After School Tea Party...

 Last Week's Post School TEA PARTY
no need for an excuse - it's a 'just because' party
and we invited Grandma and Grandad too....
 I don't reeecccaaallll inviting the dog.
But he seems to have found himself a comfortable seat at the table.
 mmmm, tea and cake.
Sweeties and pretty china.
Fresh tealeaves and candles for fun
 And a *new* Sweetie Wreath in the GingerBread World Christams Collection.
 And i sold some more GIANT Lime Wreaths!
Sooo cool.
I have just made a new version of this Cath Kidston Christmas Butnting with Fresh Aqua Stripes to replace the traditional green spot.
Peoples: the sun is apparantly gonna shine this week...
Go Make Hay!!!! xxx

Pride & Ploughing

 It is on a day like this day, when i feel i truly know myself.
There are rare moments in my life (and maybe in yours too?) when i feel a precious sensation of absolute Perfection.
A feeling that Life, my life, could hardly be more perfect than it is at this moment.
It is a feeling of absolute peace and happiness that i could not put into words.
If you want to get spiritual with me, it almost Transcendence.
Utter Beauty. Complete.
 This is the village where I live.
I grew up here. I moved back here.
When i was a child i felt that these fields, this sky, these roads, held me in. I seriously felt that they had me trapped and that this sky would suffocate me.
Now i feel the opposite. I feel that this Countryside is as close to perfection as i could ever get.
The Vintage Ploughing Festival this weekend was a sight that had me catch my breath. Because these are Farming Men & Women who are so proud of their heritage and who love these fields more than me.
 My Brother has deliberately parked his Company Truck in the Field Park, to gain maximum local public exposure. He is a crafty fox and i admire him for it. He is part of it. We are all, part of IT.
 It is genuinely exciting for the Kids to be driven around in a Tractor and Trailor.
Seriously, you can keep your HUGE attractions at Alton Towers (or wherever) this atmosphere is about families and laughing and tradition. These memories sit in the heart of rural families.
They get talked about over and over.
 Of course, for me, the fact that my Parents still live here is part of the Magic.
The fact my brother and his family moved back here... it is like Buttercream Icing and Chocolate Drop decorations on a cake that already tastes pretty good.
Most of the families i grew up with are still here, in some variation or another.
 And i love the smell of all the Barbour coats and hats. The Sheep Dung on the back heel of sturdy Equestrian footwear.
We've all got Dogs: Gun Dogs, Working Terriers, Domestic Labs and Sheep Herders....
We work them or they live as part of us, leaving their muddy pawprints on the sofas and quilts.
Walking them is no chore (unless you are under 19yrs old)
Neighbours know each other by the dogs they walk long before they know each other by name.
 I am launched into Double Heaven when the fields are newly ploughed.
Honestly, the sight of the field floors with the hay stubble and tractor tracks... the colour is golden! and it reflects the sky in a sort of illumination. I don't exaggerate... just see the paintings of Master Artists like Turner. There is nothing like Hay and Harvested fields to make the countryside glow.
 Ahem - forgive me.
 This day *might* have been pushed to the edge of perfection when my Girl won First Prize in the Art Competition.
The theme: Harvest! of course.
 Some readers might be aware...
The Government are putting a huge, sky high, High Speed Rail line right through these fields, pretty much here where i stand with my camera.
But this post isn't propaganda or a call to Arms.
It just breaks my heart to know it.
When i breathe it all in and hug this scenery to my heart, i just feel a heavy tear in my chest at the knowledge that these days are numbered.
I was *so* proud this weekend.
I was proud to be part of these families and traditons and fields that go back hundreds of generations, farmed by the Families Of, the Families Of, the Families Of, these families... since a time we can no longer remember.
It was just one of those moments in my Life when time stood still
and nothing could really be more perfect than it was at this moment.

Just call me Nigella....

Just call me Nigella.... by kirstyfish
Just call me Nigella...., a photo by kirstyfish on Flickr.

Onion Marmalade and Preserved Peppers! There is another batch of Sloe Gin coming and some HedgeBerry Cordial too....
*sigh* i lurve the Autumn.

MrsB - Cooking Blog revival?
What cha allll been making?

RRrrraaaaa Red & Aqua!!

 Ha! I couldn't wait to show this off.
So very satisfying when i get a chance to play with this beautiful buttons myself.
I love this fresh colour scheme...
 Giant 10inch Christmas Wreath
(i am doing even more colourways, yipppeee)

Then there is this DIVINE *new* Christmas fabric range.
Can you imagine how i nearly totally fainted when i saw these in the fabric store?
sooo cute. I love Caribous / Reindeer... you know this about me!
 Mini Bunting - for windows or shelving - works both sides...
With a dotty red and white bias trim.
I am loving and in-love with these.
I have made more things with this fabric... and i'll show eventually but my head is filled with stockings and Advent Calenders and all the stuff i just must find the time to make.
 I showed you these spotty bias trims a while back and i have been adding them to some new Bunting lines.
They really lift the colours of the fabrics and make them much brighter.
Last weekend was a big sewing weekend for me - if only i could find more weekends like that!
 x x x

oooh, *squeal* clever me....

