This n' that..

Well Hello lovely bloggy people :o)

Hope the world is treating you well?

I've had a busy, kinda stressful few weeks.  My eldest daughter was finally admitted to King College Hospital last weekend, and we've been up there all week.
Thankyou most kindly for all your well wishes that you sent us :o)

She had loads of tests, a MRI scan and a PET scan. We're hoping that after all the tests she had, they may find a reason for her epilepsy.

I had a 'discharge letter' for her GP, and what I read there looks extremely interesting, but obviously we'll have to wait for the test results and to hear from the Professor before we know what happens next...

Not alot's been happening round here. I've still kinda lost my way blogging wise, but I'm going to just take my time and keep plodding on.
Blogs are such a good thing to have. I like to write mine so that I can have a record of things done/made. I'd like my children to be able to read through it in the future if they so wish.  And I think it's nice for people to know a bit about you if you take the time to comment on their blog.

I've been busy making my gift labels for my Etsy shop..

I've been trying to think of ways of styling my photo's, but I have such a lack of imagination sometimes!

 

I've also started to make hot water bottle covers, but I forgot to take the photos!

And I've made a few of my zip flowers into hair slides..

 

And since i've been back from hospital, our passion flowers have bloomed..

Look at that glorious sky! That was yesterday too, the 13th November!  14.c  it was here :o)

Well, I'm off to the shops now to fill up the cupboards again..

Is it just me, or does shopping get more boring the older you get? LOL

Have a great week lovely people, and take care,

Love Donna xx



Strange goings on :o)

Good Morning dear bloggy people :o)

I hope this post finds you all fine n dandy this Sunday morning :o)

Autumns here at last!   I love the crisp, cool, frosty mornings, but again this weekend is an extemely strange, warm morning for late October.

Just take a look at the contents of these photos for October in East Dorset..

Ok, ok, only joking!  ;o)

The above photo is from last year, but i just thought I'd remind you all of the gorgeous snow we had last December before we go on...;o)

Now, the one below is real! Taken this week in my garden..

It's my native hazel bush that I've grown from a nut..

See it's dying leaves..just a few left..?

Well, look closer, and you'll also see on the bush at the same time

some new buds, and catkins!  -Along with the dying leaves!

What's going on? These catkins aren't supposed to appear before next spring. Does this mean we will have no buds next spring?  As the frost will soon kill them off.. :o(

And also in my garden last week..

Look, my forsythia with it's autumnal leaves, and it's January flowers!!

Forsythia flowers normally appear in January *before* the leaves come on the branches, but as my leaves are curently dying, so my flowers are appearing!

I also have strawberries coming out now..

These type of strawberries are usually out in July/August.

But my dahlias are just pretties..

and they can come out until November apparently if the frosts aren't too bad :o)

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Remember my half finished hand warmers from my last post? Well, I finished them,

and have crocheted 3 more pairs since then, but unfortunately I haven't photographed them.

I've been busy making more bits for my Etsy shop too.

*Pin wheel brooches*

*Christmas cake picks*  I've made all sorts of these..snowflakes, butterflies etc..

*Pentagon christmas crochet bunting*

And *zip brooches and hair grips*

Although I have to say I've been somewhat of a 'slacker'  (as Jennie would say;o))

in the listing of products in my shop.

I mean I *still* haven't listed the makes I made during the summer holidays!

And in a couple of weeks my eldest daughter is going for a short stay in Kings College hospital London, so I'm not sure whether to list now, or now wait until we come out!

Honestly, sometimes I do make life hard for myself :o)

I also haven't forgotten my recipe from my last post for the quiche/tart.

I've taken some lovely photos for it, and I shall get the recipe up on a 'stand alone' page as soon as I have time.

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This weekend has been all about tidying. As I'm staying at the hospital with my daughter I need to get everything ship shape at home so that hubby and the other two children don't have to do much whilst I'm gone.

And I have some custom bunting to make for a 40th birthday too, which needs to be done before I go.  But I'll tell you more about that in a few weeks.

Well, anyway, that's it for me today.

I have loads to write about, as I haven't had the heart to blog these past couple of weeks ..I don't know why. I mean I've been about, just didn't feel much like posting. And I think sometimes when blogger is going wrong and you can't comment and stuff, it all gets a bit frustrating!  Maybe I just give up too easily lol.     Do you ever get like that?

Well, have a lovely Sunday everyone. And if your children are off school this week for half term like mine are, have a gorgeous autumny time won't you?

Take care all of you,

Love Donna xx



Cooking and memories

Morning my fair blogging friends:o)  (Fair as in fair-weather, but as you're always here in bloglang, fair blogging...see? :o)

Hope this post finds you all fine and dandy :o)

There has been a fair bit of cooking going on in the little tiny household, so I thought I'd have a bit of a tell, and pop in down in my lil' ole' blog for memories sake.

The cooking hasn't all been being done by me, so it makes me extra proud to put the makes down for posterity :o)

First up is the most gorgeous Butternut Squash and pesto tart/quiche thingy.

It's the nicest quiche/tart thingy that  I've ever made up -if I do say so myself :o)

Wholemeal pastry with a handful of chopped nuts baked blind. A layer of pesto on the bottom, then baked, mashed butternut squash, then the eggy, veggie, herb mixture on top.

MMmmm..

Then next up are wholemeal sponge cakes..

They taste gorgeous with pure cane dark brown sugar in the mix..

