Happy Jubilee

Hello all, I hope you are enjoying the long royal weekend! We went to Greenwich yesterday to do our bit in joining in the celebrations. Definitely one of my favourite London places with its cobbly streets and market...

Such a typical British bank holiday weekend with the rain... but hey, that's what we are all about!

Admittedly, we were quite lucky as found a nice spot in one of the pubs on the river to watch the boats go by - away from the pesky weather.

It's great to see the Cutty Sark has been restored at last...

Have recently discovered photo collaging and I totally love it!

Here is a garden one that I did with some of my herbs, pansies, forget me knots and strawberries...

I have been getting a bit crafty with the crochet again and russled up these cute mobile phone cosies..Very thereaputic to make, especially as my phone has been the bain of my life recently... so many things wrong with the flipping thing.. I need a new one!

And the pink crochet flower is the one that came free with Mollie Makes recently... really loved making that one. Bit of a challenge to work out and took me two hours to make but got there in the end.

Enjoy the rest of the long weekend!

Sarah

x

Biscuit bears and crochet blanket update

Hello lovely bloggers... in honour of Valentines Day yesterday I couldn't resist these two Mr and Mrs Bear biscuits in Sainsburys at the weekend. I do love an occasion it must be said! Always such a good excuse to get an extra bottle of wine, or indeed a biscuit or two, hehe...

My crochet blanket is very slowly coming along, and although it only gets attention only once in a while, I have got to that nice stage where I can fold it into quarters (making it look bigger than it actually is) and take some lovely pictures of the yummy (if a little bit clashing) colours...

I think it must be a symptom of getting older but I sometimes seem to forget about little crafty projects that I am halfway through and find them sometime a few months later! I found this little half finished crochet purse a couple of days ago which needs folding up and sewing together...

Think it would look quite cute if it was lined with some vintagey fabric in corduroy or brushed cotton...

We had some snow left in the garden this weekend... hasn't it been just sooo freezing the last few weeks!

It's amazing though how the signs of Spring are starting to emerge against the elements... can't wait to see the flowers on my Camelia plant...

And these white hyacinth... love the fragrance of these...

Hurry up Spring!

Hope you are all keeping warm...

Sarah

x

Rita the Knitted Rabbit

Hello all, let me introduce you to my first knitted rabbit toy which has taken me since the summer to reach this stage! (Partly because for a while I thought I had lost the magazine pattern so for a couple of months there were various unfinished rabbit boy parts lying around much to the perplexment of my other half, hehe).

She does currently remain unfinished and, ahem, un-clothed the poor thing so it's now on to the dress before she gets cold, although I first have to work out how to do 'yfwd' stitch first as I haven't done that one yet. Hopefully it turns out as per the picture...

I was flicking through all my craft book collections today and remembered that I had this new 'Patch!' book from Cath Kidston that I still hadn't done anything with yet... I don't normally buy books at full price when they are always loads cheaper on Amazon, but on this occasion I did because I managed to get it signed by the lady herself.

As I work near Selfridges and Cath was doing her book signing in there soon after I finished work I though 'why not' and actually had a little chat with her about fabrics and sewing which was fab! Worth paying full price for I think.

You get a little fabric kit with the book so you can make your own bag or cushion out of patchwork.

Such gorgeous prints....

Some lovely pictures and projects in there...

I really love this picture showing the combination of printed fabric appliqued on to knitted material...so sweet.

Enjoy the rest of your weekends!

Sarah

x

A long weekend...

Hello all, I had a day off work yesterday which was lovely... a perfect opportunity to indulge in a bit of blogging (at last), sewing and baking!

I finished off my applique tea towel... (a pattern from one of my fave books Cath Kidstons Sew!), plucked some more of my chillies from the garden (the ones in the photo have been drying on my kitchen windowsill for the last few weeks so that's why they look a bit shrivelled - much hotter that way though!), made some banana bread (no pics as the light was not great but I have made it before here - it is completely delicious and so easy to make)  and tried to teach myself how to freehand embroider on my sewing machine (which didn't quite work out as expected and I even broke a needle but hey ho)

Here is my chilli plant... still alive which I find quite amazing..

And my finished tea-towel...

Still creased even though I ironed it within an inch of it's life! That's linen for you though, eh.

On Saturday I had a brilliant day at the Country Living Christmas Fair in Islington with my lovely friend Lakota from Faith Hope and Charity Shopping. It was a bit of a last minute thing as I got some free tickets somehow that were posted through my door and very gratefully received! Must have entered something I forgot about, but it was nice to finally offer one to Lakota as she is normally the one offering me free tickets to these things!hehe.

Anyway, I was quite good on the spending side of things and didn't go too mad at all (VERY easy to do when you are surrounded by all these gorgeous things). It was just nice to be there to be honest.

I spotted some vintage style Christmas cake decorations which I have had my eye on for ages (as mentioned in my post around this time last year! Good grief how was that a year ago...)

And a very Christmassy Orange and Cinnamon smelling candle...

 Wow, I was restrained with the shopping! Definitely provided lots of festive inspiration...

It's good to be back blogging again!

Sarah

x

More woolly delights

I think I might be getting.... addicted to crochet! 

Not only have I already taken delivery of a lovely big stash of wool from an online order, I also could not help but treat myself to further balls of wool yesterday.

Here is my amigurumi mushroom man with circles of felt for his spots...

And my very thereputic-to-make giant granny square (hmmm, yes it is a bit bright and random colours but hey, it's my first one I'm just allowing the wool to flow! :)) I was going to do separate squares and sew them together but found myself not carrying on quite happily without casting off the first one. Hopefully I have enough wool to make it into a nice big blanket...

Have just started reading this book which I spotted on Amazon which looks like a nice easy escapist read. Really wish there was more time in the day to indulge in all these things. I could quite happily spend a few days off just reading a crocheting (in the sun would be even better)

Enjoy the rest of the Sunday (we do actually have sun here today which makes a change!)

Sarah

x

Crochet and colours

Hello lovely bloggers, I hope that you enjoyed this lovely weekend and Monday of sunny of weather it's so nice to have a bit of a U turn from that cold rainy spell.

It has been a few weeks since my last post but among other things I have been indulging in my new found crochet fixation...

I have finally finished my 'amigurumi' chick -  think I am getting used to the keeping count of stitches when following the patterns now (found it a bit tricky at first). And above is a pic of the amigurumi mouse that I made - it's a very good beginners project and quick to make once you have learnt the basic stitches. It's a good job I have a new baby niece to make things for - brilliant excuse! ;)

My first granny square! So chuffed about this as I always used to look at granny squares in awe as they look very difficult to make (not when you know how! :) mind you, I think I would need to check the 'how to' book again when I do my next one, heheh.

Next on my project list is a phone holder for my new phone which I received a couple of weeks ago. Found this pattern in a old crochet magazine with tea stains on it...

Think I might use these colours...

Spotted a red strawberry in the pot this morning... wish I had a few more though.

Had a look through one of my fave websites - BBC Good Food, for some Strawberry recipes, and thought these Strawberry and Vanilla Shortcakes looks yummy (although don't think I could solely rely on my tiny supply of strawberries to make them). Might try them next weekend!

Also in the garden...after two years of waiting I actually have flowers on my passion flower tree! I love the way they have so much detail on them...

Can't wait until my chillis are fully grown. These ones look like they will be quite small but hopefully that means they will be hotter.

Must remember to keep watering them though the poor little blighters dry up quite quickly...

Enjoy the rest of your weeks!

Sarah

x