Celebrating Home 2014 :: Part 3

Hello Lovelies, 

I'm currently trying to bring a bit more order to our home. On one of my many calendars I've noted down a different room each day to spend a bit of time tidying and de-cluttering. I often  feel a bit overwhelmed by the jobs that could do with my attention and then I get disheartened and just do the general, essential stuff....you know Laundry, cooking, food shopping vacuuming  etc.

On work days I wont feel like doing a lot but just a little will help , I hope.

Having started this series of posts seems to be helping to motivate me at the moment. On Thusday my bedroom was on the list for a little TLC. 

I got organised...the computer stayed off and the bedding was in the washing machine by 8am.

Surfaces were cleared , drawers and cupboards tidied . The top of the wardrobe ( a big dumping ground ) even got thinned out and straightened up.

I love my sunny bedroom. It's got buttermilk walls and so many sentimental things in it. I took some photos when it was looking nice and tidy to share with you lovelies.

Above our bed there's some dried Lavender, a crochet heart and a scene painted by Mum back in the 80's.....

Here's a close up. It still looks so fresh all these years later........

Beckfoot bridge is in Bingley, West Yorkshire. It's where my Dad was born and my Mum spent a lot of her married life. HERE is a lovely photo of it in the snow.

The other picture you can see in the first photo is also by Mum. Again it's quite old and I love it........

Last week I finally bought myself a couple of sketching books as the old school art books that belonged to my boys are finally full.

 It makes me happy to see my neat little pile of drawing things on the old "lloyd loom" style furniture I picked up second-hand in my early twenties. I painted them pale pink and you might just be able to see a bit of vintage Laura Ashley fabric beneath the glass of this Laundry basket. I use it to hold craft things............

This chair had a lot of things piled on it. After I had tidied up it was so nice to be able to see it looking lovely again. The square throw is still my favourite ever crochet made, of course it's my version of THIS wonderful crochet......

On this chair is a little brown bear I also bought in my early twenties.......so I guess I've owned it for over half of my life.
 The Amigurumi Dog was made by me for middle son a few years ago. The pattern can be found in THIS great book..........

And the pattern for the little hexagons is in my side bar.

I can't say I really enjoyed the process of cleaning and tidying .....I had so much that needed to be tackled and I didn't manage to get it all done. I had to squeeze in the weekly shop and I was determined to go for a walk before  school was over as it's the only exercise I'm getting at the moment.

But I do enjoy the results. It was so nice to take a cup of tea upstairs when all my other jobs were done yesterday evening and sit  cosily in bed, to read a while.

I couldn't resist ordering Susans (via Amazon ) book and it arrived on Thursday

It's such a delight. This is the inside of the cover......



The whole book is hand written in beautiful script that's so easy to read and the photos are wonderful......

The paper is beautiful quality and Susan's illustrations are a delight...........

It's a hardback book with a red ribbon ( looks pink in this photo ) page marker.

I haven't even flicked through to take a peek at the whole book........no, I'm taking my time and savouring every page. I just know this book will end up being one of those many sentimental things I can't let go of.

Right, I'm off to tackle the Kitchen cupboards :0)

"Where we love is home - home our feet may leave, but not our hearts" Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Jacquie x

Also Last Week.........

Hello Lovelies,

once again I seem to have lots of pictures left over from last week that I meant to share with you all, so here's a mish-mash of things that made me happy.

On Wednesday I was looking out at the gloom and wondering when I would get good light to photograph my latest drawing....even holding it up to the window didn't do the trick, but I still like this photo.........

Thank you to Chel who suggested this banner would be nice as a button you all could use and join on with this series of posts.........I'll certainly try and figure this out and anybody is welcome to join me in writing some "Celebrating Home" posts this year ( with or without the button )

Also on Wednesday morning, I went for a walk in the rain, it wasn't heavy and I notice different things on days like this. 

I've walked down this road many times , but this was the first time I had seen this lovely roof with it's huge chimneys and  cute  little window. It made me wonder what it would be like to sleep in that bedroom under the eaves .........

