Ridgeway Cottage anyhow

We may be heading towards the Spring in the UK but outside it really is properly dreary, the complete opposite to those dreamy two weeks I spent drenched in sunlight whilst I was in Australia. I've been spoilt by my trip overseas, I no longer wish to settle for grey drizzle now that I have had a glimpse of those golden rays. But as the chances of me going anywhere other than work, to make up the hours I missed, are very slim, I thought I might try to spread a little happiness with a "Beach" style give away.   So I am giving away this hand and machine stitched mini quilt. It had a red, white and blue striped background with blue coloured cotton lettering, edged with white hand sewn running stitch. It is made totally from reused and recycled fabrics. Pre-loved Story The striped fabric is from one of my favourite charity shops, Age Concern. There is a small box of scrap fabric which I always look through. This fabric was brought about 3 years ago and ha...

Doesn't time just fly, I had to check on my calendar that I really should be on week 7 and that I hadn't got carried away and ahead of myself. There are days when I do wish that there was a pause button so I could hold things there for a moment, really get a chance to be in that moment before it slips through my fingers. No. 1 I sat on the beach, knitting a blanket for my baby nephew and watched the sun set. It was one of those times that I knew would never happen again and it was one I wanted to hold on to as long as possible or at least until the sun went down. No. 2 the seagulls in Australia are much smaller than their English cousins. My children thought it might be that they aren't as greedy and lazy as our chip stealing Kentish gulls No. 3 all good things come to an end and although the prospect of leaving my Aussie family didn't really make me happy, returning to my own children and husband did No. 4 it was over 30 years between my first trip to Austr...

I'm still catching up with all the happiness. It really is quite bizarre being tucked up in my cosy bed with snow flurries dancing outside the window whilst I put together a collage of photos from just a few days ago when I was in Australia, basking in the glorious sun, swimming in the surf and enjoying the soaring temperatures. No. 1 swimming in the sea after school in our dresses with my adorable niece No. 2 an early morning run along the coast line at sunrise No. 3 trekking through the rain forest and battling against the outback on a beautifully maintained footpath approximately 150m from the visitors centre at Fitzroy Falls No. 4 cuddles and kisses with my brand new nephew, I love him so much x   Posted with Blogsy

Although I've only just returned from Australia, I'm not quite settling back into the old routine again yet. This time I've got an invite from Lou over at Make Do Sew to do a guest post, which is totally exciting because it means that someone trusts me to create a post worthy of appearing on their blog. I hope I don't let Lou or her readers down as I have chosen to showcase my bad knitting skills. You can check out the post here and take a look at Lou's blog which I think is rather lovely.

I am behind with my posting about my weeks of happy but definitely not lacking in happy events and lovely, lovely photos to include. I am almost exploding with happiness after my brief trip to Australia for the birth of my new nephew and then returning home to my wonderful husband and my own crazy kidlets. Goodbye England - I left England at lunch time on 30th January 2013 with a mixture of tears, excitement and expectations Sydney - I flew into Sydney as the sun rose on 1st February Bronte - I went straight from the airport to Bronte to the beach, dropped in on my brother and had a play with my Aussie nieces and nephew Kiama - I finally arrived at my destination late in the afternoon     Posted with Blogsy

    Although I am spending Valentine's day with the new man in my life, my heart still belongs to my husband. I am sad to be thousands of miles away from the one I love but have spent the day collecting hearts in order to send a huge and enormous amount of love to him.     Happy Valentine's Day Posted with Blogsy

  A while ago I read a blog post by the inspirational Pip Lincoln about the limitations of blogging on the beach. Despite her reservations about the inpracticalities, it was totally and most definitely something I wanted to try. To be honest, if the blogging part didn't work out, then I could just simply have a rather special time hanging out on the beach. (Having seen a positively ancient surfer chick catching some waves the other day, I am not so concerned about looking frightful in a bikini. I rather like the anything goes style of Kiama.) At the time I never thought that I would get the chance to blog Aussie style stretched out on a towel, basking in the sun like a lizard. More like huddled over a coffee, while the wind whipped up a storm outside and the rain lashed down against a desolate cafe in Margate. But here I am on the other side of the world, a million miles away from my real life and right up close to the thing I miss the most when I am at home, my sister. I ...