Tuesday 31 December 2013

Happy New Year!

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas, our's was fun and the children had lots of presents! Unfortunately, I didn't finish the crocheted Minions in time for Christmas but the children had Minions bought for them. I will add some photos once they are finished.

On Monday before Christmas it was really windy and we could hear the wind blowing in my parent's chimney so I told my niece that it was Santa's Elves making sure the chimneys were clear ready for Santa! She liked that story and was very excited!

Last Saturday was my nephew's 3rd birthday, we were supposed to be seeing him but they had a stomach bug and now it's passed to everyone except three of us. I'm really hoping I don't get it!

It's almost a new year and I'm not really into making New Years resolutions but I hope next year will be better than this one. Here are my hopes for 2014:
  • To find a job or make headway to pursuing a new career
  • To meet new people and see more of old friends
  • To do more crocheting and finally finish my Granny Stripe blanket
  • To carry on blogging and join in with '52 Weeks of Happy'
So, as this year draws to a close I wish you all health, happiness, love and laughter! See you in 2014!

Sunday 29 December 2013

Tuesday 24 December 2013

Merry Christmas!

I haven't had time to write a proper post so I'll just say "Merry Christmas" to you all and I hope you have a wonderful time!



Sunday 15 December 2013

Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway

Yesterday, I went to the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway, with my niece and nephews, for the Santa Special train ride.


They use diesel and steam trains.



This was our coach.



The view, although not very clear through the window.


The children really enjoyed themselves and got a present from Santa, they were VERY excited!


We were on the last ride of the day, 3.30pm and it was quite quiet. The train goes on a straight line up and then back and takes about 40 minutes. We were served with tea/coffee and a mince pie and the children had squash and a biscuit as we left the station. When we got back to the station it was starting to get dark and unfortunately, they had taken the steam engine from the front for servicing so I didn't get any photos of it. I don't know why but I really like trains (although I'm not a train spotter!) and I wanted to be a train driver when I was younger. It was really nice to go on the steam train but it's a shame the ride isn't longer. All of the staff were really friendly and made the ride special.

The railway is run by volunteers and is funded by donations and profit from visitors using the train. The trains run mainly at the weekends from April to December. They have a small shop and a restaurant that is a train carriage, serving light refreshments.

I hope you've all had a good couple of weeks and are looking forward to Christmas.

Friday 6 December 2013

Christmas is coming...

I finally put my Christmas decorations up yesterday!




I haven't really been in blogland these past few weeks, just dipping in and out when I can. It's been a really busy time but hopefully I'll be able to catch up in the next couple of weeks.

I hope you've all had a lovely few weeks.

Thursday 28 November 2013

This week

I've had quite a busy week so I'll just share some photos.

Clouds rolling in. This is from the window which is why the aerial is in the middle!



Another lovely sunset.




This tree is in my neighbour's garden, with red and also some green leaves.


This is the crochet Minion that I'm making for my niece and nephews, here is the body.


This is the beginning of the trousers but it went a bit wrong, it's not flat! I think it will be OK though as it will be attached to the body.


I hope you've all had a good week. Thank you for the comments on my last post, I'm pleased to report that both nan's are feeling much better.

Tuesday 19 November 2013

Taking in the Autumnal colours

Yesterday was a busy day! I help my Mum on Mondays, looking after the children and helping with the housework and cooking. I also take my sister's dogs out for a walk in the morning and I had to go to the pharmacy so I went to the local common, which is across the road. I wanted to get some photos of the Autumnal colours. I only had my phone camera and the dogs kept pulling so quite a few of the photos were blurred but I did manage to get some good ones!

Looking towards the woods from the road.


There were still a few blackberries around.


Lovely Autumnal colours.



Evergreen against Deciduous.


There were lots of lovely berries, I didn't manage to to get a photo of the bushes covered in orange and red berries though.





I love the green and yellow together.



Brown leaf litter.


I like this purple/red leaf.


It's been a bit of a funny week, my nan has been unwell and I haven't heard about anything else all week! It's been draining. My other nan had a small heart attack on Saturday but is home now and seems to be ok.

I hope you've all had a good week.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

Red sky at night

There have been lovely sunsets the past couple of nights.

12th November



13th November



A while back I found a pattern to crochet minions. My niece and nephew love the Despicable Me films so I thought this would be a perfect make for their Christmas presents. I'm not very quick at crocheting and didn't have the time to start until last Sunday. 

This is the first attempt. The pattern only makes it this big, I wanted it bigger so I played around with it a bit but it didn't look right so I unpicked it!


I then did it differently and have got this so far, I think it's the right size now. I may have done some of the stitches wrong as I kept losing count (which is why I've got the pin now)! This bit will be covered so it's ok.


I will post an update once I've made some progress, hopefully it will be finished for Christmas! 

I hope you've all had a good couple of weeks, I didn't realise my last post was nearly two weeks ago.