Happy New Year.

Hello just a quick post to wish you all a very Happy new year, as you can see I am already looking forward to spring and flowers, the seed catalogue's are starting to arrive and I can't wait to see some colour in my garden. Kathleen has a nasty cold so I am going round today to see how she is she sounded a bit husky yesterday. I had a good day with Kate yesterday we were shopping for Steve's 30th birthday ( Steve is Kate's husband) we had lunch a a good old chat a real Mom and Daughter day.
God Bless you all and thankyou for your friendship.

Beloved Rose.

Hello people, I hope you all had a lovely christmas, our little family had a lovely time all together, we did'nt do anything special we were just together, we ate and talked and talked and played silly games and just enjoyed each others company it was good. I thought especially of my eldest brother George this christmas, he lost his beloved Rose in august, Rose had a brain tumour and died the week before my Kate got married they had been married for over 60 years and it was one of those Real love matches, this was his first christmas without her and I know it would have been hard, we spoke to each other on christmas eve which was lovely and his son was picking him up on christmas day but he wanted to come home to sleep because he says that he feels closest to Rose when he is in their home, the lovely thing is he loves to talk about her so we have some nice chats and it feels as though she is still joining in. I wish you all a happy new year .

A Very Merry Christmas to All

Good Morning, just a quick message to wish everyone a wonderful holiday, I am taking a break now until after christmas because there is so much to do. This beautiful image was from http://my vintage studio .

My Lovely Friend

I am the luckiest girl who has the BEST FRIEND, just look at these silk flowers they are absolutely beautiful. Kathleen andI went shopping and she bought me this gorgeous arrangement for christmas Wow! she not only bought it for me she arranged it too, she has such a talent for flower arrangements and she magically brought these to life. When Tony came home he actually thought these were real they look so good. The weather here is about to turn very cold again and they are predicting a white christmas which will look very pretty but!!! it will make it difficult for families to get around and visit each other, we are not very good at snow. This morning on the news they showed a picture of an Ice Sculpture it turned out to be a lighthouse that is covered in ice somewhere in America, now thats cold.

The Tree

On Sunday we went and chose our tree from the farm, it's a lovely place to be, there are children running about high on happiness because of all things christmassy and trying to choose their own tree there are carols playing in the yard and a chalet that has all things christmas for sale. To walk across the fields is wonderful and it sure heals the heart, what a wonderful world we live in. When we got home and got out all the decorations we had a lovely time because most of our decorations have a lovely memory attached it takes us ages with stops for cups of tea, when it was finished we turned on the lights it was getting dark outside so the room was lit very softly, we sat there and enjoyed the peace and wonder of it all.

Feeling Sad aand Cross with God

I am feeling sad because a good man died. My brother-in-Laws brother died on Friday he was just 59 years old, a happy family man who loved his wife, children and grandchildren, a man who was a hard worker who put his family first not a drinker or a gambler just a genuine nice bloke. Two years ago he started to feel a little ill and it took the Dr's months to find out what was wrong with him, in the end he was diagnosed with Liver disease and since then has been waiting for a transplant, they also discovered he had a small hole in his heart which had always been there. He has been on and off the list for a transplant one set of Dr's saying he had to have his heart op before they would give him a liver the 2nd lot saying he could'nt have the heart op until his liver was transplanted and so it went on until on Thursday night he suffered a mild heart attack, he was taken to hospital and his family were told to pray, they sat with him and chatted and joked and spoke of happier times to come but sadly Ian died and his family are heartbroken, shocked, angry and confused. They now have to learn to live without him and this makes them terribly sad and it makes me very cross with God for taking this good good man .

Made at Last

Hello Everyone, gosh it's cold here in England today, I have just peeped out of the curtain and it is completely white with frost, it is going to look very pretty when it gets light but I have to go shopping today and I do not look forward to scraping the frost off my windscreen.
This cushion is one that cottonreel bought me as a kit, I have had it for a while but finally managed to find time to make it up and I love it the colours are so delicate. I am going to marzipan my cakes today and I am hoping there will be some marzipan left for me to eat, I love it. When the kids were at home they used to stand in line waiting to see if there would be any left over, of course there always was. Have you all finished your shopping yet? I still have a few things to get but I am hoping to finish it all today. On sunday we will be going to the farm to get our christmas tree, Tony usually trawls me around three fields before he is happy with the height and shape so I am hoping it will be a bit warmer than this. Enjoy your day!!

