Fat Quarters and 2 Hares

Well, it's been a busy few days what with it being half term and everything.

Monday, I decided that I was going to visit a shop called Ring A Rosies near Whitley Bay to get some material to make M a quilt. Hub was at work so I dragged my mam along with me to help with the boys. It took just over an hour to get there and when we did we found out that they had stopped selling patchwork stuff two weeks ago and were now concentrating on the knitting side of things. The wool and needles that they had were gorgeous but I had my heart set on fabric so was a bit disappointed. I did manage to pick up this though at the Singer shop just up the road from them.

Cute little gingerbread men


So today I upped and offed ( is this an actual word i wonder) with the boys again ( minus mam) and went to The Fat Quarters at Blackhall Mill. This journey took 2 hours each way via Metro and Bus but was well worth it. The shop seemed to be in the middle of nowhere but the stock was absolutely gorgeous. If I hadn't had the boys with me I could have browsed for hours but as it was I spent about half an hour and came away with these. The ladies there were just so helpful too.

I don't think the pic does them justice.. they are actually red and not pink


And this - M likes trains


They do have a website which you can get to by clickling the link on the right. Well worth a visit.

On the knitting front I've got a couple of little chaps for you to meet.. They were supposed to be rabbits but I think Hub was right when he said they looked more like hares.

This is Waiter-- named by M. I have no idea where he gets the names from,


And this is Mr Hare


I wonder how many more of these little chaps I could make with this lot?


Spare a thought for Baby G at the minute as the little chap is seriously under the weather, possibly getting more teeth.

My First Tag

I've just been tagged by Sue at Vintage to Victorian, my first tag The tag is for the Archive Meme where we have to list the 5 favourite blog posts we've written - but it's not quite as simple as that because ...

Link 1 must be about family.
Link 2 must be about friends.
Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are … what you’re all about.
Link 4 must be about something you love.
Link 5 can be anything you choose.

Post 5 links and then tag 5 other people. At least 2 of the people must be newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better … and don’t forget to read the archive posts and leave comments!

So, here goes! erm now how do I start this--- I think because I haven't really got many archive posts I'm just going to tell you all new things if thats ok?

1) Family.... .. talking about my family on my blog was a hard decision to make. I couldn't decide if I should use their names , full face pictures or what. I think I will eventually start and use their names but I'm not sure yet. Looking at my family history it's a bit strange One fact is that recently my mams half sister was in the news again. Back in 1970 Jackie Ansell Lamb disappeared and her body was found 6 days later. Her murderer has never been caught. I had an uncle who many moons ago committed suicide by sticking his head in a gas oven. We only found this out when my sister was researching our family tree..I never knew either of my blood Granda's but my step Granda was the most amazing , kindest man and I still miss him today.

2) Friends...... .. I don't think that I really have many friends and those I do have been in my life for a long time. Joanne ( my oldest friend)I have known for about 20 years, I even introduced her to her husband, she lives closest to me. We have the kind of friendship where even though we have sometimes lost contact for a few years we can pick up exactly where we left off. I think I'm quite a closed person and don't let people in too easily. Kirstin and Jane I met whilst they were studying in Sunderland , they are from Chester and Birmingham so I don't see them very often.

3)Me..... This is a hard one. I think I am very much a daydreamer always fantasising about one thing or another. I get these ideas and then spend hours researching about it. i.e I always wanted to move abroad ( this one might be actually happening) . One of my sayings is if you haven't got dreams then what have you got? I suppose I'm never quite satisfied with what I have actually got although when I look at what I have got I should be ashamed for thinking that-- does that make sense? At present neither Hub or myself can drive, I'm sort of close to taking my driving test and can't wait to pass so that I can take the boys to places that I was taken to as a child by my parents and have such happy memories of.

4)Love...... Nature, I've always loved nature ( apart from spiders, sorry) one of my earliest memories is helping my dad dig the garden and collecting all the bugs and beasties in a bucket.. I love being outside and get very tetchy if I can't get outside at least once day. I so miss not having a garden and thats why I tend to rant on about what happens down the local park. I'd be lost without it. This kind of joins with no 3 but when I was a child we used to always go out on weekends, Barnard Castle, Seahouses or Frosterley to name but a few. As a family my mam and dad used to always take us places outdoors and I think thats where my love of nature came from. I also Love my Hub so much, we were friends before we actually got together and he helped me through some dark times, Thank you to him for loving me back.

5)Anything.... hmmm lets see. Hub and I got married in 2005, I never wanted a big wedding so me him and M who was 11 months at the time flew to Las Vegas and we got married in a place called Henderson,just outside of Vegas before going to Hawaii and then New York for our honeymoon. We did tell people we were going it wasn't an elopement or anything before you all start wondering. When my Granda died he left me £100, I put it into a bank account and vowed never to touch it unless it was for something really special. It stayed there for 8 years until I bought my wedding dress with it.

