Monday 6 January 2014

Yoo hoo! I’m back...


...and writing despite a jet-lagged, foggy brain. I just couldn’t wait another day to return to Blogland!

I’ll be simultaneously unpacking, sorting toys, doing laundry and catching up with everyone’s blogs. I do hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. It seems we fared very lucky indeed escaping severe weather on both sides of the pond – we left England before the horrid storms flooded areas, toppled trees and left our village without power until late Christmas Eve, and we flew out of the States just as the latest snowstorms closed most of the airports in the northeast and record-breaking freezing temperatures roll in! Phew!

So my Christmas...filled with so many lovely, festive, cherished moments with family and friends...

A white Christmas at Grandma’s house!


Santa Claus visits every home in the town before Christmas, and boy oh boy my girls were sooo surprised and happy when the doorbell rang and he stepped in! Little Flower had been worried that Santa might not get our message that we wouldn’t be at our house Christmas Eve, but a personal visit to Grandma’s certainly alleviated those fears!  


But hey, let’s cut to the chase: What crafty goodies did I manage to squish into my suitcase!?! Well, I was very limited with my purchases because I was sharing luggage space with two little girls who spent Christmas with their grandmother, so you can imagine the amount of doting and spoiling that went on! Luckily I found a few great bargains...

These mugs speak volumes, and match my kitchen colours!


I visited a craft store that was about the size of my village. The ribbon section alone was bigger than my living room – and the ribbons were massively discounted. I forced myself to stop at 10:


And that price tag reads 75 cents/46 pence! That is linen ribbon! They were all the same price...

I discovered yet another craft book, I really must stop buying craft books, but I just love all the inspiration!


The three-inch hoops cost about the same as the ribbon. Again, I lament having to tuck these beside Journey Girls, Build-a-Bears and other space-hogging toys! I console myself with the knowledge that the girls will be teenagers one day and will want only clothes, jewellery and small electronic devices, so I’ll have oodles of room for supplies...

I can’t ever leave the States without a few balls of Lily Sugar n’ Cream:


This is the *best* dishcloth yarn ever! You can see I’ve already started one; my old cloths are desperate to be retired. (As per tradition, I share with the four dear friends in my craft group – choose your colours, gals!)

I picked up this Lily dishcloth booklet because it features both crochet and knitting – it might be an easy way to get into knitting again. And it looks so retro...


My biggest bargain of all was a new winter coat, found after Christmas during a crazy sale at the local mall. It is a gorgeous deep plum, quilted, hooded, toggled – all I need for a typical English winter. And best of all, it was marked down down down to $20/£12!

But it gets better: yesterday I discovered that the King Cole Riot Chunky I purchased on a whim because I fancied the colours matches the coat! So I’m working on a more feminine version of the Manly Scarf I made for Darling Husband (I’ll take a FO photo of that soon, he left the house wearing it this morning).


Oh dear, wave of jet lag swooping over me, I must go make a strong cuppa!
Happy New Year to all of you lovelies!


Chrissie x

30 comments:

  1. Helloooooooooo!!! So lovely to have you back Chrissie. Glad that you had a good Christmas and that you got to the craft store! Glad too that you didn't get snowed in over there, it is pretty bad from what I can gather. Anyway, lovely to have you back. Happy New Year!! xx

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  2. So lovely to read your post I have missed your lovely blog x

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  3. welcome back....glad you had a nice Christmas......and such delicious ribbon! Ali

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  4. I'm so jealous of your crafty purchases!!!! One day I must go to a craft store in America! Glad you had a lovely Christmas, Maria x

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  5. Your white Christmas photo looks perfect! I love your bargain coat and the scarf to match will be lovely - how lucky there!
    BH x

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  6. lovely to have you back - snow for Christmas, looks lovely, and you have snapped up some fab bargains!!!

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  7. Welcome back and Happy New Year. Looking forward to many more WIP's in 2014,
    Kate x

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  8. Hi welcome back, sounds like you had a wonderful trip, and yay for new craft supplies, Happy 2014.
    Clare xx

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  9. It is so wonderful to get after Christmas bargains. Great yarn and ribbon finds. Happy New Year!

