Hard day but good job done

So today saw rob and I tackling the many trips to the tip with the stuff which was dragged out of Milton and dumped into the cottage and garages.... We knew most things where not recoverable but we weren't ready to let go.  Anyway we tackled it and amazingly in some containers things which shouldn't have been in them were so I have now got two sets of jewellery we thought had melted. :) also my dads harmonica survived and well the tears flowed but it seems to work not that I can play it..... Yet lol.  Would you believe that the we note which I wrote at his funeral has survived along with those of rob lindsay Ann-Marie and my mums.  So in the next day or two they can have them if they want them.  Never expected to find those things.  Also very soggy but may just be ok for scanning some photos of Lindsay as a brownie lol hope they scan and then she will have some of her childhood  photos again.  I am not sure yet if any of Ann-Marie have survived as didn't want to peel too many until scanner was fired up.  Guess what I will be doing this week.

So now rob has a totally cleared man cave to put his stuff in over the next week he is a happy bunny.  Thanks have to go to Tom Butcher who inspired me to get on with it when he came on Saturday and I must say he really won't recognise the place now...

So as I mentioned at the beginning

This has been a really difficult task but now it is done I have got lots of wee reminders back and feel so lucky :) 

What we have been up to part 1

What to say?

So much has happened since we moved into Milton but having weeks and weeks of no Internet has not made it much fun so now what to chat about first....

Milton is beautiful and living back in her is wonderful, exciting, interesting, poignant, strange, but fun as ever. Rob is a tad worried as I am a bit anal about keeping her very tidy, he is being patient and thank goodness for that because I find myself actually not having something
Because I has just wiped the work
Tops lol. As you who know me this is very novel and I am sure it won't continue but in my defence I do feel that so many people will want to see her now she is finished ( relative finished some outside jobs by builders still not finished) and well
I want to show he at her best of course. So what have we been
Doing with ourselves

This last few weeks. Well we have had a few weekends away in vinnie and also been on holiday in the lake district with wee emilidh.

Our holiday was pure pleasure we bought just before we went a wee cube awning so that we could keep our space on the site when we went away each day and also so the table and chairs could be left and not packed away each time. The cube was awesome it made life so much easier for us and was really quick to erect and not much trouble to attach or detach when we went out and about.


Our routine on holiday was up. Breakfast ( rob does a mean bacon roll in vinnie) which was always tasty courtesy of the wonderful food from Booths. Then we went out for the day now as it was wet for the first half of the holiday we did fall back onto our wet day plans and so a trip to the illusion experience in Keswick was a great call. We had gone before with emilidh but this year she really got the illusions and it was so much fun showing and sharing the experience with her the laughter was loud and very frequent and also seeing the wonder on her face made me want to thank the rain. Now at the end of the day it would have been rude not to have gone to the swimming pool in Keswick
With its wave machine and so we went every day bar one and spent at least 1 1/2 hours jumping the waves each visit... The bruises I ended up with. We're all my own fault but needless to say if I had been taller I might have managed not to be dragged back and forth over the bottom of the pool.. Lol I went down my first ever flume and well it was fun but not sure I would do it again there as it was dark for some of it and I didn't like that part.

We then would head back to the campsite for a spot of tennis, frisbee and footie, usually while dinners was being made, then following dinner till the midges got us and then it was back to vinnie for hot tea and dunking biscuits whole we had a story and then we all turned in... These evenings times were special and I still get a warm feeling when I remember them. Thanks wee emilidh you were a wee star.

Now you will notice that there are not photos at the moment in his blog post that is because I don't have any on the iPad and don't yet know how to add ones from camera to it. Sorry but trust me they are great photos too.

Think I will finish now more of our summer adventures shortly

Milton has no internet

Sorry friends but Milton has no internet so its very hard to post blogs but hope to get a chance shortly.  This is a quick five minutes at my mums....

We are all well and more furniture is installed...just the last minute snaggs like dressing the internal doors and doing some outside paint work, the upstandings in the kitchen, these are the jobs left to the builders...then some carpets need fitting and B.T. needs to give us a landline for internet connection (this isnt due till near the end of August so it will be a time yet before normal life can commence)  Miss keeping up with you all... keep well, take care and remember smile and have fun I do...

