It's raining again!

What better excuse to stay in and bake and sew!
The kitchen is rather warm today, I have fruit cake, courgette loaf, spicy veg soup and cottage pie on the go! At the same time I'm sewing 'bunches of love', lots of gorgeous hearts all tied together with jute. I've made some in pinks and reds and they are so lovely. In fact a friend popped in when I was sewing them and ordered some to give as a wedding present!
The Moo and I are hoping the weather cheers up for the week-end as we are having a stall at the Stogursey 'It's a knock-out' and fayre, hopefully we'll see you there. We are also getting increasingly busy for our craft and vintage fair in September at Spaxton village Hall- look out for the posters going up near you soon!! We are really looking forward to meeting you all!

And if it carries on raining then what better excuse to don your wellies and go splashing in the puddles!!! Have Fun!!!

Look after each other, work hard and be nice to each other

Lot's of love from Bella and The Moo xxx

Night glow and knitting wool!

Hi there lovely people - Moo here! It's been a very busy week and a lovely, lovely weekend. I'm very lucky because my weekends last three days every week ... on Friday Fi and the gorgeous twins visited and we went for a lovely walk to the park, through the village and to the shop for chocolate! (for the twins not us!!) We had to take William the bear with us and he rode the swings and slid down the slide ... and we all had a lovely time!
Friday afternoon I decided to give the sewing machine her first outing for a few days and made three lovely cushions in a gorgeous cream linen with a heart motif ... I've listed them on folksy.com so we're hoping someone will love them enough to give them a new home!
Yesterday Bella and I took Mother Bea to a craft fair at Maunsell Lock. Unfortunately the weather wasn't kind but we met some lovely people! After that a visit to the craft centre in our local garden centre, where we were introduced to some fabulous knitting yarns and ideas to use them! We all came away with a ball of wool and a plan to use it! Thank you to the lovely lady who showed us how to knit gorgeous ruffled and sparkly scarves!
Bella and I braved the weather yesterday to visit the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta for the night glow ... the weather meant none of the balloons were able to take off early in the evening, but later on after the sun had gone down and we'd kept warm with yummy hot chocolate, we were treated to a lovely music and light spectacle, followed by fireworks! I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it yet!
Bella and I had to clamber our way back up through Ashton Court in the dark (with no lighting) to the car park. It was very wet and muddy as there had been a lot of rain throughout the day. Bella stayed very elegant and clean whilst I slipped and landed on my dignity in a large puddle of mud!! A sense of humour always helps in these situations!! We took a little while to find Scarlett O'Cara once we got to the top but spotted her from a distance because of the posters in both windows advertising our Craft Fair! What a relief!! Shame it took us an hour or so to get out of the car park, but it would have taken longer but for the lovely young man who let us into the traffic queue!!
I am amazed that Bella was able to stay away long enough to drive us home, as I was no use nor ornament by that time! But she did and we finally drove into our little village just after 1am! Early nights for us tonight I think!
I've had a lovely chilling day today, knitting myself a sparkly scarf!! Watch out family and friends - you may all be getting them for Christmas!!
Bye for now and remember to Live, Laugh and Love!
Tina xx

busy baking and messy chutney

Hello Folks, well that's another week flown by! I hope it's been a good one for you. It's been another busy one for Bella and The Moo.
Tina and I sourced some gorgeous fabric and Tina is buzzing with ideas, I can almost hear her sewing machine from my house! We have also got some lovely vintage mirrors and some old furniture to work our magic on, I will be busy sanding, painting and distressing.
Today after work I decided to get baking and cooking. I was given plums, apples and runner beans so decided to make chutney. I am a messy cook! My kitchen ended up very sticky indeed. It didn't help that I was baking rich honey cake, flapjack, tea bread, muffins and vanilla butterfly cakes all in a tiny kitchen at the same time!! You know I love cake, although it isn't all for me-honest! I was baking for a friend who has just come out of hospital and another friend who has just had her first baby, a gorgeous boy named Reuben. He is beautiful!
I have also been busy adorning pretty hearts with vintage glass buttons, they are lovely even if I say so myself.

Saturday tommorrow and Tina, Mother Bea and I are off to a craft market at Maunsel Lock on the Bridgwater to Taunton Canal, really looking forward to that. Try and come along if you can. In the eve we are off to The Bristol Balloon Fiesta to see the night glow, so we are really hoping for good weather.


Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away.

Enjoy your weekend and take really good care of each other , Amanda xxx

yippee it's Friday!

Hello, it has been a lovely week, however it's the weekend and time to shop and sew!
Tina and I are off to choose some new fabrics for our new range. Thats always exciting, usually too much to choose from and difficult to make decisions. No doubt we will stop for tea and cake and make our choices then.
I have just finished making some bunting using vintage fabrics in shades of blue, tempted to keep it myself !
Now it's time to pamper my aching feet, a foot soak and then another big decision-which colour nail polish to choose!! My friend Laura is treating me to some time at The Clifton Relaxation Centre tomorrow, which I'm really looking forward to. I will be all revitalised and ready to go again!

My lovely, crazy friend Corrina said to me the other day "if you can't see the bright side of life then polish the dull side", that's a very good piece of advice. You'll be able to meet Corrina at our fair in September, her stand 'Sticks & Stones' is going to be just so tempting. Her work is amazing!

Bye for now and have a lovely weekend
Bella aka Amanda xxx

Hello lovely people - I'm so glad it's the start of my weekend! It's been a very busy, stressful week and I can't wait to get back to what I love best - my family and crafting!!
Bella and I had a meeting last night, over a glass of fizzy rose, and made a new business plan, which involves spending time choosing new fabrics and designs! Can't wait ... we will be launching our new range around the time of our craft fair in September, so watch this space for lots of lovely pics!
We also drooled over Jane's list of cakes and selected some yummy ones to sell in the tea-tent at the fair - ooh, I'm so looking forward to it. We have two lovely helpers coming along to serve the teas, Sarah and Rachael, so pop in and say hello! Rachael has just moved into a lovely new home, so I'm sure will be looking for lots of gorgeous things for it!
I'm off swimming with the little Bella & The Moo tomorrow, and I can't wait! I have my ear defenders ready (they were a bit noisy for the first 10 minutes of the session, as it was very new to them), but have been asking all week for Tina Swimming? so off we go again!
Digit, my fat cat, is eyeing me strangely - how do they always know when it's time for their annual visit to the vets for jabs? I bet she'll be nowhere to be found when I try to get her into the basket tomorrow morning!!! Little darling!
Well I'm off to bed now so night-night all and remember to be nice to one another!
Tina (aka The Moo) xx

Hello

Well it's been a while since I've had time to write. Life has been so busy, I've been away house sitting, so had a techno break. Have been spending my time living 'the good life', walking various dogs, collecting eggs from the hens, collecting produce from the garden and generally chilling!!
Tina and I have also been out and about, teas at Halswell House - a lovely way to while away an afternoon and Bella and The Moo have gone Global! Lot's of networking with people from all over the world at a garden party. The Americans simply love us darling- all that tea and chintz!
Off to Moo's for a business meeting in a mo, I suspect the wine is chilling in the fridge!

Always remember when life get's to hectic, "keep calm and eat a cup cake"

Take really good care of yourselves and each other

Bella aka Amanda xxx

Wanted - Mojo!!

Hello lovely people - sorry I haven't updated the blog for a while - seem to have been so busy (and unfortunately not with lovely, creative, Bella & The Moo stuf either!).
It's been a very busy week - back to work after a week off, which was very busy, and lots of bits and pieces to see to, as well.
Fi and I took the angel babies swimming on Friday - they hadn't been for quite a few months, so it was all new to them, and they weren't very pleased to be in the water for the first 10 minutes or so! They both clung to Fi and screamed their heads off. After that they slowly got used to it and we even had some giggles in the end - in fact, they managed almost an hour in the pool, which was lovely. We're going to do it all over again next Friday!!
Amanda and I trundled out for a run yesterday morning and managed a lot better than our previous runs, so we must be getting somewhere!!
We have a business meeting planned for Wednesday, so will both be looking to get our mojo back and start creating again! I've just made a lovely cotton shopper in a beautiful floral Sanderson print as I felt I just HAD to do something creative!! It does look great and will be on sale at our craft fair in September.
We've both realised it's only 7 weeks away, so need to build up some stock for that, and for the Stogursey Its A Knockout day during Bank Holiday weekend, where we will have a stall.
More soon peeps!
Lots of love
Tina xx