Country Bliss

A Merry Christmas from Cornwall

2009-12-24T21:18:00.006Z

Eden's ' A time of gifts'

Who's this fine gentleman, dressed all in red.

A hub cap tree.

I love these Cardoons.

Decorating gingerbread trees.

Mini wreath making.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year.

A Pause in Advent week 4

2009-12-21T10:22:00.005Z

The final pause in Advent and how quickly has the past four weeks gone by!

My tree is up with lots and lots of decorations, mainly vintage. I'm afraid I'm not the 'less is more' type and can't resist buying vintage baubles when I'm lucky enough to find them in the charity shops or boot sales. Because of an influx of baubles this year I've had to fill my cake stands and some glass vases with them, I couldn't fit any more on the tree.

I've also got lots of fairy lights scattered around inside and out.

Now I just need to catch up on all the neglected housework, due to my produce market sewing. Then I have to work through this little lot;

- kitchen decorations, clean the fish tanks, write cards, wrap presents, finish a few crochet presents and lots of cooking. I have chutney on the go at the moment then tomorrow/Wednesday I will be making cranberry & white chocolate fudge & cookies, candy cane brittle, Christmas rocky road, mint crisps, gingerbread cookies, mince pies and Nigella's chocolate Christmas cake. The aim is for it all to be done before Mr CB finishes work on Wednesday. Then I can prep the Christmas dinner, cook sausage rolls and roast a ham joint on Christmas eve morning ready to relax and enjoy the festivities from then on and hopefully go into Padstow for the afternoon depending on the weather of course. Now I better get a move on or none of this will be done.

A Pause in Advent week 3.

2009-12-17T20:36:00.006Z

Well I'm still here and now have my post for the third week of a Pause in Advent, albeit 4 days late!

On Sunday we decided to take it easy although there are 101 things still on my to do list, I still haven't wrapped any presents or written cards. I have been doing a lot of sewing and crocheting for the 2nd produce market this Saturday though. Anyway I digress we started the day with a trip to the garden centre to see their brilliant Christmas display and to have a coffee and some millionaires shortbread.

We then wrapped up and headed for the seaside, it was actually a beautiful day but very cold.

We sat on Looe seafront and had fish and chips for lunch, so much for the pre Christmas diet, looking at this view.

I think it was probably the first time that I've been to Looe in December and was surprised to see all the seaweed on the sand, rather than holidaymakers, the gulls were enjoying a good rummage though.

Lily found some treasure - a mermaids purse :)

Her reindeer also enjoyed his time there!

Someone obviously used some of the seaweed to good effect.

By 4 o'clock it was absolutely freezing and definately time to go home and sit in front of the fire.

It was good though just to take some time out from all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, which I thought was quite appropriate for a pause in Advent! At this point I was going to wish my eldest daughter Jemma good luck for her chartered accountants exam in financial accounting but she's done it now so I hope it went well for her. I will do my best (computer allowing) to be back for the final pause in Advent on Monday as I'm off to Eden on Sunday.

Back online!

2009-12-17T12:13:00.002Z

Apologies for those that may have been looking for my third ' A Pause in Advent' post. I started to do it on Monday and my computer just shut itself down, I assume it had a virus! After 3 days of fiddling I appear to have it working again and as long as it remains working I will be back later with a new post. I'm going to run a full system scan now just in case.

A very mini Christmas

2009-12-11T08:17:00.004Z

Amazingly I've actually done something that I said I would do - the pictures of my miniature Christmas house, with all the pieces that I made. :)

First the beaded window garlands.

Fimo (Polymer clay) food - salmon mousse, pork pie, cheeseboard, sausage rolls and meat platter.

Gingerbread houses, every year I say I'm going to make a real one maybe I will this year.

Christmas cakes.

Christmas pudding, mince pies and yule logs.

Cheese hamper and Dundee cake hamper.

I do have a complete Christmas dinner made of Fimo but that is in my Fisherman's cottage.

Now for the decorations - a cross stitch robin.

