and wham!!! 2 weeks have passed

Seriously, I blinked and missed 'em! ;)

My beautiful cousin was here for a couple of days - all the way up from Devon so she could visit the Chelsea Flower show. She stayed here two nights, coming up after work one day, going to Chelsea the next, and then driving home the third day. It was wonderful to spend a little time in the evenings chatting whilst sitting on my deck under my beautiful fairy lights. Listening to the hens clucking themselves to sleep. I feel very lucky that I come from such an awesome family. We don't get to see each other all that often as we are spread far and wide, but it never affects our relationships, we are as close now as we were when we were children.  It's interesting to see those personality traits that obviously come from genetics rather than background!! (misplaced your keys lately anyone?!)  Anyway, it was an honour to be able to help her meet her Chelsea dream, I hope we get to do it again one year.

In other news........ I've been knitting, and working hard on the Crafters' Barn (the new site, so I won't link)  It's coming along swimmingly and I've got someone in to do the T&C's now as well, so I'm beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel.  It feels it's been a long time coming, but it's been such a dream of mine to offer this website to all small business crafters out there.  Won't be long folks!

I have loads of knitting to do too. Laika is finished and it's beautiful, but it needs buttons so I'm not showing it until it's done (despite the fact that it's been worn several times already)  I'm now knitting some men's socks for a client, just plain vanilla type gardening socks.  Nice summer knitting really, quite mindless and not lots of heavy yarn sitting in your lap!

So a photoless post, that's not good is it??????

Spo-oht?!

She's always happy to oblige ;)

Sooo much to tell you....

I had so much to tell you, and then my internet connection went westward! Isn't that always the way!!  So starting with the most recent and working backwards here is a quick summary of what's been happening in the last couple of weeks.

Last week we went to hayling Island. It was a bit of a last minute decision (sorry Lin, I know I need to bring down those bookeeping files for you, but we'll be there again soon) But it was such a beautiful sunny day and the tide was out at a good time. I went to the huge Tescos just before you get on the island too, and also bought a sack of potatoes from a farm shop I go to on the island, so a very productive day all round.

The Sunday before that I went to see the Fantabulous Sheepwash Playboys at the Preston Cross hotel in Bookham. They have jazz there most Sunday lunchtimes, but I can't afford to go every week (shame!) but I can never pass up the opportunity to see the Bennett Brothers in action. They just lift your spirits and make you smile your biggest smile. Fantastic fun, and flippin good music to boot!



Then, the week before that I went to Ally Pally for the Knitting and Stitching show. Now up until this year I have only ever been interested in the knitting part of the affair. But this year there seemed to be a bit more patchwork and fabric about, and I got lulled into a false sense of security ambling along looing at all the pretties....... and then BAM!

I'd bought a sewing machine!!! - obviously then I had to go back around and buy fabric (oopsie) and now I have a whole new obsession!  Here are my other Ally Pally purchases:

A subscription to The Knitter and Simply Knitting (purely for the free gifts - one of which was the Cath Kidson sewing book on the left) A pack of Rowan Wool Tweed from Black Sheep and three bundles of fabric - 2 packs of 5 x Fat Quarters, and one roll of 5 x 1/2 metres.

The weekend before that had been my Grandma'a 90th birthday party! A surprise party of 100 or so guests (and I was related to every last one of them - WOW!), pie n mash for lunch, and a jazz band led by the inimitable Gentleman Jim Mcintosh. Mama (my Grandma) led the dancing pretty much all afternoon.... she is an incredible lady. There was an umbrella paradefor the kids too (a jazz tradition, I have no idea why but maybe someone will tell me?), and Mum had bought special little umbrellas for them all, and the mothers had feather boas (so the kids didn't have to do it alone!), and our final dance/song was a big round circle holding hands and singing "When the Saints" (sooo many childhood memories in that)

Lastly, and by no means least, When I had just returned from Scotland, I went to see Stephen Fry at the Royal Albert Hall.  He took questions from twitter and made a whole evening of story-telling around them. A true raconteur in the same way as Peter Ustinov used to be, complete with voices and jokes. Very, very funny and a little serious too, A very generous man, by which I mean that he shared his lifetime stories with a "no-holds barred" attitude. A lovely evening.

