A dash of this and a dash of that

Now I know what running on empty feels like. Boy has it been a tiring and yet exciting week. After the car explosion incident Little Bun and I opted for a safe day at home on Tuesday.  I'd managed to get the day off so it was extra special and not to be wasted. With Miss Rosey starting high school on Monday and Little Bun not back until the Thursday it was lovely to have a few days just the two of us.

I'd bought a crafty kit for us to fiddle with on one of our weekly wanders. It was really easy to make which made it perfect to do while I had my hair dye on.

Once my roots were all done and the dye washed off, we headed off for a bike ride.  Past fields with perfect circlular bales of straw and hedgerows full of rosehips, blackberries and sloes all slowly ripening. Autumn is most definately not far round the corner.

On the last stretch we stopped at the village shop for sweets and then cut across the road to the honesty stall. Little Bun treated me to a bunch of dahlia's, she said for giving her such a lovely summer. We also bought some plums for her and nanny to share as she was staying at hers while we worked the next day.

I love this gate by the honesty stall. It's the entrance to a cottage that's no longer there, only the plot that it stood on remains. Horses graze in it occassionally and look over the gate post.

On Wednesday morning I had the bonus of being early to the car boot as Miss Rosey has to be at school by 8.15. I used to manage to get Wednesdays off so I could go booting, then my hours changed so I only ever manage I quick dash up a few rows.

My quick dash around turned up this wonderful print of a girl and her staring cat, some more tea cups and a wonderful stout mustard pot lady. I put her with my camp and ever so jolly chef as I'm hoping he might lighten her mood a bit.

After dashing through a week of extra early start and a parents evening on Tuesday night we had the added joy of driving Miss Rosey in to school very early and then back home again to drop Little Bun off and then back to where we went in the first place to go to work. Let's hope we can get Mr Bun a car sorted out soon. After school is like a military operation of who's picking up who from where. Only one more year and then hopefully they'll both be at the same school. We all fell asleep in front of a film at 9 on Friday night.

After having to do lots of early morning stuff on Saturday, I finally got to sit down with some of the crepe yarn I'd bought on Friday. Despite having a few unfinished hooky blankies on the go I've wanted to make a striped granny for a while now. I couldn't find the colours I was after in cheap yarn so I had to be patient. Now I wish I'd bought the hot pink as the colours look all wrong without it. Anyways, I've started, so if I ever have anything to show you'll be the first to know.

Just to add a spot of temptation your way, I thought I'd show you the teatowels I picked up in Primark that same day. They gave me something pretty to look at while I waded through some of the ironing I'd ignored all summer.

Here's hoping all went well with all of you and your children starting new things at school. Emotional, tiring and fun is how we can sum it up I guess. How many more weeks to half term?

Jollity of the Hook

Another half-term holiday has been and gone in a whooshhhh. We had such a great time and managed to do most of what we'd planned. By Sunday we badly needed a whole day at home to stay in jammies and just be. The Bun's had an excellent time and played while I attacked mountains of horrible jobs that needed doing. By the afternoon the fire, cake, a basket of yarn and a hook were beckoning me.

I ignored all the other projects in the basket and started on some jolly hooky flags. I'd made one flag a few days ago and had had the idea in my head to make a string of them ever since. How lovely when that one bit of times comes up and you can actually sit and make the idea you had.

I think I'll need to make quite a few more of these as I like it hanging here and I also like it ...

... hanging here. Who cares about the grey slushy snow outside when all this colour can be made inside.

This week I've also found time around museums, farms and films to make a couple of big flower brooches. Definately need to add a lot more to that supply as these are always popular.

I've also finished the blanket cushion. As much as I'd love this to be a blanket, I've decided I just don't have the time when I want to be making so many other things too. So it's going to be a cushion and will be all good and puffy when I find just the right backing for it. Eldest Bun has her eye on this one, so I'll have to make more for the grown-ups bed I think.

Once the Bun's were back at school today I felt the pull of the charity shop once more. How glad am I that I went in as I found some great Enid Blyton's for bedtime stories and these lovelies.

Eldest Bun has already asked if one can go in her room, pink or blue I'm not sure which she'll choose yet.

