Tuesday 18 December 2012

New Email Added to the blog

Following and evening sat with my beloved and some children in the lounge watching Television and hand sewing the binding on Gaia's quilt (her hand made Christmas present from Mummy).   I have come to view the blog and see what was occuring.

Directly following a poorly beloveds departure to bed, (he got what I had, but it will be much much worse!).  A programme came on - A Welsh Christmas, a musical programme, in which several great singers entertained a studio of willing listeners.

I however, upon hearing the beautiful songs, song at a time of year when family get together and enjoy each other's company, was not filled with joy.  Infact a deep sorrow.

The Christmas before my father passed away I chose to work, the hours were double and it meant more food on the table for the children.  I didn't know it was Dad's last Christmas, if I did, I would have been there, I would have cuddled him so tight that he couldn't breath... He would have the best presents you can imagine, he would be waited on hand and foot... so many things that make a difference.  

Only, I didn't go, the Christmas following his death, I did, he wasn't there, he didn't cook the Turkey as he always had, he didn't tell stories that would have all around the table streaming in tears of laughter (maybe not Mum), He just was not there.  We did want him to be, the kids wow they were great, if they weren't there it would have been a depressing event. 

At the end of the meal my then 3 year old son, who had lost his other Grand father that summer, held his glass high and proposed a toast, ... it went like this 
'Cheers Taidy, Cheers Grandad'

He knew who was missing, and knew that to toast them was to remember them
(Taidy is Welsh for GrandDad)

Please take care of the ones we no longer have to hold, and please take extra care of the ones we do x

Sorry this blog entry went beyond what it was meant to do...

You should now see some links to my email address, you can email me direct or via the blog, I will get them,

Janey x

Sunday 16 December 2012

Blog Hop Winners

And the Winners Are!!!!

Vickie

Farm Quilter

Jeanne Gwin


The FaceBook winner is....


Carla Geates.


Congratulations to all who entered, thank you so very much for following my blog, some day's I don't get the time to update but I can assure you I think about it ;-)

The last few days have seen me in bed nursing a bad chest, I still have a bad chest, but at least I can stand a while without feeling the need to fall over.


Thank you once again and If I don't see you before Christmas... 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY MERRY NEW YEAR x

Love Janey and pride x

Friday 14 December 2012

Facebook Page now has the items listed

Unlocked items...

Click on the above link to see the items that have now been unlocked and are ready to be sent to the lucky Facebook recipient!

In the mean time... our family Friday night holds such excitement that we can't control ourselves.








For just about two hours, my Step Daughter and I wrestled with a rogue Wendy house.

I bought this from a friend for Gaia for her Christmas present.  The rather romantic plan was that she would come into the lounge, see the wendy house and little else, go slightly mental about that and when she looked inside, there would be her Christmas presents all wrapped up!

I thank Shannon heartedly, because, if she weren't here with me I would most probably still be on the floor arguing with the poles and losing my temper increasingly.

What we found were, several broken poles (broken by a very hasty man, who dismantles by pulling apart too quick and doens't think of the consequences at the other end or that the poles may need to be in one piece!)

Simon in his haste to get it into the car and then out of the car, has broken poles and has lost one too. 

I am not impressed at all, but yet again, I am the one paying not him, I am the one who has to pay out again and not him......

Why did I take photo's of the item before Xmas morning?
This was for Xmas Eve, so we have some guide. My eldest daughter is drawing up a plan of poles as I type with all the pole number/letters clearly logged, the photo's will now be printed off so that we have some very clear instructions to piece the house  back together again with!

Ah, maybe I will see bed before 0400 on Christmas morning!

J x

Give Away needs more

We haven't had many people want to be a part of this blog giveaway...

Some are saying hello on Facebook, Some hello on the blog, but still the numbers are fairly low.

We have some fabulous items ready to be sent out to the lucky winners, they need homes to go to and fast, as this giveaway ends tomorrow at midnight!

