THE WINNER IS.....

Hi , just a quick post to say the name drawn out of the hat by George was,drum roll,..............
FUNKYMONKEY!! Please e-mail me your details asap.
Now, I am going back to my sick bed, the girls have succumbed.xxxxxxxx

DECEMBER DAYS.......AND A CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY

I love this time, Mid December when potentially, the ***t hits the fan. I find it quite exciting trying to juggle with various festive events,doing lists,food lists, gift lists, card lists , lists of lists etc. etc.You know where I'm coming from? oh good, I'm not alone. There is also a birthday list, our George is fourteen on the 17th December.

I have been trying to get some last bits of work done for the Christmas markets , my little wren house is soooo cold at the moment, I'm being a wimp, doing it in comfort in front of a roaring fire, but look at the conditions I have to work under.............Needle felting with a soporific cat firmly attached to my lap-he's nearly come a cropper on more than one occasion.

Our tree went up on Saturday evening , it was lovely to at last see the vintage baubles I bought a month ago in their rightful place, the pics do not do them justice, the tree looks lovely, looks like the trees of my childhood, I'm so pleased....

A night shot of the children's tree which sits on the piano

I shared a table at the Farmer's Market Christmas market with my friend Mandy on Saturday.It poured with rain until about 11am but I love doing this event each year, it feels festive and I love talking to the people. The time flew but my toes took an age to thaw out when I got home.

We have the cold and flu bug buzzing around here at the moment, and as I write this, my son is sat cuddling up, having a day off school, also, the man of the house has fallen by the wayside.Just us girls left standing, you watch, mine will come in time for the Saturday market, hey ho!!

This brings me appropriately to my Christmas giveaway, something to snuggle under a lovely warm blanket with, a Green and Blacks hot chocolate and a dvd of a great christmassy vintage movie,'The Bishops Wife' , Cary Grant, what more could a girl want? Sorry, the welsh tapestry blanket is not included, it's very much in use right now.

All you have to do is come say Hi, it's as simple as that, I will get birthday boy to pick a number out of the party hat on the evening of the 19th Dec at 6pm. I need to get it off to the winner asap so they can enjoy a pre-christmas evening with our Mr. Grant.

I'm off now to mop some brows. Do hope you are keeping well out there, Annie xxxx

DECEMBER DAYS........A BLOG CATCH UP.

WELL! doesn't the time fly? I honestly couldn't tell you where I've been all this time, maybe I have a bad case of amnesia, must have been from the fall I had the Monday after the VH fair but I wont go into too much detail other than to say it was VERY undignified and it bloody hurt. There have been a catalogue of mishaps lately, like the needle that went through my slipper and into my toe,oh yes and being bitten on the hands by something with teeth that would put jaws to shame.Anyway dear readers, this is starting to sound like some feeble excuses for why I have been such a shocking blogger. No excuses, I am a shocking blogger, but I do hope that I can, somehow make amends, for I can confidently say that I have reached that "christmassy" frame of mind and would love to share my excitement with people who understand how I feel, yes, YOU........

Firstly, it would be very rude of me not to mention that wonderful event on the 22nd November, it seems such a long time ago now, there were so many great posts about the day, so eloquently told with great photos. My photos are not so hot and are few in number.It was so lovely to meet and put faces to the blogs, alas, I didn't get round to having a chat with everyone but I hope I will next time.Jayne and Michele did a fantastic job in organising the event, I hope it wasn't too exhausting for you ladies.

This is a nice one of Mr. Snippets isn't it? Like my Man, he stayed all day, a jolly chap :)

didn't take any photos of my table so here is the quick dummy run on the kitchen table the day before.Again, not a brilliant photo but my website is up and running now (still being constructed),see my side bar, if you would like to take a closer look at my work.How grown up!

This photo was taken for Jayne(and the happy crow) I hope you can see your rabbit sat there, he's made himself very much at home. Thank you, it was a lovely giveaway and my first.

