Owlfit of the Week

We're going Dutch this week!  I couldn't resist a bit of shopping when we were in Holland last week.  The dutch need little excuse to wear orange and the world cup is a definitely one!  This outfit came from V&D and is really good quality.  Both the t-shirt and the shorts are size 92 which roughly equates to age 18 months. I am wondering if the shorts should actually be trousers... but it is a bonus of being in pants!  The top is a good length, again allowing me to buy the smaller size to create a neat fit.  Finally we have the clogs!  Little Owl has always enjoyed wearing them although these are now really too small (but try telling her that!).

So now my Little Dutch Hooligan is ready for the football!

Dutch Firsts

Holidays always bring lots of firsts, and our few days in Holland were no different.

Little Owl had her first squash!

She saw her first coffin.

Her first ... I don't know, something that was handed to her by the man at the sweet stall before we knew it!

Her first shower with a friend

Her first grazed knee

And there are many other things that she has enjoyed which she cant remember from her first visit when she was just 4 months old

The ferry.

Driving on the 'wrong' side

Delft.

Clogs.

Windmills.

Orange

 

Cross Mondays Week #13

I haven't done much stitching this week - the end of Happy Valley and the start of the World Cup has meant little stitching!  You see, I said Papa Owl could watch the England matches... and then I said he could watch the opening match... and then he took it to mean he could watch Holland too cos that's like England right?  I wouldn't mind but he had fallen asleep every time!

So the World Cup is giving me plenty of time for blogging but not so much telly and stitching time!

The good news is that I have finished the first section!  And its only taken me 13 weeks, a quarter of a year... A quarter of a year to do a sixth of the project... so the total project could take me a year and a half... that gives me a projected finish date of 24th September 2015!!!

Haha - nothing like a deadline right?  And that gives me no time off for knitting!  

To keep on track, I need to finish the next section by 15th September this year - that feels like forever away!  In teaching terms, that's the end of this year (still quite a bit to go), the whole summer holidays and starting a new year!

Gosh!

 

Silent Sunday

A Journey to Holland

An unexpected trip to Holland at the end of last week, with the ferry booked only two days before we travelled, meant we just packed our bags into the car and set off.  We don't live that far from Dover so we left home with an excited Little Owl in the back of the car. She knew she was going on a 'bowt'.

We set the satnav to Calais ferry as we didn't seem to have Dover saved. We didn't really need it but it is nice to have as we don't do the journey often enough to know where we are going without reading the road signs.  The satnav got annoyed with us on route as she thought we should go through the tunnel...

On board the boat and its time for breakfast, or lunch. Either way, Little Owl tucks in as she hadn't had much breakfast. We then had a walk around the boat and were a bit disappointed to discover that the only concession for children in the family lounge was a large TV screen showing cartoons on mute. So instead we found a quiet coffee lounge where Little Owl could look out of the window.

Walking around the boat and a tummy full of food, Little Owl was beginning to look sleepy as we approached Calais. A quick trip to the loo and she was set for a nice long sleep in the car!

We set the satnav up with our destination - Papa Owl's Aunt's house, and we were off! Little Owl was asleep before we had left the ferry terminal! We are champion travelers!

And then we hit Belgium.

The satnav directed us off of the motorway, slightly confused we followed as we had a vague memory of doing this before. Besides, its always nice to see a bit of Belgium rather than hurtling through on the motorway. We did not expect to find ourselves in a town square though! Never mind, we got ourselves back to the motorway, ignoring the instructions of the satnav, hoping she would reset once there.

Over the next hour it became apparent that the attempted upgrade that Papa Owl had tried to do the night before had somehow managed to delete most of the maps for Europe, only leaving the main routes. This shouldn't have been too much of a problem if when we approached a junction, the satnav didn't suddenly place us in a field half a mile to the left, refusing to tell us what should be happening and just shouting at us to get back to the "highlighted route".

When was the last time you travelled without a satnav?  I'd forgotten how much hard work it is, or maybe we have just lost the nack!  This led us to taking many a wrong turn, leaving the junction early or when we got the right junction, heading off in the wrong direction! This was not helped by the satnav giving up on "left" and "right" but now telling us to head "north" or "west".

Little Owl didn't sleep for long, probably due to satnav and Papa Owl both shouting instructions!

