A Girly Weekend

Grandaughter by an intriguing carved tree trunk in the grounds of Plassey Coffee Shop

This week-end I decided to take Damnvan1 away for an “airing”. I’ve missed being away a with her and didn’t want her to feel neglected and get a flat battery. As it was something of a special weekend, because my Grandaughter was visiting AND it’s her birthday this week, I decided to take Grandaughter away for a mini break. 

We went to a caravan park called  Plassey Leisure Park which was perfect for the occasion. Not too far away,children orientated and somewhere close by to eat out. We also went swimming in the (indoor!) pool which was great fun. I had an all time first for me. We sat in bed,in our sleeping bags, eating crisps and breakfast, watching a Disney DVD all Sunday morning. Fab! Children sure know how to enjoy themselves.

Damnvan1 was very well behaved as was Grandaughter. All three of us had a good time and enjoyed some Girly bonding. The weather was lovely,the location great and the break just right.

Is it an Afghan? Is it a Blanket?

I made this bright and cheerful Granny Squares blanket as a house warming present for my lovely daughter and family 👪 ! think that my American friends would call it an Afghan. It is made up of a number of larger squares surrounded by smaller ones. Whilst I was making it Grand children had great fun re-arranging the rainbow colours. I started it to use up some of my yarn stash but of course ended up buying more, but that’s the fun!

I’ve recently had it back for repair. I think that I haven’t either started or finished sewing the squares together firmly enough. My simple solution in future is just to make one big blanket sorry afghan! But no! I must NOT start another project until I have completed at least two un- finished projects (Or UFOs) I must say that I have started labelling what I make as a gift to make it special

Serendipity

Serendipity happens to be my favourite word in the English dictionary. Well yesterday I had a truly serendipitous moment! (If there is such a word)🍀

I was visiting a great craft emporium called “Lady Heyes” found at http://www.ladyheyes.co.uk and as usual chatting away. I had bought a powder compact to add to my growing collection, and my friend asked me what had attracted me to these Stratton powder compacts in the first place? We were giggling as I explained that my first real boyfriend had bought me a beautiful red one for my seventeenth birthday. Now that is more than a couple of years ago and it had been broken and lost during one of my multiple house moves.

At this point we both turned to look into a glass display cabinet and there was my vintage red Stratton compact! Needless to say I had to buy the second (and best) compact of the day. Now THAT is serendipity🌹

Busy Days and Lazy Ways

Time flies when you are busy and I have been very busy! I have been making candles for a village craft fair that I am going to in a couple of months. It is unusual for me to be so organised I’m more into last minute panic. I also sell on my etsy shop which is noddfacrafts@etsy.com The candles are hand poured by my own fair hand into vintage china cups I use Soy wax for its slow burning, smoke free, bright flame qualities. The china cups and saucers are getting harder to find at a reasonable price but I enjoy the productivity therapy! Most of the cups have come from charity shops.

And the lazy ways? Why that’s sitting in bed with a cup of tea and my iPad whilst I write this blog ( or read my favourite other blogs) Bliss!

Fair Enough!

Inspecting a mini Tear Drop caravan which contained a double bed and a TV! The kitchen was on the end and served a vintage pop up tea shop. Fab!

Sampling a Bison Burger.

Wow! What a week-end, two fairs in one-great! The first was on Saturday and the Cheshire Food Festival at Arley Hall,Northwich. The location was gorgeous in the grounds of a stately home. The weather was beautiful and I went “en famille” which was a delight. Two of my Grand children went with their parents and we had a lazy, foodie afternoon. The children were happy as there were some fairground rides and the adults were happy as there was lots of tastings of local produce- cheese, chutneys, jams, wine, beer etc.

One hungry Grandson enjoyed a Bison Burger which I must admit smelled delicious. One son in law entered the “Man vs Food” challenge where he had to consume Chilli Gin, 12 inch Chilli sausage and Chilli jam as fast as possible. He didn’t win but had a good hot lunch!

The Cheshire Food Festival was sponsored by http://www.onionring.com which is a review web site for restaurants and hotels in the North of England and Wales. It was really well run, had a wide variety of exhibitors and a great day out. I am looking forward to the Christmas event.

The second event I went to was a Vintage Fair. This was billed as ” the Largest Vintage Fashion Fair in the UK” and it was! It was stuffed to the rafters with stalls selling all manner of vintage paraphernalia.There were fur coats, hats, jewellery, lace everything and best of all sewing stuff! I do like stuff!

I managed to purchase some vintage lace, a brooch, embroidery hoop and some tat! I have now smuggled home all of the above including the tat and secreted it away before husband returns home! What I need now is some ideas with what to create with it all! All ideas gratefully considered. I went to this fair with a girl friend and we had a great day out mooching around the stalls having first got lost around Manchester. I often get lost!

This fair was organised by http://www.decorativefairs.com

I had a busy but great weekend. I now need to find some creative time so I am off to my Craft Group!

Work in Progress!

Hello this is a short introduction to what I hope ( know!) will become a regular,interesting and informative blog.

Noddfacrafts is a blog about the art of collecting, finding and re-using vintage treasures. It is also about everyday crafts including knitting,quilting,sewing and dreaming about what to do next!

My other blog aka damnvan1 is my first foray into the world of blogging and I have learnt so much on a very steep learning curve. It is now time to refine my blog and retain damnvan1 as a travel blog only. This means a NEW blog noddfacrafts which I hope to grow into crafting,vintiquing,make do and mending and hopefully interesting  ideas and discussion. I will always enjoy constructive criticism and comments.

I have included a picture today of “work in progress” a nearly finished quilt. I do have a lot of “nearly finished items” and one day I will make a supreme effort……

I will start a list of my simple pleasures, many of which don’t cost much money, mainly time.

* searching craft shops and car boots for lost gems.

*Quilting

*sewing

*Knitting

*Vintage fairs

*Blogging!

*Travel adventures (and camper vans)

*Baking -and sadly eating the results!

etc. etc. the list is very long so I will add and refine as I go.

Thank you for reading my new baby blog and I will watch up soon.