my creative space .................little people

I have had fun this week finishing off projects, knitting, crochet and baking. But I also started a new project, making clothes for some little wooden people.

mummy .............

daddy .........

         mummy, daddy, and children ..........

I still need to dress, little brother, little sister and baby, I think they are so cute - I want to collect lots of little families.

Hope everyone has had a fun creative week, I'm looking forward to visiting "my creative space" to check out projects.

Catch up  next week x

yarn along ..............

I'm looking forward to visiting Ginny's site and catching up with everyone's yarn along posts. Since joining the "yarn along" I feel that it's given me a real focus, it has encouraged me to finish projects and also given me inspiration and ideas to start new projects.

This week I have finished a project that's been on the go for ages. I have been trying to cover an electrical flex, I experimented with an icord, which didn't work, then I wondered if french knitting would work - it didn't, finally I knitted a narrow strip the length of the flex and then sewed it together around the flex, if that makes sense.

The flex has a plug on one end and a light fitting on the other. My daughter Kate had seen something similar in an interior design magazine, I always like a challenge. The lamp can be plugged in and then the long flex can be hung from a hook in the ceiling or the wall so that the light hangs like a pedant lamp (I hope). When it's in position I will post a photo.

The book I am reading this week is Lorraine Pascale's new cookery book, I have been watching her cookery programme on Monday night's and have really enjoyed it.

                                                    

So I decided to treat myself to the book, it arrived over the weekend and I haven't been able to put it down, I want to make so many things.

catch up next week x

cupcake commissions ...............

As well as planning for the "Hen Party" afternoon tea I have had two new commissions for cupcakes. The first a Christening and the second a Baby Shower. I baked the Christening Cupcakes on Saturday and delivered them on Sunday morning in good time for the party.

I always feel apprehensive when baking for special occasions as I want everything to be perfect.

mixing my sponge

first batch looking OK ..........

first ever baby hands and feet  (might need a little more practice)

hope they look scrummy  ............

I'm pleased with the duck egg blue butter cream .............

ready for delivery .............

The Christening was a great success - feedback was good and all my cakes disappeared in record time.

I'm looking forward to making some little pink and blue feet for the baby shower and experimenting with some other new decorations, the sponge will stay the same as I think it works well  and I am happy with my butter cream and fondant icing.

talk soon x

cups of tea, good company, cakes and cooking ..........

I have been very busy with family commitments over the last few weeks and haven't had very much time to meet up with Pam, but at the end of last week we managed a catch up morning.

We often stay in and have a show and tell session about our current projects, discuss best yarn offers, whilst drinking copious hot drinks and eating an occasional snack but this week we decided to go out and visit a new tea shop.

The Ash Tea Room's are lovely, not only can you buy scrummy food but you can also buy lots of specialist baking accessories, sugar paste, colourings, flavourings, in fact everything you could ever want in the cake decorating department. It also boasts a fabulous chocolatier and fudge making department, which  supplies everything for you to have a go at home.



                        
                        Tea was lovely and we had a great time browsing around the store.

We still had some time to spare so we drove to some lovely shops, we found a shop that renovated vintage furniture and saw lots of things we remembered from our childhood. I'm always encouraging people not to hoard stuff, to recycle, be minimal but it did make me wish I had some of my grandmas furniture. I also had a look for more teacups but didn't find any that I liked.

Finished the day with a fun baking evening, Laura's oven is on the blink and she wanted to do some batch baking for the weekend, as she was going away with a big group of friends. Laura did very well, her cake boxes were bursting with goodies when she went home, 24 mini cupcakes, a marble cake tray bake, and three small birthday cakes, for a bank holiday weekend of celebration.

Talk soon x

afternoon tea with lovely vintage teacups ..........

I have always adored pretty teacups, and I like nothing better than preparing afternoon tea. I love baking Victoria sandwich cakes, lemon drizzle cake, piping and decorating cupcakes, dainty scones, and whisking up light and chewy meringues.

I have quite a collection of china teacups, all sourced from local charity shops, car boot sales, a few are from antique shops - but not many.

some of my collection  .............

one of my favourites ............

this one is quite old ...............

I love the shape of this tea cup ............

so pretty ................

A few weeks ago my friend Barbara gave me some lovely teacups to add to my collection. They belonged to her mother in law. The style was different from the vintage style  I usually collect, they are quite retro I would think they are from the 60s or 70s - very cool I love them.

I am currently on the hunt for some new additions as I am making afternoon tea for one of Kate's hen party celebrations. The festivities start with a tea party but I think we might also use the teacups for champagne! 

