Let Christmas commence!

Xmas tree 2013

Hello everyone

I now declare the Christmas season well and truly open.The turkey is in the freezer (along with the gammon and beef) the tree is up, most of the cards have been written and I am just frantically finishing off the ornies and gifts to send to family and friends.

You would think that since I make Christmas ornaments nearly all year round there would be no last-minute finishing but despite having done all the stitching and knitting I haven’t quite got around to putting them all together and as they need to go in the post by the end of the week I need to get cracking!

I did quite a bit yesterday while I was doing my stall at the lovely Oakwell Hall Christmas Craft Fair.That is another thing that always makes me feel very Christmassy as I sat and listened to Christmas songs all day and chatted to people about my ornaments.

Xmas craft fair Oakwell

Xmas craft fair Oakwell 2

Xmas craft fair Oakwell 3

I love doing this event ( did not make it last year due to being in China for most of Oct). I did sell lots of things which was great but even nicer were the lovely comments people made and it is very nice to know that my work will be hanging on other people’s trees this year.

There was one very cute little boy who had come to the fair with his grandparents just to buy a nice bauble and he choose one of my favourites from this year’s new stock.

He looked so pleased, bless him, and a little bit later they came back to buy two more ornaments for their other grandchildren so that they wouldn’t be left out!

I also bought this very lovely pine cone from one of the other stalls, it is similar to the ones I make but is made from fabric and very neatly done with little sequins with the pins at the top.

Xmas material cone

There were also these Tudor musicians entertaining us with a variety of instruments, very lovely and made me nostalgic for being in kit!

Xmas Oakwell Hall Craft fair musicians

I have been busy sorting out the menu as well, we are at home all Christmas this year in the lovely new house – a rarity for me as we often go away but we don’t see much of each other now with Ellie at Hardwick and Jake at Uni so we are looking forward to some good food and a catch up. The children are always very appreciative of my home cooking now that they have to cater for themselves πŸ™‚

I have been experimenting with bread recipes from my new Paul Hollywood book, here is a rye bread I made with a parmesan and poppy-seed topping – yum yum.

Rye bread

Have lots of other lovely stuff planned to cook, especially on Boxing Day when my brother and sister-in-law come round as they really enjoy cooking and will appreciate my efforts as well.

I have a busy week ahead with 2 Christmas dos, the knitting group when we have a crafty Secret Santa and all come home with a new ornament and a work do with a 50s theme.

Hope you are enjoying the run up to the festive season – don’t forget to comment on my giveaway post as I will be choosing the winner on Friday so that I can get the ornaments in the post in time.

Thanks as always for visiting.

More ornaments and a blogaversary!

Hello everyone

Hope you are all well and happy. I have been having a very lovely quiet weekend making ornaments for my upcoming craft fair next Sunday and decorating my house.

The tree is up, the baubles are out and all is looking pretty πŸ™‚ It is a little bit earlier than I normally do it but I am so busy this week and next weekend with various Christmas related things that I thought I would indulge myself (since the kids aren’t here to tell me I am mad lol).

I have taken some pictures of the latest makes – apologies as my camera has run out of batteries and so these are taken on my phone and in not very good light.

The first one is more of the ribbon pine cones that are so pretty and the second picture is of two ribbon tress that I made using the same technique.

Xmas cone ornies

Xmas tree ornies

I have had the polystyrene cones for these for a couple of years but only just got around to making them and they are just for me! I had a lovely day yesterday watching the Doctor Who 50th anniversary programmes while doing these.

Both designs are from Sue Schofield of Springwood House Designs, and are from the book ‘Fun with Ribbons’.

Books and kits and the polystyrene shapes are available from her website as well as oodles of lovely ribbons so go treat yourself and make something nice just for you. It is really easy, no sewing just pinning!

It is also my 6th blogaversary tomorrow so to celebrate I am giving away three of my hand-made Xmas ornaments to one of you lovely people.

Thank you for all your support and appreciation for this blog, it is really nice to know so many people enjoy what I do.

