In the land of Poyoyo

Home Alone

So my boys are on holiday and I'm at home all by myself. I have to admit that I've totally enjoyed it but now I'm more than ready to have them back.

Yesterday I went "Iceland Shopping". David didn't have any warm trousers so I raided Decathlon for jogging trousers and warm and cosy socks. So that's it, we are totally ready to go.

I have started to pack, just to see if I really do need the 2 big suitcases and unfortunately we do. It's difficult to travel light with such bulky jumpers.

I've managed to keep myself really busy. With my Mother, Husband and domestic helper away on holiday I've fended for myself really well. All laundry has been done, not only that, I've done up the utility room and it was a pleasure to do the ironing. It's funny how these silly things give me a real sense of accomplishment. If only I'd managed to tackle the upstairs bookcase, now that would have been out of this world. Next time maybe.

No, I haven't just cooked and cleaned, I've also managed many crafting hours. Not much to show for it as the wretched bias binding is still making me curse out loud. I need to practice a lot more, I know that my impatience and shortcuts are totally to blame for the bad results.

I had to use up this fabric before David grew out of the McQueen phase. I put together these "Top Savers" (4 year olds don't like wearing baby bibs but they still get very messy when eating alone). I made them extra long and used up an old towel for the backing so they are lovely and absorbent. They will look very classy in restaurants out and about Reykjavik.

I also started a new project, a bit too ambitious to get done in time for Iceland but seeing as it's been named "Art on the Go" it's turned into a "must finish in time" thing. We have big artsy fartsy plans for Iceland.

The good thing is that I have learned lots about my machine. I am now totally comfortable using the hemmer and it saves me so much time and that has got to be good.

Look, no pinning, just shove it in one side and as if by magic, a perfect hem comes out the other side.

And I wish I'd thought of using the zipper foot when making the previous crayon roll, what a lovely discovery and again, such a time saver.

At present, with no photo to show, it's a nearly finished "Art on the Go" holder with painfully ugly bias binding that I hope to finish after dinner.

Olympic Nostalgia

I wasn't particularly bothered about the Beijing Olympics but I've just watched parts of the opening ceremony and it was amazing so I'm hooked. I still get goose bumps when I remember Manuel Rebollo lighting the Olympic Flame. Probably because I was here and lived the Olympics from the inside it was all so special.

During the Barcelona '92 Olympic games I worked at the stadium. I had the time of my life and had photos taken with all my farourite athletes.

Of the hundreds of photos, this is by far my favourite, taken shortly after Linford Christie had won the gold medal 100m.

Sorry about the bad quality but it's a photo of a photo and also sorry about my uniform, it didn't seem that ugly at the time LOL.

08/08/08

Don't you just love the feel of today's date. I can't remember many dates but I do especially remember 02/02/02... anyway, lets not get sidetracked LOL

Have I mentioned that I am beside myself with excitement about going to Iceland? No? Need proof?

I love my Paris diary so much that I thought it would be a grand idea to make one for Iceland too.

I love the feel of Moleskine notebooks and they have this lovely paper that looks sort of aged, so it's just perfect for recording our holiday memories and notes.

The project itself was only allowed to use up scraps and bits and not delve into any new fabric as my scrap pile is just about larger than my folded, new fabric.

The match for Iceland isn't the greatest as I don't imagine orange to be a charachteristic Icelandic colour but I am feeling very orangey and Mediterranean lately so I suppose I just let my colour cravings take over.

There is still lots of room for improvement but I am very happy with the end result. I am going to love writing our daily experiences, all the smells, the new foods, living in a camper van and driving a 4x4 on those bumpy roads. Yes, it's deffinitely one of the good holidays, but aren't all holidays good?

We always write a travel diary when we go places, even if it's just a piddly weekend up the coast. I love going back and reading and remembering things that if not registered would be blotted out of my mind in time. This way we have memories forever.

I wonder what our Iceland song is going to be? As well as a travel diary, there is always a travel song, that song that transports you back to a certain place and we have also got one for each holiday. The best thing is that they are normally totally bizarre songs that have nothing to do with the place. I mean we have Juanes and Bruce Springsteen for Norway, Boney M for Marrakech, Coldplay for Menorca.... the list is endless but I love hearing "Brown Girl in the Ring" and suddenly thinking about a spicey Tagine. MMmm I can almost smell it from here.

