My friend sends me food parcels

lovely newspaper packages tied up with string, full of vegetables from Julias garden. plus, as Lucie could hardly believe, the biggest leek ever!! it was almost 5 foot tall! vegetable hotpot for tea tonight, yum.

at last, the 7 things meme

I have been putting off blogging because nothing much has been happening here. I have also been tagged by Lucy Locket, and have been struggling to think of 7 serious things about me! Not that I have thought about it any more now really, but i must blog or you will think I am doing something more exciting, which I am afraid I am not!! Oh and last week I finished the shire horse square, so I thought I would show it here.

here we go then, 7 serious (kinda) things about me (ok, they arent really serious, but I guess they are true, so there we go)

1. I am really messy, I know everyone has said this, but I am. really REALLY messy

2. I am not very good at routine, following a schedule/timetable, or doing anything when I must do it. Some people call this rebelliousness, I like to consider myself free spirited/artistic!

3. a bit similar to the last one, but I am not good at doing repetative things like knitting something big, or at completing projects that take a long time. see for example my Grandmothers quilt (of which the shire horse is a block). I like doing one block, I can do one in 2 evenings, but then I dont feel like doing another block straight after. so, thats why things like that take me ages.

4. I am left-handed. When I was in Junior school I had a teacher who told me left-handed people were superior to right-handed people, that we were better at art and craft, and just generally better. I have never been able to fully shake this from my head.

5. I wish I lived somewhere pretty and sunny

6. at this point I can never think of any more things, isn't five enough, no?

7. I love collecting conkers, I drag my children out to get them, they don't mind, but I think I enjoy it more. I will leave you with the findings of a recent conker search.

Julias desert Island plans, and a pig

Here first of all is a pig square, towards my ongoing quest to finish my Janet Bolton Grandmothers Quilt miniquilt. I dont like his spot, it is too dark, I might rip it out and replace with a lighter fabric, if I can be bothered. It is a longstanding UFO so i have become a bit fed up with it. not far to go now though, only a few more pieces to do.

Secondly, Julia suggested I should write a list of the things I would take on a desert island with me, as she did a few days ago on her blog, in fact she wanted me to tell her last night but I refused, I was still trying to think of them...

so here we are,
5 essential things

...a nice man (gonna get in trouble for this one) who can fetch and carry for me and do any hard work that comes up.
...a tent (what, I can carry it, or my man can)
...flint firelighters (never managed to get a magnifying glass to work for me)
...a knife
...axe

5 luxury things
...big box full of cake and chocolate
...nice quilt (comfy in day, cosy by night)
...new pair of crocs
...My grandmothers quilt wip, see pig square above
...helicopter to get us out once we have had enough

eek, im gonna get told off!! Anyway, Julia wont be cross that I have broken her rules because she is too nice, imagine the lovely time we had last week when I visited her for the afternoon, heres a little peek...

Bugs and flowers

Im a bit poorly, Lucie bought a sickness bug home from meithrin, and all the girls in our house have had it...so far. It seemed to go through the children quickly, but is lasting longer for me. I am hoping I am over the worst of it.

Anyway, Last weekend we went to stay with hubbys Auntie and Uncle in Hertfordshire. We also have a friend who lives nearby, who Hubby was doing a gig with on the Saturday night, but me and the children enjoyed spending time with family who we don't get to see very often.
The children had great fun, they especially liked storytime and piano singalongs with Auntie


watering the vegetables in the garden, (does he look like he is up to something? seconds later he turned that hose on us and we were soaked!!)


And going on some nice walks, which invariably involved collecting conkers. On the Saturday afternoon we went to Hertford town parish church to a flower festival.


There were so many lovely autumn colours and the children enjoyed searching for hidden church mice, all with different names, and they loved the miniature gardens made by the sunday school children from the church.




They wanted to make gardens too, so on Monday back at home, we went and collected some (mostly wild!) flowers (weeds),soil and moss and they had a go.



This was Esmes finished garden, I shall add more photos on flickr later, especially of the original gardens, most were done by older children and some were amazing!!!

here I am!

