Christmas treats

Holiday greetings everyone!!..
Hope you all had a wonderful and restful time, I know I did.
I had some fantastic gifts this year, I have been very spoilt, here are a few of my favourites...

Some beautiful Cath Kidston goodies and a book that I have had my eye on for many months.
By boxing day I could stand it no more and had to have a go at some of  those fantastic motifs, I decided on triangles.
Nine triangles later and I had some lovely bunting.

I'm not over struck on the colours I used as I was just using what I had spare.

Not the best photos I know, I was struggling to get a decent photo as I was on my own and couldn't find anywhere to hang it, the weather doesn't help much either, so grey and dismal.
Here is motif number 2...

....more bunting maybe, I can feel a trip to the wool shop coming on, bright colours needed.

One last photo to share with you, this is a last minute christmas gift that was finished christmas eve.

Hope you all have a wonderful new year ... speak soon xxx

Time for a new hat.

I have been struggling this week to find time to crochet, this has been due to Christmas parties, Christmas concerts, last minute Christmas shopping, wrapping presents.......the list goes on....and on.... roll on Wednesday when the children finally break up from school and we can lock ourselves away for a few days.
I did finally manage to find a little bit of me time last night, I knew I didn't have a long, an hour at the most, so out came the hook and a quick little hat pattern found at the wonderful Aesthetic Nest and in no time at all a new little cloche hat for Isla-Rose, in a beautiful plum colour.

Christmas wouldn't be complete with out a visit to Father Christmas, this is something else we have managed to squeeze in. We braved the elements and headed off to the local garden centre to visit the old man himself.
Isla has been merrily saying HO HO HO for the last few weeks each time she sees santa on the t.v or a picture, so we thought that maybe this year she may be pleased to see him, or maybe not.........

This santa was definitely onto a money spinner when we walked into the grotto, 2 minutes work for £8, luckily Lucie decided she was to old to see santa or it would have been £12, for 2 minutes in a shed with a screaming wriggling toddler. We will still do it all again next year though!!

Isla-Rose quickly forgot about the whole the thing after a visit to the coffee shop.

We bumped into another old fella on the way out of the garden centre, the kids loved him, we may just visit this one next year.

Speak soon xx

Vintage kitchen

A few months back, I showed you all a rather cute little kitchen that I had been given. I am guessing that it's about 40 years old and had obviously been well loved .
I had the idea of giving it a makeover and sending it to santa for Isla-Rose.
It sat in the garage for many months and I was begining to think I wouldn't get round to cleaning it up, luckily my wonderful father in law took the task in hand ( thankyou John ).
The kitchen was sanded and repainted and then given back to me to do the pretty bits, so here are the before and after photos...



Before



After

 



Pretty lining in the drawers.

 I can't wait for her to see it, I am going to have it all set up for her, ready for her to play with straight away, the cupboards will be stocked with cups, saucers, pots and pans. Cakes, biscuits, sandwiches and a basket of fruit will also be waiting for her.
How exciting!!!

Thanks for all your lovely comments on the earwarmers from my last post.
Speak soon.xx

Warm ears and warm tummy.

I have been busy with some more christmas pressies this week and found a great pattern for these lovely ear warmers, the pattern was found at Yarn, needles and a cup of coffee , it's a great blog and highly recommend you pop over for a look.

They are really quick and easy to do,  I used dk instead of 4ply to make them a bit warmer, they look quite chunky when finished as they are made with a puff stitch.

I recommended this pattern to the wonderful Kandi over at Kandipandi's and she has done something wonderful with the flower, she also has a little extra to show you as well, hehe!! I won't tell you what, you will have to visit to see!

As well as having warm ears when you are out and about, it is essential that you also have warm hands and a warm tummy, this is Lucies favourite way to achieve this..

Hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles is just as important as hat, scarf and gloves when you are on a weekend winter walk, don't you think ?

Speak soon xx

Stockings and snow

At last I have my camera back in full working order, yipee I have missed her.

