One of those weeks

It really has been.

I've been hopping back and forth to the pooter when I get a few minutes to myself, but just don't seem to have found the time to blog. I've tried and have half a dozen barely started unfinished posts waiting for just a few more minutes.

Robert seems to have been working constantly lately which means that I've taken the role of the two income single parent.

I'm honestly not complaining, just trying to keep the house below the chaos barrier for him arriving home and at least I know that it's just because the company he works has a pile of new contracts and it's just been a matter of "all hands on deck" until everything is up to scratch, then things will settle back down again.

I did find time to chop off most of my hair though, so that's good:)

Edit to include a blurry blackberry photo of the new do because ask and ye shall receive:)


And now if you'll excuse me I have to change the water in the fish tank before the fish start making a bid for freedom.

I do hope you're having a lovely, more relaxing weekend. But can I ask that when you're doing something really nice like curled up on the sofa with a huge coffee and the papers or taking a walk somewhere (because the sun has even come out today), can you spare a thought for muggins here, scraping the green gunk of the glass of the fish tank?

Coming around

I almost hate to admit it but I'm really starting to get excited about our little camping trip. Maybe not the seaweed baths, but the camping is starting to sound good.

It'll come as no surprise that I love the sea and being anywhere near it, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm still the big jessie who will run like the clappers out of the ocean if a bit of seaweed wraps itself around my ankle. I'm not sure why, it could be a genuine fear of seaweed because my brother once slapped me around the side of the head with a handful of the stuff. It could be a fear of something completely different, perhaps because of the time my friend (?) dropped a huge dead jellyfish on my chest while I lay sunbathing. Who knows! Come to think of it, it's amazing I like the beach at all.

My biggest concern about camping was the space. Chloe does like to have her own space and I had visions of arriving down there, pitching the tent, managing to get through one cramped night and then her insisting on going home and refusing to enjoy the rest of the holiday if we insisted on staying, but I don't think that's going to be a problem.

I mentioned we have a brand new two man tent, still in the packaging (and I'm glad to hear we're not the only ones btw), but Robert decided to crack it open yesterday and pitch it in the living room. It's big! Really big, the three of us had no problems at all fitting inside it and it's pretty comfy in there.

My mum has said we can take their four man tent with us, so any worries about having enough space are gone. Now all we need is a Chloe sized sleeping bag.

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In other news I've been busying myself making new stock for my very depleted Folksy shop. I promise to try not to plunder the shop stock for local orders, as I've been guilty of treating my shop as more of a catalogue for local customers lately, but I'm going to make more of an effort to keep the two separate.

I've started with some lovely new brooches (if I do say so myself) and you can find them in the usual place.

Some assembly required

Well there's no getting away from it now. This morning I provisionally booked and paid the deposit for our holiday in the Summer.

Yup, we're going camping! We finally decided on Ross's Point near Sligo last night. Not that it was too difficult a decision, I mean look at the place.


I haven't been camping in a long time. Put it this way, the last time I went camping the ordeal involved actual tent poles of the variety required to, you know, hold a tent up. There was no such thing as these new fangled poppy up jobbies you can get now. Not in our budget anyway.



The strange thing is that we do have camping equipment. New camping equipment! But Bob and I have never been camping together. The whole caboodle's up in the roof space. tent, sleeping bags, camp stove, camping mattresses, you name it and we have it.

And my mum does too and she's never been camping either. Does camping equipment come free with houses or something or is it just one of those things that people accumulate over the years without ever realising it? Or is this some weird phenomenon specific to my family?



Well whatever the reason, it will all find itself put to good use this Summer.

Hmm, three people huddled in a tent and one of them will be a five year old. This could be fantastic or it could all go horribly, horribly wrong.

Folksy 2010 Valentine Heart Swop

The very lovely (and quite mad) Noodlebubble has only gone and done it again by organising the Folksy 2010 Valentine Heart Swop.

