Blog Swaps

Our internet is down indefinitely.  It is the most frustrating thing.  On Sunday the copper wiring from the Exchange was stolen and the village has been without telephone lines ever since.  It is annoying for me because I mostly work from home and rely on the internet to access my emails, including databases and programmes that I use on a daily basis.  I have had to go into various offices this week, all a considerable distance from home, and have popped over to my MILs this evening to use the internet for personal stuff whilst Andrew watches the football.  I've got Christmas shopping to do that just can't wait any longer!

I thought I'd take five minutes to do a quick update.  I have loads to chat about, as always, but just wanted to say a huge thank you to Angie for the blog swap parcels I received last week.  I took part in the Handmade Christmas Decoration swap organised by the lovely Laa Laa.  I am so glad I did - what a treat to receive surprises in the post!

The parcels from Angie were all prettily wrapped and it was fun opening them all.  Angie had made loads!  A gorgeous white fabric wreath (my favourite gift and it looks beautiful strung with fairy lights), home-made chutney, a lovely home-made card, cosy socks, pretty stars for the tree and lots of other little bits and bobs.  Angie even knitted four small stockings and filled them with chocolates (the actual stockings are exactly the right size and shape for my dog's paws and I've had to restrain myself from dressing her in them.  I know that would be cruel.  She'd slip, right?)

It is the first time I have taken part in a swap.  I admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed to begin with; I got too caught up in trying to second-guess what Angie would like and what would fit in with her Christmas decorating scheme at home.  Also, I have limited sewing and crochet ability - I am very much a beginner and many projects are beyond me.  In the end, I chose to make a few (safe) felt decorations.  Of course, it would have been rude not to include a gingerbread man... 

 The templates for the gingerbread man and the reindeer/moose came from this month's issue of Mollie Makes.  The stocking and mitten templates were downloaded from the internet somewhere.

I, hopefully, made up for my lack of ability by including a few chocolates and shop-bought goodies in the parcel for Angie and wrapped them as enticingly as I could.

I so enjoyed doing these decorations and, after the first one, they were quite quick to make.  I have plans for a heart garland to hang over the fireplace for Christmas.  I also have plans, however, to make a gingerbread house, two Christmas cakes and gingerbread biscuits (watch out for my next post when I'll share my super easy, delicious, recipe!).  Better get cracking.

We are off tomorrow after work to pick our Christmas trees.  I'm excited.  I intend to buy three; one for outside, one for the living room and one for the conservatory.  I also plan to buy a few more lanterns in various sizes to put outside the front door - they look so welcoming with huge white candles.  I will, of course, share pictures when I have finished faffing.

I love reading the blogposts with pictures of Christmas trees and twinkling lights and driving past houses seeing Christmas trees twinkling in bay windows is one of my favourite things about the season... Ahh! Christmas is coming!!

Nicki 

x

A book, utility china, a blog award and swapsies

We are just back from another trip to Norfolk.  This time it was just a weekend break and we took my stepson and Andrew's Mum.  We were lucky with the weather and spent most of the weekend sitting in the sunshine drinking G&Ts (juice for the stepson) and reading.  (MIL was in charge of pouring the drinks.  Her measures are much larger than mine - I spent both evenings slightly squiffy and zonked out by 10pm).  There was also a lot of basketball, football and volleyball, quite a bit of dog walking, some stone skimming and a smidge of bingo.  We had fun.  I was hoping to visit some pretty local villages but it just wasn't possible what with one thing and another.  Husband has promised we can both nip over for a weekend before the weather really turns.  Yipee!

I've got a few things to waffle on about but I'm in a bit of a hurry to get back to a book I started reading yesterday.  It's by Miss Read and is called 'The School at Thrush Green':

Man, I LOVE these books.  They are all slim little novels and the stories revolve around life in a Cotswold village.  They were written in the 1950s.  The stories are so simple and old-fashioned, nothing much happens, but the imagery is lovely and I adore the words that Miss Read uses.  Here's a snippet:

"The rumbustious January weather continued for the rest of the week, and the inhabitants of Lulling and Thrush Green were as tired of its buffeting as the rest of the Cotswold villages were.  But on Saturday morning the wind had dropped, and a wintry sun occasionally cast a gleam upon a thankful world.  Miss Watson and Miss Fogerty agreed that the weekly wash would benefit from a spell in the fresh air, and Agnes was busy pegging out petticoats, night-gowns and other garments when she was hailed by a well-known voice on the other side of the hedge.  It was her old friend Isobel, wife of Harold Shoosmith, who lived next door."

Ah!  Nice and simple, cosy, reading.  Lovely.

Thanks to everyone who commented on my last post about the wonkiness of the house.  I have decided to embrace the wonkiness *punches fist in air* and have set about decorating the dresser.  I won't do a proper 'big reveal' (!) of the dining room until it's properly finished but let me tell you that things are moving along nicely.  I've been hanging a few hearts, for starters...

My china collection continues to grow.  I picked up this little Meakin jug (with the blue tits) last week.  I found it on a vintage china stall.  I love it and find myself liking it even more every time I see it.  There were matching teacups and saucers and a slightly larger jug on the stall too.  So wish I'd bought them.

Oh, and the new fridge has been delivered!  It only arrived on Friday and I've already turned into a fridge Hitler. Every time the husband opens the fridge door I practically pounce on him to make sure that the item he is replacing has been put in exactly the right place with the label facing out.  He must find me trying at the best of times but I think this is going to finish him off if I don't get a grip.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Before I go there are a couple of things I wanted to mention.

Firstly, a huge thank you to a fellow bloddie, Louise, at Tea at Weasel's for giving me a 'Versatile Blogger' award.  I'm thrilled!

Louise is new to blogging but I can already tell that I'm going to enjoy dropping by her blogspot to catch up on her news.

I can't think of any interesting facts about myself so I thought I'd list seven things that I'm loving right now:

1.  Stocking up on Autumn/Winter clobber.  Knitted dresses, slouchy jumpers, knitted harems, leg-warmers and snoods have all been purchased, amongst other things.  Still on the hunt for the perfect pair of winter boots, though.

2.  Reading cookery books and drooling over the hearty stews and soups I'm going to make this year.

3.  Drawing the curtains and lighting the woodburners.

4.  Working on my giant granny square blanket.

5.  Booking a big family summer holiday next year to a house in the French countryside.

6.  Thinking about Christmas cake baking and decorating.

7.  Scouring the charity shops, eBay and vintage fairs for pretty china.

Another thing I'm loving is thinking about what I might make for Lynda's Handmade Christmas Decoration Swap!  

I haven't participated in a swap before so I'm really excited!   If you fancy joining in, pop over to Hookin' with LaaLaa and sign up here.  Go on, it'll be fun.

I think that's it from me.  Stories of two elderly schoolteachers await me.  

Nicki 

x