A Little Bit of Space.....

This post is over a week late!  I cannot believe how the time is flying here.  Last week I had a moment to enjoy a cup of Pumpkin Spice coffee (sent over by one of my good friends in the US) in my special Emma Bridgewater Hellebore cup and saucer:

and to make a delightful carrot, parsnip, potato and coriander soup which we had with some special bread and cheese followed by Normandy Apple Cake (recipe to follow).

The apples for this came from a neighbour up the road who has had a tray of them outside her house with the sign "Please help yourself" up for a while now.  I love it!  It makes me feel like being in the country where you see those signs regularly, instead of here in suburban London.

It's been a busy time with family coming and going and the day job of course.  We are all preparing ourselves for daughter no.2 going out to Uganda on 6th January for a Voluntary Service Overseas placement.  If you saw the Panorama programme on BBC on Monday night this week called Addicted to Aid where one of the places featured was the hospital she is going to work in, you will have an idea of how we feel!!!!  There were some shocking scenes and although I am totally aware things will be very different I hadn't imagined scenes of patients dying on the floor amidst filth!!  This was A & E and she won't be working in that dept but it sent chills down all of us to see such depths of suffering and particularly in the light of millions of pounds being given to the hospital but little to be seen of how it has improved things.  The whole programme was on the topic of corruption.  Sorry to be so grim on this very rainy Friday evening!  I promise lighter and better things next time!

Thoughtful Friday 25

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy....

They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom"

Marcel Proust

Thoughtful Friday 24

"Joy is the echo of God's life in us"

Desert Father

Trying to get organised!

Well it is nearly midnight and I must just do this little post! I have been so busy on the day job again that I have not been posting very much.

 I am on a mission to get organised here but having to fit it in around my work schedule. So the weekend saw me trying to sort out these:

Into this

and then finally into the compost. Five bags in all I think and not entirely cleared but certainly a lot better than when I started.  It was also quite a work out I found when all the aches and pains appeared an hour or so later!!!   But I was up to something else at the weekend too.....

 finishing the handwarmers modelled here by delightful daughter no.1 who loves them.   I am really pleased with them too.  So it is on to the next pair, made from possum wool but more about that another time....

Thoughtful Friday 23

"And in the end it's not the years of your life that count.

It is the life in your years"

Abraham Lincoln

Thoughtful Friday 22

"Turn your face to the sun,
and the shadows fall behind you."

Maori Proverb

I'm a Winner!

I am a very lucky lady to have won all these goodies from lizzieBcre8ive in a recent giveaway they had. Check out their website and all they are doing as a great couple of quilters in the US.
This is a closer look at the pattern that came with the fabric.
I am going to have fun putting this all together.



I

Crafting Heaven!

Last Saturday I had a day all to myself - a rare occurrence - and had earmarked it as a crafting day! So I was up early and a number of things I wanted to accomplish mainly in the sewing realm. Now unfortunately I cannot post these on the blog just yet as they are to be gifts for family members and you never know who might just pop in to have a look but let's just say progress was made! As it is a question of making 6 of these items I will need a little longer to complete! My back and nearly every part was aching when I finally decided to call it a day up in the bedroom where the sewing machine sits. I was up and down on the floor cutting and pressing, laying out and pinning so after that it was time for a sit down and some knitting. I finished this:

This was a fun project which I bought at the Knitting and Stitching Show from The Knitting Hut

which comes as a pack of different types of yarn all sorted according to colour with a free pattern for a scarf or the shrug. It certainly kept me busy recently on a 6.5 hour journey back from Wales which should have only taken 3.5 hours!

A couple of other projects which have been cast on these will be fingerless gloves eventually and so will these but in crochet

This post has taken me soooooo long to do because of technical clitches either with blogger or with my new system - there are times I could throw it all out the window!!! In between making supper and answering the telephone I have been trying to upload these photos - how long can it take and what is it with Firefox!!! What system and computer do you use that works really well? There is lots more I could say about my craft heaven Saturday but I just cannot face the hassle with the system as it is so I am off to the living room to do some serious knitting and crochet and to de-stress from it all!