Thank You!!!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and kind thoughts for my niece yesterday.

The operation she had was a tracheostomy as while they kept trying to wake her from her sedation for the brain bleed she was choking on her tube which was very distressing for her.

When she came round after the op she smiled at her partner when he told her that we all sent our best wishes....apparently a good sign that there is no brain damage.

I am still waiting to hear from my sister how things have gone today...hoping that no news is good news.

Meanwhile here at The Mansion we have had a fairly quiet day.
An early start with a birthday breakfast at The Doodles for Andy which was just so lovely.
He then went one way in town and DD and I went the other.
I needed dowel rods for the advent calendars and pineapple to go with the gammon for tea.
Andy beat us home and we opened the door to a house stinking of onions which he was peeling ready for pickling.
They are good strong ones as they were making my eyes water in the back room and he was in the living room.

The day has turned really nasty now....cold and wet....so the heating  is on and my pair are watching a film which doesn't appeal to me much.
I'll go and snuggle the gigglies (guinea pigs) down for the night and I might just go and veg on the sofa regardless of the film.

Hope you have all had a good day.
Sheila-x-

Sorry!!!

No frivolous blog post today.
I am anxiously awaiting news of my niece who is at the moment in the operating theatre after suffering a brain bleed.

Any spare prayers and healing thoughts would be so much appreciated right now.

Thank you.
Sheila-x-

Not So Crazy Today!!!

Ahhhhh....that's better.
No crazy today....all is calm and peaceful for now.
This morning I have pottered about and then pottered some more, prepared the veg and everything for the evening meal. I am using up a tray of pork chops today from the freezer.
The inside one is nearly empty so I will soon be able to start bringing stuff in from the outside one to get used up.

It's a reasonably nice day here....cool but bright and sunny. No breeze though so I am not even going to bother doing any washing.

After dropping Ruby off last night and spending a bit of time being entertained by Miss Marlowe....who gets cheekier by the day....neither DD or I felt like going shopping so that will be done tonight. Just basics like butter, milk, bread and fresh veg so we shouldn't be too long.

Tomorrow is Andy's birthday but it will be a fairly quiet day as he comes in from his last night shift and spends the best part of the day sleeping.
DD is treating him to Chinese for his birthday tea and we have been invited down to The Doodle House for a birthday breakfast on Saturday morning. I will think of something special to cook for tea on Saturday and then that will be his birthday over for another year.
I don't know why he didn't book tonight off so he could have a full day up tomorrow and we could have gone for a ride out somewhere.

Now I am off to finally iron, prep and pin the calendars ready for sewing over the weekend.

Have a smashing day.
Sheila-x-

Crazy Day!!!

It's a bit mad here today.
Andy has had to get up early so that we could go and have our flu shots.
Not long back from there and he has gone out to pick Ruby up from school to bring her here for tea.
A few minutes rest and then he'll be back out to the doctors again for his diabetic review appointment and he won't be back until after 5pm.
DD comes in at about 4:45pm so we'll have our tea and then Andy's will have to be cooked when he comes in.
Good job it's only sausage, chips and beans tonight then.
6pm-ish we will take Ruby home and then DD and I need to go and pick up some bits from the supermarket.
Once we are home from there we will not be going anywhere else until it all starts again tomorrow...lol.

Hope you've all had a lovely day.
Sheila-x-

Back In The Groove!!! And For Joan (Devon)

This is going to be a big post today...a two for one kind of deal as I have at last managed to put together a post about die cutting for Joan.

Anyhoo....yesterday was quite a productive day after my fairly lazy day on Sunday.
Lots of niggly little jobs finished off and a plan made to start on clearing the freezers ready for cleaning them out before restocking them....although the calendar panels are still sitting on the airer awaiting sewing.

Andy and I had a quick ride up to the garden centre as I needed a bottle of glitter glue and while we were there we picked up two Christmas gifts. Luckily they have not finished the Christmas displays yet so I couldn't waste any time looking around them.
On the way out we stopped the van to collect some more conkers and got some absolute beauties for our spider scaring mission.

This is the Christmas dec I picked up from Poundland

The letters have now been filled in with wood filler and it's been put on one side to dry. Once dry I will give it a light sanding and then I'll be covering that panel with some decorative paper and adding die cut letters and some more snowflakes.

A good start on the freezer plan today as tea will be all made from leftovers from the freezer. So a lasagne made from leftover fresh pasta sheets which I froze, a tub of spicy mince and beans and a half jar of white lasagne sauce which had been frozen too. This will be served with roasted cauliflower and green beans sauteed with garlic and black pepper.
Should be quite tasty.....and it has freed up quite a bit of space in the indoor freezer so I can move some stuff in from the one outside.

.....and on to the post for Joan

Unfortunately Joan if you want to get into die cutting you do need a machine to do it.
This is my machine of choice

Image from Sizzix

This is the Sizzix Big Shot and the cheapest I can find it currently is The Range at £54 and the dearest I have seen it is £109.
It comes with all you need to get started but this does not include any dies.

The Works has a small range of dies at the moment and these are what I have purchased from there

These are low profile dies and can be used for cutting paper and card....although not chipboard. You can also with some of the less complicated dies cut felt and fabric although you may have to run the die stack through the machine a few times.

You can also buy sets of stamps with matching low profile dies. These were free with magazines.

For using low profile dies you get a platform with the machine and two clear plates. So you layer the plates as per instructions place your die and paper on one plate and cover with the other....roll it through the machine and out comes a perfectly cut shape.

Also in the machine you can use steel rule dies. These are completely different to low profile dies and can be used to cut a much wider range of materials including chipboard, this includes leather, balsa wood, sticky back plastic, fun foam and many others.

A steel rule die comes fixed into a tray and is covered with a dense foam which helps to release the shape after cutting.
The die above will cut out everything you need to make the gorgeous gingerbread man. I am going to be making some in both felt and fabric which cut very easily with these dies.
To cut these you only need to use the two clear plates and not the platform.

This die is also a steel rule die but is longer (about 13") and does require a pair of longer cutting plates. It too will cut out everything you need to make these stockings.

I should also add that steel rule dies can cut multiple layers of paper and card which can save lots of time.

Well I hope this was useful to you Joan....and I am so sorry it took me so long to sort it.
If you need anymore help or information just ask.

Right....there is a kitchen floor needing mopping and a couple more jobs to do while I wait for Andy to get up so that I can hoover.

Hope you are all having a fab day.
Sheila-x-