Wednesday, 20 May 2009

Hoarding, The Dress, And My Giveaway Win....


The Hoarding....

Well I have been busy sorting here at Home Sweet Home. I have come to the realisation that I am an habitual hoarder, like my mother, I must also have the hoarding gene. I can take days and days to sort out one little corner of my house and I spend ages mulling over whether I really wish to separate myself from any of my so called junk.

I am so sentimental, and keep every little scrap of paper my children have scribbled on, all greeting cards, old toys, newspapers, baby clothes anything in fact that I think would enrich my life. Well actually, my love of hoarding if anything, could be making my life a whole lot worse. I have been very inspired by this moving post, it has really helped me see the light, I have now filled 12 bags and am slowly getting there, and already my soul feels a little lighter.

The Dress....
I never thought I would be one of those women perusing over the pattern books, far too clever I thought, something I could never do. Well I was fed up of thinking I would love to have a go, walked over, and found myself like them, flicking through the books. I went for a Burda dress pattern for the little girl in the house and a Simplicity smock top pattern for myself.
And so I began with making the dress.



Mmmmm not sure I knew exactly what I was doing.



Well I made a couple of mistakes here and there, and can't say I followed the pattern perfectly, but this is my first attempt at making a dress. I think it looks charming hanging on the pretty hanger.



It even goes with Miss. Poppins' wallpaper.




I thought she would laugh when she saw my first attempt, and say....

" I am not wearing that! "

Well Mummy couldn't be happier as she simply said it was beautiful and that she would like to wear it for the school disco. How chuffed was I. Here she is looking pretty in it.




The Giveaway Win....
I have to say a heartfelt thank you to Sian at Diary Of A Tinyholder for a wonderful giveaway I won. I couldn't be more delighted, they are such special and pretty gifts. The colour looks very like one of my LA favourites, Chalk Pink and a couple of pieces of furniture in my house are painted in this charming colour. Sian obviously knows my taste very well.

Here take a look.

Some charming hand painted HOME letters with beautiful floral transfers on them, they are so pretty.


And the most adorable hand painted mantel clock, it is exquisite and has the most wonderful floral design on it.

Thank you so much Sian for your precious and beautiful gifts.

Talking of giveaway's, if you haven't already, please feel free to enter my little one, you can read about it on my previous post.

X

22 comments:

  1. They look fab on your dresser, indeed they are in LA chalk pink with LA French Grey underneath. :-)

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  2. Hi Mary,
    Catching up with you, I think my little lady would put herself up for adoption to you, all the fabby pink florals in your daughters bedroom. The dress is beautiful - how clever are you? - Very!
    Hugs
    Lydia xx

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  3. Lovely gifts Mary, just perfect for you!
    Miss Poppins dress is adorable, you clever clever lady you. Oh, I wish Jess was still at an age to wear pretty dresses.
    ((hugs))
    Beki xxx

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  4. I love Miss Poppins' wallpaper...and of course the dress is simply gorgeous! ;-)

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  5. Now I have a dilema - I picked something up today that I think you may like - but i do not want to add to your hoarding............perhaps i should send you a picture of it to see if you like it :-)

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  7. I know what you mean about hoarding cards, I have every birthday card since I was 12 and I'm now 40 something! and I also have 21 years worth of my sons birthday cards as well! but I would like to keep the written part of the message on the cards as a lot of people who wrote them are no longer with us, so me and my mum came up with an idea, cut out the front of the card to bookmark size and cut out the written message and laminate together, then you still have the 'card' as a useful keepsake which takes up much less space.
    Josie x

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  8. well done on the dress its absolutley lovely you have done such a good job..
    were did you get the pattern from??
    love the letters aswell they look lovely

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  9. Mary, Sian has done you proud :) xx the home letters are gorgeous and I love the clock xxx
    I'm pretty ruthless these days with cards etc. Don't save past the boys 1st birthdays. And don't save much school work or pics. think I will try to remember to photograph before I chuck!!
    take care ((((hugs)))))
    Claire

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  10. From one hoarder to another the dress is just charming -great pictures!!

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  11. Yes you do need all those cards! i have an attic ful of memories.:-)
    I wouldnt give any of them up, ever.
    Love icklies dress Mary, you are a wonderful mother and friend.

    Love and hugs honey.
    Mwah XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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  12. Nice dress you have made! Enjoyd my visit here. (:

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  13. Oh I'm hearin ya on the hoarding! My husband is always saying "our house is plenty big enough for the 3 of us you just need to get rid of some of that junk!" Well, it's junk to him, it's my treasures to use in my mosaics to me but I'm just now having a little break from sorting out some of my stash, it actually feels quite good.
    The dress is sooooo pretty, I love the print and you did such a wonderful job, well done!!
    Lucky lucky you for winning such a wonderful prize, just gorgeous!!
    (((hugs)))
    Tracey

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  14. Hi Mary,
    Let my first say, I love your husband's words on the card.
    I envy you for being able to make such a beautiful dress for your little girl.
    Congratulations on winning the give away. I love the letters.
    Take care,
    Marianne.

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  15. Adorable dress and looks adorable on her!!! Way to go, great job!!! It's beautiful!!! (and I keep everything too, I'm sappy like that. ;)

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  16. Well done you on the dress!

    I'm a bit of a hoarder of cards and things but I now justify it by doing a journal (as I no longer have time for a proper diary) and sticking cards, envelopes and scraps of paper in there with notes on what I've been doing... naturally the notebook I'm using is bulging but somehow feels better than bags and boxes full of notes.

    Victoria xx

    PS Well done you on the dress!

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  17. I'm as bad as you with the hoarding, I'm surprised the bedroom ceilings haven't fallen in with the amount of stuff in my attic:) The dress looks fab Miss Poppins looks beautiful in it. Gorgeous giveaway gifts too.
    Yvonne x

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  18. what a beautiful dress! my daughter would love that :-)

    I still have all the cards i got when she was born, all the cards she has sent me since then too!

    Congrats on winning that fab giveaway!

    Rose XXX

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  19. Thank you for linking to my post. It is such a nice feeling to know that my experience has helped other people relate or even fill up twelve bags! That is a great job you did so you deserve a reward, so come on over again because I have a giveaway going on now.

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  20. This post is so apt for me as well! I also went to the link - we are in the process of clearing my FIL's house and it just seems so impossible at times. The garden is huge and has become so overgrown, the loft is full, the garages are full and my hubby won't get a skip (dumpster) so how on earth we are going to get rid of some of the stuff I've got no idea apart from go to about a hundred car boot sales!

    Love the pretty dress. :-)

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  21. The dress is very pretty!

    Just to let you know that I have set up a new blog to replace my lost one at:
    http://countrycottagechic2.blogspot.com

    Hope to see you there soon!
    Jayne

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  22. Hallo Mary,

    your blog is one of my favorite! So lovely, charming and inspiriering.
    Mary Poppins put me into high spirits!

    Greatings from seaside!
    Cornelia

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. X