Jam, picnics and cake, frogs to kiss, and a busy life...!

Ready for a catchup?! Here's what I've been up to of late...

 I made jam - plum jam, to be specific. I love plum jam, especially in PB & J's!












 The weather has been, at times, glorious! This was an amazing picnic we had as a house, with cake and biscuits and sunshine...!










 I made this cake for my housemate's birthday. It's a classic victoria sponge, with whipped cream and jam in the middle... mmmmn! Nothing quite beats a cake like that for the sunny weather!








 And I spent a weekend in Sherwood Forest, chilling out. I saw lots of these little guys, and rescued a few from the middle of roads so that they wouldn't get trodden on.




Other than that, I've spent a lot of time doing work for Nanny College. We have had many deadlines, and lots of preparations to make ready for job hunting in a couple of months. I handed in my last piece of work on Monday, and have been catching up on sleep ever since! I almost don't know what to do with myself now that I have some time off. But only almost! I'm headed back to my parents' in two days for a week or so, so I have to pack, and clean my bedroom here in Bath. I also have to clean the kitchen, as it's my job on the rota this week. I also want to do a little sewing - not much, but I want to make a block tonight! We'll see though. Tomorrow I'm meeting a friend for coffee - how I've missed my Niminy Cricket! I can't wait to see her tomorrow morning. And in the afternoon I'm visiting another friend. so I don't have much time left before I'm headed back to Manchester to do the cleaning needed... Who wanted a quiet life, anyway?!

I also received my bridesmaid dress for my best friend's wedding, so at some point I will post photos of it - once it's properly fitted to me, anyway!

Speak again soon.

Love love xx

Snowy toes, Sewing for Children, Natural beauty, and Birthdays

Why yes, those are my toes - and yes, I painted those snowmen myself! No, I don't really have the time to be wasting on things like this - but I did it anyway. And it's lovely to see blogger allowing me to load a picture for once! It's been so frustrating recently, not being able to.

So here are a few photos of what I've been up to recently:

Sewing a 'taggy' for Nanny College - it's a lilypad!










 And the back...












 ... And a close-up! So we weren't technically meant to quilt it, but I wanted to sandwich the layers together, and after I'd done it the teacher looked at it and told me it was a good use of the pattern of the fabric! Win for disobedience!





Then a scary creature attacked me:

 Isn't it beautiful?! I know you can't tell from the photo, but this butterfly was huuge!! Here, let me show you another picture of it...

Isn't it amazing?! It flew into my room, so as the good human that I am, I caught it to release it, and as the blogger that I am, I photographed it lots before I released it! The colours were just incredible on this peacock butterfly...







And this little one turned 1!!! I can't believe it - a whole year of this little boy! So I went back to Manchester and went to his birthday party, which was brilliant. I got to see him walking around, which was the first time I'd seen it. I gave a book of his year of photos as a gift - more for Manndibles than Bilbo really, but what mum has time to do a photo album?!

I finish Nanny College in 2 weeks for Christmas - very exciting! I'm looking forward to going home, but first I have to complete 2 modules and part of a third. So it's off to work I go!

Love love xx

21st celebrations, including lovely gifts and cards and experiences, plus my mum came down and brought my sewing machine, the first sewing project made in Bath, and my week working on Maternity ward

So, it's official! I'm 21! I had an amazing birthday the other week - my placement were very excited! The mum gave me a huge balloon:

Which is still floating in my room!! Very impressive, definitely earning its moneys-worth! It makes me smile every time I see it, bobbing around.




She also gave me this beautiful card which she made herself:






Isn't that just stunning!! It's such a beautiful card, I can't believe the effort she went to! And she wasn't the only one...









The 4 yr old drew me a card as well! There is nothing I love better than a card which a child makes for me; it shows such care on the part of the child. For them to focus on something like this for such a long time -!





My placement family also gave me this book:

It's full of projects to make, with beautiful photos all through. There are so many things in there which I want to make, and the images are so inspirational. Even the front cover - I love the style! It's a book brought out by a (for want of a better word) store in Bath, which runs courses and classes in sewing and making, called The Makery. It also hosts parties and sells habadashery items. Very cool!

