FAREWELL SUMMER

Hi everyone

Summer seems to have disappeared rather quickly, although (ever the optimist) I am still confident we will have a few more sunny days before the bad weather sets in.  Perhaps we will have a warm autumn.  The forecast for today is pretty grim, although at the moment (early morning) it looks lovely outside.  Cool, but very sunny - hope it lasts longer than predicted.

This week has been full of bag-decorating, card-making, list producing (for what I need to get ready for Christmas events), an 84th-birthday supper, collecting kittens that I am fostering and, despite the frequent soggy weather, gardening.  It seems to be a bit of a rush to get things tidied up in the the garden for winter now that the weather has changed.

The working week began with decorating bags with my cake-making friend, Linda.  We made some lovely cupcakes (sadly not edible ones), which we lightly padded and then fixed them to the jute bags.  I forgot to take photographs (what's new?), but will do next time we meet up - they do look good and I hope they will be popular.

Decorating jute bags seems to be a popular activity at the moment and it is interesting to see the variety of methods that are being used: ironing on pictures, material, etc, making things, ie cupcakes, to fix to the bag, as well as printing - not sure how this is done, although I know you can buy pre-printed ones using your own design.  Here are a couple of photographs of ones I have decorated this week:

This was produced using a panel of fashion and sewing pictures that I found.  I have cut the small pictures up and using Bondaweb, fixed them to the bag.  A slow process really, lots of cutting, trimming and ironing.

This is a work-in-progress as I want to add glittery mini-butterflies to the design.  I used a similar process to the above bag, good old Bondaweb.

Last week I promised that I would post pictures of some of the beautiful Heucheras I bought from the Wisley Plant Fair and here are some of them:

The colours are so gorgeous.  The first flower bed nearest to the back door into our garden was turned into a Heuchera bed last year and the plan for this year is to move the table and chairs on the patio well over to the left so that when we look out onto the dark, grim and grey winter days we will see these beautiful plants and the weather will not seem so grim and grey.

Many years ago we purchased two geese (no, not real ones).  We put them in various places around the garden and have to anchor them to the ground because various members of the Pie Five like to jump on them or knock them over!  Here is a rare photograph of them upright.  We, unimaginatively we know, named them Goosey and Gander:

Final picture for this week is of my two new foster kittens - I was able to name them and in keeping with my love of plants I called them Rosie and Violet.  They are 9 weeks old and, as you can imagine, very small.  On day one (Thursday) they were nervous, Violet more so - she is on the right hand side of the photograph.  Three days later they are bundles of adventurous inquisitive fun.  You can find out more information about them on the Woking Cats Protection website

Last but by no means least, don't forget to visit this week's Handmade Monday blog posts.  I love to see the variety of work the contributors to this event make - everyone is so talented.

Thank you to everyone who visited my blog post last week - I love to read your comments and the feedback and help is always appreciated.

My Friday Guest Blogger spot is 'open' if anyone would like to join in.  I have some lovely bloggers signed up already and I am looking forward to getting things up and running again.  If you would like to be a guest blogger, do get in touch: christmaspiecrafts@virginmedia.com.

Have a great week everyone - 'see' you next weekend.

Jill

MILLY'S DIARY

Hi everyone

The mornings are chilly, the nights are chilly and the last couple of days have been a little cool too.  I am not keen on grey days, I am a sunshine girl.  This is going to be my first winter of 'going outside'.  Last winter I was a foster kitten then kept in by Jill and Richard when  they adopted me until I was ready to face the world - or rather the world was ready to face me.  I think my first foray into the garden was in April of this year.

I have been helping Jill in the garden - she spent yesterday morning digging holes and putting in the 'things in pots' she bought at a place called Wisley.  Once they were in the holes, I thought it would help if I laid next to them to keep them warm and also tidy up the soil around them.  Jill said they didn't really need my help.  I wonder why.

Poppy caught a mouse yesterday!  Not on, Poppy!  That's my job.  These young kittens do seem to be very cheeky and even worse, Coco spent all of yesterday evening on Jill's lap!  That's my spot, but I did manage to squeeze on as well - good job we are both small.

