Card making update

Do you remember this?

My challenge to myself to make a card a day for the whole year and donate most of them to my local Cancer Research shop.

Well on 2nd March I was up to 11th March.......since then I've been a little tardy in the card making department! (Amongst many other things!)

However, after a little session last night whilst watching Lewis on TV, I made another 19, so I am now up to 30 March!

Want to see some of them......OK........here goes............ta-daaah.....!

 

I have to say that all this creativity isn't making a dent in my stash...oooopps!  But I'm trying.

 

Cancer Research will take donations of cards and other beautiful handmade items like blankets and quilts, so why not look them up or other worthwhile charities like Refuge, The Linus Project or your local hospital or care home for the elderly.

 

I'm going to try and make a few more tonight, and maybe sort a bit of stash to go to an elderly friend at Knit & Natter.

 

I will get round to showing you those Granny Squares one day soon.

 

Toodle-ooooo

Nora

xxxx

Pillow fun...

It was such a lovely day the other day, Tiddly Toes and I decided that we needed to get out and about.

We had our lunch at home and then went off to Holmbush Farmworld, about 6 minutes up the dual carriageway!

I went a bit mad and decided to treat us to a season ticket.  It means that whenever we have some spare time, we can pop in for an hour or so and after about 10 visits, we'll have paid for it.  We've been twice already!

There are barns of animals, tractor ride, sand pit and lots of playground type toys in a field with other walkways and little houses to explore, here she is rushing about in the wide open space............



The other great attraction are these fantastic air-filled 'pillows', it's a cross between a bouncy castle and a trampoline, we LOVE them!  It keeps you fit, I can tell you!

Here she is in a few action shots..............

 

...............coming down...........landing ready for the up...............

........and up!.....

.....with an occasional 'bum-bounce'!

 

As you can tell she hated every moment!  Hahahaha!

 

Inside there is a soft play area and she found a friend and played away whilst Mummy, much to the curiosity and odd looks of other Mums & Dads, sat with a nice mug of Earl Grey and progressed with her Granny Squares...............Happy Days!

 

I will show you those soon, and some background as to why.  Promise.

 

See you,

Nora

xxxx

Bluebell Woods....and some!

It isn't often that The Hubs & I get the chance for a walk together, however, with Tiddly Toes staying the night at my Mums after Knit and Natter, we thought we'd grab the opportunity to enjoy the evening sun....and go Bluebell Hunting!

 

This is the view from the field which is more or less behind the trees behind our house.

 

Can you believe that behind that line of trees on the hill in the farthest distance of the photo is Gatwick Airport?!  I kid you not!  I was amazed to get a photo without a plane in it!

 

 

 

That was to our left of the path through the middle of the field and this is to the right......

 

You can just see Hubs shadow wandering off to my left.....if you could have seen his face.....it had the look of.....she's taking MORE photos AGAIN!  He doesn't get the whole blogging thing.

 

Anyway, about 3 feet behind the tree line of those woods is a path, and that's where I'm taking you.....come on!

 

Getting closer, can you see almost dead centre of the woods a ladder, it has a seat on top for wildlife spotting.....Tiddly Toes reliably informs me that there is one in her Topsy & Tim book when they went camping.

 

 

So here we are just entering the wood...and can you see in the distance...the promise of beautiful purple-blue bowing heads......

 

And here we are.................

 

Let's go further in...it gets better...follow The Hubs.......

 

The smell was gorgeous, Bluebells and damp wood-i-ness.....

 

It was at this point that I realised that being short, we got lots of green and less blue!  So I stretched really tall (much to The Hubs disgust...more photos!) and managed to get a bit more purple-blue for you....gorgeous isn't it?

 

England and Bluebells in May....what more can I say?

 

And not to be outdone, the other trees around are bursting into flower all over the place!

 

This is our neighbours Lilac.........................the scent is absolutely heavenly.....aaaahhh!

 

And this is one of their Apple Trees, apparently it has been a good year for blossom, which hopefully (despite the lack of bees) will mean a good apple harvest and LOTS of Bramley Apples to make crumbles and pies galore...happy me!

 

Isn't that gorgeous!  The promise of things to come!

 

Blue skies.

 

Bluebells.

 

Blossom.

 

Blooming good!

 

Hope you liked your little stroll along with me and The Hubs, we've enjoyed having you join us.

