Another Year Older!

Yes I'm another year older. It was my birthday at the weekend, and what a lovely weekend I had, all thanks to my wonderful man and my family.
On Friday my mum and dad came over from East Yorkshire for the weekend. Its like show and tell when they arrive, as we all craft in some way and always have lots to tell each other and our latest projects to show off!

Saturday brought a trip to Embsay Craft Mill, near Skipton. It was my mum and dads first visit, although we nearly didn't get there as dads car decided it didn't want to move off the drive! My wonderful man stepped into the breach and offered to take us all, which I thought was very selfless of him, as he has no interest in fabric and yarns and must have known we'd be there for hours! We had a lovely bimble around all the fabrics and paper crafts, touching and stroking, ooing and aahing! Generally acting like kids in a sweet shop.

I bought these lovely fat quarters to make skirts for my Lola dolls. (well that's the plan!)

Sunday started with a lovely cup of tea in bed and a pile of birthday cards to open, followed by a leisurely shower. Then a quick dash to hang the washing out (school uniforms) before opening all my lovely birthday presents with the family. I got so many beautiful cards and I would just like to say thank you to everyone. Here are two very special handmade cards.
This was made by my mum and must have taken her hours! Its pergamano, which is special translucent paper, pricked and embossed!

And this one was made by child #2, with the sweetest sentiments handwritten inside. She always makes me cry!

Here are some gorgeous hardanger shelf trims made by my dad, he secretly phoned my wonderful man while I was out and got him to measure the shelves at either side of my cooker!

Yes. There is a tile missing behind the cooker. It's a long story! Hopefully it will be with us soon!

Isn't it beautiful, I hope he enjoyed making it because I've asked him for another piece to edge my dresser shelf! Then as if that wasn't enough, he'd made me a matching photo frame with my children's last school photo inside. I blubbed uncontrollably!
The embroidered box was also made by my dad and contained my shelf edging. Here's a close up.

I wish I'd taken photos of my mums gifts before I'd opened them. They're always so beautifully wrapped with ribbons and trims. This one was a box of scrummy fabric and ribbon bits and pieces, I'll be dipping into this for weeks to come!

The key ring is from my lovely friend Sam, we both used to work a very long shift together and I miss her 'shed loads!'

And lastly the very generous gift from my wonderful man. My very own laptop, so now I have no excuses for not posting regularly. No more queueing up for the family computer, or waiting for the children to finish their homework!

I'll save the rest of my birthday post for next time, as after this marathon gift opening session I headed off to our local market hall for a table top sale!... Well it was in aid of the local school!!!

So from my little corner, cheerybye for now. Fi x