October on the beach...

Thanks to you all for your kind comments on my last couple of posts - I do try to reply personally when I can but there are some 'no-reply' commenters so to you nice people, thanks for taking the time to have a look at my little bloggy world and leave me your thoughts. It is surprisingly exciting to know that anyone likes to read my ramblings! 

Finally, I got around to taking my beach photos from a couple for weeks ago off my phone! I couldn't believe I'd forgotten my camera so these are iphone pics. It was a bit tricky to take photos as it was so bright that I couldn't really see what I was taking because of the reflections on the screen!

I still can't quite believe that in the first week in October, in the UK, we were able to sit on the beach in summer clothes and the kids swam in the North Sea!

The water was unusually clear...

...and the sun was sparkling on the ripples...

Even the smallest people enjoyed digging holes in the sand...

I do love the coast, expect this will be the last 'hot weather' beach outing this year - lovely late summer treat!

On a different tack, very tempted to tag along with Heather and Lucy and their Ripple along... I've been making very slow progress with my Big Ripple Blanket, seriously distracted by lots of other projects along the way and could do with a bit of motivation to help it along!

This was taken in June and I think I've only added a couple of rows since! Off to add a row or two now!!

Til next time, happy rippling if you are too!

Sx

autumn mists...

We had a few beautiful misty mornings when we had that lovely warm weather last week - waking to a chill in the air and thick mist across the fields with a promise of glowing sun to burn it away...

Last weekend I dropped my eldest son early at the train station and drove back 'the long way round' which took me near the river and the marshes where the light and the mist was really pretty.

The hedgerows were strewn with dew-coated spiders' webs...

The sun soon began to drive the mist away and this turned into a scorching day, which gave us an unexpected October trip to the beach (more of that another day if I ever get round to downloading the photos!).

I love to be in the hills and they are in very short (non-existant!) supply in Norfolk but there is no denying the light and the wide skies are very beautiful at times.

Til next time then

Sx

Loving London...

I'm feeling a bit out of sorts because I'm so out of sync with getting things posted! I know it really doesn't matter but it makes more sense to me (especially when I look back...) if these little snippets of life are in some kind of logical order! 

So although, it's properly cold today and I can hardly think we are going to be lucky enough to have any more unseasonal sunny warm weather, I need to fill in the gaps of the last couple of weeks - when we had sunshine and lovely blue skies!

I have officially had a couple of weeks off work ( I say officially, because in fact I have been in more than I've been off really - why do big projects start to get moving just as you are about to go on leave?) and I have managed a couple of days doing nice things. Son 3 has been desperate for a trip to 'the big smoke' for ages so we splashed out, took a train to Liverpool Street last Tuesday afternoon and then had the whole of Wednesday to do what we wanted.

We risked a late booked 'secret hotel' which found us in the redeveloped Docklands area. It was a bit further out than I'd planned but not an area I've explored before and, to be honest, nowhere is difficult to get to on the tube.

I loved these architectural structures - relics, I presume, from the days when this was a working dock and  well before all those waterfront properties were developed (we couldn't help wondering what these places are worth???). This area actually felt remarkably quiet - I guess it gets busier in the working day but in the evening and early morning it felt virtually empty apart from a few runners jogging round the waters edge.  

T was keen to see Camden street market, so we set off promptly (after the biggest - included in the price, gotta be done! - breakfast ever!) and arrived before even all the stalls were set up. Camden has an eclectic mix of crafty stuff, London tourist 'tat' and general 'stuff' of pretty much any sort and it is easy to spend a couple of hours just wandering around.

I don't remember there being so many signs up saying 'no photos' before (maybe I've just never noticed!) but it was surprisingly empty so I felt a bit inhibited about taking pics of the stalls. So you'll have to make do with my Swan Vesta son (to be fair - the hair has faded quite a bit!) glowing in the sunshine!

It was so hot that ice-cream was calling us and we stopped at Chin Chin's - a nitrogen ice-cream bar where they freeze the ice-cream in front of you with liquid nitrogen. It's a fun spectacle and the ice-cream is deliciously smooth - even for someone like me who is not a huge ice cream fan (I always get that horrible 'brain freeze thing!) this was very welcome...

Mine was chocolate with fresh raspberry sauce and white chocolate, T had grape sorbet, with chocolate sauce and popping candy. Delish!!!

We walked up through Chalk Farm - look at this amazing bit of street art...

and on through the 'posh bit' of Primrose Hill, where apparently the great and good live, so we tried a bit of celeb spotting...didn't see anyone I recognised! But then I probably wouldn't know half of the people who are supposed to live there anyway - I'm a bit clueless, don't watch much telly!!