Voices Like Angels

Good Morning everyone. I went shopping on Saturday and as I parked my car and got out the most wonderful sound greeted me, this wonderful group of people were singing carols, I have never heard anything like it they were beautiful. It was freezing cold and these lovely people dressed in their warm coats, scarves, hats, gloves and boots belted out carols in their wonderful gospel way. Everywhere you looked people were smiling because it was such a joyous sound, they were collecting for a charity and I hope they did very well they certainly deserved to, everytime I came out of a shop this glorious sound hit me, Magic!

Snow Snow and More Snow

Yes, it is still snowing here in England and as always it is causing chaos, we really do not deal with snow very well. Everything looks very pretty dressed in it's white finery and there are some wierd and wonderful shapes where the snow has landed on things still out in the garden. We are putting out lots of bird food and the bird table is very busy, it is funny to watch we have very bossy blackbirds. Yesterday I walked to the post office to post my Australia parcels then called into the shop for Pecan and Apple pastries then carried onto Kathleens for a cup of tea, we sat and had a good natter(chat) and ate our pastries Kathleen using her finger to get every bit off the plate. I found something really beautiful on one of the blogs called How Sweet the Sound, I was visiting aA Gathering of Thoughts and she suggested that I go to How Sweet the sound and look at the dvd clip about the shopping mall, this I did and what a wonderful surprise I got, I suggest that if you want to be uplifted go and check it out.

How Young They Look

These are photo's of my Lovely Dad and My Beautiful Mom. I never saw them when they were young as my Mom had 10 children and I was the youngest consquently I can only remember them in their fifties. They were such hardworking people and we always had clean clothes and enough to eat. I remember my Dad being good fun but a bit strict and my Mom not quite so strict but if you disobeyed her she soon let you know, it's hard to umagine them being this young. I remember christmas's well and there was always a stocking at the end of the bed with and Orange and some nuts, a few

big old pennies to save or spend, a sugar mouse nothing like todays kids get but we loved it, and then downstairs Santa always left us a pillowcase full of goodies like books and puzzles, paints, games and usually a torch. We always had something new to wear on christmas day and my older brothers and sisters who were then married always came to christmas tea, what a noisy lot we were, we were always ready for bed when the time came. These are precious memories and when our kids were growing up we always tried to make christmas a magic time starting with the carol service at the local church which was always a favourite of mine there is nothing like a good rousing carol to make you feel christmassy and thankful. Have you all got good memories of christmas?

I Forgot this bit

re. the previous post, once you have printed on the fabric take some parchment paper place it over the printing and iron, this sets the ink. I use cooking parchment paper.

How I Printed on Fabric

Some of you lovely people wanted to know how I printed on fabric, well I can only tell you the way I was told, so here goes.

First you need some plain cotton fabric, I used White dying cotton which was about £2 a mtr.

Some Freezer Paper.

I then cut out an A4 size piece of freezer paper and ironed it to the fabric so that it stuck firmly.
Then cut out exactly to the A4 size.

Place this in your printer so that it prints on the fabric side.

Find something that you want to print and do exactly as you would if you were printing on paper.

Be a bit careful here if it starts to go a bit wobbly take it out quickly.

My printer seems to do it ok. and it is and Epsom DX7450 just an ordinary printer. Good Luck!!

Printing On Fabric

I have just learnt how to print on fabric and it is lovely. I have made these two cushion covers as presents and I am really pleased with them, mind you I have cursed a little when things have gone wrong and I thought I was going to block my printer but in the end it was quite simple.It opens up a whole new world these two pictures were printed off the Graphics Fairy and Miss Rhea they are both very generous with their artwork, I am looking forward to trying some more.

Hello, I bought these shelves at an auction in Cockermouth they cost me £14, what a bargain, they have taken me a while to rub down and then paint, I have used some of this new Heritage paint and it is lovely. The knobs I bought when we were on holiday in Cape Cod and I love them they cost just $1 each. We have finished decorating now and we are pleased with everything it all looks clean and fresh. I am busy making new cushions and trying to tidy my sewing room in between christmas shopping and cake making. The weather here in England is really cold, lovely sunny days and very hard frosts at night, some of the country has got snow. Hope you all have a great weekend.