So there we are about up to date. I  have completed Girasole too, and started sewing my window quilts that I bought last year, but I'll pop photos of those up tomorrow or sometime this week. I really must get on with my work now! ;)

This could be a long one!

Do you ever not write your blog for a while, then realise you have a lot to say and consequently don't have time to write it.... creating a never-ending circle of "I must blog soon" ? - Or is it just me? ;)

So....... The first thing I must tell you all about was a walk with Spot, MrNoo, my sister and her 2 boys (aged 4 and 6 months). I will call the older one Mr4 and the littley Mr0 from here on in! On Easter holiday from playgroup we decided to all go for a walk on a lovely sunny morning. At first Mr4 was a little nervous around Spot - after all she does do everything at 100mph, and when you're little that must be a bit nervewracking! So MrNoo walked Spot to the front of us and held her to heel for a while and gave her plenty of whistle commands so she knew she wasn't just on a "jolly". We got to the open bit of brackeny loveliness and Mr4 had overcome his initial nerves and wanted a go on the whistle. Spot's commands are 1 whistle for "stop and sit" and three short ones for "come here". We also had a gundog dummy to throw for her to retrieve. (I so wish I had taken a video of this!) So we have Mr4 in charge of a whistle and what 4 year old doesn't want to blow a whistle incessantly....... a mad Spaniel who when she's in the mood is actually very good at her commands....... and me and my sister just standing back and laughing. Poor Spot was up and down off her backside so many times. Every time she moved he blew, and she stopped, sat-up and looked around as if to say "what now?" In the end, being a reasonably intelligent kind of a girl, she just stopped moving off.... so she stopped, lied down and just stayed there. Mr4 then took to pushing on her back in a typical 4 year old way saying "Go ON Spot" really it was tooooo funny! Mr4 also wanted to throw the dummy (it's a 1lb one) and did very well for someone so small - although which direction it took off in was a bit random! But when Spot brought it back he wasn't sure he wanted to take it from her (which I can understand - a dog's mouth is not a good place for a 4 year old to get too used to!). I have spent the last 6 months or so trying to train Spot not to spit out the dummy on returning to me, so finally she holds it ready for me to take it from her, and here was Mr4 not really wanting to take it! If she'd have spat it out as she always used to he'd have been off and running! Really the whole morning was just lovely. Spot surpassed herself in the obediance stakes (very unlike her!) and we all just had the most wonderful and jolly time watching them play and learn together. It was magical! It lovely now my sister and her family are living so close that Mr4 and Spot are forming a lovely relationship. Both are nervous of the other, but as soon as one settles/calms down so does the other... I've even caught them having the odd impromptu cuddle! It's lovely.

The chickens are also very well and laying pretty much every day -I get 2 dozen eggs a week, and am currently drowning in them! - I have made ice cream..... hot crossed bun loaf (what a success that was - fab!!) am probably eating more poached eggs on toast than are good for me (Cara where are you when I need you?) and still have a fair few - I might try lemon curd soon too - anyone else got any other suggestions?! The Silkie has finally found out what it's all about and laid 3 eggs this week........ I'm hoping she will go broody soon as I want to try raising some Sasso's for the table and I'm getting impatient!
Here's a photo of the Silkie cockeral, just because photoless Blog posts aren't very exciting (and he won't be around too much longer so you might as well enjoy him!)

Knitting is going well, and I'm definitely on a roll, and may have even nicked someone else's mojo as I seem to have plenty at the moment. The Central Park Hoodie is all knitted up and just needs seaming. I've done one sleeve... it won't be long! I'm now knitting a pair of tights for Mr0, who has some excema on his legs and has discovered the art of scratching under his trouser legs, so I'm using some Rowan 4ply cotton that I had in stash, as a sort of "trial Pair" to see how we go and whether they help or he gets too hot in them....... I'm using this pattern from the DROPS site which always manages to have something appropriate if you look hard enough.

I haven't really done enough study for the ICB course - I've done lesson one, but sort of came to a grinding halt when it came to the assignment - why is it that as soon as I have to do something that needs to be "handed in" I get all school-girlish and "it will never be good enough" - Good grief it's only the first flippin' lesson! And I know that I'll end up rushing it to get it done, and really not doing it well enough!

Well we have just started a major thunder storm here..... Spot is quaking under my chair and the sound of the torrential rain on my conservatory roof (where I sit all day) is deafening.... so I think it is time to retire to somewhere more relaxing for a while!