This was what greeted us this morning on the way to school, a lovely sprinkling of frost and a fresh bite in the air, oh how I love it! I still have high hopes of a snow fall on Christmas Eve, a girl can dream.......It was Stroud's 'Goodwill Evening' on Friday, and for us, this marks the start of the "Christmassey"feelings.

There were more people than I'd ever seen before, maybe this credit crunch business is making people more determined to have a good time, it has with me anyway. There were street performers ,

A lovely lantern procession with fire jugglers, stilt walkers, carol singers galore.....

Here they are again, entertaining everyone with their jolly banter, Poppy and George loved this. There were some lovely stalls in the farmers market, food, pottery, stalls selling exotic wares, the smell of incense punching the air, frankincense? myrrh?

I will be sharing a stall at the Christmas Farmer's Market on the 13th and 20th December, it was great fun last year so I am looking forward to it very much.

Lastly, I wanted to show you my piano. I find that the things that live on top of my piano changes with the seasons.

This is my piano in November, it shows some recent purchases, some vintage Russian dolls that I love, a vintage (70's) chocolate box bought from the rag market in October, and some vintage Christmas baubles bought for £5 on a bric-a-brac stall, can't wait to put them on the tree.
I have to say, my piano is no longer dressed for November, the children put their tree up on Saturday and this always lives on the piano.SO, dear readers, you will have to come back to see the festive changes that take place over the next few weeks.Phew!!! I hope you are still there?yes? oh good.... thought I'd over done it for a minute........Do come back soon, I have an award from the lovely Deanna (now there's a girl who loves Christmas) and a Christmas giveaway too- better get my skates on hadn't I, Eeeek!xxxxxxxxxxxx

THE VINTAGE AND HANDMADE FAIR

Hi there! I'm just quickly dipping in to my blog to remind everyone that The vintage and Handmade Fair is on this Saturday 22nd November at Rangeworthy village hall, near Chipping Sodbury, South Gloucestershire. Opening 10 till 4 with free addmission with refreshments on sale.
Get into the Christmas spirit, come along and bring a friend, it will be well worth a visit with lots of lovely things for sale plus the chance to meet fellow bloggers.

We would love to see you there, Annie x

AUTUMN TERM @ GREENVIEW.

Half Term Bedlam, but we just find it best if you go with
the flow.

Relaxing in the afternoons, sometimes snoozing....

Warm cosy kitchen, waiting to be used.

Drying old lace.......

Some well appreciated sunshine in an

old jug....

Cooking soups and stews, real comforting stuff....


Some cushion making, can you see me?

MEET THE FAMILY

I have been working on a rather large commission which was to make dolls to represent the client and her husband and three daughters, one of which died at birth, tricky, yes, but to my great relief they loved the finished result.
There were alot of new challenges for me in this commission, one being to make a MAN doll. I was given a brief to work to and some materials which meant something to each, it was a lovely project to do.

The girls were alot of fun to do, with their hairstyles and punky clothes.

The golden leggins of this doll were made from a gold metallic ribbon that came from a confectionary business my clients grandfather owned years ago, quite precious and very tricky to work with.

The baby doll I found the hardest task of all. I didn't want angel wings, so little butterfly wings were made. The little strawberry hat and stripey socks were the only two things my client bought during the pregnancy, she wanted the doll to wear these things, the money thing was wanted to represent her name, Luca, not a choice I would have made, I can't ever imagine what it's like to lose a child...........

I've yet to make the pet cat and rabbit, which will be done soon.

My client, herself, is a maker of the most amazing mozaics, so, in part payment I am having my children's hands made.I love having makers work around me, but being a poor maker myself this is the only way I can do it. I don't mind being poor, but I do love being surrounded by lovely things, don't you?

OH MY!

Hello! My, it's been a while, over a month since my last post.I have no explanation for this,only that real life must take priority and the virtual one must stand aside. I have still managed to pop by some of you lovely blogs out there and am truly heartened to find that most, like myself, find the summer into autumn thing a bit challenging and our offspring leaving the warmth of our nests to enter into another school year SLIGHTLY perplexing......
On the plus side, work can resume and at last I have found my thread (literally) and enjoying the freedom to make and the contentment it brings me.

