Gosh I didn't realise it had even so long!

Goodness me my apologies to all those who pop by, this year has been probably one of the worst up to now. My health hit an all time low and I'm so sad to say there have been some very distressful times concerning our rescue. An investigation has ensued relating to a former director, more can't be said as yet the case is still ongoing and will be carried on into the new year. Very unpleasant times, with her supporters vilifying myself because I brought it to the attention of the authorities. If I hadn't been ill and taking a back seat for a few months I would not have known about it and it would have continued. Her supporters sadly can't be told what the allegations are so think we're being malicious, when it all comes out they'll be very hurt. I know because I was, I respected, trusted and loved her like a sister.
Because of the above the number of dogs we can help has depleted enormously. This time of year we're always very busy as are all rescues but we don't have the finances to fulfil our promise of looking after the ones needing medical treatment. It's been very draining, stressful and still is.

My salvation has been the odd times I can devote to my sewing which has been very spasmodic. I have managed to get a lot of squares cut out with my Go cutter, so much quicker. I do still use a rotary cutter though. I've actually got one of my wip's pieced, sandwiched and ready for me to grow some nerve and machine quilt it.
Here it is waiting or me to get up the nerve:

We've spent as much time as possible at the coast in our holiday hideaway, we've enjoyed it so much and are glad we chose where we did. I wanted to make it as cosy as possible, couldn't get Mr B to go chinz but he does like the new armchair I found on ebay, handmade by a craftsman who has 30 yrs experience behind him. I absolutely love it, it's so comfy, here's a pic for you and it wasn't as expensive as you would imagine. The fabric is Clarke & Clarke Rose on Grey but it is just off white.

In September I changed my car, I need to have a higher one to enable me to get in and out easier. This body isn't as agile as it used to be, we looked around for ages and finally decided on a Vauxhall Antara 4x4. It's great and so comfy to drive and ride in. We chose a black like this one, good job I don't do the cleaning of it I can't reach the top of the car!

I'm not doing much driving at the moment though only if I really have to. I have torn the plantar fascia ligament and its blooming painful. This ligament goes from the bottom of the toes to the back of your heel, due to the damage caused it's inflamed. I have to wear the splint at night plus on and off during the day the splint stretches the ligament helping it to heal. Day time isn't bad, they increased my dosage of the anti inflamatories and pain meds. Night time wearing it in bed is like going to bed with motorbike boots on lol. It does help though, until I take it off. It is very sexy don't you think :0).

As you can see my ever faithful companions like to be near.

Mr B is so getting into the cooking and baking, he's stocked the freezer up, not the bread cobs on top they were bought ones he moved to the top to be used first. There are bread cobs in there that I made. His quiches are really scrumptious, the pastry melts in your mouth. He's not quite mastered making tea cakes but he'll get there.

  Photos of the pizzas he made, cooked one and it was delicious with salad.

Ready for the freezer with sweetcorn, red onion, green peppers, ham & Danish Salami

, 

He likes to keep the larder cupboard stocked and rearranges it occasionally lol.

Sorry it's photo overload just trying to catch up, I wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas. We're out for Christmas lunch, we're going to my daughters and really looking forward to it.

Hugs to you all
Peg xx

If at first you don't succeed.

I was trying to be clever yesterday and post a link to some photos unfortunately that didn't work so will put the photos on instead.

I'll take you on a tour of my garden area, tea and biscuits provided free of charge.

My garden, my refuge, my small but comfy summerhouse and of course little poser Georgi. The chiminea is still under cover.



My vintage Royal Albert ornamental teapot and a magazine or two


One of my samplers and ornamental bird cage with perfumed candle & lights in, it looks really nice when lit, saving the environment too they're battery operated. The light on the back wall is solar and bright.



More magazines to peruse with a snugly vintage eiderdown if it turns chilly.


Another book or two and another snugly eiderdown, room for two, anyone want to join me?