Ok, that was a bit of a break, but its nice to have a break sometimes. I have still been doing stuff, although admittedly not loads, but the back to school thing, getting back into a routine, is always a struggle.

So, I have lots of things to show, hopefully in the next few days. Firstly, I have actually made something!! I know, its been so long, and it was only an evening project, but it feels nice to be making again.


Esme has to take 20p fruit money into school each day, to buy fruit at break time from the school shop which is run by older pupils. In the first week, she seemed to mislay this money, be it in a purse or an envelope with her name on. So, I made this little purse, so she can wear it across her body all day and not lose her money. It fastens with velcro 'Mum, my friends don't believe you made it beause it has velcro on...' and has a strawberry button on the front and an apple on the back. I made it by hand, not bothering to get out the machine for such a small job.The purse is small, Esme can just get her hand in, it is lined in spotty green fabric, and the predominant red matches the school uniform. She loves it, and as yet has not lost a penny from it!!!

at the library

As my youngest has begun Meithrin (welsh playgroup) this month, on Monday mornings I am a lady of leisure. After a quick stop in town with a friend(it was breakfast time!!!) I had intended to go home for an hour, but on passing the library decided to go in and have a nice quiet morning reading their magazines.

I walked in, grabbed a couple of magazines from the shelf of current copies, and sat down. Seconds later a librarian walked over to me and said 'can I get you a cup of tea or coffee, we are having a coffee morning' to which I replied 'oh are we? how lovely, could I have a black coffee please?'. And so, the rest of my morning was spent sitting in almost-silence in the company of newspaper reading pensioners, enjoying free magazines and coffee.

A nice way to start the week, I think!

Two posts in one day - makes up for all the days I miss huh?

day out in Bath

The collection of a new ebay purchase, a 3 wheeler pushchair to replace my old broken-on-holidays one, meant a happily impromptu trip to Bath at the weekend.

We were on a cost cutting mission - free things to do while you are waiting for a pick-up time to arrive, so we headed over to Victoria park. Its lovely, big with lots of room to run around, and we even managed to avoid the man-made climbing/slide 'childrens area'. The children played in the trees and on the big stone gateways, chased each other, lay on the grass, and collected the first signs of autumn.





Of course we had to have a little trip into the shops, for drinks and cake, and we managed to find this beautiful little shop that Julia had told me about after her last trip to Bath, it has a cool wall of cuckoo clocks, and loads of pretty things. I was very good and just looked around, but I can tell I will be heading back there again!

the end of the holidays

Ahh, thats it, they have gone back to school (kicking and screaming, in the case of my eldest child!).Now I have to just tidy up all the holiday mess...or perhaps I will just sit here with my back to it, that sounds like a better idea.


We had a great holiday last week, first to the Greenbelt festival in Cheltenham, where we like to go every year, and then on to Woolacoombe in north Devon. It was lovely to spend time with friends on both holidays, and to catch up with an old friend and her lovely family too at Greenbelt. We had fantastic sunny weather and I am now nicely bronzed.


North Devon must be the fudge capital of the world, and it seems most of my photos are of shop windows. Yum, and we did buy a fair amount too!



Nougat cakes - looked amazing!!

a few warm days

finally we seem to be being blessed with a few warm, sunny days. I am so pleased, not least because it means I can wash all my clothes and have them back in cases for this weekends camping trip.

We have had a nice day today, not on the beach (I am using photos from earlier in the month, and longing for a new camera, the 2mp cameraphone is no longer exciting me!) but relaxing in the garden. The children turned the playhouse into a shop/cafe, they have been gradually heading towards it for a few weeks, but today we made silver coins for shopping, and raided the kitchen cupboards for any empty or nearly empty packaging as items in the shop, along with some old plastic playfood. I am being mean and not letting them take the wooden playfood into the garden, as I know it will get lost or trashed and I like it too much! They didnt seem to mind though, and real packaging is better anyhow. They played for ages, opening and shutting the shop, and serving each other various weird and wonderful meals 'would you like some face cream with your soup?' And I was able to sit and enjoy the sun for a bit. mmmm

been camping

oops, forgot to mention I was going camping!! We camp a lot with various groups/festivals etc in August, such fun, and we are here, there and everywhere. back now for a few days, just long enough to wash everything and repack it all. it would be nice to make something this week too, it has been so long. oh well, we will see!