All you need to do is, follow or subscribe to this blog leave me a little message to say hello and how you follow us, that is that..

There are more blogger's giving brilliant items away, fabrics, kits, sets, home mades, you name it..  go to the link below to see more....



Good Luck to all, and I really look forward to meeting more of you in the next day... or two

The fourth item to be given away is to b e revealed on our Facebook Page this evening


Take care of all of you

Janey x

Thursday 13 December 2012

QUICK UP DATE!

OUR FACEBOOK PAGE HAS JUST TIPPED 50 LIKES...

THE FOURTH PRIZE IS BEING COLLATED AS I TYPE

GOOD LUCK FACEBOOKERS 


J X

Cross Stitch Anyone?

I have accumulated hundreds of Cross Stitch Patterns

A friend gave them to me when I was trying to set up a craft club in our local area.  The craft club fell flat on its face, but the patterns remain in my tender care.

I am letting them go, no cost involved but bundles of 10 (two bundles per person max).  They will come as they are... I can't go through and select ones you may prefer, it would be too time consuming.

The postage is obviously an issue... I will be able to send them out via the cheapest possible method (over seas will go by land and can take up to 2 months to reach the recipient)

Message me if you'd like a bundle - Overseas can have one bundle max due to the cost of postage.

Thanks in advance for helping me create space in my study (which is getting smaller by the fat quarter)

Postage - I will tell you what it cost me,  I think it prudent that you the recipient give that amount to a charity of your choosing.  Is that fair?

Take care and happy blog hopping 

J x

P.S. 49 likes on the Face book page...   one more to unlock the fourth give away!"

Tuesday 11 December 2012

Give Away Items

Items up for Grabs....

I am open to entries from all over the world, one proviso must be that what ever you win, must be legal to be posted to your country.

I will break down the prizes in order to make postage a little less frightening on my side.

We have some lovely fabric's, 
Two FQ Moda Felicity Rose in Ivory and Blue, donated by the lovely ladies at Pin it and Stitch ( Click here for more Pin it and Stitch items )



The next bundle is a lovely pink Cup Cake photo frame and a fabulous book called Covered with love, applique patterns for Children's items




The final prize is a bundle comprizing of  a book called Handmade Cards, and another Jazzy Jean's, great idea's of  things you can make with jeans that have passed their sell by date, or a too big now 
And
I picture called Lady In Red by a local artist.




To be in with a chance to win these delightful bundles (one per winner - 3 winners in total)
all you need to do is subscribe to  this blog and leave me a comment so I know who you are.
  
I also have a Facebook page (the link is below)  If this page tops 50 likes before the end of the giveaway on Dec 15th Midnight I will open up a Fourth Prize....  So get liking...


It couldn't be simpler could it?



THE FACEBOOK WINNER WILL BE NOTIFIED BY FACEBOOK 

I will notify Blog Winners through the blog comment left 

Good Luck Bloggers and I look forward to getting to know you all soon
Janey x

Monday 10 December 2012

Blog Hop Giveaway

The Quilting Gallery

The above link takes you to the lady who is very generously organising a Blog Hop, in which many people world wide go from blog doing what needs to be done to be in with a chance of winning an item, be it fabric, patterns, books, you name it,

Tirelessly she has also co-ordinated the Sandy Quilt Block Drive in which Quilters and sew'er's again world wide have submitted blocks to quilts for families who were devastated by Sandy and Mother Nature.

To be in with a chance to win please stay tuned and I'll post an update in the morning (only 7 hours away!)

Thanks and I hope this works Michele... Janey x

And its all finished

Alright maybe not.

What is finished is College, We had our last lesson today.  Bid a sad farewell to the Box Xmas Tree thing we have been putting together with little success - Not one of us had any enthusiasm for this project..

Whilst it does look nice, and once I have put the 'chain's' onto the leaves to prevent the children from tearing them open and off in excitement, mine will be all done.  What I didn't do was - follow teacher's instructions particularly well, mostly because I forgot what she said within seconds of leaving last weeks class., and, because at 0330 this morning it seemed to be a good idea to attempt to put the thing together in a final push.

