It's been a while

It's been a while, so I thought it was about time I popped in to say hello to you all. I'm sorry I've been away so long, it's been a bad few months. My nan sadly passed away on bonfire night and my mother in law is poorly with cancer, so I've had nothing cheerful to blog about, and have been rather busy. But anyhow less of the doom and gloom, lets lighten the mood. Christmas is less than a month away now and I love Christmas :o). I had a stall at two small local Xmas gift fairs last weekend and today, but sadly the turnout was poor, I think the cold weather didn't help today. So I thought I'd show you a couple of things I made. The two doll's above were for the fair. I only finished the sleepy one at midnight last night.

I took along some jams and chutney.

And some gingerbread men, as well as other dolls and hearts etc. I will be popping some bits and pieces in my blog shop in a minute if you wanted to take a peek.

Tomorrow I'm off to the Christmas bear fair in Beaulieu with my sister in law, perhaps if your in the area you could visit, its always a lovely fair.

Have you all written your Christmas lists for Santa? I expect a lot of them will be dominated with Cath Kidston, I know mine is.

Hope you are all well, and not too cold.

TTFN

Its been a while.......

But I'm still alive. Its been ages since I've written a blog post so I thought it was about time I got to it. Well since I last posted, Christmas, New Year and snow has come and gone, and January is nearly at an end, thank god, I bloomin hate January. Christmas was a busy affair full of cooking, cleaning and entertaining but a good time was had by all. I had some lovely Xmas pressies and wasn't short of CK. especially hand cream. I don't think I'll need to buy any for a while.

I can recommend the wild rose hand cream, its absolutely gorgeous and I slap it on everyday. I'm hoping to have some time to get some crafting done at some point so I can get to use my new sewing and pin tin. I just haven't had time to do anything of late, and I'm having sewing withdrawls.

The new CK spring catalogue popped through the door last week and had some lovely new designs inside. I hope to be able to do a bit of shopping this weekend and treat myself. I had hoped to go on Saturday, but we had a very poorly puppy on our hands at the weekend. Had to phone the vets out of hours and got little Beau to see the vet first thing Monday morning. He's on some medicine now and is doing much better, almost back to his normal bouncy self. We just need to fatten him up a bit now as he lost so much weight.

The snow had the dogs acting crazy. They both absolutely loved it. In fact Woody loved it more than Beau, you'd think he was the puppy. This snow man became a good friend of theirs. Beau decided to steal his stick nose.

I've popped over a few of your blogs, and hope to get around to a few more in the next couple of weeks. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. I won't leave it so long until my next post. Catch you later folks. xxxx Pixie xxxx

Christmas Fayre

Sorry I've been away for a bit, I have been busy stitching for the craft fair which was on Sunday. What a complete wash out that was. All that time and effort could have been better spent getting the house cleaned and tidied ready for Christmas. We had a grand total of 10 people walk through the door all day. I did sell a few bits and pieces mainly to other stallholders, but after you deduct the cost of the table, I made a grand total of £19.50.

Here are some pics of my stall, they're not that great as the camera decided not to work, so I took these on my phone.

I was really pleased with how my little white tree looked, in fact I now have it in the dining room ready for some Xmas decs.

I did sell this cute gingerbread man garland. All the little pieces I have left I'll pop in my blogshop later if anyone wanted to take a look.

This was the lovely cupcake stand that was made by my SIL at Teeny Cupcakes.

And her little cupcake bears, available at Teeny Bears.

I hope every one's Christmas plans are coming along nicely. I hope to get the decorations up this week, then I'll pop up some pics.

TTFN

Pixie xxxx

No more Turkey Please.....

Look at the great solstice gift I received from my friend Sharon, isn't it great. Shes really worked hard and put a lot of thought into her presents. She made a few different hampers for solstice/Christmas presents. Mine contained home made sloe gin and rose hip syrup, home made green tomato and apple chutney, an orange studded with cloves and home made aura cleansing oil and a bag of homemade marshmallows and the river cottage 2009 diary in a lovely basket. What more could a girl ask for. Thanks Mate. xxx ( I did sample the sloe gin before the pic hic hic).

Well we had a homemade turkey and leek pie for dinner last night and we will be having the same tonight. I have a freezer full of turkey stock and turkey in stock for stews. We had turkey Xmas day, and boxing day and have eaten numerous turkey and stuffing sandwiches, but thank god after tonight no more turkey for a bit. that's what you get when you buy a 5kg bird. It was from the farm shop and cost a fortune so I wasn't going to waste a bit. Well tomorrow night I have my sister in law and brother in law for dinner and no turkey. So what are we having......CHICKEN......lol. Will I ever learn.

We had a lovely walk around the nature reserve this morning. Jack frost had been out in force and it was rather chilly. But I did enjoy hearing the ground crunching under my feet, and Woody really enjoyed the huge stick he found. I remembered this morning that its soon Seville Orange time so will definitely be making some marmalade this year as I missed it last year, so watch this space.

Have a good day all. xxx

A Great Christmas......

Well we had a great Christmas here. Christmas day was a success, all went well. It was the first year I've hosted Christmas, and my parents and my brother and his girlfriend came to dinner. We ate, drank and made merry. Its the first proper dinner I've eaten in ages, as I haven't been very well of late, due to sickness bugs and flu, which I'm still getting over, that's why the blogging has lapsed. I got some great Christmas gifts. Hubby got me the Merlin TV series on DVD which I love and the latest enya CD, bliss.

Also from hubby was this soft and squidgy hot water bottle cover, and these cow wheatie slippers which you heat in the microwave and they contain essential oils.

This little sign was from my sister in law, very apt I thought.

Woody has been on fridge patrol guarding the turkey.

Here's a pic of the Christmas table. The dining room really did look lovely.

I've also been busy making another sheep, which was an order for a Christmas pressie. Its the towelling one.

She took a while but I was pleased with how she turned out.

So all in all a really enjoyable Christmas, drank too much and have enough chocolate to open a shop but I'm sure it will keep.

Hope you all had a good one. xxxx

cards and mince pies....

Well I sat down briefly earlier, put my xmas cd on and made a start at writing the xmas cards. Of course I had to have a cuppa and a mince pie too.
which was quickly spotted by woody.......

who then did the sad eyes and guilt trip on his mummy. So I did give him a little bit of pastry. well look at him.........

Took my cosy night in swap to the post office today, and then popped in the shop and picked up the next issue of sew hip, and two home mags.

Well off to work now folks have a nice afternoon. xxx

Some Christmas Pics....

Well we got the house decorated for Christmas this weekend. Here's our tree.
and the long awaited finished freezer unit and sideboard that my hubby has made. Isn't he clever.

a better pic of the tree.

Our Christmas dresser unit.

I'm really pleased with how the dining room has turned out. This time last year it was a shell, that needed complete renovation.

I love my little ducks.

and our new Gisela Graham apple tree.

This was my partylite hostess gift from my recent party.

The advent calender.

no door handle escapes.

more partylite.

I made this little tree a few years ago.

and the sideboard in our lounge.

I've got a really sore throat today and feeling very hot. I've only just shaken a sickness bug and still haven't got rid of my last cough yet, I really don't want to be ill again, I just haven't got time. I'm watching miracle on 34th street at the moment with a glass of milk, and hoping that I'll wake up tomorrow feeling bright as a button.

Night Night for now folks.