Two week’s worth of Sunday Sevens today – on a Monday, of course:)

1.  The husband has been hard at work in the evenings finishing off the bits that need doing before we exchange contracts on the house. We finally almost have railings on our bedroom balcony!!
   

2. Exploring a new local walk with Tess. I love the way the sun creates flare through the trees.

3. We discovered the derelict building that The Boys have been playing in for years!

4. Another trip down to Exmoor to get to know some of the other villages that we are not so familiar with.

5. We tried out one of the local pubs.

6. We had a stroll through what will hopefully become our neighbouring village very soon. Could there be a more quintessentially English scene?

7. Popping out with a friend the other day could be an expensive exercise when I spotted an all-singing, all-dancing coffee machine….

8. Just after The Hunt galloped at a rate of knots through the fields behind us, we were happy to see a deer that had avoided capture.

9. The view across the fields is ever-changing with the seasons and I caught this rainbow streak as it briefly coloured the sky.

10. No.1 Son called in after a night out with friends in the area. The ‘phone rang mid-haircut….

11. Lobster tail for supper. You’ve got NO chance, Tess!

12. Our local Farm Shop has just extended its café, so I had the perfect excuse to go there.

13. The Farm Shop also has a Trading Barn attached and I picked up this sock box for a fiver. Obviously, I now HAVE to make a ninth pair for myself to fill that last cubby hole.

14. Perfect! Well, almost…..

15. Turns out that handknit socks are far too bulky and the lid isn’t even close to fastening.

16. Talking of socks, the third Christmas pair are blocked and ready to wrap….

17. …..and the fourth pair are already on the needles.

18. I made this Polo Neck, so called because it’s neither a cowl nor a scarf and is all the better for it. It sits nice and snuggly against the neck because of the double rib and doesn’t let in any draughts.

19. I finished this poncho whilst watching Marple. It has been quite the marathon and just needs blocking before I can photograph it properly.

20. Well deserved, as it was quite a feat, that poncho. Prosecco with Pomegranate seeds that travel up and down with the bubbles….:)

21. I moved swiftly on to the gloves that will be gifted with the poncho.

22. Instead of casting on the second glove, I cast on a Polo Neck for myself, allowing just two evenings to complete it in time for the 24th Annual Christmas Shopping Trip to Bath with my daughter.

23. And here’s proof that I did it!

24. First stop, as always, was breakfast in The Pump Rooms.

25. A trio of musicians accompanied our meal.

26. “Quick”, I said, “the bride is in shot – smile!”

Turns out there was a wedding party having breakfast just behind us.

27. The moon is visible well before sunset at this time of year, although this was taken just as the sun had dropped below the horizon at 3:55pm. Days are getting short in the Northern hemisphere.

28. Finally, a festive-feeling shot of berries taken at the other end of the village. Christmas will soon be here!

Linking up with Nat at Threads & Bobbins for another Sunday Sevens – a weekly blog series showing your life outside the blog.

1. The first photo is especially for Pauline – proof that they did enjoy the competition last Sunday!

2. Hubby and I went out for coffee at Hooga in Wincanton. He worked and I did a bit of knitting.

3. I spent a couple of solid days sewing Christmas presents at the dining table and this is the mess that ensued.

4. Here are a few sneak peeks, all of which I hope to blog soon.

This one was made of patchworked scraps of fabric.

5. There were just enough scraps of this Orla Kiely fabric to make a washbag. It’s moments like this that make me glad I keep the tiniest scraps of leftover fabric!

6. Another washbag made from hubby’s old tweed suit – definitely for a man in the family.

7. A matching cosmetic bag for his good lady. Now they can travel in matching classy style!

8. Discovered in Sainsbury – 100% dark chocolate! I love the ‘warning’ on the packet.

9. Mr H-L bought this pocket book of pub walks whilst we were out after a dental appointment. The scenic view on the cover is the exact same one if you look left out of the side gates of the house we’re hoping to buy in Allerford.

