Sorry - I have been AWOL

Many apologies to all my followers - I have been AWOL for a little while and have been very lax about replying to your blogs as well. Life has been very busy just recently, I am not sure why but time has been getting away from me and I am falling behind with everything. However, now school has broken up for the holidays I hope to get back on track shortly. I have been busy crocheting my charity blankets plus the Last Dance On The Beach crochet CAL (I will do a blog post about these sometime in August). If you are still around and following me I thank you for your patience and I will leave you with a few photos from a walk we undertook yesterday, some views of my garden plus my latest crochet project. 

Crochet jellyfish - made for a special little girl to match her pink bedroom

Just a quick post but at least now you know I haven't disappeared completely, hope to be back very soon. Thank you for visiting.

A mixed bag!

The days seem to be speeding by at the moment, I cannot believe it is the end of another week and time to join Amy at Love Made My Home for Five On Friday.


I haven't really done anything terribly exciting this week, mainly due to the unpredictable nature of the weather we are experiencing at the moment. Tuesday was a glorious day but guess what - I had to work that day so didn't really get to enjoy it.


We did manage to get out on Saturday and enjoyed a lovely lunch at one of our favourite pubs - The Vine at Hannington and then enjoyed a walk over the delightful village green and out into the downland countryside. It was a real treat to see and hear skylarks, a bird that seems to have declined rapidly in recent years.

As you might remember we had the garden refurbished late last year and finally I had the chance to get to the Garden Centre to begin buying some planting and containers to turn it from a blank canvas into what I hope will be an enjoyable space to sit out and enjoy when the warmer weather comes. It is early days yet and there is still a lot more I want to achieve but at least it is a start - the little collection in the photo below cost me an arm and a leg so cannot buy too much at a time.

I am trying to choose mostly plants that attract bees and butterflies and I was lucky enough to be given the planting container below with butterfly friendly seedlings. I planted it up last weekend and already the growing rate has been amazing. It is indoors on a windowsill at the moment but will go outside to join the other pots when danger of frost has passed. If any of you know any plants that can be container grown that are good for attracting birds, butterflies and bees please let me know, I am very much a novice at this so any tips will be useful.

I have been mainly been entertaining myself by reading and crocheting this week, this is my latest charity blanket underway.

There are a lot of colour changes in this one so it might take me awhile, lots of those dratted ends to sew in!


Well that is my five pics for this week. Please pay a visit to Amy's blog where there are links to lots more Five On Friday posts.

Greatest Loser!

As my regular readers will know I have been on a weight loss journey with Slimming World for almost a year now. It was time for the 'Greatest Loser' award last week (although my Slimming World consultant said it should be renamed 'Greatest Achiever' and I tend to agree with her)! I was lucky enough to win this award having the greatest weight loss of my group over the last year (4 st 6 lbs to date).

My Consultant then asked me to provide a before and after photo. Oh my goodness, I was shocked when I saw the difference. The left hand photo was taken just after my 60th birthday in October 2014 and even I didn't realise until I saw that photo just how much weight I have managed to lose.

However this last half stone has taken me forever and has been a struggle, I reached 4 stone just before Christmas and I still have 1 lb to go to get my next award. Winning the 'greatest loser' award has really spurred me on and I am very determined that I will meet this next target of 4.5 stone this week. To that end and with the aid of my trusty Fitbit I have been working hard to achieve 10,000+ steps a day since last Thursday as I know increasing my walking has really helped in the past. I also know that I haven't been walking as much during the Winter season so it is time to put my best foot forward and get those steps! 

I know that I won't be able to achieve 10,000 steps tomorrow as I am at work all day and my job is fairly sedentary so I am trying to do a bit extra today to make up for it - 14,705 and still counting. Wish me luck on Wednesday evening, I really hope I am going to achieve this next target. I still have a long way to go on my journey but winning the 'greatest loser' has really spurred me on again.


I will leave you with a four photo collages I have made from my walks over the past few days.

St. Mary Bourne 11.3.16

Hannington 12.3.16

Andover 13.3.16 - I didn't get a chance to go anywhere more interesting on Sunday so a walk round my home town had to suffice but although the walk is fairly boring you can still see things that delight the eye.

Longparish 14.3.16 - The Riverdance Walk

I will let you know next time if the increased walking activity has done the trick and helped me gain that longed for 4.5 stone award! Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Early Autumn walk

On a beautiful warm and sunny day at the weekend we decided to take another walk from the lovely village of Hannington. We first enjoyed a super lunch at The Vine and then set off on a walk which covered some new territory for us although I have walked part of the route before. It is always fun to walk somewhere different and thanks to an informative leaflet produced by Hampshire County Council called Exploring Hannington we have plenty of routes to choose from.


