Heartshaped Inc.

Out of the blue, I got an email from a lady who had been given my email adress (I assume from a blog reader)to see if I wanted to have a stall at a Christmas late night shopping event they were holding for a charity event in Sprotborough near Doncaster in November. Its something I have been thinking about dipping my toe into , so I said yes - then panicked! Then sat around the table and got cracking.

I've already made above 30 pairs of earrings - it really is quite addictive. And bead buying is now an obsession. I'm going to make a few cards too for my stall, and I've already started to make some corsages.

I'm making a few bags too as these don't take much time to make and I have a serious stash of fabrics.

I'll let you know nearer the time the venue and date of the event so if you are local you can pop in and say hello.

I had a great evening on Wednesday with my friend Nic, she came round for a crafting evening - she's new to all this, and she couldn't believe that I could cater for whatever craft she wanted to try! I realise that if I had never set foot in Hobbycraft or John Lewis, and never spent money on craft supplies, hubby and I would be able to afford a yacht in the South of France!

Uni - Part 2 another story

Some of you know that the Dancing Queens first year at Uni did not quite go to plan. A series of unfortunate events left her feeling lonely and fairly depressed across in Salford, so she took matters into her own hands and orchestrated a move to another university to finish her course. She presented the move to us as a "fait accompli " with her accomodation sorted and everything in place to start the new year at a different university.

She has moved into her accomodation already this week and even though the other girls have not moved in yet, she has enjoyed herself. Her house is so much nicer that the halls of residence provided by Salford Uni last year.
She will still be able to keep her weekend job here at home by travelling home on the train at weekends, but this week we went to fetch her so that her brother could see where she will be and have a look around.
Fingers crossed that she will settle better this year. For all our sakes!!

Elsecar Parish Church

Ive always considered Holy Trinity Church in neighbouring Elsecar to be a bit of a dark, uninspiring place. But today, whilst browsing around Elsecar Heritage Centre, I discovered that the church has some very important windows designed by William Morris, so we took ourselves off for a look. Sadly, the church was locked, so we only got to wander around the church yard. The church is dark - blackened by the soot from coal fires over the ages, but it is very majestic too.

The church yard is home to a host of heavenly angels

A few of the graves were for miners who had been killed in tragic accidents in the area in the past as we have no mines left around here now. I remember when my dad was a miner and pit accidents were all too frequent in those days - indeed he came home with many a stitch in his face on occasions, and refused to let me go down the mine in the cage on the centenary celebrations in the late 1970's as he knew just how dangerous it was. The recent events in Wales took me back to a time that I thought we would never see again in the UK. My heart goes out to the families of the men who lost their lives. It makes me feel unbearably sad.

Date Night

Hubby and I's paths have not crossed all week as I am having to work full time, and by the time I get home, he has gone to work. But last night was the start of his days off, and I had managed to grab 2 free tickets to see "Crazy Stupid Love" (which was very watchable) at the Odeon is Sheffield, so we made a night of it. After the film, we called in "Mama's" for our tea (even though it was 8.30pm - remember my post about Yorkshire meal times?)

Mama's is not a chain and never disappoints.

Sheffield lights up on an evening - wander with me back to the car.
The Library windows light up, and
the colours of the lights change, and
the little lights in the pavement on Tudor Square, which also have "mist" around them, light up the same. I love this area of Sheffield. You can see the famous "Crucible" theatre at the bottom of the square and the Lyceum to the right.
The "Cheese Grater" car park is illuminated, but
our favourite bit is this - The dancing queen has dubbed these "The Michael Jackson Steps" as they light up when you walk past them. I hope you appreciate the effort that hubby put in - running up here very fast so they all lit up at once!
There are actually 2 lots of "Michael Jackson" steps as there are another set around the back of the car park.xxxx

Belper - my new favourite place.

On our way home from Kedleston Hall, as we zipped up the A38, I mentioned to hubby that I had never been to Belper - could we call in and take a look? Certainly! As we parked up, I knew that this was going to be lovely. The town is perched either side of a valley with the river Derwent running through. I guess it featured a fair bit in "Peak Practice"!! It has a market square fairly typical of ones around the Amber Valley.

The town is so wonderful because it is full of little independent shops and cafes etc. A lady in one of the shops told us that they were fighting to keep a large Sainsbury's being built close by. We called in at this cafe - I should Cocoa - an artisan chocolate shop .....
with a wonderful little cafe at the back.
I can thoroughly recommend the Portugese Rice Cakes. And the coffee was delicious too.
I was reliably informed by the lady in the shop across from the cinema, that you could watch films here, sat on settees with coffee and cake or a glass of wine! (sounds a brill idea, but when I do this at home, I end up asleep and snoring!). Anyway, it looked a great cinema.

And I though I had died and gone to heaven in here. Fabulous goodies, fabrics and the nicest lady ever serving. A wonderful shopping experience.
We wandered through down through the town to the Victorian Pleasure gardens by the side of the river.
I discovered that Helen Macarthur's boating skills for someone raised in landlocked Derbyshire were not such a mystery after all!
This part of town is dominated by Strutts Mill, now a world heritage site. We didn't arrive early enough to look around the mill museum, but as its only 40 minutes from home, I shall be revisiting.
The mill building is spectacular and at one time almost all of the townsfolk would have worked here.

I loved wandering through the lovely old streets - row after row of mills workers cottages.

I loved how all of these tiny cottages had gorgeous dry stone walls around their gardens.
Belper has won my heart, and is currently one of my favourite local towns. I could so easily live here. If you've not been, give it a whirl.

Below stairs

My favourite place in any stately house is "Below Stairs". I thought I would show you some more images from Kedelston Hall featuring some Below Stairs images (with a few Upstairs shots mixed in!)

Just to get you in the mood for "Downton Abbey's" return this coming Sunday evening.

Tweed Bags @ Hope & Elvis

On Sunday on day four of my birthday celebrations, I spent the day at the workshops of Hope & Elvis at one of Louise's Tweed Bags workshops. The day was made extra special because I got to spend it with three other bloggers, and Nic my blog lurker pal.

The workshops are great fun and we created like crazy!!! We were inspired by lots of lovely samples that Louise had made up.

The bags are made out of recycled fabrics, blankets or gents suits and ties.
Here's Nic on the left and the lovely lovely Debs (who looks so much like me on this photo its untrue!!) Debs helps Louise throughout the day and is an angel.
Totally out of sequence - but here is Wend of Ticking Stripes with her creation. I'm really sorry Lyn (Everyday Life) Ive not got one of you!! I'm sure if you pop over to Lyn's, she'll show you her creation!
After a quick instruction by Louise, we were invited to dive into the pile of old jackets etc to choose our starting point.
The workshop is like an Aladdin's Cave - and you can use any of it. There are drawers full of buttons, lace, ribbon, brooches, embellishments etc etc.
I choose a very dark grey pinstripe jacket that I choose to line with floral sprigged satin for a contrast.
I also added lace, made a Suffolk puff rosette, and recycled the label from the jacket.
I am in love with my new bag!
And I can't wait for the next workshop! Many thanks to Louise, Nic, Debs, Lyn, Wend and all the other lovely ladies who attended for your company - I thoroughly enjoyed it. xx