Felting and Flowers

Good evening

What a mixed day its been. Glorious sunshine this morning and springlike temperatures and then after lunch, it went grey & misty and I had to rescue my washing from the line.

During the sunny spells this week its made me realise that some serious spring cleaning is needed as the spiders appear to have been working very hard indeed. So once the craft fair makings have been completed I shall be arming myself with a bucket, pile of cloths and making my house shine.  I had a little go this afternoon, I'd treated myself to a pink primula this morning and thought it would like to live on one of the kitchen windowsills - after moving things around I realised that this was not a simple task. Instead the windows had a clean and the sills cleared and tidied.

A wander around the garden this morning found loads of spring flowers in bloom or just about too burst open;

Here's hoping half term has plenty of sunny days and then these daffs might open up and make the garden feel sunny.

As I said at the beginning, I've been busy making more stuff to sell - I've become rather addicted to knitting/felting and so far this week, 3 purses have been produced - the russian doll one was for a friends birthday. She was delighted with it when I handed it over @ S&B last night.

I had to chuckle @ some of the comments on my last post re. the lacy bunting - just wonder what sort of swap some of you thought I'd signed up too - trust me - am definitely more Bridget Jones than Jordan in my choices ;)

Hurrah half term starts tomorrow - can't wait - think the boys are ready for some late mornings and just having a break for routine & organisation. There's been talk of what they want to do - mainly seeing friends and catching up with family. Little son has promised to cook dinner one night - I am really looking forward to that - especially if he does the washing up too!!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx



Happy Valentines Day

Hello lovely ladies

Happy Valentines Day to you all

Well today was the day I could finally unwrap my pressies from the Bloggy Love Swap - well worth waiting for they were;

A hand painted tea light holder and the cutest tea light I've ever seen

A bear bearing chocolate - what is there not to love?

A gorgeous brooch (which I am wearing today) and lovely hand sewn/painted card - definitely need to find a frame for this one.

Lacey bunting - this flag I though most perfect for today

And chocolate - all heart shaped and rather tasty - need to hide these from my menfolk ;)

Thank you to Sue for the lovely parcel and and Jackie for organising this lovely swap :)

MrVV & I have also exchanged cards/pressies - edible for me and CD shaped for him!

I have the joys of a Valentines Physio visit later to look forward to and then probably a romantic bag of chips on the sea wall @ Aldeburgh for lunch - some of us really know how to live!!

Have a lovely day - whatever you are doing

xxx Vicki xxx

A family weekend

Evening

Just a quiet time here between a late snacky tea and the start of Sunday night back to school sorting and of course TV time - looking forward to the Bafta's later - am hoping Colin, Geoffrey & Helena all win.

The house smells strongly of my hyacinth which has bloomed over the weekend;

We've spent quite a bit of time together as a family this weekend - sometimes just busy doing nothing. The 6 nations has been on and we've cheered the England team on and also offered suggestions to the refs of the other matches ;)

Today we headed out to Ipswich so big son could spend some of his birthday money and so we could have a meal out. Wow for a boy who for many years hated shopping he did very well - new hoodies, t-shirts, books, a game and most importantly a DVD player - I think soon he'll only have to leave his room for meals!! I soon got bored of boy shops and wandered off on my own. I bumped into Dawn in White Stuff - she seemed to be having better luck than me - I left there empty handed. I ended up in M&S and managed to find a few bits to brighten my wardrobe - including some very pretty tights with pink flowers on them - I shall feel 6 years old again!!

Once shopping had been completed we headed over to the Waterfront and to Pizza Express - thanks MrTesco for contributing towards today's 3 course lunch ;) Well 3 course for some - just 2 and the last few scoops of little sons pudding for me - here's the boys tucking into the most delicious ice cream sundaes;

Right I'd best be off - the maid appears to have forgotten to iron school shirts so I'd best do that ;)

Am looking forward to tomorrow as I get to open my Spread the Bloggy Love parcels - am quite excited and I have been giving them a poke and squeeze!!

xxx Vicki xxx

Happy Birthday LummyLonglegs!

Evening

Oh yes (said in best Churchill the dog voice) tis the turn of No1 son to have a birthday - seems the first 1/4 of the year involves an awful lot of cake making and decorating. Now the old brain cells are struggling at the moment and it took me a while to find any inspiration for what to put on his cake. However during a rare dusting session I happened upon a tub of magnets which get used very rarely now by small visiting people.  After a quick rummage I came up with enough letters for this;

The squirrel is a current injoke which was started by school friends and has spread.

One happy smiling face as he gets to blow the candles out;

Annoying parent in the background ;)

He was also smiley this morning whilst he opened his pressies - a snazzy new camera, tickets for a comedy show (Tim Vine) and good selection of sweets, clothes and money. Its been tested fully - taking a new facebook profile pic;

He keep trying to take pics of me too - testing out all the fancy settings;

We are off out on Sunday for a birthday meal somewhere and so the money that's currently burning a hole in his wallet can be invested and boost the high streets takings - I think I shall leave him to do that alone and go and investigate some far nicer shops - really the Apple Store and Top Man do nothing for me - give me Paperchase & White Stuff ;)

Thanks for the comments on his room - if you say its tidy then I shall believe you - am sure big son would too after all the last thing he wants to do is too tidy up when he could be slaying dragons or messing around with his new camera. I really don't think I should comment on his muddle having spent ages this morning looking for something in our room - it was there, just buried under a heap of clean washing waiting to go away!!