I hope you enjoy coming along on this walk with us!


Here we are passing the beautiful village green ...

before turning down Ibworth Lane and up the track by Michael's Field which proved to be somewhat muddy, I guess after the heavy rainfall in the week it is to be expected that in shady spots it is going to be muddy and sticky.


As we turn right at the end of the track and onto a more solid surface we suddenly feel that we are on top of the world as we enjoy the panoramic views.

We spot a couple of Wheatear, a Summer visitor to Britain and a bird that mainly frequents the uplands further north from us or heathlands and coastal areas and one which we have only rarely seen.

We pause and watch these birds for a little while as they flit low over the ground with their distinctive white rump showing as they fly. According to my bird book they like to perch on a prominent stone or clod of earth (pleased to say they followed the text book)!


We pass the reservoir and then turn left down a farm track to Summerdown Lane.

After crossing the road I am now back on familiar territory although it is some years since I have walked these parts (must be getting on for 40 years ago as still new territory to DH) and I had forgotten what a steep climb it was up to Plantation Farm.

At the top of the hill we turned left and follow the bridleway across the ridge of the downs with its spectacular views (if you are a regular follower of my blog you will recognise the TV mast on top of the downs in the distance from previous walks we have undertaken).

Time to take a left turn and follow the farm track back towards the village - now we are both on familiar ground and know how steep the hill we still have to climb is, however the thought of a drink when we get back to the village keeps us going. This track proved to be extremely wet and muddy especially in the bottom of the dip but we managed to negotiate it without getting stuck although cleaning our trainers is not going to be fun.

It was a relief to get back to Meadham Lane and hard surfacing and make our way back to the centre of the village. We were delighted to see these cyclamen growing on a bank as we approached the village - so pretty.

Another enjoyable walk (despite the mud) on such a lovely warm day and the drink at the end of the walk certainly went down well!

First week of the holidays

Well, what did I get up to through the first full week of the Summer holidays. To cut a long story short - crochet and walking!


First let me show you what I have had on my crochet hook this past week. I have so much that I want to create thanks to all the inspirational ideas out there in blogland so I have had three different starts this week:-


First of all this pile of small circles will become my Rose Garden throw, only just started doing the second round on these, believe it or not they will become hexagons eventually but I have put this project on one side for just a little while.

Next I started a shawl, I know the road trip shawl is very popular out there in blogland at the moment, however I decided on a slightly different pattern - this is the start of the Tender Sandstorm shawl by Vicarno.

Finally I have jumped on the corner 2 corner bandwagon and am working on this small blanket - ideal size for a pram blanket, have now got to the boring bit of having to sew in the ends but then can create a lovely edging to finish it off.

I have also finished the lining and handles for my Crafternoon Treats big stash bag, just ideal for me to take to the beach later in the holidays as it holds my coastal blanket, with room for my latest crochet project and the pockets hold my Kindle and my phone. I did make a bit of a mess with lining the handles and had to botch them but I am overall pleased with how this came out as I am not an expert by any means at sewing and was dreading the lining process.

Now onto the walking, three lovely walks achieved over the last week. 


If you are a regular reader of my blog you will know we enjoy walking various bits of the towpath on the Kennet and Avon Canal, this time we walked the stretch from Crofton to Bruce Tunnel (the only tunnel on the K&A). The main reason for going was to see a steam train that was running, however we were just parking the car at Crofton when we heard the steam whistle and saw the smoke as the train was running over half an hour early, oh well at least my DH did get to hear it if not see it properly. It didn't stop us enjoying our walk, this stretch of the towpath is new to us and it was fun to watch some narrow boats negotiate the locks. I am not sure I would like to be on a boat going through Bruce Tunnel though, quite long and dark!

Our next walk took us back to the lovely village of St. Mary Bourne and we decided to walk a different route from our normal routes that we follow. It was good to have a change of scenery and I loved this field of beautiful sunflowers and the stunning wild flower banks.

Our final walk of the week saw us return to Hannington, this time our eldest son accompanied us. We walked the same downland route as the previous week but took a further diversion extending the walk by 3/4 mile which gave us some lovely views looking down over my home village and some very steep inclines and declines which will hopefully have a positive effect when I get on the scales at Slimming World this week. I love walking on the Downs, not just for the superb views and returning to the landscape I know so well but also for the flora and fauna.

This was a field of clover last week (you might remember from my last post) before the sheep moved in!

Looking down on the Kingsclere race horse stables and the village beyond.

And what better thing to do at the end of a lovely walk than enjoy a meal at The Vine at Hannington.

Excuse my red face, I always look like a beetroot at the end of a walk!