hello again

April 19, 2013 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)53 Comments

Thanks for dropping in and thanks for the kind messgages that I've had over the last couple of days asking if things are OK. They are, and I hadn't meant to be away for so long. I had intended to pop my blogging head on again the day the children went back to school but when I looked I couldn't find it! I suppose it's a little to do with getting out of practice but there is also the fact that my head feels stuffed full of thoughts about so many different things right now. The Easter holidays were quite difficult and a couple of different things happened which were unsettling and upsetting. When things are complicated I try to seek out ways to simplify our life here and I'm making lists and jottings in an attempt to order my thoughts, hopefully that will help me feel normal again soon!

I did have a few laughs when I discovered a brilliant blog written by the dad of an autistic boy. He wrote a wonderfully funny piece for the BBC website about the dreaded school holidays which I completely identify with, it's a good read if you have time. I also read a fair bit of his blog My Son's not Rainman over the Easter break and it helped me hang on to my sense of humour which was in danger of becoming a bit threadbare.

Malabrigo

It is good to be back in term time again and have a little time for peace and quiet. I am currently enjoying pondering plans for this basket of
recently acquired malabrigo. I'm also busy making
hedgehogs for the next class I'm doing at the Creative Sanctuary in May. There
are a couple of spaces left if anyone is interested in coming along,
booking details are here.

It's nice to have some warmer weather at last too, happily Spring now seems to have properly arrived and over last weekend Toby was joyfully reacquainted with bubbly bouncing time on the trampoline! There are blackbirds nesting in the clematis outside the back door and the bluetits are checking out the bird box on the plum tree. Luckily neither of them seem disturbed by the work going ahead in the garden. H has worked like a horse over the Easter break carting barrowloads of our old patio away and taking down the shed.

Gardenapril

Garden april

There is now a flat space ready for the garden room though first the herb wall needs to be finished and the fences replaced. It's coming along though and Toby is coping suprisingly well with the changes. I think it helps that he loves his new swing chair and I feel better at the loss of the climbing frame when I see him spinning and rocking and squealing with delight!

Toby swing

Toby swing2

Well, it's nice to be here again and I'm looking forward to catching up with what everyone has been up to but for now I'm off to do some more thinking and list writing. Will be back soon, hopefully with a clearer head!

snow and stitching

March 25, 2013 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)46 Comments

Thanks for all the good wishes for our garden plans. Although there will be lots of changes going on many of the things that I love about the garden will still be there – the raised beds are being reconfigured and I'm looking forward to planning out the veg garden soon – hopefully in time for spring (if it ever arrives!). We're also keeping the chicken run, half of the herb wall, the table and chairs under the grapevine where I like to sit and knit with my radio in summer and of course Toby's beloved trampoline. I will miss my messy little shed with it's bench and shelves strewn with gardening bits and bobs, though my potting bench will have a new home outdoors so I can still potter at it.

It's the loss of the climbing frame that has had the most impact on the garden and on me, to tell the truth I cried when it came down. It has served our family so well for many years and brought so much pleasure
to Amy and Toby. I can still vividly remember the delight and amazement on Amy's face when she saw the first swing that we put up, and Toby's utter joy at the climbing frame, he was up there before it had even been finished! I have fed him lots of petit filous yoghurts up on the platform – it was always his favourite place to eat them on a summer's day.

I suppose that what I am actually sad about is the ending of a chapter in family life. Taking down the climbing frame has felt like closing the door on childhood and I will miss it because it was loved by the little people who used to play and squeal and
laugh on it. But it has been a year or two since Amy has played on it and Toby is getting too big to be completely safe on it. It is the right time to make a change – a garden is best adapted to suit the needs of those who use it and I'm sure we will come to love our new garden room and I will wonder 'how ever did we manage without it? I am certainly grateful for the kindness and generosity of family and friends that has made it possible.

Over the weekend the work outside had to be put on hold due to a late winter storm and yet more snow!

Snowblos

Snowb

Snuggling inside with lots of wool was definitely the best thing to do and I started planning how to join the stack of squares for my tiled blanket.

Stacked

There have been a few false starts…

To begin with I sewed the pieces together through the front-most loops of the edging round. I thought it was going well but when I laid it out I wasn't happy – it looked scruffy and messy and I didn't like the wonky squares

Joining

Then I tried sewing through the back loops on the edging round…

Joining2

…but was still not a happy bunny. I think it was better than the first attempt but still a bit scruffy at the corner joins.

So finally I tried sewing through the little line of bumps at the back of the edging…

Joining3

…and at last I think I'm happy. I plan to keep on joining the squares like this and once it's a bit bigger I'll take some more photos – hopefully at that point I'll not change my mind again as I'm now heartily sick of unpicking stitches!

garden stuff

KABOOM!

March 19, 2013 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)68 Comments

That there is the sound of the metaphorical bomb that has gone off in our garden this last week.

I love our little garden. It's not big but it is a little haven of outdoor peace where I like to sit in the summer with my knitting; watch the children play, swing and bounce; have campouts; eat al fresco; tend my veggies and just enjoy this corner of the earth that smiles on me.

When we first put in our raised beds and started a vegetable garden in 2009 it used to look like this…

Veg garden

Gardenveg

There was lots of lush, green growth

Garden6

Gardenjune

a pretty herb wall

Herbwall

a swing and climbing frame for the children

Amyswing

(from 2007 when Amy was a lot shorter than me and Toby refused to wear trousers!)

and a little shed where I liked to do my planting and pottering

Shed2

Today it looks a bit different. A bit like a bomb went off, hence the KABOOM!

Garden2

The climbing frame and swings have gone because they are really no longer safe for Toby now he is so big and swings so high. The raised beds are being moved and the shed is being dismantled and recycled.

Lots of big changes and lots of hard work for H but hopefully it will be worth it because thanks to the generous donations and fundraising of family and friends who have raised a lot of money for us we will be putting in a garden respite room. This will give Amy a space for doing homework or seeing friends out of earshot of Toby's meltdowns; a quiet, almost outdoor space for Toby to come on rainy days; a place for H or I to take it in turns to have a night off from Toby duty and just a little place to escape from intense situations for a short time.

We've also got Toby a lovely new swing seat that gently sways instead of heartstopping mega swinging! I'm so looking forward to it all being done and hoping that it will make the big difference to family life that we think it might. But for now there is a lot of digging and hard work ahead and I'm so grateful that H is great with things like this.

By the way thanks so much for all of the comments on the previous post. I've really enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts on being a homebody, or not being one as the case may be.

Oh and if anyone sees Spring please could they send it in this direction as H needs some warm dry weather to get the concrete to set!

Have a good week where you are and thanks for dropping in x