And the count down begins to a New Year .....

Hi every one :) well here we are again .... its 8.41 pm at the mouse house and we are excitingly waiting for the New Year 2015 to begin ... Master Bentley is sat at the side of me and wants to wish every one a wonderful new year .... he would like to raise a toast with his cuppa to one and all .....
Well I have had an exciting postie week since the other day ... I have had two parcels from over seas ... one from DJ who has sent me a beautifully stitched and beaded ornament of a mouse and a key ring that has me in fits of giggles when you press the "press here" .... I wish I could record it for you ... it says "hey you I LIKE you ....I rrreallly LLLLL Like you  " with the rolled R's and L's ...lol 
and the other from Ann who has sent me a gorgeous crocheted snowflake which will be kept out all year just because I can ... heheheh... I also got a RAK from Heather which I plum forgot to mention and show you so I shall rectify that as well and Michelle sent me a beautiful handmade calender which in  the tidying up before guests came on on Christmas day has got put in the craft room some where under the archaeological layers ... so once I find it again I will take a photo ... thank you girls sooo much :)
Well as the want to do, is at this time of year, is a recap of how the year went ... on the whole it was pretty good with many highs and the odd whoops ....
Kidney stones and a cold/ cough are the odd whoops.....
 the highs well ...
I got to meet Stuart Hillard a few times and had a class with him...started to make a quilt... and made him a wee present ....I started to crochet again and am doing quite well to say the least ... it isn't perfect but hey its just me :)... I had a couple of trips to the Nimble Thimble in Wales and then there was a couple of trips to Harrogate or three ...lol ... sent out a few RAKs and won some wonderful blog winsand RAKS too  ... still working my way through the charts :) and I have managed 22 finishes ... which for a wee mouse that works full time I am impressed with :)
My Goals for the New Year ... well lets just say... hopefully to stitch more, do some more quilting , visit more blogs to say hello and move into the new mouse house with my bigger craft room, which still needs finishing off ...lol and to be as healthy as I can be :) 
And this I wish for you all too ... to stitch more, to chat more with friends and to be as healthy as you can be :)
I shall leave you now to bring in the New Year however you celebrate .... I have a cuppa (I do have some cider to toast in the New Year for later chilling in the fridge) , a toffee crunch Chocolate Orange and my stitching .... what more could a wee mouse want ...lol 

Rak from Heather

Present for Bev a sewing machine tidy 

from DJ

From Anne 

Christmas presents from my Dad ...
yes I know I have been stitching these but charts were borrowed and going back

ooooo ellloo again

almost finished ... wooo hoooo

so there you go folks a wee recap of 2014 ..... hard to believe that another year is almost over ... there are fireworks going off already and Master Bentley wants to go out and see them ...  I have told him its tooo cold ...lol 
well I think another cuppa is in order while I get on with my stitching ... so take care one and all ... have a wonderful evening and I shall squeak to you next year ... love mouse xxxxxx

Not quite the last post of 2014 ..lol

Hi every one :) hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas and got lots of lovely goodies from Santa :) Master Bentley was really spoilt from Santa Paws .. and had a fabulous day .... I tried to take some photos but unfortunately they are all action shots ....he wouldn't keep still long enough ...
We had a wonderful day with 10 of us for dinner (+bump) and there was enough food cooked to feed an army ...and we are still munching our way through the goodies soooo please make a cuppa and help yourselves :)
I am feeling a wee bit better thanks ... cough still here, but not as often as it has been sooo hopefully it is on its way out, she says paws crossed ... the voice still sounds bad but hey, its  good job I wasn't needed to sing any carols this year ....
At the weekend DH and I took a quick road trip to Blackpool to see my Dad and we nearly didn't get there due to the snow fall on the previous night ..... the journey over normally takes us 2 hours ish well you could double it this time ... the views of the snowfall were fantastic but I didn't have my camera with me only my phone sooo please excuse the naffness of them ...lol
I even managed to go and shop in a closed sewing shop .... DH and I bobbed up to Marsh Mill to see if Grace and Favour was open ...and it wasn't but Caroline and her DH was in and they opened up just for little ole moi ... how cool was that ...lol I just had to buy a few things as you do, well I could't leave empty handed now could I heheheheh....
The journey home was a little quicker than the journey in so that was good ... its amazing how so little snow can cause so much disruption especially when the council are on the Christmas break and no gritter vans go out until a few days later *sigh .... the journey into work today was not too bad the -3 degrees on the dash board was a wee bit disconcerting ... but the views with the sun coming up were amazing ... such a pity I can't stop to take a photo ...lol
Stitching wise I have done a wee bit more on Frosty Flakes .... well done Jane ... and can show you the progress ....I will have to do a recap on New Years Eve once I have dug out my trusty note book with everything in it I have stitched for the year ...
I have received some lovely gifts and want to thank every one for their cards as well ... I am sorry that I haven't sent out as many as I normally do due to being ill for so long but hoping to make up for it in the new year with some little RAKs being sent out :)
well I had better go and bob the kettle on for one last brew before bed and I will sort the photos out for you to nosy at :)

