I wish it could be christmas every day

....well today that's certainly been the feeling here in the small town....we are all together once again and its been a jolly kind of 'lets get it all together' kinda day.

Gifts that I've made for friends have been finished(modelled beautifully here by youngest), the house is decorated, a winter warmer stew was prepared and eaten and the Harvey's was fished out from the back of the cupboard......oh yes we all definitely have the festive spirit!

I'm dreamin of a white christmas........

just didn't want it tomorrow. .......we have lots of the white stuff here tonight in the small town. Tomorrow we are off to Yorkshire to collect eldest child from uni. if there's anyone up north could tell me what its like up there I would be truly grateful.

Herb just mentioned the fact that eldest said on the phone last night she was very excited it was going to snow here......she wasn't concerned we might be about to do a 6 hour round trip in a blizzard......ahh i replied that's what parents are for, to do all the worrying about practical matters.

Tree is up tonight but awaiting its adornment when eldest returns...its a family tradition, girls do the tree while mother sips a Harvey's Bristol cream or two. (father watches a football match somewhere in another room!), at least these days when they've finished I don't have to redo it when they've gone to bed....decs are emerging from hibernation......I'm a sucker for a reindeer or moose, anything with antlers really

I love the snowflake curtain here I found here and have made my usual snowflakes for the doors. unfortunately half were destroyed when herb opened said doors ripping some of my hard work to shreds. ho hum...wish us luck tomorrow!

a very rainy sunday

Some left over birthday cake, a strong coffee and a very absorbing book on this very blustery day here in the small town.........if you haven't read it give it a go. A very young friend of mine recommended it(he's 12 and as bright as a button). All I'll say is it's one mans tale of the Holocaust.........told in graphic form. I can't put it down.

Another Christmas present finished....love this one so it will be hard to give away(is that a mean thing to say?)

Have decided to make the mother a shawl for Christmas........she isn't exactly gushing over my hand made efforts so will let you know how its received.(have a back up just in case.)

Off to Bath this week. some friends of ours have just bought a large house that they plan to convert to a B&B. An exciting new adventure of which I am more than slightly jealous. So I will take lots of pictures and when its finished will let you know the name just in case you find yourselves in Bath with nowhere to stay. They are lovely people who will make a great success of it. There is also a Christmas market in Bath this week so am really excited on both fronts.

Finally we had a lovely day in Southwold this week to celebrate Herbs landmark birthday. Happy birthday lovely man!

big number birthday.....

Herb has a big number birthday coming up.......and I am at a loss what we can do on the day as its midweek. We wanted to go to York to see eldest child, stay over and have a meal but that would mean youngest missing 2 days of school and she cant really do that at the minute..........can anyone recommend a day out...we are about an hour north of London, going east. Restaurants, nice little towns, gardens, west end shows, anything.............am struggling.

Its been a while.........

...and I have done some lovely things....the knitting and stitching show at ally pally was wonderful, I would urge you to go next year if you can. Not only lots of lovely things to buy, but wonderful textile art and demonstrations. However I forgot my camera so have nothing to show except a couple of purchases. Wonderful Amy Butler prints for a bit of patchwork and gorgeous yarn for a bit of crochet.

but generally.....I have been in a major slump!

I'm not prone to moods except a little pmt and even that's on the wane.......nor generally to prolonged miserable periods, but this has been awful. I feel mithered, on edge, as if all my nerve endings are on the surface. Every thing is a major effort and nothing brings joy (except youngest child of course.) Herb and I have not got on, which is fairly unusual, I even cancelled good friends who were due to come for dinner last night only because I couldn't make the effort to cook. I have had a week off and hopefully with the return to work tomorrow, life will return to normal.

A good day was had on Thursday however, visiting the Tate Britain and Portrait Gallery, for the purpose of inspiring youngest for her ucas personal statement. Will write next time of what we saw, but would highly recommend the restaurant in Covent Garden we went to..... Wahaca....a fab Mexican, recently awarded best cheap eat by the guardian. It was really good.

despite 'slump' have been quite busy on the craft front, some more copying I'm afraid

a little try at some redwork embroidery

more bargello copying

and the crochet scarf all finished. Doesn't it look fab, hopefully it will be well received at Christmas.

Oh this was something else to add to my low period......a little accident in the rain........no one hurt thank goodness.

she's gone.............

