Thursday, February 28, 2013

It's been a while...

So I know it's been a while since I posted... The reasons are several fold really, but here's one of them;



Who has grown and grown and grown into this;



And won't sit still long enough for me to get 10 minutes to post!

Another reason is that something is making my pictures take FOREVER to load (even if they're not a huge file size).

I will endeavour to post more...

Thursday, April 21, 2011

We're BACK!

We're back from our fabulous holiday in South Africa and is was more than we could ever have hoped for.

The tour company (34 South) were beyond fantastic. Their guides were knowledgeable, relaxed, informativeand extremely entertaining and the cars they used were better than I drive myself! I wouldn't hestitate in recommending them to anyone.

The hotels and guesthouses were fabulous. Clean, comforatble, cosy, welcoming, the staff were friendly and helpful. And the food.... oh my goodness, the food. It was just amazing!

I'll tell you all about each day and include a selection of photographs. We'll start with Day 1 tomorrow!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

..... but I know when I'll be back again!

I can't believe it's come round so soon! This time tomorrow we'll be en-route to South Africa. I'll share all the details when we get back - but it's promised to be a truly amazing trip!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

My First Tutorial...

I had a double baby shower to go to a couple of weekends ago. I LOVE making and crafting so any excuse is jumped upon! I decided to have a go at one of these.

I made do with what I had to hand and created something similar. Here's what I did;

First of all you want to make the part that rattles. I used a pin tub filled with some plastic beads.




Next we need to make it child proof. It shouldn't come apart but it's better to be safe than sorry.





Take 2 cheap cusions. Cut them open, remove and keep the stuffing (we'll be using lots of this come Christmas time!).



Draw and cut 2 circles




Cut 2 more circles from fusible interfacing and iron on


Next we want to add some ribbon. DON'T do it like I did first (if you do it this way all you're ribbon will end up inside);



This is how you want to do it. Loop your ribbon and pin it between the layers of fabric (right sides together) - loops inside and the ends sticking out - like so



Now you can sew it together. Be sure to leave an opening (I left approx 1in).



Next, clip your seams so they sit better once it's stuffed.



We're almost there. You're ready to turn it the right way out.


If it looks like this (or similar) we're ready to stuff! Remember the cusion stuffing you removed earlier? You'll want some of that now. If you don't have that you can used soft toy stuffing (I can't get that where I am at the moment, so I had to improvise).


Don't forget to add the rattle! Try and make sure it's in between lots of the stuffing so there's no hard bits poking out



Continue stuffing until it's even and nice and soft and squishy!

Once you're done stuffing, slip stitch your circle closed and ouila! You're finished!



The one I made was a gift so I chose to embroider the baby's name on the rattle. 



I've also promised that when the baby is born I'll embroider her name and DOB on the other side.

Let me know if you make on and I'd love to see your pictures!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Sorry

I'm sorry for neglecting you! I have a few posts typed that just need pictures adding - I just need to find the time to shrink them!

Back soon....

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Brunch!

What did you do last weekend? We went to Brunch at the Marriott and ate and drank more than any person should in one sitting! Here are some of the delights we sampled...


Choose your ingredients and they'll cook it for you!



Seafood galore....



What tasty morsels lie under these covers...?



Beautiful watermelon carvings


An ice sculpture! And actual real ice-sculpture!



Most of the food is laid on outside the restaurants and you can go and choose what you want to eat, but some of the rooms lay on food as well.



Anyone for Sushi?



How about some Salmon?



Or Indian?



Maybe you have a sweet tooth like I do - these puddings were heavenly. Truly.



Back to the sushi. My husband tried it, but raw fish is not really my thing...


I'd rather delight in these yummy things!!!

P.S. Look at that square dish in the last picture - isn't it lovely?! I want some of those!!





Sunday, March 13, 2011

Museum of Islamic Art

As you know, we have a guest staying at the moment. Last weekend we dropped in at the Museum of Islamic Art on the Corniche here. I've visited a few times and never fail to be suprised that, although the temperature and lighting of the artifacts is controlled, they still permit flash photography. Anywhere else in the world and I'm fairly certain this would be prohibited. I can't say that a reflection of your flash on a glass case would give you the best picture anyway - but I'm sure you understand where I'm coming from.

Also unlike other museums elsewhere, there is very little information displayed about the artifact itself. I only found out this weekend (that despite the museum being open for over 2 years now) that if you want to learn more about the items you can actually pick up a headset and have it over audio. You'd think they'd inform you of this when you walk in right? Wrong....

Here are a few of my photos from our trip there. As I didn't find out about the headsets until AFTER this trip, I can't tell you any more about the items I'm afraid...





A bowl.... I particularly like the lighting on this piece.

Necklace of spinels.


Various glass items.