The grey weather continued into the afternoon and I decided to pop into the gallery in town to take a look at some artwork ..........I love these colourful mixed media works.......

And the Tulips on the tables were a sweet touch.

They are made by using collage, paint and machine stitching and they really are gorgeous........

This one was called "the north wind doth blow" and it seemed like a beautiful celebration of winter.

The artist is the talented Helen Hallows . She has a blog and THIS post shows some of her other works that I loved.


January seems to flying by and I'm actually surprising myself by quite enjoying winter ( so far) this year. The weather has not been too severe yet and we have seen a reasonable amount of sun between the downpours.
Even on a dull January day this village still looked  pretty..........

On Thursday I did my usual weekly shop and was happy to find the lovely Lucy in print on Morrisons magazine shelves.....so exciting :0)

we love Lucy's crochet blankets too.....don't we lovelies.

Mum came over in the afternoon and brought her calendar to show me ( she knows I love them ).
 It's of old railway posters and  I particularly love January as we have just booked a summer holiday on the  North Wales coast ........

I've never been to  the Lleyn peninsula before and I'm really looking forward to exploring somewhere new.


On Friday I was at work and when I got home I noticed how much my Amaryllis had grown. This one also has a second flower stem emerging.......I've never had one with this happy bonus before......

out of my kitchen window I also noticed  a lovely full moon so I took my tripod into the garden to try and see if I could capture it's beauty. There were clouds swirling around it and this time I managed to capture them in the photo, I like this picture a lot despite the very blurry moon.......

And I zoomed right in with my little compact camera , once again I was thrilled to get a clear image of the moon........wow.........

using a tripod makes a big difference.

THIS is the camera I'm currently using. It has it's flaws ( it struggles with contrast like my old IXUS) but I love the big zoom .

On Saturday I was zooming in again , this time to capture Mr Blackbird enjoying my latest Coconut feeder.........

And also cheeky Mr Squirrel...........

He looks so pleased with himself, don't you think.

Later that morning I walked with Eldest to the shops. In my LYS I bought some chunky yarn in a gorgeous teal colour...........

Ideal for my latest, super speedy, project .

In the afternoon we headed into the City for a short visit. There were lots of these Elephants dotted about, all decorated differently. They made me smile.........

In years gone by I would have been too interested in what I could buy in the shops to notice the beautiful architecture. These days shopping does not have the same appeal and I look at the city with new eyes..........

As we left, the setting sun emerged momentarily from behind the clouds.  The view from the fourth floor of the multi-story car park made me gasp at the beauty of it.

 The fabulous golden light made the buildings glow and the cloudy sky turned brilliant blue.
 I think it looks like I have edited this photo to enhance the colours, but I really haven't....mother nature did it.........I was totally gorgeous...........

I hope you lovelies are finding time to notice the changing light and the small things that make you happy.
Jacquie x

Celebrating Home 2014 :: part 2

Hello lovelies,
 I work part time but I'm so grateful it's not full time. I  love being home, having the time to spend with my family, time to do something creative and to notice the little things that make me happy.

This week those little things have included........

Sunlight illuminating the lovely dainty daffodils I'm enjoying on my kitchen windowsill. They have a gorgeous scent .....like spring.....and they are in just the right place for me to get a waft of it as I stand at the sink.....

Watching middle son hiding under the trampoline with my camera to get some more bird shots in the garden. 

This time he captured a LBJ  which I eventually managed to identify as a Dunnock.

New on my mantle are a couple of tiny thrifted houses. I do have a soft spot for these cute cottages. When I see them in the charity shop for a pound or so it's hard to resist........

Their  actual size is a bit smaller than this photo. I think all the tiny details are fabulous, look there is a jacket draped over that teeny wheelbarrow outside the thatched cottage.

I am making the time to prepare homemade food for my growing boys. Yesterday it was Meatloaf followed by some Oaty Apple crumble which I made and froze back in October..........

Yummy

I enjoyed reading all your comments on my first "Celebrating Home" post so much...thank you.

