Loveliness

I can't tell you what an amazing weekend I've just had! Admittedly, it had three days in it, which is a distinct advantage on your regular Saturday/Sunday two day event, but it was pretty brilliant regardless.

It all kicked off with outdoor drinks at the Magners stand in Wonderland on the Southbank with my very lovely sister before we watched Cantina. It is just about the most amazing show I've ever seen! It was part vaudeville, part circus, part magic show and altogether incredible. Some of the feats that the were staggering and there were times when the entire audience gasped in disbelief. The music was fantastic, the drama was sensational and we really did have an amazing time, I'm not sure I've ever seen anything quite like it and I would heartily recommend it if you're in London town. (Though, not if you have any under-eighteens with you!)

After a bit of a late night, Friday started with a leisurely lie-in, breakfast in bed and a bit of book - my favourite way to start the day. One of my New Year's resolutions for 2012 had been to learn how to knit socks and so I'd signed up for a day-long course at Born to Knit in Fisherton Mill. My resolution has been resolved (well, half) and my fear of turning a heel is no more! I can see how sock-knitting can become addictive and I've already been eyeing up some patterns on Ravelry. If only I could stick to one of my other New Year's resolutions which was to finish more projects... I did spend a certain amount of time on four needles and I have got one sock already completed. (Although there was a slightly tricky moment when I dropped a stitch watching Usain Bolt smash the Olympic record for the 100m sprint.) I have had to force myself to make a new resolution that I'm not to start the other sock until I have two finished and blocked baby dresses - let's see how I get on with that one, eh?!  

Saturday morning we were up (relatively) early for a jaunt to Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire to stroll around town and along the river, and to stay at the Henley Business School (D's alma mater and a very fine place to stay indeed). We started our weekend proper with a delicious lunch at Maison Blanc, followed by a mooch around the shops and afternoon tea at the Hotel du Vin. Back at the college we enjoyed relaxing in the grounds with our books before a lovely quiet drink in the bar and then a quick taxi ride back into town for dinner at The Little Angel just over the bridge in Berkshire. We've tried twice before to eat our dinner there and I have to say that the third time was a charm - dinner was delicious.


After a lovely moonlit walk across the river, we strayed back into the bar for some very glamorous cocktails. Simply heaven! What more could a girl want on a Saturday night? 

Catching Up On Craft

I couldn't help but notice that in my last post, there was a distinct lack of craft - sorry about that! In my defence, I feel I should say that I was pretty busy and that I did manage at least to bake a batch of muffins to say thank you to my friends at work for all of their lovely gifts and I have finally mastered the art of pain perdu. Mmmmmm.

And it isn't as if I've been a craft-free zone. My quilt is still coming along nicely and I've just spent a really lovely afternoon quilting away while watching the very wonderful "You've Got Mail" by the talented Nora Ephron, who will be sadly missed.

I've also done a little bit of knitting, not much (especially as I decided to unknit a certain amount of my mustard shrug because it had some pretty shonky yarn overs in it!) but enough to still say that I am still a knitter. Just. Oh, and I made a pretty necklace for a friend at work, too.
I started writing this post in the middle of the night, in bed, during an almighty rain storm. It is both welcome and necessary (not to mention loud) but I can't help worrying that my poor tender veggies will be battered by this much water...

I can't tell you how much I love the new garden. I love watching everything grow and take shape - even weeding is a pleasure! And I've started a sort of garden journal to celebrate it all. Today I popped on my bike, cycled to Wilton and spent the last of my birthday tokens on a Temperley rhubarb, some basil and some garlic chives to fill the very last few spaces in the beds. I can't wait to start eating our own veggies. Mmmmm!

It's a bit brighter now and although not fully summery, D and I have made the best of our weekends with trips to the beach at Bournemouth and a glorious picnic at Henley-on-Thames. Here's hoping for a bit more sunshine and a lot more picnics to come!

Hooray for HRH!

You can say what you like about the Queen, but I think she's a pretty amazing lady. 60 years of doing anything is pretty amazing, let alone being the reigning monarch of the UK. Now, I definitely wouldn't go so far as to say I'm a royalist but I can't tell you how much I've appreciated having a lovely long weekend for my birthday! And what a weekend it was!

Everything kicked off early with work's excellent Jubilee Party at the Tea House in Vauxhall. Costumes were worn, corgis had tails pinned on them, caption competitions were won (oh, yes), much Pimms, complete with gin-soaked fruit was drunk and a splendid time was had by all!

