Monthly Archives: March 2018

Hopping Into Easter.

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We are busy Hopping towards the Easter Long Weekend.  House jobs done, work done, washing and ironing done, grocery shopping done and in true British weather for a Bank Holiday Weekend it is throwing it down with rain!!! However that is not going to stop us having a lovely break.

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Here is our Easter display.

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It looks really bright against the grey of the rain!

Our plans for the weekend may have to change as The Boys are not now around for all of it so getting everything out of the attic may have to be done on another weekend.  I will get it done eventually though!

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Treacle and the winter violas and the daffodils still trying to come out.

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Easter flowers.

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I hope you like these lovely Easter/Spring pictures and have a wonderful Good Friday.  As a child when I was at Sunday School I could never understand why they called it Good Friday as it seemed to me to be the worst thing ever someone dying and I knew all about Jesus rising again on the third day but it still seemed awful.  Anyway whatever your plans are for the Easter weekend I hope it is a good one.

Hugs, Susie xx

Easter Wednesday Wag!

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Mom found this picture of when I was dressed for the village Carnival but she says if she can find the hat in the attic at the weekend I can use it as my Easter Bonnet;  I hope she doesn’t find it!!!!!

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Mom is working very hard at keeping me clean and tidy as my fur is quite long at the moment.  She has not wanted to book a spa day for me as it has been so cold and it is due to be cold tonight again and of course she has not been driving as well although Dad said he would take me.  Here is a picture of me having just been brushed and Mom says I look like a teddy bear!!!

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Of course Mom says it does not take me more than five minutes to look like a scruffy mutt again!!!  I am quite happy sleeping in my basket whilst the weather is still cold and rainy.

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I am only going to move if there is a biscuit in my near future!!!!

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Nope, no biscuit so sleep mode resumed!

I hope everyone has a Wonderful Woofy Easter and a very happy Woofy Day.

Treacle

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Trip Down Memory Lane.

Having done a little trip down Memory Lane with Bedknobs & Broomsticks got me thinking of other programmes and books I loved as a child/teenager.

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I loved a lot of the children’s cartoons but this was my favourite.  I think I have always loved the space theme being a child of the 60’s and watching Neil Armstrong step onto the moon at I think 8.00am in the morning our time and the TV was actually on, because in those days there was nothing on TV until the children’s programmes at 4.00pm and then the TV programmes shutdown again at Midnight!!!!  How different it is fifty years later with hundreds of channels and 24/7 broadcasting.

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Jackanory was a programme developed to encourage reading among children.  Now I did not need to be encouraged anymore to read books as I inhaled books as a child, and still do, but I loved listening to celebrities of the day reading a book over five days.  Many, many famous faces appeared on the show to read the stories and they tried a few years ago to bring the show back for all us adults who used to watch it.  Unfortunately it did not work well. 

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As I became a teenager I obviously watched adult programmes and my most favourite was Starsky & Hutch.  I loved this show and can remember being outraged by this woman, Mary Whitehouse, in the UK who set herself up as a moderator of shows and she banned Starsky & Hutch for being too violent!!  Can you imagine in this day and age what she would think?  In fact she is probably spinning in her grave.  She also gave an award to a person in the UK for his programme for being wholesome family shows and he has since been exposed as one of the worst pedophiles in the country (they have both since died).  So much for her views!!!!

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This of course was one of my favourite shows ever and I loved the re-make a few years ago and wished they had done a few more seasons as it still had its identity. 

Now as you know with books it is very hard for me to choose my favourites as there are too many and I would bore you with all of them but here are a few from my childhood which I read again and again and loved them.

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This is the first of a series of five from Enid Blyton about a girl going off to Boarding School.  To me at the time Boarding School sounded wonderful especially as it was all girls and at the time I went to a school which was boys and girls and I hated all the boys (that changed as I got older of course!!!).  I loved this series.

