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!)

A [not quite] Wordless [Wednesday] Thursday

A [Not quite] Wordless Wednesday Thursday

Long time no post!

Jacob and his ladies!

Amazing how a kind gesture can brighten a miserable day.

Lots of crafts ready for our Christmas Sale - here's a sneaky peak! (More about that later).

Busy busy! Not liking the wind and cold today, looking forward to a fire this evening. 

The Lottie Project

I know 'The Lottie Project' is a (very good) book by Jacqueline Wilson, but this was something different. Some of our friend's own an allotment that allows people with mental health problems to access growing and the outdoors. Recently, they've got planning permission to have a polytunnel - hurray!

So, to buy the polytunnel they need to raise a bit of money - what better way than a garden sale? In true lucky-British fashion, the weather was be-a-utiful yesterday, which was such a relief (there wasn't really a contingency plan for rain...) And it was a great turnout, despite our worries.

Look how many people came

The allotment was bedecked in finery with beautiful bunting.

And all the things for sale... Wow! So many generous people. One very generous person (who isn't even involved in the organisation) donated a huge amount of cakes. Thank you so much! We were all very, very touched by the magnanimous gift. She must've been baking all day!

Coffee and walnut cake. There were also FOUR lemon drizzle cakes, and a huge batch each of almond and cherry, and chocolate sour cream muffins! Wow! Thank you so much.

MJ (whose sale it was) planted out some wonderful wellies! It's cat grass in the Hello Kitty Boots.

She also made the lovely herb garden markers. Other things on the table: A and E's seed packets (saved from the garden), MJ's tea light holders, A's lovely willow bird feeders, and some stones painted by people from 4 in 1, a mental health charity.

Our painted charm stones...

Pickles and relishes...

Pickled eggs, beetroot and onion relish, and marmalade.

Teasels transplanted from the garden...

And my lovely (if I do say so myself) bee and ladybird noughts and crosses boards. Four of them all sold! The stones were collected from Clevedon beech, painted in acrylics, varnished, wood chain-sawed by Joe, then varnished, and then the willow grid marked out.

And here's a glimpse of MJ with her stall.

Really successful sale, and fingers crossed enough has been raised! Watch this space.

Summing Up Sunday 27th September

Autumn is definitely coming. But let's all celebrate with this last bit of extended sun - hurrah! It's so nice that it's sometimes difficult to get anything done, as the outside just calls to you...

A bits and bobs sort of week. J and A out to WWW Walkers on the Sunday - making the most of this glorious Indian summer we're having. A and E with support MJ went out to Clevedon beach on Saturday morning to collect... pebbles! (There is some sense to this, I promise!)

M2 is having a sale in order to get money for a polytunnel at the shared allotment, after finally getting planning permission. So money must be raised... There's a sale on the allotment on 8th October (scary how quickly October is coming!) and there's been a little flurry of activity over things to make. Here's a little preview...

Popoki's still growing, and the adult cats are gradually getting used to her. She still likes to clamber all over them and try to play when they just want some peace, but we're hoping she'll learn... (She hasn't so far - poor Kosh is pretty clear that she doesn't want to play (hissing, growling) and the little one comes back for more! I would've thought she'd realise by now what they're saying, but there seems to be some sort of communication error...)

Other than that, life as normal. Books to be read - we've got the whole of The Man Booker prize on order, although I don't know if any of us will be able to stomach 'A Brief History of Seven Killings.' We'll give the others a go before the October announcement.

26 books - well, we're really not doing well with that challenge. See what we can do. Even if it ends up being 10 books, then that's better than nothing!

Shibori dying

I've just returned form an excellently run course at West Dean College near Chichester with tutor Janice Dunning and 8 other wonderful ladies. We used indigo and woad and tried out lots of different techniques to resist the dyes - stitching, clamping, tying, winding, pleating, wrapping - and I have come home with some glorious cloth to make into a quilt and possibly some clothes to wear. I love blue so immersing myself in it was glorious. Thank you to Janice and the warm and inspiring companionship of the other people on the course.

So this is. It involves stitching for a long time with strong  threads in a drawn patten which you then draw tightly before dunking in the bath.

This is karamatsu - the material is folded then stitched in concentric half circles with a very clever mechanism of tying with a knot through a cloth fragment at one end and then loosely stitching into another at the other side to allow pulling and tying off!

This one is where the cloth is stitched with a fold and then pulled tight - mokume.

This was my favourite - Bomaki - which involves making tubes of material that fit over drainpes or poles. The fabric is then rucked up and it creates a wave-like pattern.

