Two men and a fondue

Camped again this w/end and unlike last w/end, weather was v.v. hot, in fact toooooo hot if you ask me (some people are never happy are they?). Still, we had a lovely time. Camped in a little place called Small Dole in Sussex just north of Shoreham and all for £8 per tent per night - bargain! You're in luck, dear readers, I didn't take many pics this time - so this'll be mercifully short:

Our friends had this massive balloon which the children flew on Saturday morning and named Brontosaurus (for fairly obvious reasons):





Mr J and P and brother cavorting by the sea. What a pair of ninnies oops I mean what a handsome pair they make:



Sunday - chanced upon afternoon tea and home-made yummy cakes at a local church. Very pleasant sitting in the shade of a tree sipping tea. Here's a pic of Mr J and P with his tea and an interesting local character in the background.



I thought you might be interested in some of my belated birthday pressies that I got from our friends this w/end - lucky old me.

Lovely spotted jug:



A Hornsea lidded dish to add to my ever growing collection of Hornsea stuff (yet another collection in the making):



I'm soooooooo excited about this one:



Published in 1973, it is jam-packed with instructions on how to do every single knitting and crochet stich you can imagine. It also contains the history of knitting and crochet, how to make embellishments such as tassles and pompoms and even the "correct aftercare of finished pieces of work". And as for the patterns - loads of them - with the best pictures ever:

Loving the alliteration here:



Fabulous cardies and crocheted tops:




This is Bertie Bottleguard (come on, you know you want to make one):



I'm really not sure about Trendy Trudy - she looks a little odd to me and a tad scarey:



And talking of the odd (and scarey) - I also got this tray:



It's marvellous don't you think?!!

Fortune favours the brave - apparently

Just a quick post about my w/end. We camped again at exactly the same campsite in Kent as last time. With different friends. Weather – fffffffffffflipping fffffffffreezing. Chilly on the Friday night but the grownups gathered around the campfire for a bit of campfire camaraderie – singing (yes, it's de rigour I believe)and supping copious amounts of red wine (it's warming, you know, especially in sub zero temperatures).

Saturday, to Whitstable, pretty place on Kent coast famed for its oysters. Rainy and windy and charity shopping was very uneventful. Nonetheless, my good friend and I braved the gail force wind and lashing rain (OK, the lashing rain might be an exaggeration but the wind was definitely erm...windy) and enjoyed walking along the beach looking at the beach huts while the dads took the kids bowling.

At the risk of repeating myself, Saturday night was still very gusty and cold but we managed to have a barbie and stay up way past our bedtime for more campfire shinnanigins.

It was even colder in the tent that night and I was thankful that I had gone to bed fully clothed with my anorak on and hood firmly on my head (needs must, dear readers). Mind you, when I had to get up in the early hours to spend a penny, I discovered that someone, who shall remain nameless, had left the inner door open - no wonder I was freezing. Grrrrrrr (or should I say brrrrrrrrrrrr).

Here's a pic of the campsite - note complete lack of campers that w/end apart from a few brave souls:



Mr J and P sporting a lovingly crafted coffee cosy which doubled up as a balaclava (see, I told you it was cold):



Junior and friend at Whitstable:



I wish I could tell you more about these "knitted bikes" - well, real bikes with lovely knitted bits but I was being hurried away by the others. I think they were knitted by a group of "grafitti" knitters called Incogknito - but that's about all I know.







Well that's all for now. There'll be more camping capers next w/end (yes, we're gluttons for punishment). Hope the weather, which has now vastly improved, stays good. TTFN.

Apron Love

I’m in love. With my new apron. Is that possible? It's a splendid charity shop buy – rather expensive at £2 from the rather expensive local charity shop, but for the pleasure it has given me it’s well worth it. Just look at it.....



Have a closer look.



Look at the lovely orange and yellows (and browns and greens).



Isn’t it gorgeous? Too gorgeous to wear I feel. It is currently draped seductively over a chair so that I can gaze at it adoringly. Is that weird?

Crafty Corner

Oh we have been busy in the Jumbles and Pompoms household today. Firstly, Junior J and P has made this scarf:



Yes, really! Take a closer look:



She made it out of an old t-shirt dress. Do you want to know how? Well here's Little Miss J and P to tell you:

What you need:

. An old t-shirt or t-shirt dress
. A pair of fabric/sharp scissors


Step 1 Cut along an old t-shirt/dress side seam and cut off the sleeves so you can lay it out flat.

Step 2 Cut your t-shirt/dress into a triangle.

Step 3 Cut tassles into your fabric triangle along two sides.

