Skeletons, Hedgehogs and a Pop Up

It was a crazy, busy week around here last week. It was the end of

autumn term, lots of school stuff going on and then Saturday was

my husband's pop up restaurant at the city farm cafe. Exciting, scary

and very, very busy. I'm so glad we got through it all and now we have

 another week ahead of us and it's half-term. Yay! No school runs or homework, no plans really. We'll just take each day as it comes and 

see what we'll feel like doing. I'm really all for not doing much and

 taking it very easy this week.

But first a little look back at the best bits of last week. The quieter,

slower moments when I've had a chance to breath, enjoy and 

appreciate the simple, lovely things around me.

:::One morning while the girls were at school and nursery I made 

double chocolate cookies. I do enjoy my time alone at home now.
There is always housework to do but there's also a fair bit of making
and pottering which, for me, is always a pleasant way to spend a morning or afternoon at home.

:::I made a skeleton costume for Markie. Well, the bottom half of it.
After pirates and mini beasts last school year, it's all about skeletons
this time and as usual the term ended with a special dress up day.

I found a glow-in-the-dark skeleton t-shirt and got her plain black
leggings which I appliqued with felt bone shapes. I know I could have
just bought a ready made Halloween outfit from the shops but I do
like making these things. I enjoyed stitching those appliques and
there's always the extra joy when she likes what I've made her and
she did!

:::It was also Arts Week and Lulu was keen to show me what she had
made at school. Cue a walk outside to gather some leaves and doing
 my best hedgehog drawing. Then there was gluing and sticking
and a bit of colouring in.

 Ta dah! Lulu's autumn-inspired artwork. It was fun and easy and kept
her occupied for awhile. Love a pink faced, leaf covered hedgehog,
don't you?!


:::Thursday morning my husband and I went for a walk at Yorkshire Sculpture Park after dropping the girls off at school. It was lovely to
see the park at this time of year and also to have that time together.

We talked about Saturday and all the stuff we had to do to get everything
ready. There was A LOT to do but talking things through and making
lists helped us get our heads round everything and made it all just
a little bit less daunting. It was a lovely autumn morning to be
outdoors and I'm glad we went there for our walk.


:::I had a good play with washi tapes and these bottles on Friday afternoon followed by some flower arranging.

Someone once said flowers are sort of like a smile and it's true.
Add to that some washi tapes and I was in colour-filled bliss for
about an hour. These were our table decorations and it was a job
I was pleased to do and would certainly love to do again next time.


:::After lots and lots of organizing and preparing, our pop up restaurant
adventure finally happened on Saturday night and I am so pleased to say that it was a success! Hurray!

This really was my husband's idea and it's what he'd love to do
as a job one day. Neither of us has done anything like this before
and it was very stressful and scary but I'm glad we've done it.  We've learned a lot from the experience. We're also lucky to have found a venue at the farm cafe and people who've been supportive from the start.
They've already invited us back and we're already planning for the
next evening in November. Our hope has always been to make this
into a monthly event and it looks like it is going to happen. Yay!!


Thank you for all your lovely comments about my crocheted
bear. I haven't started on the new one yet, still can't decide over
a cat or a fox.

 Hope your weekend was fun and half term is going well.
Enjoy the rest of your week!

A Pirate Costume

This week I have been busy putting together a pirate costume
for Markie. Their topic at school this half term is titled 'A Pirate's
Life for Me' and all their learning are linked to pirates. As it's the end
of half term next week, their class is having a pirate dress up day.
And of course, as the costume maker in this house, I have to come
up with something that she can wear for this fancy dress day.

I started off by having a look in Pinterest for inspiration. I also looked
in her closet to see if there's anything she can use and found her red
and white stripey dress. She can wear a waistcoat over it and with
 a bandanna and an eye patch I thought she'd look piratey enough.
So that was decided, but first I had to make the waistcoat.

I've never made one before and just wanted something that
would look sort of like a waistcoat. I made a pattern based on one
of her shirts and this had three pieces- two for the front and one for
 the back. They were sewn together and this is how it turned out:

The fabric I used was leftover from her ladybird costume. It's
so flimsy I've had to line it with calico but it also saved me from
having to deal with hems so that turned out okey.

To add a little pirate touch, I embroidered this skull and cross bones
and created a badge.

 The armholes don't quite match and it's all uneven but it's wearable
and I think it goes well with the stripey dress. I'm actually pleased
 with it-- I didn't have to buy any of the materials, Markie likes it
 and most of all it fits!

I hope our girl pirate will have lots and lots of pirate fun at school
on Tuesday. Once again it's been a pleasure making her a costume.
I do wonder though what the next half term' s theme will be...


Hope it's been a nice week for you all. Enjoy the weekend!