Time To Say "so long, farewell...."

..."auf wiedersehen, adieu"..... It's been nearly 2 years, all but a couple of weeks, that I've popping into your quiet moments as Miranda and Lu, and now it's time to move along a little.
Much as I love Miranda and Lu (they'll always hold a special place in my heart) they didn't really tell you much about what I'M about, (not much, in all probability!) and I feel it's time to step up another rung on my particular ladder.
So...thank you for all your kindnesses...and (fingers very much crossed here) hopefully you'll pop by and visit me at SewKirstie.blogspot.com .

xx

5th October?????????

Good grief!! I could NOT believe that that was the last time I'd popped along here, to share my thrilling times with you!! It's well over a month ago!! When I first started my Blog World Adventure, I came here nearly every day....now I can barely manage once a month!! I must try harder! Please could someone organise a few more hours for my day? Please?
Part of the problem (the one I'm sticking to, anyway!) is that much of what I'm working on, is for other people. Other people who want to keep the work quiet for Father Christmas reasons. So that leaves me with next to nothing to show you......except of course, this.....

"This" is Daughter No.2 on her Graduation Day. After 3 years of EXTREMELY hard work on her part (and some Hand Holding Supporting Mummy work on mine) she has graduated with a First Degree Honours in Theatre Studies. YAY! I'm still SSSSOOOO proud that I could self combust at any minute!!
I have also been dabbling with some tiny hexies......

....and a raffle prize....

But that truly is all I can tell you about, at the moment. I haven't even had any exciting adventures recently....apart from the obvious risk of self combustion.
I'll leave you now, before you keel over with boredom. I'll try and be back before Easter. xx

Introducing.....

Vera The Van.....

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted a Campervan. If I'm truthful, Vera isn't the van I've yearned for all these years (the van I've always dreamed of is a VW Splitty).......but The Husband has views on buying vehicles with less power than your average wind up toy!! And Vera IS gorgeous and doesn't need a prevailing wind to help us get up a hill!!
We took collection of Vera on Wednesday, so the obvious thing to do (especially as we were Football Free this weekend!) was to go in search of a campsite. So we did.
This is the view that we woke up to this morning.......

We went whole hog on the "test drive" camping experience, and took The Dog too. She was very well behaved!! Yay!

There was some of this.....

Some of this....

And even some of this......

I just KNOW that this is just the start of a long and beautiful relationship!! Bring it on!!

xx

School-Holiday-Itis......

Am I the only one suffering from this?? I just can't seem to get myself together. Procrastination, though always one of my fortes, has now taken on Olympic Proportions. It's not as though I've not got LOTS I want to be getting on with.....I have. And I REALLY want to do them.......but because there are other things I SHOULD be doing that I DON'T want to be doing, that should be done first, everything has sort of ground to a halt. Well...not sort of......it's well and truly ground. And I can only put it down to being in a major sulk, due to the end of the Summer Holidays. All those lovely, endless days completely without agendas and timetables. It's not a weather thing-I'm not one for a lot of sunshine and heat...I actually prefer Autumn-it truly is a restricted time thing.
So. In an effort to move on a little, here I am, finger to keyboard, writing a little, to bring you up to speed.
In the Glorious Free-Time Holidays, The Husband and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary at the renowned Chewton Glen Hotel, and VERY nice it was too......

In the same said holidays, Daughter No.1 and I, FINALLY got round to celebrating her Happy Birthday, with some quality mother and daughter time. Equally nice.....

.....Afternoon Tea at The Secret Garden ( www.watersplash.co.uk then follow the link).

I got a quilt all finished for a friend's birthday.......

And now I've finished another blog post! Progress! Maybe I'm not in TOO much of a sulk after all!!
Thanks for popping by...see you soon. xx

Rightmove.co.uk

Don't worry, you've not come to the wrong place. It's just that browsing Rightmove has become my most recent hobby! I have completely fallen in love with Harrogate and the Yorkshire Dales and would move there tomorrow, should my Rightmove search manage to find ANYTHING within my piggy-bank-budget!
You may remember from my last post that I was about to leave on my holidays...camping in Harrogate? Well, we went...we saw....I fell head over heels in love. The whole area is stunningly beautiful AND it's the home of Betty's Tearooms....what's not to love??

We were very lucky on the day we chose to drop in on Betty, and managed to get a table in the much desired main room, without having to queue round the block! And it was SSSOOO worth it! I would go every week if we lived nearer. Promise.
Then there is the scenery. This is at Aysgarth in the Yorkshire Dales....

And of course we went to Ilkley Moor. Without our hats. Obviously.

Another highlight was a visit to York. The Minster is majestic. As was the £10 per person required if you wished to wander around the inside. We contented ourselves with a wander around the outside.

(Sneaky peek inside!)