Cd corner the player is under the table, we will paint the tables and corner shelf when we have more time later. I have the curtains ready just waiting for Mr B to have time to put the rails up, I'll share that in another post. I don't need to make them my lovely DIL Philly made them. I'll be making some cushion covers hopefully next week, I have the inserts and fabric ready and waiting.



Secluded eating corner, awaiting new chairs. We're bringing the two spare ones from the caravan they're more comfy.


Oh to swing and dream, soooo comfy, the quilted rug is necessary when little doglets decide to jump up and snooze.


My Bay tree, bistro table and lamp, again, solar. Sadly one of the globes was accidentally broken so I've ordered a replacement.




I've wanted a Japanese acre for years and love the deep coloured display, along with this my Lavender shrub and pot chrysanthemums make up this corner. That's my big man Nemo in the back ground.


From the steps, the little shed in the corner is for storage, I don't go there just incase little scurrying visitors are in residence.


Another from the steps


Looking into the house


Not a large garden but it's ours and we love it, the fence is 6' my neighbour has conifers the other side and asked if we minded her letting them grow higher, no it gives us more privacy.

So there you have it our little haven from the bustle of life.






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Isn't it nice to see some sunshine?

The links aren't working will try again ! It's been a beautiful day here in sunny Derbyshire, I awoke this morning to an unusual quietness around the house, it's usually a hive of baking and cooking by Mr B. On coming downstairs the back door was open and the contents of my grooming room were on the pavers in front of the steps.

I need to explain a little here first, I have an awful and some may say pathetic phobia about mice and their larger kin, rats. When we had the new kitchen installed and my bedroom made over we stored quite a bit of the bedroom stuff in the grooming room, these items weren't put back for a while so I wasn't able to get in there for quite some time.

To my horror when I did I noticed there was evidence of visitors, not the pleasant kind, those with 4 legs and an obscene tail the only good thing about it was they were the smaller variety! That was it, I refused to go in, childish you may think, I don't mind spiders, moths, bees etc. Luckily all bedroom contents were in large plastic storage tubs inpenetrable (sp?) from the outside by scurrying things. Everything was thoroughly washed although unnecessary, however the lidless tubs holding my grooming tools etc didn't go unscathed. The blooming monsters had been in them!!

Then this morning there was Mr B very kindly extracting the contents and scrubbing everything down for me. With the contents out it was possible to see they had not made a home in there by nesting but were literally visiting or being nosey, they must have been rather peeved at me because no food was kept in there and thankfully they didn't punish me by chewing anything.

Bless him he really went to town with the disinfecting and scrubbing, I couldn't thank him enough for what he'd done. Now the only items in there need to be and I can see all areas so am happy to go back inside and keep my munchkins tidy. Their treats box is in there now but has a strong lid, if you'd like to see the results please click on the link below.


A lovely visitor to my blog has emailed and asked if I could please share photos of my garden, this link is below if you should wish to also see. I love my garden now, it has served as a refuge from the constant ringing phone, a place I can either sit quietly or listen to classical music or catch up on my audio books with my ipod. We're very lucky in having neighbours who are out at work all day so it's nice and quite. Our garden area isn't massive but we're happy with it. It was rather large when we first moved in but we used one side of it to have a large garage built. Having the dogs mean't any grassed area would be ruined, I have 6 girls and grass doesn't fair well.

So last year we decided to have it all paved with Indian slabs, I got my longed for conservatory, summer house, grooming room and my lovely garden swing. The pics aren't fantastic, I'm not to good with the camera and a great view would have been overhead I suppose but I don't own a chopper lol.

 I have my lovely mediteranian style pots with a Japanese Maple for which I've wanted for years, they also hold my Lavender shrub, Bay tree and pot chrysanthimums. It's easier to keep clean and tidy, the slabs need a rinse down daily but that's not a problem.

