things I'm loving right now.............

a fab new enamel bucket and mop, hopefully this will entice me into cleaning the kitchen floor more than twice a year................then again, maybe not

a gorgeous new mug to add to the never ending collection

some lovely new owl stationery from Paperchase

enough sunshine for a garden picnic

beautiful and very pink primroses

Hope you've all had a great weekend, just a quickie tonight because blogger is seriously confused and is beginning to drive me mad, back soon x.....................

collections............................

Whilst wandering aimlessly round the house last week, a skill I particularly excel in, I happened upon a few of the little collections going on around here at the moment................

Crochet..........it's everywhere. From the squares for my niece's baby blanket (must be finished next week, and boy, it's taken a long time) to the round cushion inspired by posy and now requested by nearly every family member, to little crochet flowers dotted around the place, the house is being taken over by baskets of yarn and every evening I'm to be found in my favourite armchair, glass of wine and chilled chocolate to hand, crocheting away. I think Ian finds it slightly disturbing and I have many times been likened to an old crone sitting at the gallows - NOT the image I like to think I'm portraying!

Bulbs..............oh, the joy! Flowers I can actually grow, why has it taken me so long to discover this? Now they're everywhere, you name it I shove a collection of £1.26 Lidl bulbs in and a few days later, flowers galore - pure bliss, and an extra place to push in a few crocheted flowers.

Beads..................hanging from the pretty rose hooks I bought in TK Maxx. The perfect spot to keep them, I can see them, admire their colourful sparkliness and it makes choosing one each day soooo easy. I'm a cheap jewellery fan, I have no diamonds or gold. I always have a favourite on the go, this is the one at the moment, isn't it fab?.............

Stuffed toys................obsessed is the word I'd use for my children, they can't get enough of them. can hardly get into bed because of them, all the old bits of crap that no-one else wants, we bring 'em home and squeeze them in. For a person with a bed making obsession it gives me palpitations. I have to fold the duvet around them because under no circumstances am I to MOVE THEM! I don't know how they sleep with them all but it makes them happy, which in turn makes me happy so I have live with the untidy beds (deep breathing, telling myself it doesn't matter, only looking at the bed with one eyes open - I've tried it all)

So, there you are, a brief glimpse of our overly cluttered house, see you all soon.....................

creeping in, full of apologies...............

............what can I say? For a while there I lost my blogging mojo, no idea why. Blogging does take up a lot of time and I wanted to claim back my old life for a short while. It has made me realise just how much space blogging fills so from now on I will keep it up but just not as regularly as before (hah! I hear you say, I was hardly reliable anyway!) This seems to be a common thread amongst many bloggers at the moment, so I know I'm not alone.

...............bit of mosaic inspiration there from Lucy, one of the many ways I've been wasting time recently!

So..........what's been happening in the VH household? Much the same as ever apart from the FANTASTIC snowy days we enjoyed a couple of weeks back. Much sledging and snowballing took place but I'm so far behind the rest of you that I won't bore you with too many photos, although I can't resist a couple. I love snow with a passion, waking up and seeing that glow through the windows fills me with glee and we had the added bonus of time off school. We managed to find a part of a nearby hill that no-one else had discovered and had a whale of a time. We even dragged a very pregnant friend and daughter along to join in, thankfully it didn't induce early labour, my nursing skills aren't up to much!

I've been filling my child free days with crochet (one baby blanket nearly done), coffee (with my new whizzer) and cakes, half hearted housework, a bit of helping in school and completing orders for a few people. Much the same as ever really. We're half way through the half term break right now and we've had a house full of children for the last few days. Jack and I are grabbing a few moments peace by the fire whilst Kit plays with one of her school friends. Needless to say Jack is engrossed in his latest library book, and at the same time pestering me to play on my new laptop (yippee, now I can watch tv and blog!)

We had a fab weekend with friends from Dorset, hence lots of noise, food and just a little bit of alcohol. Sunday we walked it all off through the (unexpected) rain and when they left we settled in by the fire with "101 Dalmations" and pancakes - the perfect way to end a lovely weekend.

