Last one I promise!

Where’s a little girl supposed to sit when her mum has sent all the chairs away to be recovered?

Where else?

Sew-Jo

I got it back, must have left it somewhere a while back and know it has found me.

Last March I made birthday quilts for both Ajla and Diane, I got as far as the finishing the quilt tops and getting the backs done but then life got in the way and then I lost my mojo.

Today, the kids went of to their aunt's for Iftar and a play with their cousins (I decided not to go because of all the hormones), instead I started basting this beautyA closer look. I'm going  to do a light meander on her so as not to detract from the fabric. I’m hoping to get her done tonight and start on Diane’s tomorrow.

Another bit of inspiration came in the form of this little gem, which I got a couple of weeks back but hadn’t had a chance to really look at.

Before I start, I think it must be Time for Tea

XX

Meet Polly

Remember I mentioned that I was going off to Isra’s this morning for our Chatty Crafters morning and was hoping for some sew-jo. Well, I went , I conquered but best of all I have got my sew-jo back!She’s a bit boss eyed(as my mum would say) but otherwise I really do like her! It’s the first time I’ve ever made anything like a stuffed doll and I think I just may be hooked. Sharon (Isra’s big sis) showed us what to do and she is a fantastic teacher especially if you listen to what she is telling you to do ( I didn’t). Sharon makes fantastic dolls from felt, you can see one that she had made previously on Isra's header.

I decided whilst I was there that I was going to go off to Boarders to get a copy of the book that the pattern came out of. But unfortunately for me Boarders closes between one and seven during Ramadan boo hoo! So of I went to get my shopping and decided that I would go back tonight and get it.

Whilst doing my shopping, Isra sent me a message which said: ‘there is a treat for you in your bag XOXO’’, so I raced round and got the rest of my shopping and pilled it in the car.

I opened my bag and found thisThe book I wanted!

So I am feeling a tad bit morose today and so I blubbed in the car park of city centre, I am a woman with hormones and proud of it! Note to self - must get back on the evening primrose oil.

So a big thank you to Sharon for showing us how it’s done and to Isra for opening up her house to us and for being such a great friend. (Do i get my Grammy now?)

XX

P.S. We took a group photo, I'll link as soon as the girls have blogged.

Edited to add that the hostess with the mostess has blogged about our fun morning

Morose!

I have had this morose feeling from the moment I woke up this morning! I can’t for the life of me think why! We’ve gone from having quite a full few weeks to nearly nothingness.

Tariq has gone back to Bahrain and so I don’t have anyone battering my door down for food. Jamal came and went, Sara has gone off to the UK to go to Dado and Rita’s wedding and I haven’t spoken to my mum for days, it must be the longest I have ever gone without speaking to her.

I think it must be because I miss them all, that has got to be it! and probably because I’m missing the wedding.

 

XX

Chatty Crafters!

I’m off to a chatty Crafters morning tomorrow and boy do I need it! I have lost my sewjo and need a little project like the one we will be working on to get me going.

I’m so excited…. and I just can’t hide it…

Check back tomorrow for pics!

I thought I’d share

I found these pictures of Noora today. She’ll hate me when she’s older but that’s ok, because I intend to bring them out for her 21st or I might even submit them to the school for her last yearbook!

Now Let me explain, Noora was always munched her food and always did a very good job of it!

I’ll need to lean over and get some leverage!

Is anyone looking?

OOOh so I can really dig in then!

He he Laughing my a** off!

This time two years ago!

I loved this day, it was the most relaxed I had been in a very long time. Abdulla was about four months old when we left him and Noora with my mum so that we could go to Africa for a week!

I climbed up by myself and got comfortable. There was a lovely breeze and I really didn’t want to come down.

Mohamed stayed on the ground!

How Beautiful is the scenery?

This was a day’s trip from my mother in law’s house, it took three hours to get there about five hours to get around, I think we were home by midnight! I have to admit that I wasn’t looking forward to the trip and so didn’t make any plans or map out what I wanted to do, I just knew that I couldn’t wait to get to Zanzibar to lie on the beach. I know wish that I had.

