Car boot fun...

This morning was a perfect morning to venture out to the car boot. For any of you that might be local I highly recommend the one at Crick, Northants as it is usually full of people, goodies and great finds. :o)

Here's what I got:

It does need a new strap and pins, but I just thought it was really pretty. You might find it odd that I took a liking to a watch with a North American Indian head on it...but it reminded me of the test pattern they used to put on the TV screens in Canada after the channel would go off the air. Anybody else remember that?



This book is such a find!! There are some fabulous recipes in it including 2 sourdough recipes that take 4 days to make and use the natural wild yeast in the air...sounds gross but I bet it will taste fab!

And lastly but not least...100% cotton. The shirt was originally 50p, but I pointed out the seams were gone under the arms could I have it for 25p and she said yes...BARGAIN!
The 3 men's shorts were £1 each, but I asked for a discount as I was buying all 3 of them...there is a lot of fabric in those shorts...definitely a good buy....cheaper than what I'd pay at the quilt shop for similar fabric.

We all came away with something. The DH found some books and my DD1 got a 1951 version of Monopoly. It's not quite a full set in that it's missing some houses and the player pieces, but all the money, the properties and rules are there and it will be good enough to teacher her how to play. It was worth the gamble at 50p.

Arte Y Pico Award

The Arte Y Pico Award originated here at Arte Y Pico blog, Loulee at Manxgirl gave me this award today ....thanks Loulee

The Rules are as follows....

1. Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.

4.The award winner and one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte Y Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. To show these rules.

So hard to choose just 5...but here it goes.

In no particular order: (click on the pictures to follow the link to their blog)

Wendy is so inspiring with her beautiful piecing and appliqué. Her blog is worth visiting and bookmarking!

Manda is a fellow Brit who I think is not only inspiring with her work but also as a woman. She had been through some tough times but yet keeps smiling and sharing her life and her creativity.

Lime Green Lynda (as her closest of friends call her) is not only inspiring as a fellow quilter but as a friend. Her friendship is very important to me and I'm so glad to know her.

I chose Catzilla and Friends because I love the pictures!
Who wouldn't smile looking at all these feline friends.

And of course Quilting Bebbs. Anne has been not only an inspiration with her beautiful appliqué but she's been a great e-mail buddy. Anne is a kindred spirit and I can't wait for the day our paths cross...shouldn't be too hard as we do live in the same country :o)

Making Lynette smile...

Lynette Anderson has asked people to post a picture of their favourite keyring and in exchange she will put our names in a hat for a chance to win one of her patterns. She says she loves getting messages in her inbox, so go on...hop over and make her smile :o)

Here's my key ring... The DH says I have too much on my keyring, but I can't bare to remove anything. I have a scoobie from my DD1 and a pen from a Christmas cracker (you never know when you might need a pen...it's the purple and yellow circle thing) and I have my Tescos clubcard and my "£1" from the Leukemia shop for the trolleys at Lidl and Aldi and lastly the key ring with the ladies talking...that was from the DD1 too :o)

I saved a bird...

A little bird story (Vicki you'll like this one)

Today is Wednesday and as Winnie the Pooh put it best...it should be called Windnesday! :o) The weather has been very changeable and blustery. Not good weather for baby birds to test out their wings...so this little chap found out.

I work at a nursery 2 lunch hours a week and today, by some miracle I was in the right place at the right time to see this little fellow fall from the sky and land in the middle of running children. Using my teacher voice I shouted, "STOP" and the children did just that...for once they listened! :o) So I scooped this little fellow up and hoped that he would try and fly away, but instead he cheeped and flew onto my shirt. Obviously he knew a good thing we he saw it and wasn't interested in leaving the safety of my hands...With 14 children all milling about, I can't blame him. As we couldn't see where the nest was, nor could we see or hear a mother I decided to take him home.

After a quick call to a local vet and a photo shoot (for the blog of course) and I was off to take him to his new home. Apparently one of the nurses takes in orphan birds and already has 3 blackbirds and a green finch so he will make friends I'm sure.

All's well that ends well.



Oh I forgot to say...it's a baby pied wagtail.

I've been sewing...

...up a storm in my new room...(or should that be our new room) ;o)

I'm loving it!

So here's what I got up to yesterday...

A doorstop...you've seen these before. I made one and Fiona made three and the pattern can be found HERE. I've now officially run out of doors to stop...



I've also made a peg apron. My peg bag was on its last legs and I quite fancied an apron. I hope to write a pattern/tutorial for this soon...so please check back. I love that I made it from a shirt from a charity shop and the off-cuts off my daughters' curtains....recycling at its best.



And lastly, today, I got the rest of my blocks sewn for the Irish Chain I'm making in conjunction with Nicole's Two Colour quilt Challenge.

Now I have a cute story to share with you...

Twice a week I help a friend out by picking up her son..once going to school and once coming home. The conversations...or should I say the philosophical discussions that occur in the back seat of my car between my DD2 and Mr. A (both age 5) are, well, hilarious!

So here's how the conversation went today.

DD2: I've just seen a cat!

Mr A: Well, it wasn't my cat..

DD2: No, I know it wasn't your cat...she's dead!

Mr A: Yep, that's right, she's down in heaven.

DD2: Uh, don't you mean up in heaven?

