Following on from my post on Monday I have to give full marks to the National Trust for the speed with which they have responded to me. Not long after 9am on the Tuesday morning I had received an email holding response from the Wimpole Estate and that morning both the Estate and the National Trust centrally had also responded to me on Twitter. At just 2pm there was a full response from the General Manager at the Wimpole Estate which I include below. Here at Wimpole Estate we take our position of sustainability very seriously; whether this is the continual conservation work we do in both the ... read more
Another stripy hat
There's a new baby in St Albans (local bloggers Claire and Alex's third child, an adorable little boy, to be exact) and as everyone knows every new baby deserves something handknitted when they were born and I was delighted to oblige here. The pattern is the same Sublime one that I followed for the first hat that I made for LMC nearly two years ago. This time I was just using up some ball ends from my stash - possibly James C Brett's pure merino - and at first I wasn't too sure about the colours, but once the stripes came together they really ... read more
Let down by plastic
We made the most of the last day of Mr C's Chrsitmas holidays today to take Little Miss C along to Home Farm at the National Trust's Wimpole Estate. It is somewhere that we have visited several times before and LMC loved all the animals that she visited on the farm. On this visit she was also old enough (and mobile enough) to make the most of the ride on tractors and also all the playground facilities. For her it was a perfect day out. We enjoyed the farm visit as much as she did, but there was unfortunately one bit of our visit that left us feeling let down. We chose to eat lunch at ... read more
seven days
A weekly photograph capturing one of the magic moments of the last seven days. ... read more
Happy 2012!
Big Ben has done its bonging, the fireworks have gone bang and the champagne has been drunk. 2012 is here and there's no going back. Whilst I don't go in for new year's resolutions in a big way, one thing I want to do this year is try to sort this blog out once and for all and take things up a level. I failed spectacularly in my Crafty Advent plans so I'm slightly hesitant to reveal too many plans for fear of failing again. I've some ideas for regular features and aim to ensure that blogging never becomes a chore. This might work, or it might not, but I'm going to ... read more
That bit in-between
We're just drawing to the end of that slightly strange period between Christmas and New Year that people often don't quite know what to do with. Here we've been simply enjoying time as a family of three. After nearly a week of get-togethers with extended family we're making the most of the simple things for a while. Amongst playing with the lovely toys hat Father Christmas brought for LMC (more on those later!) there's been plenty of Christmas TV to catch up on, trips to some local (free) attractions and also making the most of the adorable Jemima Puddleduck ... read more
Needle cases
This was a quick little project that made use of some bits from my stash whilst creating a lovely gift for someone. These needle cases are very quick and easy to make, yet look really good. The outer fabric is upholstery swatches that my mum picked up somewhere years ago and then inside I used constrasting felt colours inside. To make them I took two pieces of the upholstery material, put them right sides together and sewed round all apart from one inch. I turned it back out to the right sides and went right round the edges with a running stitch. After cutting two pieces of felt to size I ... read more
One step closer to being finished
This isn't the first time that I've shown this particular piece of cross-stitch on my blog. In fact, it's nearly three years ago since I actually finished the sewing part this twelve days of Christmas wall hanging. Since then I'm sorry to say that it's remained in the hoop in which I stitched it. It's moved house with us and last Christmas it didn't get a look in thanks to the demands of a six month old Little Miss C. Finally things changed today though. It's out of its hoop and I've even managed to buy a the bell pull mounts for it. There are less ... read more
A sneak preview
This is one of those projects that I can't say much about yet as the recipient will probably come on here and read this blog before Christmas. There will be more details, but all I can say at the moment is that I'm using Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxary Tweed Aran in colourway 360029 and I'm following a free download pattern that I found on Ravelry. Once I can reveal all I promise that I will link to the patter and provide a more detailed photograph that shows exactly what it is that I'm knitting. I'm loving the pattern though as there's a relatively simple repeat that gives ... read more
Lion hand puppet
I haven't forgotten about my craft advent plans here on the blog, but whilst I've been caught up in the party season finding time to sit and write blog posts has been ditched in favour of doing things that will provide content for blog posts. The crafting has continued at a furious pace and I am hoping that by December 25th, you will have had a total of 25 crafty blog posts, even if they're not at a constant rate of one a day. Today's craft "show and tell" is something that Little Miss C and I made together this afternoon - a lion hand puppet. I have to admit up ... read more