if

if........... you go down to the woods today



it will be VERY muddy

occasional breaks in the trees will afford you fantastic views,

you can fantasize about choosing the most enormous Christmas tree in the world...

and it will be just as well that you have essential supplies, and an OS map, as you will get quite lost, and it will start to get rather dark................

and when you finally find the car it will remind you that you are dangerously low on fuel.

nothing like a Sunday afternoon adventure!

excuses excuses

I tried to come up with a list of really good excuses as to why I failed to commit to a whole week of kitchen poetry, and didn't even manage to start bathroom poetry, hosted by Lynn, which makes me feel truly terrible, as I pushed for her to start it........
so where is this great list, truth is, I couldn't do it, there are no great excuses, only a few pretty poor ones - including

• hubby backed up all the photos onto an external hard drive, and then deleted them from the laptop, in an attempt to make it work better.. including my bathroom photos - but you really aren't missing much, a spider, some rather haphazardly balanced pictures on top of the bathroom cabinet, a small collection of plastic polar bears who live in the bathtub (??? strange but true)
• I was too busy baking billions of cookies for the children in need bake sale at school, and truly frustrated to find them all still in E's rucksac when he got home. his defence "I didn't know where to put them, and Mrs C would have shouted at me if I asked" -- Mrs C shouts a lot..........
• I stole away to the knitting and stitching show and had a wonderful day browsing, admiring, wondering, wishing... (and a little bit of buying)

so to try and make amends, one poetry picture, my knitted rag/strip bathmat.



and now for some eye candy, felt scraps bought in a bundle for making who knows what



lovely yarns, which were far too expensive for a impulse buy, so I've given them to hubby so he can wrap them up for me for Christmas - cunning plan huh!



sweet little crochet heart bunting, made mostly from jumpers that E and Miss K have grown out of and I've spent weeks unravelling. look I'm even blocking the hearts - ok so I sewed them together first, far too impatient to wait but still impressed that I'm blocking them.



and last but definitely NOT least, a lovely lovely lovely parcel that came from Fioleta with instructions to open before Christmas so I could be inspired. Thank you SO much, I love it. xxxxx

more kitchen poetry 2

we've been on a "drink boiled water" alert due to a burst pipe somewhere nearby.

no change for me then, I only drink tea after all but I did boil some water for the children, and cooled it in my blue jugs. poetry in practicality.

more kitchen poetry 3

kitchen window washing up vista.

steps adorned with pots of minature pansies just planted.

no sign of any flowers yet.

poetry in patience.

more kitchen poetry 1

I had so much fun last year with kitchen poetry, I've decided to join this year's hosted by fancy elastic

so I present the sun catching the fruit on the kitchen counter, and making them glow with autumnal colour.

Remembrance Sunday

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

sewing sunshine

thank you for all the wonderfully supporting comments about yesterday's post, they really helped. I nearly deleted it later, but I'm glad I didn't. so thanks.
things are a bit better today.

and to bring some sunshine into this blog here's a little quilty picture I've made to hang above washing machine. I found this wonderful site with the most fantastic advice on quilting and free motion, called day style designs. I need to take a much better photo but I had such fun practising different little swirly free motion fillers, and some rather silly applique



the underwear on the line has caused much scandal with the youngest member of the family, could be worse, at least it's matching xoxo

stone towers

I took these photos a few weekends ago because I loved the way there was not just one stone tower




but almost a whole flock of them



each one precariously balanced

this is the one we added to the collection

this week I don't think I could make a single stone balance, it feels like there are stones crashing down all around. Miss K is having a hard time at school, and it feels like it's the end of the world for her, last night we had 4 hours of tears...... and today I've spoken to three teachers, made an appointment to go to school, spent hours reading parenting articles, and pondering self help book purchases, and eaten so much chocolate I feel slightly ill........

meanwhile E has started to compile a birthday present ideas list, so far it has on it ; a guitar, more lego (as if we didn't have enough) and a x board which as far as I can tell is the most dangerous looking skate board in the world

someone once told me it gets easier as the children get older

they lied

this week we've been.........

this week we've been............



scaring the post man



living a pirate fantasy life



eating soup



putting up a bird table, and delighting in watching it being visited



making aliens at the Hancock Museum

and splashing in puddles, drinking LOTS of tea, buying velcro so I can finish the worst sewing project in the world - EVER, reading a truly depressing book for book club, cutting back a hawthorn hedge to make some room for the bird feeder, and spending two days finding thorns embedded in my hands, realising I'm about 2 months late for something, and driving around the country way too much in a week of half term holiday - holiday for who I wonder - I'm exhausted