Friday 26 November 2010

What a palaver!

brrr it's cold outside but at least it hasn't snowed here yet, however having said that I always get a bit excited when the first flurry is due!
On Saturday we are off to the Christmas Fayre at Bury St Edmunds, it sounds like it should be fun.....I will let you know what it was like.
Yesterday I decided to try and finish off things that I had made.I spent most of the day completing a patterned tea cosy that I could only knit so long as I gave it my full attention as it was so fiddly. I then needed to knit 8 leaves which would be sewn together to make 4, which I duly did.Well,what a palaver to attach these blooming leaves on to the top of the cosy. I eventually succeeded but when I tried it on a big tea pot having  followed the instructions as to where to place the openings, the openings were not right! Sooo, I tried to undo the seams but I had done such a good job of sewing them that I couldn't find the yarn!!! I eventually did find a yarn and cut it but it was the gathering yarn at the top, which meant my leaves came undone. Anyway needless to say I have now abandoned it for the time being, I suspect it will stay that way for a while!

Tuesday 23 November 2010

Just look at the size of this tree!!

This is the biggest oak tree I have ever seen
We came upon this in Orwell Country Park and it is absolutely huge, Missy looks positively small by it. The tree has to be several hundred years old, It can be aged by measuring  from at least 1.5m from the base and measure its girth. I believe for every metre round its girth it equates to 100 years of age.

Hooray my shop is open!

I am really excited this week I have set up my online shop on Folksy and the good news is that I am able to call it plumcottage (all one word) the address is www.folksy.com/shops/plumcottage please check it out, any comments will be greatly appreciated.  Here are a couple of cushion covers I made this week.

I am really pleased with  all of the covers, but I really love the dotty fabric.Guess what will be covering some of my cushions in the near future!
 It seems that my hobby is overtaking my life at the moment....I can't seem to stop making things! Each day I just about manage to sort all the animals out, empty the dishwasher and washing machine, tidy up, make the bed and that is probably it for most of the week  before I start sewing or knitting! But you will be pleased to note that I do manage to have a shower and clean my teeth first thing and  have  dinner ready for when Andy comes home from work!.

Friday 19 November 2010

Any suggestions for my online shop?

I have almost finished making gifts for Christmas and now I can concentrate on building up stock for the online shop on Folksy.com which I hope to start very soon. I am trying to think of a good name for the shop but I must admit I am struggling. I can't have Plum Cottage as it is already taken and I would have to add something to it to make it unique. Any suggestions will be  greatly appreciated.
Had a very pleasant day today. Went to mum's in Northamptonshire and had lunch out which is always enjoyable and we had a good old chinwag. Mum always keeps an eye out for fabrics and china in charity shops for me so I always come back with goodies.
Found some really nice good quality fabric yesterday perfect to make some cushion covers. I couldn't wait to get started on them and managed to make two covers, both with back openings, one with buttons and the other with fabric ties.


Wednesday 17 November 2010

The good thing about a cold miserable windy day is that it is a good excuse  to light the wood burning stove! As it has been really cold this week it's been lit every day so far! So guess where I have been knitting, yes you are right.....by the fire!

I am very keen to support British sheep farmers and so have just bought some 100% British Suffolk breed chunky undyed wool. I am making a cabled tunic and it is knitting up beautifully and of course because it is chunky it just grows and grows like Topsy!

Friday 12 November 2010

Turning fallen autumn leaves into compost

Great, Friday at last. Fridays are usually busy for me as I prepare for going away at the weekend.It means cleaning out the rabbits and chickens (I do them in the week as well but always on a Friday) stocking up on clean water and food for them. The rabbits have a self feeder, but they are quite greedy and I think over the weekend if the food's there then they eat it! They are looking quite round at the moment. Every other Friday I go to my mum's in Northamptonshire and we go out for lunch and shopping. But not today as I am having new roof blinds fitted in the conservatory, can't wait!

After the wind and the rain there is a sea of yellow and brown leaves floating on my patio and lawn and whenever anybody or pet comes in, they get traipsed  through the house! So today will be leave clearing day. Hard work, but the upside is that I will turn them into compost. In order to do that the leaves need to be damp and put into black bin bags or you can recycle used commercial compost bags. Puncture the bags in several places and put them somewhere out of sight in the garden. Leaves do take a long time to compost down unlike normal garden waste. After 12 to 24 months they will have composted down to a lovely friable compost to put on the garden.

Wednesday 10 November 2010

A few more handmade gifts



I have been really busy sewing and knitting gifts ready for Christmas


I was persuaded to go for a walk on Sunday once it had stopped raining (I must admit I was inclined to stay where I was, warm and cosy on the sofa!) and  am glad I did. We (that is Andy, Missy the dog and I) walked down to the foreshore of the Orwell estuary which is about 500 metres from our holiday home. At this point the weather had got cheerier although it was still windy and cold. We thought the tide was fully in and took ourselves along the coastal path until we could get no further as the spring tide ( a spring tide is a high, high tide) had flooded parts of the path. So we trundled back, (Missy as usual having a fantastic time running through the water chasing the seagulls.) and lo and behold we can go no further, the tide in fact was not fully in but it certainly was now! All was not lost as we managed to climb a fence to get round the flooded path, I thought the least I was going to get was wet feet, but with Andy's help my feet remained very dry!.

         




Monday 1 November 2010

Starting the vintage style knitted tea cosy

I have been busy knitting  a 50's style tea cosy over the weekend (this was when I wasn't busy browsing the charity shops).Mum has given me her patterns  collected over the years and included was the 1950's tea cosy pattern. I think it will look great once it is finished, the style is vintage but the colours are contemporary - the photo shows it just being started and doesn't look too much at this moment in time. I hope to finish it soon, I really only knit at night, during the day I concentrate on my sewing.
We were on a long weekend in Suffolk and this morning the weather was superb and we took Missy our Setter Anglais, (she is  a French dog, we bought her in France when we were living  there.) for a  long long walk along the foreshore on the Orwell estuary. Unfortunately, because the tide was out and Missy just loves to chase the seagulls, our tri-colour dog turned into a grey slimy slug as she was running through the tidal mudflats having a whale of a time. She didn't think the cold shower afterwards was too much fun!

my coffee pot