Primrose Hill itself was beautiful, you can see right across the capital...

...so we decided to just sit and chill in the sunshine.

Time for a spot of public knitting...

(it was a good couple of days for it! Two train journeys and a bit of sitting about time - bliss!) ...and people watching...

I had a bit of bike envy here! How lovely to be able to cycle to this beautiful piece of park with your book and the sit in the dappled shade of a tree...

And I have no idea why this lady was dressed like this in the middle of a scorching late September day...

She had the most amazing feather headdress on and I loved the gorgeous bright blue of her dress.

We decided to walk back to the city rather than go 'underground' on such a beautiful day so headed down through Regent's Park...

You forget how much lovely green space there is in this city - really beautiful.

We took in Oxford Street and Carnaby Street (I have to just walk through Liberty's and yes, we did go and have a quick peek at their Christmas floor!) where we found a lovely little wool and craft shop in a little courtyard...

I had to be very restrained with all this lovely colourfulness and T was very patient while I oo'd and aa'd and squished!

On through, Chinatown...

...to Covent Garden, where the entertainment is always worth a watch.

By the time we got as far as Trafalgar Square the light had changed to that lovely golden glow that you get in late summer evenings...

Nelson's Column and the surrounding buildings looked as though they were lit against the still blue, cloudless sky.

By this stage, we had walked miles and our feet were beginning to complain, but it was great to spend a bit of one to one time with T - something that seems so much harder to do the older the boys get. 

And definitely a little bit of 'holiday time' in my mad week!

Sx  

Decluttering...

I have been storing furniture ready for my friend to move into her new home and this has triggered a bit of a (long overdue!) sort out of the area we rather humorously call the 'study'. I couldn't bring myself to take a before photo - suffice to say there was barely a bit of floor you could walk across, the bookshelf was so overloaded it was risking bodily injury trying to extract a book and there was not an inch of space on the desk that made it useable!

However, the arrival of my bureau bargain find prompted a big tidy up and I have been uncharacteristically ruthless in what I have allowed myself to keep. The trouble is I am quite a tidy freak by nature so I hate it when things are in a muddle and the difficult thing about living with a houseful of people (I may be wrong, but I think especially when they are all men??!!) is that not everyone shares my desire to put books away properly or put the stapler back where its supposed to be or shred old documents instead of balancing them on the shredder for someone else to do...!!!

But I can't just do 'a quick tidy' round - if I'm going to sort it, I have to Sort It!! Properly! And that means going through every cupboard, box, shelf etc and reorganising everything (is this sounding a bit problematic? I promise I don't have a pristine house and most of the time I just try not to look and tolerate everyone's debris!) This is why it took me two days to sort the study - and told I was controlling into the bargain...

I still can't take a photo as the room is still stuffed with furniture which is going elsewhere but it is getting there and beginning to look a bit more like it could be a useable room again!

Don't you always find though, that there are some things you just cannot part with???

I always struggle with getting rid of books - I just love to have them around and so many have life moments tied up in them. These four made it back on to the shelf - even though my boys are far too old for them now but they used to be among their favourites. They were read so often that we all knew them word for word - 'Guess how much I love you' became a regular bedtime fixture as last story of the night (I love you to the moon and back...). Maybe I'll be reading them to grandchildren one day... (not yet thanks!!!).

I also found this funny little book of makes...

Lord knows where this came from, might have been an acquisition from my mum at some point - some of the makes were not entirely outdated but the text is shockingly so. This laundry bag looks like a very practical make (I had been scooping up piles of washing off bedroom floors.)...

but what really made me smile was this...

The assumption being of course that it was clearly an unnecessary gift for a married man, whose dear little wife would be sorting washing for him! My eldest son was rather appalled but it just made me laugh - has anything changed that much?! We don't readily accept that kind of attitude publicly but we all still do most of what I heard referred to as 'pink jobs' (as opposed to blue or purple jobs!!!). 

I have to confess, this little book made it back onto the shelf too!

There was time in the grand sorting for a little late summer sun appreciation...

Bliss!

Sx

photo hunting...September

I almost got this post out on time - it was just about ready to go yesterday when I realised I'd missed one picture! So I have to confess that one was taken this morning so didn't quite manage all in September!

This month I have tried really hard to get the photos in Kathy's list - some of them were a serious challenge for me but here are my offerings for September...

Back to school...

I really struggled here! I don't have any school age people any more and am not anywhere near a school run...so I improvised... 'Back to school' when I was a child meant shoe cleaning! My Dad was a stickler for smart shiny shoes and would have had a fit at this pair!

Football season...

