Only Two Takers So Far......

PIF STILL OPEN UNTIL TOMORROW, I ONLY HAVE TWO TAKERS SO THERE IS STILL ONE MORE PLACE AVAILABLE FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO TAKE PART. PLEASE SEE MONDAY'S POST FOR DETAILS.

Pay It Forward - Giveaway.....

My friend Bovey Belle at Codlins and Cream hosted a PIF over on her blog a while back, and I was fortunate to receive a beautiful cross stitch, pictured below. In return I have promised that:-

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"I will send a handmade gift to three people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I can't say what that gift will be yet, as planning it is half the fun, and you may not receive it in a flash.....but i promise you it will arrive! The only thing you have to do in return is Pay It Forward by making the same promise on your blog".
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So I am inviting three of my readers and friends to participate in this PIF. It will be lovely to see who reads my blog, rather than just having a number count each day. I will put your names in a hat and get an unbiased person, probably (hubby) to draw out three recipients. The closing date for entries, will be Sunday 1st June 08. Good Luck!

Award....

I'm so chuffed, look what I've just got! Many Thanks to Solstice Dreamer for giving me this award, it really made my day!

OOOOOHHHH Look What I've Got.....

This beautiful cross stitch came in the post for me today. It's by PIF gift from the lovely Bovey Belle at Codlins and Cream. She even put it in a frame for me.
Look how neat the stitching is!


This bookmark also came for me today, isn't it great. I belong to a forum where we all made a bookmark for another forum member, but we don't know who made ours, so a BIG thank you to the lovely lady who made mine. I've been busy finishing mine off today and posting it so the mystery forum member should receive it in the next couple of days.

Hubby put the dining room blind up this evening, so just need to finish the radiator cover and put underlay and carpet down now. oh and table and chairs, but almost done.

I will hopefully be posting my PIF giveaway at the weekend, so watch out for it!

In My Garden......

Just popped out in the garden yesterday avo and took this pics from the garden.

Can't have new potatoes without mint!
Not sure what this is but its very pretty.
I was hoping the postman might bring something exciting today, but sadly not, well hopefully tomorow then.

Tuesdays Tittle Tattle....

Well, got a load more decorating done at the weekend. BUT......trying to paint one of those bloomin radiator covers is a nightmare, cos you have to get into all the holes with the paint. After a while hubby and I abandoned it, cos we were running out of patience. Maybe we will tackle a bit more tonight.

Picked up table from my mums, but unfortunately its going to be a bit small, so we will use it in the conservatory instead, and try and get another second hand table. Will have another look on e-bay later.

I've been making a bookmark for a swap on a forum I belong to, and hope to have that finished in the next couple of days. I've been waiting for the posty today, incase he bought me my bookmark but sadly not. Also I'm waiting for a PIF through the post, the anticipation its just like Christmas. I hope to put a PIF up on my blog in the next couple of weeks, so watch this space.

Spent ages yesterday giving the bathroom a good clean, whilst telling myself not to let it get so bad in future and clean as I go. I'm always having these little conversations with my self, but I don't seem to listen. Bathroom is all sparkly and clean now, lovely. And today I cleaned the fridge, I bet the house thinks it's her birthday!

A chair makeover.....

Well here is the finished chair! Had a spot of luck yesterday, Hubby knows an upholsterer who has his workshop at his dads place. We popped in to see him to see if he had any offcuts of material we could use for our chair seats. He pointed us to the corner of the workshop and said help yourself. Found this fabric, and he not only gave us it for free, but also did the four seat pads for us as well, including re-padding them for FREE. I'm so chuffed, I can tell you. Just three more chairs to rub down and glue now. Also mum and dad have an old pine table we can have, so will be rubbing that down too and painting the legs.

A spot of planting.....

Didn't get a chance to post yesterday, so finally getting round to it today. Hubby and I had another busy day yesterday. We nipped to the library, then to Hobbycraft, then the garden centre and then a home furnishing store. Managed to get some strawberry plants, some tumbling tomatoes for my hanging baskets, some more runner bean seeds and some bean canes.
Didn't manage to get any fabric for covering my chairs so still on the look out.
We got home and spent the rest of the day in the garden. I planted my strawberry plants, and put the canes together and put some more runner beans in. We love runner beans in our family, you can never have enough.

Also put my tumbling toms into the hanging baskets, and surrounded them with my basil seedlings. So we have no flowers out the front this year, just tomato and basil baskets for a change.
Whilst I was planting all this up, hubby glued the chair back together and then sanded again. Got a phone call about 5.30, to see if I was going to a friends birthday get together, which I completely forgot about, so quickly did tea, jumped in the bath, and was off out again.

