STOP PRESS!!!!!

HEEEEELP!! Please can anybody out there help me?

Tomorrow is the next 40th Fancy Dress Party and I really, really don't know what to buy as a gift. The birthday girl is into (as far as I know) her kids, surfing, bikers, tattoos, Cornwall, jewellery (tho' I don't really know her taste) and... that's it. I'm mates with her hubbie more cuz he's a stay-at-home dad and she goes out to work.

Are there any of you who have already had their 40th birthday who had a fab prezzie you could recommend? Something imaginative but not too expensive. It's not too much to ask is it? I'm getting slightly desperate.

The dress is coming along great and the visit to the fancy dress hire shop was a HUGE success! more later. Gotta go sew!

Yay! Gingerness!

Ooooh! Lookie! Lookie! Lookie! Lucky! Lucky! Lucky!

Look what I got in the post this morning. My fantabulous dolly from Katy at imagingermonkey.

As Katy hinted at, she has made 'dolly' with a Moomins theme. Her dress is made using some of that gorgeous Moomins fabric she had.

Psst! Go on. You can turn round and show everybody your face.

How great is she? I'm so excited. It's like all my birthdays and Christmas rolled into one. She has ginger hair and her stripy tights remind me of Jemima, the rag doll on Playschool that I always wished was mine! Yay!! She has 2 cute little Moomin button badges as well.

Katy also included some 'extras' in my parcel. Three pieces of great fabric (see middle picture) - fish, bubbles and ricrac prints. I just wish my machine was better so I could make something fab with them. I also need to get Katy's doll done - that's the whole idea of a swap, right?

Swaps are just fantastic! I must look out for more when my machine is better. I have actually signed up for another one already. LucyKate Crafts is doing a toadstool swap and she even provides the tutorial to make them. They look so cute and quite easy to make, so pop over to her blog, take a look and sign up.

Yesterday I went as an 'adult helper' on a school trip with Evie's class. We went to The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke. It was a really good day and a great place to visit. Their topic at the moment is the Ancient Greeks, so first they had a talk from a lady who showed them some genuine, actual Ancient Greek pots. It's amazing to think that these things were over 2000 years old and yet the conidition was amazing. The children had to draw some of these ancient artefacts and then design one of their own. As I just happened to have a little sketch book in my handbag I had a quick doodle too.

This big vessel is a Krater and was used for mixing water and wine, apparently. A very ropey drawing but hey, at least I did one. :0)

In the afternoon they went down to another room and had a go at making their own coil pots using air-drying clay. We grown-ups didn't get our own lump of clay (booo!) but I did do a lot of 'helping' so managed to get my hands dirty. Yay for clay!!

This fantastic mosaic is in the entrance foyer. It is huge and I just love it. All the largers pieces inside each circle and the bottoms of broken ceramic ware with the makers mark showing. It's kind of like a ceramic equivalent of Jodie's selvedge scarf. Using all the bits that aren't normally meant to be shown, but I love this use of text and the 'unpretty' bits of a pretty thing. The backs of patchworks quilts are another example. They are often nicer than the front you are supposed to see.

Well, onto the other 'gingerness' in my life at the moment - my Ginger Spice dress. Here are the two flags as at 9am when I got back from school. I have been working on the frock all day and should really be doing it now but I had to have a break. I will post the (hopefully) finished article later on. When OH gets back from work we are going to the fancy dress shop to buy wigs. Stay tuned...

Freaks!!

It's official! My OH and my kiddie are freaks! They both have a headless imaginary friend which they play with behind closed doors! And what's more they aren't ashamed about it! Just look at those glowing happy faces...

At least kiddie's has real hands tho'... You will see more of the bottles OH used for hands in a while. OH even has hose attachments for his. Does this mean is does the vacuuming? Does it heck!

OK. The truth is... OH had a leak in his diving drysuit. The idea is the suit is completely watertight but he keeps getting soggy arms when he dives. Not good. So he decided to inflate it fully and see if he could find the hole, hence the hose and cylinder.