Fimo again (I really did love playing with Fimo, it's very relaxing) -Snowmen, bell, candle centrepiece.

In situ - Mrs Claus in the shop.

Santa in the grotto.

The restaurant.

Tea room.

And finally the front of the house.

Now some of you may think I'm a little strange but dolls house are very addictive. I had my first 'grown up' one 6 years ago and now have a dozen or so! I found I could incorparate all the crafts that I liked to do, including crochet on tiny, tiny hooks! They were also very therapeutic for me when my mum died. One day I will take some photos of the insides of the other houses, at the moment they are rather dusty and I have no time to dust!

Can you believe it will be Christmas day in 2 weeks time, scary! I haven't wrapped any presents or written any cards yet. This weekend I want to make some Boxing day chutney, cranberry fudge and mint crisp, put up the outside lights, finish the sewing for next week's produce/craft market as well as all the housework and shopping, no rest for the wicked as my mum would say!

Have a great weekend x

A Pause in Advent week 2

2009-12-08T07:19:00.004Z

I paused for a little bit too long this week and realised at 1.30 this morning that I hadn't done a blog post on Sunday. It has been a rather hectic weekend with a meeting, a book sale, Christmas shopping and laying a carpet. I usually decorate my house during the first week of December but this year I appear to be behind with everything. Yesterday I managed to get one Christmas tree up helped by my 3 year old, very stressful :) We also got out the Christmas house, which has become a Christmas tradition for us, this is a 1/12th scale miniature house, made about 6 years ago. Lots of the items in it were made using Fimo, which was my passion at the time. The photo was taken last year and not a very good one but the weather is too dark at the moment making it virtually impossible to get a decent photo. I will have to try and take some better ones when the sun comes out, maybe some close ups of the miniature Christmas food.

A Pause in Advent.

2009-11-30T15:30:00.002Z

I along with many other bloggers have joined in with Floss's 'A pause in advent' We will be posting on each Sunday of Advent or the following Monday, as is the case here. This is a chance for everyone to share their thoughts, traditions etc during Advent. Advent for me begins with books, lots of books!

I like to get out all my Christmas cookery books and write lists of what I'd like to cook during the holidays.

I then like to plan what I'm going to make as in decorations and gifts.

And of course the things to make at home with Lily or at the toddler group sessions.

I suppose I only manage to make/cook half of what is on my lists but I enjoy the planning.

If you have time have a look at the other 'A pause in Advent' posts. The button at the top of my side bar will take you to Floss's blog where there is a list of bloggers taking part and while you're there read Floss's beautiful post about putting things in prospective.

Today is also my daughter Tara's birthday and for me most of the Christmas planning begins

once her birthday is over. Happy Birthday Tara!

First Produce Market

2009-11-25T20:34:00.006Z

Last Saturday I did the first produce market in our village. On Friday it was lovely and sunny but on Saturday it was really heavy rain luckily this didn't deter people as the room was packed for the whole 2 & 1/2 hours. I sold quite a few things and had many people saying that they would be buying things at the 19th of December market. I didn't have time to take photos of my stall but took quite a few the day before and as you can see it was no exaggeration when I said how much I had been sewing/ crocheting. It is so nice to be able to have a rest now and just catch up on lots of crochet projects that I need to finish before Christmas.

crochet flower brooches

Doorstops fragranced with rose oil.

Pincushions

Little boots with dewberry oil.

Birds.

Owls.

Cats.

Snowmen.

Penguins.

Fabric buckets.

Patchwork stars.

Stars

Trees

Birds.

Hearts fragranced with Christmas spices as were all of the Christmas things.

Felt rustic garland.

Bunting.

Gingerbread house.

Flower fairy sachets.

Felts.

Definately a picture overload as well as work overload! I was so tired by Saturday evening that I was falling asleep as I crocheted Christmas trees, I kept dropping my hook!

I did buy a couple of things too, this pretty cup & saucer candle was only £3 so I couldn't resist and this lovely bell that smells gorgeous, it's quite big about 6 inches and was only £2.50, oh and a huge stem of locally grown Brussel sprouts delicious.

