Tea, cake and a good magazine - what could be better

Visiting a friend last week we got chatting about the price of magazines and value for money in them.

She showed me a house/home mag that she had been buying for the past couple of months, i had a quick look and next time i was in the supermarket i picked up a copy for myself to have a better looksee.

Style at Home is relatively new and at £1.99 for 130 pages filled with information and advice i thought it was really good value and will definately be buying it again.

I thought i'd share some of the lovelies that are inside with you ....

A few pages with ideas to spruce up your home at online sites as well as high street stores

Advice on how to run up a throw on your sewing machine in this issue and a competiton to win £2,000 worth of Next homewares


A 12 page pull-out with recipes and ways to use up ingredients in the store cupboard. This page with different ideas for using crumble mix caught my eye and will definately be filed with my recipe collection


There are loads of different articles about readers homes and ways to help you declutter and style your own home, help and advice about all sorts of things like 100 ways to turn your kitchen-diner into a thing of beauty as well as a functional space.

This lady shared a lovely piece about transforming her office space into a funky area instead of the dark space she had before.

Don't rush out and buy this issue though, the next one is due out 31st August and looks like it will be just as interesting. I'll certainly be dropping it into my shopping basket next time i'm in the supermarket.

Do you have a magazine that you buy regularly and think is good value for money?

Here in the UK we are having our last bank holiday weekend of the year, the weather is not as warm as some had hoped for, but i hope that whatever you are doing this weekend you are having fun with those you love.

Stay safe my overseas readers, i do hope you are not caught up in hurricane Irene

Back to normal

A week spent working, catching up on household stuff and visiting family and friends, a nice week but very busy and another week that seems to have whizzed along at breakneck speed.

I owe a couple of ladies emails, but just haven't seemed to find the time to sit and write this week, apologies ladies, hopefully this week i'll get a little note off to you.

I did some stitching though, mojo seems to be returning.

The fruit and veg Best in Show sampler is finished, phew i did breathe a sigh of relief when it went into the frame almost centrally.

It looks fine and i am really pleased with how its turned out this year. I hope the winner is too, i wonder if it will be me again this year, no room on the sideboard so i had better let someone else take it home LOL

We have a local gardening celeb who comes to give out the prizes and auction off the produce at the end of the show and we always give him something handmade as a thank you gift.

This year, i've stitched this little coaster to accompany a gardening themed mug we have for him. Another deadline project crossed off the list.

We also give out books with a stitched front to accompany the winners trophies as the trophies have to be returned each year, so the winner gets something they can keep. One of our stitching club ladies stitches these each year, but this time i have given her a helping hand and done two of them









These are for the Best Flower in the Show, and Best Floral Arrangement. They're stitched on 16ct aida to make them stiffer and will be stuck onto the front of the books. I'll try to remember and take a pic of all 9 books together when they are done so you can see them all.

In the Meadow was out again this week too for the SAL @ NH with Barb and the girls. Aren't i a good stitcher this week! The border is now complete and its time to start house building.

Shores of Hawk Run Hollow is still standing on the floorstand in my conservatory and not a stitch has been put into it for such a long time, i'll get back to that after the Fruit and Veg show. There is such a lot i had intended to make and enter and also a lot to get sorted as a committee member for that now so i'm sticking with other projects till after show day on Saturday 10th September.

Many thanks for all your kind words on the last entry here and for DH for his birthday. He's still spending some time working in the bathroom getting that finished off and also up at the allotment tending his veggies, although i am not sure we'll have much to enter into the show as a lot of things have gone over already this year. I guess it's the same for all other gardeners so we'll just have to see what arrives on the show benches.

Just before i sign off i must tell you, Isabelle has 2 teeth!!

Just 12 weeks old and yesterday when DH and i went to visit she proudly showed off two little pearlies along the bottom when she smiled at me. I'm not surprised as her mum had 2 bottom teeth at this age too, she's growing up so fast, where did 3 months go to??

Take care, keep happy and have a lovely week whatever your plans

Oh i do love to......

be beside the seaside ......

DH celebrated a milestone birthday on Friday and for the past few weeks he has been real grumpy about the upcoming event. He didn't want a party, he didn't want a cake, and certainly no balloons advertising the fact that he was 60 this time.

DS couldn't resist and just had to get a helium one, we also bought a big choccie cake too in the hopes of lifting the spirits

The actual day went well, friends stopped by for tea and cake, and Amy with her partner and Isabelle were here too.

Amidst the celebrations DH decided hat he really should celebrate this milestone birthday and would i like to go with him to the seaside for the weekend?

YES, YES, YES, WOOHOO!!!! YAY!!!!! fabulous news

A 100 mile drive to our favourite quaint little seaside village of Chapel St Leonards. We love this place and have spent many happy holidays with our children here.

What did we see and do???

Locate a bed and breakfast place to stay the night, busy time of the Summer and most were full up so we ended up in a very old fashioned but clean and tidy place but had to have twin beds LOL

Smell the sea air and take in the beautiful view of the sea, listen to the waves crashing on the shore - perfect!

Eat the picnic lunch i had packed off my new vintage looking melamine plates

Feel the sand between your toes as you walk along the beach

Head up to Chapel Point and look for the tell tale brightly coloured beach huts that span the horizon - i would love to own one of these

Take a break on the steps below the beach huts, have a kit kat and a cuppa, sit and read a book for an hour or two soaking up the loveliness of it all

You've just got to get your feet wet and have a little paddle

Look North and see for miles and miles up the coast

You can't come to the seaside and not have fish and chips out of the paper for your tea

and watch the fishermen setting up in the evening light waiting to haul in a good catch

Time for bed Saturday's been a long day ....

