newness and no photos...

so here we are a day into a new week. A week where I have acquired a new baby - no you didn't miss any pregnancy related posts - this baby is my new black MacBook. It is gorgeous and so spritely quick when it comes to all computer related stuff. Although I have not put any photos on it yet hence this is a photo-less post.

My new work hours started yesterday and so far so good even though the little fella was sent home early from school yesterday. On arriving home he promptly threw up but the man of the house dealt with it all - what a star. That's how I can go back to work because my husband works from home and so any sick days can usually be covered without me having to scoot out of work.

I haven't got to grips with the new element of my work yet - I have a section to look after - but I hope to get down to it properly tomorrow. Although I do find the whole thing rather daunting.
This afternoon as a new member of V&A Friends I went on my induction tour which was fascinating and I got to checkout the Friends' Room where you can enjoy a quiet sit down with a cup of tea and slice of cake. I didn't have time to take in the Couture Exhibition so that will have to be done another day

Just one final thing my husband has been working on a little film. It is a short film for the Daily Telegraph Ford Film Challenge competition. You can go and watch it here the film you are looking for is 'The Tree' and if you feel so inclined you can even vote for it.

momentum ...

I seem to have been building up quite a head of steam this week - can you believe that I have posted nearly every day this week? Let's see if I can keep this momentum going.

Little Fella's best friend at school is having a rough time of it at the moment. She is in hospital after having to have her appendix removed on Thursday. So we went to visit her today and we took along a little present.
In case you can't guess he's a horse - or maybe that should be she's a horse. She will probably be in hospital until Tuesday so there are more visits planned. It felt very good to sit down last night and make this little gift. He's made from a pair of M&S thermal mens' socks, his mane is lilac wool and his eyes bright shiny brown buttons. I think I can feel the crafting momentum picking up it's pace again too

My thanks for you thoughts regarding my work decision. After carefully considering it I have decided to increase my working hours - an extra two hours a day. But the exciting thing is that I have been given some extra responsibilities which I am really quite excited about. Although I am expecting to get quite highly strung and stressed over the next couple of weeks as I try to get to grips with it all - but it is a great opportunity and I feel flattered to have been asked.

what a grey day ...

oh dear, the gorgeous sunny autumnal weather has disappeared today and left us with grey drizzly weather. So the only thing to do is settle down with a gorgeous cookery book and dream of plates of divine, warming, heartening food.

Today, I bought Tessa Kiros' book 'Apples for Jam' which I have been meaning to buy for so long now. Like so many others I fell head over heals for 'Falling Cloudberries' as much for the photos and family stories as for the recipes. In fact I haven't cooked anything from 'Cloudberries' despite it sitting on my shelf for a couple of years now but I do use her book 'Twelve' which is full of her Tuscan recipes.

Well, my mouth is just watering as I think of what to cook from 'Apples'. The weekend is my opportunity to do proper cooking and I love the whole planning and procuring process involved. At the moment I'm not sure which main course to choose but I am very taken with the idea of chocolate pannacotta for pud.Enough with all those food thoughts! I need to go and read through some work documents and decide whether to increase my working hours or not. As with everything there are pros and cons I've just got to see if the pros outweigh the cons. And whilst my thoughts are on books and bookshops I am fascinated reading these guys' blog and their exploits trying to set up an independent bookshop in Wood Green, North London.

And what can I say, it seems that we are all very much in the same boat as far as Royal Mail is concerned - isn't it an act of treason to tamper with and hinder the transit of the Queen's mail? I know treason is no longer a hanging offence but hmmmm...

just what you need ...

to make yourself feel better.

Good wishes from blog buddies to brighten your morning before heading off for work.

When at work you get told that the book you ordered has come in. Hurrah! the chance sit down in the afternoon and lose myself in pictures of the most divine dresses. I must get me to the exhibition sooner rather than later.

Then, on returning home from work, discovering that the postman has finally delivered the fabric you ordered over two weeks ago. Don't get me started on how frustrated and annoyed I am by Royal Mail. At the moment I am awaiting the delivery of several other things 'trapped' in the postal system but I won't hold my breath.

And going shopping with Little Fella to get his Hallowe'en outfit - he's very scary indeed (and that's without the mask).

Here's to more good things to come in the rest of the week.

the second day...

of the half term holidays and my last day of leave from work - no more days off now until well after Christmas is a dim and distant memory of worn out batteries and half used packets of Rennie.

But the lurgy has struck big time - so don't come too close - my poor ears are hurting and my sinus's are aching. A hot whiskey is definitely called for later this evening. Before that there's the chicken casserole which is bubbling in the oven and is just perfect for these colder days and germ ridden individuals. Only I rubbed my eye after handling the chillis - so add eye burn to the above list of ailments!

