monkeys

i was at a small craft fair today, well it was more of a sale of work as most of the stall were ladies who meet in on a tuesday morning and make some beautiful stuff between them and i had a ball sold a few bits and pieces and made some new friends and a bit of criac - but the bargin of the day has to be the things i got of the bric-a-brack stall for the church and the best bit was the monkey i bought for my monkey!!!!!!

have to say at 50p he is a great find and addy just loved him as you can see and now he has something to carry about other than the cats

not sure which monkey is the cutest?

baby update

well they have been here for a weeks now and have taken over the whole house !!!!!!
RJ is the one that rules the roost and keeps the rest of the house in order and is getting on very well with my old dog sophie - this is him below

but Hammy is the joker in the pack and always up for a play even when i'm trying to knit with the ball of wool he is carrying off

and as soon as the laptop is on Hammy gets up and sits on the keyboard

babies

i have been a cat person for many years and now as my boys are a bit older and able to help look after a cat i thought it was time to see is i could find one and as luck would have it one of the fellas at work was looking for homes for some kittens. so i told him that ifhe had any males i would take one and then i thought about it and as twos company i might as well have the last 2 boys and here is RJ in his box, bit like king of the castle and as usual Hammy is off exploring his new surroundings

now this is only a small cat basket and just about room for one cat (the boys are about 12 weeks old) but as Hammy seems to be the boss, even though he is smaller than RJ he had to get into the basket as well !!!!

and as for hubby, well he did the usual huffing and puffing about cats in the house and fur all over the place and the rest, and when i have my back turned he's on the floor playing with them!

now all i have to do is learn to knit with the 2 of them on my knee.(ha ha)

hearts

i had been into the local fabric shop to pick up some more stock and i found some really good stuff for halloween and i just had to have a wee meter and as i was wondering what to make with it the boys asked for bandanas - so when i had finished and was clearing up the ends i had a little left so i sat down at the machine and had a bit of a fiddle!!!

and very soon had a small pile and after a bit of lavender and stuffing a and as you can see the finished hearts modeled by char and i think they turned out very well - as always i take a few samples into work and the response was very good and even a few orders after the craft fair this saturday so i might have to nip into the shop and get a few more meters just in case (he he!)

the fixer

the boys finished school for the halloween break and as usual they have a half day on friday and a fancy dress party and this year addy went as a vimpire and dosen't he look a smasher

and char went as a hippy and he won the class prize for best costume!!!!!! he was well pleased as he had gathered up most of the stuff himself and he and addy drew flowers and things on the old pair of jeans his uncle had given him - as usual addy had to get into the picture somewhere

at last i think i'm up and running on the laptop front anyway and last night i managed to add the phone software so i can also add pictures -- and here is the lovely darren or the PC Doc as he likes to be known and he got me running again, he works with me and as usual was on hand to help. he's a big softie and a sucker for a sob story (just as well in my case as i'm a technophobe) and is easy to pay ( large chocolate cake ) thank goodness!!

sunday again

well it's just a week to my first craft fair for a while and as usual i'm up to my eyes in it !!!
have been busy making stock all summer and now i have to tidy up the ends and add the labels
and my friend arrived on friday with a large box of material that had been in a suitcase for 30 + years so i now have a load of new ideas racing around in my head which i won't have time to put together for saturday ######

now i've got my laptop back i need to gat the stuff for my mobile added on again so i can start to gat the pictures on here again

now off to bed 6.00 am comes a little to early for my liking

See they really are red

At last a picture of the famous red arrows pity it was such a wet day but worth the wait in the rain

i've found it

at last my mojo's back !!!!!! have had a bash at the old sewing machine tonight and made a bandana for char and then had a go at the fleece hat i've had the pattern for what seams like forever and now i want to do more but i have to go to bed or i'll never make it to work in the morning. laptop is in for a service tomorrow so i'll have time to sew tomorrow evening and get a few things made and pictured so i can show off when i get it back - ok now off to bed ...... night all

