Noah's Ark for Baby Sol

Now, this goes back a looooong way. A friend of the family had a baby waaaay back in September. I meant to complete this for his birth. Then for Christmas. Then... well. It could be for his first Birthday, but that feels like cheating him out of a present somehow! So here it is, only seven and a half months late!

It was a long stitch done from a kit, so I can't take all that much credit for it. It's a lovely design, though, and I hope that it gets hung in his bedroom somewhere if mum and he like it. I personally love the bright colours and the animals. (I also mastered the art of French knots somewhere along the line - wahey! Although I have a strong suspicion that I have forgotten already...)

Then, it was just backing it (recognise the starry material from my first tote bag?) and putting a cane through the top to hang.

Welcome to the world, baby Sol.

(Even if it's really late!)

Summing Up Sunday: July 5th

Best Event: It's A Knockout - J got covered in foam, soaked in a thunderstorm, climbed some plastic mountains, jumped through hoops, dressed like a Telly-Tubby and did a four person sack race, all in aid of Pet Savers charity BSAVA! Despite the rain, a really fun day for both participants and spectators. AND Coombe Cottage hay from Maidens' Piece for the first time - really exciting!

Best purchase: A's new sparkly shoes from Rieker! Even more sparkly than they looked online!

Enjoying: 'The Gilmore Girls' - somewhat to our surprise. It's pretty old, and has surpassed our expectations. Rory and her mother, Lorelei, are an odd American family muddling their way through life and work with mostly funny, sometimes touching energy.

Reading: 'Flight Behaviour' (A - reread of a brilliant novel), 'The Miniaturist (among others, E - one of Mr B's reading spa books, good read), 'Gut' (J).

Best things in the garden: the rose tree (again), and the first beautifully stripy courgette!


Travels: London for a 90th Birthday (J), RSPCA to see cats and kittens (A/E), visiting J's mum bearing flowers and playing Scrabble.

Best News: Lacey has a new home!

Crafty things: painted runner bean poems afoot, hats being tie-dyed, pots being painted, more bunting being made, cross-stitch still being crossed...

Happy July xx

Summing up Sunday 28 June 2015

One Molly Tunnel anniversary and the first potatoes from the garden (the Molly Tunnel is our polytunnel put up by J and little M last year. It has housed sheep, hay and tomatoes so far and was decorated with flags as thanks on its birthday, the 22nd.) 

Two birthdays remembered (Cand R share the same birthday - we just managed to get in the post their gifts, garden twine for R and 'The Miniaturist' for C) 

Three unexpected days at Glastonbury (because of an ill RSPCA vet J was offered a place at the very last minute)

Five friends met to Wivvie walk around Pitminster ending up at the Queens Arms (wonderful walk through fields and wet grassed lanes with some beautiful Charolais cattle watching us)

Six bunches of sweet peas picked and given during the week (amazing tower of sweet peas in full flood sown in January and planted out in March. It's great having flowers you have to pick to keep them coming...) 

A moderate amount of rain (at last!)

Seventeen bunting flags made for a new baby (the baby is not here yet but he or she has some great duck bunting to go to her mum S next week) 

Millions of flowers on the Rose tree (a cutting of Cedric Morris, taken by Mickey in Suffolk in 1997, now taller than the house and completely covering an old ornamental crab in white and yellow centred sweet blossom. An amazing sight.) 

Craft Catch-Up

We haven't been doing any writing about craft on the blog for... about a year?!? Seems unlikely, but there we are! So, here is a very quick catch-up of some of the things we've been doing. There were quite a few more, but we didn't take photos of everything....

Hanging for friends' wedding (made on Tilly with some hand stitching)

T and H's 10 year anniversary was last September (!) so this was their celebration quilt.

 

Scarf for H's Christmas present (modelled by J).

The leftover wool which was made into socks for T's Christmas (no photo).

 

Decoupaged tea-light holders for Christmas presents.

Sock monkey for Little M's birthday.

Two different latch-hook kits (here's one) - an autumnal tree and a puppy.

Leaving presents for staff I had lived and worked with for 8 months or so - painted and then fired at a local-to-there pottery shop. (PS. Yes, those are shoes. And yes, she does like shoes.)

A gardening book for cousin B's birthday.

 

 

Decoupaged tray for J's birthday - a new in tray.

And that's all we took pictures of! Fairly sure that there must have been a lot more bits and bobs throughout the year (plus lots of cards etc) but this is everything we have evidence of.

What crafts have all you readers been up to?

Playing catch-up: Cousin B's Birthday

Cousin B had her birthday during our Field Festival. She's been wanting a camper can for a looong time, and her dream is finally coming true. I whipped up something to go in her new home on wheels.

Perfect material, right? Although her's isn't a VW, it's still pretty cool. I went for a simple brick pattern (like my first baby quilt) to make a patchwork cushion.

Here is it planned out...

And finished! A very fun and easy make, just hope it goes with B's colourscheme for her camper!

Stay tuned for more posts - a few book reviews to come, and a lovely 2CC weekend!

xx

Happy Birthday Coombe Cottages and co and GIVEAWAY!

So it's been a whole year since our little blog started out. We've had plenty of page views, but no one has left any comments apart from people we know in the 'real world.' As a celebration, we're hosting a little giveaway! So if you are a lurker, or stumbling across is for the first time, please please leave a comment!

So, what we have to give away is... 

A bookmark! Seems like an appropriate prize as most of the posts on this blog are either about reading or crafts - this combines the two! The material is part of the stash that we got from the knitting and stitching show, and although it's very simple, it looks quite sweet (I hope!)

To be in for a chance to win, please leave a comment on this page and we'll choose at random the winner! If you aren't someone we know in person (if there are any) then please leave your email address so we can contact you. We'll send it to you, wherever you are, whatever country!

Please help us celebrate our blog birthday!

Good luck!

Xx