Thesps, Frocks and Foraging

I'm not finding much time to write at the moment, however, I have finally managed to almost catch up on the sewing I've had hanging around for eons. The bobbin case arrived a couple of weeks back, so I've done the spotty dresses for LMB, a couple of fleeces, made a play quilt and also have finished an apron t-shirt dress made with a vintage tea-towel, that I've had sitting around for a while waiting for rick rack and obviously, the bobbin case. I've decided to donate this item to an auction being held in honour of a beautiful little girl, Florence Violet, who lived for just a few short hours late last month. Her mother is an amazing seamstress and a group of women who know her have organised this to raise money to buy some woodland in Florence's name. It'll be held on Hyena cart and will hopefully be up and running next week. Please visit it and if you like something, please bid.

So, here are the dresses:

We drank our first bottle of elderflower champagne last night. It was delicious. It was actually quite dry which made a pleasant surprise as I think we'd expected it to be rather muscat-ish. I had made six bottles but we lost half with an explosion all over the garage!! Still, three bottles for not much more cost than a bag of sugar isn't bad. Foraged food always tastes so much better!

I've made a couple of jars of plum chutney, a few jars of greengage jam from my mum's tree and two small jars of blackcurrant jam. Next on my list is some strawberry vodka!!

We're off to various festival events over the next couple of weeks before school starts. The book festival has some great events for the children and we're also doing a couple of theatre trips, starting with Master Beehive the elder and Master Beehive who saw some Shakespeare for Breakfast this morning.

I can't believe where the last six weeks of school holiday have gone, I'm struggling to get my head around the fact that LMB is back at school on August 19th! I think part of that is the programmed bit of my brain that says school doesn't start until September 2nd. I'm actually looking forward to having some mornings to myself, I'm continuing with the Montessori distance learning course and have to go into schools to do observations and learn how to use the equipment and I'm also hoping to do a couple of evening/weekend courses on owning chickens and herbs and herbal remedies. I have an article coming out in The Green Parent this month and hope to get more exposure, so will enjoy spending time writing in the quiet for a few hours each day....I hope!