And then I was awarded one WHOLE hour off, for good behaviour, in which to visit The Quilt Museum. Photos were not permitted, so you'll just have to take my word that it was amazing. Only a small exhibition, but very well displayed and extremely informative. I found it fascinating that some of the English Paper Piecing quilts still had their papers in, showing household accounts and such, dating from the 1800's. If you get the chance to visit this "bijoux" museum in York, try and get more than one hour allocated to you. It was just about do-able....but I was at a brisk gallop the whole way through!
So all in all, a wonderful holiday.
It hasn't all been Hi-De-Hi and cultural visits though...I have been stitching away. And managed to get a belated present finished....

So now it's time to move onto these that have been waiting in the wings....

Let me assure you that they have gone forth and multiplied. And I have a plan. And a recipient. Watch this space.....
So...time and tide and all that.....
See you soon. xx

We're All Going On A .......

...Summer Holiday.....Yay! But before we do, there was a small celebration to be had, in the way of Daughter No.2's 21st Birthday!!
Now living in London (First Degree Honours Graduate, don't you know!!), said daughter could only travel down on Sunday, for a couple of days. South West Trains had other ideas though, and did their level best to cancel all trains going south from Waterloo. However, not without a little cunning, Daughter No.2 managed to get herself as far as Guildford, where, she was assured by Mr. South West, there would be buses ready (and indeed eager) to carry travellers further along southwards to their desired destination. Oh...Mr. South West.....were you never taught that it is unpleasant to lie???
Unfortunately for most, there were no such buses. Nor bikes. Not even a measly roller skate. Fortunately for one, her Auntie sped to the rescue, scooped up niece and brought her safely home. Hooray hooray!
And so celebrate we did. Obviously brought up with great taste, Daughter No.2's chosen method to celebrate (at least with her mother and grandmother present!) was Full Afternoon Tea in a beautiful country-house hotel nearby. Yum. Yum. Yum.

Many Happy Returns of The Day, Darling Girl. xx
And now it's time to pack up the car and make our way north. Five days camping in Harrogate, where I fully intend to divide my time equally between Betty's Tearooms and The Quilt Museum in York, followed by a few more days camping in Wells-Next-The-Sea. I'm so looking forward to it, and as you can see........

...I'm all packed and ready to go!
See you in a couple of weeks. Take care. xx

Wasn't Me, Guv...Honest, Guv.....

We've had An Incident. When I say "We", I really mean "The Husband", but I was implicated by default. Or by blatant lie. You decide....
The car, my Trusty Volvo, started playing up. Sort of hiccupping. The Husband was supposed to pick me up from work, and instead I had a phone call informing me that said car may have hicced it's last upp. Bother. In his infinite wisdom, The Husband had removed Homestart from our RAC policy (terrific) so a plan was formed. The Husband would drive the car to the next village, where there is a lovely tea shop, stop for a much needed cuppa, then phone nice Mr RAC Man and get him to tow the car the rest of the way to the garage.
However, The Trusty Volvo didn't want to play the game. It tried VERY hard not to start at all, but The Husband is a canny soul, and forced it into a coughing, hiccupping, spluttering start (of sorts) with the aid of Easy Start spray. Not sure if he'd even get to the end of the road, never mind the next village, The Husband "drove" off. I awaited news. This is what I got....
Husband and Car did make it to the village. The stop at the lovely tea shop did happen. Mr RAC Man was called, and dutifully arrived. All going exceedingly well so far. Now this is where the story gets interesting. Pay attention please.
Mr RAC Man asked a few questions about symptoms which The Husband knew the answers to. Mr RAC Man thought for a moment. Mr RAC Man opened the petrol cap and sniffed. He passed the cap to The Husband, who also sniffed. Cogs began to whirr in The Husbands head. The RAC Man went round to the engine, and repeated the whole sniffing experience, encouraging The Husband to participate fully. Lightbulbs and minor fireworks are now going off in The Husband's head, illuminating memories of his visit, the day before, to the petrol station. And there is the key word. Petrol. The Husband, darling man that he is, had put £40 of petrol into our DIESEL car.
Now, I wish it to be known, that generally, I'm quite a reasonable person, and that up until this point would have brushed the whole thing off as an unfortunate mistake. Until the moment that The Husband turned to Mr RAC Man and said "that would have been my wife....she said she'd put some fuel in yesterday"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND, not content to lie just the once, The Husband compounded it by informing the mechanic at the garage " the wife must have had her head elsewhere". There are not enough exclamation marks on my keyboard at this point.
£280 later and you'll be pleased to hear that the Volvo is Trusty once more. More trustworthy than The Husband, honest guv........
Thank goodness I've got some peaceful hand feathering to soothe me....and prevent me from looking for blunt instruments with which to bludgeon....

xx