I understand we are getting two foster kittens tomorrow - I must make sure they get the message they are foster kittens not ones to be adopted here.  No room here kittens!  I am sure Jill will tell me they are gorgeous - but I will let you know all about them in my post next week.

Time for me to go because it looks as though the sun is trying to come out.

Have fun everyone - see you next week.

Milly

SUN, SAND AND SHOWERS

Hi everyone

As the post title says, it has been a week of sun, sand and showers for us.  At the beginning of the week we spent a few days with Richard's sister in Norwich.  A very interesting city with lots of great buildings to explore and we were disappointed we only had a few days there.  Here are some photographs I took while we were in and around Norwich:

A view of Norwich Cathedral through an archway

Norwich was playing 'host' to more to 50 life-sized gorillas that created a conservation art trail throughout the city centre.  We saw some beautifully decorated ones, and the above photograph is of one of those we 'met' in our travels.

I also took a photograph of the Edith Cavell monument in Norwich, but am embarrassed to admit that I chopped her head off!  

We spent one day in the lovely Wells-at-the-sea.  We walked the full length of the beach and arrived rather tired at Holkham Hall.  It was lovely walking through the sea and of course walking on sand is pretty good exercise.  The beach at Wells-at-the-sea is BIG, clean and not very busy on the day we were there.

There hasn't been a lot of crafting carried out this week, but I feel a lot has been packed into our 'holiday'.  We rounded it off with a family get-together yesterday; cousins (Maralyn and Evelyn) and sister (Anne), plus husbands joined us and as always we had a great time, lots of laughs and sadly as always, the time went far too fast.  Looking forward to the next one.

Today a friend and I went to the Plant Fair At Wisley and thoroughly enjoyed our visit.  I bought lots of my favourite plant: Heucheras (I will include some photographs next week), as well as some Sempervivums to put in pots around our pond.  Despite the rain, it was very popular and we only got caught out once - we decided to shelter in the Dahlia marquee and as you can imagine, there were some absolutely gorgeous blooms on show.  Here are some of them:

The variety of colours was superb and some of the blooms were the size of dinner plates.  All so lovely.

Back to serious work this week.  A bag decorating session tomorrow afternoon with my cake-making friend and back after a long gap at the Jacob's Well country Market on Friday.  And, two kittens arriving here on Thursday - definitely for fostering, not for adopting.  I think the Five Pie's would kick up a storm if we adopted any more.

Thank you to everyone who visited my blog this week and in particular to those who gave me ideas for getting rid of the wrinkles and creases on the jute bags I am decorating.  Steaming has helped and I think while they are a little damp weighting them down has also helped solve the problem.  I took delivery of some more this week and they were crease and crinkle-free, so I am hoping the first ones were the only wrinkly ones.

It's time now to visit Handmade Monday and catch up with my fellow crafting bloggers - a great opportunity to find out what they have all been doing over the last week.

Have a great week everyone - I will be back next Sunday and Milly will be here on Wednesday.

Jill

MILLY'S DIARY

Hello everyone

They're back!  How dare they go away and expect me to look after Jazz, Daisy, Poppy and Coco all on my own!  Okay, okay, I wasn't completely on my own, our neighbour, Jean, was looking after us.  Why couldn't they take us with them?  If I was going away, I would make sure they could come with me.  Humans can be so selfish at times :0)

I disgraced myself by catching a pigeon for their home-coming though - well, they said I disgraced myself.  Me?  I thought it was very good of me to think about them needing a meal when they got home.  You really cannot please some people, can you?

I did miss them both very much and I know they missed me - they told me so - and yes, they did miss the rest of the Pie Cats.  No pressies for us although they came home with plants for the garden, so more lovely soil will be available for all of us to roll in and dig holes in.

It's a mini post today as Jill needs the laptop - something about catching up with her emails, whatever that means.  I will be back next week with lots of news from here in Christmas Pie.

Have a good week everyone.

Milly

SUMMER IN THE CITY - AND EVERYWHERE ELSE

Hi everyone

Isn't this weather absolutely gorgeous?  The first day of September and more sunshine is forecast - long may summer last.  It will certainly help keep the heating bills low!

My first week of 'our holiday' has been busy.  Lots of gardening, lots of housework (de-cluttering really), some crafting, lots of planning and booking into another pre-Christmas event.  It is one I have done before, is very well organised and a great group of crafters are involved.

