That was the week that was...

My week was a very mixed bag! On Monday James "saved the day" by pushing Laura and her trike out of the way of the electric garage door as it was closing down on her. We had to do several re-enactments at the bus-stop with Laura playing the Hapless Victim, James the Noble Hero and Mummy taking the dual role of Forgetful Mummy and Garage Door.

After such heroic behaviour, it's probably no wonder the children went berserk in our local Co-Op the next day. My children rarely embarrass me - not that they're little angels, I just take the view that if people are tutting then they probably don't have any children of their own and therefore their disapproval is irrelevant. And most parents actually like to see other children misbehaving - it helps us realise that our own children are not demons - they're just normal! But Tuesday evening was on another scale altogether and I did feel a bit embarrassed. At one stage James announced that he was going to build his own house and go and live in it On His Own and YOU (pointing at me) can't come in and YOU (Laura) can't come in either. I was impressed by the lucidity of his argument; rather less so by the volume of expression. (That wasn't the worst incident by the way - it's just the only one I can bear to remember.)

On Wednesday I dropped my mobile down the loo. If this should ever happen to you - and do not mock, it's more likely to happen than you think if you leave your mobile in your back pocket - then the tip of the day is: remove the phone back, the sim card and the battery before putting everything into the airing cupboard and just leaving it all to dry out! I'm not convinced the camera is quite recovered from the ordeal but otherwise the phone is working fine so it could have been worse.

This morning I knocked a hot iron onto a cheap carpet. There is now an unattractive iron shaped hole right by my sewing desk but since the floor is often covered in bits of thread and scrap fabric, I think I can live with it!

But great things happened too - apart from James' heroism of course. A large box of gorgeous destash fabric arrived from Jennifer Miller of Bella*Tessa Designs on Wednesday, and I finished a nice little skirt for Laura this morning using some of the said fabric. It isn't my usual choice, being yellow and pink (I get wa-a-ay too much yellow from making things for James!) but the print is just divine.



I was going to make it into a ruffled patchwork skirt using the Vivi pattern from Mamu Designs, but when it came to it, I couldn't cover up large chunks of the yellow print. So I added a pink ruffled lining and turned a couple of the patches into pockets.

With hindsight (and how often have I posted that!) I'd have done the smaller size because even with using buttonhole elastic, this skirt is miles too big for Laura. But the smaller size is age 12-18 months and although she's dinky, age 2 clothes generally fit her OK. This is an age 2-3 and clearly it doesn't fit her anything like OK! I also wouldn't have done both a yoke and a waistband - in fact, I may just cut off the lower skirt and reattach it to a simple one piece waistband. That would make the skirt shorter too. But I still really like the skirt and Laura loves it.

And I knocked up a hoody for James using more of the digger fabric. This one is (for everything is relative) pretty tasteful, being a nice shade of teal green. It's too big but the colour suits him and he likes the pocket and the sleeves and the hood so perhaps he's not going to build his own house and move into it after all. My mother, however, is keeping an eye out for second-hand furniture for him. Just in case!