hello old friends

hi peeps sorry i'ts been a while - i've got a new camera phone and am having trouble uploading my pics as well as having been really busy over the last few weeks and the weather has been rubbish as well. and in the middle of all this had a new bathroom put in so we're trying to get the house back to normal after no bathroom for a few days! the boys are back at school and doing really well and had a great time last saturday when we all attended an open day hosted by the company i work for - even though it rained ( there's a surprised) and there was a bit of a delay the day will be remembered for the great display put on for us by the Red Arrows, and they were parked on the runway with good viewing for us! (sorry it's not red but the pics i took i can't post here yet)

ok off now to make a bandana for Char and knowing Addy when he see it i'll have to make another one and i promise to get the pic thing sorted very soon

hello again

well what a few hetic days i've had and the bad weather didn't help!
busy in work making lots of airoplanes and lots of work at home trying to get my winter stock on the go as well and the boys are still of school for the holidays and between all this we had the big traction engine rally at Mountstewart (the local national trust property) and family day for work at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and it rained and rained and rained ........
at the rally we had a tractor drive on the friday night and we all had a brilliant time with well near 100+ tractors on the drive and on the saturday it rained so hard and the bad winds blew our tent down in which we were to do the bread making so if anyone would like to see what soda bread looks like just go back a few posts as the day was so bad i didn't get any pictures but on the up side we did lift over £400 for charity .......
and family day is a great day out with everything be provided by the company i work for and as usual we ball even though it rained most of the day but a little rain never stopped us before

wheat bag

not a very good picture i know but i hope this gives you an idea of how the wheat bags have turned out quite easy to make once you gather all the materials together

if you want to get ahead get a hat!!

well as you all know i'm always up for a new craft and today was no exception . have been toying with hats for a while now and had a bit of stare time and some felt so i thought i'd give it a go!
this is my first attempt and i'm very pleased with it, have been thinking of taking orders and maybe a wedding theme would go better


and realy pleased i splashed out on those display heads as it makes the little hat look even better , now i'll have to look out for some nice felt/wool material and make a few more examples for the next craft fair and explore the wedding/bridesmaid/mother of the bride thing and see if it might be worth while doing a couple of bridlefairs?

swimming

the boys and i went swimming at the local leisure center this morning and because it was such i lovely day on the way home we called into the local train station for a ride!!!!
about 4 miles from home is the lovely little narrow guage railway station call drunawhey junction and it has been there for a number of years and we have visited it many time but haven't been much in the last year so what better time to pay it a visit.
as you can see they have plenty of trains of all shapes and sizes as long as its small, char had been many time as a small child but addy had not been very often and now it was char's turn to be the big brother and look after addy and i could just sit and watch.
the driver was telling me it had been very busy before we arrived but now it had slowed down and the boys got the whole rain to themselves
and you know the old saying boys and their toys well here we have a great example and what a beautiful engine she is and on the way home addy asked that when he grew up could he go there and work - i somehow think that the men that go there now most weekend wouldn't look upon this as work if you would like to know more you can log onto http://bcdmrs.org.uk and see more pictures of this great place

it's raining so it must be ballymena

well it's that time of year again and the ballymena steam engine rally was last weekend and for those of you who are not quite sure what a steam rally is well i will give you a quick tour - it's a weekend where big men get together and play with their engines and tractors and compare how dirty they can get and who can make the most steam or noise and be big kids for the weekend.
and what were you doing there i hear you ask? well for the ladies the are plenty of stalls and a craft tent to help them pass a few hours and hopefully spend a few pounds
so after an early start on friday morning i reached ballymena and got the car unpacked and set up it was time for coffee and as hubby was working all week at sir thomas and lady dixon park at the world famous rose week he had the large flask so i had to fall back on plan B. beside me i had a lovely lady selling jewellery and on the other side i had a gentleman doing your family name. being the generous type i offered him a cup of tea and he said that if there was any going that would be very nice and when he saw what plan B was he was well impressed and as you can see i was very comfortable
well the gentleman introduced himself as Ian and we had great wee chats over the course of the next 2 days and some good exchanges on the topic of the ulster-scots language in which i'm fluent and we kept an eye on each others stall and had great craic. turns out his son works for the same company as me only at a different site, later that day mum and the boys and my brother came up for the day and between the showers they had a walk about and then came in and joined me for a while - saturday was a better day weather wise and the craic was just as mighty although we all noticed a shortage of £20 and takings seemed to be down for everyone on last year, but not to worry we all enjoyed the tome there and on one short trip out of the tent i managed to get a picture of the engine that was beside the tent
bit of a beauty this one but the mud dosen't do her justice

