Happy Christmas!!!!

This is us yesterday morning - woke to much more snow than we were expecting - let the dogs out and they practically disappeared in a snow drift!!! Molly thought it was great fun but Lilly was not so impressed!

I think its the most amount of snow we've ever had since we moved here - it was way past my ankles as you can see!

Luckily we kept the horses in overnight so they were cosy in their stables!

It certainly is very christmassy weather, but its rather a pain in the proverbial!!!

I want to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and thank you for all your lovely comments on my posts.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Not quite going to plan!

Every Christmas i tell myself this will be the one where i am really organised and ahead of the game! Well its not going to be this one! I have not even bought the main presents yet, although i have sent out some christmas cards! However there is still a pile to be delivered, which sometimes lulls me into a false sense of security and i end up rushing round on christmas eve! We thought we would put up the decs yesterday - we climbed up into the loft and it was chaos! Earlier in the year we had a new boiler fitted and it was placed in the loft - everything just got chucked out of the way in a hurry. So naturally it took us ages to find our fake tree - the reason we are not having a real one is because of our two new arrivals!!! We now have the tree up and lights on, but no decorations - we looked for ages but could not find them!! I am hoping that maybe on a second search they will turn up! So here is my sorry looking tree at the moment.

I did have a lovely surprise last week - i joined a secret santa swap organised by Chooky Blue and my parcel arrived - my goodness i have been soo spoiled - lots of lovely looking packages, which i have not opened and two gorgeous decorations, below, which i was allowed to open!

My swap partner is called Nicolette and i cannot thank her enough for this amazing gift and i can't wait to open the rest!

Our two new arrivals seem to have made themselves completely at home now!

I'm not sure how long the christmas tree is going to be standing!

Have a good week.

xxx

Help - snowman costume needed

Have been asked to make a snowman costume for a little bod - making clothes is not really something i'm good at so i was wondering if anyone has any ideas or knows of any good patterns. Any help gratefully received!


xxx

Here we go again!!

Woke up this morning to this!! Mind you, so did a lot of people! So it was up early to make sure the horses were all hayed up and the ice broken on their water buckets! Then i quickly got some bird feeders out full of nuts and other tasty goodies. Our one and only chicken was definitely not impressed - she popped her head out of her hen house and then quickly popped it back in - not that i blame her! The blithering outside tap is frozen already but i'm hoping it might defrost so i can use it later!

The best bit about this weather is when, having done all outside jobs and made sure all animals cosy and well fed, i go back inside to a lovely warm sitting room, woodburner roaring away, mahoosive mug of tea and some cake.... ahh, bliss!

hope you all have a lovely weekend!

xxxx

busy,busy,busy!

After, what seemed like forever, a long two weeks of not doing much, this weekend kicked off with a trip to the cinema to see Harry Potter - i'm sorry if you are not a fan but i love the books and the films and was certainly not disappointed with this one. It was brilliant and i just wished it could have gone on and on! Why is it that even when you know the story you still jump at some of the scary bits!! Em and i both jumped at one point (one of the snake (Nagini) moments!) but what was even funnier was that the lady next to me jumped a lot higher!!! We then proceeded to get a fit of the giggles at what was a serious moment - we did keep it quiet but it took us a few minutes to get under control!

Saturday turned into a very crafty day with some much needed sewing and knitting and i finally finished my SSCS swap presents - i cannot show you them as the main present does not get opened until Christmas Day but here they are ready for the off.

I love doing surprises and hope my swap partner is happy with what i've made!

On Sunday these two little bundles arrived - don't be fooled by the cute look - Dukes - the one looking at the camera is a whirling dervish and just full of mischief - he growls and hisses at the dogs - they have only been introduced with a partition between them so far but i think i know who is going to be top dog - or rather top cat! Little Miley is much calmer and loves being cuddled. Needless to say they are a pair of time wasters!

Well that's all for now - back to housework - bah!

xxxx

Contrarywise!

How many times, i wonder, have you thought to yourself what bliss it would be to have a few days when you don't have to do anything!! I know i have - in fact i said to my family that rather than spend money on a christmas present i would love it if they did all my jobs for a day so that i could have a pyjama day - obviously it would have to be a wet , windy day, so that i could relish staying indoors,, all snuggled up!

Be careful what you wish for!!! I won't go into details but have had a minor op and for the next few days i have to do .......nothing! Just rest, absolutely no exercise whatsoever. I thought it would lovely, but its not quite turning out that way! I can't sew or knit because it means i am looking down and am not allowed to do that! I can read, but am getting arm ache as i have to hold my book up all the time. To put it bluntly its bloody frustrating!

