An apple a day...

Due to a request to re-jiggle our sessions by the nursery, Pickle now does a whole day on Wednesdays, which means that she gets to stay for lunch. She was so excited to hear this and was so pleased that she too would have a lunch bag - just like her older brother and sisters!

It happened that only the week before, I had seen a link to these and so decided that Pickle would have her very own too (when will I learn?) . She chose the fabric she wanted - albeit from a 'selected' choice! - and so Tuesday night found me making this:

It went fairly smoothly...

I decided to make it out of fabric so that it could be washed and wanted it to be lined so that it looked pretty on the inside too (?!)

...to hide the seams, I really wanted to use this spotty bias tape that I had, but there wasn't enough - grrr!

as I had once again left it as late as I possible could, there was no time to get any more, so I used cotton webbing, which looks better than I thought, but I had a huge problem with the corners and my sewing machine.

As everything in the nursery needs to be labelled, I used my fledgling free-embroidery skills and made her a fabric covered button with her name embroidered on and sewed it to the front. She loved it (phew!)


I'm not happy at all with the corners though, really not happy. I do however have more fabric and tape. I feel a second lunch bag coming soon.....!!!

p.s. (once again, sorry for the quality of the photographs, but I took these at a time of day when I shouldn't even have been awake, let alone trying to take pictures of a flippin' lunch bag!)

Me? Excited? Never.......

Next week Daddy Long Legs and I will be having a whole week away by ourselves - Yup, that's right - a WHOLE WEEK without children -eek!!

And the reason for this previously unheard of event?, well, it's our 12.5 year wedding anniversary. Yes, that's right - 12.5 years! You really have to be Dutch to get this one - it's an official anniversary (Copper) and you can even have a day off work to celebrate. Why 12.5 years? Well, because it's half way to 25 of course.....!!

Normally, couples would have a party to celebrate, but we will be staying at a friends house in the south of France, and then spending two night in Paris. Excited, me??

It's all made possible by my lovely parents in law who will be coming over to stay with the children for the week that we are away. They are sooooo wonderful!

Anyhow, the reason for this post is not to gloat or make anyone feel jealous, but to ask for help! We've never been to Paris before and will have 2.5 days to spend there. Does anyone have any tips for nice places to eat/ places to visit off the beaten track? And most importantly - any good wool shops/haberdashers/ fabric shops you can recommend?

(pictures have nothing to do with the post! I just haven't used them before....!!)

Just lovin'....

...the colour of my latest pepper from our garden.

On a (mostly) grey day, it's lovely to have such a splash of colour!

I'm very proud of my peppers too - grown outside with no greenhouse - we've had a bumper crop and there's still plenty waiting to ripen. Yum!

Tiny toes and tutus

Pickle started her ballet class today....

She has been wearing her sisters' outfits for about a year now whenever she can raid them from their bedrooms!

There is something so scrumptious about a three year old tummy and three year old legs in a ballet uniform....

Oh, and 'Beer' went too!

Thankyou!

I just wanted to say thank you for all the lovely comments on Friday's post. Each and every one has been much appreciated. We are feeling much more positive now that we've had time to digest the news and are ready for whatever may lie ahead. Pickle will be Pickle no matter what. She's the same wonderful girl that she was before last Friday's assessment and will continue to be no matter what diagnoses are given!

Thank you!

One man's junk....

Wow, look what I obtained from our local freecycle group !

I have been wanting one of these for so long, but couldn't justify buying one, and then all of a sudden, up popped this! It is going to be a perfect sewing machine to teach the girls how to sew on.It needs some TLC, but I'm looking forward to restoring it. First thing will be to take off this awful 'wood EFFECT' sticky back plastic, from the lovely REAL wood casing. AAARGH! Why would some one do that?!

I think I've identified it correctly as a 99k series, made in 1928. Now I'm off to browse eBay to see if I can find a manual...

It's been a hard day...

Most of the time, blog posts seem to be about the good things in life; wonderful things that have been made, great days with family, the beautiful things we find around us. Unfortunately though, real life doesn't just consist of good things, though I know that as a family we have an abundance of them daily and for that I'm so grateful.

It's just that today life dropped one of its bombshells in our path. One of those things that puts you on a different course from the one you had intended. Remember this post where I wrote about the events surrounding the birth of Pickle, our youngest child? At the end I mentioned that we 'had concerns' about her. Well, today those concerns became a reality. I have had a niggle regarding Pickle since she was just a few months old, a really hard-to-define niggle, but one that just wouldn't go away. I put it down to my background - special needs teacher and Educational Psychologist, but I guess I knew it was a bit more than that.

I finally took the plunge and spoke to my health visitor about my concerns earlier this year and today was the latest in a series of appointments. It lasted for an hour and a half and we walked away with referrals to a speech and language therapist ( the paediatrician has 'grave concerns' about her speech and language development), an optometrist, a hearing specialist and a MDT (multi disciplinary team) for her 'Autistic traits'. We are reeling from the impact of it all and struggling to comprehend what this is going to mean for her future. I've been very tearful all day, even though I had my suspicions, it's so hard to see them in black and white. I can't deny it any more, it's real. I have been on the other side of the fence so many times before in my 'previous life' when I was working, but nothing can prepare you for the impact of hearing the news about one of your own.I'll be better in a few days, once it has all sunk in and will begin planning what we can do - after all, she is still our wonderful Pickle , who so deserves her nickname, who makes us all laugh every day and who charms everyone that she meets. She always will be, no matter what the outcome of all these referrals, and we love her very very much.

(and yes, she really did fall asleep half-way in a basket! We've found her asleep half way down the stairs too.....!!)

That still, still sound......

Our house feels very empty today. Everyone has gone back to school and it's just me and Pickle left at home. We have had such a great summer holiday this year and for the first time ever, I really didn't want ! Pickle visibly drooped when everyone left this morning and so to cheer her up, we went shopping for her new ballet uniform. She has wanted to join her big sisters for ballet lessons for ages, and now she's 3 1/2 , she can! She was very excited in the dance shop and caused lots of smiles. We must practice saying 'Miss Trudi' rather than the current 'Mister Trudi' before next Thursday though!

Next Monday will be the start of a whole new chapter for me as Pickle will be going to nursery every morning, leaving me with more time for 'making'. It's the first time since the Engineer was born (9 1/2 years ago) that I will have had so much time for me during the day. I'm excited and have lots of plans, maybe I'll even finally put something in the Folksy shop that I've had for the past four months...... maybe.

The pictures are of the new pencil case that I made for Ladybug last night (nothing like being on top of things eh?) She really wanted me to make one for her rather than buy one from the shops and she chose the fabric herself on our 'girls day out' in London - (I'll blog about that another time!). It's just a simple , lined box pouch, big enough for all her things. She really liked it, which is the important bit! Sorry about the pictures, but it was already dark by the time I finished it.

Hope that everyone else had good holidays and that those with school age children are enjoying the breathing space!