

And finally :: After Baby E was born I discovered Instagram and while I'm not on Facebook and generally shun social media I really love and am fairly addicted to IG because for me it's like mini blogging, but without all the text and long photo editing. I love it for craft ideas and inspiration. I would love to be a more regular blogger but I can't see that happening any time soon as things are just too busy on the home front and I can't seem to blog quickly. I need to simplify the whole process, I take too long editing photos and making everything 'look right', this post is thrown together and none of the photos match in style, sorry. Anyway if you are an IGer, pop along and visit me there.

♥♥  Thanks for stopping by  ♥♥ 

The countdown begins...

Hello there, I should put a little warning on this post, if you don't like to think about Christmas until December or at the earliest November then I think you should look away now! 

I've been getting excited about Christmas since about August and have been slowly stockpiling presents since then. I must admit I am usually not that organised and usually have a dream/nightmare in December where it's Christmas day and I haven't bought any presents so I have decided this year that I am going to be super organised and not have any shopping to do in December. This is a great plan in theory but no doubt I will still end up racing around like a luny on the 23rd of December trying to find something but I am trying to avoid that. I love Christmas but I hate Christmas shopping in December: crowded shops, longs queues at tills and anxiously waiting on Amazon orders to get here in time for Christmas are yuk and I promised myself I'm not doing any of that this year. Watch this space!

Anyway enough ranting. I just love Christmas and I love getting prepared so this year I was very good to myself and purchased this...

It's a Cath Kidston Christmas Organiser that I saw on Hookin with Laa Laa's blog and I knew instantly that I had to get it (well after a few days chirping away at D he told me just to buy it - I'm not a very spontaneous shopper, I don't like to waste money!). It's sooo lovely, I wonder why I never had a Christmas organiser before. It now lives beside my bed, ready and waiting for any Christmassy ideas that come in to my head. 

So anyway the main reason for this post is that I have completed a Christmassy make and I really wanted to share it before December. It's an Advent Calendar garland type thing. Basically I wanted to make an advent calendar that my little family can use every year and I wanted something different than the shop bought calendars. I got the idea from a book my husband borrowed from the library for me which suggested making 24 red felt pockets and numbering them 1-24 and hanging them up on a string and each day you would take one down to help you remember what day you are on. I thought it was a neat little idea and decided this was the project for me but I thought it needed a few tweaks and embellishments. So I made my 24 little pockets numbered 1-24 but I felt the numbers needed to be embroidered to the pocket to help them stay put and to make them look pretty and this is the finished result...

I also added a little jingle bell to the bottom for an extra Christmassy touch...

I also decided to pink the edges (is that the correct term?), what I mean is the straight cut edges looked a little boring so I used pinking shears to crimp the edges and I think it makes them look more festive. I didn't like the idea of just removing each pocket as the month progressed so I thought it would be nicer to turn them around after each day passed and have something on the back. So after a little searching on the internet I decided to put the words HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS on the back of the pockets so this will eventually be spelt out by Christmas day. I decided to separate the words with a little star button and some felt. This idea is my favourite and the fact I came up with it all by myself gave me the biggest thrill. This is by far my favourite pocket of the 24...

 This is how all the little pockets will look together...

 And this is how they will look when turned over...

I'm going to hang the little pockets on some twine with small clothes pegs and I might even wrap some fairy lights around the twine if it works. Oh my word, I am soooo excited... I don't want to wish my life away but I am really, really, REALLY looking forward to when I can get this out of it's little box...

I'm going to fill the little pockets with special advent things to do like decorate the tree will be on day 1 and other things like make gingerbread men (I have never made these before some recipe recommendations would be really useful, otherwise I'll probably just use the BBC recipe), sing christmas carols, make mulled wine. I might also pop in some little treats like gold coins and candy canes but I'm not sure what to put in for Little R as he isn't eating sweets yet... maybe some little boxes of raisins (or baby crack as my Aussie friend likes to call them) might do the trick.

I also have some news to explain my terrible blogging habits of late. I feel I must apologise for not commenting on all the wonderful blogs that I love, I do still love reading them but I just can't find the time to comment and as for actually writing a blog post well I am even worse at getting this done! And the reason... I am 24 weeks pregnant (baby is due at the end of January 2013). Working, looking after Little R (although I have to admit D is great help and lets me have little rests when they are much needed) and trying to get some craft done make it hard to keep up in the blogging world but I'm so glad other people do manage it because I do love reading everyone's crafty exploits. I think making this little advent calendar has excited me even more because I know/hope little R and his little sibling will get years of fun out of it. It's going to be a chaotic 2013 but we are up for the challenge!

Thanks as always for reading and hello and a big thank you to my new followers, I'm so delighted you want to see my little corner of bloggyland.