katy'sClutter

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, originally uploaded by Katy's Clutter.

The fires alight, the Pyjamas are on and there's nothing much on telly!! We've demolished half a tub of chocolates and am now relaxed and ready for it. I hope you all are too.

Enjoy x

Stem Christie in the car park!

Well we're nearly there and in full festive swing. I'm at home watching classic "Carry on" movies on UK TV Gold with a hot cuppa tea after our christmas do... a night of silly hats, secret santa pressies, stunts and tricks in a icy car park (fuelled by inappropriate shoes) and giggles. Back to work tomorrow before we break for the big finale itself...can't wait. 

 

 

Festive fascinators! not the best one of me (!) but a lovely one of Al.

 

 and our very own singing nun!!

and thank you Secret Santa for my lovely gift x  

 
 
 

Time Flies

I can't believe its nearly 5 months since I last blogged!! How bad is that? Time has literally slid through my hands like sand in an egg timer. I last blogged when my newly appointed veggie patch was at it's most productive and needing my attention. My best friend had also moved in with Bob and myself and we where living in perfect, if not cramped harmony. We've visited cafes, gone shopping, made pear piccalilli and tomato jam. Now the patch is over wintering and the best friend has moved into her new home, the piccalilli & jam is in the store cupboard and i've found some time to get back on on line. 

www.apple.com

My blogging location has now changed as i'm now the proud owner of an MacbookPro, I've been saving for two years and finally I find my fingers tippy tapping on the delicately sprung backlit keys, what joy of joy! And now I can blog from anywhere and at the moment i'm on the sofa with 'Peter' our cat watching 'Willy Wonka and Charlie and the chocolate factory' with Johnny Depp. Not the most glamourous of locations but it's a good start,

 

One of the fun things about this Mac is the built in camera, one way to get a picture of my camera shy cat, I new there was a reason I wanted one of these!

I've kept my old Mac its in situ in the dinning room, I can't part with it, it's the old imac Anglepoise. Still a thing of beauty.

It's been good to log back on, I'll be back from who knows where soon!

A Special Card

I was recently asked to make two birthday cards for a lady who was to turns 100 on her next birthday! Eek! How do you top a card from the Queen?  My Nan then also asked me to do a card for our Auntie who also turns 100 this month, pressure, if she thinks it's rubbish she'll tell you. " I wouldn't give it house room" is the favorite phrase, and is often banded about when the Antiques Roadshow or some such program is on the T.V.  This got me thinking "how many 100 birthdays does the Queen sign in a year?" I had a whiz about on Google and it's over 8,000! I never knew that many people made it to a decade. I doubt my card will out shine HRH's but I hope she likes it all the same...

I can't show you the other ones because I was going to photograph them with "Liz" the girl I made them for, but we met after work in a quiet pub on a sunny Friday... so no pics, but needless to say I had a sore head the next day!

Watch the Pigeon

Having spent most of the weekend at home after a very busy week at work, I decided to have a creative afternoon on Saturday.  In my last post I mentioned buying some fabric from a little shop near Hampton Court; in my mind I had a pattern that I seen on Spool website a few weeks earlier, but didn’t have enough toned fabric to have a go.                      

So after downloading the pattern and having a practice run with some sheeting I always make a mistake!) I made some little birdies to sit on a branch in our front room.

Our lodger and Bob aren’t keen, but my Mum thinks they’re lovely and so do I !                                                                                                                                                  
You can find the pattern for this here and other examples of finished birdies here

Peter - Cat Keeper of the beans

Some times you just have to wonder why??

He has the whole garden to play in, chase birds and do what cats do...but no...lets have forty winks in the veggie bed.

I did point out to Peter, that i didn't really think that MY VEGGIE BED was an appropriate spot for such activity and this is what I get in return...

Charming!

Junk Shop Saturday - Rummage Sunday

This weekend I think I’ve done what everybody else in the UK has done and left the housework to its own devices to enjoy the weather!

An enjoyable way to spend the day was a trip to Hampton courts shopping area "East Molesey", a slow stroll with copious tea & coffee shops offering home made cakes or healthier alternatives giving you an excuse to stop,refuel and watch the world go by. Thus giving you the energy to peruse the handful of antique and vintage junk shops, my favorite being "The Emporium" (52 -54 Bridge Street).

A view from Hampton Bridge - I love those houses...

Inside my favorite shop The Emporium - I could buy all this...swoon!

Other favorites include the quilters shop "Creative Quilting", you can buy every thing you could need to make quilts and cards with all other haberdashery notions in stock, as well as the lovely shop just over the bridge by the name of Gardenarium, Full of home and garden treats such as Cath Kidston and Emma Bridgewater.  A lovely way to spend my morning with my girlfriends.

I then dragged Bob off to a boot sale on Sunday. I found these beautiful little cup trio's so well worth getting up for!

Boot sale bargains £2.50 for two trio sets - Masquerade by Royal Albert

Although I couldn't turn my back on all the domestic duties, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get all my washing line dried!

Long may it last!

Just add water (rain)

Since I last posted, my veggie plot has moved on at such a pace it’s astonishing. I was slightly worried that my efforts would go to waste when the rain set in for weeks, and looked like it would never go away. But with a miraculous moment on a bank holiday a rare sight indeed, the sun! Hurray.

With out a moment to waste the plot was crammed with organic manure and soil with a layer of paper and card underneath to add water retention and kill the grass. Known as the no dig method, which I happily subscribe to.

Then the fun bit, planting. All my lovingly tended plants are now safely in place and will hopefully feed me over the summer months.

It took 7 – 10 days for germination to take place; due to lack of space I’ve done each variety separately. I started in March and that’s nearly two months of hard work to get to this stage.

Incy Wincy Spiders...

There is down sides to all this growing your own malarkey; backache, dirty finger nails (constantly, as hate gloves) Cat poop (little buggers) and for some unknown reason Spiders. My back garden in the spider capitol of the world, I can only think it’s the cover the bluebells give they’re attracted to; ditto slugs & snails. As you approach the flower bed you can see loads of scattering black spiders, that I can cope with, I have a problem with the big ones that run at hundred miles an hour and reduce me to a screaming banshee. I wouldn’t kill a spider, they do no harm, It’s just a bit embarrassing, especially when next door are in full family BBQ mode!

A smaller of my gardening fellows! eek...

Bean News

My runner beans have grown at such a pace since I covered them in polythene, I did this Friday night and by Saturday morning they had sprouted, they’re now residing in the portable green house outside. My windowsill feels very bare, so I’ll just have to get going on the French beans. I have to plant in steps as my house only has one decent windowsill for the pots to go on and the only one the cat can’t get to! If I’d covered the beans with polythene sooner, I’m sure they would have sprouted earlier, I didn’t have any and didn’t want to buy plastic bags as this seemed daft. I was lucky to find some packaging from a parcel at my Mums on Thursday and she was only to glad to get rid of it, I’ll cover the French beans from the word go this time.

Photo taken Yesterday.

Left home and now in they're own green house! Taken today

My Toms are doing well and will need potting on again this week as will the lettuce.
They’ve just had water and are all tucked up in bed, which sounds good to me!

These are at about week 4-5 this was taken today at 5pm ish (highly scientific)

Enjoy the week ahead, lets hope the weather conditions stay sunny.