Dressers, Shops and Fairs.......

Evening all. I hope every ones been OK through this stormy weather, we nearly lost our carport roof earlier. Hubby was stood on top of the fence nailing it back down while I held the ladder, I was so glad when he got down off that fence I can tell you, it was a bit scary out there. So what have I been up to?.....Quite a lot, actually. Firstly I was chuffed to bits when I won the auction for this dresser on e-bay, we battled the windy weather to go and pick it up from West Wittering this afternoon. I did have plans of painting it, but I think it looks rather nice the colour it is. Just needs a bit of a sand down and some bee's wax.

On the way back from picking up the dresser I spotted a lovely looking garden centre and managed to persuade hubby to stop so we could look. It was full of pretties, most of which were out of my price range at the moment, but I did pick up these cute little beach hut boxes. One is for a friends Xmas pressie and one is for me!

I spent this morning helping my sister in law on her cupcake stand at a local craft fair. Unfortunately is was a bit dead, mainly I think it was due to the appalling weather. I can't blame people for not venturing out in that today.

I've gone a bit mad and booked myself a table at a local craft fair in 3 weeks time, AAARRRRGGGG ......I've loads to do at the moment and now I'll be sewing for England! Why do I do these things to myself???

And that brings me onto my Blog shop.......Country Charm is now live.......I hope you will pop over and have a browse and let me know what you think. Here's some of the things I've been making. ......Gingerbread men.........

A good witch and her goose, which I'm really pleased with.

I love that pretty ditsy rose fabric and have been keeping it for a special project.

Vintage linen lavender hearts.....

A cute little snail....

And this is my Jane Austin tall angel, which I'm keeping for myself. This was the elusive dress that was causing me grief the other week. It finally got finished, and I love it, so now I'm searching for the perfect place to hang her.

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend despite the weather. I have been trying to get around lots of blogs to say hello, but time is against me at the moment, but I will be popping by to say hello soon, promise xxx . I'd like to say a big thank you to all those who have left me such lovely comments of late and who wished me luck with my blog shop, your comments are always very much appreciated.

Well that's all for now folks, nighty night, don't let the bed bugs bite.

Pixiedust xxxx

Country Living Fair

Greetings folks. I'm back from a lovely day yesterday at the CL fair in London. Firstly I'd like to apologise for the lack of photo's of the fair itself. It was soooooo busy we were crammed in like sardines in a tin and I just couldn't get any pics. I hope it isn't quite so busy for those going today, if it is I hope your wearing body armour lol. The train up and back was easy enough yesterday and the workers at London underground were very polite and helpful :o). The fair was crammed full of goodies, but to be honest most of it was stuff that you can find in shops around here if you know where to look. There was also an abundance of jewellery and scarf stalls which after a while all looked the same. But there was also a few little gems. I got the union jack cushion and the home sweet home sign from http://www.flutterbyes.co.uk/, who had a very pretty stall.

All their goodies were reasonably priced too. I picked up these two lovely East of India ribbons for future projects.

And I was very naughty and treated myself to this Susie Watson mug. I just love it, its so pretty. I did have a really hard time choosing. The Susie Watson stall was probably my favourite stall for eye candy!

I couldn't resist this cute little metal heart which is destined for someplace in my dining room.

Getting hold of nice wool felt isn't easy so I grabbed this pretty red piece as soon as I spotted it, along with this red thread for the stitchery pictured below......

This ladies stall was lovely. Lots of patterns and pretty patchwork. My Sil bought a pattern from her too that we both wanted, so she's going to photocopy hers for me and I'll copy mine for her.

Halfway through the day the fire alarm went off and we all had to evacuate the building, leaving our coats in the cloakroom agggghhh. Thankfully it was a false alarm and we wern't standing in the cold too long. So all in all it was a good day and I did come away with a few ideas.

And whilst I was out enjoying myself yesterday the Laura Ashley fabric I'd ordered in the sale arrived. It looks like they may have been generous and given me a bit more, i hope so :o).

And finally my labels have arrived. I've already made some pieces so will have to find somewhere to stitch them on to. I'll probably only use them on the larger pieces anyway. I hope to have my blogshop up and running by the weekend, but there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day at the moment.

Catch you later folks

((((hugs))))) Pixiedust xxx

Coming soon.......