I do have lovely solar lights all around in the pots, some of them are along the fence, summer house and along the edges of the paved area. Photos I take of them never come out right. The small shed beside the summerhouse is just for storage and not one I go into just in case lol.I would love extensive grounds with landscaped gardens and sitting areas but I haven't and I'm happy with what I have, it's managable.
I do love Mr B :o)

Here's the link below.

Have a wonderful weekend, we're off to my elder sons tomorrow for a bbq, I love it over there too there's often shows or festivals going on especially with LadyBower Dam being so close.

take care

Our little soldier

Whilst I've been incapacitated on enforced rest Mr B has been occupying himself with swapping cupboards around. Many of you will I'm sure salute this action but the problem is I can never find anything when he's finished lol. He will often move things around in the large larder cupboard but then I have to keep shouting to ask him where he's put things.

Anyway, he decided to rearrange the cupboard under the stairs where we keep stocks of long term storage like a few tinned goods, loo roll, kitchen roll, pasta etc. During his sorting he came across a cardboard box which gave a bit of a 'pot' rattle when he moved it. Carefully looking inside he came across this handsome fellow which we forgot we had.

 He's a cookie jar around 18" high, we knew we had the perfect place for him now. Mr B is a big fan of chocolate, I'm not, the occassional McVities chocolate wholemeal biscuit I enjoy but that's it. However I do dabble in sweets (candy to our US friends) so we have decided to take him to our peaceful holiday get away and give him the honour of guarding our 'stash' We can get quite a few packets of sweets & chocolate bars in there don't you think?  I love his cute little grin. My daughter, SIL & grandson are going down for the weekend but she'd rather not have the responsibility of taking him, she's brilliant at breaking things lol.

Im going to see if I can stand long enough to put the batting and backing fabric on my quilt top, not easy sitting down doing it and I need it to be kept straight.

If I manage it you'll be the first to know :o)

Take care

Peg x

Another change in the weather!

Yesterday, 3 of my Munchkins and I spent our time in the conservatory, me sorting the quilt out and they just watching me. from left to right is Megan my little oldie girl who recently had a stroke. Georgi girl my little flirt and Dooglebug our baby of the outfit who loves everybody whomever they are.
The weather wasn't inviting us to sunbathe and rained all day not a day for sitting on the swing.

It didn't improve any later on either as you can see in these pictures

The lovely pink bucket you can see was purposely left out to measure the amount of rain we'd had and as of yesterday in 2 wks the bucket is 3/4 full! As you can imagine we have not sat at the garden table for any meals recently lol. Thankfully we are better off than some in the UK who have horrendous floods again, it must be heart breaking because some are only just getting over last years floods.

On a lighter note I've finished the quilt top I was sewing, when we spent 10 rainy days in our get away I used the time to get on with it

I took the photo today thinking the rare appearance of the sun may give me a good picture, here's a close up so you can see the blocks and pretty border fabric. It's called Playmates quilt, designed by Pam & Nicky Lintott. The pattern calls for a jelly roll from the French General range but as this is no longer available I used my own yardage of Moda fabrics from the US. 

I have the cotton batting and backing fabric ready to complete it but I'm not able to stand long enough to pin them all together yet. I'm very happy with how it's turned out so far, I'd never made these blocks before, I made mistakes and there was quite a bit of frogging and restitching but it was worth all the work put into it.

The sun has gone back in now and it's rather overcast again, the forecast is more heavy rain yet we have hosepipe bans in force in several areas??

Take care

Peg x

.

A little renovation.

A few years ago I saw and fell in love with this quilt on ebay, I loved it on site. I finally had the winning bid and was so happy when I received it. At first I was a little disappointed that the back was bulky, there was no batting just a rather thick blanket albeit it new.