So I was given all of that amazing stuff from my placement family, then we chilled at home in the morning before going off for cake and coffee early afternoon with a friend and their child. The 2 older children were pretty tired from school in the morning, so their emotions were running a little high; but it was a lovely afternoon, with chats and laughs.

My mum came down the weekend before, and stayed a night. It was lovely - we chilled out Saturday evening, and went to Newark Park on Sunday. It's a lovely hunting lodge, not too big for a ramble, but very interesting and really pleasant. She also brought down my sewing machine:















And the bag of sewing machine extras (I made the bag with my sewing machine!!):

 And the gift my sister got for me:






An ice cream maker!! Very exciting! I can't wait to make some ice cream! I've wanted one of these for so, so long, so I can't wait to try out some recipes.





My mum also spoilt me by getting me an extra gift of this adorable fabric:

 Isn't that just ridiculous?! I'm so grateful - she knows what I like!! It's one of those fabrics you just can't leave a shop without buying.




 I got this lovely card from my Friday babysitting family:

 The 3 yr old drew these pictures of himself (left) and his little brother (right) which was just lovely and sweet and oh-so-cute! And they gave me a gift card to buy a book, and some delicious chocolates!





 And my housemates also got me some yummy chocolates, which are mostly stashed at the back of my cupboard in order to savour them(!), and this notebook, which is utterly stunning:







 It has a quote from the bible on the front of it - to be exact, Exodus 33:14. Notebooks come in so useful for studying the bible, so I know I'm going to love writing in this one!

We also went to La Tasca as a house, and had a delicious meal together which was lovely - our first meal out as a house!






And the final thing I want to show you is this:

 yep, I wanted to use my machine, so I threw this quilt together. Oh yes, I did just say 'threw together'. Because I took blocks I already had, joined them together, and quilted and bound it in a day! It nbow sits on my bed, and is super warm and snuggly! the batting in the middle is 50% bamboo, 50% cotton, so it's really soft and warm and delicious! I also ordered some other materials to start another quilt, and I know there are some bits and pieces in my room at my parents' house for quilting too, so it's going to be a busy quilting year I think! I used fabrics I already had for the back:





See how simple I kept it?!








And then a super simple siggy block on the back, too:

Just my name and the year it was made, nice and simple! I love the wavy stitch here - it's really simple as well, but it's very pretty and covers a multitude of sins easily. It also can give the impression of there not being a seam or an edge there, which I love! I've used it before on my mum's machine, when I made the wife's quilt, and when I made my laptop bag. I used bias binding I already had for this quilt, just to keep it quick and simple. I like making my own binding, but pre-made is just as good, and much quicker to sew.

So yeah, the last 2 weeks in pictures! I've spent this past week working on the maternity ward, which has been an incredible, indescribable experience. Lots of baby cuddles have happened, and baby baths and topping and tailing and first nappies and lots and lots of changing beds. It has been a full ward all week and I've loved it! I've had some hilarious conversations with mums about the real nitty gritty details of giving birth - those things you don't usually learn about until you actually have your own baby! One mum said that she didn't know you had to deliver the placenta after the baby; lots of mums said there was no preparation for the amount of pain having a baby came with; many of them described the tenderness and discomfort of the aftermath (the waddling that doesn't stop once you've had a baby!); and many of them talked about how weird it was that that was inside them only a few hours before. Truly a worthwhile experience, and I feel so lucky to have been able to do that. Having said that, I got a sicky bug from one of the mums and ended up missing out on the last day because I was ill. I feel much better already, but I didn't want to risk passing it on to any other mums or their babies, so I stayed off yesterday.

And that's all for now!

Love love xx

Photo March, Blogging April, Easter with Friends and Experiments, Poorly before Placement, College News, Knitting and reading, Work and Another Kind of Work

Hi! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’m sorry. Life gets so busy now, and then I find other things to do in my free time, and before I know it, a month and a half has gone already.

So March was meant to be ‘take a photo everyday’ month. Well. That didn’t really happen. I got some photos, but it wasn’t a success. Having to use my phone for photos rather than a camera was discouraging, and life just got busy, and I was too busy having fun to take photos. April was meant to be ‘blog everyday’ month – and you can see how successful that was!!