All you have to do is comment on this post – I will pick the winner on Friday 13th December (which will be lucky for someone!)

I will return next week, hopefully after a very successful craft fair, really looking forward to it. I am at Oakwell Hall in West Yorkshire if any of you are in the area.

Thanks for visiting.

More lovely (slightly bigger) things!

Hello there

Sorry for the delay in posting this week, I wanted to show you my latest batch of Christmas ornaments but by the time I had finished making them on Sunday it was so dark I couldn’t take pictures and I have not really seen daylight this week!

However today I am working from home and it is lovely and sunny so have managed to get some shots. Have balanced the baubles on my tea light holders for display purposes in the pictures below!

Nov Xmas ornies

Nov Xmas ornie 2

Nov Xmas ornie 3

I am still really enjoying myself making these lovely baubles, for those of you who have not seen them before the original pattern comes from the very talented Sue at Springwood House Designs (who sells lots of pretty things to make them with) and the book with all the loveliness in is called Decorations to Dazzle.

I first started making these about 6 years ago and I love the creativity of the process, I just surround myself with all my fabric, beads and charms and play!

I am still busy knitting mini stockings for family and friends and adding cute buttons.Had to order some more this week from my favourite supplier Gregory Knopp (just had to, you will understand πŸ˜‰ ) as I had run out of cute snowflake buttons and got some little reindeer ones as well.

Then I found the box of snowflake ones that had fallen down behind one of the shelves in my craft room. Oh well now have buttons to keep me going for a long time πŸ™‚

We had a tiny sprinkling of snow this week and are predicted lots more this winter. I am quite looking forward to it actually, I know it causes chaos but now I am in my lovely new house it is wonderful to see the moors all covered in snow and go and watch people sledging. Besides it gives me an excuse to knit more hats! In between knitting the bunnies.

I am off to see friends this weekend and we will be going to the Ludlow Medieval Christmas Fair which I am very excited about. There will be mulled wine and nice cheese and Christmas ornaments to buy!

Take care, have a nice week and thanks for visiting. I have a blogaversary coming up next week so will be doing my usual giveaway so please come back and enter that.

Lovely little things

I have been having a lovely time just recently, my visit to Spain was very nice, hot and sunny and very relaxing.

These are just a couple of the lovely little things from there, pretty flowers on one of my walks and delicious ice cream by the sea.

Spain Nov flowers and ice cream

Spain Nov flowers 2

Spain Nov ice cream

I have also been doing lots of knitting here and in Spain and am very proud to show you these very lovely little Xmas mini stockings that I have made.

Xmas mini stockings

They are from the very talented Julie at Little Cotton Rabbits ( they are one of her free patterns here) and I remember seeing them a few years ago and thinking that I would love to be able to knit them but did not have the skills at the time.

Well I am very pleased to have been able to make them now I have learnt how to do Fair Isle while knitting the bunny dresses.

I have also had a lovely little walk today, would have been longer but I slipped and fell in a large pile of mud so had to cut it short! This was the view of my favourite reservoir from the other side of the valley.

Nov walk on Pule

Hope that you have been having a good time whatever you have been doing and thanks for visiting.

Catching Up

Have spent a lovely weekend catching up, on sleep, on time with old friends and today I will be catching up with the crafting I need to have finished for my Autumn Exchange.

It has been lovely to see my friend Anita, she showed me some of her amazing machine quilting pictures while she was here and I was very excited to learn that she has met Ricky Tims (from the Quilt Show) and knows Melly (from the Melly and me blog) and has quilted an item for her latest book!

We all met up on Friday and spent lots of time looking at old pictures of the kids when they were babies, we have 21 kids between us so lots and lots of memories of good times πŸ™‚

I have also been busy with the latest bunny, in between stitching and here are a couple of cute little dresses that I have made.

Blue bunny dresses

I also thought I would show you the latest in my Xmas stitching, these are still to be buttoned and backed but here are some of my fave designs from JBW that I am stitching for relatives this year.

