I'm so excited!!

I'm in planning mode - Strictly started last night so now I'm on the countdown mode! I'm so excited but slightly panicked already!  I just don't know what to get my family for Christmas but I do know that I want to spoil them on the limited budget that I have :-)

I've already cut up some of that Christmas fabric from the last post & to make into stockings for Kieran & Leila. I've ordered some more of the dove fabric as well as some other matching fabrics.

Leila's stocking top

Gorgeous prints from Robert Kaufman's O' Tinsel Tree

Check out the organisation!

 In other news we've redone Kieran's bedroom (photos to follow) & I start a vintage craft course this week - eek so excited :-)

Kx

Loving the summer sun

 

I can't believe another 2 months has passed since I last posted on here!  I have been absolutely loving the fabulous weather that we've been having so have not had much chance to get behind my sewing machine.

K&L having fun on their new water-slide

You can't imagine the amount of fun had outside in the garden. On the plus side I finally finished Kieran's union jack quilt.  It was a lot of hard work and a definite learning experience, I used a spray adhesive to hold my quilt together but it stayed tacky so my needle kept getting gunked up and not picking up the bottom thread - grr!

Finally finished - woo hoo!

Despite loving the summer sun I am also planning for christmas, I ordered some christmas fabric remnants & a charm pack "A Merry Little Christmas" by Riley Blake - can't wait to start playing with them & get some sewing done :-)

I love getting fabric in the post

Doves & Retro baubles

I love the doves fabric, not sure what I'm going to do with it but whatever I make I'm going to keep it for myself :-)

Kx

Hi there, long time no see!

Wow, can't believe it's the first of May already!  Life is manic at the moment, I've had so many things happen at home & shift changes at work that I don't feel like I can catch my breath! (That and the fact that we got Sky TV last month & have series linked everything :-) )

We finally finished Leila's bedroom & I'm so happy with it - she has space for all her toys and I get my house back

Check out the paper - love, love, love it x

Den under her bed

View from her door

I've also been training hard for the half marathon and have been crossing things off my Game of Life list - I'll put more info & photos of projects later

Kx

2012 Completed Projects.

Hi,  I've been promising since the start of the year to put some photos up of completed 2012 projects, well here they are :-)

The ones that started it all - Sock Monkeys that I made for K&L

My first attempt at a quilt for L's dolly

More sock monkeys :-)

Leila's 2nd Birthday Cake

Birthday present for a very dear friend.

Birthday present for my Nana

Amazing pumpkins

Zombie costume

Kieran's 6th Birthday Cake

L's sock dog

K's sock dog

Oops bit blurry - Mum & Dad's Christmas cushion.

Again, not another great picture! L's cotbed quilt

These aren't really in any kind or order but I needed to document how my adventure into crafting began :-)

Sorry I've not been here for a while.

Hi there, long time no see!

So much has happened since my last post, my little boy was poorly and admitted into hospital for 2 days. He's doing okay now but it has really knocked us all out of our routine. That's my main reason for not posting more recently, as well as that we've taken on a new project - decorating my little girls room.

I don't have any before pictures to show but basically it's the box room and hadn't been decorated since she was a baby. It was painted yellow with a winnie the pooh border, curtains & lampshade.  She is obsessed with pink, me not so much, so we've come to a compromise - aqua with bright pink curtains etc.

Photos so far -  

See how small this room is!

Nice aqua on the walls

New Christmas & birthday presents!

Her original bed (currently in her brothers room)

More toys & a set of Drawers in our room.

 

 

Even more toys & things for her new room.

I'm not entirely sure how everything is going to fit in that tiny room, I'll guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Work in progress.

Thought I should compile a list of all of my WIP - didn't quite realise how many I had until I started taking photos! 

• Christmas Cushions - I made some for my Mum and my MIL but ran out of time before I could finish mine. The pattern is from Elizabeth at 'Don't Call Me Betsy'

• Union Jack Quilt - This is for my 6 year old, I've been working on it since last summer so would really like to finally get it finished for him. The pattern is from Moda Bake Shop.

•  Wash Bag - Just need to put this together for my Sister-in-Law's birthday.

•  Gargoyle Cross Stitch - This is by far my longest WIP - I got it for my 18th birthday, I'm 32 in May :-)

•  Purse - I think that I just need to add the frame and this will be complete.  It's based on a pattern by Lisa at U-handbag

•  Bag - Another pattern from Lisa. This was one of the first things I attempted to sew, I abandoned it when it didn't quite go according to plan. Really want to salvage it because I love the fabric!

• Fabric Stash - I haven't got much of a hoard - Yet :-) but really need to figure out a better way to store the precious fabric that I have because I can't find anything in this tub.

Looking forward to posting more photos of these as completed projects!

Kx

Doesn't time fly!

Can't believe another week has gone by!

I've not really had to time to post anything this week because my little girl turned 3 on Saturday.  She had a party for her friends so a lot of the week was spent making party bags and her Hello Kitty birthday cake.

I'm really impressed with it - also very happy that I've manage to upload a photo from my phone, yey me!

I think I'm finally getting the hang of this blogging malarkey because I also figured out how to have tabs on the top so now have one for my game of life :-)

When I get round to it, I plan on uploading some photos of completed projects for 2012 and some WIP, until then take care & enjoy the snow.

Kx 

Game of Life

Wow, it's been nearly a week since I last posted, that's not good.

