Monday's Blog....

Evening everyone,
Well, what another glorious day it's been - well it has here in Warwickshire so I really hope it's been nice wherever you are too! From some of the comments I've just read on Twitter, it does seem that most of the country are having this heatwave!

It's knocking our poor, elderly little Jack Russell out as well, she's now fast asleep on her blanket in the coolness of our dining room and I also have our patio doors wide open and I can hear the birds singing!

One thing I thought I'd share with you - and it doesn't have anything to do with jewellery or knitting (is that a sigh of relief I can hear......!) but it does have something to do with another love of mine and that's cooking. Not that I get enough time to do much these days but my son has been on at me for ages to take a leaf out of their book and plan our menu out for the week before we go shopping. He swears by it, says it saves them money because you only buy what you need for your menu choices and also it saves time.....

Anyway, we have tried it out over the last few weeks - mainly because both my daughter and I are just so busy and I am fed up with spending most of every lunchtime going round our local Asda's!  I have to admit it is a bit of a pain sitting down on a Sunday (or Saturday) and having to think of a week's menu and then make a list to take with you to Asda or Sainsbury's etc but I'm finding it does work (ok Paul - you were right again - as ever!).
So, here is our menu for this week - what do you think? We went shopping yesterday so now have (hopefully) everything we need.....

Monday - Quiche, new potatoes + mixed salad (not homemade quiche I'm afraid as I just don't have the time)
Tuesday - Smoked haddock fishcakes (by the Saucy Fish Company available at Asda's), homemade potato wedges and mixed salad
Wednesday - having to cheat here as we will be without a cooker (new one being delivered on Thursday) so having to get fish + chips from the chip shop! Haven't done this for ages but still feeling slightly guilty about it....
Thursday (hopefully with brand new Hotpoint cooker!) Cheese + ham omelettes, new potatoes + more salad
Friday - Fresh salmon, rice + yes, you've guessed it, more salad.....

We haven't done Saturday + Sunday yet as that's going to be a difficult one as we are out both days at our Open Studios!
Does anyone else do a weekly menu? Would love to hear from you and how it works out for you?

Enjoy the rest of this gorgeous evening!

with love from Fat Fairy Jewellery
xx

And it's Sunday night again.......

Good evening everyone from Fat Fairy H.Q.

Well, what a busy couple of weeks it's been since we last blogged! It has been the most amazing day here in Warwickshire, hot + sunny and, of course, the day Andy Murray won the Mens Single's title at Wimbledon.  The first time we have won since 1936 and, oh my goodness, how times have changed since then - not least the clothes and the prize money.......!

Anyway, firstly as I cannot share any photo's of my beautiful granddaughter with you all, I thought you might like to see what I've just knitted her (I did warn you that this might well turn into a Jewellery + Knitting Blog....)!  I seem to have a bit of a 'thing' about blankets - not quite sure why but recently finished knitting our Lilly her 3rd blanket.  This time in a lovely, cream cotton wool by Patons in a diamond stitch.  I am really pleased with it and always wash things first - mainly to make sure they can withstand a wash in the machine! For some reason at the moment, Lilly has taken to sleeping with whatever blanket she has in her cot, over her face...., so this cotton one should be nice + soft for her and it's really pretty for a girl!

You'll remember me telling you all that we are taking part in this year's Warwickshire Open Studio's?  Well, as part and parcel of this, there is also a Showcase Exhibition running at the Floor One Gallery in Rugby Library and we have 2 pieces of our jewellery on display there! (photos below!)

That's all for now folks, we'll be back soon with some more exciting news!
With love from us all here at Fat Fairy HQ,
xx

Warwickshire Open Studios.....

Hello everyone - again!

Yes, I know, 3 blog posts in one week - what is the world of Fat Fairy Jewellery coming to!

Just wanted to remind everyone that we are taking part in this year's Warwickshire Open Studios - feeling very proud and privileged and just a little bit nervous......  There are some amazing and very talented people here in Warwickshire and it's lovely to see our listing in the directory amongst all the others (page 24 if anyone already has a brochure!)

We are very lucky to have been asked to join in with Dot + Geoff Crowe who are 2 very talented potters who live out in Barby.  They have their own studio and have kindly 'thrown open' the doors and asked us and a few other artists to join them.  So, we will be showcasing our jewellery on Saturday 13th + Sunday 14th July at Cleves Garden Studio, 4 Cleves Cottages, Daventry Road, Barby CV23 8TF.  

