A week away?

So we're home from our yearly family holiday. We spent four nights in Butlins (Minehead) and had a great time. Butlins might not be everybody's cup of tea but when you have a thrill seeking water loving four year old (fun fair and swimming are included in the holiday - she could go on as many rides as she wanted as many times as she wanted - Dadi was looking a little green by the end - and go swimming everyday!) and a seven month old water baby it's ideal.

Fun at the fair!

The first time we went to Butlin's Anwen was just over a year old and we got a lovely picture of her in the swimming pool (taken by an official Butlin's photographer). We were looking forward to getting a similar picture of Marged this year but were told that they didn't currently have a CRB checked photographer so wouldn't be able to provide this service! The world has gone mad.

This is the fourth time that we've been to Butlin's and Anwen has been excited for months. Last year she was really excited about seeing characters such as Fireman Sam, Angelina Ballerina, Mike the Knight and Thomas the Tank Engine, this year not so much. This time it was all about the DISCO! She would change into a different dress every evening, wear some of Mami's make up and   insist on having a funky hair do!

There was even some Dadi dancing!

Last year Katy Ashworth from CBeebies' I Can Cook was there and we watched the show. Members of the audience were asked up on stage to help Katy cook and Anwen was really disappointed that she wasn't picked (I wasn't - we're a Welsh speaking family and at the time Anwen could just about answer "What's your name" in English).

This year Katy wasn't there but her friend Julie (one of the red coats) needed help with the cooking and this time Anwen was one of the lucky ones!

 

She spoke really clearly and didn't get frustrated when Julie didn't hear her 

name properly and went on to call her Ann for the rest of the show! 

She really thinks that she's been on TV and can't wait to tell her friends in school and show them the name badge that she got.

The weather was far from brilliant and definitely wasn't beach worthy, however we've had pictures of us on the beach from all out past holidays so we had to get some this year too!

We literally ran onto the beach, took these pictures, and then ran away again. See those clouds in the background? It started raining around five minutes after we took these pictures! It's a pity as the beach in Minehead is really nice.

Marged had a pretty chilled out time which mostly consisted of eating lots and generally relaxing in the pushchair! 

One thing that I'm really glad that we managed to get was a family photo. In the seven months that we've been a family of four we've only managed to get two photos of all four of us together. The first was a few hours after Marged was born. I had just had major surgery and was still wearing my hospital gown - not a pretty sight! The second was at Marged's Christening. We were all dressed up and you'd think it was the perfect photo opportunity - if only Anwen had been in the mood - not a single shot of her looking at the camera. So when we saw that we could get a group shot one evening we jumped at the chance - and yay! everyone's looking in the general direction of the camera - RESULT!

I would have preferred it without the 'Butlin's' in the background but beggars can't be choosers right?

                                           

All in all we had a great time just spending time together as a family without work/laundry/dishes etc getting in the way.

           

Now the eagle eyed amongst you might have noticed the question mark in the post title. I may have had a week away from home and my sewing machine but sewing wasn't far from my mind! When looking through my bag of past patchwork projects I came across these -

 

   

                          

 

Hundreds of little shapes wrapped in fabric ready to be hand pieced. I think that the original idea (all those years ago) had been to use up scraps and sew them together in a completely inprov kinda way.

Anyway as I was heading out the door I grabbed these, a spool of thread and a few needles thinking that I might get a little sewing done whilst we were away and I did:-

           

I set myself up in the car and did a little hand piecing when it wasn't my turn to drive and the motorway scenery was boring me!

I didn't get much done just a few pinwheels (no pictures I'm afraid) but it was really nice to do some hand sewing for a change. I think that I'm going to carry on with this until I've got something big enough for a cushion or something. As for the rest of the ready basted shapes in the bag? I can't believe how much fabric I used to waste when I used this method so I think I'm going to rip off all the Sellotape press the fabric and keep them in my scrap bin.

And just to prove that you never know when inspiration for a quilt is going to strike look at this -

I couldn't believe it when we drove past this just before Bridgwater. (Not the statue - the building in the background!) I think that it's a distribution centre for Morrisons supermarkets. My husband thought that I was mad as I scrambled for the camera and cursed when it hadn't 'woken up' before we'd driven past and the opportunity for a photo had gone. I did try and get a pic on the way home but there was a hedge between our side of the dual carriageway and the building do I couldn't get a clear shot. So I Googled it when we got home and found the picture above here.

I'm really into green at the moment and when I saw the above building it just shouted QUILT at me. I've got a really long 'to-do' list at the moment but would love to make a quilt based on this building one day. Isn't it refreshing to see an industrial building that isn't the usual grey or mock brick? This really cheered me up on what could have been a really boring journey.

Wow. I can't believe how long this post has ended up being! I'll try to keep the next one shorter and less about the family and more about the sewing!