Raffle Prize for Saving Rare Breeds Summer 2011 Raffle

Saving Rare Breeds is working tirelessly to preserve rare breed livestock.  They are based in Caithness, Scotland and are a good cause that's the very top of my charity list of groups/a good cause to help.

Please click here to see more:  Saving Rare Breeds

I was very lucky to win one of the fantastic raffle prizes in their 2010 raffle this year, so I have offered to crochet a throw / blanket for their Summer 2011 Raffle.

Inspired by the colours in a Tartan Rug that I have on my foot stool, I have started a few squares.......

Help For Heroes

I haven't been dormant - As you can see I have been crocheting blue squares 20cm x 20cm for the Help for Heroes appeal.

If you are interested in doing the same and you have some blue wool lying around then get crocheting!

I am still alive and kicking!!!

Yes, I have been crocheting away in the evenings and when it's not too wet to go to the allotment!  As you can see my "vintage" blanket is growing, albeit in stitches as I go along but I don't care as I like the way it looks!

 And I love the colours too!

Last week we went to the Godstone Vineyards.  It was a little dissapointing and there wine was OK.  At £12 a bottle we found it a little pricey, but I felt obliged to buy a bottle as we were the only people there on such a lovely sunny day.

We also had a night away - We went the Country Route to The Buxted Park Hotel in Uckfield (on the edge of the Ashdown Forest

The scenic views were breathtaking.

 And this is the little church just outside the Hotel grounds which is very lovely inside.

The blanket grows.......

I added another 2 rows to the blanket. Work is slowing down a little as the days are longer and brighter and that means that I am at my allotment for more of the time.

Anyways, here are some new squares that I decided to give a try.....

 This is the same square as above, but the lighting is wrong and the first one didn't show up the bobbles!

My first attempt at this "going round the corner"

 My second attempt!

 Ah now this is different because it involves decreasing  - again my first attempt!

Zig Zags

And finally 14 by 11 squares = 154 squares

I will have to have a measure up and see if it needs any more adding to it.

Cycle Ride to the smallholdings

We cycled to the smallholdings today, to buy some Geraniums.   The last time I went to get some, Mr Lunn, the proprietor, wouldn't sell me any "because of the frosts!" so now that I think we are safe, I said to Ian "lets take a ride up there and see what he says this time!"

 So off we went on our trusty bikes, me with the trailer attached to the rear in case we were in luck.

And as you can see - we were!  We bought 18 Scarlett Geraniums in pots at a pound each, a tray of Marigolds for my tomato plants as companion plants (they keep something away but I can't remember what but it worked last year whatever it was so I am doing it again)  I also bought 6 Cauliflower plants at 10p each because mine attempts at growing any kind of brassica's didn't work this year for some reason!

As you can see the trailer was full up and so colourful too!

 Ian is charging off down the lane in front of me.  The small holdings are a lovely place to cycle.  It's a pity that one particular smallholder has grown so big, he's monopolised the area, and these little ones tucked around the back hardly get a look in anymore! Shame.

132 Squares & other things.....

Another one.....

And another....

And another.....

Some of them already in the blanket.....

And some added last week....

And this is all 132 squares

(I had to stand on the sofa to get them all in!)

In the week we went for a little "adventure" drive and ended up at Fanny's Farm Shop just outside Reigate.

Well I am so glad we stopped.  It was a hodge podge of a place, but charming and delightful at the same time.

Every corner you turned held a different thing to excite you like 100% peanut butter, home made and apparently renowned for it's marmalade, then there were the cakes, fresh home grown produce, biscuits etc. in every nook and cranny.  Lots to see and take in, and my shopping basket was getting fuller by the minute.

 

You could sit outside and drink tea & eat scones in the lovely gardens.  There is also a treehouse there where you can take cream teas (see their website)

Or you could go and visit the pot bellied pigs and the hens and cocks

Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Meet my new friend - Sean the Sheep

I got chatting to this lovely chap on Twitter the other day, and I discovered that he rescues rare breeds of sheep in the highland and islands of Scotland - Caithness Rare Breeds which is a registered charity.

This is Sean the lamb who will grow up to be Sean the sheep and I hope to adopt him once they have their adoption scheme in place to raise money for their good cause.

If you like what you read about the work they do, and you feel that you can make a small donation to them in the meantime please do what I did and click on this link:

http://www.caithnessrarebreeds.com/support.html

Even a fiver would make a difference!

Thank you on behalf of Sean, his mother, and all his cousins, stepbrothers, stepsister and of course his guardians, the kind people that put this fantastic charity together.

What a lovely Bank Holiday Weekend! MIL models the Hat & Scarf

On Saturday we didn't do much due to the weather, and on Sunday I was asked to do an extra duty at the Allotment shop and we had been invited to dinner at the In Laws who live around the corner.

The other In Laws live on the coast, and we were invited there on Monday for lunch ....

It was VERY windy!

The local Beach Huts

Now this is the moment you have all been waiting for - My lovely Mother In Law, Jill, trying on her hat and guess what - she loves it!

She is going to look VERY smart out and about with the matching scarf too!

I have also been busy with my squares for the blanket too! As you can see I have made enough to join a further 11 in a row, and have made a start on another row too!  I tried a left to right square (see middle square in the right hand side picture) and it worked out very well for a change!!