Late with my Sunday Sevens this week – seven or so photos showing my week outside the blog.

1. Blue skies aplenty this past week meant getting out and about a fair bit. It has turned chilly enough for Fifi to need her coat on walks now.

2. We popped over to Frome for a couple of hours to check out Catherine Hill. Marmalade Yarns had a very inviting door don’t you think?

3. Inside, Mr H-L sat patiently whilst I stroked some skeins of hand dyed yarn.

4. I bought a skein of ‘Sparkling Cyanide’ to make some socks for myself in the New Year. Quite an apt purchase after our visit to the cinema last week to see ‘Murder On The Orient Express’ on its opening night.

5. These six balls of yarn from my stash are set to become a handmade gift for my yarn partner in this year’s Stitching Santa.

6. Here’s how it’s shaping up so far – a stack of Granny squares!

7. Another little handmade gift for my sewing partner, too. Just a glimpse here – more to follow in a separate blog post.

8. A handy charity shop purchase, brand new and unopened. It will be worn out by the second of January, no doubt…..!

9. Coffee with The Dogs in At The Chapel, Bruton, after a walk locally. Fifi shivers if she sits on a tiled or stone floor, so she inevitably ends up cosied up on my lap:)

10. A friend and I spent Friday morning visiting a few craft/vintage fairs. We popped into FMLY where they were doing ‘Fizz Friday’ and had a glass of Prosecco thrust in our hands no sooner than walking through the door!

11. We had a fab lunch afterwards at the Roth Bar And Grill in Hauser and Wirth.

12. I ran the refreshments stand at our village Christmas Craft Fair on Saturday. Lots of festive stalls to enjoy.

13. This lovely lady who lives in our village sells wool from her small flock of Zwartbles sheep. Their fleece is chocolate brown so remains undyed and in its natural state.

14. Of course I HAD to buy a skein for my Stitching Santa yarn partner! That’s most of my budget spent so I will have to be creative in order to put together a decent parcel now.

15. After the craft fair, my sister and I dashed down to Southampton where my niece is at University. It was her birthday so we went out for a meal and stayed overnight in local accommodation. It was 2am before we knew it – unheard of for us country folk where the pubs shut at eleven!

16. Sunday was spent Christmas shopping in Southampton with my sister, followed by a pub supper on the way home by which time the late night had caught up with us and we were seriously flagging.

17. Hubby sent me this lovely photo of No.3 Son being treated to breakfast out whilst I was away. He ate the lot!!

18. The biggest and best news of the week though, has to be that my dear little Fifi made it to her fifteenth birthday on Thursday. A milestone we never expected her to reach as she has had several touch-and-go moments over the last twelve months.

Happy Birthday Fifi, and here’s to the next one!