Couple of my pressies....

How cute is this...a cupcake cookie jar........just one of the pretties I had for Christmas.....this was from my friend together with a cookie recipe book...I think I'm going to be busy.
and then dots dots and more dots..the lovely jug to go with my sugar bowl....

and how on earth did my DD guess that I would love this from M & S its so cute and a top shelf for the eggs....what a lovely pressie along with lavendar body scrub/handcream/and body cream....see the knitted heart, this was attached to my pressie from my friend....I keep them and they're so useful to just add that extra bit of prettiness.

57 years!

My Dad came to dinner today...first time he has ever spent Christmas apart from his darling wife (Mum) in 57 years. Mum has been ill for a long long time now with vascular senile dementia. She's had it for 8 years now, I can even remember when it first started, it was my eldest daughters wedding, and she just kept on going up to total strangers and just standing and looking and Mum had started to shuffle slightly. Diagnosis came about 8 months later. It has been a tragic disease and a very unfair one. Dad has looked after her at home until about 3 months ago, the last 3 years she has been bed ridden, with loss of all bodily functions including speech. It pains her to swallow but even though the Nursing Home gives her paliative care and very small things (all liquidsised to eat)...Dad still feels that the longer he puts food in, the longer he keeps her alive, he doesn't realize that the pure effort of even swallowing is hard for her and to see her try to drink from a straw, well...it takes all her effort. He just doesn't see the deterioration, my darling Mum is even more of a living skeleton than before, her hair is so thin, her frail hands all now knarled and closed, her sunken eyes. Her torso is square and has been for a long long time, she is and has been stuck at right angles for a couple of years. She sleeps most of the time now and will occasional manage to open her tired eyes and peep out, she hasn't known me for years now but sometimes just sometimes there is a momentary glance and a weak smile, that if I were to blink I would miss it...when it does happen I cherish it. When I go to visit her I cannot bear it if she is awake and watch me walk out of the room....I have said "goodbye" so many times now. Three times when Mum was in hospital when I was taken in the "small" room but she rallied. She must have a very strong heart. Going back to the saying "cheerio"...I always go back and stroke her back to sleep, kiss her and whisper in her ear "I love you Mum, thank you for being my Mummy".

So with Dad sitting at the dinner table today, it felt very strange, as even though she hasn't sat there for years, she's always been at home with darling Dad. I could see he was struggling, so we spoke about lots of nice things, spoilt him with dinner, mince pies, tea/coffee, sweets galore, he fell asleep for a while and then we watched an old Some Mothers Do Have Em!.....I nearly wee'ed myself laughing, sometimes they are so much better when you've seen them a few times before, and then Dad left to go and spend the evening by the bed of his darling wife, where he will sit for a few hours, holding her hand, wiping her mouth, giving her juice and generally loving her.......

My Christmas Day was filled with DD...SIL and twin grandbubs.....absolutely magic and magical, I so treasure the times.....hope yours was good too.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everybody a wonderful warm

xxxxx Merry Christmasxxxx


Honestly trying to nibble my yarn!

Just like to thank people who stop by and take time to look at my blog....and to thank all those that leave a lovely comment....they are all very much appreciated and I love reading them... enjoy your Christmastime. xx

Christmas Eve magic

Christmas Eve magic.....I absolutely adore Christmas Eve, to me it is so so magical, the sense of expectation in the air. Even now although the children are all grown with children of their own. It still exists for me, sometimes I take myself back in my mind to when they were little and the leaving out of the mince pies and milk and sherry for Father Christmas. I always used to get the fits of giggles when opening their bedroom doors to put the stocking at the bottom of their beds, I remember one time, one of the girls woke up and said "Hello Mummy".....luckily she didn't see anything as she said "has he been yet". I remember when we pretended that Father Christmas had left a trail of wool all over the house and they had to follow it to find their main pressie. A couple of years ago I brought the girls the film Polar Express and put a jingle bellin with the package, my youngest daughter of 29 now has the bell on her tree and she loves it...she says it brings back memories of when she used to hear Santas sleigh bells!!!!....see magic....and now shes showing her 2 year old twins this bell....and they are just starting to understand there is something special going on. Every Christmas Eve without fail every year at midnight, I always throw open the bedroom window and just look towards the sky and just breathe in the cold midnight air, I glance upwards and just take in the stillness, nothing is moving, stillness, quiet, just my breathing showing in the coldness......Happy Christmas I say to the sky..Happy Christmas I say to the world...xxx

Okeedoee now for some pretties, this gorgeous garland I purchase in Harrods...darlink!.....well to be honest about 15 years ago....and the bauble is another Waterford One.

