Last post of the year to wish you all a Happy New One!

Happy New Year!

...and a personal reflection of things gone by...

 

Here's hoping to a healthy 2013, and one where lots more memories can be made.  I have a lovely family and a fantastic new job and I couldn't ask for more. We are lucky to have been invited out to celebrate the coming of the New Year with friends again this year (we obviously behaved ourselves at last year's celebrations!)  Take care and see you next year! I`m off to find something to line my stomach ;)

Homemade Christmas gifts

I love making gifts for friends and family and this Christmas has been no different...

I have made a covered notebook, sloe gin (this is always a favourite!), a rag wreath (tutorial to come very shortly), a gingerbread man hanger, Boxing Day chutney (an award wining recipe from Victoria Cranfield found here) The beauty of this chutney is that it has no maturation time and can be eaten straight away!  I also decorated a red hand towel with a mock belt and fur trim.  Finally I made little snowman soup packages containing a candy cane, hot chocolate sachets and marshmallows.  The cute headers for these can be found here. Kate has an amazing site with cute printables some of which (like the snowman toppers) are free! Each year I seem to get later and later making my gifts despite my best intentions.  I do seem to thrive on last minuteness...

A belated swap post!

At last I am blogging about the fantastic gifts that I have received from the lovely Kezzie for the Christmas cracker swap. I know that it is a bit late but I have had some trouble with my laptop and although I can blog on my phone I cannot upload photographs despite my best efforts!

My cracker came wrapped in some sari-type fabric which was all sparkly and gorgeous.  I know that Kezzie also had trouble with decorating the buttons for my handmade jewellery - which makes them even more special.  Kezzie has put such a lot of thought and effort into my gifts that I am thrilled with all of them.  Thank you so very much Kezzie, I hope that the gifts that I have sent to you make you just as happy as yours have me!
I didn't mention that the bother that I have been having with my laptop is No 1 child, she seems to have taken ownership of it, all because she has started blogging! You can find her here.

Merry Christmas!

I hope that you have all had a wonderful day! Ours has been a chilled family gathering with lots of good company, fine foods and wonderful gifts. We have all been truly blessed. Merry Christmas xx

We have a new addition to our family...

He is only five months old and we are his third owners. As you can see his arrival has coincided with the Christmas tree being put up!  He has quickly settled in...

But then so has new old dog...



Oh my goodness! A month has gone since I last blogged.  School life has been very busy and also so very lovely! I've taken lots of photos and plan to be back this weekend!

Lest we forget

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

                                                John McCrae

Oh dear...

An impulse buy...

When I was out shopping for a gift for No 1's birthday I spied this...

I know it's vulgar to talk about money but I am so excited that it was on special offer at £150!! I couldn't really justify it as I had just made a major purchase of my bread maker (which I am still using incidentally) but I couldn't leave it there either.  Oh what to do? Well I bought it on my credit card (I'll worry about it later) and snuck it in the house and hid it away - my husband is not an observant fella as this box is HUGE!  Anyway it came out today after being hidden away for nearly six weeks! He noticed it straight away, mainly because the open box was on the floor in the living room (and even he's not that unobservant). By this time I was making biscuits for him so it's all good!

I can't believe that our half term break is almost at an end - I've done a little crafting, caught up with some appointments and have been to see James Bond.  I'm a fan of 007 and I thought the latest film was an excellent celebration of 50 years.

A kit review and some crafting

I was disappointed not to get tickets to the Cath Kidston Christmas workshops despite phoning repeatedly for ages :-( .  Never mind! I bought these instead - lovely little Christmas decoration kits...

The gingerbread man kit is my favourite but there weren't any to be had when I first went shopping so I bought my next favourites...

The kits themselves are very generous with lots of thread, the pre-cut felt is quite nice quality too and enough to make two ornaments. The £2.99 price tag is also very reasonable. The kit also comes with the template so that you can re-make the ornament if you would like to.

I am really pleased with my snowman and can't wait to start the others.  If you see these kits when you are out on your travels then be tempted!! 

As well as some sewing I've also been doing a little Christmas...

Get in quick!

http://madaboutbagsuk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/a-cracker-of-swap.html

Don't mind if I do!!

A few makes...

These makes have not been counted in my 'to do' list as they were finished almost before they were started.  My lovely class were going away on the ferry to Belgium so I made the noughts and crosses game the night before they went -it takes no carriage and is good for on-the-go.  

I nipped to a craft shop at the weekend and was very tempted by some new wool that they had in.  This is my new scarf...

 and this one is a gift...

Rose Tutorial

Just a quick tutorial to make a knitted rose...

Use 3.25mm needles and cast on 80sts with a DK yarn.  I always cast on with the thumb method because it makes for a nicer edge.  Purl 2 rows. Then work 12 rows of ss beginning with a k row. Next row: (knit 2 tog) repeat to end. 40sts. Next row: (purl 2 tog) repeat to end. 20sts. Next row: (knit 2 tog) repeat to end .10sts.  Leaving a long length of wool thread through the ten stitches.  Pull up quite tightly and stitch to hold.  (I always have the purl side outwards when I roll up the rose but this is preference - it has a different effect if you have purl side inwards). Roll up the rose starting at an end (making sure the two purl rows are at the top) and stitch along the bottom to secure.  Hope this is not too confusing!

For the love of fabric!

One of the lovely ladies that I work with went to Ally Pally at the weekend to the Knitting and Stitching Show - she brought these fantastic fat quarters back for me!

