all is calm all is bright

snuggly

scrummy

hot legs

huts

that cold

hengistbury head

fresh


goodbye 2008!!

a yule blog

Seasons Greetings Bloggers




Last weekend we made a trip to Lymington, to enjoy the Christmas spirit. I just love the living decorations on this building!


I have had real trouble this year finding traditional Christmas decorations on the high street, there seems to be a lot of strange or stylized things now heavily reduced, which is a little sad.
However I did manage to find the Santa (or trumping Santa!) and the Christmas tree above.


Yesterday I found this awesome Gisella Graham fairy-boy for £1.22, I love him!!
He flies around the mantle.


Is it just me that thinks their decorations come alive when we go to bed?


So whats on the tv this year? A sledging character complete with snowman, thats what.


I had to add one of the garden which will feature next year in my new blog this gardens life.


I must go now I have wrapping to do and this little robin to stitch. So I wish all my new blogpals a very Merry Christmas and see you in the New Year!!

It's Christmas!

I must first apologize for my unenthusiastic week of blogging, and secondly for the blurry photos I keep taking, I think its time for a new camera! I finally felt well enough to make my door wreath with leftover branches from the tree.


I wanted to get some new decorations this year, but left it too late, so I'll have to make do with the funny assortment of vintage!



The family fairy even got an airing. One word of warning: If you decorate your tree with childlike whimsy you will be sure to attract the sticky fingers of toddlers!

The dining room is something of a country living style, maybe? Yes that is my recently finished patchwork upside down on the table.


I have even managed some crafting amongst all the shopping and decorating. Its my first ever attempt at a bag and I am totally amazed that it worked, and my first ever applique too! I filled this with some sweets etc and sent it off with the girls hearts which I made in the summer.



Finally I found that waterstones are selling Angie Lewin cards, which are almost as good as the real thing and a snip at £2.29. I think it shall be framed for the loft room. This photo is not very pleasing.

crisp!!

Thankyou for all your well wishes! Its not nice feeling miserable at Christmas. I think I am on the mend?

cold/sickness bug 1-0 clare

van quilt

Its finished! That could be down to its small size or the fact that I have thoughts of the next one already swirling round in my head. I'm really going to resist jumping in straight away this time so I don't end up sewing something I'm not 100% happy with. I was unsure of the red/green combination, but as I was making it for our van, you can see what I was trying to achieve.
Its my hope that the colours will fade eventually and be a little less 'nursery'!


As usual with me I make it up as I go along. I learn something new with each quilt; mainly how to do something the wrong way! I do use my Country quilts book for reference, funny though how you don't understand the instructions until usually its too late! Thank heavens for you tube. The tutorials are really amazing. My mistake this time was mitring the binding, lets just say thanks to some lovely lady from the US I now get it!
So that's something to learn on my next project! Life's to short to unpick! And anyway quilts are meant to be homespun and I'm sure never perfect, sounds like me!

baby bloom

A rose to celebrate the birth of my friends baby girl.

bauble tutorial

December the first, its officially the festive season! This is the corner in my home where memories are kept and is the first area to get a quick makeover. As Christmas is about sharing I thought I'd demonstrate how to make my beloved baubles. The one in the picture is a giant, which is what happens if you don't choose the correct size circle before you begin! Still love it though!
To start off you need to make a cardboard template of a circle with an equilateral triangle inside. If you are like me and maths was left in school then google it et voila! This is not the actual size you want to use. I found to get a bauble the size of an apple the length of the triangle sides were about an inch long. This can be worked out by trial and error with your printer.
If you have old Christmas cards then great, otherwise coloured card could be cute too. Using your cardboard template cut out 20 circles for 1 bauble.


Next you need to draw the triangle on the reverse side of every circle. The easiest way I found was to make the circle template into a triangle template.


You then need to score the triangle and bend the edges up.


So now you are ready to glue! I use uhu as it is strong enough to hold the card together yet sticky enough to manoeuvre. You need to glue the turned up edges, one by one. I wont lie to you this is the tricky stage and you may think its impossible, but once you've reached the next stage you get the hang of it.


Do not worry if its not perfectly lined up, mine are not. Nobodies perfect are they?
When you get to the halfway point don't forget to slip in a loop of ribbon or whatever you wish, for hanging.


Then just carry on adding circle after circle, all the while squeezing the already glued ones tighter together. Finally you will have a bauble shape!


At this stage the structure should be quite solid and once you have stuck the last bit together you will be hooked!

show and tell

Did you ever notice how a theme/colour/pattern creeps into your house completely subconsciously and before you know it you are living in the gingerbread house or Graceland!

Its a colour in my case, be it aqua, turquoise, eau de nil, duck egg, cyan, teal.. I'm drawn to it and everything that goes with it!
This is evident in my recent bargain curtain purchase, can you guess where I got them?
Laura Ashley maybe? John Lewis??









Strange how we gravitate towards a colour, although I've just realised that my Mums favourite colour is green and my Grandmas was blue, so mix them together and what do you get??

In case you are still wondering I got my curtains from B&Q!! and a bargain £26!!

Im off now to do some more snuggling as I have a cold (probably due to mass socialization at the weekend). Plus blogger keeps making everything come out bold type and I'm too bunged up to go on!

ps. I have finished my van quilt at least. Watch this space for pics...