Scavenger Hunt - November

 

I'm pleased to be joining in with Kate at I Live, I Love, I Craft and the Scavenger Photo Hunt for November.

 

The link up post for November where you can go and visit other Scavenger Hunters and see their choices.

 You can source a new picture or use one you already have in your albums and this months words were :-

 

 

Post/mailbox

Decay

Secondhand

Strand

Fold

My own choice

 

 

and here are my choices of pictures .....

 

 

POST/MAILBOX

 

This old postbox has VR stamped into it. 

It's used daily and in a village where DH's friend lives.

It has recently undergone a bit of a refurbishment with some recycled old bricks added to the existing old wall to make it more secure. 

 

 

DECAY

 

The hosta was magnificent all summer, slugs didn't bother it at all.

It's looking rather sorry for itself now though.

 

 

SECONDHAND

 

My granddaughter spotted these in the attic, they belonged to her mummy and now she's got a few 'new' dolls to play with.

 

 

STRAND

 

Fancy a game of monopoly anyone?

 

 

FOLD 

 

 

 

You need to fold away the music stand to shut the piano lid

 

 

MY OWN CHOICE

 

Team effort -

Our knitting group nativity has gone on display at the community centre

I knitted the baby Jesus and crib

DH made the wooden stable out of scrap wood for us

 

(Sorry its not a better pic, the screwed in perspex front to deter theft didn't help)

 

 

Love and blessings

 

Julie

 

 

 

 

Winter SAL finish

The winter ornament completes the set of the seasonal SAL stitching over at Needlecraft Haven.  We could choose any design we wanted with a seasonal theme and have stitched them over the seasons of 2018. 

Quite a few of the ladies have taken part in this and its been fun seeing which designs they chose.  It's the third year we have done seasonal stitching and it's been fun.  Next year things will change I have read on the forum so something new to look forward to.

I've had all four of the seasonal free designs printed out from Happiness is Cross Stitching blog and they've been in my stash and on the 'to do' list for a very long time.  I bet you also have a pile of things like that too that you just don't get round to doing.

Here's my simple finish for winter...

 

The collection of the four seasons together....

 

 

A Christmas hand knitted sock gift completed and today I spent time wrestling with wrapping paper and sellotape and these are now wrapped up ready for gifting.

 

Sock needles empty.... we can't have that can we?

 

Postie brought me a parcel this week with my order of this years Christmas wool from West Yorkshire Spinners.  The Fairy Lights and cayenne pepper package included the free pattern.  Resistance was futile and these have been casted on and the rib already knitted.

 

This pair is for me.... (there, i have said it) I've been good and really want them in time for this Christmas... is that selfish?

 

I marzipaned the Christmas cake as well as doing some wrapping today and updated my list of things left to buy and do.

 

How is your Christmas planning, gift buying and making coming along.   One month today and the big day will be here ... and we all know how quickly the past 11 months have gone by don't we.

 

Wishing you love and blessings at this busy time of the year and peace and happiness.

 

Julie

 

 

Gifted Gorgeousness - November

 

 

Time for Novembers Gifted Gorgeousness, where we share something you have gifted yourself or been gifted to you between 15th of each month. 

See the tab at the top of Jo's blog for more information or visit her link up post for November to see what other GG participants have shared.

 

In todays post arrived a little fob that DJ kindly sent to me after a drawing on her blog for breast cancer.   Perfect timing to be included in my GG post.  Thank you DJ for your kindness, it is beautiful.

 

 

A lady at the craft group is so very talented.  I ordered this bag with little purse for Isabelle my granddaughter to add to her Christmas parcel.  The little badge was an extra she made with the leftover fabric.

 

 

 

As well as the bag, i'll gift a book, so I stitched a little bookmark to go with it.  

 

I'll include the second instalment of the Royal Rabbits of London - "Escape From the Tower" not this one which is Book 1.  I've just finished reading this one after Isabelle loaned it to me.  It's Santa Montefiore's first children's book written with her husband Simon Seabag Montefiore.  I really liked the story but then again I do like bunnies so not really a surprise.  The Royal Rabbits protect the Queen at Buckingham Palace and Shylo, the weakest of his family who lives in the country overhears a plot by the ratzi's to take a photo of the Queen in her nightie, he knows he has to do something to stop it happening.  I hope I get to borrow the second book after santa delivers it! 

 

 

 

CCN Christmas birdhouse is finished off ready to gift to a family member

 

 

 

The red cardigan is completed too.  Isabelle came early one day last week for breakfast before school and spotted it on the table.  Off came the older one and on with the new.  Not the best pic of it, but 7 year olds at 8am in the morning are not always co-operative!

 

 

 

I've also been stitching a gift for a Christmas ornament exchange but that's a secret till opening day so you will have to wait to see that.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing what's in your GG post for this month

 

Love and blessings

 

Julie 

 

We Will Remember Them

The poppy, a sign of remembrance.....

DH  and I attended the remembrance service in the village this morning. 

Scouts, beavers, guides, brownies and rainbows marched through the street together with local servicemen.  They were, young and old, some able bodied and others disabled and in wheelchairs all coming together with the brass band.  Flags flying and medals all shining and sparkling.  Many poppy wreaths being carried for each group. 

A friend was reading a poem at the war memorial and the local churches all came together to unite on this 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.   We sang, we prayed and we became silent for the two minutes in memory of all who served and still do. 

I wore my hand painted silk scarf ....

 

Poppies had been purchased this year from one of the knitting group ladies, she made a bag full which all sold with proceeds going to the Royal British Legion.

 

I chose a fluffy one ...

 

 

 DH wore his handmade one too...

 

Earlier in the week I collected Isabelle from school and she had a note asking for each child to make a poppy for the schools display for their memorial assembly service.  

Can you help me nanny?   Of course I could ..... we chose to make felt ones.  She drew the shapes she wanted onto card, cut it out and then redrew around it onto the felt and carefully cut along the lines.  She chose the sparkly felt in my stash - she said she would be able to see hers on the display as it would be different - clever thinking.  Nanny threaded the sharp needle and put the stitches in to hold all the pieces together through the black centre.  She loved it that much we made two.

 

As we walked back to our car this morning through the village we saw this poem in a shop window and as my remembrance week has been talking to my seven year old granddaughter about why we wear a poppy I thought I would share this instead of the usual remembrance poem.

 

The poem reads :-

The Inquisitive Mind of a Child

 

Why are they selling poppies, Mummy?

Selling poppies in town today.

The poppies, child, are flowers of love.

For the men who marched away.

But why have they chosen a poppy, Mummy?

Why not a beautiful rose?

Because my child, men fought and died

In the fields where the poppies grow.

But why are the poppies so red, Mummy?

Why are the poppies so red?

Red is the colour of blood, my child.

The blood that our soldiers shed.

The heart of the poppy is black, Mummy.

Why does it have to be black?

Black, my child, is the symbol of grief.

For the men who never came back.

But why, Mummy are you crying so?

Your tears are giving you pain.

My tears are my fears for you my child.

For the world is forgetting again

 

 

Love and blessings

Julie x

Round up for October

October was a strange month this year, it was very warm right up until a few days ago.  Flowers still blooming in the garden that we don't usually see in the autumn.  Days when the sun shone brightly and we were in short sleeves when taking a walk.  I wonder if this means we will be having a very cold winter here in the UK?  There has been an abundance of birds in the garden these past couple of weeks, the woodpecker has returned and we've also see the nuthatch, as well as the usual garden birds that come along to the feeders.

Lots of resting time so i've had quite a few craft finishes that I shared here on the blog in October, some were just WIP's that were finished off, others new starts :-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the embroidery that I finished this week and put into its frame so this one hasn't been seen - a Christmas gift. 

 

 

Also, some knitting that you haven't seen either.  I'm adding a few rows here and there to yet another red cardigan for my granddaughter.   One of the new ones she had in September is not going to last till the new term in January, she's growing so quickly, so I'm whipping up another bigger one ready for the winter.

 

 

This sweet little CCN Christmas Birdhouse is another I've not shared. I finished it over the weekend and had hoped to get it made up, but as you can see, that hasn't happened yet.  A job for this weekend perhaps.

 

 

 

 

READING

Five books read during the month :-

 

 

Dear Mrs Bird is a debut book from A J Pearce who says that inspiration for this book came from reading womens problem pages in old wartime magazines.  1941 London and Emmaline Lake wants to be a war correspondent but unfortunately the job she applies for wasn't what she thought and she finds herself  typing letters for Henrietta Bird, the agony aunt for Womens Friend -   I really enjoyed reading this, a light read, and it reminded me of the TV programme Foyles War, it was that type of read.  A tale of love, friendship and surviving in the hardships of war

 

 

 

 

This is the third book by Kathryn Hughes. 

 Personally, I enjoyed the other two better than this one.

 
1956
It's Ellen Crosby's first day as a student nurse at Ambergate Hospital, a mental hospital. When she meets a young woman sent to the hospital by her father, little does Ellen know that a choice she will make is to change both their lives for ever.
2006
Sarah is drawn to the now abandoned Ambergate. Whilst exploring the old corridors she discovers a suitcase belonging to a female patient who entered Ambergate fifty years earlier. The shocking contents, untouched for half a century, will lead Sarah to unravel a forgotten story of tragedy and lost love, and the chance to make an old wrong right.

 

The Ballroom has been on my 'to read' list for a long time, it was a Richard and Judy book club read back in 2016.  Seeing a copy in our little library it came home with me. 

 

Set over the heatwave summer of 1911, the end of the Edwardian era, it is a historical love story set in an asylum at the edge of the Yorkshire moors.   

 

The second one this month with the same type of theme ..... men in white coats ... perhaps I am seeking advance knowledge just in case!! LOL

 

 

 

 

Good old Agatha Raisin, a quick and fun read, its like putting on a pair of comfy slippers.  Meeting all the characters you have come to enjoy reading about over time.  Three more books have been released since this one (that makes 29 in the series - although each one can be read as a stand alone book)  I'm a bit behind on her adventures, but have the next which has been loaned to me by a friend who collects them - maybe next month?

 

 

 

 

 

Amazon says .....A heart-rending page turner which sweeps from war-torn Europe to Thailand and back again . . .
As a child, Julia Forrester would linger in the hothouse of Wharton Park estate, where exotic flowers tended by her grandfather blossomed and faded with the seasons.
Now, recovering from a family tragedy, she once more seeks comfort at Wharton Park, newly inherited by Kit Crawford, a charismatic man with a sad story of his own. But when a years-old diary is found during renovation work, the pair turn to Julia's grandmother to hear the truth about the love affair that turned Wharton Park's fortunes sour . . .
And so Julia is plunged back in time, to the world of Olivia and Harry Crawford, a young couple torn apart by the Second World War - and whose fragile marriage is destined to affect the happiness of generations to come, including Julia's own.

I really enjoyed this one.  Of course today is release day for the 5th in the Seven Sisters story by Lucinda Riley.  Today, the much awaited Moon Sister comes out so people will be chatting about that in days to come.  Another big book, I wonder if anyone has taken the day off work to read it like I have read some do when a new X box game comes out????

 

It was so cold this past weekend DH lit us a nice roaring fire to keep us cosy whilst we watched Strictly.  Midge decided that he needed to get a bit nearer and feel the benefit too. 

 

We awoke to the first hard frosts of the season, brrrrr .   Neighbours were out scraping their car windscreens on Monday and children were wrapped up in hats and gloves as they made their way back to school after the half term weeks holiday. 

 

Hello November, I wonder what you will bring for us.......

 

Love and blessings

 

Julie