To give you some idea of just how nuts the woman really is, check out this post on her blog detailing all the swop partners and if that doesn't prove that she's certifiable then have a look at what she did for Christmas when she handmade each person taking part a little notebook containing details of the swop and details of our recipients.

Told you, bonkers! But we love her:)

So I set to work, making a valentine gift for Kirsten of Quernus Crafts. I finished in plenty of time, wrapped it all purdy like and then waited until closer to Valentine's day to post it. And what did I forget to do? Photos.

Luckily for me, Noodlebubble also set up a Flickr Group and Kirsten kindly posted photos of her gift.

A keyring



And a framed handknit heart.



And then I waited for my Valentine's gift to arrive. I mean let's face it, it's the only Valentine's gift I'll get so I was really looking forward to it.

And I wasn't disappointed.



I'll be honest and tell you that I'd already checked and knew I would be receiving my gift from Hooray4Clay and to say I was well chuffed would be an understatement. I fell in love with Hooray4Clay's shop the moment I first saw it. It's the imprints in the clay that I love so much. She uses Celtic designs amongst other things so each design is individual.

My four lovely little ceramic hearts and my new terra cotta hanging heart will take pride of place in my home. Now I just have to figure out where exactly in this mad house "pride of place" actually is:)

As Promised

Here is the latest batch of feltie goodness for Chloe's upcoming birthday.


I'm particularly chuffed with the apple and the banana, if only because the banana peel is completely separate so the 'fruit' is just tucked neatly inside:)



The bacon isn't quite finished yet (for those of you with a keen eye). The front still needs to be stitched to the back, but you at least get the idea.



But please, please, please don't ask me what those little swiss roll looking things are because I haven't the faintest. I had a few strips of different coloured felt, it was late, this is the best I could come up with. I like to think of them as little sandwiches a la Fanny Craddick, but they'll end up being whatever Chloe imagines them to be.



I've had to pack away all the felt food for today, though I'll hopefully get the orange and pear I have sitting here stuffed and finished off this evening. I'm in the middle of trying to cobble together a half term holidays box for Chloe.

I had a big gift box handy from Christmas and so far I've added in a couple of new (to her) books, a couple of colouring books, some new cookie cutters (picked up in the charity shop), finger paints and bingo markers and a zip lock bag filled with scraps of felt, craft paper, feathers, sequins and who knows what else for gluing and sticking.

And I'm making a little purse kit made from craft foam, a button, a plastic needle and some pink cord. I'll basically be a little three fold purse with a button closure and will be sewn together using the pink cord, with more of the cord for a strap. I'm marking it out and will pre-punch all the 'sewing' holes for her to pass the threaded needle through rather than having to force it through the fabric.

So what do you think, do I have enough to occupy an admittedly easily bored child for a week? I'm not quite sure yet, I may have to plunder around the house for more Fun Things To Do This Week:)

Blink and you'll miss it

And there goes yet another week. Poof, gone, ba bye now.

Time has been getting away from me so often lately. I sit down to do a handful of things at about 8pm or so and before I have a chance to blink, it's already past midnight.

On the home front, there is very little news. Though as they say, no news is good news.

Nobody is any sicker than usual, some sniffles and one notable headache on my part but that's about the height of it.

Chloe came home from school last Friday with the Star of the Week award, which she was very pleased with and which, of course, she took mean "I am awesome and I will get away with anything". Kids eh? She hasn't been too bad really, just pushing it a bit, trying to stay up far too late, pushing for more time in front of the tv. That kind of thing.

I've been busy with a small wholesale order for brooches this week as well, but I managed to complete it today and should therefore, in theory, have a little more time to myself.

I'm also plowing ahead with Chloe's birthday present, which will be a picnic basket filled with felt food. I've managed to squeeze in a burger, tomato, apple, orange, banana, two chicken drumsticks, two fried eggs (sunny side up) and a couple of rashers of bacon. Hopefully the sunshine we've been having the last couple of days will last until tomorrow and I can add a photo or two to this post, or an entirely new one.

To me:)

# Photo courtesy of Jek in the Box on Flickr