We're All Still Here Then!!

Hello, my lovelies!! I'm delighted to see that we are all still here!! My inner cave woman was a teensy bit apprehensive about the 21st and one little 12 year old had to sleep in Mummy and Daddy's room:

Are you all ready for Christmas? We are more or less there, we need to pop to the local retail park for one more thing and then I fully intend not to leave the house until at least the 27th!!

Except for Christmas Day of course, which we are spending at my Mums, along with my Sis and family and Mr G's mum and dad.

Have you been socialising lots? I'm afraid my fear of winter bugs has put me in hibernation mode, but my Sis, BIL, nephew and niece did come over for some dinner last night, they brought a bottle of fizz which lasted all of five minutes and the most delicious banoffee pie:

We did a silly selfie:

Some people think we look alike but I can't see it!!

I'm currently awaiting the delivery of our Tesco order, I'm hoping it all turns up or else we'll be rather like Margo and Gerry in The Good Life (love that show!!) when their Christmas isn't delivered!!

Hugs,

S x

 

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The Big 4-0 Part Three....

I've been a bit slack on posting of late and it suddenly dawned on me that I didn't tell you about the rest of my birthday weekend.

On Sunday we had sort of planned to see if we could find a couple of flea markets in London - however, whilst doing a bit of Googling I realised that Sunday was the day of The Festival of Vintage at Epsom which was kind of on the way home.

We awoke Sunday to a grey day and soon it began to rain so the prospect of an indoor vintage festival was a lot more attractive than traipsing round the capital in the hopes of finding a good market.

So it was we bid farewell to London and headed back south.

By the time we arrived at the racecourse it was bucketing it down, and there were several beautifully clad, victory rolled ladies trying to remain immaculate as they dashed to the entrance.

Inside was an Aladdins cave of all things vintage:

Close up of the lovely dress:

I want a frock like this and I shall wear it to Asda....

Lots of people were dressed the part and looked splendid:

Naturally I couldn't resist buying some of the lovely vintage fabric that was on offer:

I also joined in a little workshop to make a cute pincushion:

After a lovely couple of hours we headed home and had a snooze (which we really needed after the wonderful but hectic weekend); Grandma and Granddad brought the boys back and soon it was time to head to my Mum's for a birthday tea.

Now this was meant to be a surprise but unfortunately Mr G's Mum let it slip the week before *rollseyes* - so along with sister-in-law letting slip London was our destination Mr G says he is not telling his family any secrets in future!!

Mum had done an amazing spread - you can always rely on a northern woman to over cater:

My sister had made a fabulous cake, complete with icing Cath Kidston tag:

Although it was the day before my birthday Mum insisted I open at least her presents as she wanted to be there when I did.

My first present was a gorgeous bangle:

I love it....

A cute little sparkly mirror compact which Mum had had engraved on the back:

And then the gift that made me cry - a beautiful Irish linen tablecloth Mum had handmade and covered in hand embroidered motifs - it had taken her two years:

It was the signature and date that made me blub most!!

Mum had been embroidering napkins on our holiday in Zakynthos this summer, telling me they were for a friend when all the time they were for me!!

So, all these treats and we still haven't come to my actual birthday yet!! I have been so spoilt by my lovely family.

I was going to squeeze it all in this post but I think I've gone on enough for now so will have to do the final installment another day....

Thanks for reading!!

Hugs,

S x

 

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More Fugly-To-Fabulousness and Other Witterings....

Hello girls!! I trust you have all had a lovely weekend?

I have some more Fugly-To-Fabulous to show you today - we are frantically trying to raise money for our holiday which is only six weeks away and so I was full on with the painting on Friday.

My favourite is this gorgeous 1950's china cabinet - she had a cost of Annie Sloan "Old White":

Isn't she lovely? But gosh she was a pain to paint!! I had to stick my head right in to paint the inside and managed to get my hair covered in paint - luckily the chalk paint washes out so easily!!