Autumn days

2009-11-18T10:16:00.003Z

It's so lovely to see the garden full of bluetits, blackbirds and robin's again, these photos were taken through my kitchen window.

Walking in our local woods.

Halloween and Guy Fawkes: Lily made a friendly spider. This year I made Yorkshire Parkin for the first time and will be making it again as it was very nice indeed. I also made some cheese & ham puffs made using a pumpkin shaped cutter, very simple to make and tasted delicious.

Eden project's 'Halloweden' we visited the pumpkin carving workshop, made magic potions of lavender, rose, callendula etc. and visited the owls. The last 3 photos are of the cotton growing it was the first time I'd seen these and the cotton just bursts from the plant.

I've also partaken in a little bit of fabric buying.

I haven't been around much recently because of the amount of work I have to do and feel terribly guilty that I haven't been looking at any blogs, I know that if I leave the computer on I will spend half the day on there, which is what has happened this morning! The produce market were I have a stall is this coming Saturday so only 3 days left and I still have lots to do. I have lots of stock to take: Christmas bunting, spiced hearts, stars, trees, sachets & felt decorations. Scented hearts, birds & doorstops. Pincushions, fabric baskets, owl, cat, dog and rabbit shelf sitters and an abundance of crochet brooches. As well as finishing of lots of those I also need to try and make some bags, and pegbags but we'll see what time allows. This is going to be a monthly event and I have a table booked indefinately, the next one will be on the 19th December hence the reason for doing so much sewing now as there is so much to do in December and I like to be able to enjoy the festivities. Hopefully after Saturday I'll be able to catch up on all the blogs.

A little bit of thrifting amongst other things.

2009-10-28T13:42:00.007Z

Doesn't time fly, I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since my last post! It has been rather hectic here though, my 16 yr old got a flu type virus last week, which wiped her out but she still insisted on going to school for most of the week. She's a very dedicated drama student and no matter what the show must go on, she's at school today doing auditions for the sixth form play even though it's half term! Now my 3 yr old has the same virus but seems to be getting livelier today, I'm hoping she will be better tomorrow as we're hoping to go to the Eden project for the Halloween celebrations.

I've started baking a lot more now that the weather has changed, a bit of comfort food.

I've also booked a stall at a new local produce market, the first one is on the 21st November then it will be held every month. It's a very small market only 8 stalls so I was very lucky to get in there quickly and get a place. So I've had to cut right back on my computer usage and sew, sew, sew! This little lot is 116 w.i.p.'s can you believe!

and there's more this bag consists of 74 felt Christmas objects or will do when finished.

On top of all that I've been asked to be a school LEA governor again, my last governing body term lasted for 11 years, ending about 4 years ago. I was also working at the school then so it took up a lot of my time but I think I'll probably say yes as it'll be good to get back in the know especially as my 3 yr old will start school next September.

Now onto my recent haul of goodies.

2 boxes of 12 gorgeous Christmas baubles, the lady said she bought them 2nd hand 43 years ago and she sold them to me for 50p a box:)

Some books, love the cover of Calamity Jane.

I bought these in a charity shop and was very happy to find them, they were only a £1,

aren't they cute?

Some rather retro sherry glasses, again still in the original box.

A pretty rose coffee set.

A gorgeous Johnson Bros. Rosedawn coffee pot.

Some more posies to add to the ever growing collection.

A lovely wooden tray.

A blue rose cake stand as one can never have enough cake stands!

the same can be said for the jugs.

A wooden box of 20 picture bricks depicting scenes from snow white, apparently this is over 40 years old, it looks like it was hardly played with.

And finally a little bit of Fisher Price.

I'll leave you with this photo I took of my shoo fly plant's seed pod, which I think is beautiful.

Some sewing, a swap and a few books.

2009-10-15T13:09:00.008+01:00

As Christmas is fast approaching and I have an ever growing list of Christmas things to make (sorry I mentioned the 'C' word twice in one sentence!) I thought I would tackle some of the things I wanted to make from some new sewing books that I have bought recently, I must apologise for the poor quality of the photos, the light is either too bright or too dull at the moment.

