October issue !

Once again my graphics are by Donna ,Thankyou Donna,





Now after the confusion on my last post ,the girl in the prom dress was my Beautiful Granddaughter Charlotte and not my neice as some of you supposed .So talking of Granddaughters here is Alice aged seventeen, who is the Granddaughter of Maurices's cousin Jim.Isn't she another beauty ?A real peaches and cream English Rose,but since her Grandparents are Irish ,I suppose that makes her a lovely little colleen as well .

Whoops ,what does this racing car have to do with things ? you might ask!

The car is in fact being driven by Alice ,and very well indeed ,Below are a few quotes from Alice and links to the story of her success My Renault is the identical car to Lewis Hamiltion’s UK car when he won the title at 18 yrs old. To reduce mechanics’ fees, the BARC championship does not allow gears cogs to be changed to suit track conditions, and there is a slight restriction put on the engine to extend its life. Both cars cost the same to buy.
I raced against UK’s top GT drivers (300BHP) in 2010, out qualifying ex-F1 driver Martin Donnelly: This link explains how I got my Renault title at a year younger than Lewis Hamilton: http://news.driverdb.com/2010/10/18/alice-powell-wins-formula-renault-title/ I only got a few qualifying laps on a cold track, near the end of the session, and I still managed to get a pole.

Alice has been supported and encouraged by her Granddad Jim ,and here is the link to her website http://www.alice-powell.com/

A champagne moment !

And Alice does after dinner speeches and has met many famous people ,From Prince Andrew ,to Sir Stirling Moss.

Well done Alice ! you are a clever and lovely girl as well as a plucky one and we are all very proud of you ,.....and as they say Watch this space .......





So as usual I will close ,with love from

Catching up ..Again !

Hello Every one ,yes it's me again ,I checked and my last post was August 4th ,that is bad ,I just don't know what happens to the time ,I'm not wasting it honestly ! Though I did spend two days in bed recently, with this throat bug that has been doing the rounds . My Header and my signature to day were made for me by Donna ,a very talented lady and dear friend in the States .The rain is very appropriate as thats all it did yesterday ,and doesnt look too promising today ,So what have I been doing since I was here last ? Well I was helping to prepare and take part in the Annual Tenants conferance ,I did a work shop ,'Computers for fun 'which was well attended ,and though I didnt do anything very techy ,Chris my friend and fellow board ,and forum member ,was able to deal with that part ,we hope we inspired people to go 'silver surfing' ,and since computers are to be installed in all the company's sheltered schemes for the elderly it seemed the thing to do .Here is a picture of me arriving on my buggy ,with all my props on the back and front of the buggy .In case you are wondering what the turquoise shoes have to do with the black and white theme they match my beads ,and nail polish !!!

My dear Granddaughter Charlotte has now left school and is doing a college course on' Hair and Beauty' she loves it, so Im looking forward to some treatments soon ,below is a picture of her at her school prom ,Charlotte is the' Lady in Red ' isn't she lovely ? Of course I might be prejudiced !(clutching mobile phone !! )

A couple of weeks ago we had a visitor ,Mark and Chrissy brought Sam over to see us ,perhaps some of you will remember Blue their previous dog ,he died and was so missed ,but now they have Sam and he is just as loving.... what a gentle giant he is ,

Though Kizzie is a bit in awe of him

We went shopping the other day for some more material ,I have yet another bag to make for my Daughter Sharon ,who has a Birthday on Thursday . Can you see the Elephant in the picture I won him ,and some gorgeous covered buttons with sheep on them ,just the job for our Kate's next project ! And some lovely green beads, I wear quite alot of green and they are super .The butterfly material I fussy cut to put onto appliqued projects ,

Sarah had called the Elephant Morris ,and he arrived with the other goodies in time for my Maurices Birthday ,I also bought him a new jacket and a Cardigan .Sarah We discovered ,lives not far from me ,well about 15 miles, small world isn't it ? And her Blog has the delightful name 'Happyness is a bottomless button box',do have a look and tell her I sent you

http://sarahlpayne.blogspot.com/2010/09/quick-catchup-and-my-100th-post.html Oh ...I nearly forgot Serendipity ,was five years old on the first of September ,So on that happy note I will send you my love as ever ....from

Birthdays and bags

Hmm ..guess what this is ?

