has it been so long?

since my last blog post? It really has; our summer was just starting and now it is near its end.

It has been a strange summer in our part of the world - yes, we had the occasional warm spell (too hot sometimes to be able to enjoy it) and not even "stitching in the garden weather", very often too windy to be able to stitch outside.

We managed to squeeze in a birthday party outside somewhere at the end of July. 

The flower beds at Barrington Court gardens are very much "end of summer" now.

The National Trust have a wonderful large second hand book shop here, 

after a big "sort out" at home, we brought lots of books here.

 I didn't disappear, there was too much other stuff going on - deciding should we "downsize" again,

trying to sell our house, getting a deal and it all fell through......  Not so unusual, unfortunately.

We are at the age when even our current house is proving too large and may be we just have enough time to settle into something smaller. Selling and buying property in this country can be painful, say the least. 

There is nothing as sobering like having a sort out, what furniture we are likely to keep, what we can possibly take with us and many trips to the charity shops.

And keeping the house constantly ready for viewing.

But I am forever the optimist - "it will work out somehow".

Crafting is such a wonderful thing for keeping my sanity while all this is going on.

You could tell there was something new going on my sewing room:

At the beginning of summer I started making " Lewis Coverlet" by Susan Smith, from her book 

"Quilts Somewhat in the Middle",

something I had my eye on for a while - lots of applique!

I am loving it!

This was the start - the centre:

and this is where it is now,

working on final borders:

I also made a very good start on new crochet project - Macaroon Blossom blanket , which I was given all the yarn for by Santa last Christmas.

The little flowers blocks are like small cakes 😊.

 I hope you all are keeping well, I will try to visit you soon!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2024

July round-up

August tomorrow! Where does the time go?

Very quiet month in my world; 

when summer really arrived, my sewing room abandoned as we moved outside; 

There was a short (thankfully!) heat wave in the middle of the month. This was the only place to be, trying to stay cool; early breakfasts outside and a jug of mint tea in the fridge ( I find this so cooling),

 the rest of the days just doing very little, only reading, no energy for anything else. I found myself in the garden at 3 am, the only place to find some respite at that time of night.

That's gone (for now), we are back to what could pass as normal summer over here, including a Sunday drizzle today.

The garden suffered this month, although we tried to keep it alive, using any waste water from the kitchen (and as little tap water as we could), but it is all looking little parched now.

We have four water butts, collecting rain water coming off the roofs, 

but they are just not being replenished at the moment.

It has been a great weather for lavender.

These pictures are from little earlier in the month just before the heat wave.

So, very little sewing, just a very small progress in sewing another Blooming Springtime block.

With evening cooling down, I am now addicted to crochet; Sunshine and Showers blanket progressing very well; this is made in 4 parts, later to be joined together.

I know I have neglected the blog world, it has been too warm to sit in front of a screen, but I will come and see you soon ! 

You just have to forgive me...........

I hope you have a good week!

pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2022

June update

At last we have been having something which could be called summer weather 

and our garden is loving it.

I have been spending lots of time here, so not much time in front of small screens, 

but is is time for a little catch up.

I have ditched sewing for the time being, because I fell in love with

Janie Crow's "Sunshine an Showers" blanket, now CAL, 

which you can see on her Instagram page , 

and her website of course.

There are also monthly YouTube videos, with the introduction one by Jane here .

Jane used Stylecraft Special DK for her design, but I prefer something with wool, so I am using different yarns, either wool or with some wool element, Stylecraft Life DK and Drops yarns, and also some from my stash.

Some days had been too warm for woolly stuff,

but mostly it is OK. 

I am enjoying it so much that I am well ahead of CAL.

It is nice to crochet in rows for a change, instead of squares.

The blanket is made in sections, below are the two end pieces.

The weather here is also mixture of sunshine and light showers at the moment, so that hasn't been too bad for this year's Glastonbury Festival , the first one since 2019, which is just down the road from us,

in fact so close that we can here the music in the evenings,

(not well enough to enjoy it, of course!)

I just leave you with some pictures from our garden.

This is "Gabriel Oak" from Davis Austin, 

named after the character in Thomas Hardy's novel 

"Far from the Madding Crowd".

It is a beautiful one, with very strong old fashion rose scent.

We are growing it in a pot, close to the bench, it seems to be very happy, and we can enjoy it too.

"No room at the inn" - see below, which I am very pleased about; I have been accused recently not caring enough about wildlife. Considering that we planted some eight trees (and put up nesting boxes) in this tiny garden since we moved in and looking around here we are the only ones doing so, for some reason not many people like trees in their gardens here.

 We encouraged a hedgehog to our garden by building him a super home, so that remark was hurtful and did come as a disappointment.

Our little and simple celebration of Midsummer (a habit we picked up from our Scandinavia friends) was also a success, 

because it usually rains, but this time it turned out to be perfect summer evening.

 

Little baking, one of our favourite summer cakes, 

apricot squares.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2022

FNwF and the rest

 Thank you again to  Cheryll for getting us together for the last FNwF of this year.

Like most, I will not be sorry to see the end of this year, and hopefully we will have much better time in 2021.

I had just a small project ready and managed to finish it as well - small kit by Corinne Lapierre, French Hen, part of the "12 Days of Christmas" set, which many bloggers have been making.

 

My hen looks little more skinny than the original picture, 

but I am quite happy with it, not bad for one evening's work.

My crafting seems to be dominated by crochet at the moment, and although this stack of squares is only about one 1/4 of what I need for the Tobermory blanket, I got seduced by another one of Jane Crow's designs - the Persian Tiles blanket, and on Friday afternoon I finished the first block.

 I like the "Sandalwood" version, but there hasn't been any colour breakdown published, it is available only as a kit from Mary Maxim. I prefer to use Stylecraft Life DK, which has some wool element, so I have made up my own colour combination, which is probably little brighter.

There have been many birthdays and anniversaries missed this year; 

there is a couple of our family ones we will not be able to celebrate as a family this month,

we hope to catch up on all of those next year, when we will be able to get all together at the same time.

Last month was our golden wedding anniversary - 50 years of married life, and friendship for more.

Due to the lockdown we celebrated on our own, with nice dinner and a bottle of wine.

But that morning we did get a surprise -

a truck pulled up outside and unloaded a big parcel.

     

This turnout to be new garden bench - a present from our children, who know how much time we spend in our little garden, and that our old bench was literary on the last leg.

I think I should use this as a motto of my blog!

All we need now is spring!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2020