I don't usually put the xmas decorations up quite this early but with all this snow and seeing all the other festive blogs I couldn't resist getting a few bits out, the tree will have to wait until the weekend. 
 These are the stockings I made last year, I was fairly new to crocheting when I made them and the very first time I had ever followed a pattern. They took me weeks to make but I was so pleased with them once they were finished. Looking at them again this year I can see a few faults but I still love them and hope they will be around for many years to come.

I was going to share with you a photo of the ear warmers I made for the xmas fair, but they all went before I managed to get the camera working, I have a few more to make so will make sure I get a snap.
I have also had a few orders for the cowls I made, I am being kept very busy.

I used a brooch fastening for the flower so there is the choice of where to put it or to take it off and wear it with something else.

I had two baby hats left after the fair so these have gone in the box for next years fairs as I don't think this style will date.

I will admit to trying to squash the purple one on Isla-Roses head as I love it so much, but it wouldn't fit.

Before I go I will share with you one last piccie, snow related of course.

I think Isla is fed up of being stuck in the house, she spends ages with her nose pressed up to the windows looking longingly at the falling snow.

Speak soon xx

Christmas Fair!!!!!

It's been absolutely ages since my last post when I announced I had decided to take part in the school xmas fair.
The first thing I would like to say is " THANK YOU "for all your wonderful comments and suggestions regarding ideas for the fair. My excitement for the fair was quickly replaced with sheer panic when I realised what a mammoth task I had before me.
I now understand how a writer must feel when they describe having writers block, I couldn't think of anything to make, I must have looked through 1000's of patterns, everything I tried to make went wrong, it soon became clear I could no longer crochet, hats were way to big or too tiny, odd mittens, snowmen with scary faces.
 There were many nights when I was still up until the early hours, was this craft fair worth all this stress and upset?  Neglected children and hubby, no time for coffee with friends and no time to blog, not that I had anything to blog about, the thought of blogging about my discarded scraps of wool thrown in the bin night after night was more than I could bear to do.
With only 10 days to go I finally managed to complete some quick and easy projects, gone were the grand ideas of a stall filled with unique items, I was now concentrating on just having something to put on the table.
I decided to make ear warmers for both adults and children, simple beanie hats with flowers, cowls, corsages, children's flower headbands and a few simple decorations. Once I had decided what to make I managed to get them done quite quickly, simple is definitely the way to go with this sort of thing.
The day of the fair arrived and I felt sick with nerves, had I wasted my time?  Was I about to embarrass myself in front of all the mums from the playground?
Luckily no, I am pleased to say it went well, several sales were made before the fair opened from the other lovely stall holders, so that boosted my confidence.
The ear warmers were a huge success, especially with the girls from the school and I now have several orders from Lucie's friends for them.
At the end of the fair I only had 5 items left thank goodness, Scott wouldn't have been too pleased if I had brought it all home again.
One of the other stall holders approached me at the end of the fair and asked me if I would be interested in doing another fair in a weeks time!! With only a few pieces left on my table I had to decline her kind offer, the thought of spending another week sat downstairs on my own at 1 o' clock in the morning making ear warmers was not very appealing.
Would I do another fair?
Yes, probably... but I am giving myself a year to make the stock, I have put my 5 remaining items in a box and will continue to add to the box throughout the year.

You may have noticed the lack of photo's on this recent post, hopefully this will be resolved by my next post, my camera has decided it no longer wants to hold any charge, I am hoping that this is just the battery and am eagerly awaiting a new one, fingers crossed as I love my camera and am lost without it.
Oh and by the way, now the pressure of the fair has been lifted I am back to my old self on the crocheting front and no longer have a problem with odd sized items, if you know of any giants or munchkins in need of hats or anybody with odd sized hands that are desperate for mittens, then I may have the perfect gift for them!!

Speak soon   Jacey xx 

Christmas craft fair... help...

Just a quickie today, I am after ideas and help. I have decided to have a stall at the school christmas craft fair, I have never done anything like this before and I am now wandering what I have let myself in for.
I would be grateful for ideas and tips, I have exactly 1 month to get it all together.
Thankyou .
Speak soon xxx

Poncho progress

I thought I would show you the progress that has been made with the poncho. I would say it's about halfway there as I want it quite long. I'm planning to add tassels at the bottom and a big flower at the top to one side.  I can't wait to get this finished as I keep seeing them in all the shops.