Xmas Wip 1

Xmas Wip 4

Xmas Wip 1

Xmas Wip 2

And I have been experimenting with my bread book, had Anita and friends round for dinner so this was an adaptation of the Stilton and Bacon Rolls recipe with seeds, apologies for the quality of the photo, light not good in the kitchen!

Bread rolls Oct

I will be off to Spain next Saturday (where my mother tells me the temperature has dropped to only 28 degrees) so am planning lots more catching up on sleeping, crafting and reading – the terrace is calling!

Have a nice time whatever you are doing and thanks for visiting.

We love to boogie …. on a Saturday night!

Hello there

Well another Marsden Jazz Festival has come and gone and I think a good time was had by all.

There were lots of people dancing late into the night at our sell out Saturday night event featuring the very talented Airya Astrobeat Arkestra.I even got off duty for a bit to go and join in and I was also amazed by the guitar playing of Antonio Forcione at our other sell out event on Sunday.

As usual I had a lovely time in the company of my excellent band of fellow volunteers and really enjoyed meeting so many nice people who were very kind about the festival and how much they enjoy it.

I was also interviewed by the local radio and if you want to hear more about the festival my 15 minutes of fame are here
on the Two Valleys Radio web site.

It was a bit wet 😦 so we had some re-arranging of outdoor events to do (how optimistic were we?) but the venues in the village were fantastic at accommodating bands at very short notice so big thanks to them all.

I know I have said this before and apologies if you are bored by it but I love living here, there is a real sense of community and I so enjoy being part of this.

I managed to take a few pictures of the parade on the Saturday which involves the local dance school and local children who decorate brollies to carry (good job given the inclemency!).

Jazz Festival

Jazz Festival 2

Jazz Festival 3

Jazz Festival 5

There were even some very little children dressed as sheep which is the symbol of the jazz festival – so cute!

I am really looking forward to this weekend as an old friend of mine is coming to stay, Anita, who moved to Australia some years ago and has since become a very talented long armed and machine quilter is going to be here.

Have not seen her for about 3 years so lots of catching up to do. I have just been drooling over some of the new things on her quilting blog at Hillside Quilting.

Am still busy knitting bunnies πŸ™‚ will I ever stop! And am half way through my Autumn stitch for the Seasonal Exchange.

Here’s hoping for better weather than last weekend so that we can go walking and show Anita our beautiful surroundings. However if it rains we may just have to hole up in the craft room – shame πŸ™‚ Maybe she can teach me a thing or two while she is here!

Take care and thanks for visiting

More domestic loveliness

Hello everyone

Well I am having a lovely autumn here, am not going to be going to China anytime soon now so I am making the most of the season in the UK with some more lovely walks, practising being a domestic goddess and still more bunny knitting πŸ™‚

Have been busy baking cakes and crumbles, cooking stews and soups and have just taken possession of a new cookbook, Paul Hollywood’s Bread – inspired by watching The Great British Bake Off. Today I made some delicious Stilton and bacon rolls from this recipe and have lots more great ideas for the coming weeks.

Bread book

You will notice I also have a pumpkin all ready for the now obligatory pumpkin soup with melting cheese – yum, yum.

I have just sent off another bunny, this one is a very special one as it is a present for one of my daughter’s very good friends.

Ellie is being a bridesmaid this weekend for her school friend Charlotte and the bunny is a present for Charlotte’s daughter Elizabeth. I was asked to make the dress in the same colours as the bridesmaids will be wearing and added a little hairband as well.

Bridesmaid bunny

Bridesmaid bunny 2

Here are some photos of a beautiful cottage garden from a walk on the hills above my house a couple of weeks ago. There were some donkeys in the field next to the house as well, looking very cute.

Sept walk 3 -donkeys

Cottage garden

Cottage garden 2

Cottage garden 3

Cottage garden 4

Sept walk

Sept walk 2

Also went to my favourite reservoir, they have partly drained it as they are doing some work so went right down to the water.

