11am........

11am........
I'm so glad you popped in, I'll put the kettle on and you grab yourself a chair - a good a time as any to stop for a brew. Enjoy...
Showing posts with label thank you. Show all posts
Showing posts with label thank you. Show all posts

Thursday, 15 November 2012

What a delightful way to end the day

Today was a strange day. With a delightful twist at the end.

It was with dread I went to work but it is now done and I have a weight lifted off me. I can smile, really smile, not just pretend.

When I got home, the postie had left a parcel at my back door and just looky looky what gorgeous goodies had arrived......


I'd entered a give-away generously sponsored by Penelope from L is for Love
for  some 'skinny yarn' she had fallen out of love with.
I was really chuffed when she said that my name had been selected.

So when a parcel arrived today.....
I was quite surprised at the shape of it!

The yarn was there - in the most hearty-love paper bag



But - be still my happy heart - look what else was hiding inside....

I certainly didn't expect all the lovely extras she'd thoughtfully wrapped and added to the yarn.

Cheerful yellow vintage knitting pins
ooh yum yum


And a wrapped parcel within a parcel -
even more intriguing..... 


Oh ho ho! How wonderful!


I am going to have such fun !


Oh oh oh!


And, all the while, some one small and furry was showing interest 
at all the excitement 



A little face kept peaking over the corner of the table
while I was taking photos of the yarn


A  happy smiley face!

Thank you Penelope - as I said in my email - your timing was perfect
thank you thank you thank you!



Saturday, 23 June 2012

Thank you!

Thank you everyone for you comments -  I really really appreciated them all. You have all been so kind about my Boneyard Shawl for my mom's birthday

Nicole and the Bee - hi, I know exactly what you me about that state of frustration but having persisted and got there in the end - it was worth it!
Miriam Weaver - you nailed my feelings when you mentioned going hot and cold over pattern reading - I definitely did that and when I popped over to your blog I fell in love with all those wonderful photos of Northumberland - thank you!
Amanda -(Crafty in the Med) I love your granddaughter's costume - gorgeous, no wonder she felt special :)
Lovely Lady - yes it was rather funny to see my mom looking for her belated-birthday shawl, thinking one of us had taken it, when all the time it was behind her :)
Jane - hook and yarn - thank you! I have definitely fallen for your Summer Cover Up....it might even have me reaching for the knitting pins again! (but not just yet)
Fleur Cotton - thank you very much, I am touched - especially as you are a fantastic knitter!

and Jak/mom you are very very welcome

I should be saying thank you
 to you x


Saturday, 16 June 2012

Sunshine award xx♥


I have been lucky to be nominated for a Sunshine Award by




Sunshine Award Rules. 
1. Thank the blogger who nominated you

2. Answer 10 questions about myself

                                                     
My favourite things.

Favourite animal: cat - especially my two fur-babies
Favourite number: 4  - why? well, me plus my three boys as well as my birth date
Favourite non alcoholic drink: Tea - especially Scottish Blend followed by Peppermint then Ginger and Mango
Facebook or Twitter: occasionally facebook 
My passion: My family and Crafting
Getting or giving: Giving - definitely - love love love the anticipation probably more than the recipient!
Favourite pattern: Crochet ripple
Favourite day of the week: During the week - Wednesday (aka in our house as tipping day coz it tips us towards the weekend) and then the entire weekend starting with Friday evening!!
Favourite flower: Lilies - I love the way the entire house is enveloped with their wonderful scent
Favourite country: Difficult. Would rather narrow it down to my favourite county/ies - Northumberland and Galloway

3. Nominate ten blogs to receive the Sunshine Award and let them know they've been nominated.

This is the hard bit, I love and follow a lot of blogs, however a number of them have listed themselves 'award-free' or choose not to acknowledge an award. So I will quietly let them know and if given permission, I shall link to them and share.

Once again thank you Amanda - today, a dreary and rainy day, the sunshine award is most definitely welcome!







Thursday, 14 June 2012

What's been happening in the hawthorn household....

Well,
A fair bit really - mostly work (of course) but I shall gloss over that bit.
Firstly - I was a very lucky winner of some lovely lovely goodies - look at this!

I follow and am inspired by marie's making, so when she offered a selection of her gorgeous goodies as a prize I happily entered!

So - thank you very much Marie !
Please pop over and have a look at her blog, she does make such lovely things.

 T*H*A*N*K  Y*O*U

************************************

We have also managed to squeeze in a precious few days in Galloway during the boy's spring break. We stuffed our carry-van with holiday type goodies (both wet and dry activities!) and set off with a sad little wave at our catlings.

