Winter woes

It is no secret that I don't like winter. I don't like autumn much either as it means summer is over and there is nothing to look forward to weather wise except about 5 months of grey, cold days.

What is it about this time of year?  Well I could sit here and give you a whole stack of  things that I hate but that would be depressing.  I figure it is easy enough to get depressed with the lack of warmth and sunlight anyway.

So, in an effort to cheer myself I am going to try and think of things that I do like.

Erm........ it's quite hard actually!  Oh, I know, going to bed super early so I can have long dreams about summer!

OK, this is silly.  I challenge myself to think of 5 good things that I do like about autumn and winter.

Autumn.
1. Strictly Come Dancing starts!  I do love a good Strictly sesh.  In fact I get quite annoyed if I miss it.  I know I can watch it on iPlayer but it isn't the same. Saturday evening 6.30pm is sacred at this time of year.
2. The autumn leaf colours.  There is something quite glorious about all the yellow, orange and red that the trees are currently wearing.
3. The appearance of Robins in the garden they have been missing all summer.
4.Wide, blue skies, yes they do occasionally still appear and there is quite a nice quality to them which is different to a summer sky.
5. Planting onions and garlic for over wintering. Those little bulbs have such promise.

Winter.
1. I can wear my thick, wooly tights.
2. Hot water bottles in the bed.
3. PJ's.  The only time of year I even think about them.  They are good for keeping warm and cosy
4.  Open fires.  I love our fire.  Must get Simon to order the logs so we can have our first one of the season soon.
5. Christmas.  One of the redeeming features of winter!  You know they say that Jesus was more than likely born in September or possibly March.  It for sure wasn't December.  Christmas actually comes from a pagan festival which was hijacked by the church authorities when they were trying to convert the pagans.  Whatever,  It does seem a good idea to break the relentless monotony of winter with celebrations and gift giving.  I can go with that.

What do you like and dislike about autumn and winter?

Where is my bloggin mojo?

Just had a look at my poor neglected blog. Last time I was here was back in August and prior to that May! There once was a time when I never missed a day. I seem to have lost my blogging mojo.  I started a blog for my Fabrilushus shop a while back and that has ground to a halt too. There just never seems to be enough hours in the day.  I have even got very lax in reading blogs so I am totally out of the loop.  I miss my friends.  I see FB posts but that simply isn't the same.

Not much has changed here apart from the season!  How can we be in autumn already? As seems to be the norm in the UK, we had a pretty measly summer.  It wasn't as wet as last year but we didn't have that many sunny weeks and it wasn't ever what I call hot.  Feeling pretty miserable right now at the thought of the long winter months ahead.

We are all doing ok.  I have been a bit worried about Simon, he is tired and gets headaches and yesterday had a pain in his eyeball all day.  A sharp pain.  This is his good eye too and he wouldn't do anything about it!  Don't suppose I had mentioned here that he lost most of the sight in one of his eyes back in the summer?  He has a central retinal occlusion. It was pretty worrying for a while as they though he had a stroke.  That eye is getting better slowly.

The rest of the family are all ok. Our big news is we have our 6th grandchild on the way. Saskia is expecting her first baby in March.  It is very exciting.

Alfie and Loulou are both still with us, although Alfie has bladder cancer and Loulou's tumor is growing. I worry about them all the time but they are pain free and happy so we are enjoying whatever time we have left.

I am busy doing all the usual stuff.  I also look after Jessie 2 days a week.  Once the housework is taken care of I spend quite a lot of time making things to sell at Fabrilushus.  Sales are very slow but they are coming.  The rest of my time is spent doing stuff for the dog rescue.  Both Simon and I are more and more involved there which is great as it is something we do together. It has also had the added benefit that we have made some very good friends.  We love each and every one of the dogs and spend many hours playing and grooming and just generally teaching them about love.

I would like to get back into my blog.  I always used it as a sort of online journal of my life and I am so annoyed that this year there are great chunks missing.  SO, I am going to try and do a daily photo to get back in the swing of things.  I figure a photo won't take too much time to do.  We shall see how it goes.

