A visit to the Games Cafe

We joined the family for a visit to the Games Room Cafe yesterday. It was great fun and we learnt a number of new board games.

Abigail decided to have a hot chocolate with all the trimmings.

How many calories in this? 

Both Eleanor and I were feeling better and really liked this game of Incan Gold, hiding ‘money crystals’ under little tents.

A great afternoon, followed by dinner Richard had cooked and a Christmas Tree game.

Dish cloth crazy

I think I’ve gone dish cloth crazy !

Spent the whole of yesterday not feeling too well knitting dishcloths.

So quick and easy I tried out three different designs and joined a Dishcloth Facebook page, yes there is such a thing!

Using Wendy Supreme luxury cotton 4ply and Knitpro size 3 needles... all I had available.

They seem a bit small so maybe the next ones I’ll enlarge the patterns and knit a bigger size.

Christmas Day with the family

Richard, Jacq and the girls arrived with Jacq’s sister and mum to spend the day with us. It was almost perfect with lots to eat [too much really!] and games to play. Eleanor was not well and spend most of the day snuggled under crochet blankets asleep on the settee.

Our new Christmas Tree covered in memories of years past.

Jacq and Abigail opening gifts

Eleanor Richard and Jacq yo ho ho-ing

This was the end of photo taking as I had dinner to cook and then we payed games, lots of games while Heather rested in the lounge and Eleanor slept.

It was a lovely day and I am so thankful for my family. 

Christmas Tree cupcakes

Just collected my Christmas Tree cupcakes from Lisa, she does such a wonderful job of preparing these cakes.

There are twelve cupcakes, do you think anyone would notice if I took one out and ate it?

Joggers for one of my knitted animals

I managed to complete the blue joggers, with cabled sides to complete the outfit with the duffle coat I made a few days ago.

Due to a silly mistake on my part I only had two 10gram balls of Catona yarn and should have bought a 50gram ball, so I ran out about 15 rows from the end. Woolwarehouse came to my rescue, even though it was at a cost! They have a £2.95 flat postage charge, so a 10 gram ball for 59p cost me £3.54 but it arrived the next day which put me out of my misery, and I completed the joggers.

Christmas Eve

The final window of my Advent calendars is open, what a treat, 24 candles in red, white and green. The other Advent calendar is a beautiful selection of Scheepjes yarns that I am so looking forward to using.

Christmas Eve and the last ‘window’ is opened. An extra gift of two stitch markers were enclosed in this final window.

As the family are coming here for the day tomorrow I have decided to use my Happy Room as a dining room, and started to set the table in readiness.

My new table cloths and placemats look very smart, now to make sure I have enough food for everyone!

Happy Christmas may your year be blessed with good health and family.

A finish and a problem

I managed to complete a duffle coat for one of my animals and had to wait quite a time for the toggles to be delivered, but pleased with the finish.

I am also knitting the charcoal blue trousers to go with the duffle coat but owning to a silly mistake on my part I have run out of yarn, 15 rows from the bottom ! The yarn costs 59p for a 10gram ball but the postage is £2.75... good job its Christmas ! Now waiting for the postman to bring it.

The Jigsaws

A few days ago I managed to buy 6 jigsaws for £5 on Market Place [facebook group].

They are all of different trains and 500 pieces, which are just the size I like.

I have in fact completed this one and have started another, just the thing to do when you are feeling unwell.

Secret Santa

The door bell rang last night and on the step was a gift from Secret Santa. This cheered me up no end.

I know it was from church but who left it?

The cold

All my good intentions of blogging more went out the window when we returned from our Suffolk holiday. The cold I had been nursing for three weeks turned into a terrible cough that triggered my asthma. To say I have been feeling awful is an understatement. Yesterday I had a scary asthma attack so today I have been given a course of antibiotics. Hopefully things will start to improve now.

One good thing I have sent all my Christmas cards, wrapped all my presents and bought or ordered all the Christmas food, now to just get well enough to enjoy the holiday.

Time to open todays Advent Calenders, my Scheepjies calendar has been really special and each day I get a different 10gram ball of yarn, perfect for knitting clothes for my mouse and fox. The candle Calender has meant each evening we have enjoyed the glow of a different candle.

Hope you are all keeping well and are ready for the Christmas season.

Sunrise

This morning we were treated with a beautiful sunrise. Photo taken from the main bedroom.

The small blue shed contains wood for the log fire, while the Blue beach hut is at the far end of the garden overlooking the sea.

This is our last day here, and I will be sad to leave.

View from the second bedroom window, with the Church showing to new thatch.

The Beach Hut

Little has been happening around here, other than crochet and knitting. 

We have enjoyed the Beach hut and spent most afternoon enjoying it. 

Having brought a travel kettle from home, we set up a cuppa station, and together with the little radiator already 

in the Beach hut it is always nice and cosy.  I have been working on making crochet leaves with oddments of Stylecraft yarn.

Chris has his nose in a book and the only sound is the sea and the odd seagull... heaven.

A Sunday morning beach walk

The sun was calling us to go out for a walk, so wrapped up warm against the very cold wind, we wandered along the beach into Lowestoft.

Pebble Cottage ‘home’ is just beyond the Church in the distance.

The Lifeboat suddenly zoomed past.

Dog prints in the sand

Bright and Breezy

Hope all this sea air cures my chesty cough!

Christmas Tree Festival

Saturday we visited the Christmas Tree festival at Carlton Colville.

Loved these painted clay Christmas tree baubles. Must try this when i get home.