Time in the garden has been spent re-shaping beds, removing weeds (never-ending) and taking cuttings for

next season.  We have what I refer to as our front front garden: it is on the other side of the boundary brick wall and used to be tatty, scruffy untidy grass.  Many years ago we dug up the grass and planted lots of bulbs and a few other plants.  The problem is the soil is incredibly dry and because of where it is, we do forget to tend it and often it is a trouble-shooting visit: remove weeds, trim other things, stick a few more donated and dug-up plants in.

However, we have decided that we really must do something long-term and have decided to take lots of cuttings from our existing plants and hopefully in spring we will be able to more or less cover the space.  Cuttings this week have been taken from our Rosemary, Euonymus, Hebe and Spirea plants.

Spirea, which grows very well at the back of our pond

I also took cuttings of lovely Mrs Popple, a really hardy fuchsia that has survived many freezing winters

Our lovely green and white Euonymous

We also have lots of naturally seeded Aquilegia and will sprinkle the seeds from those over the patch.  I have done this before and the problem is I forget, see the seedlings and think they are weeds and out comes the hoe!  As I said, we tend to treat this patch in a trouble-shooting frame of mind.  The plan is that next season our front front garden will be as full and well-tended as our front and back gardens - fingers crossed because I am great and the planning stage!

Crafting this week, or the limited amount has been spent on the jute bags I am decorating.  This is a work-in-progress one which has the hearts and flowers will be added during the coming week:

The jute bags I buy are lined and I need to find a way of removing the creases.  I don't think ironing is a good idea as the lining might melt.  I am looking for problem-solving ideas, suggestions please?

Once our holiday is over, I will be back on the 26-hour, 8 day a week crafting life.  I am concerned that from the end of September onwards I have lots of events scheduled and I really want to make sure I have plenty of stock beforehand rather than the usual knee-jerk reaction of making stock hours before the event opens.  I am sure I will be doing some of that, but would like to be well prepared this year.

An early blog post today, but in plenty of time to take part in this week's Handmade Monday.  I may be a little late with my blogging comments this weekend, but I will visit and comment on as many as possible by the middle of the week.  As always, thank you for visiting my blog and especially for the lovely comments left last week on my good news week post.

If you read my post early and you live in Surrey, try to go along to the RSPCA Millbrook, Chobham Open Day.  The Cats Protection branch I volunteer for, Woking, has a stand there so, if you have time, go along and see them and help them support the gorgeous kittens and cats looking for new homes.

Have fun everyone - see you next week.

Jill

MILLY'S DIARY

Hello everyone

No sunshine here yet, but Jill says it is on its way, just overslept a bit.  The evenings are getting a little chilly now and although I stay outside in the sunshine as long as possible, I am glad to come inside for my tea and a snoozey evening.

I have been helping frogs travel around the garden this week - problem is Jill keeps taking them away and putting them back in the pond!  Doesn't she realise they like to travel?  Perhaps when it is too cold for me to be outside in the winter I could be a travel agent for wildlife?  How about Catford?  Kathmandu?  How exciting - as long as it doesn't turn into a catastrophe!

Jill and Richard have friends coming round for a BBQ this evening - I wonder if you can barbecue Whiskas Chicken?  Could be a whole new flavour range.  I have to help them with the housework today, so best sign off quick so I can disappear.

Don't forget that this coming Sunday (1 September) is The Gala Day at RSPCA Millbrook in Chobham.  If you are in the area, please go to this event and have a look at all of the lovely animals needing new homes and help them raise lots of money.  Even better, visit the Woking Cats Protection stand and find out about all the gorgeous cats and kittens needing new homes.  Jazz was adopted from the RSPCA Millbrook branch and Daisy, Coco, Poppy and I were adopted from the Woking Cats Protection - very special places and people to us.

Housework beckons!  Yeh, as if!!

have a good week everyone - I will be back next Wednesday.