The irony is…..there is no pub in that village!!

10. I am a sucker for nostalgia, so couldn’t resist this little book of Christmas.

11. Talking of Christmas, The English Home dropped on the doormat and its gorgeous cover made me rather sad that we don’t even know where we’ll be living by then:(

12. This is me with the husband, all glammed up for our niece’s 21st birthday on Saturday. Rather the worse for wear in this photo taken at the end of the night, I nonetheless feel duty bound to recount to you the words of a little girl uttered as we entered the venue: “Ooh Daddy, look…..it’s a Princess!!”

And, no, she wasn’t referring to Him.

13. Despite the previous nights excesses, we all got up in time to join in the commemorations for the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day.

What a moving end to the week.

Linking up with Nat at Threads & Bobbins for another Sunday Sevens….

1. Autumn has well and truly reached South Somerset and with it comes frost. Crunchy, beautiful…and cold!

2. Still, it was nice to light the fire and put the Christmas decorations up again for another Christmas Present Workshop. At least the weather felt more in keeping than last week’s workshop.

3. Seven more children (including No.2 and No.3 Sons) donned festive hats and spent a day making as many gifts as they could, before wrapping them up ready to put under the tree in December.

4. Socks, however, take rather more than six hours to knit. Little pleasures like my favourite stitch marker help to keep me going.

5. Tada! The second pair of Christmas socks finished.

6. I also finished Teddy’s matching jumper and hat. All I need now is to find a teddy bear that will fit said jumper.

7. We popped up to the flat to do a bit more work. I say a ‘bit’, but it’s all relative and we actually spent two days solid doing remedial works. Another couple of days effort should see it ready to put on the market.

8. Relatives were kind enough to put us up overnight as the flat currently has no furniture in it. If you look carefully, you’ll see Tess going nuts at her reflection in the mirror, daft dog.

9. Another clear, frosty morning saw us making the most of it by walking through the woods from Alfred’s Tower to Stourhead.

10. I know this photo was in my last post, but this is in context.

11. Just look at that sky!

12. Back home to a roaring fire and PJs, although I kept my socks on!

13. We took The Boys to ‘Flip Out’ in Bristol for No.2 Son’s 13th birthday on Saturday.

 

14. Basically, it’s a warehouse full of numerous trampolines on floors and walls, together with foam pits and foam gym ‘horses’ for Parkour (free-running).

 

15. Within five minutes No.2 came over sporting a sheepish grin….

16. ….Yep, he’d knocked a wobbly tooth out.

17. Luckily there was a café on site so I cast on another pair of Christmas present socks and managed quite a few rows in two hours.

18. Not the best photo as he was too eager to blow the candles out and eat the cake….

19. Sunday saw No.3 and his dance partner come 5th out of 35 couples in a 4-dance format competition.

20. My eldest came over for the afternoon and we had lunch followed by supper and a family film, during which I added to the latest socks.

See you next week!

Linking up with Natalie at Threads & Bobbins for another Sunday Sevens….

1. I held the first of two Christmas Present Workshops for children. Yes, it might have been 18°C and sunny, but we managed to feel extremely festive what with the Christmas tree, hats and carols playing on the CD player all day long.

2. Seven girls went home tired but happy after six hours of sewing handmade gifts, all wrapped and ready to put under the tree.

3. This is a sample I made that I’m actually commandeering for my Ray-Bans:)

4. We made the most of some glorious Autumnal weather by taking The Boys out for a long walk. It struck me that the sun is so low in the sky now at midday that it casts long shadows.

5. Boy fun.

6. Walking through a field full of inquisitive steers isn’t everyone’s idea of fun, but we don’t mind.

7. Having worked up an appetite, we had a pub lunch afterwards.

8. Inspired by the seafood pasta dish in the pub, I cooked up a fish head we had in the freezer and turned it into a tasty seafood soup.