A project and a garden visitor.....

Another bea-u-ti-full day today. We got up about 8.30 this morning, to no alarm clock, bliss. I love having a week off work together. We walked the dog together, then went shopping together, then we spent the afternoon in the garden together. Hubby went on the laptop and I looked through Good Homes magazine. As I've mentioned before, we are decorating the dining room at the mo, and we will need a new table and chairs, but I've had the idea that I'd like to re-use our dining room chairs, so this-avo, I just made a start.
This is a before pic of one of our chairs. We're not sure what wood it is, but it is a hard wood, Hubby thinks they could be beech or ash. We think they date from around the 60's but not sure. We were given them when we first got the house, from a little old ladies house clearance. I started to rub it down, but soon hubby joined in and it was decided, it needed to be taken apart to be properly rubbed down and glued and pegged back together.
This is the rubbed down chair, still to be glued. Hubbys borrowing some clamps from his dad. Once glued I'm going to paint it cream.
It took me an age to get the staples out of the seat and separate all the layers. I'm going to try and re-use the wadding, but add some more on top. I'm off in a mo to find some nice second hand Laura Ashley curtains on e-bay to reupholster the seats. Only three more to go after this. We did have two more a few years back, but threw them out. I'm kicking myself now.
This little chap decided to visit the garden today. Slow Worms are quite rare now. Hubby managed to pick him up and put him in the border out of harms way.

In the Garden....

Finally got out in the garden today, and got planting. Planted runner beans, dwarf beans, peas, basil, Ornamental squashes and cut and come again lettuces.
I'd already started off my basil seedlings in the conservatory, so potted these on.
This is one of our miniature apple trees they we planted a couple of months back.

This is a thornless blackberry, I'm looking forward to the fruit from this, but will probably have to wait until next year. And this is a miniature pear that we planted the same time as the apples. We may have them mixed up though, as I took the labels off before they went in. ooops.

Listening to Seth Lakeman - Freedom Fields, whilst posting.

That Friday Feeling.....

WHOOPEEE Its Friday, and I've got a weeks holiday now. It's very muggy here, but the sun has finally broken through the clouds. Lots to do around the house and garden, so next week will mainly be spent doing that. But I know once it's done I'll feel so much better. Also hoping to get the dining room finished next week, don't know what hubby will have to say about that, but its niggling at me now, and I need it done so I can get in there and titivate.

I handed in my notice at work on Wednesday, and leave in three weeks. I have a new job as a Play worker, which I think I'm going to really enjoy.

Hopefully taking Woody for a nice walk along the Shore this afternoon with a couple of friends and their dogs, I'm sure he'll love that.

Beltane Camp 2008

Well, I'm back and it was a good camp. Our little part of camp is more like a little village, the amount of stuff we seem to take with us. This is a pic of our kitchen tent, and my friend Sharon's kitchen larder, which she was particularly proud of. Notes to my self for next time, work out how many people are taking bacon and sausages as we had to give some away and throw some, as we had so much.
We got through quite a lot of this stuff, in the fire pit.
This is Pixiedust's accommodation. It's supposed to be a four man tent, but only enough room for me and my stuff.
AAHH THE FIRE PIT!
This is my friend Sharon in the smoke. Quite an eerie pic I thought.

Camp breakfast. The fire pit even came in handy for cooking on.
Here we all are Maypole dancing. We didn't start off very well, as somehow we kept getting the directions wrong.
It came together at the end though.
One of the corners of the Floralia ritual. Which I always enjoy.

We also did a bit of barn dancing in the big tent, which was great fun but exhausting. And yet again, proved my lack of coordination. There were many late nights had and copious amounts of Mead and other alcohol consumed, purely to keep us warm of course. We sang and drummed and watched the stars whilst listening to owls. My new friends Marie and Julian saw a shooting star, which as usual i missed, too busy talking. We saw loads of deer and I heard a cuckoo for the first time. It did rain all night on Sunday and Monday morning, so we came back Monday. But all in all we had good weather, and Beltane camp was a success.

Beltane Camp

Hi everyone, just to let you know I won't be posting for a few days, as off to Beltane camp. You'd think I was going for a week, the amount of stuff I seem to be taking. I'm a typical Virgo, being prepared for every eventuality. My poor car's got to lug it all to camp. I'm hoping the grounds not too bad, as my worst nightmare would be getting stuck in. My car is filled with lots of jumpers, blankets and quilts, as I really feel the cold. When I return, I hope to have lots of pics and plenty to blog about. Speak to you all soon.

Happy Beltane. xxx