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This is the second series of books I had which my parents bought me as a whole set and at the time was quite expensive.  Each book has a price of 20pence on which in today’s money is nothing but at the time was.  I loved the Narnia books and let’s face it who hasn’t wanted to walk through a wardrobe and find a snowy Narnia on the other side.

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As I got older I moved onto the Nancy Drew series and loved every one of the books and collected them all.

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I had always read older than my age from being little and at school, so before I went to Senior School I found The Hobbit and loved it so then started reading all the books in the series.

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By the time I got to Senior School I was devouring Agatha Christie Books and loved every one of them and although I have read them several times I can still re-read them again. 

I hope you liked this little wander down my Memory Lane and are having a Thrilling Tuesday. 

Hugs, Susie xx

Have A Great Week!

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I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  Yesterday and today we actually saw the sun for a little while and it has felt the tiniest bit like Spring.  Of course this is before the four days of rain and colder temperatures and snow in parts of the Country!!!

Saturday I managed to get a day of sewing in and I tackled the second block of the BOM “It’s a Wild Life”! It was applique and this is not really one of my strengths but I had a go and I think it turned out okay.  My only comment is this quilt is going to be huge as the blocks are really big!

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These are the maple leaf blocks for February.

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Here is the applique block for March from Sew Incredibly Crazy.

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Here is my effort!  I don’t think it looks bad at all really.  I decided to use the HeatnBond that you don’t have to sew afterwards as doing the pieces were enough for me and it looks okay but it reminds of a toy when I was little and I don’t know if you all remember it.

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It’s called Fun Felt now but it used to be called Fuzzy Felt and I loved it!!  Creating pictures by placing fluffy pieces on a fuzzy background and then taking them off and doing something completely different.  Well placing the applique pieces on my background felt just the same, tee hee!!!!

Yesterday we went to see Owen as it was his First Birthday on Saturday.

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The Boys have been wanting to buy him Thomas The Tank Engine things since he was born so this was ideal.  Youngest gave him his First Thomas Train and Owen loved it.

DSC_0464Eldest and Girlfriend gave him a book of the Thomas Stories and Evalyn was also very interested!

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DH and I got him this musical ball with animals on which was quite appropriate as they all went to Chester Zoo for the day on Saturday!  We also got him some more clothes which his Mummy had requested!

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Here they both are on Owen’s quilt with Thomas.

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Evalyn also finally got her big girl quilt for her bed!!!  She loved it.

It is going to be a busy old week and shortened as we have Friday off and Monday of next week.  Youngest finishes tomorrow for two weeks holiday and Eldest has some time off too and he and Girlfriend are coming for dinner on Easter Sunday.  With the weather being predicted to be not good the attic tidying looks on the cards and I will be supervising with the help of Girlfriend whilst DH and Eldest are doing the heavy lifting.  However I know what one problem will be; Eldest will get distracted by everything coming out and start sorting things and looking at things and we will probably get nothing finished!!!!!

Have a Great Week Everyone.

Hugs, Susie xx

It’s Friday!

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Hello you amazing lot, it’s Friday and we made it to the end of another week relatively unscathed!! Tomorrow is five weeks since my Op and when I went into hospital, six week recovery seemed like forever but here we are with one more week to go and then I will be able to drive again!!!  Things are okay, I get a little bit of stiffness in my back at the end of the day but nothing bad.  I am trying to do some walking around the home without any crutches but am still limping but apparently that is okay!  To me I should be walking fine with no problems, but that’s me.

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However this weekend is not my most favourite as we lose an hour’s sleep on Saturday/Sunday!  I love the lighter nights and the whole Summer feel but losing that hour is just horrendous!!!  Hey ho.

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This year’s F1 Grand Prix season starts this weekend in Australia with Lewis Hamilton going forward to defend his World Championship and try to win his Fifth.  If he does do it he will equal Juan Manuel Fangio’s record of five World Championships.  His rival, Vettel, is also trying to win his fifth title and he was the closest to Hamilton last year in the standings.  Me, I am hoping Hamilton does it as I cannot stand Vettel!!! 

