May 29, 2006

Sorting Out

I finally sorted out all of my random piles of fabric today. We decided to stay in the house and make a start on clearing our loft, which is the current home to my fabric. It was kept in various plastic bags and boxes and now I am pleased to say it has a home. Not the most perfect of homes, I mean, I would love shelving dedicated to my sewing, crafts and arty things, but for now it is home.

So here it is sitting in a couple of piles on the worktop in the utility room, which is in the garage. At least it will make it easier to see what I have when I want to make something. I have to say though, when I had finished the sorting I was a bit disappointed. I was sure I had more than that! W thinks its tons but for me it is not nearly enough! A girl can never have too much fabric!

Posted by Maxine at 08:47 PM | Comments (3)

Day Trip

Just thought I would post this lovely photo of W and Emily on our big day out yesterday. It looks like such a glorious day but believe me it was freezing and very windy - as you can see Emily is holding on for dear life!

We had a great day at Portstewart, which is north of Northern Ireland and about 1.5 hours from where we live, so not bad at all. The beach is lovely, its such a shame it wasn't a little warmer, but at least we got out for the day. We had intended on a beach picnic but the sand was blowing about too much so we ate in the car.

I just love days like this. Getting in the car with lots of supplies and just driving. Its like a little tiny mini holiday. More of these I say!

Posted by Maxine at 08:37 PM | Comments (3)

May 27, 2006

Bunnypops

Em and I were out shopping the other day and came across these cuties. How could I possibly resist? They had all different colours but for me, bunnies are yellow. I'm not sure if that is strange or makes sense, it just seems right. Although it was hard not to get them all!

I was a bit concerned they would be a bit tall for the freezer but luckily when I got home I tried one and they fit lovely. All I have to do now is clear some space in our very overcrowded freezer to make way for some extremely cute ice lollies.

Oh by the way, they are sitting next to one of Amy's lovely quilt postcards, which LiLi was very kind to send me. If you haven't been to her site yet you should go now because she is an inspiration!

Posted by Maxine at 08:32 PM | Comments (5)

May 23, 2006

Fabric Swap Anyone?

Some days I think you are meant to go thrifting and today was one of those days for me. In fact I hadn't planned to look but the shop is just next to the bakery and I had to get bread, so of course I had to have a peek.

I found a huge pile of this wonderful unused fabric. It is a print called 'Rochelle' by Lizzie Derriey. I have absolutely no idea who this is so if anyone else has any clues I would be intrigued to know. I don't know why but I keep ending up with brown and orangey fabric! I have such a quantity of it that I thought it might be good for a swap.

If anyone out there is interested in swapping, with either fabric or anything else, I think I can part with 5 lots of 1 metre x 60cm. Maybe more, but I want to make sure I have some left for myself!! So leave me a comment if this fabric is for you.

Posted by Maxine at 09:34 PM | Comments (5)

Quick Necklace

Here's a very quick necklace that I made whilst watching TV last night. There is not much to it really, except beads and green ribbon for the cord. I just love chunky beads and I especially love this colour green. I had seen a few different necklaces around but never anything with the exact colour that I just love right now. So a trip to the bead shop was all I need for pea-necklace satisfaction. Next time I will make something which requires more planning and detail. But for now I am happy with this simplicity.

Posted by Maxine at 09:23 PM | Comments (6)

May 22, 2006

Sewing Again

This is not exactly the most exciting thing on the planet but at least it made me get my sewing machine out again. It has been so long since I made anything or created anything. In fact I haven't taken part in Illustration Friday for ages too.

Well this cushion makes me very happy. It is my support cushion from when I was pregnant with Emily and it used to help my very sore back and also came in useful for breast feeding. It had been sitting in the loft for the past couple of years and had a very horrible tatty white cover on it. So I decided it needed some love and attention and I used this lovely fabric (which was a duvet cover thrift find - I have already used it for other things) which goes perfectly with my room. Sitting with it on the sofa, with my cup of tea is like getting a big hug - I love it!

Maybe next time I will have made something a bit more exciting, but for now I am happy. :)

Posted by Maxine at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)

Emily's Room

Well I have finally, almost finished Emily's new room. It is only a small room so it is difficult to get a very good shot but here is a peak of it anyway. This has been such a mammoth task for me. It shouldn't have been difficult but the pregnancy nausea made painting practically impossible and I just felt so tired in the evenings that I just couldn't face it. So I am so pleased that it is done and Emily is settled in there.

When we revealed the room to her she was so excited and even said, totally unprompted "Wow! Its beautiful" and kept thanking me for painting it for her. It was so unbelievably cute and I could've squished her in a big squishy cuddle. There is nothing more satisfying than hearing your 2.5 year old say such things. I was so pleased she liked it as much as me. In fact I just LOVE that bed and if I had the chance I think I would furnish my whole room with that range, its just so happy.

I still have a couple of finishing painty things to do ( a little house like Peppa Pigs and a flower growth chart), the curtains need altering and hanging (there are the same blue as the sky) and I have just had my lovely Claire Robertson print framed (which I will have to photograph and share with you).

I also saw this lovely (and very cheap) bookcase on the Ikea site, which I think would be great in her room, instead of the old one thats currently there. The sun light is from Ikea and is just GREAT, we bought it over a year ago on a trip to the mainland. Unfortunately we don't have an Ikea here at the moment, it is planned to open next year sometime, so I will have to put a plan together to get one from England.

