Well I said I would be back and here I am...... the clue I was going to give you about my surprise is not ready...typical lazy me.......so I think if you look at the picture you can see quite clearly what my news is. Nooooooooooo....I'm not pregnant BUT I am going to be a Nanny whoooooo....

My daughter Natasha is expecting and hopefully it will be here around 8th December.

My husband and I are both delighted after a few horrible years of losing people around us
this was very welcome news. In fact when she told me I sobbed like a loony....everyone who was there couldn't quite understand was I was so overcome but I make no apologies............

I cant wait and up until recently I would have said I'm not ready to be a grandparent yet but
actually YES I AM....

I have already started a small crib quilt which is coming along nicely if not a little slowly but I have got a few months yet. That was what I was going to show you as the clue but never mind you'll see it soon. We have already visited the baby shops a couple of times oohing and aahing
over all the lovely things.... even my son who is 18 got all excited in Mothercare and has already earmarked what he is buying the baby.

Help get me out......................

I just wanted to say sorry to everyone for dropping off the face of the earth for a while....actually that's quite apt as it feels like what I have done. You see I've been in a black hole ( I blame the Hadron Collider)....Every now and again things become a bit too much for me and I opt out for a while. I still have to go to work and do all the things that are expected but my heart just isn't in anything so I apologise....... I'm sure we all get times like this in our lives when things just seem so hard and I was determined that my blog was going to be full of positive vibes but I believed I owed you an explanation. I had nothing positive to say so its better to say nothing. I loose the joy in everything I don't sew I don't read I don't do anything because my heart isn't in it.

I've always struggled between positivity and moroseness (is that a word I think it is I hope you know what I mean) sometimes those bad vibes are just too strong.

I haven't even been reading your blogs.........no don't gasp..........please I promise I'm heading on upward and I'll be back with you all soon.............anyway I've had some good news Yippee...........

but I cant tell you just yet I'll be back with a big clue soon I promise.

My best garden friend

I thought I would share this action shot of my best garden friend in action.
See all the bits of tuber in the soil.... grrrr............this is what was left of my clematis. It had been lovely in previous years and it was really struggling so I did a bit of investigation and it's roots were completely destroyed by leatherjackets.....no not the ones you wear...... the little grey buggy ones..... they are the lavare of the cranefly or daddylonglegs. What a nuisance they are.........you don't know they are in the soil until the plant starts to die. Shortly after I had dug the clematis up my beautiful little friend turned up to help me clear them out....can you see the little beast in his mouth. Apparently there is not much I can do at this time of the year to get rid of them so now I am paranoid about my plants but other than go round digging them all up I will
just have to wait and see. The clematis although in a very sorry state has been saved yipee................. I put it into a pot
(after giving it a nice bath ) to get rid of any more unwanted visitors
from what was left of its roots and then it potted it in some nice
new compost and after a week it has a lovely 2" long green shoot on it.
I'm having a few days off this week (yes....thankyou) so I'm going to be in the garden and will bring you some more garden shots next week.
Now.....All bow down to the beautiful ROBIN REDBREAST.

Thankyou every one for my birthday wishes,I've had a good time with lots of nice presents and good company. I had a lovely meal with my family on Sunday, I find it so weird to think that I am the parent of these grown up children !!! I certainly don't feel like their responsible parent. I have decided
that 50 is going to be a time for me (and my other half) I'm going to look after myself more I'm going to be more adventurous,I'm going to sing more and laugh more and generally let my hair down...so watch out world cause I'm headed your way.


Now back onto what I have been doing recently.... I made this crochet garland with the help of Attic 24,although I couldn't for the life of me follow her pattern for tiny flowers and the garland that was supposed to be crocheted...well....it isn't
that's all I need to say about that !! but I'm happy with the end result I think it looks cute.
I've NEARLY.. finished this lap quilt
This material was a b........er to work with with some of it had a very fine weave and pulled out of shape very easily. It came in pack from Hobbycraft. Its taken me 12 months
to get round to using it. I incorporated a few of my stitcheries and I'm happy with the results,I have to say I was fairly patient and tried hard not to rush.. BUT.....du du duuuuuuuu.
I cut the border....noooooooo....I stitched it on.....my way.....nooooooooo
and I've made a mess. Look I'm sorry ok I know you have all tried to show me how to do this properly but I didn't...But I will.. I PROMISE, I'm going to unpick it and do it again.
This is the best job I've done so far on a quilt and I will finish it properly.

Can it be possible....no....I cant be....

fifty !!!! FIFTY !!!! how on earth did that happen lol........

What am I doing at the moment.....well a bit of allsorts really. I'm working on this sampler which is very personal to me. Its all about my parents who sadly are no longer with me,I realise that this sort of work really appeals to my non conformist attitude (ie: I don't have to follow instructions). Let me tell you a little bit about whats on there,the photograph at the bottom is of my dads garden, when I was growing up Its the most vivid memory I have of my childhood.
My dad was a brilliant gardener and he loved flowers,most of the garden was given over to the growing of flowers even the greenhouses were full of beautiful smelling geraniums,even now the smell of geraniums warming on the windowsill transports me back to my childhood.
I was very excited at the car boot yesterday to find these cards,especially the geranium card
which of course has to have a place on the sampler somewhere.
Apparently these are cigarette cards !! If you click on the picture you should be able to read the
blurb. What else can I tell you..... the air mail envelope was a letter that my husband and I sent to my parents when we spent some time in Australia ,the crochet was something my mother was brilliant at and I wish that I had taken the time to learn from her whilst she was here.
There are two earrings one at the top and one at the bottom, one belonged to my mum and the other to my grandmother,there was only one of each so it seemed right to put them on here.
The stamps are for my dad, he collected stamps,coins, cigarette cards ( he would have loved those flower ones). And of course I cant forget the Robin the symbol that reminds me of my parents everyday. So there we have it a work in progress,very personal to me,I must admit I did wonder if any one else would "get it" but even if they don't I'm really enjoying making this.
I'll show you again when its finally finished I'm trying to decide how best to display this...any ideas.

I think I'm in Love

Oh my goodness....I think I'm in Love look who's come to stay with me.
I've coveted one of these babies for a long time and last weekend we visited a fabulous shop called Ampthill Antiques Emporium.Oh my goodness what a place it was 3 floors of antiques and vintage goodies I didn't know where to look first. I will certainly be going back again, it was impossible to take in all the goodies.
I will ask if I can take some pictures next time. They had a great section of vintage clothes sadly all to small for me.
I think vintage clothes are more suited to this beautiful lady than to me.
Okay what should her name be ? should she even have a name?
As my daughter told me...your weird mum !!!
Weird me.........hah
So come on some suggestions please, I've had Fleur, Marilyn (cause she curvy obviously) Lacey (my Husbands suggestion !!!) and I need some more so please join me in naming this beautiful (impossibly thin waisted) lady.