Thanks for joining me on the last day of this series! if you want to have a look at the other posts click here

I learned an aweful lot during this series (like that it is impossible to take a picture of a costume without a child in it!) and I had a great time doing it . I hope you enjoyed it too!

Todays costume has been waiting to be made for a long time. I drew the pattern october 2010 bough the fabric a months later and for some reason it just wouldn't come together. This series finally motivated me to get it all out again and finish the job and I must say I am really pleased with it. It is impossible to show it of properly and those pictures will have to wait until the boys get the costumes on the 25th.

This dragon has a long tail lots of spikes and is cuddly soft. He was made from fleece so is lovely and warm too (a bonus in this drafty house!)
I am by no means a seamstress and this pattern is pretty basic requiring only a backstitch to put everything together. I freehanded the spikes the tail and the ears but the body was a simple hand to hand measurement. The length of this is the diameter of the square that is the body

The above image should print out to a full A4 if you wanted to print it. As you can see only basic shapes where used. FLeece doesn't fray so I didn't need to do anything fancy with the edges. The square shape provides built in wings and it could even be put on over a wintercoat as an extra layer (or just because your kiddo is like mine and likes to dress up everywhere )

I promise to put pictures up of the 3 dragons when I have them :)

Thanks for joining me on day 29, other posts in this series can be found here

I uhmed and ahed about this post because I try not to get political on the blog because politics are such a touchy subject. But right now with the occupy movement continuing way beyond what the media said they would, showing time and time again that they are not "fornicating hippies" and that they have a reason for doing what they do its hard to not have this come up at all at some point.

I was talking to a friend last night who expressed frustration at not being able to join in, she like me has young children, and she, like me, is terrified of being there when the cops show up. Experience has shown they are not the best people to have around at a peaceful protest.

I was going to embed a video of the police violence during the occupy protest but found this instead:

I started looking through the posters and flyers available and did not find one that enabled me to express solidarity to the movement, that maybe would help spread the message and hopefully (as with all my statement bags and buttons) would become a conversation starter.

I made a few simple posters with the words "My H<3rt is @ #occupy

My friend and I never do anything big for each other for the holidays always something silly or small and never for Christmas or yule but somehow always beforehand. So this morning I sent her a bunch of iron on sheets with this printed on it so she can show solidarity to her hearts content. I used twitter hashtags on purpose because I think both twitter and camera phones have shaped this movement so much and allowed it to grow as quickly as it has. CAmera phones have allowed much violence to be documented that would otherwise not be documented. It has allowed people from all over the world to be right there when it happend even if they couldn't be there.

I am the 99% and we will be heard

Day 28! other posts are available here!

Suddenly temperatures have dropped in this part of the world, I had to break ice this morning so the girls could get to their water and its c-c-c-cold! The boys complained last night that their bed was so cold to get into so St. Nicolas will be dropping something in their shoes tonight to warm those beds right up!

Gather 2 different fabrics (one for the inner bag and one for the case) needles thread scissors and a stuffing. I used red lentils that had somehow been pushed to the back of the cupboard and where way out of date.

You can make this any shape and pretty much any size you want. We don't have a microwave so I put the lot in our slowcooker/crockpot and it worked a treat. I imagine a ricecooker would work great too!
Here I sewed the bag that holds the lentils. nothing too fancy just 2 pieces from my stash that lined up sewed together using a backstitch filled about half with the lentils and them sewed shut. Before you sew it shut hold it up in your hands to determine the weight you don't want something too heavy but also not too light because it would cool down really quickly

This is the case, I folded the ends over twice to create a seam and sewed it up with a running stitch. fold it over to create a pilowcase type closure and sew the sides shut

Once its turned inside out this is what you end up with, now you can fill it with the lentil bag and pop it in the microwave/oven/slowcooker to warm it up.

Always shake the filling really well before handing it too a child to ensure that there are no super hotspots especially when you use a microwave to heat them up!

If you are a keen walker these are great to make pocketsize to heat before you go and keep you toasty warm for longer!

WElcome to day 27 of 30, other posts in this series can be found here.

A small norebook for my coffee loving  hubby I used the same paper as I used to make his gadget charging station.

Gather materials, a paper for the cover (or fabric really anything can be used) a ruler, a pencil, a fat sharp needle (or a bookbinding tool), scissors and thread. I used a bonefolder but you can use the back of a spoon if you don't have one.

Cut your paper to size, make the cover slightly larger than the inner paper. My cover is 24cms by 10 cms.

Group your paper (I have 3 groups of 4)  and fold it in half with a bonefolder or the back of a spoon.

Mark your paper. I made 3 groups of 2 holes and 1 entry hole at the top and 1 exit hole at the bottom. You will be able to see this in the video below.

punch all the holes with your needle or bookbinders tool.

Now for the video! the password to both part 1 and 2 is coffeelover

Thanks for joining me on day 26! other posts in this series can be found here

Made for my coffee loving hubby a chargingstation for all of his gadgets so I don't have cables all over the kitchen :)

Take a large bottle, this is a 1 liter cheap conditioner that I use for my woolens. Mark a line where you want to cut it making sure to leave enough between the neck of the bottle and your main line so you can cut out a hangingloop as in the following picture.

