♥ This Week... ♥

This week I have been....

♥♥ Stitching hundreds of badges onto my camp blanket, a little at a time. It's incredible how my badge collection builds up! I stitched on over 50 badges in August/September last year and already I have a similar amount to sew on again. It's an obsession I must try to learn to curb...at least for a little while longer!

♥♥ Making Gooseberry & Apple crumble!! A lady at work has a rampant Gooseberry bush and brought in a bagful of Gooseberries for me. There weren't quite enough to fill the bottom of my dish so I added some apples as well and the crumble was absolutely delicious!

♥♥ Watching the flowers growing in the garden. The Lilies are now starting to pop open, and the Bee's are going absolutely mad for the Borage!

♥♥ Gazing at the gorgeous pink Roses that grow outside the kitchen door. Every year these lovely, brilliant pink flowers blossom and last for ages! It's a real summertime treat. We've got lots of hot pink flowers growing in the garden at the moment. I especially love the raggedy Poppy that's appeared in one of our pots.

♥♥ Treating the family to a trip to Spa Valley Railway in Tunbridge Wells. It is a belated Father's Day present for Dad as I missed the actual day last weekend when I was in London for the Discover event with the Guides. We all went, my Grandmother and Travel Hamsters included.

♥♥ Admiring the authentic looking train ticket given out at the railway. It is very substantial, made with hefty card and with the date punched onto the back. The Travel Hams were mightily impressed by it too- it's the little things.

♥♥ Pulled along by a steam engine- a very different experience to being pulled along by a diesel engine we've decided. The steam engine, whilst giving out those lovely little puffa chuffa chuffas and hooting like an over excited owl,  pulls the carriages along with a little, almost non-existent jerking that you don't get with a gliding diesel engine. I think I prefer the steam train.

♥♥ Eating a quiet little lunch at the High Rocks pub. It was very peaceful there watching the trains go by. We managed to time our return train quite well too as the Spa Valley train goes from Tunbridge Wells West to High Rocks, then Groombridge and turns back at Eridge, so we had about 40 minutes to finish our lunch before the steam engine returned once it had passed us toward Eridge. An excellent day out!

Camp Blankets

I finally finished stitching all of my waiting badges on to my blanket, including the nine badges we came across on our holiday to Knaresborough. I really love how these little badges can capture so many memories in them- some people have photo albums (so do I actually) to remember things, but I also have my camp blankets which are both practical and pretty.

Unfortunately, I went to visit one of my guiding friends this week and she showed me a really lovely badge celebrating the years of the Queen's reign. I just had to have it and now have several more badges on order which should arrive within a week and will have to be stitched on!!! It's a hobby that never ends. I am planning not to leave it so long before stitching them on this time though- over 50 in one go was quite a challenge.

So now I have one full blanket and one nearly completed camp blanket!!! One day I will sit down and count exactly how many badges I have, but maybe not today- unless you want to do it for me?

Turning

We are really starting to feel the beginning of the seasonal turn here in England. The mornings are currently tinged with red as the sun peeps over the horizon at the same time as I get up for work. I am still managing to make it home in the light but as the daytime fades faster and faster it won't be long before I have to get my torch out for the walk home from the bus stop.

I am very excited to see the first ever (and currently only) lantern on my Chinese Lantern plants. These are now two years old but nothing happened in the first year at all and we have had a few flowers this time around but I wasn't expecting much from it- very pleased to see this little lantern and can't wait for it to turn that lovely shade of orange!!

The garden is still bright with flowers, they are hanging on until the first frost I think and the Gladioli still have a way to go. I love how they are like fireworks, flowering from the bottom of the stem upwards in a blaze of colour!!

And the Nasturtiums, which have been happily flowering away in the front garden, have taken off in a race across the steps, yellow versus red!! The caterpillars are loving the leaves, it's a good thing they grow quickly (both caterpillars and Nasturtiums).

As it begins to get chilly in the evenings, I have set myself the task of stitching on all of those badges that I spent ages pinning several weeks ago. I now have even more to add to this blanket from the Knaresborough holiday so plenty to keep me occupied and warm at the same time.