Wishing you all a happy Autumn.

Mosaic Tree Memorial

Yes, I know it has been an age since I have been here.  I just did this for Tumblr which I am using to promote my Fabrilushus shop.   It occured to me that maybe you would all like to see it too.  So........

"I lost my Mum to Alzheimers 18 months ago.  She spent the last years of her life at Victoria Court which is a part of the Lister hospital in Stevenage.  My Dad would regularly sit with her outside in the gardens.  They had some lovely mosaic sculpture work on the walls and fences and from the first time I saw them I knew I would like to try my hand at something similar.

Gradually the idea formed in my head that it would be lovely to do it as a sort of memorial to my Mum.  Something to remember her always.  I knew I wanted a tree design. I knew I wanted a heart in there somewhere with her name, Iris.  

I began to get my bits together a few weeks ago. I purchased  my tiles, glue and tile cutter tool from Mosaic Heaven in Market Deeping. They were incredibly helpful and I would thoroughly recommend them.  If you are not local then check them out here : http://www.mosaicheaven.com

My gorgeous Iris heart was made by a fellow Etsy seller, Louise of Loutul, http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Loutul  It is made from pewter.  The board is a piece of marine plywood which my husband got for me.

Once I had everything together I was itching to get started but I suddenly thought how good it would be to do it with my Dad.  He was due to come and stay with us so I decided to wait.  I am so glad that I did as I will have lovely memories in the future of the 2 of us working on this. 

So, we finally got started last week.  My Dad drew the design after we had looked at images on Google for inspiration.  It is a tree, with a few “flowers”, plus the heart.  The sky is blue and the grass is green!  Oh and there is also a large yellow part which is a corn field or something!  LOL. 

Anyway, here are the first photos of the process.  I hope you like them."

I am quite please with the way it is turning out.  I think it will look fantastic when it is completed.  Since Dad went home I have done a lot more which I will show you another day.

This is my first attempt so if anyone has any advice for me it will be gratefully received.

Monday morning.

Monday morning and all is crap! Here is an example of why I am busy. It is just part of the reason.

I have spent the last couple of hours cleaning the kitchen floor. I got up to a blood bath. Alfie's got bad arthritis and keeps falling. When he gets up he drags his paws and he has scrapped a couple of claws to the quick. Simon obviously didn't notice when he let them out this morning. I have stopped the bleeding for now.  

I am going to see if I can get him a little boot.  We used to have one years ago when Rosie cut her foot badly. I am a bit concerned about blood getting on my cream bedroom carpet!  The kitchen floor is at least easily cleanable.  

Unfortunately just noticed that Loulou’s ear is weeping and bleeding. Saw the marks on the kitchen cupboards! You may recall she has a very large tumour? I have bathed it in salt water and am just having coffee before sorting out anything else!

Both babies are currently fast asleep. Breaks my heart too see them old and not in the best of health.

Onwards and upwards.  Lots of housework today. We had a big family BBQ yesterday for Simon’s birthday and I still have some stuff to put away.  Then hopefully it will be sewing time. Provided of course that nothing else occurs!

Missing in action.

Well it is a whole 6 weeks since I have managed to get here to do a blog. I have missed it in a way but nobody here seems to have missed me!  No one has asked where I am or why I disappeared.  That is a good illustration of why Blogger will never quite live up to Multiply.  You couldn't disappear on Multiply for a few hours without someone commenting, forget 6 weeks.  Tis a shame.

Since no one has actually noticed my absence there doesn't really seem much point in doing an update for you!  Suffice it to say that we are all well and that we have been busy!

Actually, I think I might just go back to how I started which was to basically write here for myself, like a diary.  If anyone calls by to have a read it will be a bonus.

Several things are keeping me very busy right now and the main one is my online shop Fabrilushus. It isn't just the sewing, it is all the networking stuff that needs to be done for promotion. Takes forever.

