The Autumn Show, Malvern

 

We've been to the Autumn Show at the Three Counties Show Ground a few times, we gave it a miss last year though as it is much the same each year but as we have our caravan stored on a site not far away from Malvern we decided to make a weekend of it.  

Obviously the weather is cooler now, especially at night, but I'm happy to say that the heating in the caravan works a treat and we were lovely and toasty.  We plan on having another weekend away towards the end of October when we will make sure everything is ok and put it to bed for the Winter months, although the site it's stored on is open all year, so potentially we could still go and stay.

We had a lovely day at the show, all the usual things were there, I love to see the giant pumpkins and the other large vegetables.  Now I'm growing things myself I do wander how on earth do they grow them so big! - 

Here is the pumpkin winner and second place

Some of the other giant vegetables, but I have to say that I think the swede win was a bit wrong, it's obviously several plants that have morphed together, you could quite clearly see that.

I have parsnips growing, don't think I'll be able to compete with these bad boys though, lol

There are various halls with stall holders selling a variety of things from cards to jewellery, cheeses and speciality gin and vodka  as well as things to see and entertain as you walk around, it's a great day out.

I didn't look to see who the speakers were over the weekend, it's not something that really interests me, but in the tent behind this display Monty Don did a talk which we just missed, I would have gone to that if I'd realised

I did make a few purchases, of course.  A collection of seeds for next year including some broad beans to over winter which I will have to get into some cells this week.  I also got a few small metal containers for the two tables in my garden and a cute metal spade with a robin sitting on the handle, (no photo of these, I have already put the ornament in the garden and plants in the containers).

So that was my weekend, I hope you had a good one too.

October is just around the corner so I'll catch up with you then.

-X-

Welcoming Autumn

 While I appreciate that we have had a good Summer this year I'm ready to move on to Autumn.  I love that it's dark earlier and the ritual of closing the blinds early and settling in for a cosy evening of crafting, although, it would be even better without all this rain!

(We're never happy with the weather are we)

I have boxes in the garage to store my seasonal things and I couldn't wait to bring the one labeled Autumn in and sort through.

I kept telling myself that I really didn't need any more Autumn decorations, but who can resist a pumpkin or something as cute as these little mice I found in The Range.

I wish now that I'd done more Autumn stitching, (and I know that come Christmas I'll be wishing I stitched more Christmas 😒), but I've not been in the mood for stitching much at all this year, perhaps the stitchy bug will find me again in the new year, I hope so anyway. Still, I do have some Autumn stitching though.

These are another couple of new additions which I found when I visited Beaumaris recently.  I do love these little ceramic houses and just couldn't leave this acorn one behind, or the little toadstool.

And a couple oldies but goodies, I think the drum is my favourite finish ever, and easier than it looks to do, I don't know why I haven't finished more like this.

I think I love decorating for Autumn as much as I do for Christmas, how about you?

🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂🍂

-X-

Growing, growing, gone

 It certainly feels like Autumn has arrived with cooler mornings and nights, this September is more like the ones I remember as a child, going back to school when there was that nip in the air.  I really don't mind this time of year, by the end of August I'm ready for a new season and a new start and the colours everywhere are so lovely, I love decorating for Autumn as much as i do for Christmas  

On Monday I spent a good three hours down the allotment tiding everything up.  We've had a bit of a disaster with the cabbages and some of the broccoli and cauliflower, they were covered in cabbage mealy aphid.  I thought at first I would be able to wash it off but the further I went I discovered that all of the plants were covered, I didn't want to risk it spreading any further so ripped the whole lot out!

Looks disgusting, and this is one leaf that wasn't that bad!

At the moment the other broccoli, we will need to keep an eye on it though, if you can catch them early enough you should be able to wash them off. 

Everything else seems to be doing ok.

We have a few lettuce, and behind that we have squash, no fruit yet but loads of flowers and there are still a few courgettes to come

Sweetcorn

Carrots, salad onions and peppers.  We probably won't get anything now on the pepper plants.

The kidney beans were slow to start but are growing nicely now

We also have leeks and sprouts which are both doing well.  Not bad considering we only started a few short months ago.

We were keen to get things in the ground when we got the plot and should have given more thought to the layout, we've been talking about how we want to set it out and what we want to grow next year. 

