Fed, Watered And Ready To Fly

Oh I do love Christmas Eve, listening to carols while drinking champagne and stuffing myself with delicious chocolates, the excitement listening for the scratching of hooves on the roof followed by a visit from the man himself....

"fed, watered and ready to fly"

Thank you all for reading my "ramblings" and leaving lovely comments I do appreciate it,

warmest Christmas wishes,

Lucey 

X

All Hand Made

Back in September I spied some gorgeous blue faced Leicester wool when I was in York, so I bought  a couple of hanks got out the needles and hunted through my patterns to knit a couple of "Christmassy" cushions.

The wool knits up lovely and is ever so warm and cosy, I made one in brown with cream reindeer's, snowflakes,  trees and border

and the other one in  cream with brown.

Next I embroidered a tablecloth with words from
 "the night before Christmas" on it,

"stockings were hung"

"visions of sugarplums"

Do you remember the pillowcase with the tiny "E" on it, well that's now a tray cloth,

"plum  pudding, oranges and cloves, mince pies and cream" ......mmmm all sounds delicious!!

Mr Lucey got me this gorgeous yellow "Robertson's mincemeat" tin, I have quite a few tins now but this one is definitely my favorite

bake, eat and be merry syrup tin, and a handmade wooly christmas tree  that I got from a fair,

more reindeer's, this time crocheted.

The Christmas tree on the landing has hand made stars, Mary, Joseph and Jesus peg dolls,

and festive cards hung on the branches

and this year's Christmas journal

covered in hand printed fabric that I made on a course last Summer,

little tree's ready for the cemetery, one decorated with rusty bells and filled with hyacinth bulbs and the other with a garland of monkey nuts for the birds.....

and finally....

a little display in the hall.

Wishing you all warmest Christmas wishes,

Lucey x

Wreath Making Class

I saw a wreath making class advertised by the "Parks and Cemeteries" with  all materials  included for £7.50 so I thought we'd  give it a go. 

It was held in a massive greenhouse and we started off with a talk on green willow and a demonstration by Dorothy who had a put together a few wreaths for us to get ideas from, then it was time to "get making"

We each chose 10 lengths of willow and wove it into a ring, weaving away until we were happy with the shape,

then we added the foliage of which there was plenty to choose from and wired it all together,

adding  fir cones, berries  and  dried orange slices  

we finished them off with wired ribbon bows and had a cuppa and a mince pie before taking some pictures.

These two did very well for a first attempt  

I've hung one on the  bike in the back garden along with some fairy lights and an old railway lantern and the other on the fence,

very festive......

A nice shade of purple...this is the bruise on my leg after my fall last week.....must be more careful!!

Lucey X

Busy Times

With less than two weeks to go till the big day it's been a busy time here in the Lucey household. We've had sickness (me) a fall (me) a  birthday (mr lucey), shopping in York (me)  cupboards cleaned out and goodies squirelled away and the house turned into a Christmas grotto...phew!

I got a  lovely box of  decorations on good old e bay,

 a box from the charity shop for £3 along with some Christmas crackers,

and a bit of help decorating the tree from a little lady,

butter wouldn't melt!!

The stockings are hung,

the candles are lit,

 Cards are  posted and the presents are wrapped up so my "to do" list is getting shorter, I've still  got  oranges ready to be decorated with cloves, oh and a party on Saturday night....it must be Christmas!

Lucey x

Blue Tit Buttons

Chatting away at the knitting group a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I had some lovely fabric that I wanted making into a skirt,

remember this that I got from a fair?

Annie piped up that she was a seamstress and would be happy to do some sewing for me, so after a little chat I said  I liked
 "A line skirts with a pocket on the front and about  knee length" and that is exactly what Annie made me .....what a star she is!!

I added  a sweet "blue tit" button on the pocket

 and stitched a few on the back...just because I love buttons, 

and it goes lovely with my new black shoes.
They're ever so comfy and they come with a spare set of bows so you can "dress them up...or down"

Thanks Annie

Lucey x

Knitting Socks

I've been wanting to learn how to knit socks for a while now so last week at the knitting class I got some needles, pattern and wool and got started.....not as easy as it looks this 4 needle malarky!!

After a whole week of knitting I'd only managed about 3 inches and when I went to the class last night, Viv, out knitting lady, said not only had I dropped a stitch and  got two holes in the sock but I'd been knitting the wrong way round and my sock was inside out!!

So I pulled it out and started again, taking my time and placing pins in the work so I know which is the right way to knit.

Pics to follow. 

Margaret, one of the Ladies there has been knitting socks for years and she very kindly let me take a pic of hers to show you, Margaret has managed to knit nearly two pairs of socks in a week....what a clever bunny she is.

Such lovely heathery colours in this pair and the other pair are golden shades of Autumn, she knits all the nieces  a pair for Christmas, I wouldn't mind being her niece!!

And talking of colours Mr Lucey has been busy painting the front door, before grey....

and after, "Brinjal"

a lovely rich mulberry colour " from Farrow and Ball.  Love this colour and I've planted some pansies in the basket to match, when they show their pretty little faces.

As I type there's heavy rainy/sleet pouring down the windows and I can hear  thunder....just as  predicted by the weather man!!

Keep warm,

Lucey x

I've Been To London To See The Queen

When I told our granddaughter we were going to London she asked me why, and I replied  "to see the Queen" and guess what? we did see the Queen!!

It was just one of those "right time, right place" moments.

As we got to the Palace the roads were closed and there were Police everywhere so I asked the Policewoman what was happening and she replied there was a state visit from "Park Geun-Hye", South Korea President.  We didn't have long to wait, in the picture you can see the bikes lined up to escort The Queen out of Buckingham Palace.

We were all excited and waived to The Queen as she passed us 

How smart do they look with their highly polished boots and impeccable uniforms, some of then were ever so young but very proud to be on duty.

We walked up The Mall to get a better view of The Queen as she returned,  and we heard the band  playing,

 the Policewoman told us she could see the carriages coming down The Mall, although there weren't many people there you could feel the excitement....and then there she was, our very own Queen, sitting in the carriage pulled by 6 fine grey horses,

I don't think I'll ever be that lucky again!!

Love Lucey x