I adore all the Tilda books and must say I find them the best value for money as I always want to make just about everything in them plus there isn't any faffing about with the pattern pieces. The latest book is 'Sew Sunny Homestyle' and so far I've made the oystercatcher, birdhouse plant sticks,

mother and baby duck

seahorse and starfish

a couple of beach huts

and a long legged lavender angel.

These two are from 'Sew Darn Cute' I did change them slightly as they should be fleece teddies but I used linen and played about with the sizes. Lily says the larger one is a bunny.

This arrived in the post last week

so I quickly made the bag it only takes about an hour, I changed the button loop & didn't bother with an adjustable strap. I must say it is a lovely little bag in very pretty fabric.

I also made the bird mobile for Lily's bedroom, quite hard to photograph I had to hang it in the lounge as am awaiting a hook for her ceiling.

Now at the SCC we had a flutterby swap basically anything with wings, I sent these to Bloomin Myrtle

A felt butterfly brooch.

an amigurumi baby owl from Ana Paula Rimoli's book

and another owl made from a Sew Hip magazine pattern.

Whilst I'm talking about sewing I thought I'd show you these, which I bought at a book sale a couple of weeks ago. I've always wanted a darning mushroom but have never come across one at the boot sales etc. At this particular sale they have a bric a brac stall, I was just paying for some plates when out of the corner of my eye I espied this one and nabbed it quickly at 50p I was very happy!

The book is also delightful, even cheaper than the mushroom, 30p. It is Weldons Encyclopedia of sewing, old but I'm not sure how old as it isn't dated. It covers absolutely everything from applique, embroidery, smocking, dressmaking, crochet, tatting etc, etc. including patterns.

Well I can now concentrate on important matters - making lists of all the things to make for Christmas including looking through and drooling over an Australian Handmade Christmas special which I managed to find in WH Smith's.

Remembering.

2009-10-07T12:58:00.004+01:00

My mum who passed away 5 years ago today.

Candy stripe pillowcases, rose tablecloth and curtains.

Gingham & roses button tin.

Gloves, evening bag and diamonds.

A 1950/60's coat used many times in dressing up games.

China with red roses.

Covered sandwich tray for party food.

Christmas cake decorations.

Just a few everyday reminders from around my home other memories can be found here in my post from last year.

Why I wouldn't be able to do the challenge of the utmost kind.

2009-10-01T11:20:00.004+01:00

I have been reading about Dottie angel's challenge of the utmost kind and see that quite a few bloggers are joining her in a challenge of only buying handcrafted or second hand items for a year. I would love to do this, buying clothes wouldn't bother me I'd just have to loose some weight, I have a whole new wardrobe already here or of course I could make some. I've also got enough fabric/wool to last more than a year. Most other things I prefer to buy from charity shops/bootsales but my downfall would be books! I would probably not even be able to last a month without buying any. I do indeed buy many books secondhand.

Enid Blyton

Ladybird.

Children's books

Crafts

Cookery.

But I'm afraid I get reeled in by Amazon or the book people, click, click and they are mine.

I have to buy cookery books as I collect them 993 now, loving Economy Gastronomy.

And of course crochet, I've waited a long time for Ana Paula Rimoli's second book, it was worth the wait, gorgeous!

And I had to have the new Tilda book, loving this too and have made 7 things from it already. Sew Darn Cute is ok but annoyingly you have to enlarge the patterns, which is a bug bear of mine. Super Cute Crochet is indeed super cute.

I also had to buy Jane Brocket's book as I have her others.

Now you see why I would fail the challenge, these and many more were all bought in the last 6 weeks and I have Cath Kidston's Sew and another crochet book on order.

As Dorcas would say 'books are my one true weakness.' ;)

Sunny September in Cornwall.

