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!

A nice surprise

A couple of weeks ago when I was sitting with Ladybug sorting out a problem with her knitting, The Engineer asked me if I could teach him how to knit too.


Completely taken by surprise, as he had shown absolutely no interest up until this point, I said 'of course', he chose his wool and we began.


He grasped the idea really quickly and has stuck with it ever since, picking it up each day. He even took it on holiday with him and knitted on the ferry!


It did take me a little by surprise though when I asked him to put his pyjamas on later that day and he replied 'can I just finish this row?' Not a phrase I had somehow ever imagined coming from my son's lips ...... !!

Goodies revealed

I have been a little tardy in revealing to you all what I sent to my swap partner for the seaside swap. Without further to-do, and because I know she received it aaaages ago, here it is :

A handy denim tote for all those beach essentials! I lined it in shocking pink and appliqued a beach hut to the front (as you all can see!) I also made some fabric badges and fastened those to the front.


Some wool (look at the name on the label...)

Vintage 'saucy' postcards

Ice cream sweets

A windmill - gotta have one of those!

fishy pencil

ice cream lip balm

and my first ever cushion and attempt at free motion embroidery! I was quite proud of this..... (not a very good photograph though

All found their way to my swap-partner, Rachel of Contented.

I have to confess, I didn't read the bit about it fitting into a shoebox size box until after I'd made it all -oops! So having had such fun with that swap, I'm looking for another one to take part in - anyone know of any?

Jammy goodness

Before we left for holiday, we embarked on our annual jam making fest! It has become a bit of a tradition in our house and the children start asking when we can pick the fruit as soon as the sun starts shining in the spring! This year, we were a bit late with the picking, but still managed to get a bumper crop. We picked raspberries,

cherries,


strawberries,


and blackcurrants. After lots of mashing


boiling


and bottling,

we were left with 27 jars of deliciousness. Yum! Just got to wait for the blackberries now....

I hasten to add, they are not all for our consumption!

Oops!

Sorry, sorry! Once again I've been absent for well over a week. I do have a good excuse - honest! We've just come back from a lovely and relaxed (yup, it is possible , even with four children!) holiday in Ireland. I had intended to have a few posts ready to go for while we we away, but never found the time to do them amidst the frantic preparations. Oh well, we're back now, so normal service shall resume once again.

We stayed in a gorgeous house in the south of the country, surrounded by fields and with a number of fantastic beaches within ten minutes or so.

We had nothing planned, and just took each day as it came. Lots of time at the beach, lots of ice cream, lots of walking and a little bit of rain! Wonderful.