Mr A: No, definitely down in heaven!

DD2: That can't be...heaven is up in the clouds.

Mr A: Well, my mommy says that God is in the world and that means he is down there (pointing towards the ground) and that's where we buried the cat...in the ground, so that's heaven!


It's logical...I'll give him that! :o)

Quintessentially English...

...right down to the rain!

This past weekend we attended the Dunchurch Village Fete. My youngest daughter was one of the princesses (there are 2 along with Miss Dunchurch) and was part of the parade. The interesting thing about this is that 6 years ago my eldest was Miss Dunchurch..it's done on a lottery, so both my girls have been lucky.

Although the weather was the pits, the atmosphere was quite festive and I thought it just really felt as an English Fayre should do. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

These are a couple of the cottages ..now both restaurants.




The parade...my DD2 is in that DB9...the hubby was sooooo jealous :o)




An impressive tank...




A car from a different time and place...


At the end of the parade everyone congregated on the cricket field next to the village hall.

This fellow was a brave knight in his sparkle tights :o)





Here's the DD2 (on the left) getting her certificate and plaque for being one of the princesses.





And lastly these cheeky alpacas...aren't they cute!

Happy Birthday....

...to me :o) Yep, 37 today and the first thing I thought as I opened my eyes this morning...only 3 years to go til the big 40. What am I like!? That's no way to think!

Anyway...I wanted to point out I'm not the only one having a birthday today...There is Raesha at My Love that is celebrating a birthday and there is Linda at The life of a Quilter. Pop over and wish them both a great day!

TTFN

IT'S DONE!!!

Can you remember how it all started? ... just a little old patio that never really worked for us as a patio. A space that was just calling to be part of the house.

We saw a bit of mud, a bit of wet and let's not forget the Orange Tardis but we got there in the end! We had some great builders that worked really hard to create a fabulous space for the whole family...and a fabulous space for my sewing machine ;o)




The big reveal is here...(insert drum roll)...

Tada!!!

I'm so thrilled with the room, the colours, furniture, the floor...everything is just how I imagined it would be. Everyone in the house has their own ideas on how they would like to use this space and I'm sure as we go along it will evolve...even the DD2 has ideas of it being a playroom...guess who I found in there this morning!...She can stay as long as she doesn't complain about the thread ;o)

I've had a go on my sewing machine in the new room and I've finally started work on my Irish chain for Nicole's two-colour challenge. I'm hoping to make some steady progress on this now that things should get back to normal.

TTFN

Strawberries and Cream at the Bramble Patch..

Pure Eye candy ahead!

Today I drove down to The Bramble Patch to see their Strawberries and Cream Exhibition which is running all this week. If you remember I gave you a sneak peek of my entry which you can see in its entirety at the end of this post.

Several of the quilts had the word "Hope" in its title. I thought that was very interesting as it is simply by coincidence.

Enjoy...

Circle of Hope




Square Roses




Hope Spins Eternal




Hearts full of Hope




(sorry didn't get the name)



Circles and Squares II by Sarah Jayne




Lynda's But the Greatest of them All is Love

Mine - Blossoms of Hope

The blog post that brought the ambulance out!

I had NO idea that blogging could be hazardous to your health....ok, really in my case it was just coincidence...but I've had one heck of an evening and it all started as I was writing a blog post...

I've had a reasonably normal day, well the normal rushing about that you have as a Mom, when while I was writing a post I had the most bone crushing pain in my chest. I kinda thought...it will pass, but 10 minutes later I couldn't carry on typing and I was pacing trying desperately to get the pain to stop. By the time my DH got home about 15 minutes later I was seriously scared and seriously in pain and we called the paramedics. I couldn't decided if I was having a heart attack, but I wasn't going to take any chances. If there was one thing I learnt when I took my first aid course is that the paramedics would rather come out and be sure that it's "nothing" than to come out to something which was left too late.

Can I just say that I'm really impressed with the guys in green! My DH was on the phone barely a minute when I could hear the siren coming down the road and he had barely hung up when they were marching up to the door! Top guys!! ...So there I was with the roast chicken burning in the oven when they hooked me up to the machine that tells you if your heart is ok...and thankfully I was told my heart is very healthy! PHEW! So what was causing all the pain? They really couldn't pin point it, so they recommended a trip to our local hospital. Luckly this was all happening as the neighbours were coming home and my gem of a friend next door came in a took over feeding my kids my burnt, but still edible roast chicken so we could go to the hospital. We didn't wait long and a simple examination revealed that the pain was muscular. I probably overdid it at work or perhaps it was when I was hoofing the groceries around and caused the joints in my rib cage to spasm. I'm still very sore and will need to keep topped up on paracetamol, but at least I know it is nothing serious.

So on the the post that started it all!

---

The "Ambulance" Post

Lynda and I belong to a group called Flutterwheels. We meet every 2 months with 7 other ladies to explore different techniques. The year out theme is stars...you can see January's block HERE and March's block HERE.

This month's block is a 8 pointed star with the dreaded Y seam...the colours selected were bright pink and cream. I thought the block went together very well and I'm really pleased with the results.

So next month I'm writing our instructions..and I'm going to show them how to do this choppy star which is similar to the ones I was playing with back HERE.

Well with all the excitement tonight, I think it's time for bed.

TTFN