We're obviously hoping for a lovely, sunny + dry weekend..... but with the English weather who knows!  It should be a lot of fun and a lovely way to meet other artists and, hopefully, some new clients.  We'll also be doing a jewellery demonstration at some point during the weekend. 

There is also an exhibition of some work from the Warwickshire artists taking place in Rugby Library from this Friday, so if you're in Rugby town, please pop along to that and have a look. If you're an artist yourself and you are not involved this year, maybe this will give you some ideas for taking part next year!

 This is the cover of the Warwickshire Open Studios 2013 Brochure

And this is our entry on page 24......

If anyone has any questions about the Open Studios, here's their website link:- http://www.warwickshireopenstudios.org/

Till next time folks, enjoy this gorgeous summer's evening!
with love from Fat Fairy Jewellery xx

Happy memories of Edinburgh....

Morning everyone!
After yesterday's Blog post, I just thought I'd share some of our many photo's of round and about in Edinburgh with you! Hope you enjoy them.....

 A view of Edinburgh Castle above

 Lots of steps as we made our way to the Gallery Beadshop!

 Another view of the very lovely Edinburgh Castle 

 One of the many little squares around the city

Me and The Royal Mile!

Have a lovely day everyone and more later to bring you up to date....
with love from us here at Fat Fairy Jewellery
xx

Good morning from a sunny Warwickshire....

Hello again everyone,

And, yet again, I can't believe where the time has gone since we last blogged on the first Bank Holiday weekend back in May - gosh the very thought of those 2 Bank Holidays last month seems ages ago!

Well, what news do we have for you?  We seem to have done an awful lot since then but first, I guess, I really should tell you all about our fabulous weekend up in Edinburgh!  This was to celebrate a very special birthday for my twins Debs and Paul.  Since Paul has also become a Daddy, we thought it would be lovely to be able to spend some time altogether  - along with his partner's parents.  We had booked an 'apartment'  but that was actually a 3 storey town house which worked out really well.  It was literally just of the Royal Mile and just a fabulous location, just down the road was the church were Zara Phillips had got married which, of course, was literally just around the corner from Holyrood Palace!  The Palace was unfortunately closed to visitors whilst we were there but there's always next time!

Honestly folks, if you're not been to Edinburgh - and this was my first visit - then please go!  The people are so friendly and just so very proud of their lovely city.  Debs and I took the train up and what a lovely journey that was - although our Creative Director says she's flying next time! As it's always me that drives, I can never (obviously!) enjoy the scenery and as the journey took us right through the Lake District it was beautiful, so thank you Virgin Trains! It's just over a 4hr journey from Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh Waverley - just thinking about that makes me want to go back - right now!

We had a mini birthday celebration on the Saturday and we'd managed to order a surprise birthday cake from Bibi's Bakery which was a giant cupcake in the shape of a toadstool! 

It was just lovely to celebrate their birthday - even though it was a week early!  But also very lovely + special to spend time with our gorgeous and very precious Lilly, who I might add, is growing so fast!  Because they live away and we don't see them that often, each time we do Lilly has changed!  She is such a good baby and seemed to enjoy her first holiday away with her family.

We had hoped to do one of the open-topped bus tours but the time went by so quickly but, as I said above, there's always next time!  Edinburgh also has 3 bead shops........ we did manage to find one - The Gallery Beadshop and I was really impressed with their selection and stock (in fact I did feel slightly overwhelmed when we walked in) and the staff who were absolutely lovely.  A big thank to my daughter Debs who came with me and it was quite a trek - especially as Edinburgh is set out on a grid system and we ended up buying a map but it was certainly worth it and I can't wait to go back for another visit!

Posting a couple of photo's below and am going to Blog again later to bring you up to date!

Till next time everyone,
with love from us here at Fat Fairy HQ
xx

A Bank Holiday Monday blog.....

Good evening everyone,
Well, it doesn't seem possible that our lovely 3 day weekend has come and gone so quickly!  As always, there was a lot to do and not enough time to do it all in - that does seem to be a fact of modern life.....
Anyway, after a really hectic week both on the work and home front, I decided to have a fairly quiet Friday night to recover from the week.  Last week saw me meeting up with the two friends whom I run a meditation group over in Berkswell with on Monday evening, then caught up with another friend for dinner on Tuesday. Wednesday was my home meditation group evening and this month we were joined by a new lady which was lovely.  Thursday night was my normal meditation group over in Leamington - always (and I do mean always!) an interesting evening, so by Friday I need to just be able to chill out and relax.