My intention is to go back and do it properly with the kids so that I can see it through there eyes.

Help, I need some pills!

It was announced today that the start of the new school year has been put back to the 26th of September. That my friends is a whole four and a half weeks more of having the kids at home, they have been home for three months!

Since hearing the news all I have wanted to do is eat! Eat until I am comatose! I drove to MD’s and got myself a sundae but it didn’t do the trick. I think I'm going to head on over to the hospital and get me some anti anxiety meds!

Moan, moan, groan, groan!

On a lighter note, we moved back home this morning and things are looking FAB! Will take pictures and blog once we are organised.

XX

I believe it’s a Hoax!

Yesterday I got told that School would be delayed for a month. As you can imagine I just about had a heart attack. There’s a text message going around which looks like it it from the MOE but something about it doesn’t ring true for me.

I was up at the crack of dawn this morning, scouring the online papers looking for anything indicating that school wouldn’t be going back (can you tell I'm panicking) there is nothing at all!

Yay!

Windows Live Writer

Just a quick note to say that I ahve been using windows live writer and it is a timesaving life saver(try saying that ten times really fast)! If you haven’t got it then download now.

Thanks to Isra for letting us know about it!

Nearly there!

The windows are in, and all but one room is painted!

I spent the day at the house with Diana trying to clean up. It is going to take a while for the dust to settle, every time we turned our backs we would go back in to what was supposed to be a clean room to find more dust. I get the feeling that we will be trailing dust for quite a while!

I moved all my sewing stuff up to the top floor so that I can finally have my sewing nook and not have to worry about the machine waking the kids or DH up. I am so pleased and so far it looks great. The kids rooms are done up in colours they requested and all that’s missing are the curtains, which come on Wednesday morning.  The Main hallway and sitting room are looking really light and airy since they have been repainted a lovely Ivory colour. The sofa has been taken away for recovering and won’t be back for another 3 weeks or so ( ssssshhhh i still haven’t told the hubby).

All that’s left to do cleaning wise is the bottom floor which we will be attacking tomorrow and then aaaaaaaahhhhh bliss, we can move back in!I can’t wait. It has been lovely being at my mums, especially with the pool to throw the kids in but now I am ready for home.

On a crappy note, there is the god-awful rumour going around that school has been put back until after Eid!  I have checked the MOE website and so far it’ says that they were holding a meeting with the MOH and would work out the best way to tackle the swine Flu issue whilst making sure that the children's’ health was a priority,  although they did state that they don’t believe that delaying school would be of a benefit to anyone. The meeting was to be held today, I will check the website again in the morning.

I truley feel that in the best interests of the children and sanity of the mum’s who have very much been looking forward to next week, the school year must start next week! How desperate do I sound?

I couldn’t believe my eyes!

On the way out to drop the kids off at their cousins this morning, this is what we came across, parked outside the the mosque.

At first we giggled and then I turned the car around to have a better look and to take some photo’s, I was thinking that this would make a brilliant post. I got back in the car and looked closer at the car and was felt utterly ashamed of myself and knew that if my mum was with me she would have skelped my *rs*.

Who ever this person was had literally strapped their entire belongings to the car and left it outside the mosque in hope ( I think) that no one would steal anything. It had me thinking, had the man of the home lost his job and had they been evicted? Where they now living in the mosque? Would he get another job? Would they find somewhere else to live? What if he got in to an accident driving like that, what would happen to his family then? Can you see the baby walker? there was a bouncy chair as well! I could never imagine being in these people’s shoes.

I dropped the kids off and went back, to see if I could find the man and give him some help but the car was gone.

I showed the picture to a friend later and she suggested that they may have been moving to a new home. Perhaps they were, but I will still count my blessings tonight because I am lucky enough to be able to afford to hire a man with a van to move my stuff without endangering my life.

I hope tonight that they are in their new home and if not I pray that they have somewhere cool and comfortable to stay for the night.

Seeing things like this helps put things in to perspective, especially with Ramadan looming.

Good Night.

The order!