Milly

IT'S GOOD NEWS WEEK

Hi everyone

It looks like it is going to be a beautiful evening after what started out as a soggy grey morning.  'We' are on holiday this week and next week - having a break in Stopathome, which is located in Windowsill Bay.  A lovely place, lots of green fields and good walks around us, the chance to catch up with friends and do some relaxing - have to do some housework though, so not all fun.  Oh, and of course, the 'we' doesn't mean I can stop making things.  It is getting to the time of year when Christmas events are more plentiful than long sunny days so I need to keep on making.  I am determined this year, possibly for the first time in many years, to have plenty of stock ready for the Christmas fairs.

This week has been tag and bag week.  More tags - I now have bags of tags (sorry, couldn't resist that) so think I will call a halt to making them.  One of my 'makes' are decorated gift bags and I need to begin making stock because I want to ensure I have plenty of sizes ready for my event season.  I have been looking at decorating the 'bag for life' jute bags and played around with one and the results is this:

I love butterflies and these are a particular gorgeous fuchsia pink.  It looks as though it should be easy-peasy to decorate, but believe me it wasn't!   Lining up the butterflies, gluing and ensuring they are stuck correctly was time-consuming.  I might have a play around with some more during the next week or so (patience permitting) - I would like to have one or two to put out at the Ripley Nurseries Craft & Food Fair on 31 August as a test run to see if there is any interest.

We have a big family get-together here in a couple of weeks time and we are trying to get our garden looking neat and tidy.  Not easy with five cats - no, not what you are thinking!  We have to be very careful with the tools we use as they think everything is a potential toy!.  Hose pipes are snakes to be chased, ladders are to be climbed, as are apple trees; rakes are for chasing (why?) and low plants are for snoozing on, in and under!  However, one plant that has survived well - probably because I moved it into a pot - is one of my Heuchera's.  I love these plants - the colours of their leaves are stunning.  Often it is like having the beautiful colours of autumn all year long.  This is one of my favourites:

It has a mix of gold, brown, red and yellow leaves; its name is Sweet Tea.  Among my 'collection' I have a bright lime green Heuchera called Key Lime Pie and a stunning dark red one called Fire Chief.  The flowers of Heuchera are almost non-existent, their beauty is in the leaves.  My favourite plant?  I think it is pretty close to the top.  What are your favourite plants?

Last week I mentioned about the wood-framed pond we moved from one side of the garden which was a big hit with the Christmas Pie cats.  Here is a picture of Coco dropping in for a pint!

The sun is still shining, so it's back into the garden.  It seems very quiet out there and that means Richard has decided to sit and watch the grass grow rather than cut it.  Have to put a stop to that.

Oh, and the reason for the title of this week's post?  I had the results of my operation this week and was very pleased to be told that the tumour that had been removed was benign!  What a relief!  There are very few times when I have felt like jumping up and down in a hospital, but this was one of them.  A very good news week for me.

Enjoy the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend everyone and I hope the weather is good for you, but before you go off to enjoy yourself, don't forget to whiz over to Handmade Monday - would you believe it is week 131?  Lots of lovely blogs to read.

See you next week.

Jill

MILLY'S DIARY

Hello everyone

I began this week's diary really early, then I got side-tracked!  I had planned to post almost as soon as I had eaten my breakfast, but everywhere outside looked so good that I just forget my diary and rushed out into the garden to play.  Jill has been doing lots of plant moving, so there is lots of lovely soft soil to dig up - even if all I do is dig a hole and walk away from it, it is good fun!

My fellow kittens (and cats of course) are so pleased Jill and Richard moved their wooden pond container because we now have a giant water bowl in the garden - they are so kind to us.  I wonder if any frogs will make their home in this pond??  It does have a lovely lily in the middle, or is that a lovely Milly?

Woking Cats Protection are having a stand at the RSPCA Millbrook Open Day on Sunday, 1 September and Jill will be helping out in the morning.  If you are going to the event, please visit the stand and Jill will be able to tell you how gorgeous I am - oh and she will also tell you about Jazz, Daisy, Coco and Poppy too.  There will be lots of photographs and information about the branch's cats and kittens that are looking for new homes, so please do go along and support them.

The garden is calling me, well the frogs, flies and butterflies are.  I will be back next week.  Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend everyone.

