Wool Gathering

If you buy yarn from The Wool Warehouse it will be delivered* in a tulle drawstring bag. This is useful for keeping knitting clean and tidy, containing the balls of yarn and the knitted pieces. I have just started a new project. It is rather complex so I'm not revealing anything yet.

But I did want to mention that this is the second time I've used WW and I am very pleased with their stuff, and there is lots to check out on the website. As well as knitting yarns, patterns and accessories, they have sewing stuff too. [*WW give you the eco-option of 'no bag' if you want to avoid unnecessary packaging.]

The dictionary defines wool-gathering as "indulgence in idle daydreaming, or aimless wandering of the mind" I will just say that the latest pattern I am working on requires 100% concentration so I am doing just a dozen rows each day. 

Do you have anything on your needles right now? 

Count Your Blessings...

... then ask for grace to share them generously with others. 
 

Prime Time

Thank you Côte Brasserie for a fabulous birthday lunch 

1. Bob had crab paté, I had a Kir Rosé alco-free cocktail 
2. Main course - he had steak frites, I had moules et frites
3. Dessert - pistachio brulé for him, cafe gourmand for me.

We strolled back to the car park, and came home very full, and very happy . Thank you all for such kind words yesterday, I had some lovely gifts and cards

Yes that is a Christmas card. My old schoolfriend remains in hospital [since November] but she found an unused Christmas card in her locker so wrote me a birthday greeting inside. The Manchester boys made a card with" all the things Grandma likes" on it.

Jesus the King, the Bible, Palm Sunday, family, tea, flowers...I think it is excellent! 

So very grateful to be surrounded by love right now.

In My Prime

Today is my birthday - looking forward to going out to lunch with Bob later.  We all ate the birthday cake last week - it was Jon's birthday on Easter Sunday - so I decided we would share cake and a cuppa together one afternoon while they were in Norfolk. My lovely new neighbour asked me to alter some trousers for her recently. I said she didn't need to pay me - my sewing is a gift I love to use to help my friends. She said she would like to do something - so I suggested she might bake me a cake. She has a reputation for baking, and I told her coffee&walnut is Bob's favourite. 

Doesn't this look splendid? It tasted fantastic, and was soon eaten up! Gloria delivered it on a cakeboard, saying she did not want the board back, she had plenty, and this one had been used before anyway.

Never one to waste anything, I covered the board in grey wallpaper - it made a brilliant stone in front of my Easter Tomb last Sunday! 

I do not feel any older than I did yesterday. 71 is a prime number, so this year I think I shall be 'in my prime' 

I Have Seen The Golden Sunshine

🌞Wednesday dawned bright and sunny. It was a rare Wednesday-Without-Shed day, and Bob was eager to get out and enjoy the weather🌞 I'd had a bad night, and woken with a headache. After he'd brought me breakfast in bed, it seemed churlish to say "I need to stay home and do housework"

🌞We got in the car and drove up to Deepdale Market on the coast. We stopped briefly en route to investigate a sign saying "Bric-A-Brac - Everything £1" I bought a sign which amused me, and Bob bought a filthy pair of pincers. We drove on to Burnham Deepdale, the sky was so blue, and the countryside so green...

I do love the mural in the alley way to the pop up craft shops. Not much of interest, but two lovely ladies were selling handmade jewellery and knitted accessories in aid of Duchenne UK. They were sisters, and one was the gran of a boy who has DMD. I treated myself to a kilt pin brooch for £5 - decorated with sewing notions and a Manchester bee. 

After a jacket potato lunch we drove home stopping in Fakenham, for milk in Lidl and a mooch round the Sue Ryder shop. I found a book

A simple cover, with fantastic contents. Years ago I got this from the library and knitted Steph the fingerless gloves for her birthday, then made half a dozen pairs as Christmas gifts. The book is divided into four sections with seasonal items to knit, sow, bake,craft and grow... 

