Attic24

The Hexagon Blanket, Ta-dah!

Hello, hello, thank you so much for calling in to the Attic, it's good to see you! Today my friends, as you can see, it's a Ta-dah sort of a day. A bright, hooky, blankety, hexagonal sort of day. Yes, welcome to the big Hexagon Blanket Show n Tell.

Gosh, I have been so hard at work on this blanket the past week or so, I feel as if I've been through something of a hooking marathon with it. I know this because my finger joints are all stiffy and my little finger feels as if it's gotten permanently stuck in that sort of bent over crook that controls the tension when you are crocheting. But all the hard work has paid off and last night, at precisely 10.01pm, the last thread was darned in. Yes, last night, I was on a mission. Husband was away for the night (a very rare occasion) and I took the opportunity to get right on with some serious hooky action. The Little People went to bed at 8pm, and so did I. Although of course I didn't go to sleep, nope, I created myself a very cosy little nest in bed and off I went, into the last miles of my hooking marathon. My fingers were a blurr. I did not stop for two hours. And when I had finally finished, I was suddenly soooooooo overwhelmed with tiredness that I did not even take a look at the finished blanket. I slung my hook, yarn and scissors onto the floor, switched the light out and went straight to sleep in an instant, the blanket still draped over the bed where I had been working on it.

So this morning when I woke up, I had the most delightful surprise. Instead of my ripple blanket greeting me, I had the ripple and the hex, and oh! It was the most wonderful thing to see when I opened my eyes! I took a picture of my bed this morning so you can see what I mean :: it's no shrinking violet this newest blanket of mine. It positively yelled at me this morning to GET UP and GET BUSY! No, it's not a calming, softly rippling bedroom blanket this one, it's far too noisy and energetic to keep in the bedroom.

So downstairs it has come, to live in neighbourly fashion with the Granny.

And here it is, in all it's glory....please do click on the above picture to pop up a bigger window and feast your eyes on all this colourful hexagonal beauty.

One hundred and fifty nine hexagons, all jostling along together to create this field of vibrant colour.

I confess I am ridiculously proud of it.

I ended up making two rows of edging :: one straightforward row of double crochet, followed by a time consuming, yarn guzzling row of shell-edging. And I love the way it has turned out, the way it has given the blanket a very definite finished look.

It has been quite a labour of love, this hexagon blanket. Can you recall when I first started it? It was early May. So seven months we've been together, and it's not been true love for the whole of our journey. No, there were times when I was temporarily peeved with these hexagons, when they did not turn out to be the soothing, relaxing type of activity that I am used to with crochet.

But when I look at them now, when I look at my beautiful, colourful, vibrant blanket, I have to say they were worth it. Yes, they absolutely were worth it.

The hex blanket has been living for some time on the Big Chair in the bay window of the living room, and I have come to love seeing it there.

It fits so well in this room, it looks as if it has always been here.

And as vibrant and decorative as it is, it's also exceptionally Blankety and good for a top-notch snuggle-session. It's soft, and warm and just the right size. It wraps itself around you and provides instant comfort, warmth and happiness.

Do you remember when I did the Ripple Reveal back in August? Do you remember the Riveting Ripple Facts? Well here are some corresponding Riveting Facts for the Hexie ::

Measures :: 100cm x 150cm
Hexagons :: 159
Time :: haven't a clue, but many many hours across seven months.
Balls :: 28
Weight :: 1400g / 3.086 lb
Cost :: £3.50 per ball = ninety eight pounds sterling
Mileage :: 28 balls @ 85m each ball = 2380 metres = 1.48 miles of yarn (!)

 

Photo :: me snuggled on the sofa, camera held high in my left hand
Blanket :: gorgeous
Me :: happy.

Edited to add :: thank you SO VERY MUCH for all your comments, for the hexagon love that has poured into the Attic. Your comments have wrapped themselves around me in a blanket of warmth, it has been so joyful reading your words. Thank you very, very much.

xxx

The C word

Well, this week I made some personal progress with the C word. I can almost say the C word now. I think I am kind of up to "Christ___" so about 2/3 of the way to accepting the whole word is upon me. I am doing my best.
This week I purchased a real, live, fresh, beautifully scented evergreen wreath, waiting to be decked out with some suitably hand crafted stitchy-ribbony additions and hung on my front door.