Sept walk 4 - Butterley

It is the Marsden Jazz Festival this coming weekend so I will be manning the Box Office all weekend. Looking forward to it and hoping for very good weather, we have had beautiful sunshine just lately πŸ™‚

Hope you have a lovely weekend whatever you are doing and thanks for visiting.

The beauty of wood

As you know I love visiting historic properties and have a special fondness for Tudor properties. If I could ever afford a really old house I would love one of this period and the one I visited recently in Ludlow, the Castle Lodge, was amazing.

The lodge and the castle is where one of my heroines, Catherine of Aragon, stayed during her honeymoon after she married Arthur before she married Henry 8th.

The outside of the house is not as impressive as other properties in the town but inside it was beautiful.It is privately owned so if you are in the area do visit, it only cost Β£3 entry and it would help preserve it.

Ludlow house 8

It has the most beautiful panelling everywhere, more than I have seen in other properties, including some linenfold panelling of the type that Ellie spent many hours cleaning when she worked at Powis castle.

Ludlow house 4

Ludlow house 6

Ludlow house 2

The beds and seats were also carved.

Ludlow house 3

Ludlow house 7

The plaster work was amazing as well.

Ludlow house

Ludlow house 5

The St Laurence’s church had some beautiful wood carvings too particularly the misericords on the back of the choir stalls.It was too dark to take photos of these but there are pictures and more information on this web site.

I got some good shots of other parts of the church including a stained glass window containing the coat of arms of Sir Roger Mortimer, the character that my friend Shane in our medieval group portrays.

Ludlow Church

Ludlow Church 2

Ludlow church 3

Ludlow church 4

The end of the season, though sad, at least gives us more time to visit old houses, castles and churches and Kerry and I have many more trips planned :-).

Thanks for visiting and see you soon.

A little me time!

Hello there

I have had a lovely time this weekend with some of my very good friends in a beautiful lodge in Sherwood Forest.

Sherwood girls 2

These are some of the women I have known since my kids were little and we usually have a weekend away every year. This year it was a lovely lodge with a jacuzzi πŸ™‚

Sherwood girls 4

Sherwood girls 3

We had a couple of very nice walks, saw some interesting mushrooms and ate lots of yummy food and relaxed.A thoroughly lovely time with great company.

Sherwood girls weekend

Sherwood girls 5

Sherwood girls 6

Hope that you had a nice time whatever you did, thanks for visiting.

Autumn Colours

Well Autumn is definitely here in the Colne Valley.

The last of the tents is drying out on the line ready to be packed away until next season and the air has turned colder.

I am often sad at the end of the season as I so love camping and re-enacting but am really looked forward to my second Autumn here.

Being so much more rural I can really see all of the changing colours of the seasons all around me and the other day I had a lovely walk along the canal to pick blackberries and took these pictures for you.

Autumn colours 2

Autumn colours 3

Autumn colours 4

Autumn colours 5

Autumn colours 6

I also popped into the local charity shop (to donate) but came away with this beautiful tray cloth.

Flower cloth

Flower cloth 3

Flower cloth 4

Flower cloth 5

I am thinking of maybe framing some of these pieces as I now have far too many just to make things from them and think these might go very nicely in the kitchen.

The designs remind me very much of some of Kelly Fletcher from Materialistic– a very talented embroidery designer from South Africa who has some beautiful freebies on her Craftsy shop – look for the Bloomin’ Marvellous designs.

She also has some gorgeous designs for sale – really inspirational stuff!

I now have the ultimate luxury of a Sunday to do whatever I want to πŸ™‚ Jake has gone back to University (not that he was any trouble while he was here!) but I am home alone with only myself to please.

Shall it be Christmas ornaments, knitting more dresses for bunnies, stitching? Maybe all three! I am making a start on my autumn exchange piece today and have chosen some beautiful brown silks for the piece.

Or a walk on the hills? it is beautiful and sunny today so I might just don the walking boots and get out there πŸ˜‰

I hope that you are having a lovely day whatever you have decided to do.

Thanks for visiting.