A bit of dodgy icing..

A pretty shop bought wafer flower, and yummy :o)

And last but not least, the one I'm  proud of..

A gorgeous Lemon Tart made by my eldest daughter..

Under the grill for ten minutes to melt the icing sugar...

And devour with a dollop of (very expensive!) clotted cream!

Oh, it was divine :o)

An extra gorgeous treat for us!

IMPORTANT NOTE:  None of the above are any good whatsoever for your waistline, although highly recommended for your taste buds :o)

If any of you would like the recipes, just say, but I didn't want to just post them for fear of boring you more :o)

Crochet wise, I'm still plodding on with my monochromatic green afghan.

But I've also started these..

Pink and black striped hand warmers for my youngest daughter.

They whip up in about an hour, so are easy and fun to make :o)  (Unless you're doing a different stitch than trebles or doubles)

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And here's one for you memory.

Remember 'The Darling Buds of May' ?

A very young Catherine Zeta-Jones..?

But saying that, she really doesn't look much older now a days does she?..

And one I had to take the other day was when I switched tv on in the early hours, and a re-run of the 'Liver Birds' was on!

Don't tell me I'm the only one who remembers them!

And not only were thay crocheting, but one of them was wearing the most funky crochet top :o)

It made me smile, 'specially with that collar!

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I'd also just like to say that I'm still having trouble commenting on peoples blogs.

I'm reading them, but when I go to comment and have written it, blogger just swallows the comment and leaves the comment box blank :o(

I still haven't worked out how to fix this, so until then please know that I'm still with you, I just can't show you I am :o)

A few off the top of my head are:

Little Blue Mouse

Crafty cats corner

Vintage Vicki

Hesta Nesta

Jumbles and pompoms

Ribbons undone

Scarlett loves Elvis

Vintage Hearth

And several more, but the names escape me at the moment.

So Hi to all of you :o)

Have a great weekend if I don't speak to you before, and take care,

Love Donna xx

Too nosey for my own good! Crafting and fossil hunting :o)

Good evening lovely bloggers!

How are you all this damp and Autumnal-like August evening?

I hope this post finds you all fandabby dozy :o)

  I came and sat down in front of this screen nearly two hours ago now. I loaded up my photos from my camera so that I could make a post.  Got my crochet out next to me ready to do a spot of crocheting while Blogger was loading my pictures. Started looking at all my favourite blogs, and now it's two hours later, and I've only just started to write my own post!

Honestly, I'm too nosey for my own good I am!! lol.

Anyway, let's just get down to business now shall we?

I know you won't believe this, but I actually got around to taking some photos of my daughters quilt I made her for her Birthday.

I couldn't make her a quilt and not add some crochet now could I? And the beautiful oriental butterfly is from just one of the vintage fabric pieces i bought from Jennie's shop.

I spied this sequined skull and cross bones in my local fabric shop, and with his red gem eyes, I just had to get it for her along with a sequined star that you can see in a picture above ...

This was the backing fabric...loads of bright skulls on a black background.

I couldn't actually find any fabric like this in the fabric shop, so i bought a brand new double duvet cover, and used one side of that.. 

This is a closer view of the backing fabric..i had to add some girly flowers to each end as it was just too goth like to keep it all skulls and cross bones.

The dolphin cushion cover came up beautifully.

But unfortunately the only feather cushion i could buy in time was too big for the cover, so we've put it in for now with a view to getting a smaller one when we see one! (Hence the very over stuffed look :o)

***

I'm working on a few crafty projects at the moment. 

This is the beginings of a new afghan I'm making. It's yellow in all the centres, then greens in the middles, then I'm going to border it with black -around each granny square-, and maybe add a thin yellow border round the very outside too.  but this is an 'ongoing spare five minutes' project that just gets added to every now and then.

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See my beautiful little russian doll?

I spied her in the Charity shop the other day.

She's absolutely tiny, just four centimetres tall. I just couldn't leave her there once I'd spied her.

***

We've been out and about quite a bit these school holidays.

Over the past few days, we visited Lyme Regis again. (We went there on our way back from holiday)

It's the most lovely place, all kinda quaint and English-fied.

Gorgeous old buildings..

I just loved these blue shutters on this old house by the stream..

gorgeous pastel coloured beach huts..

D'you remember the book 'Persuasion' by Jane austen?

Well, the stretch of path above is called the 'cobb', and it's a place her heroine in her book visited, and the scene of a nasty accident!   But it was lovely to 'promenade' along it thinking of her story (Alas I'm the only one in my family who had read it, so the others had to take my word for it that it was in her book lol)

I just love vintage graffiti don't you?  :o)

It was a glorious, sunny day,

We headed up the beach to some of the best fossil hunting areas in the country..

Took out trusty tools...

And hey presto!

Laying in the ground (no hammering required!) I spotted this beauty...

She's a gorgeous fossil. 7cm across, and made of solid iron pyrite (fools gold) so she shimmers beautifully in the light.

we found several other fossils too, but not as good as this one.

Do you go fossil hunting?

Our children love it. Shades on, so no nasty bits of rock fling up in their eyes...and they can hammer away with impunity :o)

If you've got this far without falling asleep, thankyou for reading my lovelies.

I'll try and post more often with less photos in future ;o) (famous last words).

Have a great week whatever you do...

Two weeks till they're back at school -it'll fly by ;o)

Take care now,

Love Donna x