9. More creative goodies were finished by the kids in sewing classes this week.

10. I even managed to squeeze in a 4 hour 1:1 session with a keen adult student.

11. A new knit’n’natter session started at a local café and the first three of us to arrive all happened to have a mustard coloured project on our needles.

12. The first pair of Christmas Present socks are blocked and ready to wrap…..

13. …..and the next pair are well under way.

14. I’m just about to start on the heel flap of the second sock so am hoping to have this pair wrapped by the end of the week, too.

15. I’ve actually managed to add a few inches to Hubby’s jumper, mostly at the knit’n’natter as it requires little concentration at this stage.

16. A couple of non-yarn Christmas presents have been sewn, too. Here’s just a glimpse so as not to spoil the surprise.

17.

18. You may remember the jumper and hat I made for our granddaughter’s birthday a couple of weeks ago?

Well, there’s the option to make a matching set for Teddy, so – why wouldn’t you?

19. We took The Boys to the cinema to watch the newly released film “Johnny English Strikes Again”.  Very silly and very enjoyable, like the previous ones.

20. Whilst the latest of our B+B guests went down the pub for supper, we had some friends round, one of whom had just accepted a new job and brought some bubbly to celebrate with.

You don’t have to look too closely to see that I have three glasses on the go at the same time:)

21. The next morning we opened the bedroom curtains to find a car parked on the lawn.

It turns out that our guests didn’t know that all the parking areas belong to us and they were afraid of blocking someone in or getting clamped!

22. Just a random picture of Tess because it’s a cute way to finish.

See you next week!

Linking up with Nat at Threads & Bobbins for another Sunday Sevens…..

1. A child-free few hours saw Mr H-L and me nipping into Bath where we started off in The Pump Room with coffee and cake with a pianist accompaniment.

2. Isn’t this just the most artistic piece of gluten-free carrot cake you’ve ever seen?

3. The reason we went to Bath in the first place was so that I could start knitting some of these balls of wool that have been burning a hole in my knitting basket since they arrived…..

4. ….because the KnitPros that came in the same parcel snapped after casting on just SIX stitches! Even more infuriating was that Love Knitting were out of stock and refused to send me out an alternative as it was against their policy.

Great Customer Service – not. I won’t be spending any more of my money with them.

5. Newly armed with a perfect pair of ChiaoGoo circulars from A Yarn Story in Bath, I got stuck in with the Arno colourway from Stylecrafts’s “Head Over Heels Boho” sock yarn.

6. Whilst we were in Bath, we couldn’t NOT have lunch at Thai Basil, not when it’s only £7.95 for two courses of authentic Thai cuisine….

7. Back home, I also cast on a jumper for the husband in specially requested ‘Mustard’ wool. Initially intended for his birthday at the beginning of December, it now looks like it won’t even be finished in time for Christmas. Oops.

8. Knowing full well that a man-sized jumper in stocking stitch might just push me over the edge of Boredom Cliff, I designed a cable strip to run up through the centre.

9. My adult students finished their PJs in their Wednesday class.

10. Hubby and I popped down to Exmoor for a few hours to check out another house just in case our front-runner falls through.

We decided that we’d be quite happy with this as our local, especially after we’d sampled the marmalade-glazed ham in front of the wood burner.

11. My newest student finished her first project – a sewing bag.

12. The weekend saw us taking a road trip to the South coast, during which I had all the essentials to keep me occupied on the 3-hour journey.

13. It was sunny, so the Husband wore his sunglasses despite having sat on them and losing one of the arms.

14. A quick family selfie outside the coffee shop.

15. Our cheeky little granddaughter got in on the action in this one.

16. The reason for our trip to Newhaven was to watch No.2 Stepdaughter play her inaugural football match for a ladies team. In this photo she is three stone lighter to date, due to her commitment to the slimming cause!

