Destination Santorini - Part One!

Since I don't have much in the way of crafting to share with you all I thought you might like to see where we went on holiday.

We love Greece, the food and the people, such a lovely friendly race and we have been lucky enough to holiday on several Greek Islands over the years.  

Mark has wanted to visit Santorini for a while now but it's always come out quite expensive but a few months ago we came upon quite a good deal.  We only booked for a week and it went by all too quickly, this is now my most favourite Greek destination :-)

For those who want to read a little of the history of Santorini you can find it here.  It is one of the most beautiful places we have been in a long time and we are already thinking of booking again.

So, without any more rambling from me here is Santorini, part 1.

The following were taken in Oia (it's built on the hillside)

Lots of people visit Oia to see the sunset

There are various vantage points, these people are sitting on an ancient fortress

Unfortunately for us the evening we visited the sunset wasn't very spectacular, but we still enjoyed the atmosphere.

I wonder where this door leads to?

Not one of the fancy hillside hotels I fear, lol

Donkeys seemed to be the popular mode of transport because everything is on the steep side, although these looks like mules, a little on the large side for a donkey,

These I took around the hotel we were staying in, It was only a small place but was very well kept and clean.

I don't know the significance of the windmill, we did see some really large ones on the way to Oia which were obviously being lived in.

I have a 'thing' about windows, and this one appealed to me :-)

The pool wasn't huge, just enough to have a little swim around and cool down and as there were hardly any people around it suited us just fine.

 Saw plenty of these little critters running around :-)

And just to end on a crafty note, I spied these crochet belts in one of the shops in Oia. Proving that crochet is cool, lol

 I hope you enjoyed my little tour, I will be back in a few days with part 2.....if you can bare it, lol

Until next time

-X-

Still Waiting

I thought that by now I would have been able to share our new house with you, but unfortunately we are still struggling to secure a moving date.  This move has so many people in the chain, 7, yes 7 people all trying to work towards a mutually acceptable completion date.   The person at the beginning dropped out leaving 2 houses back on the market, luckily one house sold again within 24 hours but that then meant that there were 2 new buyers in an already established chain who had to get mortgages, surveys and searches done.  Then the people at the top of the chain lost out on the house they wanted, the builder decided to put it back on the market because it was taking too long.  They have since found something else, and so it goes on, waiting, waiting, waiting.  We have been told that all searches, surveys etc for the new people should be back sometime next week, I won't hold my breath, I'm trying not to think about it too much because it gives me a headache.....literally, I was in bed two days last week with a migraine, stressful, so, so stressful.

To keep me from going mad I have been going great guns on my granny square blanket, remember this little pile of squares?

They have multiplied and now there is this many!

Lots and lots of colourful squares :-)

(and about a zillion ends to sew in, lol)

Construction can start this afternoon, you never know, I might have it finished in time for my 'new' home :-)

My needlebook was also finished and made up, although I really am disappointed with my finishing.  I knew this would be my downfall,  although it's only for me so when I can overlook the mistakes (and there are many), I will start to use it.

It doesn't look too bad in this photo, which goes to show that the camera does lie, lol.

The other finishing I've managed is the loveliest, most cutest bunting I've ever seen :-)  In fact, I think it's the BEST thing I've done in ages and makes me happy every time I look at it :-)

I followed the tutorial on Jacquie's blog (Bunny Mummy), which was very clear and easy to follow and also used her method of making a long chain to hang them on, (I used two different colours, yellow and orange held together).

 And then I made 10 little pom poms to finish them off

I can see me making more bunting, It's just so cheerful and happy!

I'll leave you with a couple of photos of the columbine we have in our garden, I've dug up some of these plants to take with us, but they will be well past their best by they time they reach their new home.

I love the delicate frill on these flowers, so lovely.

Until next time

-X-

A Mixed Bag...A Bit Like Our Weather!

The weekend was a bit of a wash-out weather wise, bit of sunshine and some quite heavy downpours at times, but the changing weather seems to have helped my Hostas along, they have shot up over the last couple of weeks.

I have two huge tubs with these in, this is the mixed one

And you can get a sense of how big they are when Oliver is alongside them!

He had great fun running up and down the garden in his Gruffalo Wellies, what is it with children and wellies?  The first thing he went to the cupboard for on Sunday morning when he got up was his wellies!

It's always a pleasure to look after this little fella, he is so entertaining, but busy, so busy, he never stops still for a minute!  Nanna and grandad are worn out when he goes home, but we don't mind, it keeps us on our toes, lol

Once his momma and dadda had collected him yesterday I sat myself down on the sofa with the intention of doing nothing, well, nothing but stitch :-)  It seems ages since I did any stitching and I'd had my eye on a free needle case chart for a few weeks so I pulled some fabric and threads together and made a start.