However i am doing what i'm told in the hope that everything gets better quicker!! I think my lot are hoping for that too as they are all doing my jobs!!!!

xxxx

A mixed bag!

I love autumn - even the gales and rain (especially when tucked up indoors!) But these are my favourite mornings - a beautiful frosty morning, when the sun is shining and there's a chill in the air!

Its that time of year when i start putting out hay for the horses - definitely not a chore on a sunny morning - they have started getting their winter coats especially Iona - she ends up looking like a woolly bear!

I love this photo as you can see my shadow whilst taking it!!! Not sure Io's too impressed!

As soon as it gets colder i feel the urge to knit - so at the moment i have three projects on the go, one is a christmas present, one a sock i've been knitting for ages, and lastly, making up my own pattern, a snood - they seem to be the thing at the moment although i've been making my own version for a while now - they are brilliant when riding as you don't have to worry about ends getting caught up in bushes/trees!

I love snuggling under my blanket, knitting - woodburner blazing and a cuppa, of course!

And lastly, but by no means least, i had a parcel to open on Saturday! The lovely Jenny and i decided to do a swap and i received the most gorgeous gooodies!There was a beautiful doll dressed in the most amazing costume - a ball of yarn- some gorgeous fabric- and chocolate!! Thank you sooo much Jenny for a brilliant swap!

Well better get on, jobs to do in the paddocks - although at the moment there is a huge swan wandering around in one of them - it doesn't look injured, just a bit confused! So i will keep an eye on it and hope it can fly off soon!!!

xx

Little rascals!

What a difference a week makes - these little bundles of fluff are now getting about - mind you its more like staggering - not quite sorted out what goes where yet!! This one, a girl we think, is going to be Dan's - still no names yet! They had just been trying out a little kitty food when we arrived and judging by the little fat tummies they thoroughly enjoyed it - this little one was soo fat i thought we should call her 'pudding'!!

This little chap is going to be Emily's - i think the name at the moment is Dukes, or little D, but it could all change!

After a short play, its bedtime - life is just sooo exhausting!

Have a lovely weekend!

xxx

Ta-daa and sneaky peaks!

At last!!!! Em's quilt is finished - i started this last year when she went off to uni and managed to finish it in time for her 21st!

I was going to hang it on the line to take a picture but it was too windy so have drapped it over the sofa - am quite pleased with how it turned out and Em loves it. Next big project is to put together my Around the World Quilt - i have sewn all the blocks together so the top is done, next is to sandwich it and quilt it, which i think may take a while but that's fine as i want to do justice to all the lovely blocks that were made for me.

I've been doing a lot of cutting and sewing this week - i have two swaps on the go, one is a little one between two of us, and the other is a big swap organised by Chookyblue which i am thrilled to be doing!

So here is a sneaky peak of two of my projects -

am not going to say anymore!!

As you may know, we are getting two new additions to our family - and here is one of them at three weeks old!

Ahhh!

Have a lovely weekend.

xxx

Bloggy Meet Up

I had the most amazing day on Sunday - i met up with my lovely bloggy friend Joy (I can't seem to get the link right at the mo so check out her site on my sidebar). Joy and her family had come over from Australia to visit with her daughter who lives in London and were holidaying for about 4 weeks - so we were hoping we could fit in some time together, and we did!!!

It was a brilliant day! It started with me picking up my fabulous friend Trash and going to my favourite city, Bath! Joy was coming down from Surrey and gave us a ring when they had arrived in Bath. Meeting up was just great as it felt like we had known each other forever - Joy's hubby and daughter were just lovely. Trash acted as tour guide and we took them round some touristy sites, and also, ahem, did a spot of shopping!!

Here is a pic of them outside Bath Abbey.

and, my favourite, of Joy in Cath Kidston - a shop she loves!!

The time, of course, went way too fast and before long we had to say our goodbyes. I have to say it was the loveliest day and they are a very special family!

On a completely different note, I was a very lucky girl last week as this was in the post for me, which was a fantastic surprise

It was a PIF gift from Gina

Some of the chocolate is missing - i wonder why, as it was being nibbled whilst looking at my gorgeous gifts - a lovely pincushion, which was put to use straightaway - and some of Gina's amazing cards. Thank you soo much Gina for a smashing surprise gift!

Well thats all for the moment, better get back to the dreaded housework - although i think i could be sidetracked into a bit of quilting! (a gift in the process of being made for a swap - (cannot , at this time, name any names!!!)). Have a good week.

xxx

Fun, fun, fun!!!!

