Operation Craft Room and other tall stories

Hi every one :) please pull up your favourite comfy chair ... grab a brew and some cookies .... this could turn out to be a looonnngg post ...lol 
This past week I have escaped from work and had a week off ... the purpose was to start work on the new craft room and have some work done on the new mouse house too ... well things were going swimmingly until a drain stopped play ...
We have had a wonderful new garage put on the back of the house and outside of my room and in the garage is a drain .... well there has been some water leaking into the craft room and we thought it was because the pipes needed sorting out and the drain top re aligning ... alas it wasn't meant to be ... the real reason was the main drain pipe from next door had been broken once on their side and then the other on ours hence the wet floor in my room as the water has been seeping through the walls ... good job it is a Yorkshire stone floor and not carpet .... soooo we now have to wait to get it sorted before I can continue with the room ... luckily the furniture was out of the way ....
I have done some prepping work on the walls and scrapped away all of the loose paint on half of the room and that is as far as I have got as by then bending wasn't an option ...lol .. the reason for this was on Monday DD1 and I took a road trip in the mouse mobile to Harrogate as she wanted to go back to some shops and have another look round the park again .... the weather was glorious perfect for a pootle through the park and through the woods ( we had to cross a main road to continue) and finally arriving at the RHS Harlow Carr ... we kept on saying will just see what is around the next corner ...lol and as we weren't rushing and I was taking or rather trying to take photos of the sqwibbles it didn't seem that we had gone really too far ... that was until DD checked it up on the map ...lol ... we were lucky that the garden centre had a Betty's Tea Room and as we originally said we would go for something to nibble on in the one in the town, we decided as we were there we would try this one out ... all I can say is although a wee bit on the expensive side it was worth it as a special treat :) ...the cakes on display were fantastic .... unfortunately no photos of these were taken ...  but I did manage to get a picture of my cuppa with the silver tea pots .... hopefully will be able to get this one off my phone ... me and modern technology don't always get on hehehehh...
We popped into the garden centre shop next door and there was a balcony so I managed to get some pictures of the wonderful gardens which we said next time we would go for the day just there .... and then we had the long pootle back which seemed shorter ...lol 
The rest of the week seemed to pass in a blur of checking on the building work and bits and bobs but I did get to meet a friend I had not seen for ages on Friday and we went to Wentworth Garden Centre and it was a lovely day sooo that was good ....
Saturday was a really good day too as Ally and I tootled over to Holmfirth to see Frances and her house guest that had come over from America ... can you guess who it was ??....Well if I say britsh lady by the lake does that help .... it was our lovely Gillie ... she had come over with the WT to France then bobbed over our side of the channel to meet up with us and a few other peeps she knows .... Frances put on a wee spread for us all and boy was it delicious ... the cakes were very very scrummy ....and home made ... must remember to ask for the recipes ...lol .... we spent a very pleasant afternoon stitching and chatting and I did some crocheting :) before heading back home to reality .
Blimey a week has passed and I haven't finished the post .... I had a busy ole week at work went to a different branch to cover and loved the office ... I had a large window with a view ... trees ... there was a road too but a much better out look than a printer ..lol 
managed to get a present finished too ... more will be revealed next time as I can't show you yet in case the person it is for reads my blog before then ...lol
done some more on my TP but not taken a photo yet .... that will be remedied .... worked some more on my wee blanket ...
My exchange piece arrived safely to Libbie and she loves it PHEW sooo I can show you that now :)
coooo another few days have passed by and I have still got more to tell you ... I am now moving branches with work .... I will be going to my own office with a view of trees and a pub but its a view ...lol and it all beings on Monday next week ....  
I also managed to get the fabric for my quilt lesson with Stuart Hillard of the Great British Sewing Bee fame ... bless him he has to put up with me for a whole day ...lol
well I had better get the photos up otherwise this post will be delayed even more .... I will get round to visiting peeps this week now things have calmed down a bit and hopefully I will get some stitching done .... watch this space ..lol 
I shall bob the kettle on again and get some more cookies for you :)

more work on the TP

Loving how this is turning out 

wee giftie for Gillie 

and one for Frances 

Ally and Gillie don't ask me what they were laughing at ....

scrummy spread by Frances ....

squibble in France's view from her garden

the moon the other night

now you see it 

now you don't

poorly drain :(

see I did managed to get a bit done in there that week 

exchange piece for Libbie

Harrogate Park

finally at the garden centre refreshments ...

goodies from Betty's 

Soooo there you have it folks ... hope you have enjoyed your visit to the mouse house again :) take care one and all and happy stitching and I shall squeak to you all soon again ....love mouse xxxxx

Pumpkins for Cathey :)