Busy Times and Sad News

Hello everyone, gosh this time if year is so busy with decorating, sewing, shopping, making cakes and Puddings plus all the other daily jobs too. The weather here is very cold at the moment but, the sun is out and everything looks clean and sparkly. I am getting on quite well with my Christmas shopping and sewing but still have some to do. The sad news is Cottonreel lost her Mom last Friday, she was a bright and lively 97 year old with a zest for life but she fianally started to fail and died peacefully in her sleep last Friday morning. Kathleen is sad but realises that her mom had to leave her sometime soon, so lots of hugs for Kathleen (cottonreel)

A Labour of Love

This has been a real labour of love, I think it's lovely now it's finished but it has been one of the most fiddly things I have ever done. The window and the door took for ages, all the cakes had to be done and then embroidered and there were lots of pieces, then the door which also had quite a bit of work. The next time I make it I will have a better idea of how to do all this work so that will make it easier. It is a pattern by Gail Penberthy which I bought at Malvern quilt show, you can call it The Tea Room or you can personalise it and as you can see this one is Kate's. I have finished the fireplace and Tony has fitted the fire, I am now going to make some new cushions and then we will be ready to start looking forward to Christmas.

Refurbishing a Fire Surround

I bought an old fire surround for not much money from an antique market, it has pretty tiles and I liked it a lot, I have never had a fireplace in this house just a brick central pillar with a fire attached to the wall which I always disiked. I bought some of this new fangled old style paint in a lovely antique cream and started to paint it I used 5 coats of primer undercoat and then started with the antique cream I have done 2 coats so far and I think one more will do. I can't wait to remove the masking tape and get it fixed to the wall so that I can dress it in pretty things, I have a lovely old oval mirror that I bought from a charity shop and I think that will look lovely above the fireplace. This has been a real labour of love, and whilst I have been doing the fire surround we have also put a few coats of paint on the walls to freshen things up, so my house is a real mess at the moment with dust sheets and covers all over the place but we are nearly at the end. I am now going to hang out my winter sofa covers in the lovely autumn sunshine to dry and then when everything is finished with the paint I will put them on. I am so easily pleased.

Remembrance Sunday

This morning I woke up and looked out of my study window and was faced with this beautiful view of the sun coming through and a mist over the trees, there was frost on the roof of the caravan which made beautiful patterns and I thought of all those young men who would not be seeing this beautiful world today and felt very priveledged. These young men keep our countries safe and sacrifice so much, God bless them and keep them safe.

All in a Row

Hello,

I saw these angels when we went to the quilt show at Malvern they are very sweet, I love the little shoes and the facial expressions. I am quite busy at the moment because I am decorating the lounge and dining room and because our house is open plan it means we have to do the stairs and landing at the same time so it really is a big job. I also bought an old fire surround at a local antiques market which I also want to paint before it gets installed, I am looking forward to seeing how it looks when finished. The weather here has been awful really wet and cold but today it is a little better, frosty and bright. Christmas seems to be galloping towards us so I have started to make lists, I am a list girl I cannot exist without a list I have lists for things I have bought, lists for things I still have to get, lists for meals lists for everything, is anyone else the same?

Labels and More Labels

Good Morning, it's a lovely morning here, very warm for some reason. Yesterday I spent the afternoon making labels, I love doing this fiddly work sometimes. I use the labels on special presents for friends and family and they also look good tied on a door knob in a pretty bedroom. I search everywhere for the small silk flowers that I use and I am sometimes lucky enough to find some in charity shops, the beauty of silk flowers is that they wash well and look good as new when dry.Kathleen and I are off to Fabric Guild now have a good day.

Cup Ckae Cushions

Hello, happy wednesday everyone, I love this little cushion it was so easy to make, I used a fleece blanket I had bought from Ikea for £2.50 and I will get at least 6 cushions from it.As you can see the pattern is by Gail Penberthy, I seem to like a lot of her patterns and I bought another one at Malvern it is a Tea Cosy with a Cafe frontage and you can personalise the cafe name to whatever you want, Lovely! I spent the morning yesterday drawing out a new wholecloth quilt pttern onto white cotton, Kathleen came to help and point me in the right direction, it looks lovely I am looking forward to quilting it. For a reward we had some lovely chocolate pud that I had made from a recipe I got from Cherry Menlove's site it was delicious and simple to make. I am now going downstairs to continue painting the skirting boards and windowsill in my dining room and as the sun is shining I may even do some washing, is'nt life wonderful.

Malvern p- A good Time was had by all.