Everyone else's tree will have a box, with an inner box, mine has a box with a lid. My inner box doesn't have the base that it should (as its on the top as a lid!)

I put bells on that lid, and on the top of the tree, so I can hear the little ones open the tree and get their treats for the day.

These tree's are designed as a sweet holder, to be dipped into at any time during the festive season, mine will of course be a different tree - It is an Advent Tree

Each morning the kids will tear down stairs excitedly to see what has been left in the tree for them that day.... Tomorrow....?????

Arg OMG! I haven't thought that far ahead!!!!!! blimey ho, what to put into the box that isn't 'lame' and will make them want to come back the next day?

Money for the older ones and sweeties for the two little ones....

See, Mother's really do know best (Sometimes anyway)

I do hope this has found you well, and also that you have looked over at the Quilting Gallery

This is the same lady who has co-ordinated the Sandy Quilt Drive, in which so many of us World Wide Quilters were driven to creating something for the families who were devastated by the horrors of Mother Nature.

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Tell me this is one hell of a dream.... Please?

Oh my what can be happening in my star's for this to turn out how it's going right now?

A craft sale with over 40 Stalls that I was a 'craftee' in attendance was little more than a children's party with the added bonus of a woman screaming into the microphone for 5 hours solid promoting her new events management company!!!  God lord above, its now nearly 4 days later and my ear's have not recovered, my balance was negative as a result of the dearly beloved partner not listening to my implicit instructions when getting all my items down to pack... (which I didn't get a chance to check before he threw the lot into the rear of our car)

Hence we arrived and I then discover that all the jewellery is not with us.  So all in all not a successful day, £10 for the table, £20 for the fuel and erm well £15 in sales... we just made the cost of the table. In future I will be checking premises prior to booking a table and will be reading the poster's very carefully also.

She asked for feedback from the sellers... I know that at least 4 out of the 18 tables (NOT 40 +), were very upset and miffed about the mislabelling of the event. They didn't leave good feedback, so I was somewhat confused when I noticed the Facebook thread to say it was a resounding success?  False advertising is looked upon very dimly here in the UK, I wonder if she's aware of that?... anyway, that isn't all....

Last Sunday I baked like a demon to make tonnes of Ginger bread men for a fun afternoon at the Local Education Centre where I do my Patchwork. They all looked very dandy, and we were very impressed with them.  Only to find out I'd made them a week early!  Oh Jesus, what's going on in my tiny little Grey Cell right now?...

Not all though,

Christmas is under 3 weeks away, and the quilts I have not quite finished are almost ready for the next stage... One minor, no that's not right, one very huge problem has poked its ugly head up and is guffawing loudly at me... No one can find the quilting extension table for the sewing machine!!!!  OMG!!! I need that so desperately  my Daughter has turned her room inside out trying to find it.  Right, no that's a lye too, her room was already inside out, she tried to blame the looking for the table under the eaves on the piles of dirty clothes strewn about her floor... Now I know I am not the brightest bulb in the house, but even I know that dirty clothes do not accumulate under the eaves to be pulled out when an unsuspecting mother needs something from there....  



Why me? Why me? Why me????????

Please will someone send me some luck in the shape of a mantra, spell, charm, or even via voodoo... the 'other family' are interfering again, so voodoo is appropriate right now also (ok not that much, but enough to miff up my 40th Birthday party plans for my partner - who makes the birthday boy go to them to give him a card? )

So to sum up

I need the extension table yesterday, a very strict nanny to come along and whip my miscreant daughter into shape, a lovely batch of anti-biotic's to give my son's bad tooth the heave ho, and just a smidgen good luck and loveliness so that OH will look at me with something other than contempt... is that alright?

Aw you are too good to me, 
Thanks quilting massive,
J x

Oh one last thought... I did my good deed and completed the four Sandy Blocks, I may do more, but right now, Xmas has me licked x