 Mark is going to make us a brassica cage, the cabbage, broccoli and cauli I dug out was under one of those mesh tunnels and we reckon that exasperated the aphid issue, because they had got so big the air flow wasn't so good and perhaps if other friendly bugs had been able to get in the aphids wouldn't have gotten hold.  Oh well, it's all a learning curve isn't it

At home I've taken out all the tomato plants, what a disappointment.  We've had a few that ripened but the majority stayed green.  

I have a couple of bowls in the conservatory and they are slowly turning red.

I've seen online that a lot of people in the UK have said the same of their tomatoes this year, just my luck that I've gone all out on the growing on a bad year 😏
 
-X-

Well Hello September!

 It was as If the oak tree in our garden knew the date because yesterday the leaves began to fall.  I love this time of year but from now until the middle of November all I seem to do is collect leaves, there are too many to leave to decompose and anyway oak leaves take forever, so that's not an option, you just have to get out there and gather them up.  Luckily the weather has been good so I've spent the last two days tidying up the garden pulling up things that are past their best, emptying pots and cleaning out the greenhouse, if I can get those jobs done it will make the leaf collecting that much easier to keep on top of once they really do start coming down.

Because I've been spending time outside there hasn't been a lot of stitching or knitting done but I have finished my Stick6 stitching for July and August.

Jolly Jack by All Through The Night

Isn't he cute!  I stitched him on some 14 count Rustico Aida.  I haven't stitched on Aida for a long time but I do find the smaller count fabrics a strain on my eyes, especially at night, I loved stitching him and may stitch on Aida more in the future.  The frame is a cheap and cheerful one from Amazon and I laced him onto some mountboard.

Last time I told you about the accident I had with Schoolgirl Lessons and that I'd managed to rescue it by coffee and tea dying the fabric, I was in B&M on Friday and saw a frame that I thought might suit, It fitted perfect, and cost £2.50 😀

As with Jolly Jack I laced it onto some mountboard

I haven't knitted any socks in a while and had the urge to cast some on so I've wound the yarn this afternoon and that's what I'm going to start tonight.

The colourway is Pumpkin Spiced Latte, perfect name and colour for the start of Autumn 🍂

Hope your September has got off to a good start

-X-

Full on Autumn

The weather has taken a turn after all that sunny weather of a few weeks ago, it is now feels well and truly like Autumn.  I absolutely love this time of year, well, except for the rain that is, but on Saturday the weather stayed dry and sunny for our visit to the Autumn Show at the Three Counties Show Ground in Malvern.  This is the second year we have visited the show and we enjoyed it as much as we did our first visit.

The vintage caravans were there once again, In smaller numbers I think this year, but they were still lovely to see and all look so cosy inside.  This one even had a bow window with leaded panes,

One of the things I love seeing is all the giant vegetables, although this year must not have been such a good year for growing pumpkins as the winning ones weren't as big as last years winner.  Still impressive nonetheless.

Will you look at the size of the winning marrow! 70.7kg.

That's 155 lb or 11st 13lb

I've no idea if they grow these especially for these shows or if they are a fluke, either way that's a monster of a marrow!

The winning flowers, I do love a dahlia, but again, not as many on show as last year

There were all the same sorts of traders as last year as well as gardening talks cooking demos and stalls selling a variety of items, garden related, gifts and clothes too.  The tickets are not cheap, (£20 if you pay in advance, £25 on the day) but It Is a whole day out and there is a lot to see, so good value I suppose.

While we were in the middle of the heatwave at the beginning of September I couldn't wait to create my own little Autumn celebration in a tiered tray.   My first attempt at this and I'm rather pleased with it.  I've included some close ups of the pillows, Pumpkin Spice Everything and Welcome Autumn were finishes from this year, Pumpkin Spice Farm Is a finish from a few year ago.

Dream by Cottage Garden Samplings and Quaker Pumpkins drum sit on my mantle in the sitting room

This time next week will be October 1st, honestly, where does the time go? 

It's going to be a busy last week of the month but hopefully I will be back next week with everything I've managed to make in September.