Wow, I'm being a bit chatty today. Soz, I'm so ready for this holiday it's unreal.

Love to all...

House progress

So we finally made it to Ikea and managed to buy everything that was on the list, not much really, just a box shelf system so each of us could organise our shoes and a rail for darling hubby to hang his  2 million blazers on. No they cannot go in our walk in wardrobe because that would mean going up and down stairs all the time. I have fewer coats but I like having them handy to grab on the way out.

So I am well happy now that all the junk is hidden in boxes. It's nothing major but you'll agree with me that it's a vast improvment on the before.

Here we are a day closer to our long awaited holiday to Iceland. I swear I've done so much reading about the place that I dream about places that I have yet to visit. All these names like Gulfoss, Husavik, Geiser, Landmannalaugar, Seljalandsfoss, Glambaer conjour up images in my mind of what they will be like and all the photos that I will get to take, hopefully with an adorable posing 4 year old in the foreground. I almost know the map off by heart and every "must visit" place has been underlined and identified.

With David still in Navaluenga, we've had plenty of time to ourselves. We ring him up every day, more than once just to hear him chatting in the background as he refuses to talk to us on the phone. It must be his way of punishing us for leaving him with his Yayos but he's having the time of his life. What I am most amazed about is how he speaks Spanish. Normally he speaks English or Catalan but after a week in Navaluenga his Spanish is totally fluent and he uses the correct tenses which is totally amazing. I can't wait to get him back but I have to admit that these 2 weeks have done him a world of good. When I left him he was taking cough medicine, still running a slight temperature and had a scabby nose again and now my mother assures me that he's healthier than ever and does not stop a minute. He drinks the spring water that they collect from the spring every evening, eats veggies straight from the garden, can't get enough fruit that he also picks himself from the trees. Next year there's no doubt where he's spending part of  his school holiday.

And us, well we've spent our weekend on the beach. It feels weird lazing on a lounger, reading a book and soaking up the sun. Every so often we'd swim a couple of lengths of the pool and get back to our books. Today we have a lovely toastey colour to show for our laziness by the pool.

No photos of us, just a little more sewing practice. I have quite a few things that I want to get done for Iceland (pencil roll, first aid bag, passport covers, Iceland Diary). Here's a nearly finished crayon roll.

You might notice that the scrap from the B&W fabric is what I used to make the sleeve of my t-shirt.

The outside is a galavanting monkey.

And here it is all nicely rolled up and waiting for a super huge button to keep it rolled. That is this afternoon's mission after I visit Ikea.

I have just over a week to get all my little projects done because once David is home my day time is taken up doing other tasks that involve more messing up than tidying up LOL.

If I haven't hammered any fingers from putting Ikea furniture together, tommorrow I hope to share our new front hall. Compared to what it's like now, absolutely anything is an improvement.

Take an old top,

cut the sleeve off, add an experimental puffy sleeve... hmmmm not bad at all...  (please note that the left sleeve is the before and the puffy black and white sleeve is the after, I didn't think to take a before pic of the rag).

Then think about practicing with bias binder presser foot on machine and get carried away.

Next time remember not to unintentionally stretch material while adding bias binding or you will end up with a saggy neck line but for an experiment I'm pretty happy with the results and for binding in straight lines I think I've found my way of doing it. Also for next time, even though considering an experiment, think that you might like the results so have enough material to be able to make the other sleeve LOL. I would totally wear this if it had the other sleeve so I might rummage around to find some more b&w fabric and see what it ends up like.

Lonely days without him

After the big birthday bash things have totally calmed down. David and I went off to Navaluenga for the weekend and I had to come back on Sunday. This year school finished on 25th July and we still have a few weeks to work and like last year we thought the best solution for everyone would be for David to stay with his Yayos in Navaluenga. I got back on Sunday and I already miss him and I'm seriously thinking about going back this weekend just to get some of those soggy kisses. I ring him up every day and he rarely wants to talk to me but just hearing him in the back is music to my ears. Apparently Yayo has bought him a big mountain bike, he has no bed time, eats all the freshest fruit and veg that he collects from the garden himself and basically runs wild so I'm not surprised he doesn't want to talk to me in case I make him come back to the real world in Barcelona LOL.

