BubbaChic

Pumpkin Day

Today was orange day at Mads school - so I got an excuse to finally see if she wanted to wear the pumpkin dress I made a while ago - she reluctantly agreed (she seems to have an aversion to long sleeves) Jay got some shots of the kiddies this afternoon::

and a shot of *Joshua-I-desperately-need-a-haircut*

Josh and I went shopping today for party supplies for our Fall Party - which we are hosting this weekend. We got some bargain fall decor and then went shopping for ingredients so that I can try a few party foods out on the family, before I subject friends to my cooking! So today we ate - sausage rolls, courtesy of Delia, Pumpkin Cookies - which are the most fantastic cookies I have ever had and Marmite whirls - you either love them or hate them.  I am getting excited about our little soiree, but nervous that I have yet to finish Maddy or Josh's costume - so I am bringing in the cavalry - and a friend is coming over tomorrow to help me finish them both off - hooray!

A Labour of Love..

I have finished a project today which I started cutting and piecing together on Friday - its a birthday gift for a special friend over here in the States, a lady who is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside and who has been a wonderful blessing in my life.

It is made from a mixture of soft linen, vintage fabrics and some beautiful Joel Dewberry fabrics. I have added some hand embroideries along with a message along the bottom which reads 'you are a true blessing'

The embroidered message::

On another note - Maddy did something this weekend which really tickled me...I wasn't able to move from my bed on Saturday - having been struck down with a rotten tummy bug - so Mads came to join me and watch some TV. As she was watching the TV - the adverts came on and showed some rather gruesome clips of horror movies that were being advertised for that weekend - so I quickly grabbed the remote and switched over to any channel - it just so happens that it switched over to an infomercial for a kitchen product. We ended up both sitting and watching about 15 minutes of the infomercial - seeing various demonstration's on how to make gourmet meals from leftovers in your fridge - and when it finished, Maddy, who had been intently watching the advert - turned and said to me 'WOW! Mummy we have got to get one of those!'

That made me chuckle - a lot!

All You Can Eat...

...Kids under 3 eat free...

They obviously have never met Joshy - the perfect answer to slash profits by half...

...yeah...my boy likes his food...

Playdate and Memories..

Today we had our first play date with Maddy's friend from School - a real cutie, who is very similar to Maddy in so many ways. Maddy talks about her little friend - especially when I pick her up from pre-school, but it was only the other day, when I was dropping Mads off at school and Maddy's sweet friend gave her a picture of a princess - complete with pink dress and blond hair (that she had coloured in at home and brought in for her) that her teachers mentioned to me, how inseparable they are - and I realised that Maddy has a best friend.

When her teachers told me how they play together constantly and hold hands and are generally thick as thieves - I felt quite emotional - I am touched and happy that Maddy has bonded so well with another sweet little soul and it also brings back memories of my earliest school days and the emergence of a very strong friendship with my friend - Amy, who is still my best friend to this day.

Amy and I were as thick as thieves also - we grew up through every stage of our lives together - and even though I am thousands of miles away from her in a different country now - she still remains firmly in my heart and also firmly on my mantlepiece! (picture below is a candid shot of Amy giving me a cuddle as we were getting ready on my wedding day - and is framed and above our fire)

The funniest aspect of our friendship that is still the same today as it was back when we were 5 or 6 - is that I always wanted to have the attributes and features that Amy had and vice versa. I always wanted to be petite and have blond curly hair  - and many a conversation, throughout the years has centred around convincing the other that they were really the lucky one to have curly/straight hair and we still do it to this day!

I wish I had more photos of Amy to post here now - but sadly they are still in storage back in England - and I am thinking that some of the photos of me and Amy together - complete with a mullet (mine) and shell suits (both of us), should remain for our eyes only!!

The Evolution of Plankton

Maddy is a Spongebob fan, Maddy is also a fan of drawing - so when the two merged back in March, when she had just turned 3, it made us smile.

