Cottage Crafts

I've had an idea....

2010-07-21T11:20:00.000+01:00

It involves an old nightdress, some crocheted flowers and obviously, because its me, some yarn...

all will be revealed xx

Baggy

2010-07-20T10:07:00.000+01:00

YUM!

I started this bag last week

It was supposed to be a stash buster but I DID start using the stash, then I went out and bought more yarn so I had enough to make another bag, even though (as you can see)......

..... I havent finished the FIRST one :D

I'm loving it tho, its an ongoing project in the middle of baby clothes for Steves first grandchild.

My joins are a bit rubbish

BUT....

the colours are lovely and its coming together really well.

I'm using a 4mm hook and James C Brett Kool Kotton. Lovely colours even if they are a bit 'chalky'

SQUEEEEEE

2010-07-07T17:17:00.000+01:00

I'm obsessing about crochet today :)

There are lots of things I should have blogged about lately, I just dont remember*sigh*

so I'll just leave you with a few pictures of things that make me happy happy happy

Creativity

2010-05-27T14:36:00.000+01:00

Creativity sometimes strikes in the strangest ways.
Yesterday I was supposed to be going to Chatsworth House with an old friend. It was called off at the last minute. He has a bad knee, hurt it last week in Italy when he was seeing kISS (I wont say anything about it being justice for going to see them without me la la laaa) anyway, he tried to drive but had to give up halfway and go back home, too much pain. Trouble is, i was almost there! 2 hour drive for nothing, but thats the least of my worries. I turned round and drove home again, rang him and he was at the doctors hoping to get it looked at.

But I digress. The change of plans meant that I had an unexpected afternoon to myself. what to do what to do....I had a lovely parcel from a friend a while back and she included some wonderful envelopes that she had made herself out of an old calender. I loved them so much. I wanted to make my own. My friend Sarah had lost part of my last years Christmas present, but then found it and gave it to me anyway on my birthday... a 2009 calender! well, fate stepped in and I sat myself down at the table.

Take one out of date Calender

add some fantastic company

a couple of hours free time and you get the niftiest envelopes ever!

add some matching cards and envelopes and Voila,

to quote a dear friend sadly departed a "Rainbow in the Dark" R.I.P Ronnie.

My Happy Word

2010-05-23T11:49:00.000+01:00

Your Happy Word is "Bliss"

You are happy because you don't need a lot to be content. You experience happiness in the best and worst of times.

You see the divine in everything. You believe that every moment, person, and creature is unique and special.

You are an oasis of calm in this chaotic world. You never lose your head.

You can feel totally elated and exuberant from the smallest pleasures. You don't hold back when it comes to ecstasy.

How lovely :) I'm in a happy mood today. I've got the weekend off work, yesterday mum and I gardened, the front garden is all planted now and we're just waiting to get some turf to do the lawn.( i'll have to get myself in gear and take photos to put on the other blog) Today we are going to finish cleaning up the yard and plant some baskets so we can sit outside if we get any more glorious weather :) Last night I went out for a couple of drinks with my friend sabrina (Lulu). Lulu has been with us at work for 10 weeks on a work placement from dortmund in Germany.She's going back on friday. Shes a gorgeous little thing and i'm going to miss her a lot.
Work on monday, live show to work on Tuesday night, day out with a friend on wednesday, work thursday and off Friday. (then back to work at the weekend and back to the grind)
Jack is asleep in his bed, Phoebe flat out on the sofa, mum snoozing in her chair and me in my chair, windows open, birds singing, reading Joanne Harris' 'Blue eyed boy'
as the quiz says *BLISS*

An Honest Scrap Challenge

2010-04-25T20:46:00.000+01:00

Thank You to my dear friend Katy over at Penello Lane for bestowing this award on to my humble blog. I am honoured and I hope I have done it justice :)

So the deal is, as the recipient I’m supposed to list ten true things about myself, and then pass it on to other bloggers. Ok, here goes…

1. I eat chocolate first thing in the morning. I know I shouldn’t, it gives me terrible acid and upsets my IBSbut I still do it sometimes.

2. I’m a complete contradiction. I’m obsessively tidy yet the house is so full of stuff it’s impossible to keep tidy. That is being remedied one room at a time tho.

3. I don’t drink tea or coffee, I have a hot chocolate once a year, at Christmas. I drink gallons of squash, either orange or apple and blackcurrant (my latest favourite) but still worry I’m not drinking enough water.

4. I procrastinate for a living! My mind (and notebook) is full of things to do, yet the amount of things I actually get done is usually minimal. I’m too busy making lists!

5. I can’t grow my hair at all. It’s always been the bane of my life. It’s so fine and thin and rubbish, it just gets really straggly and broken, and I have a weird chunk missing at the back so it gets to a certain length and looks as if someone’s taken a bite out of it.

6. I am absolutely obsessed with socks and sock knitting, my Ravelry Favourites is full of sock patterns, but I find them so daunting. I collect patterns, buy yarn, covet socks but never knit any.

7. Knitting related again, I knit a lot of toys but I can never give the first one away because I feel it has developed its character with me and is kindof like my baby....

8. My perfect day always ends with a bath, clean sheets, window open, something good on tv or a dvd, some knitting or crochet and a whole evening to relax.

9. I used to bite my nails, until my 26th birthday when my mum bought me an Emerald ring. I stopped from that day and luckily my nails recovered and are now lovely (most of the time)

10. The Fall Guy. Even the name gives me goosebumps. I fell in love with Lee Majors at the tender age of 12, and even to this day I am head over heels with Colt Seavers. In High school we decorated our school books with posters and stickers, mine had a huge heart on the back with the lyrics to the ‘unknown stuntman’ written in it. I used to tape the episodes, by holding my tape recorder up to the screen. I’d sit for the whole hour with a C90 tape, hoping to squash it all on, then i’d listen to them in bed and remember what had happened in the show. I still have about 5 episodes in the loft. I received an early birthday present in the post this week, a treat to myself for working 10 days straight, the fall guy series 2 on dvd. All my favourite episodes available for the first time in over 27 years. And yes, I still remember all the words :D

My To Do List

2010-04-13T21:31:00.004+01:00

I've never been one to make things for myself, let alone clothes, but I made a quick easy shrug, and I've worn it for days. I started another shrug yesterday, number 3 on my list the shop hop shrug, i'm making it in a beautiful peach colour bamboo yarn to go over a summer dress I bought, and i'm really into the idea of making clothes :D I would like to make the peggy sue cardi next.

The baseball gloves are something i've been asked to knit for a friend, 3 pairs, so I need to get on with those :)

1. Heartdigan by Katie Himmelberg

2. Paper Dolls by Kate Davies

3. Shop Hop Shrug by Nell Ziroli

4. Double Play by Karen Juliano

5. Sleeveless Waistcoat by Sirdar Spinning

6. Jacket by DROPS Design

7. Peggy Sue by Linda Wilgus

8. Little Birds by Ysolda Teague

9. Giselle by Marnie McLean

2010-03-07T09:43:00.004Z

This Lady is stalking my dreams!

I've spoken to Kate briefly about it, but it needs blogging about!

I had an idea. Since I love Paris so much, adore the Eiffel Tower, want to go back, then what better for my birthday than a trip to Paris with my best fiends? I spoke to Kate and Mike and Julia and we were all in agreement, it was a plan. Now obviously I'm excited, I'm saving all the £2 coins I can find for my spends, I'm planning on losing weight so I can run about and enjoy all there is to offer in a few days. I KNOW its on my mind a lot and that might go a way to explaining it.

BUT...the dreams are mostly scary. They are happening at least once a week, maybe more, and up until the last few days have all followed the same themes.

The first of the themes, I started off by being in Paris and looking for the Eiffel Tower, I could always either see her in the distance and never get there (one night i saw her on the horizon next to the Statue of Liberty) I imagine that was because I wasn't sure I would actually get to Paris.

In the next theme I was getting closer, I had a few dreams where I would round a corner in Paris and there she was, just a leg next to a shop in a busy street, or I'd go into an indoor market type thing and deeper into the market and know I was in the tower somehow but could never see anything that would suggest tower.

Then they started to get scary. I would see her and she would be so big I'd get scared by the sheer size, or I'd try looking up at her, lean back and get dizzy and fall over. then I actually got inside and would try climbing the stairs....well....jeeeez don't ever TALK about that. I would wake up after trying to climb the stairs to the top and be TERRIFIED! I didn't think I was scared of heights but these dreams were starting to worry me. I would be climbing the stairs, look out at the view and *BLEEP* myself!

Then the dreams started to get a bit better. I would look up at her and knew I loved her, The last one was funny because I was trying to look up at her and i had to cling to a lamp post so i could look up without falling over, but I wasn't scared. Then last night, I had a dream where I went up the stairs ( I don't know why I never dream of the elevators) got to the second floor and there was a whole neighbourhood built there, a ruined castle with caves underneath it, built on a grassy bank, a row of cottages to the front of me, backed by the view of 2 of the legs at the corners. the castle had a cave but when you went in the cave, brushed the dirt from the floor, you could see the metal floor it was all built on.

So now I'm worried that I'll be disappointed when I get there and find its only shops and restaurants and no ruined castle, cottages and caves!!!!

WELL!

2010-03-05T11:10:00.005Z

I've done it.....

(drumroll please) I have only gone and knitted a sock! on 5 NEEDLES! IN THE ROUND!!!!!

I used Regia sock yarn, cast on 60 stitches and ribbed for 3 inches, stocking stitched for about 5 inches, heel flap, picked up the stitches along the heel flap, then turned the heel on 30 stitches, continued for the foot then shaped the toe, all on 5, count them, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 needles lol

The finished sock has many many things wrong with it. The next one needs 5 inches of rib, no stocking stitch, turn the heel then lose some stitches for the foot to make it less baggy, then take some more stitches off for the toe as its far too wide for my tootsies, but seeing as I just used a recipe for a sock and did it very basically...ITS A SOCK! Completed and on a foot.

I have some exquisite yarn for the next pair, i'm just not sure now what to do....get a pattern and try that, carry on with my revised pattern and make another sock in regia to the new pattern, make the second sock to match the beast..... there are many possibilities for the new sock knitter lol

I just hope my sock knitting mentor is proud of me :D

More pics.... its so hard to photograph anything without my girl baby being involved, but shes so photogenic I cant be cross :)

Cross!

2010-02-23T12:13:00.002Z

Me and Dotty have fallen out.
She broke down in the middle of the road last week, on my way back from the doctors with a raging ear infection, in the dark, all alone. Thanks Dotty!
Not only that but I got the bill yesterday, I cant even remember the full figure, when they got past saying one thousand pounds....i was in shock .....

she's in my bad books, thats all I can say.....

The New Obsession

2010-01-28T18:41:00.000Z

Happy Birthday

2010-01-20T11:09:00.011Z

To my mum :)

67 years young yesterday and still as sprightly as ever!

(although those who know my mum will know that she's never really been sprightly lol clumsy and scared of moving in case she falls...which she does...but you know what I mean)

We went to the Zoo to celebrate. Mums choice. We got up and had breakfast and mum got ready in the new clothes she bought the day before, then she put on the weirdy scarf/hood (now known as a 'Scarood' I made for her and off we went. We were hoping to meet my friend Lee's wife there for coffee but unfortunately Erika couldn't make it. Lee used to work at the zoo so it was a day all about him as well.

We got to the zoo and it was a cool, grey, damp sort of day but that was ok. There were hardly any people there which made it lovely and peaceful. We started to wander down to the Chimp house to see the plaque that has been put up for Lee.

Found ourselves by the sealion enclosure and..well...game over really. I was hooked! there was one male 'Cousteau' and 4 females. I watched them from above, all terribly shy. They watched me from under the water and only surfaced to get a glimpse of me, then dove back under the water without making eye contact.

I then went round to the side of the tank where I could watch them under water through the glass viewing panels. Mum kept saying there was one girl with Phoebes eyes, and talked of the pretty one. I was quite taken by Cousteau, the way he kept swimming past the window, seemingly ignoring me, but then stealing a glance as he's almost past.

Then the lovely keeper came out and fed them, put them through their tricks and medical checks, introduced the girls, and LO! what was the pretty one with Phoebe's eyes called? Only Phoebe!!!!! She was browner than the others, prettier and seemed to be left handed.

Well, I was in love with them, with the enclosure, with standing there watching them. It made the day perfect for me. After that we had lunch in the Flagstaff cafe, wandered round more, saw Lees bench and left him a pinecone I had found and liked....

Then it was just time for a brief visit to the shop, where I bought a present for Sarah and some gorgeous wildlife photography postcards (and a toy Koala which I didn't need but hey)

We popped into the clothes shop on the way home and bought a pair of shoes each and came home for spaghetti for tea. NOM!

A good day all round. Sorry no knitting to report, I watched Ally McBeal all night instead :)

Sundays Sights

2010-01-17T17:49:00.004Z

Mum and I went to see the opera 'Carmen' last night at work, it was a satelltie link live from the Met Opera in New York. We have an opera every few weeks, always the Saturday Matinee. 1pm in New York, 6pm in Prestatyn. As its mums birthday on Tuesday I took the night off work, bought 2 tickets and off we went.

It starred the gorgeous Roberto Alagna, and it has to have been one of the best evenings I've ever had. Our screens are huge, they fill the whole room, so with the lights off all you can see is screen, and I was really there with them. I've only ever seen Opera live before (and on tv) but never on a cinema screen, but it was amazing!!! I'm so very proud!

Things I've seen and done today...Drove to the tweedmill to buy a purple cardigan which they actually had in my size and was reduced!

saw this gorgeous bridgeGorgeous Horses in a field

Had macDonalds fries for lunch which were actually HOT for the first time ever.

Driving home, looking at the gorgeous fields with sun and snow on them, saw this little man eating something in the sun.

ended up at home with some new clothes, nice hot bath, baked potato, salad and chicken for tea, then an evening of knitting ahead of me.

2010

2009-11-27T11:53:00.002Z

2010 is going to be MY year!

I have huge plans, not out of this world plans, but big enough. The house and garden have been so neglected that its not even funny anymore. so, new year, new start. The first step is the garage, hire a skip and get out there and throw away all the rubbish, same for the loft. Then go through the house and get rid of anything that we dont need/use like clothes or ornaments, just general clutter. The local charity shops aren't going to know whats hit them!!! then new carpets and new suite covers etc.

the garden is a seperate entity. I have started a new blog to cover that transformation. If you, my dear friends, would like to have a look, maybe follow the progress, I have a favour to ask.
When we get round to planting the new and improved garden, I'd like to plant a plant for each of my dearest friends. So...just send me a comment on http://forgottenvines.blogspot.com and tell me your favourite. I'll get a plant and plant it. I have some gorgeous copper plant tags which I'll inscribe with your name so you will all be a part of my new life.

gosh, its so exciting!!!!! wish me luck LOL xx

Thank You

2009-11-20T12:15:00.005Z

How many times do we say Thank you?
Thanks for the coffee, thanks for passing the stapler, thanks for covering my shift at work....

But how often do we actually say THANK YOU and mean it sincerely?

Well I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to a few people.

Thank you to my mum and dad for giving me a loving family, for teaching me what i needed to grow, for giving me the skills to learn for myself, for working to give me an education, for just loving me.

Thank you to my mum for continuing to support me in everything i do, for backing me, for being my best friend and for always doing everything she can for me.

Thank you to Jack for teaching me what its like to love unconditionally, thank you to Phoebe for coming into my life when i needed her most, and thank you to them both for loving me more than i feel i deserve.

Thank you to my grandparents, my Ninga and Grandad for my love of 'self sufficiency' for being able to knit, to crochet, to bake and sew and grow veg, to my grandad for my wonderful memories of his garden, warm tomatoes off the vine, cabbages as big as space hoppers with butterfly eggs, for the foxglove path and the apple trees.

Thank you to my closest friends, Callie, Kate, Julie, Sarah, Nige, Mel and Vicky for always being there for me no matter when and no matter what.

Thank you to my online friends, for your e mails, your blog/facebook comments. I love you all so much and your ongoing support is what keeps me going through bad times and what makes me write posts like this.

Thank you to my 'Aussie gals' Michelle, Lisa, Denise, Lyn, Bev and honourary gal George. Without you I wouldn't know as much as I do about a land that I love more and more each day, Australia.

Thank you to my friends at work, without your laughter I'd not enjoy my work half as much as I do. Here's to the last 11 months, and here's to the next year.

Thank you to Cecilia, Maite and now Oliver for teaching me about your lives in Spain and France, for not laughing at my terrible attempts at your language and for enriching my life in many different ways.

