Happy, happy Christmas!

Well it's been a long time! I have been lurking and checking in with you all whenever I've had a spare minute and it's been fun watching you all preparing for Christmas. There seems to be a common theme running through all the blogs I read, NONE of us are ready for Christmas!

How did it get to 7 days before the big day?? Last I knew it was the beginning of November and all of a sudden Christmas is upon us, HELP!

Since I last posted, an eternity ago it seems, lots has happened. The craft business is going from strength to strength, it took off better than we could ever have hoped, thanks to some well timed fairs and parties. Not that it's all been plain sailing, we had one totally disastrous fair that we know never to do again, but you learn from experience and although it was a bit depressing at the time, the next one was the best we've ever done, which boosted our confidence and our Christmas shopping fund! It seems from reading other crafters' blogs that we've all had our fair share of c*****y fairs, with the usual "you could make that" muttered to friends and looks of dismay when you tell people the price - how rude people can be!

We've had tremendous support from partners, husbands, children, neighbours and friends, really unbelievable, without them we couldn't have got through the past two months. The last order was finished last night so I can breath a huge sigh of relief, put anything I didn't sell on the Christmas tree and open the wine (again) - Hurrah! Andrea and I treated ourselves to a trip to Bicester Village (without children!) as a reward and spent a few happy hours shopping (there's even a Cath Kidston discount shop there!).

Christmas preparations are now well and truly under way in this house, there seems to be a bit of a bird theme going on! My family arrive on Sunday for about 10 days so we need to de-clutter in a big way! This house will be bulging at the seams, but I can't wait. I love Christmas and I love having family around, there will be plenty of chocolate, nuts, turkey and alchohol consumed - once I've been food shopping that is! There are lists everywhere, things that need finishing, wrapping or buying. The basement bedrooms have been cleared, we're still waiting for the building work to be done after the floods, but they will be prettified for Christmas in order to put up the 6 extra people.

We must be the only family with a special "Beano" bauble, courtesy of Jack! I've taken about 263 photos of the tree and they're all terrible so I've settled for a close up of one of our homemade decorations.

Thanks to everyone who sent get well wishes to Mum. Her operation went well, nothing nasty was found and she's well on her way to a full recovery. As usual she kept the full extent of the problem to herself until after the op, but she's well and looking forward to Christmas, making her famous sausage rolls in huge quantities for her grandchildren. It's an enormous relief and means that we can look forward to next year with excitement instead of worry.

It's been a great year on the whole, we've had some fab holidays with good friends and family, watched our children grow and change, laughed, cried, talked, danced, argued and shouted (and shouted again - if only our kitchen walls could talk!) a lot, picnicked with grandparents, and made some difficult choices which have turned out to be the best decisions and made us much happier in the end. A typical year in any family I would think!

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and a fantastic 2008. Enjoy, try to relax, and spoil yourselves a bit, and no running off with Santa - his work/life balance is not good! My thoughts are with all of you who've lost someone this year, gather those that matter around you, close the door, light the fire and enjoy each other.

As a postscript I just had to show a couple of photos of some of the lovely things I've received from a couple of you lovely folk out there..........

Firstly, ages ago I won "Little Pinkie" over at Suzie Sews and he now lives proudly on the old coffee grinder (out of grubbly little fingers reach!). How cute is he - don't know why I've decided it's a he, it seems that all our soft toys whether they be pink, green or yellow are boys! The coffee grinder was a "must-have" purchase after our Featherdown Farm hol, the kids love grinding the beans, great, as long as you're not desperate for the next caffeine hit! Anyway, thanks a million Suzie, here he is at last!

Next I received my Christmas order this morning from the lovely Catherine over at Molly Cupcakes, with a few little extras thrown in. I can't wait to give Kitty the baking set in her favourite colour, or to use the red spoon. All of her stuff is just lovely, you have to visit! I had the great pleasure of meeting her when she came to collect a vintage ironing board I had for sale, and she is as lovely in real life as on her blog!

Phew! Well done if you're still with me! All that needs to be said now is HAPPY, HAPPY CHRISTMAS, see you in 2008!.................

Busy, busy, busy...........

Too many books methinks!..................

Hello everyone, thanks for all the lovely comments left on my last post. I think there may be a few fellow bloggers staying at a Featherdown farm next year - maybe I should ask for commission!

Life has been very hectic here for the past few weeks, and this weekend in particular. I must apologise for not replying to all of your comments, but they are truly appreciated. Over the past couple of weeks I have made a decision that in the lead up to Christmas I'll have to scale down my blogging habits a little. I've just received an order from a small shop nearby for lots of my stuff and whilst I'm thrilled to bits I'm starting to panic a bit. Andrea and I have lots of fairs lined up before Christmas and because all my things are handmade they are pretty labour intensive and have to be squeezed into the rest of my life. Andrea is now employed as my sales director! It's thanks to her that the shop placed an order, I'd never have had the courage to go in and sell myself!