A few hours later, after we had set up our 'holiday home', we stepped out of our 'van and breathed in the most delicious air.....


And what a lovely week we have had - I will share some gems with you over the next few days (after I have worked through over 400 photographs.....thank goodness we don't have to pay for developing them any more!) xxxx

PS - I do not like midgies....... so why do they like me???

Friday, 4 May 2012

Life, love and Liebster

Do you see things or people as you drive along and form over time a story about them. Wondering about who they are or what do?

I do.

Before I injured my knee, while doing the school run I used to muse about the late middle-aged auburn haired lady, who wore slightly too short trousers that flapped around her ankles as she strode towards her lift. Her hair, short and curled, used to not alter be it rain or shine - a definite advert for firm hold hair spray. She, in all weathers wore a coat, belted tightly around her skinny waist while under her arm her shoulder bag would be equally firmly gripped by a slender hand. She always had a look of grim determination - was her job stressful or did she relish each hour she was there? We would see her determinedly walk towards her destination as we went to school and once I had dropped off the boys, I would some times see her standing, neck outstretched as she tried to spot her lift.  I only saw the waited for lift once or twice and he was young and trendy with slick-black surfboard hair in his fast and shiny modern car.  I don't think they were an item otherwise she would have glowed and smiled on her walk to work, her scowl and set shoulders make me think that it was a lift of convenience - not of love!

Where is she now? I don't know, since returning after an absence of 6 months from not doing the school run, she no longer pounds the pavements in her solid determined gait.

There is a young man, overweight with (here I hate to use the word but it is so descriptive) a ginger straggly beard and un-fashionably tatty hair. He would casually wander towards the 6th form college in his left wing activist T-shirts stretched across his belly and his over-sized jeans hanging low and pendulous off his backside. Some days he wore black rimmed specs, not as a statement of fashion more of a need to see. He always struck me as a solitary figure as he plodded up the pavement,  pretty girls chatted in pairs always over took him and lads guffawing at a private joke lolloped passed him along to the senior school.

As we would sit in the traffic, inching slowly towards the busy roundabout, there was an elderly gent in his gabardine trench coat and flat cap. Clenched tightly between his yellowing dentures he had a wooden bowl pipe - an odd sight these days. He has a shuffling gait that must have worn his shoe soles thread bare. He would shamble along in his own little world - school pupils and mothers with pushchairs would stream passed him as he puffed on his pipe. Then, crossing the road by the roundabout he would disappear into the allotments. I don't seem him any more - is was very elderly and you wonder.......


There is a plump  girl, probably 17 or 18 who over the last two years has been trying to find an identity. Chameleon like she has changed colour and appearance in her bid to find herself. When I first noticed her she was sporting a vivid purple peplem coat, brittle bleached Marian Monroe blonde hair and vinyl skull covered messenger bag. You might wonder why I would remember such details - well she wore the same coat, legally blonde curls and shiny bag for weeks and weeks.
For a while she wore a floral wrap around type dress and honey blonde hair, her appearance belonged to an older generation, that didn't last long.
Her next guise was a Florence and the machine type flaming red-head. The coat was black and she had vinyl  pillar box red lace up biker boots. Her features never changed much, a chubby baby faced girl with pale skin and unsure eyes. She also seemed a loner, walking separately from pretty slim girls who appeared stuck together like giggly glue and boys who were interested in following these bright young things.

Her most recent transformation is the most interesting. Long locks are now dark and rat-tailed. She wears Che Guevara T shirts and torn dirty jeans with heavy biker boots.

And holds hands with the straggly red bearded young man - and they both smile.

Red heart Icon 48x48pxRed heart Icon 48x48pxRed heart Icon 48x48pxRed heart Icon 48x48px



I have been lucky enough to receive another award  - thanks you very much Jacqueline (Super Gran)  for thinking of me :)



The Liebster Award is a blog award that apparently originated in Germany, originally to showcase bloggers with less than 200 followers. Once receiving the award the recipient must pass it on to five more blogs of note which is a wonderful way to introducing bloggers to some of your own favourite blogs.

The Leibster Convention says that:......
  1. You must thank your award presenter on your blog and link back to them.
  2. Copy and paste the award icon into your blog.
  3. Present the award to 5 blogs with less than 200 followers that you love.
  4. Leave a comment on their blog to let them know
  5. Have faith that these award winners with spread the blog love!
So here goes ; 

  • See Liz at Home - she always has such beautiful things and photos
  • marie's making - I love the things she makes, her tutorials and Ralph who comes to visit.
  • Grateful for Crochet - an antipodean look at crochet with lots of pictures of sky! Which, at the moment in soggy Britain is a much desired thing.....
  • There are many more blogs I follow but so many don't have their followers listed so for now, here are three to go and visit and say hello.