By the way, it is so great to be able to post photos again! Yep, the new camera charger arrived, complete with spare battery and car charger - so there really is no excuse anymore!

Posted by Maxine at 08:18 PM | Comments (4)

May 16, 2006

The Truth is Out!

Finally I can reveal to you all why I have been so flakey with posting or creating lately and why I have been complaining of not feeling well. As you can probably see by the image on this post I am totally and unmistakably with child! Yep number two is well and truly on the way. I am about 3 and half months now so the little one will be joining this crazy world about the first week in November, just in time for Christmas.

Needless to say I have been feeling really rough, lots of nausea and and so so tired. I think running around after a toddler when you are pregnant is really hard work cause you don't get the much needed rest. At the end of every day the only thing I am able to do is lie on the sofa and watch TV. To be honest the sickness has mostly gone now and lately I have been getting more spurts of energy so there is light at the end of the tunnel yet.

So here's the 12 week scan of 'Junior' if you can work it out. If you need it explaining W has posted about it on our family blog, Two Blue Lines, so you can check it out and further chronicles of our adventures in parenthood.

Phew! It feels good to finally let the cat out of the bag!

Posted by Maxine at 06:19 PM | Comments (8)

New Design!

The re-design of Noodles & Doodles is finally here! As my blog is just over a year old now, what better way to celebrate than with a lovely new outfit. I can manage the design side of things but when it comes to the reality of building the site I am afraid my technical knowledge lets me down a bit. So a really big THANK YOU to my lovely and especially clever hubby for staying up till 3.30 last night to get it done for me. He is such a busy boy with work that I am extremely grateful that he managed to fit me in, especially as its hardly crucial work and it certainly doesn't pay the bills!

There are still a couple of tweaks to do but it is 99% there and I am so pleased with the new look - it certainly makes up for my lack of photos lately. I will attempt to get my blogroll finished and maybe sometime get my 'currently' section done too. Also the 'All ABout Me' section will have background information, my portfolio and hopefully a place to buy stuff. But for now I am eternally grateful for it getting this far. If I had attempted it myself it may never have reached this stage!

As for it being a year since I started this blog, I have to say it has definitely changed my life. I know this seems a little dramatic but for me the whole point was to have a creative outlet that disciplined me enough to actually get some creating done. I have certainly achieved this and now, when I haven't created or blogged for a while I feel really guilty and it spurs me on to get my act together. I have also met lots of interesting people, with great blogs, who have inspired me over this past year. Some of these I will list in my blogroll, but I have subscribed to so many newsfeeds the list would be endless!

So hopefully the next year of Noodles & Doodles will help me to be more creative and more inspired.

Posted by Maxine at 09:06 AM | Comments (4)

May 13, 2006

Viking Festival

My friend Susan, Emily and I had a day out to a local country park (Delamont, Killyleagh near Strangford Lough, for those of you in this part of the world) which was having a Viking Festival today. It was such a great day out, the weather was just lovely and it was very busy. We had a picnic, Emily got her face painted, went on a mini train ride (not very Viking but a lot of fun!) and generally ran around all day full of excitement.

Its such good fun going to things that are a bit different. There was a battle re-enactment, which we caught the end of and a Viking village with what looked like real VIkings (honestly we wondered whether these people actually lived like this in real life!). I walked past one of the Viking settlement tents and a man was taking a bite from a big chunk of meat at one point!

We were hoping to see the longboats but unfortunately that fun is for tomorrow, including the craft fair. If I didn't already have plans for tomorrow I might go back and take a look.

On a different note, W has ordered another camera charger, including spare battery which will be here in about a week. I can't believe how much I rely on the digital camera, I really miss it. He pointed out today that I should've taken my 35mm Lomo, which I haven't used in a very long time and he is quite right. I am so used to digital that I didn't even think of it. I will load in a film and have it ready to go tomorrow!

Posted by Maxine at 08:24 PM | Comments (2)

May 03, 2006

Supper Club - The Irish Night

Finally I am tying up some loose ends, including putting together the recipes from our last supper club meeting (which was over a month ago!). At least this is a positive sign that I am starting to get back on form.

However, because it was so long ago I have misplaced a couple of the recipes, which I have had to leave out. As soon as I get these again I will redo the sheet and update it, for now, if you are interested in downloading a PDF of some scrummy Irish recipes just click here.

The next meeting is this Friday and the theme is 'Moroccan'. I am really looking forward to this one. But I have this sneaky feeling that there will be lots of dishes the same! I don't have any Moroccan recipes myself so I am trusting good old Google to help me this time. It will be interesting to see how this one goes!

Posted by Maxine at 05:38 PM | Comments (0)

May 02, 2006

Crazy Cupcakes

Yesterday I finally got it together and did some baking with Emily. It has been a long time since we did any baking, or any creating of any sort for that matter, so this made me very happy. I have been feeling guilty that I haven't been spending very much time nurturing Emily's creative side lately because I haven't felt well. Nobody tells you about the constant guilt that comes with motherhood!

So here's a picture of Em with the dolly mixture cupcakes we made - which were yum! Although Emily never eats the cakes, she just licks the topping off - or in this case just ate the sweeties!

On another note I have misplaced the charger to my digital camera (aaaahh!). I am totally lost without it and rely on it for my blogging. I have looked and looked and can't find it anywhere. W came to the rescue and gave me his phone to take the above picture, but its still not the same being without the trusty digital.

Posted by Maxine at 09:26 AM | Comments (3)