Late August in the Lake District- Lake Windermere.
I’m not sure about having an ice cream but I would love the little hut.
Lake Coniston was 3ft-1m higher than in most Augusts.
This beach is 1/3rd of it’s normal size. We helped the children pack up their camp site (their 1st trip alone there), then helped them launch the canoes.
Brantwood, the home of John Ruskin, is as mysterious as ever. I will take you there for the 1st time later.
Monk Coniston jetty is almost flooded at the end.
Son and daughter rejoined us there having come up the choppy high lake in the canoes.
And having stayed dry, Son promptly got wet!
There was a cold wind but also sunshine.
Waterfall on Old Man Coniston.
The lush green shows that there has been no rain shortage this Summer.
We saw a lot of craft get rescued that morning. One sail boat capsized. This canoe, being carried on the back of the rescue boat, got tangled in branches at the edge of the flooded shoreline.
Steam Yacht Gondola was as gorgeous as ever. It is hard to think of her languishing at the bottom of the lake for so long as a house boat and being written about by Arthur Ransome in Swallows and Amazons.
Now I’ve been promising to share another of my recycling successes for a while. This is my spice rack in the kitchen.
The little pots began life as Yankee Candle jars. I’ve been collecting them for quite a while.
Lovely husband printed the labels for me on a gismo he has.
I also promised you a tour of a tidied up craft room. Come on in!
To the left is a snug spot by the radiator for reading, plotting and scheming.
A lot of secret Christmas hand sewing happens here behind the locked door. I keep neutral, grey black and purple fabrics in the bedside table. One drawer is dedicated to my strokable Laurel Burch and Mary Engelbreit fabrics. I must make an effort to use them more often.
The overlocker is in the corner. The cupboards are full to bursting where we have de-personalised the house for selling. Patterns, batting and stuffing are kept inside too. The mirror area is where I plonk project trays and collect my Aussy Homespun magazines. The wicker baskets have things like buttons, ribbons and felt in.
This is “The Slab” where I have an Ikea angled table with a built in light box. In the pic you can see the batting for the Star quilt rolled up. The border for Egyptian Huts is being auditioned on the floor. The basket has sets of fabric left overs in, in plastic bags.
On the bookcase is my stash of fabric. Doris’s new friend from Ebay arrived. I know I was trying so hard not to get cluttered, but he was on his own too and came from the same Sunkid teddy factory in Germany. And and….I’m a soft touch.
That brings us to the cutting and sewing area. The red lamp has a daylight bulb. I thoroughly recommend one if you don’t already have one, for those shorter days when the pedal is to the metal on the sewing machine, with Christmas makings. It really helps to match colours accurately.
So there you have it- my craft room can look tidy for house viewings. You just don’t want to see it at the moment!
Here is something you might want to see- a whole variety of organic tomatos. Isn’t it beautiful!
Craft News
I have made some more tissue holders in beautiful fabrics.
My 5 probable Craft Olympic challenges. 1. Punch needle 2. Painting onto fabric using transfer paints. 3. Learning to crochet a granny square 4. Making a mixed media piece of “art” 5. Needle felting
If you’d like to try making 5 things with different techniques, then let me know and I will add you to the list in the sidebar. Take the red picture my daughter made for your own blog. Let me know when you have completed a project and I will add that to the sidebar under the correct number of thimbles. You can also take a thimble per completed challenge, deleting the previous one until you have the complete set of 5. The end date is New Years Day.
