Stitch And Bitch ~ In which I finally have time to write this and decide to start on a couple of tops for meeeeeee

Hey Loverlies welcome to Thor's Day

Yeap normally I write this on a Tyr's Day but last night we had a bit of a family emergency and I knew you would all understand.

It has been a very hectic week to be honest what with being reminded that The Acoustic Festival of Great Britain is actually next weekend and not the weekend after !!!!! Oh dears!!! Oh wells .. am onto that paperwork this weekend ... but the biggest issue was finding something to wear.

As with most trades people I have nothing to wear that isn't falling to pieces. It makes sense to me, mechanics always have a broken car and builders a half fixed house. It does really go with the territory and we all accept that. So today I have found that I have a little surplus of certain fabrics hand have decided that I am going to use them for myself !!! Cos I can !!!

So today's Stich is going to be me designing and making my new top, well at least one of them. I have kept it all very simples so anyone can make one .. including me whilst knackered HAHAHA!!!!

Ok so Festival Bloo Pixie Top

measure around your chest and then measure from your top of your boobage to the bottom of your boobage and add 2 inches either side for a side seam unless of course you have an over locker and I am not talking about those abominations !!!

Then you need to measure yourself from under your boobage to about the middle of your thigh ... or whereever you feel most comfy. I personally prefer long and baggy !!!

Right so now you want to cut out your fabric, I had some of a loverly turquoise spandex left over from a very special ice skating dress i made so i used that as my top bit.

I also found a very cheap way of purchasing voile on ebay so i used some of that as well for the "skirt" part of the top.

So there you go 2 squares of fabric :~D

Now this is what i started doing with the voile :~

yes my friends these are "petals" I have needed to make 12 of these to get round my frame in an orderly fashion and I shall be making 12 more double the length of these to go under them ... You may have noticed that I have put 2 together. Yes I have the reason for this will be made clear shortly. However I only sewed the two long sides together at this point.

For the very reason of putting silk petals in the fabric ones lose and adding 3 silk leaves to the top of the petal. Now you might think this was a bit of overkill what i did next but personally i found it made life sooooo much easier when it came to putting everything together.

Yeap I actually sewed the tops of the petals BEFORE attaching them to the top of the shirt. Now I did this due to the delicate nature of the embelishments. If I had sewed them all at once I would have lost a few. So this made alot more sense. once they were all sewn up at the top I started sewing them to the top fabric, which by the way was lots of fun, as it has to be stretched and the voile doesn't. so making sure it was evenly sewn does take a bit of swearing and other such tantrums until it happens the way it should.

I overlapped the petals halfway between each other :~

Right well there you go thats the main bulk of what needs to be done to make this shirt. I honestly am not allowed to show you anymore just now as "Stitch" one of my house pixies has said it is only to be unveiled at the Acoustic Festival Hahaha!!! ...

Anywho the basics are here and all you have to do with the longer petals is repeat the process of the shorter ones. I went for popping them between the shorter ones to give it a more layered flower look. The best part of this top is all you have to do at the end is sew it up the back in one even seam. I use rolled seams they have more security in them than with an overlocker which if you snip a thread the whole thing comes undone. I for one can do without such costume malfunctions thankyou very muchly !!!

So enjoy it .. make your own... it's alot of fun and looks great. And yes for the record I did put straps on it HAHAHA I knooooow who I work with I'm not dumb!!! HAHAHA!!!

Go enjoy it

xox Love and Light xox

Monday Catch Up ~ In which I apologise to Himself

Welcome to Moon Day Me Loverlies !!!

Well what a weekend !!! Beautiful Blue skies and perfick weather and not a chance to go out once ... le sigh ... This weekend has been a rough one all round and to be honest made harder by neither myself or Himself wanting to upset the other but to be strong for the other. So we have spent the entire week ... and definately weekend bottling up everything.

NOT SOMETHING YOU WANT TO MAKE A HABIT OF!!!

Eventually something goes BOOM!!! and over the silliest thing that isn't even anything to do with what is really going on, but at that moment in time, that is where the cork pops and sprays the contents everywhere. Have you ever done the Mentos and Coke rocket trick ??? Well that is pretty much the mood aroud here right now, everyone being shaken up and just waiting to be dropped on thier cap for the explosion to happen.