I delivered my custom order today! G was very pleased with the goods and so was her loyal customer. I have to admit that I had difficulty pricing it (G thought I had under charged) and taking money from a friend, I am going to have to work on that one!

 

I made a chef’s apron, this is the second one I have made. I attached a log cabin patch pocket to the front, the picture doesn’t do my handiwork any justice, even if I do say so myself. I fussy cut the the teacups then added a frame like boarder around it which gradually increased in size. I inserted the coffee pot, coffee jar, cup and saucer fabrics in to the the log cabin strips. The smallest was about an inch squared. I loved it, it was very very difficult to part with. I can make others!

This is the bundle all laid out! I made a reversible drawstring bag from coordinating fabrics  to put it in.

I am very happy with the result!

Catching up with the world!

After ummhing and aahing for a long time now, I finally took the plunge and bought myself an Ipod. I justified the out lay by telling myself that I could downloads loads of podcasts, stories, music and audio books for listening to whilst I am sewing and because of the amount of time the kids and I will be spending in the car come the new school year!

I must admit that I was very nervous about it as I feel that since I stopped working, technology has left me by the wayside. I used to be very tech savvy but now I turn to my mum for advice on techy stuff. If my computer goes wrong I don't try to tackle it, I immediately call the techy man to come and take care of it. I used to laugh at my mum when she would say that technology scared her, I totally understand the way she felt now and could never understand why anyone would want one of those blackberry thingies!!!!

So I got it home and started downloading/uploading (whatever it's called) and have been surprised at how easy it has been. My favourite is a podcast that my pall Isra introduced me to when we were cutting Noora's birthday bunting, I hadn't laughed so much in ages. I went out with my cousin on the boat today(whilst the DH baby sat) and took my poddy with me and listened to them on the way to Bander Khairan, one of the women reminds me of Judy my lovely friend who introduced me to quilting and a fellow pilots wife who took very good care of me when we were based in Abu Dhabi.

My mum has been away with Salim for nearly two months and they aren't back untill the 12th of September and are going again in November for a month. They are away because the summers offer Salim a terrible quality of life and also they needed to seek specialist help for Salims obsessive behaviours and his sensory issues. I have missed them lots since they have been away but today I have missed then both terribly. :-(

Miss you lots Ma!

It's My Buisness!

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was going to turn my hobby in to a a little bit of a money earner. Boy have I been busy! Despite having the dreaded flu (not of the piggy variety), the other day I cut: ninety six napkins, forty eight tea towels, fifty coasters and their batting! This lot excludes the Miss G placed for her customers which by the way is done, I haven't photographed them yet as I finished late at night and the lighting was terrible.

These are the tea towels and napkins, it doesn't look like very much to me!

More photo's to come!

Busy having fun!

I think I mentioned a while back that we would be moving in to my mum's whilst the double glazing was installed in our house. My mornings have been busy driving to the house to check on things, choosing paint, curtains, new sofa set fabric and meeting guys at the house to measure this that and the other. I was there the other day when they started cutting in to the ceilings so that they could install the wiring for the fans, I nearly had an anxiety attack. I had no idea that there would be so much dust, it was like a bomb had gone off. I taped the cupboards up before I left, but the dust was so damn fine that I have no doubt that it will have found it's way into everything. Those of you who know me will understand my anxiety, thank god I will get therapy in the form of cleaning which starts tomorrow!


My mum made up a summer activity box before she left, filled with felt activities, face paints, stickers etc... as you can see the kids have been having a blast.

Auntie Sara's so good at things like this!

We have been swimming most afternoons, the monkeys are actually asking to be taken to bed by about quarter past seven. I'm glad their routine is back to normal because school starts in TEN days. Hurray for me!

Party pooper

On friday we had some friends round for a swim and dinner. Aseya came with Azzan and Teryem. Reema came with her Mum, Laila, Ghalib and Aisha. I'm always amazed by the amount of food that kids seem able to put away when they are in the company of their peers. They seemed to have a great time and were thoroughly exhausted.

