September

September has been a good month for us. Our days have been 

busy but we haven't felt as stressed or tired as we did in the summer.

 We've also had more time together as a family, making this month
easier and much more enjoyable. We baked, cooked, crafted, played and
did many things that we enjoyed and made us happy. The weather
 hasn't been bad either for this time of year with lots of mild, sunny
 days. And best of all  Markie settled in well in school without any
problems. She's been so brave and brilliant and we are very, very
 proud of her.

So thank you and good bye to September. It's been a great month.
We're now looking forward to October and we hope it will be just
as good and kind to us.

By the Sea

We spent a very happy afternoon in Robin Hood's Bay last weekend.
We've had a soft spot for this little fishing village on the Yorkshire
Coast ever since we first came here three years ago. It's just perfect
for the sort of family holidays that we like and we're always happy
to come back even for just half a day.

We parked at the top of the village and made our way down to the

bay, past little shops, cafes, holiday cottages and Dollies, a sweet

shop, and the life boat museum right on the beach front.

Then we were on the beach!

We couldn't have timed it better. The tide had just gone out and we

had this whole stretch of sand waiting for us. It was warm and sunny
 and we had beautiful blue skies too. It was the perfect day to be
 by the sea.

After days of being poorly our girls were finally feeling better and it was

 lovely to see them playing in the warm sunshine. We collected shells
 and stones, built sand castles, and explored the rock pools together. 

We had so much fun.

When we left the tide was beginning to come in and we had two
tired but happy girls.  We've had a great time and we know that
next year we'll be back here again, maybe in spring or in the summer.

We then spent the rest of our weekend in Whitby where we had another
lovely day by the sea. Hope to be back with a post about that soon.

'Oh! We do like to be beside the seaside.
We do like to be beside the sea!..'

Vintage Fair Finds

This week seems to be our family's turn to suffer from the various
germs and viruses that have been going around lately. Unfortunately
it's the girls who've had the worse end of it and they haven't been
happy bunnies these past couple of days. They're much better today
 although still feeling very tired. Fingers crossed they're now on the
mend and we'll finally see the end of these nasty bugs. Well for now
at least. I just want us all to be well again--we have a little seaside
 break to enjoy this weekend!

Anyway let's now talk about nicer and more cheerful things such as
 my purchases from Sheffield Antiques Quarter's autumn vintage fair.
They're quite a mixed bunch, my finds, but I'm delighted with them all.
First off are these Midwinter milk jug and lidded jar. 

I've never seen pieces with these colours and pattern before
so I got quite excited when I first spotted them. I thought £7 for
the two was a bit expensive but after looking online I realized
I actually did well. My mother-in-law collects vintage dinner and
tableware and she's impressed with them so I'm even more pleased.

There were many tempting haberdashery items from buttons,
knitting needles and sewing baskets at the fair but I was happy
with just these two bias bindings. I like this shade of green
and I also like that they're still both in their original packaging.
As for the little flower brooch, it was simply too pretty to leave
behind especially at just 50 pence!

Last but not least is this basket. To be honest with you
this was not my first choice. I had my eye on something nicer
with a green trim but the seller didn't have any change for my
twenty pound note. We both asked around for change without
any luck and someone suggested I go to a nearby Tesco which
was a bit annoying as my time was quite limited and aren't sellers
 supposed to be ready with coins and smaller notes for change?

I was about to give up when I spotted this one. It was cheaper
 and the stallholder was more helpful too. I thought it would do
but I'm now really happy with it. It's sturdy and roomy and
can hold all the yarn for my granny square throw so it actually
turned out to be perfect.

So these are all my happy finds from the fair. I hope I'll be as
lucky on the next one.



Thanks for stopping by. Back soon!

Nature in the Garden

We were out in our little garden yesterday afternoon. It had been
overcast and drizzly and we had spent most of our morning indoors.
After lunch, when it cleared up, the girls wanted to play outside and I
went along for a bit of fresh air. There were lots of leaves on the ground
and Markie picked up a few to play with. We noticed that on one of
them there was a very tiny snail. It was ever so small that we nearly
missed it.

Isn't it wonderful? We thought it was such an exciting find and we
 decided to look for other little creatures that might be around our garden.

We found ants and spiders, lots of them, amongst the plants.

We're not big fans of spiders but we couldn't help but be fascinated

by their delicate and intricate webs. Those dewy ones are particularly
beautiful.

We also saw a couple of bees busily working away amongst

the lavender flowers. 

And there was a lonely looking ladybird resting on a rosemary stem.
We hope it would find some its friends soon.

We really enjoyed our little search around the garden and were
very delighted with what we saw and found. I'm glad we took the
time to look, notice and wonder. We went back in feeling happy and
I think we now have a better appreciation of the little green space that
we have outside our house and all the tiny creatures that make their
 home there. We'll do it again soon and hopefully next time
we'll find a frog. Now that will be very exciting.


Hope you're all having a great weekend. See you soon!

Love Me Dots Tiebacks

A few months ago Mollie Makes magazine featured these wonderful
crochet hangers. There were three different patterns, all lovely, but my
favourite was this one, the 'Love Me Dots Hanger'. Unfortunately I don't
have any spare wooden hangers that's suitable for such a makeover
but I thought that maybe I could adapt the pattern to make curtain
tiebacks instead. I had some Stylecraft cotton yarn that I wanted to
use and the colours would go really well with our blue bedroom curtains.

So I started off by making these little circles which I then made into
 squares and joined together in a row.

When I had sixteen of these little squares I double crocheted
around both sides and added the loops at each end. When this
was done I made another one so I had a pair.

Here they are both finished and ready to use.

