Emergency Crocheting.

This weekend has mostly been taken up with animal husbandry. That sounds very grand doesn't it? In other word...trying to keep the chickens from escaping! Yes those little Houdinis have been doing their best to get into the back garden and scrabble about in our beds and borders.

There has been much fence building and gate making, not by me you understand. No I just did some over viewing and picture taking. All on your behalf you understand, I'd much rather have been knocking fence posts in but someone has to record everything for posterity and blog posting. Here are the girls looking a bit miffed. You see they'd discovered that the wire meshing on the gate had larger holes than the rest of the fence and with a little hop and a wiggle they could pop through quite easily. Cheeky little chickens! They cleverly noticed this on the day that Wonderful Man was at work 120 miles away, but no panic I sprang into action with my trusty crochet hook and a ball of garden twine! HA! That put pay to their little game! I crocheted across their little escape route and stopped them in their tracks!

Hope you're feeling better soon Mum. x

Till next time

love Fi x

Beautiful

I have some sad news today.

Geraldine, one of our hens died yesterday.
We don't know why, she mooched about a bit and looked rather sulky for a day and then went into the hen house and died.

We've been told that sometimes that's just what happens with hens...

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So I thought we might go on a little bimble and reflect upon natures beauty.

Here's the start of our walk down to the river. We've just crossed the main road in our village and snuck down a little passageway between two cottages.

Who ever is last, please close the gate behind you.
Under the old railway bridge.


Across the meadow and over the style.


Not far at all.

Hmmm... the grass is tickling my toes through my sandels...

and the sun is hot on my bare arms.

That black fuzz is Sneaky Dog searching the rabbit holes in the river bank.

I can't resist stepping down onto the river bed. The water is very low a the moment, unbelievable after the weeks and weeks of snow we had up here!

The black dot in the distance is... you've guessed it... Sneaky Dog.

Looking back again we've just crossed the road bridge.

And over the field to this scrummy little 'Troll' bridge.

OOO! Look,

It's all dingley-delly down here.

Love it.

Heading back now.

Sneaky Dog is back on her lead even though she's more scared of the sheep than they are of her.

Good-bye sheep.

Aaaah back home, just waiting for the kettle to boil...

Do you fancy a piece of cake with your cuppa?
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Till next time my lovelies when I think we aught to catch up with some stitchy stuff.

Love Fi x

Meet the Girls.

Hellooo, I think it's time I introduced you to the girls.

They're a little bit camera shy like me and always seem to be facing the wrong way. (Much like me! They haven't found my 'good side' yet. Lol.)

From left to right, Cluck, Geraldine, Margery and Lady Gaga.

I've found it impossible to get all 4 of them in the same picture, at the same time, looking in the same direction.

We've only had them 2 weeks and to date we have had no eggs at all, but that's ok because they're still only teenagers. If you look closely their wattles on their heads haven't developed properly yet. Margery (the one at the back) seems to be the youngest with the least wattle and the smallest in size.

Every one enjoys spending time with them (even the horizontal teenager is keen to be involved!)
Cluck is the leader and the bravest.

She's also the most tame.

I thought I'd include this photo to mark the first-cleaning-out-of-the-hen house. Please note how many people are helping. I wonder if there will still be quite so many people a few weeks down the line...


only time will tell.

Till next time,

.

Love Fi x

Flat Pack Heaven!

Hello, I'm short of that precious commodity called time (as usual) but I wanted to check in with you all to say 'hello, how are your 20 minutes going?'

I'm afraid I haven't spent much time in this room lately!

That's because I've been in this room with a screwdriver, 43 packages of flat pack furniture and enough sheets of A4 instructions to paper a wall.

It's all good though, apart from poor hubby rupturing something important in his shoulder after about 6 screws! Even this had a good side though as it meant our teenage son had to step in and help us, so a little bit of quality time was spent together. (Although I'm not sure he saw it like that, lol.) Bless him, that big lolloping lump with feet like canoes and an appetite like swarm of locust did a really good job. Well, I couldn't have managed without him.

.

Right, I really must go to bed now as it's late and I've had a busy few days recently. As well as building furniture,

I've started a craft afternoon in our village,

I've had one migraine,

I've had family to stay,

I've had a birthday,

We've taken delivery of our first hen house.(more of that soon)

I'm going away at the weekend (my birthday present from WM)

And my job partner at work is away on holiday for a fortnight.

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So I really need my bed.

Catch up with you all soon,

.

a little bit frazzled Fi x

Birthday Cake and Lavender Bags.

Hello all you lovely people. I've been cupcaking again!

I've been doing it on the move this time. I took my supplies with me on a visit to my Mum and Dads so I could make the most of the half term week. Luckily my Parents don't mind me snipping, stuffing and stitching when I visit. I even crochet in the car on the journey there and back. (Wonderful Man does all the driving.) My 'accidental blanket' is nearly finished.

Well you can't waste all those precious 20 minutes, can you!

Can you spot the real cake? Hmmm it was a yummy Black Forest Gateau made by Grandma for #2 childs 15th birthday. What better way to celebrate.

Not only have I been stitching cakes, I've been making lavender bags too.

How can making something as small as a lavender bag,

cause sooooo much mess

and disruption?

Who knows! Just one of life's little mysteries!

My finished design.
I wanted to use my signature vintage embroidery on them,

but added a modern twist with some machine embroidery.

I'm hoping they have a country look to them without being too twee.

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What do you think?

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And just because I thought it might make you smile...

I took a photo of this Peter Rabbit bus in Kendal last week for you. Every available inch was covered in lovely Beatrix Potter drawings. I wonder if the driver likes it?

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Fi x

Fancy a Cuppa?

Hi all. I've just made a cuppa, do you fancy one?

This is the tea corner.

Everyone has one, don't they?

A designated tea and coffee corner.

The teabags still doing its thing in the mug, so I'm stood waiting for it. (Please excuse the old, used teabags in the brown pot!) Gosh its a bit dark and gloomy here today. I've had to put the lamp on to see what I'm doing!

Look! Gloomy, gloomy, gloomy!

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Lets have a look at something a bit more cheerful.

This is my knitting basket.

Full of crochet!

Would you like to take a peek the 'accidental blanket'

Here it is.

It's called the 'accidental blanket' because I started it accidentally whilst teaching a friend how to crochet. I had no intention of making another blanket. Well you know how it is. I had the yarn and the hooks out showing her what to do... and then I needed something to keep me calm on the 4 hour car journey to my brothers house the next day... and Bobs your uncle I was hooked. (Excuse the pun) I think it's the rhythm, you just can't stop. Before you know it that yarn is wrapped around your hook again! So I'm making it up as I go along. No plan. Just doing!

Look at this.

Child #2 is home from school.
Straight to the 'hot chocolate' corner!
She doesn't know I've taken this photo.
So I'll be trouble when she finds out! Teehee!

Natures Splendour.

Where I've been and what I've seen this month.

love it, love it, love it!