British bunting

Everyone in the UK is in on some Union Jack action at the moment.  Between the jubilee and the impending Olympic games British patriotism is at an all time high.  You don't just buy strawberries, or potatoes at the supermarket, you buy 'British strawberries' or 'British potatoes'.  The Union Jack was even making a star turn on a packet of nappies at Sainsburys.

The British also love their bunting and it's hanging all over the high street.  Here's a little sampling:

  Prim and proper shop front bunting

 Historic courtyard bunting

Upper crust jewellery store bunting

Bunting keeping a stiff upper lip in the cold wind and rain while cozy things beckon from inside

Sewing machine shop bunting!

A cute cushion made with British crowns, taxis and buses fabrics.

In a sunnier moment: English country garden patriotic pinwheel 

The effect of all this patriotism rubbed off on my five year old and he was compelled to give flag waving a bit of a try.

Tally ho!

Up, up and away

Image from here

Let me just say that sewing, blogging, school holidays and preparing for an overseas trip are not really a good mixture of situations!  Blogging has definitely had to take a back seat over the last few weeks. 


Today we are taking off for the UK, Bulgaria, The Netherlands and Hong Kong.  It's been quite stressful getting all the required gear together for the little ones and myself, but I think we are packed now as much as we are ever going to be and I'm actually looking forward to getting on the plane and taking to the skies.

By the way, the Maika shop is in holiday mode and will re-open when we return in August.  I won't be disappearing from here though, I'll be posting little things from our travels, maybe even catching up on blogging a few sewing projects I've finished with photographs from these exotic locations....

See you from over there!

For one week only

For just a week and only a week I had to move my sewing machine upstairs to the comfort of the dining room table.  Larger work space, better light, direct access to cups of coffee and biscuits as I work.  Bummer, hey?

It was too cold downstairs and there was too much sewing to do to spend time away from the living room during the day when there were also children to be looked after!  The crawling one had a fascination for the foot pedal and I had to turn the machine off for a while so he could make its acquaintance and get it out of his system.  It's not easy trying to sew when both you and your little one are pushing down on the foot pedal - its a bit of a run away stitching situation let me tell you!

Why all the sewing?  My friend Elizabeth from Nest Nappies requested that I make some baby pants for her cloth nappy shop and I agreed.

Three pairs for boys.

And three pairs for girls.

I even made my own swing tags from recycled materials!

Attached with kitchen twine along with a business card I think these turned out very presentable indeed.

The little bit of holiday pocket money I earned didn't go astray either.  I'm excited to see how there are received in the Nest Nappies store.