I don,t care what the weather men say

At present my litte bit of the world is clean and fresh.

Now to be realistic I,m sorry for people that have no heating (my outside pipe from the boiler froze 3 times last year at the coldest time possible but that has been rearranged) I feel for people going to work and waiting for buses ) I don,t have much patience for those who don,t keep well stocked cupboards . Basics like red beans, chick peas , tin tomatoes . rice and bulgar wheat are excellent standbys and for the freezer , mince and sausage . I,m lucky my milk is delivered to my door, but I have been told you can freeze milk , dosen,t the top pop off when it freezes?

I found I have no bread flour but I,ll get by with making pizza dough or flat bread

Reading a magazine my pharmacist gave to me on Saturday morning it said dairy food for winter . I don,t know about that , I think it can feel cloggy in the throat and chest but it said cheese is good , that suits me fine , cheese on toast , comfort food , goody !!

Call me irresponsible

Today I have the energy of two people , perhaps it,s due to playing some of my favourite cds and singing along , lets face it music is so uplifting .
My lunch is almost cooked . it,s a roast dnner with bread and butter pudding to follow , mmmmm, shall I have cream or creme anglaise , decisions ,decisions .!! I will not have any energy when I have eat my lunch , I,ll most likely fall asleep.

These are 4 more stockings to be filled . I purchased a panel with 2 stockings on for £1.25 from the fabric guild . I put holly fabric on the backs so that made 4 stockings .

This is my little fish pond frozen over again . I coverered part of it with ply hoping it would shelter my fish a little . I really don,t know how they survive . Goodness knows where the birds are ,they are not visiting my bird station .

I did have some unidentifiable paw prints on my snow covered patio . I wonder what lurks out there when it,s dark .

Who stole the cakes ?

These are the cakes I knitted and crochet for the children . They didn,t load on my blog the previous time

Beautiful Flowers & cup cakes

It is even more Brrrrr today because the frost didn,t clear from yesterday, I think we are entering the second ice age , but nevertheless bluebell and myself have been out browsing and doing a little shopping therapy . We also did quite a bit of laughing . It,s good for the soul .

We went to Dunelm and spent a few pieces of eight . Me! white silk flowers for a new arrangement. Some pretty turquoise baubles for my tree , Umm, and some christmas cards and while in there we spotted just the right weight of batting for machine quilting.We have been trying to buy thin batting for a long time . After consultation , deliberation and a few other factors we decided we would have all that was on the roll . 99p a yard , there was 46 yards on the roll . We will not be begging quilt group leaders for just a bit more . No one would tell us where we could buy a roll of batting

I came home to these beautiful flowers on my doorstep , they were a gift from http://Angelaoftracingrainbows.com ,Angela had read on bluebells blog that my 97 year old Mum died last Saturday. Thank you Angela, you lifted my spirits wit your kindness , and such a pretty card too .

My mum had a good life , hard at times , there were six of us children . Me being the eldest . then a sister 5 years younger ,then a brother 9 years younger than me ,then my Dad came home from the war and 3 more children were quickly added to the family .

My mum was bright and cheerful until about a week before she died . She was a credit to us , the centre pivot to our family She will be sadly missed for a long time .

I said I would put the cakes I have been knitting and crocheting , they are for Ellie and River to play tea parties with , they are learning to identify colours so the toppings will help , I,ll have one with pink on the top please Ellie

Brrrrrrrrr

Yes Brrrrrrrrrr is the languidge we are speaking here in the English midlands . extra cold, we don't usually have it so cold at this time of the year.
I,m beginning to look forward to christmas . I shall be spending it with my family in Bristol . there are young children 3 years and 2 years old so it will be exciting
I have made 4 more christmas stockings and I,ve been busy crocheting cup cakes for the children to play tea parties . Anyone wishing to crochet cup cakes there are free patterns on the internet and if you put --Jean Greenhowe -- on your google bar she has wonderful free patterns for all kinds of knitted small items. I am putting different colour icings on the cup cakes , Ellie is learning colours . I,ll put a picture on tomorrow .
Gooseberry patch has put free wallpaper on their site , I have used one of their pictures for my header . Lovely and seasonal
Bluebell and myself had a little tour of the charity shops this afternoon . I bought 2 christmas plates , 2 pink transfer ware cereal dishes , I love pink transfer stuff . Bluebell looks for more up market china like chintz ,nothing more to blog but I,ll make a note to put pics on tomorrow

If you like CAT'S or poetry please read

This beautiful black cat does not belong to me but before his ? owners moved he was a frequent daily visitor . He snoozed on my bed , followed me about but never begged or wanted food. I really miss him.

Several years ago I used to write a lot of poetry . I,m going to put on my blog a poem I wrote about 2 cats while living in Cyprus . Lot,s of cats there.

Whisky is a cat belonging to a friend , Manos and Chloe are fictional

THE CYPRUS CONNECTION APRIL 1995

Today I met Whisky's cousin Manos

he lives in a village close to Paphos

Manos has a girlfriend her name is Chloe

her fur is thick , white and snowy

her breed is persian ,she's aloof and true

she has eyes only for Manos , no other will do .

They dine on fish , and saucers of ouzo ,and Chloe dreams about her trousseau

her dowry's a basket with a feather bed

the basket is wicker and painted red

Sometimes they sit on a fence and sing ,till plates crashing around them drown out the din .

Manos lives at the Hotel Cleree where English visitors sit and sip tea

The owner of Chloe is a man of renown

a very distinguished man in the town

He's quite fond of Manos as a prospective groom , serenading his Chloe under the moon

Will they have kittens ? who can say, that tale will be told another day .

There is a bit more to this ,keep a lookout,

I,m Upset or do my eyes deceive me

I purchased some gifts for my friends. payed for the postage , then payed extra postage because the package was coming from America , all done through paypal .

The post office this end would not release the package until I payed £12.63 ,which is what I payed for the original postage .

I sent a copy of this photo to the seller showing there was no postage payed .I was sent an email with underlining saying the postage had been payed and a copy of a receipt showing it so .

I felt the matter should be pursued by the seller but I very much doubt it. It means I have payed £25 26p in postage .

When sending gifts abroad which I do quite often I have never, never payed this much postage before .

update

Liza Prior Lucy can be found on http://gloriousapplique.blogspot .com doing front applique . watch the video

Rain, rain go away

It has been such a rainy day here in the east midlands of England . It has absolutely belted down all day .
What do you do to help yourself , well , I have spent a lot of time looking at blogs and I have seen marvellous quilts , stunning applique , colours to blow your mind into a psychedelic frenzy . I am putting a few sites on my blog for you to browse . Also click on the sidebar of these sites to find more incredible work

http://leeprairiedesigns.blogspot.com/ this site hasthe most beautiful pincushions that were made for a swap . there are lots of pincushions

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/ Liza Prior Lucy is showing front basting . Lucy features in Kaffe Fassett books . I noticed the site hasn,t highlighted. perhaps you would find it by putting the address in

http://gloriousapplique.blogspot.com

http://gloriouscolour.com/ a site for applique

browse and enjoy also http://www.psiquilt .com where there is a tutorial for a thread bag

More sewing

Yesterdays effort

I made a start

I made this bag using a pattern and fabric I purchased from a stall at the quilt fair . The stall was called

Out Of Africa . The pouch I shall use for my camera or spectacles .

Last week I felt so tired but today ? just the opposite , boundless energy. Isn,t it wonderful when you feel well .