Saturday was catching up with Louisa and the lovely ladies at the Beadelicious Bead soiree in Bulkington - we made bag charms this month (see photo below!).  Once home, my daughter and I popped up to our local Next store as I still had a voucher from Christmas which needed spending (yes I know, how on earth did a Christmas voucher last this long.....).  I find with Next I could either spend an absolute fortune or there is nothing in there that takes my fancy!  This time though I did manage to fall in love with some coloured chino's  which will be just lovely for our holiday in Edinburgh and also a matching top.  Slightly worried about the top as in the shop whilst trying it on, one side of the 'V' neck kept lying at a funny angle.  I'm hoping it may have been the security tag that did that, so we'll have to wait and see.  The chino's will also go very nicely with the two tops I bought in H&M back last month whilst in Leamingto Spa.

Yesterday we took a lovely trip down to the Cotswolds, which for us here in Warwickshire means driving down the Fosse Way which I gather is the old Roman road but which, unfortunately, always seems to attract mad drivers (my current pet hate!) - especially motorbike riders.  We stopped in Stow in the Wold and had a lovely walk around and then a very nice lunch - which we later followed with an ice-cream!  Well done to my daughter for the suggestion!  We then also had a late evening walk around Rugby, so plenty of exercise yesterday.

Today has seen some catching up - on washing, shopping, dog walking etc plus a late lunch with a friend but hasn't it been a glorious day.  Lets hope the weathermen were right when they said a heatwave for May!

As mentioned above, this is the bag charm I made yesterday at the Bead Soiree! These can be made to order in any colour you like!

Enjoy what's left of the Bank Holiday weekend,
with love from Fat Fairy Jewellery
xx

A mid-week Blog from Fat Fairy....

Good morning from Fat Fairy Jewellery!
Hope everyone's having a good week and enjoying this lovely weather! It was glorious here in Warwickshire yesterday and looks like being the same again today - despite the weather forecast they've just given out which was rain later (really hope not!).   Can't believe that we are now in May - lets hope we do have this heatwave that they recently forecast for this month!

Well, it's been a really busy few days since our last post, still busy knitting for our adorable Lilly.  Have now managed to finish the various parts of the cardigan I've been knitting in the Sirdar Snuggly Snowdrop, so all I have to do now is put it together and pick up the stitches along the front edges to do the ribbing.... Hmmm still not that impressed but did run the pattern by my lovely friend Mrs Woodhouse the other night just in case I was reading it wrong but apparently not (which is always good to know!).

We've also been out and about car hunting for my daughter so that's taken up time.  We both test drove a really nice Polo from a garage in a nearby village but she's still not sure, so not wanting to make an expensive mistake with her first car, it looks like the car hunt goes on!
Last Saturday saw us pop down to Brackley Rocks to restock the shop with our gorgeous Gemstone Jewellery - photo's in next blog!  Dianne who runs the shop, is always so supportive and complimentary about our jewellery which is just lovely.

I'm going to share here the photo's of the recent bespoke order we made which was for one Gemstone Bracelet (which will be going home to Australia - yippee our first international order!) and two Gemstone Bookmarks.  I shared the photos of the Gemstone beads I'd ordered in for these orders in my previous blog, so thought you'd like to see the finished items!

 Gemstone Bracelet made using Sodalite, Haematite + beautiful Swarovski crystals

 Gemstone Bookmark made using Yellow Sandstone, Agate + a tiny Amber coloured Swarovski heart

2nd Gemstone Bookmark made using Moss Agate, Green Aventurine + a tiny, sparkly Fairy!

When we are commissioned to make a special bespoke order, we often end up making two to give our customers a choice!  This is the 2nd Gemstone Bracelet we made which has some gorgeous Lapis Luzuli beads which we teamed up with some stunning Freshwater Pearls.  Note the beautiful Sterling Silver flower toggle which was made in the Jewellery Qtr here in Birmingham!

Wishing you all a happy, peaceful + productive day,
with love from us here at Fat Fairy Jewellery
xx