Another first for me .....

On what started as a very wet dreary Friday morning I set off after the school run for a meet up with a fellow blogger and SCC forum member in St Albans.  This is the first time I have ever done anything like this and my phone was buzzing with messages from my daughters asking if I was OK as they were worried to death that I was going to meet a mad axe murderer !!  Nothing could be further from the truth, more or less exactly at the planned time (my fault as I over-estimated my fitness for the walk up the hill towards the cathedral) I met with Serenata at the Old Town Hall ..... there we both were clutching our hand made bags which we instantly recognised.  Cold and nervous we decided to first thaw out a bit in Starbucks with a steaming cuppa.  Two total strangers who had met online because of our mutual interests in crafting & thrifting then managed to spend fours together, which flew by very quickly, talking about our lives and family, our makes and finds and also fitting in a browse around the charity shops, two little antique shops and a few other pretty shops and lunch!  Neither of us had been to St Albans for shopping for a long time although it turns out that we both regularly visit Verulanium Park to walk dogs and I take my minded children to the splash zone in the summer months.  We were both somewhat disappointed with the shopping experience, the few charity shops that are left there now were a little expensive (yes I know it's for charity but some are taking the mick a little with their pricing) and there seemed to be nowhere to purchase crafting items such as fabric, yarn or haberdashery. 

We both had our cameras with us but totally forgot once we got chatting so the only pics I have are these taken on my walk back down the hill to the car park.  As you can see the skies had cleared and it turned out to be a beautiful autumn day.  This lovely diversion from the daily grind was much needed as far as I was concerned as the day before had been the funeral of my sister-in-law and with everything else that has been going on in our lives recently I really needed to get away from the house for a few hours.

Serenata brought this lovely present for me .... just look at the lovely warm autumnal colours

 I couldn't resist these two ..... they were in a little gift cum antique shop and were only £8.95 for the pair so not too extravagant and they are just like my Hermione.

If anyone else is thinking of taking the plunge and meeting a fellow blogger I would highly recommend it ..... we live in a world of doom and gloom and if we believed all the stories in the press that there is danger round every corner we may as well batten down the hatches and stay indoors permanently.  I am a firm believer that there are far more good people out there than bad and blogging is great way of bringing the good together to share their lives, experiences and interests.  I am so glad that I found it earlier on this year.

Go on take the plunge .... you will love it.

When Molly met Ruby

We have had another busy day at Lala Towers ..... this morning the newest member of our family came for a visit ..... Molly was very curious and after the customary sniffing ceremony wanted to play with her new friend. Binks the cat looked on as if to say oh no not another bloody dog!!! and spent the rest of the day sulking in Molly's bed. Ruby made herself right at home and after the introductions to all the family and the minded children and neighbours and anyone else really who passes through this madhouse, she curled up under the coffee table and went to sleep. Ellie was delighted
Jack was totally overcome

The little lady posing in the garden ... she is five weeks old on Friday and will be moving in permanently in two weeks time

Well that is the last Monday of the summer holidays done and dusted and in amongst the usual chaos the children had a treasure hunt this morning ..... I then had to spend a few hours at the hospital with husband this afternoon for him to have a scan to confirm whether or not he had a DVT ..... a big sigh of relief it was just a lot of internal bruising causing the pain and swelling so no more visits for the time being ..... the hospital at home nursing team are looking after him now and I must say do a terrific job. I've just caught up with Jam & Jerusalem on the TV as I missed it last night because my friend popped in and we ended up nattering as you do. The people who back onto our house kindly put a note through the letterbox on Saturday to say that they were having a christening party yesterday and it would go on until late and there would be a lot of people there. How thoughtful ...... or was it ..... the music was great (they are from Jamaica so lots of reggae and carnival type music which I love) but very loud and they had some idiot MC who continally talked and shouted down a mike the whole time. During the evening this was bearable and we were down the garden jigging around with the chooks but by half three this morning I'd had enough ..... having an early night tonight to catch up on the lost shut eye and hope that the noise of the children in the garden this morning put paid to their hungover lie-in .... I always say don't get mad get even ;-)

I love posties bringing parcels

And today he came bearing two gifts .... one was my blog swap from Pam at Hortensia on Mel's Knitting/Crochet swap and the other my swap from the Shabby Chic Cafe from Fabrose. Let's not waste time on to the photos!!!

Beautifully wrapped in pink tissue with yellow ribbons .....

In my favourite colours of green and brown (how did you know that one Pam) .... a mug for my cuppa with it's own hand knit jacket to keep it from going cold to soon ..... a soft wrap for my neck for later in the year ...... a lovely notebook with handmade cover in tweed fabric with beautiful embroidered bouquet of flowers ..... a handy pin cushion (I needed another to keep by my sewing machine) and a hand crochet flower brooch. Thank you so much Pam everything is just fantastic and I am so pleased.

On to parcel number two ....

Fabrose did her homework and knew I had a yellow theme in my kitchen ..... all superbly hand made in lovely vintage fabrics ....... a peg bag ....... tea cosy with enormous teapot on the side and a pair of tea towels to match and finished with the vintage fabrics and lace. Big thanks again for a lovely swap .... just perfect!

I love doing these swaps ... it is very rewarding to give and receive and I flast is gabbered at the skill and generosity of the new bloggy friends I have made. I think now I just have Mrs Thrifty's Sleepover swap to complete this month and then I am taking a swap break because my new grandson is due in two weeks time and I must finish some projects started for him.

Take care everyone and keep blogging and swapping ...... thanks again to Pam and Fabrose xx

I've been busy, oh so busy !!

I've been a busy gal this week. First of all I had joined the Crochet/Knitting swap organised by Mel on this blog http://melaniegalloway.info/ last month and the colourful crochet bag below is now up north with my lovely friendly swap partner Pam. The more I blog the more my faith is restored in human nature ..... there maybe some wierdos out there but lovely people like Pam sure make up for that and are definitely in the majority. Pam is a very keen gardener and I thought the bright colours would remind her of colourful flowers in her garden.

The first two photos are bags that I have made this afternoon. It was still hot and sunny round here but I think I've just about had enough of the heat this week so decided to spend an afternoon with the sewing machine. My bloggy friends at Shabby Chic Cafe have been turning into a load of bag ladies this week so I thought if you can't beat them join them! The first is made from a vintage piece of hand embroidered linen and is lined with orange linen. The second is a piece of upholstery fabric in shades of orange, peach and green and is again lined with the orange linen. It was a lovely easy pattern to follow and I am so pleased with the end results.