Its good to be patient.... i must remember that....

OK, i may be boring you now with my impatience, but i just want to meet this little guy so much! And to be able to bend properly... and get out of bed / off the sofa with ease! Hurry up little man!

Anyways.... I recently spent an evening surrounded by fabric, paper, and old bus passes. Hubby was out so I had the freedom to make the living room as messy as I wanted before he came back.

A few hours later….

3 new bookmarks and 3 pretty covered books – my cooking scrapbook, my gardening scrapbook, and my new notebook.

The fabrics and papers were taken from a sample book from Sanderson, the range is called ‘Romance’ and was most likely released back in about 2007. I managed to get the sample book from my local fabric shop. The bookmark embellishments were bought in a discount shop, a kind of Poundland style place and were really cheap. I made the bookmarks using the old bus passes from my working days, covered with the Sanderson papers and fabrics.

I plan on covering more of my scrapbooks soon as I really enjoyed it and each book only took about 20 minutes!

A good way to take my mind off the waiting... (see, there goes my impatience again...)

Aqeela xx

Gardens

The weather here in Leicester has been beautiful this week, sunny and warm, just like summer. I hope you've had days as lovely as these too. I haven't been out anywhere particularly nice (staying close to home just in case i go into labour, and im not driving at the mo either) but ive felt the warmth from my little back garden and my local strolls to the shops / grandmas / doctors surgery.

This weather has inspired me to do a gardens post... My 2008 diary was a 'Garden Lovers Journal' and contained many garden related quotes, facts, and paintings. Well, as i was ripping the diary up and shredding it yesterday i pondered over some of the images and quotations and thought some where good enough to share. So here they are... hope you enjoy....

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"The garden that is finished is dead"

H.E Bates (The English author of many books including; 'The Darling buds of May')

"He who plants a garden plants happiness"

A Chinese proverb

Hollyhocks – Helen Allingham

"The best gardens are something of a muddle. They have an air of happy accident, they look a little careless, however carefully in fact the whole has been planned. Things have grown up and flourished cheek by jowl, like a large family of children, some natural, some adopted, some short and some tall, some further advanced for their age than others… and they tumble about together then fall into each others arms, or else squabble perpetually until they are separated, in just such a way"

Susan Hill (An author who many bloggers talk about)

"To sow seeds and plant out, to graft and propagate, whether it be peas and beans, apples and plumbs, roses and peonies, is to make ones own positive stake in that future, a gesture, declaring that there will be weeks, months, years ahead. And he who plants sapling trees, which will not arrive at their full maturity for fifty or a hundred years, is not only an optimist but a benefactor to coming generations"

Also from Susan Hill

Peach trees in blossom – Vincent Van Gogh

"To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds and watch the renewal of life – this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do"

Charles Dudley Warner (An American essayist and novelist)

My opaly-dopes

I feel like ive neglected Opal recently; I seem to have been too busy to snuggle up with her on a regular basis. I think she has noticed too, she cries a lot more in the evenings (she is asleep all day!)

I hope that when baby comes along I will be able to spend more time with her, not less, as I’m sure il be spending a lot of time on the sofa either resting with baby in my arms or feeding him with opal by my side.

If im on the computer for an evening Opal likes to come and try to grab my attention.

She will sit in front of the screen so I constantly have to look around her…

Or she will sit on the back of the sofa by my side and stare at me…

Or cry down my ear…

Or she will creep onto my knee and relax…

She is just so adorably clingy, I love her so much.

Aqeela xx

PS: A few of you are wondering when baby is due, well he is due to arrive next Thursday, April 30th. I had an appointment with my midwife yesterday and she said that his head is engaged, he just needs to spin around a bit so that our spines aren't as close together. So lots of hip swinging and walking up the stairs two by two - that should make him move a little! She estimated he will be approx 7lb, lets hope so as that is a nice weight. I promise to keep you updated!

Fabric meme

I found this fabric meme at I heart linen. It is originally from Sew mama sew. I was inspired to take part!

My collection of fabric is very small compared to some of yours, but that's the way i like it, i am going to try and use it rather than hoard it now!

Here's the meme...

• What do you usually sew?

I like patchwork most of all, and usually make things for my home. I'm absolutely rubbish at making clothes - to be honest i find it daunting - although i would love to learn when my sewing skills are a bit a lot more advanced.

• When you shop for fabric, what size cuts do you usually buy? (i.e. If you see something beautiful, but you don’t have a use for it right away, how much do you buy?)

Well, most of my fabric is second hand, so it tends to be curtains, quilt covers, sheets, pillowcases, you get the idea. I have recently bought some fat quarters from eBay (roughly 22X18 inch pieces of fabric for those who do not know). I bought them for small projects... they are yet to be used!

• Do you buy on impulse or do you go out looking for something you need?

Always on impulse! But thats because its generally vintage or used stuff which i find in charity shops or on the market, so you have to just get it as and when you see it!

• Are you a pre-washer? If you are, do you wash your fabric before you need it, or only when you’re ready to use it?