Milly

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

Hi everyone

I am sure we all have days (weeks?) where we wonder what we have done with our time - very little to show for it, but every hour has been jam-packed with work.  I think I mentioned in an earlier email that a friend of mine writes down everything she has carried out each day - she feels it is satisfying to look back at the work she has accomplished rather than as with a To-Do List reviewing what has not been completed.  I think I should do that.

However, despite feeling I don't have a lot of work to show for my week, I have made oodles of gift tags and am really pleased that I will have a large stock for the Ripley Nurseries event this month (31 August).  Now in the craft world (rather as in the fashion world) we know we have to be months ahead of real time and just in case there are any keen early Christmas shoppers at the event, I have made quite a few Christmas tags.

Here are some photographs of the newest sets and last week's ones which have now been ribboned and bagged:

We have also spent a lot of time working in the garden.  Pruning, planting, moving and general tidying up.  We have a big family get-together here at the end of the month, so want to make sure everything is looking good.  We moved a wooden-framed pond from one side of the garden to the other - it was empty, thank goodness.  We replanted it and not sure if the move was a good idea as the newest members of our cat family, Coco and Poppy, think it is a new water bowl for them!

We have a bumper crop of apples on our Worcester Pearmain tree this year - it is one of the late ripeners and is usually just right for picking in late October:

We didn't prune it at the end of the last season, something we regret given the very heavy crop.  Interestingly we had very little June drop this year, not sure if it was because of the weather or some other reason.  It is some natural pruning that is always welcome although at the time it happens it seems disappointing.  Nature's way of sorting out the duff apples from the good ones.

Among the many favourite plants in my garden is the Acanthus (Bear's Breeches).  It is a lovely plant and the flower stems are magnificent.  Here is a photograph of one of the flower heads after the white flowers have finished.  I want to split this at the end of the season as I have several other places in the garden where it would look good.

One last photograph, this time of Coco who has spent today dodging the rain and the garden sprayer.  She is relaxing here in the conservatory.  It is a hard life being a cat:

I have just had a quick look at this week's Handmade Monday post.  Wendy has chosen her Digi-Stamp Design Team and I already know that each team member's work is lovely and I am looking forward to seeing more of it.  Wendy has a mid-week paper-craft challenge - certainly looking forward to that too.  So, don't forget to nip over and have a read of this week's post and catch up with the other bloggers taking part.

Have a great week everyone.  Hard to believe it is nearly the last Bank holiday before Christmas, but hot though it may have been at times, it has been a great summer with hopefully lots more sunny days to come.

A friend and I (Lesley (the lovely Mad Dog Woman of Shackleford)) are trying to arrange a Macmillan Coffee Morning to take place on 27 September so watch this space as I hope to have some information about it next Sunday.

See you next week and don't forget to call in here on Wednesday to catch up with Milly's tails.

Jill

MILLY'S DIARY

Hello everyone

Where has the sun gone?  It's rather grey here and, dare I say it, cold.  I hope summer hasn't gone for good - not that I want it to be too hot because I snooze a lot then, and I do prefer to be playing.

I blotted my copy book (whatever that is) on Sunday.  No, nothing to do with anything flying, hoping or jumping.  I ran in front of a car that was travelling down my road - lucky for me it was going slowly and it stopped outside the house opposite to us.  Normally we all get shut in when Jill and Richard are working in the front garden, because we want to be out there with them.  Jazz likes to walk up the road (often in the middle of it) to see his friends, the rest of us like to wander around to visit near neighbours.  This time, because Jill was only going to do a little weeding, we were not shut in.  Bad decision.  I don't like cars and normally I sit very small  and still when they go by, but this time I wanted to get back home.  Thank goodness it wasn't one of those idiots I wrote about last week.  Have I lost one of those 9 lives cats have?  I may not have, but I think Jill did!

Those of you that have cats know how hard it is to keep us close and in our own garden, but we cats are so incredibly nosey and always want to see what is happening elsewhere.  Jill and Richard keep saying they would like to put a massive great big cage over our garden so that we could never leave it - seems a bit mean, because we do like to investigate.

Still no sunshine, but I think it is time for me to check up on Coco and Poppy - young kittens need a grown up to help them.  Have a good week everyone and don't forget to visit Woking Cats Protection to have a look at the lovely kittens and cats looking for their new home.

See you next week.

Milly