… was my youngest daughter in law, Stephs graduation ceremony this week. She has worked so hard to get this, whilst juggling a job at Tesco and her two children too!
Weve always bee been there for her though as an extra pair of hans plus collecting them from school and having then in school holidays too.
In fact I fetched them from school on her graduation ceremony day too! lol. We couldnt be prouder of her and it meant her Mum and Dad could be there in person to see her graduate!
Remembrance is always a special time where we show love and respect to those who gave their all for our today.
Our family has a large military history within the Royal Air Force, on both sides. My father served, my uncle served and my cousins all served.
My husband is an RAF veteran and his dad served in WW2 in Burma. I was always proud to be a military wife, and now our daughter is one too with her husband now a Sergeant in the RAF.
Obviously military bases do their own events at this time of year and the Air Play youth club at RAF Benson was no exception.
My daughter manages Airplay and it has a total of 3 groups for different ages. This year the children got together and made lots of red and black Pom poms to make giant poppies for display and also painted ceramic poppies which were given to veterans.
I thought the children did an amazing job.
My oldest grandchild is now in her 30s. I took this photo of her in 2014! We were all out for the day in Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire. Wed had a lovely time exploring the many wonderful things in the park.
Our younger grandchildren were there with us too and wed had a great time in the adventurous playground. It was towards the end of our visit when we came across another visitor with this lovely owl that looked like Hedwig from Harry Potter ….
This made Ninas day even better!
One of my favourite bag pattern designers released a new pattern a couple of weeks ago, and her followers absolutely love it!
Ive seen so many wonderful and creative variations. One even looked like Santas cloak! Some people have made it a bit taller or added extra pockets.
Its such a versatile pattern. Of course, I had to make one for myself. Isnt it cute? The design is called The Totini by Spencer Ogg. I will definitely be making more bags using this pattern.
Hubby was 64 last Tuesday and we decided to go down to the local Tavern for dinner.
Grand daughter and her partner joined us even though gdaughter is on crutches, an ankle injury playing basketball has seen her in a lot of pain this week but she wasnt going to miss her Poppys birthday.
His birthday is on the 11th of November, Remembrance Day so not hard to remember. We hadnt been to the Tavern for quite a while and was pleasantly surprised with it under the new management.
There has been a few changes since we last ate there and noticed the place was full in the dining areas.
Previously there was maybe a dozen people but this time probably 100 people there. Still a great atmosphere and the meals were excellent. After dinner we went and played the pokies for about half an hour. Didnt win our fortune but we did have fun.
This weeks designs are both quick and easy to make Christmas designs.
Our little spare room has experienced many transformations over the past 20 years that we have lived here. It began as a guest bedroom and then became a sleepover den for our granddaughters.
As they grew older and we went through lockdown, we decided to remove the beds and repurpose the room for our desktop computers and my husbands guitars.
A few years later, I needed a space for my sewing machine, so we rearranged the room once again to accommodate that.
Eventually, it became a mismatched collection of furniture, prompting my husband to take charge and set it up as my dedicated sewing room.
The first thing he got for me was a beautiful and very comfortable computer chair. Dont worry about him, though; he has a new workspace in the dining room, where he uses the dining table for his hobbies.
Last Monday night we got hit by a storm that really was out of the norm. We got a storm warning but honestly thought wed miss the storm as it was coming from the north west.
We get all our bad storms from the south east or south west.
We did however take heed of the warning and covered cars, especially the grand daughters new car. Then again something odd, the hail came down. No rain, just the hail.
It hammered down on the roof so I thought Id go video it from under the patio out the front of the house (the side away from where it was coming from.) and hail fell and blew in onto the patio.
It was about marble size hail. A piece hit me on my thumb right on the knuckle! I couldnt put the video on social media with the words I said, all I can say is it hurt like hell from the force that it came down at.
Next day my thumb was swollen and bruised and sore. Even now (Thursday) it is still quite sore and bruised. My words were a bit more than ouch when it hit me.
The hail filled all the leaf catchers and gutters and as soon as it eased off hubby ventured out to empty the leaf catchers so the rain which had begun could go down the pipes to fill the tanks.
To think we arent even in our traditional storm season yet so will be interesting to see what Mother Nature sends our way this year.
This weeks designs are both wallets, perfect for gift cards or money for Christmas.
This last half term my daughter and family had a week in Finland. Now I cant pronounce or spell the exact place but it was about 90 minutes away from Santas Village.
A friend of my daughters has a log cabin in the woods by a lake, now the cabin is basic, it has a compost toilet, there is no mains electricity, no internet service etc., but the really wanted to go.
She didnt know how the boys would cope as there was no TV either, but they took plenty of travel games, books to read etc. the pictures I was sent were stunning.
Once they got the log burner going the cabin was very toasty, the lake is where they took cold dips and then ran straight into the sauna attached to the cabin.