Thank you to all the people I have loved and lost in some way, Lee, Ian, Craig, Darran, Bryn, you have all given me so much and I'll never forget your contribution to my life.

Finally Thank you to all my 'new' friends, Joshie, Beryl and Eileen, Bryn and Harry, lets hope its a lifelong thing.

Thank you all, I love you

Oh Dear

2009-10-15T14:13:00.003+01:00

I keep doing it....
This time the absence is only explained by laziness and the usual work but also add to the mix a computer thats really P*s*ing me off! I have to phone the people I bought it from because again its broken. This time, you can only use the b and n and space keys by propping t he front of the computer up and bashing the heck out of them. That makes life quite difficult so I just tend to not bother.

Moaning aside tho, my days off have been spent very happily knitting :D This is not just any kitting, this is knitting that I WANT to do. I've made myself a pair of socks, armwarmers, a beret and a hat, all matching. Also a beret and started a scarf in a multi coloured mad yarn which I love, I made an Alan Dart Yuletide gnome (pattern off Muriel at work) I'm knitting a Pudsey bear to raffle at work for Children in Need, I'm making a pair of socks for mum and a scarf for my boss, a jelly baby for Beryl...the list goes on :D

I went to the yarn shop on Tuesday to get the Pudsey Bear pattern and it coincided with a Debbie Bliss book signing! I bought a copy of her 'Big Easy' book and she signed it for me, we had a long chat about lace knitting (both hate it) dogs (both love them) and general day to day happenings. We also bumped into an old neighbour of my grandparents, Jessie, who told me she was going to be 91 next week! wow! shes a great lady, love her to bits. Debbie Bliss was absolutely that, Bliss! I am going to start on the cowl neck dress pattern on the front cover soon.

I'm hoping that very soon, my twin sister Julia and I are going to get a few days together and visit Yorkshire, the Bronte Parsonage, Haworth, Castle Howard etc. I was watching Wuthering Heights this morning. <3 it so much. Julia's dad isn't too well at the moment, so we're seeing how things go. I'm booking a week off work anyway because I still have all my holidays to take. If we don't get away, I'll do something different....knit maybe ;) I've re-joined 'lovefilm' and so far I've watched Oz and James, Wodehouse Playhouse, a documentary about Egypt, and some more episodes of Lost. I watched a wonderful film called 'The Bishops Wife' that my friend Harry lent me, it start Cary Grant and David Niven. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Well, I hope you are all having a wonderful week, wherever you are, I am off to ring the computer people and complain!

Meet Dotty

2009-08-19T17:32:00.005+01:00

I have to say, it broke my heart when my beloved Bronte 'died' and I didnt want a new car, it was such hard work looking for a new one. My dad loved cars, we used to always be at garages at the weekends looking at cars so I was totally lost as to HOW to go about looking for a replacement without Dad.

Luckily tho, Dotty spoke to me, and the minute I met her I knew we'd get on well. Its taken me just over a week now to actually admit that I LIKE her...a lot! Bronte is still sitting in the drive, but I now feel I can part with the old girl and move on. Dotty is TOTALLY different, she is a proper sporty gal, all GRRRrroooowl and Ooooooomph, not the most comfortable of drives for the passenger as shes a bit of a bone shaker cos shes quite low to the ground, but an absolute joy to drive.

I think we're going to get along well :D

Knitty post warning may cause boredom in non knitters

2009-07-29T11:12:00.007+01:00

There hasn't been much blogging going on round here lately, but there has been much knitting.

I have a sock knitting mentor, who bless her, is trying to get me to knit a pair of socks on something other than a pair of straight needles. I have no trouble knitting with straights, I can knit a pair of socks in a couple of days, but I hate the sewing up and i loathe the seams along either side of the foot. I have used 4 Double pointed needles before to knit in the round. I've made dolly bags, little tweety birds, babooshka dolls...I don't like them but I can (after a lot of swearing) produce something using them. So WHY cant I put the two skills together and make socks? Oh I don't know! Call it a mental block, laziness, fear?

So, my mentor sent me a few links to videos and a pattern and I grasped my needles, yarn, and courage with both hands and set off. Usually I cast on, distribute my stitches, try to join them in the round, cuss a bit, twist the needles, drop the stitches, start again, swear a bit more, groan, and then either ask mum to start it off for me (She has infinite patience, something I haven't inherited) or i throw it away and start again on straight needles.

This time tho, with A's help and with detailed instructions, I persevered. I learned that if you knit the first stitch on your first round, then that joins the work nicely. so that was a good start. OK so first hurdle overcome, I still didn't think much of the amount of needles (4 with the threat of adding another one) but I started on the rib.K2 P2 rib, i managed the first round and knew it would get easier so i carried on, and really without much pain I found I had a few inches of rib!

Next comes the easy part, knitting the leg. Lots of plain knitting rows to get into the swing of it.

I am one of those strange people who like turning a heel, so I happily followed the instructions, 32 rows of S1, K1 heel, it looked a bit long but I figured it would all work out in the end.

I shaped the heel and dreaded picking up the stitches along the sides. I HATE picking up stitches, I LOATHE it with a passion, but it was only 18 along each side, not so hard. I don't think I did it very well as I had a bit of a ridge on the inside of the sock and a hole..... but hey, i thought I could live with that.

Shaped the ankle and kept thinking 'this is it - I've almost got a sock!" I tried it on and that's where the suspicions that had been niggling away at me, really arose. Its too big!!!! i realised that if i carried on it would have fit the worlds biggest man! My respectable size 6-7 tootsies were lost in the giant Christmas stocking of a sock :( So after much deliberation, I took the difficult decision to put my sock out of its misery, and I frogged it.

The amount of things that I've learned this last few weeks tho, I learned the kitchener stitch to graft the toes of socks, I learned how to do the thumb or long tail cast on for a nice stretchy cast on, i learned a stretchy bind off (K2, Bind off 1, pass this stitch onto the left hand needle and repeat), I've learned that DPN's aren't SO scary, and i now know the theory of a magic loop and 2 circular needle methods. I've also learned that I love this yarn, Sirdar Crofter DK in 'Thistle'. I love the colours and variations.

Gratuitous Bragging

2009-07-13T12:06:00.002+01:00

Are these just the best Planes/Display team in the world?

Am I not the luckiest girl to have seen them?

I think so...... ;)

2009-07-12T17:22:00.002+01:00

Petrol to get to the Wirral....................................£20

Paying to park the car........................................£5

Overpriced tray of chips.....................................£2

Bag of candyfloss to bring home to Jack .........£3

Seeing my Yakovlevs display again................................Priceless!!!

Yesterday I had e mails from the lovely Jez and Suzanne from the Yakovlev display team, saying they would be flying at the Wirral Show today at quarter to 3. I was at work when I read the e mails, counting down the hours til I could get out of there and start my holidays :D Not that I don't love my job, just that I was so ready for a few days off. I sent my mum a text saying "we're going to see the yaks tomorrow" and she was instantly on the phone, almost as excited as I was.

So, this morning, day one of the 11 day holiday, I was up early making a packed lunch, doing a bit of housework, washing etc, then off we went. We got to the show ground, parked the car and almost ran to the area. Just as we were looking round wondering where to stand, there was an announcement saying the yakovlevs would be displaying in 5 minutes! EEEEeek! we chose a spot on a bit of higher ground ( I was determined to get as close as possible lol) and waited.

Looked round, waited, heard a noise..... and there they were!!!! 2 of the most exquisite planes you'll ever see. They did a wonderful 15 minute display, made a heart shape in smoke, one of the planes rolled and dipped and 'stalled' as if it was going to fall out of the sky! The talent those pilots have is amazing. But all too soon it was over, I clapped and cheered and waved as they flew overhead on their way.

I happen to know, bit of inside knowledge, that they were hoping to do a fly over Great Budworth (Where I do my church fetes) so as I filmed them flying away, you can hear me say "Come on...lets get to Budworth" Sadly I wouldn't have made it in time, but my thanks go to the guys who flew today, for making my day a perfect one.

When I grow up I wanna be famous....

2009-06-27T19:55:00.003+01:00

I wanna be a star I wanna be in movies.....

I, my dear friends, am going to be a calender girl ;)

There is a wonderful photographer, Jan Miller, who is going to take photos of us at work for a calender. We are going to dress up as movie stars. Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Braveheart, Cruelle DeVille, James Bond etc, have our photos taken and then be turned into a calender. We've not decided any logistics yet such as where the money will go (we're thinking the Autistic Society) and who will sponsor us etc, but its going to be FUN!

I'm going as one on my all time favourite stars, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. I'm already called Dorothy because I wear red sparkly shoes all the time. I bought This...

I'm going to the fabric store tomorrow to buy some fabric to make my own outfit, Might just buy some yarn while I'm at it...
I also bought this cutie....

I did ask Jack and Phoebe if they would come and do the photo shoot with me, but they wont. This is not only a Toto in a basket, it has a zip so can be used as a handbag!!!!!!!!!! Guess who is going to be dressing up on more than the one occasion? ;) lol

WHERE.....

2009-06-24T10:58:00.010+01:00

....have I been these last 6 months?

I can hardly believe its been that long! My computer packed up just before I started my new job on Jan 26th, and mums laptop won't connect to the Internet, the PC at home is slower than a snail therefore not worth even bothering with, it tries to load pages but after 10 minutes of trying, gives up bless it. I didn't bother getting a laptop because each month I was throwing money at my car trying to get her back to working order, unfortunately after spending nearly £2,000 on repairs, I took her in for her MOT and she failed, and there was nothing I could do to get her fixed, so she has got to go to the great Scrapyard in the sky :( She's sitting in the drive now because I cant bear to part with her, and until I can get a new car I don't need the space so...R.I.P Bronte. When I realised I didn't have to spend any more on her, I bought this laptop and didn't realise how much I'd missed being online!!! Its great to be back.

As for work, well its great. I started in Jan and worked 7 days a week for the first 2-3 weeks, we all did, but now its settled down and I'm not only getting proper days off (without being called in or phoned) I actually had a week off last week so its all good. There are only 7 of us staff and the General Manager, the ushers are all volunteers and are a great bunch. I am so lucky I get on with everyone really well, some better than others obviously but that's life.

We have a wonderful building to work in, there's the front of house, through to a gallery space with a different exhibition each month, a studio which holds 150 people and converts from a cinema to a theatre,

we can have live shows there (we had one and I got to be the lighting tech which was wonderful)

then the cafe and another custom built studio for just films, 2 meeting rooms for hire, the projection rooms and finally on the third floor an IT suite for hire with laptops and an interactive whiteboard (which i played on the other day and its great).

I get the same days off each week at the moment, work the same shifts, work with the same people and apart from the odd 'fall out' between us we get on great. Yesterday I was off and today I start at 4, finish at 11 so its like another day off. For the first time in a lot of years I am happy at work, happy with my free time because I have time to knit and the money to afford it lol and new friends to spend time with. And now, Icing on the cake...a laptop so I can Blog about it all.

Fete news

2009-06-23T14:37:00.005+01:00

Saturday the 20th June 2009, The Great Budworth Summer Fete.
Cottage Crafts as usual, packed up and moved to Cheshire for the day. Set up stall in the drizzle and high winds (we are nothing if not British!) we were determined not to have the fete in the Church this year. We put the Gazebo up and started putting some stock on the table, but the wind was driving the intermittent rain into the area so we struggled to get the curtains up round the Gazebo. It actually looked much nicer for having them.

I took the usual mix of Lavender filled Hearts and sachets, in summer colours, pink florals, citrus colours and a nice brown set with tartan and flowers, knitted toys, cupcakes, gift sets, jams, sweets etc.

The Best seller of the day happened to be a joint effort between mum and myself...Knitted Jelly baby toys!!! A small girl came over when we were setting up and asked if she could have one, she chose the orange one. Then a few minutes later she came back with 2 of her siblings who bought the green and yellow toys. Later on that afternoon Dad came over and asked if he could have the other two, one for his wife and one for the baby, so the whole family of jelly babies went to one family which was lovely to know.

A surprise 'non seller' is this gorgeous Bride and Groom, made by mum, we thought seeing as we were in Church they might sell..but no, they came home with us again and are ready to be gifted to a newly married couple or sold on ETSY maybe.

The baby booties that I am so fond of making at the moment sold well too, they are so pretty.

THE BEST part of the whole day was this tho....

A brief video I managed to take of the Yakovlev display which opened the fete. " planes privately owned by someones brother" (thats all I knew) , but it was THE most amazing thing I've ever experienced. I've always loved planes and airshows, the Red Arrows have been a favourite for a long time, but these were something else! I watched with my heart beating fit to jump out of my chest, I had a serious pain, my eyes were watering, well..ok ok I had tears streaming down my face, i was shaking and have NEVER enjoyed something SO much in my life.

Watching an episode of Monk on Sunday, shedding a tear because Adrian was so lost, mum turned to me and said that I couldnt be crying over Adrian because he didnt have my heart anymore, that is in a Yakovlev in Wiltshire lol

Adrian, you will always have a piece of my heart but the Yaks have moved right on in :D

Procrastinating on a Friday

2009-06-19T13:13:00.002+01:00

GOING......GOING.....

GONE.....

The baby of the house is a 'crafty' girl herself, just like mummy, she loves to help and to be involved, BUT, being a baby, it all gets too much sometimes. Sewing up baby shoes is very tiring!

Yes, its the Church Summer Fete tomorrow and what am I doing? am I sewing stuff together? knitting washcloths? putting lids on jam? defrosting apple sauce? making cakes or cooking chicken? NO, I'm playing on the computer lol I've gone into meltdown. I'm working from 4pm today as its our official opening night so I've not got much time, and I've got to go shopping in a while too, so its all got too much. I've given up.

One last thought for Friday, I LOVE the Proclaimers new song 'Love can move mountains'.

AHEM

2009-06-12T12:34:00.003+01:00

Dis REALLY be the face of Happee....
I Have a new laptop, and i WILL be back in blogland from now on :D

Its a Dell, Cadbury chocolate purple, same as my darling (now extinct) car Bronte, so she lives on in the laptop. (and also in the drive because I cant bear to part with her even though she can never be driven again)

I will be playing catch up for the next week or so, I'm preparing for the Church Summer Fete on the 20th June, then after that I'll be a happy (regular) blogger I hope :)

I've missed you all!!!!!!!!!!!

Bragging

2008-12-27T16:06:00.005Z

Look what I had for Christmas *grin*

Made by my beautiful friend Katy. Such a talented girl! Thank you so much sweetie!

I had a LOVELY couple of days, didn't do very much of anything which was perfect. I've managed to crack on with knitting lots of things without feeling guilty for sitting. I started the pot holders for mums cousin Joan, did a front and sleeve of a cardi I'm making for myself, made mum a hat on Christmas day, updated Ravelry with pics etc. Its been great. Present wise, I've had a couple of books, a big glossy bird book, pyjamas, a dvd, an enamel tin for keeping my knitting in, a fantastic knitters project book, like Ravelry on paper, some tiny high heeled shoe magnets - very me!, candles, and various other things. If I was to list the ingredients for a perfect Christmas, it would be the one I just had. Plenty to eat, things to do, mum, my children with lots of legs, seeing my friends and Godchildren on Christmas Eve, and crap TV :D

These are a few of the things I made for presents.

An acorn bag for Lucy, a wrap for Julie, a cactus for Vicky and hats for Sean and Tomos.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T22:20:00.002Z

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse....
Well it's not this house that's for sure!
I got very behind after spending most of yesterday messing about in the supermarket and in town, I had to go and play Santa today, so that meant the time I'd put aside for cleaning the birds out and making my bed with clean sheets, had been taken up so I had to do it tonight instead of sitting with my feet up lol The garden is wet and muddy, so that means the floors in the house are wet and muddy thanks to 2 small children with lots of legs! Its 10pm now tho and its all done. Bed certainly is calling :D I have to be in bed before Santa comes!

I dropped a couple of things off at the hospital today at maternity....a beautiful angel jacket that mum made after re-learning to crochet, and a baby boy toy I made trying to work out my billy and cooey pattern from years ago. I wrapped them both and labelled them for the first baby girl and boy born on Christmas day. I hope they find a good home.

Its been an up and down year this year, with the loss of a dear friend, greatly missed this Christmas, but lots of good things happening too. One of the best Christmas presents I could have had arrived in my inbox this morning, an offer of a job at the new cinema/theatre that's opening in February, so I'm delighted. I had my eye on this job years ago when they announced what it was to be, my friend Gareth told me he'd seen the plans and i got all excited, I whispered a mantra when i walked past the construction site "pleasepleasepleaseplease" so it looks like its paid off :) I cant wait! It really sounds like the perfect job for me.

My dear blogger friends, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas, may your presents be plenty and your troubles few.

*Pic at the top, Jack waiting for Santy Claus

ITS HERE!!! Its HEEEEERE!!!!!!!

2008-12-16T13:21:00.008Z

My Christmas Spirit has arrived, under the recently put up Christmas trees (yes we are a three tree family) and I am EXCITED!!!!

I haven't bought many presents yet, there are still a few days, but the trees are up, the presents are planned, the knitted goods are being churned out at a rate of knots, and the cards are almost written ready to post tomorrow :)

So while the spirit is strong within this young skywalker.....a few photos of the daytime Trees. Night shots to follow :)

This is the tree in the dining room.

The sideboard in the dining room, the bookshelf is where I keep all my audio books. Its now home to my silver reindeer collection :)

This is part of the Alan Dart Advent Calender collection, my friend Steve asked me to knit him a santy for his tree....so here he is :D Isn't it CUTE?

This is the Tree in the living room, it looks like nothing in the daytime, in the sunshine.

This year we are going for the Homely, knitted tree decs. They are from the Alan Dart Advent Calender set, and they actually look VERY cute!

And Finally...the little tree in my room. Its 3 feet of birdy loveliness :)

This is a Nativity scene that mum bought me when I was very young, at my baby school Christmas fete, it was made by a lady called Anne (Tall lady, lived in Abbey Road)Davies....Roberts.... blonde hair and she was always with a smaller dark haired woman, she had kids that were either younger or older than you.... (My mums recollections that I just HAD to share)

Christmas Fete

2008-12-01T09:13:00.002Z

Finally, the day I seem to have been working towards for about 3 years (well that's how it feels) arrived. The Great Budworth Advent Market.

I was still up at 11pm on Friday night sewing crackers together and sewing pins on flower brooches, but it all came together in the end.

Saturday morning dawned cold and frosty, but absolutely clear and bright and wit sky as blue as a periwinkle here at home...Budworth, in Cheshire, about an hour from here on the other hand.... as soon as we got away from the sea it started to get foggy, and we drove the whole way in thick fog :( Very unpleasant.

We arrived at the Church tho safe and sound and everyone was delighted to see us. We had prime position (selling wise) the first stall inside the doorway, but as for cold .....brrrrrr

I had sent cards to all my mums cousins as usual, telling them we would be there again. Didn't really expect to see any of them as most of them came to the summer fete, but Our Nita and Joan came again, and Donald and Susan who didn't make it last time, so this year we've actually seen all of them! :D My mums cousins (I don't know what relation they are to me) are the funniest bunch ever, they all have the Elson sense of humour, they are all huggy and warm and just the most gorgeous bunch of people ever :) I'm proud to call them my family.

We didn't sell over much, because there just wasn't the turn out there was at the Summer fete, but we made quite a bit for the Church and actually came away with a bit of cash for me and mum too :D

I was asked by our Joan to make a pot holder, so that's on the list of things to make for Christmas, and also a lady asked me to make her some Thank you cards for her Wedding. She's getting married in the Church in 2 weeks, and wanted my Church notecards as Thank you cards. I've spoken to her this morning and we've arranged a price etc, so I shall crack on with them this afternoon and blog about that separately. Just for now I'll add a few pics of the fete and the stuff we made :)

My favourite waste of time

2008-11-22T13:46:00.000Z

What a fun way to spend a wet and windy afternoon!!!!Thanks to the wonderful Gal Friday for this idea.
If you want to play along What you do is this:

You answer 12 questions, and then use those answers to search Flickr.
1. You have to type your answer to each of the 12 questions listed below into Flickr Search.
2. Then, using only the first page of search results, pick one image.
3. Copy & paste the URL for each image into this cool mosaic maker (after adjusting it to make sure there are 12 squares).
4. You then put the photos you get as search results into a mosaic, that while are not your images (I have the credits listed for the talented photographers in a list below, as well), but kind of describe you and your life in a visual feast of a photo collage (mosaic).

1. What is your first name? (Samantha)
2. What is your favorite food? (Pasta)
3. What high school did you go to? (Abergele, the photo is Kinmel Hall gates where we did cross country running, usually on wet and cold and windy days like this)
4. What is your favorite color? (Pink)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? (Noel Edmonds)
6. Favorite drink? (Juice)
7. Dream vacation? (Scotland)
8. Favorite dessert? (Creme Brulee)
9. What did you want to be when you grew up? (Farmer, when I was very small)
10. What do you love most in life? (Books)
11. One word to describe you. (Emotional)
12. Your own photo on Flikr. (As I stole this from Tina, the photo is of a little blue bird I sent to her hubby a while ago)

1. the forest, 2. hot pasta : ), 3. Kinmel Hall, Abergele, 4. vintage tea set with cupcake, 5. Noel Edmonds, 6. ready for the party......???, 7. Eilean Donan Castle, 8. want to taste a piece of heaven? ...a Spanish variation of Creme Brulee...Crema Catalana..., 9. CROP CIRCLE MAKER - Matthew Williams, 10. llibreria - bookstore - Amsterdam - HDR, 11. I miss you, 12. Jul07305

George and the Dragon

2008-11-21T12:09:00.005Z

A while ago now, I was commissioned to make a jumper for a very special friend.
Lisa my pal in Australia had said that her partner George had asked if maybe Sammy could make him a waistcoat with a Welsh Dragon on it, well Lisa is as evil as me and she said "Don't you go asking Sammy to make things like that!!" to put him off the scent, and she asked me, on the sly, would I do it :) Well Lisa and George are such wonderful people, who are having such a run of bad things at the moment, so how could I refuse?

First of all I found a lovely waistcoat pattern, then all I had to do was find a Welsh Dragon chart that would fit into the amount of stitches I would have on the back. Easy you might think....GAH! i bought a dishcloth pattern and that didn't work, a cross stitch pattern and that was too many stitches, so eventually mum and I printed a picture of a welsh dragon, put some graph paper over it and set to work transferring it. After about 2 weeks of faffing we had something workable, so then we transferred it to larger squared paper, coloured it in then spent the next week transcribing the pattern!

Once I started actually knitting it was easy enough, a lot of stitches, a lot of colour changing and a lot of rows, but it slowly progressed.
I enjoyed it in the beginning but it started to get very tedious doing the fronts and then picking up all the stitches for round the armholes and the bands...I was questioning my sanity by the end of it, but the day I went to buy buttons, and saw the lovely hand crafted wooden buttons on it was a proud day.

The best moment tho was receiving an e mail from George and Lisa to say how pleased they were, and seeing Big G wearing his jumpy :)
I hope you both read this, and I hope you know how much I treasure you both.
Have Many Happy days with your Jumper Georgie :)

The Back piece finished.

The back fully made up

Detail of the armhole bandThe front, hanging in the garden early AM Cottage Crafts, straight from her sleep, modelling the Jumpy

Cottage Crafts, who didn't realise she had SUCH fat arms!!!!

And finally....the man himself in all his glory :)BIG G xxx

A blast from the past

2008-11-17T17:39:00.001Z

Found these darlings in the loft the other day, the very paints that got me through years of University :) I had more but these were always my favourites :)

Show me your Desktop

2008-11-15T19:51:00.000Z

What a great idea!!! I saw this on my dear friend Audreys blog and thought I'd share mine :)

The background image is a painting called 'Fairytale of New York' by Jeff Rowland. Its a painting I saw in an Art Gallery in Solihull, weekend before last when I was with Mr CC. I fell in love with it immediately. Its New York which I love, its Christmassy which I love, its the title of my favourite Christmas song by The Pogues featuring Kirsty McColl...so how could I not love it? Its highly evocative, and the best thing of all is it reminds me of a happy weekend with Nige :)

A friday Fill in, on a Thursday Friday

2008-11-14T20:39:00.002Z

Just having a bit of a Friday Fill-in, even though I was certain it was Thursday today. I seem to have lost a day somewhere.....

I'm suffering from a chronic bout of Sciatica at the moment, I've had it once before worse than this, but after 3 days of pain now, I'm almost in tears, in quite a bad mood and fed up of it!

So, for now, thanks to Tee, heres a blogthing :)
As Basil Fawlty would say "Normal service has been resumed as soon as possible"

You Are a Blueberry Muffin

You are a nurturing, domestic, homey person.

Of all the types, you are the most likely to make your own muffins at home.

You don't like to rock the boat, and you're most content when you're making everyone else happy.

You are very loyal. You'll defend your family and friends, even if you secretly disapprove of what they're doing.

You tend to be a bit shy and withdrawn. You don't make friends quickly or easily. But once you do make a good friend, the chances are high that you'll be friends for life.

What Kind of Muffin Are You?

ENCORE!

2008-11-10T13:26:00.004Z

I have been missing in action again, I do apologise! Its been for a VERY good reason tho :)

As you know, I'm the Stage manager for the local Operatic society, and after the Fantastic 'King and I' our latest show was a celebration of 75 years of musical Theatre, Just up my street. The show was called 'Encore' and has just finished. The post mortem is tonight but i know we outdid ourselves ticket sales wise. We needed something like 800 people to make it worthwhile, and we'd sold over 1,300 so WELL DONE GUYS!

It was an easy show for me, no costumes, no scenery, no fly cues, just calls and lighting changes so I managed to film a lot of the show, either off the show relay or from my desk in the wings. This is one of my favourite parts of the show, end of Act 1. Before the parade passes by and Come follow the band. Hope you enjoy the clip

HELLO!!!!!

2008-10-02T13:33:00.009+01:00

I am a horrible blogger! I should be beaten for neglecting my beloved blog!

I guess recent events have knocked me for six, its been a whirlwind few weeks. Losing a close friend but finding a new love. Its like yin and yang, life goes on. I made a promise to Lee that I would start to live my life again, so here we go.

On the work front, I have been working, it took a bit of a back seat to start with. I was told I was an emotional knitter, and i noticed that if i was down the knitting was all over everywhere and i was sick to death on frogging it and starting again so i just took my time.

The big project I'm working on is almost finished, and as soon as its with the recipient I can talk about that, i've started a cardi for myself.....

Made a hat.....

Mr Cottage Crafts wearing the hat......

Christmas tree decorations are coming along nicely, I'll blog about them seperately, but for now.....I'll just leave you with my love and a big Happy smile :D

A Request

2008-09-07T08:34:00.000+01:00

As I posted a few days ago, I made some baby blankets recently for the premature baby unit at the local hospital. I finally got round to taking them in on Thursday. I was treated like Royalty, I only had the 2 blankets, one pink and one multicoloured, but they were so delighted, I felt so warm and fuzzy :)

The blankets are only small, only take one ball of yarn and dont take long to make, so I'm hoping to make some more in between 'jobs' at it were.

The Hospital, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, and the baby unit SCBU, are desperate for blankets, which brings me to my request.

Its just something i'm asking you all to keep in mind for the future, If you have any spare yarn, or would like to donate any yarn for me to make blankets into, it would be SO appreciated by the babies. Maybe if anyone is sending me something for a swap for example, tuck a ball of yarn in as well and I can knit or crochet it into a blanket and a little baby will have a blanket because of your generosity.

Thanks everyone :)

A Shiny Happy Post

2008-09-06T13:57:00.009+01:00

I hate weekends usually, it comes from not working a 9 to 5 working week, to me weekends are just chock full of people, nothing on telly and are grey and a waste of space lol I long for Mondays!

Today tho, oh no...today is shaping up to be a GRrrrRRRRREAT day :)

I received a parcel from my dear friend Audrey over at Marmayarn, it was supposed to be a 'swap'. A return gift for something I sent Audrey a while ago, but this was no straight swap, this was Heaven on Toast! Audrey you have spoiled your old friend lol

Not only did I receive the most gorgeous handknit socks, in my favourite colours, purples, greens and yellows

I also had a gorgeous green bag, just right for the essentials, a book, a phone and a bar of chocolate ;)

thats not all...oh no... 2 bath sets consisting of a soft washcloth and a headband in a pink and very pale pink/purple soy yarn, they are so soft and beautiful that there is no way they are going in our stinky old bathroom lol They have new homes...

as if all those goodies weren't enough! Audrey had also added a gorgeous bar of soap and tin of sweets...

AND...something for the kids too :) Phoebe had put her dirty feet on Audreys letter so it was sent with doggy love, so Audrey kindly returned the affection and sent the kids some biscuits (which Jack has almost eaten already) Fi is fast asleep but I'm saving her bikkies for when shes awake.

Can you tell how excited I was by all these wonderful things? *grin*

Add to that a lovely letter from my friend Michelle, who has just had a huge bereavement, her beloved mum just passed away, and I've been desperately worried about her.

PLUS a replacement 'plumpy' arrived too. I bought myself a feather bed, duvet and pillows not long ago, the feather bed has lost all its plump tho, even shaking it up every day its still no more comfortable than an ordinary mattress now, so mum kindly rang the company and asked what to do, and hey said they would send us a newer model, and arrange pick up for the old one. So I'm looking forward to bed tonight :) This one looks much more plumpy than the last one ever did :D

Add to all that excitement, a lovely long lie in, 8am got up and got a drink, went back to bed to read and listen to my audio book and just lie there watching the torrential rain, relaxing and feeling pretty much all was well with the world for a while. *Big contented sigh*

update

2008-08-31T20:53:00.002+01:00

LEE WOODS July 27th 1946 -

August 31st 2008

I Love you Lee

A Sign

2008-08-31T09:00:00.000+01:00

A bit of a funny post, a bit off 'topic' of the Cottage Crafts blog, but a very important thing to me that I want to share. My friend Lee, my lovely Lee, has taken a turn for the worse, and isn't up to visitors, so I with a heavy heart I have to think about saying goodbye to my dear friend.

When we worked together in Sealife, there were 5 of us who were the best of friends. Me, Lee, Baz, Mel and Adam. We all worked different areas so we were more often than not in together most days. I was manager, Lee head of talks, Baz head of maintenance, Mel head of displays, Adam kitchen. We referred to ourselves as the A-Team and were happy when we were together.

Mel mocked up this picture of us and we all loved it :_

Mel came with me to the Dressed to Kill gig on Friday night, and of course during the hour long drive to the gig we discussed old days at sealife, obviously we talked about Lee and wished he could be with us. During the gig, the boys stopped playing for a chat, they gave some of their friends a shout, saying they had some people from Edinburgh there, someone from Stoke, someone from Wales *WOOOOOOOOOO* heeh .... then suddenly they broke into a bit of an impromptu ditty....usually Danny plays his fave The Simpsons theme tune, but Friday night Ian beat a little rhythm on his drums and Ash picked it up and ran with it...playing THE A-TEAM THEME!!!! Completely out of the blue, they all picked up on it and played the whole theme. WELL! Mel and I looked at each other and were quite frankly shocked! we raised our drinks and said "To Lee"...

It seemed to me as if it was a bit of a sign, as if someone was reminding me that no matter what happens, the people I love will always be with me, no matter where I am or what I'm doing. i take them with me in my heart, and in my memories of them. The fact remains that my life is so much richer for having known everyone of them, and as the song goes...they cant take that away from me.

God Bless you all.

Dressed to Kill

2008-08-30T21:07:00.002+01:00

These are the most gorgeous guys in the whole world! I have decided :) What am I saying? I decided that long ago!
Dressed to Kill, Europes Premier Kiss tribute band, as seen on Gene Simmons Rock school.
I went to see them play last night, and I was blown away as always.
the highlights are (as always) being blown a kiss by ash from the stage, being waved at by Danny mid solo, Gary shooting off the stage straight to give me a kiss, and Ian saying how wonderful it was to see me and it had been too long :)

I love them and everything they have given me over the 10+ years I've known them. There was also an amazing 'happening' last night, a sign if you like, well I took it as a sign anyway. I'll talk about that tomorrow when I've had sleep. 3am finishes are too much for this old lady.

The Cottage Crafts sewing Box ;)

2008-08-25T17:23:00.003+01:00

I have always wanted one of these. Mum and I were in the yarn shop last week after our class and I was looking for yarn while mum was looking at these sewing boxes. She says "Which one do you like?" so I pointed to this one, the others were round or hexagonal, but I like boxes to be box shaped. she asked was I ready and I said yes, and we started to put the boxes back on the shelf where they had been. I put this one back and she shouts "NOT THAT ONE" lol "I want that one" so she just takes it to the till, and pays for everything, my ball of yarn and pair of needles as well :)

This is how it looks inside...complete with baby bobbins of cotton, scissors, needles, buttons, tape measure and hooks and eyes

Inside I can keep everything I need, my stitch holder, pencil, scissors, buttons, toy eyes etc

A place to keep my knitting needle gauge, and my folding scissors on a key chain....

Somewhere to FINALLY keep my sewing up needles, I always lose them in the bottom of bags etc and when I come to sew something up it takes ages to find one.

These were a present to me from me. I wanted them now so that when I finish the 'project' for Lisa, I can sew one into it.

My beautiful handmade stitch holders, pink roses and rose quartz hearts to be kept in my little butterfly tin :)

I'm a Lucky Girl :D

The Red Arrows!

2008-08-23T17:48:00.011+01:00

Well, I had a post all lined up for today, I took photos and everything, then it was eclipsed by a noise.
I wondered was it Thundering because it had suddenly gone grey and rainy. The noise went away. The noise came back.....I looked out of the window, nothing. The noise went away.....then returned with a vengeance!

I looked out of the window and who should fly straight past? THE RED ARROWS!
I grabbed for the camera and shot out into the road to see what photos I could get. They are not great, but I saw THE greatest air display I have EVER seen! My goodness, They were AMAZING! I don't think I've ever seen them before but there they were, swooping and passing, leaving red, white and blue trails across the grey sky, right at the end of my road. The setting was perfect, Mount Snowdon in the background, the Royal Air Force Red Arrows Air Display Team, rain, lots of rain, i got soaked, and my pups watching from the window :D

Those who know me well, know I'm not too great with adrenaline....so I'm expecting headaches and tears by tomorrow because my God, that was a HUGE adrenaline rush! i was blown away by them :) FANTASTIC!!!

This week in pictures

2008-08-21T15:48:00.005+01:00

Had an e mail from this wonderful man.
This is Mark Bittner, author of 'The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill'. I e mailed Mark to ask if I could send my copy of his book to him to sign, and he replied. I returned his e mail with a note to say how much I had loved one partictlar love story, and he replied again.
Its made my day. I admire him so much.

I went to the beach yesterday after Crochet class. It was quite windy and the sea was choppy and brown with all the sand it was churning up, but I was surrounded by a flock of starlings who sang to me :)
Picked, and ate, the first tomatoes of the year. They are Tigerella toms, with lovely striped skins. Very delicious but this weather we've been having, lots of rain and lots of dry, meant the skins are splitting because they arent getting a constant supply of water, but we'll try again next year.
Realised by the way the plants are growing through the xchairs, that I obviously havent spent any time sitting out this year :( That makes me sad.
My favoured steamer chair being overtaken with hops. It kinda looks magical.

The first plum from my tree!
Prouly picked and eaten warm from the tree. Again theres been a problem with watering and all the stones inside are in 2 pieces, but it doesnt affect the taste ONE BIT! They are delicious!
Knitted a welsh Dragon Dishcloth but made a pretty big mess of it, there are stretched stitches and baggy loops, and it wont photograph very well, so I'm going to frog it and start again. Its a lovely pattern tho.

Made another baby blanket out of a random colour ball of yarn i chose ages ago. I just loved the colours and its crochet-ed (no idea what the word is) up very nicely.

Added a shell border to the original pink blanket to tidy it up a bit more. I love the random yarns so I bought a blue/white/ turquoise and yellow ball for the next blanket, but I'm uing up some stash yarn first in a pale baby green.

Crochet part 2 ...part 2

2008-08-14T15:46:00.002+01:00

I just couldnt resist having a go at budgies tail, it went to well I had a go at wings and the next minute ....Meet Sammy :)
And just because shes beautiful...a photo of my Muse, Ms Madelaine Bassett. Take a bow maddie...

Crochet course part 2

2008-08-14T13:12:00.003+01:00

I'm LOVIN this crochet lark!
Yesterday I took my pattern with me and my yarn and while the teacher, a lovely lady called Gwyneth, went round the room helping 'the Margarets' as they are called, i started my budgie. well, when I say I started, I stared at the pattern, at the hook, at the wool, glared at it all accusingly for a while, looked round the room helpless for a while, whimpered, then decided to have a go.

I had a go and started off with something that was starting to resemble a budgie head....so i worked out the stitch i needed, worked out the tension, then undid it, and started again with a porpoise. Maybe that's where I went wrong? should I have started with a purpose?

Anyway, the result of the 2 hour lesson was me sat on my own making a budgie lol i didn't get any help and I came out with THIS......

I'm REALLY proud of my budgie body. I did have a go at his tail last night but after doing it wrong and un-doing it 10 times, I gave up and left it for a while. I'll try again today and let you know how it goes :)

Yesterday was a good day for another reason. I asked in the yarn shop, just on the off chance, not really hoping, if they needed any part time staff?.....well they DO! i chatted to 2 of the girls I know who work there and they said they would vouch for me as a customer for years and Rhian said my work is exquisite!!! so I'm going to mention their names and hope the management ask them about me and they put in a good word.

I've always said that when I leave a job, something always comes up, and yet again it has. I didn't want to work just anywhere, that's why I left the mill of tweed, but i don't know that I can ignore a job in a yarn shop....can I?....

These are a few of my favourite things

2008-08-11T09:16:00.004+01:00

Here is a box.

A magical Box

A box full of treasures.

Open the lid and peep inside...

Just a few of my favourite things.

Here they all are spread out on my bed

This watch has a story behind it. I bought my dad a watch with an old penny for the face, and I had this one with a sixpence face. I wore it for years then packed it away as I had another watch. Forward a few years, dads no longer with us and I find his watch in his drawer.. I wonder where mine is and go to my jewellery box to look and its not there. i start to turn the place inside out looking for it and cant find it anywhere. Later on I'm sitting in the front room and I hear a crash in my room. I run in and find a tin on the floor, hair bobbles and an old necklace spilled out, and alongside that...my watch. now thats not that exciting, but the purple cord thats tied round the watch now, was also on the floor in the shape of a heart. i like to think I asked my dad where my watch was and he told me....

These are my handpainted Viking Runes, painted onto tiny wee stones I collected myself on the beach, all kept in a purple velvet bag for future use. I pull them out every now and again, think of a question and see which stone I chose. I recently got J, the year of harvest, Here we see the reaping of rewards for past efforts. It can be seen as the end of one thing and the beginning of another.

The moonstones are stones I cleansed in streamwater, left them to dry overnight by the light of the full moon, burned candles by them....and now i forget what they are for lol But they are gorgeous. Also an ammonite fossil and a tiny silver, red indian feather off a dreamcatcher.

The first card I got off my Jabbykins, from a special little boy hehehe

A packet of strawberry soap petals for a special daughter, that mum gave me, one of my favourite chocolates, a Teaser, its an egg shaped chocolate with chopped up bits af malteaser in it.
Photo of jabby

This is a Kirks Folly box, I adore Kirks Folly jewellery and the boxes it comes in, I also keep feathers from my birds, these look mostly like Madelaines wing feathers. theres another Thimble box with some finch feathers in it, and yet another box with American Blue Jay feathers. you can see a couple of larger feathers to the side.

I bought these Thistle candles the first time I went to visit Billy in Edinburge. My friend Baz and I flew up from Manchester in 25 minutes :) It was my first time in Scotland, my fist time on a plane, and i LOVED it! I bought everything I could find in the Royal Mile with a Thistle on it :)

The other Kirks Folly box with Finch Feathers, on the lid are two tiny wee budgies I bought for STUPID money off e-bay years ago, I think I paid about £7 each, bearing in mind they are about 5mm long....thats a lot of money lol i just adored them but now dont know what to do with them.

the stone on the lid is my Toadstone. The story is that if you go to a place you believe has fairies, you leave them a gift with only love in your heart and if they wish, they will leave you a gift in return, usually a toadstone. A mottled green and blue stone that has been imbued with magical powers. You sleep with it under your pillow and it brings all your wishes to life. I was camping in Lincoln, saw a gorgeous tree and thought if fairies were going to live anywhere, it would be there. So i left them a little cake and my love. the next morning we packed up and came home, didnt think anything of it. Next Morning went into work, and there on my desk was this. I asked everyone of they knew where it had come from, but someone had been using my desk while i was away and had cleared if before i got back and they didnt know what it was or where it had come from....so I believe.

and lastly...The very first Mothers day present I ever had from my boy :)

Perfume my world

2008-08-10T12:16:00.005+01:00

I loved this idea when I saw it on the glorious Hot Kerfuffle blog ages ago, so I thought while I'm on knitting Hiatus (Just for the day) I'll waste a bit of time telling you about my favourite scents.

I am a very scent orientated person, smells can lift my mood instantly. The smell of a fresh orange or lemon, sweet peas, the first lilac of the year, the smell of a baby budgie, the usual fresh bread and new mown lawn, the smell of the sea...so many things.

Anyway, There is one scent I forgot to add because I havent got any left, just the tiny bottle by my chair. Its something Callie sent from America, called "White Shoulders" and it smells just like a scent my mum used to wear called "L'aiment' which I believe you can still get. I must look out for it. Another smell that I associate with my mum is an Avon scent "Timeless" and something she introduced me to, I think it was Yardley, it was called "Apple Blossom" Gosh dont things come flooding back to you sometimes?

My scents are
1. Flowers by Kenzo.
Its a light floral scent, with a hint of cracked black pepper when you first use it, and then it matures to a gorgeous warm powdery scent that reminds me of the texture of rose petals. I love the slightly spicy kick in the beginning, but it turns to such a comforting scent after a while, and lasts for ages. I was looking for a description and found this

2. Yardley April Violets.Julia and I both remember little bottles of Welsh Violet perfume, in little bottles with a welsh lady on the label, a gold lid and a green ribbon in a bow on an elastic band round the neck of the bottle. Its so hard to find these days (I'm still looking twinsis) but this is the next best thing. I have real welsh violets in the garden and have smelled them growing and picked, have eaten them raw and crystallised and i cant see how they get the scent from them lol This perfume just smells exactly like Parma Violet sweets. I use it when I'm in a happy mood.

3. This one is from Marks and Spencers, they stopped making it after a brief while, it was part of a set including bubble bath and talc and soap, this one is Forget me not, but it was replaced by Hyacinth which I dont like. Again, I have forget me nots in the garden and I dont think they smell, but this one smells like oranges, spice, soft warm blankets, talc, then matures to ...well ..to warm. thats all I can say

4. Another Avon favourite, Soft Musk. Vanillery, soft musky scent, gosh I cant describe this smell, its delicious, not like the Body Shops White Musk, its softer and gentler, again i show my predisposition to warm scents. An intimate, warm musk infused with jasmine and rose

5. Marks and Spencers again, a cheap and cheerful bottle i just picked up because it was £3, slightly spicy, warm, powdery and floral. according to the website this is This scintillating fragrance combines top notes of pepper and purple freesia accords. In the middle white heliotrope and jasmine accords go beautifully with hibiscus blossom and rose. Precious cedarwood and sandalwood create a delicate base fragrance, which expresses the essence of feminine beauty

6. Fantasy by Britney Spears. I met this scent when I started in Tweedmill. I used to go straight to it about 5pm when we were all tidied up, waiting to go home, but still had an hour to look busy. It smells like (here it comes again) warm chocolate. The website says "The story of fantasy starts with lush red lychees, golden quince and exotic kiwi. It continues with the scents of cupcakes, sexy white chocolate, orchid and jasmine petals and draws to a close with the scents of creamy musk, orris root and sensual woods.

7. Naj Oleari, my favourite. It would be my favourite because I cant get it anywhere anymore. Its a slightly more exotic scent, still the usual warm musky scent, with pepper and is ideal for me when i need to feel feminine or sexy.

8. I've put this one in because its a vital part of my scent-sational range. Its by Avon, called Sleeptherapy and its a pillow and room spray. When I'm feeling a bit down and tired and generally not too grand, I open my bedroom window, tidy and dust all round, make my bed with fresh sheets, then when i go to bed I spray this round and on my pillow and I sleep like a log. It says its lavender but I personally cant smell the lavender in it because i'm not keen on the smell, but this is so relaxing. Thats exactly what i'll be doing tonight :)

Babies!

2008-08-09T10:59:00.003+01:00

Babies....I'm not keen on them, I was terrified of my Godson when he was first born, I was left in charge of him for a while when his mum was trying to get some rest, but I'd sit on the floor next to his cot and stare at him terrified he wasn't breathing! When he woke, I was too afeared to pick him up for ages, but we muddled through and now he's almost 11 and we're good friends. I didn't have the same fears with my god daughter thankfully. Saying I'm not fond of babies tho, I was oncommon fond of my two, still am even though they are both grown up now. T is almost 11 and L is 9 and a half and a prouder godmother you'd be hard pressed to find.

I only talk about babies because my practice piece of crochet grew and grew and lent itself to being a babies blanket, so I am off to the premature baby unit in the local hospital with it this week. I'll definitely make some more, I'll get some soft baby yarns and make a few more, pastel and bright colours. I'll donate the blanket, and subsequent ones, in the name of a darling friend of mine who actually likes the things lol I would try to swap my blanket for a wee baby for her, but i couldn't afford the postage, so the blankets will go to comfort babies in place of a hug from her.
While I'm on the subject of kids, my two started the day at 5am today having a fight! the usual, Phoebe screaming at Jack, Jabs screaming cos shes got him pinned somewhere, shes a nasty piece of work sometimes, its her only fault. I shut her in the house and me and jack mooched round the garden a bit, then we all came in and they went back to bed and I read for a while. They are now both asleep again, Jack on the windowsill, legs hanging over the edge, twitching as he runs (probably away from his sister) and Fi asleep behind me on my chair, trying to get as close to me as she can, without actually getting inside me!

For Lisa

2008-08-08T13:46:00.005+01:00

Sorry for the lack of posting that's been going on in the world of Cottage Crafts lately, I've just been quite busy but working on lots of things, none of which were finished enough to show off, so today i sewed the socks up, lined the bag, sewed the ends into the dishcloth, and made a list..or 5.

I was asked to participate in a 'journal' swap recently, but was going to decline. It was just to keep a journal or diary for a week and send it to a partner. My friend Lisa said she wouldn't join because she wouldn't know what to write, i said well, recipes, handy hints and tips, patterns etc, anything at all. Lisa then said she would join so I felt I should as well so I bought a pretty notebook that Lisa could use afterwards and fill up with her own recipes etc.

My friend Lisa is a wonderful woman, as are all my friends, I'm blessed! Lisa has been through a hard time, brought up in difficult times, married to a man who beat her physically and emotionally, deprived her in every way imaginable, yet through all that she has raised two wonderful children, and is such a kind, generous, giving lady. She has taken me into her life and made me feel part of her family. Her wonderful partner Big G, and her mum, my gramma :)

Unfortunately Lisa is torn between wanting to be at home with her family, her chooks and cat and beautiful land, and to be across the other side of Australia to be with gramma. She has just had to make the 24 hour journey across land to stay with gramma after she had a nasty fright.

SO, I decided to treat my lovely friend and make her some extra goodies. I made a little handbag to put the book into, lined it with piggy fabric as she likes pigs, and made a dishcloth with a kiwi on it, just because I thought it was cute. The legwarmers I made are for Gramma who suffers with bad knees. Lisa has asked me to make something, which I cant mention at the moment, and she also mentioned that she would like a pair of bed socks. Well, I've never even considered making socks before but I had a go and they came out pretty well if I do say so myself :) I want to make a few adjustments to the pattern and make some for another friend who's just has some devastating news about her mum.

The Cottage Crafts Garden yields its harvest

2008-08-07T14:27:00.000+01:00

I can do it, I really CAN!

2008-08-06T17:05:00.005+01:00

How VERY exciting!!!!

I signed up for a 'Learn to crochet' course at the local craft centre and today was the first lesson. Now my crochet skills are SO limited, I can do (what I think are called) trebles so I can make a granny blanket, which I am doing at the moment, off and on, in pink. I got to the lesson and the lady was lovely, there were 8 of us in the group, all varying skill levels, i was in the middle because i cant actually do it properly, but i know the basics so i got on very well. I started off a bit shakily, as you can see by the little tail below. It is supposed to be a chain with some double crochets into each stitch.

The more I went on, the better it got. I loosened up and it started to look more like doubles.

You can see in the pic below how dodgy my tension is, its tight then loose, I haven't mastered how to hold the yarn to get the tension right yet, but I was SO on top of those pesky doubles ;)

By the end I was breezing through them, talking as well. Talk about Multi tasking!!!!