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I am always on the lookout for new TV programmes, especially as a few that I watch have now finished, and I found this the other day.  Now this is Series 2 I am watching but having seen the catch up at the start of the first episode of this series I don’t think you have to watch the previous series.  I think it is very good and could go on to be one of my favourites.

One of the characters in Episode 2, played by the great Christine Baranski, made a statement which I whole heartedly agree with.  “The World is terrible!”  She watches the news, she reads the news and nothing is good.  The person she is talking to responds and says but every generation feels that at some point but she answers to say no this time it feels different. 

I know how she feels.  I have lived through some turbulent times (yes not as bad as some previous generations but we have had a few) and yet today it just seems worse and it seems to me that you have to work harder to find the good.  One thing I have been doing is trying to not read or watch or listen to every piece of news.  Because the News channels are on now 24/7 they are having to find a lot of news to fill all that time and sometimes I think that ignorance is bliss. 

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One of my ways of dealing with it is to quilt and this is what I am going to be tackling this weekend.  Applique, OMG!!!  Wish me luck.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend whatever you are up to and that Spring is starting to appear wherever you are.

Hugs, Susie xx

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#TBT.

A little bit different #Throw Back Thursday today.  As you know whilst I have been confined to Quarters I have been watching quite a few films, some new and some I have watched several times before.  Of course there are only so many out there and I finally got around to watching a few from my childhood.  One of which was and remains still my most favourite.

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I don’t know why it was my favourite as a child but I just loved it and watching it again recently it did not disappoint.  I always felt that the scene with Professor McGonagall at almost the end of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows where she makes the stone guards come to life to protect Hogwarts, was based upon when Miss Price makes the armour walk to defeat the Nazi invasion force.  As JK Rowling is the same age as me I am sure she got the inspiration from this Disney film for that scene of hers.

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I always loved the travelling brass bed and when I bought my first double bed I choose one just like it.  It was dammed uncomfortable when you sat up to read in it with the brass bars on your back and despite putting pillows at it, it was still dreadful!!!!  Needless to say I got rid of it!!!.

I suppose because of this film I was bound to love the Harry Potter series, which I read all the books to both Boys and of course saw all the films with them, even DH liked them.

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Speaking of movies there are quite a few coming out this year from Disney which I would like to see.  There is the new “Avengers – Infinity War” where there are more stars in it than you can shake a stick at!  Goodness knows how much the salaries are for all of them. 

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There is the new Star Wars movie “Solo” coming out about a young Han Solo which I hope will be better than the Star Wars ones so far.  I feel that since George Lucas has handed over to Disney it has gone awry.  

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Finally back to my childhood with the new Mary Poppins film coming out at Christmas with Emily Blunt as Mary.  I like her as an actress and think she will play the part well.  So with the price of cinema tickets now I had better get saving up to go and see all of these on the Big Screen!!!

Today is house jobs day and tomorrow grocery shopping and Saturday I will be back in my sewing room trying to get some more things done!  I hope you all have a Terrific Thursday.

Hugs, Susie xx

The Wednesday Wag!

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Mom and I are really not feeling Spring like at all.  All my snow has gone but the cold has remained and although it was sunny today it was not warm!  They are forecasting more snow over the Easter Holidays but I think we all need some warmth.  With Mom not being able to drive I have not had my visit to the Day Spa although Mom says it is probably a good idea as it is still so cold!  Wheneve the weather gets better and Mom can drive she will make me an appointment.

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This pesky creature has been in my garden today and although I chased it away it then came back but Mom would not let me out again as I hit the fence hard and it wobbled!!!!

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This was our patio and steps two year’s ago when Eldest cleaned everything with the pressure washer, so Mom wants it doing again but I think Dad will have to do it this time!!!!  She has lots of jobs planned for over the Easter Break depending upon the weather!!!!  I think I will be keeping out of the way whatever is happening!!!

I hope you are having a very Woofy Wednesday

Treacle

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The First Day of Spring?

