Feeding The Wildlife

This afternoon I spent an hour or so making some bird feeders with Little L.

We used breadcrumbs, dried fruit and lard to make these 

and covered some toilet roll tubes with peanut butter then rolled them in bird seed for these (another idea which I first saw on Pinterest).

Now we are going to have a rummage in Little L's bedroom for any craft kits that we might not have got around to doing yet.

Keeping Little L Entertained

Well the Summer Holidays have started for all the children in our house and I'm sure it won't be too long before I hear the cries of ... ' I'm bored '. The boys aren't so bad really as they are at the age where they are barely in the house and off gallivanting with their friends. It's Little L who needs the entertainment. I went down to our local library this week and signed her up for the Summer Reading Challenge . Children read six books over the holidays and collect stickers, book marks,etc along the way. When they have completed reading the books they receive a certificate and a medal. This will be Little L's first year doing this but the boys joined in every year until they started High School, they loved it and still have their medals. I also noticed that our local library hold a craft session one day a week so it might be worth me popping in with Little L to see if she enjoys that.

I've been on Pinterest quite a bit this week, pinning kids crafts and collecting up bottles, cardboard tubes, etc. to use.

This afternoon we made some fairy jars using glo sticks and glitter. Little L says that they would come in handy if we ever had a power cut .. very practical.

Using a glo stick again she made this rather heavy looking bug. Little L says its just having a rest.

I'm determined to fight off cries of boredom for as long as possible.

A Quick Catch Up

I didn't realise it has been so long since I last posted anything but we haven't been up to a great deal here due to cold and sickness bugs doing the rounds.

At the beginning of the month we had another day out at the beach where Little L saw her first jellyfish 

and caught her first crab.

We went swimming while we were there this time (in a pool though not the sea). This is the first time I've worn a swimming cossie for over 20 years. I don't much like the idea of wearing them because I'm not very covered up and to me its not much different than walking about in my underwear which is something I wouldn't be caught doing in front of complete strangers. Anyway I braved it and donned a cossie. My swimming cossie has a skirt attached so it was more like wearing an extremely short dress so it wasn't so bad after all. I must say that I certainly didn't take to the water like a duck more like a stone. Trying to swim after 20 odd years made me feel like a new swimmer but I liked to linger in the shallow end with Little L. Another thing water wise which I thought a bit odd was the water seemed to me slightly murky. After conferring with the boys,  I have found that because I need to wear specs now a days that maybe that is the problem.

On the way back home we went to take a look at The Duke of Lancaster ship again. This is the latest art work which has been added.

I've not been doing much craftwise as I'm finding it far to warm here at the moment. I made a start on another crocheted hexie blanket

and finished off this top for Little L which I made with wool passed on to me by my sister's friend. It is a very pale blue colour which I can't seem to pick up in the photos.

At the end of last week one of Little L's teachers asked me if I could alter some of the curtains in the classroom. They just needed taking up ... taking up by quite a lot. They were enormous. Almost four and a half metres wide and very heavy. I ended up cutting off 47 inches to make them the required length which was a 31 inches. I was asked if I could make some cushion covers with the off cuts so I'll be doing that some time during the Summer holidays. This is an off cut from one curtain folded in half. When Anders saw it on the washing line, he asked if I'd bought a marquee home.