52 weeks of Vicki - week 4

Good morning

How did it get to be Sunday again? I had planned to write a mid-week post but it just never happened. Another busy week, working, having work done on the house, family stuff and birthdays.

So instead of 2 posts this week - I've condensed everything into on 52 weeks of Vicki post - or I'll never get caught up!!

Starting with the last thing first!! I went roller skating yesterday - for the first time in at least 6 years possibly more. I use to skate loads when I much younger and even when the boys were very small, I'd take myself off to the local leisure centre at the weekends for a couple of hours of skating fun. Sadly they stopped offering that service and I sold my skates after I tore my achilles a few years ago, thinking I'd never be able to skate again. Well it seems I was wrong - after a very wobbly start the muscles remembered what they should be doing and I was happily whizzing round - avoiding small children who had even less sense of direction than me!! I do ache a bit today but nothing to bad.

This week I've had a plumber here replacing a radiator in the front room - I meant I had to clear some stuff away - including a few christmas pressies that remained on the coffee table. This gorgeous box was painted by one of my sisters;

I also had a tidy in the dining room - there was a pile of recent CS buys I've been meaning to photograph before putting into the right places;

 I love Lucie Atwell's  illustrations - my Mum has a few of her childhood annuals and when I was a small child, I was occasionally allowed to read them - very carefully.

Another Ladybird book for my collection - that elusive copy of Cinderella is still hiding out there waiting for me I am sure!

Lastly for this post - another CS buy - cake/pastry forks - so cute and in their very 50's style box.

Another busy week beckons - music at the pub later, more work, a very special belated birthday treat for little son and most excitingly, my little nephew is being christened next weekend.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Little green shoots

Good evening

Little green shoots represent something new;

Uncovered in the garden this weekend - lots of signs that the bulbs are growing again.

Oh yes, MrVV & I did some gardening - together! I was even allowed to use sharp things AND I still have all my fingers attached! 2 trailer loads of stuff later and you could (a) see where we'd been and (b) could see lots of signs of new growth.

I love looking for these signs - anything to hurry through the dark, damp days of January & February. At least we've plenty of birthdays in the coming weeks to look forward too - just 6 this month! Thank goodness I've only got to bake 2 cakes!

I've been playing with my new camera and trying to get the hang of it - lots of options to play around with - doesn't help that the light hasn't been ideal for photo taking. We headed to Southwold yesterday afternoon and I'd hoped to make a start on the Scavenger Hunt list but the sea mist put paid to that - instead we ended up having a hot chocolate in the cafe on the Pier and then heading into the silly photo booth - were we even ended up reincarnated as teenage Emo's!! (I'll show you that pic next time - by the time I remembered the daylight had faded). Oh we did have a lovely long walk to despite the cold.

Anyhow my new toy - a Samsung WB101 which I'd been to choose a while ago - I wanted something that wasn't too heavy but also felt right - this ticked all the boxes - well there was another a loved by the price tag was just too much!!

As I tidied the front room and dusted today I though perhaps one pic of me & it was in order!!

One new thing for me for 2013 is to try to read more - not magazines or craft books but actual proper books - not even in e-book form. Real paper books - mainly bought from the charity shops, borrowed from the library or given as pressies.

Here's my first 3 for this year;

 The Sue Townsend one I started just before Christmas and managed to finish in the bit in the middle - I love her writing. I've been meaning to read the Help for ages - have been told by so many that it was a good read - when a copy appeared in the shop I thought I'd give it a go - I really enjoyed this and it gave me a better understanding of the whole civil rights situation - I now need to borrow the film.

This is my current read - a pressie from my Mum - I've seen this on other blogs and Instagram feeds. Again I am liking this - not too complicated and I'd love to go teacup shopping with the 3 main characters :)

One last thing for tonight - the first swap of 2013 - hosted by Lisa over at Bobo Bun;

See you soon 

xxx Vicki xxx

Channelling your inner Granny Chic Soul - Granny Chic is cool

Good afternoon

Everything stopped yesterday afternoon - the postie came bearing a parcel with my name on it. At last the copy of Granny Chic I pre-ordered months ago :)

Why dust when you can read? and such a great read too.

Two fab bloggers on different sides of the Atlantic sharing a common love of Granny Chic.

