Quilt top progress

Got stuck in this morning and made the blocks for the quilt; I decided to stretch the prints a bit further by making half square triangles - one of my favourite themes. Happy with the results so far, so now deciding on sashing and borders - wonder how big it will end up? I have a large stash to get through........lol

I'ts a really beautiful autumn day here, turned out quite warm. Quiet here - EJ has gone out, so it's just me and the dog, and he's asleep. I'm waiting for the fishman to come, then it's back to the machine. I've made cottage pies for supper, so that's all sorted, giving me an extra hour at the machine I hope; it's a joy to use after being thoroughly serviced and cleaned - it's like new and is making a nice purring sound instead of a bit of a rattle!

What is a housewife?

"Housewife (n): someone (male or female) who is valued because they care for a house, either full time or in conjunction with another job"

Rachel Simhon, How to Run the Modern Home

My italics :)

New quilting project..............

We're doing a charm square swap over at http://creativeliving.10.forumer.com/index.php ; 10 of us are taking part, and I've just parcelled up the doanted charm squares to send out by post tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone makes with them.
This is my allocation above; the origianl squares were 5", but I've cut them to 4", and have something in mind, but not 100% certain yet - I'll give it a bit more thought, but looking forward to getting back to quilting, it's been a while.
I've various curtain related things to be getting on with too, so will get stuck in on Thursday when I get the machine out, hopefully for the day.

Simple pleasures for a Monday morning..........

Getting up early and watching the daylight come...........

Feeding the livestock - always pleased to see me!

Hearing the rain on the windows, the swishing of the tyres as the early traffic passes

Sorting the laundry - clean clothes, folding, stacking, putting away

Ironing - transforming a higledy pig into a lovely stack of neatness

Turning up the Rayburn for baking and making tea from my great grandmother's cast iron kettle

Changing the bed linen

Laughing at the dog when he is distinctly unimpressed with the rain

Having a giggle with the post girl about her weekend shenanigans

The clean, fresh soapy smell of homemade washing powder

Opening the Jiffy bag with my new book inside

A thick cotton mophead to clean the kitchen floor with - a delight to use

Slotting in a few rows of knitting when I "should be cleaning"

Realising there isn't as much housework to do as I thought.............

The smell of another bucket of ripe apples to be processed

A full, well -stocked larder and store cupboard, with a view towards winter and harder times

Seeds to sort and store away, decide if I need any more...........

The delights of autumn colours right outside my kitchen window:


Life is good.

Up, up and away.................

This balloon was spotted early morning out the front of our house, disappearing over the pub..............



This one was spotted from the top of the duck and hen run - bit close, that's my brambly hedge at the bottom of the photo! I thought he was going to land, but he fired up the burner and off they went into the wild blue yonder - rather them than me, though!


After breakfast, I spent the morning in the kitchen with this little lot:

48 bottles, all ready for storing back in the freezer room to mature. This afternoon will be racking off some more, sorting the rest of the bottles and taking ages to ferry all the bottles and demi-johns out there again!!
In the bottles we have: 5 peapod, 4 gooseberry, 3 honeysuckle,4 dandelion, 8 parsley, 11 elderflower, 5 jam, 4coffee and 4 rose pouchong tea.
There are another 11 elderflower waiting to be taken outside, and 8 bottles of mead.
Should keep us going for a while...............;)

Puppy love, part II

So - the puppy jumpers, and mum's, are all done now, safely delivered. These are the pups:



Each little jumper has a letter of the company's name on it, all in company colours; the tenth one has the mascot bee on:

They're for a sepcial promotional photo shoot, so they won;t be wearing them long, then they're going on display in the teashop I think, pegged on a line!
I really enjoyed this project, with some more bits to get on with this week as well. Had a long discussion about the value of hand- made things with the customer, so have decided to put my knitting business on a more organised and formal footing, so watch this space LOL

Just when I thought it was safe.................

...........to come out of the kitchen!! I spent a while yesterday preparing Bramley apples, bottling 7 good jars for over the winter. Pleased to see I was down to just under 1/4 of a sack left. Friend from up the road turns up with these:




Not a problem, but a lot of apples, and promises of plenty more to come. The best of these will be stored for eating, the rest will go for cider maybe, or wine.
Then I just ahve to deal with the 1/4 sackful LOL.

Yesterday, I came back with this little autumn bouquet for the hall shelf:
There's still a lot of colour around; these were picked within yards of each other near the end of the lane - old man's beard, rowan, rosehip, elderberry, wild hop, ivy, comfrey and hawthorn. Really pretty, and a real piece of autumn.