? Difficult to buy for.........

I think I am easy to buy for, to people who know me, but I agree that some may think I have peculiar taste. I also dont make things easy by saying ,when asked, "Oh I don't want/need anything".
This year, with no help, the children excelled themselves.
I love & collect Emma Bridgewater pottery which I use every day.Verity bought me the Matthew Rice calender which has hung in my sittingroom every year for as long as I can remember.This year, a mug has been made to go along with the calender and the illustrations are gorgeous.




She also gave me an exquisite key fob made locally in Northumberland.






For the past 4 or 5 months, I have been drooling over a Shelley wall plaque, in a local Antique centre.I normally don't hesitate but this gorgeous green/mauve plaque was quite expensive.
On Christmas day the boys gave me a large, round prezzie and I couldn't believe my eyes when the longed-for wall-plaque was inside.
Alex remarked that Verity had mentioned the plaque and when they went to investigate they knew straight away cos it was green!!!



The plaque looks just perfect hanging in the hall.

monday post

We enjoyed a lovely family Christmas here in snowy Hexham, just the 4 of us, the kids divided their time between home & friends, so there was plenty of coming & going.Plenty of food & drink consumed and now A,C & V have flown down to London to continue the fun & games, and a belated birthday celebration, with their Dad.
I have a couple of days to myself, dogs to care for but other than that I can suit myself..............bliss.

I have gone a bit overboardthis year with bulbs, forced in different containers. The paperwhite narcissi are long finished but the hyacinths and amaryilis are about to bloom.



Crafting wise things are a bit slow.I made a pair of curtains for the sitting room just before the snow arrived and my trusty bernina sewing machine was not performing at 100%, so she'll have to go in for a much needed MOT in the new year.I think the feeddogs have dropped a bit so the fabric is not going through evenly'

I have 2 knitting projects on the go ; a pair of wool/silk socks and a reversible jersy in a tweedy mix .Both the wool and the pattern must be over 20yrs old, my sister in law Rosie photocopied the Yarnstore pattern for me.




The spare/sewing bedroom is occupied with boy's stuff till after the new year so anything I do happens on the sofa in front of TV.