As I write this I am in the kitchen, my favourite room at home next to the one that holds the bed in it where i collapse in a heap most nights and into a work drained coma. Anywhoo Himself is in there right now cos we just had our first ding dong at each other. Yeap we did ... 18 months on and finally we let loose on each other and it wasn't even about what we had a ding dong about, it is all the pent up frustration of the situation we find ourselves in and unable to do anything about just now.

A mix of grief, fear, frustration, concern and love. Yeap it is in there too because without Love you can't have the others. It isn't actually possible. I have discovered today that I will no longer stay silent as my friends and myself get walked over or people take the mikey cos they think we are pushovers and can get away with it. No More !!!

It is the responsibility of all of us to speak up when something is wrong especially when it concerns those around us that we love and care about. It is also our responsibility to speak up when we are hurt by others. It is not our responsibility to speak out and yes be diplomatic if needs be but not hide our feelings from those we are closest to. If we need to vent we need to vent. If something needs saying then something SHOULD be said. Staying silent so you don't hurt your partners feelings because they have enough on thier plate right now isn't helping anyone. It is not allowing your partner to be there for you, it is not allowing you to have the chance to really let things out either.

It is very different having a bitch session with your mates to talking things out with your partner. Your mates will always be on your side and either be empathetic or goad you on and work you into a frenzy of frustration and crankiness that will end up with you exploding at the very person you shouldn't.

Well you know what ... when you blow out at someone because you have been bottling things up about a person or situation to a point where you have a ding dong with the person you love more than life itself next to your kids... then that person or situation has won.

I'm sorry but I'm not allowing that to happen.

The person in question the situation in question is not worth our energy getting angry at each other. When what we really want to do is let go of the negative stuff inside about a specific person or situation. When we don't allow it, they win, they drain us of all our good energy and fill us up with negative. I am worth more than that!!!

There are somet hings I am going to have a worse reaction to than others. Being told what I can and cannot do is one of them. As an adult I feel like a frightened child and I will NOT allow myself to feel that way every again!!! especially when it is nothing to do with the issue at hand.

However, tit for tat is pointless and trying to get your personal point across about an issue or something that was said is also quite pointless since the words said were nothing to do with the real issue.

Therefore I have this to say :~

My Dearest Beloved Himself whom I love truly with all of my heart, I am sorry for being a snitty cow all weekend and especially today. I realise you are also going through major major things right now, however I think we need to let it out and let it go. I love you and I will not let someone as negative and malicious and so full of negative evil energy, drain me like this again to the point where all they can do is infect me with thier nastiness. I want you to feel you can talk to me about anything and everything as we normally do. The only way to move forward through this is to talk together and let it out properly and not hide it from each other as we are.

I know you will come in your own time, just know that I love you and I will be here whenever you are ready.

My heart is yours and forever open to you as are my arms, my shoulder is strong and there for you to cry on, and my lap is here for you to curl up on and my mouth here to kiss away your pain.

xox Bloo xox

Ode to the Week ~ In which I bid a fond farewell to the week that has been and leave it where it where it belongs.

Welcome to Freya's Day Me Loverlies!!! WE MADE IT!!! Give yourself a big round of applause and pats on the back and a big bar of choccy to celebrate !!!

If your week has been anything like mine get yourself a loverly glass of something yummy too cos you deserve it!!! For me it's a bucket of coffee cos its that or cordial cos that's all we have. It doesn't matter what it is as long as you have it and it is well known in your environment this is your time!!!

Long story short and no details given but this week has been very very emotionally driven and to be completely honest with you I am exhausted, completely and utterly mental and emotionally drained from it all. In fact to the point where Himself sat me down and told me to snap out of it cos I was not being nice and was in a not fun place at the time. Which I did and hear I am today, 1 more costume further than I was yesterday and with dinner in the oven and lots of excitement all day, like visits from my favourite reptile rescue couple. It was awesomes!!! and yes they will be coming to the Edge of The Moors Faery Festival and bringing some of thier loverly rescued loverlies with them!!! sooo can't wait!!!!

