The children have started to think about Christmas and the making has begun. They have spent many happy hours looking up patterns online to create their own decorations for their trees. They each have a tree in their own bedrooms as well as one in the living room, hall, kitchen and outside. Is that too many? I don't think you can have too many personally!
And now the boys version...
Even Minecraft can be festive!
We have discovered the Mega Marshmallow!...
They are in the 'American' section of Tescos (and probably other shops!) along with other things such as Lucky Charms cereal which I think is banned in the UK on health grounds. Still, we bought some of them as well!
Of course you can't have a bag of Mega Marshmallows and not play "Chubby Bunny"...
They only just managed to get one in there!
Marshmallows in a glass jar - oooh that makes me happy!
We went to the Making of Harry Potter studio tour at the weekend. It was for my son's birthday and he is a big Harry Potter fan!
Because it was his birthday (him and a few others!) he got to open the door to the Great Hall which started off the tour...
It really is amazing and quite emotional to see it in the flesh and I think all the more because it is decorated for Christmas, with flying witches and everything!
We were there for 6 hours - even though it says it should take 2 or 3! We had an amazing time and all of the staff were so helpful and friendly.
See the Sorting Hat in the top left hand corner? I know it's the Sorting Hat - that was very exciting!
I think the potions room was my favorite. Every jar was filled with something different that they had created specially for the film. This level of detail made me so happy. I mean most of the things that were made - and there were thousands and thousands of props - would only have been seen on screen for a few seconds or maybe not even seen at all and yet they still went to the effort of making each item as if it were a real useable item. I loved this. I mean they could have just filled every jar with some dead leaves or old ladies tights or something but no - each item was different and imaginately titled.
Mrs Weasley's knitting! Love the colours!
This is the final part of the tour - Hogwarts in the snow. It is breathtaking and the photos do not do it justice. We spent ages in this room admiring it and wishing we could go and live there! Deciding which room we would have...
...there are so many to choose from!
It was an amazing day and I would recommend it to anyone. Even if you're not a huge Harry Potter fan I know you will still be impressed by the skill and detail and be proud of all the British talent that went into making these films. In the snow it is particularly wonderful and made us all feel quite Christmassy!
They say the weather is turning cold so I started to make some snowflakes ...
I mean just one or two ...
Well quite a few really ...
Perhaps enough for a blanket?
I am returned after a very long break I see. Such good intentions waylaid by everyday chores. And all those years that slipped by undocumented while others carried on. I have still read and watched other people's lives unfold and feel they must be grateful for the extra effort they put in to continuing their blogs. It is a beautiful document to look back on. A living diary of family life. What better way to create it?
++ this moment ++
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
The fishermans friend - or not...
dappled shade and the bubbling brook, splashing dog, a hole in the net, disappointments and successes, just too slippery, leaps for freedom, empty bucket...
++ this moment ++
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
For a long time now this quilt has been a WIP...
This is my first quilt project and I take comfort from other more skilled, confident and established bloggers that they too can take ages to produce a quilt.
I am inspired by these bloggers and their achievements too many to name them all but certainly including: Hop Skip Jump and Posie gets Cosy. But this is only my first attempt and everyone must start somewhere with their quilting journey. This is mine - well sort of - it's a quilt for my daughter who has a great eye for colour (certainly better then mine) so she chose all the fabrics and laid out all the squares in the order that she wanted. I am simply the facilitator if you like.
It certainly makes me happy to look at it!
For a long time now I have owned Patchwork Style and like many of my other craft books I look longingly at the pictures and presume I would never have the ability or patience to make any of the projects. Until now that is.
Inspired by Soule Mama's post about her recent stunning quilt-making venture I decided now was the time. I had some old cushion fillers that needed a new cover and stack of old scraps lying around so really there was nothing to lose.
I'm really pleased with how it turned out - it will be great in the caravan where there is no colour theme going on - just anything loud and bright will do! Also, I really enjoyed making it, the process of quilting the fabric to the batting as you go along is deeply satisfying and the lack of requirement for perfection was suiting me down to the ground. All in all, it's a winner.
I've just bought Quilting in No Time ...
great projects, beautiful photos - I don't know where to begin!