I'm going to undo the practice piece I did in class and start on another as homework, and make a blanket and donate it to the premature baby unit in the local hospital :)

This is what I want to be able to make at the end of the 4 weeks ;)

Wish me luck ;)

Legwarmers

2008-08-04T00:36:00.003+01:00

My latest creation :)

no blog this time because its 12.42pm...or is it am now....almost 1am anyhoo, and i am a bit too tired to think. I made these for my friend Lisas mum, Luda. I hope she likes them.

Julia says...

2008-07-30T22:53:00.003+01:00

I have been busy again, I'll try to take photos tomorrow of the latest Cottage Crafts creations and list some of them in the shop too. I spent yesterday afternoon with Lee, very nice but also upsetting because I realised, full force, that I'm losing him....but then the fop picked me up and we went for a lovely drive, walk, drive and I came home about midnight smiling again :) *update 2 days later - still smiling*

My Lovely QC said I had to do this, so here I go..although I dont know that I can pick just 1...I'll do my best. I've changed a couple of the questions because I havent seen a play on broadway and had no idea what HGTV was so...here goes

You have to name your favorite - but just 1. That makes it so much harder to pick.

Sport: hmmm already....Snooker
Game: trivial Pursuit
Color: Pink
Movie: Dodgeball (today)
Play I have seen: Martin by Robert Rawles
Musical I have seen: Joseph and his amazing Technicolor dreamcoat
Song: Strutter by Kiss
City I have visited: York
Foreign city I have visited: Paris
Book: Great Expectations - Charles dickens
Children's Book: Bogwoppit by Ursula Moray williams
Classic television show: Dear Ladies
Recent television show: My name is Earl
Modern Actor: Johnny Depp (I cant possibly change that)
Classic Actor: Rock Hudson
Actress: Doris Day
Perfume: Naj Oleari
Food: Pasta
Dessert: Creme Brulee with bananas and strawberries
Chain Restaurant: McDonalds heheheh
Local Restaurant: The Moorings in Anderton
Car: Vauxhall Corsa
Condiment: Vinegar
Kitchen Appliance: bread maker
Home Appliance: Computer
Beauty Product: Liz Earle Cleanse and polish, Hot Cloth Cleanser
Piece of clothing: black vest top
Reality TV Show: Big Brother
Food Network show: The Barefoot Contessa
Author: Joanne Harris
Male Songwriter: Barry Manilow
Female Songwriter: errrrm.....
Holiday: Christmas
Ballet I have seen: Coppelia
Disney character: Eeyore
Flower: sweet pea
Alcoholic drink: Peach Schnapps
Non-Alcoholic drink: orange squash
Magazine: BBC wildlife
Animated movie: The Iron Giant
Season: summer
Male vocalist: Barry Manilow
Female vocalist: Judy Garland
Day of the week: Tuesday
Household Chore: making the beds
Ice Cream: Denbighshire farmhouse vanilla
Candy: Galaxy milk chocolate
Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner

Bear in mind these are just my favourites TODAY lol, ask me tomorrow and i'll give different answers ;)

Meet Julia

2008-07-20T19:42:00.009+01:00

Take a little head, a couple of feet, sew them together, write a few scrappy notes, knit a dress..

and the result is....JULIA

Julia is a loving little Welsh Bunny who wears her daffodil petal dress with pride.
She likes nothing better than picking flowers,

She loves animals and birds, will even pet a topiary birdy

Julia is a keen gardener, her grapes are the talk of Cae Bunny

But at the end of a hard day, Julia likes nothing better than a Cwtch

Nos dda everyone, Sws Mawr xx

I have been working..HONESTLY!

2008-07-19T20:03:00.006+01:00

Ok, I give up. I have tried so many things lately, had loads of big ideas, and not all of them worked out! Cupcakes for example. I see them everywhere, How hard can they be? Harumph!
the first one (on the left) turned out like a ball, so I thought it needed a ribbed 'case' so that resulted in the slightly better one in the middle, complete with sprinkles and cherry. I still wasn't happy so I hunted for a pattern. Cupcake and case in 2 separate pieces? Great I think...NO i decide. (cupcake on right) So cupcakes are still in production.

The next project was to re-create dolls my mum knitted for me when i was first born, called Billy and Cooey. I consulted mum, threw a few ideas together, cobbled a couple of patterns, ended up with a pin headed, Popeye armed freak! OK, i know what needs changing, the pink wool is too thick, the white too thin, the rib on her arms is too bulky so try again. Alicia is abandoned.

Try again, a bit better this time with Alexander, I knitted him a little mousie to hold because all boys like mice don't they? Hmmmm...I don't like his eyes, don't like his big fat hat, or his wobbly neck, just not keen at all

The green 'thing' was another trial and error project. It said knit it on a circular needle, well I'd never used one before so I got all muddled and changed to proper needles, but it had a seam which I didn't like. in the meantime I learned how to use DPN's, double pointed needles, used for knitting in the round for things like socks or random tubes as the Fop thinks i knit. I thought I'd try them with my green project and they worked really well. I added a bit of shaping to give the project a little bottom to sit on, and Voila, a little dolly bag. I used a Merino/cotton mix yarn and its silky, luxurious and pretty darn lovely.
I liked it so much I went straight out and bought some more cotton/merino yarn. Its a bu**er to knit with because it tends to split as you're knitting, the purple was a nightmare! first of all I mucked up the eyelet row and got a mess of lace, so "MuuuUUUuuM?" asked mum to undo it for me, an i tried again, messed it up again, undone again, started again. Eyelet round successfully negotiated, onto the straight for 6 inches. Turned to start the next needle in the round, pulled the spare needle out of my hand an realised I'd pulled the wrong needle so i had 30 stitched flapping around! The next problem I encountered was a broken needle *sigh* luckily I found my grandmothers old steel needles and transferred it to those. trouble is they were a lot shorter so as i turned i found stitches dropped left right and centre! i have to say I didn't enjoy this one as much so I'm a bit wary of starting another one.
this project was a delight! a couple of hours from start to finish. knitting in the round again, the wool is a ball of DK (8 ply) i got to crochet budgies in but I realised I couldn't crochet, so i made a bluebird and this out of it instead. As Rolf Harris would say "Can you tell what it is yet?"

Its a 'Pearapple cozy' handy if you take an apple or pear, (or nectarine or peach even) to work or school with you. It will stop it getting bruised in transit. I will be making lots more of these, I really enjoyed it and I love the little picot edging round the top.

another of the Scottie dogs I enjoy so much :) This time a mini one with a HUGE boney for him to enjoy. This is a gift for a very talented, fellow crafter

As is this little fellow, another really quick knit taken from a pattern i bought a few years ago. Its actually a marzipan pig Christmas tree ornament, but i don't think anyone will mind :) I want to call her Penelope, but its up to the young lady she is destined for to name her.

So there we are, some secrets given away, but the reason I haven't really posted much lately.

Tuesday...feels like Sunday

2008-07-15T14:38:00.005+01:00

I have come to the conclusion that I have an 'iffy' day each week, usually Sunday for some reason, I've never liked Sundays...but this week I breezed through Sunday straight into the brick wall that is Tuesday. I haven't posted for ages, mainly because I have been working hard on various different projects, none of them right yet, so I'll just give a taster...

number 1 thing first had a seam which I didn't like, so I knitted it in the round and it had a pointy 'bum' so that took 3 attempts, its right now but is waiting to be sent to a friend so cant say what that is.

number 2 thing was a dolly. When I was expected mum knit two baby dolls called Billy and Cooey, one pink and one blue (Both packed in the loft at the moment) and I wanted to re-create those, (bit hard from memory) so i knitted one and she had a tiny small heed and a hat big enough for a real baby, arms like popeye and just looked so, so wrong..so Alicia and her brother Alexander are still under construction.

The felt Scotties are coming along well, but again are spoken for and are on the way to friend

number 3 thing was an extra idea I had today, so I spent all morning working on that, its finished and is perfect, but until doodlebug gets it...again cant say what it is....

The final thing I've been working on is a cupcake. I've seen lots of them on various blogs, all adapted by the blog owner, so i decided to have a go of my own. the first one just looked like a ball, so i tried again, this time it has a ribbed 'case' and a cherry on top and sprinkles, but still isn't right, so maybe knitted in 2 pieces, ribbed case and muffin top to be sewn into the case, or my bun shape in a separate case...so 2 more attempts at getting that right and we might be there.

I've been doing a bit of gardening, spent the evening with Sarah eating strawberries and watching the rain, spent time with the fop also, that was lovely, i haven't seen him for ages and realised how much I missed the physical presence of him. i love talking online, but its different to be held by a big Strong pair of arms.

I read Joanne Harris' 'Five quarters of the orange' the other day. i got it out of the library, woke one morning at 7am and thought "I'll stay here and read for a while" so i did, opened the window wide to hear the birds, and sat on my bed reading....until i had finished the whole book! it was half past 1 when I finally surfaced lol What a good book!!! i love the children's names, Cassis, Framboise, Pistache, noisette, the tales of 'old mother' and the handsome Tomas, I was whisked away to France and I didn't want to come back! Yet another book to add to my favourites list.

I also joined lovefilm.com for a 30 day free trial, I received my first 3 discs today 'Music and Lyrics' 'The 40 year old virgin' and 'The devil wears Prada' so I'm very excited to watch those. Tomorrow is shopping day, cant wait because I am in desperate need of a bar of chocolate. I just ate some, well I say some...I mean half a bag full, of cinema style popcorn, it was yummy but didn't hit my chocolate spot *sigh*

I'm also going to a class in the local craft centre to learn to crochet. i can do the basics such as chain or doubles or trebles etc, but cant follow a pattern. I bought some patterns from the wonderful crochetroo a while ago and cant wait to be able to make them. I have budgies, bilbies, wombats and australian mammal bookmarks. I'll obviously post pictures each week :)

I went to see my lovely friend Lee on Friday afternoon with another friend, Baz. When we all worked at Sealife we were inseparable so it was great to all be together. Although the news isn't any better, months at best, but with the size of the tumour on his liver it could bleed any minute and that would be that, he's still my Lee, still cheerful and joking and feels well (as well as can be) and he and his wife Erika are enjoying their time together so I left feeling really positive. I can see the old goat still sitting there making me laugh this time next year. Lets hope so :)

SO...because there isnt a photo I can show of the work, Heres a random picture of a Bilby :)

May the Blue Bird of Happiness....

2008-07-07T17:44:00.004+01:00

.....Poop on your knitting. Or Something along those lines.

I finally got my invitation to ravelry.com yesterday and spent FAR too many hours browsing the patterns, deciding what to make for everyone :) I should have just put the computer off and gone to bed about 11pm, but i took it with me to my room and spent another hour and a half making notes, making lists, and then this morning finally, making this lil chappy :)

I have never used DPN's before, (double pointed needles) and i honestly dont think I will be using them again! Well, maybe I'll try a larger project but i definately wont be eager to knit one of these little fiddly things again.

This one is spoken for, he/she will be in the post soon to a friend as part of a very large parcel. I cant wait til the recipient gets it :D I just LOVE making things for people.

Lazy Sunday afternoon

2008-07-06T15:36:00.003+01:00

This is the latest creation, and also an attempt at 'arty' photography. I have awful trouble getting a good photo of my creations, so i think I will iron some fabrics and try using those along with bunches of sweet peas etc like this one.

I dont think I must like Sundays, I've knitted a cupcake and stuffed it, but its not right and I cant be bothered to start a new one, I have an idea for changing the pattern but not today. Theres nothing on tv, the kids are asleep, I dont really know what I want to do today.

Thanks to my sisters QC and doodlebug I am now the proud owner of 256 unpainted 'dolls heads'. They are really just wooden balls but i have an idea ;) trouble is, my dolls 'bodies' are still in the post somewhere so I cant start on those. i do have a knitting pattern or three to start on so maybe i'll cook a roast Chicken tea, then start on the patterns. I'm not one of these people who can plug away with one thing until its right, for example this cupcake. I knitted it and saw how it could be changed, but I wont knit a new one now for a while. Eventually I will and then I'll put it in my BRAND NEW ETSY SHOP!!!!!!!!

Bookcase pottery

2008-07-04T12:41:00.007+01:00

All I did yesterday was knit! well, apart from a bit of sewing, I found a wonderful pattern on a wonderful blog, Allsorts. It was for a little scottie dog, you can make him flat or a real stuffie with gussets (which drove me mad for a while). I was convinced one of the pieces was an 'under body' and argued that it had to go under somewhere! mum looked and said it was between his ears surely? Nooo it goes underneath, its an undebody piece....so we checked the instruction (as I should have done in the first place) Anyway, the resulting first effort is this...

Meet Darnell

Not a brilliant photo, I took it quickly last night when i was talking to my big Sister QC online, but I think hes quite cute for a first effort. I like to make something then adapt it for the next times. I'm going to try a flat one next, I have an idea for adapting it for a friend.

If you recall I came away from the table top sale with a book case. Well, it wouldnt fit where I had imagined it, so things had to be moved round. The dining room at the moment is used as a dumping ground. The table is covered in bags of knitting wool, half finished projects, sewing, half made clothes and a baby fridge strangely, and the bed that was in what wa kates room, but is now where my desk is, is propped up alongside the table so there isnt much room. I just shoved everything to one side and installed the book case. When i first saw it, across the room at the community centre, our 'eyes' met, it was love at first sight. "Dont worry" i whispered, "I'm not" it seemed to say. I hadnt even looked at it properly but I wanted to take it home and love it.

On further inspection it has a thin piece of beading across each shelf. The space in front is just the right size for a paperback, and I thought I could store precious things behind them in the space, then mum mused that it looked like it was the top half of a dresser, and the wood was there to prop the plates up on. Well seeing as I havent decided which books are going to go on it, and seeing as I have a beautiful pink rose china tea set, i decided to display those on it for now.

Then on Wednesday Mum and i were in town and we just happened to stop and look in the charity shop to see how much they were selling their bric-a-brac for to see if we had overpriced our stuff, when I saw a milk jug

and sugar bowl

in almost the same pattern as my tea set, which was incidentally bought from the league of friends shop in the hospital on one of mums many visits last year.

Its just perfect on top of my bookcase.

When I have a lot on my mind...

2008-07-03T13:26:00.003+01:00

....I shop!

Yesterday I took myself off to the craft shop to buy....I dunno, something, anything really.

I bought some felt to make some animals, I bought some wool to knit something, and I bought some lovely knitting patterns. I really enjoyed it, I haven't spent money for a while, purely because I haven't got any!

So, my recipe for today is this.

Take some wool, a lovely summery apply green, soft and silky, in this case and cast on some stitches onto some horribly bingy boingy needles.

Change the knitting onto some 'proper' needles.

Knit a few eyelet holesknit a bit of stocking stitchmake some I-Cordand voila....you have a very sweet little....well I cant say what it is just yet because soon its going to be winging its way through the post to a very special friend in the hope that it makes her day :)

Sadness

2008-07-02T10:23:00.002+01:00

A sad post for today.
When I started this blog I was determined to keep it going, to write as often as possible, but sometimes things happen that knock you sideways.
My dear friend Lee, who was diagnosed with esophageal cancer last year, who had an operation to remove the tumour and one of his kidneys at Christmas, who wasn't expected to make it through the op, then when he did he wasn't expected to make it through the next 5 days but did, who'd fought every inch of the way so he could get well and go back to the Job he loves, has been told he cancer is back with a vengeance and if he's lucky he's got 3 months left.

Obviously I'm ...well I don't know, I'm too shocked to even know what I am, I'm sad but I refuse to accept it so I'm not sad, I'm scared but I don know in all honesty who I'm scared for, me or Lee, and that's awful.

So I just wanted to let you know whats happening, please spare a thought for Lee and his wife Erika and Lees daughter Sarah and the rest of the family, and Lees many friends who will be suffering as well. He is a fantastic guy, the very best friend you could ask for, so lets get him well again :)

Its the Last day of June

2008-06-30T21:10:00.018+01:00

So a brief update on the garden, because i cant think of anything else to write about. I cleared my desk off today and re-arranged the shelves, but couldnt take a photo because I piled a load of stuff onto it while i hoover.

The barrel salad garden is coming along nicely

The tomato has flowers on it

The parsley is wonderful and is picked almost every day to go in my lunch and tea...

Same with the salad leaves

I cant wait to pick my first carrots

and the first broad beans

My rhubarb which has grown up through the plastic frame I put over it to protect it from marauding dogs!

MIND MY PLUM!!!!!

There are still some apples left on the tree after all the winds

And a beautiful rose, which I always thought was Pale pink/peach

I think this is my favourite colour sweet pea

My sempervivum garden is flowering

My little stone bird, nestling in a rotting log as if she's nesting

And Finally....the water baby trying to get into the pond as usual!

