One lovely new pair of shoes......................................
One lovely new pair of shoes which are now soaking wet and smelling of wee wee!  GREAT!!!

Today we have spent another beautiful day in the garden running between the house and the garden.  Who can believe that we have got such glorious weather so late in September?!
I do truly believe that this is the calm before the storm and that this winter will be another harsh one.  Only this morning at music one of the ladies was telling us that someone she knows has got the long range fishing forecast and they reckon that late October early November will be bitterly cold.  Somehow they can tell what the weather will be doing based on the fish.  Only time will tell, however at the moment it seems a little unbelievable that potentially we could be plunged into the middle of winter in under a month!

What did we see in the garden today?

I think that this is a solitary bee.

Blackberries.  They are still going but are nearing the end of the season.

Ewwww check this whopper out.  A common UK earwig.

A giant spiders web.

Mimi trying to tell the time with a dandelion.

Mimi taking tea in the garden.

We also found some Beech Tree nut shells and saw a very tame little bird in the shrubs which I am struggling to identify.  I originally thought it may have been a tree sparrow but the colours were wrong.  I think it may have been a Dunnock.  Anyway it was very cute and Mimi was very impressed with her find.

A Dunnock

If I am totally honest I am really struggling at work at the moment.  So to keep my spirits up I have been plugging away on a number of little projects.  One of which is my beautiful quilt for Mimi's bed.  I am so proud of my progress.

First panel completed

This is what the end result should look like

Pattern came from Material Obsession

In amongst all of the chaos we also managed to pop to the shops to pick a few bits up and a pocket money visit to Poundland where Mimi got a Peppa Pig Recorder (Not sure what I was thinking off when I brought this!) and some ladybird wings.  One very happy buzzy bee!!!

Mummy & Mimi Day

Check out my lovely new Liberty Print sketchbook my husband brought me today.

With Mike in London today we just had a Mummy & Mimi day.  I demonstrated my double standards and put Mimi in front of the TV on whilst I was in the shower.  If you are a regular reader of my blog you may remember that we had banned TV in the week as Mimi was developing square eyes.  I have however come down off my pedestal slightly.  When I am in the shower the little monkey has a tendency to run off; (we live in a bungalow).  By putting her on our bed in front of the TV I can see her from the shower.  Whilst writing this I am going to remind Mike about putting the baby gate up on our bedroom door.

With the weather being so good I decided we would go for a walk.  We quickly popped into town and then round to see Pa & J via the great flower lady where we brought some stunning flowers which Mimi insisted carrying and some beetroot.

We then walked home via the sheep in the field at the bottom of the road.

We have managed our first day of potty training without an accident.  Wow!!!!!  I think we may have finally got it!  Yippeeeeee.  I am so pleased we brought the potette fold away potty.


                                                         


I originally thought it was a bit expensive at £15.00 the bags are even more expensive.  However if you have a child who has a serious phobia of public toilets (she has always had it ever since she was little, I think its something to do with the lighting and the hand dryers) it is great.  The bags have little frogs in the bottom and an absorbent pad.  Mimi will now happily use it out and about so I think we are well on our way.

Whilst Mimi was asleep this afternoon I managed to complete the first (of many) panel for Mimi's new quilt.

Just before tea I said that Mimi could play with the play-doh.  I could hear her chatting away to herself.  When I looked to see what she was up to under the table she had a massive mouth of play-doh.  This is not unusual.  She loves licking it and eating it to the point where I think she isn't going to be allowed to play with it.  When I was a child play-doh was always really tough and cold, the new stuff is really squidgy and when wet becomes really sticky.  Does anyone else have the same problem? I know that its not a major issue as it is fairly edible, but even so.

Tomorrow we have my friend from Uni coming to stay with her little girl who is seriously cute.  However she has a serious allergy to all dairy products and eggs.  Has anyone got any good recipes I could make for the girls?

Not enough time in the day!

We are nearing the end of the summer holidays and I have been busy trying to cram in as many things as possible as I know that once I go back to work I just wont find the time.

So to save on having to upload endless photos I have decided to upload a mood board of some of the "little" projects I have started this week and some of the things that have inspired me.

My new book Material Obsession has arrived and I have decided which quilt I am going to set as part of my winter project. I am very excited about making it and I am determined to finish it.  I often start projects and loose interest in them and they sit untouched sometimes for years.  We have been out and brought the material and last night I finally managed to find some spare time to start cutting out some of the pieces.

Mike has very kindly taken Mimi out for a couple of hours so that I can get some things done.  The constant whining is really starting to get through to me and I am very grateful for the peace and quiet.

My desk and a cup of tea - ahh the peace!

I should really be sorting out my folders ready to go back to work, but instead I find myself sitting here updating my blog and avoiding my school work.

Since my last post we have been fairly busy.
We finished our stone project and I am quite pleased with the outcome.  Mimi did however manage to cover herself in permanent pens including a pair of her trousers!

We have been to see D&H again for more HTC CPD, and Mimi seems to have grasped the whole potty thing.  Yipppeeee.

Everyone down at my Mum & Dads has finally got over their stomach bug so we have eventually managed to catch up with my Dad.  Mimi loves her Pa and they spent a lovely afternoon messing about.  Its really great to see them playing together.  I am sure that my Dad was never like that with us.

Messing around with Pa

Oh no who is this with uncle J?

We spent some time in the garden enjoying an ice cream in the sun.  I don't know where the sun has gone this morning as it was distincly chilly when I went out earlier to hang the washing out.  A definite autumnal nip to the air!

And finally my new bracelet arrived from Etsy.  I think I may have to order some more of these for Christmas presents.  Anyone who has not taken a look at Etsy really should.  There are some great original gift ideas.

Only this morning I brought something on there.  I was checking out How about an Orange blog which had this fab article by twirling betty on using making tape to make magnets.  Following the links I have brought some masking tape with grey spots from Pretty Tape.

Project 2 - Quilt for Mimi

I made this quilt for Mimi's bed.  She has taken to carrying it all over the house and loves lying on it in front of the TV when watching peppa pig.