I have a loverly costume job I am doing right now for a loverly young lady in our town who ice skates. You'd probabgly think there are heaps of people making these outfits but apparently not and not only that the ones they get are imported and fall apart which is pretty awful considering the prices they charge BEFORE postage. So it looks like I could be about to get very busy WOOHOO!!! but we shall see. I don't believe in over charging because you can. Kids love to dance and should have the opportunity to do so in whatever form they wish to without thier parents having to sell a kidney in the process. I simply don't have time for dressmakers who rip off thier customers with an attitude of "oh well". I am happy to design and make anything for anyone and always have been because I don't see the point in charging £200 for a leotard with a skirt on it when it takes me less than half a day to run it up. To me that's appauling and such a rip off especially when overlockers are used on stretch fabrics and not rolled hemming. I don't even own an over locker and to be honest I don't need or want one.


All that said however this week I have realised how truly blessed I am, and have learnt a little about myself as well. I don't suffer fools gladly. Well that wasn't news. and what annoys me more is those who have everything yet bitch because it isn't enough. Now I'm sorry but Himself and I right now live on around £85 a week, not because we are tight because that is all we have. End of story. See what you have that doesn't cost money and you will realise exactly how rich you truly are!!! Your outlook on life changes as well to be honest and well speaking for myself it is a much better place to be and much better than Beer Goggles !!!!

To cheer me up this week Himself did something rather special. I don't care if you think I am a loony but I have a couple of little Fae friends that keep me company and hang out and have chosen to stay with me for whatever reason. Let me show you what Himself did for me with the help of Button one of my insanely fabby little pixie friends.

Himself is amazing at finding our Fae friends and helping you to see exactly what they look like!!! This one he did with Button telling him the whole time what to do and what he wanted. I have to admit this almost brought me to tears. It didn't cost him anything just time and he did it to make me smile and THAT My Loverlies is what love is!!!

Anywhoo tis Friday evening and I have lots of taped shows to catch up on and bowl of popcorn awaiting me attention !!!


Have a fabbytastic weekend!!!

xox Love and Light xox

Bloo on Green ~ In Which I get fed up of breaking out in rashes every time I clean the house

Hello me Loverlies and Welcome to Thor's Day

Well I have to admit this week has been a bit of a toughy and when I accidentally sprayed spray and wipe on me and broke out in a rash I said ENOUGH!!!

So I sat and scoured the internet and I looked through my Nanna Lucy's book of bits and found a wonderful array of homemade cleaning products. Over the next few weeks I shall be making them all, but since our budget is what it is I shall be making one different type of cleaner each week for the next 6 weeks and share the how to's with you here.

So here we go with this weeks offering :~

Orange and Lemon Vinegar AKA Spray and Wipe

If you are like me you save EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING. I even save citrus peels to candy or add to marmalade or cakes. Everytime we have them in the house and peel them the peels go in a box in the freezer so they are safe.

Now I know alot of you will say is that why use brown vinegar or malt vinegar rather than distilled. Well I shall tell you, distilled vinegar is relatively recent and to be honest this is the more tradtional vinegar to use and nooooo it doesn't leave stain marks at all cos you only use it on spray and wipe surfaces not on the carpet!!!!

So ingredients are :~

Citrus Peel to fill the jar, bucket or other type of container or your choice.
Malt or Brown Vinegar to cover the peels completely.

Like these here :~

- First off fill your jar with peels up to the top

- Then fill the jar with vinegar to cover the peels

- Leave the mix for a week in a dark cupboard

- Strain the mix and put in a spray bottle if you wish or a bottle of your choice.

Just use this as you would for the chemical spray and wipe, if you prefer the distilled or white vinegar feel free to use that instead. It is a matter of choice and no other reason at all ...

So enjoy it, try it out and see how it measures up to the chemicals. If you are worried about the smell I know the vinegar smell evaporates very quickly and to be honest I'd rather smell citrus oils and vinegar than bleach anyday of the week!!! Besides it's not like you have to keep it locked up either if a child drinks it no harm done and to be honest they would probably pull a face and not go there again. Lesson learnt and no trips to A&E to get a stomach pumped !!!