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  10. Welcome home :) sounds like you had an amazing festive season.
    Hope the jet lag leaves soon.
    Lovely to see you back. Happy new year xx

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  11. Hello, welcome back Happy 2014! Glad you had a great time, I see Santa bought lots of crafty gifts for you....yes the weather had been bad, keep warm and cosy :) x

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  12. It looks like you have had a lovely time. Very nice yarn, lovely colours.
    Happy nre year!!

    Lluisa x

    http://bitsofmydays.blogspot.com.es/

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  13. Welcome back! And happy new year! Glad you had such a lovely Christmas. Your crafty goodies look great, looking forward to seeing what you do with those.
    Marianne x

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  14. OH it feels wonderful to welcome you back lovely Chrissie - I'm so happy for you that things went so well and a big plus - you found such great bargains. It must have been fantastic to spend that special time of the year with your Mum and sooooo exciting for your sweet girls! I hope you soon recover from the jet lag! Happy New Year to you and your loved ones, may it be a safe, peaceful and happy one filled with love! Warm hugs, Joy xo

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  15. Hello and welcome back. Glad you had a lovely time away with your family and some lovely goodies you have there.
    Happy New Year.
    Sally xxx

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  16. It's nice to see you back, Chrissie! I'm glad you and the girls had a nice trip.

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  17. Yay, you're back! Welcome home & happy new year :-) Sounds like a truly lovely holiday and that's a great haul of goodies - don't you just love sale shopping in the States. Glad you missed all the horrible storms and hope your village is ok now.
    Hope you're all over the jetlag soon too,
    Hugs xx

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  18. Anonymous9:31 am GMT

    So glad you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Welcome back to blogland!

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  19. awe it sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas!!!
    and the bargains... oh my, such wonderful treats. :)
    happy new year chrissie xxx

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  20. Helloooo you're back and oh my did you find some goodies in the sales. I would so like to go craft/fabric shopping in the states..maybe one day "sigh"!!! Looking forward to following your adventures in 2014, Sarah xo

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  21. Anonymous6:01 pm GMT

    Welcome home! Glad to have you back in the land of blog! I'm as they say ' well jel' of all your gorgeous crafty bargains!! So many gorgeous things! Must get myself over to the USA again .... One day! Happy new year. Emma x

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  22. Welcome back, Chrissie! I so enjoyed reading this post and seeing pictures of your trip to the USA! You found such wonderful crafty bargains, and your new coat looks lovely....how perfectly that yarn goes with it for your new scarf! Wishing you and your family a very Happy New Year.
    Helen xox

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  23. Hello! It is great to hear that you arrived back safely. It looks like you have lots of lovely treats!! Very envious he he. Glad you had great holidays with your family :) That scarf will go great with your new coat too :)

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  24. Oh how I have missed you my bloggy friend. Happy New year to you and your family. I am seriously impressed with your shopping. I once bought so much craft stuff in the states that I missed to pack some of Blokes clothes out of the camper van cupboards because I was so busy squeezing stuff into our bags!! I had to pay to have Rockport boots and some clothes mailed back to our house! Jo x

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  25. Welcome home and Happy New Year, it looked like you had a wonderful time. I love all those little purchases, you've got an eye for a bargain!!!!! Deb x

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  26. Chrissie welcome back....that store was it Jo-ann's ???? can you believe the prices compared to ours....good job we dont live there!!
    bestest to you Daisy j xxxx

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  27. Welcome back!! So glad to hear you escaped all that horrible weather. And I want to go to that craft store and stock up in ribbons!!!

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  28. Welcome back! Looks like you had a lovely time! I really like the Sugar 'n Cream - beautiful springlike colours. A lovely luxury in the kitchen! Anna x

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  29. Welcome back! Good to see you here. So glad you avoided the crazy weather. You got some lovely crafty bargains there! x

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  30. Welcome home - glad you had a great time with your family. Wow you really did miss that awful weather by a whisker! Love your yarny/ribbony haul,and the mugs are ace. Happy New Year! x

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