An blast of a weekend

It's been a crazy weekend, but a good one, so I'll keep the post short! Basically, my Manchester based sister, brother in law and two of their random mates snuck up to Scotland for a Britcit nerf event. They went to a skatepark event on Friday and on the Saturday we all did iCombat.

It was a great day. Our team won the day overall and the 'rescue the Bob' game was a definite favourite! Good day all round. And plans are already being spun for next year! My sister posted a full summary here.

Missy was very much the centre of attention amongst our visitors. My sister had hammed up just how lovely she is and clearly expectations were met. The little tart (Missy that is) clearly enjoyed the non stop petting and endless supply of treats!

On the sewing front, I've started the mammoth task of the Christmas gift sewing. First on the completed list:

A quilt-come-sleeping bag for my eldest neice. At 14 it's hard to balance cute and grown up, so I hope it goes down well! 

Nerf battles and Ravens

Well, the ravens really refers to Ravenscraig Woods! Saturday the hubby and I had a rare day off together without any family commitments and, after a wee search online, came up an ideal way to have a quiet but doggy orientated day.

Firstly we decided to investigate Ravenscraig. Now, we'd passed signs for this wood when on route to Cairnpapple and were surprised to discover that it's also owned by the same trust that looks after Beecraigs country park. Unlike it's much larger more well known cousin, Ravenscraig is a small woodland that's been left to fend for itself. The signs indicated that the "long" 2.4km walk would take an hour and in the end we were about that long as all the arrows had worn away, so we kept taking the wrong path and ending up in dead ends!

Still, won't complain as it was a nice walk away from roads or livestock where Missy could get off the lead and hunt for mice. Craig, in the place names referred to here, comes from the Gaelic Craeg, meaning rock, and the walk was certainly very rocky as we would round a small hill that afforded a lovely view above the days fog.

Afterwards, we decided to check out the opening of the Paw Stop - a brand new dog friendly cafe located not sure far away in Bathgate. It wasn't fully functioning yet, and was more an open day in the way of "hi! We exist! Come say hello and have some free cake!"

Missy was much fawned over and was eager to tuck into her party bag. The place was crammed with dogs so I didn't manage any photos, but it looks like it's gonna be a nice wee set up. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll pop by and try the menu.

In the evening we had Foam Dart Thunder event at icombat Glasgow - basically, we got to go and play nerf games with a load of equally enthusiastic nerds in a laser tag arena.

And it was awesome. Again, no photos as I didn't want to risk breaking my camera or phone, but it was a great evening. Despite the mohawks and military get-up, all the people there were really friendly and helpful and had loads of time for us newbies. We did a version of tag, we played a few rounds were we had to get a 'bomb' into the other teams base (read that as a light up bouncy ball) and finished on humans versus zombies. I volunteered to be a starting zombie and think I surprised the kids (event was strictly 11+) with how fast my old feet can take me!

I've previously done paintballing and wasn't very keen as people took it too seriously, and friends of friends I know who are into air soft have put me off the sport by bing far too serious again and treating it too seriously. I mean, they're all toy guns at the end of the day!

So yes, was very pleased at how welcoming the community was to us! Definitely think we'll be along to another event or two, once the bruises calm down...

It's been a busy little week and I don't have much to show in the sewing side of things - I really must just focus on one project and not dither at the three! Hopefully there will be something to show for next week.

Till then!

The Last Post of 2018

Well, its that gap in the year between Christmas and New Year and it seemed a good moment to squeeze in one last blog post.

My sister, BIL and kids are safely back south after a terrific Christmas - since the last update we all managed Christmas itself including a lovely dog walk at Almondvale, a whole family Nerf battle and a visit out to butterfly world. We have certainly kept ourselves busy!

The Nerf battle is probably a highlight of the week; basically my eldest sister owns her own business and there's unused office space adjacent to her which we commandeered for the games. We started using Missys agility set as an obstacle course to warm everyone into it (and to ensure I got some good action shots of everybody) before chaos reigned and the battle started. I wandered about in a pocket of blissful calm behind the toddler, taking photos and ensuring no one shot at him, feeling very much a war journalist chauffeuring precious cargo through the war zone...

One of my big sewing projects ties into the family Nerf battle and that was a set of tacti-cool Nerf vests for my sisters whole family, including a teeny tiny one for the 18 month old! I've lined the kids ones with jersey to keep them warmer (a huge mistake in terms of sewing, such an awkward fabric to work with) and they worked out great in the end. 

The vests were a real item of envy, I've already had my older sister telling me that she and her eldest boy want one, and with talk of an Easter rematch, I think I may be skipping on buying eggs this year...

That's the only real sewing update, I've spent today working through the 'adjustment pile' - basically the stack of stuff that I've been given to hem, or I've picked up knowing the size is wrong but its an easy fix or sewing failures that I need to revisit when I'm less cross with them!

Well, I shall head off now and decorate my Hogmany cakes - we are going to see the bells in with friends and play some board games whilst eating too much cake and sweets. The perfect way to bring in a new year!

So, I raise a cup my cup tea to you and Missy and I wish you all a  Happy New Year.