Time therefore is very precious to me now and I'm constantly aware that this is Kitty's last year before school so I want to spend as much time with her as possible. As all you fellow crafters out there know it's so difficult to fit everything in and I don't want my children to suffer as a result. So I have decided to have a small break from blogging for the next few weeks to give me time to fulfil my orders and get ready for Christmas.

We also received the news that my mum will be having a major operation before Christmas, which follows weeks of anxiety. Everything looks like it will be ok, but I need to be able to be with her if necessary.

I've really enjoyed all my blogging time so far and I have made some lovely blogging pals so I do intend to come back and regularly pop in to visit my faves. Thanks to everyone who's made me so welcome and for all your positive comments. The whole blogging experience has been so rewarding!

Now to weekend news. Andrea turned 40 last week and Saturday night was a 70's disco night to celebrate. What a fantastic party, we danced all night long - don't know how in those platform boots! Everybody had a fantastic time, there were vol-au-vonts and profiteroles galore, it was fab! Happy birthday old trout, you're a great friend and your coffee cake is to die for! Andrea's the one in the middle and Maureen is on the right, another great friend.................

Even Kitty got in on the wig action...............

After going to bed at 2.30am and having my morning call by Kit at 6.30am we stumbled off to the Cheltenham Literature Festival with both children. Yet again we booked them in to see their favourite authors and totally forgot to book anything for ourselves. We've now made a pact that next year we WILL be more organised, every year I kick myself because I miss lots of great shows. I did see Neil "Drop the Dead Donkey" Pearson from a distance (lovely blue eyes) but that doesn't really count!

Finally, I had some lovely post this weekend. My order from Elfie and Me arrived and I have to tell you the cards and badges are every bit as gorgeous as they look on her website. Thanks Claire, I'll be visiting again soon!

Next came a parcel all the way from Marie in Canada. She was giving away freebies of her rose cream. It's absolutely scrumptious! You have to order some, the smell is divine! Thanks Marie, it was a very generous offer!

I'll end with a picture of a typical Friday morning scene here (or at a friends' house). Nearly every Friday some of our old NCT group meet up for tea, cakes and a chat. We've all known each other since our children were born and it's always great to catch up on gossip, children and life in general. Our children don't get to see each other too often but when they do they're always pleased to see each other. Long may it continue!

See you all soon...............

Absolutely amazing!..........

What more can I say? What a fantastic holiday! If you enjoy camping, like we do this is the ultimate in luxurious camping. It was a total break from normal life, no tv, computers, phones, news or distractions, just the four of us and a canvas house.

The tents were such a great place to stay, they were a child's dream. Our two slept in the cupboard bed, snuggled under Jack's new eiderdown. Every morning Ian got up first and lit the stove to warm the tent and make sure I had my cup of Yorkshire tea (knowing what a dragon I am before that first cuppa!). We ate by candlelight and oil lamp every evening with nothing but the sound of the crackling fire and owls hooting.



We were the only ones staying over the weekend, probably because it was October and nobody else was so foolhardy, but we had the best weather. The sun shone every day, we went to the beach, visited St Michael's Mount, ate crab sandwiches looking out over the ocean at the Lizard peninsula and played chess, scrabble and trivial pursuit every day.

The children whiled away the hours throwing pebbles into the sea (it always amazes me how long that occupies them!), they read, ran about in the fields and never once complained of boredom. We didn't want to come home!

It made me realise how much excess we have in our daily lives, and how little we actually need to get by, although I would draw the line at getting rid of the washing machine! It was a great "get away from it all" holiday and I would highly recommend it to anyone.............

How many cushions?.............

The answer is never enough! Just thought I'd squeeze a quick post in before the weekend because we're away from tomorrow. The excitement in the house is palpable because we're going to stay in one of these..........

Let's hope the sun keeps shining as much as it is today! If you're interested their website is http://featherdownfarms.co.uk

One thing I wanted to show you before I go is one of the things Andrea is making for our craft venture together. The boxes come as a set of two and are decorated in various ways. This is one of the first prototypes and I think it looks lovely! We'd love some feedback.

More exciting news, Andrea has today placed her order to become a stockist of Greengate. Anybody who's aware of their products will know how few people stock it in the UK so it's a very exciting time for her, I'm sure it's going to be a big hit.

I'll finish with a couple of shots of, yes you've guessed it, cushions.................

These are my latest creations for the kitchen chairs, just to annoy Ian and the children! The mutterings about b***** things in the way can be heard in just about every room in the house, apart from the bathroom. Ummmm where could I squeeze a cushion in there, maybe on top of the loo!!

Finally, bargain of the week, ie. FREE! Ian was clearing out the car last night and started making weird head gestures to me. Thinking he was having some sort of funny turn I shouted "What's the matter" to which he pulled an abandoned chair out of the nearby alleyway. He then had to run up the street clutching it, hoping no-one spotted him!

A can of spray paint and one of my vintage fabric cushions later we have this, and I'm pretty pleased with it. Needless to say no "before" pics because I was too excited and needed to get it done before school home time.

Hope you all have a lovely, relaxing weekend. See you next week...............

Bring out the bunting, it's party time!..........

How do you keep seven 7 year olds quiet for 40 minutes? Give them chocolate bars to decorate!