I can't believe a year has gone past , missing your emails and letters but I am sure you are happy stitching away merrily on your wee cloud in the sky and shining down on us at night from your star ....
((hugs )) to your DH and Junior .... love mouse xxxxxx

If any one wants to know more please click on links below .....

http://talesofastitchingmouse.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/pumpkins-for-cathey.html

http://talesofastitchingmouse.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/a-new-bright-star-in-sky.html

Stitching, Stash and the Same Celebrity :)

Hi every one :) hope you are all as well as can be expected ... the kettle has just boiled and I do have some cookies in and I think some cake too ... help yourselves with your brew :)
Well I must apologize for not bobbing round as promised to your blogs this last week but I haven't had any spare time to do much to be honest ... hopefully normal service will resume asap :)
The stitching side of my title is not very much ...lol I have managed to finish the exchange piece for Libbie my partner over on Friendly Stitchers  and have decided how I am going to finish it and that is a far as anything has got .... and as such I can't reveal it any hoo ...lol
The stash side is a wee bit more heheheh .... Its not all stitching stash but to do with stitching ... I have bought some fabulous bureau drawers and a cute sewing box for my new room when it is finished ....and a couple of items from the charity shop which caught my eye .. I even remembered to have my camera with me to show you them and how the room is progressing a wee bit :)
I did buy some more fat quarters but that is another story ...lol
On Saturday morning Ally and I took the mouse mobile to a wee village not far from the mouse house where my celebrity was signing his book again, yes you've guessed it Stuart Hillard was at the Oh Sew Sweet Shop and we called in on the way and got Chris to join the merry gang to go and say hello again :)
We had a fabulous couple of hours were I got to be the photographer for a few peeps while they had their photos taken with Stuart ... even I managed to have one taken as well eeekkkk ..lol  and Stuart is as lovely and entertaining in real life as he is on the tv:) he was telling how things were done for the Great British Sewing Bee and he also had some of his quilts with him (the ones that are in the book ) and boy are they nice and my kind of level of quilt making too .... soooo much sew that I have booked in for his class there in October .... eeeekkk I will have to get the machine out and have a practice :) I joked that I was his number one stalker (in a nice way ) and one of the ladies said "well you know you have made it when you have one " hahahahah.. I bought some Christmas fabric just because  and also some lovely pastel fabric for my new room to do something with .... and I wasn't going to get anything whoops .....
My other bit of stash is a chart from Belinda  from Samplings  from a blue ribbon ....she is doing another 60 mile walk over three days to raise money for Breast Cancer research and other excellent avenues with her team "Twinkle Toes ... if you click on the link it will explain it all in more detail ... I donated last year and also this and can't wait to get the charts kitted up and started :)
Gaynor from StitchersAnon fame is also doing something for this worthy cause ... for every euro you donate you will get a raffle ticket and you could win one of the lovely prizes donated .. I need to wait until my next pay day now to get my raffle ticket due to being skint now ...see above ..lol 
oooo and I remembered I have got the "Without a mouse " chart by BBD .. I ordered it at the Harrogate show from Trudy Ann and it arrived this week :)
I have it authority that the sweetie bouquet I made for Jennifer was delicious and I realized that I hadn't show you the finished project .... that I shall remedy in a few minutes ...
This morning Ally and I took Master Bentley for a pootle in the woods and I took my camera with me ... there were thousands of mushrooms all over the place and I managed to take a few decent photos of them too and we bumped into Jasper who is a wolf hound crossed with a lab ... he can smell yummies a mile off ... he sat for a photo for me with the promise of one ... this I gave to his dad to give him as once you have given him one ...he bounds at you all the more ...lol  It was a lovely walk and you can tell the season is changing ... the leaves are starting to turn brown and fall from the trees like a flurry of snow and there are signs that the squirrels are hiding the nuts for through the winter .... It was a lovely walk and we were out for ages .... needed a restorative cuppa when we got in ... Ally was amazed at how many grapes we have on the vine and they are just about turning from green to black .... once the birds have had their fill on them the vine is going to be cut right back and hopefully we can claim a wee bit more of the garden ....lol I was amazed as well to see that the million bell clematis that is on the fence had a flower out in bloom today too .... 
Well I have just made another brew and shall join you in sipping it mouse like while I upload the photos for your perusal :)

hellooooooo :)

this is soooo me :)

my new welsh dresser

found the perfect mirror for the room too

start of operation back to black :)

just a wee bit more to go heheheh

Stuart signing some books at the shop

my new sewing box 

my new big  fabric drawers :)

stitching box closed 

new door ...getting there :)

Ally , Stuart and Chris

one of the ladies helping Stuart show off his quilts 

another colourway which is just me :)

apparently this one took a weekend ..lol 

charity shop finds :)

whoops a wee bit of stash 

inside the Oh Sew Sweet Shop

Mouse and Stuart :)

the moon last night

this made me giggle ... zipper lighter ,..lol

million bell flowered in September 

escaping back to the car 

Hellooo from Jasper

grapes any one ???