She drew this picture of Plankton which we were very impressed with:

The picture was prompty scanned into the computer and sent to various family members over the world and eventually ended up in the inbox of a plankton enthusiast, who was able to give an indication as to the exact type of plankton that Maddy had artistically drawn. We were all highly amused by this outcome.

Today, Maddy decided to draw another Plankton and his evolution is remarkable.

He now seems to have sprouted arms, legs and antenna - I am eager to find out what the Plankton specialist will make of the newly evolved Plankton.

We already know one thing for sure - that our little lady is a complete poppet and she makes us smile broadly, everyday.

Festively Plump...

Monday seems to have (unintentionally) become baking day in this house - and I have spent yet another monday stepping out of my cooking comfort-zone to prapare some new dishes to try and tempt the family with.

Today - I can firmly blame it on the wintry weather which descended upon us - I can honestly say, this feels like the first cold day in these parts since...April?? So what better winter warmer to create than a home-made soup.

When back home in England, Jay loved Carrot and Coriander (cilantro) soup - but I have been unable to find any here - so today I made some.

It is an easy peasy recipe, which was lapped up by the men of the household, but shunned by little Mads - who is a major motivating factor for me to to trying new things and find her tastes.

On the crafting front - I have been searching for inspiration as I need to make Joshy a new quilt. The one I made him back in February does not seem to be big enough and with the lowering temperatures happening now - I want to make it a priority to get one done for him.

Joshua in his current cowboy-inspired crib.

I am loving this quilt really funky and fresh. This one looks devine - with all the hand embroidery details and this one is so cool.

Decisions, decisions....

A memorable weekend

Oh my Nan would have been excited about this weekend and our trip to Dallas!...she was a big fan of Dallas and I thought of her lots this weekend.

We got back home today after a lovely weekend away with the kiddies - We managed to pack in lots, including a shopping trip to Ikea, an interesting visit to the grassy knoll (Dad - we are SO gonna take you here!) and just some time together without all the usual distractions that stop us focusing completely on each other.

Here are a couple of photos, the Lil scamps keeping themselves amused as we are loading the car ready for our road trip..

The photo that has it all...Jay and the kiddies (red pushchair) on the grassy knoll, book depository in the background (and sixth floor window) and cross on road is where JFK got hit - click on photo to enlarge - the cross is clearer.

Saturday night in the hotel - we got a video of this moment too, because Josh was really tickled by something and was chuckling his little heart out...

I took some embroideries with me to do in the car - kiddies permitting - and because they were so wonderful - I actually got it all done!

I think they will end up as a little wall hanging for the kitchen...

Road trip!

There is a sense of excitement in the air today as we plan our little weekend road trip...although we have lived in Oklahoma for over 2.5 years now - I am ashamed to say, that we haven't ventured down to Texas yet - so tomorrow we head out for a Texan adventure.

Maddy is excited and eager to get going on our *holiday* and Joshy is a little under the weather - so after a few lazy days in the house, I think a change of scene will do him good.

I have managed to finish up a project today, which I need to get in the mail - as it is a birthday present for a special little lady. I am in lurve in the fabric - its a Baby Nay print and it is super soft knit, I can't wait to make something for Mads in it.

I have so many things that I am wanting to get sewed up for Mads and Josh - that I almost don't know where to start. So it will be nice to take the weekend out - take a few hand-embroideries with me and just play around with sewing, without feeling like I have things that I need to get done.

Hindsight

Its a wonderful thing hindsight - and something that we experienced today.

Today was Maddy's first visit to the dentist - something we both want her to have no fear of at all - just as I had (and still have) no fear of.

So the appointment was booked with a pediatric dentist - someone who obviously knows their stuff and knows how to do it in a kid-friendly way...fantastic.

Well, thats not how my lil lady saw things - Jay took Mads to the appointment and when in the dentists, she resisted every step of the way! There was no way she was going to sit in the chair, open her mouth etc.. so little was accomplished on the first visit and it left us wondering what on earth we had done wrong. We hadn't spoken about the dentist visit excessively with her, we didn't associate any negative words towards the dentist....what on earth went wrong??

