Saturday 24 November 2012

Autumn Views Challenge week 9 and some creative chaos...

Morning everyone! 

Well, Autumn really is slip-sliding into Winter, here is my Autumn Views photo for this week:


Most of the leaves have well and truly drifted away.  We have had cold, windy and very wet weather for most of this week so not really unexpected.  I will post my final photo next week when the challenge will come to an end - well it will be the end of November after all!  I have loved doing this challenge, thanks so so much to those of you who joined me.  Im already eyeing up views for the challenge next year!!

Well, this morning my DH has nipped over to IKEA with my brother - they are getting a display cabinet for my darling Mum.  No room in the car for extra passengers, so I have taken over the dining room table with a bit of creative chaos:


I love using felt


 
 
I fell in love with this fabric when I "spotted" it in our local craft supplies shop!
 

Lots of snippets of left over fabric, I will keep them though, I often find a good use for the scraps left over from projects


So I suppose I had better make a start on sewing up some of this lot!  I am just planning a quiet day of sewing and chilling out with the family - such a treat after a some very manic weeks at work.  It is often the simple things that bring the most pleasure don't you think?

Have a great weekend!

Helenxx



Saturday 17 November 2012

Autumn Views Challenge week 8 and confessions of a new addiction...


 
Hello everyone - am I glad its the weekend!  My regular readers will know that my day job is teaching and this week we had the wonderful news (ahem, sarcastic sneer needed here!!) that OFSTED were going to be around......(cue doom-laden music).  So crafting, time with friends etc had to be put on hold whilst all hands were put firmly on deck with the preprarations.  Fortunately I have experienced these things quite a few times so was well prepared, although they always ask for random last minute bits.  All passed without incident - woop!  So to celebrate my dearest friend Sue picked me up after work last night for an early evening jaunt - more of which later.
 
But lets start with this week's Autumn View:
 
 

 So many leaves have now drifted away, there are still spashes of vivid colour to be seen, but a lot of brown as well.  We are well and truly headed towards the winter.

Well, the title of this post and the news of the OFSTED visit may well have you all worried that I have hit the bottle or some kind of recreational substances - but fear not dear readers!!!!  My new addiction is rather nice (well I think so anyway) as it is collecting vintage pottery!  Im really getting into Midwinter - the autumnal shades at least.  Our local bric-a-brac market can sometimes come up with some lovely finds.  There is a particular stall holder who knows Im into this kind of stuff and puts stuff on one side for me to have first choice of!!  So, yesterday morning, bright and early, I headed off to the market - and what a wonderful collection of things I came back with!







All of these plates are in the Stylecraft shape which I love. 

But then - the ever helpful (and canny!!) stall holder had something else to reveal - some items by a designer I hadnt heard of


Well, just look at these little beauties, in exactly the kind of designs and colours I love....



And with the design called October (my favourite month of the whole year) how could a girl resist?  And I so needed a treat after OFSTED....so they popped into the shopping basket.  THEN....
 
 
Oh my word, how lovely...


And I NEED new dishes.....

Well, I had to call a colleague to help me carry them all back to the office!!  Colleague was completely understanding, having gone through OFSTED as well, but their response was to stuff themselves silly at McDonalds.  Each to their own!!!!

What I love about these items is they work out between 50p - 85p each, so cheaper than IKEA!  I love the designs and that others have used them before.  And I do use them, albeit with care, I never put them through the dishwasher even though, apparently they are dishwasher proof. 

Well, onto the aforementioned jaunt with Sue!  We nipped over to the local garden centre which is wonderful at this time of the year.  I had my smartphone, not my usual camera so the pics arent great but here are a few:

Lovely cheery cylamen


Friendly reindeer



And finally, the garden centre's resident feline friend happily posing for the camera:


We went to the cafe and had some super cakes and coffee.   No photos as both too hungry!!!

And I have one more reason to celebrate - I have completed my final MSc assignment, and only have 11,000 words to do to complete the dissertation!!!!!! 

Have a super weekend!

Helenxx

Thursday 8 November 2012

All the Fun of the Fair

Hello everyone

I have just spent a wonderful evening with my friend Sue and our two daughters at our annual street fair.

I hope these photos sum up some of the great atmosphere


Spinning, whirling...


Twisting, twirling


Friendly faces....


Scarey places....


Bright lights....



Dizzy heights....



Balloons in the air...


...we're having fun at the fair!

Helenxx

Tuesday 6 November 2012

Autumn Views Challenge week 7 and some reasons to Remember, Remember the 5th of November

Hello everyone, hope you are keeping warm during this cold snap!  We had quite a sharp frost last night, but found a way to keep nice and warm - more of that in a second!

But first, here is the autumn challenge view for this week


More leaves left than I had expected after our recent windy weather, but the leaves in the background are now starting to change colour as well.

Well, back now to how we kept warm last night!  My bestest friend Sue held her yearly Guy Fawkes Night Bonfire and Fireworks Party.  We look forward to this so much as we have so much fun.  Sue cooks a lovely meal (no photos as far too greedy hungry to stop and take pics!!) so after filling our tummies with yummy food we wrapped up warm and went out to the garden where her OH had lit this amazing bonfire for us all


The sparks flew up into the night sky, a little something to get us in the mood for the fireworks to follow


The fire lit up the apple trees - these are still hanging on to a lot of fruit, we have already had some this year they are absolutely wonderful


Then Sue started to light the fireworks...oooooo....


ahhhhhh......


....and you are never too old to enjoy the sparklers:)


A wonderful evening with a wonderful group of friends!  If you would like to see even more and better photos, please take a look at Sue's daughter's blog, Hermione's World, where you will see wonderfully creative photos as well as some samples of her cooking!

I absolutely love this time of the year, so much to see and do, so many excuses to spend time with dear friends.  And now look what has just started to roll into our little town today


its our annual street fair!  Believe it all not, by tomorrow, the crane will have been packed away and a roller coaster will be standing in this spot!  So exciting! 

Helenxx

PS - here is a photo which slightly freaked us out when we looked at it - what can you see in the flames? (no its not photoshopped/pic monkey-ed or anything clever like that).  I thought it looked rather Tim Burton-ish (for those of you who have ever seen the extras disc for Sleepy Hollow!)

Monday 5 November 2012

Bonfire Night

Hi everyone

Just dropping in wish you all an enjoyable Bonfire Night!  Keep warm and safe!

And, just to get us all in the mood, here is a pic of our new fire basket!  Cant wait to buy some chestnuts, they would roast a treat in this!

Helenxx

Friday 2 November 2012

Autumn Views Challenge week 6

Hi everyone, nearly the weekend - phew!!

Here is the Autumn Views Challenge photo for this week:


as you can see, all the leaves on the branch in the foreground have now fallen.  I took this photo yesterday, and we have had some very windy weather since so I reckon next week will see a lot of the leaves in the background having fallen as well, but time will tell.

Here are a few more autumn scenes spotted out and about this week:


Have a great Friday evening everyone!

Helenxx

Thursday 1 November 2012

That was Halloween...


Boys and girls of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?


Come with us and you will see
This, our town of Halloween



This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night




This is Halloween, everybody make a scene
Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright
It's our town, everybody scream
In this town
of Halloween

(lyrics from The Nightmare Before Christmas "This is Halloween").

Hope you all had a spook-tacular evening!!

Helenxx