ps. this is the sort of things i grew up with and my dad was a great one for bits of engines and tractors so it was a bit of a busmans holiday as well

heads up

now that i have been making my winter stock i thought i would be better displaying them with a little more class and when i checked out the web for plastic heads i found a company in belfast that supplied them - well what a find and a big saving on the postage as well

much better than laying them on the table in any old shape don't you think?

baby beanie

now i'm the first to say that i'm not cut out as a housewife and always have plenty to keep me away from the ironing board and kitchen sink and bless my hubby he does put up with a lot but a few weeks ago he said "could you iron me a shirt for work and crochet me a baby shawl as a lady i work with is about to be a granny!" ..... so when i finally got the wool that he liked, took 2 goes at that as well, i started the shawl which it in the tumble dryer now but when i had a spare half hour i also made the baby a little beanie to go with the shawl

this is the first baby beanie i have made i'm quite good with the bigger sizes and i must say i'm rather pleased with the result **** and the moral of this little story is - teach the boys to iron their own shirts and then they won't interupt my crochet time !

teach them young

the other day i was hooking (as usual) when my youngest asked if he could have a go, well i'm all for teaching them while their young and at 5 i thought it would be a good idea but i had one problem - addy is a little leftie and as i had never taught a leftie before was faced with a slight problem. but never one to give up i got him a footstool and set him down in front of me and and got started and guess what - he loved it and as you can see from the pictures below he got the hang of it

so now i have a helper for my craft supplies but i won't be waiting on the first finished hat for a while yet

at the zoo

we had been invited to a small fair at Belfast Zoo on saturday 5 july and as we set off the heavy rain had eased a little but we did pack the coats etc just in case and as we traveled up the road it showered but never one to be put off by a little water we arrived and set up. The Zoo staff were great and a welcome coffee when we arrived and lovely little marques and a fantastic setting and a wee prayer we got going


so here we all are with a wee cuppa and a biscuit to sustain us for the crowds and the hard work ahead (ha ha)
and we waited and waited and waited but the only thing that came was more rain and even foxy kept a lookout but the weather was out of out hands
but not to be a wet blanket (these puns are just so bad ) the kids had a ball and went around most of the zoo and below is a picture of the elephant that char took with his phone, they wanted to watch the penguins being fed but even they stayed inside and the seals just lay about in the rain
so by the time they made is back to me they look a little wet - good job i packed the coats
even though it wasn't a profitable day we all had a ball and the kids got to go around the Zoo and the Zoo staff were all a great help which made it a little better the boys have asked if we can go there for a day out - we will try and pick a better day and take more pics so you can get a look at what a lovely place Belfast Zoo is and the views over the city

new stock

i have been trying out some new things in the past few weeks as i have a bit fair soon and i know these will be good winter sellers but with the turn in the weather i might get a few early sales, at the time the only model i could get was addy and as you can see he wasn't to pleased with the colour

and now i have an employee!!! yea as if i could pay someone to knit for me but i have managed to get my mum to do me some of her fantastic tea cosies and these are a great seller so far
we were thinking of branching out into football team colours
and i have found that the coffee drinkers out there like to keep their pots warm and what better way than these, i have also found that the men folk seem to like the leopard print best!