The following day ended with a trip to the V&A with my sister to admire the beautiful dresses in their new ballgowns exhibition. It was absolutely stunning and we rounded our visit off with a couple of delicious peach bellinis from the bar. What a great start to a birthday weekend!

On Saturday we received a visit from my friend a and an incredibly boozy 30 hours! We had a pretty good lunch at The Ship at Burcombe and spent the afternoon lazing in the garden (with more bellinis and some very tasty G&Ts) before heading out to The Haunch of Venison. We rounded off the day with dinner at home chatting and laughing till late.

Sunday, we were slightly hungover, but not so bad that we couldn't enjoy a delicious breakfast of pain perdu with bananas, strawberries, blueberries and honey. Mmmmmmm. Luckily, the weather held out and we were able to have the first picnic of the weekend and the very fabulous Parklife. Lying on a blanket eating and drinking while we read the papers and enjoyed the relaxed grooves and chilled-out atmosphere was the perfect way to while away the afternoon.

Sunday evening saw a party at our local to celebrate the landlord's birthday where D and I were joined by my good friend P for some good old banter and a lot of laughs!

Monday, day five of the fantastic jubilee birthday-fest was also D's nephew's birthday so off we toddled to Blandford to give him some gifts and to hear him play on his new guitar. He was having a sleepover with two friends which must have been brilliant, although I suspect that his mum and dad won't have had a great deal of sleep that night! Our evening was spent in the delightful company of my sister who came over to help really kick off the celebrations.

My birthday itself was wonderful and the best day of the weekend! I managed to restrain from present unwrapping until 8 o'clock - how impressive is that?! My sister wasn't feeling on top of the world so D and I had a quiet breakfast together and waited for Mum and Dad who arrived pretty early so that they could admire the new garden. Lots and lots of my presents were garden related (including a very swank Rob Ryand watering can and a pair of Sarah Bernhardt peonies) which was absolutely perfect!

Sadly it was too wet even for my family to picnic, but we picnicked in the kitchen anyway! The Pan Bagnat that I'd made the day before was a bit of a triumph and definitely a recipe that I'll be adding to my repertoire for future feasts.


All was not lost even if it did rain as I'd taken the following day off so managed to squeeze in yet another picnic and a visit to see the glorious roses at Mottisfont with Mum and Dad. The roses were gorgeous and I blissfully snapped away until my camera battery finally went flat and then we went on to see the Patrick Lichfield Polaroids exhibition in the house itself. We even went on a wetlands walk through a part of the estate which isn't ordinarily open to the public, where we saw all kinds of wildlife, including damselflies, a kingfisher and even a barn owl. What a wonderful day!

And if that wasn't enough when I finally re-entered the world of work on Thursday I was completely spoiled rotten by my gorgeous friends at work. Thanks to everyone, family, friends and her majesty, for a lovely, lovely birthday! Hip, hip, hooray!

What a Wonderful Weekend

 

 

Best in Show

Alllium

 

Foxgloves Galore

 The last three days have been an absolute whirlwind of delights, with trips to the Chelsea Flower Show and Malmaison in Oxford all rounded off with a bit of knitting, quilting, running, and some quality time in the garden. 

Kaffe Fassett's Emporium
of Fabrlc Delights

Roses, Roses, Roses

Having narrowly missed out on tickets to Chelsea last year, my sister and I were determined to make it and she booked our tickets in January. I can tell you that it was definitely worth the wait and lived up to all of the hype and way beyond my expectations. It was all so beautiful that I ended up feeling rather overwhelmed by it as we strolled the pathways soaking up garden after garden after garden. The Brewin Dolphin Garden deisgned by Cleve West which won best of the show gardens was a worthy winner and my sister and I were both really taken by the Laurent-Perrier Garden designed by Arne Maynard. 

We had an absolutely smashing picnic and I went completely belly up for the whole Artisans' Retreats area. The Kaffe Fassett exhibition was probably my favourite thing of the entire day, though I'd be hard pushed to say that there was anything about the entire day that I didn't like!   

 












Oxford was almost equally lovely and D and I had the most delicious meal followed by an afternoon of browsing bookshops and a picnic supper in the Oxford University Parks before retiring to our rather lovely accommodation that D had booked through the university. What a wonderful weekend!