Then we have a craft workshop which Kate and Harriet (chief bridesmaid ) have arranged with a local artist, who is coming to teach us how to make a tapestry brooch and a necklace using ceramic beads and vintage fabric. This is then to be followed by cocktails and dinner.

Thinking about the hen party which is planned for mid September (in fact the weekend before I go on holiday to Turkey ) makes me realise just how soon Kate's wedding is, October 20th is the big day.

Kate seems to be in control and everything is falling into place. I am travelling to London next week for Kate's wedding dress fitting - I can't wait to see Kate in her wedding dress, it sounds amazing.

I haven't even started to look for my outfit, as I am still on my diet and don't want to buy anything just yet. My plan is to buy something when I return from holiday but as that's the 1st October it doesn't give me a great deal of time!

I am confident it will work out well as I have found my other wedding outfits quite easily, I'm sure not many mother's have needed three wedding outfits within a sixteen month time frame. Having three beautiful daughters can be a costly affair.

Back to teacups, I managed to find three lovely white china teacups and saucers with matching side plates and a cake plate all for £3 today - what a lovely bargain.

off for a cup of tea, talk soon x

my creative space ...............

For a change my creative space is my kitchen. I was watching a cookery programme a few nights ago and was tempted to make some chocolate lollipops. 

Most Wednesday mornings I bake with my grandson Zachy who is three. He was vey excited at the prospect of making lollipops.

We had to crush Oreo biscuits into the texture of fine breadcrumbs and then add some chocolate spread. The mixture was then formed into balls and put onto a lined baking sheet, then left to chill in the freezer for about15 minutes.

crushed and mixed in my magi mix .......

rolled into balls - a bit irregular .......

The calorie count continues, we had to melt some chocolate, dip lolly sticks into the melted chocolate and then push the sticks into the biscuit balls. The balls were then coated in melted chocolate, milk or white and lastly dipped into sprinkles or decorated with whatever takes your fancy.

stick tip dipped in white chocolate then pushed into ball .......

chocolate setting ................

all done ................yummy

stored in airtight box .............

Very rich - not something you would have every day but lovely for a treat - Zachy had great fun helping and was especially happy to scrape the bowls and lick the spoons.

talk soon x

Yarn along ........

Sorry to be boring but my yarn along post isn't really very different from last week I am still reading "The Help" and crocheting my blanket. The book and the blanket are in direct competition with each other and currently the blanket is winning. I am loving the colours, stripes and my experimentation with different stitches. I have tried the granny stripe stitch that Jules from little woolie suggested in her last post but not attempted the chevron yet.

stripey blanket

It's growing quite big and I'm quite pleased with the shape - straight so far. Just hope I have enough of the Amalfi Yarn to finish. 

I hope you have all had a productive week and as usual I can't wait to catch up with all the yarn along posts.

Talk soon x

I am so lucky ................

Over the last few years I have become more comfortable with technology and really enjoy using my laptop and can't imagine not having the Internet. I love writing my blog and have recently taken part in Holly Becker's blogging course.
I'm quite addicted to my iPhone, always looking for that perfect blog photo opportunity, but recently I have been coveting iPads. Kate had one for Christmas, my best friend Pam was bought one for her birthday (she has made an amazing knitted cover for it)

Imagine my absolute surprise and delight when a few days ago one arrived in the post for me! I am so lucky I still can't believe it.

My partner ordered it as a surprise and it's not even my birthday  - I  have bought myself a lovely pink protective cover and I  think I will knit myself a case for extra protection for when I take it out. At the moment it is kept close to my side at all times - I know that you all have a good idea what an iPad looks like but I just had to take a photo of it for my blog - so sorry for being so boring and I don't mean to gloat but I am so absolutely thrilled I just had to share it with you. I promise to never mention it again ( I will try).

pink iPad, crochet blanket what more could I ask for ............

Talk soon
Sue and beautiful pink iPad x

my amazing bargain.............

I had a fantastic find a few days ago - I was looking in a few local charity shops for vintage teacups and came across some lovely cotton yarn. It was in 25 gram balls, one lot was in its original cardboard and cellophane packaging and contained 16 balls, the other two were just in polythene bags. One bag contained 13 balls and one 16 balls. The weight of the yarn varies, I think blue is about a 4ply, cream a bit finer and green a bit thicker.(not very scientific)

The wool was priced at £2.49 per lot, which means I have 45 balls of 100% cotton yarn for £7.47 - what an amazing bargain.

what a find ...................

what shall I make ?