Life has been really hectic here in the small town of late. We have visited two more universities for youngest, one far afield and one a bit nearer and then of course this weekend we took eldest child to York university. Which of course was extremely exciting and more than a little sad. The process for moving in couldn't have been easier. As we parked the car outside the accommodation, a mob of students descended and unpacked the car in a trice (love that word!) and deposited everything in her new home. The bed was made, the tins squirreled away (herb was aghast at how much food i had actually bought) and then we left, really quickly.
Of course that wasn't my idea, I would probably have hung out for the dramatic goodbye, but herb was having none of that (and quite right too) and so eldest disappeared without a back ward glance and left me to have a quick weep. Of course I knew she was crying too.....but after we had a walk round the campus and returned to the car, we spotted her on the grass in a big group all getting to know each other. I have phoned, I couldn't help myself and she is have fun meeting nice people.

Last week we visited Norwich university of art and Newcastle! I have never been to Newcastle before and we all loved it. Great campus, fantastic art department, the space for the students was the best we've seen and the course seemed just perfect, but of course it all comes down to that wretched portfolio, so youngest is busy trying to get that up to scratch.

On the way home I asked the man in the car park how we could get to see the Angel of the North as we had left the A1 too soon to see it. His reply was that why on earth would anyone want to see that rust bucket, it was a terrible eyesore, he could see it from his house and loathed it!

But we loved it. We only saw it close up but its a magnificent structure and when you stand at the feet and look up its imagined movement is more that a little scary.

Norwich was really good too, but it is specifically an art uni and is quite small, but its a great little city so she could do worse than end up there. The building and facilities are excellent and it all felt very exciting and creative.

On the crafting front the bargello is coming along a treat and I had a play with the hook and came up with the beginnings of this little scarf. both I think will become Christmas gifts as 'handmade is the way to go this year I think...............now that we are supporting a student and are poor, well that's what I'm telling herb when he wanted a new golf club, its going to be a cheap Christmas ha ha.

3 days to go..............

before eldest child packs up all the stuff we have bought, pots , pans, plates etc, all the photos she has printed of her pals, the university blanket and the box of tinned soups pasta, shampoo and loo rolls and various other bits and pieces and moves to york for university.............a new chapter begins.

Where has the week gone?

Where has the week gone that's what I'd like to know. Seems to me that after the landmark birthday last year the days are not just running or flying by, oh no, we are talking speed of light here. And yet more birthdays loom for us both, here in the small town.
Herb has his biggie coming up and try as I might I cannot raise a spot of interest in celebrating it. I've tried tempting him with the thought of a free bus pass and free swimming but he wont have it. I should have married a younger man not an older one me thinks if I wanted enthusiasm!

I tell you what finally raised a smile, someone told him that we look about the same age despite the almost decade between us.......how should I feel about that?

On Friday we had a lovely trip out with both girls to Grantchester for lunch... Here are the meadows made famous by Rupert Brooke, with a lovely little museum and more importantly, tea rooms that serve wonderful lunches in a beautiful setting. We had ours in the orchard sat on those deck chairs(not actually the easiest place to have soup) but oozing charm. The sun was shining, the apples dropping..........wonderful. The girls loved it and after food we ambled along the river which you can follow all the way to Cambridge. If you are in the area, do go. The museum is very small but crammed with letters and pictures of Brooke and of course all his poetry. What a gorgeous looking chap.....and such a tragic death.

Sunday Herb and I went for little drive and ended up in Finchingfield, one of Essex's prettiest villages. Obviously a meeting point for silver haired bikers on a Sunday, but with oodles of English charm. It even has a windmill.

On the crafting front, the university blanket is finished, bar a few more ends to sew in. It will be winging its way to York in 10 days time with eldest child to its new home....and god help it. I know it's probably destined for that spot in the corner or under the bed or at the bottom of the wardrobe. but you never know, when she has a moment that she misses us she might drag it out and think of home.

I saw a picture of this needlepoint in a magazine and thought it was beautiful, so have blatently copied it. Hardly creative I know, but it's been fun to sew. Do other blog friends copy stuff like that? Do let me know.




Another uni visit this weekend, Newcastle if you please and apparently there is a home game, so traffic and parking should be horrendous. The things we do.....................