When I can I like to pay a visit to your blogs and I've discovered many wonderful creative types this way.

A lovely comment from Miss Holly lead me to her "Seaview cottage" blog, which was a treat to read.

THIS post on her site then held a link to a famous blogger and published Author I was previously unfamiliar with............. Susan Branch.

Do you lovelies know her work ? 

She does wonderful watercolour illustrations and LOVES Beatrix Potter.

Her two posts ( part 1 HERE and part 2 HERE)  about her visit to Hill Top , the Lakeland farm owned by Beatrix, are so beautifully written and moving...this American  ladies joy a finally getting to visit a place she has dreamed of for many years is contagious .

 It's a wonderful, feel good read and made me rush to gather together the small amount of  books I have by and about this interesting and talented lady..........

A couple of battered story books Mum saved from my childhood....I used to have a lot more and remember "Mrs Tiggy winkle" was a favourite.  And a gorgeous book about Beatrix Potters life that  I picked up in a charity bookshop a couple of years ago.

Beatrix loved her home in the Lake District and often included it in the beautiful illustrations she painted for her beloved children's books. In this picture from "Jemima Puddle-Duck" you can clearly see part of her garden and her front door........

It's been lovely to enjoy these books again after many years.

The wonderful hand painted lettering on Susan's blog also inspired me to try something similar for my own blog. 

One dark evening last week  I drew out my design. First in pencil , then in fine coloured pens.........

Then I coloured it in using my usual coloured pencils.........

I don't think it's as charming a Susan's paintings or as accomplished as Beatrix's, but I'm still rather happy with it. It's pretty and  home made and it's got hearts and flowers. I think it will look nice as a header for this series of posts.

"Where we love is home - home our feet may leave, but not our hearts" Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Jacquie x

Winter Garden

Hello Lovelies,

After I had battled around the supermarket this morning I decided , on the spur of the moment , to stop off  and enjoy the sunshine. I parked in the shade and reasoned my frozen food would survive O.K. on this chilly day.

Will you come for a wander with me, past the church and the huge old Yew trees.......

Out into the glorious sunshine that was bathing this wonderful spot in beautiful light.........

I always considered gardens to be pretty boring in winter, my own garden is not a very appealing place right now. But this garden is different. It's got so much interest all year round.
 There are beautiful ornaments in raised beds, berries and blossom........

There are interesting shapes in the evergreen shrubs..........

And without all the showy flowers the foliage really grabs your attention.........

I came to visit this garden in June and this gateway charmed me. The contrast in January is huge , but it still looks wonderful..........

In summer this area is dark and shady, but right now it's so light and airy........

I loved the long shadows and the backdrop..........

And even in the depths of winter there are the tiny shoots of snowdrops emerging.........

And simple, unassuming plants like heather , are bringing a little winter joy.........

The archway is bare but still looks lovely.........

And it frames this view.........

The bare branched  Beech walk is flooded with sunshine........

This is a memorial garden and all the trees , roses and structures are dedicated to the memory of a lost loved one. I don't focus on the little plaques, but I think it's a special way of remembering ....and adding to this gorgeous garden..........

The time was 11.40 am so the sundial was not far off in it's time keeping...........

In this sunny, south facing garden even the odd rose still blooms..........

and the buds are swelling on the glossy Camellia bush........

The structure of the bare trees is lovely..........

and the light shows off  the texture of the bark  beautifully............

The yellow Witch Hazel flowers  look stunning in close up............

And the delicate blooms of the winter flowering Cherry looked so pretty against the blue sky.........

I was awed by all the wonderful sights I enjoyed on this cold January day and really didn't want to leave.
I sat a moment to think quietly and imprint the moment in my memory............

Then it was time to head back through the archway , drive home and unload the shopping..........

It was a wonderful 20 minutes of solitude.

You can see a visit  I made to this garden in June HERE ( scroll down ).....I love to watch the changing seasons and the beautiful contrasts that the natural world displays.

Jacquie x