Legoland Hotel, Windsor

One of the perks of my "proper" job, working for Waitrose, is the partnership leisure benefits. These range from cheap holidays at their hotels & lodges, to a sailing club. They regulary put on special events for us too. 

We have just returned from a great stay at Legoland which was very heavily subsidised, with the park staying open hours after the general public left. 

The children had a great time. We watched a pirate stunt show & got soaked on the water rides. My son especially enjoyed spending his birthday money in the big Lego shop.

John Lewis also arranged a great deal if we wanted to stay at the new Legoland Resort Hotel. (which of course, we did!)


The hotel was A M A Z I N G!
You are greated by a huge fire breathing dragon, and whilst checking in, the children can play in a pit of Lego.


We stayed in a standard pirate room.  The rooms layouts 
are very well thought out. The adults have their room, then there is a lovely bathroom & behind that the kids have their own room, with bunk beds &
their own TV. 

On arrival, there is a treasure hunt for the children to do. The answers to which opens the combination to the monkeys safe. Inside there was a pack of Lego for each of the children!


There is Lego for the children to play with every where. In the bedrooms, in the foyer, in the restaurant & Lego models adorn the walls. 

The kids bedr

Each floor is themed: Pirate, Kingdom (castles, knights) & Adventure (think Indiana Jones.)

There is also a swim/ 
splash zone, which we didn't get a chance to visit.

The Lifts on the pirate floor.

We ate  a fabulous breakfast in the restaurant. Every breakfast food you could imagine & more beside.


As expected, food & drink in the park is very expensive, but we were prepared for this & brought our own drinks.


All in all - great fun!

Atlantis: Ride a Lego submarine through an aquarium.

Like mother, like daughter?

My ten year old daughter Iola, was looking through my Mollie Makes magazine that had just landed on my doormat & was very taken by the embroidery tutorial.


She asked if she could have a go, so I supplied her with a bit of calico & some embroidery threads & she was away!


I was very impressed with her efforts & I love the foodie designs!

Granny Squares Tutorial Evening

Wool and Witterings. (and bannana cake)

This week we had another meet up of our crochet tutorial group. Along with my super assistant, Sarah from Sew Now We are Four, we were teaching the group how to make Granny Squares.

I used this tutorial from Purlbee.com for the basic granny square, www.purlbee.com/granny-square-project/

and I simplified this great tutorial from Attic24 for the flower centered square: 
http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/summer-garden-granny-square.html

Some found it easier than others, but we ended up with some lovely colourful squares.

I am teaching another group this week & am looking forward to seeing their creations.


We are hoping to sew all our  squares together & create a blanket to either give to Project Linus or to auction off for Common Sense, our adopted charity. We don't charge for our sessions, but ask everyone to put some pennies into the Common Sense collection tin.


Happy Hooking x

Voodoo Pin Cushion

 I made this pincushion last week as I was getting very frustrated with the box my pins were kept in. 

Now, every time I look at him,

 I can't help but smile! 

I am going to attach a bit of Velcro to him, 

so I can stick him to my machine.  

He /she needs a name. Any idea's?

Owl Love - 5 Great Tutorials

I have loved the owl image for as long as I can remember. When I was a small child, I owned a red ceramic owl money box. It was very 70's & I loved it!


Today, owls are everywhere. I have put  together a pinterest board called "Owl's That!"  for everything Owl.

Here are 5 great owl tutorials...
  




Wise Owls
A super tutorial by Efemeraink for these little chaps can be found here.

Owl Cushion 
Great tutorial here from The Crafting Friend.      

Owl Costume

U Create have some fantastic costume ideas here. So Cute!

Owl Wings  

These are so adorable (and don't tell anyone, shhh! but I would love some of these myself!)

You can find the tutorial here, by llevoelinvierno. 

Egg Box Wise Owl

A clear tutorial by Nini Makes. 

Follow me on Pinterest for a lot more Owly Goodness.








An owl coin purse I made a few months ago. It looks  a little fuzzy as it lives in the bottom of my handbag.








I love this owl cushion that I bought at Bath Christmas market last year.


This post is dedicated 
to Mrs Penny!

Circle Skirt - Great Tutorial

I came across this super circle skirt tutorial  by danamadeit.com a while ago have been keeping it on my mental "to do" list.

Well today I found some gorgeous material that I knew my daughter would love.

To make the skirt, you basically make a large doughnut, which you attach to a wide elastic waistband. 

The hardest bit is working out the trigonometry to make your pattern, but tutorial is very well explained.

The skirt looks great & moves beautifully. My daughter loves it and I can see myself 

making many more of these.

Thanks for looking.

Aprons For Haiti.

Designed by Iola
 (age 10)

I have been making aprons for "Project 17"


From the Project 17 facebook page:
It is unlikely that the average Haitian woman will ever receive anything that is special and pretty, something just for herself. Daily life for the Haitian woman is grueling and backbreaking. Most have to carry 5-gallon buckets of water on their heads from miles away. Cooking is done in a pit in the ground from handmade charcoal. The few pieces of clothing they have are washed in the river and hung to dry. 


To receive something as precious as an apron made with love from pretty new fabrics would go a long way in making a Haitian women feel special. We would love for you to join us as we sew and collect aprons for the women of Haiti! 

If you want to join in, the details can be found here.

I used these two helpful tutorials to make the aprons:
http://prudentbaby.com/2010/09/prudent-home/fat-quarter-apron-tutorial-2/
http://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/Blog/Classic_Apron.pdf

I made this one for my daughter.

                                                                                          

I Luf Yoow So Mush!

Loki, my 5 year old son is dyslexic. He doesn't finding reading & writing easy, but he tries so hard.

He was awarded this head teachers certificate last term for"... really working hard at his reading & writing, leading to a dramatic improvement."

(Proud mummy moment)

Anyways,

He told me yesterday not to come into the dining room. When he came out, I was presented with this beautiful drawing of the two of  us.

I am going to buy a frame for it tomorrow!

Oh, I do like to be besides the seaside....

I have viewed with interest Sarah from Sew now we are four's weekly submissions to Our Reflection's photo challenges.

I thought I would join with this weeks theme of WATER, by submitting this photo:

This was taken on a beautiful March day earlier this year. My son spent most of the day playing chicken with the waves. Does it get any better than that?

Why don't you have a go?

Spring Sunshine.

What a beautiful day!
After being stuck indoors most of last week, with both of the children being ill, we all really needed to get out in the glorious sunshine.

We headed for Hengistbury Head, which is seven miles from my home.

Iola (my daughter) & myself went for a walk over the head, leaving the boys on the beach. We joined them for lunch, then enjoyed the afternoon together. Loki & I mostly building sandcastles, climbing rocks & dodging waves!... More photo's here!

The gorse sent a waft of coconut across the heath land.

Like Father, Like daughter.

Interesting erosion pattern

It's amazing what you can get done when you take a duvet day with a poorly child.

I have at last finished my "Attic 24" cushion & am stupidly proud of myself! Ok, I know that you could pop down to your nearest M&comericalMax type shop & buy a nice cushion for a moderate amount, but hey... 

 ...I made this!

The back of the cushion.

Attic 24 is a fantastic blog by a lady called Lucy. She has lots of easy to follow tutorials and has a real eye for colour. 

Visit her blog by clicking here.

The cushion is very tactile & is just asking to be touched. For this reason, I uses cotton to make it, so it won't fuzz up.

Lucy's cushion tutorial can be found by clicking here.

Lucy's Cushion.