The extra day

Good morning

Oh the joy of an extra day in the month!! Happy Birthday to those celebrating today - amazing how many 5 and 6 year olds are allowed to drive ;)

Time to recap on the Greenpeace Fair at the weekend - if I leave it any longer it will be next weekend!

An early start was needed - the car needed loading and the picnic basket packing!

Theres' that moment when all the boxes/bags are in the hall and you look at it and think OMG where's it all going to go. Luckily we had 2 big tables between us 4 sisters (only 2 of us manning the stall though). Decided the easiest way was to keep our stuff together in sections.

It was a lovely day - we were seated near a friend and it was a good day for catching up, nattering and people watching. I looked up at one point and saw a man whose face was familiar. It took me a moment or two to realise who he was - a teacher from school who was instrumental in getting MrVV & I together as a couple. We'd not seen each other for many many years - last time big son was toddler and little son just a large stomach bump so there was plenty of catching up to do.

As well as chatting etc, there was music all day - some excellent folk music - from all ages. This group was made up of young children from about aged 9 to 13 - they were amazing. All played several instruments and their sound was brilliant;

It was a long day and come 5.30 we were more than happy to pack up and head home. The important task of cashing up for our stall was left to me and everyone was happy with their takings for the day.

I've spent mine already!! I've booked day tickets for a new local music festival in August; 

The link is here - Folkeast 2012 - it looks a promising event - the music line up is excellent. We're just going on the Saturday but if its good then I think another year we might do the whole weekend.

One final thing as its the end of the month - a mosaic for February - what a mixed month - snow and spring sunshine with some hearts and more cake thrown in for good measure!!

See you soon for the best month of the year!!

xxx Vicki xxx

Photo Scavenger Hunt 2012 - February

Yep its that time of the month again - no not that one - the one we look forward too!!

Here's my efforts for February - I did think at one point I might not get the list finished as I struggled for inspiration but then suddenly one day, it hit and took about half the pictures in one go!!

Music - Anyone know what this tune is??

Food - a family favourite - homemade pizza (this is the uncooked version - the cooked one never lasts long enough to take pictures!)

Love - a little crochet heart - these are addictive to make and oh so simple.

Cupid - no not the one with the arrows but the ones thats part of Santa's sleigh pulling team ;)

In the sky - one aeroplane taking people off on their hols.

Black and white - the cherry tree and garden with a dusting of snow - the light that day made everything seem black & white.

5 - a 5p piece 

Leapyear - the date on a shopping voucher I was sent (and yes I used it!!)

Train - the only one left from Big Sons childhood collection - this is Percy

Crowded - one of my dressers - crowded/cluttered?? I like it like that!

Empty - the Prom/Beach @ Southwold - the beach huts don't move back till next month and there are very few holidaymakers here this time of year - another month and it would be much different

.Heritage - The Martello Tower @ Aldeburgh. These were built along the coast to deter invasion by the French during the Napoleonic wars. This one is the most northerly and the largest. Its infact 4 towers 'glued' together and originally had a moat around it. Its now owned by the Landmark Trust and is let as a holiday home.

Thanks as ever to Kathy - and I look forward to another month of scavenging :)

xxx Vicki xxx

Hints of Spring

Good evening

What a glorious day we've had here in Suffolk - sunshine, blue skies and warmth! Windows have been thrown open and its been lovely hearing all the birds singing and the dull roar of an early lawnmower!

Its was no good - I couldn't resist - time to take some photos;

 Primroses ( a treat for me), crocuses, ladybirds enjoying the warmth and daffs that will soon burst into colour.

Washing drying in the sunshine, buds waiting to burst into blossom on the cherry tree, another ladybird sunning itself on the buddleia and catkins on one of the silver birch trees.

Just lovely - warm enough not to need a proper coat - I'm sure it won't last too many days, however its nice to get a reminder of whats just around the corner.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Monthly Makes 2012 - February

Morning

I've 5 minutes to kill whilst I wait for a delivery to turn up - can't get to far from the front door as those pesky delivery drivers tend to knock so quietly and drive off again! I need to catch this one - he has essential items which the menfolk need this weekend! (nothing exciting - computer cabling!!).