There was also a vintage radiogram that we think will make a fab TV stand - this was given a couple of coats of "Old White" and inside was painted with "Duck Egg", I then used dark wax to bring out the carving:

Finally, an orange pine TV stand was given a new lease of life with a coat of "Country Grey" and and "Old White" top:

On Saturday we started the day with mini cinnamon maple whirls following a recipe Coco Rose shared on Instagram (the addiction to that continues!!):

To make them you take a pack of ready to bake croissant dough, open it out flat and crimp the perforated bits together and then give it a light roll with a rolling pin. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll up and then cut into little pinwheels.

Bake for 10 minutes and when they are still hot drizzle with a mix of icing sugar, maple syrup and a little milk.

Let me tell you they were GORGEOUS and lasted about 2 minutes after the photo was taken.

In the afternoon we had a mooch to Petersfield as I wanted to have a look at a Kobo which is WHSmiths version of the Kindle - earlier in the week (in the early hours when I couldn't sleep!!) I bought a Kindle that was offered as a Buy It Now on eBay.

I checked the sellers feedback - she had 47 giving her 100% and so went ahead thinking I had got myself a super bargain.

The following morning I got a message from eBay telling me the seller had been slung off and I was not to pay for the item - but I already had!! I emailed the seller several times - I was hoping it was eBay being over zealous and them actually being genuine which has happened to me before with a smaller item. But no reply.

So now I have to wait for Paypal to refund me - which they will in their own good time.

I want the eReader for our holidays and so after looking at the Kobo I decided to go ahead - it was reduced to £49.99 so quite a bit less than a Kindle.

Of course, when we returned home I had an email from the Kindle seller saying (in very bad English) it is on its way - I will believe it when I see it but if it does arrive I will just sell the one I like the least.

So far I am loving the Kobo - I have always been anti-ereader as I love books, one of my favourite shops in Petersfield is a smelly old bookshop that is a real rabbit warren but as we are going away for two weeks with limited baggage allowance it seemed a no brainer.

Naturally, I have made a cover for it:

Cath Kidston fabric, vintage linen and vintage glass button

One side effect of the Kobo is I am knackered today because I was up until gone 2.00am reading - I have succumbed to the hype and have downloaded Fifty Shades Of Grey - ahem...... 

Hope you all have a lovely week....

hugs,

S x

Triple Chocolate Cookies - Mmmmmmm!!

Hello all!!

We were recently delighted to be asked to review Domino's Triple Chocolate Cookies – as you know here at Shabby Chic HQ we are fans of baked goods!!

The new flavour are dark chocolate cookies loaded with dark, milk and white chocolate chips – they come warm and are £3.25 for a box of four.

The cookies smelled wonderful as soon as we got them, just like home baking. Each cookie was average biscuit size but generously thick and they were packed with choc chips:

In fact, they were more like chocolate chunks!! I had mine with my favourite cinnamon latte:

The cookie had exactly the right amount of crunch/gooey ratio – and were being served warm were a real treat:

To be honest they were so nice you could easily slip a couple of boxes onto a baking sheet and pass them off as your own!! Mary Berry eat your heart out!!

H and W, being growing lads, particularly enjoyed them:

All-in-all, we would all highly recommend them – they are great with a coffee or a cuppa but would also be a lovely dessert with some ice-cream.

Yum yum!!

Snowdrops....

Hello my lovelies - are you having a good weekend?


Grandma and Granddad have taken the boys out to Pizza Hut and the cinema and so Mr G and I have been enjoying a bit of peace and quiet.


We went up to the stables and on the way back past the farmhouse I made Mr G stop so I could hop out and take some pics of the snowdrops in the front garden - they are soooooo pretty:

I'm hoping they might be around next month when we (hopefully)  get our fancy pants DSLR camera so I can take some better pictures.


I remember last year about this time Country Living magazine had a list of gardens and stately homes where you could go to see carpets of snowdrops, crocuses and other spring flowers - I've had a Google and not found that but did find this list of snowdrop walks, none near us though.