Step 4 Tie the tassles together in pairs.

Step 5 ….And you’re done!

While Junior was busy tieing her tassles together I finished off my crocheted cushion with flower embellishment and here it is:



And here:



And here is a close-up of one square with its flower:



If you remember I based the cushion on Do you Mind if I Knit's beautiful sisterhood crochet blanket pattern here. Do check out her lovely blog and her very easy to follow tutorials perfect for dumbos like me. I did enjoy the crocheting experience but I have to say the sewing of the squares was a major chore for someone who is pretty hopeless at sewing. Next time I join squares together I think I'll try crocheting them together rather than sewing.

Right, my dears, that's enough creative activity for one day methinks. TTFN.

P.S. I'm going to attempt to post our creations on www.kootoyoo.com . Why don't you pop along and see what other crafty bloggers have been up to this week.

P.P.S. Also, take a look at the "At my House" post on Buttons by Lou Lou and have a nose at what other bloggers have been doing round the house this week.

Ye Olde Village Fayre

Oh, I do like a good village fete/fair (not sure what the difference is I'm afraid). I see that a number of bloggers have been posting about their visits to village fetes this weekend, and I am no exception.

We stayed in Surrey this weekend with friends and visited the Old Fair of Abinger. It was a close to idyllic afternoon: the sun was shining (mainly) and we let Junior and friend roam around at will while the grown ups had a civilised time chatting, strolling around the many stalls, partaking of ye olde cream tea (yes, for once, dear readers, the flask stayed at home) and the occasional drop of "medieval mead", watching the children's races and tug of war and enjoying the thrills and spills of a jousting tournament.







Joy of joys, there was a bric a brac stall to visit. How about that for devotion to duty? This is what I got: Another coffee pot (£1) to add to the collection:



Just thought I'd show you some of my collection of coffee jugs - the Meakin ones:



Some rather groovy table mats (20p):



Lastly, these glass bird paperweight lovelies. £3 for the two but worth every penny don't you think. They are Wedgwood glass and I'm very pleased with them.



Hope y'all had a great weekend and are looking forward to the week ahead.

Walks, Waves and Witchcraft

Just returned from a week away in beautiful Cornwall - the third time we've visited in as many years. This time to the North Coast near Padstow. Oh what a lovely week we had. Weather was mainly glorious. Went for splendid coastal walks and surfed (or should I say body boarded) EVERY day.

Perhaps I've given the impression that I've been body boarding every day. No, dear readers, not I. I had a great time watching and waving at the two body boarders extraordinaire, sitting and staring into lots of lovely space, reading, stretching my legs now and then and drinking coffee from one of our numerous flasks. Just in case you wondered, we brought 4 on holiday with us: one for mine and Mr J and P's coffee, one for Junior's hot chocolate, and two food flasks - one for Mr J and P's yogurt making activities (yes indeedy) and the other for food just as Mr/s Thermos intended.

Now I hate to bore you all to death but here's a few of our snaps:

This was taken from Trevose Head overlooking Stinking Cove and close to Booby's Bay - good names eh?



This one's similar to the one above only with some pretty pink flowers in the foreground!



I had this part of the beach all to myself. Everyone else was at the other end (no rude comments please Mr J and P).





Mussels!



Riding the waves: the J and Ps in action.



You may be wondering about the word "witchcraft" in the title of this post. Well, on Wednesday, we decided to bypass the famous Lawnmower Museum in Newquay (How could we! I hear you cry) in favour of the far more interesting Witchcraft Museum in Boscastle (sorry, all you lawnmower enthusiasts out there).



This is a house spell or blessing which apparently means "May you always have a home to live in, clothing to wear, food to eat and someone to love". Remember that when you next send a housewarming card.



Want to see some interesting artefacts? Well here we go:

A cocke ring:





A heart thing complete with nail clippings. Nice.....



Miss Wagging Tongue - indeed!



And for all you knitters out there:







Cripes! Scarey huh?

My charity shopping mania was seriously curtailed during the holiday. We did, however, stop off at beautiful Wells in Somerset on our epic journey back home to London (8 hours of roadworks and delays). Wells is the smallest city in England and has a lovely cathedral,



a Bishop's Palace in beautiful grounds with a moat and Vicars' Close which is supposedly the oldest residential street in Europe (14th century).



Couldn't do the sites justice as we only had a very short time there and, of course, I just had to scurry off to do some very quick charity shopping. I bought two single candy stripe sheets destined for Junior's bed. Mind you, what with her very annoying habit of bringing felt pens and biros to bed with her, I might have to think again...

Hope y'all had a happy and fruitful week.

TTFN.