Easter was lovely – I caught up with lots of friends, and had lots of baby cuddles with my friend’s baby . He’s 5 months now! How time flies! A neighbour kindly gave me lots of baby clothes in 6-9 months to take back for him.

I blew eggs for the first time this Easter. I also dyed eggs for the first time. And filled hollow egg shells with yummy goodness for the first time. Look:

 

 Aren't they pretty?! And I dyed them just with food colouring! And they were brown eggs, not white, so I was amazed the colours came out so vividly.

A few green ones...











 This one was filled with brownie - yum yum yum!

This one looked rather aged, with an antique feel to it. I don't know why, it just came out that way!

 It is meant to look white inside - I filled it with a base of chocolate then white chocolate truffle mix on top. One day I will give you my recipe for it, but that might be challenging, since I don't really measure the ingredients at all...

See? So much fun to do! And so much fun to eat!











I didn't realise the dye would penetrate the inside of the egg, but it did. So the egg was a beautiful colour on the inside, this stunning aqua colour! It was slightly mottled too, which gave a gorgeous result.











I reached the chocolate layer... nom-nom...

Digging in with my spoon - it was a challenge to break into the chocolate on the base, but when I did, it levered straight out in one delicious piece!










 All gone! but see the pretty pieces left over? Well worth it, and something I hope to make a tradition of over the years!

I have a cold. Boo. It’s not too bad today, but yesterday was kinda rough. But there we go!

I start at my new placement tomorrow. I’m at the nursery attached to our Nanny College, which should be interesting. I’ve heard rather mixed reviews of it from other students – many say that there just isn’t all that much for students to do, as the placement operates a really strong keyworker approach. I think the approach is good in terms of forming strong connections with the children. But it must be a challenge for students. It means we can’t get practical experience of nappy changing, and things like that whilst we’re there. But I can understand why the placement works the way it does. For me, a person who hates to be doing nothing, the challenge will be finding jobs for myself to do so that I’m never just standing like a lemon. And of course I want to try to do as many creative activities as possible. They have an outside area there, so perhaps I’ll be able to do some gardening with the children. But we’ll wait and see what tomorrow brings!

We have new heads of Set. In first year, we get a new head and deputy each term. I hope they do well. It’s hard, because we’re asked to vote for the representatives we want; but we don’t know who actually wants to do the job. And without knowing that – well, there are 50 of us to choose from! There are so many people who would perform well in the role, but it’s very difficult to pick. It’s something I think I would be good at, but I’m not inclined to go for it in any way. I did so much of that in primary and high school, I’m kind of over the whole thing. Other people should get a chance, people who want to do it.

I’m knitting at the moment. But I’m not going to tell you what I’m knitting until I’ve finished it! I have some yarn for a pair of mittens too, but I’m going to wait until my current project is done before I start them. My sister has emailed me the first instructions for the mittens, so I’m all excited and motivated to finish the current work. I’m also still reading Sense and Sensibility. I’m really enjoying it, but I don’t often get the chance to indulge in reading purely for the sake of it. All too often I’m trying to do 2 things at once, and reading is not something where I can do that.

Not only do I have my first placement week starting tomorrow, but I have a module to work on next week. It’s a reflective blog, based on our time in placement and with a specific focus. My focus is free-flow. This is where the rooms in the nursery are divided into different types of rooms – creative, technology, sensory etc. and the doors are all open, so the children can all wander in and out of the rooms as they choose. There aren’t many resources about free-flow, but I’m planning to look at typical aspects of running a nursery which the free-flow design might affect, such as challenging behaviour, development, safety etc. This gives me a wider range of resources I can draw on, so hopefully this module should go pretty well! I also have 2 other modules to do this term – 1 on child health, where my focus in my group is immunisations. The other is on Working with families. I’m looking forward to them both, actually; I think I’ll enjoy them.

I also have a regular job! A family have asked me to babysit for them 3 times a week! They're lovely, with 2 boys, and I really enjoyed my first week last week. They're all so friendly, and so I enjoy it and enjoy the experience. The money helps, too - the security of it being regular is reassuring.

I’m hoping to start updating regularly again, but don’t hold me to that! Life can be so hectic, so I make no promises.