Oh the postie appeared today with a parcel for me - my Spread the Bloggy Love Swap parcel from Sue - I've opened the outer layer but the parcels are now hidden up until Monday;

Ok so my spotty conservatory table wasn't the best place but the light here today has been truly awful - here's hoping the sunshine comes out tomorrow.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Making & baking

Good morning

Not often I blog during the daytime but I've a cake in the oven and I can't wander too far from it as its getting to the almost cooked stage. Another birthday tomorrow - big son. Cake gets made today and then decorated once he's gone to school tomorrow as I want the finished item to be a surprise. Lets just say it will be along the lines of my normal over decorated and colourful cakes! I've also a pile of pressies to wrap too - am hoping that he'll love the Toy Story paper I found yesterday.

Been finishing off more items for the craft fair this week but I found time to finish a felted purse for myself;

From knitted piece, to felted shape to purse :)

I've another piece of felting drying at the moment and started knitting another piece last night whilst watching mindless nonsense on the tv.

I've also been playing around with a collection of random cups & saucers that I've got - far cheaper than Liberty's - I've started making these again;

Teacup pincushions with Annie's lovely pins in them.

I treated myself earlier in the week to some lovely new fabric to make myself a new dress - so far I've got as far as washing it to preshrink it and then hanging it out to dry;

The 2p gives you an idea of how small the squares are - all those straight lines should make sewing nice and simple!!

As I was wandering around the house earlier opening windows, I thought I'd take some reality photos of my house - here's big sons room complete with floor 'storage' and the mess of a soon to be 15 year old male.

Who lives in a mess like this????

Study area complete with card collections and a radiator based Top Gear cool wall.

I need to have a hunt through old photos later to find something suitably embarrassing I can post on here or Facebook tomorrow - can't believe another year has gone past so quickly. As he informs us - only 2 years till he can learn to drive - have suggested he starts saving ;)

Finally before the timer goes ping, Monday went really well. The crematorium was packed with people from the many parts of FIL's life. We heard so many stories about him and laughed as well as cried.

See you tomorrow with some cake pics.

xxx Vicki xxx

Protest, thankyou & balls!!

Afternoon

All peaceful here - boys busy with technology and avoiding being asked to tidy their rooms and MrVV is watching the rugby. Am happy to watch England play but can't quite muster the same enthusiasm if its the others - sorry to my Scots, Welsh, Irish, Italian and French readers. A good win last night wasn't it :)

This morning started bright and early for a Saturday - no hanging around in pj's till lunchtime for little son and I - we were off to peacefully protest!! Oh yes our County Council wants to save money and close lots of our libraries here in Suffolk - s'ok they say there will still be some - oh but btw we are making cuts to the local rural bus service too so you'll need to allow a whole day just to change your books!! Enough to turn a girl to drink except they also want to close our wonderful recycling centre - making it a 50 mile round trip to get rid of anything they don't collect.

Our little town can sometimes be said to be apathetic so it was wonderful so see a big turn out of supporters - over 200;

Another meeting is planned for March 5th and little son and I shall both be there.

Yesterday morning I was feeling a bit down and sore - I'd spent a few hours on Thursday in hospital having a minor 'girlie' trip to the day surgery unit. There was a knock at the door and there stood my friend the postman with a parcel for me. It was my giveaway win from Em @ Garden Peas and Fleas - it was from her Banish the Winter Blues Giveaway;

Lots of shiny blue parcels and a card - all for me :)

Look what was inside - gorgeous fabric, pencils, notebook, CK tissues, chocolate, crochet cloths, a Yankee tart and also;

These sweet little brooches - I shall be wearing them lots, so pretty.

Look at this little sparkly fairy soap that Em made - she reminds of of a Lalique treasure.

Thank you Em - it arrived just at the right time and certainly hit the spot :)

Whilst watching the rugby last night I finished knitting another purse to be felted. After sewing the ends in I was left with some yarn. Being a fan of waste not / want not I needed to do something with these pieces. I've spent some time at the kitchen sink armed with a bar of soap (not my pretty one) and have turned the offcuts into little felted balls - not enough to do much with at the moment but hopefully eventually there will be enough for a bracelet;

Right - I'd best get one. Got a sister coming in a little while - she wants some sewing doing and then I ought to get sorted as we're planning a trip to the cinema to see the Kings Speech tonight.

Thank you to all who've asked after the family - MrVV & the boys are doing ok - though there is obviously a dread about the funeral on Monday, they are dealing with things in their own very matter of fact way - rather like my FIL would have done. Oh yes I can see FIL in MrVV (have been able to do so for a long while) and now the traits are coming through in Little Son too. Big son is more like my Dad - similar deep voice and warped sense of humour.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Sometime last week.....

Good evening

One afternoon early last week (before that news), I spent the afternoon with my SIL in Southwold. We had a lovely wander around the shops, browsing (me) and spending lots (her). I introduced her to my favourite little shop there - Ann Brewster's - which has an increasingly excellent range of CK lovelies. She had a big spend on pretties for herself and her daughter. I was good ;) and just bought a couple of little items that I'd seen online and knew I needed!! I've also spotted a bag I NEED for my birthday next month!!

I love her badges - I have quite a few now and I must say they even survive the wash quite often!!

I was pleased to find this thread tin in stock - I've needed something pretty to store my embroidery threads in - much easier now to find the colour I want.

Last week also produced some excellent CS finds;

A vintage travel scrabble set - just needs a pretty little bag to store the tiles in - otherwise its perfect. It shall end up in our camping box eventually.

A mother cute terrier and her 2 babies. I seem to be drawn now to dog ornaments - odd considering I'm really quite scared of dogs!

Some pretty vintage linen table cloths - the pink one is particularly lovely and I shall use it to cover the tables when I have stalls. The white one is rather small - not sure what to do with that yet.

Right for the first time in ages I have the house to myself - bliss. Off for an uninterrupted soak in the bath.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx