Friday Chat Day

Hello friends

Friday again - in fact Friday the 13th but let's just gloss over that!
Does anyone else feel like we've overnight

shifted into a different season?

Apparently Summer doesn't finish until 23 September

but it sure feels like Autumn to me.

I now have the daily dilemma - do I put my washing out

or drape it across an indoor airer?  I have a tumble dryer

but each time I put it on I see my Smart Meter 

(still not sure if that was a good choice to have) 

rockets into the red danger zone so I try not to use it too much.  

And airers... why do they take up so much room?

My little VT (Victorian Terrace) is rather 'cosy' at the best of 

times but housing an airer always makes it trickier. 

That said, I do love this time of year, the build up to 

Christmas and the excuse to stay indoors even more.

What's your favourite season?

Other news: I did not get as much crochet done this week,

I attempted to start another cable project but it's making my brain hurt!

I switch from this to a plain project to give me sanity.

This week's viewing has been Carnival Row available on 

Amazon Prime. It stars Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne - 

I confess I had never heard of Cara D.... but my Dad reliably informed me 

"she's the one with the eyebrows"!

It's a fantasy drama and pretty good if you like that sort of thing.

(Not sure if I will be employed to review on that critique though!) 

Crochet to a new box set is definitely high on my agenda recently.

Family news...

Elliott is doing very well in his apprenticeship and despite it 

being on a business park he has this regular visitor to his office.

He is also opposite a beautiful lake with geese and ducks and

outside the offices is lots of bird feeders and they are swarmed,

so nice to see.

Thank you again for the lovely enquiries after Mum,

she is finally gaining a little bit of weight so heading in the right

direction.  I personally cannot lose weight despite trying to be 

good, shame we cannot do a weight transfer plan! 

Website news...

Website - more pre-loved as usual and this weekend

it is 15% off all Glimmer products - please use the code

GLIMMER15

Great time to stock up on foils and perhaps treat yourselves
to any plates you fancy.
You may have noticed that I am clearing a lot of stock

and that will be continuing so definite bargains to be had.

Take care friends and I will be back next Friday

for another chat day - can't get rid of me that easily!
Have a super weekend.

Friday Chat Day

Hello friends

Welcome to another Friday Chat Day, sharing my nattering 

and photos from the week gone by.

First, a picture of Bella.

Kitty asked after her last week so this will be a 'Bella sandwich' post -

picture at the top and bottom!

My Summer cleaning has continued and she is supposed to be helping here 

by sorting her toy box.  She was no help at all, she wanted to keep everything! 

On the crochet front - I finished my one colour Dune Blanket.

The pattern is Lucy's from Attic 24.

This is Stylecraft yarn in  mushroom and quite possibly my favourite 

colour of all time.  No parting with this project, it is on my sofa.

I'm just starting another Lucy project, this time her Hydrangea pattern.

A follow up from last week's Big and Mustard Throw project

that was on its way to a new home.  I was asked to add pom poms, 

I wasn't sure at first but then I really liked them.

Thank goodness for a pom pom maker otherwise I would still be sitting

wrapping yarn around cereal packet circles!

My paper craft craft contribution!

I've been really slow on papercraft but I did make Elliott's birthday card

(I forgot to share it last week).

I bought this printed image from Etsy - (Eleanor Jean Design)

and simply matted it onto black card, affixed to a white card base

with Crafty Foam Tape. Very simple and speedy.

Lettering - this week the Better Brush Letters started.

This is a lettering course by Blink Lettering and is 

so clear and easy to follow. Not intimidating at all and feels 

manageable by practising a letter each day.

If you would like to join in and learn brush lettering I cannot recommend Milly 

at Blink Lettering highly enough.

I've been doing my daily practice and enjoying it. I like that I can take it 

with me which has been handy as out and about with appointments and things.

Other news: the good...the bad and the ugly! 

Let's address the bad and ugly first....

This horror was at my local bottle bank.  Whilst I tiptoed over this fly tipping

to deposit my empties (just a couple of wine bottles!)

 I witnessed a young girl walk by me and dump a bag of rubbish.

To my own astonishment I challenged her (if you've met me you'll 

know I'm the least confrontational person ever!)

She said her mum had told her to dump rubbish there.

I wasn't sure who to be more angry with, the mother or 

the daughter, but nonetheless I stuck to my guns and insisted she 

take her rubbish away with her.  

I sat in my car afterwards quite shaken and with 

an overwhelming feeling of despondency at what people are capable of.

The good...

that evening my doorbell rang and I opened the door

to my neighbours who live over the back of my house.

They had notified us some weeks ago that they were having a

wedding and being an Indian wedding the celebrations take place over

quite a few days.  I had put a handmade card through their door and thanked

them for being considerate and in return they brought round

some Indian snacks.  Potato samosas, spinach bhaji and more.

All absolutely delicious and so kind of them.

My spirits soared - occasionally it feels like the bad 

people outweigh the good but then something like this happens.

Thankful for kindness.

In closing this week's nattering - a photo of 

Bella at the park. I sometimes forget she is 8 years old 

and probably shouldn't be out walking for 2 hours!

I was enjoying the walk so much I didn't notice the time.

She slept for a long time afterwards.

Before I wish you all a lovely weekend - 

LittleLamb - so sorry to hear about your fainting last week,

hope you are recovered.

Jackie - hope the house clearing is progressing, I'm sure it must 

be very hard work.

Website news...yes, you've guessed it - more pre-loved added.

Take care friends - have a great week too

and I hope you can join me next Friday.

Friday Chat Day

Hello friends

Have you all melted?

We've had some seriously high temperatures and I am so glad the

cooler weather has arrived.  I don't mind admitting I'm grumpy when it 

is that hot and stay indoors in a darkened room! 

The heatwave did enable me to finish my Mustard Throw project.

It turned out to be knitting instead of crochet but I'm really pleased with it.

  

It is a Mock Cable pattern and available free on the Hobbycraft blog.

It will be going to its new home over the weekend.

I did wonder whether pom poms would look good on the corners?

In other news we celebrated Elliott's birthday.

It was a 3 day event - he knows how to milk it! 

Trip to London, Lakeside and out for a meal.

Here he is with a cake and being photo bombed by Mitchell!

He is rather grown up now, all those growth injections worked!

I took Elliott for an Italian meal in Gravesend High Street,

just along from where the Hope and Chances' shop used to be.

It's that white one in the picture and now a nail salon.

I did take a peek in the window which is the first time since I left.

I realised I had deliberately been avoiding that part of town because

I was sad to see how much my little shop had changed.

But on that evening I was fine, I feel enough time has passed for me 

not to dwell on what used to be and instead focus on now.

         

Always so pleased to see they still have the bunting.

At the very bottom of the High Street is the River Thames

and the ferry that takes you across to Tilbury in Essex.

So what else is happening?

Mum is finally managing to eat a little bit more and managing to get 

out and about.

I've been having a bit of a Summer Clean (as opposed to Spring Clean)

indoors and getting around to various jobs including those 

I've been putting off for a long time - cleaning the conservatory! 

I have also discovered the benefits of Freecycle and have

found homes for many items that we did not need but just too

good to throw away.

Website news - still lots of items in the pre-loved and clearance.

Feel free to take a peek and keep popping back as more are uploaded

daily (although the times are a little erratic). 

This weekend will see many items added - I promise!

Take care friends, hope you have a lovely weekend.

Thank you for stopping by.

Friday Chat Day

Hello friends

How has your week been?

I'm beginning to notice the shorter evenings but feeling 

quite lucky with the recent sunshine. It has been perfect 

Bella-walking weather.

This week Bella got to meet my sister's rescue dog 

and we were so wrapped up in walking and chatting that 

I didn't get a photo - got one of the sky and trees though! 

Also this week some craft! 

My post for Scrapbook Adhesives went live and it featured tags.

In case you missed it and fancy a look, the link is here.

Last weekend I got to spend the day in London with friends and we

went to Hamilton, the musical.

I did wonder beforehand whether it would be my cup of tea as 

it is sung and rapped through incorporating hip hop.

Now I'm a girl that likes classical, a bit of rock and country music so

this was definitely out of my comfort zone.

But...it was fabulous!  I was blown away by it.

It is both enthralling,emotional and utterly brilliant. 

I found myself humming and singing 

the songs days afterwards (with odd looks from the boys).

I would recommend it for sure.

Knitting/crochet - still loving my new found hobby.

Lots of progress on the mustard throw project.

I took this photo outside one evening and the light really captured

its mustard-ness!

This should be finished over the weekend and then I'm thinking of trying

this pattern in grey aran yarn.

Work stuff...

lots of offers and pre-loved still on the website, 

I'm uploading items each day. Yes, all on my own...those boys 

have deserted me! Well, to be fair they are both working full time so 

I can't really complain :) 

I'm slowly getting through the cabin and sorting items

but I have to confess that I am enjoying the Summer and 

will step things up in the Autumn.

There is a Bank Holiday offer on Glimmer items, 20% off -

just enter the code GLIMMER20 at checkout,

expires midnight Monday. 

This weekend is Elliott's birthday so some celebrations going on,

he is going to be 23 - I am struggling to get my head around that.

Here is is posting the very first charity kits back in 2013.

For those of you who have followed my blog for years you will have 

 know the struggles he has been through.

I am incredibly proud of him and especially now watching him

head out the door each day to work, I pinch myself that it is real.

Have a wonderful Bank Holiday weekend and 

I hope you can stop by next Friday.

Take care friends.

A middle of the week post!

Hello friends

Just stopping by to let you know my project for Scrapbook

Adhesives by 3L has just gone up on their blog here.

It's a tag collection (been a while since I made tags).

If you have a moment to pop over to their blog 

and take a look at the tutorial 

(and leave a comment - pretty please!)

 I would be very grateful.

In between, enjoy your week and look forward 

to chatting on Friday.

Take care friends.

Friday Chat Day

Hello friends

It's Friday and it's another chat day.

I knew you would all understand last week's excitement at having
new interior doors fitted, it funny what makes our lives pleasant.
(Hazel - I also appreciate the thrill of visiting the tip and
getting rid of lots of stuff!)   

Talking of things that make life pleasant, each day
I afford myself little treats, not always the edible kind,
sitting down with a coffee and viewing my favourite
YouTube videos or accounts on Facebook/Instagram.
I've decided to share the love this Friday with my go-to list: 

1bike1world on Instagram

Dean and his rescue cat Nala on a bike exploring the world.
He has a lot of followers and I was over the moon to get a mention this week,
well it was Bella really but close enough!)

Moss the Dartmoor Dog on Facebook

The adventures of Moss, a German Wirehaired Pointer living on Dartmoor.

Instahomegb on Instagram

New home with a Goldendoodle puppy.

A Chick Called Albert on YouTube

It all started with Albert, a sweet little quail that hatched from an egg

bought in the supermarket.

Bit of an animal theme I know! 

So if any of these take your fancy, let me know what you think.

Calligraphy update - I've been practising.

Unfortunately I never did shorthand (Lesley asked last week),

that would have been handy for learning the thick/thin strokes.

Instead I learned to type on a manual typewriter at school with a teacher

who hit our fingers with a ruler if we dared look down - 

sounds Victorian now!

This is one of my worksheets, I keep thinking that 

changing pen colour may help!  

Exciting news...

starting 1 September is a workbook challenge - Better Brush Letters 

by Blink Lettering. 

This is a follow up course to Better Brush Drills and takes you through

uppercase and lowercase letters.

As an Ambassador and I can offer you a 10% discount code when purchasing

this course - please click here 

It will take you the Etsy shop with 10% discount automatically applied.

You can start the workshop early or join in with everyone on 1 September.

I personally work so much better when taking part in a group ,

 it definitely prompts me and a lot more fun, hope you can join me.

Family news:

My Mum is out of hospital, still quite poorly and needs to gain weight 

but lovely that she is back home.

It was my Dad's birthday last weekend which was a day of food. 

Starting with cooked breakfast and then Chinese takeaway and birthday cake.

Here's the man himself looking very happy.

And finally a sneak peek of a Scrapbook Adhesives project that

will be on their blog on Monday. I'll be sharing it on social media

and hope you can stop by.

Oh yes...also over on the website, keep checking those pre-loved,

they are uploaded daily.

This weekend I am going to the theatre to see Hamilton.

Special friends are treating me as an early birthday present -

(very early as my birthday is in November!)

I've heard some wonderful reviews, let me know if you have seen it.

Take care friends, have a wonderful weekend and I hope you can join

me for a chat again next week.