17. On the way back to Somerset we stopped for food at a service station and were pleasantly surprised to find “Tossed”, a healthy Malaysian option amongst the usual crappy offerings from KFCrap, Pizza Crap and Mc-Crappy-Donald’s.

18. Finishing on an Exmoor note, I discovered a supplier of Exmoor sock yarn for the ‘Made On Exmoor’ items I am planning to sell in our future B+B. It’s a hardwearing yarn from the local Exmoor Blueface Sheep – a cross of Exmoor Longhorn with the Blueface Leicester.

We’re talking proper, quality souvenirs here – I wonder if there’s a market for it? There’s one way to find out…..

Hello Strangers!

I haven’t abandoned you completely, just put my online activities on the back burner whilst sorting out Real Life, but thought it was about time to post an update to those of you who are interested.

Sooooo much has happened over the Summer that I couldn’t possibly share even ten per cent of it, so I have cherry-picked just a few photos to give you a taste of what’s been going on.

1. At the beginning of August we ventured over the bridge to spend the weekend with No.1 Son and his girlfriend in Wales. We were treated to a family barbecue where we were delighted to meet his girlfriend’s family for the first time.

2. It was also the first time we met their eight week old Dachshund puppy, Gypsy, who is completely and utterly gorgeous!

3. Whilst in Wales, we took the opportunity to spend the day at St Fagan’s National Museum of History…on the hottest day of the year. What an amazing place! If you’ve ever considered going, I couldn’t recommend it more.

4. Do you recall that No.2 Son had a commission for a crocheted cushion? Well, he finished it.

5. He even embroidered a label for the reverse for that personal touch.

6. Very neatly stitched, directly over a tracing of his own handwriting.

7. All things handmade are highly prized in our household, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when he asked if he could spend his commission money on a bespoke pen in the form of a rifle.

8. He bought it from one of the many, what I call ‘proper’, craft stalls that were under marquees in the museum grounds. Here’s a photo with the artisan woodturner, Immy from Immy’s Woodcrafts.

9. Meanwhile, No.3 Son turned his hand to a spot of pot-throwing and had his very own creation to take home with him at the end of the day.

10. We spent a few days down in St. Columb Minor, Cornwall with family, where my cousin has this lovely holiday cottage. They also rent it out here.

11. Whilst in Cornwall we took The Boys to Paulos Circus. My, how times have changed – not an animal in sight, but lots of incredible acrobatics and the obligatory (non-scary) clown. Great fun all round and The Boys seemed to love it.

12. Back down to Earth with a bump – The Boys are helping us to renovate our London flat after a bad tenant moved out.

13. Not helping, but keen to be close to the action.

14. At least we had a camping trip to Exmoor to look forward to later the same week. Such a familiar part of my life so far, yet it seems weird that we’ll be living there permanently in a few months time, instead of just visiting.

Fact: Exmoor ponies are one of the oldest equine breeds in the world and are mentioned in the Domesday book in 1086. They still roam in semi-feral herds on Exmoor today – here are some I came across whilst there.

15. My usual role as Chief Cook and Bottle Washer at the campsite.

16. It was the first, but hopefully not last, time that ALL the kids and their partners came camping with us. We went to a café for a cream tea and our granddaughter didn’t want to be in the photograph, but you can just see her hiding underneath the table!

17. There was a stall with an Honesty Box outside a farm somewhere in Doone Valley where I bought this egg. I managed to snap a pic of both the massive egg and the Rhea that laid it in the background.

18. That’s one huge fried egg! The equivalent of six hens eggs, apparently.

19. Home again, and this is the last picture of Cock that we have, eating out of our hands as he often did.

He died a couple of days later, after reaching the grand old age of six years.

20. I don’t know who misses him more, The Girls or us:(

21. So we’re now down to just two hens and Tess and won’t be adding to our brood until we’ve moved.

22. No.3 Son has rekindled his love of horse riding, which has taken a back seat in favour of football recently.

23. No.2 Son couldn’t wait to get back to boarding school after a six week Summer holiday – he really is having the time of his life and his little brother is impatient to join him.

