Summing up [Sunday] Sale!

So, this is why we haven't been consistently writing for a while...

EVERYTHING HAS BEEN HAPPENING!

(this may or may not be hyperbole)

I'll talk you through things. First, remember that crochet baby blanket that I started, er, in February or something? Z was born healthy and happy about four months ago. But I still hadn't finished the blanket. FINALLY, when I had finished they got invited over for lunch (unfortunately very brief) and I got to meet mummy for the first time, and little Z. So cute!

All the ends cut off after being sewn in - what an achievement!

Mapping out the blanket - took a long time as it was really hard to colour match properly.

                                  

                                         Doing four more lines of border

The TA-DA picture will have to wait until I can get it off A, I'm afraid, but they seemed very pleased. It was my first go, so a lot of mistakes and pretty messy, but they seemed to appreciate it. Just hope it gets used!

Okay, so big thing NUMBER TWO has been taking up A LOT of time. We (as a family) have decided to raise £1500 over the year for The Hope Project, which is a branch of The Dogs' Trust. It specifically helps dogs whose owners are in housing crises, as a lot of shelters will not accept dogs, and there isn't a lot of veterinary support for them. Dogs are vitally important to some people: a friend, protection, warmth... We'll have another post more on the fundraising in the future with lots more details, and in case anyone wants to be involved.

SO, we left it all a bit late, so by the time we'd booked our stall at a local school's PTA craft fair, we only had four weeks to make everything for it. Here's some shots of our work in progress:

Sequin ball-balls - would you believe that we spent £18 on pins alone?? We didn't know that, and certainly made no  money!

Felty decorations (there were also stockings and snowmen)

Cutting out the tops for A's 'Luxury mincemeat' and 'Christmas Apple and Cranberry Chutney.' They both sold very well.

Stall putting up in action - great way to display things between canes with sticks.

And here is our stall! I won't bore you with pictures of everything we made, but I can do a list, can't I? Mini bunting, big bunting (both sold well), hot chocolate sticks, Christmas cards, glittery baubles, reindeer baubles, mini and larger glittery stars, printed wrapping paper, a scarf, beautiful paper stars made marvellously by Alison (we had 30 or so and only FOUR left), little felt critters made by a generous woman from A's work, salt dough decorations, willow stars, willow bird feeders (all went quickly), Christmas cushion, Christmas flannel... I think that was it, but it would've been really easy to miss something out. What a great stall.

And look how much went! The top bunting was reserved already, but everything else went.  A few bits and bobs left for sale TWO (yes, I know we're mad, but it's a little stall this time).

Good idea for next year - cinnamon sticks wrapped up nicely. So easy!

I had to show these. They may be very cute, but they are made from books. As in entire books. One book = one hedgehog. I just couldn't do it.

These were our very nice next-stall neighbours. Apparently, this was a really bad selling year, but we did all right!

Few other bits and bobs - a lot of chocolates, big raffle, jewellery, nick nacks, pens, wreaths, glass work, loads of cards, clothes, scarves, accessories... A real mix. Not much time to get round, but looked like a great a sale.

So, onto other things. We had our very last family therapy session with J and S. It was hard, and heartening, and humorous and sad. We've been with them for a long time, and it seems so alien that they won't be journeying with us anymore. We will be travelling in a different way.

Our memory book - one for each of them

And not to forget Joyce's 93rd birthday! A nice evening at Sewell house with two cakes (a homemade Victoria sponge and a shop-bought chocolate cake) and alcohol! Only one person got drunk, so that's not too bad!

Joe, Susan, and Joyce

That's about all, folks! Well, a lot of other things have happened as well,  but it's a quick run-down. Hopefully, we'll get into a schedule again, but no promises.

(No Guardian Quizzes - no time!)

Planning to get sheep!

You may have read earlier that we acquired a field. And not just any field, but the one in front of the eponymous Coombe Cottages. The process isn't quite as simple as that, so in fact at the moment the field belongs in its entirety to our immediate neighbours Pat and Richard, and they bought it with the pooled funds of us, them and Bob and Maureen across the other side of the field. When the legal stuff is sorted, it will be in joint ownership. So far, PRBM say that they don't want anything for the field other than that it should stay as meadow, so it will need grazing, and we're the people to organise that!