Normally when I go to Navaluenga I spend half of my time out and about having a clara here and a tapa there at La Piedra or El Tunante but this time I just lazed about the house. It was far too hot for anything else, apart from painting pictures in our super cool house.

And with this view from one of my bedroom windows, what could be better than staying in bed reading a book from when I was a teenager that I found while rummaging around some boxes.

And now a few pics of some of the things that have been put through my sewing machine.

This is David's health book where all his bits and pieces are recorded. At his 4 year check up last week he was measured and weighed in and we have 105cm and 18.2kg of little man. He's in perfect shape. This book has to last until he's 16 so I thought I'd make it a bit more resistant and I embroidered his name to give it a bit more of a hand-madey look.

Take one regular stripey tea towel, join a few left over squares from previous projects, add a bit of blonda to the bottom and voilà. I really like it and it was minimum effort so double the joy.

This is a flop project that was intended for taking to Iceland and not have to rummage around boxes looking for the right colour. I say flop because I sewed everything too close together and it doesn't roll as it's supposed to so I had to add another bit of fabric and roll the other way.

I do like the finished result and it's all good practice. Here it is all rolled up and ready to go. It was the first time that I sewed a button onto something using my machine. I'm loving learning all the possibilities and I've grown to love the hemmer presser foot, talk about time saver.

Another practice session was making my own bias tape. It's as easy peasy as anything and I found it totally therapeutic, apart from the ironing bit where I was sweating my bits off. Now I have to find something to bind.

In El Mercadillo in Navaluenga, there's this woman that sells odds and ends of fabric for 2p most of the time and my Mum has strict instructions to buy all bargains. This is what she got me this week: a cute little panel that is ins pretty bad condition but I'm sure something worthwhile will be made from it.

And that my dear readers is all the news I have for now.

El Kilo que Sobra

My little man was 4 on Sunday and you can't call him little anymore because moving from 3 to 4 is IT, the difference of being a little boy or a big boy - according to David.

Ever since we hit July, every single morning David would ask "is it my birthday today?". He was so looking forward to being 4 that I dind't have the heart to not give him the biggest party we could cope with. In a week we found a house and sent out invitations, bought food and drink like there was no tomorrow and ordered a 4 year old's dream cake. Friday we drove up the coast to our Villa for the weekend. The weather was gorgeous and everything was going to plan apart from David running a temperature that refuses to go down to normal. He spent 3 days in the pool, probably the reason why he's still sick and even though he wasn't 100% his happy self he had a blast with his friends.

Happy Birthday Little Man, you certainly keep us on our toes, never a boring moment with you. You are a total dream to be with and I hope your year is filled with one happy moment after another.

The woofferest Gormiti birthday cake.

He got a Woody and a Buzz Lightyear with a laser and they now go with him wherever he goes.

If you want to see more pics go see the I am 4 album.

Absolutely Nothing

I have no internet at home and it's when I've realised what a computer internet saddie I am. I've been playing with David, getting lots of crafty goodies done and preparing the Bithday of the century.

David will be 4 this Sunday and what started off as a little gathering has escalated into a small wedding sized party. Got to love that everyone wants to celebrate my little man turning 4. Fingers crossed everything runs smoothely. No doubt there will be an avalanch of pictures here on Monday.

Party and holiday planning has kept me away from my blogging activities. Iceland is just around the corner and I'm properly excited now. Even at the thought of the volcano that is predicted to erupt in the second half of 2008 *nervous giggle*

And just look at this discovery! I am so getting a T with this on it. A little song that means a lot to our family.

 

Here's Summer 2008 and...

It doesn't really get much better than this.

Summer is my favouritest season of all. Everyone complains about the heat but I can't help but love the whole Summer thing. Ice creams, lazy days on the beach, going out for a quick tapa dinner, the healthy toasty glow. Life is just much more relaxed and of course there's the mega summer holiday to look forward to.

David starts Summer school tomorrow, he's been home with a yucky sore throat and temperature but he's over that now and also ready for some hot fun.

And Go Go España, European football champions!  There's one hell of a party going on in the square outside!