Jennifer's present :)

Soooo there you have it folks, another chapter in the life of the stitching mouse :)... I hope you have enjoyed your visit today and that you all have a wonderful stitchy week ... take care one and all :) love mouse xxxxx

Stitching , Stash and Celebrities :)

Hi every one :) ooooo you had really get a large mug of your favourite brew and get yourself comfy as I take you on a whirlwind tour of this mouse's activities of this  last week ..lol.... soooo are you sitting comfortably ??? then I shall begin ...
Last weekend I took a wee trip in the mouse mobile with DH to see my Dad and Jennifer as it was Jennifer's birthday and we were having a celebratory meal at a local hotel and staying over too .... I decided to make Jennifer a sweet bouquet and spend a few days before making it up and for a first time on my own doing one, I was impressed and so was she ...lol ...
We tootled over on the Sunday and had a fab time that was only marred by some one setting the fire alarm off on Sunday night ....not a good plan .... any hoooo the next day I persuaded DH and my Dad to take a wee trip to Marsh Mill to the lovely Grace and Favour sewing shop with the promise of a cuppa and a cake ...lol ....
I was greeted by the lovely Em who said I must have heard the kettle click ...lol and I spend a wonderful few minutes (well at least half hour) oooing and ahhhing over the new fabrics they had in .... and tried to narrow it down to" not much stash" to buy .... whoops ;) DH and my dad disappeared  into the cafe opposite sooo I was safe to browse some more and add to my pile of goodies .... I have got loads of ideas what to do with the fabric just need some more hours in the day ...lol ... I am even featured on their website under the blog section... *waves a wee paw helllooo  looking forward to another cuppa :) They have a wonderful sewing room opposite the shop where they have classes for all ages and their junior sewer's are fab ... I have seen their work on the FB page they have ... keep up the good work girls :)
I wasn't very well on the Tuesday and ended up having the Wednesday off and I sat feeling sorry for myself while stitching away on the baby sampler and got it finished as the wee chap was born while I was away on holiday ....  I also managed as well that week to make up the "stitchers companion "piece by BBD into a box top very similar to the one I did for Lisa   and I continued to work on "Promise Me " by Lizzie *Kate which I can now say is another happy dance .... I put the last finishing stitches into it last night  yahoooooooo :)
So where does the celebrities come into it? I hear you say ..... you had better get a top up ... I have some cookies too if you want a dunker :)
On Sunday Ally , Chris and I got into the mouse mobile and tootled of to Harrogate for the Stitching and Quilt show held in at the Showground  just before you get into the town ..... we got there bright and early and managed to get a spot right by the door ....  soo we didn't have far to walk to the main entrance ... I noticed a poster on the wall saying that Stuart Hillard (from the Great British Sewing Bee fame) would be at the show that day .... well blow me down with a feather if we didn't bump into him as we went into the show and he recognized me from last Harrogate show  ... well once seen, never forgot heheheheh .... we had a few moments chatting before I promised I would bob over to his book signing later that day and have a look at his new  book that had come out :)
We then went and tootled around the show getting a few bargains and goodies to add to our stash piles again ...lol  we go up and down each aisle so that we don't miss anything and try and remember the inspirations that we have seen and thought oooo I like how they have done that etc etc .... I got to the place where Stuart was doing his book signing and I must have got the only spot when he was free to chat to me for quite a few minuets and show me what he was making while he was there ... I got his new book and he kindly signed it, as well as a few more dyes for doing some more quilting etc ..... Chris and I read his book later that night and I must say that is it a fun and inspiring sewing book full of good tips and hints and Stuarts sense of humor shines throughout the book ... I can't wait to try some of his ideas  and he takes his tea the same as mine ... white no sugar .... heheheh ...
well I had better get some photos added to this post before it gets sooo long you will be here until next time reading it ...lol 

Baby Sampler by Lizzie Kate finished for the wee man

stash from Grace and Favour

stitchers companion by BBD made into a box top

spot the clue it is mine ;)

casting a spell getting further along :)

charity shop find to display my autumnal smalls :)

ohhhh nooo she has the camera out ... look away quick !!!

Promise Me by Lizzie *Kate finished :)

stash from the small Harrogate Show

Stuarts new book 

and signed just for me ...lol

a bit more fabric stash :)

new start . CCS July :)

sooo there you have it folk's another week at the mouse house .... hope you enjoyed your visit and have washed up ...lol I shall be out and about visiting all your blogs this week  so I shall wish you all a wonderful stitching week till I get there .... take care one and all :) love mouse xxxxx