This was quite expensive for a CS cloth, but the embroidery is so quaint that I couldn't resist it. Little Bun wants this to be made into something for her as it has leaping lambs on it. She dreams of being a sheep farmer one day, purely for the wool and the love of all things sheep really. Anything sheepy makes it's way to her room.

Somehow I think they quite like all this vintage, thrifty, recycled malarkey.

A Quiet Post

I had promised to show you where we went on Sunday. Since then our sickly Hilda hen who had always been the weakest of the flock has died. and so my mood has changed. She had a heartattack and keeled over in the henhouse which I think has got to be so much better than the alternative. Hilda was the sweetest of the four - the one who was always standing behind me as I hung the washing or walked around the garden. Each time you lose a pet who has become part of the family it's not any easier than the last time.

Instead of much chat I will just leave you with a few pictures of things that caught my eye at Gressenhall Museum which was once a workhouse and also has a farm.

We all enjoyed ourselves the most at the farm where piglets played around their mother and naughty hens walked wherever they pleased.

Finally the farmhouse teacosy, the colours and style of which I found rather inspiring for future projects.

Coughs and Sneezes

Last weekend I stupidly said we haven't had any colds this winter. So of course it was inevitable really that eldest bun came down with one the next day. She has been off school all week feeling dreadful and so I've been cooped up too. Somehow this has zapped any creativity I might have had planned. Apart from making the buttons bags on Monday and crocheting flowers, I've been unable to get myself motivated. So instead I attacked two buns bedrooms. As they hoard as much as us it took nearly a day and a half, but now they are done and looking lovely with bunting up too at long last.

I also finally put up this frame. We bought these vintage cards in Kensington Gardens in the North Lanes while I was pregnant with eldest bun. They were part of the plans for her nursery. Funny those ideas you have and how it all turns out so differently. Both buns ended up staying in our bed and then in a cot in our bedroom for the first year. It felt so odd to have carried this little person around for nine months and then put them out of sight. That first night hearing our first baby snuffling in the dark in her moses basket lasted about five minutes. We were both up carrying her into bed and that's where she stayed for the next six months. Then we moved house four times before settling here, so it's taken a while for this picture to finally be framed and hung in her bedroom.

Then when we were on holiday in North Norfolk we found these gorgeous cards in a secondhand bookshop. So they hang in little buns room and make me smile every time I walk past them.

As my inspiration for this post comes from a week inside I decided to show you two more of our memorable finds. Here is Prince, so named after Mr Bun's horse that he had as a child. Prince fell to pieces in the end and so he went to toy horse heaven with lots of tears all round. When we saw Prince 2 in a fleamarket we knew he had to come home with us. He is a much loved part of the house and is staring at me as I write this having just had a mornings gallop across the floor. His faded and slightly worn appearance makes him all the more beautiful I hope he stays forever.

The next find is a tin toy that we were told was made by a prisoner of war out of cans. It is magical in an odd way and makes me think of helter skelters and end of pier rides. More often than not a family of Sylvanian's are whizzing past in the boats.

As the week wore on the food supplies dwindled and I felt stir crazy. With eldest bun getting better, just having a small amount of energy I thought an hour in John Lewis' wool department and then a cake would be just the thing. We looked at all the lovely sewing kits for children, for inspiration (me) for potential shopping (e.bun). They are packaged beautifully, but when they are things I can help the bun's make from scratch I object to buying them. Then I think am I just being a meanie?

We wandered to the wool part next and saw the next Debbie Bliss magazine was finally out so I got that and a few more balls of cotton for my flowers (to be shown soon).

This gorgeous ribbon was also asking to come home with us so I said ok then.

Before heading off for cake we had a look at Amy Butler's new Spring fabrics. Eldest bun chose the ones she would like for summer skirts, just got to find some patterns for little girls who are tall. Eldest bun is 8, but the height of a 12 year old and little bun who is on the verge of 7 is a nine year olds height. So it's never easy finding clothes that fit and look their age. Finally thinking I should be making more for them so we have more choice.

After cake we headed back to the car through the cooking department and couldn't resist these cute little measuring jugs. For me they are the best buy in a long while. They simply make me smile, will I ever actually use them ? I don't know. Does it matter? No. Are they gorgeous to just look at? Yes. Also they will probably come in handy for toys teaparties. I love them so much I took three pictures of them.