New Life

He's here!!! - I have a new nephew! He's adorable and gorgeous, and cuddly!!! Everyone is fine, and my sister should be home today.

Autumn Days...

Aren't they just the best. Glorious sunshine, fabulous colours, not too hot to do things, a tiny bit of frost on the ground, wrapping up warm, coming in to hot drinks and soups, amazing earthy smell everywhere, bonfires....................... ahhhhhh ...... t'is my favourite time of the year.


And here is Spot to prove it's hers too!

I ordered my first ever organic veg box today, from Riverford . I'm really pleased with the contents, and will probably continue to do it every week, although may change from the mini box, which this was (£7.50) to the potato free winter box which I think is £9.75, but not available until 5th November. It's a tad more expensive than the supermarket, but it's all organic, and it could save me a supermarket trip once or twice a month, as I often only go to get veggies...... I always have meat and fish in the freezer, so it could end up saving me meoney in the long run!

As promised here is an updated piccie of the blanket..... My sister has gone to hospital today for a "gentle induction" (can there be such a thing? - the whole process doesn't sound very gentle to me at all - she says sitting with her legs crossed!!). So hopefully the next post will be some exciting news!

I am still loving knitting it, although have realised it needs to be at least twice as long as it is now!!! - but I've just downloaded the Magician's Nephew (read by Kenneth Brannagh) and the Horse and His Boy (read by Alex Jennings) as audiobooks, as I didn't get around to my usual summer read of the Narnia Chronicles, so it is all working out rather well!.

Hope you are all getting this wonderful sun too!

Busy, Busy

Well, where to start????

The Easter weekend was very special as my sister and nephew were here Saturday night and Sunday. It was so good to have them here as I hadn't seen them since Christmas. On Sunday morning MrC and I got up to watch the Fast Cars (Yay! my 3 year old nephew is a petrol-head!!!) His parting shot to Mummy was "NO, YOU STAY IN BED AND REST!" He did really well not getting bored to be honest! - I taught him that the Ferrari's were the red ones, (although not my favourite team they do have the advantage of being easily recognisable!) and he decided he wanted the Ferrari to win (fair enough!) He also heard the commentators saying the name Hamilton a few times (really??? there's a surprise!!!) so we had to try to learn which was he was too and remember that he was driving a McLaren!!!!! After the race we fed the chickens, had a biscuit, brushed Spot-Dog, fed the chickens, went for a walk, fed the chickens, had lunch, fed the chickens, played the piano, had a snooze, fed the chickens, played with play-doh, and fed the chickens!!!! - Chickens were also very obliging and laid us an egg for Lunch!!!!

Mum and Dad came over later in the afternoon, bringing supplies with them (!) and we had Sunday dinner all together which was lovely. It was lovely to see my nephew interacting with the pets too. This is the first time he has seen the chickens so that was great, and he loved them...... but also the first time he has really been big enough and brave enough to stroke and cuddle Spot in his own right! - I did catch a really touching scene at the chicken coop in the afternoon of MrC with his arms around Spotley's neck, and Spot just standing stock still (eyeing up the chickens it must be said!) but it was a lovely scene and one that brought a lump to my throat!!!!

So, since then I have put the finishing touches to my first veggie bed (with the help of Mr Noo!). Here it is in all it's glory:-

It's planted up already with onions, carrots, cabbage and leeks, and there's space for purple broccoli

Things are kicking off in the greenhouse too: -

The sweetcorn is going great guns - and the sunflowers next to it (the tops of each and every one having been chewed by mice!!!!)

The Rocket & spinach on the left is now big enough to pop in a sandwich (brie and fresh picked salad on homemade bread - you can't beat it!)

And the cabbages are coming up although they have also suffered at the teeth of the mice!


Finally the runner beans showed for the first time yesterday. The mice got one, but I've salvaged the rest, and am now covering up all the seedlings at night with netting so hopefully (!) everything will now survive!

I did also have peas and sweetpeas, but the mice have dug all of those up, so I'll have to do them again!

So there you have it, you're all caught up again! - Doesn't take long does it!? I really, really, must do some work for the rest of this week, especially as the new tax year is upon us so there are an inordinate amount of forms to fill and numbers to add up (and get wrong, and add up again, etc etc etc!!) So I doubt you will hear from me again until the weekend. Have fun all!