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Today is supposed to be the First Day of Spring but it still fells like Winter!  Our snow has all gone as it was quite “wet” so the bit of sun we saw yesterday and it all melted but that has not meant that Spring has arrived as it is still flipping cold!  I think this quote from Charles Dickens says it all :

“It was one of those March Days when the Sun shines hot and the wind blows cold.  When it is Summer in the light and Winter in the shade!”

This definitely describes the weather we are having at the moment and I can’t even say I am looking forward to April as I hate the rain showers we get for no apparent reason when you can get soaked and the next minute the sun is out and it is quite warm! 

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Easter is coming up fast and I think because it is quite early, end of March/beginning of April, it has confused me.  Plus we are normally away and we are not this year so another difference.  Youngest finishes next Tuesday from college and obviously we have Good Friday off as a holiday and Easter Monday too.  I am planning, if the weather is good, to either empty the garage and our room off and get rid of anything we don’t use, need or have duplicates of.  If the weather is not good then the idea is to empty the attic (!) and do the same for that.  We also have some rooms to paint but that may be a bit ambitious after my Op and may have to wait for later in the year!!!

Speaking of Ops, I am doing okay but still very tired by the end of the day.  I have been busy doing the exercises and making sure I am walking “properly”.  I did not get up early today as I was so tired from yesterday when I spent all day at my desk.  Tomorrow I have some more work for the end of the month to get done so will probably get up early then.

I hope you are all having a Thrilling Tuesday.

Hugs, Susie xx

A Quilty Weekend!

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I actually managed to do some quilting on Worldwide Quilting Day, now don’t faint!!  I actually started a little later than planned due to trying to sort something out for the swimming club (!) but in the end decided I could do nothing about it and sent a couple of emails in annoyance and then abandoned my desk for my sewing machine!

I have a few quick projects which I need to do so choose one of those instead of trying to sort out something big, including the applique when I realised I needed to get some supplies for it.  So here is what I have made

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Usually we are away over the Easter Holidays in Scotland with The Boys and Girlfriend but as they are all busy with college and university work as they are all in their final years, DH and I decided not to go. Normally I would do an Easter Egg Hunt (usually indoors as the weather is a bit unpredictable) and despite their ages now they still love it.  So as we will be at home and not everyone around first thing on Easter Sunday I have made them these Quilted Easter Bags which I will fill with their eggs!  When The Boys were little they had some chocolate but their main gift was always a book which they loved and we have continued to do this. 

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A closeup of one of the bags.

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Inside.

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I decided to add ribbons sewn to the back and then tied to keep the eggs in.

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I am not sure The Boys will use them for anything else afterwards but I think Girlfriend will as they are always handy for storing things in.

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As you can see we had more of this at the weekend!  I closed the curtains on Saturday evening where it was just a few flakes and it wasn’t really settling to everywhere being covered by the time we went to bed!  Treacle was quite happy!  I love snow but even I am getting fed up with it now and long for some warmer weather and Spring!  The Groundhog did a real number on us this year by predicting six more weeks of winter as it must have been eight by now!!!!

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Needless to say this was Treacle’s favourite spot over the weekend whilst I was sewing.  I know the pictures all look the same but she is always with me when I am sewing!!  She loves Eldest’s bed and because the room is slightly smaller than the others it is always warm!!!

It is another busy week with work things and swimming things and Boys things but what else is new?  I have a list of things which need doing so my next project will be our Friends wedding anniverary gift as I have four weeks to get that done and then there is this applique block to do (!) and then my super secret quilt to sort and get started.  I still have to sort the back of our summer quilt as that needs amending and then get that quilted.  I also still need to get my machine serviced and was hoping to get that done after the summer quilt but obviously other things have taken over, but I will arrange to get it done soon.

I hope if you are a Quilter you managed to get something done this weekend and everyone else had a wonderful Weekend.  I am busy also sorting my Spring Cleaning Planner out for you, so stay tuned.

Hugs, Susie xx

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