I can't wait to start knitting or crocheting with it but I will have to be patient as I have so many projects on the go.

talk soon
Sue x

my creative space ..............

My creative space is somewhat messy this week - I seem to have so many things that I want to make and all at the same time, which makes life tricky. I have two blankets on the go, a cushion, granny squares, a strange project I am attempting which is covering a lamp flex in a knitted tube, also mini crochet balls - not sure what for yet!

Plus I have an endless list in my head of more things I want to make - can't wait to crochet some nesting bowls (check out Seriously Daisies for the amazing pattern and tutorial)

my creative projects ...............

I love the mini crochet balls ...................

If you have time click on  my creative space on Village Voices for lots of inspiration.

talk soon
Sue x

yarn along ................

the books from my bedside table ..............

I have joined in with Ginny's yarn along again, I hope you have all had a lovely creative week. I can't wait to see what everyone is reading and making.

I have a number of books that have been recommended to me by friends and also kindly donated unfortunately they are all sitting on my bedside table waiting for me to read - but I am going to bed later and later as a little hook seems to keep me up!

Recently when I have been tempted to dip into a book they have all been craft, crochet, knitting and of course cookery books - my other passion, but I have decided to read "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett, it's set in Mississippi in 1962 - the story captures the difficult struggles that women face and how they find the courage to cross cultural boundaries, I'm really enjoying it.

Moving onto my current yarn project - I have to confess that the blanket I started last week has been put on one side - it's Jules fault from littlewoolie she has started a mixed stripey blanket and invited people to join in. I couldn't resist and Jules is going to add some stitch tutorials onto her blog.

I have gathered some lovely colours together and hooked my foundation chain, it's got just over 200 stitches and I have started off with half trebles as Jules recommended. I can't wait to see what our next stitch is going to be. 

Talk soon

Sue x

fun by the seaside ............

It seems ages since I posted on my blog, I have got lots of things to catch up with and share with you all, but I seem to  have been so busy at home and away!

We had a lovely time in Wales, my close friend Barbara let us borrow her house in Anglesey. We took three of our grandchildren with us and we were so very lucky with the weather.
We spent most of our time on the beach, it brought back such fond memories of beach holidays with our three daughters when they were small.

happy times ..............

We had plenty of fresh air and played lots of games on the beach. I have become reacquainted with the fun of building sandcastles, and collecting shells and pebbles to decorate them. I have also gained a new skill which is crab fishing.

a quick snack - not always healthy!

messing about on boats .........

the ducks wanted to join in with our picnic ......

almost came for a sandwich ...........

we had great fun even when it got a bit chilly.......

We also had a lovely day in Beaumaris, lots of fun in the park next to the castle, a hearty picnic on the pier and a little bit of pocket money and holiday souvenir shopping.

Beaumaris Castle

big brother watching ..........

not so big  - still loves the slide .........

fun on the swings ...........

What a lovely but exhausting time we had, the children were amazing and enjoyed every minute (although I am looking forward to my next holiday, which will be in Turkey and I am planning to do lots of resting, relaxing, reading and maybe a little bit of careful sun worshipping)

On our return home we then spent two lovely days with two more of our grandchildren, Zachy and Noah, as Laura and Chris had tickets for the Olympics. They had great fun in London and combined the Olympics with a visit to see Kate, Seb and little Jake.

Zachy and Noah had lots of fun playing in our garden, picnics on the grass and a visit to the Park. - we were lucky to have some more lovely weather.

Lots of crochet news to share next time, talk soon

Sue

yarn along ..............

I can't believe another week has gone by. I have been quite busy as we took three of our grandchildren to Wales for a few days, but I had some nice restful evenings with time to look through my craft books and think about projects (when they were safely tucked up) I have mainly been dipping into crochet books, I recently bought one of Erika Knights, many of the projects are a bit beyond me but I love the illustrations and I can plan for the future can't I - also I can't look at crochet books with out a little delve into "cute and easy crochet" by Nicki Trench.

I want to start another blanket as I have got quite a lot of my lovely Debbie Bliss Amalfi yarn left in my stash. I am a fan of the lovely blankets that Jules from littlewoollie makes and also Lucy from attic24.
I have decided after visiting Jules and Lucy's blogs for inspiration to try a ripple blanket and have just started a little sample piece to see if I can cope with the treble increases and decreases, not bad so far.

lovely inspiration ............

it looks bigger than it really is - it's only 31 stitches wide

I am quite pleased with the result so I am about to be brave and start with a much bigger foundation chain - keep your fingers crossed it stays in shape.

Hope all of your yarn along projects are going well, see you all next week.

Sue x