Right - I think I've made all I'm going to this month - there is one thing I'd like to show you but that needs to wait until next month so I don't spoil any surprises ;)

Makes for February;

Top left > bottom right - hexy crochet bunting for a S&B birthday, crochet flower brooch, crochet flowers & hearts, 3 cushions for Greenpeace Fair stock, one upcycled dress for me, 3 mini-raggies towards the fair and my first finished crochet blanket :)

One final mention - if you are in Suffolk on Saturday and want to spend time listening to fab music and mooching a good range of craft/vintage stalls then head to St Edmunds Hall (next to the Primary School) in Southwold - the Waveney Greenpeace Winter Fair is there all day - starts 11am and the stalls finish at 5.30. There is also evening entertainment - music and wild dancing (I won't be doing that!!). Come and say Hi :)

BTW - several have asked - my ankle is doing well - we're now 6 months since it happened. My walking is improving and I can now walk up and downstairs 'properly'. I still limp and expect that to be the case for a long while. Physio is down to once a month with me doing the exercises at home.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Hints of Madness

Good evening

Wow half term went quickly didn't it - we'd just got the hang of lie-ins and no uniform and then 'beep beep beep' the alarm was going off this morning and it was back to packups and early starts. Nevermind, the positives - just 6 weeks till the next holiday! That's just 60 more white shirts and then no more white shirts! The boys school wear polos in the summer term and then as from September, big son will be in own clothes and little son wearing the new school uniform they are bringing in :)

Right - madness.

We went to Southwold yesterday as a family. When we were walking along the Prom, I spotted 4 little black shapes bobbing about in the sea - oh seals thought I - wrong - surfers;

Brrrrr - am sure even with wet suits the North Sea is cold in February - also we don't get the waves here for surfing - mad people!!

More madness today. The sun was shining so I decided to hang the washing on the line. I must remember (1) clean white sheets are tempting to sniff - however they don't mix with red lipstick! and (2) check what washing you are sniffing - I thought it was an armful of my t-shirts, not MrVV's pants!!

One final piece of madness - agreeing to play air hockey against the boys when we were in the arcades yesterday - damn MrVV and his camera phone and uploading unflattering pics of me to Facebook!

I'll leave you with one final picture - Boy Son v Little Son;

The final score board - Big Son (3 wins), MrVV (2 wins), Little Son (1 win) and me - of course I lost all my games.

Right see you later in the week - I've my Monthly Makes for Feb to share with you, hopefully some hint of spring photos and I might even get the Photo Scavenger Hunt pictures finished too (struggling here this month).

xxx Vicki xxx

Celebrations and making

Good evening

Now where did we leave off last time? Oh yes, the early start and someones 16th birthday. He had a lovely day out in London - got called up on stage and the over 300 students sang Happy Birthday to him - I think he went the same deep red as his school jumper! Oh and his teacher bought him a muffin and put a candle in it!!

As he was stuffed full of junk food and too tired Friday night, we saved the birthday cake till the next day. He wasn't too stuffed full of that to enjoy a meal out Saturday night and his first legal with a meal pint!

Now I was a big gutted when I found out the other week that the picture editing site (Piknic) I use is closing in April. I'd started to wonder what I could use instead and was happy when someone else suggested looking at Pixlr. I did and I think I could learn to like it and use it. There are some limitations but I think I've worked round those. First I loaded the 2 pictures into MosaicMaker and then put that collage into Pixlr to add the effects - not as quick as before but I'm happy with the results. Might even find time to make a new header sometime soon.

Now the weather this weekend was pretty pants - cold & very frosty on Saturday and then more snow yesterday morning. We eventually got out for a walk yesterday and most of the ice had washed away and it was fairly safe underfoot. All the indoor time meant apart from watching the rugby, I could catch up on some making;

Mini-raggies to come to Southwold with me later this month.

Teeny Tiny Hearts and Flowers courtesy of Lucy's blog - I shall put these together as a garland - just a hint of tradition towards Valentines Day tomorrow - don't expect anything else - we are not doing that this year! Instead we ordered each other a CD each and have agreed no cards!

Its half term here (I think it is just about everywhere??) and of course my growing boys are constantly hungry - coupled with little visitors tomorrow it could only mean one thing - baking time. Chocolate fudge cookies - so tasty - should still be some left for tomorrow!!

The week is filling up nicely - seems to involve me handing over money to the boys for various things as well as catching up with my family.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Happy Birthday 'Sweet' 16!!

Good afternoon

Yep another birthday! This time its big sons and he's reached the milestone of 16 - sweet in his own very special way!!

One cake has been made and is awaiting his return much later today;

A continuation of this years chocolate cake and icing theme!!

The day started early, very early - this early (note the light on the AM bit);

Why?? A school trip - a GCSE History revision day at a University in London - they were leaving school at 6.30am prompt - so we were awake early for big son to get showered, fed, down a couple of cups of coffee and open some cards & pressies too.