The book has lots of projects to create and plenty of gorgeous photos too. I won't spoil it for those that are waiting till December 25th for their copy but I will show you a couple of my most favourite photos;

 Just loving Marvellous Maude the vintage caravan and her exterior patchwork - not sure my menfolk would approve if I wanted to do that to Bertie :(

2 friends together crocheting - oh how this reminds me of our Wednesday night Stitch & Bitch sessions.

One article made me chuckle;

 

 I looked at the list and then down at myself;

 Pinny - yes, always and clogs, yes around the house in the winter and out & about in summer.

Rose tinted glasses - ok so not actually rose-tinted but geek-chic specs are the next best thing.

 

Thank you Tif & Rachelle for writing this book - at last I have an identity - well I've always had it - just nice now to give it a name :)

 

BTW - this is NOT a sponsored post - just something I've bought and wanted to share with my bloggy readers. I shall be taking this book to S&B tomorrow night too - I think lots of those friends will love this book too :)

 

See you soon

 

xxx Vicki xxx

Cath Kidston - Make your own Christmas decorations - my review

Good morning

Firstly, I must stress this is not a sponsored post nor did I receive this book as a freebie to review. This is something I've bought and as there are lots of comments in blogland and on Amazon about it, I thought I'd add my own.

As the cover says - everything you need to make 12 festive felt ornaments - in small print 'not including needles and stuffing'.

This isn't strictly true - lots of the decorations are based on traditional Christmas designs - including snowmen and snow covered cottages - however in the kit there is only cream felt. I was always taught to avoid any snow that wasn't pure white!!

I thought I'd make one of the designs at the weekend - I opted for the reindeer on the front cover. However rather than using the supplied items I used felt & materials from my stash. I used the main reindeer template but did it my way and completely ignored the rather long winded instructions in the book;

I didn't bother with the spots on his rump nor the rather naff bow on the neck. Instead I borrow an idea from those rather tasty chocolate reindeers that the shops are now full of and attached a bell to the collar instead.

The book recommends sewing the pieces together with a straight edge over stitch - again I chose to do it my own way and use a small running stitch. The illustrations in the book are not great - the quality of stitching is rather poor. Also the colour combinations are rather random too. For the festive Stanley it suggests sewing the two sides in different colours - same with the Christmas cottages.

I've been told that some of the designs are not MissK's own instead they've been taken from other bloggers and used without their permission. Therefore it made me chuckle to read a big copyright notice on one page stating you could only use these patterns for personal use - like anyone can copyright a felt Christmas pudding or some holly leaves!!

Overall I would give this book a 6/10 - the designs are simple and there are several that I will use but I will adapt them to suit my style and taste. The quality of the materials included is ok - the felt is soft and I know I will be able to use it in other projects even if for some of these I'll have to supply my own. 

The cover price is £15 - I am glad that I paid just £5 as part of a deal I got on Amazon.

This book is nowhere near as good as the earlier CK books - I loved Vintage Style and the Make/Patch books were great too. However its much better than the Crochet Tin disaster of last Christmas!

I'll leave you now with my Rudolph hanging outside in the sunshine;

Have you bought this book - if so what did you think? I

xxx Vicki xxx

End of the charity shop drought

Good evening

What a difference a day makes - since the weekend its been wet, grey & yucky here in Suffolk - I've got soaked many times out and about on my bike :( However this morning when I woke up I noticed something different - a sunbeam peeping through the curtains :) It and its friends have stayed all day. It makes such a difference - the shop was busier and people just look happier. Plus it meant I could safely leave the house without wearing a raincoat!

Now in recent weeks, I've not had much luck in the charity shops - a few bits of clothing for me but none of those little bargains that you need and want to share with blogland.

This week the drought has ended;

A 70's bowl - probably meant for sugar but I filled it with Pick-n-Mix as a treat for Little Son - its that time of year again - school really could do with ending this week so in order for him to last another week he needs regular infusions of junk!!

As well I found a couple of books;

 Another Ladybird book for my collection - in really good condition - just 30p

This book is wonderful it dates initially from 1891 with this version published in 1945. Some of the advice is just so wonderfully dated - am sure lots of it was still being used in 1970 when I was born. Though I don't ever remember being put out to sunbath with just a nappy square to shade my face!!

Lots of advice too on how to facilitate early potty training - from just 7 or 8 months old. As for the weaning advice and some of the food suggestions - its a wonder we survived!!

Right I really ought to catch up on my blog reading - sorry if I've not commented recently - I've got so behind that I am just reading in a bid to catch up!!

Have a lovely weekend - we're down to just 3 of us as Big Son is off on an Explorer Camp - here's hoping the weather forecast is wrong!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Five minutes peace!!

Good morning

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas? We had a great day - just the 4 of us and I must confess that's our preferred way. We can please ourselves - and it means if we fancy a mid-morning doze on the kitchen sofa then its fine (one of us had a bit of a 'thickhead' for mixing her drinks on Christmas Eve!!).

Christmas morning started at 7.30am when the boys appeared in our room - armed with mugs of tea and their stockings to open. I do love this part and there are rarely any photos as I prefer just to watch it happen and remember it in my mind. They were very happy with their mix of pressies - including new hats which appear to have remained on their heads for the past few days.

Once stockings were empty and tea was drunk, it was downstairs to open the pressies under the tree. Wow such a lot this year and I'm pleased to say everybody loved everything - no pressies to 'regift' at all.

Here are a few photos from the rest of the day;

Little son in his Monkey onesie suit - he's worn this loads - really suits him!

One table set for lunch.

A warming glow once all the candles on the piano were lit.

MrVV and 2 hyped-up teens!

Little son & I.

Little son again.

Just some of my pressies - loads of new books with ideas to inspire, a hat, a scarf and a mini hot water bottle.

Big son and MrVV - reading out their awful cracker jokes.

I tried this year to make quite a few of my pressies for Christmas and any December birthdays too - here's a mosaic which shows them all. BTW the knitted monster for my nephew was a big hit - he tells me its his favourite pressie!!

One final set of pictures for today - a mosaic for December;

Right I'd best be off - a trip out to the sales is planned - I've been saving up to replace lots of household things that have broken and worn out - am hoping I can replace many of these today at bargain prices.

See you later in the week - I've got my results for the December Photo Scavenger Hunt to share with you - it was a special one - a Festive A-Z!

xxx Vicki xxx

Happy Dance Time!

Afternoon

No, not the can-can but a careful happy dance to celebrate a good day :)

The sun is shining today - hurrah - doesn't it make such a difference. Yesterday was grey & murky and it was almost dark at 4pm when the boys bumbled in from school.

A quick trip into town threw up some lovelies from my favourite little charity shop;

Vintage scrabble letters :) I got the letters, board & racks for just 50p :) The board is really tatty so that will probably just be recycled but I've some ideas what to do with the rest of it.

I'm a sucker for old childrens books and I was delighted to find 3 lovely books on the shelf. 2 are labelled with Christmas 1945 and the other dates from the early 60's. All had that not so lovely charity shop smell so shall be airing in the conservatory for a while;

The little red one is a Christmas book (Christmas is a time of giving by Joan Walsh Anglund) with many gorgeous illustrations in it. I've just picked one for today but will probably post more next month;

The two Slimtails books were printed during the 2nd World War and are marked to show they complied with the strict paper rationing rules. The illustrations are many just black & white but each book has a lovely coloured first page;

They wanted just 50p for all three books but I couldn't do that and gave them a bit more. The ladies in this little shop are so sweet, they commented they'd not seen me for a while and we had a good chat about injuries and also about mobility aids!!!

On the way home from the town, I made MrVV stop so I could walk from the bottom of our lane to home. I'd spotted something earlier and wanted to take photos. Not just any old toadstools this time - proper fairytale spotty, dotty ones;

I've also been to physio today - instead of just getting a leg massage I've been through to the gym part and have been practising my walking properly with just parallel bars to support me. I surprised myself with how well I was doing. The target for this week is more shoe wearing time and also to try and see how I get on walking outside without my moonboot. If that works then the next step (groan) is to get walking without my crutches - never know I might just be able to dance at the Christmas parties after all!!! Once I can do walk in just shoes we can work on getting my leg properly strong and improving my balance again. Hoping for normality by March 2012 - in time for my birthday!

Right time for some crochet and TV catch up - I missed most of Land Girls last week so its time to find out what happened!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Are you sitting comfortably????

Then I'll begin - warning this is a long post - so much to tell you, so much to share.