Yesterday we had Jack's birthday party. His birthday falls in the middle of summer so we always hold his party when school starts again. Jack decided after visiting the Roald Dahl museum in summer (worth a visit by the way) that he would like to do chocolate decorating at his party this year. It worked a treat! We let them decorate a small bar and then eat it as a "trial", and then they did the real thing. I know the results aren't quite up to the standards of "Chocolat" but it was a great success, I'd highly recommend it, anything which keeps five 7 year old boys under control is worth trying!

We had a "pin the nose on the Gnipper" game and then played pass the parcel WITHOUT the treat in each layer - I was playing dangerously! I'd written a funny message on each layer and it was probably the best pass the parcel I've witnessed yet. The children all got into the spirit and were so excited at each wrapper coming off they totally forgot about the treats.

The cake theme this year was pirate ship. As usual in my totally disorganised way I'd left it until the last minute ie. Sunday night to even start thinking about it. 2 hours and rather a lot of wine later it was still in the oven looking a bit frazzled to say the least. An early rise on Monday, a mess like this...............(I've never been a tidy cook!)

and a few pounds of butter icing later we had this.......................

Not bad for an amateur, ok, ok so it's not very ship like, more like a box with sails but it did the job. I topped it all off by setting fire to one of the sails on the way up the stairs and entered the kitchen blowing frantically, singing "Happy Birthday" and grinning in a slightly manic way all at the same time! The party guests weren't too sure if it was supposed to be on fire so looked on with a mixture of terror and excitement! We then had the mad rush to get as many malteser cannonballs and Cadburys' fingers planks as possible which left the ship looking rather wrecked!

I knew the whole event had gone down well when Jack, who is a master of understatement said before he went to bed tonight "Ta for the cake and party, it was really good". Makes it all worthwhile, until next time!..............

Statues, fish and family...........

Hello everyone! Hope you've all had a fab weekend. Whilst I'm waiting for my dinner to cook I thought I'd quickly post about my weekend. We had a lovely time up in Preston, it was so good to see everybody again, the bump's coming along very well, my sister is in the blossoming phase of her pregnancy and looks great.

On Saturday we had a trip to Crosby to see Anthony Gormley's "Another Place" statues. Jack's teacher had lent him a book about the artist so we thought we'd grab the opportunity to visit. I can highly recommend a trip there. When we arrived the tide was in and the statues were nowhere to be seen. However after we'd picnicked (egg sandwiches and china teacups again - we love you Mum!) the tide was on it's way out and the statues started appearing above the water, it was an amazing sight, a bit surreal but very serene and calm at the same time. We had a long walk down the beach and got up close to a few, the children loved them, particularly the rather large appendages hanging from the front, they caused much amusement!

We came home laden with fresh salmon Dad had caught the day before and lots of goodies they'd brought back from an Isle of Man trip. On the way home we listened to our song of the moment "Chasing Cars" by "Snow Patrol", Jack goes totally wild as the music revs up, it's a brilliant song, to hear it go to lucylocket, it's on her duke box thingy.

The children have been packed off to bed with hot water bottles, the fire's lit and the wine's been poured. Here's to Sunday nights!..................

C'mon baby light my fire...........

At last! The temperature dipped today so I could at last light the fire - yippee! I can't tell you how many pics I had to take to get a decent one, I need some serious camera training!

All I need now is a good bit of telly and I won't need to move for the evening! "What Not to Wear" is on but Lisa Butcher freaks me out slightly, don't know why, she's no doubt a lovely person!

Had a great day today, went shopping (sorry Ian) with Andrea at a local fashion & gift fair. There were some lovely stalls with handmade bits and pieces so we came home with a couple of choice items including this glorious ribbon.

We're off "up North" to see family this weekend, I think a trip to Liverpool is on the cards. Can't wait to see everybody again, it's hard living away from family, but at least we can't get sick of the sight of one another! My sister is unexpectedly expecting her third child in March so it'll be good to see how the bump is coming along. This household can't wait for the new arrival and it means I can have all the joy of a new baby without the poo and sleepless night! I'll be sewing like mad once the baby arrives, I've got so many ideas.

On the subject of sewing, can anyone recommend an easy skirt pattern for complete beginners? I'd like to have a go but I am totally useless when it comes to reading instructions of any kind, my brain goes into a sort of meltdown and gives up so I need a very simple one to start with. Any suggestions?

Hope you all have a great weekend, see you next week..............

The latest finds...........

As promised a peek at the goodies I got from the car boot this weekend..........

The cute little sewing machine on the left............

This sweet pyrex pan, perfect for mini casseroles for the children...........

This gorgeous eiderdown for only £5 which now lives on Jack's bed.................

This lovely old box, perfect for kindling - it's nearly time to get that fire going!

This chest of drawers was given to us by one of our lovely neighbours, she no longer wanted it and asked us if we wanted it, for nothing! We couldn't take it for nothing so we exchanged it for one of Ians' bikes and some red wine, a good deal I think!

Short post tonight, it's 9.30pm and my dinner is burning in the oven. See you all soon........