Hmmmmmmmm

2008-06-29T14:47:00.004+01:00

I couldn't find a picture of the community centre in the village, but its the red brick building you can just see up the street.

I set up my stall at the table top sale this morning, got there at 7am and set up, we had 2 tables next to each other, mum had the 'bric a brac' ie junk from the loft, and I had the remains of Cottage Crafts. At 9am we were ready for the hoards to descend.....and they never did.

We packed up at 1.30 and came home, with a deficit of 20p and a new bookshelf heheheh so I guess its not all bad.

its 3pm now, seeing as mums asleep in her chair i don't see why I shouldn't do sweet F.A now.

Although those of you who know me, will know I cant sit still for 5 minutes, so I'll probably go and make a noise somewhere :)

*Updated* Lazy lump went to bed and slept for 2 hours!!!! so much for being unable to sit still!

She taught me well...

2008-06-28T18:15:00.004+01:00

My Grandmother, Min, also known to me as Ninga.

I'm touting my wares at a table top sale tomorrow in the community centre in the village, I dont expect big things from it because people go to a Church Fete to buy stuff, they go to a table top sale to look for a bargain. Also, there is a huge car boot sale opposite sainsburys every sunday so theres competition, but I'll give it a go. I'm taking Cottage Crafts, on a smaller scale, and mums having a table with boxes of bric a brac on it. The loft is slightly less packed now.

I was thinking that of I have to be there at 7am, and stay til 2-3pm I better take some food, and i decided to make a cake to take a slice with me. It was while I was making the cake I thought about Ninga. I was always told that you cream your butter and suger until its almost white, then beat your eggs and add them to the butter mix, then add the flour at the end. When I was at school the teacher told us that you have to add a spoonful of flour with each egg because otherwise it will curdle and you have to throw it away???!!!! Well Ninga's cake mix always 'curdled' when she put the eggs in, but she just beat it until they mixed in, no problem, I do the same and my cakes always turn out soft, moist and fluffy, so no problems there.

I like my cake plain, just basic sponge with maybe some plain while icing on top. Mum likes hers with jam and cream, she likes coffee cake, coffee and walnut, lemon drizzle, cup cakes, butterfly buns, you name it she likes it, whereas I'm left with my plain sponge, but I'm happy with that.

I have been comissioned to make more Jam for a friend who came to the church last week, Martin wants large jars of Strawberry and plum jams and a jar of Lemon Curd so I made the strawberry today, I'll make the plum and lemon on Monday then get them posted on Tuesday. How very exciting!

I'm cooking tea at the moment, Cheshire potatoes, pork loin chops, carrots, beans and cabbage for mum, peas and carrots for me :) My daughter has cried herself to sleep, all afternoon shes been crying to be held or picked up, if she could speak it would have been "Up mummy" or "Whats the matter Phoebe?" "I dont knoooooooow, but i want" "what do you want?" "I dont Knooooooooooooooooow" My son is watching the world go by from the back doorstep and mum is playing silly buggers on her computer. Alls well in the home of Ms Cottage Crafts Lady ;o)

Where it all began

2008-06-26T08:09:00.004+01:00

This is MY Church. The church of Saint Mary and all Saints, Great Budworth, Cheshire.

I say my church for many reasons which I will think about during the course of this indulgent remembrance. I thought I perhaps better explain why, as I said yesterday, I was doing a Church Fete in Cheshire when I neither go to Church nor live in Cheshire *unfortunately*

My mum was born in Anderton, Dad in Stafford. Dad moved to Northwich, met mum, they married and lived in Weaverham where Ninga and Grandad lived. All these villages are in the same area as Great Budworth.

When I was a gal, my grandparents still lived in Cheshire, they moved to Ruddlan when I was about 13. They lived in the next village to Great Budworth. Now you may be saying "Yeah, Great Budworth? so?" Well. I'll tell you so what.... Great Budworth, known as Stackton Tressel, is the fictional home of Dr Evadne Hinge and Dame Hilda Bracket, the Dear Ladies. These Ladies have been with me all my life, I grew up knowing that along a certain road in Budworth was a house "Where the Dear Ladies lived" and the Church was "Where Dear Ladies was filmed". Grandad always used to point out these places and I knew and loved them, as I loved Hinge and Bracket although I wasn't too sure who they were, apart from two blokes dressed as dotty old women. Right up to last Christmas I could still be found in Cheshire saying "Hinge and Bracket lived here" It still didn't really mean much to me, but I knew it was special.

Then the revelation....I was browsing Amazon for Christmas presents for mum and saw Dear Ladies on DVD! WOW! I bought it, duly wrapped it up and handed it over on Christmas day. Mum watched it and asked did I want to watch..YES! I watched fascinated, I laughed, cried, laughed, fascinated wasn't really the word, I was hooked!

I loved seeing these wonderful Ladies going about their business in a village I knew so well. Talking to mum, we couldn't remember exactly where the House, called Utopia Ltd, was, so I turned to the Internet to see if anyone knew. I found a website, the official Hinge and Bracket site, and e mailed the guy who runs it to ask did he know. I had a lovely e mail straight back from Paul and we got talking about the area and his love of H&B and how I have relatives there and visit a lot. Paul didn't know where Utopia Ltd was tho. After e mailing back and to, Paul asked me if I would be prepared to take some photos of the area as it is now for his 'Stackton then and now' page. He e mailed me some stills from the DVD and I set off one day to re-create the scenes.

Which brings me to the Church. Quite a lot of the scenes were inside the Church, so that meant actually going in. I'm not usually a big fan of churches, I don't understand the 'weird' rituals that go on in them, I'm not part of the whole 'belonging' bit that people go on about, to be quite honest they scare the Heck out of me. I feel trapped, sweaty, get pins and needles all over, feel sick and generally fidgety. Mum always jokes its the bad in me coming out, and I was getting to the point where I believed her!

I summoned up my strength and set off to photograph the inside of Budworth church. I took all my photos, spent about half an hour in there wandering about, finished the photos in the street and came home. A week or so later I was back again, in the church, in the street and home again. Meanwhile Paul's website was taking shape and looking wonderful with my new pics. Then I realised that I'd been in that Church twice and had had no ill effects! That couldn't be true surely?

While that was dawning on me, i was thinking how I would like to say Thank you to the Church for making me feel so welcome, for allowing me to be there and for easing my mind about my 'badness' lol I e mailed the Vicar and asked if they had a fund raising event at all, he said they were having a spring fair that following Sunday and I was very welcome to come along to meet everyone and buy something there. I wasn't sure that was what I wanted, I wanted to not buy something, but sell something and give the profits, but how and what?

I gave it some thought, and came up with a cards and crafts stall. Thought about what I thought I could make and what to do with it, and toddled off to the Spring Fair to say hello and ask about the possibility of having a stall maybe next year. I met the lovely Shirley and we spoke about crafts, and she said that they were having a big 'Garden Party' in June and I was more than welcome to have a stall there. I felt so welcome by Shirley and the other ladies I met, they just compounded my belief that, although I was born in Wales, Cheshire is my spiritual home and that's where I belong.

So this is how I found myself having a stall at a Church fete in Cheshire. The rest hopefully will follow on nicely :)

I DID IT!

2008-06-25T14:26:00.006+01:00

Cottage Crafts is now officially launched. I am a 'business', I am a crafts person with customers, I made stuff and sold it! Not only sold it but had it snapped up, "In front of my face the minute my back was turned" as Dame Hilda would say.

I'd been checking the weather forecast for 2 weeks before the event, and it had been going from bad to worse. I packed the car on Friday night luckily, as we had to set off at 9 so didn't want to spend hours that day packing. When I got up on Saturday morning it was raining. Not only raining but Chucking it down! I had rung the garden centre near the church to see if they had any sides for my gazebo, luckily they did have so i asked them to keep 3 just in case. Good job I did I thought.

We set off on the hours drive to Cheshire, the rain was awful, i could hardly see the road for spray but we got there and parked by the field next to the church. No sign of anyone, it was 10.30 by this time so something should have been happening. I walked to the Church to see if anyone was around and there they all were. They had decided not to have the fete on the field, but in the church instead. They had tables balanced over the pews and green cloths draped over them. I was really disappointed at first, I'd imagined my fete experience to consist of blue skies, gazebo and bunting.

Shirley directed me to my tables, 2 side by side, I asked could I push them together as I had brought so much stuff, i had expected to have to fill a 3m square gazebo and was relegated to 2 small tables. I figured it would be easier to fill one length. It was too. By the time we had rearranged and moved because some daft old woman wanted her plant stall in a certain place, it was getting on for 12 o clock. We brought everything in from the car, plastic boxes, empty baskets, tablecloths etc, it took about 5 journeys! There was nothing poor mum could do as i knew how I wanted it set up, but had to play about with the baskets and tables etc to get it just so. I had made gorgeous gingham bunting to go round the gazebo, but i didn't want to be bothered putting it along the table so that stayed in its box.

Finally it all came together, white cloths, everything displayed nicely, the RSPB bird tombola at the end with the cards, the birds displayed on a board at the back, the pin badges on the table, all lavender and scented products at one end, then the church note cards and bookmarks, Church photo cards, then the dog treats and sweets, the jams next then the cards. Though I say it, I shouldn't...it looked gorgeous :)

Time for a bite to eat, we'd taken sandwiches so we sat with the people from the sweet stall and all had lunch then it was time to rock and roll. I wasn't expecting much really, even I would have thought twice about going out in that rain but people started arriving at 1.45, coming in and looking round. The Vicar reverend Alec Brown officially opened the fete at 2, then Lord and Lady Iforgetthename from Arley Hall said a few words and we were off, up and running!

Mum got stuck behind the table with the cash, she was serving while I bobbed about talking to people, passing their purchases to mum, bagging them etc, generally playing mine host :D Mum looked up and started smiling all over her face, I looked round and there were mums cousins our Nita and Joan! I'd written to all mums cousins, they all live in Cheshire, but I hadn't expected any of them to turn up! we all hugged, kissed and chatted a while, they bought one of everything I think!

I was expecting some friends from an online Hinge and Bracket fan club, so I was keeping an eye out for them too. A lady came up to me and asked was I Sam? that was the first of the group on holiday in the Uk from Canada with her daughter and mum, and had made the effort to detour to Great Budworth to see us, over the course of the afternoon I met 2 more members and their wives, then Paul the guy who runs the website and who has become a really good friend, along with his partner and their rottweiler TJ who I immediately fussed and hugged and kissed.

I was really happy that they had made the effort to come and support me. Paul took photos of the stall and said he'll help me build a website sometime to sell my stuff. he bought cards and sweets and dog biscuits for TJ. Everyone spent so much I almost feel guilty. Almost but not quite.

After the surprise of seeing Our Nita and Joan I didn't think things could get any better, we were mad busy all afternoon, poor mum never stopped, there was a queue along the whole length of the table, but in amongst that mass of people were our Kenneth and his wife Jennifer, more hugs and kisses, then even more hugs and kisses as Our Jack and his Thai bride showed up too! Jack lives in Thailand but is here visiting, Nita told him about the fete and he turned up as well!

Things started to slow down about 4.30 so we started to slowly pack up, there were a few bags of dog biscuits left so i took them outside to Paul and we chatted a while before he took himself off to film the village for the website (you can even see me there) and then attempt the 4 hour drive home to Kent. We packed the car, handed over the money to Shirley and started home, the drive home usually seems to drag but both mum and I were totally buzzing about the day and seeing the family so we were home before we knew it!

Overall, the Fete raised £2511 and my contribution was over £200! I was delighted! I must write about why I ended up doing a Church fete in Cheshire when I neither go to Church or live in Cheshire! It was a wonderful experience, it made me very hopeful that I can do this as a 'business'. I have a table booked at the Tabletop sale in the village on Sunday, so that will be another test to see if there's a market for my kinda thing.

I've had such support from my friends, you know who you are because you'll be reading this. I really appreciate you all being there for me. Heres to Cottage Crafts taking off in a big way :)

Normal service has been resumed as soon as possible

2008-06-24T14:29:00.005+01:00

Sorry for the delay in posting here, you can blame the boys above for that.
things got a bit hectic preparing for the Church Fete on Saturday (More about that next post) then on Sunday as soon as I'd recovered from that it was time to pack up and head to the City of Manchester Stadium to rock with the Jovi.

Sarah bought me a ticket for my birthday and finally the day arrived. Sarah picked me up and we drove to Manchester, spent quite a while looking for somewhere to park but finally found a great car park just outside the stadium, and right opposite the doors where we needed to enter and leave so that was great.

When we got in the support band were just starting, it was one of my favourite 'new' bands, The Feeling *If you've not heard them let me know and I'll copy the CD* so I was excited about that. I got really excited when they played 'I love it when you call' because that's such a great poppy song. They played until about 7.30pm then the roadies started setting up for Bon Jovi. It was an outdoor event and the weather has been so bad that everyone was in coats rather than the vest tops we should have been in. It started to rain about quarter to 8 so on went my woolly hat, and it was so cold and windy I kept it on even when it stopped raining.

We were close to the front but at the side and we seemed to be right on a ley line or something, everyone in the whole stadium had to push past us at regular intervals, it was so annoying! Sarah started to feel a bit poorly so we went back up to get a drink and then when it got time for the guys to come onstage we went back down to the scrum, and scrum it was. I've never had any trouble at gigs and I've been going all my life, starting with The Rolling Stones when I was 16, but this lot were mean! Some cow got snotty with Sarah because she couldn't get past us to stand in front of us, then someone else pushed in front of me when i stepped back to let yet ANOTHER one through, then some bloke pushed me out of his way, the people behind me pushed me back into him and he turned round to complain that I'd pushed him! Oh FFS! lol

The gig itself wasn't the greatest I have to say, it started off so promisingly with Livin on a Prayer and you give love a bad name, but then went into far too many of the new songs, it seems as though they played the whole Lost Highway album. I haven't got that album, I've heard it a couple of times but I'm not too keen to be honest, I prefer the golden oldies. They didn't have a big, loud, fireworky bang to end on either, just more new songs, which as i say, isn't to my taste.

Poor Sez had to drive home too, we sat in a traffic jam from 11pm to almost 1am, we finally made it home at almost 2, Sez had to go to work the next day, I spent the whole day feeling like I had a hangover from hell (That's what one expensive soft drink does) with a headache, and sickness from hell. I slept well last night tho and feel more normal today :) I'm getting too old for this malarkey!

Set list follows, along with some of my pics, not very good but you get the idea :)
LIVIN ON A PRAYER
YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME
LOST HIGHWAY
BORN TO BE MY BABY
CAPT. CRASH AND THE BEAUTY QUEEN FROM MARS
DIE FOR YOU
LAST CIGARETTE
SLEEP w/ Jumpin' Jack Flash & Twist & Shout
BLAZE OF GLORY
WHOLE LOT OF LEAVIN'
DIAMOND RING
ALWAYS
IN THESE ARMS
BLOOD ON BLOOD
IT'S MY LIFE
I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU - RICHIE VOX
DRY COUNTY
HAVE A NICE DAY
WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME
FAITH
BAD MEDICINE w/ Shout
ENCORE:WE GOT IT GOIN' ON
ANY OTHER DAY
I LOVE THIS TOWN
ENCORE #2:
WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE

The sound of Cottage Crafts hard at work

2008-06-15T14:52:00.004+01:00

Its Forever

2008-06-14T19:53:00.004+01:00

Peter Criss
I kept meaning to blog about Fircones today, but every time I opened up my page I saw those 4 faces looking back at me, and I just couldn't seem to move on from that.
SO...I decided to just carry on thinking about Peter today and move on tomorrow.
I have been reading 'Sealed with a Kiss' today, the book Lydia Criss wrote about her life with Kiss, she dedicated the book to me on the front page "To Sam, Peters biggest fan, Beth wishes, Lydia" its a wonderful book, full of photographs of Peter and Lydia through their years of marriage. Its fantastic for me to feast my eyes on so many pics of him, rather than buying a book about Kiss and seeing poor Catman on every 10th page! I watched Kiss Exposed this morning, couldn't take my eyes off him, that man has charisma! I dont care what anyone else says!

There's one point in the 'Sure know something' video, peter looks at the camera and sort of shuts his eyes and nods, that turns me to jelly everytime, the MTV unplugged video where he and Eric Singer sing Nothin to lose "awwwww shake it for the catman", seeing him sing Hard Luck woman, the drum 'solo' in She makes me go silly every time. Ok he's a crazy fool but God I love him lol I don't think he would love me if he heard the things I say about his wife. Her names Gi Gi and i mumble things about gee gee's and glue factories...nothing bad...really....*ahem*

You wanted the best...you got the best...the hottest band in the world....

