Sewing Progress...

... is completely non-existent in this house. Instead life got taken care of. The going here and there, doing this and that. And then there was the birthday girl. Because while we celebrated Helen's birthday all weekend, she pointed out that today was her birthday. And the birthday girl gets to choose what she would like for dinner on her birthday. Ah, yes, I had forgotten to consult her. She remedied that. So today I did a grocery shop too.

I took two avocados and squashed them. Literally.
Once stoned and pealed, I squeezed them in my fists.
Works a charm - if squashed up avacados is what you are after.

Chuck in some of these.
And some garlic.

And the guacamole was made.

Salsa - chopped tomatoes, red onion, coriander, chili and garlic.
Easy peasy!

Chicken, onions and peppers.
Lots of spices.
From a packet!
Oh please, this is a last minute request.

So the birthday girl, who is dragging this out for all it is worth, is getting her requested dinner of chicken fajitas. Wonder if she will be happy with eleven candles stuck in the remains of the cake?

Susan

PS: I promise this is not turning into a food blog. Sewing will recommence - when life and them let me.

Coherent Speach Not Possible

I am tired. So, so tired. But I guess you could count the birthday weekend a success so far - other than the overtired sisters repeatedly falling out today, but there was no avoiding that happening. I am just trying to avoid them - full stop.

The film, A Monster in Paris, was actually very good. Pizza Express was great and the girls loved being allowed to sit at a table on their own. And they all behaved so well it was incredible. I think trusting them to be on their own and behave brought out the best in them. I would show you a photo or two, but I didn't remember my camera. I put it on my desk to take with me but failed.

The birthday cake was a hit -

- and not as vile as I thought it might be.

The girls all loved watching Home Alone which I had picked up for £3 at Tesco. Sometimes the mother does know what she is talking about!

There were copious amounts of pancakes for breakfast.

Helen loved her acrylic paints and all the accompanying accessories, and got stuck in to copying Van Gogh right away.

I'll leave you with a picture of the necklace Emily chose to give Helen. For all their bickering I think it says a lot about how they really feel (well at least from Emily's point of view but I am pretty sure that it is a two way thing).

Hope you can read it.

Susan

Sugar Alert!

I made the chocolate cake, and mixed up the icing for Helen's birthday cake. I have to say that melting a whole Chocolate Orange into the icing was inspired a sick idea. The icing is so sweet it is vile. The girls love it. I suppose that is what it is all about. I left the icing and decorating of the cake to Emily. She took to the task with zeal.

She wasn't up to random placement of the chocolates. She needed more control. But I think she did a brilliant job, Helen is happy and Emily didn't let any of those little buttons go to waste.

The cake will be cut tonight. Just so I can enjoy the pleasure of four girls hyped up on sugar at bedtime. Obviously I have no sense of self preservation. Meanwhile we have an afternoon at the cinema and then Pizza Express. I am all set to go.

If you don't hear from me for several days then I didn't survive the experience, or it really was Death by Chocolate.

Susan

If I Only Had a Brain!

Now I do know I do regular numpty reports, but this one takes the cake. Remember that mysterious Echo FQ yesterday? Well, I was sat here yesterday evening catching up on emails when I came to one from a friend in Australia. The one in which Kirsten asked if she could have a piece of fabric shipped to me and then I would post it to her because the shop was asking twice the value of the fabric to get it to her. Of course I said it wasn't a problem and I was happy to do it. Of course she told me exactly what fabric was being shipped to me and from what shop.

My brain is disintegrating faster than the speed of light! I thought that if poor Kirsten read my post about the FQ before I sent her an explanation she would be shouting at the computer screen, 'It's my FQ you numpty! Don't cut it for goodness sake!!' Kirsten claims she just about spilt her coffee all over her computer she was laughing so hard, in fact.

So my Favourite Thing Friday this week is the fact that my sense of humour is still intact, even if the rest of my faculties are not!I made it through the child with shingles, the child with the hurt back, the garage from hell - and then I ended up able to laugh at myself for being such an idiot. It can't all be bad then!

Today has been about having everything ready for the weekend. Including the birthday cake. Which Helen has requested this -

- all to go on her cake as decoration. Except the Chocolate Orange, because I thought we could use that in the icing instead of plain chocolate. Where on earth does that child get her obsession for chocolate from?!