Love love xx

Journey to Bath, Chats with friends, 2 QATWII blocks, the Third Block, Packing

I'm headed back to Bath tomorrow! I'm looking forward to getting back very much. I've missed all the girls, and my church, and my life, really. I can't wait to go back and see the girls from 4DU (4 doors up), and catch up on their lives. I want to get back to my room, and sort all my stuff from my backpacks out. I want to really get my teeth into 2013, and it's felt so far like I'm holding back, waiting until I'm independent again. Tomorrow I have a long journey from Manchester to Bristol - 5 hours - and then I'll need to catch a train to Bath, and then a bus home. I have my new book from the wife to occupy me, so I should get through a lot of that. Knowing me, I'll probably sleep a lot as well. I fall asleep on transport really easily, which is always a source of great amusement to friends.

One of the 4DU girls has been quite down over Christmas. I think she's finding life hard to balance between Bath and her home. She doesn't feel able to just be herself at home without being judged; and she's missing a friend terribly who moved back to South Africa halfway through December. But I think the real problem is that she got to be so happy with the South African boy, because he made her feel like she was worth something. And normally I think she secretly has really low self-esteem and self-worth. So now that he's gone, she's back to feeling like that. And the way she feels judged at home - not by family, but by friends - just makes it worse. I'm looking forward to seeing her and chatting. I hope I can help. I love her very dearly, and I want her to be happy.

In the meantime, I've made 2 of the QATWII blocks I needed to make, and I have one left. I know what I'm doing, it's just a matter of cutting the pieces and sewing them together. here are the 2 I've done:

This one asked for bright, spring/summer colours, a white background and some kind of star preferably. I used this pattern tutorial from Crazy mom quilts. I changed the way the colours go, though, so that it looked really sunny and starry and... I dunno, I preferred it this way!






And then the second one:

Sorry - not a great picture, I know! This one I created myself. They asked for colours in the range used in their own starting square, and geometric blocks. At some point I will put up the measurements and some pictures of how this one goes together - it's really simple actually. Lining up the diagonals felt scary but turned out to be really easy-peasy!


So those are the 2 I've done, so I have one more to do. It's based on a block pattern I saw on Quilter's Cache, but I've scaled it up to the right size. I know which fabrics I'm using and where, so I really do just need to cut them out and sew them! Pictures will follow at some point.

I have to get back to packing now. I'm really tired, but I know I'll run out of time tomorrow if I'm not careful. So the next time I post I will be in Bath!

Love love xx

Mug Rugs, Pyjamas, Apron, Biscuits and a Book and a Booking

So I know I said I would update yesterday, but the male members of my family decided yesterday was the day to fool around with the internet connection in the house, so I was unable to!

So over the past week I've been making these things called mug rugs - about the size of a placemat and made like a miniature quilt, they're big enough to put a mug and a biscuit on at the same time, for cozy afternoons on the sofa with a good book or some knitting! I invented the design myself, which I'm rather chuffed about; and I will be making another post at some point as a sort of tutorial for making it. It may not be so great, though, since I've never actually done a tutorial before. But that will come later at some point. Anywho, would you like to see the four mug rugs I've made so far? Of course you do!






Don't you think they're pretty?! I'm kind of in love with them, even if I do say so myself!

Aand a little bit closer! They're all the same design, but I put the mug in a different place for each of them  for fun. And the backs are all rather pretty fabrics - but I don't have a picture of them right now, I'm afraid!








As I said, a tutorial on making those will come soon. Another thing I did this past week was to make myself some pyjama trousers. They're cotton and lightweight, and very comfortable:

 Isn't the fabric lovely?! And yes, those are gigantic cuffs on them! They have a sort of yoke at the top too made from the same fabric. And they're zipped, instead of gathered elastic. Now all I have to do is to make the top to go with them! I know what I'm doing, and I have two fabrics to choose between. But it's a pattern that can be worn during the day, so maybe I'll use the other fabric to make a top for during the day!




And the last thing I made this last week was my apron for college. I don't know if I mentioned at any point, I'm going to university to train to be a nanny? So we're required to bring an apron, presumably for cooking. This is mine:

 It's a sort of cotton canvas material, and my mum and I worked out the pattern between us. It's pretty basic, but has a pleated skirt. Hopefully this fabric won't show the stains too much!