I also bought some gorgeous leafy clementines :: oh how I love love love these fruits!

The extra expensive ones that still have their glossy green leaves attached just have to leap into my shopping trolley. They are the very essence of Chris the season.
By the way, apologies for the very crumpled state of my blue cloth! I usually have this square of blue on my coffee table (it's a cotton napkin) because I adore the colour and it makes a great background colour for photographing things. I had to hunt for the cloth this morning because it had gone missing, and I eventually found it scrunched up in a ball down the side of the sofa. Harumph :: obviously the doing of my husband. He says bits of cloth get in his way, and it was obviously removed by him when the coffee table was being used for a heated game of dominoes last night.

As well as bright citrus, another definite must-have for the season is a bowl of nuts. I just love to sit and crack nuts (note to self :: must purchase an additional pair of nutcrackers to prevent the daily ritual of fighting with J over who gets to do the cracking)

I have purchased suitable paper napkins look...

,,,and a bouquet of Seasonal Tulips (complete with gold twigs).

And it's almost time to go down to the cellar and retrieve the Boxes of Decorations, of which there are five. And they are all large boxes. I have an impressive decoration collection.

So I may even be able to show you my house decked out in all it's Chri seasonal finery, may even be able to say the whole C word by Monday. I'll give it my best.

Nature's Treasures

Up here in the Attic, we have three very large, spacious, deep under-eave storage cupboards that stretch the whole width of the house. They are not tidy, organised cupboards, oh no, they are messy, hectic, dreadfully untidy cupboards and they are rammed full of Stuff. It's mostly my stuff, I might add, and I am rather ashamed of the mess in there.

As you know it's now a year since we moved, and a large proportion of the attic-eaves-Stuff consists of boxes of unpacked possessions. Things that belong to me which move with me whenever I move, things which I absolutely can't part with, yet somehow do not end up seeing the light of day very often. Boxes of old photographs, old school work, old toys, old ornaments, old collections, old books, old textiles, old postcards, old crockery. Old, old, old.
I wonder why I keep all this stuff? I cannot fathom it, but I have this deep, ingrained hoarding tendency which refuses to be ignored.

Annnnyhow, to the point :: yesterday afternoon, I was to be found on my hands and knees, bum in the air, attempting to crawl into the cupboards to find something. After a huge amount of rummaging and some rather unladylike words, I did eventually manage to find what I was looking for (a battered leather suitcase full of my old childhood toys), as well as many other things I had forgotten about. One of these forgotten things was a crate containing some old books. And amongst the old books, I found this little Sarah Lugg book called "objects of my affection". It's many years since I looked through this little book, had quite forgotten my obsession with this artist. I spent a lovely while this morning sitting in the Attic24 window seat with a  cup of coffee, looking through the pages, and have been inspired to share with you.

Have you heard of Sarah Lugg?
I tried to search for her on the internet, but sadly, there is not a lot to be found anymore. She used to have a fantastic website, yet it seems to have disappeared. I did find an interview with her which you can read if you are not familiar with her :: she is a mixed media artist who creates these beautiful collages using natural materials. And although she is English, her popularity was huge in the US where she mainly ended up selling her work.

These "tag" images are from the above book (sadly no longer in print), which contains Sarah Luggs beautiful work along with romantic quotes and poetry.

I find the images so inspiring.

And these images are from printed greetings cards (from my Inspiration Stash Pile, I tell you, I hoard like you wouldn't believe).

I especially like her references to the sea in these images, her use of shells and pebbles...

...reminders of beach walks and summer holidays. I find them very nostalgic.

And this is not the work of Sarah Lugg, but the work of a rather loopy little thing. A funny odd ball who goes through life collecting and hoarding and squirreling away Nature's Treasures.

Hmm, yes, well what can we say about this loopy little odd ball? She loves the sea obviously, and she has an obsession with collecting natural finds. Calendars, yes, she loves her calendars, positively adores the rhythm of the months and the seasons.

Shall we take a closer look??