Equally challenging! Not a huge football fan and no small boys to go and watch anymore... was going to take a photo of son 3 reading a book - he can't abide football (he once told me he'd joined in with the football at school - as a goalpost!) and takes to his books when the football takes over the TV. Then I spotted this window on a trip to London this week!

What's in your bag...

I'm not really a huge, overstuffed bag person - I never quite know what people put in them, think its from years of working in a job where carrying a bag wasn't an option! But for my day out to London this week I had a few more bits - scarf in case I got cold (it was 27 degrees on Wenesday! But I was glad of it by the train journey home again late in the evening), purse, camera, CK purse of 'essentials', and current knitting (next pair of socks!!) - think my phone and some tissues must have been in there too! 

Relaxation...

Sons 1 and 3 looking pretty relaxed at Harvest at Jimmy's...

Harvest...

The harvest was so early this year, this one had me scratching my head too - the fields had all been emptied near me. Then I spotted this at the festival at Jimmy's farm!

A pile of things...

Or several piles, in fact! This is part of the grand study clear out and rearrange - how much 'stuff' does one family accumulate! I have bagged up 5 big bags of books to take to the charity shop tomorrow - although it slightly grieves me to part with books I think I have to be realistic about what we are ever going to need or use - lots of this I had forgotten we had even got! Plus a pile of discarded phones - again something that just grows - particularly in a house with 5 mobiles on the go! Must try to recycle these...

Desk/workspace...

This is the one I forgot to take yesterday! I'm loving the fact that everything has a neat little home in this newly found bureau!

Public phone box...

There aren't many around now are there! Rapidly becoming obsolete in the aftermath of the ubiquitous mobile phone...most villages round here seem to have one very dingy overgown one but once again London came up trumps with these two scarlet beauties just before Primrose Hill

Something taller than you...

So many possibilities here but these were lovely trees.

Apples...

...on the tree in my garden.

A road sign...

Is this cheating? It is a road sign...!

A view from above...

In London again, just off Carnaby Street.

I enjoyed the hunt agian this month so thansk to Kathy - wonder what's on October's list?

Sx

Granny square love...

Get me, two posts in one day!

This one is just a quicky - Jenni at Baa-me Kniits kindly pointed her readers to Sarah London's giveaway - she is offering a signed copy of her new book and 7 skeins of gorgeous looking yarn. Pop by if you fancy a 'flutter'!!

Fingers crossed!

Sx

tentative steps into quilting...

Finally, I get to post some crafty stuff! There seem to have been so many weeks when there has been precious little time to devote to a bit of craft 'therapy' but I do have some things to show you now!

Before I do though, I just want to say thanks for the lovely comments on my last post and welcome along to some new 'faces' - very nice to meet you! I will try to answer in person when I can but thought I'd try to answer some of the questions on here in the hope that you will see them! Hope that's ok...

Regarding the sloes... its not the sloes so much that are so good but 'pickled' in gin for 3 months or more they are seriously worth talking about! At least, in my opinion... And last new year the boys came up with a particularly good cocktail which meant I had to share it!!! I think it's most unfair that foraging is such a no go thing in Australia - it's such a treat to make delicious, nearly free goodies (I count it as free as the gin was already in the cupboard...we'll gloss over the fact that if I'm going to manage more than 1 G&T between now and Christmas it has to be replaced...).

In answer to Rachelle - well, you may well do! We are just about 30 mins from Blundeston, not far from Bungay...

Penny, no I haven't ever used rowan berries - I don't think I knew you could; would be intrigued to know if anyone does as there are loads near me at the moment!

Jenni (at Baa-me Kniits) - I'm about 15 miles or so from work and main city shopping but there are lots of nice small town shops not so far. And really 15 miles is only 20 minutes unless the traffic's awful - Norfolk is still a pretty rural region, you don't have to go far before you are out 'in the sticks'!

And thanks so much Lisa - Lisa takes such beautiful photos, quite inspirational - do have a look at her blog...

So on to things I've been making!

Finally, I finished the Noro socks...

I bought this ball of Noro Kureyon yarn in mid July!!! I think this is the longest a pair of socks has taken! I'd like to say I'm really pleased with them...and I sort of am...but in spite of me trying really hard to get matching socks this time...

What is going on here?!!! It was all going so well (and I was feeling quite smug) 'til I got to the heel then the colours didn't follow in the same order! How on earth do people do it?! Alice makes such beautifully matched socks and although I am trying to convince myself it's fine that they look a bit 'rustic' I also know that when I have them on with jeans the only bit you can see is the foot and it looks like I've forgotten how to dress properly! I'll bet money I will get asked if I know I've got odd socks on!!! On the plus side - these do fit the best out of the socks I've made so far and are lovely and comfy to wear, so I may just have to wear these with shoes and a skirt so the bit that's showing is the matched bit!?! 