Wish I'd asked my Gran: Braveheart!

Wish I'd asked my Gran: Braveheart!

flying machines

well it was a lovely morning and we thought that it would be good to visit the local car boot and boy are we glad we did!! The boys fell in with a large box of plastic meccano for £5 and i got a couple more cup to make pin cushions out of - but the best find must be this juice press, brand new and still in the box and when i looked at it i thought it was about £30 new and when i asked the price and the lady said £2 i nearly had her hand off as well, don't you think it looks swell ?


so with the bargin hunting over we headed home, stopping on the way home at the new cafe at the local airfield. The boys had large pieces of chocolate cake and i had coffee cake - yummmmmy and it was delish - the big bonus to this was we were able to sit outside and watch the helicopters land and take off and as you can see the boys really enjoyed the cake
this one was just getting ready to take off and the noise and the smell of the fuel all added to the event
the view must be awesome up there and we have all agreeded that this is something we would save up for in the future
and the cake wasn't half bad either

two more sleeps!!!

well it's that time of year again and the boys are looking forward to the school holidays - 'how many more sleeps till no school?' addy has been asking for the last week or so and now it is only two more sleeps and they are off for the next 2 months!!!!! really hope that the weather improves and have to get the thinking cap on and work out the entertainment for the summer and in the middle of all this i have a couple of big craft fairs to attend but as usual the boys will come with me and help spend any money that i make. but in the mean time the boys are off for a picnic and a day at the local kids play club with the school and i'm off nto bed to get some sleep so i can keep up with them

tea cups

i have just finished my latest 'project' - teacup pincushions and i'm very pleased with the end results. I was lucky to pick up the tea set at the car boot sale and the rest of the bits i had in my stash and my trusty old hot glue gun at the ready



the boys wanted to know what they were for as they thought they looked like cups full of pink ice cream and thought they were good enough to eat - hope the customers like them just as much!!!!!

SODA BREAD FRESH AIR STYLE

well it was the annual fete at the local parish church and as usual we always go to the car boot that they have along with the tractor rides and cake stall and bottle stall and the bread making and the plant stall and all the rest that go on for the day - well we packed the car up and headed off and it was starting to spit and then a light drizzel and by the time i had went the 3 miles to the venue it was emptying. Loopylou had her hubby put up the gazebo for us but it really didn't make that much of a difference so we called it a day and loopylou headed home.
We on the other hand went to see how granny was getting on at the bread making and as you can see i was already wet a little more rain wouldn't hurt.

we went to where they were making soda bread and as you can see we are pretty well set out for outside catering!!!!

Addy just loves to help and here he is checking that i am mixing it right and in the back ground you can see the hobs that my dad made over the years, these are gas and this suits griddles well as we can regulate the heat better

the lady beside me is my mum and she taught me many years ago to make soda farls and wheaten farls and pancakes on the griddle and as this is a dying art we love doing demonstrations at fete and traction engine rallies and people love to tell the stories from their childhood when most homes had a griddle and made soda and pancakes every day but now because most of the shops and supermarkets carry it now and people don't have the same time not many people make their own any more. Another great thing of the griddle is potato bread but that is for another day !!!!

A big thankyou has to go to Mr Spence at Neills Flour for sponsoring the soda bread flour and in the bowl i have soda bread flour and buttermilk and a handful of sultanas and a good teaspoon of syrup and all you do is mix until it comes together and then turn it out onto a floured surface

then you lightly kneed it into a round and roll out till just under half an inch thick, cut into four farls and then place into a heated griddle and then wait and enjoy the smell

the farls will start to raise and when they have formed a skin and are nice and golden brown on the bottom they are ready to turn , below is plain soda farls cooking and the smell is wonderful

and this is what they look like when they are cooked and when we do these outdoor events there is always a great demand for this as you can't beat fresh soda with a spread of butter and a big mug of tea.

so we might not have done to well at the carboot but we had great criac at the bread making !