Greetings folks, I hope you all had a good weekend? I just don't know where the time goes lately, it seems like a whole year has passed within the blink of an eye, and over a week has passed since I last posted, after promising you all to show you what I'd made.........tut tut, I'm such a rebel :o)! lol. Anyway, I have been busy crafting and coming up with lots of new ideas and hope to show you all what I've been up to asap. It's been a year since I put anything in my shop faerie nuff's stuff, and I've been wanting to sell stuff in my blogshop again for a while, but thought a fresh start and a new name was in order so.......Country Charm .......was born and will be opening as my new blogshop in a couple of days. I do hope you will have a look and let me know what you think. I'm off to the Country Living Christmas Fair in London on Wednesday, which I'm very excited about, lots of pretties to look at. I will try very hard to get some good pics to show you all. Well that's all from me for now folks.

TTFN
Pixie xxxxx

EB and CK

Evening folks, I wanted to show you a couple of pics of things I've been making, but the light has been so bad today I can't get a good photo, so I'll try again tomorrow. Instead I thought I'd show you the lovely Emma Bridgewater tin I picked up when I went out with mum in the week. Not sure what I'll use it for yet, but it looks pretty on the shelf in the dining room.

Look what popped through the door on Saturday!! I get so excited when I see a CK catalogue in the post, lots of eye candy........so I sat down with a cuppa and drooled over the pages, here's a sneaky peek.

I may have to get a Stanley for the tree this year.

The house sewing box and union jack pin cushion will be on my Christmas list.

I'm loving the little Christmas tin house.

Cath's even introduced t-shirts this year. Not my cup of tea though, think they are a little tacky.

Well that's all for now folks. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with pics of what I've been making.

Nighty Night

Pixie xxx

Pumpkins

Well here are this years pumpkins. I've had a fun time in the kitchen carving these this afternoon. I'm a real big kid at heart.

These are last years pumpkins. I managed to take a better photo of these. I can't seem to get a really good pic on the candlelight setting on the camera this year.

And some Halloween pics I've collected.

I love this vintage one!

I hope everyone is having a spooky Halloween! I have a couple of friends popping over later for a glass of wine and to watch X Factor, hopefully John and Edward will get the boot tonight.

Spooky blessings

Pixie xxxxx

Happy Halloween - Pumpkin Soup Recipe

Greetings witches and wizards. I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen yesterday whipping up

some lovely warming pumpkin soup to eat with some homemade fresh bread later today. I did have a bit of a taste yesterday to sample, :o) here's what i did........................

500g pumpkin, skinned and cubed

1 med onion

1 med potato

1tsp dried cumin

1 tsp dried coriander

150g spit red lentils

1.2l veg stock

2 tbsp sunflower oil

chop onions and fry in the oil until just soft, add the spices, chopped and skinned pumpkin, potato, lentils and veg stock. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer with the lid on for 3o mins. When cooked blend with a hand blender or put in a food processor, return to pan to reheat and season to taste. yummy!

I had enough pumpkin left to make pumpkin puree too. You can never seem to get pumpkin puree in the shops and I've so many lovely recipes that require it.

Pumpkin Puree

Put 500g pumpkin skinned and cubed in a pan of boiling water, when tender drain, then pat dry with kitchen paper, then blend to a puree and refrigerate until ready to use. This make approx 300g puree. I'm hoping to make a nice pumpkin pie later. Even after the soup and puree I still had a little pumpkin left which got put into yesterday lambs stew which was scrummy.

hubby and I went for a lovely walk in the woods yesterday with the dogs. Beau has only been allowed to start going out this week and he's loving it, so many sniffs lol :o). (Isn't he growing fast).

My boys!!!!

I love the autumn colours in this pic. Woody blends in well. I think Beau is a winters snowy day kinda dog lol.

I hope to be back later to show you my ginormous pumpkin that I would have calved. :O)

TTFN

Pixie xxxx

Throwing my toys out of the pram!!!!!

I've been desperate to get back into crafting and sewing again, so over the last couple of days I've been planning lots of things I'm going to make and I've had all my sewing books sprawled across the house. Over the weekend I started to make a tall angel from the latest Tilda book. I'm pleased with how the angel has turned out, so now the fun part (or so i thought) making her lovely dress.

