Saturday

. . . and a very early 'good morning' to you.  The curtains are all drawn - no point giving any wakeful neighbours sight of me in my bedclothes - and it is way too early to predict any kind of weather but the skies are clear, the air is cool and it feels wonderful.

Yesterday I picked and we ate the first tomato!  Not even a mouthful shared between two but it was sweet and sun-warmed and utterly delicious.  Plenty more are changing colour now so it won't be too long before I am complaining that I have so many I don't know what to do with them!  It was like that with the runners yesterday.  Beth didn't want any as she still has some of the last picking so I prepared the lot, cooked myself a huge portion of green deliciousness and the rest is in the freezer in single portion bags.  There's more to pick today - isn't it lucky I love home grown runner beans!

Beth came over as planned and finished off the dolls' house which looks great.  It will be picked up on Monday at some point and we hope the lucky recipient will love her new toy.  J came round and collected Twit and Twoo: she was very pleased with them, which was nice, and we will be making a couple more for her in a few weeks.

After a coffee and a chat, we set to and made bunting.  Yes, bunting for Christmas (apologies for using the C word in August).  As we whizzed through the process, working smoothly together, we both noticed how much quicker it was all going that this time last year when we were doing the same thing.  We are definitely more competent now.

Beth then use the leftover cuttings to make some patchwork bookmarks which we can sell at our Christmas stall very cheaply.  Bits that would have been thrown out, some iron on interfacing and backing strips of plain poly-cotton.  The only fiddle is turning them the right way, that's a bit of a faff but doesn't take too long.

I have a new order from a teaching friend which is to make a knitted nativity set (more C stuff!).  I have the pattern, have more than enough yarn and just needed to check that everything was go.  Now I have something to occupy my hands while I am watching my evening telly which is great.
What I am making can be seen here, on the Jean Greenhowe Designs site - it's the top picture.
http://www.jeangreenhowe.com/christmas.html
I can't guarantee that mine will look as professional but I've learnt a lot about stitching up and stuffing this year so it will probably look pretty good, I hope.

I was glad to sort that out because we're a bit order-less now.  We will be making two more owl cushions in the near future and we have a longer term order for a big cushion and maybe a waistcoat but I want to use the time to explore some simple machine applique, if possible.  I also have a little idea about a child's patchwork waistcoat . . .

I forgot to mention but on Thursday I had a lovely holiday tuition session.  I really enjoyed it very much indeed and I hope my student did too.  I had just invested in some 'study' books for the various aspects of English, not because I want my student to fill in work sheet after work sheet, goodness, no, but they have given me confidence that what I am teaching is spot on.  One of the books was a comprehension work book but, silly me, I didn't order the answer book so yesterday I went back online and did just that; again, not because I can't do the comp, but it will keep me on track and at the appropriate level.  It also has other ideas for activities to support development of higher comprehension skills which will be useful.

So - today I have ironing (it was a two load drying day yesterday), sewing, trying out new things, baking, probably sleeping (if I wake up this early, what can I expect?) and knitting.  That should keep me out of trouble and off the naughty food, shouldn't it?

Today's food:
B:  oat bran galette with soft fruit and yogurt
L:  fish finger and salad wrap, apple
D:  steak, wedges and runner beans, orange