2008-06-13T11:31:00.021+01:00

These 4 guys have been part of my life for longer than even I care to admit.

Peter Criss, Ace Frehley, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, all names I've spoken all my life, names that conjure images, memories, laughter, happiness, friends and great music.

Today is a funny old day, Kiss are playing at the Download festival tonight. I was supposed to be going with my best friend, but couldn't, so I've decided to not think about her being there with them tonight and me not being there *sob* But to follow their philosophy and 'SHOUT IT OUT LOUD!

I first got into Kiss when I was about 12 -13, into rock music, especially Iron Maiden, that's how I earned my nickname at school 'Eddie'. I absolutely loved their Glam style, their sheer flamboyance, their attitude of "this is who we are, if you don't like it..who cares?" I just LOVED the way their songs could fit every mood I experienced, the way the opening 'bap bap bap bap" of Strutter gave me goosebumps, still does, even now it never fails to make me smile.

I first saw them live in about 1996. I had a birthday card from my boyfriend and inside were 2 tickets and the note "Kiss are playing in Manchester, hey ho lets go" so...off we went. They were playing in what was the NYNEX arena, now is the MEN arena, it was so loud!!!! B/F had a shocking cold and a bunged up head and because it was so loud and distorted anyway, he had terrible trouble realising what song was playing until about a minute into it. 'Our' song was 'I was made for loving you' and when they started playing that I turned to him, bobbing up and down with excitement and he just looked blankly at me bless him :) But WHAT a show!!!!

Since then I've seen them about 8 times in all, from huge loud gigs to smaller more intimate shows, from huge festivals to 3D shows and I have loved every minute of it. The time me, Sarah, B/F and his friend went to see them play in Finsbury Park in London was awesome! They had been touring the US and Europe and hadn't played Beth at all on that tour. Peter is my hero, I love him like no other so to hear him sing Beth was my dream, but I didn't think I'd get there yet. wWe had a brilliant day, we saw some good bands, some shockers, met some brilliant people, Womble and his trick of getting to the front by shouting in a welsh accent "Eyes down by yere, I've dropped my glasses" and as the crowd parted a bit for him to look, he snuck forward, we got bounced on by 'rage against the machine' fans and got sunburned through our clothes, I was wearing black PVC trousers in July in a field...I literally melted! but it was all worthwhile when after an amazing gig the guys went off stage and we thought "ahhh this is it, I wanna rock and roll all nite" and the end.... but no....the stage went black, someone ran on with a stool...I looked at Sarah, Sarah looked at me...we heard the strains of Beth and I started to hyperventilate and tears formed in my eyes. I couldn't believe it...there...right in front of me...Peter Criss, singing Beth...I have tears in my eyes now just remembering. Sarah had to literally hold me up because I went into some kind of mad fan shock and just shook and cried, while all the time never taking my eyes off him, singing, waving my Peter Criss jacket above my head....my god the emotion!

The last time I saw Kiss was the 4 original guys, the 4 who have got me through so many times, through whom I've made lifelong friends, I've seen tribute bands, dated some of them, had enough happy memories to last me a lifetime so I really wanted to leave it at that. The Kiss who are in Download today are Gene, Paul and Eric Singer in the catmans place, Tommy Thayer instead of Space Ace so to me, its not Kiss. I speak to Eric Singer online sometimes, always have a chat with him after Alice gigs, have become 'friends' enough with him that he waves to me when he sees me front row Alice, but he's not Peter. I love him but he's just not Peter, and Tommy thayer...well...who????

So *sigh* even though I'm sad that I'm not seeing them, I'm aching because Sarah will be there and I wont, and god that really does hurt.... I'm remembering all the times I saw the 4 guys I love and I'm happy...ish :)

I've listened to them in the car this morning when I went out, I shall whack on a video later while I clean up and maybe Sarah will ring me from the gig tonight so I can hear them, especially if they sing my song, Strutter.

Just as a final flourish, my fave pics of the boys out of make up,

and some drum sticks I painted for my buddy Carl, the drummer in the first tribute band I ever saw, and who I later dated, along with their Paul Stanley...and another Paul stanley.....

Dream a little dream of me

2008-06-12T11:12:00.005+01:00

I love dreaming! I have been waking up right in the middle of some brilliant dreams just lately :)

Last night I was in the Theatre, sitting next to mum in the auditorium, a few rows back stage right. We were seeing a magician, a cross between Derren Brown and Tony Stockwell in looks. We had my laptop for some reason, and we were trying to switch it off but every time we tried to click on 'shut down' my blog page kept coming up and it looked like i was a saddo blogging while the show was starting!

Moving on a bit, the magician asked did anyone like birds, I put my hand up and he picked me. He took me backstage an out to a garden where there was an aviary full of gorgeous parrots. I was looking at them and he was telling me their names and then asked did I want to go in with them? well yes I did. He had his arm round my shoulder and he led me in and stood me in the midst of the birds. As he moved away he sort of kept his hand on me as he moved back and scratched my back with his thumb as he finally moved away. Then all of a sudden the birds all flew at me as if to attack, but were kept away as if i had a force field round me, i stood there while they all sort of bobbed just a few inches away from me, all screeching and flapping with tiny mean little eyes. I was laughing tho an trying to make them come to me. I held out my arm and was saying "come on sweetie, come sit with me, come on" like I do, but i wasn't scared at all. Then the Derren fella came o get me and said I'd done really well and he thought even a bird lover would be scared. I didn't quite get it but we then talked about my birds and we walked out into the garden talking, him with his arm round my shoulder.

As we walked through the garden, he kept putting his hand over my eyes hen moving it away, and each time it got slightly darker. i tried shutting my eyes so that he couldn't 'take the light away' but suddenly it was dark as night and he'd run away. i thought "ahhhh this is the test" so i ran straight after him thinking that for the show he wanted me to be wandering about lost, so i followed him quickly. When I caught up with him he was standing my he aviary with his back to me, i poked him in the ribs and said something like "ha ha you thought I'd get lost" and he turned and took me back inside and showed me a TV screen with an infra red black and white image of me running about in the forest lost as hell! Apparently I'd been running about lost for hours!!! i started crying then because I hadn't, I'd literally followed him straight back, I knew I had!

He then led me back to the stage and said I could go back to my seat cos he was going back on stage. I realised that I was on the stage, in the wings stage left, and the only way back to my seat was across the stage. I looked and there was a choir downstage so i thought I could just walk across behind them and the audience wouldn't see me, but they did, as i walked back laughing they all applauded.

Then I think I woke up.

I can't even begin to explain where that all came from???? I'd read a book about Oscar Wilde previously, yesterday I sewed Lavender bags in the car by the river as I waited for mum....watched Big Brother before bed....so i have no idea.

Two nights ago I had a dream about Ted Levine, so I had to watch Monk all afternoon to satiate that yearning lol

Marvellous Marigolds

2008-06-08T20:53:00.005+01:00

Take a few Marigolds *Calendula Officianalis*, pull the petals off, add a few secret ingredients, herbs etc, either steep in boiling water or heat with petrolium jelly and strain, and voila, you have THE most incredible cream ever. Its great for serious skin problems such as excema, psoriasis, spots, boils, bites, dry chapped or flaky skin, minor burns etc sunburn, in fact any problems you have with your skin, slap this on and in the morning they will be gone :D
I strain my petals through a piece of muslin, then mum puts the petal poultice on her elbow where she has a stubborn patch of excema and it sorts it out in no time, unlike any cremes she gets from the doctor. Fantastic stuff, and available from Cottage Crafts

Plant Fairs...I love 'em!

2008-06-08T20:06:00.009+01:00

I'm getting quite used to this 'Lady of leisure' business, I'm getting really into going out to local events, seeing things, photographing it then blogging about it :D Today was the annual Plant Fair at Bodrhyddan Hall, Lord and Lady Langford were throwing themselves into the whole day, Susan was serving on a stall and his Lordship was mingling with the 'riff raff' ie me and mum :)

I was very restrained today, only bought what plants I knew I could pot straight away. Last year I came home with bags full and nowhere to put them, so today i bought a couple of stunning Dahlias to go in pots,

some marigolds which I promptly pulled the petals off to make my famous marigold cream, (see next blog) and some gorgeous Sempervivums or House Leeks. I have an old Belfast sink which I want to plant with the house leeks to make a gravel, mediterranian type trough.

I bought my plants, took them back to the car then strolled round the gardens for what I tought was about half an hour, but was over 2 hours! Had an ice lolly, came home and had a bacon butty and a bowl of strawberries and sat and read my book (Which is great!) Phoebe was being so funny sitting on my lap, lying down and huffing at me, i just had to take about 30 pics of her :) Then my first born came out of the back garden were he had been 'just looking' and lay on the step watching us

Its an 'On the buses' kind of day

2008-06-07T17:26:00.015+01:00

Today was Rhuddlan carnival day. Its started off with a quite uninspiring trip to the supermarket at 8am this morning, I needed bread, milk and basic stuff, nothing exciting, and I came back with bread, milk, basics and nothing exciting. Which is quite unlike me, I usually go for bread and come back with cakes, or plants or that well known Irish folk singer Patio Furniture. Today tho, just shopping.

When mum got home from work about 10.30, we had some breakfast and put the TV on for some strange reason, Saturday mornings are just sport usually. Today tho, no...HOLIDAY ON THE BUSES! One of my alltime fave films, Partly because its really funny, partly because it was filmed here in Rhuddlan. The holiday camp is Pontins in Prestatyn, but the part where Stan and Olives luggage falls into the river is here by the castle. I was 2 years old, me and my mum, along with a lot of the village, stood on the foot bridge across the river and watched it being filmed. Its lovely to see my village on TV, so that's partly why its so special to me.

I only managed to watch a bit of it today tho, up to the part where Jack and Stan took their bus passengers onto the pleasure cruise, which was actually the Isle of Man ferry, and Stan got seasick, when it was time for the Carnival Procession.

The Procession starts in the road at the top of ours so we usually hear it starting off, today we harnessed the kids and took them to the main road to watch it go past. jabs loves things like that, typical bloke tho, he liked the motorbikes but turned away when the carnival queens were passing :) Phoebe was just a bit overwhelmed with it all and ran about a bit. There was a silver band from llandudno, the brownies marching, the theme of the carnival was 'the sea' so there were Pirates, mermaids, sailors you name it.

When the procession had gone past the end of our road, we took the kids home and walked to the school field where the rest of the fete was. this was my baby school, Ysgol Y Castell, The Castle School because its right next door to the castle. It was lovely to walk round the school, remembering friends, showing mum where we used to play, the post at the end of the field next to the wood where the bogey man hung out lol we used to hold onto this post and swing round and round it, then all of a sudden someone would say "Who's that in the wood?" and we would all run screaming back to the school lol

I bought some books, a couple of PG Wodehouse, a gardening book, a Gilbert and Sullivan CD, a handmade lemon soap and a couple of cards, had a go on a tombola (Won a soft toy and gave it to a baby in a pram cos I have too many) had a hot dog AND an ice cream and thoroughly enjoyed myself :)

This pond is no more...it is an ex pond

2008-06-06T11:57:00.014+01:00

This is my pond in its old incarnation, in the back garden. Its an old half barrel that I sunk into the garden and planted and stocked with fish, well those fish grew bigger and bigger so we bought a larger pond, dug that down in the garden next to the barrel, moved the fish over, bought some new fish and hey presto, planted it so it looked like one big pond and were happy for a year or so.

This year tho...we bought THIS....
The Steve Austin of Ponds, bigger than it was before, bigger, deeper, wider.

The fish, all 14 of them, love it, its planted at one end, huge big pump with a filter, a UV algae killer, a fountain, unsightly net for the time being to keep the Heron off, and sparse planting until it all comes again next year. I keep saying there is room for just one more fish, keep looking pitifully at Koi and sighing, but until i can set up some sort of quarentine pond, i wont introduce any new fish in with my others. I had a scare a couple of weeks ago, one of them got fungus, so out he came into a bucket, medicated, looked after, cried over....then miraculously recovered and went back in with the others with a new name...Sicknote :)

I have 2 shubunkins, one of mums boys and blacki, the only two who survived the heron attack 2 years ago, and a large handful of goldfish, some from 2 years ago and some from last year. they are all different sixes, the boy and blackie and the bunkies are very big and fat, the 2 year olds are long and sleek with lots of fins, then last years are smaller. Smaller again is Freeview. He was the tiniest in the tank at the garden centre when I bought last years bunch. I bought 5 for however much, and i asked could I have the tiddler too, so the lovely man said I could have him for nothing, so he was called Freebie hich has now become distorted to freeview, lord knows why lol The same reason Jack is called 'Scout', Phoebe 'Princess' and me 'Kay' :)

So, we now have an empty, rigid liner which we dont quite know what to do with, and a rotting half barrel. The liner is stood up in the greenhouse at the moment but the barrel is in the yard, just opposite the back door planted with a tumbling tomato, strawberries, parsley, lettuce and carrots :) the plan is to just reach out and pick something to put on a butty for lunch. the same plan is being implimented in the back garden, in the area fondly known as the veg garden. It is a patio area behind the garage, table and chairs, umbrella, etc and thats where the fruit trees are, the tomatoes, strawberries, beans, courgettes, blackberries, currants etc. There are some tubs on the fence filled with a tomato, lettuce an peas. So wherever you sit, you can reach out for a bit of salad to have with your meal :)

We have the same tubs all along the fence in the yard, they are usually filled with spring bulbs or winter flowering flowers, but this year they are tomatoes, lettuce, peas, broad beans, strawberries and carrots. I dont know how well they will do as they need hell of a lot of watering and hey get full sun pretty much all day, good for the strawbs and toms but I don know how well the peas and beans will do. We'll see tho, gardening is all about trial and error I guess.

Just because i love them...a few pics of the kids gardening in their own special way :)

Shroooooomz

2008-06-04T14:56:00.003+01:00

I LOVE EM!

my Fantasy Dinner Party

2008-06-02T19:47:00.010+01:00

Whenever people ask the question "Who would be your ideal Dinner Party Guests", I have to think hard and I never remember so for a while now I've been keeping a list.

I'm sure there are lots more people, but for now here it is.

There are several different 'categories' The naturalists, the intellect, the comics and the Totty ;)

Stephen Fry - intellect - there is nothing this man can't do in my book. I love his books, I love QI, I watch him avidly in 'Kingdom' and he speaks so candidly on the subject of his depression, I feel he's talking TO me, ABOUT me sometimes.

Vic Reeves - intellect and comedy - I've always thought Vic was funny, I used to watch Reeves and Mortimer and laugh so hard, but Vic knows so much about so many mad things, I could just listen to him talk for ever

Gerald Durrell - naturalist - The first author I collected, I was introduced to his books at a very young age by Ninga, and have loved him ever since. Gerry wrote at the end of every book a note that said if you had enjoyed his book, let him know. My biggest regret is that I never did. I wrote to his Widow Lee and had a lovely letter back saying that Gerry would have known I loved him.

David Attenborough - naturalist - a fascinating man with over 70 years experience. The things he's seen over the years, the places he's been, the wildlife, the Flora and Fauna, and he still seems excited by everything!

David Bellamy - naturalist - again another fascinating man, so enthusiastic about conservation and protecting our natural habitats.

Eddie Izzard - comedy - I do love a man in make up, and who better than Eds? An action Transvestite, can usually be found running, jumping, standing still ha ha found you FLAG! The only man who can make me laugh every single time, even in the depths of despair I laugh, and he brought me and my Kindred Spirit Cal together.

Audrey Hepburn - style - well the woman had everything, class, style, beauty, poise..I loved her films, loved her voice and in her later years she was a mad old dog lady....what can i say? she's my idol

Rock Hudson - totty - TOP totty! I love the Rock/Doris Day film combinations, Pillow Talk, Lover come Back, Send me no flowers, they are perfect feel good movies for a Sunday afternoon. He, along with Clark Gable, make me long for the old days when women were housewives and men were tall dark and handsome and masterful *sigh* He is gorgeous! I wish I was Doris Day

Adam Ant - totty - I do actually love his music, but God I could stare at that man for ever!

Martin Clunes - comedy - I think I have more Martin Clunes films/tv shows than anyone, (apart from Johnny Depp) I watch Doc Martin all the time, William and Mary, Dirty Tricks etc. He has such an expressive face. he loves animals and has filmed many animal documentaries, lives on a mini farm...a great guy :)

Nik Kershaw - totty - Human Racing is one of my all time fave albums, The Riddle was so eagerly awaited and so well loved, and it certainly doesnt hurt that he is Top Totty too.