So, this afternoon, whilst Mads was having lunch I asked what she thought of going to the dentist
'I didn't like it, I didn't sit in the chair...'
'Why didn't you like it?'
'There was monsters there - and a cage, and monster in the cage....and ghosts...'

Which Jay then confirmed, there was loads of Halloween decorations up - and you have to walk through a scary tunnel to get into the dentists - so - our daughter is not scared of the dentist himself, or of anything scary in that sense - but she is scared of all the Halloween regalia that was in the dentist office....guess we should of seen that one coming...hindsight eh...great isn't it...

Whilst we don't celebrate halloween in our house - I am loving this little fall pumpkin he is seriously cute

Randomness

Here are a few random facts about the past few days in our household:

The family has managed to get through 18 eggs in 2 days...crazy huh?!

Maddy and Josh had approximately 7 meltdowns (each) within a 2 hour period this evening - all over a 3 inch plastic shrek doll....?

Joshy keeps getting food stuck in between his newly grown teeth - and he is getting pretty frustrated with it

A little Fabric Fairy dropped off a package to my house today :o) and I smiled all over!

I made 2 t-shirts for Joshy today, but cannot be bothered to take a photo right now!

Joshua is eating us out of house and home right now - a growth spurt maybe...I am worried that we won't be able to afford the food bills of this boy when he is a teenager!

Maddy told me to 'turn that music down Mummy' today when I was listening to Justin Timberlake...great huh? being told off by a 3 year old

Every time I surf for tunes on You Tube on my computer, Jays computer runs like a 3-legged donkey!

We are official in fall break - so will be doing a whole lot of relaxing in this house for a good few days

Jay and I are growing addicted to watching the real estate channel and dreaming what house we want to buy

I need to knuckle down and do some cleaning and laundry before I lose one of the kids in the laundry pile

Jay and I have eaten half of the ginger-pear cake in 24 hours (this one that had the equivalent of 12 portions!)

Thats enough mindless ramblings for today methinks...

Mixing things up

I feel like I have dropped the ball a bit recently with meals...I seem to be stuck in a rut with dinners and lunches, so I grabbed a few cookery books this weekend and shopped from them - attempting to do something different for dinner, in a bid to get the kiddies Maddy to eat more!

So, today, whilst the kiddies napped - I baked...lots...

The upside down pear and ginger cake went down well...good job as I made enough for 12...we are gonna be eating it for a while methinks!

Mads enjoyed helping me with dinner and did a very good job of battering the fish - which I think may be the key to getting her to eat slightly more than a sparrow does...

Making a playdress from a baby blanket

I got hold of this cute mermaid baby blanket in the hopes of turning into an item of clothing for Mads - who is mad on mermaids right now (or wormaids as she calls them!) So here is a sew-a-long to show the process.

The dress is based on the Simplicity 4437 pattern. But I am omitting the zipper down the back because of using knit fabrics that will stretch. This also means that I don't have to cut the back skirt panel out of two pieces of fabric - it can be one continuous piece.

Take your blanket..

Separate the top and bottom layers - leaving the binding on the edges

Use one side for both skirt panels

and other side for all bodice pieces

Sew bodice front to bodice back at shoulders - for both outer and lining pieces

Sew bodice right-sides-together at armholes and all of the front section (see location of pins - click on image to enlarge)

Fold pieces out to the right side and match up armholes - sew down both inner and outer arm holes in one

Close up of pinned armholes ready to sew.

Turn bodice right side out - and try it on your model...if the armholes are too big (and they do tend to run big in this pattern) simply repeat the step above

Measure where the cross needs to be when the bodice is on your little girl and then mark this - use basting stitch along the bottom of the bodice to hold it in place and top stitch around the whole neck - this will then keep the front sections in place.

Prepare the skirt panels - I adapted the pattern here - as I only needed one panel for the back, because of omitting the zipper - so I sewed the front and back pieces together - into one long skirt piece.