Which goes well with the bundle that I bought from CK...

Which goes with my Ikea fabric...

I feel a new project about to emerge! Because the twenty five that I have already started can just wait! ;-)

No 4 played football near the seaside on Saturday.  She managed to score and as a treat we visited the beach.  We saw a skip of a blue sky...

I was surprised to see the donkeys on the beach...

The weather was beautiful on Sunday and we managed to get lots of niggly jobs done.  A sad sign for us is when we move the trailer to the pig gate.  It was time...

I think that we all struggled to say goodbye to these ones this morning.  They have been lovely.  We now have three left which will go next Monday.

They have had a good life and we must now look forward to our rewards.  We are back to our original butcher which we are very glad about.

I normally really, really dislike photos of myself and the majority of time I press delete - it can be quite satisfying! One of my children took this when I was unaware and I really rather like it, wrinkles 'n' all.  So in a moment of sheer indulgence I'm going to share it...

Now that should scare the lot of you come Hallow'een!

Get me and my uptodateness with technology! Had a productive day today, I've cleaned out the chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys. Such a good feeling when it's all done. No 4 supervised - she's been poorly all week with a temperature of 39.4, it's been a real worry. I was also supervised by the pigs but I still can't upload pictures from my phone so I can't show you. Two of the pigs are going on a magic trailer ride in a week's time. It will be a very sad day as this batch of pigs have been particularly lovely. I recommend Oxford sandy and black pigs as they are extremly friendly and easy to keep and also buying rare breed pigs helps with the conservation of the breed. We won't be eating these ones as they are going to someone at husband's work. We will have to wait for the following week when the rest of them take their last journey. This also gives youngest daughter time to try and persuade her Dad that we really NEED to keep a couple...

Laptop has given up the ghost so I'm feeling bereft. So, here I am trying to use my phone. These new fangled contraptions are too much for me! I've had this phone for a while and was persuaded to choose it because the very nice man told me that I could blog on it...hmmm. For some reason I can't upload my photos from it so I'm not feeling the love at the moment. Here goes! Hold on to your hats I'm about to publish!

What's in your project pouch?

I always love to have small projects in my handbag for those moments when you're hanging around. These are my current projects to go:

The beginnings of an embroidered doll, just needs to sewn together.

 A hexi cushion to be.

 Some stray hexies.

Some knitted roses which I plan to make into a cushion. 

And no this isn't a project, but I bought it from Morrison's tonight.  It's a sweet pizza covered in custard, chocolate, marshmallows and strawberry sauce.  It was a step too far for me but the kids loved it! I think Laura G would love it!

A good day today at the football festival and then we watched Lincoln Ladies v  Everton

Hey Sis happy now? xx

It's been lovely having my husband at home for almost the whole of the summer holidays although the reason that he's been with us is not so good.  He has been signed off work for six weeks due to having a  Cholesteatoma in his ear.  This has reduced his hearing and has left him with lots of pain and dizzy spells especially when he tries to do too much.  He went into hospital so that the consultant could have a better look at it so that he could make the best choice for removing it.  Sometimes they can be removed through the ear canal, at other times through an incision made behind the ear.  A CT scan shows that it has spread to the bones in the middle ear which is not the outcome that we would have liked.  We now await further news from the consultant.

As we are on the subject of hospitals, I took No. Two to the hospital so that they could look at a mole that is on her foot, they whipped it off there and then!  She had ten stitches in the top of her foot so couldn't put her foot down.  She has mastered the art of the feeble voice calling, 'Mum I need a cup of tea'

I don't need tea, I need gin!

My new purchase!

I am really loving my new breadmaker! I read lots of reviews online and it really did come recommended.  It's a Panasonic SD - 2501 that I bought from Lakeland. I know that I could have got it cheaper online but the service that is had from Lakeland is always second to none.  This is the third one that we have as we had worn the others out!  The quality of the loaves that we get are much better with this one than with the others.  This is my first loaf with it...

So after a break without a breadmaker I am making at least one loaf of bread everyday.  I do like to wake up to the smell of warm bread!   I must recommend this flour from Waitrose.  I don't normally shop there but traffic was horrendous going across town so I called in!

So glad that I did!

We hired the bowling lane for the whole afternoon...

My friend tells me that apparently crazy golf is all in the stance...

Fixing the turkey house, which really had seen better days...

It's always important to have a firm bottom...

Not much work going on here...

Son working hard with the power scythe, it was a mystery how the water pipe was cut...

Taking down the tent marked the end of the summer holidays for us...

During the summer holidays we went to the wildlife park at Doncaster.  It was a lovely day out albeit a little chilly.  It was so lovely to be up close to some of the animals and we were even given food to feed the wallabies.  If you were patient enough they would feed from your hand...

We also went to the Steam Rally, which is always a lovely day out.  Three and Four took it in turns to drive the bumping cars...

Then it was time for a shoot off...

We just managed to get back to the car before the heavens opened!

That evening husband came home with a stray dog, she'd run out into the middle of the road and he'd almost run her over. It was dark and despite spending over an hour looking for her owners he couldn't see them.  She was very friendly and jumped straight into the car! We had no choice but to bring her in for the evening, she quickly made herself at home!  The next morning we put lots of posters up and at about half past ten her owner came to collect her.  She greeted her owner with a wagging tail and then when she's had enough of a fuss, turned and went back to bed!  Apparently she normally sleeps outside - little wonder that she liked her new found abode!