How many!!!!

So November is here and it's list time

another month overspent and now just £95.69 saved on last year

I have  £36 left in my pot so I have to be good to save £100 on last year.

 I love my new slippers, and hubby got a pair of baby shoes
not sturdy hardy slippers, but pretty ones

 I could not resist these, I pop to local charity shops 

looking for vintage glass decorations.
But these from M&S fits the purpose.

 I have potted this up for the new year.

 Our garden is not too bare 

This is the 1000th post of this blog, crikey that's alot of waffle, you all deserve a medal for staying with me. So on this post I will celebrate, time for a give away, I have a few things in mind, but rather than decide before hand, I will decide after I have chosen the recipient what to send. So if you fancy a random giveaway, please add a comment on the bottom of this post, no need to advertise it, I'm not after new followers, I'm happy to post anywhere, just one question would you like hand made by me or something else, just quote which.
Today we had the funeral for Win, we have said goodbye to an amazing woman, as we heard more about her life it was clear to see she was a very special caring woman, we are lucky to have know her for 7 years, she won't be forgotten, she had a impact on everyone who knew her. Now we wait to see who our new neighbours will be.

Ops I done it again

My favorite site had a sale on

so I have been naughty, but they were all a good price.

 Our Christmas cake is looking good

it has had it's first drink of Brandy

It's a dull morning here, soon we will be popping out, I do need new slippers, mine look terrible, defiantly seen better days, I only started wearing slippers in this house, we have wooden floors, which at this time of year don't suit walking about in bare feet.
As you can see from the photo's above we have been thinking about Christmas, I did design my Christmas cards, but the finished item was not as I wanted, so I am rethinking. I have not done my sewing, most of last week I really felt unwell, the lack of sleep leading my problems. My cough is much better and I am now sleeping for longer at nights.
Yesterday we got our camper van, it's a converted Mercedes sprinter white van, with hubby 6'2", we were going to require a larger interior, the conversion inside is good, but  a bit tired, but I can deal with that, firstly we are discarding all the contents of the cupboards, we have already seen the china we would like, the price of the van was less than our budget, so I have funds to replace items. It does have a tiny shower room, which we will use as a toilet, we just have to purchase a portaloo. We are talking about going away for 1 night soon just to test it out.
Last night we had a lovely meal with youngest daughter, her hubby and his parents, it's nice to get together, it is the last time for a while, as daughters MIL and FIL spend winter in the sun, lucky people, they will pop back in February when baby is born and then we will see them in April.

Just stitching

I have done some more to this

Touchon O Christmas tree

 Here will be another two flying birds

 The frog was present

I did a load of stitching, only to realise 

I had used the dark and not the mid brown thread.

When I restitched it covered the brown smudge. 

 My French marigolds are in flower in my green house

They do look lovely. 

I am still full of cold, I have a bad throat and cough, my main problem is not being able to sleep at night, the last time I had a full night's sleep was last Saturday. So I am very tired, hoping for an early bedtime tonight. Almost everyone in the office has a form of the cold bug, the temperature is all over the place at the moment, last night was far to hot, it's hard to know what to wear to work each day.
I have enjoyed doing my Christmas stitching again, I just love the little birds in this piece. I have not done anything with my sewing machine.
Later we are going to watch the bake off final, I am wanting Andrew to win, but I do have history of picking the wrong person, so I hope I have not jinxed his chances.
Saturday morning we are off to see a converted camper van, the photo's look good and the van has ticked all our boxes for items we wanted, so providing there are no hidden problems we should be proud owners of our own camper van. If we get it there will be photo's next time. I am already making a mental list of things we need to get for inside, and who knows we may get away one night in November, it does have a heater inside.

It's warm inside.

The juice and zest from these went in our dried fruit

left to soak all the juice up over night

Tomorrow we bake our Christmas cake

 I have been planning my next bag, it's for my patchwork stash

I saw something similar on Pintrest, but this is my design

With my small cutting board being the template for size.

 My Spanish plant is doing well in this tube, it has grown loads

It's looking more like a plant and less like a cutting. 

it's grown over 10cms since I first got it home

 My tiny spider plant is also huge

again it lives in our sunny office

 Just finished this brilliant book

 Next I will read Song of the Skylark

We had a lovely Chinese meal at our youngest daughter's on Friday evening, we also sat at their new table and chairs, loads of chatter. Just a lovely evening together.
It's been a weekend of home and inside, I got up yesterday with a  bad throat and cough which is going around, so we have stayed in the warmth, and I have pottered. Yesterday afternoon I caught up with loads of taped TV programs, watched the last Gardeners World for this year.
Today I did the citrus fruit for the dried fruit, I love the smell in our kitchen and tomorrow it will be full of spices, we are a bit late cooking our cake, but there is still plenty of time to ice and finish it.
I did enjoy the planning of my new bag, I have a few things to work out, and want to patchwork the outside cover, I have not done the bunting, the noise of the sewing machine would be a bit much for me at this time, once the headache and cold symptoms go I can get my machine out.
I did spend a few hours on my last years blog book, all the pages are now in the book and I have sized the photo's. All I now need to do is look at each page, tidy the lines, check spelling, but there are 248 pages, it's the biggest book so far, I did alot of post last year.
I am also going to pull out Torchon O Christmas tree, I have not stitched this since May, and time will be running out to get it done for this year.