I then attached the skirt to the bodice - right-sides-together, following the directions on the pattern - with the front piece (with mermaid applique) matching the cross over in the top. Here is a photo of the front (wrong side) of the skirt attached to the bodice

and another view of how the bodice (right-side) is attached with pins to the skirt front (right side)

When I was happy that the front of the skirt was pinned in place I pinned the other crossover part of the skirt (from the back panel) over the top of it (without any gathers) and sewed it all on the sewing machine - with a basting stitch.

When I was happy that the skirt fell right - I used the serger to sew the bodice and skirt together.

and Voila! Finished play dress ala blanket

One last step - unpick label!

There are lots of modifications which you can do to this pattern - depending on the look you are going for. The skirt on the pattern is very full - so you could definitely use less fabric on the front and back skirt panels to get a more streamlined skirt.

I think something is following me....

There seem to be little piles of crafts, popping up around the house...

There's one in the kitchen...

 

make that two in the kitchen...

One popped up on the bar...

...and they seem to have overtaken the cutting table, I swear it used to be around here somewhere...

The charity sewing week has produced lots of inspiration - which I am attempting to finish up today and tomorrow.

And here is a picture of Joshy from today - which made me chuckle (My little Man makes me chuckle so much these days) He has finished eating a donut and is less than impressed with the *sticky* mess on his hands and face - he has started to get annoyed by being a mess!...what a turnaround! He also makes me laugh, because evrytime he says *sticky* he will open and close his sticky little hands by way of a gesture to me....which is exactly what he is doing in this photo!

Still plodding along...

Progress has been made in the charity-sewing stakes with the additions of these outfits:

A Christmas dress, sized 12 months - lots of tiers and frills! I am in love with this fabric and will be attempting something for Mads when we get a little closer to Christmas.

Redondo (aka mega twirly skirt!) in fall colours - with a brand new long sleeved turtle neck, which I embroidered the flowers to match the skirt. This is a size 3...and I know one little lady who would be very happy to keep it!

I am also attempting something different - with cuuuute apple embroidery from Sublime Stitching - which will be turned into a baby quilt. Its been really nice being able to attempt projects that may have been in my head for a while - but I have not had any real reason to work on them. So fund raising seems the perfect excuse.

I am hoping to get them all on my Etsy store on Saturday by Midday (central time)

Pay it forward

This week I am counting my blessings and everything I sew will be put up in my etsy store, with all the profits going to charity - this charity in particular.

Today, I have managed to sew up this little three-piece lounge set - made from supersoft velour and striped knit fabrics, in size 12-18 months.

A little asian-inspired floral print - with long sleeves and a hood - perfect for fall. This is made from soft knit fabric, sized 12-18 months.

..and finally tonight - this 2T pumpkin fleece jumper with knit raglan sleeves.

 

I am having to make things that aren't Maddy or Josh size - so that I am not tempted to keep it all! Maddy has already claimed the little asian dress, regardless of it being far too small!

I did manage to sew one dress for Mads yesterday - this super soft striped knit fabric is proving to be a big hit with my lil comfort-loving lady.

 

Pumpkin Pie

Today was full of pumpkins (can you tell I am beckoning the cooler temperatures to come?!) I made pumpkin sets for both of the guys. Joshys was a merging of two Ottobre patterns and Mads was the  Olivia pattern from Fabenmix.

I also managed to finish this skirt - a Redondo, by Fabenmix - which I have been trying to hem for two days and finally got round to it today. Its the ultimate twirly girly skirt and Mads seems to appreciate the twirliness! Here are a few action shots::

Hand embroidered t-shirt to match the bunnies on Mads skirt

and finally - a photo of Joshy from this afternoon - who had crawled up onto the coffee table to relax, he is still not a well bunny, but he is getting lots of love and cuddles which seems to be helping a little..

What else is there to do at 5am....?

Joshy had a good night last night...and is still soundly asleep....Maddy on the other hand is now poorly and coughing - and got up to announce this fact very loudly at 5am.

