Saturday outing :: Crook O'Lune

On Saturday we packed a picnic and headed out to the Crook O'Lune near Lancaster. We chose a spot on a pebbly beach and settled down for lots of paddling, fishing and stone throwing/skimming. 

The ducks at the Crook O'Lune can hear a picnic being unpacked a mile away and are not shy about begging for a bit of sandwich.

Once we'd finished our picnic we used the cold box as a fish tank. The children loved catching these little fish in their net and had great fun watching as some of the fish jumped out of the box back into the river. 

All fish were safely returned to the river when we'd finished!

It was a lovely day. I love this part of Lancashire, it's so lush and green. 

We finished our trip off with a visit to the ice-cream parlour at Wallings Farm. I'd recommend it - the ice-creams were huge, but I have no photographic evidence, unfortunately, as our camera battery had run flat by then.

Red polka dot dress

Here's the dress that I made for the wedding we were invited to. A wedding I didn't, in the end, get to go to, but that's a different and very sad story (and one that I'm not ready to go into right now).

The dress pattern I used is Simplicity 2406, a Cynthia Rowley design. I chose to make the sleeveless version, view D. It was fairly easy to make although the fabric I chose didn't exactly help a novice like me and the pattern instructions could have been better. 


The fabric is a silky red polka dot which hangs really nicely but frays incredibly easily. The pattern instructions weren't detailed enough, in my opinion. The directions for the armhole facings made no sense at all, so I attached them in the way that made sense to me and I think it worked ok. I also didn't include the pockets. Pear-shaped ladies like me have no business adding unnecessary bulk to our hips.


The back of the dress is open to the waist. I was going to sew it up to bra-strap height, but never got round to it.

So, final verdict :: great dress, shame about the pattern instructions.


Oh, and apologies for the rubbish photographs.

This and that

Hello! Long time no see. I think that's the longest I've gone without posting. I find I really have nothing to say - I think I may have bloggers block. I haven't been commenting on other blogs as much as I should, either, so apologies for that!

I have nothing creative to show you as I haven't made anything (although I have plenty of things I could be getting on with). I find I am procrastinating with the dress I made, although I can't procrastinate for much longer. It needs hemming before Friday because we are off to a wedding in London at the weekend. Two nights away child-free. I can hardly wait. Keep your fingers crossed that the weather stays warm and sunny, won't you?

Yesterday, after swimming lessons we spent the afternoon in the garden, playing skittles and blowing bubbles. Simple family fun. And this is what I've been up to, I guess, spending time with my family and sorting out the house. I cleaned out a cupboard and found things I'd forgotten we ever had.

I've been spending a fair bit of time helping out in school. I helped the nursery children with an art project and went on the school trip to a farm. The latter was exhausting - lots of fresh air and trying to keep your eye on 4 small children all at once makes you very, very tired!

Our poor old cat has been diagnosed with bladder stones and put on a special diet that will, hopefully, shrink them so that we can avoid having to have them removed surgically. An operation would cost £450 and I can think of a lot of things I'd rather spend the money on. Although maybe I should have been spending it already - on pet insurance.

And Britain has gone Jubilee packaging crazy. I am regretting buying a new jar of marmite just before these hit the shops...

and I'm the only person in the house that eats it so I can't really justify buying another one. M&S have come up trumps with their packaging, so what I have bought is a tin of biscuits...

and some chocolate teacakes decorated with jubilee bunting...

So, a bit of a random post, but hopefully, it'll help me get back into the swing of things blogging wise...

see you soon x

Pinboard makeover

I spent some time this week making over #1's pinboard. It was a grotty cork board much like this one.  I got rid of the frame and covered the cork with with some cream linen, an off-cut from #1's blind (the floral pocket) and some ribbon. I got a metre of plain linen and a bag of ribbon from Abakhan and they cost me a grand total of around £3 - a bargain, as I have plenty left.  

It was an easy project - there was no sewing apart from the pocket - the fabric and ribbon is just stapled on.

The inspiration came from 'Handmade Home' by Sania Pell. 

And the butterfly pushpins came from Paperchase.

Today I have been mostly trying to sew Simplicity 2406... it's still to be hemmed, so all will be revealed soon.


Hope you're all having a fun weekend x