nature in the home.......................

I am loving  Lou's nature in the home posts - I didn't manage to join in last week but did manage to pop over and read all the inspirational posts.

The theme this week is pink so imagine my delight when the wind blew a lovely stem of pink blossom off the tree outside my house - just perfect .................

the blossom is beautiful and has made an adorable floating indoor arrangement.....................

I may not be around much for the next week as I am flying off to Portugal later today - I will try to pop in with some holiday news but not sure I will have have the technology available............

talk soon x

Yarn along - blanket or maybe cushion?

I am joining in with Ginny's yarn along and can't wait to show you my current crochet project. I wanted to make something with my new Drops cotton yarn. I started to make a small blanket and chose a  ripple pattern worked in treble crochets. I have used Lucy's ripple  tutorial which is easy to follow and can be found here. I quickly hit on a problem I hadn't calculated just how much yarn I would need. I had bought ten 50 gram balls of the cotton yarn and thought this would be ample for a small blanket but sadly each ball of yarn only crochets 3 ripples, I have used 5 balls so far and the 15 ripples measure 36cm, the width of the blanket is 54cms.

 

If I use all 10 balls of yarn it will only measure 72 cm by 36 cm which is a bit small for a blanket it will barely cover my knees. So I have decided to fasten off after the first 15 ripples and then crochet another rectangle to make a cushion. I'm not quite sure how it will look yet but I can always undo the crochet and start again.

I've had a busy week and haven't had very much time to read, my novel is feeling a little neglected but when I have had a few spare minutes I have been dipping into this months edition of The Simple Things and I have really enjoyed the article about Annette Nordstrom. Annette is an interior designer and allows us a peek into her beautiful nineteenth century Norwegian farmhouse - it's  just amazing.

Hopefully my project will work out if not I can always buy some more yarn............

Talk soon x

52 weeks of happy - 20/52

Linking in again with Jen it's time to share my 52 weeks of happy post - my favourite four happy smiley moments are:-

1. the lovely Nata nominated me for a Liebster Award - thank you so much.................

2. some beautiful new fabric - think I might make a new dress for Lottie.................

3. my passport and euros - I'm getting quite excited about a trip!

4. new sun glasses - I love them.................

I hope you have a good week and lets hope the weather starts improving - yesterday we had sun, rain, strong winds and hail stones - what is happening..................

Thank you for your lovely kind comments and a special thank you to my followers, I can't believe how quickly I've got to 98. I'm thinking of doing something special to celebrate reaching my first hundred followers - I will give it some thought whilst I'm away!

talk soon x

Jake - budding artist...................

Kate and Seb took Jake to the Whitechapel Gallery over the weekend - the Gallery is a touchstone for contemporary art internationally, it plays a central role in London’s cultural landscape.

Jake had lots of fun and was very interested in the exhibits - I wonder if he is going to take after his mum.......................

With beautiful galleries, exhibitions, artist commissions, collection displays, historic archives, education resources, inspiring art courses, dining room and bookshop, the Gallery is open all year round, so there is always something free to see.

I hope to visit the gallery when I'm next in London it looks amazing...................

talk soon x

baking - rather a lot of fairy cakes

After my super quick lemon cake earlier in the week I did a bit of what I call proper baking yesterday. Weeks ago my daughter Vicky mentioned that one of her friends had asked if I could make her 50 little fairy cakes for the 10th May. I said I would and they were going to get back to me with more details - they both forgot. I remembered early on Thursday morning that the cakes were required for Friday - a quick phone call to check I hadn't imagined it all and the order was confirmed. Small cakes with a swirl of vanilla butter cream - not too much and could they be decorated with something red and look pretty! Luckily I had some tiny red hundreds and thousands, small edible pearls and silver cake glitter. I have been stocked up with pretty glittery things since the Cake and Bake Show.

On Thursday afternoon I baked 50 little cakes for Vicky's friend, an extra 34 for the freezer and 4 sponge sandwich cakes also for the freezer - to be turned into birthday cakes for Finn and Noah next week.

On Friday morning I decorated the 50 cakes which were being collected by Vicky at 10am  - I started icing not much after 7am  - but luckily they turned out OK phew what a busy morning................

plain sponge cakes and buns for the freezer - and decorated ones for Vicky .......

I did have to taste one to make sure they were up to scratch - then all packed into cake boxes ready for collection.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend, fingers crossed the sun shines it's been so wet, cold and dreary here...............

talk soon x

lovely new yarn..........................

Last week I was reading one of my favourite crochet blogs - Attic 24 and  Lucy was experimenting with a lovely new Drops yarn called Paris, which you can buy here. I was very tempted to order some of this yummy yarn and start a new blanket - have I told you I love blankets?

Not surprisingly a lovely parcel arrived yesterday............................... I couldn't resist!

I'm so pleased with the pastel colours and the yarn feels lovely. It's an aran weight, 100% cotton and great value at £1.80 for a 50gm ball. I've now got to decide on my blanket design and what stitch to use - can't wait........................

Talk soon x 

My creative space - a very quick and easy cake............

In my Christmas stocking from Kate was a very fancy cake mix - lemon poppy seed cake. It's been in my cupboard ever since - in fact I had forgotten all about it. Earlier in the week the cupboard was bare of even a crumb of cake and then I remembered my mix and within a few minutes I had prepared a very quick and easy cake.

It was super easy, I just had to add 3 eggs and butter and then into the oven - the result was a really lovely moist lemon cake topped with lemony icing.

I tried to get a photo of the cake before it was cut into but I'm afraid Mr R had grabbed a slice before I had time to take a snap. If you want to find out more about the mixes the website is here