At some point in the week Kit will no doubt ask me to "play schools" with her, a request which I'm reluctant to admit does not fill me with joy. It involves me sitting on the hard floor whilst she tries to remember all thirty children in her class so she can take the register. This has to be done whilst trying to hold three different coloured pens which regularly drop on the floor and have to be retrieved, which invariably leads to the losing of the place in the register and starting all over again. Call me a meanie but I can think of a few other more pleasurable ways to pass an hour, selfless mother I certainly am not!

Meanwhile Jack will be up in his room shaking the floorboards with the latest musical acquisition, no doubt much to the delight of our neighbours. Every Saturday he trips up the street to have lessons from one of the neighbour's sons and then comes home to practice and make sure we're properly awake. I have to admit to feeling a little bit envious, how cool it'd be to be a 38 year old drum playing mum, unfortunately possessing no rhythm makes it slightly challenging for me so I end up sitting there looking a bit dumb and not really knowing what to hit next.
Back soon............................

blimey it's cold!...........

Hello everyone, and a very happy new year to you all! Did you have a good Christmas? I have been lurking in the few spare moments I've had so I have caught up with most of you and it seems, apart from the dreaded lurgy which struck a few of you, a fab time was had by all.

We had a lovely time. A very quiet Christmas with just the four of us, highly unusual but very enjoyable nonetheless. It meant that we actually had time to play with the children and go on bike rides and long walks. It did us good to have that concentrated time together, no stress, little food preparation and plenty of sitting by the fire.

Christmas morning was a joy, look who arrived.....................

..................from Father Christmas (via Nicky at the Vintage Magpie). How cute is she, Kit loves her - nearly as much as I do!

There was much frantic ripping of paper................

..................squeals of joy, and strumming...........

The weather down here has been perfect for long wintry walks. Boxing day we shrugged off our Christmas Day stupor and went for a lovely walk around the local racecourse, one of our favourite haunts. It was cold, very very cold, but a beautiful day and the perfect antidote to all those choccies, sausages and turkey!

New Year was a much more raucous affair with friends and family gathered here to see in 2009. Plenty of food, bubbly, laughter, singing and story telling, the perfect way to see in the new year.
Yesterday saw me having to drag two very warm, sleepy and reluctant children from under the covers to start the new school term. Fortunately for me there was something outside to tempt them..............

..................before they were even dressed and in the low morning light they threw on coats and wellies over pyjamas and were in the garden building a tiny "snow hawk" and throwing snow at the open doors, ie. into the kitchen!

Whilst they were at school I cleared the house of Christmas clutter, boxed it all up and put it away until next year. Now for the big clean up, sigh................

My brief stint at a working life is over, I enjoyed it but have to say I'm glad to have a bit of time to myself in the house again, like the rest of you there are a million and one things to do, now where to start?

And no, I haven't forgotten the great button maker give away. I shall be back later in the week with the winner....................

ho, ho, ho, the festive spirit kicks in.............

Good evening everybody, is the festive spirit upon you yet? It's well and truly arrived in this house. The tree is up, decorated to within an inch of it's life, the stairs are swathed in fairy lights and garlands, the candles are lit, as is the fire, Nigella's on the telly expanding our waistlines just by watching, the advent calendars have only 5 doors left to open and I've still a humongous pile of presents to wrap and Christmas cards to send.

So this will be a post of many pictures and very few words, apologies to all. However, I must mention the button maker since so many of you have asked where it came from. So I will let you in on my little secret because I'm kind like that. I bought it at Dunelm Mill for the princely sum of less than £2, the buttons themselves are about £2ish as well. I've also seen them at "The Range" - see, I go to all the best places don't I!! Of course whilst I was out and about scouting round the cheapo shops I felt it would be churlish of me not to throw another one in my basket along with a pack of buttons, so I have one to give away to one of you lucky ladies (or men). Just do the usual, leave me any comment before Christmas Day, doesn't have to be funny or anything, a simple hello is enough, and this little gadget will be winging it's way to the lucky winner. As Miss Sew'n'Sew will vouch I am the slowest parcel posting lady so I will not promise it before Christmas Day but it'll brighten up those post Christmas blues and give you something to do on those long dark nights.

So, are you ready, pictures galore to follow...........

...............let's start at the front door with my trusty old wreath. As tempted as I was with the truly delicious eucalyptus "White Company" one I was a goody two shoes and let it go. There is a limit as to how many a person can have and at the last count I had nine!