I made this little picture years ago, just for me. I have it hanging in my bedroom, and still really love it and remember making it, recall the pleasure of selecting just the right little natural treasures to represent each month of the year.

It was no easy task doing the selecting.

My personal collection of Natural Treasures is quite substantial.

 

Wanna see?

Wanna peek into my secret drawers?

Not many people get to go here you know, you are quite honoured.

You sure you want to look?

Ok.

If you're sure.

Let me open a drawer for you to peek............................

Many, many, many, many bits and pieces, gathered over many, many years, from many, many locations far and wide.

Memories of holidays and walks, of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

Collected and hoarded and stored....

....for no real reason other than I felt the need.

Could not bare to throw these treasures away.

I'm not sure what you are going to think of all this?

It's quite a thing to share the private contents of ones drawers.

Edited to add :: a few of you have asked about the actual drawers themselves and I realised I totally forgot to tell you about them. The little divided wooden trays came from Ikea, they were called "collectors boxes" and designed to be hung on a wall. Sadly I don't think they make them anymore, well thats to say I couldn't find them on the Ikea website. I bought four of them specifically to to lay horizontally and hold my gathering collection of natural treasures. They were stacked on top of each other for quite a while before I had the brainwave of asking my wonderful father-in-law to make the outside wooden shell to hold them as drawers (he is a good carpenter, does amazing things with wood and scary tools). That was about twelve years ago now I think, gosh doesn't time fly?!

My Weekend

Early Saturday mornings often contain one of life's most perfect moments for me. First off I get that stomach churning feeling when I open my eyes and think for a brief moment that I've over slept and am late for the morning preparations for work/school. Then right afterwards there it is :: The Perfect Moment :: that slow, blissful realisation that the weekend is here and all is well and the clock can be ignored. Ahhhhhhhhhhh, what a feeling that is!

And on Saturday morning, I experienced that exact Perfect Moment, yes I did, and it was bloomin' marvelous! There's something wonderfully luxurious about waking up and digesting the knowledge that the next 48 hours of ones life is totally unplanned, unstructured and can be filled with whatever pleasures and activities tickles ones fancy. Within reason of course.

Now if one starts the weekend experiencing a Perfect Moment such as this, one has to go about making the right sort of Perfect Breakfast to follow. Them's the rules in our house. And in the absence of pain au chocolat (Perfect Breakfast of choice), I opt to make scotch pancakes. Such a lovely thing to be involved with at 8:45am on a Saturday morning. J is in the kitchen with me making coffee and I say to him :: there's something so Homely and Comforting about making these pancakes, something kind of simply wonderful about standing at the cooker, quietly dropping blobs of thick batter onto a hot frying pan and creating these golden, bubbly circles for my family to eat. The Little People adore these pancakes, they are quick and easy to make (recipe can be found here), and I think they would score a pleasure factor of 9/10, for both production and consumption.

The morning continues, leisurely and relaxed :: 10am and I decide I need to bake.

I go through various baking possibilities and opt for lemon cake.

I am dressed accordingly, in pj's, dressing gown and pink fluffy slippers, with apron slung over the top for good measure.

I measure and whisk and zest and squeeze and the house slowly fills with the delicious scent of Saturday lemony baking.

J and I have morning coffee together and chat about how we would like to fill our afternoon. It's decided that we would like to walk to town and Shop a little, which is quite unusual for us. So on the spur of the moment, he rings his parents and asks if they would like to come have lunch and spend an hour or two looking after our offspring whilst we go Shopping. Of course they agree (oh my in-laws are the most lovely wonderful people), and so on Saturday afternoon we find ourselves at the top of the high street with two child-free hours of shopping stretching ahead. But before hitting the shops we decide to call into the town church. For no reason, other than the mood took us. It was beautiful, peaceful, serene. Unlike the shops, which were busy, chaotic and er, well un-serene, whatever that word is.

I am trying to find my festive spirit, it continues to hide. The shops were so unmistakably shouting out the C word to me, yet I could not quite get into the swing of it. We bought clothes, food, logs. Nothing festive at all, although I was quite tempted by this chocolate army.

