Little Cotton Rabbits

summer holiday snaps

Things that have been making us smile recently...

taking a coach into London with friends to see the spectacular production of Peter Pan

eating the first of our homegrown sweet corn (after first finding the ladybird a new home of course)

making cakes to share with friends (originial inspiration from Domesticali)

day trips to the sunny seaside

I've been so enjoying some precious time with Amy these past two weeks, just a couple of snatched days here and there while Toby has been at summer playschemes or chilling at home with Daddy, but it's been great!

homegrown dinner

Yesterday we had our first complete homegrown roast dinner (well, apart from the chicken - we've not yet despatched one of our ladies, although Chic Chick may well be heading that way if she keeps waking us up with her rooster impression each morning!)

All the veggies though have been homegrown and were picked, pulled and dug before being quickly washed, briefly cooked and eaten hungrily with great enjoyment. I'm really loving being a veggie grower!

Jam

Amy and I have now used the first of her summer vouchers when we went strawberry picking early this morning. We gathered around 4lbs (plus around half a pound in our tummies!) which were brought home, wiped and swiftly turned into jam.

This year I invested in a jam thermometer which has definitely helped - last year's batch ended up very sticky and thick. This year we have a lovely oozy jam with a little added vanilla.

The lovely labels that we used for the jam are from Cath Kidston.

summer break

Well, we're in the last few days before the school summer holidays start and I'm busy trying to make sure I've got enough activities planned to keep my two lovelies busy and me sane! As we're having another staycation this year I've decided to put together a little summer holiday pack for Amy stuffed with colouring books, new pens, reading books and of course some knitting!

I've also come up with a secret weapon - Mummy's fun vouchers!

The idea being that she can exchange these with me for fun activities throughout the 6 week break. You're welcome to print some out if they're of any use to you (although obviously you provide the treats!) the pdf file is here or of course you could make your own, tailored to your children.

Hopefully the weather will be kind to us and then Toby will be happy in the garden with lego and the paddling pool and I'll sneak in a little knitting time in the sun. Hope you have a great summer wherever you are and whatever you do. I'll pop in when I'm able, see you soon x

Hedgie winners

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to enter and for all of the kind comments about the hedgehogs. The random number generator has been invaluable again and has come up with the following numbers for the 2 winners of the knitted hedgies:

190: Posted by: D. | June 30, 2009 at 10:15 PM
213: Posted by: Sally | July 01, 2009 at 12:10 AM

And the following 20 winners of patterns:

22: Posted by: Jo|June 30, 2009 at 01:20 PM
33: Posted by: Mari | June 30, 2009 at 01:38 PM
38: Posted by: sheila | June 30, 2009 at 01:45 PM
45: Posted by: Ewa Evans | June 30, 2009 at 02:01 PM
63: Posted by: Mama Urchin | June 30, 2009 at 02:33 PM
84: Posted by: Anna G | June 30, 2009 at 03:40 PM
87: Posted by: adrienne | June 30, 2009 at 03:45 PM
135: Posted by: Lone | June 30, 2009 at 06:38 PM
143: Posted by: annette | June 30, 2009 at 07:03 PM
148: Posted by: Janet | June 30, 2009 at 07:41 PM
160: Posted by: Carolyn | June 30, 2009 at 08:35 PM
191: Posted by: rc | June 30, 2009 at 10:19 PM
222: Posted by: Nell Ward | July 01, 2009 at 01:01 AM
228: Posted by: Lesley | July 01, 2009 at 02:04 AM
277: Posted by: Sheri Watson | July 01, 2009 at 01:31 PM
287: Posted by: Matilda | July 01, 2009 at 04:02 PM
319: Posted by: J Andrews | July 01, 2009 at 10:48 PM
333: Posted by: Kate | July 02, 2009 at 01:42 AM
335: Posted by: Mama T | July 02, 2009 at 02:25 AM
341: Posted by: suesue | July 02, 2009 at 03:19 AM

Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to enter and thanks too to everyone who has bought a copy of the pattern - I'll be making the first donation to the hedgehog preservation society based on the pattern sales at the end of this week.