The party came to an end when Abdulla pooped in the pool! As you can imagine our evening came to an abrupt end! I was collecting with the net for ages and then had to go diving for the bits that sunk, you will be shocked to know that I enjoyed myself, It reminded me of the time as kids when we used to dive for coins, although the kitchen gloves did hinder me somewhat (I have thrown them out).

ModKid available soon!

Modkid patterns by Patty Young Designs

All the patterns will be available from me soon. If you see something you particularly like then let me know so that I can reserve it for you.

I owe it to a few friends!

I need to go back a bit for you to understand this story, it may seam a bit long winded but please bare with me.

Last December the FatQuarterShop.com had a sale on, everyday a different range would 50% off. So a good day was a day when the fabric on sale was one I was hoping for and a bad day was when I didn't like what they had to offer. All week I waited for Lotta Latte by Deb Strain for Moda to go on sale but it never did, I really wanted it for a friend but alas it was way to pricey!

I spent a bit of extra time with that friend last week but even after our goodbye's I couldn't not think about her, I decided that I wanted to make something for her. Isra and I had already arranged to go off to the fabric guy in AlKhuwair on Thursday morning. So there we were pulling out rolls but nothing took my fancy, I dug a little deeper looking at the selvages and flash flash what was that? Is that, could it be, could it just possibly be DEB STRAIN. I whipped it out excited and sure enough there it was Lotta Latte. You can Imagine right? Isra admired we oohed and aaaahed and then the guy says: Madam I have more at which stage I nearly wet myslef. So feast your eyes ladies...................

Wee milk jugs, tea cups, lattes with cream..All together now.......Issssssssssn't iiiiiit Lovelllly, Lovellly, Lovelllly

these ones aren't from the same line but they coordinate really well.

The Idea was that I would make her a sampler with the panels and some coasters, napkins, tea towells and aprons for her Shop(My pal owns Cafe G) which sells the best ever coffee and bits of cake. I asked Miss G over to so that we could brain storm the fabric, but my friend had other ideas. First she placed an order for some loyal customers who are leaving the country, then an order for her shop and then volunteered to stock the items in her shop to sell on to customers. How's that????? Isra recently had a brilliant idea(she's still working on it so I can't give away her secrets) and since hearing it I have been raring to go, so this offer has come at the right time. I'm bursting with ideas and want to get moving.

I went back the next day and bought more of the same as well as different fabrics so that there is a bit of a selection.

I will keep you posted on what's happening and let you know when the merchandise will be available for sale. Wish me luck!

Catch Up

We've been doing a bit of this

and a bit of that

;-)

Busy Busy Busy!

I've been a bit indisposed. First my brother shows up and insists on having BBQ's, when I declined he and my sister ganged up on me and started calling me a mummy and referring to me as boring! In my opinion the only wanted someone to set up, make the salads and clear up at the end of the night. I have to say apart from the cleaning up duties, I did enjoy myself. On both nights I didn't get to bed till two a.m.

I've also been trying to get some parts of the house packed up, we're having double glazing installed. We had to take all the curtains down, pack stuff away, tape up the cupboards (against the dust), put things in boxes, pack up our stuff for going to my mums, oh and I quickly organised the cupboards before I shoved everything else in (why???). I'm sure mt cupboard obsession harks back to my childhood, on Thursdays we would have to clean out our rooms including the cupboards. These had to be emptied vacuumed and then wiped down with a cloth!!! So Mama, that's another thing i can blame you for ;-) We're also going to be painting, getting the sofa's recovered, moving people around into different rooms etc..... Nothing like a bit of change to brighten things up a bit! YAY

I went to our Chatty Crafters morning, where we are making an Amy Butler Bag. I had a laugh with the ladies at all the silly little mistakes we had made following (or not) the instructions. The bag requires a lot of interfacing hence all I managed to do was iron all the interfacing on to the cut fabric, I worked at it for three solid hours!!!!!! It will be along time before I try making this bag again, It will probably be along time before I get the blooming thing finished. Alia has posted pictures of our morning here.

We have moved in to my mum's. I am looking forward to our next couple of weeks here. I'm going to have some friends round, throw the kids in the pool and pray that the cabin fever dissipates!