Hello and a Happy Halloween to everyone. Well, we had a great day at The Malvern Quilt show, there was lots to see and plenty of lovely stalls to spend your money at. The weather was a bit damp but it did'nt dampen our spirits and we set off finally after Kathleen had gone back into the house about 3 times she was finally satisfied that we could go. We had such fun and as you can see Kathleen enjoyed the Pork and Cracklin Roll as usual, we all had one and they were delicious. Our feet were a bit sore and as usual we spent too much money but it was a great day. On the way home I took them on a scenic route as Worcestershire is my home stamping ground and we gave the motorway a miss for a bit and I took them through Worcester and into Droitwich and then onto Hanbury where there is a lovely craft centre called 'The Jinny Ring' you can see them blowing glass and making jewellery and pottery there is a place that is making chocolates as you watch , we bought somethings from there, then there is a delightful shop which sells lovely stuff and I had to drag them out of there. There is also a restaurant and we decided that we would go there for a meal before christmas so that is something else to look forward to. Tony and I have started decorating the lounge today and everything is in uproar but it will be lovely when it's done. Oh and Yippee I have got my 50th follower thankyou all of you lovely people.

A Busy Weekend.

It is my Lovely Kate's birthday today she is 27, I cannot believe it, time does fly by. We have had a busy weekend moving rooms around, I found that I had'nt got enough space in the small bedroom for all my sewing stuff so we swapped the rooms around and now I am down stairs in the old study and the study has moved into the small bedroom. It has taken me a while to sort everything out but I am nearly there, I just did'nt realise how much fabric I had, well so much of everything really, I am going to the Malvern Quilt show on Friday and fabric will definitely be a nono. We had a lovely day on Sunday the kids came to tea Kate, Steve, Andrew and Becky I seemed to be cooking all day but it was worth it we had a lovely time lots of chat and laughter. I am off to have a well deserved cup of tea now.

Chintz Chintz Chintz

Hello everybody, I bought these two pieces of chintz china and they are so pretty. The butter dish is in a pattern called June Roses and I think the Cake plate is Sunshine. I love this china and I am trying to collect a few pieces to put on some new shelves that I am painting.
Kathleen and I went to Ikea today we went early and had some breakfast when we got there it was delicious. We bought some bits and pieces, they have their christmas decorations out and as I only like Glass ornaments I was pleased to see some glass angels and glass hearts, I like to try and buy some new decs. every year just a couple to add to all the others. Kathleen bought a book shelf which I am going to put together for her and some fleece blankets which she wants to use to back a christmas quilt. We both bought a plant, I am not very good with houseplants so mine will probably die a horrible death quite quickly. Does anyone else have this effect on plants?

My Old Cookbook

This is my oldest friend in the kitchen, I have had this Delia Smith Complete cookery course for lots and lots of years. The spine has gone and the pages are stained but every recipe I ever tried in this book has worked it is a marvel. I always make the Rich Fruit Cake for christmas, her Yorkshire puddings never fail, her Lemon merangue Pie is to die for, the Spiced prawn recipe is so simple and yet so tasty. Over the years I have stuck babana labels on the cover some fall off some stay on. I have another cookery book that has lots of memories for me it is one of the Bero Books it was my moms and I have used it for more years than I can say, Kate made her first biscuits from it, the cover is long gone but the book remains stained and loved by 3 generations. Has anyone else got cookbooks like this?

Cushions and Cookies

Good Morning, this is a cushion that Cottonreel made for me, we started trying these cushions when Kate (my daughter) saw one in Cox and Cox catalogue but it was £82 so she asked if we could try to make her one and we did, since then Kathleen has made a lot of her friends one of these Union Jack cushions and if you go ontohttp://www.elefantz.com/ you will find a tutorial on how to make one yourself Jenny of Elefantz is so generous with her patterns do take a look.
Now the cookie recipe came from http://thethriftygroove.blogspot.com/ and they are delicious, you will not believe how simple they are, I made some immeadiately I read the recipe thats why they look a bit rough and ready I will neaten them next time but do try them if you like peanut butter these are just for you.

Have A Good Weekend

Hello everybody I hope you are all having a good weekend, the weather here is a bit changeable and it has definitely gone colder. Tony and I are working in the garden, cutting things back and digging things up but we have to keep dodging the showers. Once I have had enough gardening I am going to sandwich a quilt together so that I can start to quilt it. I think my favourite part of a quilt is the hand quilting I love to see the patterns take shape and the more quilting you do the better the quilt looks. Tomorrow will be more of the same, so not a lot going on but these jobs must be done.

