Crafty eye candy...,

Al has been away in Singapore for a week, there wasn't much I asked him to bring back, just this Japanese Craft Book, 'Animal Mascot', which I've had my eye on for weeks.

Very cute penguin and seal pattern,

and Crocodiles to name but a few.

But he also picked up the May issue of 'Cotton Time', 

love this issue, there are a few softie patterns, in amongst,

a whole heap of quilting ideas.

All the eye candy got the creative ideas going at the weekend, and I started playing around with fabric...!

I'd better get on with the sewing!

Fabric, material, cloth,

...whatever you call it, it is my favorite medium to work with.  Anyone who reads this blog regularly will have noticed that I work from a limited range of fabrics, the same prints will crop up over and over again.  This is partly due to lack of storage space, funds and also because my crafting philosophy stems around the idea that it doesn't actually need to cost a huge amount of money to sew.  Many of my fabrics are from old clothes, mine, the children's, family members, and thrifted.  When I do add to my collection with bought fabrics, it will be something carefully chosen, I window shop a lot, but only occasionally buy.

Manda posted in detail the other day about fabric, and I'm also an advocate of buying fabric from overseas.  Last Thursday, I took the plunge, and purchased these two prints from ChokiChoki via Etsy, today is Tuesday, and they arrived this morning all the way from Japan.  How's that for speedy service!  I've had my eye on the telegram print for a while, and fell in love with the vintage sewing print while browsing.  Unwrapping the package, I was briefly disappointed to see they were a little darker that I originally thought, but then realised I still had my sunglasses on, sunglasses removed, problem solved!

(the sewing print is on linen, lovely weight of fabric)

Speaking of Manda, I have pinched her idea from this Flickr photograph for having swatches of fabric hung up over my desk,

...very handy and very organised!

And speaking of Flickr, here's a tip, NEVER (accidently) delete cookies from your computer, without taking a note of your yahoo id and password, otherwise you will find yourself unable to log in to your Flickr account, for hours and hours.

Not that I did this..., 

yesterday, 

just sayin...!

What's a girl to do,

...when all the housework is done, the children are playing happily in the garden (albeit, one small boy in only his underpants!), and your other half is away all week (in Singapore!)?

...make cake of course!,

(anyone fancy a slice or two?!)

...chocolate cake, just need the can of squirty cream and a spoon.

  A new week is starting, let the crafting commence!

Has anyone seen my crafting mojo?

...because it seems to have gone missing this week!

I've tried, and tried and tried, but production has slipped to an all time low.  It's been very disheartening after being on a bit of a roll the week before with my attempt at a stork for a mobile (of sorts!) amongst other projects.

But this week, nothing.  I've tried tidying up my craft room, but it ended up in a bigger mess than before.  I've tried moving the furniture round in there too, only to end up moving it back to where it was before.

I suppose the way forward is to start with something simple.  Unfortunately, my peacock, as much as I love it as it is, just will not stand up.  What I need to do is re-make the tail in lighter weight fabrics, and weight the base more to balance it out.  If I get that right, maybe the rest will start to follow.

Ok, that's enough of me moaning!  Tell me, what do you do to combat the crafting doldrums?!

Mother Nature is so not my best friend!

3.00pm for me is about time to go on the 'pick-up' school run, and more often than not, this is how the whole experience unfolds...,

3.00pm  sky starts to go grey,

3.05pm  gets darker still, wind picks up,

3.10pm  just as I set foot out the door, the first drops of rain start,

3.20pm  arrive at school, a bit wet,

3.30pm  pick Luke up from pre-school, it starts lashing down,

3.35pm  Lucy's classroom door opens, it starts lashing it down even more,

3.40pm  scooters/bikes collected, begin journey home in the rain,

3.41pm  kids complain they are wet,

3.42pm  kids complain they are wet,

3.45pm  I yell at them to get a move on as we're all getting wet,

3.50pm  kids complain they are wet,

3.55pm  arrive home (thank goodness we have a porch!), WET!,

4.00pm  wet coats, clothes and shoes chucked on floor.

It's 2.30pm now, and oh look, surprise surprise,  the sky is starting to cloud over...,

please tell me it's not just me this happens to?! 

Can you guess what it is yet...?

This is what is sat on my desk today, in progress.  An improvement on yesterday when it looked like a turquoise miniature model of the Loch Ness Monster!

Now, I need to tackle the marvelous feat of textile engineering which will result in the tail..., I hope. 

Apologies for my somewhat erratic blogging of late, there is a reason, fingers crossed!

Penguins...,

This week has so far been dedicated to penguins, lots of penguins!

I couldn't make my mind up over body shape, so decided to use both (the mum & dad), but then it kind of evolved into a little family group...,

and a fish!

Couple of things I'd forgotten about, there is a little interview with me over on the 'Northern Belles' blog, and today is the day for my guest post over on Cuteable, so if you like foxes, hop on over there.

Right, must go clean my teeth, I have an appointment with the dental hygienist shortly!