This morning, A and I went up the hill to prospect. Actually I have been prospecting for a while when out on my runs. I have seen:

Jacobs

Too horny.


Cheviots
 

  Too twee.


 Dorset Downs

   Too hairy faced.

And on two of the farms up the hill I had seen some lovely sheep that I didn't recognise.
We arrived at Quarry Farm just as David Caple was going out to look at the lambs in the field in front of the house. Lovely lambs! They'd do very nicely. They are Charolais

 crossed onto Mule

which is itself a cross of Blue Faced Leicester

onto Swaledale

No pictures available on-line, so A will have to take her camera up next time, and meanwhile you'll have to imagine what a combination of the above four is like.
The Caples couldn't have been more encouraging and friendly about the whole thing, inviting us in and chatting for over an hour about sheep, what different sorts are like and where to find some, and feeding us some very good shortbread with tea.
We felt very encouraged.
David said 5 ewes with lambs at foot, and we will top the field mid summer to take off what they can't eat at that time of year.
Exciting!

Home to cats

And now we are home again and the little cats are growing. Their names have stuck. Koshka ( Russian for cat) is the dark tortie with the wonderfully huge purr and heart warming chirrup, and Moo-sang (also meaning  a type of cat in Malay) is the little ginger boy who bats marbles and fluff with a hunting vengeance. They are learning to play gently with people, Kirry tolerates them most of the time and they scurry about the house happily when we are home. Very joyful!

New slippers!

So, around 30 years ago I knitted my Dad several huge Icelandic sweaters on big round needles to keep him warm in the wastes of Aberdeenshire then the paddy fields of Norfolk. I reclaimed them when he died in 1991 but have been unable to give or throw them away. I had felted them in a hope that I could recycle them into something else and I finally have! The Coombe cottage craft gathering allowed me to make these amazing boots with faux leather from Mortimer Hills craft supplies and a blanket stitch tutorial and flower from marvellous M. Here they are in our porch - a slightly odd shape, but then so are my now warm feet...

The Return of Coombe Cottage Crafts

When T and E were small, a few times a year cousin B and cousin M would come for a weekend of crafting and hilarity - Coombe Cottage Craft weekends. Although B, M, T and E are all grown up now, we had a mini reunion - a CCC day!

It was difficult to fit everything in! Everyone worked on their own projects. Inspired by seeing people's slippers at the Lovely Lyme weekend, A decided she needed a pair of her own. Repurposing one of her dad's old jumpers, it started out like this -

Nice to use up these old things - particularly as it was something she knitted herself. She still has a great deal of work to go, but definitely looking promising. A WIP that we will update you on.

M used an old jumper of J's that had been felted, and produced the only finished item of the day, a couple of oven gloves -

Pretty impressive for about half a day's work!

J and E started a collaborative project. Both being fairly proficient knitters, there is be thing that neither have done yet - socks on double pointed needles! This seemed the perfect time to try. E bought a sock knitting kit from Get Knitted with Opal sock yarn. A success so far! - but a very long way to go. And, with J and E each knitting one sock, only time will tell whether their tension is similar enough to make a matching pair of socks...


Big B decided to do an Easter project and went for making a chicken using this pattern from Landscaping Magazine. Another WIP from J's old jumper, but definitely looking promising.

(at the back - big B's chicken and M's completed oven gloves; underneath - beginnings of little B's hot water bottle cover; E's sock on the needles; front - A's slippers in the making)

And little B went for making a hot water bottle cover - this time from a different felted jumper. She was more distracted with packing up, but you can see it begin to take shape...

Apart from the crafting, it was a nice short day. An Easter tree was made with blossom from the garden, and M also insisted on a short constitutional after (a very successful! - recipes to follow in another post) lunch. It was cold, but the woods were full of promise - daffodils poking up everywhere and the wild garlic beginning to emerge.

 (the Easter tree in all its blossom-y glory! The little bird is a present from big B last weekend in Lyme - very nice)

Sad to see them all go. Just A, J and E at home for the weekend - continuing with the crafting projects, watching a film, snuggling in front of the fire, perhaps visiting Lyme. A lovely reunion.