I can't remember who's blog I found this on but I didn't seem to have a key for the colours, so chose what to me looked like a close match.  I'm not good at putting colour together but I think it will look ok, It'll be bright at least!

Last week evenings were spent making granny squares again and I have now got another little pile. I think I'm up to around 30 or so now.  I did make a bit of a change though, Mark said he thought there was too much white so I've taken one row off, (he doesn't usually give too much of an opinion on what I'm doing so when he does I tend to take notice and have a think), and in this instance I think he may be right :-)

I should start sewing the ends in soon I suppose, can you see them all hiding at the back?  That I suspect, is going to be a project all of it's own!

Thanks to those who stop by, have a great week

-X-

Happy Easter Monday!

Easter greeting to you all. We were predicted a very wet weekend, it did rain a little yesterday afternoon but today the sun is shining beautifully :-)
  There were no chocolate eggs for the girls this year though, I decided not to buy any, mean, mean mum that I am, lol.  They did have a little something to open though, I made Jenny and Joanne a bookmark.  They both usually read books on their kindle now but just before Christmas we joined a reading group at one of our local libraries, so these will come in useful.
They were identical but I forgot to take a photo of them when they were done so this is Jenny's on last month reading group book.

Stevie is into baking cakes lately, she has had some great results for someone who never used to bake when she was at home, so her little present was this Jane Asher book.

Nanna did give in and buy the little dude a chocolate egg, just the one though.  He is quick to spot owls whenever we are out, shouting 'a owl, a owl', they do seem to be on just about everything at the moment, even Easter eggs, this one is almost to cute to eat!

Talking of the little dude, this is his latest trick, when he sees you with a camera he say's 'cheese' and screws his little face up.
bless him, we all love him to bits!

James (his dadda) arrived back safe and sound from his tour in Afghanistan this past week and is getting re-acquainted with him, 4 months is a long time when they are this small.  At least he will be at home for a few weeks now so that he can catch- up.

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And there is another celebration today as it's Stevie's birthday!
 She has been at home over Easter so I've had to try and make a cake without her seeing.

My effort was well received this morning, but as she is going back to celebrate with her uni friends tonight I guess we won't get to taste it, lol
Those are kitkat's around the edge and I underestimated how many it would take and had to run up the shop yesterday afternoon and buy another pack, which is why if you look closely you can see two white chocolate ones at the back...oops!  
I searched everywhere to buy some Cadbury mini eggs to put in the centre but everywhere had sold out, we spied the last few bags just as we got to the till on Saturday but this guy in front grabbed them before I could get there...grrr so we had to make do with Smarties mini eggs instead

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News on the house move is at a bit of a stand still.  Someone dropped out at the beginning of the chain, and although another buyer was found the next day it has probably set us back a couple of weeks......sigh.  On the plus side, at least I get more time to pack.

That's about all the news for now, hope you all have a great week and thanks for stopping by x
Until next time
-X-

A Saturday Train Hop

No stitching or crafting of any sort to share this week, I managed a bit of knitting but ran out of yarn so that has been put on one side until I can get to the shop.  Mostly my week has been taken up with more sorting and trying to get organised for the move.  We signed our contract on Friday and a provisional date has been set for completion on April 30th, but as our solicitor pointed out several times this is only a provisional date because our buyer's solicitor has been very elusive and no one is sure how far they have progressed with searches etc. We have everything crossed that it really won't go much beyond the end of the month, we just want to get in and settled now.

On Saturday Mark had to be at work in the Lake District and asked if I would like to go with him, it was only for the day but it would make a change and we could stay over and come back Sunday morning.  So while DH worked all day I went off shopping :-)  

He dropped me off in Ulverston which is only a small place, a few nice shops, (which didn't appear to open until 10am even on Saturday's!!) and a rather nice old fashioned indoor market, which thankfully was open so I could get out of the cold!

Ulverston is the birthplace of Stan Laurel  (so Mark informed me as he dropped me off), the slimmer half of 

Laurel & Hardy, I came upon the pair of them as I was walking around the town.

From there I caught the train to Barrow in Furness, not your typical English seaside town, it was more or less like most of the towns in the UK now, lots of charity shops, £ shops and others shop front's boarded up.  They did have some of the bigger store names there though and I treated myself to a new handbag (of course) and a couple of books :-)  Mid afternoon I hopped on the train again, to Grange Over Sands, this time the only shopping I did was for some food supplies for dinner, but I did have time to walk around a few of the shops and their pretty park.

The lovely train station at Grange

The day started off quite dull, cold and windy but you can see it ended with some beautiful sunshine.

View from the train station at Grange with the sea

in the distance

I jumped back on the train around 5.30 to go the couple of stops to Cark where Mark picked me up.  We set off early this morning to get back home before lunch time so we could have at least one day's rest before work again on Monday, It's made a very nice change but we are both shattered now!