OOOOOO Santapaws has been 

wagging that fast at his new moose toy

our Christmas cake yummmm

catching his new talking ball .... and boy is it noisy ..lol 

From my Secret Santa on Friendly stitchers

From Bev

From Chris and Wendy

from DD1

from DH and DD2

hand stitched by Chris

and again 

hand stitched by Jacquie

from June (sorry blurry)

SNOWWWW

spot who went out ..lol

from Grace and Favour Marsh Mill 

Frosty Flakes by LHN progress

view from car on way home

so there you have it for now folks .... I hope you have enjoyed bobbing in and I will do a wee recap of the year on New Years Eve ... well DH is working the graveyard shift as it used to be called so I shall have to do something to keep me awake to see the new year in ...lol  ... take care one and all and I shall squeak to you all again a couple of days :) love mouse xxxxx

t'was the night before Christmas at the mouse house 2014

Just squeaking in to say the kettle is on .... there are mince pies and other goodies galore and some chocolates by the fire ...The cake is iced and the tree is finally up ... its beginning to look very festive :)
I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas for all those that celebrate this special day and hope that the stash fairy is good to you .....
Master Bentley would like to join in the good wishes and is soooo excited to have a visit from SantaPaws ..... 
I feel better than I was last week but still coughing well ...lol I have had my x ray taken so await the results from that as well as the other ones ... ho hum .... at least I can breath and enjoy my meal :)
I will leave you with a few festive photos and my new bit of stitching .... can you guess what it is ???

Rudolph resting before the big day

outside the local garden centre

wooo hooo the tree is up 

dreaming of SantaPaws

my new start :)

take care one and all ... and to all a good night :) love mouse xxxxx

Stitching goodies :) and other tales :)

Hi every one :) hope this finds you all well as can be expected and looking forward to the festive celebrations , if you celebrate them of course .... well at the mouse house its looking a lot like we don't ...lol so far we don't have the tree up ... the space is there and we have a few cards up and that's it ... and with less than a week to go we had better get a shufftee on ....
Life at the mouse house has been interesting to say the least .... I have been unwell since October with a cold and a cough that doesn't want to go away ... I have been to the Dr's the week before I went to Harrogate and got some antibiotics and that helped a bit but I am still not well now ....hence why things are not done this year so far .... I am going to try and get back in at the Dr's this morning and I will also have to cancel my acupuncture as I can't have that while like this WAHHHHHHHHH......
Work has been hectic too as we are having a lot of changes and work that should have been done before I moved to the new branch hasn't sooo at the moment I am continually playing catch up and my new manager is FAB and is making sure that what we need to do is getting done ... so there has been a few late nights not much longer that the normal finishing time, but it makes all the difference .....
Stitching wise wellllll I have been stitching like a good un and have now managed to finish three ornaments ... not made up or beads added but hey .... a big improvement to last post heheheheh I put the last stitches into All is Calm by Little House Needleworks Christmas ornament series from 2011 on Tuesday night while at stitching with Chris :) I have even managed to do a small bit on my crochet blanket ... no picture of this one as it is stuffed in my work bag for those moments when I can do a bit on it .....
I have to tell you about a wonderful postie day .... a couple of weeks back on a Thursday I think it was and I was having a bad feel sorry for myself day .... I came home to a wonderful surprise :) there was a brown envelope waiting for me from no other than Dixie Sampler who had stitched me a lovely halloweenie sampler and send me a gorgeous piece of her hand dyed fabric and some other gorgeous goodies ... I still have to open the sweets yet ... saving them till I am off and can savor them ...lol .... She truly made my day :)
I have been sent a few "Christmas " parcels that have been popped on the fire mantle until the big day .... I have been awfully good and not peeped ... and I can't wait to see what yummies I have got :)
The other Sunday both DD's and I went to Skipton to the annual Christmas Market .... and it was a wee bit of a wash out to be honest .. it piddled it down for the entire day and although there were some nice stalls most of them were tombola charity ones ... and there is only so many tickets you can buy ... there was some good entertainers that I felt sorry for performing in the rain .... we did have some laughs taking Selfies with our phones ...  I am trying to persuade them to let me bob one up ...lol but we were all glad to get on the coach home .... I did score in the charity shops though with some scissor frogs at decent prices ....and I managed to buy a new wee mouse from one of the Christmas stalls .... he is with the scissor frogs and Bentley photo bombing ..lol 
I managed to get back into the Dr's this morning and hmmmmm another set of antibiotics .... lots of bloods taken and I have to go for a chest xray and possibly lung function tests ... I said not to bother with them at the moment as I can't breathe hahahahah .... sooo I am poorly sick .com ....  
soooo DH has made you the cuppas and I will up load some photos for you to nosy at .....

