Moving on up

I love houses

Hubbie loves renovation

We down-sized a few years ago so Colin could go to college and university he graduates next month as a teacher of further education. I love the house we live in at the moment but Colin has never settled. Now because this man I have been married to for all these years has never asked me to do anything that he thought would make me unhappy also over the past 18 months or so our lives have changed forever and as my wee grannie used to say marriage is about compromise we are on the move.

We are lovers of traditional property but we have decided that it is time for an easier life and not for every spare bit of cash we have being used to maintain a property. We are buying a more modern house and for some strange reason I love it.

The most exciting bit about it for Aimee is that the house will have stairs.

So in 6 weeks time we will be embarking on the next phase of our lives......... bring it on

Pearly Time

Where does the time go..........

30 years ago today I married the man or should I say boy who would become as they say in the old movies my rock.

Colin was 19 and I was 23 when we married everyone was very sceptical about us making a go of a marriage.

Colin and I went about in the same circle and he played badminton with a friend. A couple that we both knew were getting married and he asked if rather that going on our own that we paired up. The following day I headed off to London for a week to attend a course to do with my work. On my return he was standing waiting on me as I got off the bus big bunch of flowers in his hand and asked me to out that night for a meal. That night he asked me to marry him and as the saying goes the rest is history.....

2 daughters and 2 grandchildren later we celebrate our Pearl Wedding Anniversary

Had a lovely meal with daughter(number 2) son-in-law and grandchildren last night.

Today has been a lazy day ... so far reading and couching

Daughter (number1) and partner coming later for tea as she has been working yesterday and today looking forward to that

Treasure Maps

Since Aimee was born we have always had an Easter Egg Hunt.

Two years ago the 'Grandad' thought it would be good to have a treasure map to help find the eggs.

He draws the house gardens garage etc simply then rips the edge of the paper and stains it with tea to make it look aged.

Often wonder who is the child!!!!!

Picture is of Grandad, Auntie Shelley and Aimee plus the treasure map in hand.

Murrays first Easter was accompanied by the chickenpox poor wee thing

He is such a happy laid-back kind of guy he smiled and laughed the whole day

On the hunt for eggs




Murray and Grandad having fun



Aimee sporting the Hannah Montana sunglasses the Easter Bunny left at Granny and Grandads
Also the bunny ears that could only have been bought by
Auntie Shelley

The Boy

Where does the time go?

It seems no time since Murray was born ....

Look at him now 7 and a half months old

He loves spending time with his sister

Just so cute in his "Hoodie"

Little Bit Of Spring

It seems to have been a long cold, snowy, frosty, wet and windy winter here.

Mind you a bit like everywhere else.

Anyway we have been having some lovely sunny days lately altough it remains bitterly cold.

So here is my little bit of spring on the kitchen window sill

Makes me kinda cosy on the inside

Sewing box

I love stitch craft I also admire everyone who embraces this most wonderful of hobbies.

I taught myself to sew along with the help of my grannies old treadle machine when I was asked to leave the sewing class as Miss Allan thought it best I take more classes in Home Economics even though I loved her class (she thought I was hopeless). Anyway I am a bit of an oldfashioned girl at heart and when I spotted this sewing box in a shop in Crieff it was love at first sight. Just need to decide what goodies to put in it now

I love the glass top that has a wee display of some of the essentials in a sewers life

Clear plastic

Things have been a bit hectic around here for the past 2-3 weeks. Just before that my sewing machine went to Drummonds of Edinburgh to have its first service ( David the shop owner informed me my machine is 10 years old ) As I was busy ma Walby (hubbie) took the machine through and look at what he got me .....a Plexiglass Sewtable. Today is its first outing and it's brilliant.

I never thought I would see the day when a big piece of plastic would give such satisfaction.

Oh and for the record thank you thank you thank you Walby

Off to cut up material and sew it back together again

Mary Jane Gilchrist

As I held her hand my beloved wee grannie passed peacefully from this world on Wednesday.

She was 99yrs young the photo above was taken about 4 years ago.

Born in 1911 the youngest of four children, her mother left her father and the children when my grannie was just 6 weeks old she met her mother only once when she was about 20yrs old. After her mother left she was brought up in various foster homes until she was around 14yrs old when after another failed fostering (she was not a typical child of that time and was seen and heard quite alot) her spinster aunt took her from Liverpool back home with her to Stonehaven and the stable loving relationship that had been missing in her life was established.

She became engaged to a sea captain and one summer came to Alloa to visit friends of the family she was sitting in the bandstand at the local park when my grandad came and asked if she minded if he sat down she said ok and she was smitten when the visit was finished she didn't return to Stonehaven but moved in with my grandad a huge scandle in those days and she didn't marry my grandad until she was 5 months pregnant with my mum and after much pleading from my grandad. They had another 2 children and a loving successful marriage until my grandads death in 1982.

I would like to thank her for

Ringlets in my hair, sticky out party dresses, long flanelette nighties, piggie hot water bottles,treadle sewing machine, teaching me how to knit, cocoa, toast made at the open fire, Hopes the Bakers fruit birthday cakes, my love of Lily of the Valley, Honeysuckle, Cats & Hats.

For her unfailing love kindness and friendship I thank her from the bottom of my heart she was my rock and I will love and miss her always

Strong stuff

My most precious wee grannie isn't too well at the moment. The staff at the nursing home where she lives called me on Wednesday to say she was very poorly and that they were very concerned about her. She had stopped eating and was not taking any fluids at that time. I have spent the majority of my time since then at her bedside. I am not sure if today was a turning point or not but she managed to sit in a chair and sip half a cup of tea. At 99yrs young she still has a will of iron and is made of strong stuff. I am delighted I hope she will stick around for a bit longer as I love her dearly.

Twitching to sew

The Moda Spring Fever charm packs arrived last week and I love them. I plan to make Aimee a lap quilt. She came for tea on Saturday and spent an enjoyable hour or so helping grannie decide where the pieces should be positioned. We then got a piece of white cotton and did it all over again.

'The finished positions'
Bit big for a lap quilt me thinks


Did have plans to start it this week but forgot my sewing machine was leaving today on a servicing visit to Edinburgh and I don't pick it up until Saturday. I now need to find something to fill the hours with............
Browsing the quilting sites on internet sounds good to me
Step away from the credit card........