The Mother's Birthday

 Huzzah!! It has been The Mother's birthday this weekend. Yes the whole weekend apparently. It began on Thursday evening with a family meal at one of our local pubs, The Highlands. They do really really nice food and we were all absolutely stuffed to this gills!!
On Friday (the actual day) I was the only one who had to get up in the morning and go off to work. The cats were up demanding breakfast so I still had someone to talk to and I left Ziggy guarding a little present for The Mother.

 In the evening we had another family party (different family members) with presents and cake. You can see The Mother's present haul there as she blows out the candles. She did quite well this year!

Rushing around Tunbridge Wells at lunchtime looking out some last minute presents, I had cause to stop a while and stare at these amazing Doctor Who props which have appeared inside the Victoria Place Shopping Centre. Rather cool aren't they?

Saturday (Day three of the birthday extravaganza) has been a bit more relaxed as The Mother wanted to play with her presents and recover from a cake overload. I had a quick pootle around the garden, dead-heading and watering as I went. There is the first reddening tomato on my tomato plants!!! Very exciting.

This morning I also started laying out all of those badges that have been patiently waiting to be stitched onto my blanket. There are over 50 to stitch on- not a task I am looking forwards to, and I must admit, after the struggle of pinning them all on (using my quilters pins makes the job so much easier!), I only stitched four badges before giving up and giving the blisters on my fingers a rest.
It might take me a long time to stitch all of them on!

 (Before)                                                          (After)

I thought I would show you my colouring whilst I am in a show and tell mood. I had to take Tuesday off of work as I haven't been very well- a nasty virus that came out of nowhere and really hit hard. Luckily it seems to be wearing off now and I am left with a sore throat, runny nose and blocked ears, which is nothing really compared to the symptoms at the beginning of the week!
Colouring is a great thing to do when you have no energy and, curled up on the sofa in a nest made of crochet blankets, I finished of the Octopus and started an Elephant.

The weather has been really quite beautiful here today. Maybe I can convince the Parents to do a quick trip up to Firle Beacon if the weather is just as lovely after tea. I have some portable sewing I can take with me- more on that tomorrow.

Evening sunshine has such a golden-y glow. Beautiful.

Weekly Overview

A hot air balloon drifted past the house this evening. I would absolutely LOVE to go in one of those things. It just seems so decadent somehow, floating over people's houses, waving (though they probably can't see you) at children in the gardens, gazing out over the hills and fields, chatting to the birds as they fly past. Like a little dream world. Yep, would love to go ballooning.

I have been going a little crazy. Please don't judge me, but as long-time readers will know, I collect badges for my camp blanket...(s). Anytime I go on holiday or to a city or to an attraction, I always frantically search for fabric badges that can be stitched onto my blanket...and when that doesn't work...I go on eBay. It's very bad. A lot of these badges were mad, late night purchases when I was feeling a little sorry for myself. I even have saved sellers who often change their badge designs- it's a definite addiction. These are the ones that I have collected since the Herefordshire holiday in August last year (that I haven't stitched on already). In this photo there are 51 badges (not including the five little flames to go around the campfire. Plus I found two more badges after I took these photos!!

My Minions are a new addition to the collection!! They are so cheeky. (Bottom, tee hee.)

The garden is still booming with colour. These Marigolds are especially eye popping at the moment, especially when partnered with that electric blue Lobelia!!

My little tomato plants are getting quite big tomatoes on them now. There hasn't been enough sunshine lately though to turn them that glossy red colour, but I hope they start change colour soon!

 (By Janet)

In the post this week I have had the eight instalment of the 12 Days of Christmas ATC swap. This month it is all about 'Maid's A Milking' and the above is Janet's very colourful interpretation of the theme. I wonder how many people have gone for the 'bucket' look?
Mine are slightly late this month (tut tut) and were finished last night ready for posting tomorrow morning. I have also chosen to represent the theme with pails of milk and the yoke that was used to carry the buckets over the shoulders of sturdy Milk Maids. I also found these really cute little milk bottle buttons in my stash that were just perfect!!