This is the blanket,


Due to being ill and not able to machine or physically walk about I decided to take off the backing and finish it properly. Once I'd removed the blanket the back was a bit of a shock







As you can see each square instead of being cut to size had the edges folded over anywhere between 1- 2" with masses of threads needing cutting off. It looked a mess, but you know I felt really annoyed with myself for being so picky. The reason for this was that on closer inspection the lady who pieced it had hand stitched each square. The stitches were so tiny evidently taking many hours to stitch the squares securely together.

I've cut the excess fabric off each square and when I put the batting, the backing fabric and binding on I will have the luxury of using my machine, this lady evidently didn't. I think the old adage of not judging a book by its cover is a lesson I learnt this week. I still love it and knowing the work she put in will make me appreciate it even more.

Just a little mention of the weather we're having, if it continues to rain much longer I think we'll all be developing webbed feet :0).

Enjoy your week and please take time to pop over to some of the blogs who's buttons are on my sidebar you'll be in for a treat!

Take care

Peg x



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Making changes

We decided to come down to our little get away for a few days. We both love it here and have had the company of the sun for the past 2 days, the temperature drops in the evening but we don't care there's heating and when we feel like being snugly we have gorgeous chenille throws & beautiful crocheted blankets. Plus of course my little munchkin doglets, they're perfect hottie bottles. :o)

We're making a few changes inside this time, I love terracotta but the curtains seem to look 'flat' so I've decided to change them from this colour

to this colour

I wanted to lift the colour a little so I chose these lovely Latte curtains. Two of the lounge windows are only 3' wide so I bought one pair and made a pr from each curtain. They also needed 10" off the bottom but that won't be wasted because I've earmarked it to cover the pelmet, yes I know pelmets are so last season but I like them and think they finish a window off.  I slip stitched the lining back onto the curtains and have one window dressed with them. Two other windows are over 4' each and the big one is 90" x 42".

When we first bought our get away the windows had plain net curtains, not very inspiring and I'm not a fan of nets so couldn't wait to get rid of them. I chose Ivory slat blinds to compliment the Latte coloured curtains and Mr B put the first one up for me today so with the new curtains they look great, well to me they do. I need to sort the tie backs and the pelmet tomorrow I'll post a pic when they're finished. I'm hoping to do another pair tomorrow. I brought some quilting with me but haven't had the chance to do any yet but I'll leave this project here so it'll get a little more done next time hopefully.

On a none busy note the dogs and I have had a lovely time today I took them 2 at a time on a good walk. I can't walk to far and it does aggravate my back so I use my scooter. It's nice and flat here and the dogs are very proficient at walking to the side of me to avoid the wheels. Megan's the cheekiest bless her she thinks it's her princess carriage and rides between my feet! Just like this, she surveys her little kingdom, thankfully she doesn't do the queenly wave :o)

Well that's all for now take care, keep smiling and thank you for visiting.


Peg x

Anyone for tennis?

Lol not really, I'd be flat on my face, although I did used to enjoy playing. I just wanted an excuse to show off my lovely Cath Kidson style pumps. They are so pretty and really comfy, if I remember right they were under £10 from Windsors shoe store. My daughter is miffed because we don't share the same shoe size lol.

Thanks to Sue who introduced me to me Blogpress I can now post photos from my iPad. If I've made it work of course! I hope I've done the link correct if I have click on Sues' name and it will take you to her lovely blog.

Just wanted to test the photo insert again if I may. This is Nunu and I having a one to one chat just after tea one night at the van. She's a lovely girl who is slightly shy of strangers but will love you forever if you're one of her favourite people. I adore this little girl she's like a gazelle when out off lead, she doesn't run but leaps.




We had to cover the seating in the van the weather was very stormy and each trip out we were wet through so throws on the sofas was the order of the day! Bless em the little munchkins wanted to be comfy, lol. Want to know how to accommodate 4 Shiddies and 6 Lhasa's in a caravan? Well some at one end...