And that's what I've been doing! I also baked some yummy biscuits, and read The Railway Children. I saw the wife for a few hours on Thursday. She's gone back up to Newcastle today, and her volunteering starts tomorrow. The next time I see her will be mid-August, when we're going to London to see Les Mis. Yes, we've timed it to be between the Olympics and the Paralympics. We originally did this so that accommodation would be cheaper, but then a friend with a flat in London has offered it to us as a place to stay. I haven't cancelled our bought accommodation yet, just in case he flakes out, because I don't entirely trust him. But when I originally booked it I paid the extra pound for insurance on cancelling, so I can cancel up until noon of the day of check-in and still get my money back. And then I won't see the wife again until Christmas, most likely! But there we go.

I'll try to write this tutorial tomorrow, but no promises. Until then - !

Love love xx

Work, Challenging friends and Visiting them, Tidying and Baking

Wow, it's managed to be a busy week somehow! I did my last week of official work, went visiting, and did a whole lot of tidying!

So I finished work this week. It was a little emotional, but fine. I'll be working a few more days throughout summer, so I'll be seeing the girls then. The parents were really sweet and gave me a thankyou card with a gift card inside for ikea to help me with things I need for moving in September. There were lots of hugs and kisses with the girls, and then the wife gave me a lift home when I came out.

She and I went to Sheffield on Friday. We chilled at her sister's and spent the night there, which was insanely funny. Her sister is married to a guy who is rather hilarious, so the evening was filled with laughter. We did have a rather serious talk in bed that night, because she doesn't want us to hold hands anymore; and she's thinking about phasing out our fb marriage. I don't agree with it, but she thinks that because she's going to be her CU hallgroup leader next year, she has to care what assumptions other people might make about her. I'm really unhappy about it, but I see her point, and I don't want to cause her more stress right now. She's busy trying to please lots of people at the moment, including the boyfriend, and she doesn't need me having a go at her for this. Who knows, maybe in time she'll change her mind. I sure hope so.

Saturday we visited our friend, EH, who is living in Sheffield. She's at the uni there, so she took us round the town a bit, and we explored a market that was on. I bought some loose passionfruit tea, and EH gave me a tea strainer. We sat outside together and chatted about life in general. The market sold some really yummy strawberries covered in white chocolate fondant, so that went down really well. Then EH showed us her house, and we chatted a bit more there with cups of tea. The wife left for a few hours to catch up with another friend she knew in Sheffield, then she came back and picked me up and we headed back to her sister's for supper. I headed back on the train after supper, and the wife stayed on to catch up with a couple more people she knew.

I've spent today tidying and sorting my room. I've moved things around, and swept and mopped and organised. And there's still more to do. Hopefully I can finish it tomorrow, and maybe tackle the en suite too. And perhaps do some baking. I have a recipe for blondies that I want to try. Today I got major sugar cravings, so I baked up some chocolate cupcakes and ate two of them straight out of the oven. they were soo good! A very simple recipe,too - your standard 4 oz of sugar, butter and plain flour (sub a tablespoon with cocoa for chocolate cupcakes), 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and 2 eggs all mixed together in one go, spooned into cupcake cases and baked at 180 degrees or gas mark 4 for 20 minutes. Easy. and so much better than shop bought! You can't eat them hot from the shop, after all.

Sorry, a very rambling post. I will update in some more coherent way tomorrow, I hope!

Love love xx

Brief update

This is just a really quick update before I head for bed. Since March, I have:

visited my sister
had my permanent (hopefully!) teeth attached to my implant rods
been down to Bath to fill in forms for Norland and see my house for next year
had immunisations done for Norland
been for many walks
visited the wife in Newcastle
been down to Malvern and visited a flower show there
spent time with BM who is pregnant (she will be 16 weeks next Wednesday) and seen her scan photos
joined a gym
knitted 1 1/2 socks
done a lot of cooking - mainly suppers
read a surprising amount of new books for me.

Hopefully I will expand on various of these and fill in the past few months of absence fairly steadily. But for now - a bit of reading, then bed!

brief update, Fill in the Blank Friday, chlminding, the wife, baby games, a crazy long essay on why I wouldn't have a baby right now.