When we got home, I made mulled wine and even put on some Christmas tunes. Yet I am still not quite there with it yet. But it will come to me soon enough, I know it will. Maybe next weekend when we go through the Purchasing of The Tree. Maybe then I will be full of C-spirit.

Early evening, 6pm or thereabouts. We have a picnic dinner in front of the fire, then ,J and Little Man play dominoes and Little Lady and I snuggle on the sofa together.

She is telling me a story about something or the other (it was very long winded and involved various Barbie Dolls doing various things, I confess I switched off a little). We play some hand games :: round and round the garden, one potato two potato. There is quite a lot of tickling and giggling involved, and I am in the happiest place.

Saturday was a Great Day.

Sunday morning comes around, and all is well. Various children come and go throughout the morning. In and out, they alternate between playing outside in the remaining snow and coming inside to run and shout and invent games or sit quietly making Hama bead creations and watching films.

I choose to sit here and alternate my time between crocheting and losing myself inside the pages of my latest magazine.

I love the feature on Winter Roses...

...and these knitted cakes (a Christmas present suggestion).

I continue to really enjoy my weekly magazine-fest, enjoy immersing myself in the pages, drooling and swooning my way through the styling ideas, the shopping suggestions, the recipes, the seasonal inspirations, not to mention other peoples houses and lifestyles and creations.

Sunday afternoon, 3pm, and we wrap up warm in coats and hats and scarves and gloves and head out into the darkening day. It's our town's annual Christmas Festival. The high street has been closed to cars and filled with festivities. A brass band plays Christmas carols, and there are stalls selling Christmas wreaths, hot roasted chestnuts, mince pies, mulled wine. And lo and behold bits of a fairground have magically appeared...

...the Little People are so stunned to see all this where there is normally a road, they are lost for words. They can't quite believe what they are seeing. A carousel...

 

..and fairground games! They beg us to let them try their little hands at hook-a-duck and triumphantly  come away with a giant inflatable hammer and a cuddly toy dog.
 

4pm and we watch a procession of children walk up the street carrying hand made paper lanterns lit inside with candles. The brass band is walking too, and we all go up to the churchyard to sing Christmas carols. Little Man is busily chasing Little Lady around the gravestones with his giant inflatable hammer. They are shrieking with laughter, which clashes embarrassingly with O Little Town of Bethlehem.

 

So we leave the church and the town and head back in the dark to number 24, to hearth and home. We are loving our fire this winter, it's giving us endless, cosy, fireside pleasure.  It's hard to photograph though :: I wanted to try and show you the coloured flames produced by these but the colours didn't come out very well. Ah well, you can imagine me can't you though, curled up on the sofa in front of the fire doing my thing...

...yup, crocheting of course. I got myself into a little bit of a hooking frenzy this weekend as the end of the hexagon blanket came into sight. I don't think I've ever managed to crochet so fast and for so long. I  turned out hex after hex after hex until finally, finally, when my fingers were almost too stiff to do any more, the last one was completed at 10.30pm last night, just as the fire was dying down to embers,. I am now working a bit of an edging to it, and can't wait to show you when it's all completely finished.

Yes, Sunday was a Great Day too.

In fact, the whole weekend remains locked in my memory as one big long extended Perfect Moment. Hope yours was too?

xxxxx

Housey-housey

Hello!
A very housey-housey post today as I seem to be going through something of an obsession with little houses at the moment. It is nothing new, I have loved housey imagery for a long, long time, and can't see it ever diminishing much. I just adore the heap of emotion that comes flooding in when my whirly-gig brain processes an image of a row of cute little houses.

Thinking about it now, I do seem to have many of these little passions, things that for me seem to have such a lot of feeling attached to them. Too numerous to mention, but I expect you could hazard a guess as most of these passions of mine tend to feature in my daily blogging.  It's the stuff of domestic family life, the stuff that makes me feel glad to be me, the stuff that gives me this emotional heart-skippy and happy jumpity feeling.
Pictures of little houses fall firmly into the heart-skippy category :: they make me feel safe and cosy and homely and glad for my own home life. I think that sort of explains it.