What have you been up to this week? Did you have pancakes?


My sister, niece and nephew came round and we had a pancake-fest:

E particularly enjoyed hers I think!!

I had melted dark chocolate, banana, coconut and squirty cream in my two pancake. Weightwatchers or no Weightwatchers I wasn't missing out (and ironically even after indulging today's weigh showed I lost 1lb for the first time in 3 weeks!!)

I've been getting on with the patriotic quilts for H & W - you'll recall I had gone off doing them because I couldn't get the seams to line up perfectly, but I took all your comments on board (thanks so much, blogging rocks!!)  and totally agree that it's better for the boys to have wonky quilts handmade by their mother than none at all!! Will wait until they're finished to show you, I got the wadding yesterday and have about four more blocks to do before I can start assembling the tops.


Did anyone see The One Show yesterday? There was a piece about the Clandestine Cake Club - basically these are clubs around the country where cake lovers meet once a month or so - each person brings a cake (it must be a large homemade cake, no pies, tarts or cupcakes allowed) and these are shared with tea or coffee and at the end of the afternoon everyone takes a piece of each cake home. 


When the clubs are smallish (say up to six members or so) they meet in each others homes, but if they get bigger they arrange to meet in coffee shops at quiet times on the basis that the cafe will earn from the drinks you buy.


It sounds fab, but having had a look at the website there are none in Hampshire so I am going to email them about starting one - if anyone nearby wants to join in (I thought you might Ashley?) then drop me a line.


Anyway, that's all for now - I'm sat here thinking I've gone deaf because the boys are still at the pictures!!


hugs,


S x

We're So Rock & Roll!!....

Hello all - how was your weekend?


We have been very rock and roll this weekend:

We got 2 x jigsaws and 2 x board games for £4.00 at our local charity shop on Friday and started this one on the coffee table - it's very addictive and I find I can't leave the thing alone!! Mr G and I were sat in our nightwear doing it until lunchtime on Saturday morning!! What a pair of saddos, eh?!!


Saturday was weigh in day - I haven't gone on about here on my blog but since the second week of January Mr G and I have been doing Weightwatchers online. Mr G lost over a stone in the first few weeks but I have struggled and only lost 7lb - then over the last two weeks I gained 3lb!! 


So last week I was really good, the only naughty thing that passed my lips was a piece of Victoria sponge at my friends and I got on the scales with high hopes - only to find I had stayed the same!! So after dieting for about 6 weeks I have only lost 4lb!!


Mr G's weight loss has slowed down and he has been moaning, which does my head in as if I had lost a stone AND THEN stayed the same I wouldn't be bloody complaining!!


So, to "drown our sorrows" W and I made this:

And yummy it was too.


We've had a few "heated debates" this weekend here at Shabby Chic HQ over the use of the PC and xBox - H is 13 (14 in June) and has always been pretty obsessed with electronic devices but it's getting to a point now where it is affecting family life. We have always tried to limit it to a couple of hours a day but for at least the last few years H has had no interest at all in anything other than the PC/xBox - when he is not on the PC he mopes about complaining he has nothing to do and makes a nuisance of himself by winding up his younger brother.

H doesn't want to leave the house even to do nice things (he recently kicked off about going swimming and the cinema because he'd rather stay at home).

We worry he is properly addicted and have not been sure what the right thing to do is, he doesn't make friends easily and we realise that todays teenagers are different even to what we were like as everything now is so orientated round technology - the way to interact with friends is by chatting via headset on the PC or xBox.

H has a couple of close friends and it's them he talks to though the PC/xBox so he is interacting with his friends that way - and in some ways I'd prefer that to the hanging on the street corners thing - whenever he is on the PC he's chatting to his best friend about the game they are playing together.

So on Sunday in the spirit of Doing More Exercise And Things As A Family we packed some sandwiches and set of to the Hayling Billy Trail which is a disused railway line that runs the length of Hayling Island adjacent to the shore. 