2009-09-23T11:49:00.005+01:00

Oh dear, we are now in the third week of September but this is my first post of the month! My internet access is very erratic at the moment. It usually runs at 1.4 but the past few weeks I have been lucky if it manages 194.0 kbps and then it keeps on disconnecting. My phone is not working either but will light up if someone tries to ring me, this then knocks the internet out altogether. As you can imagine it is taking me forever to do anything online so I haven't even looked at any blogs for weeks. Today it is on 384.o so slightly better than recently, this is one of the joys of living in the middle of nowhere and having a telephone exchange miles from your house!

Last week Mr CB had another weeks holiday and this time the weather was beautiful so we spent the week going on a few outings at home here in Cornwall. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Looe

Lanlivery show

The Lost Gardens of Heligan

Par beach

Of course no week off would be complete without a visit to Eden.

Now I've done this hopefully I'll have a chance to visit all the blogs that I read and can catch up with everyones news.

Thrifting, Holiday, Birthday & GCSE's

2009-08-31T06:58:00.010+01:00

I can't believe it's been over 2 weeks since I last blogged, time seems to be running away from me at the moment & I'm trying to catch up with all the blogs that I read, I suppose it will be easier now that Autumn is upon us! It was my eldest daughter's birthday on Saturday, Happy Birthday Jemma. She has recently moved out of her apartment and into a house with a garden so she had friends over for a barbecue, luckily the weather stayed dry as it has been awful for the past couple of weeks.

Mr CB had a weeks holiday and we were going to go away in our caravan but the keys have been mislaid, if they are not found we will have to change all the locks as you can't get replacement keys for the type of lock. Lily was very disappointed but we had some days out instead. We started to go to Dartmoor wildlife park, headed up the A30 towards Exeter then realised the wildlife park was over the other side nearer to Plymouth. By this time it was also raining so we ended up going into Okehampton, we looked around the town Charity Shop's and then the sun came out. So we headed over to the park and had a picnic, it's a beautiful park with a stream running alongside it and we found a really cute house in the grounds. It looks just like something out of a fairytale.

We went to Trethorne leisure farm one day, well for 2 hours! Saw some animals and Lily played in the sandpit and that was enough of that.

And we went up to Bude, it was quite sunny. We had a mooch around the town, bought some fish & chips to take to the beach for lunch, put our (my) shopping in the car and the heavens opened. So lunch was eaten in the car and this is what the beach looked like after.

If nothing else I did attack the charity shops a bit!

Some Enid Blyton.

Rowan & Patons wool at 50p a ball.

Some posies.

And plates.

And of course you need a bit of kitsch.

Of course last week held the day that we have been waiting for all summer, GCSE results day. I'm glad to say Jodie passed all her exams with 1 A*, 3 A's, 4 B's and 2 C's, well done Jodie! She has now enrolled in the sixth form to do A levels in Drama, B Tec music & performance, English language, Philosophy & Ethics as well as her gold arts award.

Crochet Hexagons, Amigurumi and Flowers.

2009-08-14T11:07:00.006+01:00

At long last I have finished my hexagon blanket so now I really must finish the ripple.

But first I couldn't resist doing another hexagon using a different pattern this one has 3 different hexagon motifs, one has lots of clusters, one with a few less clusters and the third has fdptr so you get 6 lines from the fourth round to the first (like the blue & red one in the photo) All the hexagons will have a final & joining round in pale cream.

This is how far I've got only another 100 or so to go.

I've also made a cushion, yet to be backed, in 100% cotton for a change I usually use DK.

A little wallet to hold my store cards etc.

I haven't done any Amigurumi for a while except for Jodie's jigglypuff so had a little play making

this little jelly fish,

who spends most of his time hanging around in the bathroom.

Finally some flowers made whilst sitting outside on the few dry days that we have had, some are brooches and the smaller ones are going to be made into headbands..

I've also bought this gorgeous Kaffe Fassett wool and a circular knitting needle to make some socks. I haven't knitted for years, I think the last time was when I made a set of Jean Greenhowe scarecrows when I was pregnant with daughter no 2 who's now 19!

