It's nearly two years since Mr C and I first visited Butterfly World, so having read Mediocre Mum's review of her recent visit I though it time we returned, with Little Miss C this time. I should start with a bit of a warning for anyone reading that isn't aware yet; the big dome hasn't been built yet. I know they said it would be ready by 2011, but it isn't and instead you have a big hole filled with wildflowers. Not quite the same. We did struggle a bit to work out exactly what they had done since our last visit. We think the playground area is new, but then ... read more
Reason for not blogging #649
Lightening strke taking out wifi. With things being so busy at home I'd been saving up posts that I wanted to write until a planned trip up north to stay with my parents. Sadly it was not to be though as on this visit there was a distinct lack of wifi internet access. The cause: a lightening strike two weeks ago which hit this tree in their garden (details from a nature viewpoint here on Mr C's UK Nature Blog) and also took out their phone line, wireless router, TV aerial amplifier and DECT phone. It just goes to show how powerful nature can be! ... read more
A studio update
There's been a lot of work going on down the bottom of the garden recently. Not of a gardening nature, but instead in my studio down there and it's looking very different to how things were a couple of months ago. Gone are all the old paint pots that used to sit on the shelves next to my sewing machine. Also, gone is the pile of old carpet that was in the corner until we found somewhere else to use it. Instead I have clear space, a second table and two bookcases to build. As of this afternoon I also have a vast quantity of yarn, machine cotton thread, buttons, zips, knitting needles ... read more
Flower Ring
One handmade ring from the current issue of Mollie Makes. Made from felt in a lovely turquoise colour this was a tad fiddly to make, but possibly because I wasn't using a sharp enough needle to stitch it together. This was just one of three designs in the magazine. I've plenty of felt left to try the other designs, and have a few ideas of my own to experiment with next. ... read more
MIA…
Apologies for being Missing in Action yesterday. I had one of those "growing older events" to celebrate... Chair in its new home, and cushion a birthday present from Mr C, purchased from We Love Cushions. ... read more
The chair that so nearly wasn’t
The first rule of shopping in second hand shops is that if you see something you like then buy it straight away as it probably won't be there when you return. I broke that rule yesterday and I so nearly paid for it today. As I left a charity shop with a friend yesterday I spotted a lovely looking chair in the window. Comments were made about how nice it looked and what a fair price it was being sold for. Ideas were exchanged about how you could put new fabric on the seat and back and then with a pushchair already covered in bags and containing a tired Little Miss C we went our separate ... read more
Not every blogger is perfect…
I read quite a lot of blogs, some might say too many, and one thing that does always come across from them all is just how perfect other bloggers' lives seem to be. Photos show homes that could easily be found in the pages of a glossy magazine. Mums manage to juggle a brood of kids with a full time job, setting up their own business, undertaking numerous crafty projects, baking cakes daily and keeping a perfect home (Oh, and blog every day too!). Vegetable plots where everything grows exactly as it should and there are no weeds to be be found between the lettuces. Life isn't really ... read more
The Alnwick Garden
The C family were fortunate enough to spend a week recently up in Northumberland with my family. I know Northumberland rather well having spent many a family holiday there over the years and there are places that I go back to time and time again, but also many others that I simply haven't been to (or some that I can't remember going to, but my parents tell me that I have!) Alnwick Gardens falls into that second category - somewhere that I have seen signs for on the A1, but never actually made it to. This year we decided to change that. Now, I should say that my Godmother (who is ... read more
Beneath the Bleeding – Val McDermid
I've always loved crime fiction of all types and recently I've been indulging in quite a bit of it. FIrst off is Val McDermid's Beneath the Bleeding. I've read a fair amount of her stuff before, but this is one that had escaped me until now. Quite simply, I completely loved this book! It scared me at times and was so realistic that it was also hard to always remember that this was a work of fiction rather than a real-life story in a newspaper. What made it even more real is that just a couple of days after finishing the book we went on a day trip to somewhere ... read more
Squares…
The pile of Granny Squares for my planned blanket is growing - almost at the planned rate of one a day - but the slightly daunting thing is that I may only be a tenth of the way through the number that need making! Back to the hooky... ... read more