An Irish Blessing

Ok. So...it's not St. Patrick's Day. I'm barely Irish {my paternal grandmother was Irish, just like most American's from the east coast!}.

 My brother in law,we'll call him, Larry Woo, is in the process of applying for the RAF or Royal Air Force. He's taken and passed his written exam. All that's left is an interview and physical exam.
Larry was born an old man. According to his mother he was in fact quite a wrinkly baby as be decided to grace everyone with his presence a few weeks early. He's that type of person, he likes to be in the midst of whatever is going on. Unlike my husband who would rather sit back and take it all in.
Not only was Larry Woo born an old conservative soul, but he was born an old world Irish Gypsy traveller. I can not possibly explain it all now. But for an example... 
Once he was so annoyed by his parents and their "mithering" he pitched a tent in their field and slept there for two weeks.
Another time he moved a smelly old caravan into the bottom of the field and lived in that thing with no running water or toilet for months!

 While he's preparing for the RAF he's been living at home. He had to move back to the village in June. He began the overhaul of the shed knowing that it would only be a matter of time before he couldn't take living IN the house any more. To his credit he has completely transformed the horrible, damp, spider ridden shed into a tiny house! He's installed the wiring, insulated the whole building, rebuilt the floors, put up walls, plastered the walls, installed a kitchen and the last bit is the plumbing. I've gotten to go on lots of trips to the DIY store which I enjoy as it's sort of crafty in a way.

Now that his walls have been finished I offered to paint an Irish blessing above his door just to complete all of his hard work. 
Only an Irish Blessing will do, because, as I described before, he's an old fashioned Irish Gypsy Traveller.

I thought of the most well known blessing "May the road rise to meet you..." but I'm more drawn to this one after all:

Lovely card by quotablecards.com

Old man Larry is just the type to get all misty eyed about such a verse. So am I to be sure.

Love,

Cute Vintage Sewing Stuff!

I am always on the hunt for cute vintage sewing treasures! Lookie what I've seen today!

Vintage Wooden Shoe Pin Cushion

Vintage Promotional Needle Cases

1873 Red Needle Case

Vintage Wooden Spools of Sewing Thread

1940s Calico Fabric

 

Swooooooon!

Help A Hedgehog Hospital Auction

I wanted to share a special project that I'm so happy to be able to help with.

Help A Hedgehog Hospital Auction

 

 As some of you know I have a very soft place in my heart for hedgehogs because of our little Poppy. I never paid much attention to hedgehogs before Poppy came into our life. Ever since then, and especially once she'd passed out of our life, I've wanted to do something to help as many little hedgies as I can.

One of the tiny hogs currently in care, far too small to survive hibernation, so will stay in the hospital until the spring.
She would had died if she hadnt been handed in to the hospital.

Help A Hedgehog Hospital is located in Gloucester, which is in South West England. 

Hedgehogs have always been a much-loved feature of the British countryside and are known as the gardener’s friend due to their appetite for slugs and snails and other garden pests. However, hedgehogs are in need of help and are now even classed as an endangered species in Britain. Road casualties and loss of habitat are the main causes of a decline in the U.K. hedgehog population. Changes in farming and land management have led to fewer places for hedgehogs to live and forage in the countryside and this, added to a loss of gardens to forage in as people turn them into car parking spaces or decking-covered patios all means less room for our spiny friends.

These poor little animals need as much help as we can give them, Help A Hedgehog Hospital has come up with a very clever way to raise money to continue helping as many "hogs" as possible!

A FACEBOOK AUCTION!

The silent auction will be held on their facebook page (click the link & join in!) on Friday the 28th January 2011 at 7pm (GMT) for 5 days! 

Some Hedgehog loving crafters have gotten together to donate items for the auction! Here's a sneek peek! 

And that is just a small sample of the wonderful handmade and other items donated for the love of the hogs :)

I don't think it matters where in the world you live, the Hedgehog Hospital just needs help to keep the wee hedgehogs warm and fed and healing. Please "like" the facebook page and share it with anyone you think might be interested. If you'd like to donate anything for auction let me know and I'll put you in touch with the person in charge.

As I get ready to sign off I'll show you what I'm donating

1930s acrylic rose beads on antiqued bronze ear wires

Bid big starting on Friday 28th January!

Jet Lag!

Hello my friends! I'm back in the UK! We arrived in London at 6:30 GMT yesterday and arrived back at our little flat around 4pm. Boy oh boy we were tired!
Our little Truman was so excited to see us much to my surprise, he usually won't speak to us if we've not been home a lot.
I've found that he's been ripping up carpet though - very bad news. Any carpet patching advice is extremely welcome.

Very good news - I was allowed back into the UK without my identity card which I'd sent to the DVLA as part of my application for my provisional license aka learner's permit. My provisional license was in the large pile of post waiting for us! It was issued on Christmas eve :D

Today we'll both be laying around and adjusting to this time zone. I was woken by Truman's carpet ripping and found that it's snowing! Kelsall is once again a winter wonderland!

So I'm sitting in bed with my lap top and phone loaded up with podcasts and games. This is good!

I've been a Louse!

Sorry Charlies. I've been so busy & then this week I've been doing endless laundry because we're going home to South Carolina for Christmas!!!!

I survived the seasonal craft fairs! I celebrated our second wedding anniversary! I baked a 4 layer American Chocolate Fudge Cake for my bro in law's birthday.
I've been at the market Thursdays through Saturdays and attending my business planning meetings and trying to squeeze Christmas shopping in there too - I didn't think far enough ahead to make presents. Maybe I'll be that organised next year!

So yeah. Pretty busy.

But it'll all be worth it because I am spending my first Christmas home in 5 years and I can hardly wait! It is my favorite time of year and I have found the last few Christmases quite....depressing. My family has traditions and it's just hard when you're far away at special times. But THIS year all of the family is going to be there!!!! Every single one! I'm going to see my nieces open presents on Christmas morning for the first time! Then it's back to my mom's house for a HUGE meal. AND THEN as some friends who don't live locally anymore are getting together on boxing day! It's going to be wooooonderful! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I'm already in vacation mode. Not bothered about working, I just wanna get this house clean and the last few tins of chocolate bought.

I've finally sent off for my provisional license {like a learning permit}. I am excited about that too!
The search is on for a cute & safe car with great gas mileage!

So there ya have it folks! I need to get back to laundry and a few other little jobs before I head back to the ole market tomorrow!!!
Bye bye for now!