Not Really Up To Much

Truman posing skillfully for my new camera! He's so handsome I can't stand it! 

 We had such a lovely Christmas as I told you about last time.With the exception of an ill-advised trip to Liverpool  I've been properly taking it easy and Mr Woo has been out for the count with a cold. Besides going to the hospital for my checks I've only ventured as far as the village shop. I know lots of people recommend walking as much as possible to help baby get into position...I just can't go very far. My whole bump gets rock hard and feels full of cramps that won't stop until I sit down. SO the walking option isn't a great one for me. 

Check the size of my 37 week bump and me with no makeup, at least my hair is clean!!!

Changing pad cover all cut out! 

I've tried to stay busy with a few little projects like a cover for the changing pad & some hair bows for Baby Woo. 

Baby Woo HAD to have at  least one leopard print bow! There's a little leopard accent on the silver bow too ;)

 Do you see my fab Union Jack pincushion??? It was a gift from Vicky,  from Alexandra's Wishes, for receiving my spouse visa a couple of years ago! She is so talented and so thoughtful! 

The gingham one is Baby Woo's Dorothy Gale bow! Like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz's dress and a red vintage button to hint at the Ruby Slippers :)
There's also the bright green one a nod to the Emerald City. 

 I must also show you the gorgeous bows Auntie Lindsay sent! I'll have an excuse to play with my new camera again! 

some more handsome poses by our little man, I know I'm a bit prejudiced, but he is incredibly cute!  

On my way to the shop! Oh my swollen nose & face....I've been assured it does go back to normal....right???

And it won't be long til my mom comes to visit! 

I'm on a Bloggy Roll!

I guess it's because I'm finding inspiration all over the place these days and I want to share it!

Firstly, I have been reminded of my own project by my sweet soon to be mum of two crafty pal Victoria!

I started a non-scarf-knitting project in February. I haven't knitted anything but squares since! Big ones, small ones, moss stitch ones! Vicky has made two squares for my blanket and I'm super excited! There are some new friends to have joined in the Mrs Woo World since February and I'd love it if you'd take a look at the post from February and join in! I've gotten a little fast and loose on the size rule. My squares are turning out to be all sorts of sizes. Ach well. It's gonna be good!

I've been making my way through my blog roll. I love new posts! Look what I found today at Do Stuff! How fun & colorful!

scrap yarn wrapped branch decoration! I'm totally digging the "free-ness" of this project! 

Next we're off to Just Something I Made...Cathe Holden has always got a groovy tutorial or free download.
The other day she gave away some really pretty stationary to print. I am cursing my stupid empty printer!

I've got the urge to go write letters now!

OH! The Creative Place! How I love your phantastic paper projects!  One of my all time faves is her Christmas Card Saver.

I want to use the same idea of all of the cards we get.

You'll spend ages at The Creative Place with all of her amazing tutorials...I'm having to tear myself away to keep going!

I'll end with LollyChops. Lolly is all kinds of awesome! She is the queen of tutorials with a turquoise obsession!

Lolly's latest tutorial is a video about crotchet borders! I can't crotchet worth a toot, but maybe Lolly will be the one to make it click in my brain!

I also have to praise Lolly for helping me out with my Big Shot fabric dilemma. Lolly saved the day by answering my distraught emails super quickly ! Thanks Lolly! You rock my socks off!

So I'm feeling pretty crafty about now. How 'bout you? I'm also feeling hungry...I guess it's lunch time....
Enjoy all the hard work these creative ladies have put in just to share it with us!
I so admire people who put up tutorials. I tried to make one once and gave up pretty quickly. It was doing my head in! I decided to leave it to those who do a great job already! Thanks for sharing y'all!

Prizes and Post!

Thank you VICKY!!!!

Do you remember a couple of weeks ago I won a blog contest?!!!!!! I along with a couple of other lucky girls won the gorgeous handmade treats from Alexandra's Wishes!!!! 

Well, I LOVE getting post...as you know....and then it was a prize in the post!!!! Woo Hoo! 

My fave thing is the needle book! I've wanted one for a loooooong time! This gorgeous needle book will live in my sewing box along with my pin cushion that Vicky also made for me! 

I've worn the bow and gotten compliments! I can't wait to wear the brooch! 

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

I got an unsolicited prize in the post yesterday! I'll have to get some pix and show ya later what funness arrived on my doorstep!

Hey! Get Your Cute Little Bottom Over Here!

Our friend Vicky of Alexandra's Wishes is having a giveaway!

Check out these wonderful things she's actually willing to give away!

All you have to do is leave a comment! How easy is that?! Plus you'll get to see some brilliant photos of her adorable daughter watching The Wizard of Oz! So good!