I'm tired. Not ill any more, but tired. It's been a long week. My grandpa's been in and out of hospital a coupla times - once for scheduled surgery, and then again via A & E - the wife's been down, I've had work, and one of my friends is playing a dangerous game.

I will update you on all of that, but not yet, because this is my Fill in the Blank Friday:

1. The love of my life is not here yet. I don't know them yet. Although I do love my family incredibly much, and the wife as well. It would be fair to call her the love of my life, but it would be a different kind of love to the one meant here.

2. Falling in love is scary and dangerous and exciting and fun and not what life with a partner is about as far as I know. Falling in love is the really fun bit at the start before you get used to them. The real challenge for life is enjoying being with them for the rest of your lives and getting through the tough bits and the boring bits.

3. Marriage is important to me. I find it to be very significant, and not something I would consider lightly. My mum always told me that when she agreed to marry my dad, she did mean forever absolutely seriously. And I would want to as well.

4. The longest relationship I've ever had was not very long in the grand scheme of things. But then of what relationships I have had, I've never bothered to time them, really. I was too busy enjoying spending time with the person.

5. The key to a good relationship is communication, honesty and trust. People in a relationship need to talk to each other. Honestly! About the things that are bothering them, or any issues they feel can be put right. And they need to trust each other, too, that they are both being honest about what they need to know.

6. I feel loved when people remember me. When they do those little things that show they care, like sending me the link to a video that made them think of me. Or even just a text where they ask if I've had a nice day, without me having to text them first necessarily.

7. My favourite quote about love is non-existent. As soon as I read this my mind blanked on any quotes that contained the word 'love'. The only one I can remember is from Twelfth Night - 'If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it-' It doesn't have any significant message for people, and it doesn't even make so very much sense out of context. But nothing else springs to mind; and even if it did, it would probably be corny.


Sot hat's this Friday's Fill in the Blank. And to recap the week... I worked, as per. BB seemed strangely ill yesterday - I mean, rather than it being an obvious illness, or her putting it on, she suddenly turned quiet and couldn't focus on playing because of a pain on her tummy. Normally she's easily distracted even if she is ill. But this time just seemed different. And I wasn't sure what to do. So I ended up ringing the parents, and her mum spoke to her on the phone (good phone skills for a 2-year old!) and suggested that it could be eczema  on her belly which she occasionally got. So we rubbed some cream on it and that kept her going until her mum got home from work.

The wife was down last weekend. She's majorly busy now with assignments and people visiting her, so she wanted to get one last drop in at home before she was too busy. It was lovely to see her, mainly because she's the one friend I have who always remembers me. Most, if not all, of the others don't really care about staying in contact that much, and I'm always the one having to make the effort. And that leaves me feeling very lonely and isolated sometimes. But the wife didn't even stop in at her own home on the way down. She just came straight to see me. And that let us have a catch-up and a giggle. And then we ate supper at hers the following night with another friend, BM. we didn't stay the night at hers, as she was leaving again the next day so it was a little hectic for her. I really hate saying goodbye. I know it's not forever, I know she's back down over Easter. But it is hard to say goodbye to someone you're close to - and someone to whom you're close because they care and make an effort where others don't.

I was meant to be seeing BM again on Wednesday evening, but she cancelled because she wasn't pregnant and was miserable about it. She's the friend who's playing a dangerous game. There are positives to having babies and children, I know that. They are a joy, and they will teach you a lot about the world and other people. But there are also a lot of sacrifices to be made if she is determined to go down this route. Ultimately I can't stop her trying, and it's clear she wants a baby very much. If she gets pregnant, I will of course support her as much as I can and as much as she needs me. But I also wonder if it wouldn't be better if she didn't get pregnant right now, but focused and prepared for an interview she has for university studying nursing, which is what she wants to do. She still doesn't know if she's going to India this September, but if I were her I would look into that too, as a possibility. But I'm not her. And she has to do what is right for her. All I can do is pick up the pieces at a time like this when she's miserable about not being pregnant, and support her in the path she takes her life down. It isn't easy.

I can't write any more. My brain is too full right now.

Love love xx