Thursday 18 February 2010

Dolls, quilts and stuff

Manic week at work. I haven't known the phones so busy in a while. I was about to say a long while but no, that would be wrong. Thank heavens it's Friday tomorrow! A good long lie in Saturday and my brother, his wife and my gorgeous niece come to visit Sunday! I can't wait!
I know my boy is even more excited as it means he'll get the last of his christmas pressies! More importantly, I get to now take the Christmas tree down!!! Huzzah! Yes, I know it's February but I had strict orders. Until the presents were all handed over, the tree was to stay. I have had a compromise in that I can take it down Saturday but that was only as the boy thought better of a Christmas tree being up when my niece arrived. I don't think two year olds really get why there would be no presents ready for them with that certain tree stood there, all alight and pretty.

I have been perusing this website and found the most beautiful dolls. Here's just two little faces I have fallen in love with already.

Yes, I do love dolls, as much as I pursue a lot of boyish things, I'm still a big girl at heart.

In other things I will mostly be busy this weekend trying to form some sort of an idea for a tattoo design for a friend. How to make a cool design of a bell that never rings, a robin that never flies, a fish that never swims and a ring??! It's going to be a tough one but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Next week we're off to the studio for another three hours tattoo work on the boy's chest piece. It's starting to come together quite nicely. I am saving my pennies with my Christmas money so I can get my other leg done and I can't wait. I feel unbalanced.

I have been toying with the idea of making a quilt for the living room but having a nightmare with my concept. I want to make it for the boy and I and wanted to use our family crests. On my Dad's side this is easy. Scots always have their crests etc blazened all over the place. For my Mum's side not so easy. Yorkshire folk it appears are not that into crests. For the boy I have found the origins of family and their crest on his Mum's side but not so for his Dad's side. Damnation. It would feel incomplete having only his Mum and my Dad's family crests! More searching will have to be done. Plus, this will by my first ever quilt. Maybe taking on a little too much all at once? I've found a cute squirrel pattern, maybe I'll just do that and be happy my sewing needs have been met in the short term. ;)

By the way, I still really want a teacup pig!


Monday 8 February 2010

Evilness

So, today has mostly been about my belly deciding that it doesn't like me. If you have ever suffered, or like me, often suffer the evils of IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) you'll have a little sympathy for how rubbish I feel right now. I'm tired of keeping up a happy face when at work to try avoid the discussions about my evil belly. It's strange because when I worked in care I didn't care less about discussing my condition and fellow staff members' bowel movements. I know it sounds wrong but when you work in a supportive care environment with people who can't tell you when they feel unwell, bowel movements become very important.

So, tonight's dinner as a result will be plain boiled white rice, which shockingly doesn't affect me, with some nuts and dried fruit in it. Hope this does the trick so I'm in work again tomorrow, I've already had involvement from the work doctor in the past due to absenteeism because of not being able to leave the house. The annoying thing is, everyone always refers you to take the chemical rubbish that clogs you up but that just makes me feel worse and I've yet to find a GP that actually agrees that some medication just doesn't help. I think we have some green bananas in the house, that might do the trick.
So, for any fellow sufferers out there, what have you tried to calm the cramps?

Not much else has been happening around here. I dragged the boy (near enough) into town yesterday as I needed to get some storage for my crafty bits. The cats have definately decided that my pincushion and anything else I try to hide under bags, bottles etc are their toys for the taking. Annoyingly the exact storage I wanted, which we have in the bathroom, was not in stock, well not in plain colours anyway. All that was left was garish overly bright multi coloured little drawer systems that I thought looked god awful. So, the search continues. I did manage to find two pairs of skinny jeans and a lovely little woven dress for dirt cheap in the sales so that made me happy! I also found two really cute little birds made out of fabric which matches the living room perfectly and would cost me far more to try and make myself so I had to buy a set.

I have finally completed my teddy bear made from a free pattern from McCalls. I will post a pic as soon as soon I can. I made him into a little bit of an odd coloured panda bear in white and red and next time I'll make a few changes to arm lengths etc but overall I'm super happy as he turned out pretty well for something with more pieces than I'm used to tackling.

I also received some great bits and bobs from this lovely store Purplelinda Crafts as an order I placed a week or so ago. The cheapest I found online for safety eyes, noses etc when it came down to additional shipping costs as well. Very happy! I also ordered some bits and bobs for crocheting as I have decided this is another crafty skill I want to learn this year. I have given it a go and fairly happy with the results from some great online tutorials I have found. The only thing I have found is that I have an exceptionally loose tension. What couple of lines I did and took apart again, as I don't want to waste the yarn, looked nothing like the tutorial, even with a smaller hook. I have no idea how I'm going to get a decent tension for Amigurumi projects. These have been my inspiration for learning to crochet and with the loose stitches I'm pulling off the stuffing will be everywhere!! Ah well, hopefully this will improve with time as well. I'm just pretty happy I managed to understand what they meant in the umpteen tutorials I have downloaded, read and watched.

To make me happy, here is a picture of an animal I desperately want as a pet once we have a garden one day. A teacup pig. The most beautiful creature I have ever seen!


Don't you think?