Fancy something exciting to look forward to next year - say, around October time? Well my lovely friend Trash is planning a mahoosive get together for all us crafty gals!!! If you want to find out what its all about go to http://trashaloucan.blogspot.com/. I think it will be amazing!

xxx

New arrival!

This little ball of fluff arrived 1 week ago - with four siblings! So in about 9 weeks time, he/she , plus 1 other,will be coming to live chez nous!

xxx

OMG!!!!

Well, what a week! What with all three of mine having their birthdays - not the best planning on my part!! We kicked off with Em's 21st - she'd had a party a few weeks previously but decided she would like to go bowling on her birthday - so off we went - it was a great fun evening, not least as i out-bowled my son!!! Minor miracle as i'm usually crubbish!!!

After we finished there was some eating and then they spied the arcade and off they went, Em and Rosie headed straight for the dance machine - i wish i'd had a video, it was hilarious!
Back home there was birthday cake!! The theme of the cake was things dearest to Em's heart - shoes and bags!

Dan's birthday was the next day - he ended up with two birthday cakes, one from M&S - the chocolate caterpillar one!- and his lovely girlfriend made him one too!

The OMG heading above refers to this - quadbiking!!!!

When Tom mentioned it i thought it would be him and his mates, but oh no!! He wanted us all to go - well, i've never done it before and thought i would probably end up at the back going slow!!

It was a-maz-ing!!! I loved it - i have to say the pics here are the ones on the website (the beginners circuits)- as we were all doing it there was no-one to take pictures, which was a great shame. It was a huge extreme sports centre - we all got told how to use the bikes, got kitted out with hats and overalls, and off we went - starting on a small course and then moving on to other courses - we went on 5 altogether, each getting more difficult. As i got onto the more difficult courses i did find i was going slower round the sharp, narrow and very rutted bends, but apart from that i was surprised how fast i went - inbetween courses there were fields to go round and everyone loved it as we all raced along - i think i had the biggest smile on my face almost the whole way round!!

So it was a brilliant end to a hectic week, but boy am i paying for it now, everything aches!!!

hope you are having a lovely weekend!


xxx

Bliss!!

That is the best word to describe the lovely holiday i've just had - beautiful house to stay in, fantastic place and amazing views - even the weather was kind to us most of the time! No cooking, cleaning, animals to take care of or worry about for a whole week! Mind you the organizing beforehand was a nightmare!!! I'm very lucky to have such wonderful friends - some did mornings, some evenings and some weekend!!

But here are some pics that made all the organizing worthwhile - i won't bore you with too many as i took loads!! The place is Brixham in Devon.

This is where we stayed - see the house with a blue door in the wall - it was gorgeous, right on the harbour with all these lovely views - we had to get a place big enough to fit 8 of us in!

There was a lot of walking, crabbing, fishing and eating going on!

This is a pic of me and the girls, on the left is Em and on the right is Grace, Dan's girlfriend - we were rather out of puff as we had just walked up a long hill to get this lovely view!

Anyway, enough of the pics - have to now get ready for a rather busy week!! Tomorrow is Em's 21st, Tuesday is Dan's birthday and Friday is Tom's - so am rushing around now trying to wrap presents and write cards plus take all the pins out of the quilt i've made for Em (pics later in the week)!

hope you all have a lovely week.

xxx

Grrrrrr......

Sat down with a cuppa, sorted out which pics i wanted to use, and bl..dy blogger will not let me download any of my pics - after 5 attempts i've decided to give up for today, have another cuppa and a mahoosive piece of cake and try again tomorrow!!!

Hope you are all having a lovely bank holiday weekend.

xxx

Lovely day out!!!

Had a great day out on Saturday - went to the NEC Festival of Quilts with the lovely Trash and met up with the gorgeous Brioni (http://flossybossy.blogspot.com/) and her lovely friend Tash. It was a good trip up (2 1/2hours!), Trash is great company and made the journey fly by! As you can imagine it was very busy when we got there. We started off with a look round the amazing displays - some of them are just awesome and others are very inspiring. I took loads of pics but here are a few-

I just love the one above - very calm and tranquil.

This one was beautiful and sooo delicate.

There were some fantastic fashion displays -

We had a break for lunch, and a chance to sit down!!! Brioni and Tash joined us which was lovely - they had been working very hard - getting contacts, freebies and interviews, for their brilliant on-line mag called FQ (www.fatquarterly.com/). They were also handing out cards for the mag and trash decided she would give a hand - as you can imagine she did brilliantly!! Here she is chatting up some future purchasers!!!

As happens when you are having fun the day went by too fast, and we had to make our way home. Thank you girls for a great fun day out!

xxx

p.s - need HELP - keep getting weird comments - can anyone advise me how to stop them?