 

See you soon!

 

Nora

xxxx

Going back to my Village for Knit & Natter

The first Monday in every month heralds Knit & Natter in the village where I grew up and my Mum still lives.

 

Tiddly Toes absolutely LOVES going and she often packs her case to stay the night with Nana!

 

We usually go the dual carriage way route, a bit dull, but quick.  Recently though, there has been some road works in Dorking,...so, not so quick!

 

I decided, as it was Bluebell time of year, to go the back roads across Leith Hill and through Coldharbour and this was the view as we rounded a corner on the back road to my home village.............

 

 

 

A stunning view right the way across to Ranmore.

 

A bit further along the road and we start to dip down into the woods, it is very damp down here as in the basin is a little tributary of the River Mole.

 

 

And right next to the river was this opening in the woods filled with Bluebells.....a gorgeous purple-blue carpet...........

 

The road then gets very windy and thin, full concentration required, so no photos...UNTIL....I get to my village!

 

The eagle-eyed might recognise this from last years Olympic Cycling Road Race as it went right through here.  But to me this is the thatched bus stop on The Green where I used to sit and wait for my school bus.......

 

See the Dovecote next to it...thatched too!  Idyllic.

 

We had a lovely time at Knit & Natter, I spent 2 hours of full on crochet time on my Granny Squares (with a little break for a cup of tea and Mums homemade Low Fat Muffins....mmmmm!)

 

And, yes, Tiddly Toes stayed the night....much to her Daddy's surprise when he got home and she wasn't there!

 

I feel the need for more Bluebells, so I may go and gather some photos for you....

 

Until the next time.....toodle-pip!

 

Nora

xxx

A little bit of DIY!

Brace yourselves....this is not a pretty sight!

 

Me togged up in painting garb ready to do battle with Alex's old, old and Charlie's old room!

 

They have both left us to go to University and Teenage Daughter fancied a change of room (3rd occupant!).  Charlie was happy with that (Bless him).

 

So poor old Mum has to re-decorate again!

 

Unfortunately there is no protection for my specs!

 

 

 

This is the job in hand.......

 

Why did we let the boys choose that dark blue!

 

Never mind, fill some holes, slap some paint around (Crowns Crème de la Rose) and ...............

 

Transformed to a Teenage girls haven....

 

Ta-Dah....................

 

Now to cut down the duvet cover from her double to a single because she still loves it (and no self-respecting young man would want butterflies on his bed!)

 

Next is her bedroom to be transformed for Dan!  He wants burgundy....why dark colours for boys?

 

So that's what I've been up to, that's what has kept me from making and blogging.  Am I forgiven?

 

Thankfully I've washed the paint off and I'm transformed back to my old self...... (but with added sore throat!)

 

 

Off for a nice cup of tea after all that activity!

 

By the way...this is my 100th post!

 

See you soon,

 

Nora

xxxx

 

Two delicious desserts...the same...but different!

One low fat the other carefree!

The one on the left (with the pastry overhanging the dish) is low fat, the one on the right is carefree.

 

The pastry on the low fat version is Filo, about 6-8 sheets, I don't oil in between because I can't (makes it too high fat for my gall-bladder to cope!), so I leave it...milk or water just makes it soggy.

 

Line the dish with Filo, half fill with stewed apple and top with low fat sponge, a 2 egg mix or half of the recipe here.  Pop that on the top and bake for about 30 minutes.

 

The carefree version is a dish lined with pastry, like you would any pie, half fill with stewed apple and top with sponge, just your usual 2 egg cupcake or Victoria sandwich recipe. Bake for about 30 minutes.

 

Don't overfill with the sponge....leave about 1-2cm for the sponge to rise, any left then just pop it into some cases and bake, you'll have a few delicious little cupcakes for lunch boxes or for small people to decorate whilst you get on with other things later! 

 

It is a lovely dessert with custard, cream or ice cream and I did think that you could do this and leave out the sponge and top with meringue!  Or change the apple for cherries, rhubarb...apple and blackberry...oh the list is endless!

 

Well, sadly I didn't get a picture of them done.  As soon as they came out of the oven the vultures children devoured all but a tiny bit! Look..........

 

So I joined in!  Look........

 

They were delicious and so quick and easy....why not give one of them a try yourself!

 

Making is happening here......blogging is not!  Time just runs away with me.  I promise to make more effort and share some creations with you soon.