....................now have a nose through the window, go on tell me you do it too! I just love dusk at this time of year, it provides the ultimate nosing opportunity, curtains still open and lamps on. Does that make me sound weird, back me up here ladies!

.................the fire's roaring so come on in out of the cold.

....................Christmas tree by night (bloody hard to photograph it was too!)

..............................and by day.

.................we have our own little carol singers,

.................vintage baubles,

............................little sparkly snowmen,

The baby blanket will not be finished in time, surprise, surprise. It is coming along a treat, the Rowan yarn is a dream to crochet with, the colours are sublime. I've (sort of) followed a brilliant tutorial for granny squares with built in flowers kindly given by Rosehip, and I'm thrilled with the results. Give me another 6 months and we may have something resembling a blanket.

The only thing left to say is have a lovely, peaceful, joyous Christmas, and see you in the New year!

For some reason my latest post is below the last one, if you get my drift. Scroll down below "show and tell, part 2" and there it is, can't work out how to move it, so there it'll stay!

show and tell part 2.............

In trying to fit in all the house cleaning, Christmas shopping and sewing duties before I start work on Sunday blogging has taken a bit of a back seat (again).

I promised details of our trip down to London to the Country Living fair. However, pictures are a bit thin on the ground. After hauling the camera round in my bag all day and being too embarrassed to take any photos in the fair itself, we spotted this fab restaurant in a red double decker but after one very blurry photo the battery died!

We had a fab day out, met the lovely Kathy on her gorgeous stall and managed to snap up a few treats. We also visited Spitalfields and the market and then got totally lost on the way home, being totally unused to driving in a big city. So that's our London fix over until March and very enjoyable it was too.

I've also been indulging in a bit of retail therapy closer to home. A local wool stockist is closing down and everything is down 50% so needless to say I was there, big bag in hand, ready to fight off the grey haired old ladies to get to the Rowan cotton yarn - totally unnecessary, they preferred the pale blue and pink baby wool it seems! Now Rowan is a revelation, a total dream to crochet with and I've set myself the task of making my baby niece a blanket for Christmas (gulp), not being the fastest hooker in the west, it may be a tall order. Anyway, she's only 8 months, she doesn't know Christmas falls in December!

Look at those colours....................

Talking of colours, I couldn't resist these cyclamen to try and brighten up our post armageddon front garden.................

and finally, I had to take a photo of this scrumptious pea soup in a cup, easy to drink and sew at the same time!

Back soon...........

how many books?....................

We have a problem in this house which no amount of shelving, storage or de-cluttering can resolve. All of us love books, no one more so than Jack. And, none of us can bear to part with them, even if they're outgrown, re-read 20 times, or not particularly good, we hang onto them. Wherever the children are in the house you can guarantee that there'll be a pile of books somewhere nearby. Which means that I spend an inordinate amount of time piling them on and then carting them back up the stairs. Every now and then I attempt a book cull but before I get chance to surreptitiously remove the bag from house to car and then charity shop I get caught and have to bring them all back in again. What's a mother to do??




I have to share a story about my gorgeous bookwormish boy. Jack is not what some people would call the bravest child. He doesn't like to take risks, can't swim, has only just learned to ride his bike, is terrified of dogs and cats and likes to be at home more than anywhere else. He also has a significant stammer. When the school held a talent show last year we assumed that he would not want to perform. How wrong we were. Our beautiful son wrote his own song, stood in front of the whole class with his best friend and sung and acted out the entire thing. To his disgust he lost to "Greased Lightning"! In our eyes he is the bravest, kindest little boy and we were so proud of him on that and every day.

On an entirely different subject, thank you so much for all your good luck wishes for my new job. I'm two days in and I think I can safely say that standing at a door shouting "Hello" at every customer is possibly not what I want to do for the rest of my life, but the girls who I'm working with are lovely, as are most of the customers, so I think I can stand it for six weeks! Needless to say I've spent (in my head) my wages six times over, and I've got my eye on a half price wreath at the moment, oh , and the napkin rings, cowl neck dress, rose print nightie etc, etc.........

Lastly, just had to show you my new gadget, a button maker. It's super quick and highly addictive, just what I need on these long winters' nights!