Happy Mother's Day, Decluttering

Happy Mother's Day, although officially over here in England our celebrations were back in March.  Unfortunately, even with loads of hints my family did not take me up on this special day again.  However my daughter wrote me a poem last year and thought I would share it.

So to all you mothers, step-mothers, grandmothers even foster-mothers, Happy Mother's Day you're all great!!!

Since my return from America, the new tax year is upon me and I needed to do a stock take on what materials I had, however being so busy toward the end of the last tax year and then flying out of England I was faced with this at the beginning of the week.

Complete mess

Tidy and hopefully for good.

Where do I start?

Sorted!!!

The whole process took me a few days and was so tedious but worth it.  I even managed to sort out my cupboard which is full of material.  Like my step-daughter I am always buying new material in the hope that I find something to use it on and then think its too nice to cut up.   Does anybody else think like that?

Finally our anniversary Rhododendron bush has now started to flower, I love the bright colours.  We got it given to us for our first wedding anniversary and this year, in July we will be celebrating our 14th Wedding Anniversary.  For us it finally spring has sprung and whilst I am not a gardener as such, our tubs have been filled with plants, will have to see if my 'gardening' skills are as good as my stitching skills.

Another successful pop up shop and California Dreamin' turned into another reality

Yet again its been ages since I last posted and I have a good excuse I have been busy and away visiting and staying with a good friend in California for the Spring Break, or Easter holidays as we in England call it.  I've also been busy with another pop up shop which was held in time for Mother's Day over here which was in March.

The event was a busy day and culminated in orders which I had to complete in time to go away.  I made a success of £80 on the day which was really good.  One brilliant idea my husband had was to take a portfolio of all the cushions I have done in the past for people to look at which also helped with orders being taken.

As it was coming up to Mother's day I made some cushions that seemed apt for the occasion.

Four orders were taken which gave me 2 weeks to stitch and complete before I went away to California.

Easter break then saw me and my daughter jet over to Sacramento in California for a long overdue visit to stay with a friend who lives there.  Last time we went was summer 2010 and whilst we travelled down to London Heathrow and flew via Calgary in Canada, this time we decided to travel from our local airport at Norwich here in East Anglia and from there it was a transfer at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam for an 11 hour flight to Los Angeles, before transferring to Sacramento for our 3rd and final flight.  It was a long day as we were up and ready to leave Lowestoft at 4 am and we landed in Sacramento at 3.30 pm which was 11.30 pm back here in England.  We certainly don't do anything by halves, but it saved my husband a 6 hour road trip to Heathrow Airport and back home again.

Unlike last time when we visited and were stopped by the Highway Patrol, this time we introduced ourselves over a Mexican and after a long 4 year wait, Victoria was finally able to get her first Frozen Yoghurt which she had been waiting for.

We even had the opportunity to catch up with some old friends.....

And New.....I am Lisa Wilson on the left, and on the right is also Lisa Wilson

Last time, when we went to California we did a road trip with my friend Jackie.  During that time we visited Yosemite National Park and South Lake Tahoe.  This time we decided to travel north up Highway 1 and head for Mendocino County, staying in Mendocino itself.  For those who can remember Angela Lansbury in 'Murder She Wrote'  Mendocino was the setting for the fictional 'Cabot Cove' in the long running series.

Mendocino Hotel but we stayed at the back in their garden suite as we had 2 dogs with us too.  A lovely place to stay.

Blair House....Jessica Fletcher's fictional home

Whilst we were in Mendocino County we also visited Fort Bragg and Glass Beach.  Used previously as a dumping site, it is now a visitor attraction with all the glass that was dumped smoothed out by the sea and mingling with the stones.

I also loved the various colours of the Pacific Ocean which I tried to capture on my camera.

Before leaving California, as California was populated during the Gold Rush Days, we decided to try our hand at Gold Panning.

Victoria trying her hand at panning for gold.

With little success

Our mode of transport. first owned by my friend's dad and we kept getting so many compliments off people when we stopped at traffic lights etc

All in all, we had a great time over in Sacramento and are planning to revisit next year for the Spring break.  A 4 year delay was too long to wait.  It was soon time fly home to England via Portland, Oregan en route to Amsterdam again.  Our return journey was 20 hours long but it was worth it.

And its time to start stitching again!!!!

Decorating, stitching and confronting my demons......inserting a zip

I have now missed two weekends of blogging, the first was due to a family bereavement and the second was being really busy with redecorating our front room.  In fact in the past couple of months we have been busy doing the hall, 2 flights of stairs and 2 landings with the use of scaffolding.  Unfortunately, with one flight of stairs with this being a Victorian house the stairs were too narrow compared to the top flight built on as a loft conversion, health and safety went out of the window and we ended up propping one leg with a pile of books.

The hallway, old mahogany stain, magnolia painted walls and horrible lampshade

Stained floor with blue runners, yellow wallpaper and white paint instead of the old stain..... and light shade

all floors were done together

We also treated the house to a new front door after almost 14 years of living here

Add caption

Our front room before......

During.......after we lifted the carpet and sanded the floor........

......and after

Just waiting for the tv to go on the chimney breast

Now the room is complete, and I even made up some cushions to match the curtains and a table runner for the coffee table and I can now return back to blogging again and even cross stitching :)

Even though decorating has taken up much of our time, I have also been working on Heavy Going Grizzly.  I love seeing the stitching taking over on the blank aida and am getting used to the different shades of browns used.  I am also spurring myself on to get it completed and do a bit more of the BIG project.  For years I couldn't start a cross stitch before completing the current one but I have to admit having a change around is making me WANT to get back to it.

He's beginning to look like a bear

I also bit the bullet this week and signed up for a Futures course at college and have started Introduction to Dress Making.  There is so much more I want to learn on  my sewing machine and feel apprehensive on doing.   The first week was talking about different material and bout some of the signs used on the patterns and we ended up doing a basic skirt.  When it came to inserting a zip on the garment, this was my worst nightmare.   I have to admit when it comes to zips I usually pass the buck and get somebody else to do it, but I did it, albeit with a little bulge at the bottom which I am going to see if I can rectify.  Next session will be starting our garments, and a fun time was spent shopping for the materials needed.  I was lucky as most of the important materials needed such as dressmaking scissors, pins, tape measure, dressmakers chalk and seam ripper is already owned.  All I needed was a pattern, fabric(s) thread etc.  I finally decided on 2 patterns, one to start at college and one to do at home at the end of the course.

Our practice skirt

and the dreaded zip.... it went well until the end when I gained a bulge at the bottom :(

2 patterns I couldn't resist but I am going to start on the one on the right and not one to take it totally easy I am going for the long sleeved top

All I can say is watch this space!!!!!