Scones, socks and swine flu

It's been a while..........................

I have been busy with,

a cream tea for church, this involoved me making 80 scones for the WI ( am a member) and helping to serve with the Mother's Union ( also a member) pictures below ( why won't blogger put them in the order i want?????)

Knitting a pair of socks for J to keep her toes warm in the new house, I ended up making 2 pairs as the house IS COLD!!!

I also made myself a new pinny, red dotty fabric I found in my stash when I tidied out my 'store' cupboard.

I have also made 2 pairs of socks for my father-in-law as part of his Christmas present, a red hat and scarf for Jake to have a school to keep warm.

My granny square blanket is coming along slowly.

So whilst all this is going on in my life we get a phone call from Jake at school, ( this is before half term) very croaky, sore throat, hot enough to make toast on, having played in a rugby match. Matron gave him something to gargle, and told him to go to bed, this he did but, was no better on the Monday morning or the next morning so off to the school doctor and was diagnosed with swine flu................. by now maternal instinct was in hyperdrive and i was going up and get him but he was not fit to travel until the thursday when Bruce went up to get him from school, expecting to see this waif in bed BUT he was fine, he had taken the tamiflu and a course of hard hitting steroids because as usual it had gone to his chest, they knocked him for six and the coughing was awful. So after a few days at home he was back to normal and the eternal words 'do we have anything to eat?', 'i'm hungry', 'are you making a pot of tea?' were being uttered.

We had a wonderful half term, Bruce was on leave, though he worked from home every morning except on thursday when we went to Weston-Super-Mare with a picnic, we walked on the sea front had a pound each to spend in the penny arcade, my boys spent theirs quickly, but i made £1.20 profit!!!.

So that's it for now, back soon.

last weekend

The first weekend we are on our own after Jake has gone back to school we try to go out and DO something. Sooooo we went to Tyntesfield a national trust property not far from us, it was amazing, they are in the middle of refurbishing and for a change they have kept the house open ,
Above is the scaffolding for the cover on the roof, this means they can carry on working even when the weather is bad. Not that i would fancy being up there when it's windy!!!!!

Below is the avery, looks like the perfect cottage to me, though in need of a little fixing up.
The detail on the roof is wonderful, i'm sure i can do something with this pattern.................
The bench below was very inviting, but, a little to hot to sit in the sun.............. a pity but i'm told it comes with age..............

We are heading north this weekend for exeat, YEAH!!! can't wait and Bruce has taken a days leave so there isn't the usual mad dash north on a friday. I'm hoping to go to the Bowes Museum Next door to school for a wander round, though that has to be weather dependent as we will have Jez (the dog) in the car and he cannot be left if it is too warm, alternate plan is a walk down by the river. Then pick Jake up and off to the out-laws for the weekend, we are also seeing No.1 son and his partner and their new cottage.

I have made my aprons off my list of things to do and will post pics when i upload off my camera, have also made the socks for j, again these pics are on the camera. I have cakes to make this week for the Macmillan coffee morning on friday.

I will get my act together and upload and post pics tomorrow.

P.S. don't know what blogger has done with some of photographs!!!!

Sad :-<<

Got the Monday morning blues, and the back to school emptiness...... Jake went back to school he looked so grown up on his uniform (no pics too emotional) walking through the school doors bought it all back to me and how i felt. I will miss him lots, miss his company,his hugs and his sense of humour. Though only 11 he is 5'7" but to me he is still 'little'.He strode off confidently to see his friends leaving us to follow on behind with the other parents. The school is very welcoming and are aware how the children are feeling but also how the parents are feeling.......

The darling boy's parting words were "wonderful mother could you get my quilt finished for exeat and don't forget more red than blue" aarrgghh!!!!!

So dear reader, back to the fabric shop later this week to buy red, boy like fabric (meaning NO FLOWERS!!) and out with the sewing machine........

in the meantime carry on with my granny squares blanket, start socks,clean house, walk dog, bake, make bread............ not a lot to keep me busy but at least........... NO MORE NAME TAPES TO SEW ON ;->>>>>

Boys!!!

After constantly changing his mind about colours, patterns etc Jake has decided to wait until he gets back to school to see what the other boys in his room have for their 'blankets'. So there is material cut and ready and waiting to go.

 This week is always a hard week for me as all my sewing is getting Jake ready to go back to school and after nearly 8 weeks of having him at home I will miss him lots. We have one week left together before travelling up a week on Saturday to the out-laws ready to go to school on Sunday.

I always make a list of craft things I would like to do when Jake goes back to school, some I know I will never do or have the money to do, but, it's nice to have that wish list/dream sheet to look at.

My crocheted granny squares are multiplying, they are quick to do and require no brain space. Other things apart from Jake's quilt to be made are;

 2 new aprons for me,

 to back and quilt my quilt

 to knit 2 pairs of socks one for a friend who is moving into a huge old house (heating costs astronomical, and, I suspect draughty!!) and another pair for Father in law.....part of his present for that festival at the end of the year that is not to be mentioned yet,( though it dosen't hurt to be prepared!!)

I think the weather for the weekend is supposed to be ok so, I think there could be a walk in Wales, a trip to Slimbridge and, possibly a trip to Bath and, maybe we might even get to Stonehenge!!!!

Have a super Bank Holiday weekend if I don't post before. xx

I love Apple

We are now the proud owners of a Mac mini, and i love it!! So easy to use, maybe because we both have i pod touches we have found we easy to use, or maybe it is just that, easy to use.

Our staycation hasn't worked out as we planned, but we have still had fun. 

Sunday we went to Stourhead, well worth a visit if you are ever down this way. The walks were wonderful, we had our picnic in dappled shade, heaven, followed by a 2 mile walk and an ice cream at the end YUM!!

Monday inspired by Jackie (dog daisy chains) I/we tackled our emergency bedroom, which is really used for storage (modern house=no usable storage). All the things we need to keep that most folks could if they want to throw away like boxes for computers, tv's, china etc we have to keep, and need to be stored somewhere are kept in there amongst other places. Also in that room is my stash of craft materials hence the i/we, i sent DH downstairs to do other things whilst i moved various items that are known only to me and the removal men!!

Tuesday did very little Father and son went to Slimbridge to take photographs, i had time alone at home to do as i wished so, i sat in the garden and crocheted i now have 40 granny squares with more planned...............

What i didn't tell you about is................

The Bristol Balloon Fiesta... it was fantastic, we missed it last year because the weather was so bad the balloons couldn't take off, but, this year WOW!! we went to the night glow, where all the balloons are in the arena and when it's dark the light up to music. I do have photographs and video on my camera but until we get the new computer that is where they will stay :-(( on the computer front we have decided to go with apple, and, have got ourselves a mac mini (the dummies guides are winging their way from amazon as I type this) I think it is a good starting point, and, if we cannot get on with it then we can go back to a PC (not if i get my way though) i know it will be a bit strange to start with and we won't know our accident from our emergency, i will think of it as character building.
I would like to make some felt today if i can find all the kit I know it is in the spare room somewhere................................

What i didn't tell you about is................