just sittin' and craftin'

 Hi,

The sun has finally come out so I'm going to chance putting some washing on the line, probably won't dry but at least it will air a bit. I will probably finish it off in the tumble dryer as its that strange time of year when heating is not needed much in the house so any washing hanging around doesn't really dry off.

Over the last week or so I seem to have spent more time thinking what I want to do than actually doing it. Slow progress on the cross stitch so far.

I recently found someone else who is doing the same pattern and its taken her 2 years so far ! She still has all the back stitch to do where as I'm trying to work it as I go along.

I've also been knitting ! I had a request from a friend for a hat so here it is.

I know, not my usual handspun but he wanted something colourful so I've used up oddments from my strap weaving stash .Its the fair isle fisherman kep pattern minus the tassel.

That's about it for now, we are due to go into further lockdown tomorrow so I stocked up on coffee for the Tassimo yesterday and chocolate for our weekend treats. 

Quick late addition, the postie dropped this off. I spotted this small kit on ebay, its an old one but I thought it would be good to work on whence are away in the van as its quite small.

                                             and just look at all the stamps on the envelope

That's about all for now, speak soon x

NCR - not craft related

 Hi, 

We managed to get away for a long weekend, making the most of the weather before we find ourselves with travel restrictions.

Just 120 or so mile to Norfolk, an area that we have never really explored either by bike or van.

A last minute booking ( we had to wait to find out what the new restrictions announced last Wednesday were) on Seacroft Caravan Club Site for 3 nights. As we are self contained and tend to stick together away from other people we felt safe on the site and when the local town got busy in the afternoons we headed back to the van for tea and cake.

Cromer has the feel of an old fashioned seaside resort, there is a pier without the obligatory amusement arcade but still housing a theatre for the end of the pier show. The Lifeboat also launches from the its own house tagged on the to the pier.

The beaches have a mix of large pebbles and sand , ideal for families especially those with dogs.

Some dogs were thoroughly enjoying jumping into the sea !

 Youngsters were crabbing off the end of the pier and having fun with the surf school , the atmosphere was very calm and relaxing without all the usual trappings that we normally find at our nearest east coast resort.

We would have liked to explore the town more but as I said, it got busy in the afternoon and we wanted to keep our distance but we will make a return trip when we can.

This campsite is now on the list of sites to revisit, plenty of places nearby to visit by bus or train if we don't want to take the van offsite.

My next post will be a crafty one, promise xx

More restrictions

Its my usual 6am and its very dark outside. Today we will hear what the latest lockdown instructions will be, as the city I live in has the highest infection rate I suspect that our travels will be severely curtailed.

In the meantime I will stitch, make lace and knit so I apologize if this blog is getting a little repetitive and boring for the next few weeks.

I nearly forgot, I bought some more bobbins !!

They are so pretty, also they have some lovely little details such as this one which has a picture of a bee on it and a glass bead in the shape of a bee.

The collection also included a few vintage bobbins, the ones with the metal bands are South bucks bobbins which I think were known as known as jingles or jangles .

                                        The bobbin with the metal disc provided a mystery.

Under a magnifying glass the metal disc was revealed to be a quarter farthing dated 1848 interestingly these were only ever used as currency in Ceylon !

In other lace news, I have set up another sample ready to be worked.

the work on the cross stitch continues, progress is slow but at over 150 stitch per inch it is going to be !

just a quick crafty update

 HI

Well, the paints are still in their boxes, the yarn got as far as being wound into a cake. I've tried half a dozen times to cast on a simple shawl and failed each time so I suspect it will sit around for a while.

I cut the lace off the pillow following a mishap.

but the cross stitch has been started !!

and that's about it, short and sweet this week xx