Well, that was a lot to say, there is more, like blowing bubbles for the kitten whilst parked in the car outside the vets or having a belly laugh and getting my happy batteries recharged with a dear friend when we met for lunch yesterday - but hey - you've got things to do and I've got the carpet to vacuum - boy do we live life in the fast lane!!!






Thursday, 19 April 2012

Easter Break review in photos

Visiting......

...A vintage vehicle rally in Kirby Stephen.


Knitting.......

...my sky scarf and my first mitten on dpn needles

Walking................
....on high wild hills, over farm land, through isolated villages.


We celebrated Easter.....

.....with cheese rolling down a wet and windy hill...
                                   ....eating chocolate for breakfast!


I took inspiration from......

.....lichens on stone walls, carvings from ruined buildings, fungus on rotten trunks, flowers, stones and sky.

We had a lovely time, may be a little wet and a little cold at times, but these small discomforts were far outweighed by the beauty of the wilderness we camped in.

******************************

Again I have to say thank you for all your wonderful thoughts and kind words. We are really touched by the response - thank you very much xx







Monday, 19 March 2012

Wow! What a Wonderfully Woolly Weekend - Woohoo!

I am sitting surrounded by boxes and bags left over from the weekend - what weekend do I hear you say - where have you been? Under a rock!!   Yarnival of course.

I am so pleased/relieved/delighted/exhausted/numb/chuffed/tired/stiff/inspired in fact I am all of those and much much more.

The day started the night before - actually it started in August last year when I went to a wool-fest up in Coldstream, Scotland and thought - I want to do this!  - Fast forward to last Friday night..... having had endless knit-fuelled meetings, crochet-powered discussions and tea - lots-of-tea since September...... and we were putting out chairs and tables for the stall holders and hanging bunting and posters and sorting out the cafe in preparation for the next day.

It was after 10.30pm before I got home feeling absolutely exhausted and starving - I'd not eaten since about 3pm - just working on nervous energy. I was so ready for bed......however....as tired as I was, my brain was up for a full-on high-powered meeting with itself and would.not.turn.off....

Good grief - *yawn*

Any hoo, bright and very early (got up at 2 for a cup of tea to see if I could settle the meeting going on in my head and again at 4am as was still awake and did some sewing) the day dawned and we began yarnbombing in earnest.

Trees were dressed, signs were covered, gates were adorned, railings dollied up and even the toilet signs were not immune to a little bombing!


We were delighted by the fact that we had OVER 350 visitors through the very busy 5 hours we were up and running - running being the key work!

The team managing the cafe - my Mom, friends and work colleagues - worked their butts off - non-stop serving of teas, cakes and lunches - they were nothing short of magnificent! I am in awe of their incredible efforts!

My wonderful sister inlaw in the knit and natter corner, patiently showed all ages (and sexes!) knitting and crochet tips. A highlight of the day was when two chaps sat learning to knit with such wonderful expressions on their faces and I have it on excellent authority that they continued to knit when they returned home and by the end of the evening had knitted a dish cloth between them and joked that it would have to be preserved in a glass case as a family heirloom! What a success!

I met fellow bloggers and chatted happily with Padiham Knitter who had cycled over to the event - she has blogged about her day here.


Although I had emailed and spoken to the stall holders, meeting them on the actual day was lovely. Such a wonderful crafty bunch - all expressed an interest in returning for another festival....oops what have I let us in for?!

Our 'bouncer' at the door had our visitors chuckling as they came in with his 'meet-n-greet' patter, apparently he enjoyed his day too, and as the only person or item not covered in some sort of yarn bombing, showed his talents lay definitely in his charm!


There is so much more I could waffle on about - as you well know I shine at waffling! But I must get on and rediscover my house and begin crafting again - oh and ordering wool and buying yarns and making string bags and bunting as commissions - the list goes on and I am Not Complaining!! Happy days :)

For another angle and more photos - pop over to a life of felt and read here and here


Ps - just heard that the green tie on the sign for the gentleman's loo was removed from its official dangly place and lowered a centimetre or two to a rather naughty position - where was my camera when I needed it!!!

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Madness is a state of mind - and yes there is a lot of that sort of state going on here - and I do mind!