horse parade

above, my favourite bit of the best horse at the parade we went to see on sunday, look at his lovely flowing ankles!!

we also watched a driving duck display, which was fantastic, a sheepdog herding running ducks, round various obstacles, including ornamental bridges, play tunnels and at one point a whole load of children including my Laurie! unfortunately my photos are all rather full of lots of other peoples kids so i dont feel i can share them online, but it was great!

making me smile

My friend Julia made me this sweet little jar of lavender flowers while my husband gave her daughter her Ukulele lesson this week. Isn't it lovely, you can see more of it here. And she sent me eggs from her Bantam hens, as she often does when she has enough, she is so nice - thanks Julia!!!

Today I took the children to the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. After terrifying the two littlest ones with the dinosaur section, we took an animal prints workshop, where we learnt lots about animal tracks and got to make our own, designing our own stamps and using lots of glue and black paint!



ps - note I am trying to post more - 6 posts in July, surely my worst month for blogging since I began! (so now you may get to know even the most mundane stuff in my life, brace yourselves!)

was that it for summer?

Well, haven't been blogging as we have been enjoying a few sunny days. the rain is back today though, unfortunately.

The other day the children enjoyed a spot of water painting, They had a pail of water, a variety of brushes, big and small, and painted the paving slabs outside. good cheap entertainment, though I guess it wouldnt work too well if you lived somewhere really hot as the water would dry up frustratingly quickly. fine for british summer days though, the ones when the slabs arent already soaking that is!

exciting mail

We got exciting mail for the whole family this week, a really big parcel from family in Northern Ireland, with presents for all our summer birthdays.

I have to show you what I got, the really funky felt ring above, and oven gloves from Emma Bridgewater,


lots of scrummy and bright fabric,


a new cath kidston-esque oilcloth bag, and my favourite, a new Japanese book, Cafe Kids.



Lucky me! now, to decide what to make.

birthday weekend

another birthday weekend, and now I am mother to a six year old. imagine.

42

When I wrote the last post I didnt realise that in only a few days, the head-count would be 42!! Again, I havent been on ebay, but a kind friend who I mentioned my playmobil man pursuits to, offered me a great big box (and a big bag) overflowing with all sorts of forts, garages and so on. the kids have had great fun and have played with nothing else in the house for days. I love hand-me-down toys, Thanks Kirsten!!!


I haven't been blogging much the last week, life sometimes takes over, nothing bad or drastic, we have just been busy with the everyday stuff.

A strange thing has been happening in my house this week. Men have been appearing from nowhere. Last week I searched for 'vintage playmobil people' on ebay. I was watching them, but didnt bid on any and didnt buy any.

Throughout this week these little men have been turning up around the house, I didn't know we had them, and they weren't all in one place, they just seem to keep popping up.

So far we have 4....

brighten my day

It is still raining here (no light, as you can see) so I thought I would change my tree to cheer me up. I love wrapping things in fabric, and the tree is now so bright and colourful, my favourite incarnation of my little ikea tree so far!

10 things

A couple of days ago I discovered the :10 things flickr group via happythings flickr pages. I don't know of you have heard of it (seems to have been going a while) but basically you post 10 photos a month to the group pool, photos of things you are grateful for, things that have made you happy, things that inspire you. There is also a 10 things blog that was the inspiration for the group. I thought I would join in for a few months at least, as a mini challenge to myself. June was tricky, as I joined the group with only about 26 hours of the month left, but I think I posted 9 photos, and now seems a good time to begin properly, on the 1st of July. why dont you join too?

Other stuff, I have completed 2 more blocks on my Grandmothers Patchwork Quilt, the geese, and finally finishing the embroidery on the cockerel. The bottom picture is all I have finished so far, so you can see how it is coming along.





(double click on photos to see them bigger.)