bird for a birthday

I finished this painting last week. It's a present for a friend's 40th, hope she doesn't look at this before October 18th! 

It's been a while since the last post, life has been a little fraught and I have had trouble finding positive things to write about. Yesterday, determined to turn my mood around, I went in search of happy things. Here's a bit of what I found. 
I found a friend waiting at the school gates offering baby sitting help before I even realised I needed it. I found the warm september sunshine on the beach, the tide was way out, Jumble and I walked along the waters edge as far as the seaweed rocks. I found sea birds and rock pools and wet sand. 
I found the new stair gate Rog made at the weekend so  that we don't have to climb over the barrier, put up to keep Jumble downstairs.

I found some pretty corners around our home.

I made bangers and mash and gooey chocolate brownie pudding for dinner. And I talked to my husband about our troubles and everything didn't seem half as bad as it had before.

Things have been so ridiculously busy these last few weeks and so many chores have backed up that i feel in a constant state of confusion. The problem is that I can't seem to find the space to sort the wood from the trees, let alone to take any action. The children are properly back to school next week, which will force a well needed routine in our house and I hope life will settle down into some autumnal peace. Until then I will embrace this muddling through, take one thing at a time and realise that even when it seems I have achieved nothing, if I list all that I have done in a day, that is certainly not the case. 

making:

A pair of slippers for Reuben..

 

On the needles..

a pair for me!

eating:

home made rolls, delicious with peanut butter and grannies raspberry jam and pancakes, always pancakes.

Listening to:

lots of wonderful radio, especially the book at beach time series on radio 4 extra. The reading of before I go to sleep was really gripping, it made me work late all week! Also lots of Tove Jansson which always gets me feeling like I want to go and live somewhere really remote and full of weather.

Another commission for a gift, this cushion was to give to a little girl on her christening.

My garden is a complete mess but there are little pockets of pretty in amongst it all...

I have been trying to find the time to write some deep insights, witty remarks and attach some beautiful pictures, but alas, as ever, time keeps running away from me so I'm just going to post a quick catch up. It is only a week until school starts up again and I get back to some kind of routine, which should help with my time management! I struggle every year with these last few days of summer, running out of ideas, enthusiasm and money and we all just seem to want to be at home bumbling along, doing not very much. This general household mood along with the rainy autumnal weather makes me think... stuff it, embrace the inner lazy and enjoy it!

I found this beautiful jug in a local charity shop and cherry spotted the egg shaped stones on the beach.

Lemon and chocolate cakes, if they're homemade it's okay to eat only cake for lunch, right? 

My very important 11 o'clock coffee.... 

Finally got around to doing some knitting, have started with the smallest and working my way up the family, with these v cute slippers. It's a bit of guess work, altering yarn and needles to change the size  but it's so nice to have a project on the go.   

it is quite difficult to think, with someone talking to you all the time.....

school holidays = lots of playing and not a lot of sewing! managed a couple of birdy cushions for gifts but to be honest just haven't had any time on my own to be creative. Still, lots of fun on the beach and in the woods and hanging out with friends.