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Saturday 22 December 2012

Golden Tree






I made this card at my U3A cardmaking group and I think it is my favourite of the Christmas cards I have made this year.  It uses a Memory Box die.

I am entering it in the following:


Atmdl Blog  Card Competition
CHNC Challenge 104:  Anything goes for Christmas
ABC Christmas Challenge:  Y is for favourite die or punch
BizzyBecsStore:  Christmas

Sunday 16 December 2012

Christmas Tree Festival part 2

In my first posting of the Tree Festival I just posted pictures of the ones that impressed me most but thought that I should really give you more of an idea of the beauty of more trees and the church itself.  The following pictures give an around the church view of the trees.






Friday 14 December 2012

Rag Doll

It has become a bit of a habit to make a rag doll for a little girl.  I first made one for my daughter when she was small and then made one for her daughter a couple of years ago.  As a result of that one I then made another and sent to a friend in Canada.  Once again the sewing machine has been whirring, finger nails bitten to the quick and another rag doll is born, this time for my second granddaughter.  I wonder what her daddy will call this one!!!








In a few months it will be time to make another one, for my third granddaughter, in time for her first birthday in July.

Thursday 13 December 2012

10th annual Christmas Tree Festival

The 10th annual Christmas Tree Festival at Holy Trinity Church, Cuckfield took place 7-9th December.  80 trees were decorated by village organisations, businesses, clubs and societies to different themes and using different crafts and skills.  The Church Flower Ladies, who do the floral decorations each week, decorated the window sills to the theme "On the First Day of Christmas".  I particularly liked "Five Gold Rings"





One tree had this beautiful decoration





and another had beautiful wood turned decorations





I so admired the skills of the Cuckfield Beading Club ladies










I only wish my photographic skills had been up to the skills of the ladies making the decorations.




 


Friday 30 November 2012

Knitwear for Kids Co

It is that time of year when I take several parcels of knitwear up to Kids Co.  Kids Co do such good work I couldn't help but be drawn in for the plea from a craft forum buddy for knitted hats, scarves and mittens for disadvantaged youngsters in London.  I have been knitting for several years now and have family and friends that knit for them too.

A friend in Kent, Pat, always gives me a bag of knitwear when I go and visit her so these are the items that will be going with me next week.








My mother who was 90 this year does her bit too, although not quite as much as she used to.  This is what she has made this year:






Finally my collection of knitwear.  I have been lucky and had quite a quantity of wool given to me and this has included small balls as well as large ones.  Small balls do well to make hats and mittens from.










Shambala Bracelets

These were the last bracelets I made for the craft fair the other week but oh dear there are so many different ways of doing these that I got confused about what length cords to cut and the best way of doing them and so it was friend Kath to the rescue .... Thanks Kath.


Thursday 15 November 2012

Bracelets

If you are in Cuckfield, West Sussex on Saturday afternoon 17th November 2012 then do come to the Craft Fair in The Old School down by the churchyard.

My dear husband made me a small stand to display the bracelets I have made.


I have a few more bracelets to finish off and will show them on another blog posting once I have taken a photo in the daylight.

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Hat and Scarf set

I have been busy doing some knitting and crochet whilst I was feeling knocked out by the nasty cough/cold bug.  I have had fun looking at some of the woollen stash I have up in the spare bedroom and then deciding what to knit for Kids Company.  I am having a last minute flurry of knitting as I hope to take the latest consignment up in the first week of December.

My last minute knits of hats, scarves, puppets and jumpers include this crochet scarf and matching knitted hat.


Friday 9 November 2012

Earrings

Only a week now until I do my first craft fair.  I have been busy making cards, covering little notebooks and making some jewellery.

These are the earrings I have been making.


Monday 5 November 2012

Hawaii Trip

Gosh, so much time has gone by since my last post which was a week before my holiday in Hawaii.  It is about 8,500 miles from the UK and two long plane flights, whichever route you take; certainly not a trip we would normally consider.  However, a few years ago our son announced his engagement to an American girl who had been born and brought up in Hawaii and he upsticked and started a new life out there with her.

This was our third trip and this time we chose the Heathrow to Honolulu route via Los Angeles whereas before we had travelled via Vancouver. 

Oahu is a beautiful island and Kailua bay is especially so ........



... and we were staying in a little holiday cottage just a 10 minute walk from here!!!

It is such a beautiful island with beach park ...



after beach park .......



after beach park offering fine sandy beaches ...


and views such as these......







Most important of all during the trip was getting to know our latest grand daughter who was three months old.  Two weeks later it was a very sad farewell when we had to say goodbye.



Thursday 27 September 2012

Beaded Bookmarks

Not sure where all the days have gone since the last time I wrote on here!!!  I have been busy decorating and then started dabbling in a bit of beading ready for a craft sale in November.  I have made some ear rings, necklaces, bracelets and these bookmarks.


Wednesday 29 August 2012

Christmas deer

Gosh, it is a long time since I have done a blog post but a small matter of decorating got in the way!!!  The paint brushes are put away, paint spots cleaned off the floor and it is back to doing some cardmaking.

Christmas is fast approaching and so I thought it time to make a start; well, better late than never.






Hazel's CHNC challenge no 87 was for a couple and so I thought this couple of deer would meet the challenge.

I am also entering this for Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog Challenge 72

Monday 16 July 2012

Elusive ancestors

I promised myself that I would get back into family history once I had finished the afghan blanket.  The afghan is on its way to Hawaii and a new little baby girl has been born ready to use it when it arrives.

So back to the family history and I made a decision to concentrate on getting down on paper before putting it on the computer.  Why, I hear you ask.   I work best with writing on paper I can see and I also wanted to have a paper copy of my family history anyway.  I can also take the paper file over to Lewes when I go to the records office.  I am dividing the paper files into four; one of each of my grandparents lines and then later I will create a separate file for my parents and their descendents and that will now include the new little baby in Hawaii.

I am using the Family Group sheets which can be found free on Ancestry.co.uk and they are very easy to work with.  I am finding and recording any records and references that I can find with all my direct line ancestors and as the research develops will move onto siblings of the direct line.  I am finding that I am soon going sideways as I find researchers with common interests even where they are not my direct line.

Family history can be all consuming; it has certainly taken over the dining room table and most of my spare time but my Mother who is in her 90s is interested in the people she remembers from her childhood and keeps adding little snippets for me.

If you are researching in Kent and Sussex I am mainly interested in the following names from my maternal side:  Clark (Rye area, Hastings, Ashford and Robertsbridge), Hoad (Rye), Douch (Icklesham), Poile (Bodiam and Salehurst), Eldridge (Bodiam)

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Finished ........

After weeks and many hours of stitching, over 100 hours of cross stitch, the afghan blanket is finally finished.  We decided not to have it fringed just in case the baby sucked one of the fringing bits off or just as important, lovely little Rosie cat decided the fringes would be good to play with!!!!



I backed the afghan with some white polycotton material as this meant that I could hide the hemming around the outer edge and also hide the underside of the stitching.


Thursday 28 June 2012

Z is for Zebra

No surprises here


This is the end of the journey as far as cross stitching goes.  I will upload a photo of the finished afghan once it has been washed and lined.