Yes, this is us on the beach in Hawaii!



Well, that was a lot wasn't it. I hope you are still with me and haven't drifted off to sleep from boredom or anything and that I don't come across as too much of an idiot or selfish. Now who to tag?

The Old Quilt
Nonnie
Driftwood
Elsewhere Living
Periwinkle Vintage ( a newbie just like me from Washington state)

Happy Valentines

Here is my first ever heart , quickly whipped up on Tuesday night for M to give to his teacher yesterday as she won't be at work today. Unfortunately I didn't have any smellies to put in it. It's hanging from a chest of drawers that I found down a back lane a couple of weeks ago! I also found a cheval mirror both of which were in excellent condition. I've just got to find the time now to sand them down and get them painted.

Last night found me sitting on the floor watching Relocation Relocation, I just adore Kirstie and Phil, cutting out these. My back was aching by the time I.d finished.

My next project, more bears.
I'm still waiting for Hub to get my ancient sewing machine out of the attic , so no doubt these will probably be done by hand too!!

I was well impressed by all the "wonkerful" jokes on my last post .I'd never even thought of that and it did bring a smile to my face.
I've also heard of another shop called Ring a Rosie in Whitley Bay which I'll probably be paying a visit to also. Thanks for the info Claire

Rhodedendron , still blossoming


Snowdrops ( obviously)


Sunny crocus

Misty Morning

Firstly I'm going to apologise for being a numpty ...I couldn't actually do any pictures because I was in the HTML screen instead of compose--doh. I did say in my first post that I wasn't very computer literate, but then again I did actually manage ( for the first time I might add) to get the pictures from the actual camera on to the laptop, so I'm giving myself a pat on the back for that.
So here goes....

Saturday night we had this


Early Sunday morning in the park we had this


And this


Then we went looking for cobwebs


Frosty berries

I'm really getting into photography now , my little camera goes everywhere with me.

Now Kim don't get too excited because these photographs are not very good at all. Basically G has this soft toy which M always wants to play with so I cut up one of his old blankets that wasn't in the best condition and made this

Front


Back


The reason he has been called a "Wonk" is that once again his head is wonky and his eyes are a bit skew whiff.... M wanted to call him Periwinkle , so we explained that that was bears name so he changed it to Teriwinkle or Terry for short. Teriwinkle Wonk has a bit of a ring about it don't you think chuckle.

Now the other night I was searching on the internet for a decent material shop up here in the North East and I found one called The Fat Quarters in a place called Blackhall Mill which is 5 miles outside of Newcastle. They do have a website ( I haven't figured out how to do a link yet sorry) and although it will take me a couple of hours to get there via Metro and bus as I don't drive , I really want to go and have a look around . So next week I'm going to drag kiddywinkles along with me as I don't have any babysitters and it's a school holiday. If I can I'll take some pics and let you know what it's like.

Aaagghhh

Well I had wanted to upload some pics and show you the little " wonk" that I made this week. Guess it'll just have to wait until whatever is wrong with Blogger has been fixed!!

Happy Pancake Day

Thanks for all your comments about my bear and my quilt. With the quilt I seriously thought about putting a border around it but I think I'm going to back it and use it over a chair, and about Periwinkle bear I think he's going to be needing a lady friend real soon.... I'll keep you posted on that one.
You know I look at all the gorgeous things that people have made and are showing on their Blogs and it makes me wonder if they've made one thing and stuck with it or have made lots of things and go back to what they do best? There are so many things that I want to try and do but it takes me so long to do just one thing I could go on forever..

Now back to pancakes

Look closely-- it's in the air


Ready to eat


Mmmmmm


Not so sure


Guess who cleaned up Hubs mess?


Please ignore the kitchen, I hate it. If I had the money a new one would be at the top of my wishlist and in it would be some of the new chicken range from M&S. I tried to add a picture of the cutest eggcups I've seen in a long while but it didn't work boo hoo

Introducing.......

Periwinkle Bear ta daa.
Yes ladies and Gents here is my first attempt at knitting a bear. His head is a bit wonky but I think that gives him a bit of character, don't you? Hub thinks I'm mad and just laughs because I was going around with a stupid smile on my face every time I got a bit finished. He says "he hopes I'm not going into production .. because it took me so long to knit". But I say the more you knit the faster you get.

Hmmm he ponders.


Getting a cuddle from M.


At least G has stopped trying to eat me !


I'm very pleased with him.

On a different note altogether I was in the park yesterday when I saw these in full flower





Now although I like plants I don't pretend to know that much about them so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong - but isn't it a bit early for them to be in full bloom? They are very pretty and have probably been battered to bits by the snow, rain and wind that we,ve had today which would be a pity.
On that note I'm off to get my chinese and to think about what I shall be making next....