The boys took their bikes and Mr G and I had a nice walk. We stopped down a bank to eat our lunch as the wind coming off the sea was bitter!!:

Over the bank behind there is the sea - for some reason I didn't take any pics of it!!

How many Jack Russell's can you see?

The dogs don't often go on proper walks, they get to free range at the stables when I go to play with my horses and we throw balls for them in my field so it was all a bit new for them. Daisy had to stay on the lead for much of it as she is not good with other dogs - she's all bark and no bite & she's certainly never hurt another dog but many owners get snotty with us if she does it when she's loose. 

On the way back Milo was ready to go home and even stopped asking us to throw his ball - he just pottered along ahead of us carrying it in his mouth:

"I know the car is up here somewhere...."

Crafty wise I have been plodding on with the patriotic quilt for the boys but I fear I have bitten off more than I can chew - the design is a sampler quilt with each block different but even though I took care when cutting out I am having trouble getting the seams to match and it's a bit of a bodge which is making me Not Want To Do It Anymore.

So, that was our weekend - what have you been up to? I hope you had a good one....

hugs,

S x

My First Quilt....

Hello my lovelies, I hope you are all having a nice weekend?


I am sat surrounded by the smell of slow-roasted pork shoulder, it's rubbed with a paste of coriander, fennel seeds, peppercorns, lemon and garlic and smells seriously gorgeous!!


On Friday I attended my first session of the quilting group I mentioned in my previous post. Any apprehension I had about attending on my own had been eased by the lovely welcoming emails I had had all week from Wendy, one of the founders of the group.


A warm welcome greeted me from all the ladies and they delighted in telling me I was the youngest and therefore "the baby" of the group. As someone who is approaching 40 this year, it was music to my ears!!


Wendy showed me the instructions for the quilt I was to do as my first, a simple one made from nine FQ's of fabric- I chose an assortment of Tanya Whelan fabrics with a little CK thrown in, in shades of pink, blue, red and white.


The ladies showed me how to cut accurately and I chatted, cut, drank tea, cut, ate cake, cut and made new acquaintances (hopefully soon friends).


I finished cutting my FQ's when I got home and soon had this:

Yesterday, each row was sewn up and then sewn together to make a block and when I had done them all I arranged them out on the bed to see how I wanted the completed quilt to look. As I did this I realised I somehow had 10 blocks not 9 - which meant I must have started with ten FQ's - I mean I *know* I am bad at maths but I can usually manage to count to 9!!

So, the leftover one was put to one side and I sewed up the blocks:

What looks like plain red actually has white pin spots & the "plain" white has tiny flowers....

Typically for me I am not loving the colours :0/ - I don't think I should have used the red -which looked nice when they were folded FQ's but not so much now. 

Although, looking back at the quilt I used as an example on my previous post the colours are similar:

It now needs a border (I'm going to do a 4 1/2" border in plain white) and then I have to make a "quilt sandwich" with the backing and wadding before pinning, tacking (yuck) and then machine quilting. Wendy has kindly detailed everything I have to do for that to keep it all flat and so on, but I think I am going to be a chicken and wait until the next meeting on Friday.


Next Sunday (15th) there is a Quilters & Fabrics January Sale at Farnham Maltings at which (I am told) you can get some bargains so Mr G is going to take me up there. Then at the end of the month Mum and I are going to pop along to Ardingly Spring Quilt Festival where there will be lots of fabulous quilts to admire as well as trade stands.


In other news, there maybe a little bit of change coming here to shabby chic HQ as well, will tell all when/if I know more later....


hugs,


S x

2011 Was A Year Of....

Family:

(Click to enlarge)

Home:

Projects:

Pets:

Vintage Goodies:

Food:

Flowers:

One of my favourite things about blogging is it inspires you to take lots more photographs than you normally would have done, which means I now have a wonderful photographic record of the whole year, from the mundane to the magical....

hugs,

S x