For such a small church it had a wonderful display of trees.

Everyone from children to Mothers Union had a tree displayed.

A Christmas Tree made of boxes to be sent to Children who have nothing, such a great way of displaying them.

Love love love this patchwork in front of the Altar.

I have the pattern at home, must dig it out and make it for next Christmas. I think I have been saying that for years!

Pebble Cottage Pakefield

Yesterday we returned for a second visit to Pebble Cottage in Pakefield Suffolk. We loved our visit here a couple of months ago and the owners luckily had a vacancy. No detail is left to chance, with roses on the table, wine and beer for Chris,  Chocolates for me, it is such a cosy place.

We settled in after a lunch and shop at Morrison’s enroute. The sun briefly came out so we walked up the garden to the beach hut, which has a heater and will be a nice place to go and relax in, overlooking the sea.

The view from the beach hut. I could look at this all day.

In the evening we lit the log fire and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

I’m not sure six days here will be long enough.

DAS air drying clay

Earlier this week I read somewhere about Air drying clay and thought I would like to have a play with it.

A Kilo bag from Hobby Craft cost £4. I rolled out a quarter of the bag to the thickness of a biscuit, and using the only cutter I could find cut out a number of shapes. Using a set of Alphabet stamps I printed the names of the IAM group and the family, making sure to make a hole for the eventual ribbon to hang 

Left for two days on a cake rack they dried out and I added a coloured ribbon through the holes so they could be hung on a Christmas Tree.

I was really pleased with the result, and when I gave them to the IAM group they requested one every year! I still have three quarters of a bag of the clay so will have another play day, must try and find my other cake cutters!

Christmas IAM

Thursday we celebrated Christmas IAM, only Pauline was missing [she was on a cruise]. 

In a moment of madness I offered to show how to make a penguin from a couple of socks. I had been shown how to do this myself only a short while ago by Mavis a member of another group I belong to.

Suffering the third week of a wretched cold/cough we started the get together with glue guns raised, laughing about a health and safety warning. I must add all seven of us do a lot of craft work so i did not foresee any problems, plus all seven of us own a glue gun.

Three burns and a blister later !!!

Cutting a black sock in half we put a small amount of rice in the toe end and then filling with stuffing tied the top securely. Cut out the ‘bib’ front, feet and wings glued them on to the black stuffed sock. I found a large selection of eyes in my cupboards [why did I have SO many!] these were also glued on. Finally a hat and scarf was cut from the top of another sock and the penguins were ready to line up.

At this point everyone wanted to make another, so twins and siblings were made, each having its own personality.

Don’t they look great.  

Please note instead of using Christmas cloth table covers I choose a roll of Christmas wrapping paper as I foresaw the mess that might occur.

After lunch we had show and tell. I gave everyone the decorations I had made [see another post] and showed the glass fused decorations I had also made.

Clare had made a wonderful Christmas Tree garland

Shirley had produced a pretty crochet blanket.

Next in our day was the gift giving. It is always so exciting to receive 7 gifts [we have a £2 limit] and like children we ooh and aah over every present.

The fun continues with a couple of party games. The Left Right game is played with small stationery items, I ‘won’ a very nice note pad.

Finally we played a ‘swap game’ I seem to forgotten to take any more photos, we were having so much fun and laughter.

Happy Christmas to the IAMers including Jenny who left us this year to move ‘down south’.

Fleece

A few days ago I helped Lynn from church cut 30+ metres of fleece fabric into blanket size pieces for a service project. The finished blankets will be given to a Women’s hostel for family’s fleeing abusive situations. The women and children often leave with absolutely nothing so the blankets will be given to the children.

It was a back breaking job, the fleece was 1.5 metres wide, but went fairly quickly.

As anyone who quilts knows fleece makes such a mess of your cutting board. 

I googled a cure and most said to use a rubber, so I tried it and Bingo it worked, my board is back to ‘normal’.

The section on the right has been ‘rubbed’.

Advent

Happy Advent everyone.

I received two Advent Calenders for my birthday, so today I got to open window one.

The Candle Calender has a scented candle I will light tonight

 and the Scheepjes Calender a 10gram ball of Stone Washed Turquoise yarn, and ideal size for the animal clothes I am knitting.

It’s beginning to look like a zoo

It’s beginning to look like a zoo in my Happy Room. 

Miss Mouse has joined the family... haven’t decided what to call her yet, but she is looking cute in her dungarees and knitted top.

Fusing glass with Vanessa

Monday and a group of friends from the Bedford Sewing group I belong to came to fuse glass in my Happy Room with Vanessa teaching us.

Most chose to make coasters but Sue and I decided to make Christmas decorations that have now gone off for firing at 800 degrees.

It was a fun day, special thanks to Gill for bringing the cakes, and of course Vanessa for teaching us.

Chance 2 Dance

Sunday saw us up early to travel to Stanmore Tube Station where we left the car and boarded the Jubilee Line Underground train to the 02 Arena.

Neither of us had been to the amazing structure called the 02 in London.

We were here for a special event, our granddaughters were performing with their dance group in a competition called Chance to Dance.

We wandered around the many shops and stopped for lunch at the Harvester Resturant before meeting the girls as they arrived from their coach.

The place was swarming with dance and gym groups from around the Country, some taking a few last minutes to practice their routines.

It was a wonderful evening and of course Abigail and Eleanor were the best [ I expect every parent and grandparent says that!]

The finale with 3 from each group receiving their prizes.