Why don't you follow Vicky's blog while you're there? She has so many clever creative crafty ideas! I am totally inspired by her, I really need to get my buns in gear to be half as productive as Mrs Alexandra's Wishes!

NOW GET YOUR BOTTOM OVER TO VICKY'S BLOG AND COMMENT!

The FABULOUS VICTORIA! Yaaaaay!

Phew! I finally made it home, my dress isn't finished yet & I'm shattered!

Without further ado:  

I would like to introduce to you ...

The FABULOUS VICTORIA OF ALEXANDRA'S WISHES!!

{Every time I mention someone's name that bit from the Muppet Show where everybody cheers follows in my head}

That has nothing at all to do with Vicky! She is certainly not a Muppet! Vicky is mother to Princess Alexandra, wife to our very own brilliant wedding photographer, and the self proclaimed "craftoholic"  behind Alexandra's Wishes blog and Folksy shop to name but a few!
Vicky is the sweet, sweet friend who made a special pincushion and card to celebrate my visa approval. I think she is just absolutely lovely! I know our mutual friend "potato salad Heather" agrees,  I think you will to!

{MW} Hello Vicky :) Why don't you introduce yourself and tell us about YOU!

{AW}Hi! Nice to "meet" you all! First of all I should say I have many incarnations of myself. Wife, Mother, Daughter, granddaughter, crafter, post woman, toddler group leader, host, organiser.....The list does go on.
I am married to a lovely man that I call Mr Bogert. We've been together for 10 years this November (eek!) since I was 17. We have one daughter together called Alexandra Billie (named after Mr Bogert's dad, Bill, who passed away the winter before she was born) who is just coming up to her 4th birthday. My husband and my daughter are my entire life. They are what I work for and what make me the happiest. Family is very important and my Grandparents and Mum live in the same street as us, my Dad, Brother and Sister live up the road only 2 minutes walk away, and my mother in law and sister in law live only 5 minutes drive away.

I work part time for the post office as a delivery worker, but have been indoors for over 2 years because of an injury. I also run our village toddler group and make sure the kids there have plenty of crafty things to make and do. Both Mr Bogert and myself volunteer on our daughter's nursery committee too, so we usually have various things to help with for them. I have always made things. I can't remember a time where I wasn't sticking, papier mache-ing, sewing, drawing etc. My Nan and grandad's back room used to get destroyed every weekend I stayed by piles of fabric, empty containers, felt tip pens and all sorts. Now my crafting mostly revolves around my daughter. Over the last year, I've made lots of fancy dress costumes, hair things, bags etc. I sew, I make cards and scrapbook, I crochet and I knit. I sometimes model make or paint too, but I'm drawn more to textiles. I'm also a list maker. I have lists everywhere. Shoppng lists, things I'd like lists, things I need to do lists, things I'd like to do lists. I never finish a list either, I just add to it ;) My blog is all about the things I make, the places I've been, the things we as a family get up to, and the things we plan for the future.

{MW} Your Blog and folksy shop have such a special name don't they? Where did that name come from?

{AW}Alexandra is my daughter's name and much of my crafting revolves around her and things I would like to make for her or thing's she asked me to make and do, so I call them her wishes. She's such a little cutey that I just figured that anything she would wish or dream of would be lovely and innocent and cute. I hope that the things I create are all of these. I like the idea that I can at least make some wishes reality.

What was the last treasure that arrived in your mail?

An envelope stuffed full of fabric swatches with an accompanying note asking me to choose which I'd like, from a very lovely and generous friend. She shall forever be known as "potato salad Heather" on my blog :) She's since brought the fabrics round in person and I desperately want to start crafting with them, but I'm making myself be good and catch up on all the unfinished things floating around the house.

Where in the world would you like to visit? why?  

So many places! Me and Mr Bogert have a wish list. Some of those places have a time deadline. We think our next big visit will be Lapland. We love Christmas and we really want to take Alexandra to meet father Christmas, play in the snow and drink large quantities of hot chocolate. Then there are other places on the list for the future like China and Tanzania (safari! Yay!). We love to go and see and explore. That's probably why our list is so long. We are not the lie around on the beach type of people. We want to experience places and history and cultures. It's more interesting. It does mean we always feel like we need a holiday when we return though :)

What 8 records or books would you would take with you to a desert island?