These first two images are "New Home" greeting cards that I found in my card stash a few days ago. I had quite forgotten I had bought them, I think they came from Marks and Spencers.  Of course I wouldn't dream of sending them to anyone, they will eventually become part of my big Inspiration Wall which one day I intend to create and share with you. For now, they are propped up near my sewing machine in the Attic, looking all cute and sweet, making me smile.

Its been quite a week for me, this one. After I made the stitched postcard for the Houseyversary giveaway (yes, it IS that day, but naughty me I am making you w.a.i.t), I realised that the time was right to be doing more with my skills. Making more. Sharing more. Achieving more. That I could talk about it and write about it and think about it and plan it, but really I should be getting on and actually doing it.
It was your comments and response to my little houses that have tipped the balance for me, and I cannot begin to think how to thank you. Each and every comment that came in on last Fridays post has made me so happy.
I had been pondering an Etsy shop for a while now, but had not quite had the confidence to do it. And now, thanks to you all, I think the time is right for me to give it a go. Katy, you in particular have helped make this happen for me, and I am sooperly-dooperly grateful for that.

So this week has seen me beetle about ordering supplies and materials and taking the first little baby steps towards setting-up-shop. Such fun!! As you probably know if you popped up to the Attic yesterday, I have been stitching a banner to head up my little shop :: I finished it last night, and am SO HAPPY to be sharing it with you! I think it's one of the best things I've ever made, and there is so much happiness and love and hope in every stitch.
The above image is how it was yesterday morning when I'd finished doing all the cutting and piecing and machine stitching, but before I started any of the hand embroidery. It's kind of like a lady without her makeup and jewellery on. She is there and dressed, but not yet ready for the party.

I really love how the hand embroidery brings the whole thing to life. When I'm designing a piece of work, I pretty much know from the outset how the hand embroidery is going to work. I cut little flower pots just so that I can hand stitch miniature flowers to fill them. I cut little windows which cry out for hand finished window frames.

You can click on these images to pop them up in a larger window if you like, to see the stitches. I love that you can do that, I always do it when I blog-read, I like to get right into the images and see every little last detail.

I drew the picture of the hill exactly as I see it out of my Attic Window. I had great fun stitching it whilst actually sitting in my window seat looking at the real thing (even though the real thing was/is white with snow)

And this is the finished banner. It had to measure just right to fit the rectangle needed for Etsy, so it's very long and thin, measuring 59cm x 8cm. And quite simply I love it.

But do you know what the nicest thing is about all of this? That my family also love it too. That they are proud of what I am trying to do and appreciate that I am attempting to begin working again. The Little People have been very curious to see me sit and stitch, and I have explained to them what I am doing. Little man even said to me this morning that he was very glad that I would be "starting a business", although he didn't elaborate on why exactly.

So my banner is made and hanging above my shop ready and waiting, and all I need to do now is work like the clappers and produce some colourful stitchy goodness to put on the virtual shelves. I hope that this will be in about a weeks time, depending on how clappery I can work.

Right then, finally lets stop talking Shop and start talking Gifts, shall we?
I have to be honest here and say I was/am astounded by the number of comments that have come in for this giveaway. Really, I have been bowled over by it all. It has been an absolute delight to read all your housey tales, has given me so very very much pleasure. And I think the overwhelming feeling that has come from this is how really the fabric of a place does not matter so long as there is love and happiness and warmth within the walls. That HOME matters so very much more than HOUSE. I truly wish I could make something for you all as a thankyou, but today there is just one winner.

There were 147 comments when I looked this morning.
And sorry, but I couldn't face writing out one hundred and forty seven slips of paper to put into a hat.
So instead I used the marvelous computery jiggery-pokery that is the Random Number Generator to select the number....

....and it's number 76.

Number 76, the 76th comment on my houseyversary post belongs to Tracy of Cupcakes at Home. Well done Tracy, I hope it will go some way towards brightening up your days. I'll be sending you an email to get your address, cos don't think I can put "almost as far north as you can be" on the envelope.

Incidentally, Little Lady (age 4) drew me this picture of a house and garden yesterday, specifically for my "compy-tition". That is me in the picture, wearing high heels, doing a little jig and looking quite funky.

