The Great Outdoors

 We have been trying to get outside as much as we can while the weather is still pleasant, the hedges are still full and the nights are light.

This is the Lawley in south Shropshire, the hill you see from our house when I show you the view. We tried to find our house from the top but we could only see the general direction rather than our actual home.

At the top there is a 360 degree vista of glorious Shropshire countryside.

It is one of those walks where you think you are at the top, then there is another little hill...

...but it is not strenuous or too steep, just a lovely Sunday walk. 

We roped in a fellow walker to take a family shot. 

It has been a bit more rainy of late but walking with the dog is one of life's little pleasures which we will be indulging in this week while we are on a half term break.

Jo x

October...ing

Loving - walking the dog in Autumnal light.

Waiting - to see if my friend has a boy or a girl but super happy with this pale grey unisex yarn. The buttons can be last minute.

Laughing - at how differently our girls approach a modelling shoot. Teenagers keep it cool right?

Making - two sweatshirts from this beautiful fabric and cuffing.

Capturing - sunsets every evening. Some are orange; some are pastel; some are purple, but they are all beautiful and now part of our everyday life.

Looking - at nature all around us. Look at these morning cobwebs.

Patching - this months patch repair is a stray half square triangle I found in the bottom of the scraps box backed with a piece of denim. The hole was quite big so this was perfect.

Wondering - why it is only my thighs that need repairing. What am I doing regularly that wears this part out in particular?? They are becoming quite unique but I will continue.

Eating - noodle soup and crispy King Prawns.

Preparing - for some batches of sloe gin. It is a bit soon to pick them yet but there are quite a few around our field hedges.

 Hoping - some grass will grow on our new lawn creating a seamless green view without a boundary. There is a 1.5m drop at the end of the lawn to keep the sheep out.

Celebrating - the birthday of our 'little' girl who is eleven with a rainbow cake.

Treating - ourselves to chocolate fudge. Meg Made it to give to her three friends in a party bag.

Collecting - conkers. Don't they look so perfect when you open them?

Deciding - which dress to make with this beautiful Georgette fabric.

Enjoying - the changing of the seasons.

Thinking - of my dad on his birthday. He would have loved living at this house.

Ending - with another of those wonderful sunsets.

Thanks for dropping in. Jo xx

Green

I will hear none of this talk of summer being over, life here is still very green...

Lying in the park looking up at the trees.

Wild flowers on mass in a green park.

Picking green beans by the carrier bag.

Spinach ready for blanching, chopping and freezing ready for winter curries.

Runner beans are on the menu most nights as well as batches being blanched for the freezer.

The courgettes are prolific.

Bloke is still mowing the farm fields with his tractor.

The view from the cabin is still really green. Do you like the rail I put on the chair for Little M to hold the heavy binoculars steady?

A great August weekend visit to the Shrewsbury Vintage Steam Rally in the sunshine looking at the green nostalgia.

And just in case that non crafty gallery was not inspiring enough, I have chosen a knitting project to start when my shoulder is better - in green.

OK, so the styling includes a lot of brown... and twigs...and a rain hat but really? Autumn? pah!

Jo xxx

Ps. Thank you for all the lovely comments on my summer dress, I think that must be a comment record for me!

Busy at showtime

Thank you for all your comments on the barbie dress, I nearly didn't post it because I thought it insignificant but I'm glad it triggered such happy memories for people.

So, onto the weekend, it has been fun packed and hectic and of course involves some craft. First up was our local veg and craft show on Saturday.

My entry into the limerick competition.

The girls enjoyed making vegetable models. I mean look how happy this girl is...

Yes, you have seen it correctly, it is a poodle made out of cauliflower! She came second and was thrilled.

We won lots of certificates and the whole family entered a range of competitions.

As soon as the prize giving was over and we had collected our exhibits at 6pm we dumped the stuff at home and raced to the cabin at the farm. We didn't want to miss sleeping over this weekend with all the mild dry weather we have been having.

We celebrated our day with Bloke's second prize apple wine and the children had a fizzy 'wine' too.

Then we had to eat Bloke's second prize courgette cake.

While waiting for the fire to heat up the girls and I opened our prize money. Didn't I mention prize money? £1 for a win, 50p for 2nd and 30p for third prize. Whoooo! They thought they were rich with £2.50 each.

Sometimes you get toasted marshmallows just right...

I reminded them not to burn their lips on the hot marshmallows and as I turned around I saw them cooling them down like this - it amused me.

I left my new bookmark at the cabin as I enjoyed reading Big Sis's nature journal. She records all the wildlife she has seen every time we go to our cabin, she looks them up in the reference books we keep there. We bought her the journal for her birthday. She wanted me to cover up her picture of a frog - I loved it but she didn't.

  

So a little bit of everything: crochet, wine making, baking, learning and ultimately on Sunday afternoon after a long walk with lovely friends, some relaxing in a deck chair. 

Hope you had a great weekend whatever you got up to. 

Jo xx

Carefully Crafting

I am still carefully crafting by making sure I choose to make things that we need or that compliment other things we already have. This new crafting groove of mine is really working for me at the moment, what with working four days a week. My crafting takes me to a place where I really think about what I want to make.

With this in mind, I have made a scarf to go with my coat.

I can dig out my military style corduroy coat that I had put away for a few years because when I used to stand outside nursery to collect the children, us parents got soaked if it rained so I have been wearing a hooded waterproof for about four years. 

Now I am working and driving between learners for their tutoring I can get back to being a bit more fashionable and a bit less waterproof.

The yarn is Noro Chunky shade 325 and is left over from this pullover which I wear all the time. I had a skein and a half leftover because I decided to make it with short sleeves.

 

I used up every last strand to the point where I needed to use some Red Heart Fina DK in Moss 2010 to do the edges and two layers of my flower. When you pay for Noro you feel you have to use every last scrap.

Not quite a scarf, not quite a shawl, it is exactly what I wanted. I used my Minerva pattern, Sirdar 7046, where I made the blue daisy summer wrap earlier this year.

The colours of Autumn would you say?

Thanks for stopping by Jo xx