Frank and Josie's House

We love  Westonbirt . As a family we try and go there once a week. It doesn't always happen because life is busy but we try, whether it's just me and the dogs or the whole clan. I mean just look at these colours.  The perfect place for a crocheter looking for inspiration. These Japanese Maples are the main attraction during Westonbirt's Autumn Colours feature. So many beautiful colours that it's difficult to really capture. The colours range from bright orange to dark purple with a vibrant red in between. These photos were mainly taken in the Maple Loop of Silk Woods. I took the kids, dogs and our friend during half term and even on a chilly day when we were bitten by little bugs we still had a great day. The kids always collect leaves during this season. They never seem too old for it. The picture below is of some tiny maple leaves. The hand below the leaves belongs to Merida to she you how tiny they are. It's a great place, always has been in our experience, and s

Bat wings, mummy fingers, carrots cut in the shape of pumpkins, monster cupcakes and ghost gingerbread - it must have been Hallowe'en! We love Hallowe'en in our house, can you tell? Every year we do something for it, even if it's something silly at home like dressing up and painting faces, apple bobbing and dancing to Hallowe'en related songs. This year the main focus was on fun and food! My sister invited us to her house in Dorset to spend the weekend (just) before Hallowe'en. It was the end of half term week and seemed a good note to end the holiday on. The idea was to dress up and play games and watch the Hallowe'en Strictly Come Dancing . I started talking to Merida about the food side of things and we mentioned blood soup and all sorts of grisly ideas. I then logged on to  Pinterest  and then had many more ideas, as is the way of a good Pinterest search! Before I knew it I'd created a new  seasonal recipes board ! So many wonderful ideas. The ones I pic

Since the kids have gone back to school life has ramped  up to craziness. I know that sentence doesn't quite make sense but I'm tired and wanted to write a blog post about how wonderful I am. (Now there's a statement of self-confidence if ever there was one). I've been neglecting my lovely crochet and prioritising singing. I was asked to be a soloist in a concert (ok so I was asked by my dad but the local paper gave me a good review), I had a gig with my a cappella group and I was in a play (in which I did more singing than had lines ironically, but it was super fun). All of it was great to get the creative juices flowing and the vocal chords warbling.  Here I am doing my thing  But now I'm back to crafting and starting with a little upcycling (I'm still unsure about that word). Basically I wanted to clear a few things out of my house. My son's duvet got trashed by going through the eash, despite carefully followed washing instructions. The outside covering