When I read this, I thought this is really difficult. I don't tend to re read books because I remember the stories too well, so once read, it holds no surprises for me anymore. There is however one book I could think of as a wracked my brain that is immune to this. That book is "The Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I remember I was bought it for Christmas one year when I was younger, and would sit up with a torch reading it on my top bunk bed in the dark. I would pretend I was Sara living in the cold attic! I could read that book again and again. Other than that I would have to find me another 7 "new" books I'd never read. Probably the latest James Patterson (he's my favourite author), a couple of good old fashioned murder mysteries (I do love my Agatha Christie) and autobiography about a favourite actor/actress (maybe River Phoenix), and a dessert island survival handbook. Music, I would take my own compilation which would have a bit of David Bowie, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Queen, Bryan Adams, some 60's tunes (think Heartbeat), maybe a few disney tracks like hawaiin rollercoaster from Lilo and Stitch and Let's go Fly a Kite from Mary Poppins, and some favourite love movie theme songs.

If you could go back and live in a past decade or century, when would you choose and why?

I truly believe I should not have been born in the 80's. Since I was about 12 I've gone through various fazes of wishing I'd lived in times gone by, from Medieval, Victorian to the 60's. I also think this is where my love for Costumes originated (did you know my intended career plan was to be a costume designer? I even worked in a costume shop for 2 years. Learn something new every day) but now for at least the past 4 years, I wish that I could have lived in the period from the 30's through to the 50's. I love the clothes (it's always about the clothes) I love the movies, I love the old movie star glamour and I really wish that some of that neighbourly feeling that was around then had lasted through to present day. It's sad that the idea of community is dwindling and people would rather keep themselves to themselves. That's also why we love living in a village where we still have some neighbourly feeling left. I also wish we still made more of an effort when we went out. Back then you wouldn't think of leaving the house without your hair and make up done, a hat on your head and gloves on. I'd go around dressed like that all time, but I think I would get funny looks, not least from Mr Bogert.

What is your favorite thing about creating something by hand?

It's like therapy! Having a bad day? Go make something. Bored? Go make something. I can't go a day without some sort of craft "fix". I start to get stroppy and grumbly. Ask Mr Bogert, he'll back me up on that one. Then the pleasure in seeing the finished creation and being able to say "I did that. All by myself." Achievement. No better feeling.

 

Please list three of your favorite things. Why are they favorites?

My sewing machine. It was my nan's but I used it frequently, then one year for my birthday, she gave it to me. It's my first machine that's all mine, and it's familiar and I love it. It's also well used!

My family. There maybe many things about my life that I would change, but with my family at the centre of my life being one thing I'm completely happy about, nothing else is that bad. That old saying about money not being able to buy happiness makes me smile, because I always say "I'm already happy, so now I'd just like more money so I can enjoy it!".

My third thing would have to be my camera. Well, it's mine and Mr Bogert's camera (and he knows how to use it more than me!). I think memories are very important, and I always worry I will forget things as I get older, so capturing those moments with the camera make me happy. They don't make my computer very happy though as I have thousands (not an exageration) of pictures saved on there! I'm also enjoying learning more about the camera with Mr Bogert at his photography club. It's great seeing the finished results! (a bit like crafting)

What could you eat/drink every single day and never grow tired of?

I'm generally a savoury girl and I love cheese in any form, so I think I could definitely manage to eat cheese potato pie every day. (I very nearly did eat it every day whilst I was pregnant. I had constant cravings for cheese and coca cola). I do have another sweeter love though which I think I could also manage, and that is cheesecake (any flavour) or key lime pie. Oooo! So yummy!

What is your favorite place? Will you describe it to us?

I wish I could say my craft room, but alas, I don't have one :( If I did, I'm sure that would be my favourite place, but as I don't, I would have to say the Lake District. Specifically Bowness-on-Windermere or Ambleside. So incredibly beautiful and peaceful. I love going on walks there, I love finding little gift shops with nice little nik naks in, I love sitting by a log fire when it's cold outside. The Lake District holds many memories for me, and not one of them is bad. We used to visit there camping when I was a kid, now we take Alexandra (and our friends) to the very same camp site. We rented lovely stone walled cottages for family holidays which I plan to do again with my family, and now every year we stay at the same hotel in Bowness for New Year celebrations with my mother in law and sister in law. It's a lovely way to welcome the new year. As soon as we get off the motorway and into the lakes, I feel like I'm home.

Thank you so much Vicky for giving us the chance to get to know you better! 

Be sure to stock up on Victoria's Christmas time goodies! If you notice on Alexandra's Wishes, she's going to have some SUPER CUTE gift tags listed for Christmas! Oh My! 

I can tell you first hand that Vicky's work is excellent and beautiful, she's very talented! 

Visit Vicky often! 

❣

Isn't She Lovely!

The thoughtfulness and kindness of people will never cease to amaze me. A new friend {that I haven't even met in person yet!} took the time to hand make a card and keepsake for me to celebrate my visa approval. I am just so touched by her thoughtfulness. She did a beautiful job, the pin cushion and card are gorgeous!

I just wanted to take a moment to say Thank You so much. I will always treasure these gifts.