The good, the bad and the down right ugly...

The good

The Granny and I went to see The King and I - a Christmas present!

What a glorious spectacle  it was too. The last time we saw it was at the West End in 1979 starring Yul Brynner and Virginia McKenna.

A real treat - and lovely to have time out with my Mum...

At the weekend I managed not one but two vintage fairs.

The first was a vintage and handmade textile fair in Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire.

I got to meet two of my favourite artists - Michele from Cowboys and Custard, and Viv from hens teeth. 

I love their work (see 40th birthday post) and was thrilled to find them as lovely as I knew they would be...AND add to my collection of wonderful things:

I LOVE Viv's work! I bought some other things at the fair but they are gifts so need to remain hidden...

It was also an opportunity to get together with blogging pal beautiful Cuckoo from  
Tales from Cuckoo Land. We hadn't met before so it was a little scary...but jibber jabbered happily together for nigh on 7 hours, and left with aching cheeks from too much smiling. 
Just wish we lived closer...

The second, on Sunday, was a revisit to Treacle Market in Macclesfield - this time with family BK. It was a little cold, but another lovely time was had. Here are my favourite images from the day:

Inspired me to create a new Pinterest Board...

 

(since then our Mabel has been quite poorly...

♥ get well soon favourite girl ♥)

More good bits of the week - taking part in two fab giveaways.

it's more a square than it looks!

The first was over at Stocki's blog - if you sent her a granny square you got a chance to win the final blanket when all the squares are joined together. I resisted joining in until the last moment - hope my two offerings arrived in time! I also re-read the rules after the event and discovered that I was meant to use double knit wool - so my squares might be no good anyway! Never mind - I learnt some new stitches and Granny can have them as pretty pan stands instead. 

Stocki has had beautiful squares from, literally, all over the world - I can't wait to see the final piece.

The second was a commission from Annie at knitsofacto - who asked if I could make some blocks for winners of her giveaway. To celebrate her blogging anniversary her giveaway is based on the idea of following your heart - doing what makes you happy. The winner will receive a beautiful lifestyle book by Pia Jane Bijkerk and a chipper nelly special, in any colour, with their chosen word stamped on the front. How lovely. It's not too late to join in - here's the link.

Lastly, Cleggy and I worked together on a photo shoot for another '50 things...' book. This time it was ideas of things to do with Squidgy stuff. I remembered to wear something more sensible...which is a good job.                                        little people + squidgy stuff = MESS      Yet again I am full of admiration for those who deal with said 4 year olds on a daily basis!

The bad 

So, for about 20 years I've gone on (and on) about what a good driver I am. This week put paid to that - as I remodelled both the car AND the garden wall. No pictures of the car as a man has taken it away to be mended...but here's the wall

 

I had been holding a bag full of pancake toppings as I tried to push the wall back up...the rest of the contents are under the rubble, but you can see the remains of banana and nutella! 

Cleggy was, of course, away...so I had to go and seek help from kindly neighbour...not my finest hour.

The ugly

You may remember that Minnine the new piglet liked to sleep in with the chickens (who wouldn't?!)

Anyway - Cleggy decided she was getting a little big for this so trained her to sleep in her own Pig House, which she duly did. 

Our big black hen Delilah decided she would move in there too - and they have shared a house for a few weeks 

(my brother thinks she was groomed!!!)

UNTIL last week - when we opened the door to find that Minnie had EATEN Delilah. Yep - nothing left but feet.

So, the circle of life strikes again. We've had escapees, eaten by foxes, dead on perch, drowned (!) and now eaten by pig! 

Delilah was one of the original posh birds - and a real favourite. Here she is in her glory days

We like to think that she died in the night, THEN Minnie ate her............

I couldn't end a (nother) post with a dead chicken so here are some mothers day offerings, all available here

 

 

 And very lastly - I know some of you also read my little sister's blog (still having technical difficulties!) - well now my brother has one too. 

It's about his antics as a stay at home dad of our favourite little boys Sonny and Luca (here's the link) 

Now, he derided me for months when I started my blog ("who the hell would want to read about your life") so make his day by leaving a comment - preferably about how blogging is, indeed, the future! 

Thank you generous friends for recent blog awards....             I know I'm long over due a proper payback post!                 Fee x                          ps just spotted some of my nursery blocks looking delightful over at a (new to me) blog by very clever Helen Philipps. Take a look!           

Edit - seems little brother's blog doesn't have a comment option (yet!) Of course, I did tell him he needed a blogspot blog...but he had to have a fancy wordpress one! Lesson learnt? doubt it!