I'm really pleased with them and so glad they are just the right length,
not too tight and not too slack. They've cheered up our plain old
 curtains and they are letting in more light, making our room so much
 brighter during the day which makes me very happy.

So that's another happy little project from me. Aside from
Mollie Makes I have to thank Pinterest and Gillian for inspiring me with
 their many fantastic crocheted curtain tiebacks creations. 

Have a great weekend. See you soon!

Weekend Pleasures

Our weekend started very slowly yesterday. It's been Markie's first
full week in school and eventhough it was only for four hours each day
she was still quite tired. Lulu and I were tired too so we decided to just
 have a slow and easy day at home.

Both girls were still in their pajamas at 10 o'clock. They played a bit

but mostly just watched Cebeebies. There was no rush to get changed

and go out. It was nice and a very welcome change after all our rushing
to and fro during the week.

By mid morning I needed a cup of tea and toast. While I was

sat down enjoying my snack I did some blog reading which I always
enjoy. I also managed to book online a little weekend break for us at
the end of this month--something wonderful for us to look forward to.
 We're so thrilled and we're very very much looking forward to this
now. Just ten more days to go...

Lunch was burgers in brioche burger buns with cheese, mayo and

mustard with coleslaw on the side. So amazingly yummy, one (or two)

of our favourite weekend treats.

In the afternoon I got my sewing machine out and finished the
 cushion covers I started making last week. It's been awhile 

since I've used my sewing machine and it was good for us 

to get reacquainted. Hopefully soon I'll be able to do more sewing. 

I have a growing list of things I want to make so yes,

hopefully soon.

This morning after church, while my husband and the girls did
 a quick food shop, I went to the Sheffield Antiques Quarter's
Autumn Fair. There were many stalls, all full of retro, vintage and
antique goodies. There were also some craft stalls. It was a delight
to walk around and look at all the items on sale. As always there
were many things that I liked and wanted to buy but we're keeping
an eye on the pennies so I limited myself to only a few things,
all small, none of them expensive.

I left the fair feeling very pleased with my purchases. My husband

 and the girls had finished their supermarket run and we headed out

to Derbyshire. We stopped at the Longshaw Estate where we had a 

lovely walk. It was a bit cold and cloudy but we didn't really mind.

It was nice to be outdoors and have this time together.

After lunch at a nearby country pub we went home where we spent

the rest of the afternoon cooking, ironing work and school uniforms,

playing, making apple and rhubarb crumble-- the usual pottering
 about.  It's been another lovely Saturday and Sunday. We feel rested

 and relaxed and so grateful to have had some family time again.
We now look to the week ahead. There will be more new challenges,
new routines and we'll be tired again which makes me even
 more thankful that we've had this quiet and happy weekend.

Have a lovely week. See you soon!

Lovely Happy Things

I have to apologise for not having been around much over the past
week. Markie has started school and it's been quite hectic around here.
So far she's been having an enjoyable time at school. The only time
we were close to tears was yesterday when I asked her why she didn't
eat her food at lunchtime and she said it's because she missed Mummy.
I've missed her too. I think she's also missing her friends in nursery.
It's hasn't been long since she's had her last day there. But apart from
 this she's been fantastic. We've been impressed with how confident
and happy she's been and we're so proud.

It's all quite a big change for all of us though.
We're still adjusting to our new routines, finding an easier route
for the school run and I'm also still getting used to driving on my own,
making my own decisions and all that. Hopefully things will get better
and easier for all of us. We'll have to give it time.

Anyway it's been a busy past week but we did manage to have
some lovely and happy things. Here are some of them:



A walk in the woods on a sunny Friday morning. It was a
beautiful day, just perfect for a bear hunt.

A nice cup of tea with our lemon drizzle cake and a new magazine.

A little bit of crafting time.

Finding a sweet little needlepoint picture in a charity shop.

Our freshly picked tomatoes

Fun and live music on a happy Sunday afternoon.

That's it from me for now. 

 I'm hoping to have a bit of blog reading time later. I've missed you all. 

Take care and I hope you're all having a good week.

See you soon!

Our Happy Weekend

We've had a really lovely weekend, the quiet but happy sort.
 First off on Saturday I had my driving and I passed! I still can't
quite believe it but what a relief, especially after all the previous
 disappointments. I have to say luck was definitely with us that day
because soon afterwards my husband's shift finished early and
we were able to meet up for lunch in town. We haven't had time
to do something like this in ages so it was really nice. I also found
 some great, unexpected bargains in town and that's always
a happy thing. The girls stayed over at Nanny and GrandDad's house
 and they had the most brilliant time too. They came back to
Sheffield on the train in the afternoon --very, very exciting!

So our Saturday was really amazing. Sunday was quieter,
 but equally happy. We went to church then spent the rest of the day
 at home. I crocheted and did a bit of blog reading, the girls played,
my husband cooked. We just pottered about and enjoyed being
 around each other while doing our own things.

And today as we start a new week and a new month, we feel
more rested and just generally in a better mood than we did the
previous week. Actually it's really amazing how the weekend went
because the week started off so differently--with lots of stress,
tiredness, even tears. It's been the running theme for the whole
of August for us--so many things going on but not enough time
to rest and be together. But thankfully things are looking much better
for us this September--more days off work for my husband,
more family time. We're very excited about Markie starting school
this Wednesday and now I can drive her there! Hooray!

So that's our weekend. Hope yours was lovely too.
Thank you for all your comments for my crocheted headband.
They're really appreciated. I'll make some for the girls later on
if they want me to. At the moment they like their hairslides
and pigtails so we'll have to see.

Thanks as always for stopping by. Have a great week!