The other mannequin was lying around as I spent all day yesterday photographing kiddie's old clothes for ebay. I got the dummy from college and the clothes look much better on it than just on a coathanger, however, it's a lot more faffing to keep dressing and undressing the dummy. She just doesn't cooperate! Won't put her arms in! So I gave up in the end and went back to hangers after all.

This was all going on while I was posting on my blog yesterday. I turned round from the computer to see this black neoprene man lying on the floor! It looked so funny I had to take a few piccies.

Well the next event in my social diary is another 40th fancy dress party. Saturday sees the arrival of the 'Spice Girls and Village People' bash for Ali. OH has his outfit all sorted - he's going as Scary Spice!! Don't ask... He has a whole leopard print ensemble, including a lovely pair of shoes. Hmm... This man is the MD of a company. He holds a responsible position. And on Saturday evening he will be wearing leopard print hold-ups.

I, on the other hand, am a bit stuck as to what to wear. I think it's going to be Ginger - well she's the most voluptuous (to pinch artibliss's word) of them all. I couldn't get away with going as Posh, even with a wig. The obvious outfit is the Union Jack dress but the off-the-shelf ones are all a bit of the small side. I don't want to burst the seams half way through the night. SO mum has managed to get hold of 2 very cheap flags and I am currently in the throes of making a pattern from a shift dress I already have.

Now I've started work I've just come across this picture in one of my folders. OK it's not the same as Geri's but it would have been a damn sight easier to make.

Oh well... too late now. So far have chooped up an old sheet to make a toile. Unfortunately my dressmaking mannequin is too small now so I'm having to make the mock-up then tweak it before cutting into the flags. Why do I do these things? It's not like I haven't got anything else to do.

Those bottles I mentioned earlier, the ones stuffed into the cuffs of OH's drysuit, well they contain or rather contained this new discovery which we could both quite cheerfully drink like pop. OK I'm going to say one of those really dumb things now. Blonde warning!! I don't like normal cider cuz it tastes too apple-y. This stuff OTOH is flippin' luvverly. And it's on offer at Tesco's at the mo.

BTW they were in the drysuit to seal the cuffs. He's good at thinking laterally that bloke. hehe

Right - just before I take kiddie a few blatant pictures. First off some handmade dolls. These are from the website that I have listed at the bottom left - Apolline a Paris. How gorgeous are these? I realise I haven't posted anything very crafty for a few days so I thought I'd pop this little baby in to keep you going. I will finish a WIP soon then you can see a photo.

Next up - blatant cuteness. Little Nev bear off the telly. I bought this little beanie for my little one nephew's birthday. It says 'Excuse me' and 'Can't scare me'. He is obviously based on a sock monkey design but is still a little sweetie.

And finally blatant phwoar!!! There is nothing, in my humble opinion, better than a room-temperature Cadbury's Flake. Please do not lick the screen. ;0)

The deed is done.

Blogger has decided to play tonight so here are a few more photos of the weekend. Of course you have got to have more belly dancer shots.

And a close-up of the lady with the lovely blue hair falls. Unfortunately you can't quite see her face paint. Isn't it great that she's a 'real' size and isn't shy to show it off - stretch marks and all!! She looks amazing.

Here is my little kiddie doing her thing. OH and I were both lined up for a fab shot when both cameras went to sleep at the same time. Grr! This is the best we could do without getting her mates in the shot too. Get those knees up girlie!!

This is The Spiders - the 'side' who the blue-faced man plays for. They are great.

This lady possibly had the best jacket and hat combo of the day. You can't go wrong with a bit of pink... or a lot of pink in her case. hehe

All in all it really is a great weekend and I would love to go to a few more folk festivals during the summer. Chippenham is supposed to be fantastic so I'll just have to keep hinting to OH.

Now here are a few piccies of Mazeworld and the Wild Walk. This is a bend in the river Anker. How tranquil and picturesque. They have kingfishers along this stretch and every visit I spend ages hoping to spot one but I never do. I have actually requested it on the Customer Comments Survey for next time I go there!