We Are In..............Hurrah

Wow what a mammoth weekend we have had... It started on thursday with Rob finishing work at 4 and us dismantling and loading our bed into the wonderful Vinnie... erm ok so it took two trips and once the mattress was in we had to call on the Mossatron to help shift it out of the Vinster again.... anyway that done it was our first night at Milton... We celebrated in true F1 styly and shook a bottle of champagne and outside our own front door we popped the cork and drank from the bottle ( Fiona you said it was to be done and well we did it thanks).. then with full glasses we stood and took in the moment of moving back into our very beautiful Milton... was it emotional well yes it was but it was good emotion.  Then off to bed early to be ready for the next day.

Friday saw us up early and I managed to work our new microwave and make us porridge and coffee.  Then off to the flat after a quick visit to collect the van (ok so we had a wee hiccup there but nothing daft) we (as in Rob and Andrew) carried the boxes to the lift and then into the lobby at the flat and then I left them while the van arrived and went off to shop for supplies with Joanne and the children... we arrived at Milton at the same time as the van and so it was all hands on deck unloading shopping, boxes and for an hour I think it was chaos...however after that I got a handle on things and managed to direct the right boxes into the correct areas of Milton... We then all stopped for lunch.. the children sat wonderfully on the floor (no furniture moved yet) and had an impromptu picnic which they had earned carrying all those boxes in and up stairs for us... the grown ups (Rob and Andrew) had bacon butties and coffee and it was off to work again... By tea time the boxes were mostly moved and in situ so we waved a fond farewell with gratitude to Andrew who Rob informed me went of happily with a box of donuts...(Rob really doesn't understand how different they are to the wonderful baking Andrews darling wife Anne bakes...coals to Newcastle donuts aren't....lol)

So night two approaches but not until I had unloaded and put away most of the kitchen stuff and food and thoroughly did too much... still we went to bed then both shattered but armed with the tape measure as we needed to plan out what wardrobes etc we needed the next day on our trip to get furniture from Big cuz William... to aid this process it was obviously time for more champagne so we opened an nice bottle of moet rose (on offer at Morrisons thanks for that meant I bought double .....well it had to be done).. this time we decided to christen the back of Milton so we popped the cork out the upstairs window out over the roof.... and laughed liked children... so in bed champagne drinking deciding what would fit where... (recipe for disaster?  who knows the boxes are there now but we havent unpacked or put them together yet only time will tell)

Saturday morning saw us up early and on the 8 o'clock ferry and making our way to Dunes in the borders via Edinburgh Ikea........... OMG so this was the day that the heavens opened and we had a months rain in a day or so the weather men say we did... and well the Edinburgh bypass was not the place to be but we had no choice got stuck and well sat, I knitted, drove a yard, sat I knitted, sat some more for hours.... once we got to the Penicuik exit we dove off and thought lets get Ikea done, quickly and hopefully the water will have subsided and we will get through quicker... er nope... Ikea was the quickest grab and smash ever and we didn't buy a single thing not on the list not one ... what an achievement and it was back to the journey.  The roads to the bypass were gridlocked still and we did some more sitting but by this time were feeling the strain we had Cousin William and Kate waiting for us at Dunes both having travelled to be there.. Ok Kate from not far away but she had been away all week and William was making a flying visit from Brussels just to give us his furniture... Rob was really feeling it now but thankfully another hour or so saw the traffic moving and us back on track... albeit 5 hours later than expected... (enter phone call from big cuz William.... " How are you doing?  The A1 near us is now impassible we believe do you want to turn back?"..... lol er nope we were not going to turn round and retrace our very slow steps through it all again for hours but pushed on and made the rest of the journey in a respectable 1hour... phew yes there was some water about on the A1 but not as it had been and yes the rivers had burst their banks all around but the van and us Cooksley furniture movers battled through...(ok it was the easy leg of the journey now)... We arrived in time to spend half and hour with Kate before she had to dash then we sat and chewed the fat for another hour drinking coffee with William and then the task of filling the van began... We are enormously grateful William for the gift of your sofa's, shelving units, bistro marble table ( I adore!) and well the desk and wall shelves which are absolutely stunning and you are so fond of.  We have them in pride of place and well they are already our first family treasures and we feel very touched that you are giving us them on permanent loan.... (note permanent... think you will be fighting your wee cousin ...pistols at dawn and well he did teach you to shoot so may just win that contest...lol... if you want them back).. Honestly they are gorgeous and so us and Milton can't wait to get the pics taken to show you...thank you very very much...

