May I introduce .......

Miss Molly and Miss Ruby

Meet my girls or the husband's bitches as they are more affectionately known ;-)

Miss Molly is our choc lab and she will be 4 years old in October .... I would dearly love to let her have a litter of puppies and there is already a list of people wanting one, I just have to convince the master to let his girl be sired!  She is the most placid and well behaved dog that we have ever had.  Brilliant with the children and is rarely naughty unlike her little cohort Ruby who is an 18mth old cocker spaniel.  She is a bouncy bundle of energy and is such a greedy guts she would eat both their dinners plus the cat's food too.

They are inseparable and hate it if one has to go out without the other as happened yesterday when Molly had to have her annual boosters .... Ruby sat and howled for the first ten minutes then sulked in her bed till she returned.  OH was apprehensive about getting another dog but it was the best thing we have ever done as they are great friends and company for each other.

See what I mean ... they shadow each other's every move ..... they even lay in the same positions when sleeping.  Think they must have been distracted by the chickens making a noise at this point.

and these are the boys ..... brothers Oliver and Binks .... Ollie is our hunter ginger cat and Binks is just a lazy black lump who spends most of his time sleeping and only moving occasionally to eat!

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That .......

I've been for a country drive this morning.  We needed some supplies for the animals so I headed off to Wheathampstead via the cross country route which I always find quicker and a much more pleasant drive.  I'm not a very confident driver and hate motorways but give me a country lane and I'm off!!   My family reckon I would make a good rally driver ! I had to stop at an old friend's on the way back and this is the view from his garden .... I could sit and stare at that all day long.

Last weekend we went off to Flitwick to a new vintage & craft fair .... I was on a reccie really with a view to booking a table at the next one because it is only a 20 minute drive away and I am so pleased that there is another local one to add to the calendar.  I had a lovely chat with Linda of TabbyRoo who I will be seeing again at the Northampton Fair on 19th March and there was lots of lovely handmade items on sale and vintage bits of course.

I've been buzzing away at the sewing machine for a couple of weeks now to build up stock for the forthcoming Northampton fair and another that I am doing on 12th March in Potten End in Hertfordshire.



Some peg bags using pre-loved fabrics & trims mixed with some contemporary ginghams

A patchwork lingerie bag

The starburst quilt is coming on nicely too ... I just have to decide what border and binding to use and it will be finished

I always have a little basket of something to fiddle with in front of the goggle box in the evenings and my hexi collection is coming on nicely and using up lots of remnants too.

On the way home on Saturday we stopped in Hexton at a little craft co-operative that is in the old Village Hall .... Country Matters is an Aladdin's Cave with a good mix of vintage and hand crafted items. I am going down there again in the morning to sign up so that I can place some of my work in there ... more on that later.    I spied this little bunny on the way out and with a price tag of just £3 he had to come home with me ....

Now I just have to keep myself away from the choc egg counter till a little closer to Easter ;-)

I bought this Amarylis in our local greengrocers a couple of weeks ago .... it now has four enormous blooms on the top and the little second sprout is now as tall as this one and about to burst open.

Another sign of Spring ..... the rhubarb is sprouting ..... better start planning this year's planting ..... why aren't there enough hours in a day ????

A challenge, a thank you and today's thrifty find ....

Back in that dark old month of January I entered a photo of the Silver Cross Doll's pram that I acquired via Freecycle in A Thrifty Mrs January Challenge   ...... and guess what I won!!!!

I'm not usually one of life's winners so I am delighted to have won this and of course that gorgeous eiderdown from Sian over at Diary of a Tinyholder who has another prize draw in aid of the Alzheimer's Society

It was only fitting that I reciprocated the generosity of these lovely bloggers so you will remember that I offered to make a mini quilt for the winner of my 2nd blogiversary giveaway.  Last week I was cooking on gas and got loads done including the quilt for my lovely winner The Vintage Knitter and the Royal Mail excelled themselves as I only posted it at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon and on Saturday morning Monkeychild was opening her parcel. 

I knew from Vintage Knitter's blog that this lovely little lady was a ballet fan and I had just the thing .... some vintage Laura Ashley ballerina fabric which I teamed with some LA pink polkadot, Clarke & Clarke Floral, Jill Northam Star Stripe and some lilac gingham check.  The backing is a super soft white fleece so perfect for snuggling under.  The phone rang on Saturday morning and I was delighted to speak to the VK in person who had taken the time to call and say thank you and then this arrived in the post today

a gorgeous thank you card with a photo of Monkeychild and her new snuggle quilt .... this will now be placed on the little dresser over my sewing machine table .... it is so nice to be appreciated and to appreciate in return and this shall remind me whenever I look at her little face.

It was such a beautiful afternoon here I took a walk to the school this afternoon and as I passed the charity shop this little beauty was beckoning me

a little wooden child's chair which I would guess to be around 50 years old .... the patination of the wood is lovely and there are just a few paint splashes to be cleaned off all for the bargain price of £1.50 so this will be entered into Mrs T's February challenge.   Our CS has been a little disappointing since Christmas with rather a lot of tat so this really made my day and I must have looked a right sight with it hanging on the handle of the buggy with six children in tow ...... I think my name should be the Pied Piper x