24. When they’re both away at school, I’ll miss the little things that make me smile on a daily basis, like this sign on their bedroom door warning me about their battlefield of soldiers on the floor!

25. Still, I’ve got plenty of things to occupy me, like keeping up the stocks of the homemade jam that is now available for purchase by our B+B guests in boxes of three.

26. I’m also still teaching a couple of sewing classes each week, with students that are as keen as ever.

It’s a ‘poo emoji’ cushion, just in case you were wondering! I turned it into a skill-learning exercise by teaching her to do some appliqué and machine embroidery.

27. Socks are still ever present on my needles.

28. These, the eighth pair in my personal collection, mean that I have reached my goal of having only handmade socks in my wardrobe. A goal that I am actually rather proud of as it means a step forward in greener living.

29. Also on my (other) needles at the moment is this Holey Shawl, again, pour moi.

30. It’s not all selfish knitting though, as this jumper is to be a Christmas present.

31. Probably the biggest news of the Summer is this though…..

If you got to the end, “Well done” and I’ll try not to leave it so long next time!

Literally, a flying visit to post a few photos for Sunday Sevens.

Apologies to anyone who may have noticed my absence of late, both in lack of posts and  commenting on others – I have every intention of catching up when things die down a little in the real world.

1. Hardly any rainfall for a few weeks now means the grass looks mostly like this, dry and brown.

2. We haven’t seen a Summer like this in years!

3. With everyone taking advantage of the good weather, my ‘first cousin once-removed’ held her 65th birthday party outside in her farmyard.

4. Cock staying cool in the little bit of shade in our garden.

5. A nice cooling pint in the beer garden of The White Lion Inn in nearby Bourton.

6. Mr H-L took a picture of the loo roll holder in the pub’s toilet…..

7. ….thought his daughter’s fiancé might make us something similar to go with the lamp he made us for Christmas!

8. No.3 Son sang with his school in Wells Cathedral.

9. The Husband had to go to Munich on business for a week.

Poor thing.

10. It’s just been too hot to slave over a hot stove, so I took No.3 Son out for supper one night.

11. Much too hot for a traditional English pudding, too, so our B+B guests had to make do with homemade chocolate mousse and biscotti.

12. My Eldest invited us around for supper.

13. No.3 Son loved having her pet mouse curled up on his shoulder.

14. His sister swapped shorts with her brother, No.2 Son, who is twelve and they fitted her perfectly. She’s 27.

15. My Auntie came over from Spain to stay with us and we all went out for a meal at The Stag’s Head in Yarlington.

16. The next day was No.3 Son’s 11th birthday….but we had a wedding to go to, so he had to stay at his sister’s.

17. The following day he had a birthday party to go to himself and had the time of his life go-karting.

18. Meanwhile, I utilised time alone without the Mister to go over the hall, stairs and landing with a fresh lick of paint.

19. The stairwell is tall and narrow with very little natural light so tends to be quite dark and more than a little boring compared to the rest of the house, as I was lacking inspiration as how best to add interest.

20. Then I had a lightbulb moment and added a band of colour to match the front door and hung some pictures all the way up.

21. The mother of the little girl who won the doll put these cute photos on Facebook.

22. I had to show you this photo of one of my students who is showing off the shorts she finished in class this week.

23. Finally, despite starting The Wedding Blanket back in January or February, I still didn’t finish it in time for the big day last Friday. Luckily, the newlyweds are honeymooning for a week, so I can complete the border and send it to their house for them to open on their return.

For all those asking about our planned move, negotiations are ongoing with the National Trust and the Listed Buildings officials, but are looking positive, if more than a little long-winded and stressful. It’s still not a ‘No’, so fingers crossed and watch this space!