Anyway, tonight I have finally got around to creating a blog for Fabrilushus which you can see here:  Fabrilushus 
There is also a link tab for it at the top of the home page here.  I hope that you will be interested to drop by there and have a look round.

Ok, I'm off to bed now.

Be Happy.

Eating in the UK in the Fifties.

A friend sent me this today and although I wasn't born until the very end of the fifties, most of what is written here still applied throughout my childhood.   However the bit at the end still applies in my house to this day.  

EATING IN THE UK IN THE FIFTIES
Pasta had not been invented.
Curry was a surname.
A takeaway was a mathematical problem.
A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower.
Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.
All crisps were plain; the only choice we had was whether to put the salt on or not.
A Chinese chippy was a foreign carpenter.
Rice was a milk pudding, and never, ever part of our dinner.
A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining.
Brown bread was something only poor people ate.
Oil was for lubricating, fat was for cooking
Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves and never green.
Coffee was Camp, and came in a bottle.
Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.
Only Heinz made beans.
Fish didn't have fingers in those days.
Eating raw fish was called poverty, not sushi.
None of us had ever heard of yoghurt.
Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
People who didn't peel potatoes were regarded as lazy.
Indian restaurants were only found in India.
Cooking outside was called camping.
Seaweed was not a recognised food.
"Kebab" was not even a word never mind a food.
Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold.
Prunes were medicinal.
Surprisingly muesli was readily available, it was called cattle feed.
Pineapples came in chunks in a tin; we had only ever seen a picture of a real one.
Water came out of the tap, if someone had suggested bottling it and

charging more than petrol for it they would have become a laughing stock.
The one thing that we never ever had on our table in the fifties .. was elbows!

More Show and Tell

I know I only just did a "Show and Tell" but  you may as well see what else I have been making and what is keeping me so busy.

Let's get started. I have made 2 new bags.  The first is my ordinary tote bag.  This one has a little yoyo decoration.

This one is a different design, sort of rounded and slouchy.  I LOVE this doggie fabric. This bag comes complete with one of my felt brooches which can be removed.

While we are on the subject of doggies I may as well show you a very simple make...... a doggie fleece blanket with knotted fringe.

I have made a few baby items this last week.  Here is a fleece burp cloth.

A Ribbon blankie for a baby girl. It has a lovely textured back.

I have made some little hanging hearts in baby fabrics and filled them with lavender.   Hopefully these will get baby off to sleep.

Key rings are something new for me and I have made 3 so far.

I have made 8 new felt brooches using a different finish to normal.  These ones are blanket stitched together.

Well, I think that is about it for March.  I have got other things that I have been working on but I will show them another day.  I am still in the process of setting up a new blog specifically for Fabrilushus.  I also have exciting news coming soon regarding another outlet for my goodies.

I will hopefully find time to do another blog in the next few days.

Show and tell for the end of March

Well here we go, time to show you all the rest of the things that I have made in the second half of the month.
More hanging pillows.  This one says Hope.

The next one has the word Dream and it is not currently for sale.  It will probably be a gift for someone.

This is another version of the dream hanging cushion and this one is for sale.

I have made another ribbon taggie blanket.  This one is in 2 kinds of Minky fabric and has white towelling on the back.

This is another one of my tote bags.  I like the colours in this one.

Some more hanging hearts.

A couple of brooches.  First a new kind, which is kind of shabby chic so the stitching shows as do the cut threads and they form part of the design.

Some new felt heart brooches in mint and pink which apparently are the on trend colours for spring.

The weather here is rotten, really rotten.  It is cold, wet and windy and today we are even supposed to get more snow. Lots of the country is already buried under snow.  We seem stuck in winter.  Sping is definitely running late.  When I think of spring I think of tulips and daffodils. So to cheer myself up I came up with a tulip design.

First of all I made a cushion for my bedroom.  I was so pleased with it that I then made a wall hanging for Fabrilushus.

This is the cushion.

 Here is the wall hanging.

Well, I originally wrote this around 2 weeks ago and it just never got published. Thank fully since I wrote it spring seems to be finally on it's way.