I was going to share some of the books I've read lately, but I will save that for another post, It will give me something to share if there is no crafting going on :-)

Have a great week!

-X-

Wonderful Monday

Unlike many people, I have always quite liked Monday's.  To me Monday's are like a fresh page, a new start.  
When the girls were little I used to love getting their school uniform ready and shoes polished on Sunday nights all ready for the new week.  Now they have flown the nest I don't have that to do but I still like to get things organized on Sunday night ready for the new week. 

 Monday starts early for us, Mark has to be on his way by 4.45am so I'm up too around 4.30.  

Very occasionally I will go straight back bed and grab another couple of hours shut eye, like last week when the hour went forward, I was shattered, so I headed back to bed for another couple of hours.   

Big mistake!  I over slept, woke up in a panic and was late for work, really late, like 25 minutes late!  Luckily no one mentioned it when I got in, so I think I got away with it, lol.  But, that set the tone for the whole week, I didn't make it to work on time one morning last week, I was playing catch-up with everything, all week, it was a complete disaster. 

I blame it on that lost hour myself :-)

 So this morning I was determined to have a better week,   Once Mark had left for work I set about doing the housework and got as much done as I could before it was time to get ready for work.  I arrived at work with 5 minutes to spare,  (that shocked a few people lol).
With chores out of the way I had some guilt free stitching time to finish off last months NH challenge, (see, told you,I'm always playing catch-up ;-)

Apologies now for the photos, dull days and electric light = crappy pictures 

Now these monthly challenges are supposed to be ornament sized pieces, but as usual I went charging in not thinking about stitch or fabric count and ended up with something too big to be made into an ornament, (sigh).  Never mind, I love the design and will have to come up with some way of finishing.
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I'm doing my best to get organised for the house move, and decided to have a go at tarting a few things up in readiness.  I've had this little plain white tray for ages and gave it a pretty make over with some wrapping paper and decoupage glue.

And we have a step stool which we bought from Ikea years ago, we have high ceilings and tall cupboards so it has always come in useful.  It was just a plain old brown colour but it's come up lovely with a rub down and a couple of coats of wood stain.

I lightly sanded it down again once the stain had dried, but I think it may need a coat of clear sealer to finish it off.
This Friday we have an appointment with the solicitor to sign contracts, so fingers crossed it won't be long before we move, I'd better get a wriggle on with packing, all I seem to be doing at the moment is sorting and throwing away!  Hopefully we will get more of an idea of moving date on Friday so I can make a start.  There probably won't be much crafting time over the next few weeks, but I'll pop back and keep my blog up dated, I think I've lost a few visitors being away so long, although blogs in general seem to be a bit quiet, some that I used to read have not had any updates in a long, long time, but I've quite enjoyed getting back into it so I hope visitors will return eventually :-)

Until next time
-x-

Oh Happy Days :-)

Second post in 2 weeks, I might just be getting back into this blogging thingy :-)

So today is Mothering Sunday here in the UK, and what a lovely day it was for it too, the sunshine has been beautiful and very welcome after all the wintery rain we've had.

My lovely daughters always buy beautiful gifts on such occasions, and today was no exception, I was really spoilt this Mother's Day with all these lovely goodies

I even got some of my favourite chocolates and flowers off the little dude :-)  And as if all this wasn't enough I was treated to a lovely afternoon tea at a local Bakery.  

I guess I can kiss goodbye to loosing any weight at this weeks 

weigh-in, lol but it was worth it, everything was delicious :-)

I've had some crafty goodness going on this week too, In my bid to clear out in preparation for our move I found a couple of things waiting to be made up which I will be trying to get done over the next few weeks, first to be tackled though was this lovely angel.

On knitting needles I found a slipover that I started for Oliver

I had only knit the back before abandoning it in favour of something else, (I imagine, though can't remember what!), luckily it was a size that will still fit him.

And just so that I will have something else to carry on with I started another sweater for him

It's an easy knit and something I can do and watch TV at the same time :-)  The yarn is Sirdar Baby Crofter and is oh so lovely work with, produces lovely even stitches and gives a mock fair isle effect (it's a great cheat, because I don't think I would ever be a good enough knitter to attempt a real fair isle pattern).

I've had one more stitchy start this week, Needlecraft Haven forum have a monthly ornament challenge, I've yet to finish one and this month is no different, but at least I made a start :-)

It's a free design you can find here 

I didn't take much notice of the size and number of stitches so mine will be too large for an ornament so I need ideas for finishing please!

That's about all for this week except for one more bit of news, well, big news really.

DD#2, Joanne, got engaged!

Gavin proposed last week when they went on a trip to Dublin

She had no idea it was coming but we did as Gavin had phoned Mark a few days before to ask his permission, bless him, he is such a lovely lad, I hope that they will always be this happy.

Until next time

-x-