Table centre decoration....hmmmmm! looking at this piccy, seems I
need to sort it out a bit.

Isnt' this the most cutest Christmas biscuit barrel,

my youngest DD brought it for me from M & S...got it full

of CHOCOLATE COOKIES.....woohoo!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
falalalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaa......and breathe.x

My kitchen and new door.

I'm such a chuffed happy little bunny with my new larder door, the white one on the left. Before it was a boring modern brown thingy, yeuk yeuk and double yeuk. Now glass panelled with a curtain behind, being the same as I used on the stools. Hey!...see my turkey plate on the fridge/freezer, a bargain buy from T.k.maxx. Of course my lovely new Ikea island unit which I posted about in a previous thread, this has made my kitchen so much easier to use and work in and its lovely to spread everything out when baking.

Just a snippet, purchased the cutley box from Ikea I think its called megazin and cost £1.99...painted eau-di-nil....lovely.

and of course what would a kitchen be without some pretties, so loving this tray, just need to find a lovely teapot to go with it. I have one but its a Denby in dark green, doesn't quite hit the mark for me now.

Here you can see the new door better....and on the island unit the shelves where I keep my sugars and flours for baking, so easy to get to and use.

Ta....daaaaaaa! and of course my lovely Megs my Cavalier...had to be in the shot..and of course polka dots...what else does a girl need. I love my kitchen now and enjoy being in it so much, before it was just perfunctionary.

Bye for now off the a spot of tea. x

Some Christmas decorating....

I just adore this little Northpole Express Train....we've had it a number of years and now the Grandbubs are enjoying it....it plays Christmas music and also makes a choo-choo noise as it goes round.Thought I would share with you one (red) of the 3 Waterford baubles that I have collected....one in green....the red one here at the bottom and a gold one...

Oh I do so wish that I was better at taking photography...(think I'll blame it on the camera)!...afraid piccy doesn't do justice to my tree, honestly it does look pretty and not so bare as this picture shows.....anyway looking into my little sitting area next door from the dining room in which the tree sits....we have

Okay!!! not a lot...I seem to have gone for very little this year decorative wise....I suppose the adage KISS came to mind..."keep it simple silly"...well I did and I have....

and even simpler...actually quite like the simplicity of this on the mantle in the lounge.

Hope your all enjoying your decorations up....love looking at them.....ttfnx

Christmas aaaaaarrrgggghhh!