I've never been very good at keeping a diary - I started a different blog in Sept 2011 and wrote 3 posts in a year! Likewise notebook I bought a notebook in February 2006.  Inside the front cover I've written "My book of happiness and goals".  The first page I introduce the purpose of the book, that I'm going to write a list of all the goals and dreams that I have for the future and write a mini diary.  I have 3 pages listing all of the things that I want to do with my life, and I have 2 pages describing how I felt when I found out I was pregnant with my son.  That's it. That's all I wrote!

I have, however, started a new list of happiness & goals and am frequently adding to them.  I was inspired to do this by Steve Kamb at Nerd Fitness - (can you tell that I love this guy!), he did a TEDx talk in April 2012 which really made me think about my life & where I wanted to go, as well as the talk, I also watched the documentary "I'm fine thanks".  

This made come up with my own goals which include travelling, learning languages, cooking christmas dinner, and a load more random things. It's my own "Game of Life" and when I figure out the best way to put them on here I'll share all my goals with you :-)

Kx

The Aim of the Game...

Hi there, one week into the new year - how are those resolutions going?

As I mentioned in my first post, I want to quit my job.  Since going back to work after having my daughter I hate going in every day.  The atmosphere is awful and the people are so bitchy!  

Unfortunately, I'm in debt.  I mean really in debt, so before I can even think about handing my notice in I need to clear that debt.  My current job pays very well for the hours that I work so I can't just change jobs.  My aim this year is to clear as much of our debt as possible so I can leave work.

I'd like to work as a support worker for a woman's shelter or for another similar charity, and perhaps make and sell things.  I hope to one day have my own successful craft blog but we'll have to wait and see.

In the meantime I'll share with you some of my creations for 2013 and put pictures up - this blog is seriously lacking pictures!

Kx

What is Paleo?

Ok, so to quote from, in my opinion, a truly awesome website- 

"The Paleo Diet is an effort to eat like we used to back in the day…WAY back in the day.  If a caveman couldn’t eat it, neither can you.  This means anything we could hunt or find – meats, fish, nuts, leafy greens, regional veggies, and seeds. Sorry, the pasta, cereal, and candy will have to go!"

As I mentioned yesterday my husband had been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and was looking at ways to prevent a bout of illness. He found that although wheat & gluten can't cause a flair up of UC they can prevent the body from getting over it, so he wanted to eliminate them from his diet.  This was a problem for me being vegetarian - I lived off pasta and there was no way that we could afford to buy food for both us so after a lot of research I agreed to give it a go.

The following websites provide an amazing amount of information about the paleo diet, recipes & other peoples experiences as well.

Nerd Fitness  - The name says it all! Everything explained on a really easy to understand level.

Marks Daily Apple  - A more in depth approach to the paleo/primal way of eating.

PaleOMG  - A girl with a great sense of humour & love of puddings.

Everyday Paleo  - Brilliant recipes for the whole family.

Paleo Diet Lifestyle  - More amazing recipes & articles.

Civilized Caveman Cooking  - More recipes again but you must read this guys story - truly impressive.

Elana's Pantry  - Not strictly paleo but a great source for brilliant gluten free recipes.

These are my go-to websites that I use on a regular basis, you'll find that I quote them over and over again - especially Nerd Fitness! I cannot recommend them enough!

 

My weight loss journey

Throughout my teenage years I had a perfect hour glass figure, I just didn't realise it! I was teased at school for having breasts & hips, so when I was 14 I starved myself and my weight dropped to a little over 7 stone.  I found that whenever I got stressed I would just stop eating.  The year I turned 14 I lost my Grandad and my best friend moved overseas.

When I was 15 or 16, I began to appreciate the figure I had.  I met my husband when I was 17 and frequently skip meals to remain perfect! He helped me break free of the body issue demons that I was carrying around with me. 

Things were going well until I was 20, I spent a year working voluntary in a hospital.  I had to take a weekend job to earn some money so I was working every day of the week 9-5. I got so stressed and my husband made me promise that I wouldn't starve myself. I didn't starve myself but did the opposite and comfort ate instead :-)

My weight went up and down for years, I lost 3 stone in 3 months for my wedding in 2004 but after the birth of my son in 2006 my weight reached a peak of 17.5 stone. I joined slimming world and lost 5.5 stone in 15 months before falling pregnant with my daughter. I kept going to slimming world throughout my pregnancy and after the birth of my daughter in 2010 but my head wasn't in it I would feel guilty about everything I ate and for not losing any weight.

In December 2011 I stopped going to slimming world. This was also the time, that after years of investigation, my husband was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. He started looking at different kinds of diets, which would prevent him from having bouts of illness, and stumbled across the paleo lifestyle.

In January 2012 we made the decision to go paleo.  This was a really big decision for me because I'd been vegetarian since I was 13 (18 years) but ended up being the best decision I'd made. I felt much better in myself, both physically & mentally.

However, due to various reasons, I gradually fell off that wagon & started eating more & more processed foods and my body suffered as a consequence of this. 

I am now taking control of body again and have started back eating paleo. I'll post about my results later.

I think I've rambled on long enough now so I'm off to have a cup of tea! :-)

First workout of the year

OMG! I just finished my first workout of the year and man was it hard! I'm currently doing a barbell strength routine. I've not done anything for the past 2 months but am only 5kg off my PB for push press & squats.  

As I mentioned in my previous post I follow a paleo diet which basically means eating like a caveman.  I'll explain more about this later and will provide links to loads of great sites, but right now I'm going to go and eat homemade chicken tikka with sweet potato fries & garlic mayo sauce - yum

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Welcome to my shiney new blog!

This blog is going to be about my personal journey that I'm going to be taking in 2013. I'm on a mission to lose weight, get debt free & hopefully quit my job - but more about that later.

 Until then, I hope you had a good night last night and aren't suffering too much today :-)