She is now back in bed and sleeping - hopefully until a more Godly hour...whilst I am awake and unable to get back to sleep! However, all is not bad...because I just stumbled accross the most fantastic website for toys!

Check out these little play foods especially these tea bags and tin of peas and carrots

Or this princess bed with all the roses

Or this...wow...castle collection for little boys, especially the sail boat

How about this funky fantasy bed

Or perhaps a seriously cute doll

Well, if we win the lottery, I know where our first stop will be now!

A tough tough job

Some days, just when you think you have a handle on the parenting world - something comes along and bites you on the ass...

...today, it was a cerebral seizure that bit me...well Joshy, to be more precise.

After a wonderful morning of playing with his little friends and a lovely nap - things went decidedly downhill this evening at dinnertime...and to cut a very long story short, Me, Mads (in her PJs) and Joshy ended up at the emergency medical centre tonight.

Joshy is running a fever, which is usually the main cause of cerebral seizures. He is off-colour and floppy one minute and then can't help laughing at his hilarious sister the next minute as she pulls faces at him in a bid to get her animated *Joss* back. I will be staying very close to my babe tonight.

It takes very little reason for me to put a photo of my babes up here, and tonight I think I am very justified and proud to do it::

Here is Joshy (The Barnet) at 5 months old

and Mads in one of the first skirts I made here - she is almost 2.5 here::

Jay and Josh sharing a Father-Son moment.

and finally...James, Joshua (6 weeks) and Maddy (just turned 2)

Bring on Autumn

Its officially Autumn...we have our pumpkins and leaves out...and Mads and I will be adding more decorations to our little display, when the mood so take us.

Todays collaborative effort was the button pumpkin.

I am glad that it is feeling like Autumn inside the house - because outside today, it sure didn't...it was hot! I am not sure when Oklahoma is going to realise that its meant to be cooling down now - and killing off some of those pesky bugs that eat you alive as soon as you step foot outdoors.

I also managed to make Mads a little autumnal dress - all knit fabric, so super soft and comfy. I have finally conceded defeat and will be making Mads mostly knit outfits from now on - as my little lady is all about comfort...unless an item of clothing has Dora on it - when she will squeeze into it regardless of it being 2 years too small...and try and convince me 'its not tight Mummy' hmmmmm...

Just as they are...

Today was portrait day at Mad's pre-school...this is the first time she has had a school picture done and I am obviously not quite *withit* as to what was involved. I wanted to get a photo of Joshua done with Mads - so we headed up to her preschool at 11am to go and grab her.

Mads was miffed that I came at 11 and was taking her away from her friends 'but Mummy, i'm line leader today' (where she gets to be the head of the line out to the playground - a hugely important responsibility, that my lil lady was taking very seriously) and we headed up to the designated room to have our photos...when I stepped in the room, I realised I had underestimated this event. In front of us were immaculately dressed, groomed little people - with beautiful outfits and beautiful hair-do's.

And there were my little people - play clothes on - Mads with her flyaway locks and Joshy with that little bit of back hair that just never lays flat....The lady accompanying the photographer grabbed a comb and started taming Maddy's hair whilst I put a new top of Joshua that didn't have dribbles and juice down it.

I briefly attempted to manipulated Joshy's hair to lay flat - and quickly realised I was fighting a loosing battle! It was at this point, that grooming lady handed the comb to me and I came back to reality...my babes are perfect - just as they are. The fact that their hair is out of place and they are not wearing their Sunday best - means absolutely nothing to me, zip, zero, zilch...

They are perfect to me, just as they are...and that is how they were photographed.

When we get the photos back I will definitely post a few!

...oh and another realisation I came to today - is that now we are parents, sacrificing beauty for functionality is almost a daily part of our lives...and here is a cracking illustration:

An answer to Joshua being just the right height to bump his head on the corner of the kitchen counter - the cowboy hamster got a new job...I think the brown tape especially sets off his bandanna.