Sunday we woke early and the sun was shining beautifully. After a fabulous full english cooked breakfast we wandered along into the village as there was a craft and gift fair in the Village Hall. Lots of lovely knitting and crochet work on show, and some great paintings by local artists.

A wander round the shops, stopping to look at all the brightly coloured buckets and spades and dream of next year when we can bring Isabelle along to enjoy her first seaside adventure and Grandpa can make sandcastles with her

Sit next to the monument (the bell strikes every hour) and read the Sunday newspapers and enjoy a hot sausage roll and drink. Feel the buzz of excitement as you watch children and their parents heading off up to the beach with everything packed into their bags for a days bucket and spading, windbreaks under their arms and kites for flying and nets for fishing.

Wander along the beach and notice that up at Chapel Point there were flags on the beach huts..... pirates at the point, an invasion of pirates celebrating their annual fun day. Captain Pugwash was there and Jack Sparrow, he was walking along the sand giving out balloon swords to the children, how i wished i had a child to accompany me and get a sword LOL. Lots of fun and laughter and loud piratey music.... yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

We spent a lovely couple of hours sitting reading our books and listening to the music and fun that was being had. Soon the dark weather clouds were approaching and it was time to head for home. Just one more stop before we head off. A trip into Sutton on Sea, only a short drive of about 6 miles north and an old favourite place that i used to holiday in so often with my grandmother, such lovely memories of those times.

Time for another ice cream before we head home

What a lot we packed into our relaxing and restful weekend, we really must do it again soon. We both had a superb time and came home with batteries recharged and feeling wonderful. Not long till DH retires, i wonder if we can move to the seaside when that happens????

Happy 60th Birthday Paul, i am so glad you decided to celebrate your birthday after all!

Special thank you message

Saturday 30th July was my 48th birthday, i had the most wonderful day spent with family and friends.

My first nanny card from Isabelle and that brought tears to my eyes and lots of lovely gifts received too.

I would like to express my very sincere thanks to the following ladies for their kindness and share with you the lovely cards and gifts i received










Karan made me the lovely scissor holder and included the most beautiful pink pair of scissors together with other goodies and a handmade Karan card. Karen has been busy with her beautiful glass making and made me the gorgeous purple glass bracelet, together with a lovely piece of fabric, needles and bath bombs, she sent me a funny card too which made me smile, and yes Karen, you will always be a little bit older than me LOL









A beautiful skein of thread and some pot pourri from Clare, and Barb stitched me the beautiful pincushion and added some really wonderful pins into the parcel. We all had a giggle here when i opened the bunny card from Seymour bunny, his wife Rose and their 2 little babies (Barb always makes me smile with the antics of her little family of bunnies i knitted for her, you can read about them here) He had written that the girls had pinched his specs so he was not able to keep an eye on Barb and her UFO stitching and apologised for the handwriting in the card as he had been busy all day picking carrots!! They added into the card a guardian angel pin for me which was really lovely.










Angi made me one of her beautiful handmade cards and also a lovely bookmark and Tina kindly sent me a beautiful grab bag of fabric from Polstitches threads. A card also arrived from Fi.

A lovely card from Sally together with a Shepherds Bush stitched pillow and Kathy made me the lovely needlebook with the tiniest needles i have ever seen inside.

Thank you so much ladies for your kindness. The postie called often in the days before my birthday and on Friday he stood at my front door and sang Happy Birthday (the full version) to me as he would be on his day off on the Saturday. He did comment that i had a lot of lovely friends to remember my birthday and said you'll all give him a hernia before too long but he is grateful that you keep him in a job LOL

I have done a little knitting and crocheting. My neighbour went away on hols a couple of weeks ago and i was cat sitting her 7 cats. Her daughter was expecting a baby and unfortunately he arrived early whilst they were away, so they arrived home with an extra little person!









I've knitted the little boy a cardigan and crocheted a car seat blanket for him, i also added other goodies to the parcel i took round. He really is a little smasher and is doing very well for an early baby.

The fruit and veg sampler is finished and a frame has been purchased for it. I'll show you that next time and also the other little thing i have stitched for the show.

Healthwise i have not felt too good for a few weeks, nothing specific, just slow and lethargic (more than i normally am) so at my latest check up at the drs blood tests were done again and it seems i have quite low iron levels.

She prescribed me a course of iron tablets but the ones she gave me are for pregnant ladies called pregaday. I kind of left them on the kitchen table for when DH came home from work, he took one look at them and was speaking in tongues, who, where, how, when etc .... poor chap he really did think Isabelle was about to have an auntie younger than her. I thought about keeping him in suspense as to why i was taking them for a while, but decided to put the poor guy out of his misery and come clean, boy was he relieved, its good to have some fun and laughter in a marriage and we sure have lots of it here.

The bathroom is coming along well and we are now at the painting stage, not long till its all completed, i can't wait. It's been a mammoth job and i really cant wait to see the back of all the dust and muck thats everywhere.

Thanks for dropping in to read my waffles, and thank you again to the kind and lovely friends i have made through the stitching community, i really do appreciate your kindness and value your friendships

Till the next time, take care and stay happy