Steve Irwin - naturalist - another Gerald Durrell. I credit Steve with getting me into Sharks and sealife. I was always getting into trouble when I worked in the sealife centre because i would feed the sharks by hand. We used to get into a boat and row out to the middle of the shark tank and feed off sticks....except I didnt, I hand fed them. I knew, from watching Steve, that if I took the time to get to know the sharks, watch them, learn their habits and patterns, they wouldnt hurt me...and after 6 years of doing it i was never hurt in any way. I say another Gerald Durrell, because Steve sadly died too soon, before i could tell him. But I think he knew. Steve...thanks mate!

Stephen Hawking - intellect - My God this man is clever!!! I have actually read 'A brief history of time' cant say I understood much of it, but i did see a programme all about Professor Hawking and he explained an awful lot about Stars and Black holes and how they not only have no light in them, they actually 'suck' the light out of anything that goes near them then they implode and ....thats where i lose it again....

Sara Payne – interest - I admire Sara so much. She lost her daughter, Sarah, in tragic circumstances in 2000 and she has not only written all about it, she bravely talks about losing Sarah in the dreadful way she did, she campaigns for access to the Sex Offenders register, as well as raising her other children, a marvellous woman.

Rory McGrath – naturalist - now, Rory McGrath may be most well known as a comic, and panellist on They Think its all over, but the things this man doesnt know about Birds isnt worth knowing! plus he's funny as anything!

Lee Majors - totty - pure and simple. The Fall Guy was my favourite show when I was a young teenager, my friend Dawn and I used to have wars because she was a Knight Rider fan and I was a Fall Guy fan and you couldn't be both, I cried when mum bought me a Fall Guy annual, I used to record the shows with my trusty tape recorder pressed up against the TV, Glaring at my dad if he coughed, writing the lyrics of the theme tune on my books at school...even now, aged almost 70...he's still a looker!

Meet the 'other' family

2008-06-01T16:00:00.006+01:00

A Brief Introduction to the other loves of my life, the plants that live in my room :)

My Money tree
African violet that was a present from Sarah, it has while frilled flowers with a purple edging
Purple Tradescantia thats starting to take over

Begonia with scented flowers, they smell like honey
miniature pink african violet
my birthday present from Barbara

Streptocarpus 'Jackie' i took a leaf cutting and this is what grew :)
The other mini african violet, dark purple
streptocarpus 'Nerys'

Streptocarpus 'Emily'
Baby Aloe cactus
white Easter Cactus

Bizzie lizzie grown from a cutting
Lavender seedlings, a present from QC at Christmas
a tiny cactus Vicky gave me when she went to Uni, grown from seed.

A-Z of Films

2008-05-30T20:20:00.002+01:00

A - the Amityville Horror
Alien Autopsy
B - Benny and Joon
Blades of Glory
Bruce Almighty
Breakfast at Tiffanys
Bonnie and Clyde
C - Carry on Behind
Click
The Crow
Cheaper by the Dozen
D - Double Jeopardy
Dreamcatcher
Dr Dolittle
Dodgeball
E - Evan Almighty
F - The Fugitive
The Fisher King
From Hell
G - Green Card
Gremlins
Gothika
The Gift
Garfield
H - Harry Potter
High Spirits
Happy Gilmore
Heavy Weather
Half Light
I - 5 Children and IT
IT
J - Jeanne de Florette
Jaws
K - Keeping Mum
L - Lord of the rings trilogy
Lake Placid
Lover come back
The Longest Yard
Leap of Faith
M - My father the Hero
Misery
Medicine Man
Meet the Parents/Fockers
N - The Nutty Professor
O - On Golden Pond
P - Pillow Talk
Peters Friends
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Parent Trap
Pollyanna
Q
R - Rainman
RV
S - Silence of the Lambs
Signs
The Shining
Send me no flowers
Secret Window
Shirley Valentine
T - Turner and Hooch
U - Untamed Heart
V - The Village
Van Helsing
W - Willie Wonka
Whats eating Gilbert Grape
What Lies Beneath
Waterboy
White Chicks
X
Y
Z

Gratuitous Gardening Gloat

2008-05-30T12:22:00.016+01:00

I was planting my ex pond, a rotten old half barrel, with herbs, a baby tumbling tomato, strawberries, lettuce and carrots today when I thought...I'll have a mooch round and see whats flowering. well the answer is "Nothing much". Its not a very 'flowery' garden really. The planting round the new pond is all ery new and has mostly finished for the time being, but there are some real gems in amongst the mess and a whole years neglect. Like this foxglove seedling in an old tin planter.

Blackcurrants on the bush...or are they red currants...

I dont remember from year to year

Grapes developing on 'Marvin' my 12 year old Grapevine

Jim Snail hiding on the bottom of a forgotten
Gargoyle statue. All snails are called Jim, all lizards Vinnie and all Flamingos Tyler. Dunno why, its just the law ;)

'Arthur Bell' flowering and scenting the whole garden. I bought this rose for dad when he was ill, then one day I went to visit in hospital and noticed the man in the next bed was called Arthur Bell! I made a big show of whispering and signing to dad that his name was the same as our rose, when dad shouts out "Arthur Bell? We've got a rose named for you!" *DOH!* so much for subtlety Clarkey!

"MIND MY PLUMS!" I can be heard hollerin' if anyone goes near my beloved plum tree. It was my birthday present last year and these are the first plums I've ever seen growing so I'm hoping to have just one to eat off my lovely tree.

The Hops which this year are being trained *HA!* to grow over an old arch, when I say trained, I obviously mean to have lumps hacked off them if they try strangling the TV arial and heading next door to strangle small pets etc. they are so rampant they grow 6 feet in an hour, I swear!

And finally, baby apples.

The blossom looks and smells divine, falls off and litters the gardem and makes a mess, the baby apples look so cute then grow into bigger apples which aren't ready to pick but then commit suicide into the pond when your backs turned. If you're lucky you get 1 edible apple a year lol and only then if you see it fall, scrabble about the back of the tree behind the pond and rescue it.

Status Quo

2008-05-28T19:28:00.003+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9HMimQ3g1Q

I have been a fan of the Quo all my life, I remember asking my Grandad for a Quo video for my birthday when I was very young. My favourite song *at the moment* or should I say one of my all time favourites, is Mystery Song. I have always had such a crush on Rick Parfitt and in this video with his shirt blowing, his hair streaming, his lisp evident, I thought he was one of the most gorgeous men on the planet. Still do ;)

Memories...like the corners of my mind

2008-05-28T13:46:00.006+01:00

It all started with 12 rounds of white.

I was in the kitchen thinking about lunch when I hear a shout from the front room

"Can I have 12 rounds of white?"

so I shouted back "Low fat spread?" and we both chuckled.

Let me explain. For those who don't watch the wonderful Victoria Wood comedy Dinnerladies, you need to. Jane comes into the canteen every day and says "Can I have 12 rounds of white?" and Bren asks "Low fat spread?"

It turns out that the actress who plays Jane was on TV, talking about Ghosts. She says she's susceptible to spirits, and wondered if everyone gets those weird feelings when they enter a room and know somethings not right. I said to mum that I get those feelings sometime but don't think its supernatural, i don't know what it is but I don't think I'm picking up on ghostly presences. Derek says I'm psychic but I always say I'm about as psychic as a house brick!

Mum then said "Gatley was haunted" Gatley was the house we used to live in. I asked her if she knew by what or who but she didn't, she would never go into the front bedroom alone. I asked her was that why we moved? and she said "no, we moved because I threw you down the stairs" .....i looked, started even, WHAT????? she was laughing so I had to question this...."You THREW me down the stairs?" she laughed and said "Well, you threw yourself"...again WHAT????? what kind of a psycho kid was I for heavens sake? Apparently, according to my mum it was my "preferred mode of transport". She said "You used to stand at the top of the stairs, fold yourself up and one minute you were at the top of the stairs, the next you were at the bottom" Well, I said I didn't remember this at all! she then asked did I remember falling out of the landing window? NO! i was standing on the landing at the top of the stairs, shouting out to Elizabeth next door and the next minute I was in the yard!!!!!! good god!

Mum said that Dad and her were so worried that I'd go through the glass front door at the bottom of the stairs, or seriously hurt myself, that Dad went out and basically found the first bungalow he could, and that's how we ended up here.

I remember nothing of these events, so I've decided that the corners of my mind are definately misty and not so much watercoloured, as limewashed!

A-Z of books I love

2008-05-27T12:43:00.006+01:00

VIRGINIA ANDREWS - FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC
JUDY ASTLEY - SEVEN FOR A SECRET
DOUGLAS ADAMS - LAST CHANCE TO SEE

EMILY BRONTE - WUTHERING HEIGHTS
ENID BLYTON - FAMOUS FIVE, MALLORY TOWERS, ST CLARES
HE BATES - THE DARLING BUDS OF MAY
MICHAEL BOND - PADDINGTON, OLGA DA POLGA
AMANDA BROOKFIELD - ALICE ALONE

SUSAN COOLIDGE - WHAT KATY DID
AGATHA CHRISTIE - AND THEN THERE WERE NONE
FFYONA CAMPBELL - ON FOOT THROUGH AFRICA, FEET OF CLAY
MICHAEL CHRIGHTON - CONGO
RICHMAL CROMPTON - WILLIAM SERIES

LAVINIA DERWENT - MCPHERSONS ISLAND
GERALD DURRELL - EVERYTHING
ANDREW DAVIES - B MONKEY
CHARLES DICKENS - GREAT EXPECTATIONS, CHRISTMAS CAROL

FRANCIS ESSEX - SHILLINGBURY TALES
BARBARA EUPHAN TODD - MISS RANSKILL COMES HOME

DICK FRANCIS - SMOKESCREEN
RUBY FERGUSSEN - LADY ROSE AND MRS MEMMERY
STEPHEN FRY MOAB IS MY WASHPOT

ELIZABETH GEORGE - FOR THE SAKE OF ELENA
STELLA GIBBONS - COLD COMFORT FARM
LEE GOLDBERG - MR MONK SERIES

WILLIAM HORWOOD - DUNCTON WOOD,QUEST, FOUND, THE WILLOWS IN WINTER
JAMES HERBERT - THE RATS, SHRINE
JAMES HERRIOT - EVERYTHING

TERRI IRWIN - STEVE AND I
STEVE IRWIN - THE CROCODILE HUNTER

ERICA JAMES - PARADISE HOUSE

SOPHIE KINSELLA - SHOPAHOLIC
STEPHEN KING - CELL, PET CEMETARY, CHRISTINE
DEAN KOONTZ - TICTOCK

MAUREEN LIPMAN - SOMETHING TO FALL BACK ON

DEBBIE MACOMBER - THE SHOP ON BLOSSOM STREET, OLD BOYFRIENDS

EDITH NESBITT - 5 CHILDREN AND IT, THE RAILWAY CHILDREN

ELSIE J OXENHAM - ABBEY SERIES

MICHAEL PALIN - HEMMINGWAYS CHAIR
DAVID PELTZER - A BOY CALLED IT, THE LOST BOY, A MAN NAMED DAVE

WT QUICK - AMERICAN GOTHIC

KATHLEEN ROWNTREE - BRIEF SHINING
JK ROWLING - HARRY POTTER
ARTHUR RANSOME - SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS

DARREN SHAN - THE VAMPIRE SERIES, THE DEMONATA SERIES

ALAN TITCHMARSH - THE LAST LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER
SUE TOWNSEND - THE QUEEN AND I, NUMBER 10, QUEEN CAMILLA
TOLKEIN - THE HOBBIT

ALISON UTTLEY - THE BROWN MOUSE BOOK

EDWARD VERNON - PRACTICE MAKES PERFEC, GETTING INTO PRACTICE

WINEFRID WATSON - MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY
J WALLACE MARTIN - THE BIRD YARD
P G WODEHOUSE - THE BLANDINGS CASTLE SERIES, JEEVES, MONTY BODKIN

NATHAN YATES - BEYOND EVIL

AHMED ZAPPA - THE MONSTROUS MEMOIRS OF MIGHTY MCFEARLESS

Bibbing

2008-05-26T19:29:00.003+01:00

There's a TV show called 'Grumpy old women' and I think, slowly I'm turning into one of them.

The show is actresses and TV presenters of a certain age, talking about the things that irritate them. Yesterday I went into a GOW rant in the car on the way to the supermarket.

The house across the road is rented, new people have just moved in and they are so noisy! they have a friend who turns up in a white car and stops at the gate and bibs her horn. She doesn't get out of the car unless no one comes, then she gets out and goes to look through the window and gets back into the car and drives off. That's not the worst of it. IF they are in she will turn up and bib, go into the house then when she comes out she says goodbye to them *loudly*, gets into the car and bibs. She then drives up the road, turns round and bibs again as she drives past their house.

That annoys me enough, but the thing that set me off yesterday was there was a car stopped by the side of the road letting someone out, so i waited behind them while the girl got out, The car then started to drive off and BIB! WHY? I mean they had obviously already said goodbye so whats the point of the bibbing? i just don't get it. I thought the car horn was for alerting other drivers to your presence in an emergency?? ah well...shows what *I* know!

These old Broads

2008-05-25T13:49:00.003+01:00

I'm having a funny old day today, I've started 2 different blogs and abandoned them, made a cake and didnt want to eat it, been out in the garden, wandered about and came in again, sat on my be to read and started at the same page for 10 minutes...I am having one of those "Dont know what to do " days.

I'm watching a film calle 'These old broads' on tv, it stars the wonderful Elizabeth Taylor along with the gorgeous Joan Collins, Shirley Mclaine and Debbie Reynolds. The screenplay was written by Carrie Fisher.

Heres what they say about the movie.

THESE OLD BROADS - Three aging starlets attempting to revitalize their careers by starring in a made-for-television special. A heavily ironic film with a broad, wacky, slapstick vision of Hollywood, gets rolling when Shirley's son, aspiring producer Wesley, convinces the three great dames to halt their lifelong backstabbing feuds in order to appear together in his singing, dancing extravaganza. Elizabeth Taylor is the pot-smoking, bitchy, power agent of all three ladies, demanding absurd sums for her cooperation in the project. Wesley's hands already appear full--until the director turns out to be a giggling alcoholic, and Joan Collins' character harbors a felon on the run who dies in her amourous arms. The real challenge is for the girls to stay out of prison long enough to learn their dance steps and make the show into a hit. Few TV specials offers as much star power or as many laughs as THESE OLD BROADS.

Enforced R and R

2008-05-21T23:03:00.006+01:00

Today was another of my good daughter days.

My poor mum was taken back into Hospital on Monday night in agony, we don't know what it was but they couldn't take a chance with her recent heart problems, so off she went about midnight. They injected her with random things and sent her home again the next day not knowing whether it was a heart attack or indigestion! Honestly! *tut*

Anyway, my wonderful mother struggled on today, even though she was still in pain, and went to work. It was only the one exam in the afternoon for an hour, but even so.

I drove her as usual, taking with me the usual paraphernalia of books and audio books and phone and MP3 player etc. I'm re-reading a Darren Shan, Blood Beast (my hand signed copy) the 5th book in the Demonata series. I also took 'The Gentle art of Domesticity' by Jane Brocket, my birthday present from my Twin sister a Quirky Celt. My bag is always full of the necessities of life, phone, Pirates of the Caribbean purse, camera etc so I was set. I parked by the heavenly river and Weir, which I have named Dan after my ghosthunting buddy, and I sat and relaxed. I watched the river, listened to the birds, watched a pied wagtail, a robin and some chaffinches come down to drink.

When I had listened to the birds and the water, and even the sheep, I turned to my other wonderful birthday present, my tiny weeny MP3 player from my Kindred Spirit Cal. It may be small in stature but the best things come in small packages, and this baby is HUGE in capacity. i listened to Duran Duran, The Feeling, the Zutons, Barry Manilow ('Even Now' was playing as I took this pic) Take That, Alice and Kiss obviously, the Stereophonics, of course the Dear Ladies and The Fall Guy theme tunes, some BBC Comedy like Monty Pythons Dead Parrot, the Two Ronnies 'Four candles' some League of Gentlemen - you are a shop aren't you? No I am a lady etc, and some of the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince audio book. See? I told you it was huge! I had a lovely afternoon, I had many things I should have been doing at home, but I wouldn't have swapped my 'enforced rest' for anything!