Simple Pleasures

Call me a fool but I spent an hour this morning unwrapping and wrapping up bobbins of embroider thread.  I was in my element!  I bought a box of threads from ebay that someone was clearing out and it go here in a it of a mess so I passed an hour undoing and re-wrapping the beautiful colours onto their bobbins and putting the bobbins in colour order.  I was in heaven!  This project will take a good few more hours until it is all tidy and my own threads have joined their new neighbours in the box, but sometimes you have t take pleasure in life's mundane little idiosyncrasies and see a rainbow in the middle of a mess!

I love blogger, but ...

I love love love Blogger. Even though I have not been posting for the past few months I have still been using it to follow all my fave blogs on RSS as this is a great way of reading the "headlines". I have, however decided to stop doing this as I find that there is soooo much lovely interesting stuff going on out there, that there is no time left to do important stuff like blogging myself and doing useful things like, erm Christmas shopping! I often read blogs for half an hour, an hour day whilst waiting for the boys to go to sleep or just noodling about on t'laptop until stupid o'clock at night. This is all very well and lovvely, but not ultimately useful or creative for me. Now this time will be used more creatively for doing inspiring crafty things and making some space and money for little old Gherkin.

The blogs I follow are largely crafty ones, written and photographed by some very clever and talented and INSPIRING people who make me OOOh and aaaah daily on sight of their pretty wares. They are just so amazing and make me go "I could make that!" and all to quickly I find myself with a bunch of new fabric and bits of shiny things to do to it and then no time to actually make a dent in said fabric and shiny things! I have vowed for 2011 to clear a space in my crafty boxes (and there are MANY) and make stuff with the stuff I have and then blog about it myself and maybe inspire someone else to drag a box out from under the bad and do something with the contents!

Here is a list of the things I plan to make over the next decade or so.

Voile fabric flower brooches (5 fabrics bought this week)

Vintage button rings (ring blanks awaiting toppers!)

Dust ruffle and bunting and bolster cover for Cornichon (fabric in bag awaiting wash)

Bunting for Little Pickle (ditto)

Earrings for Folksy shop (beads hanging around since summer)

Envelopes to sell (too many books in wardrobe waiting to be snipped)

Slides for birthday presents (make-your-own-button kit relatively unused)

Quilt for Mr Gherkin (need to get rind of some fabric!)

Quilt for me (fabric saved from January awaiting wash)

Quit sandwiched for Mum and Dad (WIP right now- will be done for Christmas!)

Lavender bags to sell (huge bag of lavender is residing in my wardrobe - yum but ugly)

Baby quilt for N's little girl (so much fabric to use up!)

Baby boy quilt (ditto)

Cut up old clothes for the ultimate recycling quilt (memories of old sicky babygros)

Denim quilt (nobody needs a whole box of old jeans that don't fit any more, do they?)

That is just the tip of the iceberg. Quilts take ma ages. Hopefully, I will have much more time on my hands now I cut out my inspirational reading time and turn it into inspired crafting time!

Neglect

I have been neglectful of my blog recently, partly due to Little Pickle who has started to wake at about 11.30pm (my blogging time just before bed) and also because I seem to have lost my way a bit. I had a surge of good intention at the start of the year and blogged 5-6 times a week but I have lost the urge a bit and lost some focus on my life. I have forgotten my 101 list and did not make a goal list for April or analyse the one for March and have just not had achievements at the forefront of my mind.

Tis must change. I have cleared my ironing pile. I have tidied today. I am getting a man in to clear my horrible pampass grass from the garden. I am going on holiday. I have voted. I have sent out Little Pickle's birthday invitations. I had a weekend away with my best mate and we shared some delicious things. I am back on board the Organised Express. All Aboard! Toot toot!

Family fun day

We don't really celebrate Easter here in the Gherkin Jar as we are not religious, (though I did give in to a chocolate egg hunt around the house which the boys LOVED (Little Pickle bellowed "I GOT ONE!" when he found one all by himself before Cornichon beat him to it!) however I felt I really should do something together as a family so we went to a car boot sale this morning. I had originally planned on going myself alone, with nobody else for a good rummage but Mr Gherkin said "I'll look after the boys, can we come too please? I'd like to have a look!" I really did not think that it would be his thing at all but I could hardly refuse him as he was so sweet. We all went to one about 5 mins down the road and it was lovely! I had time for a good look and they didn't moan and we all came home with something. We had a Scalextrix set for £6, hotwheels set for £3, 4 Transformers for £2, Power Ranger suit for £1.50, Weird Fish jumper for me for £1.50, book for Mr Gherkin for 10p and one for me for 50p. All in all a good shop (although I was thinking about my beautiful streamlined organised toy cupboard with 2 big boxes stuffed into it!

We spent hours playing with the Scalextrix which Cornichon loved but Little Pickle was a bit too young for it, although he had a good go but was a bit heavy-handed with the trigger! We spent the afternoon outside after Mr G cooked a beautiful linguine bolognaise for lunch. I managed to clear out the shed and there is now room to swing a cat in it! Woo hoo! It felt good to sort that as it is our dumping room as we don't have a garage so we really need to keep on top of things in the shed. And now we can! Pat on the back for a job well done! I also put together a little plastic greenhouse that I bought yesterday and it is fab! I can just see it full of little seedlings. Bring on the vag patch!

Today I felt good. I cleaned the inside of my car - vacuum and everything! No more feeling disgusted when I get into my car and ashamed when Jon is rightfully sarcastic about the filth he has to dig out before he can get into the front seat. The boys helped to a certain extent but I had to finish off alone. I did all those things that have annoyed me like tidying the restrain belts on the car seats, cleaning the coffee I spilt in there about a month ago, taking out the books that have been there and not read for as long as I have had the car! I fell like I need to put an air freshener in it ( I HATE air fresheners) that has that 'new car' smell. I can't wait to drive it tomorrow!

I also had a couple of hours alone and managed to clean the porch, dust the front of the house, weed and de-leaf under the kitchen window, took the dead heads from the nasty ornamental grass at the front, washed the wellies, decided to make more of the room outside under the porch and decided to plant some flowers there. Little project here I come!