Between the grocery shopping, cake making, hoovering and bathroom cleaning (eeuuuuw!) I managed to squeeze in a few minutes of sewing. So yesterdays birds and today's birds are here.

Twelve more.

Loving this one...

... and the love birds!



In total now there are about 26.
Lots more to go.

 Just in case anyone remembers my Terrain HSTs, I finally got some fabric ordered for the back. I should get that sometime towards the end of next week. So I should have a finish in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, I have zips, solids and some linen out there in the postal system and when they arrive I can get on with the swap items. It's okay, I don't think there will be much sewing featured in this weekend. 3D animated films, yes. Pizza, yes. Giggling girls, yes. Sewing, no!

Hope you have a good weekend and that your FTF is not a disintegrating mind but a sense of humour still there. Honestly, I thought I had a few more years before it all started falling apart! I'm headed over to Shay's to see who else has a FTF, right after the feeding of three girls and a Brownie run, and cake decorating.

Susan

Back in the Saddle Again

Thanks to all of you for your lovely messages, and the occasional offer to fire bomb the garage that annoyed me. (Okay, I'm joking but I am sure you would join my in some midnight mayhem if I asked nicely!) Pulverising that lemon yesterday did the trick in making me look life in the face again and believe I could take whatever it threw at me. Besides, I think lemons are afraid of me now anyway.

Today I have two children in school. No phone calls yet, though I may just jinx myself saying that. Emily asked if I was going to come medicate her at lunch today, and I declined. The teacher knows how to get in touch if I am required. I noticed a big difference in Emily this morning from the previous two so I was quite optimistic when I skipped away from the school - and that optimism seems to have been well placed.

Because even if the school calls now I have had a blissful time doing this and that. The sun is shining in through my glistening clean windows. I saw that the spring bulbs are starting to push up in people's gardens. Before you know it I will be oooooh-ing and aaaaah-ing over little baby lambs. Yes, I know it is only January but I think the spring bulbs appearing has made me slightly light headed!

Lots to tell you so had best get on with it. I spent a great deal of time last night stalking my partners for the two swaps I am in - For The Love of Solids (FTLOS) and Mouthy Stitches. Thankfully I have very vocal partners who are commenting all over the place (woohoo!!) and I came up with some ideas this morning which I posted on Flickr. And I am getting good feedback already. Not saying if that feedback is from my partners, but nice things are being said and that always makes a person smile.

Here's what I came up with -

FTLOS
My idea is to make HSTs in bright colours and then cut them into the outer portions of the Drunkard's Path block.
The inner circle will be neutral. I am leaning towards shads of cream/beige but put the darker colours
in the equation as my partner seemed to be drawn to them. I will see if I get feedback from her.

Mouthy Stitches
Pouch about 9" square.
Scrappy oranges up top and aquas on the bottom,
with a strip of linen running on the diagonal between.
Perle stitching on the diagonal strip.

It was good to check those two things off my list of things to do. Now I sit and wait to see what my partners think. I have fabric ordered that will be required for both of these so cannot get making on them yet. Oh, and zips ordered too!

Speaking of fabric orders today. I think I am losing the plot. I got this from M is for Make today.

Now don't get me wrong here. I love this piece of fabric. Love! But I do not for the life of me remember ordering it. There was one of M is for Makes little notes inside saying 'Thank you for your order'. I am thrilled to have it but suppose I had better go and see if I paid for it!

I got more happy post too. This time all the way from Cindy in Texas, who can be found here. She was really lovely and emailed me two bird fabrics for my quilt and they are massive bits. Also unique to me. I so cannot believe that there are so many different bird fabrics out there!

Eeeeek! Look at those love birds! Sweet!!!!

Meanwhile I have been fitting in a little more of this -

And more of these -

But I'm only giving you a sneaky peek, because I am headed into another busy weekend involving sleepovers, a trip to the cinema, pizzas and probably a lot of junk food. Someone in this house is turning older. Thank goodness it isn't me! So if I get too busy to accomplish anything on my projects I can fall back on the things I held back today for my weekend blog posts.

Susan