I sat at the dining room table, picked a lovely piece of fabric, drew my pattern on, pinned the bodice and arms, stitched the bits that needed stitching and cut it all out, including a large square for the skirt. I put the skirt section to one side and began to attach the sleeves to the bodice...........I thought it was going too well. For starters trying to work out how the sleeves attached to the bodice was a headache, then I finally had the light bulb moment and figured it out.....eureka.....so began to stitch them in. One disaster led to another and although one sleeve is in perfectly the other won't fit after many attempts......so the ******* bodice and sleeves are gracing the floor on the other side of the room. To top it all off, whilst I was stitching, Beau puppy had decided to steal the skirt section and hubby called from the lounge saying ''did you want that piece of fabric the puppy's got''. AAAAAHHHHHHHH the fabric is fine, but will need to be washed and ironed again. The air was seriously blue in our house last night I can tell you. I thought sewing was supposed to be a relaxing pastime! This morning now that I've calmed down, I may attempt the dress again, and IF!!!! I get it finished today I'll post up a pic.

On a lighter note, I'm having a few hours out with my mum today. Its something we never do so it should be quite nice. We're going to visit Cheselpeake mill and possibly Garsons to check out the Christmas displays and have a spot of lunch out. When I return I should be calm enough to tackle operation angel dress! lol.

Also the lovely Mel Mel has given me these awards, thanks so much hun! xxx

I'm to link to Mel Mel, pop the awards in my sidebar, tell you all seven things you don't know about me and pass the awards on to a few deserving bloggers, so here goes.

1. I hate the sound of people brushing their teeth in front of me, it makes me go all goose bumply



2. I'd love to be a housewife and never have to go out to work again



3. I hate Marmite BLEUUURRR



4. I'm mad as a box of frogs



5. I have terrible trouble throwing things away, especially shoe boxes as they may come in handy for something



6. I can't decide if I'm indecisive or not!



7. I'm counting down the days until the next twilight film (new moon) is released, I'm soooooo excited!

Well that's my seven, I couldn't think what to put, but I'm sure that will do. I'd like to pass these awards to..........

Karen

Yarrow

Tina

Well thats all for now folks, hopefully I'll be back later with some after pictures.

TTFN

Pixie xxxxx

E-bay Naughtiness

I've been a naughty little Pixie this week and have bought a couple of things on e-bay that I'm dying to show you all. Firstly my new most treasured possession, a king size Cath Kidston Rosalie for Ikea duvet cover and four pillow cases. I've been after this set for ages. its not made anymore but you can often find second hand sets on e-bay, but King size doesn't come up that often, so I was really chuffed to spot this, especially as it comes with four pillowcases too. But the best bit is that this duvet set was merely advertised as a king size Ikea floral duvet set, so didn't reach the stupidly high prices that CK normally does on e-bay. I'm sure we all type cath kidston into the search and see what comes up. I guess sometimes it does pay to look a little bit harder. Needless to say I am a very happy :o) pixie.
My other special purchase from e-bay this week has been this .......................

Don't you just love these old movies.

My favourite of which, is this.

I'm still whistling and singing the tunes. ''I've just flown from the windy city...........uuummm what's the next verse??????

I hope you all have a lovely weekend folks.

TTFN

Pixie xxxxx

Birthday Cupcakes

Firstly I'd like to say a big Happy Birthday to Mr Pixie, love you!!!

And these are the birthday cupcakes I made last night for him to take to work today. It's customary to take cakes in on your birthday where he works :o), so I made these vanilla sponge cupcakes with marbled milk and white choc topping. I did sample one last night and it was scrummy and I still have a little chocolate left in the fridge to snaffle :o).


Yesterday, I treated myself to Country Homes and Interiors magazine, as I couldn't resist the cover page which was of this house. Isn't it lovey? I just love all the little pumpkins darted around.

and that aga is to die for!!!

I just love the pine cupboard in the bathroom, If only I could win the lottery so we could move to a lovely country home like this. I mean we have the springers and the tractor, all we need now is the house and smallholding :o).

TTFN

Pixie xxx

Sunday Musings.....

Firstly I just had to share this pic with you that a friend of mine e-mailed me, it had me in stitches. :O)

And this is hubby's new project. He's wanted a tractor to restore for years and he's now got his hands on this beauty, the back wheels are as tall as me. I'm so glad his parents have a smallholding as we have nowhere to store it at ours, but apparently once its done up he's going to occasionally drive it to work, that's gonna look hilarious rolling out of our close ;o).

Had a trip to the new Range today, its quite good, but mainly bought things we needed for the house like a new autumn weight duvet now the nights are getting a lot chillier. Of course hubby's moaning as apparently it isn't cold and he'll be too hot...... never mind :o) Also had a trip to my favourite place Cheselpeake mill and got two gorgeous t-towels for 1.99 each in beautiful floral fabrics, they are destined to be cut up for makes though.

Well off to cut up some runner beans and spuds for dinner now, and maybe have a look through my fabric stash later.

TTFN

Pixie xxxx