I DID see a water vole which I was really chuffed about. It's my childhood wildlife fascination coming through. When I were a lass you used to see 'em all the time in the cut but now they are very rare.

I could spend hours looking in ponds and streams (oh-oh, this could be one of my 7 random facts for the tag from Kate). Yes, I confess I am a bit of a wildlife freak. I think it's because the village I grew up in had a canal, a river and a millstream running through it. When we were little my nan and my dad used to take us on loads of walks alongside these watercourses. Dad used to teach us lots of the plants and flowers, but he also had a fab Readers Digest book which had pictures of everything we used to see. It's great that kiddie is just as interested and so I can try and pass on to her what I know.

This is Mindy (I think). She is a pig. She is asleep in the mud. Her keeper has sent her to sleep through hypnosis. OK. OK. Actually he did it by tickling her belly. She just sank to her knees, keeled over and was gone. Bless. It was the ideal opportunity for keeper-guy to plaster her with sun tan lotion to stop her ears turning to crackling (Oops! Sick humour - my second random fact?). She was one of the nicest smelling pigs I've ever met.

And her is the intrepid girlie searching for her dad. We were playing hide and seek through the trees and the undergrowth, and he managed to get in front of her and hide under this bush. She went striding past - girl on a mission with stamp card in hand - and didn't spot him til the shutter went click.

So, onto today. I have spent all day making the most of the gorgeous weather. Sitting in the garden with a good book and a cold drink? Nope. Mowing the lawn? Nope. Stitching outside in the sunshine? Nope - doing 6 - yes I said 6!! - loads of washing. I also finally managed to photograph all my stuff to go on eBay. Not craft work or Sillies or anything I've made I hasten to add, but clothes that we have cleared out. The pile has been sitting in the back room staring at me for over a week now so I thought I'd better get it done. Just need to sit down and list them all now. Oh joy! Another scorchio day and I'll be inside.

I forgot to mention the start to my weekend. I've covered Saturday, Sunday and BH Monday but I forgot about Friday night. hehehe On Friday night we had a girls' night in at a mate's house. And a glamorous younger lady came to show us her wares. YAY! I'm talking Ms Summers (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). Much pink wine was consumed throughout the evening and quite early on my modelling skills came into their own. I'm not talking catwalk I'm talking sculpture. The ice-breaker game was to create from PlayDoh a model of a gentlemans rude bits, but with our hands behind our backs. I'm proud to say that I won!! My HND was SOOO worthwhile after all!!! hehe My tutors would be proud.

Our catwalk modelling skills came into play much later. Once the wine was well and truly flowing BDB, myself and one other (who shall remain nameless for modesty's sake) decided that we would try on some of the fancy dress outfits. I shall NOT be posting the photographs but a school girl, a policewoman and a French maid were involved and that's as much as I'm saying...

It was a fab night. We had a great laugh and even spent money (OH's - haha) but I'm not telling you what I bought. Let's just say no rabbits were involved. :0)

So, to what deed am I referring in my title? Well it's not very exciting, (especially after the last few paragraphs). This afternoon, after school I finally got around to ringing sewing machine repair shops. The most reputable place in the area is Nutt's in Wylde Green. That's where the college get all their machines from. I rang and they had got a bobbin case in stock but they shut in an hour and were not open on a Wednesdya. So Evie and I leapt in the car and drove all the way there. I took my machine with me thinking we could try the bobbin case in it to make sure that was the problem. Anyway once I got there I decided that really I should do it properly and get it serviced. It hasn't been done for SOOOO long and it's going to get more of a bashing than ever now. So I have left my baby with the nice lady. They will take it to pieces and give it the once over on Thursday then ring me last thing on Thursday afternoon with a quote *GULP*. It's like MOT day for the car. Awaiting that dreaded phone call -

'Hello Mrs Tearoom. Yes I'm afraid the doofer widget is broken and will need replacing. That will cost you three squillion pounds plus labour. We can do it in 6 weeks time. A courtesy car? No sorry but we do have a scooter you can borrow.'

