My Island In The Sun

After days and days of torrential rain, howling gales and hail, the sun came out to play and all was bathed in soft light.  We went in the field without coats, scarves and hats, we were relaxed instead of fighting against the wind.  It could have been Spring.

It isn't Spring though, it is in fact almost December.  A month today will be Christmas Day.  All the presents will have been opened, the dinner eaten and a whole giant tin of Quality Street devoured - probably by me.  It is after all, just one day and it goes by very quickly, so we need to enjoy the next four weeks as much as possible.  For me this is the best bit anyway!  By the end of this week I aim to have finished my Christmas shopping and cleaned the cottage ready for putting the decorations up.

But for now I have bunting to finish.

The hand sewing went really well to be honest and confirmed my belief that hand-sewing is easier than machine.  I used yellow thread on all the flags and made a feature of the stitches, rather than trying to hide them.  If you can sew neat, even stitches in a straight line, why not?  I think if you are going to go to the effort of making something, don't try to make it look like you've bought it from a shop.  Be proud of your creations.  I'm also a fan of raw edges.  It creates a softer look and if the edges fray a little, that only adds to the charm.  I am a little frayed round the edges and so is my life.

So far, so good.  And there it ended.  The gorgeous aqua ribbon I chose for the top wasn't long enough but I found another, almost exactly the same.  But I didn't have a thread to match.  I tried different shades but they all looked wrong and my tiny stitches were not nearly tiny or neat enough.  Panic started to rise in my chest.  I needed to finish this today, now.  I had to cook dinner, wash uniforms, walk dogs, wash dishes... OK, calm down, it will be fine.  I needed inspiration and fast.  I sat staring at the little pile of flags, the winter sunlight catching the pins that secured the ribbon.  I wished I could leave the pins in, they looked so pretty and bought it all to life.

That was it!  Not to leave the pins in obviously, but to replace them with glass beads.  Yay!

Serendipity is a wonderful thing!

It took a while to sew all the beads on but I think it was time well spent and I managed to cook the dinner and hang the washing out in between.  I know this all looks very pink, and wasn't supposed to be (!) but there is a lot of yellow and aqua in there too. Honest!

Sewing and dinner over, it was walk time!  Oh joy. How my family love country walks. Not. Well Pea does and H1 is OK, providing we don't go too far (ie. more than six yards from the house), but H2 is a nightmare. For a start, he loves sticks and he loves waving sticks about, usually while I am walking behind him.  Bit dodgy, so I have to keep reminding him not to wave them about near other people, dogs, passing sheep etc.  Then he starts to lag behind, saying his legs ache.  For crying out loud, we've only been out for five minutes.  It is a very windey lane and not easy to see if tractors or cars are coming, so I spend a lot of time craning my neck to hurry him along and keep up with us.  For some reason he seems to resent this and becomes crabby and unresponsive.

I am now beginning to wish we had never bothered and long to be home with a cup of tea.  Pea compensates by being extra chirpy and H1 shouts at H2, to stop being a 'smeg head', which of course has the opposite effect to the one desired.  If anyone ever heard us (and it wouldn't be difficult) they would think I have an unruly tribe and must be a completely useless mother who has no control over her brood.  They wouldn't be far wrong.

Anyway, there comes a time when I have to admit defeat and agree to going home.  An amazing transformation comes over H2 at this point.  His leg pain miraculously clears up and he heads for home at a cracking pace.  I am then overcome with worry for his safety due to the windey lane and increase my pace in a vain attempt to keep up with him.  The dogs then decide they are going to add to the mix and refuse to get onto the verge when a car tries to pass.  I have now had as much as I can take and shove a middle-aged Labrador into the bank with my knee and hoist Puppy on top.  I don't know whether to give the driver a withering look as he drives by with a cheery wave and a laugh (at my expense), or laugh with him, as if this is all such fun.

That's that over for another week.  Now for that tea.

Have a lovely evening and thank you for reading. xxx