And 4 at the other :0)



Hopefully this will be successful, we've just enjoyed a typical English Sunday lunch of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and veg. No dessert to full!
It's our wedding anniversary tomorrow, 39 yrs, we've been together 41 yrs and I love him just as much today if not more. I love that we can spend more time together now he's semi retired and can't wait until he leaves altogether. Being able to go to the van whenever we want, I take my stitching and quilting, he takes his camera and the days just drift by.

Enjoy what's left of your day

Peg xx

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Taking time to recharge the batteries.

Hi ladies, I've been a bit absent on the blogging front, whilst away I've mainly been using my ipad and believe me it's no fun using it to write on blogger. You can't add photos through it and things go awry with it, we're back home now and I'm finally able to catch up. I've enjoyed reading through the many blogs I visit, there have been some beautiful creations and I've loved reading about them.
Take a trip over to Hens house share in her Easter celebrations, I love popping in and seeing what she's been creating or what she's up to.

We've been away to the van for 10 days and thoroughly enjoyed it, we went from Thursday to Sunday during which the weather was gorgeous, we were able to sit outside, chill out and enjoy the sun. The dogs loved it and as you can just see on the photos they lapped up the sunshine. Mr B managed to get the borders planted, if they all come up it will look colourful, he also planted up two large pots near the veranda. There are now tiny lights entwined around the balcony rails, post lights along the path and 3 Shepherds lanterns on either side of the patio. They look wonderful at night, it's not warm enough to sit out there in the evening yet but will be soon.

We came home on the Sunday because Neil had some meetings at work but we went back on Monday when he'd finished. Lesley, Andrew and Sam joined us for a few days. They set off in the afternoon so when we got there they had a lovely meal waiting for us. It was lovely to sit down and eat straightaway. 

Not wanting to scare you but this was me at the beginning of the holiday feeling exhausted, not able to sleep and looking like something the cat dragged in!! I was trying to read but when you've got a few little furry ones who like attention you tend to read the same paragraph several times. I promise you as the time went on I did feel more refreshed and looked less scarey lol. Hey if you can't laugh at yourself something's wrong, I do it regularly because I usually get into a muddle. ;o)

When we went back the weather was appalling, like the rest of the country we had horrendous storms. The wind during the night was so loud you'd have thought you were next to a train line. Thankfully no one suffered any damage but I was glad the van is anchored down!

I felt sorry for Sam, he loves to fish and had taken all his fishing tackle down with him so he could fish in the lake, even remembering his licence. Sadly the storms were to strong and taking the dogs had us all wet through and having to change clothes each time, the dogs were dryer than us actually, we don't know how they managed it. Nemo and Dooglebug were most affronted at having to wear coats, if looks could kill lol.

It was fun having them there and it meant we had 10 dogs with us but with 5 of us and 2 dogs each we had walking sussed. They were brilliant bless em and settled down after their walks. Sadly we couldn't take them on the beach, the winds were to strong. Travelling through the streets the day after the worse one we saw how strong it had been peoples gardens and drives were covered in sand and the shops on the front had been close to being flooded by sea water and rain. We all enjoyed it though and had a laugh and celebrated Andrews birthday. Lesley and family left on the Wednesday evening because Andrew was back at work on Thursday, we got up Thursday morning to gorgeous sunshine and warm weather!! we couldn't believe it.

We had a couple of days on our own then on Saturday one of Neil's climbing friends came over with his wife and 22mth old little boy for the day. Thankfully it was lovely sunshine again so we were able to go out onto the beach, it was still windy on there though so we needed to wrap up well. We haven't seen them since Oliver was a few months old and what a delightful little boy he is, he's so cute and amusing. He's very forward for his age and very articulate, he soon had us and the dogs charmed. He thought it very funny when Dooglebug, who had become his buddy for the day, decided to take one of his Bob the builder toys. He was not going to give it up, I had visions of a very expensive op to remove the toy if he chewed and swallowed it! To say he came into rescue as supposedly grumpy and a biter he loved being with Oliver, I did have to open his mouth and take the toy out he wasn't going to give it up otherwise, but he didn't offer to bite once.