Yummy biscuits have also been made this weekend, I tried a recipe that I haven't done before and they turned out lovely, so lovely in fact that they are now all gone!

Butterscotch and chocolate chip cookies

125g/4 1/2 oz butter
175g/6oz soft light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g/5 1/2 oz plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
200g/7oz milk chocolate chunks

preheat oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4
Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the sugar and stir until it has dissolved and the mixture starts bubbling, then take it off the heat immediately.
Beat the mixture to cool it down a little, then add the egg, beating it really quickly.
Add the vanilla, then flour and baking powder. Once everything is well combined. add chocolate and give it another stir.
Take small spoonfuls of mixture and plop them onto a baking sheet, leave plenty of room in between blobs as they really spread.
Bake for about 10 mins.
Leave to cool completely.

These taste better eaten a few hours after baking as the butterscotch goes all lovely and chewy mmmmm!!!

In between the poncho and baking I also found time yesterday to visit a few charity shops, I only made one purchase but what a little gem it was, look at this beauty....

Isn't she lovely, and for only £4.99.

She has already been given a new home on Lucies bed, it's a shame it's only single bed sized as I would have quite liked it for my own bed.

I am going to go and carve a pumpkin now ready for tonight.
Speak soon xx

Sunshine & slippers

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful here in the midlands, non stop sunshine and blue skies all day, perfect weather for a walk in the autumn leafs.

Isla-Rose decided to abandon the path and venture up a muddy bank on her hands and knees, I knew there would be only one way down....

.....that's on her bottom.  I did question my decision to put her in a skirt when I knew we were going walking, but she started the day looking so pretty.

Isla-Rose loved having big sister Lucie and big brother Dylan to play with her.

Dylan especially loved the responsibility I gave him of being in charge of Isla on the park.

Sometimes it's worth taking hundreds of pictures if it means you can capture special moments like these.

Lucie has been complaining of cold feet this week, this time last year we had carpets downstairs but have since had a solid wooden floor fitted,  I have to admit it's not that cosy so I decided to have a go at some slipper socks for her. I found a great pattern here that I thought I would try.

I had to add a chunky funky button as they were a bit wide around the ankle, she loves them and hasn't complained once since having them, hubby thinks they are just plain weird.



Here they are glued to her feet. If you look closely you will notice that she is doing something wonderful...... she is crocheting !!!!! Look at all those granny squares she has done this week, I now have somebody to go wool shopping with!!!!

I am off now to work on the poncho and watch Nigellas Kitchen, hopefully I'll get chance to post an update on the poncho tomorrow.

Speak soon xxx

Another hat

I have had some success with my new Japanese crochet book that I mentioned in my last post. I managed to make Isla-Rose a new hat to match her new winter coat.

The diagrams in the book were fairly easy to understand, it helped to have a list of the symbols in front of me with their meanings. I guessed at the hook size, using one that I had used previously to make Isla-Rose a hat.

I have also had an order this week for some little newborn booties, here they are already to be wrapped and posted.

So cute.. It only seems like last week when I was making this sort of thing for Isla, where does the time go? My little baby is growing up so fast, so much faster than the other two. At 18mths she is running about, talking, using a fork and spoon and is now almost potty trained, this means no more nappies or bottles, and her cot is being made into a bed at the weekend, all the baby things vanishing out of the house, on the plus side at least I can go back to using a lady like handbag instead of an over sized holdall, as all I need to take out with me is a pack of wipes and a spare pair of pants ( for Isla not me!!)

Goodies have been received in the post this week,  lucky, lucky me, I won a give away last week from the wonderful Clare at Green frog crafts. Look at all the goodies I got..

The pink heart was quickly grabbed by Lucie and is now hanging on the wardrobe door of the girls bedroom. Look at those wonderful shiny pretty buttons!!

Thank you Clare I love my gifts.

I will wish you all a great weekend, I know it's only Thursday but I have another hectic few days taxiing the kids around and probably will not manage to sit down, never mind switch the laptop on.

Speak soon xx