Have an awesome rest of your day

xox Love and Light xox 

Cookie's Corner ~ In Which I get A Loverly Pressie and Decide to Test Some Traditional Recipes

Welcome Me Loverlies To Woden's Day !!!

Here we are again at Cookie's Corner and today I have something rather special for you. This came from something rather special that was given to me by my Bootiful Cousin last week.

You see what happened was that she had found a rather loverly little book about old fashioned preserves and chutneys in the local charity shop and grabbed it for me. Which I thought was rather loverly to be honest and it had all the kind of recipes you never see anymore like Rose Petal Jam and other recipes that are old country recipes based on hedgerow ingredients for the most part. Elated I was with it, in fact it is now with the very special favourite books I keep next to the bed !!!

A couple of days later my Bootiful Cousin and I were having a sneaky peek around the Refurnish shop, like you do when youa re a foraging pixie like me and I spied some rather loverly hand-thrown pottery kitchen jars. A rather stunning set that I fell immediately in love with but unfortunately at that moment had about 50p to my name and they were a little bit more than that. So I toddled off to look further up the window and all of a sudden I saw my cousin in the shop and I was accosted by Himself who told me with a big grin on his face to go in cos I was wanted. So I did. My Bootiful Cousin whom I love dearly had bought the set of kitchen jars for me.

So here they are in all thier glory !!!!

Now these particular 3 were the ones I became rather inspired by to make my own.

Around here I make from scratch as much as I can and it has been a rather long time since I made mint sauce so that was the first one.

The second was the marmalade, which I tend to make rather more regularly especially when we have left over citrus fruit at the end of the fortnight. So that was easy enough, not Orange this time but tangerines so it made a rather more fluid offering but none the less yummy .

However for this week's offering I thought I would let you into the most incredible little recipe I found in the wonderful little recipe book from my cousin.

Parsely Honey

What the....!!??!! I hear you say. Yeap that is exactly what I said to. However the origins of this recipe are loverly and you know me always a sucker for a tradition and history of what I am making. So Parsley Honey was made during the Second World War as a substitute for the real thing as it was alot scarer than sugar at the time.

Now I have to tell I was rather sceptical about this but any book that has a recipe for Primrose Cordial has to know what it is talking about !!!

So I went for it and you know what it is AMAZING!!! it actually looks and tastes like runny Heather Honey!!! Strange but true!!!

So here is the recipe for you to try it out for yourself and I am using old measures because it is a tradional recipe and I think all parts of that should be preserved.

Parsely Honey

6oz fresh Parsley
1 1/2 Pints Water
1 lb Sugar
Juice of a small Lemon

-Wash the Parsely and chop it roughly even the stalks and put into a pan with the water.

-Bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 minutes and then strain and measure the resulting juice.

- Put the juice in a clean pot with the Lemon Juice and 1 lb Sugar for every pint of Parlsey Juice.

- Stir well over a low heat until the sugar is completely dissolved then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes or so, until the mixture is clear and syrupy

- Pour into warm, sterilised jars, cover and seal whilst hot.

Now when I maede mine I ended up with a bit over 2 pints of Parsely Honey and I am quite proud of my large jar in the cupboard as well as the loverly jar on the bench in the kitchen.

The best bit was the faery princesses were visiting when I made it and they both loved it. I figure you can't ask for better than that !!!!

Time for me to toddle off now and get some sleep.

Have a wonderful rest of whatever you are doing.

If you would like to try any others of my recipes follow this link to my book Which is Which?

Which is Which ?

xox Love and Light xox

Stich And Bitch ~ In Which I Remember My Long Hair and Find A Way To make It Happen Again!

Hello Me Loverlies and Welcome to Tyr's Day!!

A conversation came up a few days ago about hair length and I found myself remembering an occasion about 15 years ago when I used to be able to sit on mine!!! It took me 10 years to grow it that long and I was sooo proud of it and loved every inch of it.

