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Weekly round up of inspiration

22nd July    

Today I present a quick round up of things that have caught my eye, inspired me or kept me busy, hope you enjoy my eclectic choices...

Sending hugs from all around the world.  The crochet crowd are buzzing with making small crochet squares and sending them to Wiltshire in the UK, all to show support and love for a young women who is fighting cancer and with whom she and her mother have touched many hearts, to see a full blog round up and to possibly get involved follow the link:  Jenny's blanket of hugs

This was day 2 of the squares arriving
and Kate kindly added my crochet mouse
into the picture to.

OK, this has not inspired me but thrown me off balance somewhat:  CHRISTMAS IN JULY!!!! I hope to goodness Ms Twisted is not reading this post as she may have heart failure, she cannot even hear the 'C' word until December 1st at the earliest.  But I must admit, as those who have been here at the eclectic home for a while, I just adore Christmas and I may begin to think about making such things come September, but this is a tad organised and too soon for me too...although, it has set my mind in motion...oh no...

In case you have fallen for these crochet
aprons, the details can be seen above


The Norwegian Alice Haugen posted this beautiful baby blanket this week and I fell in love.  Just look at the colour combination, how calming and serene are they, colour perfection, just loving this palette.

Stunning colours in this crocheted baby blanket

Last summer I spied the trend of sewing ones own espadrilles and I was sorely tempted, as often the case time was not on my side and as soon as that northern wind and autumnal colours blew in the idea blew straight out of my mind, until this week when I spied not hand sewn espadrilles but crocheted ones along with a matching bag.  It was love at first sight for me.  How beautifully constructed as these makes by Deb Garretty.  I noticed that yesterday she also won Wool and the Gang photo competition for this shot too.  In case like me you are tempted you can purchase the kit here and no, I am not being paid for suggesting this, I just love them Crochet your own espadrilles


Crocheted by Deb Garretty


And finally the wonders of modern technology, my husband is kindly moving our boat this time from Ireland to the Scilly Isles where the children and I will jump on board but in the mean time we are able to track the progress of the boat on line.  How clever is that!  I do notice that progress is slower than expected and he has asked if perhaps we can find a B & B for the night on the islands, does he know how ridiculously hard that is?  All the websites suggest you do not purchase your flight or ferry to the islands until you have secured accommodation as it is so limited...I've told him in no uncertain terms that he best be there as the kids and I are NOT sleeping on the beach for the night...watch this space and I will let you know how it all pans out...  Thinking about it I bet progress is slow because of the Irish Guinness and not as he suggests because the engine was playing up or that they had to anchor unexpectedly one night as all the lights on the top of the mast had blown and he had to be winched up to replace them all...


Ireland to the left and England to the right.  All the
little dots are various vessels but only those that have the tracker,
there are many more out there too!

Can you spot where they made an unexpected stop one night,
presumably to change the bulbs, I'm sure it was the beer calling

As with Google Earth, you can change the view,
here they are heading into Cork

Joining in with  Amy   for the penultimate week before the break for the summer, sharing my 5 things with you, do pop along and see what others are sharing this week too


♥   Wishing you all fair wind for the rest of the summer   ♥


A week in the life on an eclectic home

27th November


Weeks are rushing by, we are coming up to my favourite time of year,  the baking run up to Christmas and I have no time to be ill, dam this rotten bug that has had me bed ridden and not myself this week.  As Lady Macbeth said, I'm misquoting here, "Out dam bug, out!"

The weekend was full of fun and frivolity with two wonderful and very different bloggers, pop over to two of my favourite women in Oxfordshire the twisted yarn and  in the nicki of time to see my posts on Blogfest please do pop over to the two posts earlier this week, Blogfest,  Blogfest, the day and  Blogfest, the speakers fascinating stuff and thank you to those who are contributing to the discussions too.  Nerves permitting as a direst result of Blog fest I am going to be tweaking the blog somewhat, some of you may notice my background has changed and I have moved my Twitter feed up to the side bar, please follow there to and help me learn about this social platform, any advice from you on Twitter?  I have also added a side bar for my Instagram, you can click on a picture to enlarge it and see the caption too, I tend to post on Instagram different pictures everyday. Are you on Instagram too?

 
A great day out meeting and listening to inspirational women and the odd man
 
Doughty's are wholesale fabric sellers that travel all around the country selling their wares every week.  Some of the material I had seen in a local fabric shop for double the price.  Needless to say I bought far more meters than I needed to but oh so exciting.  Just feast your eyes.  Maybe they will be visiting somewhere near you soon too.

Doughty's fabrics in a local village hall

Until I was a married woman some oh so odd twenty plus years ago I hade never made a Christmas pudding or cake.  Our home was always filled with Scandinavian makes and any English treats we wanted were shop bought.  Marrying an English man who loves to cook my culinary senses were sent into over load and we now have our Christmas pudding tradition and along with many partake in Stir up Sunday.  The last Sunday before Advent when families come together to make the pudding with everyone in the house whether involved in the baking or not, taking a turn to stir the pudding and make a wish.  You do need to begin the night before you make it as the dried fruit needs over night soaking, but its worth it.  We use good old British Delia Smith



Stir up Sunday Christmas pudding

Despite having unseasonably mild weather we had a good frost covering this week too.  The only reason I am happy about this is that I can now go foraging for sloes and begin making sloe gin, yummy!  Do any of you have sloe gin or other alcoholic beverage recipes you care to share with me?  It's the season coming up...

We've had our first frost

On a mid week night we decided to open some fizz with the mother in law, decadent and wonderful.  Bliss

Mid week tipple

I visited a primary school last week and noticed the below display board and was truly shocked at how much sugar was contained in some of these items.  Pardon the pun but it's food for thought.  I have been toying with trying to go sugar free and even bought a book a few months back but it seems so hard.  Have any of you tried to eliminate sugar from your diet? If so how did you go about it and did you notice any benefits?

Shocking amount of sugar



Sharing with you my five photos from this week and cheekily the last one from last week and linking in with the lovely Amy  Do pop over and see what others are sharing.  I love all your comments and sometimes it takes me a day or two to reply, but reply I will as I love the questions and discussions that can evolve. 

♥  Hope you are all keeping happily busy  ♥
 
 
Remember from Tuesday, December 1st, I will be posting daily as is my tradition. 
I would love you to join in with me