As some of you already know, I have another blog called, Kyōyū kyōyū - share, where we knit and crochet squares for blankets as well as make toys for children and send them to Japan.  It is coming up to one year after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster and this has brought back to the surface that people are still suffering and are still homeless or in temporary shelter.  I have been linked up with another blog called Japan Alive. They have just been featured in The Wall Street Journal and on the video our blankets are there being unpacked and shared with the women who now use knitting and crochet to keep themselves occupied and keep themselves alive. I just had to share - I am so proud of our ladies that have spent time and effort to help across the miles - thank you xxx



Yarnival - why oh why do I start these things!! 

It always starts off as a good idea....'I know - let's have a fibre festival'.....as if I know anything about fibres OR festivals, never mind the two of them together. 

It is NOT HELPED by the like minded and easily led astray friends who say.....'Yes! what a good idea - yes!! let's have a fibre festival'....

When really what they should have said to me was....'NO-OOOOO..........put the thought down and step awaaay from any more DANGEROUS thinking like that'....... 

But no, they ENCOURAGE me! What sort of friends are they!!!??

Now, many sleepless nights later (and I am sure twice the many grey hairs too) I now have concrete butterflies skipping a merry dance in my stomach.

And...AND....AND what is worse (how could you!) there are voices mentioning things like...when we do it again next year... (WHAT!?!) 

So - to keep sane (well trying to make some attempt at sanity) I am crocheting.....knitting.....blocking....and drinking far too much tea


I have started using wooden needles - lovely to the touch - hand made, smooth and polished***


And rather large................ 'thank you' to my two assistants for demonstrating the dimensions of my knitting


Oi you two - gerrroooffff me knitting!!!


***thank you to Mr Threads through my life for making these needles for me :)

I would like to say that normal transmission will resume shortly but seeing that most of my life has been a bit, lets say, haphazard - fat chance.....

Monday, 5 March 2012

Birthday weekend round up

The house has the ever so slightly rumpled look...... you know the one. Cushions need plumping, curtains are awry, carpet needs vacuuming - definitely needs vacuuming. I had written a different word there - a well known brand of vacuum cleaner who's name is synonymous with the action of electrically sucking the carpet clean when I realised that unintentionally  I could be advertising one brand over another, so changed the word to vacuuming. The spell check underlined it in red - flagging it for incorrect spelling,   I typed the word the second time, another red line......hmmmmm. I looked at the word - v.a.c.u.u.m.i.n.g..... yes it did seem odd but then don't you find that if you look at a word often enough it begins to look different. The spell check certainly didn't like it, but mind you, the laptop's spell cheque doesn't lyke meny ov the wards eye right.....

Right, where was I? - oh yes - basically the house is a tip..... We have had a lovely weekend and the evidence is everywhere.
It was Eldest's 14th birthday on Friday and we have this family tradition that the weekend nearest to a birthday belongs to that person. So, Friday night we had a surprise family party for him. He was delighted at family arriving unannounced with gifts and yummy nibbles.  The celebrations carried on into Saturday as we spent the day in the Lakes for him, it was wonderful - so so lucky with the weather.

It is an odd feeling - having a 14 year old in your house. He's part child with feet bigger than mine, he is still young but he discusses huge issues like politics in the middle east and the student riots last summer.  He wholly delves into huge historical books and can cook a mean gingerbread biscuit but can't remember to put his clothes to the wash or clean his teeth unless reminded.
 Happy birthday my dearest boy !

A beautiful day with lovely long reaching views over Lake Windermere.

 I have to say that I am touched by the amount and the content of the comments from my last posting - I am really glad to have made you chuckle or snort or laugh out loud - thank you :)

Saturday, 18 February 2012

Wow! For me?? Thank you!

Looky Looky! A subject close to my heart

knitted hearts

...........err - try again

Looky looky, two subjects close to my skippity happy heart

hand-knitted hearts❤ made by my by sister in law

...........err, umm

Looky look look - three subjects close to my very happily skippity heart

hand-knitted hearts❤ made by my sister in law for me


Aaaah - they are sooo-oo cute!


And now they are nestling in between flowers



Floating happily with birds


Flying free with butterflies



Thank you dear, dear fave-sis-in-law - did I mention 'wow' and 'for me?' and 'thank you' enough times on Thursday? If I did not - here they are again.......


Wow!

For me??

Thank you!


Ps - did you hear the article about the Graffiti Grannies of Cornwall? It's all about yarnbombing -  listen to it here - courtesy of Radio 4, you will need to fast forward to 0:40:39. Inspired by their name I wonder if we should be called the Knitting Knijas for our Yarnival ! 





http://hawthorntime.blogspot.com/

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...