We hope you neighbours in Dunes don't think we were the bailiffs but we did feel rotten driving off with all your lovely stuff when we left and not sure if you knew it but well I was crying... I know you will love being full time in Brussels but cuz we feel we have only just started to get to know you properly and now the channel is in between us again... oh well Vinnie does Brussels seems like a good plan for next year... good luck with selling at Dunes and buying in Brussels, we cant wait to see and share your lovely cosmopolitan life and well a wee bit of sun wouldn't go amiss...

Anyway we were back on the road and had a ferry to catch... so now as we drove off we suddenly heard these utterly load grumblings................oh oh we hadnt eaten since first thing...well Rob did demolish half a pack of hobnobs and some donuts but well I had some strawberries and some sour cherry haribo but we were hungry...now we were not more than 9 miles or so from St Abbs by this time and I know of a nice pub with excellent food in Coldingham visited each time we girls go to woolfish festival so I guided Rob along the narrow lanes to the pub... oh oh it was full to the brim and no tables for hours...not good... hungry movers here so we dashed across the road to the not so frequented pub and had a okish pub meal not the quality of my first choice but it was damn hot and filling and well we were starving... so thanks for that and I am sure the bar staff must have wondered at the couple who came in ordered instantly woofed down a meal and left again in less than 30 mins but wow did it make life nice in the van for the journey home to Milton which in the end was not exciting at all the flooding was gone and the roads were clear and we made excellent time... In,fact we were early so called in a supermarket and got supplies for the next days helpers..

So we made the 10.30 ferry and we we got to turn RIGHT as we disembarked.... Right is home to Milton and it felt good.

Straight to bed and although shattered and sore just not a sleep night for me and with no phone line or internet yet at Milton it was a long long night..

Sunday saw us up and ready for Lindsay and Chris as our helpers for the day aided by the gorgeous foo bear and my amazingly spritly mum... (omg have I worked her this last week...poor woman deserves a medal and also a big surprise..no idea yet what as its a surprise to me too)...lol

So first job was to unload the jigsaw puzzle of a van and then try to place the furniture in to Milton....lets just say some things have been moved around a few times...thanks for your patience Rob and Chris you two were stars...Afer the van was unloaded it time for first big flat load and well us ladies who couldnt do the lifting for various reasons just pottered around made some dinner and and well hung around... hard for all of us to feel so useless but well on this day there was little we could do physically....

A wee visit from Anne and wow she repaid the donuts Rob gave Andrew with a fine big box of cake and well the workers loved it all...thanks Anne was great to see you, you look so well and healthy for you sunny holiday and jealous me?  ok a bit your tan is lovely and you look so well... glad to see you and share our Milton and thanks for taking on altering my curtains to fit Miltons windows... you are a star and I am grateful..  

Lunch eaten and the boys off for another flat/garage trip (that garage at the flat was a nightmare filled but not organised and not had the weather to organise it since we moved from The Pier House) and Mum and I sat down for an afternoon of Tennis....Roger Federer and Andy Murray Wimbledon final... lots will be said and has been said but it was a good match Andy played great tennis and Roger did play better in the last set so he won but us Murray fans felt Andy was a great player and worthy of a win obviously it didn't happen this time but it will.... Go Andy you can do it and you will do it.

Mum skipped of home to watch in peace at her house as well we were still moving in and the too ing and frooing was not relaxing for her... Lindsay and I were very lucky to be able to share a bottle of Elderflower champagne with Catriona (maker of said champagne and inspiring us both to have a go next year..) the champagne hit the spot and well was wonderful too drink while watching the tennis even the wee strawberry you popped in from one of Miltons rogue bushes was perfect....