 Ok, so not massively 'clever' but just 'bigger'
I have been making smaller button wreaths for some time, and they have gradually been getting bigger and bigger! This Whopper is 10inches across / 25cm
Any bigger and the weight of it would just drag the shape of the circle downwards.
He is sold *proud*
but i have been making another in these traditional colours - then a big wreath in Aqua and Red Buttons - and also just started a Gingerbread Wreath with multi-colured buttons.
I get addicted to making things like this.
There is no great 'design' to them but the time and labour of love is obviously in the buttons and their colourways and how they sit next to one another.

 I shall be sick of sewing these in 2 weeks time! but for now, it is fun.
They are a real statement piece for a Christmas Home and you know, we love our Christmas Decos.
 And, just so you know, there are a few sheets of white glitter felt in the Fuzzyfish shop.
I have bought a few stacks to make Hallowe'en ghosties with "mwahahahaaaaa"
they are going to look ace when the kiddies start on them!
And these are mini flowers / snowflakes. I ordered the wrong size so there will be a few metres listed in the Etsy BigFish shop and some i will save for my Kids Craft Workshops.
Feeling the Autumn air this week - glorious!

Plum Cake... Amazon... self delusion...

 Egad, my i-phone is a bad bad thing.
I took a photo of these 2 books whilst on holiday and browsing a Book Shop.
Then, on an evening lying in my bed, i found these photos and had placed my order on Amazon before you could say: "stop it you crazed bedded down i-phone shopping NutJob"
 But by Golly they are Jolly!!
And then there is this self-delusional element that makes us feel....
that when they arrive in the post - they have somehow been GIFTED to us by Amazon themselves.
We conveniently forget that we did, in fact, pay for these books.
 Sigh - pretty pages.
The DK Preserves Book is especially great and i am just putting in my shopping order (online of course) to make up some Kilner Jars of Potted Peppers, some Elderberry Cordial and Fig Jam.
I usually shop online but i am especially shopping online forever more as i bought a new car last week and have a morbid mistrust of OTHER DRIVERS in any Car Park!!
 In the meanwhile - Plum Tray Bake Cake!
Made from the Plums down at my Brother's house.
 Just scrumptious...!
Now Lord, would it be too much to ask, to send me a big burly man with a love of sport and the healthy appetite that might appreciate Sweet Honey Plum cake?
Yes, his amazing sporty physique would be a bonus,  But truly he would be doing me a great service (!) if he were to come and help me eat cake and the such.
Here's hoping.
Bon Plums x

Wool Threads... interesting...

 Sooooo..... Wool Threads then....
I've got myself this box to play with and i am quite excited.
If they are awesome and i love them, i am going to buy lots and maybe stock them in my shops.
 These are Wool Threads on the reel and, get this,.... you can use them on the sewing machine aswell as for hand sewing. This is why i am quite excited.
I am going to do some KirstyFish style testing to see what they do in my machine and by hand.
I am going to test them on Acrylic Felt and Wool Felt.
There are a GAZIILION colours to choose from so i shall have a happy time with those colour charts.
 If you sew with FELT - these might interest you too....
Watch this space, because if i am to stock them - you know i'll be telling you all about it right here.
 *new Colour*
Can you believe there is a set of coloured buttons i wasn't selling?
I know, trust me - these are new.
I have long wanted a softer purple - a lilac haze to soften the pallette.
And here it is Liberty Lilac.
Soft and sweet - not at all like my good self.

Anyway, listen. Kids are back to school. I have a million trillion jobs to do.
I am off to ZUMBA tonight - not really my thing, but i am going to support my friend who has started running the classes. I did a hard hour at the gym this morning and i am going Kayaking tomorrow!
You know i'm busy when i start avoiding Jobs by over exercising.
I Salute you Ladies!
Long Live The Crafter Revolution


Something's Missing....

 Fresh, Fun, Holiday Faces :)
Giving it allll to the camera
 And the Boy is working his camera smile too !
(he was such a Good Boy on our Holidays...)
So much in my life is fantastic and wonderful right now **Go Me**
But, like those moments when you just 'NEED' a piece of chocolate,
There is something missing...
You know me, i need a new challenge - an adrenalin pump....
I feel the need to sign up to a Marathon, or swim the Channel...
HHhhmmmmm...

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