 

What have you been up to? (I have been keeping up with blogs!)

I'll see you soon,
Byeeee
Nora
xxxx

Remember this............

I didn't have one of these, but boy do I wish I had..............did you have one?

What a treat.....we were given ours by a fabulous neighbour who was downsizing house and had a clear out of the loft....this was one of the many gems, how fortunate are we?

Tiddly Toes asked to play with it the other day and we had a fabulous time!

It gets so far and she runs to hide behind the sofa!

Not sure if it's the game she's hiding from or me shrieking when it pops up when the timer runs out!

Oh!  Haven't shown you what I'm talking about have I?

Look........mid pop!.........

 

Look at the fabulous box..................

 

this is her before she runs behind the sofa!......

 

What fun!

 

Do you have any old classics hanging around.....go on, go and find them and enjoy some fun and a trip down memory lane this weekend!

 

Hope yours is a sunny one,

 

Love

Nora

xxxx

Tiny Tote

As you may remember, back here, I got a subscription to Sewing World Magazine for Christmas.....I am really enjoying it. 

 

You may also remember from here, that I'm not one for making free gifts and that also extends to the projects in magazines, although they do inspire me in other ways.

 

However, when this arrived a few weeks ago........... 

 

 

 

....I spotted this little number.......................

 

 

 

and thought how lovely it would be for my Tiddly Toes to have a little bag like this for days out when she collects things like shells or takes a snack and her 'doff'.

 

So I had a dig in my stash and found some bits and bobs to make this...........

 

Ready......ta-daaaaH!

 

 

Do you like it?  Tiddly Toes LOves it!

 

It has already been on a shopping trip and been used to carry many a 'thing' about the house.

 

I now have an order for a little pink one for Tiny Angel, I'm also planning to use it, together with other designs I have seen, as inspiration for a bag for me.  I hope I shall make more of these as it was fun, easy and quite quick.

 

I shall be back soon with a spot of vintage nostalgia.

 

Until then, take care,

Nora

xx

A promising find

As you may remember I've given up on Mags a little. 

They're all a bit same-y, nothing striking or inspirational....in fact, some of the cheeky blighters even put the same projects in 2 or 3 mags!  Come on guys....get with something fresh!

Do they not realise that we can look stuff up on-line....trawl Pinterest for inspiration and share makes and tutorials with our friends on BlogLand?!

BUT...there is nothing like good quality paper in your hands, the smell of ink, a little library of loveliness to lay your hands on whilst sipping a nice cup of tea..... I do like a nice mag!

Well....I found one!

We'll have to see how it pans out, will it still be interesting in 6 months, a year?

It is the brand new Reloved magazine...............look..........

 

There are LOADS of projects in this one...like this crate revamp from Tales from Betty Bee Towers.........

 

A lovely hottie cover made from an old sweatshirt (Tiddly Toes will love this as she has a bit of a thing for Scottie Dogs!)....it is from the book 'Make it & mend it'

 

and the most amazing shoe makeover...never seen anything like this before!  This is from the book Girls Night in.......

 

All in all, I'm enjoying this, there's sewing, knitting, furniture painting...oh lots!

 

And I have to say I quite like it.

 

If you get it, let me know what you think.

 

See you soon,

Nora

xxxx

That make I've been promising you...

I know, I know.....naughty blogger.

Haven't seen you in a while....how are you?

It is continually busy here, good for business, bad for blogging!

A-g-e-s ago when I payed a visit to a local Tearoom called Pretty Things, I sat and dE-voured my toasted teacake and Earl Grey and finished hooking a little luxury in Cath Kidston colours.....

so here is the Ta-Dah...

Ta DaaaaaH!....

 

.....you want to see a bit less detail and a bit more of IT!?

 

OK, the full McCoy...........

 

It's a little more loose than the one I created in my Yarn-y Venture, my own fault because I did 18 chain not 16...but it is still lovely and I don't mind it loose in the least bit!

 

Do you like? 

 

The green washes out against the red......but funnily enough the blue doesn't!  Maybe next time a little less red and edge with something else....I'll have to experiment!

 

The Hubs has just informed me that dinner is nearly ready, so I must be off.  I'll see you again shortly with a new magazine discovery which might interest those of you who think they are all getting a bit same-y.

 

Until then....toodle-ooo!

 

Nora xx