At least I will be distracted on Thursday as we're going on a school trip to The Potteries. Hope I get some clay to play with... I will make more appropriate models this time, I promise.

STOP PRESS - Oh, out of the mouths of babes.... LMAO Kiddie and OH are outside bouncing on the trampoline while I'm writing this. Kiddie has a couple of rubber toy eggs which she loves to hide in the fridge amongst the real ones. For some reason one is currently on the trampoline with them bouncing around. She keeps exclaiming that she has laid an egg, but then I heard her saying to OH that 'Actually mummy lays an egg, really. It just stays inside her.' My daughter is gradually explaining the Facts of Life to us, as she learns them. It is highly amusing to say the least. School friends with older brothers and sisters are starting to tell them things to shock 'em but I think kiddie's hours of watching Bill Oddie and Kate Humble have paid off. It's just mating to her!! OH has been quietly panicking about how we tell her and when is she old enough to know, but she seems to have the jist of the basics already. How scary!!

OK. Enough already. Got to go and wake the dead!!! xx

Normal-ish service is resumed.

I give up!! I've been sitting here for nearly an hour trying to upload photos and have managed to get 4. That will just have to do I'm afraid.

The piccies are of Upton Folk Festival on Saturday. As I mentioned kiddie's Irish dancing team were performing there, and very well they did to. The weather was pretty good and it stayed fine and sunny 'til just before 4pm when a mass dance display was scheduled. That's when the Heavens opened. Ah well. Can't win 'em all.

Here is a little taster of the other 'sides' that were performing. It's just such a great place to go. There is so much colour and energy. I want to join a 'side' just so I can have one of those fantastic raggy jackets. :0)




Yay!! Belly dancers too. This was a different group to last year. This lot were called Belly Fusion and I haven't managed to track 'em down on t'internet as yet, but there were pretty good. The girl with the blue hair falls was great. When my computer isn't playing up I'll put some more photos onto Flickr. I took several so I can study the costumes. hehe



What most people think of when they think of Morris Dancers - men in white waving hankies around. They have fabby hats - straw boaters with loads of flowers all round the brim. Even with this fairly restrained costume they can put a bit of individuality into their hats.

This guy was one of the musicians with a side called The Spiders. They all wore raggy coats in shades of purple with all other clothing being black. They all had black top hats which they customised with badges, spiders, mirrors, feathers and anything else you can think of. I just loved this chaps woolly hair and painted face. I bet he's an accountant or something similarly restrained during the week. I bet none of his work mates know that at the weekend he dresses up like this. hehe

Hecky thump! What else has happened since my last post? It's been so long.

Well I haven't quite finished my trolley yet. Pictures will follow just as soon as she's done - hopefully tomorrow. The only problem is, my sewing machine is very unwell. I think it's a new bobbin case that's required but she also really, really needs a service. I hate to think how long it's been... So my old Toyota has been brought back out of mothballs. It served me well through most of my City and Guilds courses but hasn't been in active service for many years. It seems to be bearing up OK so far, but it's awful trying to get used to it again. It doesn't even have the needle up/needle down thing. Before I can remove a piece of sewing I have to hand crank the wheel to bring the needle to the top of it's cycle! Still, I have done a few Sillies today, just to ease the withdrawal symptoms I've been afflicted with. Will just have to find some hand sewing to do.

Ooh. Exciting stuff! Katy at I'm a Ginger Monkey has emailed to say she's finished my doll for the Meecrafty doll swap. Woohoo!! Can't wait to see it.

Ooh. More exciting stuff! I've won a prize!!! Sarah at Blooming Felt had a giveaway to celebrate her 100th post and my name came out of the hat!! How fab! I've won a gorgeous little felt bag/purse. I've got some great post coming my way. I must be extra nice to the postman., although he's a nice chap anyway. He brought me a lovely bundle of felt the other day that I won on ebay (am I repeating myself?). There were loads of really big pieces - much better than I was expecting.