The tennis over was about the time the lads finished unloading etc and moving things etc so it was dinner on and then sit down and eat... Thanks to my wonderful mum who hates cooking but had provided a huge pot of mince bolognaise and quorn for the non meat eaters of us.... Funny remark of the evening was " granny made this?  too many vegetables in it for her cooking? " lol Chris priceless and true but it looked amazing and well she obviously used a char-grill veg jar too...lol

So Lindsay and Chris left with the foo bear and we looked around and well moved some stuff again of course.  We then got a wonderful visit from Alison and Peter and well what a hoot out came another bottle of champagne (thanks again Morrisons) and an hour of relaxation and chat and laughs...Thanks for such lovely present for Milton and well the baby camel is awesome.......Then it was time for bed this time I did fall asleep and well according to Rob it was instantly... all I know is that it was suddenly morning and the cleaning of the flat beckons along with a visit to the dentist and an email to the builders about all the things not finished in Milton..




So we are back in our beloved home and feeling great about it... Milton is very different now and that as it should be..... thanks to every single friend near and far who have made this last year bearable we couldn't have done it with out you all... special thanks to our families as they have been affected too by the devastating fire at Milton and you kept us going when at times it was hard for you all too.  Especial thanks to all our helpers and visitors this weekend you made what could have been a difficult/awkward emotional time fun and full of laughter and we are now happy to say that 1 year and 2 months since the fire to the day we are back HOME and stronger for the ride we have had with you all.

so this is summer?

Ok so officially here its summer as the children have finished for the summer hols and yep the weather is not nice its murky and wet and the midgies are ferocious here at the moment... However on the bright side by the end of the week Rob and I will be moved back into Milton and wow cant wait till that happens..

Its with very mixed feelings all good but understandably some trepidation and nerves and wow a bucketful of emotion..

We snuck in yesterday to empty the first load of Vinnie and well sat on the sofa newly donated and gorgeous just the correct colour for our new Milton colour scheme...thanks Karen its perfect.  This weekend will see us dashing over to Berwick for Saturday and Rob and his big cuz filling the van with some leather sofas and chairs and a wee side table or two for the lounge at Milton and that will be lovely.... He is selling his wee pad there and getting something else I believe.... hope its not any further away coz we love it when we meet up for lunches when he come back to Scotland from Brussels....

So this is a wee post just to say hi and that well after tomorrow not sure if I will have internet connection as the flat is supposed to be off and Milton on tomorrow but you know these things it might not happen quite smoothly...lol

I will be taking photos when ever I can and then post them with phone whenever a 3 g signal appears so have fun all and will catch up again very soon...

And normal life can start in the new Milton only 14 months since our devastating fire...We cant wait to start making new memories in Milton again... hope some of you can join us making them

Pictures from Woolfest

So here are some of the pictures from Woolfest...time to sit back and enjoy the pretties...lol


And we arrive and eat in house with a wee drink to go with it

 And a wee picture of jo enjoying it lol, she is going to kill me for this ...lol

As you know from the previous blogs the weather was aweful but here are my purchases... Firstly from the lovely vintage lady I have my new to me sewing box, this is to replace the one my Nana gave me years ago and got lost in the fire... in it was a load of buttons and also a couple of other interesting things one which I have no idea what to do with it...

 Here is something to do with weaving do you recognise it and know how to use it? if so would love to know more...it says speed weaver on the back















Here all the buttons in all the trays have been grouped together I am so looking forward to finding a nice old tin to keep them in so Emilidh and I can have lots of fun riffling through them sorting the best most unusual and threading them or placing them on cards...

















Here are the other bits some binding and couple of wooden bobbins and one with a wee bit of cotton on it.

I couldn't resist a wee set of red buttons to add to the box so here they are aren't they cute...