Have a good week all

-X-

Hello Suzannah, long time no see

Before I forget...I seemed to have caused some confusion last time when I mentioned a jacket potato.  It never occured to me that some of you wouldn't have a clue as to what I was talking about, sorry.   A couple of people asked if it was the same as a baked potato, and indeed it is!  I think years ago we also used to refer to them as a baked potato too, but generally now they are called Jackets Potatoes.

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There hasn't been an awful lot of stitching going on this year, I just didn't have the inclination to work on anything, but, as part of my effort to be a bit more sociable I decided at the end of August that I would start to go to the stitching group again.  This is the same stitching group I set up many years ago, I'm happy to say it's still going strong, with some of the same people still going who came to that very first meeting.  It was lovely to see and be amongst like minded people again and it was what I needed to get me stitching again.

I chose to get Suzannah out of hibernation to take with me.  You may or may not remember seeing her here before, It's been a long time.  I started her on 28th April 2019 when I went to a Nimble Thimble meet-up and then worked on her quite a lot when we went away for a week in early May that year.  

The last time I shared any progress, and also the last time I worked on her was 3 years ago, 

October 2019.  

This is how poor neglected Suzannah looked when she came out of hibernation.

And this is her now

Must not forget to stitch her eyes!

I'm really happy with the progress I'm making, I don't stitch every day but do try to give her a couple of days attention each week.

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A few weekends ago, when Mark was home, we went to the Autumn Show at the Three Counties Show Ground in Malvern.  We were both very pleasantly surprised at how good it was, there was so much to see and do, there were stalls and marquees selling everything from plants and gifts to garden ornaments and clothes.  There was a dog show, vintage caravans, (loved those!), vintage trucks and cars and for the kids, a vintage fairground and pets corner which had giant turtles, for a small fee you could go in and get among them.

There was a 'Best In Show' for flowers and plants and, my favourite, the giant vegetables.  There were cauliflowers as big as your head, leeks and rhubarb as long as your leg and pumpkins big enough to be made into Cinderella's carriage!  It was all wonderful, the weather was brilliant and we had a fantastic day.

I hope you can get a sense of how big these are, it's difficult to capture on photos.  

I'd like to know how on earth they are able to grow something this big! and how did they then transport it here 🤔 No surprise that this one won, it was huge!

 I'm on Nanny duty picking the boys up from school this afternoon so I'm off now to have something to eat and a cuppa before it's time to go.  I hope you are all well and having a lovely Monday.

-X-

A beautiful day in October

Today started dull and wet but by mid morning it started to look as though that was clearing so I decided to take a drive to Stourport.  I think I've blogged a few times about Stourport, mainly when I've had children in tow, but today was just for me.

There is a high street at Stourport and a selection of shops, not many, but just enough for locals and after a quick look in a couple of charity shops I made my way to a lovely little cafe which sits right on the edge of the canal.

Considering we are at the end of October we have still been having the odd nice sunny day, and it was warm enough to sit outside and have my coffee, toast and cake.

I've never walked this part of the canal before but after today it's certainly somewhere I'll come back to walk again.

Just a little way past this lock are some canal side apartments and houses and as the canal runs along the back of the high street some of shops and pubs also back onto the canal further along.

I had walked for about half an hour when it started to get a bit muddy so I decided to go back and see what was over that bridge in the photo above.

When my daughter, Stevie, saw these photos she said it looked pretty but spooky, there wasn't anyone around but it didn't feel strange or spooky to me, just quiet and peaceful.

The newer building you can see on the right is the church, St Michael & All Angels, but over the wall I could see a ruin, so of course I had to go and investigate.

I love how the new church stands inside the ruins but couldn't find any information about the ruins on the site, It isn't the Mitton Chapel because the information sign for that said it was demolished after the 1st world war and only footings remain.

Once I got home this is what I found out about the ruins:

By the end of the 19th century a larger church was needed and In the 1880's work was started by John Oldrid Scott to build the church his grandfather, Sir G. G. Scott designed.  Although the church was consecrated in 1910 the building was never completed.  It was badly damaged in a storm in 1976 and a few years later was mostly demolished to make way for the current church to be built inside the ruins.  The new church, St Michael & All Angels is the fourth one known to have existed on the site.

It's quite an historic site but a sad story for the ruins don't you think?

I really enjoyed getting out in the fresh air, I always seem to find an excuse not to go anywhere but I must make the time and effort, I feel so much better for it.

-X-