On Saturday I had a lovely surprise in the post, a beautiful flower brooch made by Lyn. We were swap partners for the freestyle swap in May and she sent me the brooch as she felt there wasn't enough handmade things in the swap. There really wasn't any need as I was delighted with my swap but it was wonderful to receive this one, which I put on straight away as I was on my way out wearing a taupe top, the perfect match.

Thankyou Lyn it was really kind of you.

A Flower Fest.

2009-08-07T22:28:00.004+01:00

We haven't had a very good summer so far but the constant rain hasn't affected these.

Flowers from the Eden project August 2nd 2009.

And some from home.

I hope that's brightened your day. : )

Happy 16th Birthday Jodie.

2009-08-01T19:50:00.006+01:00

Photo shoot for a friends GCSE photography coursework.

School leaver's prom May 2009

16 years ago.

She may be 16 today but she still wanted me to crochet a Jigglypuff from Pokemon & she has taken it out with her to celebrate with friends!

Happy birthday Jodie.

Enough is enough!

2009-07-24T12:01:00.003+01:00

There was a time that I was very fit but having 4 children has taken it's toll, I think it's the fourth one that tips you over the edge! With the first two I managed to get back to 8 stone reasonably quickly albeit with my first I was under so much stress I didn't eat very much for a year and with my second I got addicted to exercise. With my third child it took a little longer but it was done sensibly using my collection of fitness videos/DVDs, aerobics and step classes twice a week, 5 hour aerobathon's every now & then. Along with lots and lots of walking and bike riding.

Well now my youngest is three and I'm so unfit it half kills me to walk up a hill, added to this I still have 3 stone to loose to get back to my pre pregnancy weight. So I've dusted off my power plate bought over a year ago & not really used until now, I read that Madonna rates it highly and it's the espresso of exercise machines, well watch this space lol.

The mini trampoline has come out of hiding, this one was bought 3 years ago and I paid £89 for it and as you can see it's hardly been used, I think possibly only once.

So I'm hoping that using these two, doing lots of walking and getting into the habit of doing fitness DVDs again, I may change things around and actually get back to normal. Also by putting it on my blog it may just remind me to do something.

***************

I am so annoyed my lounge wallpaper, which I love has been ruined. Of course I blamed everybody for it but on inspecting the area couldn't find any bits of paper and it is rather high up, above the mantlepiece. Now don't think I'm crazy but we have reason to believe that the culprit was indeed a tiny snail. I have a jug of Hydrangeas, brought in from the garden, on my mantlepiece and we found a snail at the top of the wall directly above the ruined patch. Apparently snails will eat paper so it would make sense. The moral of this story is make sure you check your Hydrangeas for snails before bringing them into the house.

And yes, I did apologise to everyone for blaming them.

Newquay Zoo & other bits!

2009-07-16T13:39:00.006+01:00

It's been a bit grotty this week as far as the weather's concerned! Lily has been playing dress up hence the photo of her dressed as Upsy Daisy from 'In the night garden'.

We had a trip to Newquay zoo with the toddler group and got rather wet as there were some really heavy showers. Luckily there were some dry spells as well so we did see some of the animals.

This little otter was very busy supervising the alterations being made to his patch!

The lemurs were soon tempted out of their house when the keeper shook their bucket of food.

We were also pretty sure we saw the actor who played Andy Mcdonald in Coronation Street, if it wasn't him it was the spitting image of him and he did have a really strong Manchunian accent! I was tempted to try and take a photo but didn't dare in the end.

I know Newquay has had a lot of bad press recently and to be honest we only tend to go there to go to the zoo. It is a shame though as it does have some really lovely beaches. It's really awful what happened to the two boys but I honestly don't know what the parents are thinking of sending their 16 year olds off, unsupervised to holiday with friends there. I wouldn't dream of letting my 15 yr old, who's just finished her GCSE's there to celebrate or indeed to London or anywhere else. My older girls go there clubbing but were only allowed once they were 18 and they get asked for ID now at 19 & 22. Why can't children just be children these days, why do they have to grow up so quickly and be encouraged to grow up quickly by their parents after all you're not meant to be an adult until you're 18. Anyway enough said!