Then I visited the Wool Shed and well couldnt resist the Herring Girl shawl which is already cast on and is being knit in this lovely Shetland and Hebridean DK.  This shawl is based on the traditional gansey patterns and is worked in squares and a few half squares and is then stitched together in Herringbone stitch hence its name.. I am hoping to finish this and use it over a fleece when we are camping in Vinnie and it gets chilly in the evening... 5 squares down only another 44 to go..

After that I visited the lovely Natalie at Yarn Yard and I am happy to say that this year she had some fleece plaits again... Natalie is just so good at dyeing that her colours in both yarn and fleece are what dreams are made of... just look at this...

The fibre is hopefully going to become a lovely shawl and well the yarn who knows but love the colours so much...Natalie also had some lovely silks which I couldnt resist along with a couple of tatting cottons just look at the colours I bought















Then I found what was my bargain of the weekend and that is this lovely spun Merino/silk, the lovely man said he had blended it and spun it to use in his merchandise but it was a tad over spun but would be nice for handspinners and he wasnt wrong... So if Mr Arbon of John Arbon Textiles feels like he would make a mistake again we hand spinners wont say no...lol














I also bought a wee bit of organic Falkland as the Islands are in the news at the moment and I thought it would be nice blended a bit with the lovely alpaca I got from the Clyde Coast Guild outing...lol










After those which are regular people I like to buy from I also got a lovely plait of jacob and must say I will be putting this wonderful stall on my list of regular stalls for next year


Adelaide Walker had the most gorgeous array of beautiful natural fibres and so so reasonable I will be visiting again asap...









Then this wee sparkly fibre shouted I want to be spun and then knitted into a shawl to go with your very nice long dress for a your autumnal cruise... so of course I couldnt resist the call of a lovely fibre like this one













Nom Nom

Then the lovely Timbertops had to have a visit... and well these wee shuttles just had to be in my basket to come home... :)

Then a wee present for Emilidh from the lovely ladies at the Braid Society, this is the summers crafting fun collection started... not long now wee Emilidh only got to keep going till Friday lunchtime then you are on your holidays hurrah.....













Not all my woolfest was about spending and acquiring honest... I spent a long time listening to the band just resting and when the clogg dancers came on it fair made my day this ladies never broke a sweat and they didnt have move their feet...









We were then treated to a lovely bit of fun two of the musicians came to the front with wee puppets and made these do a wee clogg dance while the rest of the band played such fun and well very entertaining

Notice the two styles the man on the right used his whole fist to make his puppet jump on the wooden plank where as the man on the left only drummed his fingers and his puppet was doing all sorts of arm contortions as well lol

There was an amazing collection of wonderful artistic talent on show all around the show ground and I could have taken so many photos but if honest I am no photographer and I was shattered most of the time so here is more from the lovely artist who needle felts dogs amongst other things...

And well of course I had to give the wee Alpacas another wee showcase they really are cute...lol

So this is only a wee taster of the amazing fibery pretties that were available at Woolfest but they did attract me enough for me to stand and buy even when feeling rather unwell... we are already talking about next year and I will have to start a fund very soon to help my poor hubby who funded all this trip... thank you very much Mr R Cooksley lol 

woolfest day 2

Well we had breakfast in the room and then headed out to be near the front of the queues again... The weather decided to be very very kind to us and not rain while we were waiting, the organisers also let us into the cafe to wait so I was able to wait sitting down a real bonus.. And the doors opened and once again the senses were treated to a massive dose of sensory overload... I went along with Jo and Ali for a we while each of us sharing something we found the day before and all of us hoping that what ever it was, was still there for us to share... I went along to YarnYard again so that I could add a few more silks to my newly gathering momentum stash of silks for tatting and braiding... Ange you enabler... lol.  I also went to the Braiding guild to purchase a braiding wheel kit for myself, Emilidh and of course Jo and Ali... It was then time to go and have a look along A aisle this was a whole aisle which was made up of stall from the Wool Clip ladies.  This is an award winning co-operative of 15 ladies  who formed in 2001 and run a thriving shop in Caldbeck and I believe where instigating in forming Woolfest


There are so many peoples work that I really should highlight but for this post I am going to highlight the work of only one artist..Joss Wrigg this lady does woollen sculptures and well I was totally in awe of her work http://www.wix.com/josswrigg/feltsculpture#!sculpture ... I have taken a couple of photo's of some of her work but they are not good on the phone camera so I advice you to follow this link and look for yourselves.