Is it me, am I getting older and becoming a Christmas Grinch!!!!!...do you know what I stood in the middle of Churchill Square in Brighton and stood and watched people and well I just felt I wanted to open my mouth and scream..."WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING"?....just shopping and shopping and shopping....I passed by a small toy shop which was heaving, I heard from some small children....Aw I want, I want...pleaseeeeeeee, oh but I REAAALLLY DO WANT IT!....the looks on some of the parents faces.....not wanting to deny their darlings things.......but £40/£50/£60 a toy, wheres the magic gone, when you hear some 5 year olds saying they don't believe in Father Christmas. I find it all very sad, so much consumerism, so much commercialism. It got me thinking back to my childhood...and I wonder if the children of now will have such fond memories, I doubt it somehow. I used to get so excited as everyyear my darling Nanny would knit me a (well I used to call it a swiss sweater then) but you know the jumpers with the knitted yokes in all the different colours....and I would get a snuggly hot water bottle and I would love waking up in the early hours of the morning to see if Santa had left my stocking at the end of the bed...I used to get so excited to feel the noise when I kicked the covers and blankets. (no duvets back then good old tuck me in tight sheets and wool blankets with an eiderdown). It was a nylon stocking filled with an orange or satsuma an apple and some brazil nuts....a couple of blowers you know the ones with the feathers on the end....oh a Jackie magazine or something girlie...of course the bag of chocolate money and some fun odds and ends...but I used to love it...Mum would generally come in then saying its only 5 a.m. ops!
I can still picture my Christmas days as a youngster, actually I can recall quite a few. We always used to buy very small pressies for the tree for boxing day and Dad would always buy Mum her Max Factor powder makeup.....and Estee Lauder Youth Dew.....the house we lived in when I was growing up was a Victorian terrace, no central heating, no hot water. The windows used to freeze up on the insides and I would get washed and dressed in bed sometimes, with Mum holding my clothes in front of a single bar electric fire it was that cold. Dad would always be telling me to shut the lounge door to keep the heat in. But Christmases at home were so full of fun, love, laughter and family. I remember Mum used to buy cheap tumblers and use special paint to paint holly and berries on them.....seems my darling Mum was ahead of her time back then.....just sinmple things to make things homely. BUT...maybe its me being silly in my reminiscing....its just that looking around today as I did, I just saw, stress and rudeness, nobody smiling. I held doors open for people to go through, not one thankyou. I stopped to let people by, did they see me, did they heck. I feel lots of people have forgotten what its about, I still get choked up thinking about what Christmas is really about....hey ho! and the older I get the more choked up I get....I would love to have my time over with my children again and enjoy their faces....but then I can enjoy the Grandchildren and boy oh boy is that I heart wrencher. I cannot believe the love I feel from the pit of my stomach. I could just sit and sit and watch them for ages, well thats when they're not climbing all over me going "Naaaaannnnnnnnnyyyyyy".....cuddles, kiss (or mats as one of them calls them) and of course "Aahhhs" which are cheek cuddles....and when I do something silly my darling little grandson just says "funny". Oh of cours we mustn't forget the butterfly kisses, these are something I used to do with my own daughters, I used to flutter my eyelashes against their cheeks when they were toddlers and of course this Nanny is doing the same with her twin 2 year old grandbubs.
They are a complete joy and me and DH will enjoy our Christmas this year through their eyes.....as for the others dashing here there and everywhere....let them...one day they will know!

Christmas Wishes to all xxx

Matching Cath Kidston stripe.....not!

Honestly what an absolute numpty I am....ok to explain, hubby and I went to Ikea and brought a lovely island unit for the kitchen....well actually we didn't intend to buy one, but hey sometimes impulse buys are the best! There we saw the hendriksal stools, they sold them in cream/grey/navy. So cream was the colour, anyway we got them home and I'm sitting having my brekky and I could feel something catching on my trousers, anyway turned stool upside down and there is velcro....well of course silly me!....these chairs are cream as they are for covering. So me and my lovely knitting friend went to Caths in Brighton and I purchased Ric Rac strip cotton duck. Quite expensive I feel for what it is, considering that Ikea had a red/beige strip for £4.99 metre but anyway............................................. CAN YOU SPOT THE DELIBERATE MISTAKE........WHAT A NUMPTY I AM...happily cutting out material for covers and you've guessed it LOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't think to match.....shhhhhhh....duh!
NO MATCHING STRIPES......... ah well, at least they're original and am pleased with them.

Will post piccys of finished kitchen, when I've sorted it out, just waiting for a cottage type larder door to be delivered which I will put the same ric rac strip curtain behind....all starting to come together nicely....have a great day.x

A so homely cookery book...

Brought this rather sweet cookery book come hints on decorating called Autumn (see in sidebar)...its an American publication but I was attracted to it as its so sweetly illustrated and has that homely feel and so really scrumptious recipes. The ingredients are in cup sizes which is so easy for flours etc. Have already tried Apple Crisp which is really Apple Crumble but with cranberries and eating apples, the cranberries give it a lovely taste sensation.

Lots of how-to's

and really lovely pressie ideas....

Oh and must not forget the lovely sugar/jam pot in gorgeous polka dot....the kind http://bellascountry.blogspot.com/ pointed me in the direction to purchase this...thank you...have a pleasant Sunday....x

Fireside Sweater.

Has anybody seen the film "The Holiday" with Cameron Diaz Jude Law?
Its my faviourite feel good seasonal film, anyway in the film Camerzon Diaz wears this cream sweater....and a lovely lady on Ravelry designed one for all us obsessed knitters to make. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fireside-sweater So thought would share mine. Part of me wishes I had done it in cream or even red...maybe next time, thats if I have the patience to do it again but I will enjoy wearing it now the weathers turned frosty. Have a great weekend all.

Making new friends.....and Cath Kidston gift.

Isn't life strange at times? About 15 months ago, I went to a local knitting group, there were only a few of us and we'd sit and chat and knit and coffee and cake and knit and ..........EAT Cake. It was so funny as one of the girls and I hit it off straight away and we soon found ourselves chatting away (to the exclusion of others) ops!
We had so many things in common, shared lots of the same life experiences. The knitting group faded away and we both decided to carry on meeting each other once a week, and as we chatted more and more the coincidences were more and more. We both felt very easy with each other, just and thats the only way I can describe our friendship...just easy, just is.

I don't know about you but some people take loads of different friends through life with them, that they never really get to know. I've always felt out of it as I'm one of the people that only has two or three, but they have always been there. One I have known for eeeekkkkk! 39 years and she was my bridesmaid. Another lovely lady I met strangely enough when a lot of angst was going on in my life and she became a lovely friend and still is 22 years later, maybe we don't see each other that often but always chatting on the phone............................

and now my fairly new friend, I think its lovely how in life I believe your meant to meet certain people, and so glad I met my knitty friend....and LOOK, I'll let you into a secret...sssshhhhhh! Its my birthday today. 21 again.....not! 55 and loving it. I remember turning 40 and boohooing my eyes out.

My lovely friend knew exactly what would bring a smile to my face when I unwrapped it and she had also personalized it with a lovely knitted corsage which I will pin to my burgundy jumper....whatever you do today enjoy! I'm off to open me cards.....byeeeeee xxxxx

Cath Kidston pretties....

Isnt' this the most sweetest little jug....I can feel a collection coming on here. Popped into Caths in Brighton, was a good girl only brought 3 things, this jug.... cutesy house Christmas tin with lovely humbugs in it...placed it atop my lattic tea plates.......

and of course what every well dressed cooker must have this Christmas......tea towels....such a lovely Christmas print.

PERFECT.............................

So my pretties had to have somewhere to live, stood in my kitchen, had a think!!!.....looked and thought, those jars with all my sugars and flours for baking look soooooooooooooo BORING.... (you can see the before on a couple of posts further down)...a redo was in order. Time to do it...now of course, no matter there's ironing waiting to be done, potatoes to be peeled, ....so my stainless steel shelves (which I must admit I am beginning to loathe) have been prettied up and looks more homely.....I'm getting there slow but sure.... Thanks for stopping by.x

p.s....I have a feeling those shelves will be coming down sooner rather than later....ssssshhhh! I'll break it to hubby...hehe!

A gorgeous blog......

Go have a looksee at this blog.......it ooooooozzzzeeesss charm.....love it....so inspirational....hope you enjoy it as much as I am.

http://cynthiascottagedesign.blogspot.com/

My previous kitchen....same house.

Thought I would show you a couple of piccys of my previous kitchen..the units were originally dark wood from good ol' now defunct MFI... which we painted cream, the kitchen was lovely to use but after several years I got so tired of cleaning all those mouldings etc. But at times I must admit I do miss the fussiness of it but still love the clean lines of my complete red kitchen...hmmmm!!!

Some pretties and knitted scarves.

Isn't this sign just the prettiest thing, found it in a shop in Arundel West Sussex called Sparks Yard, http://www.sparksyard.com/what a great place...full of loveliness, this had to come home with moir along with...... cupcakes pot mat...and then lo and behold, this jumps into my hand.......

gorgeous sweet Christmas letters...lovely time out with my lovely friend is what I had. We popped into a sweet tearoom for tea and toasty teacakes...yummy.

On the knitting front, found this bobble yarn £8.99 a ball, so easy to knit with, you can do a scarf in a evening, well I made 3 kiddie ones....£3.00 a scarf....lovely.

Tell me what style of decorating?

Whilst browsing other peoples blogs, I see that vintage and pinks/creams/blues are very much admired knowadays. So it got me thinking about my own styles through the years.
I remember my first flat back in eeeekkk!!! 1975 was a basement flat and we decorated it in geometric blue/dark blue squares and swirly carpet. We had a dralon gold corner sofa and white table and chairs with blue seats. The bedroom had orange and yellow flower wallpaper....had my first child in this flat, quite a squash. Then moved to a terraced house which then (wait for it) a vast Yorkstone fireplace, complete with place for TV etc and a gas fire with wooden surround, can you just visualize it, oh yes and brown/orange geometric wallpaper. Then the years were spent bringing up the children and we get to the late 80's.....now where into swags & tails/ festooned blinds on the curtain front. That was my dark mahogany Edwardian period, and I found flea markets and antique shops, I would spend so much time looking and collecting. I used to separate my then dining room from the lounge with a huge swaythe of thick lace curtain...I had deep maroon carpet with fleu-de-lise pattern on it, everything was so heavy and dark.
Then moved to end of the 90's early 2000..time for a change, we went minimalist...I hated this look, we got rid of so much stuff and bought boxy square furniture in beech, the house become hollow and seemed unloved. The last four years have seen a change yet again, classic English with a cosy country twist, bit of floral, tad of vintage, plain carpets, plain walls, accents of red, oak furniture, easy living, nothing takes too much time looking after, comfy sofas to fall into lots of cushions....I tend to use Farrow & Ball paints, I love the matt that they give and they have such a lovely coverage and ease of use. I must admit though that I do love the pastel colours now though, so maybe the Cath Kidston prints might be creeping in a little bit more along with my love of Laura Ashley, so would love to hear how yours has changed over the years..

Just a change of paint colour.....

Thought would show you my lovely apron from Laura Ashley...half price bargain...will it make me a Domestic Goddess...hmmmm. So Sunday mid afternoon, hubby and I fancied a trip out, so off we went to have a looksee around M & S and of course there is a local Homebase store there too. "Shall we look at the paint for the bathroom" says hubby. Its a job thats needed doing for some time now. Anyway whilst choosing paint for bathroom which we chose Eau -De-Nil...alongside was Pale Eau-De-Nil. "How about that for the kitchen" he says. I do love this colour but had never thought of putting it in the kitchen, which is painted basic boring creamy white piccy below.....anyway arrived home.....started at 4pm Sunday evening....broke for a curry mid evening............................................

and then ta....daaa.......11pm a lovely newly painted kitchen well part of it...what a difference 7 hours makes. Love it, it is so warm and inviting.....lesson learnt....."Sometimes hubbys do know best".

A bit of Christmas sewing.

Well my new sewing machine has had its trial run and its lovely. But I must admit on the sewing front I am a tad rusty, not having done any for a while. But I found this gorgeous red poinsetia material £3.99 metre, purchased it without a clue what I was going to make and then ta.da!!!Light bulb moment, don't you just love that when it happens, why some lumber pillows for the dining room table chairs...what do you think? Oh did I tell you I like red..........

Then hearts called to me, so a cute hanging threesome......felt like a learner driver with my machine trying to go round corners, but getting there.

Dream rooms....

How lovely is this room, so simple, rustic, that roaring fire,
I'm there with my coffee and mince pies,
knitting by my side...ah bliss. Or maybe Christmas morning,
you would love to see, this perfectly set
brekky table.

and to serve that perfect cup of tea Emma Bridgewater

tea pots, now all or any of these would be lovely as

a Chrissy pressie.

Postman made a nice delivery today, lots of lovely

future projects, honestly my list will get longer

and longer.

Caths book is perfect, and the bag so pretty.
Its free inside already cut out and ready to sew.

I'm going to purchase some pink gingham to line it.

Also in was a lot cheaper on Amazon £8.99...bargain.

Have a lovely weekend all in whatever crafty loveliness you do.

Hopefully I should have some stuff to show you soon..............