I used to make a point of every fortnight seeing a hairdresser and getting it looked after "properly" as well (since then I have learnt better but more of that another time). There was one time that I went to my normal hairdresser and the person who usually did my hair wasn't there. I wasn't too fazed this kind of thing happened sometimes and I trusted those within the business to be just as careful and professional as she was.

That was mistake number 1 !!! (If your normal person isn't there don't trust the one you have only just met )

So as usual I was taken to get my hair washed and once it was squeaky clean I was put in the chair to have a teeny trim and I mean about an inch just to get rid of any split ends. The hairdresser in question asked me if I wanted a cuppa to which i said "oooo yesh please" and she toddled off out the back to make it.

Mistake number 2 !!!  (Don't let them leave take flask or a take away cuppa if you must )

For some reason I had a look at where she was in the mirror and happend to catch her talking to another hairdresser in there who apparently was the manager and they we looking very serious and and nodding in my direction. I did feel a tad uneasy about this but let it go thinking that I had only just seen it in the mirror and not wanting to seem like a paranoid Pixie blew it off by saying " I hope you aren't in trouble".

Mistake Number 3 !!! (If it doesn't feel right trust your senses they are there for a reason)

So ignoring my feelings I settled myself into having my trim and the hairdresser was friendly enough and chatted away whilst she started trimming my hair even asking me if I was sure I only wanted a trim, to which I replyed "I will cry buckets if I lose more than an inch", to which her reply was " I will make sure I am extra careful then" and smiled at me in the mirror. Within less than 2 minutes I heard a deep intake of breath and she was babbling saying things like "I am sooooo sorry ... it was a complete accident ... I slipped " whilst in her hand lay a handful of my locks at least 18 inches long !!!

Mistake 4 and 5 !!! (If they start talking about taking more off GET OUT OF THE SEAT !!!! .... and when they say oops GET OUT OF THE SEAT !!!!)

The hairdresser and I use that as the loosest of terms had taken my hair off at my shoulder!!! That was no oops that was a "What the hell have you done!!!" The manager came out and being as apologetic as she was and me in pieces at the loss on my hair and having to sit there and endure more of the same otherwise I would have looked a mess. I walked out afterwards and didn't pay, I didn't even pick up my hair as I normally did. (It's a thing)

Mistake 6 !!! (NEVER leave your hair behind if they do that take it with you )

A week later and wearing a hat because I still felt ridiculous I happened to walk past the hairdressers in question and there was my hair in the window as a wig !!!

Needless to say this liddle Pixie was mad as a cut snake and went ballistic on them and called the police and had them charged with theft amongst other things. I had my day in court and they were shut down and lots of other things .... However my hair has NEVER grown back the same since. Now I am lucky if it grows 6 inches down from my shoulder.

I'm not normally a very vain person but my hair was something I treasured and looked after like I did my kids. Nowadays I have to find ways of making y hair longer and feeling better about it. This can take the form of braiding extensions to straightening it and all sorts of other ridiculous temporary solutions, however this one I find is the most fun and is removable without damage and only takes a few hours to do.

These are my Plaited hair "falls" :~

I used 2 50g balls of wool here for this one batch which will make about 4 falls.

attach one end of your wool to something as an anchor otherwise you will be chasing it all over the place !!! I choose to use our table leg like this :~

From there start winding your wool around the table you have chosen to use, here you can see I am winding the second ball. It is entirely up to you if you choose to wind each ball seperately or together. I do mine together as I find it saves me time :~

And this one is of me getting in a tangle .... seee I'm not perfick you know !!!!

Once they are done they should look like this :~

Now grab your scissors and cut through one end making sure not to let the wool go otherwise you will end up with a big mess on the floor and I'm sure there will be some choice words floating round the place. These are the words of experience !!!





Once you have done that tie a ribbon loosely round the middle of the lengths of wool to keep them together :~

After that pick out 12 strands of each colour of the wool :~

After that attach them to a hair tie by doing a slip knot so they hold well and cant move off the tie. Then you can do as I do and hook the hair tie over your big toe or attach it to a knob or something else so you can plait the strands together :~

Make sure you have a good movie on to watch or a decent album or something to keep you occupied whilst you do this as this takes a good hour for each fall of this kind.