I made this Ava bag from a Tanya Whelan pattern using Globaltex fabrics. I found it a bit tricky around the handle but now I've tried it it'll be easier next time. Then I had a little play and made a coin purse and a crochet mobile phone holder to go in the bag.

I also went to a garden party, thsi week, in aid of Cancer Research and bought this gorgeous Grindley coffee pot, which matches the Johnson Bros plate that I bought the day before in our village shop's bric a brac section.

I also bought these tea plates as I have cake plates to match.

Sewing & thrifting

2009-07-06T14:56:00.007+01:00

I made this quick one hour bag using some Globaltex fabric, above photo is the front and below is the back.

Couldn't resist this bright, simple flower fabric, it was only £3.45 a metre and thought it would make a fun tote. I bought some with a pink background as well, Lily chose it so I'm going to make a duvet cover for her with it, pictures to follow eventually.

Another Globltex fabric was used to make a runner for my kitchen table.

And some really simply quilted coasters, did I mention I was bored on Friday, hence the sewing spurt.

A peg bag to match my carrier bag holder.

I made Lily these two skirts the first one was cut from the hem of a very large, 20p, skirt from a jumble sale.

A skirt for the beach.

I know I shouldn't but she was so cute and only £1.

A pretty rose plate, the rim is really a very bright turqouise that you can't see in this photo.

Some more brooches and pins.

Two Royal Albert moonlight rose mugs.

Another picture, yet more frame painting to do!

I went to a 30p book sale on Saturday and got these, first some gardening books.

I bought this one for the illustrations, so sweet.

Fab Twinkle annuals.

Fairy tales to add to my collection that I started after doing a storytelling course.

and more children's books.

I spotted this one just up the road from my house isn't she so cute?

I bought this to keep the flies away when we have barbecues but it didn't get used this weekend.

Didn't dry my washing either!

Busy,busy catch up!

2009-06-26T13:45:00.008+01:00

I thought it was about time I did another post. As usual it's been very busy here absolutely gorgeous weather although I do wish we could have some rain, just a little for my wilting veg.

So this is what we have been up to, last year I bought Lily Emma Thompson's book Lili's wish and inside there was a pattern for a rag doll. Well I finally got round to making her.

Then I made a new carrier bag holder as my old one was yuck!

I've partaken in some siiting in the garden, finished my hexagon blanket and started another.

And mainly I've been gardening, gardening and more gardening!

This morning I've cut all my hedges, by hand and it's so hot out there but no thunderstorms here. We've also been walking the dog, who is fine now, these are the fields near my house.

admiring the magestic foxgloves and looking for fairies.

A couple of purchases were made from Amazon. I'm loving the Abel and Cole book some fab recipes in there, haven't had chance to look at Sophie Dahl's yet.

I've probably also been spending too much time on Facebook and Twitter looking at everybodys updates thus neglecting my blog.

And I've been given these awards from Little Gem and Marble Rose, who incidently makes the cutest pencil cases I've ever seen so pop over and have a look. Thankyou both, your blogs make me smile too.

Another thing that made me smile was the label on the RockNRolla DVD I bought last week, must be something to do with health and safety or a new diet lol.

Such sad news last night, RIP Michael Jackson, he was a music genius! I remember being so excited staying up late for the showing of the Thriller video.

Happy Birthday Lily

2009-06-15T20:45:00.005+01:00

Lily's third birthday in pictures as I've not been well for the past few days and am too exhausted to type :)

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. & other random bits.

2009-06-10T13:24:00.009+01:00

I was delighted to receive my friends swap from Bekimarie on Friday. Beki organised the swap and the idea was to send an item beginning with each of the letters in the word friends. All of the items were initialed.

I had F- a very pretty decorated frame, R - lovely pink rose tealight holder, I - a gorgeous decorated inspiration box full of lots of inspirational goodies, E - really cute vintage egg cup.