Mark where you will be cutting out the circle for the plug to go trough, I used a circle template but you could use the lid of the bottle if its big enough or anything else that is round.

Cut and check the plug to make sure the 3 pins (or 2 pins depending on where you live) fit through the hole.

Wrap the whole thing in pretty paper or fabric. Make sure to have the seam at the back, use 2 different colours one for the main part and 2 for edging and to neaten up the bottom of the bottle. Also cut out a small piece of the main colour paper/fabric to decorate the inside of the bottle so you aren't looking at ugly white plastic.

Give it a testrun to make sure all is ok and wrap it up :)

Veraxx

Thanks for joining me on day 25, other posts in this series can be found here

You need washingpegs, paints, glue, bits of cardstock,scissors and brushes

put your pegs on a piece of scrap cardboard or something and paint them in the main colour hang them on your washingline with a peg to dry.

For the blue peg you need a few small bits of cardboard/cardstock

Paint it in your desired colour (yellow in my case) and let it dry

Attach it to your peg and fly it away!

Give the green one some teeth and eyes and he becomes a snapping crocodile

And the red one gets painted with the classic coca cola santa uniform :)

Thanks for joining me on day 24! other posts in this series can be found here

In hindsight we made felt balls that where to large for the next one we will make smaller balls otherwise this came out pretty great. This is another idea that I've seen floating around on the internet. You can make them pretty much as big as your wire can handle.

You need wire (same as I used in previous project in this series) beads or felt balls washing pegs. You might want pliers and a holepunch

I used a holepunch to make holes in the felt balls, when on the smallest setting the hole was pretty much invisible.

String everything on the wire bead-peg-bead etc. Twist the metal at the top and make a loop to hang it from, and you're done!

Thanks for joining me! other posts in this series can be found here

I made trees, the soft fabric stuffed ones. This idea has been floating around the internet for several years and I've seen them made round, with 3 sides with more sides, this is my take on it. I used a small left over piece of fabric which turned out to be a pain to use because of the weave and the semi elesticity. if you have plain cotton or linnen that would work great as would felt and fleece

Cut your pieces, 4 triangles and a square. Make sure to add seam allowance as the file with the pattern doesn't have any seam allowance.

I embroidered the fabric with some simple snowflakes in the same colour thread as the fabric which really added a nice dimension to the whole.

sew it together, long side against long side and the bottoms against the square.

Stuff it sew it shut and you're done! here you can also enjoy the biew of my untidy desk with multiple colours of floss (the boys where all embroidering a green tree on a panel of cotton) my phone, a padlock, a crochet hook (to aid the stuffing) and sealing wax because you know we all need that to hand all the time.

I didn't manage to get my post out yesterday or I doubt today. I got a call that my estranged father had had a brain embolism. He survived and considering the circumstances he is ok. This has thrown up a whole load of issues for me.
My father was not a nice husband to my mum (thats an understatement) I remember him pushing her down the stairs when she was heavily pregnant. He hit on more than one occasion and once they where divorced he was manipulative towards us attempting to drive a wedge between my mum and us. Several times throughout my life I broke of contact and then someone contact was established again.

Now I haven't spoken to him for 5 years. I never told him I have twin boys or that I moved to such a beautiful part of the country. I feel guilt, some of the classic Roman Catholic guilt that they enstill into you from an early age, guilt that I am not a good daughter (whatever that means) and guilt that I am not there for him. So much guilt I feel like it is consuming me, this is all amplified by the fact that for the past week and a half son 2 has been having severe sleep issues again and I have seen more of the nightsky than I really want to.

So now what? what do I do? should I call him? will I regret calling him? will I regret not calling him? WHat do I tell my eldest who is obviously aware that something is wrong but has no idea who this man is. If I call him will this whole ordeal have humbled him? or will he be even more arrogant.

I believe strongly in forgiving, I forgave my father and other adults who throughout my life did things that adults should not do to or with children, that does not mean I need to establish contact and maintain a relationship with them. but what if? This is nibbling at me and I don't like it.

What if?

Any thoughts? words of wisdom? I'd appreciate them al now

Welcom to day 20! Only 10 days to go! Other posts can be found here.

Today we've made book corners. They are a lovely thing to make from left over bits of cards stock or water colour paper. We made a bunch for all the book readers in our family (which is pretty much everyone) to pop into their stockings or to give away as RAK (random acts of kindness) just leave them in library books.

I made them pretty easily using watercolour leftovers and some normal printer paper off cuts.

Cut a piece of card 3" by 1.5" fold it in half and colour/paint decoupage it whatever takes your fancy.

Cut half a square with a little bit on the side to glue it with.

here it is over the top of the cardstock with the gluebit sticking out. this bit folds over one of the open sides

colour the paper stick it on the card, fold up one corner (or cut it off and ignore all steps after this!)

Stick a brad trough it or a stocker or googly eyes etc etc. amd you are done!

Make loads and leave them in library books as a nice surprise for a stranger :)