Dixie's very own hand dyed fabric

how cute is this 

the rest of my scrummy yummies ... that wee necklace lights up squeee 

stitching finished

getting there with this one 

a wee bit further

German marshmellow thingies ...
 can't spell their names but they were very nice

score with the scissor frogs and photo bombing

is it time for Santa Paws yet  huh huh ???

and finished wooo hooo ....just need to add some bling :)

ok its time for me to take my last horse pill ...lol and off to the land of nod ... night night one and all and hope you all have a wonderful stitchy week :) love mouse xxxxxx

Didn't we have a lovely time at the Harrogate annual retreat :)

Yoooo Hooooo its me again .... yes another post soo soon ...lol I have just got back a few hours ago from the annual Knitting and Stitching show held at Harrogate (UK) and boy do I need some new feet ..lol, any hooo pull up a chair grab your brew ... there may be some cookies left in the tin ...and enjoy the post :)
Thursday dawned bright and early ... well more early than bright but hey at least it wasn't snowing ...I packed the mouse mobile and tootled off to go and pick up Roz and Chris my companions for the journey as they were just going for the day I said come with me and save yourselves from setting off earlier and two trains to get there ... well I had fun trying to find Roz as I am not sure if the sat nav had a sense of humor or that I put it in wrong ! but find her I did, after a wee phone call and directions I picked her up and we headed on our way to Chris's and then onto Harrogate via the fog on route .... we actually made good time and I dropped them off near to the venue before I tootled off to find our house for the next few days (mine , Ally's , Sandra's and Maureen). I managed to park outside the house doing a parallel park for the first time in years and it wasn't a bad attempt either heheheheh...
I popped my stuff in and then tootled down to meet Ally and pass her the keys so that she could get in and wait for Sandra before coming down to the show later ...in the mean time I bobbed into the show and found Chris and Roz  and Kate and also Sally   and her DH ... Sally was truly impressed with the show and was as giddy as a kid in a sweet shop ..lol I arranged for her to come back to the house later on that night for a cuppa and a natter too so that she could show her goodies and I could do the same .....before we parted ways to carry on shopping ... then while I was talking to another Kate ....Kate  from Sparklies .... my phone rang and Gill was right behind me ... Gill is also Sally's friend and had spotted me and wanted to make sure it was me ...lol so we passed a pleasant few minutes chatting before we parted ways too and I made my way from Sparklies after buying a couple of pieces as you do to Jane Greenoff's stall to purchase my major thing on my list .... this piece which I will show you later in the photos was one I wanted last year but hummmed and ahhhh'd as it is rather on the expensive side but as I said to my friends I still want it after all this time ... I am going to get it ... and I did ... Bill kindly held onto it until the end of the night when it was time for me to go home :) I found a few other bits and my bag at the end of the night was a wee bit full heheheh .... 
We decided that we weren't cooking that night when we got back to our wee house and called for a Chinese which was rather scrummy and we had just finished when Sally and her DH called round for the cuppa ... sooo we had a lovely few hours chatting and sipping tea and drooling over purchases's we had made that day :)
Friday dawned rather wet but that didn't dampen our spirits and we  tootled back down to the show ....I ended up helping Trudy Ann one of the lovely exhibitors at the show as the day before she had had some stuff taken from her stall and it got rather busy with customers while I was browsing sooo I did my good deed for the week and served a few for her :) 
Friday tea time we had invited Sheila(one of friendly stitcher members who was there too ) as well as Kate from Sparklies to tea and we had a wonderful night .... we served Spaghetti bologna and Eton Mess our way ..lol .... when they had gone on their merry way back to their pads for the week we got out some stitching and stitched into the early hours of the morning ... in fact I finished a wee ornament ... yes you read that right I stitched and finished something heheheh .....I am surprised that we actually got any done as we were laughing all night and I can't remember what about ...lol 
Saturday was a bit of the show and a bit of the town ... we managed to visit Duton's for Buttons, Samuel Taylors and the Remnant House as well as take some photos of the lights decorating the trees around Harrogate .... and we even stitched Saturday night too ...I was on a roll .....
Today only Sandra and I went back into the show as Maureen had an early train to catch and Ally an early bus .... we tootled round the show and as it wasn't as packed managed to get to look at all the stalls as well as go down into the Hall's underneath and see the costumes on display .....soon it was time for us to part too and go on our merry ways ....and I can safely say that this year was pretty good ...lol and looking forward to next years now and I had better start saving my pennies up :)
I have taken piccies of my stash but I can't show you all of it as some of it is for prezzies for peeps ...but I hope you like what I can show you :) I am looking forward to using the charts/ fabric and trims and know what I am going to use them with etc etc etc etc .... 
ok the kettle has just boiled again sooo tea, coffee ???

International halls Harrogate

Eaton Mess our way

Maureen , Kate, Ally, Sandra and Sheila :)

stitchy progress

Walk down to the show 

love this :)

Maureen photo bombing 

Hall M of the show the only one I could get a photo in :)

view over looking Harrogate from the town centre

taking the lights 

bit of stash

and a bit more

and some more

my big purchase :) 

seee I did stitch :)

Kate from Sparklies stall :)

students work in Hall E

Jane Greenoff and Sue Hawkins having a rare five mins :)

Sew there you have it .... my adventures of Harrogate Stitching show again over for another year ... Master Bentley is bopping me to get him some more food ... he is rather pleased for me to be back ....
hoping to get more stitching done now my mojo has come back from its walk .....so that I can show you progress photos next time :)
take care one and all and happy stitching :) till next time :) love mouse xxxxxx