We've even got to wait till early evening till we can sample the cake!!

Not heading out tonight instead we are off for a meal tomorrow - someone is looking forward to being allowed a pint of cider with his curry!!

Have a good weekend all - I shall be avoiding the ice and staying in with the rugby and a basket of body parts to turn into mini-raggies!

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

Marooned!

Good morning

Have been marooned indoors now since Sunday - the snow started to melt and then refroze - its done this 3 times now and as a consequence the drive and lane are like a skating rink and far too slippery for me to venture out. I watched one neighbour slide sideways down the road this morning in her little car and that made my mind up - another day indoors for me!

The conservatory roof keeps starting to clear and then it freezes again - leaving slabs of snow hanging waiting for someone to stand under there and get covered comedy style. There's also been some lovely icicles hanging from there too;

At least it means I've caught up with domestic stuff and have had a chance to catch up on some making too. Firstly upcycling a skirt I made years ago into a dress with the addition of some fabric I bought many moons ago as I just liked the feel of it. Both parts are a brushed cotton and oh so soft. The skirt part was made from a vintage Laura Ashley dress I bought a sister when she was pregnant 10 years ago. The deal was she got to wear it and when she'd finished I'd get it back as I loved the material. It was made into a skirt for me and other bits of the fabric have appeared in quilts and makes since. The skirt hasn't been worn for a while so I decided to make it into something I would wear - I cut the top part off and made the top of the dress yesterday afternoon. This morning to the 2 parts got put together and the moment of truth dawned - would it fit and would I like it? Yes and yes;

 Now getting a picture of me wearing it was tricky - there's no-one here to take a photo and the light is bad and obviously if you are taking a pic in the mirror you can't use a flash - so here's the best of many attempts;

I've also finished 3 cushions towards next weekends stall;

My sewing space was tidy when I started working - however it doesn't take long to get messed up and won't get another tidy until I've finished making stuff;

I've been rather lucky this last week - I've acquired not one but two new cameras! The first one was a reward sent to MrVV for being the top seller on an auction site he uses. He had no use for it as he's got a rather nice digi-SLR he treated himself to last year - so he gave it to me. Its a Nikon Coolpix S610 and is a better spec than the Pentax Optio I have been using for the past 18 months. So I gave the old camera to little son as he wanted a small point and shoot camera that he can take out and about. In turn it seemed that he had MrVV's old camera and wasn't planning to use that anymore so he gave that one to me - and I am rather taken with it. I'd forgotten how simple it is to use and its been my camera of choice this week;

 One new toy

and another one!!

It meant when the Green Woodpecker visited the garden the other day to trash the snow in search of a good meal, I was able to capture him with no problems at all;

Had to laugh at him throwing snow out of the way so he could find a patch of grass - he spent ages there so I assume he found what he was looking for!!

Right I'd best be off - want to make a cuppa before I have a wander around blogland to see what you've all been up too.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

The one with snow in it - part 2

Good evening

I know 2 posts in one day! Well I've time to kill whilst my dinner is being cooked!

The teens got dressed pretty quickly for a weekend and after we'd found boots to fit little son (pesky growing boys!), we all headed outside. The snow was deeper that it first looked;

However my feet stayed dry - good job, I can't get my wellies on at the moment - my stupid foot can't get round the bend in the welly.

The menfolk decided that snow rugby was a good idea;

With snowball throwing added in for extra fun.

One of those rare photos of me - with big son;

Of course it wouldn't be a snow post without a snow angel pic;

We did head off for a walk but the unevenness of the snow was making my ankle ache so I headed home.

Once everyone was in, it was time to put the kettle on;

This afternoon has been spent like yesterdays - watching the rugby, drinking tea and finishing off a crochet make or two.

The snow shows no sign of melting so far - the boys are hoping that school is cancelled tomorrow - I think that unlikely but you never know.

See you soon

xxx Vicki xxx

The one with snow in it - part 1

Good morning

Thought I'd get in first with the snowy post!!

We had a little yesterday and then a bigger load overnight;

BBQ anyone?

 Someone has been about looking for food - good job the feeders are full and MrVV has just gone to defrost the birdbath.

Untouched snow - even the tatty trailer looks better with its white blanket.

One car not going far today.

 The summerhouse - wont be sitting out there today.

Instead after the obligatory walk in the snow (yes I'll be careful), I think I'll spend this afternoon the same as I did yesterday - crochet, a mug of tea and a rugby match to cheer at :)

Once the teens are dressed we're off out to play - expect photos of snow angels and snowballs sometime soon.

Have a good day.

xxx Vicki xxx