Cute Kitchen

Look what I have been given,  isn't it sooo cute?
A gorgeous vintage handmade little girls kitchen, this was kindly given to me by my closest friends mother in law. It had been in her loft for about 30 years. I can't wait to give it a clean up, some new handles, perhaps a little bit of pretty fabric on the top cupboards behind the mesh.
It has the cutest little pictures on it.

This kitchen will be a gift for Isla-Rose for Christmas, I am hoping to crochet an array of yummy food to go with it.  I have already made a start with some delicious cakes.

I would be grateful for any pattern ideas for the food,  some fruit and veg would be great.
Wondering if I am up to making a little tea set to go with it, some little tea cups hanging from the hooks would look divine.

Whilst I am on the cake theme I thought I would share with you some little edible ( I use this term loosely as I am no Delia) cakes that I made to take with me to a pirate themed party that we were invited to this week.

They were great fun to make, and the best thing about them is that they left you with black teeth, just like a real pirate!!

Thanks for popping in.  xx

Playing with buttons

I've been playing about with buttons today and made myself two cute button rings, so simple but effective, I love them and can't wait for an excuse to wear them. I wish I was able to wear such delights at all times but for the moment my hands are either in dirty dishwater or changing dirty nappies.

I might make a few more of these  as little stocking fillers for Christmas, if I can bear to give them away. I do love my buttons and get a bit panicky if the button box gets a little empty, I won't let Dylan know though, as a few weeks ago he announced he had a gift for me... oh how sweet....he then proceeded to hand be a big handful of buttons, he had very kindly hacked them off his clothes from his cupboard, all his lovely summer shirts ruined.

He now has a limited summer wardrobe of just t-shirts.

These rings will be this weeks T52MMMC.

The children and I have managed to get out in between showers to go blackberry picking.

We had a lovely few hours picking, despite all of us getting stung by nettles, I had forgotten just how much they hurt and was still complaining that evening even though the children had long forgotten about their stings.

My freezer is now overflowing with blackberries as the children didn't want to stop picking until they had filled their Tupperware boxes.

We had a lovely apple and blackberry crumble with lashings of custard. Yum!

I fancy making some blackberry jam with the remaining berries, mainly because I want an excuse to buy some jars and make some pretty little covers to go over the lids and have them displayed in my kitchen.

I have never made jam before though and every recipe I look at is different, some surprisingly easy and others very complicated, I would be grateful for any EASY recipes or tips, but most importantly ideas for pretty jars and lids so that if it tastes awful at least it will look nice.

Handbags and Rainmacs.

I have decided to put my granny square cushion aside for now and concentrate on the task in hand, which is xmas.
I have borrowed a wonderful book from the library " weekend crochet for babies" by Sue Whiting, amongst the patterns for booties,hats and cardigans I found a pattern for an adorable little bag, I couldn't resist giving it a go.

It's just perfect for a little girl and all those important bits that she has to carry. This bag will  be a gift for my niece, I will fill it with all sorts of xmas goodies ( chocolate Santa's, pretty hair accessories, .....)

Who's is that chubby little hand?????
With those dimples it can only be one person...

Isla-Rose...

The weather here has been so unpredictable this week, really hot one minute then thunder and bouncing rain the next,  we got so bored and fed up with being indoors that on Saturday we took our chances, packed a picnic, packed our rain macs and went for a walk.
We decided on a trip to the boating lake, all was going well until .. yes you've guessed it ..the heavens opened.

We also made the mistake of taking scooters, once the rain had stopped the path became a huge dirty puddle, Lucie and Dylan no longer wanted to ride their scooters and moaned all the way round dragging their scooters behind them.
We thought it would make a nice change for Isla-Rose to go round on her trike, so we didn't take the pushchair, another huge huge mistake as once Isla-Rose had been allowed the freedom to run around she refused point blank to get back on her trike, no amount of bribing with juice and raisins was going to get that little girl back on that trike.

So there we were, soaking wet carrying a wriggling crying toddler, pushing a trike, picking up scooters that were frequently left on the side of the path, but there was still a smile on my face (sort of) as I knew that once we reached the end, there to greet me would be the COFFEE SHOP, I could taste the cappuccino and chocolate cake......and yes you've guessed right again.....by the time we got there it was CLOSED!!!

Monday we decided to try again. We packed another picnic and the pushchair and headed off to Elvaston castle and this time we hit the jackpot, the sun shone all day.

  Somehow I managed to catch on camera this touching moment between Dylan and his daddy....so sweet.

How hard can it be........