Have a great weekend you all, see you next week
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

Snowy white stuff

If the colour of my recent weekend was Grey, then the colour of this week has to be White. In my little part of the world this week we have been inundated with fallings of the snowy white stuff, and it has been in turns exciting, frustrating, beautiful, inconvenient and glorious. I have been sitting in the Attic24 window seat this morning, doing some quiet hand stitching and looking out across the snowy white rooftops. Its been very lovely to do just that, to observe the snow through the window whilst remaining warm and cosy inside. J has been working from home the past two days as the roads have simply been too dangerous to drive far, and after initial misgivings of having my Attic invaded, it's been quite companionable having him around, stopping for lunch together, fetching up mugs of hot coffee and chocolate to keep us going.

Anyhow, I am a little pushed for time today, so if it's all right with you, I thought I could curb my usual wordiness and show you some pictures instead. Some simple photos of my local surroundings taken over the last day or two. Lots of snowy white stuff. Hope you enjoy........

Just before I go, can I remind you briefly that tomorrow I'll be drawing a name for the Housey Giveaway. So if you haven't already put your name into the hat for the draw, you are welcome to hop-skip to this post and add your comment ready for tomorrow. I'm hoping to do the draw sometime in the morning right after I've baked some buns.
I've got quite a lot to talk to you about, it's been a great week for me in so many ways and I do really like to chat to you about things as they happen in my little whirly-gig world. So until then, I am simply going to say ((thank you)) for continuing to stop by, for your generous words, and for making me feel so..so..hmm can't quite think of the word I want, but it's something to do with the way you make me feel like squeeling and jumping up and down with pure excitement all the time.

See you tomrrow wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (maybe thats the word I was looking for?!)
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lakeland Weekend

Hello, good morning, I know, I know, I am late and I do apologise, so sorry to keep you waiting. I was meant to be here yesterday, but yesterday turned out to be a busy, muddly, Snowy-white day and time for blogging was nowhere to be found.

So only a day late, I have made a cup of frothy chocolatey coffee, baked some lemon and apricot cookies (a variation on the orange and raisin recipe here), and we can sit on the sofa in the morning sunshine and chat a while.

Here in North Yorkshire we have had quite a bit of snow the past two days, with more set to follow. It has been hugely exciting :: flinging snowballs onto the frozen canal has been the most fun ever ever as far as the Little people are concerned. I've been taking photos of the snowy goings-on around here, and I'll share those with you another day :: today I really want to share my Lakeland weekend with you, as promised on Monday.

So :: on with Weekendy stuff, make yourself comfy now.

On Saturday morning when we set out to drive north to the Lake District, there was not a lot to be seen. A thick, freezing fog had descended like a cold blanket wrapping itself around every single thing. But luckily we are not a family who minds the weather, we were very excited for our weekend away, regardless of the fact that we could not see very much.

Some of you may remember that we had our first ever Youth Hosteling experience in the summer, you can read about it here. We really enjoyed ourselves that weekend and had been meaning to do it again, but it had taken us until now to get round to it. We chose to go and stay in the Lake District again, at a fabulous looking youth hostel a few miles out of Windermere.

This is Lake Windermere, down at the lakeside at Bowness. We had a camping holiday near here one summer, when the Little People were very much Littler. I have fond memories of Little Lady, a  little over a year old, taking very wobbly but determined steps along the side of this lake, in hot persuit of ducks and swans. It had been July then, and extremely busy and crowded and I cannot remember liking the area very much. In fact, I think I declared that I would never ever go back there. Ever. But ho-hum, I changed my mind and on a November weekend, in sub-zero temperatures, it was very much nicer. Quieter. Quite deserted in places, which is hugely unusual for this part of the Lake District.

As you can see, the predominant colour on Saturday was grey. Various shades and tones of misty, freezing, foggy cold grey. It had a certain beauty, a certain stillness that I found appealing.

The dense fog prevented us from taking a boat trip ON the lake, but there were other delights to be found in Bowness. Some beautiful shops all decked out for Christmas, a little quartet of street musicians playing Christmas carols, a fabulous deli where we got freshly made sandwiches and big chunks of home meade flapjack for our lunch.

