Another catch up!!

 I'm getting very slack with my blogging of late.  But to be honest, not much has been going on, just the usual routine of school, food, sleep, school, food, sleep!  Oh and rain! 

We had Father's Day the other weekend, and one of the gifts for Stuart (besides beer and chocolate) was this handprint forest from the children.  Each tree trunk has the child's name by the side of it, and each child was supposed to put their hand in the paint, and make a handprint.  All going well, until we got to Sophie!  She refused point blank to co-operate, so we ended up drawing around her hand on a seperate piece of paper, painting it and cutting it out to stick on the canvas.    Well, it is a true representation of Sophie!  But can you imagine my despair, when she came home from pre-school that following week, having been hand and foot painting!  Argh!!!

I managed to finish off the commissioned bag for a friend.  I have named it the Hibiscus bag, and you can read more about it here.

 A blog post this week would not be accurate if it didn't talk about the rain!  We had the biggest thunder storm I have ever witnessed, with torrential rain, well torrential isn't really a big enough word to describe it, mad, crazy, ridiculous amounts of rain is more like it!  Living on a hill we don't tend to suffer from flooding, but we had a veritable river racing passed our house.  I'm not sure this picture shows it very well, but the water was flowing over ourr garden and through the flower bed.  Next door had things swept  up in the water and deposited around the corner of their house!  I know, given some of the pictures out there, this seems really mild, but it was certainly a talking point!!

 And this week, I got introduced, by Sharon, to "The Old Needle Works" which is a fantastic collection of vintage shops, craft shops and cafe.  There are courses run there, and it is just amazing!  There is a wool shop which is exactly how I have dreamed of having my wool shop, with workshops, fleece, and everything you ever need for all things woolly.  In the cafe, you pick your own cup and saucer from a collection of vintage cups and saucers on the dresser, and settlle down with some crafty mags at one of the tables with beautiful tablecloths on.  One of the vintage shops had teddy bears having a picnic around a fire, and I managed to pick up a glass jelly mould too! 

This bag is the result of my visit to the wool shop, I had decided I wanted to do some Nuno felting.  I had chosen the fabric I wanted to use, so picked up some merino fibres to match, and set too that evening!  They also had bags of dyed Wensleydale locks, which I just had to incorporate into the bag! 

We were supposed to have sports days and schools, but they have been postponed because of the weather.  Sophie has an introduction to her new class next week, and I might have to pop down to the allotment in between all the rain!  So that's about that for now! Hope you have been able to make something of this mad weather, and have a good week ahead.

A celebration for a one year old

 Can you believe it?  Aisling Designs is one year old!  I can't believe where the time has gone, but when I look back at all the things I have created over the last year it gives me quite a sense of achievement!!  I have decided to celebrate with a giveaway over at my Aisling Designs blog.  So please come and join in with the party.  The banner below is the prize on offer.

Why?

 "Why do I do this?"  This is what I was asking myself down the allotment today!  It was so disheartening to go down there.  I was dreading going down, knowing that the weeds would be big, the crops would be struggling (if they hadn't been eaten by slugs), and the ground would be water logged.  I wasn't far wrong.  The above photo was the strawberry bed I had weeded and fertilised about a month ago.  I was struggling to see any strawberry plants at all. 

The pumpkins were still there, which I suppose is a blessing, but they were definitely not looking their best, and the courgette plants were looking decidedly yellow.

 This is supposed to be where the leeks are. Hmmm, I certainly couldn't spot any there *sigh*

 It is certainly looking very lush, and that grass is looking very long! 

 So feeling completely overwhelmed, I set too, weeding the strawberry bed.  A blessing that the ground is so soft that many of the weeds pulled out easily enough.  Then I noticed the sky getting darker, the birds singing their pre-storm song.  It was too late to cycle back home, and I couldn't shelter in the shed, because Stuart had the shed keys, so I had to shelter the best I could under the apple tree amongst the nettles.  "Why?" was going through my head alot by that point!

 And the tree didn't really offer much shelter, so I packed up and started home.

It wasn't all bad though.  Stuart was on his way home from work, realised how heavy the rain was and came and picked me up, bike and all.  And there are some strawberries ripening up...

 ...some peas filling their pods...

 ...and the chance of a bumper crop of raspeberries.

So, not all bad, but I think this year might test the hardiest of gardeners!!

Long time, no yarn along.

 Oh my goodness me!!  What a long time since I joined in with Ginny's yarn along.  I've been busy on a commissioned bag, but have also been actually working on something for me!  Can you believe it, things for me usually get pushed down to the bottom of the pile, and  forgotten about.  Well, I had actually forgotten about this, I was twiddling my thumbs the other evening wondering what I could do, thinking I had nothing on the go, when suddenly I remembered this jacket I was working on.  Mum had bought me the cotton (Aunt Lydia's crochet cotton size 10) for Christmas with this very jacket in mind.  So I picked it up and continued from where I had left off.  I am pleased to have sussed out the arm holes, as basically this is one big circle with two holes for the arms to go through, and I have reached that point now, and I can see what is happening.  Funny how you cannot see how it works until you reach it (or is that just me?) 

It is two strands of cotton crocheted together, with the tiniest of crochet hooks (2.5mm), so I find it quite hard going on my hands, and certainly know if I have crocheted too much in one go, but I am so looking forward to seeing this finished, I really think  it will be something very special.  However, I still have a long way to go, and think it may certainly keep me busy for the rest of the year (in between other projects too!)

 As for reading, I am re-reading Buddhism for mothers by Sarah Napthali.  First time I read it I didn't really know much about buddhism, but found the book really useful with regard to parenting.  Since then, I have read much more about buddhism, but have found it difficult to relate it to my life as a mother of four with little time for meditation etc.  So I am re-reading it and finding new perspectives on it, and probably getting much more out of it second time around. 

Off to see what everyone else has been up to, have missed catching up on quite a few blogs and projects.

A quick update

 Jubilee weekend was a community affair  with the close decorated in red, white and blue.  There were races organised for big...

 ...and small!

 Plus plenty of food, and the most amazing cakes.  The weather kindly stayed dry for us, and we met people who had lived in the same road as us for many years without ever meeting them!

 Alec and Ethan had their karate grading, and our now proud owners of a yellow belt each.

 Much of the week, the dining room has been out of action as much scenery has been produced for the wargaming club.

 We've also managed to have a massive clearout of things, and trips to the charity shop and the "dump" have created more space in general.  Plus many things have been put aside for a car boot sale (as soon as the weather is half way decent!!)

And in amidst all this, whilst waiting for supplies for other projects I have created some bunting. I have blogged about it here, and it is for sale in my Etsy shop.