Firstly, the Nursery Rhyme book from the Scavenger Hunt post was this one;

 A present from my parents for my first Christmas in 1970. There are so many rhymes in here that I've never heard of anywhere else. When I was small I knew most of them off by heart - I read this loads to the boys when they were small and it was lovely to be told when they were in pre-school that they both had a good repertoire outside the normal Humpty Dumpty, Baa-Baa Black Sheep range.

 I tried to choose a favourite page - very difficult as there are so many. I've picked this one as a certain MrVV is trying to compete with the bearded man at the moment. Seems he's given up shaving for the winter!

Secondly, with all this time on hands, I've been playing with MosaicMaker again, I've taken a leaf out of  Sue @ The Quince Tree's book and decided to try to produce a monthly mosaic of some of my photos. I often take pics which I use for blogging but never do anything else with - at least this way some will get saved each month and possibly even turned into a calendar for the VV house for 2013!

 

My creative mojo has returned this week - rather handy as I've finally had to admit just how close Christmas is - really must get cracking with some makes for that. There's also birthdays in the offing and here's what I've been doing;

 A block towards a quilt for a very special S&B friends big birthday later this month. A clever lady who is also a fellow blogger - Lottie has the task of turning all our work into something lovely. 

 Playing with super chunky yarn and a fat 10mm hook - this stuff works up really fast - just 3 rounds and its bigger than my normal blanket squares.

A felt & fabric Russian Doll decoration for another S&B birthday tonight.

The postman has visited again - I do like him when he brings parcels for me - this one is a little giveaway win from Jackie @ Sew Special Bears

 You'll notice the ribbon has already been recycled on the russian doll!

Inside - some light reading - can't wait to start this one.

Finally, I've been trying to do something with my Folksy shop - I've not really done much to promote that. I've added more pictures to the tap at the top of the page and this morning, I've been taking photos for 3 new raggies which should get added later today or tomorrow. On the page there's also a link to my VintageVickiMakes facebook page - please come over and visit.

 Right I think that's enough for today. The sun is shining and I feel the urge to try a little walk outside to take some photos. I did get out at the weekend for my first solo walk - just 1/3 of a mile around the town from my friends habbie shop then off to meet my family for coffee again - I did it but was totally shattered for the rest of the day! Slowly but surely, hey ;)

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Patchy

Good evening

Blimey I never meant to leave it almost a week between posts. Life has got in the way this week - a few disasters and a few triumphs too. We'll ignore the disasters and focus on the good stuff. 

In my last post you saw a peak of the new Cath Kidson 'Patch' book. I've had a good read and this is for me the best of the craft books she's brought out. I decided to make up the kit that was included with it. Whilst I've made patchwork quilts before using cut squares, I've never worked with paper templates. The instructions were very easy to understand and it didn't take long till I'd the patchwork pieces tacked together;

 

The next stage took a while longer as it firstly involved ironing *yuck* and then remembering to take the work upstairs with me to sew it all together. My sewing machine was most surprised to see me and much to my delight despite being ignored for almost 2 months worked beautifully first time.  Once the bag was together I decided to add some vintage buttons from my collection as it was too plain for my liking;

Hanging in the kitchen with just some of my reusable shopping bags!

Close up to show the colours better.

Now hands up - who was cold today? When I got up this morning and peaked out of the bedroom window I was surprised to see frost on the grass and the car windscreen all frozen up! When I got dressed I picked lots of layers but despite that I was still cold. You know it must be cold when despite lots of layers, a scarf, wrist warmers and blanket you are still shivering;

Not good - when MrVV came home at lunchtime - he was despatched upstairs to set the central heating going for a few hours. It was lovely to hear the gurgle of the pipes as they sprang to life and within a little while the house was feeling much warmer. In fact its off now and probably won't need to go on for a few days - just needed something to take the chill out of the air.

Since I've been on crutches I've not been able to wear a watch as it rubs on them. Now I like knowing what the time is and had a 'doh' moment when I remembered something I treated myself too much earlier in the summer - a gorgeous fob watch on a chain. I'd loved the Cath Kidston one but could not justify the expense - this one was a fraction of the price and just as lovely;

 The enamelled case.

and the lovely watch face.

Hurrah half term has started here now - it couldn't come soon enough. Both boys are very tired and a some lie-ins and a break for the school routine are very much needed..I don't think I'll see them very early tomorrow morning. Might mean I get to watch the rugby in peace. Good luck to Wales for tomorrow and to New Zealand for Sunday.

Have a good weekend folks.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx