The Grinch gets hers...

My Chookyblue Secret Santa gift has arrived!

(and I could open the decoration pictured below:)

So pleased now that Christmas has not been cancelled

this year as I had planned! ;)

I joke, but I do get a little un-Christmassy

when I see mince pies in the shops in October!

However, thank you very much to my Secret Santa,

I am very much looking forward to opening my gift!

Sew Many Thanks!

Wow! What a wonderful quilty Christmas it has been this year!

Jenny of Elefantz made me a beautiful cushion cover and pincushion (both almost too nice to use) and included a Melly & Me pattern for the Chookyblue Secret Santa Christmas swap.


Such exquisite stitches!!


Jenny's gift was wrapped in awesome Christmas fabric. Thanks Jenny (and Thanks Donna for hosting this great swap again!)

From the BQL 'made' Christmas gift swap, I got this great bag!



Thanks to my Secret Santa and to Kandy for hosting this swap again!

My BQL 'purchased' present was this cute vintage-style tin with threads and some mini-charms...


Thanks Secret Santa and thanks again Kandy!!

This is a gift I made for my DSIL's dog. He seems to need a lot of stuff with him when he gets taken out so I made him a big bag :-)



My dear friend Vicky gave me this for Christmas...



A Robin bag filled with polka dot delights! Love them!!! Thanks Vicky!



Some unexpected fabric arrived from another dear friend...


Thanks Josie!

And from the Advent swap, my 'big gift' from Ailsa...


Thanks Ailsa, and thanks Jo for organising the swap!

Not much computing = Lots of sewing

I have made many gifts this year and under our tree are the teacher's gifts waiting to be delivered...

They'll be receiving a selection of covered notebooks (for the ones who didn't get them before), shoppers, lavender sachets and/or cosmetic bags.

And I finally made myself a bag...



Believe it or not this bag was originally these trousers...



They were far too short, so they got recycled...


The heart pin on the bag is one of my advent swap gifts from Ailsa. Thanks Ailsa!

Some overdue thanks to Nicolette! I won a giveaway on Nicolette's blog and she included so many wonderful things that I was absolutely amazed by her generosity....


Nicolette kindly included some awesome rose fabrics which have come at the perfect time for me. Yes, it's almost hexagon time again :-( because in the New Year, all being well, I will be undergoing yet more corrective surgery on my femur. So I'll be digging the hexagon handwork out and keeping myself busy...


These will be perfect! Thanks Nicolette!

Sonnja of Beertje Zonn also sent me a wonderful parcel! A beautiful pincushion!


Thanks Sonnja.

I was recently given this bag and asked to make a 'boy' version...

This is what I came up with...


It was fun to do and hopefully the young man likes it..

On a non-sewing note, I was in yet another traffic jam...


This farmer bravely got his sheep across an 'A' road at about 4 miles an hour LOL.

A photo of some of the 'paddy fields' around here...


This photo was taken quite a few days after the heavy rains.

The boy's had their first nativity shows this year. I got to make my first ever shepherd's costume (and wise man's cloak for a friend).

This is the older children's show held in the beautiful village church...


Both boys starred as a shepherds in the Nursery version held at school :-)



The lights have been up in local villages for a while...


It's starting to feel Christmassy around here!

While the cat's away...

The mice may have played...
The 'mice' may have made me order a few books online...
This one may have arrived today...


(The rest to follow soon I hope)

The 'mice' may have turned the living room into a fabric explosion...


(The 'mice' and I may actually be embarrassed to show this photo LOL)

But, the big bad cat is back LOL. So the fabric has been packed away (well most of it), the book buying spree has stopped and life continues as before EXCEPT!!!
My Chookyblue Secret Santa arrived from Jenny of Elefantz....



I was 'allowed' (according to the rules) to open the first parcel and I love it!! Thanks Jenny, it's gorgeous, so modern and the colours are fabulous for our kitchen where it has been hung up already!!


And I shall wait until Christmas for my second parcel, I promise! (especially because it's so beautifully wrapped that I like it just as it is LOL)

Why does it always rain (on me)?

Rain, rain, rain... and lots of hail too!

Today the bridge flooded again and I was worried we wouldn't be able to get home from school! Luckily we could get under the other railway bridge so I'm home to tell the tale:-) Sadly, I had no camera with me, so I have no photos to show the water levels around here which are thankfully not nearly as bad as in parts of Cumbria.

Well, it's been a long time no blog, but all the secret swaps have kept me underground however I can show one...


I'll not say anymore, but I hope they like it...


And look what I received from Ailsa for the Advent Swap....


Looks so amazing that I can't wait until the 1st of December! Thanks Ailsa!

Also received: (along with some other cool bits including something yummy that disappeared pretty quick!!)


Thanks Kandy, I can't wait to try this pen out on my butterfly quilt... (I believe the marks also disappear pretty quick LOL)

Last time we were stuck in with the weather, the boys and I made Gluten-Free mince pies (And yes, I ate all (or most of) the pies!!!)

I'll try not to leave it so long between posts, but as I'm now working on Christmas presents, I can't promise anything :-)

Sunshine and sewing

The weather has brightened here and we finally have some sun! and blue skies!!


It means that driving kids to school etc is a real treat...

And little little children can come along for walks in the sunshine past fields of cows...

And beautiful brambles...



To Becks where they can play with watering cans and water the plants :-)



And crazy Grandma's can spoil them with very early birthday presents of garden trampolines (reminiscent of animal cages LOL)

On the very neglected sewing front, I have finished my first Stitcher's Angel project.


My partner likes pink. I am not really a pink girl (unless it's pink roses of course!) so I have struggled a bit, but I hope my secret partner will like it.

I have quickly whizzed up a sock sack using an old sheet and some machine appliqued sock shapes. I was so tired of odd socks lying around!


It now lives in the laundry room and according to my DMIL contains 15 odd socks! Oh dear!!


And I finally got to the PO and mailed 2 very belated birthday cards and one of these blocks to Kate for our African Blockswap.


It's a simple Ula Lenz star block, but because I haven't paper-pieced for a while it took a bit to get back into a rhythm. Hope you'll forgive me Kate for such a simple block after your lovely one ;-)

Secrets, swaps and 'summer' holidays

It's still school holidays here so there is not much sewing going on....

This is the only quilty pic!! My eldest (almost 5) loves taking photos and my youngest (almost 3) loves monkeying around in them...

It's my scrapbuster on our bed...

As we are not going away for any of the holidays, we are doing 'stuff' locally. So off we went to Tropical World in Leeds. We started off in jumpers, but by the time we were halfway through we were sweating!

The place is HOT! I guess there's a clue in Tropical? LOL

More butterflies...

I am definitely bringing my Mom here, she is always complaining it's cold in England (and there were Meerkats here too in a South African desert recreation...

Then we had a trip to the Butterfly House (are you sensing a theme here LOL) in Williamson Park in Lancaster

It also has a mini-beast section with various revolting little critters like hissing cockroaches etc... And a gorgeous flower section and aviary...

An added bonus is the playground with stunning views to Morecambe Bay on one side and the memorial on the other...

On the drive home we saw a hot air balloon. We stayed to watch it get itself out of the trees...

The boys had been watching Peppa Pig and the littlest guy remembered the song when they were in a balloon. Something like "big balloon, big balloon, bigger than the sun and moon..." (Remember to hold the note on 'moo' so it sounds like 'moo oo oon' LOL)

Then the only vaguely warm day we had saw us head off to Morecambe Bay again for some sandcastle building...

DH said that he didn't recall ever going to the beach when it was that overcast as a kid. As a South African, I can safely say, I never went to the beach when it was that overcast as a kid, because, hey, the sun shines in Africa in summer!!!! We are still waiting for summer to arrive here! The poor kids wanted water for their moats, but there was only mud LOL

All sewing related stuff is now top secret as I have joined, not one, not two, but 3 swaps...
I've started work on this one (top secret)


I also signed up for Chookyblue's Sectet Santa Swap. Last year Sharon from Red Geranium Cottage was my partner and I adore the bag that she made for me.

Then, I'm not sure what came over me, but I also signed up for the 2009 Advent swap and this sounds fun. I have Ailsa as my partner and we will be sending each other 24 little gifties and one big gift for Christmas. I had better get sewing!!!