Eventually you get something that looks like this :~

Now I only have another 5 or 6 to do and I can literally replace my own hair with them !!!

Yes I know !!! my hair is muggles at the moment but not for long ... it only goes that colour during the winter as it hibernates like I do. It should be back to it's natural self in a few weeks now that the weather appears to have sorted itself out again!!!

Yes hair can get confuzzled too HAHAHA!!!

So on that note I am going to toddle off now and do the rest of my falls... I'm sure in the future I will get hold of materials to do another type which I will also show you. For now however these are the easier and the best. Enjoy making them and have fun wearing them!!!

xox Love and Light xox

Monday Catch Up ~ In Which I Learn That It is Ok To Be Angry.

Welcome my Loverlies to this Bootiful Moon Day !!!

Oh boy what a weekend !!! Let's just say that emotions were running rather high and hot this weekend, so much so that at one point I scared myself even !!!

I won't tell you details but lets just say that when it comes to my kids I am a bit of a mother tiger, actually if it comes to the safety of any child I know the same tendancy kicks in. So when someone decides to verbally attack someone they don't know, have never met and the prime focus to make such public allegations is to upset someone else and make them react, lets just say it isn't pretty!!!

However in getting so angry I worked my way through it. I also realised that it was ok to be angry you don't however need to take it out on those around you, those around you are there to help calm you and let you rant and get it out of your system to be completely honest. There was lots of ranting, and at the end of it I felt pretty awful cos I had taken it out a bit on others around me, not in a physical way but just by being snippy.

What disturbs me is that there are those so willing to judge others before they know the whole story. They seem to get a kick out of being bitter and nasty and watching others in serious emotional pain. That to me is psychotic!! When you are willing to go to extremes not caring who you hurt or damage in your way, you have completely lost the plot. If you can't see it then you really shouldn't be in charge of anyone ... let alone children.

It does confuse me I must say that people are so ready to judge others as well without asking direct questions to the person themselves. Surely to find out the answers you want you ask the actual person rather than talk about them behind thier back. Filling in your own blanks and coming to the conclusion that 2 + 2 = 11,562 !!!  To me this is a sign of a weak person, someone who doesn't have the kahoonas to bother talking to the actual people involved. A strong person would either tell the weak person to "shut up and what would you know" or go and talk to the person themselves.

There is nothing worse to me than Sheeple, people who will tow the line and not get involved and won't fight the corner for those doing the right thing and are willing to believe anything rather than find out for themselves!!! Society and media has conditioned people into thinking that it's ok to gossip and spread rumours and talk about things behind others back. Even our schools are set up to teach our kids not to ask questions. I was always in trouble for putting my hand up in class to ask questions and was always told the same thing, "don't disrupt the class" ........ O.o ......

Well I don't apologise for not being a Sheeple ... I still Think for myself and do what is right and will quite vocally stand up when something is wrong !!! Thinking is not illegal ... remember that ... and although governments around the world are desperatly trying to make it illegal, standing up for what you believe in to be right when it is blatently obvious something is wrong is not either!!!

When it comes to kids especially those I know, they are then under the umbrella of My Kids, and I protect them and stand up for them and get very angry when they are used as weapons by those who know nothingbut thier own weakness of character. You might not like what is happening around you but children are NOT weapons in anyway shape or form. NO~ONE has the right to use them as such and if you do you are not a person as far as I am concerned because you have no heart, intelligence or strength of your own. In fact I pity the shell of you because that is all you are if you behave in such ways.

On a much happier and lighter note, for the first time in a year our cupboards and freezer are 3/4's full YAY!!!! I am soooo pleased this makes this Pixie much happier and feeling alot safer in our situation. Our spare room only needs pillows and things are looking up every single day !!

Oo ooooo and as grey as it looked out there this morning it is now bootiful and sunny and the birds are chirping and singing ... and I am off to collect primroses with my Bootiful Cousin YAY!!!!!

Have a fabbytastic Moon Day and remember don't be a Sheeple !!!!

xox Love and Light xox