Hmm

Well, it seems I'm rather pants at keeping this blog up-to-date, so I've decided that I shall concentrate my efforts on the work blog for now...save any guilty feelings ;)

So, if you want me:-

mail@handmadehaven, 

Twitter @MyHandmadeHaven

the other blog

or 

Facebook

I may resurrect this blog sometime in the future, but for now, I shall leave it be.  Thanks to you all for popping in, leaving comments, sharing your thoughts, supporting me.  Hope to see you in another part of cyberspace :)

That time of year...

...when we celebrate the birth of our first child.  15 years old..wow!!  We celebrated as he wanted..with the extended family enjoying spaghetti and meatballs.  We are very lucky too, in that this boy is still happy with Lego for his main gift :)  I made a wintry birthday cake for a change...many of us nearly lost teeth to those silver balls!  Having a birthday 5 days before Christmas must be hard going but we try and keep everything separate.

This is also the time of year when today marks another year gone since my lovely Mum died.  This evening will be the 7th year without her here...although I still feel her with me, so she not really gone.  The thing I do miss though, is being able to just pick up the phone and talk to her, tell her those silly things/happenings, that don't really mean much, but are great to share.  I'm quite sure she's been checking  in on the progress of my Hut and would have loved to have done some crafting with me there. 

I'm actually feeling very positive today.  I've been to the Christingle service at school this morning, then dropped off an order.  This afternoon my sister and I are going to see the Book of Remembrance at the Crematorium.  Neither of us have seen it yet as we usually go to the cemetery where we scattered her ashes, so this year will be different.  Then this evening I've got the last order to finish and the marzipan to put on the cake (which I only managed to make yesterday!).

I would like to thank you all for sticking with me through this up and down, busy busy, year.  I shall try very hard to post more regularly in this lovely online world next year.

Solistice blessings for today, Yuletide greetings/Christmas wishes for the 25th and lots of love and happiness for the New Year.

Oops

Wow, anyone who reads my work blog will no doubt know why its been 10 whole weeks since I posted on here!  To say I've been busy would be a slight understatement.  November was full of craft fairs (and trying to keep stocked up for said fairs), the rest of the time is just filled with orders and family...I won't include housework here as I've barely had time for any.  Business is so good that I'm having a workshop (known as 'The Hut on the Patch') built in the garden - the open day is 15th!!  I'm so very excited.  I get my own workspace and we get the house back ;o).  Right, only a quickie today, mainly to let you know I'm still here, but now I must get the littliest ready for school, then we've got home ed group and lots of orders to deliver.  I hope that everyone is busy doing lovely, lovely things.

Newest Food Love

I discovered these on River Cottage months ago, then got the Veg Everyday book, then managed to make them a few weeks back (these poor pictures have been waiting for me to blog about them for 2 weeks!).  Anyway, these are sweet corn fritters...with or without spice..they are just wonderful, and so simple to make.   Here's Hugh's recipe online...enjoy!

Something for the house

With the sewing machine out for Handmade Haven jobs we (JJ and myself) thought we'd make the fabric he choose into a pillowcase for his bed.  It's not very often I get the time to make something for us at the minute and this was relatively quick.  

Treasure

Another busy week here.  Orders for Handmade Haven are constant at the minute, which is great, but means I have to try and fit everything around family life in the summer holidays.  I did manage a day out to see my wonderful Nan who I hadn't seen in a few months.  We had a wonderful lunch and a catch up and she gave me a carrier bag filled with treasure.  When I got it home and looked through it was full of tiny beads that she can no longer see for her sewing.  At 84 she is still sewing things but she has taught herself to knit as well, so she still has something to do :o)  Such an inspiration!

A bit of Vintage

Another hectic week filled with Fairs, orders, a birthday (mine) and fab finds in the charity shop.  JJ came with me for the first time to a fair as the hubby was in bed following a night shift.  He took these two piccies before the camera batteries died.

We managed a quick trawl of the local charity shops in the week where I managed to find a couple of tops for myself and these fabulous wooden reels that someone has refilled with embroidery floss..fantastic.  I'm really busy with orders at the minute and the sun is shining too, so I'll pop back as soon as I can :o)

I'm really bad aren't I?!  I thought it had only been a week since I last posted not two!!... that's the pitfalls of having two blogs I suppose.

The spotty boy is all cleared up and back to his usual self.  We've had a few days out, and I've got a new bike so we're going for small bike rides as well.  He wants to ride to school one day which is ok for me but 3.5 miles is a long way for a small boy :o).  We'll build up steadily and maybe do it at home time instead of at the start of the school day ;o)

I was very excited to receive the above book from Amazon last week.  It's a book I used to borrow from the library when the youngest two were small, and then I couldn't find it when JJ was born.  I'd trawled the internet, had Waterstones search and even had a saved search on ebay, but nothing came up.  I'd given up to be perfectly honest but then a couple of weeks ago the title jumped into my head again so I had a quick search on Amazon and there it was...for 1p!!  I love its rhyming text, and I love giraffes so it's a win win for me.  I also got this one in a charity shop and was reminded of the lovely Jacqui on her Croft :o)  Another beautiful story.

JJ has been joining in when I've been sewing...here's his first bauble for Christmas.  I've also managed to make something for myself too.  I can't remember the last time I did that!  I wanted a bag that I could use on days out as I usually use a big hessian shopping bag which is not very pretty.  I made this out of scraps left over from the skirt I made last year, which make up the liner, then a full piece for the outside and the handle. It's very comfy, fitting snuggly under the arm, into my side, which is just perfect.  Right, I have a cycling date with a small boy, so I'll see you all soon.  Hope your all having a fab summer.

!!!

Helloooo.  Sorry, it's been a while again hasn't it?!  Well, the end of term/start of the holidays has not started out well.  Sickness which has turned into a full-on spotty boy, which has turned into sickness again means we're not really doing much (other than visiting the doctors and the emergency doctors over the weekend).  Ho hum.  Trying to keep a very active boy from over doing it so he can recover fully is hard going.

In the ongoing kitchen news...hopefully today the hubby will start painting it!  Yes I said paint on the kitchen walls.  It's only been waiting 5 years through all the changes that have happened in this room.  I can't wait.  We are still in need of an oven, some tiles and a splashback, but there shall be paint.

And finally, I have some exciting news over on Handmade Haven's blog if you want to pop over to take a look :o)

Craft Books and Magazines For Sale

Here goes then.  Rather than putting postage details next to each one I've listed the price and the weight and I'll put a link to royal mail at the end, then if you would like more than one it's easier for you to work out the postage costs :o).  If you're interested in any please contact me at mail@handmadehaven.co.uk.  Thanks very much.

 £2.50 - 690g

£2.00 - 700g

£4.50 - 700g

ROYAL MAIL PRICES


I've removed the items that have sold to avoid any confusion :o)