The Joys of Spring

I don't know if it's because spring is in the air, but I've been feeling really creative lately and I can't seem to get enough of crafting. The week before last, it was my mum's birthday and I'd started a quilted cushion cover for her sometime in February. As is all too often the case with me, I'd started with enthusiasm and completed quite a lot of it, but then I'd totally run out of steam and the poor cushion cover lay in a heap on the back of the sofa until I was quilting against the clock. Now, I know that necessity is a great motivator, so I got up early on the Saturday before the actual birthday, edges the necessary bits of the quilt and sewed the sides together to create a rather lovely (if I say so myself) present for my very lovely mum.

I made the post and Mum loved her present and the crafting bug seems to have bitten. Since finishing the cushion cover, I've started another quilt, from a Hometown jelly roll by Sweetwater for Moda. I've never tried anything with a jelly roll before and wasn't quite sure where to start, but Emma from my new knitting group came to the rescue and kindly loaned me a copy of Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott. It's a great book and shows clearly how to make the most of a jelly roll. I was really sceptical that you would get an entire quilt out of so little material, but having cut and pieced it's going to be a full sized quilt. I've really enjoyed having a day of cutting and sewing and I'm hoping that I should be able to get the whole thing finished in a matter of weeks, rather than the months and months and months that it took to make my first one!

On the needles, Olive is coming along really well and I'm already well past the bustline. I've also cast on a shrug from Ravelry by Katya Gorbacheva which is giving me the opportunity to use some beautiful vintage needles that have been languishing in a pen-pot on my desk. I've also started up the sock monster manufacturing again and have half a dozen sock-skins ready for sewing and stuffing. Busy, busy, busy!

Off the needles, D and I celebrated the birthday of a very special two-year-old with a delicious lunch at the True Lovers Knot pub near Blandford. We've also helped our local landlord and friend celebrate the opening of his new pub The Haunch of Venison. (He's still working on the website, so I'll post a link when it's up and running.)

Speaking of running, I've started that up again as well and am following a nice, gentle training programme, which I hope will help me feel fitter and more energetic - and full of the joys of spring!

Well, hello!

Sorry that I've been away for a while. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I got out of the habit of blogging and it's taken me up until now to get my act together, find a little but more energy and enthusiasm and put fingers to keyboard!


So, what have I been up to? Pretty much the same as usual. I've done a
lot of crafting; mostly knitting but the odd bits of quilting, sewing, crochet, jewellery making and even the making of sock monsters. I've made two scarves, two hats, two scarflets, two pairs of fingerless mittens, a mug hug and I've cast on a lovely Olive Blouse with some wool which I swapped with Photographoe at a brilliant yarn swap.

I've also joined a second knitting group, which is based in my local pub and was lucky enough to find a book group that is made up of some really lovely people, meets right near where I get my train home from and reads children's books. Could they be any more perfect for me...? I don't think so!

I've carried on baking and made lots more delicious muffins. I've listened to lots of new music and fallen a little bit in love with Lana Del Ray. I've read some brilliant books and rediscovered the genius that is Thor Heyerdahl, adventurer and author of The Kon Tiki Expedition. I've also been taking lots of photos so here are some of the more recent ones that I've shared on Instagram.

I'm going to keep it brief, but will be back again soon. Happy Easter!
Nx

Here comes the summer

What a lovely couple of weeks I've had. Work is great and I'm embarking on some wonderful projects and home is lovely. Last weekend was pretty cultural, and I got out and about with visits to the beautiful walled rose garden at Mottisfont Abbey, the brand new Constable & Salisbury exhibition at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum and to the Made to Last exhibition which is being hosted in the cloisters of Salisbury Cathedral  as part of Salisbury International Arts Festival.

I took literally hundreds of flower photographs at Mottisfont, both on the Olympus PEN and the new Diana F+. The colours of the roses, and the foxgloves, and the clematis were all staggering, and in the warm sunlight, the flowers seemed to glow. This time of year is so precious, I want to try and capture every second, every glint of light and every shade of colour. If any of the film picture come out okay, I'll upload them when I next post here. Watch this space...

The festival is wonderful for the city of Salisbury with events and activities taking place at dozens of venues for a jam-packed fortnight. Sadly, I missed one of the opening events which was an aerial ballet by the Argentinian dance company, Voalà. It would have been great to see, but I had a prior engagement for some baby cuddles with the adorable Flora, which could not be missed for all the dancing in South America! The Made to Last exhibition was well worth the visit, with some really unusual modern sculptures in the quiet and contemplative setting of the cathedral cloisters. I posted a handful of pictures on instagram (which, yes, I am still smitten with) and here's one of my favourites. 