And there was The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction.

Now my two Offspring adore the Tales of Beatrix Potter, just as I did as a child. Little Man (age 6) is really beginning to enjoy reading to himself, and his BP books are often to be found under his pillow after he has sneaked them into bed for some pre-sleep reading.

It's hard to describe this tourist attraction. It's not exactly a museum, but more a celebration of the characters that Beatrix Potter created. 

The blurb on the website had told us that the attraction "includes all 23 Tales by Beatrix Potter, brought to life in a magical indoor recreation of the Lakeland countryside, complete with sights, sounds and even smells. So you can meet Peter Rabbit in Mr. McGregor’s garden, discover Jemima Puddle-duck in the woodland glade and visit Mrs. Tiggy-winkle in her kitchen."

And that is exactly right. The models (which were much larger than I expected, as large as the Little People) were beautifully made, and the scenery and backgrounds magical.

It was a delight to see the all our favourite characters acting out scenes from the story books, my favourite being Mrs Tiggywinkle busy doing the laundry in her little kitchen. Awww, she was so cute!

By the time we did a Hop Skip and Jump out of there, it was beginning to get dark. So back to the car to drive out of Bowness, two miles up and up into the thick foggy hills above the lake where the Youth Hostel was situated.

We love staying in these Hostels. Well I know this was only our second experience, but we are honestly so thrilled by these places. There is so much warmth and character in the old buildings, such a lot of fun to be had in exploring the rooms and grounds, in finding our family room all warm and clean and ready for us. And there are Bunkbeds. Crikey, I cannot begin to explain the excitement of the Little People, faced with the prospect of climbing a ladder to get into bed. It is huge. Enormous.

The LP allow us to do a quick tour of the hostel :: we discover the wonderful cosy sitting room with its huge wood burning stove, the little kitchen where we are free to make ourselves a cup of tea, the dining room with it's picture windows over looking the terrace and the valley (which we can't actually see of course because it is dark and the fog is sooooo thick by now). Then they demand to go back to the bedroom to play on the beds. What fun!

Later on, after a delicious meal of freshly prepared local and organic produce, we went to the sitting room which by then was beautifully cosy and warm with the wood burner lit. J and I sat and read while the Little People made friends and played with other children staying in the hostel.  It's very sociable, friendly and we enjoyed our evening a lot.

Breakfast the next morning was at 7:45am, and we were in for a treat. The view that was not to be seen the night before was slowly revealed as the light crept in, and it was absolutely breathtaking. It was incredibly cold, well below freezing,  and a thick white sparkly frost had settled on the landscape. We could still see the fog laying low over the lake in the valley, but up above it was becoming a gloriously, bright, sunny winters morning.

While eating breakfast right next to the big windows, we were able to watch the sun rise and light up the distant Lakeland fells...

...it was just incredible.

Beautiful.

A little later in the morning we drove to Coniston Water.

It was also very beautiful and peaceful here, but oh so cold! We had a short walk, but the fog and mist soon came rolling in and we were suddenly unable to see very much again.

 

The Little People loved this wintry weather, loved the sparkle and drama of ice crystals and frost on grass and leaves. But there was no denying it was absolutely freeeeeezing. And a certain amount of tired, persistent whingeing was beginning to take place. So after a short family conference we decided to abandon any idea of walking in the countryside and head back toward home, stopping en route at the delightful village of Kirkby Lonsdale. Beautiful shops, lovely cafes, pretty streets. Old fashioned toyshops to explore and giant strawberry milkshakes to drink. Or in my case, this shop to browse, followed by cappuccino and carrot cake. That's better, smiles are back again, hands are warmed.

A delicious end to a fabulous weekend.

It's been great fun sharing it with you, thanks so much for stopping by. Right, I'm off the PC now and across to my sewing machine. I'm stitching a banner for my soon-to-be opened Etsy Shop. Excited? Moi???? Oh, you cannot begin to imagine!

xxxxxxx

December

I can hardly believe that today we went into December, into the month that contains the C word. It just does not seem possible, and I feel unprepared and slightly, ever so mildly jittery  about the fact that it is now December and probably not possible (or wise) for me to ignore the C word for very much longer. I have begun some very unorganised, impulsive present shopping for the Little People, have immersed myself in some wonderful, inspirational seasonal magazines (more on that later in the week), and yes I even bought some red raffia ribbon a few weeks ago. But that is as far as I have got. I still have a long way to go. But hey, still twenty four days to go, right? Yeah, Pl-EN-ty of time yet, no need to worry. I refuse to be hurried, refuse to be stressy. It'll all be alright.

