Pottering About

 Well the weather has been cooler around here this week. Ex-hurricane Bertha tore through England over the weekend and in the early part of the week. Fortunately we were not too badly affected, the only casualty was our rickety old bird feeder and my sweet-peas.

We soon put it all to rights :)

The cooler weather has got me into the autumn spirit a little early this year. Although there are no physical changes in our world, in my heart I am planning some autumnal themed stitching projects and have been pinning all sorts of inspirational things on my Embroidery and Cross Stitch Pinterest board.

Speaking of Cross Stitch, I have finally finished my kitten in a teacup piece...

To be honest the actual stitching was finished months ago, but it was all that back stitching that put me off and caused me to ignore it for most of this year. I'm a bit cross at myself though - foolishly (and I KNOW not to do this but did anyway) I left the Aida in the embroidery hoop. The result is a stain - which I cannot get out - where the hoop was.

Fortunately the hoop did not cross the stitching and actually had the whole piece well framed, so after a quick hunt of Pinterest I found a great tutorial to set it into a circular fabric frame which will cover the mark completely. I was initially going to make this into a scatter cushion for the conservatory, but then considered - at hubby's suggestion - to rather frame it. But now my blunder with the hoop has pretty much forced me to go back to my original plan.

A quick share on another great quick and easy homeschool lunch idea I came across - Pita Pizza. Take a few pita pockets, spoon on your favorite pizza base, top with whatever rocks your boat, sprinkle with cheese and pop into the oven. Deeee-lish!

And looky here... I pulled up two carrots yesterday to see how they are getting on and was THRILLED to see them long and straight. First time I have ever been able to accomplish that! The secret? Growing them in growing bags. Lots of space to grow straight with no stones or clay soil to cause them to grow into one another or distort. Now obviously they are not quite ready - but we are getting there :)

Today I hope to spend a bit of time in the veggie patch and will update the Garden Diary's soon. It's all looking rather bare at the moment - but more on that later ;)

Have a super Thursday all.