Their days were filled with walks and a good hike where they observed the beauty of the area and the wild life.
The day before they flew home the visited Santas Village. They booked to stay overnight there as the airport was close by.
They had a fabulous time, they saw Santa and visited the reindeer, and the best photo of the year was my daughters selfie with a grinning reindeer.
She said it was the best time, the boys loved it and didnt mind they didnt have the normal facilities.
… youngest granddaughter, Olivia, was competing in the National Cross Country Relay Championships this weekend. Ohh myyyy was it busy and very very confusing! lol. In her race there were 30+ schools competing with each school having 3 competitors….
Making 90+ girls in total for just that race, and the race started and finished in different places! … and there were 10 categories, making 900+ competitors!
Add to that officials, parents, grandparents, siblings etc etc ….
You can imagine just how busy and confusing it was! lol luckily I managed to be in the right place to see Olivias race both at the start (I couldnt even spot her in the 30+ starters! lol) ….. but luckily I managed to almost get to the finish line in time!
Shed already crossed the line and was making her way out and off the course when I got there!
Thats the last time I spotted her there, despite searching amongst the crowds I never spotted her again! lol Even her Mum and younger brother (I never found them either) never spotted her in the crowd either! lol Luckily my son, her Dad being a runner too was more clued up on how things went and so we knew shed be ok! lol
This week would have been my mum and dads wedding anniversary. They were married in 1956. I remembered that I brought home their wedding album when we cleared out their house. So I sat and had a look through all the photos.
Tucked in the back of the beautiful padded album were some of the cards and telegrams that they received. It reminded me that, back in the day, the best man would read out all the telegrams during the reception.
I love this picture of mum and dad looking loveling at each other. Mums dress was so beautiful.
It was made by my nan, and the bridesmaid dresses were made by my aunt. Dads mum and sister. My SALE ends at midnight tonight! (GMT) with 20% off of ALL my designs!
… had another fabulous, fun day with our youngest grandchildren this week. Olivia age 13 and Austin who is 10. From the moment they got here to the moment 5hey went home they never stopped! lol. I was sooo shattered but we all had a fabulous day!
As its Halloween we had fun with some scary games, its amazing what you can do with a colander, spaghetti and a large spider.
We carefully pulled out 1 piece of spaghetti at a time … till the spider fell from his web! We made frighteningly scary balloons with frightening faces and baked the undead mummy jam pudding …. Plus lots of other things.
Ohhh boyyy … was I tired when they went home … but wed all had a fabulous, if scary, day!
The other week at RAF Benson where my daughter and family live, the new Padre (Vicar) of the church on the camp announced that she was going to have a special service for families and their pets at the church.
There were no limits to the kind of pet people could take so Harry decided he wanted to take a Shetland Pony who he has become best friends with.
Bink and Harry have developed a bond. He belongs to one of my daughters friends who has a few horses and as Harry and Bink had this bond she was fine with him taking Bink to the service.
Now Harry doesnt ride Bink as he doesnt like to be ridden, but is happy to walk or trot along with Harry leading him.
The service was said to be good, and apart from trying to pinch Harrys cake after the service he did show himself up by pooping.
But it was taken in good spirit and thankfully precautions were already in place in the event of any animal having a little accident.
So very happy and proud of my daughter. She has just bought a house! Well technically her first house. She first brought a townhouse in a complex which was joined to another. It was quite small so time to look for something bigger.
After searching, doing many inspections, getting Mum (me) to do searches looking at flood/bushfire/heritage overlays, and finding something in her price range she settled for this place down near Manly beach.
Lovely big yard for the dog (once the fence gets done) and extra bedrooms and best of all no fees and rules from a Body Corporate.
She can now add what she wants and paint things to her liking.
She has already arranged for the fencing to be done and is doing some small renovations before moving her furniture in.
One big plus is the beautiful sea breeze which will go through out the back patio on the very hot days.
Very welcome the other day when the temperature was 38 deg C.
That is extreme for October so with a hot summer ahead I think we will be going over often to enjoy that breeze.
Todays designs are pretty floral and lace designs. Check out all the designs in this series.
Its spring, and I love how the garden is waking up and bursting into colour. The first of my roses is out, and the poppies in beautiful colours wave their heads in a welcoming greeting.
The bees have woken up and the buzz around the flowering apple blossom can be heard as I walk past.
A beautiful time of the year. Spring holds the promise of things to come, summer fruit and a signal to get planting those tomato plants out for a real taste of summer.
As some of you may know, I am a Watercolour Artist, so when I saw liquid charcoal, I thought thats for me.
Having never got on with ordinary charcoal, always got it all over my hands, liquid charcoal, used like watercolour, sounded just up my street.
The subject I chose to try it out on was a Japanese Geisha. I painted the main body of the work with the charcoal and added for extra interest just a few touches of colour using water colour paints.
Hope you like her!