Here is a photo of Steph's gloves from 2009

I shall enjoy reading this book again, and maybe I'll have time to do more of the projects. Some are pictured below. The illustrations are clear, with good templates and photos. Worth £2 I think. Altogether I spent £8, plus my spud. A good day out. I'm deciding where to put my sign, Bob polished up his vintage pincers the moment we got home. They look splendid. 

"o

I am not sure why we should" beware children playing". I think "be aware of children playing" probably would sound a little kinder. But the sign made me smile, and I love that children come and play in my garden.

This week's sunshine has been lovely. I hope the weather is kind where you are.

Occasional Tables And Other Musings

Lenny Henry once asked "What are 'occasional' tables doing the rest of the time?" A good question**. When we first met, Bob was surprised by the number of little tables around my tiny flat. This was the 1970s, and preIKEA. but Tricia Guild and Terence Conran were everywhere flogging cheap chipboard table kits plus round cloths... I confessed to Bob these were not tables - under the fabric were piles of plastic crates, full of school worksheets, Sunday School resources, haberdashery, tools etc. Hidden storage everywhere.
Nowadays we have cupboards, a loft and a workshop. But occasionally I relapse. Like when the family are coming, and I clear everything hurriedly into a stack in the spare bedroom. And throw a quilt over the top. And I warn Jess and Rosie - please do not go under there, as there are sharp things and breakable things which you mustn't touch. Bless them, they are very good about it. 

But they are back in London now, and Tuesday morning was spent tidying. It was a very productive exercise! Whilst tidying up, I found

• my box of vegetable seed packets [which I have been hunting for more than a fortnight] 
• my box of felt pieces [mislaid after the French Hen Project] 
• my packable waterproof jacket [I had to take a heavier coat to Bewilderwood] 
• my folder of small cross stitch designs

The sun was shining so I abandoned tidying briefly and planted some seeds, then came back to the task in hand. Whilst I worked, I listened on BBC4Extra to "Growing Solo", about retired journalist Max Cotton and his year long food self-sufficiency experiment [2024] . It was interesting - he only ate food he had produced himself, or found growing wild. So no tea or coffee, no Worcester sauce or exotic spices... Spoiler alert - this was not Tom and Barbara in the garden of a suburban semi. Max lives on a small farm in Somerset, with an attached vineyard, whilst his brother runs a nearby small-holding. So he had room to grow wheat, keep cows, pigs, chickens and a beehive...as well as producing veg and fruit [and grape juice] I am not sure he would have achieved his goal without the support of his wife and family.
I am never going to achieve self sufficiency with my little plot at Cornerstones. But I hope to grow plenty of veg again this year, and I am pleased to note the fig tree has dozens of tiny figlets.  
**Lenny says that "the rest of the time, these tables are dining or nesting"

The Chapel At Easter

The windowsills at Chapel were well received. In previous years we have had bunnies and eggs and chicks and jars of fresh flowers. But as I seemed to be without helpers, I took the line that less is more. I made some green fabric runners from the Great Stash, and then each sill had a couple of pot plants, a card with a Bible Verse or two, and either Willow tree figures or a cross. I prepared everything at home, and took a photo beforehand, showing which verse went where.

The plants looked so pretty in their wallpaper collars. I did discover that every window is a different size [the building is 200+ years old!] but the one sill I had measured was fortunately the largest, and folding, pinning and using blutac kept everything looking good.

Maybe less 'busy' than previous years, but I think they did the job.

Bob made the stands to support the crosses [which normally hang on our study wall] I created an Easter Garden on the platform. A cloth covered the table, and at the top was the cross draped with purple ribbon and a crown of thorns. Below, fresh plants, and an empty tomb. Not sure if the brief video will show the flickering tealights inside, which reflected beautifully against the gold foil. 

And I used lots of wallpaper to create the stone surround, and the green frieze in front of the plant pots! After the service, the small plants went into little paper carriers with cards ["These Easter flowers come with love from Foulsham Baptist Church. Christ is Risen!] for distribution to other. I have already had two messages of thanks from people who were really touched to have been remembered.

Now get on your way quickly,  and tell his disciples and the others that Christ is risen!