Well, I am taking a well earned breather and thought I'd post some pics of what we've been up to. Hope I don't bore you all to tears - I should warn you there are loads! I did some thrifting on Friday and got some bargains, including a huge rug for Grace's Room,
6 metres of this fabulous fabric for £3.50,
these,
these (the God Jul mat is for my Swedish friend Sophie - more of her later), and a Lloyd Loom laundry basket that I forgot to photograph.
On Saturday we dropped in at a bric a brac sale at the croquet club (well, this is Cheltenham you know!), where I got some more amazing bargains including these vintage tree decorations, and coffee pot and 2 bevelled-edge mirrors - not bad for 10 minutes of browsing! 
I then went to the park with the girls and their best friends Anna and Ebba, and their mum Sophie (from above), then back home to cook and prepare for the evening's entertainment. We went to a bonfire party at our allotment, which was a really really fun affair. We share our allotment with Sophie and family, and we all went together, armed with fireworks, sausages for the girls and mulled wine for us (we forgot drinks for the children, but at least the adults were ok!). I even made a batch of toffee, which kept us all quiet for a while. Loads of allotment holders were there, and we had a really long firework display as everyone had taken so many, and huge bonfire and barbeque. We also got to watch the huge event at the Racecourse for free, as it is very close to the allotments. We all piled back to our house for dinner with Sophie and Greg, and the girls all had a sleepover.
Yesterday we went back to the allotment - this time to do some work. We then went on our favourite walk in Miserden, and I remembered the camera this time! It really is breath-taking at this time of year. I spent the rest of the afternoon sewing while Andy cooked roast Pheasant for tea, which was delicious. Isn't this the most perfect tree?
So, this morning it was back to the sewing room. I have got a big event on Thursday night and I am trying to get heaps of stuff together in time. Sophie has a friend who lives in an enormous manor house in the country, and she is having a shopping evening to raise money for Marie Curie nurses. I am having a stall, along with my good friend Tala who has a jewellery stall. There will be loads of other stalls, and hopefully a good crowd. I finished off heaps of these robins whilst watching Joe's Palace last night.
The blue fabric in these Santa Sacks is one of my favourites, and I wish I'd ordered more now. I've made 3 of these and that's it gone. I've also finished off a ton of cards to new designs, and made heaps of tea-cup candles. Not bad for a day's work.
So, on to my next give-away (it may become a habit - who knows?!). You may have been impressed by my giant pumpkins this year (the local tea-leaves certainly were as one got nicked), and I have now dried the seeds. I will send a package of 10 seeds to 5 lovely people chosen by the random number generator (Grace) who leave me a comment. Claire, you only get 1 entry no matter how many comments you put in!
Hope you are all having a good start to the week.
Cathy XX