Good morning ,every one ,,look what came in the post yesterday ,I was the lucky winner on one of Gina Farrari's Aniverary post ,celebrtation draws ,a beautiful hand made corsage ,some of her own postcards ,and some delicious fudge Thank you so much Gina I love it .Gina is an extremely talented Textile Artist . http://ginaferrari.blogspot.com/2010/07/sketchbook-project-iii.html

I was showing you some of the bags I had made for family and friends in a previous entry ,here are the latest oners I have made ,

one for ME !

Russian Dolls

And the back

Hmm ...look at this pile of material !

A bag of tomatoes ? So what was the first picture ?

Look Julie ! I used the letters you gave me ,Julia is another talented artist ,

can you guess what it is yet ? http://mixedmedia-jem.blogspot.com/2010/07/grand-day-out-and-cake.html

Yes it is a bag for my laptop
I love this material ,of a key board ,click on the pic to make it larger .

My Dear Granddaughter Charlotte was 16 on June 27th she shares her Birthday with her brother Stuart who was 25,

Charlotte likes animal prints ,and playboy items so,I combined the two and made her a handbag ........

Charlotte and Granny Jan

The Birthday boy and girl with their Mum and Gran

Iain was still on leave

Colin Maurice and Iain

These pictures were taken out side Sharon's pub

The world cup was still on ,so you can see the flags in some of the pics ,Oh yes Mark ,my eldest boy ? was fifty at the end of April ,EEEK my kids are all middle aged ,gosh what does that make me? ....'NO ! don't go there' hee hee ,and then Sam my Kate's youngest was 15 in July ,no pictures Sam hates having his picture taken ,I don't know why he is such a handsome chap ,like his bigBrother Matt ,who was 18 in August ,and has been accepted for the college of his choice ,but will work for a year first ,I am so blessed to have such as lovely family .

My sister Jean has a Birhday this month too ,guess what she has asked for ?

And what a Maurice and Kizzy doing whilst Im slaving away over a hot sewing machine ???
Why ,cruising around the garden on my buggy ,in the sunshine ,see my flag ? didnt do much good though did it ?

Well folks I had better get back to the sewing machine ,so as ever love from

Iain's Homecoming ,after seven month deployment

Remember in my last entry I told you, we had been to Portsmouth (Pompey)to see Iain's ship come home ...well here I am ,with the pictures of that memorable day .Sorry it has taken so long ,but the thoughts of adding the pictures as we do from the last one first was a bit daunting ,time wise ,as it is it took most of the morning yesterday ,

We left home on the Wednesday evening ,at around seven o clock Colin had been to work ,and Sharon had to wait until her bar staff came on for the evening .Well of we went Sharon (my daughter and Iain's Mum) Kate my other daughter ,Colin Sharons fiancee and me,we had a good journey down stopping on the way for a meal ,We arrived at the Travel Lodge at about ten forty five ,Kate and I shared a room ,and Sharon and Colin were in a room just opposite us .We woke early next morning to drizzle ,but it didnt dampen our spirits we were going to see our boy today after a 'Peace keeping deployment in the middle East ,'and he'd been away seven months ,Iain is in charge of the ships canteen and shop ,like a NAAFI ,he does however take part in many of the ships activities ,such as crossing the equator ,and is in as much danger as all aboard .Part of their mission was to take out and capture some of the pirate ships ,we saw that on the news !!!

Whilst in Dubai Iain bought me this crystal copy of The Burj khalifa, Needless to say I was delighted I had seen a programe on TV about it ,the tallest building in the world .He gave Maurice ,who was sadly working and couldn't get the time off ,a zippo with the ships crest .

Getting ready to go ,down to the harbour ,Iain had rung his Mum yesterday as we were driving to say he could see the white cliffs of Dover ,and then last night to say they were anchored out in the Solent,and could see the lights on the Sinnaker Tower ...so near and yet so far ,but very exciting for us all .

We set of in the car to park up ,and join one of the coachs that were waiting to take us down to the harbour ,and on the way saw many famous ships .

Once down by the harbour we took our place amongst other excited frinds and familys of our dear returning boys ,we stood in the rain as the band played ,lots of sea shanties Hearts of Oak amongst them ,OHhhh !

OH LOOK ,The Harbour masters boat ....

Then the tug ....theN HMS LANCASTER

W ITH ALL HANDS ON DECK

Home at last ,some of the sailors first off ship ....

My Boy ,Sharon all tearful and joyful ......

Hello Colin ,good to see you mate ,


My Auntie Kate ..... see how wet we were !

Hallo Granny .


Then Iain took us on board ship ...

This is a picture of the Spinnaker

Well folks I have finally manged to make this entry ,I hope you enjoy it as much as we did ,

As ever love from Jan xx