Hope everyone has had a good Bank holiday. Due to the pesky photo uploader not working properly I cannot show you where we've been today so you'll have to click the linky-poo. I'll try to add them later.

We've been to Evie's favourite place in the world - "The Mazes". Dobbies Garden Centre at Mancetter, near Atherstone is a fab afternoon out and you don't even have to like gardening (that's lucky then for us then!) They have Plantasia, the Wild Walk and - kiddie's fave - Maze World. There is so much to see and do ther. It really is great. Even the souvenir shop isn't a massive rip off. They have loads of little pocket money toys to keep the littlies happy.

There are six full sized mazes - one for each continent - and we managed to lose OH twice today. Evie is brill at finding her way through them despite most of the hedges now being much taller than her. At the centre of each maze is a stamping machine. You are given a collector card which you feed into a slot and stamp it. If you get all 6 stamps you get a prize. There are also water features, bridges and an Indian wigwam.

The Wild Walk has a similar thing but there are 9 stamps to collect on this course. The nature trail has a tree-top walk, a boardwalk over a pond, willow tunnels, ponds and trees galore. They are changing and improving the place all the time. New since we last went are the animals - Shetland ponies, alpacas, Kune Kune pigs, sheep, ferrets and Guinea pigs.

Crikey! I should be on commission but it really is worth a visit if you're in the area. We've been going since Evie was very small and have seen the mazes grow from spindly little saplings to tall, quite thick hedges now. OK. I've finished. :0)

Remember Me??

Helloooooooo. Remember me? Yeah it's been ages I know, well OK two days, but it seems like forever. And unless OH gets off the PC pretty sharpish this is going to be another quickie.

At the moment I am using the laptop I inherited from my darling Dad but it's not the greatest (sorry if you're online 'up there' and reading this, Dad.) We're not talking that wafer-thin Apple notebook jobbie - it's rather a cumbersome item. And it doesn't have an integral modem so I'm tied to the PC with cables just to get online.

I've only come on to have a moan as well. My sewing machine is poorly and I'm in a grump. I haven't used it for nearly 48 hours and I'm starting to get a bit twitchy. I think it needs a new bobbin case 'cause thread keeps getting stuck on a bit that it shouldn't do and gathering up in huge lumps every time I try to sew. I have the limp, unstitched skins of a dozen or more Sillies that I wanted to make to be my first etsy stock, but, unless my old Toyota is willing to come out of retirement I'm a bit stuck. I've got loads of great new yarn for some well-funky hair as well. Grrr!

OK. That's all then. I can't post about Upton and my trolley makeover until I can 'do' pictures and links and stuff so I'll just have to leave you all in suspense 'til tomorrow.

hope everyone is having agreat Bank holiday. TTFN xx

Quickie

It's a quickie tonight because it's.........

Belly Dancing!!!

Yay!! A new Meez in honour of the event cuz tonight I shall mostly be wearing turquoise (and some black).

Ooh I'm very excited on the crafting front. After school kiddie and I went to Burton searching for oilcloth. Yup - I've finally started taking steps to smarten up my 'mean machine'. In the spirit of home makeover shows (now there's another story I could tell you...), I'm not going to do 'the reveal' until it's all finished but a small clue... my sincere apologies to jellybelly*jellybrain cuz I've used one of her fab colour combinations. Pink included??? There's a good chance. NO! I'm not telling. You'll just have to wait.

Coming up.... I've been tagged (at last) by Kate at Beautiful Things. OK so it's a global tagging cuz she couldn't narrow it down to 7 peeps but I don't care. I'll ponder the questions and post the answers tomorrow.

Other news... my mate Jackie has finally got her own blog. She has some gorgeous stuff so pop into Dogdaisychains and say hello.

And that, I'm afraid, is your lot for tonight or BDB will be going mad cuz I'm not ready in time. Of course, this all hinges on OH getting back from diving before 8pm. We shall see.... xx