"please drive to highlighted route"

"make a u-turn"

As we neared our final destination, the satnav uttered a last desperate "please" before going quiet on us!

I cannot tell you how many u-turns we made, not to mention nearly driving down a cycle path!

Tired and weary, we finally arrived, a mere hour and a half late to find no-one home.  Not to worry, we were expecting this and went to find a neighbour who had the key... only the neighbour wasn't in either!

We had a very tired Little Owl who was also hungry, so back in the car we went and drove to the nearest town. We had been here a few times before so we had a bit of an idea where we were going now.  We parked up and spotted several people heading into a Chinese restaurant - we followed and discovered it was an "all-you-can-eat"! Bonus! And they didn't charge for under 4s!

It may not have been what we planned but it was a rather fitting end to the day - perhaps we are champion travellers after all!

Owlfit of the week

We're going back in time with this week's Owlfit!  I stumbled across this photo taken last October and I couldn't resist sharing it.  At the time it was my favourite Owlfit and looking at it now, I'm a little sad that she had grown out of those trousers!

Starting at the top, the t-shirt is H&M which was handed down to us along with the cardigan which I love and am pleased to say still fits her!  The trousers were another of my TK Max bargains.  I can't remember the brand now, and they have long since gone in the loft, although there's a bit of me thinking they might fit Little Owl now she is out of nappies...

Last but not least, Little Owl's gorgeous Livie and Luca shoes.  These brown suede shoes with their blue peacock were brilliant through the autumn and into the winter, complimenting all of her Owlfits.

Owl and Sewing Cat Dress Making

Just over 18 months ago Papa Owl bought me a sewing machine, it was one of the best presents that I have ever received as the potential was enormous.  However, I had never used a sewing machine before and simply didn't know where to start.  

I then came across a shop in Eastbourne called the Owl and Sewing Cat and signed up for one of their workshops and made a cushion.  It was great, they took the time to explain how to use the machine, and helped me pick out fabrics and patterns for future products.

A whole year passed and I had a selection of cushions but still hadn't been brave enough to tackle any clothes for Little Owl.  Christmas had brought with it a gift voucher for the Owl and Sewing Cat and so I booked myself on to a whole day dress making course.

My first challenge was to choose a pattern and the fabric.

I chose the dress the girl on the right hand side is wearing and then selected this fantastic owl cord.  Cord is one of my favourite materials to dress Little Owl in, as its soft but durable.  I must confess at this point, that I did this course back in March so it was still winter! 

Next I had the scary task of cutting the fabric.  Luckily Tracey who was running the course was keeping a watchful eye on me, as well as the other ladies who were dress making.

The neck was the most complicated bit of the dress, and something I definitely couldn't have managed on my own.  Even now, looking at the photos, I'm not entirely sure what I did but in order to keep the shape of the neck, I had to add a stiffer fabric to the back of the neck.

Finally it was time to sew!  I am always surprised when I start on a new project, just how much work is involved before I can actually start sewing!  The trickiest part of this dress was the sleeves as its such a little dress!  

It was quite an intense day, while I enjoy sewing I also find it very stressful!  I quite often realise that I have been holding my breath while concentrating!  But it was worth it to have a finished dress at the end of the day!

Isn't it cute?!!!

Little Owl loves it, although she wasn't as compliant a model as she is now!

Cross Monday Week #12

The last episode of Happy Valley and an unexpected trip to Holland to stay with rellies gave me some good sewing time this week so the plant pot has been completed, and I just have the flowers to finish - just 7 in two different colours so I'm really hopeful that I will get it done this week.

Silent Sunday

Owlfit of the Week

These shorts have to be one of my favourite hand-me-downs!  I was given them when Little Owl was tiny and thought they were trousers.  They don't have any kind of label so I don't know what size they are meant for.  However, they were a real struggle to get over cloth nappies so they haven't been worn much until this summer.  But now she is rocking them!

I have teamed them up with a pretty pink top from M&S.  It was a set of four, the other colours are white, green and blue.  I really like the fit of them, especially the longer length which keeps Little Owl covered even when she's doing her forward rolls!

The sandals are from Livie and Luca which is my favourite place to buy shoes for Little Owl, in fact, Little Owl's first shoes were from Livie and Luca.   

Finally the hat is from H&M.