This was the weekend that was ...

It started with this.

The annual Floating Market was back!

A whole array of different traders turn up once a year to sell their wares - and of course look very pretty!

Of course Mike soon found his favourite.

And me!

Peek inside.

Of course one of the hidden treats is sitting in our garden listening to the conversations of people going by. No - it's not in the least bit nosey it's - errrr - ummmmm - being interested.

Closer to home we've had the robins nesting in the ivy. They are now so used to us that they are almost eating out of my hand. Not sure what the people walking by would think of me though - hand full of dried mealworms outstretched as I cheerily quip 'come on little fella.' I don't know how or when this actually happened but that seems to be my default response to any creature I now come across. 

Not sure what would happen if one of them answered me back. 

Here he is posing on the bird feeder (he's that tiny dot).

As for our poor old blackbird chick - sigh - he was doing very well until last Friday when we found him lying in the path. Not a scratch on him. So much so that Mike even tried to do a mini resuscitation. 

It didn't work :( 

Here he is in happier times (the chick not Mike).

Mike's a bit taller.

With a bit of a beard.

And trousers.

Mostly.

I've starting knitting a sock! Winwick Mum is hosting a wonderful sockalong - do pop over and see what she has posted so far. But in typical impatient fashion I wanted to get started. 

So I have. 

Feeling positive so far but haven't 'turned the heel' yet.

 Wish me luck.

And the 'eyelash from Oswestry' fabric has been cut out to make a simple skirt. Now I'm concerned it's more of a craft cotton, without much give, and I - erm - need a bit of give! I've decided I'm going to stitch very narrow seams in a bid to convince myself that my size hasn't gone up.

Other than that we've been spending a fair old chunk of time at the allotment. 

'The WHAT? You kept that quiet!'

We've even started to pick a few lettuce! I foresee a future where I develop a serious lettuce aversion in an attempt to not have to eat it three times a day.

And other than daily doings that's about the weekend summed up.

Hope you've had a good one.

Jane

xxx

A Selection of Santas

Meet sixties Santa.

Not sure what happened to his hands but he's one of the first Christmas ornaments I remember. As you wheeled him along the little reindeer in his sack would pop up and down in excitement. 

Then there's sleighing Santa.

I remember being amazed by the detail on this one. To me this was a true representation of  what would be flying through the sky on Christmas Eve. Mum remembers it being displayed on her grandmas dresser alongside toddling Santa (more on him later). 

Each year it was my job to check that all of the presents and snowmen were tucked safely into the holly on the back.

But there's one missing.

A small plastic Santa with moving feet. You would put him on a slight slope and he would merrily walk along. When I asked mum about him she rifled through her Christmas box and found him skulking at the bottom. 

He's not the prettiest Santa Claus, and his paintwork has certainly seen better days, but he still reliably toddles down any given slope with his sack of goodies.

I realise that I may have given the impression that for two weeks of the year I did nothing else but push tiny Santa down tea trays and watch reindeers bob up and down. Not true. But these were the Christmas staples. I could rely on the fact that once these were out of the box Christmas had officially 'started' (and not some time back in October!) 

So for some not very expensive plastic ornaments they represent a lot. Forty years on they are still going strong. And forty years on mum and dad still put them in pride of place.

(Apart from toddling Santa - he's come home with me!)

Have you got any ornaments that remind you of your childhood?

Jane 

xxx

W.

January is always one of those months. Time to reflect, restore and regroup. Expectations are simple - keep warm, keep healthy and keep the washing pile ticking over. However once you turn the calendar page to February there is suddenly no excuse for leaving the Christmas lights on the weeping cherry outside, and by the time you do bring them in you realise the wooden front door has swollen so much in the bad weather that you can't retrieve the last bit of cable from the lower corner. This is why we now have a beautifully illuminated shoe rack. 

I'll give them another month. 

I'd refused to return Christmas to it's snoozing place this year until it had been thoroughly 'sorted out'. Our hidey hole is in the attic which has for many years now been a no go area. The only time it is ventured into is a) Christmas - put arm in, grab necessary boxes, retrieve and replace as necessary, and b) Summer - repeat operation with garden recliners. This means that the only movement has been around the door and the further reaches have remained blissfully dormant. No longer! After several dust laden hours of pulling, hauling and some rather choice language we managed to rid ourselves of two car loads of - ahem - rubbish and upturn some long forgotten treasures.

First up was this gorgeous little clock.

 We bought it for Big Sis when she was but a tot but she never liked the sound of it. In her words - 'I no like the tickety tock'. So into the attic it went. Sadly it was over wound so we need to get it seen to as the little pixies look so sweet going up and down on the see-saw as the clock tickety tocks away.

Then came this box. 

In typical fashion rather than just open it we stared at it for quite some time trying to figure out what it might be inside.Was the W. a monogram? What did Walter keep in his box? We remembered an old reel projector that we once had with old newsreels of a zoo and (oddly) the Hindenburg disaster. Eventually it was opened and I whooped at what was inside. A gorgeous Remington typewriter.

 Was W. a writer? A journalist? Had this been an essential part of his kit as he visited newsworthy places? It still works and makes a heartening nostalgic click with each letter pressed (although it feels very odd not being able to alter size or style of font!) 

So what do I do with it? Keep it safe in it's box and bring it out for special occasions, or find somewhere to display it in all it's glory (although the dusting of all those little parts doesn't thrill me)? Who do you think W. might have been? Do you know when it might date from (if it's any help it's been in the attic for twenty years so it's not from this century ;))?