Before I go any further, I must at last acknowledge this wonderful award given to me by Michele (Cowboys and Custard),bloody links still escape me, but I'm sure you all know who and where Michele is, if you don't, you are missing out big time. Anyway, Thank you sweetheart, but do forgive me for not passing this award on at the mo, I have a number of blogs in mind but not the time, patience or most importantly the SKILL to do it justice.

As I have mentioned, back to school time has come around again.George has gone in to year 8 and seems his usual settled self, it's Harvesting at school today, always a favourite with my boy. They spend most of the day digging up the produce from their bio-dynamic garden (their planting and growing is determined by the moon) and making a very grand Harvest alter in celebration. George's favourite part is when all the school share a meal of soup made from the harvested goodies, a lovely time of year.

Poppy has settled well into year 1 and her confidence has really come on since last term, which is lovely to see.Pops loves school,although, you wouldn't believe it from the photo, I think she was fed up of me taking so many,lol. The photo was taken on the wrong setting so it's not great, do you love the hat? I love it, one of CK 's better products,OOOhh! how damning was that? sorry girls, I find the quality of some of her products very disappointing to say the least and overpriced, would rather spend the money on real vintage finds, enough said......

It's been so long and I'm incredibly rusty at this malarkey, so I think I will just show some pics of some of the things going on around here with a little explanation.

There have been funny times.........

little bird making times.....

Mindless knitting times.....

Knitting and crochet book buying times.........

Book reading times, I loved reading about these strong creative ladies.......

I will leave it at that for now. I have a day ahead juggling my nursing and making hats, Poppy has a day off school today with a hacking cough and cold but I hope I can manage to do some making between all those lovely cuddles and hot chocolate, bliss..........xxxxxxx

MINDLESSNESS

This is our August garden, with all the rain we've been receiving, it's gone crazy! but I love it wild. It's just a shame we haven't been able to use it as much as we would have liked, but who wants trench foot? We really must get in there and tidy it up before winter sets in.

I must admit, my brain seems to have skipped the summer mode and headed straight for Autumn, I find myself making mental lists and plans for:-

1. Preparing the garden for winter.

2. Digging out winter attire, I can already be found wearing my knee length suede boots, this does not feel odd to me, people around me have noticed, the British are very polite, they say nothing......

3. CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!!! yes, I'm starting next week....

4. Laundering all our lovely blankets and quilts ready to dress the beds. I think , after much deliberation, this is the way forward, going back to the good,cold old days when we didn't have C.H. and we did have to put on extra jumpers. We cannot afford a 60% rise in our fuel bills. Please, if anyone has any good ideas on this topic, please let me know.

4. Oh yes! I've been planning a menu of hot soups and stews (and eating a few along the way too)

I have also started knitting up some scarves ( I AM LOSING THE PLOT). I call this my "mindless knitting", no counting of stitches involved so I can let my mind wander to those all important lists and yet I can still communicate with the children, the busy hands keep me calm:)The scarves look dead boring at the moment but I'm hoping a few flowers and buttons will jazz them up a little.

The children have watched me mindlessly knitting and asked if I could teach them how to do it,EEeeek! So we gave it a go.......... it was fun and wiled away a rainy hour, but I think George is a bit dispraxic and needs loads of time and practice and Poppy is just too young at the moment, one day they'll get it.

I got this book out of the library having it in mind to do crochet flowers on the scarves, but it may as well have been in dutch!ssooooo, I've ordered a crochet book from Amazon recommended by a favourite blogger of mine 'attic24' sorry,forgotten the link thing again, So hopefully, I will get the hang of it.

I saw this teapot in a charity shop and had to make it mine. It has replaced my trustee red pot that alas had a wicked chip on the spout. the only thing is, the cosy I made last year, as you see from the pic, does not work with my new pride and joy, so, a new cosy is planned to wile away the cool autumn evenings while curled up under one of our blankets.

Oh dear! I have gone on a bit, sorry about that, just call it my mindless blogging.....
MMmmmm, time for tea xxxxxxxxxx