Turning practice into something useful

I am one of those mad people who woke up at 5.30am to go to the Sainsburys half price toy sale, so I'm flagging a little and could do with being tucked up in bed.

My goodness, I cant believe half of those toys were ever full price, people were goimg mad filling their trollys to the brim with overpriced plastic. I spent a grand total of £12, buying operation to play with the kids on Christmas day and a couple of packets of moon dough for their stockings as well as some bath squirters.

I havnt a clue what to get my 5 year old as her main present. Im very reluctant to get the latest vtech innotab, I'm not a big fan of introducing electronic games at such a young age and I'm reluctant to beleive its educational which is how its being marketed. Any ideas what you will be getting your kids this year?

As its half term, I havnt been able to craft much, but I did have a rare day off from the children yesterday so I managed to baste my children at play quilt and get in some much needed stippling practice before I commit to stippling the entire quilt.

So I decided to turn my practice peices into place mats for the kitchen as I havnt been able to find any plain ones. I now feel ready to stipple a quilt, wish me luck!

Would you buy something you could make?

I have just bought a quilt for my little girls room. I have admired it for a while. Its a simple design but I adore the subtle fabrics. I've even looked for similar fabrics with the idea of making one like it but its difficult to find good colour matches when buying online. Cost wise, I have to admit that I dont really tally up how much making a quilt costs me as I think I would be scared to know!

When I buy my fabrics, its normally over a period of time which is another reason I tend not to keep track of the cost. Considering how much I spend on the quilt top not to mention the backing fabric, buying this one new might work out around the same price...especially as I also had a 15% discount voucher... what do you think?

Here is the quilt in question. My daughters room has just been repainted. The colour is "hint of pashmina" which is a very very pale dusky pink. I think this quilt would be a great match for her room. We are also going to buy her a single bed in the new year.

The quilt looks much better in person, I just pulled these images from the White Company website.

Its so soft, and has the perfect loft and drape.It is delicately hand quilted with lots of space between each stitch. I've used all sorts of waddings in my quilts, cotton leaves a softer finish for sure, but this cotton wadding is both light in weight and gives great definition, perhaps if I keep it, it will be my quilt inspiration?!

Ordinarily, I probably wouldnt be so unsure about a purchase had I just not also bought my dream shoes!! I have always wanted a pair of glitzy red court shoes (think Ruby red slippers from the wizard of oz but for grown ups). Ok so these arnt red, but they are glitzy and they do have bows. I heart them!

While I'm in the buying mood (all this sunshine really has cheered me up) I spotted this lovely tea set which would be a great Christmas gift for my little girl. I couldnt get a large enough image so have included the clicky link.

I might just have to wait till payday to get her this though as my credit card is burning from all the use.

So whats on your wishlist this Christmas? My husband has asked me to make him a list although I think he may regret that once he sees it!

Do you suffer from the Winter Blues?

It's wonderful how an email from a friend can completely lift you when your feeling a little blue.

The shift from summer to autumn is always a bit of a struggle for me. I can never really pinpoint a specific problem, I just know I feel a little blue, get tired easily, find it difficult to wake up in the mornings and seem to have a lack of motivation. I seem to enter a negative mind space and it feels like a real effort to get out of it.

I got an email from the lovely Val, just to ask how I was, as I hadnt been blogging for a while. This really lifted my spirits, emails went back and fourth and I soon realised that I might not be the only person to feel this way.

Out came my research hat and I began googling the winter blues, and what I might do about it.

I learnt that as many as 60% of the population suffer from this and that there are things I can do to help myself. So this morning I swopped my gym workout for an hours walk. I felt great when I returned, although that could be down to the glass of mulled wine and Christmas cake I was given at my destination! I walked to a wonderful independant gift shop which had just opened its Christmas section and as I had walked all the way there I couldnt say no to the mulled wine:-). I came out with this lovely glass cake stand as well as some Christmas gifts for various advent and Christmas swops I'm taking part in.

I think being outside did me the world of good. My house is rather dark and has terrible lighting so I will be buying some full spectrum light bulbs this afternoon which should also help with my mood.

As well as trying to get outside a little more, I'm going to make some positive changes in my diet, eat more vitamin D rich foods such as eggs and fish.

If I'm honest I think the focus of Christmas at this time of year really helps me keep postive so I went to the opening of my local garden centres Christmas decoration section and came out with these lovelies by Gisela Graham. I adore Gisela Graham decorations and add to my collection each year. I always have to buy two of each so everythings matching!

I've also organised a Christmas party with some friends and have arranged some evenings out to give me something to look forward to.

So thats how I'm dealing with it. I would love to know if any of you suffer from this or have any tips/advice for me.

My Children at play quilt top has now been peiced and I have included a sneak peak above before it gets quilted. I'm now working on the peiced back and plan to try a meandering design. I'm not sure how confident I am with this yet but I have been practicing and I have to delve in a try it on a real project at some point.

Hope all is well with my fellow bloggers, I'm sorry for my lack of replys blogger is playing up again!