So, although there's still more work to do  (we didn't make it into the furthest corners stuffed with baby clothes and Mr K's paintings) our first little foray was roundly rewarded. However I don't think we'll be needing those garden recliners anytime soon!

Jane 

x

Two by Two

Ahem.

The ornaments went in two by two

Hoorah

Hoorah

The Jingle Owls

and aprons too

Hoorah

Hoorah

The Christmas trees

The needlebooks

The Bunnies 

(with their funny looks)

And they all went travelling

Off to the Christmas fair!!!

Jane

x

A Double Whammy Sandwich

It's December! How the hey did that happen?

The Frog Prince by Walter Crane

The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur - blink and it's gone. The craft fair is still pending (next Saturday to be precise - thank you so much for all the positive feedback!) so sleep has been punctuated with images from Pinterest and ideas way above my station. Jessie Dog has been to and fro from the vets with - shall we say - old lady issues. And somewhere in the middle of all this the word Christmas has been bandied about like a bee in a biscuit tin (I'm not sure where this simile has come from - I have never actually put a bee in a biscuit tin and would not recommend others to do so. Apologies to bee lovers everywhere).

Back to the sandwich. This one is made from a wonderful artisan loaf - perhaps sprinkled with seeds and with the texture of a soft cloud. The first slice came through the post last week. Marianne at Ladybird Diaries had organised a Christmas decoration swap and I had been paired up with  Amy at Love Made My Home. It's so rare these days to have lovely things through the post that I sat and stared at the package for a good ten minutes before opening. Inside was a gorgeous card and four neatly wrapped little bundles.

The first one really made me giggle - the most festive little robin popped out.

Next a beautifully stitched heart with my initial on the front - what a lovely thoughtful idea.

The other packages contained two crocheted trees with the most gorgeous buttons stitched on

Have you got a favourite button? I think mine is the blue one with the cream dashes around the edge.

Wonderful lovely things. Thank you so much Amy.

 To see the other part of this double you'll have to pop over to Amy's here as I was not at all organised enough to take some snaps myself!

Now to our filling. The best bit of a sandwich? The part you really look forward to as you bite through the outer layers. That is until you realise that something isn't quite right. Doubts start to set in and you question if you had checked the sell by date on the dressing, spotted the mould on the cheese or used the dogs fork to mash up the tuna. Something is wrong, there is definitely something off, off (don't worry I'm getting there) - Ofsted!! For those of you who are blissfully unaware an Ofsted inspection consists of several inspectors wandering around your establishment questioning your every move and observing your teaching, attitude and overall awareness of every bit of school data. The result is no sleep, forced grins and shameless bribery for the children to be at their best! Mr K's college got 'the call' a couple of weeks ago and so followed seven days of the above. Last weekend we were able to breathe a sigh of relief, raise a glass (or two) and say 'at least that's over with'. Little did we know. The relief lasted about forty eight hours then on Monday lunchtime staff at my school were all summoned to the staff room to be told that (you saw this coming didn't you?) - we too had had 'the call'. And so it began again. We've been double Ofstededed. All over with now though. 

After the rotten filling it was time for some respite. Surely the top layer would cheer us up. Maybe this one would have some sliced olives and a dash of oil?

Thursday night saw our yarn group's Christmas meal and, with that, a Secret Santa. The theme this year was hot water bottle cosies. I'd decided to try the join as you go method with crochet squares - which I couldn't recommend highly enough - and a plain envelope back.

In return I received the most snuggly cosy knitted in Bergere wool 

Thank you Janine!

Yes that double lived up to expectations.

So there we have it. Highs and lows. But more importantly two highs and only one low. A high, low, high if you like. Can you tell my brain has been on overload? Now I'd better light the festive candle and start thinking about that bee.

Jane

x

Do You Mind if I Crow?

You know that things aren't going well when some of your dearest friends and colleagues enthusiastically request the details of your first ever craft fair and you give them rather vague answers.Some conversations have even gone like this

'Oooh you're doing a craft fair - that sounds exciting. Can I come?'

'Please don't.'

Not that I haven't enjoyed dabbling with felt,ric rac and bells but the thought that someone else might actually want to buy the end result is rather daunting. What if nobody likes it? What if everybody sells out and I am the only one left standing with a table full of deformed bunnies? What if everybody starts pointing and laughing and I look down and realise I am naked?

So many doubts. But this week something happened. I don't know how or why but suddenly something has clicked and I'm actually looking at my work (ooh - get 'er) and feeling a little bit pleased.

Please may I crow?

There are some lubbly jubbly nubbly crocheted dishcloths with coal tar soap

Some fabric notebook covers

A Jingle Owl

(A little bit cheerier than his bunny friend)

And the thing I am most excited about - a reversible shopping bag

Look!

I followed a wonderful tutorial by Handmade Jane which you can find here.

At last I've made some things that I might actually buy myself!

I must say I am thoroughly enjoying tapping into these different ideas at the moment - even though my  immaculately organised home (excuse my nose growing a little) is perhaps looking a little neglected and my family don't recognise the barely seen figure that sometimes makes an appearance covered in thread and bias binding. There are so many ideas out there that it's difficult not to be inspired - go and check out the lovely zipper flowers here made by Jo at Three Stories High.

So - crowing done and out of my system now - thank you for allowing such self indulgence! My doubts are also alleviating a little - next time I worry about people pointing and laughing I will at the very least be in my pyjamas.

Have a glorious week!

Jane

x