When Words Fail...

It's a very sad time here at the moment.

On Friday, we lost Rob's beloved Grandad. Although he was 91, it happened very suddenly and we were left in a deep state of shock.

I've spent 2 days thinking how to sum up Grandad in a blog post and have come to the conclusion that I just can't. For a man that led an amazing life and that loved me like I'd been born his grandaughter, not to mention how much he worshiped my children, I just don't think I can find adequate words. Maybe I will later and hopefully I can share some of his fascinating stories in future posts, but for now I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Goodnight Grandad, thank you for being in our lives, we are very honoured to have known you. x

Thrifty Crafting

Don't you just love a good financial crisis? Austerity measures? Good old cut-backs? Well no, neither do I, but never to be defeated, I've actually managed to find a positive. My little old crafty brain has been working overtime to find a way to make this big old financial pile of poo work for me, and bon jovi if I haven't done just that!

So, poor Chez Gillard is looking a tad weary. For too long now it has needed sprucing up but alas, the munchkins need feeding so no spare pennies to treat our much neglected pad.

Aha, but who needs pennies when you have (de-de-dah) Thrifty Crafter to the resue!

Back in January, my mum brought me over an offcut of rather nice curtain material. Said mother then found her sewing machine suddenly disappeared (austerity measures folks, no splurges on new sewing machines! ;)) and...***drum roll***...lurverly new bolster cushions for our bed!

 

Oooh, but there's some material left, what else needs loving and sprucing up? Hmmm, how about the cheap old plain brown bedroom curtains, they now look a tad dowdy next to lovely new bolsters...

And yet still more material left. Aha, one free quilting book from the library, borrowed to make this last month. But there's not much material left to make a full project. So, a quick rummage round in a remnants bin at the local curtain fabric shop (7 remnants, £5!) and a cheap fleece throw later (£2.99) and...ta-da...

Luscious new quilt for tired old bedroom too!

Even Cindy's impressed and nothing ever impresses her (apart from her food bowl!)

But did we stop there? Well where would the fun be in that? I'm sat here this afternoon, full of cold and it's bouncing down outside. A little rummage through the material scraps box and a little project springs to mind. I've seen a lot of these appliqued cushions about at the moment, but starting at about £15 a pop I ain't spending that on a cushion. But do we need to if we're a thrifty crafter? No! 1 hour later and here's a little present for my daughter: 

OK so I've stopped for now, rotten cold has stuffed up my head and I can't see to sew straight. But is there some left over pirate material with Xander's name on it sat on the sewing machine? You bet your bottom (carefully scrimped and saved) dollar there is! ;)

New Family Members!

Been a while since we added to our brood and, even though last time we gained a family member it was the one-woman crackers machine known as Cindy, 4 years on we felt mad enough to do it again!

Last week, Ally and Steve gave us their old fish tank. We needed to quiten the kids on the whole 'can we have a dog' thing or even worse from Em 'can we have a horse'! Always fancied some fish so we took the opportunity of a free tank and let the kids get one each.

So, may I introduce the latest Gillards, PHINEAS & FERB:

Cute aren't they? Must say we're already a little attached to them. And for anyone wondering where the names come from and who don't have munchkins and their tv in the house, here's the original P&F:

Pomp!

What a fabulous day it's been to be British. I'm giddy as a kipper about pomp and ceremony and have been waiting 30 years to relive that moment when my 7-year-old self watched Lady Di become Princess of Wales. It was so magical and so when William and Kate announced their wedding date, I was beyond excitement about today!

I was so excited I couldn't sleep last night and was up at 6am watching all those nutters camping out (and secretly regretting I hadn't gone down!). My mum came over and me, her and Em sat in our special t-shirts and tiaras:

 With patriotic nails:

 Drinking tea from my late Nan's china tea cups:

 And watched a bit of history in the making. It was a beautiful ceremony, even Xander watched her walk down the aisle with a smile on his face. Once they were man and wife we cracked open the bubbly:

And Xander celebrated with the Queen:

 Before my children toasted the happy couple:

I just love that my children got to see this. Like I say, I remember Charles and Di's wedding so vividly and it was so magical at that age. OK, so Em got bored half way through and went off to play and when they were pronounced man and wife Xander shouted 'Bogey' at the tv! But, they saw it live and I'm so happy they did.

So, now sat watching the re-run, sad I know but it's not often we get to see a big historic happy event so I'm going to lap it up. Next one, Em's got her sights set on Harry, god help him!

Happy Easter!

What an absolutely beautiful weekend it's been. The run of good weather that we've had virtually the whole of April continued and we got out and enjoyed it.

On Good Friday we went up to Steve and Ally's. We went to this place which was gorgeous. There was some lovely scenery:

 Though quite a lot of hills:

 But lots of photo opportunities:

 After a few hours there we headed back to Steve and Ally's where the kids enjoyed the slip 'n' slide:

 And a bit of rocking out on the trampoline:

 Needless to say, the munchkins were exhausted:

 The rest of the weekend we've been mainly at home. Good job really as there is this little lot to plough through:

My kids are very spoilt but very lucky. Thanks to everyone who thought about them this Easter and sent an egg, it'll keep them in chocolate until Christmas!

So, Easter is now over and we have a whole 3 day working week to get through until the eggs are moved to make way for the bunting!

Snuggly Pirates

A couple of weeks ago, I had a half an hour to kill in the local town so popped into the library. I'd not perused the craft section for a while so went and had a look and spied this little beauty:

I've not quilted for a while now but my friend Kirsty started this year and she'd got me thinking that maybe I should make another. Plus, after the marathon crochet blanket for Em I felt like I should make Xander something similar but crochet doesn't really cut it with 4-year-old boys. So whilst flicking through I found the perfect project. Quickly I whipped out my phone to send a pic to Kirsty "we have to make these woman!" I told her, tbh I didn't meet that much resistance. The day after I popped down to Kirsty's with said book and we got planning, ordering fabric and started our quilts (mine for Xander, her's for her grandson). I even took my quilt on holiday with me last week and sat in the forest doing all the hand stitching. And this weekend...VOILA:

Lovely boyish pirate quilt, with a nice handy treasure map on the back (well, you never know when you may be in need of treasure whilst snuggled up in a quilt!):

And most importantly...the boy loves it!

So, love of quilting reinstated and next fabric-type project is in the planning....;)

We Love Center Parcs!

We've just got back from a week at Center Parcs and had the best time. We absolutely love it there and this week we had the added bonus of glorious weather. Here's our week in a nutshell:

Lovely scenery:

 Bowling tournaments (mummy lost!):

 Creepy crawlie hunts:

 Rope climbing:

 Learning how to be a premiership football player (let's face it, he has the temperament already!):

 Bike riding:

 Dorito-loving squirrels:

 Dare devil waterslides:

 Hours and hours in the pool:

 Chilling by the pool:

 And most importantly, lots and lots of fun:

Can we go back now please?!