A nice surprise

A couple of weeks ago when I was sitting with Ladybug sorting out a problem with her knitting, The Engineer asked me if I could teach him how to knit too.


Completely taken by surprise, as he had shown absolutely no interest up until this point, I said 'of course', he chose his wool and we began.


He grasped the idea really quickly and has stuck with it ever since, picking it up each day. He even took it on holiday with him and knitted on the ferry!


It did take me a little by surprise though when I asked him to put his pyjamas on later that day and he replied 'can I just finish this row?' Not a phrase I had somehow ever imagined coming from my son's lips ...... !!

Goodies revealed

I have been a little tardy in revealing to you all what I sent to my swap partner for the seaside swap. Without further to-do, and because I know she received it aaaages ago, here it is :

A handy denim tote for all those beach essentials! I lined it in shocking pink and appliqued a beach hut to the front (as you all can see!) I also made some fabric badges and fastened those to the front.


Some wool (look at the name on the label...)

Vintage 'saucy' postcards

Ice cream sweets

A windmill - gotta have one of those!

fishy pencil

ice cream lip balm

and my first ever cushion and attempt at free motion embroidery! I was quite proud of this..... (not a very good photograph though

All found their way to my swap-partner, Rachel of Contented.

I have to confess, I didn't read the bit about it fitting into a shoebox size box until after I'd made it all -oops! So having had such fun with that swap, I'm looking for another one to take part in - anyone know of any?

Jammy goodness

Before we left for holiday, we embarked on our annual jam making fest! It has become a bit of a tradition in our house and the children start asking when we can pick the fruit as soon as the sun starts shining in the spring! This year, we were a bit late with the picking, but still managed to get a bumper crop. We picked raspberries,

cherries,


strawberries,


and blackcurrants. After lots of mashing


boiling


and bottling,

we were left with 27 jars of deliciousness. Yum! Just got to wait for the blackberries now....

I hasten to add, they are not all for our consumption!

Oops!

Sorry, sorry! Once again I've been absent for well over a week. I do have a good excuse - honest! We've just come back from a lovely and relaxed (yup, it is possible , even with four children!) holiday in Ireland. I had intended to have a few posts ready to go for while we we away, but never found the time to do them amidst the frantic preparations. Oh well, we're back now, so normal service shall resume once again.

We stayed in a gorgeous house in the south of the country, surrounded by fields and with a number of fantastic beaches within ten minutes or so.

We had nothing planned, and just took each day as it came. Lots of time at the beach, lots of ice cream, lots of walking and a little bit of rain! Wonderful.