During our time at the van I managed to finish my 'Playmates' quilt top, I'm undecided whether to put another border around it or just put the batting and backing on. I'm really pleased with it and will post a picture later. I have to keep checking the dogs to make sure they haven't got pins stuck in their coats, I tend to drop the pins when pinning fabric together I did find one in my slipper one evening, thankfully it was stuck on the outer edge so no blood involved.

Now they've delivered the shed we've taken Mr B's bike and one of my scooters down to the van. Lincolnshire is very flat and a big help to those with walking problems. Mr B enjoys going out with his camera and I can go up to the shops or 'walking' the dogs without getting more tired. Friday was another lovely day, I'd taken Megan and Dooglebug to have their claws clipped then left them with Mr B whilst I had a ride up into town, it was lovely not having to look for a parking space and getting some fresh air.

Our lovely time had to come to an end on Monday evening, Mr B was back at work Tuesday and Wednesday. The traffic on the home run was busy in one section but the end bit went fairly quickly. Our eldest son, wife and youngest daughter have gone down from today until Sunday, I'm keeping my fingers crossed the weather stays fine for them. Paul suffers when it's damp and cold, they've taken their dog Teddy Edward, whose seen here chilling at home and getting ready for his holiday lol. Isn't he gorgeous.

Well folks I think that's me done for now, it's time for bed. 

Take care

hugs 

Peg x

A devastating day

We have just turned on the tv and have seen the horrific news of the bus crash carrying children from Belgium. My heart breaks for the parents of the children and the relatives of the adults also killed. 28 Belgiums including 22 of which were children, 12yrs of age who were returning home from a successful skiing trip. As a mother it breaks my heart, please remember to pray for the survivors who are seriously injured. Peg x

I finally did it!

I'm very happy this morning, I have finally managed to upload my own blog header. Not very adventurous I know but to keep it simple I chose a photo of the back wall of my dining room. I love this room, the curtains are similar to the wall hanging, the sun shines through the patio doors making it a lovely, cheery place to be.

I did try a photo collage but couldn't fathom out how to move it from power point to my blog. The next thing I want to tackle is having labels at the top for people to click on to move to another page of my blog I'm trying to understand several things at once. Not a good thing for my brain lol.

Enjoy your day I'll be back when I have more progress done.

hugs Peg x

Hello out there

Please don't give up on me for my lack of posting, I promise I will post in the next few days, I'm having a few blogger type problems which I can't seem to solve :0). I've changed to the new blogger in the hope of it being mostly problem free. I can't add photos when using my iPad which is so annoying! Will see you soon Peg xx

Well worth a visit

Surfing blogs last night I came across a beautiful case designed by the talented ohiomom on her blog I think it's great,I have the larger kindle and will be making one but enlarging it. Why not pop over and have a look you won't be disappointed. I had a lovely time reading through her blog, I particularly like her background with the beautiful autumnal colouring.

sew much with me: Kindle Fire case, finally :)


I've had a chilled day today with the dogs, Mr B rang he's enjoying his holiday and doing the same just chilling out. He faced timed me last night and gave me a grand tour of the house they're staying in it's beautiful!!

Don't forget to pop over.

Peg x

Look what the postman brought me today!

I just had to come back on and post what the lovely postman has delivered today. The Learn to quilt book I bought from Amazon the other day along with one on Machine quilting but that didn't arrive yet.

This one Mr B very kindly bought for me from a book seller who comes to his school

This is from an ebay seller, bought it yesterday and it was here this afternoon!!

And finally this little gadget, my eyes aren't what they used to be and my fingers are swollen a lot so I have difficulty threading the needles, again bought on ebay yesterday, delivered today what more could you ask.


I'm going to eat and then I'm going to have a read and a play :o)

Peg x