So as it is today involved no trip out - but rather enjoying reading together with Little Fella both out loud and in our heads. But I did knock out a little penholder just to keep my crafting hand in. It is inspired by shim+sons penholder. It was a very quick and easy project for which I used an empty, cleaned chopped tomato tin. It is by no means perfect - notice I'm not showing you the back of it!

moore and more ...

Here we are with the first day of the half term holiday coming to its end. I have taken today and tomorrow off work in the hope of doing some fun family things.

So today we headed off to Kew Gardens to see the Henry Moore sculptures. Sadly today wasn't as bright and autumnaly sunny as yesterday which would have made for fantastic photographs. They are sadly slightly dull because of the dreich conditions but hey we had good fun.But it was definitely a scarf, gloves and proper coat day. There is a proper autumn chill in the air these days which hopefully will kill off all the cold bugs that seem to keep going around. Yep, we are still fighting the good fight trying to stave off those nasty germs.

Once back home I even managed to get some preparation work done. I am going to be making some more of my little bags so the assembly line process starts with the cutting out. Then there's the gathering together of the various notions. It feels good to be getting to grips with this project.

ally pally with my pal ali ...

OK that title came to me in the shower this morning and boy was I chuffed with myself. I know, I know how sad is that?!

Anyway, yesterday I met up with Ali to head off to the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace. Monica was going to come too but sadly couldn't because of poorly children and Ali nearly didn't come because of an injured little boy. The omens were not good.

But I had a fantastic time and Ali was good company as always. I had never been to a Knitting and Stitching show before so really had no idea what to expect. The exhibition was huge and had far more in it that I had anticipated. It was quite overawing and there were so many people and so many things to see.

I did see a few things I really liked, like this girl's work. There was another lady's work who I really liked but I can't remember her name now. I saw some of Julie Arkell's gorgeous creations up close and I fell even more in love with them sadly they were a little bit too pricey for me so I bought a book about her work instead.We also browsed around all the fabric, wool, notion and accoutrement stalls. Infact it was really too much for me to take in. In the end I just bought some thread - I feel a new favourite colour combination coming on.

And some linen squares and linen thread. I have some ideas but nothing really formulated yet - I think I need to have a bit of a play around with them first.

the sewing gods were smiling ...

and the thread and needles were willing - so hey presto I have a new bag.It is based on the Lotta Jansdotter All Day Tote from her Simple Sewing book but with some changes. I had previously made one in denim following the directions in the book but there were some elements of it I wasn't totally happy with.So this time I added some heavyweight interfacing to make the bag slightly sturdier. It still has a slouchy feel to it which I like, it is just not too slouchy.

I also added a magnetic fastening to help keep the bag shut and to hopefully make it harder to dip.
The internal pocket has been made larger so that it can hold my mobile phone and iPod quite happily - I found the internal pocket on the original to be too small to be really useful. I also used iron-on interfacing on the inside of this pocket so that it holds its contents without flopping and dropping them into the bottom of the bag.
The water bottle pocket is still there as I find it very useful and also the key thingy is still there as I just love not having to scrabble around in the bottom of the bag trying to find my keys. There's nothing worse in the pouring rain than not being able to find your keys.

But gone is the funny pocket at the front of the bag which only seemed useful for carrying a strategically folded newspaper. In its place I have just added a large pocket that will quite happily take a paperback book.The bag is made from very bright pink cord that looks a lot more subdued in these photos - trust me you would certainly see me coming. It is all lined in a fabric from the Heather Bailey 'Freshcut' range. So there it is my 'Stand out in a Crowd' bag.

look ...

can that really be some craftiness going on?

We have a sketch
fabrics and interfacings have been cut out and notions assembled. Surely his can mean only one thing - finally there is actually going to be some sewing going on. I am planning to work on an adaptation of the Lotta bag using the very bright Schiaparelli pink corduroy that I bought the other day.

This sudden desire for creativity is part in thanks to meeting up with some very creative knitty ladies on Wednesday evening. It was the Liberty shopping evening - with free wine and 15% off purchases who could resist? But it was watching these girls working on their various projects that made me desirous of a project of my own.

So the first job was cleaning my crafting corner - it truly looked like a bomb had hit it. There was paper, fabric and stuff scattered everywhere. It was just not conducive to encouraging the creative muses to bestow their gifts. So yesterday afternoon I dusted, polished, hoovered and generally straightened everything up. Boy, it felt good! and the bonus is that I now have the room to sew and I actually feel like it.

Thread and needles willing I'll show you photos of the finished bag, all sewn up, tomorrow.