Quick & cheap Curtains

I have wanted new curtains in my bedroom for 2 years and 4 months, its so precise as i brought a few new chintzy, vintage flowery bedspreads at Christmas to replace the drab black sets that i had brought when they were en vogue and regretted ever since. A few months later i had removed the black paper on the wall behind my bed and replaced it with a cool white in preparation for my pink girly room to be. But that was where it stopped and i have just never got round to sorting it out and to be honest its ready for a new coat of paint ( like all the bedrooms).

I can never find curtains that i like and to have them made can be very costly so here is my tip for cheap, quick and easy curtains.

King size quilt!

They are cheap and you  get a lot more choice than ready made curtains. I have made many pairs of curtains over the years from quilt covers mainly for the kids using character bed spreads.

I picked this one up from Homebargains for £12.99

Now to make them

First take down the old curtains and carefully remove the curtain runner and also the lining if you wish to use this to line your curtains.

Spread your sheet out and place the old curtains on top as a measurement guide and cut them out  remembering to leave a few inches extra around the sides for hemming. I have decided to make mine longer this time so i measured out and cut accordingly. I didn't cut and open the sheet out i kept it doubled up .

Iron out the creases

Pin the hem you can iron it if you like to make sewing easier

Sew up all the hems remembering to finish the corners neatly

Sew on the curtain runner that should be a perfect fit and add the hooks

Ta dah my new curtains that i made between two of baby Alex's feeds! I love them and think i will have to buy another quilt cover to use as a quilt cover.

I also had quite a bit of fabic left and knew just what i would do with it

Cover my old seat covers for my wicker garden chairs

Picture looks a bit green but they look good in real life and i am happy with them so basically a pair of curtains and four seat covers for £12.99 Bargain!

Bye for now!

Clitheroe Castle

Sometimes getting everything ready for a family day out is really hard work, remembering everything you need, anticipating what you may need and adding anything else that might be useful. Making the picnic and getting everyone dressed appropriately. The car is packed and finally you are on your way. Five minutes away from home it starts i  need a wee, can i have some sweets and the dreaded are we there yet! Even worse on this trip i am going to be sick!  oh no, cue me scrabbling about in the front for something he can use as a sick bag because we are on a narrow country lane with lots of traffic and can't stop! but as always a bag is found and he manages to contain in in the bag and we find some where to stop.

Eventually we make it to this weeks destination Clitheroe Castle. Back in February we visited the Museam of Lancashire and brought an explorer pass which cost £20 for all of us a bargain considering that is the cost to get into some of them. So we are doing a trail around all 11 Museums in Lancashire that we can use it in.

After eating some of our picnic we set of up a very steep hill towards the castle. I very kindly let Paul push the pram!

When we got up there we discovered there was a Jazz festival so it was great walking around with live music in the background.
First we went straight up to the castle.

The views were spectacular and there was a lovely little outdoor activity section for the kids with pipes and funels dotted around so you could talk to each other Fred loved those, but i have to admit that i felt i bit queasy being so high up so i was glad to get into the museam.

Once in side there was a rucksack and explorers helmet and magnifier glass for each of the kids and they were given clipboards and pencils and told different thing they had to find, which kept them busy as we looked around. Along the way there were also dressing up cloths and various other things such as crayon rubbing and crafts. I have to say the staff were so helpful there were guides all through telling us were to go and pointing things out and the lay layout of the museam was easy to follow. Its clear alot ofthought had been put into making it family friendly.

So all in all no matter how much work gets put in to going out its worth it and a good time was had by all. We even treated ourselves to a McDonalds on the way home. The journey back was much quieter with everyone (even me) asleep!

Till the next time x

Older bits and bobs

I have been recently trying to sort out my photos on my computer so that i don't have hundreds of folder with one or two pictures in each, and i came across quite a few pictures of finished projects that i have never put on here so here a round up of some of the project i finished before i started blogging.
My Bunting which is still up

 My first ever granny square

 My first ripple blanket which now lives in Fred's cot

 I love this Noah's Ark Blanket i made for the crib

 My Wedding dress (not the best picture but you can see them on my

 This was a last minute fancy dress i made for st Georges day party, its amazing what you can do with cardboard tinfoil and some car flags!

 And yes we won!!!

Don't know why its sideways but a dress i made last minute fior a night out and the Sands

Our entry for Gala Day 2011 The Good Sip molly pop! we came 3rd

This year i am helping with the Gala and will have lots to share but got to keep it under wraps for now!

Cakes past and present!

It was Ewans birthday last weekend he was 8, time really does fly when you have kids far to quickly. The baby is 8 weeks old already, i wish time could slow down just a bit so i can spend as much time as possible like this whilst they are young. Another hobby of mine is cake decorating some of the cakes i have made have been fantastic successes and some have been epic failures but i keep on doing it as the kids seem to love and be proud of the fact that mummy made it for them. Thinking back now to some of my favorites i wish i had a picture, but i was either to busy with everything to take one and just forgot, a lot of them have been videoed whilst singing happy birthday and some are on phones that are so old i took them to the shop and the lady had to work out how to get the pictures off so they are not digital. But i gave had a look through my computer and here are some that i have got on it.

Just looked and i can't believe how few i have photographed, its great that i was just living in the moment and forgot but they were great and i wish i could see them again. So i will try to remember what the kids had- Ewans 1st birthday was a chocolate cake with cream filling and teddy s made from golden marzipan, one sat on the top and others squashed in between and hanging out, this cake turned out brilliantly. 2nd birthday was a flat iggle pigle as at the time he was a huge in  the night garden fan, 3rd was a 3D Thomas train and carriage filled with sweets on a tray covered with green coconut grass and a liquorise track.

Ewans 4th Birthday was ....

another Thomas cake, a bit wonky but i tried and that's half the fun.

5th Birthday was a large number 5 that was done like a road with 2 real racing cars sat on the top and black and white square round the sides

6th Birthday we are in the Pokemon era and a picatu cake was requested, which was another wobbly but not bad attempt.

7th Birthday was a rainbow cake for his party and Mario cupcakes to take into school for his class, which is something i do if the birthday falls on a school day.

and finally this years 8th Birthday which i did Angry Bird Cup cakes for school and an Angry-bird cake for  his party.

For Molly's 1st Birthday i did a Teddy Bears Picnic cake with coconut dyed green grass and a red blanket with three Bears each with mini cake and a cup.

Molly's 2nd birthday cake is one of my favorites. Cup cakes with fairies and Teddy's, a water baby, a teletubby, makka pakka , timmy and others.

Molly's 3rd Birthday was a Castle cake with faires.

Molly's 4th birthday was another Rainbow cake as she loved Ewans.

I will forever feel guilty that Fred didn't have a cake for his first birthday but at the time he was suffering from a rash caused by being unable to tolerate  eggs so i did try and make him an egg free cake but i failed, i know he won't remember though and as its his birthday in a few weeks. 

He did have a lovely christening cake, but was only 6 months old so couldn't eat much!

Finally i found this which was the original fairy cakes i made for school summer fair

I wish i had photos of all the other i have made i must remember to photo them in the future at least for the kids scrap books.