While wondering along this aisle I found and chatted to Janet Renouf-Miller....... the lovely talented spinner dyer who was instrumental in beginning my spinning career..she was volunteering at a stall and in return was promoting her book... This is a fantastic how to book on spinning and if I am honest the only book you would ever need...its put together in such a easy to follow way that you cant possibly not find the information you need and want instantly and is my bible for spinning I really cant recommend it enough. If you want to know more go along to Janets website http://www.createwithfibre.co.uk or buy her book from all the usual places its called How to Spin Just about Anything and the isbn numbers are:
 ISBN-10: 0956675107

 ISBN-13: 978-0956675101

I then couldn't resist a wonderful plait of Jacob fleece and well also a few wee button badges from a very nice man who had lovely fibre too... more on that with pics when I can get my stuff unloaded and pictures taken...lol

The rest of my time on Saturday at Woolfest was spent sat in the entertainment area watching the clog dancers and listening to the lovely music and just chatting to friends past and present... One of my favourite things about going to a wool festival is that you get the chance to meet with friends you only ever see at wool festivals and or through Ravelry.. I was lucky to meet up with quite a few who I hadn't thought I would meet but was hoping to and one of those had to be the lovely Kazz.  It was pure coincidence that the shawl I was wearing with pride was the one she made for me after our fire last year.  It was perfect for the coolness of the show ground/cattle market atmosphere of Woolfest and well it also meant she saw me from a distance and tracked me down... Kazz wish I could have chatted with you longer but knew you needed to go shopping and well you were not feeling the best I could tell.... hugs my lovely spoiler friend hope you feel brand new soon....

We then left fairly early so that Jo could go to Manchester to visit her brother in hospital who only the day before had a brain tumour removed.... But if honest was ready for a rest anyway so it was no hardship to go back to the travel lodge and have a wee sleep....Ok it was a big sleep both Ali and I slept till after 6.30pm ops.. We ended up having to eat at the travel lodge and well the food was passable at best but it filled a need so we are grateful to the lovely staff for serving us... We then found ourselves along at room 12 for a nice evening of spinning knitting and chatting, though a lot less chatting was had as everyone was bushed and also was concentrating on all the lovelies they had bought that day... Karen and Seona were off as the Football started as avid footie watchers they took their wheels down to the public area and sat spinning while cheering the game... have to say its not a sport I watch much or even enjoy but was so nice to see two lovely fibre loving ladies cheering a penalty...think it was anyway lol.

The evening ended fairly early and much more sedate than the previous one and then back to our room we went and followed shortly later by Jo who had made it to Manchester and back in one piece through all the flood warnings and although shattered seemed much happier for having seen and spoken to her brother in person... Isn't medical science wonderful he will hopefully be discharged from hospital tomorrow Monday to recover at home... amazing.

Sunday dawned a bit later in room 8 as we left Joanne asleep for a wee bit as she was going to be doing all the driving homewards..... As we were awakening one of our lovely band of ladies text to say her car had broken down and she was waiting for the A.A....Well thanks nice men from the A.A. not only did you come promptly followed them to Penrith where the fault appeared again and organise getting our lovely friends Moira and Kirsty home but you conveniently did a change over at the very services we were stopping at and we were lucky to have a wee catch up with the girls before we all made our way back up into Scotland and home....

I am now safely home in bed resting and smiling after doing a brief show and tell of all my purchases including the wonderful dresses from Gretna outlet ... and I can say that Rob approves of them all...

Oh and to top of an excellent bargain filled weekend I found waiting a nice wee parcel through the post of a dress which I bid on last week, won and well as it was only £1 and £3 package and postage... so I tore it open to find a label still attached Debenhams classic, a nice chiffon dress with burgundy piping swirls embroidered on...  which when tried on also fitted perfectly.. wow I am becoming the bargain queen must be getting lessons from my lovely Mother-in-law Janet.  


And crash....................