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Friday 31 October 2014

stockings, poppies and treats...

Hello my lovelies,

I finally unearthed my sewing machine, and after much searching my machine pedal.  Yay!  

I made some Christmas stockings.  






I am very pleased with them.  

So far I've made five...I'm on a roll.  Thinking of selling them on Etsy...what do you think?  

They are padded with very thin wadding and lined with white cotton.  Each one has a different cuff, hanging tab, trims and finished with a lovely button.  




On another note, I came to London to visit friends and family during the half term break, which has been so nice.  Whilst I am slowly making new acquaintances in Broadstairs, it was lovely to meet up with old friends and have a good old natter about everything and nothing.  

I also took the opportunity to go and see the poppies at the Tower with my sister.  It was extremely busy, but an amazingly humbling sight.  




I'm not a big halloween fan....however I did make a little halloween treat to take to my friends house today for her lovely daughter.  



Have a wonderful weekend everyone and thanks again for visiting me in blogland.


Claire x





Thursday 9 October 2014

Pretty leaf garland


Autumn is here.  Such a beautiful season.  


I thought I'd share with you an idea that I found on Pinterest.  It was so pretty I couldn't not copy!


I collected some fallen leaves, trying to collect flat unspoilt ones did prove to be a bit more difficult than I anticipated.




I then laid them out on some newspaper and sprayed them with a clear gloss, hoping to retain some of their moisture.  I got a bit worried at this point - as they looked horribly shiny.



I waited patiently for them to dry.  Using a needle and embroidery thread I threaded the stems...carefully!





Et voila!  An autumnal garland for my fireplace.  I also collected some pinecones and displayed them on the mantle, when they are dry they too will become part of another garland that I'm working on.

I think the leaves look so pretty, so many tones and shapes to keep such a simple garland interesting. 

Claire x

Tuesday 7 October 2014

Floral finds

Sometimes you go to a car boot sale with a wish list and come back empty handed.



Sometimes you you go along with only a few pounds in your pocket and you are kicking yourself because there are so many treasure to buy.


This week I went along to my new 'local' car boot sale with a wish list, and enough pennies in my pocket...I found lots of lovely embroidered hankies, tables clothes, and antimacassars. 




Here is my haul.... 

       

       

       

       

        


...still however, not enough to get started on my dream quilt. Guess I'll have to keep hunting!



Claire x

Friday 3 October 2014

GBBO comes to town

Big G and I had a bit of an exciting afternoon today.  Broadstairs hosts a three day food festival twice a year... we had been planning on popping along at some point over the weekend.  But as it turns out, we hot footed it to the demo tent this very afternoon.  


Why?  What's all the fuss about?  


Well if you have been avidly been following The Great British Bake Off (who hasn't?), then you may recall that Chetna, who sadly got the boot this week, lives in my town!  Very exciting to have a local celeb...a talented, useful local celeb. Ouch!



Oh......I've lost my thread now, as the neighbours just knocked on the door and asked me to keep an eye on their cat...didn't even know they had one...so I had better keep an eye on ALL local tabbys for the next 16 days!

So...food festival...oh yes!  Big G follows people on Twitter and apparently that includes Paul Hollywood from GBBO!?! I heard a scream, followed by "Mum, Mum, Paul Hollywood and Chetna are at the food festival right NOW!  We have to go NOW!  Oh my God my hair is a bit greasy, wait for me to get changed, oh my God, oh my God....", it went on!

When we arrived at the foodie area and did a walk-run looking for the demo tent.  We found it, but no Paul or Chetna...panic...  I then spotted some 'security' talking behind the tent, I mouthed "follow me" to Big G and waltzed right past the a bit rubbish (at their job)security people and walked up to Paul Hollywood and said "Hello Paul", "Hi" he grumbled back, looking a bit grumpy.  Not one to be deterred easily, I informed him that my daughter was a massive fan and would he mind if she had her photo taken with him. He stopped cleaning his motorbike helmet and posed.....not smiling, but posed non-the-less.  



Chetna, on the other hand, was very smiley and just as gorgeous and sweetly mannered as she is on the telly box.  


Big G was absolutely delighted and immediately started forwarding the photos onto her friends, and previous food-tech teacher, who has a massive crush on Mr Hollywood!    



We then wandered around sampling lovely juices, ciders, virgin olive oils, cakes etc.. we bought a few bits and promptly ate them in the car on the way home.  (Shhh don't tell the others!)


A yummy afternoon...I'm going back tomorrow afternoon.  Tomorrow morning however has been put aside for a church jumble... hopefully I'll be staggering home laden with super cheap goodies...hopefully.


Apologies for the text heavy post, it was too crowded to take any decent photos.

Claire x

Thursday 2 October 2014

Finding my feet

Hello my dears

The past two weeks have been about finding my feet.  I stumbled across a knit and natter evening in a lovely teeny weeny pub in Ramsgate.  


John plays his 78s whist we knit, or in my case, crochet away over a glass of wine.


That is a dog buried between my legs...not mine, he came along whilst his owner sat knitting him a wolly coat for the winter!  He decided that the sofa and my legs were where he would wait it out!


As you can see my ENORMOUS blanket is coming along.  I just chained along until I couldn't face doing any more and as a result, the blanket is ridiculously wide!  Should be finished by next winter!

All the ladies there were so welcoming, and so talented!  My one stitch won't cut the mustard for long!


I have actually run out of wool and in the absence of any crochet to do this evening I'm bringing along my diamond patchwork quilt that I'm also working on...sporadically, and slowly.


I have been also been deciding on wallpapers, you can see a strip in the living room photo that I have chosen.  Very pretty - even Mr J has given his seal of approval.  

I have chosen this wallpaper for the dining room...and then found an adorable clock to match! What are the chances?!  I have a big strip of it washi taped to my dining room wall at the moment with the clock in the centre of it.  Looks a bit bonkers; this particular wall is turning into a bit of mood board/try it out wall/see how I feel about it a week later wall.   


A friendly neighbour invited me to her MacMillan coffee morning last week so I popped along to that with my mum and sister...she had a beautiful garden.  I love the use of the ladder as a prop.  


I found this biscuit tin in TKMAXX...had to have it...


...and finally I have been enjoying having a mantel piece to decorate!


Oh, and in case you were wondering, the unfriendly hens we have adopted have been named... Barbara and Chocolate.

Barbara is still chasing me around the garden and chocolate still looks as though she may die of 'her nervous' at any moment.

I don't think we'll ever be friends... they tolerate me because they feed me... sometimes I get the same vibes off my children!

Til next time...

...Claire x

Thank you for popping by. It is always lovely to hear your comments, they are read and cherished x
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