As most of my fabric is second hand i wash it as soon as i bring it home, in good old bicarbonate of soda and vinegar, with a sprinkle of tea tree oil to kill any germs. If ive bought huge pieces (ie: thick vintage curtains) i may be reluctant to wash them at this stage (if they smell fresh - they generally do) and will instead wash the finished product after ive made it into something.

• Do you iron it?

I tend to iron my finished projects rather than the pieces of fabric themselves (unless i need to iron mid project to sew a crisper line)

• How do you sort it and store it?

Before i bought my Ikea storage unit it was kept in 3 large zip up bags, one was full of wools and autumn coloured stuff, one was full of saris and small scraps (a stupid combination considering fabric sizes!!) and the 3rd one was full of all my pretty cotton fabrics and vintage pastels and whites. Now ive got my Ikea storage unit it is sorted by size of fabric piece (2 shelves for larger bits, a shelf for smaller bits, 2 baskets for scraps - one for whites, one for other) and one shelf is for wool / autumn colours.

• Do you have any special folding techniques?

Just fold it neatly!

• What tips do you have for building up a well-rounded stash?

I personally don't aim to 'build up a well rounded stash' - i simply just buy fabric which i like.

• When do you say enough is enough?

Right now! I want to start using it rather than just collecting it! Some bits i just think are too pretty to cut up, but whats the point of just saving it, when i could make it into something and therefore see it every day? And there will ALWAYS be more fabric to buy later!

• What are some of your favorite stash-busting projects?

Making quilt covers - uses up lots of fabric.

• Do you have a current favorite print in your stash?

I don't have a favorite piece, but all the more pastel coloured bits are my most loved.

• What’s your definition of the perfect stash?

All second hand pieces, rescued from being dumped on landfill or ignored in attics, garages and bottom draws. The stash wouldn't be so large as to overwhelm, and not so small that you darent use any. Oh, and it wouldn't be called a 'stash' , im so fed up of that term! My 'stash' is called my 'collection', although i really need to get into the frame of mind that its not just a collection, but its a means to making some lovely things for the house... I MUST GET SEWING!!!!!

If you have a fabric collection then please do the meme, and let me know so that i can come and read yours!

Aqeela xx

From grubby garden table to sweet little crafting / sewing / dining table!

I liked my garden table, its weathered look was attractive and it was useful for BBQ's, the problem was, it got used about 3 times a year and was too big for my teeny tiny garden considering its lack of use.

We have never had a table inside the house so i decided to clean, sand and then paint it and bring it inside. The chairs were rotten and not worth the refurbishment so we smashed them up for the bin men to take away.

Here's how the table looks now...

Better?

Well i think it looks lovely now, and the draws will come in handy once i hoover the compost out of them! There are 6 draws in total, so that means i can hoard, i mean store lots of things in them.

The table is originally from Ikea but we got it for free from Freecycle about 2 years ago. The people we got it from had a lovely house, and were busy pruning the veg plot and making jam on the stove when we got there, a very idyllic little family they were, in a posh little neighbourhood.

The bunnies have had a good gnaw at the legs but its no problem, il let them off. Now the table is indoors they are working on the legs of the bird table.

The oilcloth cover is just a temporary measure to protect the table top, its actually just a remnant from John Lewis which i bought for about £3.00 just before Xmas. I plan on making a patchwork table cloth at some point, then perhaps putting a sheet of clear PVC over the top of that to keep it clean.

Also from Ikea are the chairs, we took a trip there last Monday and picked up 4 for just £6.35 each! And they were just what i wanted - foldable, wipeable, white, and simple.

Whilst there we also bought this cheap single wardrobe so that i could store all my fabrics and crafting stuff, rather than it being spread over different parts of the house. Its a typical cheap ikea piece, im sure you've all seen them, but like the chairs, it serves the purpose i want it for so im happy with its simplicity. And it was cheaper than buying a second hand unit!

Wanna see my fabric collection neatly folded inside???? Its been building up for 4 years now, but is nowhere near as big as most of the ones in blogland, but that's because i don't allow myself to get carried away! Il do the fabric meme that's going around on my next post and you can see my collection then... ooooh the suspense!

It was my birthday on Sunday (5th April) - now i don't celebrate birthdays at all, not even a teeny bit, i don't agree with the concept, but - and i hope im not a hypocrite here - i still feel sad that hardly anyone else acknowledges it either. My mum always does (with a card, normally late!), and my brother usually sends me a text (although he didn't this year) but my dad never does anymore and neither do my friends (as my friends don't celebrate birthdays either). I told my family that i don't believe in the celebrating of b/d's, and so not to bother giving a pressie / card / happy birthday greeting to me, and im so grateful that theyve respected my wishes, but then when the day comes around each year i wonder if they think of me and the fact that im a year older. Its very hard to explain without me sounding hypocritical. Do you understand how i feel? I guess its a case of my principles over my emotions, that's the way it should be but sometimes my emotions just get the better of me. It doesn't help that the only two things i do celebrate each year (Eid-ul-Fitr & Eid-ul-Adha), my family dont celebrate as they dont believe in them. Just one of the trials of changing ones religious orientation. On a good note though, an old school friend, an old uni friend, and the whole of the team at the hospital which i worked at recently, well they all acknowledged my birthday, and it felt nice. So thank you to them!