The Tea Birds

Just a quick note my daughter has updated her bloghttp://theteabirds.blogspot.com/ go along a give her some encouragement they are trying so hard to get their business off the ground, there are some lovely pictures of vintage weddings and birthdays they have done.

A Good Day

Hello, I have had a good day today I saw my Son Andrew and his lovely girlfriend Becky this morning and I then travelled to Nottingham to see my lovely daughter Kate and my brand new son in law Steve, Kate and I went shopping in Nottingham, we strolled around the shops which are all getting geared up for christmas and spent a little money as it's Kate's birthday soon, she took me to a lovely little junk shop which had all sorts of wonderful things, I will go there again and we had coffee and cupcakes in a vintage cafe. I came home to my lovely husband Tony who had spent a great day fishing, we sat and chatted and had dinner in a cosy warm house, and now I am off to bed with my book where I will read a little while I wait for Tony to finish watching the football and then when he comes to be we will curl up like two spoons and sleep. How did I get so lucky?

An Amazing Story

As you know my daughter Kate got married to Steve recently and went to America on honeymoon, they had a wonderful week in New York the Waldorf Astoria upgraded them to a suite and they were thrilled. They then journeyed to Chatham in Cape Cod and stayed in a lovely cottage on White Pond where they were greeted with a lovely sign on the door saying Just Married and a bottle of champagne with two lovebirds attached such a lovely thought. They went to the beach lots of times and on this particular day Kate was sunbathing and reading and Steve had just come out from a swim and was drying himself, suddenly a little voice said "Kate I've lost my wedding ring, its fallen off in the sand" immediately thay start to look frantically and this goes on for a while to no avail, so both upset they set off home to the cottage. When they got home Steve went into the little store shed that was attached to the cottage and came in with a metal detector which needed batteries so off to the supermarket to get some and yes it did work so they went back to the beach, they discovered a couple of pennies and some silver foil but nothing else at this point Kate was really upset and I think a bit cross and started to cry saying "I really thought we would find it" and she dumped the metal detector on the sand at which point it gave out a loud noise, well yes you guessed it they carefully cleared the sand and there was the wedding ring, What a relief to them both,a pretty amazing story and I am so glad it had a happy ending.

A bit of Allsorts

The picture is of me walking to Beachy Head whilst we were in Sussex, it was a lovely warm day but there was always a huge dark cloud in the distance it was a testing walk. Cottonreel and I went out for a couple of hours yesterday, it was such a dreary day with rain and grey cloud all over. We went to the garden centre and had a good look around there were loads of bulbs and lots of plants to buy ready for the spring. We had a pot of tea and a brownie which was lovely and then we continued to Hinckley where we trawled the charity shops and had a fit of the giggles, that always does you good we did'nt find much but we had fun. Today I am going to Cottonreels for lunch and silversewer and her husband are coming too they are down from Scotland it will be good to see Anne. I am putting the finishing touches to a quilt it is the pattern Lovers Knot, hopefully I will have finished it by tomorrow and will show you.

Whoops I will Try Again

Sorry my link did not work for the sachet tutorial try this one and see how you get on, you will have to go back to feb 16th2010 http://rebecca-gatheryeroses.blogspot.com/ and the tutorial is called Strawberry Sachets, Good luck.

A Sewing Day

The weather has been so bad today I just stayed in and did some sewing. I have been wanting to make some of these lavender sachets ever since i saw the pattern on agatheringplace there is also a tutorial. I made the sachets first and filled them with Lavender from the garden and then I glued the flowers and loop on the gathered top. I decided they would need something to go in so I made the bag and popped the sachet inside. Then I thought it needed a label so I printed some words onto some tiny labels I had and sewed on a button and tied the label to that. I am really pleased with it all.

Show And Tell

It is an awful day today, very dark and dismal with very fine rain falling so I thought I would rather be on blogger than anywhere else.
The first thing I need to say is "Thankyou" to my friend jenny of elefantz who very kindly sent me the two lovely silks in the photograph they are hand dyed and you can only buy them in Australia so Jenny kindly sent me a couple to see, I will use them on something really special she is such a kind lady and the work she does is beautiful.
The pillowcases I finished whilst we were away I love to have something to do and these were just right the pattern came from a lovely blog calledoh sew addicted, I love honeysuckle and these will look lovely on my bed.