This weekend has been all about family and friends and, very importantly, music. D has always been an amazing musician, but a non-practising one until this weekend, when he re-emerged onto the scene with not one, but two, amazing acoustic sets at the local. He totally rocked and I am very proud of him! Special thanks to George and Sarah and to my mum and dad, who came along to support him on Friday and Sunday respectively.


Here are a couple more instagram pictures that I've taken in the last fortnight of the bunting celebrating the anniversary of the Festival of Britain at the Southbank Centre and the stunning alliums from outside Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum.

 

On the craft front, I am delighted to report that I have finally found just the right colour orange for Bunting. It was pretty tricky and I needed the help of the lovely knitting departments of both Liberty and John Lewis (frankly, visiting any knitting department is no hardship) but I am there. I've also started Bunting in earnest and have rediscovered the lost art of french knitting thanks to this superb tutorial from Donna Vokes. My parents moved house two weeks ago and my mum discovered an old french knitting dolly, made from a wooden cotton reel with four teeny tiny nails hammered into the top. It turns out that I had completely forgotten how to create icord with a dolly, but now I've started again, there's no holding me back!

Coraline is still growing. I did get to the yoke, but then decided that I would actually prefer a longer line cardigan, so I'm adding an additional
couple of inches, which means fourteen more (very long) rows of stocking stitch. Gah!

The good news, though, is that my quilt is almost, almost finished. The pieces have been pieced, the sandwich quilted and all I need now is some dark brown cotton to match the ribbon that I am planning to use as a border. I can hardly wait to be snuggled up on the sofa, on a chilly autumn afternoon with a good book and a cup of tea, all wrapped up in my own hand-made quilt. I just have to resist the urge to make a matching blanket from Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Knitting, which I finally received this week. No new projects until I've finished something! (Let's see how long that lasts...)

It's been a while...

The last four weeks have just flown by - I've been so busy at work and at home that I've found it hard to find the time to sit quietly with my laptop and get a few words down. However, I have had time to keep crafting. (Phew!) Coraline is coming on steadily and I hope to hit the complicated yoke smocking in a couple of weeks time. It's slow-going, and repetitive, just now, but it is about to get interesting and when it's all blocked and I can wear it, I know it will all be worth it!

Aside from knitting, I've been spending a fair amount of time beavering away on my big quilting project. Over the last four weeks, I've cut out all of the pieces (all 252 of them!) and I've started to put them together together. It was great fun playing with the different coloured pieces, spreading them all out on the floor in my den to see what went well where and to check that nothing looked out of place. That there weren't too many repeats or blocks of similar colours too close to each other.

Following the instructions from Jane Brocket's Gentle Art of Quilting I labelled each square-to-be before machine-sewing the four strips of each square together, then patiently ironing every single seam flat. I swear, I did more ironing in the last four days than I've done in the last four years! I've now sewn the squares into rows, and once I have sewn those rows into one giant piece, I shall begin hand-quilting in earnest. I've just run out of cotton (and bank holidays) so I shall have to wait until next weekend before I can finish off the front. 

It's lovely to see something come from nothing; to create something so large from scraps of material. Although I'm a long way from finishing this particular project, I'm enjoying it so much that I'm already imagining what my next quilt will look like! Since my last post, I visited The American Museum in Claverton, near Bath, which has the most inspirational collections of handmade quilts. They had them all in one room in gigantic poster sleeves and I only wish that I could have had the place to myself so that I could really have studied them in detail. I did buy some beautiful fat quarters, none of which are actually in this quilt, but they will be in something lovely before too long, I'm sure!

I've also treated myself to a very exciting new camera. The Diana+ is a lomographic camera - and isn't she the most beautiful camera you've ever seen? I've only had one roll of film developed so far and I wouldn't say that I was particularly proud of any of the pictures (especially as I'd bought the wrong speed film!) but it's a start and I'm going to have lots of fun with analogue photos. I love the unpredictability of shooting with a film camera and I love the nostalgic warmth of the end results. Here's a link to the Ten Golden Rules of Lomography - whatever you take your photos with - these are all lessons well-learned!

This move to lo-fi has done absolutely nothing to dampen my enthusiasm for Instagram! I've made the bold move of having some of my snaps printed out on 5" x 5" matt paper by the lovely folk at Photo.com. Some of the images aren't quite hi-res enough to be blown up to that size, but somehow, when you're looking at them in the pages of a gorgeous album it doesn't matter in the slightest.