Another question for you expert sock knitters out there - whilst my homemade socks are very comfy and definitely not loose at the top (thanks to Penny of Baa-me Kniits for her tip about long-tail cast on - hoping the next pair will be suitable for my Mum without cutting her circulation off!) they do have a bit of a tendency to go 'baggy' by the end of the day. Any tips for snug socks?

The crochet has taken a bit of a back burner for a while - I treated myself to a book of crochet squares with the idea of learning some new stitches and patterns but I can't quite get my enthusiasm for it going. I think it's because I haven't got any really nice yarn on the go. I have some of the cheap (and bright but pretty nasty to use) Rialto cotton and lots of quite nice to use Stylecraft acrylic but that is meant to be for my big ripple blanket and I am trying not to be tempted to pinch it for other projects. I'm a bit out of love with the ripple right now - the rows are soooo long (why oh why did I think such a wide blanket was essential?!!!) so progress is very slow! I will finish it eventually...

In the meantime, and rather inspired by Karen, I am having a go at machine quilting. Years and years ago (I'm talking almost 40 years ago...!) I was completely captivated at a craft fair, as a 7 year old, by a lady who was hand piecing small hexagons into beautiful quilts and I went home and started one - which I still have, but never finished! Part of me really wants to complete it but my 7 year old stitching has, shall we say, 'character'! I still love the idea and have been gathering bits of fabric for some time with the thought of some sort of quilt making.

I spent a couple of contented hours cutting these squares and rearranging them into piles...

and stacks...

...before finally starting to put them together. I had rather underestimated the trickiness of getting squares to line up exactly - particularly with my slightly slapdash approach to seam allowances (by eye!!!) so this is far from perfect (there is a quilting lesson to be learned here methinks...when all those clever folk out there say the measuring bit is crucial, they mean it!!!).

But, all in all, I'm quite pleased with the end result...

This is the finished top piece washed through and drying on the line. I thought I'd be really good and wash it in case of any unwelcome shrinkage but this was a case of lesson no 2 in quilting! I'm definitely not going to show you the back as it is one tangled mess of frayed edges! No harm done because I had left pretty generous seam allowances but I did have to spend some tedious time trimming all the strands of frayed thread off the back!

I'm going to bind it with another strip of the red checked fabric which I hope will finish it off nicely. This is going to be for a friend of mine who is having a pretty horrible time at the moment. Circumstances are forcing her to move away from a long marriage and into an empty place which she is desperately trying to turn into a home. I thought she could do with something pretty and cheerful and made with a bit of love, so imperfections or no, this will be for her new home.

I just have the final stages to do - currently it is sitting there staring at me with the backing, batting and top all basted together. Only I have to confess to a certain amount of anxiety about the actual quilting bit... am I best to start in the centre of the quilt and work out to each side? Or start at one end and work my way across the whole thing? It might be ok when I get going but I don't want to wreck it now!! Any tips, gratefully received!

One last thing to show you - I have been trying to help this friend source furniture on the cheap and there are a couple of great sites out there with all sorts of stuff that people are trying to get rid of; gumtree and freecycle - how I could have done with these when I was trying to set up home on a shoestring 25 years ago! But very easy to get side-tracked and when I was looking for practical kids beds and cupboards I found this...

This little bureau was practically being given away and I just love it! The boys think I've gone completely barkingly old fashioned and retro (son 1 was very rude about its fat body and spindly legs!!) but I think it is quite charming and solidly made in proper wood, in the way that things just aren't now. Of course, it does mean that the room needs a serious overhaul - at the moment it is a hotch potch of a modern office like desk, piles of unsorted stuff and a bookcase overloaded with files and general toot. The plastic crates you can just see are full of photos and slides retrieved from my Nanny's house when she died which I really must go through and make sense of at some point and out of shot (believe me I had to shove a few things out of the way to get this photo!) there is a load more, mostly unused 'stuff'. I have visions of a complete sort out - perhaps a sofa bed so we can use this as a spare room, more crochet cushions and a place to read quietly... I have already made the bureau look more at home with a few bits and bobs on it and I think it will fit right in soon enough.

Apparently this had been a family possession for years and at the back of one of the little cupboards inside I found this...

This bottle of ink marked with a pre-Decimal currency price must be almost as old as I am and I presume had sat forgotten at the back of the cupboard for years! 

Will let you know when the room has had its makeover...

Til next time then, 

Sx