And this is clamp resist dying - itajime - this produces regular symmetrical patterns by concertina folding the fabric then on either end clamping with pegs, clips, bound wood, acrylic shapes, etc before immersing in the vat. 

Summing up Sunday 6 September

What a lot has happened this week! Lots of firsts...

The first mega adventure for 2 small boys  involving the storm kettle and a cave for the first time - A borrowed Hijs and Bram for a long afternoon adventure involving the strawberry line and tunnel, a climb through Kings wood, up to wavering and to the secret spot and the hidden cave ( which had bones in - we thought they were bear bones or even zombies but Hugo inspected them on our return and declared them to to be sheep!), boiled the storm kettle and had sausage pot noodles ( Jodie's suggestion) instant tomato soup and chocolate biscuits... We drew pictures and stuck leaves in our adventure books to document all of the bits of the journey and the 4 and 6 year old legs didn't complain once even after several hours...

First ever Ticket to Ride Netherlands with the right pronunciations - Hugo and Natasha our wonderful Dutch neighbours played ticket to ride with us and we learnt how to talk Dutch! We won't remember the pronunciations easily but we had a good go and Natasha won spectacularly.

First family therapy after the summer break - it was good to see Jeremy again after his summer holiday in France, and although we entertained Sue at 2 Coombe cottages with gluten free scones and jam one wet Wednesday afternoon a few weeks ago it did feel like the first real session after a very long time.

The first choir practice - We had the first official practice  after the summer break and our triumphant appearance at Tracey's wedding. This time in st Mary's church and with the big band we are singing with in a few weeks time. It was a big big sound and E had to wear ear plugs to cope with it although she only had a single one with her! It does sound amazing and not like our usual sound so it looks likely will be a great concert (18 sept - church in Whiteladies Road) 

First birthday garden party for a very long time - a return to As birthday format of a 2 Coombe cottage crafty weekend with Heva Tam Molly Belinda Michael and Annie with willow weaving and an outing to the Ethicurean for a fabulously artistic celebration of vegetables meal. 

First basket made by Molly - a triumph!

First glimpse of the sun after a very long month of grey - true to tradition A's birthday is always sunny and the sun definitely appeared. It was glorious. 

Summing Up Sunday, August

Hello! It's been a while, hasn't it? A sort of low level business of summer time is the general sum-up. Here are a few bits and bobs:

We have welcomed: Popoki (Poppet) joined us from Alysun and Tim's house a week ago. She is black and white and now 8 weeks old, and despite a lot of conversations and scent swaps with Kirry and Koshka our resident cats, is a complete surprise and horror to them. She is very sweet and living a life of luxury in E's room whilst she gains confidence and K and K get more used to the idea.

The Garden has been growing: mulberries by the bucketload! Tomatoes (although E managed to snap a brilliant one...) Sweet peas on and on and on - 4 bunches on Friday!

The serpent radishes have finally radished and we had a bowlful of little glistening pods as a salad last night.

Dahlias, sunflowers, rudbekia...

We have had lots of: rain, thunder, lightening, slugs (huge brown and orange ones) :( 

We have made and played: a new fence in the field; a tablet stand and laptop case for T's birthday; an amazing mulberry Bundt cake in a new birthday tin;

several games of scrabble, Bananagram, and  new Ticket to rides (Nordic and Holland). (Banangram best words: philatelist; yodelling; oxidises). 

First game of chess against S that was actually a near win! (E)

We have been reading: 'Dominion' by CJ Sansom (everyone for book group, really compelling); 'The Chimes' (J); 'The Illuminations' (A); lots of YA books (E - Cassie Claire's Mortal Instruments, The Coldest Girl in Cold Town, reread of The Fault of in Stars, The Darkest Part of the Forest, Demon's Lexicon trilogy, I Capture the Castle etc etc)

We have been visited by: lovely S our family therapist to sample our gluten free baking, S and C bearing Sally Lunn Buns from their holiday on Bath, and C to work extremely hard with J in the orchard project and putting up a great fence...

We have been going: up hills in the pouring rain in swimming trunks, coming back wringing socks out (! J and C); round and about the garden and field (all); to poetry group with the theme of 'Food' (J and E, as A wasn't well enough); America, Amsterdam, Exeter (E in book world)...

On the net: brilliant cartoon here based on JK's speech at Yale. Inspiring words beautifully brought to life

Guardian Quiz: 6/15. Did you know that Lennon and McCartney met at a garden fete?

Happy Sunday!

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!)