A Quick Chat

 Hello all you lovely people, I thought I would just pop in and have a quick chat.

I have been trying to do some gardening but the weather continues to disappoint. I'm pleased to report that I managed to paint my fence posts yesterday morning. The weather was beautiful and then dark clouds moved in and we had torrential rainfall for most of the afternoon, it still needs a second coat which I hope to do just as soon as I have finished writing this.

I bought a raised flower bed and have filled it with, celery, purple sprouting broccoli and I've planted beetroot, spinach and rocket seeds, I'm going to leave a portion to plant some flowers to pick for the house, probably cosmos.

I assembled it in the pouring rain a couple of days ago, wearing boots and a raincoat, there was mud everywhere but at least it's done.😊

We put up the bunting at our railway station to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, the wind was blowing a gale and it was difficult to get any decent photos but it did look nice when we had finished, we could have done with a lot more but there's only so much bunting one can make without getting terribly bored with it.

There's lots of celebrations going on in our little town for the jubilee but the weather does spoil it, a lot of things had to be cancelled because of the rain yesterday afternoon.

Our u3a organised an afternoon tea on Wednesday, if you remember I have been following a sugar free diet for the whole of May and I thought I would be able to indulge at the tea party because it was the 1st June. I have been very good throughout May and I can tell a difference, my clothes aren't nearly as tight and I feel much better for it.

I even wore a dress for the occasion, I'm usually a jeans or black trousers and a top kind of gal so for me to wear a dress was a big thing.

So there I was all dressed up and ready to eat a huge tea and cake for the first time in a month, well what a disappointment you can see what was offered below ...

I could have eaten three times as much and still had room for more😂 everyone was disappointed with the food but a good time was still had, it was a lovely atmosphere and a good bit of dancing went on.

A quick photo of my May embroidery Lily of the valley

The flowers for June are honeysuckle and rose so I think it may be rose for me as it's my favourite flower, I'm hunting out a pattern as we speak but I may just make my own.

I'm still making my mosaic cushion using the AZUL pattern and it's nearly finished but apart from that there's not much crafting going on, I like to be outside between the showers making the most of this very fickle British weather, there are clouds a gathering as I speak.😒

I hope you are all doing well and if you are celebrating having a lovely jubilee weekend. 😊

Take care until next time. 😘😘

The week of The Christmas Pud and a bit of A Chat

 I don't mean edible puds although I do like those a lot but I think I will be buying those rather than making, no I'm talking about knitted Chocolate Orange Covers.

My local Macmillan Cancer Support have asked for these to sell for fundraising, I wish I had started earlier but I only got to hear about this a couple of weeks ago, now you know what that yarn was for I showed you back here but before I got started I wanted to finish my Christmas cushion first. 

I get bored when making lots of the same thing all at once, I don't mind making one or two now and then but because time was of the essence I have put all my other craft projects to one side for this week to make these.

These are a doddle to make thanks to Marianna's easy pattern here but they are somewhat fiddly and you do have to be in the mood. Added to which they are knitted and as I'm still working on the knitted baby blanket and  socks it's put quite a large strain on my hands and they are starting to hurt, so after I have finished these knitting projects I had better stick to crochet for a while as that doesn't seem to bother them as much and I'm missing it, I haven't done any crochet for nearly two weeks and I'm starting to get withdrawal symptoms I want to start on my third cushion.

Yay! twelve complete.

Advent

I'm feeling a little bit sad that I didn't get an advent calendar, looking around blogland many of you are opening tantalising little packages and blogging everyday, what fun! I will have to be sure to be more prepared for next year. I start off with the best of intentions but somehow time seems to get away with me and I leave things too late. 

One thing that I do look forward to every year is The Drops Christmas Calendar, I love clicking on those little doors everyday and finding a free festive pattern behind them. 

A new Supermarket

A new Morrisons supermarket has opened near us, it was supposed to open years ago but the building has remained empty until now. I went for the first time yesterday and was quite impressed it's a nice store bright clean with friendly staff. It will be even better when they are allowed to open the restaurant when Covid restrictions lighten, we are in tier three at the moment.

I can't believe I actually took photos of a supermarket but I guess you have to get your excitement where you can in these strange days haha.

Melting Moments

I tried out the new mixer and it works😆 My friend Babs mentioned that she had made some of these and it brought back memories, we made these at school and I haven't had any for years so of course I had to make some and they tasted even better than I remembered.  I got the recipe from the Bero Book which I love,  I know you can find all sorts of amazing recipes online but I always go back to my trusty Bero Book have you got one? I have the latest edition but I have also got an earlier edition too it's falling to bits but I treasure it as some of the older recipes aren't in the newer editions. 

You can find a similar recipe here or order a Bero Book here.

Guess what I'll be doing this weekend 😄

Have a lovely weekend.😘

Click here to see all the great parties I will be linking to.