N - a handmade notebook - too cute to use, D - a beautiful pink mug with roses on for drink

and finally S for soaps. As you can see Beki really spoilt me and I love all of it. Lily is still munching her way through the sweets, which her beady eyes found as soon as I opened the parcel!

Thankyou Bekimarie for the parcel and for organising the swap, it was such a fun swap to do.

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I also received another lovely swap from Fabrose over at the SCC. This was a Spring/ Easter swap, which was slightly delayed as Fabrose was moving house. I had some lovely cards, embellishments, stickers and mini eggs, two pretty spool birds, which are now hanging off the leaves of my kitchen light fitting.

And these gorgeous handmade yoyo napkin holders with napkins.

Thankyou Rose for all my lovely goodies.

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And these are the swap things that I've made/sent out first the FRIENDS swap to Bekimarie.

F- felt embroidered heart with friends on it, R - crochet rose brooch, I - Amigurumi icecream, E- embellishments, N- felt needlecase, D - die cuts, S - scrapbook papers.

And these went to Mary Poppins at the SCC for the May's kitchen swap, spotty espresso cups, Amigurumi cupcake, Eggs sign, teabag holder and an embroidered home sweet home felt heart.

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I sent off for one of Snapdragon's toadstool badges and in return I had to take a photo of it which, may be used for a catalogue montage. It's a gorgeous badge, so cute as are these hand knitted socks. I wish I could say I knitted them but they were made by one of Jodie's friends Grandmother, very clever lady.

Some things I'm loving right now- bargain goodies from the garden centre.

Sweet Williams from my garden and my stripy crochet jar cover. (photo at top of post)

And finally being able to take a picture of a blue tit on the fat ball, albeit from a distance!

Now I ought to go and update the other blog. Have a great weekend.

Yay new camera!

2009-06-01T11:53:00.010+01:00

In my last post I mentioned that my camera was broken well now I have a new one. It's my birthday tomorrow so I had the camera for that, only I managed to get it a week early :) I'm amazed what good cameras you can get now for very little money and have spent the week trying to work out all the things that it can do.

I took some photos to add to Kitschen Pink's utility china group on Flickr, there's a link in my sidebar. Then some of the beautiful cars at Launceston steam rally,

all was fine until we went to Looe on Saturday. The view was stunning, brilliant blue sky and sea, sailing boats on the horizon. I took loads of photos, of which the one below was probably the best! The rest were white, of course it helps if you read the instructions thoroughly, which I did before going to Harlyn Bay on Sunday.

All I needed to do was press a button for taking photos in the snow or on the beach, phew!

I managed to acquire some photos of Jodie's prom this is the outfit she wore, the third outfit bought btw.

She was aiming for a vintage look and it worked.

Her GCSE's started today with Maths, it's not her favourite subject so hopefully it went well, English tomorrow so that she be a doddle for her. My eldest Jemma takes her first Chartered Accountants exam today too, good luck both of you.

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As I said on my last post my wonderful freestyle swap arrived form Lyn - everydaylife. I had a beautiful handmade bird, some lovely china napkin rings with gingham napkins, sunflower seeds, a ladybird plant stick and some really sweet 1/12th scale jars and a really pretty card. Thankyou Lyn for a lovely swap.

Here's my hexagon blanket that I been crocheting together, still not finished but the end is in sight, I blame the sunshine.

I've also had a bit of button love this week I picked up a tin full at a car boot then

Bloomin Myrtle kindly did a RAK on the SCC and very genorously sent me this lot in a cute little bag, thankyou Elaine.

I heard about about Abakhan fabrics from the lovely lady above so obviously I had to take a peak and ended up buying these brilliant bundles of binding at 49p a pack, there are 3 packs in the picture, metres and metres of the stuff!

While I was there I also bought a couple of yummy Globaltex fabrics and a rosebud fabric.

And I added some more fabric to my stash at the car boot.

This little lady (which we thought was a boy, for the last 20+ years) has just laid 3 eggs this morning! Unfortunately no males were present nor have been for 20+ years, apparently after mating it can take up to 3 years.

Well that's enough of my rambling, the sunshine is waiting outside!