Very, it was very hard, I am referring back to my last post when I announced I was going to dig out the old sewing machine buried beneath a pile of junk in my garage. I haven't touched a sewing machine in 17yrs.
I'm not sure how old this sewing machine is and obviously it didn't come with any instructions, needless to say we didn't get on well together, after 15 minutes of pulling, pressing, pushing, threading, huffing and puffing that sewing machine went straight back on top of that pile of junk.
I won't let this beat me as I know I can do it. I think I need a quick crash course round at nannas house and something a bit more user friendly.

Apart from the disaster with the sewing machine, I have had a lovely weekend and managed to get quite a bit of crafting done. I now have a new man in my life... Kevin.. he is so cute.

Don't they make an adorable couple.

One more Kitty to do for Lucie, hopefully she'll be complete by the end of the week.

Lucie has also been feeling crafty this weekend and spent most of sunday sat out in the sun beading bracelets.

Such a serious face.

I haven't been allowed to see the finished item as it's a gift for me, she has also jumped on the home made xmas bandwagon.

Something amazing has happened in my garden over the weekend, I have ONE RED TOMATO, yipee!!!!! This year is the first year I have ever grown anything edible. I decided to grow courgettes and tomatoes, the courgettes are a huge success, we have had courgettes with everything, but I was beginning to worry about the tomatoes as the fruit had been a decent size for a long time and lives in a very sunny spot, but worry no more at last our tomatoes are turning red!!

My new project is to be a granny flower square cushion, I have to have one after seeing so many beautiful ones on other blogs. This is my progress so far..

I shall keep you posted on its development.

Time for just one more photo..... some gorgeous flowers picked for me by Lucie and Dylan, oh bless them.

Cats,crafts and cakes.

Thank you to everybody who took the time to read my first post and for all the lovely comments, and an even bigger thank you to all those who have decided to follow my blog, it is reassuring to know that I am not just talking to myself as I have heard that this is the first sign of madness.

Now that it has been confirmed that I am not going mad I will fill you in with all that I have been up to  since my last post.
I have decided to take part in The 52 mmm challenge as found on A thrifty mrs blog. With the weather being a bit grim this week we have had to spend more time indoors than we would have liked but this has allowed me to have more craft time yippee!!, so I am off to a cracking start.
For my first make I found the most adorable pattern at MarmaladeRose, a cute little kitty, she was so easy and quick to make, just one evening.

Kiki the kitty has proven to be very popular and with having 3 children I am having to make 3 kitty's. Kitty number 2 is already under construction, this ones going to be a boy.

Lucie and I have also been making yummy things in the kitchen, I have to admit to not being the best when it comes to anything culinary, but we managed to make some very tasty butterfly cakes.

Lucie and Dylan have also been busy crafting this week and I am now the proud new owner of Mr 'n' Mrs Spoony, They have pride of place sitting in a jug on my kitchen window, perfectly placed to make me smile whilst doing the most boring job of all, the pots.

I've also had time this week for a quick visit to the local charity shop and found myself the most wonderful craft book for only 20p. It's titled ' The book of handicrafts' by St Michael and was published in 1975, it has the most fabulous and fun photographs, here are a few of the best.

This book has inspired me to try another craft for my next make. Many years ago my nanna gave me an old sewing machine which has lived a dusty old life in my garage, I think now is the time to dust it down and bring it back to life and have a little go, there's only one small problem and that is that I haven't used a sewing machine for 17 years, but hey how hard can it be??.........famous last words.  xx

144 sleeps until........

Hello, thanks for taking the time to have a little peek. This is the very first post of my very first blog. Having spent hours or possibly days on the internet gazing and admiring other peoples beautiful blogs and all the wonderful things created, I have decided to take the plunge and have a go myself.

My great passion at the moment is crochet, which I began about 2 yrs ago whilst pregnant with my third child, Isla-Rose. I decided to crochet her a baby blanket, since then I haven't been able to stop, I am addicted!!.

I also have a thing for collecting special pretty finds from charityshops, car boots and summerfairs, particularly buttons, vintage crockery and fabrics, much to my husbands annoyance who refers to it as "not more tat"

144 sleeps untill......christmas, that is. This is the reason for my blog, having given up work to look after my gorgeous baby girl, money is not as plentiful as it once was, and having been inspired by my favourite show on t.v in 2009 " Kirsties homemade christmas", I have decided to set myself the challenge of handmaking the majority of my christmas gifts this christmas, this blog is a record of my progress and the countdown to "Jaceys homemade chistmas 2010".

I would be grateful for all comments and ideas that you may have to inspire me, the clock is ticking....  Many thanks if you have took the time to read this far.