New pages on the calendars today then, I do so enjoy the first day of each month for this simple, pleasurable ritual of page turning and seasonal commentary. I made a category for calendars here on the Bloglett, and quite often I enjoy having a looky back through my calendar archives to see how the year has ticked along, to admire my Attic view in different weathers and different lights.

I've really enjoyed these three calendars of mine this year, and am excited about continuing my little calendar-appreciation posts at the beginning of each month through next year too, with new 2009 calendars already on standby.
I quite like the the bossiness of the Country Homes Calendar (above) :: I like the way that every month it tells me to go do something, no messing, there is my monthly order. Jump to it. This morning it got me to thinking about the way a home can smell. To be honest, I'm not sure I'd like my home to suddenly smell exotic, but festive is good. Yes, I think I can have a go at a festive scent.

This is something I like to do in Winter months. A bowl of water, half a lemon and half an orange (or clementine cos I forgot to buy oranges today), and some cloves. Pop into the microwave for 5 minutes, then take the bowl out and stand it in the kitchen. It does fill the place with a delightful, natural, zesty, festive scent. I've done this very thing this morning and when I popped down from the attic earlier to get myself a second cup of coffee, it did make me feel ever so slightly Chri hmm Festive. Can't say the C word yet, sorry.

And the weather today in my part of the world?? F-r-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-z-i-n-g. Literally. We woke up this morning to a white, frosty Winter Wonderland. Above pic was taken this morning about 8am, can you see the two jackdaws sitting on the chimney pot there? They've been over on my roof this morning too, caw-cawing down my chimney :: there's something about those two birds always being round on the rooftops that makes me feel so content.

Our walk to school was lovely this morning, the canal has frozen over, and a light dusting of powdery snow has settled on the ice.

And here are the ducks, slip-sliding across the top of the iced water...

...they don't seem to mind a bit of wintry ice-skating, and it certainly amused the Little People (no wonder we are always late for school, there are endless distractions/attractions en route).

I love love love this frosty, icy, wintry weather. I mean, I love observing the Weather in general, whatever it happens to be doing throughout the year. And I love it very much when the weather behaves itself and does what it's supposed to do. When it's properly, correctly Seasonal. And for the first day of December, the weather today could not be more Perfect.

I walk the long way home after school, via the park. I crunch in the frosty leaves and walk upwards through the icy grass.

It's peaceful. Wintry. Beautiful.

I stop at the top of the hill to look back down....

....then onwards through the little copse of trees at the top of the hill. I look upwards through the wintry branches and think to myself that it was only three weeks ago when I was here in the sunshine without a coat on, admiring the colourful Leafy Autumness. How suddenly the seasons seem to have changed.

My house was sooooo welcoming and warm when I walked back through the door, it was like being given a big, warm, affectionate hug. Hot coffee in a favaourite mug, warm and snug and up to the Attic I trot. Look out of my little Attic24 window and it's beginning to snow look....

...just little light flakes over the hills and rooftops, but snow nevertheless.
Its on days like today when I am so glad to be home, warm, cosy.

And on the subject of home-warm-cosy, can I say a huge ((thank you)) to all of you who took the time to leave a comment on Fridays post. It's been absolutely fantastic reading all about your homes, I have enjoyed it enormously. Thank you for all your generous Housiversary wishes, for the kind words about my little Stitched Giveaway gifts, and for the general all round niceness you always bring with you to the Attic.

Do you think you'll have time to stop by again tomorrow and see what the weather was like in the Lake District over the weekend? Share some Lakeland scenery with me? You will? Oh good-o, I'll bake something nice for us to have with morning coffee. You can't beat coffee+baking+scenery-viewing.
See you tomorrow
xxxxx