By The Sea....

Hello my lovely ladies!! How've you been?

Much of this week has been quiet and a lot of knitting (and frogging) has gone on but yesterday I ventured out to meet up with some of my good friends that I have met through the power of the www.

I went via Ashley's from Country Rose to collect her & Rose and then we headed across to Gem's (of Treasures From The Cherry Tree fame) new house.

We were given a warm welcome with tea and homemade cake and I was finally able to give Gem the housewarming gift I had made:

One of my free motion embroidery pictures of her house.

I have these for sale in my Etsy shop - I can do custom embroideries of your house or a friend or relatives, they would make great gifts!!

After the grand tour of Gem's new home (which is EXACTLY like the kind of house I would love, complete with Downton Abbeyesque doorbell!!) we pottered along to a lovely cafe on the seafront to meet Sarah from Annaboo's House and her little daughter for lunch.

Naturally, having already had cake I fell completely off the wagon:

Mmmmm, I could just eat it again!!

After lunch we went for a wander on the beach and Rose entertained us no end by splashing in the rock pools and more than once sitting down fully clothed in them!! Luckily, Ashley had a change of clothes so it was decided to let Rose get on with it and she and little A had a whale of a time:

We posed for silly group portraits:

Could I look anymore like Lisa Riley?!!

I prefer this one which we took whilst Ashley was fishing Rose out of another rock pool (sorry, Ashley, how rubbish are we? She was sooooo funny and cute though!!):

All too soon (after more tea and cake at Gem's) it was time to come home. We had such a lovely day and promises were made to meet up again soon.

I must add that it was one of those days where one truly marvels at the power of a blog - without which I would have never met these lovely ladies that I have so much in common with....

Hugs,

S x

Posted with Blogsy

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

 

Posted with Blogsy

Birthday Boy....

Hello all!!

This weekend has been H's birthday - as we are off on holiday soon and we have W's birthday next week we had to think of an inexpensive treat and so it was that we had not one, but four teenage boys on Saturday night:

Aren't they just so BIG?!! 

It seems impossible that just 14 short years ago H looked like this:

Look at all of Mr G's hair!!

In both of the above pics H was still in hospital - there was a bit of hoopla when he was born, after a 23 1/2 hour labour & forceps delivery it was discovered that H had an abnormal red eye reflex and we had to wait 24 hours to be sent to another hospital for the eye specialist to tell us if the problem was just confined to the eye or was indeed more serious (rubella or toxaplasmosis during my pregnancy being possible).

It was the longest 24 hours, but luckily it turned out to be cysts on H's pupils which gave him no trouble and he grew out of. The next day we took our baby home but two days later we had to return as H was very poorly with what turned out to be a urine infection and jaundice. He was in hospital a week and the pictures were taken in the newborn unit as H got better.

Of course now he is a strapping lad, taller than me and eating us out of house and home:

H and his friends were very good - we thought we were going to be in for a long night but despite playing xBox & PC all night (fortified by pop, Haribo and Pringles) they were very quiet. We moved the computer and console into the boys room for a treat - we normally insist on having all those things downstairs so we can keep an eye on what they are up to.

On the craft front, I've finished a few things this week:

Embroidered cardi shamlessly copied inspired by the lovely Cuckoo

Funny looking terrier made from a vintage pattern and my old jeans....

Machine & hand embroidery of our house....

Travel wallet for our hols (I did rotate this but Blogger doesn't want to play)....

So that's all I have to report this week - next weekend it's W's birthday and so we have more boys for a sleepover, presents and cakes to make (W has requested a chocolate hedgehog again!!)

I've realised I am only managing a blog post a week at the moment, which is a bit rubbish - it's not so easy to blog now I have an iPad - my laptop is painfully slow and so I have to wait for Mr G to let me borrow his laptop.


Does anyone else blog on an iPad? I have used the Blogsy app but am not very impressed with it - any other suggestions would be gratefully received....


hugs,


S x


BTW thanks for all the lovely comments about my sewing room - you lot really are lovely!!

Mum's Birthday Day Out....

It's our tradition for my Sis and I to take our Mum out for the day on her birthday - we always keep it as a surprise and high points have been West End shows and a punt ride in Oxford and low points a day trip to the Isle of Wight on a Sunday when everything was shut!!

Yesterday we had booked afternoon tea at a Michelin starred hotel in the New Forest and before that we had a pootle around Lymington - the skies threatened as we drove over that way from my sisters house near Southampton but I think the fact we had umbrellas stopped a huge deluge (on the basis if we hadn't had brollies it'd have chucked it down!!)

This year was particularly special as my Mum's sister, our Auntie Betty was able to join us as she and our Uncle Tom are staying with Mum on a long weekend from Yorkshire where they live (and Mum and I originate from - Sis is a Nottingham lass):

Little E; my Sis; Mum and Auntie Betty

When my Mum was born she was adopted - she and Auntie Betty grew up thinking they were cousins. It wasn't until many years later they became close and are now as inseparable as they can be with the distance between Hampshire and Yorkshire.

Lymington was lovely, I took some pics on my phone as I didn't want to take my fancy camera round the shops but Blogger refuses to let them be rotated the correct way!!:

Can't remember what Sis said to make us all giggle!!

There was a market and lots of pretty shabby chic, charity & junk shops - I bought a lovely basket; some hanging hearts and some vintage thread:

Soon it was time to head to The Montagu Arms Hotel in Beaulieu for our afternoon tea, the car park is at the back of the hotel and you have to walk through the pretty cottage gardens, and there was time a few photos:

Looking cool in our shades (not!!)....

We had hoped to sit in the garden, but it was, alas, too chilly and so we had a table in the conservatory:

Our lovely Mum:

PrettyLittle E:

 First came the obligatory pot of tea along with this little beauty:

We didn't catch what the waiter said it was, but it was a palate cleanser and one of the nicest things we've ever tasted - the top was raspberry coulis that was both sweet and tart and underneath was a sabayon type custard that was like velvet. The spoons were too big to get into the very bottom of the glass and so we lowered the tone by upturning our spoons and getting to the last morsels with the narrower handle *blush*....


Next came sandwiches - smoked salmon (bleurgh, Sis had them); egg; roast ham & mustard and of course, cucumber and an assortment of cakes - chocolate éclairs; rhubarb cheesecake (OMG, it was gorg!!) and carrot cake:

Then it was time for warm scones with clotted cream and homemade strawberry jam:

I love, love, love afternoon tea - it really has got to be one of my most favourite things....

It was a lovely leisurely tea, and after a couple of hours it was time to head home - first though one more photo:

Even discounting the fact I am (literally) twice Sis's size, we don't look alike do we?!!

It's been said Sis got the looks and I got the personality which I am not sure is a compliment to either of us, lol!!

So, I lovely day was had by all, we returned home tired, full and happy....

S x

PS Thanks loads for all the lovely comments following my previous post, you girls really do make blogging so worthwhile ((((hugs))))....

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