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? 

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!

Busy, busy, busy!

Here it is - the finished quilt.

What an incredibly busy few weeks I've had - I'm not sure I've had a single spare moment since my last post here. Highlights have been two weddings, a ball (of the dancing variety, not the kicking type), a flower show, a spot of culture at the V&A, the boat races at Henley, a house-warming party, a surprise gig and even a finished quilt! All of this has meant that I haven't had a great deal of time for crafting, but I am absolutely thrilled to be able to say that I have finally finished my first quilt and it has been christened with a picnic at the family day of Henley Business School.

Afternoon tea - heaven!

We spent the day and an evening at the races in Henley, complete with a picnic lunch, afternoon tea, a trip along the course on a beautiful wooden-hulled steamship, finishing the day with a picnic supper in the grounds of the college as we watched the fireworks that were being displayed from the bridge in town. I really do love all picnics, but I think that this one might have been the most memorable of all. And it was made all the more special by being wrapped up in something I'd made over the last six months, with a whole lot of patience and plenty of love. (If only I could finish more projects...) Of course, I already have a new quilt in mind and am currently resisting the urge to buy some of the beautiful Japanese prints that are available from Saints and Pinners.

The other high point of the month has been a trip to the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show with my dear sister. She bought us tickets as a treat and it was wonderful. I took well over 100 photographs and I think I would have taken more if I'd charged up my camera battery the night before! Here are three of my favourite gardens from the show:

The conceptual gardens, the RHS edible garden, the poets' gardens and the small gardens were all just stunning. Inside the vegetable and floral display tents there were the most incredible arrangements and displays, my absolute favourites were the huge displays of allium and agapanthus and the amazing centre stand that had flowers, fruit and vegetables ordered by colour. It was such great fun! The garlic garden was also pretty cool and very beautiful too.

I came away from a wonderful day completely inspired and with a very long list of vegetables, plants and flowers that I'd love to have in my very own garden when it's finished. What a gorgeous day - thanks, Amanda!

Other highlights of the last few weeks have been two fabulous weddings. Huge congratulations to Rachel and Neil and Jenny and Adam! Dancing and dodgems with friends and lots of lovely fizz at Tidworth Polo Club summer ball was also great fun. A fantastic girly night out was had by all and we stayed up laughing and chatting until the sun came up! A surprise support slot by D for the Barnstormers topped off an amazing weekend last weekend.

On the needles, Bunting is getting more and more cat-like, but Coraline is taking a bit of a rest. I've been flexing my fingers with a bit  of crochet and the blanket that will complement my quilts is steadily growing...

And to finish this post, here are some of my favourite Instagram photos from the last month for you and a link to my updated online shop as cute as buttons:

High Days and Holidays

 Picnic season is well and truly underway now with a pair of picnics for my birthday; one in Pedlar's Park with lots of lovely friends from work on the Friday before my birthday weekend (thanks guys!) and a second with D on the day before my birthday. D had arranged a surprise day out to Oxford which was just lovely. We drove up from Salisbury, picked up some bread, cheese and fruit from the covered market and took it to the University Park for a long lazy lunch in the sunshine. After lunch we took a stroll back into town and I visited the Eccentricity exhibition at the Museum of the History of Science while D browsed for books at Blackwell's.


Next up was a smashing cup of tea at The Grand Cafe, the oldest coffee shop in Oxford and a perfect day was rounded off with a trip to the really rather lovely knitting shop, Darn It and Stitch where I took a very pretty picture of their rainbow of wool and bought a charm pack of creamy-beigey-brown and pale turquoise fabric from the Lily and Will range by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda. It is such a sweet little shop and well worth a visit if you in or near to Oxford.

The day of my birthday itself, I was completely spoiled. I was sent all kinds of cakey goodies; silicone muffin trays, the most beautiful measuring cups you are ever likely to see and a stunning three tier cake stand from my dear sister. D gave me a Kindle, which was a complete surprise and I have promptly loaded it with all of my favourite classics and even more that I haven't read yet. I also used some brilliant V&A fabric that hadn't fitted in with the colours of my quilt, to make a padded case to keep it protected on the train. Framley Parsonage, here I come...

I probably would've posted last weekend but D and I have spent the last week relaxing in the Tuscan sunshine! We stayed in the apartment of a friend and divided our time between swimming or lounging by the pool, and day trips out to the surrounding towns of Florence, Siena, Volterra and San Gimignano. I read some brilliant books; Great House by Nicole Krauss, The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe, High Wages by Dorothy Whipple and When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman. All of them were excellent reads. 

The apartment we stayed in was simple and stunning. It is situated in a tiny little hamlet in the hills not far from Pisa. The view from the bedroom window is of the church in the village at the top of the road and the view from the pool was of olive groves - I can't tell you how amazing it was! The sun shone every day and without internet, email, phone or TV it was a real retreat from the busyness of modern world and a step away from our everyday lives.

Trips out and about gave us a bit of culture and we visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence for the first time. Both the museum and Florence were slightly overwhelming, so it was nice to visit a few of the more quiet towns in the region. We had the most amazing ice creams on each of our days out, including pistachio, yoghurt, vanilla, lemon, peach, fruits of the forest and best of all stracciatella, which is a plain cream gelato with delicious strips of dark chocolate. Mmmmmmm!

We pootled around in a brand new Fiat 500, which was charmingly Italian and very brave as it tackled all of the hills, often in first gear! I couldn't resist taking this picture of one of the original models that was parked up in Siena. Isn't it cute!

After all that activity, we made sure to make the most of the long evenings; eating wonderful Tuscan recipes, drinking local wine and gazing out over the landscape. I even managed to get in a spot of crafting, starting up the crochet blanket that I had my eye on in The Gentle Art of Knitting. 

What a Week!

The sun is shining, the daffodils are out, D and I have had our first picnic of the year and at last spring really is on the way.

This last week has been a pretty momentous week in my world, particularly with the arrival of little baby Bobbin, who from now on will be known as Flora. Congratulations to Jenny and Pete – I can't wait to come on over and meet little Flora. Also, congratulations go out to D's twin, who got a new job teaching as a head of department at a particularly fine school just over the county line in Dorset. This means that he and his family will be moving closer, which will be all together lovely. M stayed with us the night before the interview and the night after and he found out that he'd got the job on Saturday morning, so we drove the short twenty miles to check out the town that he will be living in, stopped for a celebratory cup of tea at a really nice café/bookshop and checked out the local estate agents' windows.

That evening I went to my friend Claire's Hen Party, where we ate Claudia's amazing canapés and drank lots and lots of pink fizz. Throughout the course of the evening Claire had to answer a number of tricky questions including, "What really happened in the tree house...?" Great fun was had by all and there was none of the traditional tackiness!

Sunday was a momentous day indeed and heralded our first picnic of the season. Truth be told, it was still a little chilly, but there was quiche and potato salad left over from the party and an outdoor exhibition of plant photography at Lacock Abbey that I really, really wanted to see. The International Garden Photographer of the Year competition is held annually by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in partnership with the National Trust and it's well worth a visit if you happen to be in Wiltshire. The National Trust museum also celebrates the art of photography and had a wonderful exhibition of pinhole photography by Jesseca Ferguson called Handmade Pictures.

On the needles, I have cast on for Coraline. I'm using 4ply so it may well take the rest of the year but I'm really pleased to be knitting something that I will really want to wear, with a pattern that's nicely challenging but not daunting (very important combination) and with a wool that is a pleasure to knit with.

I've also just finished a truly moving book, The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell. It's a sad and beautiful book with a poignancy and inevitability that made me want to savour it as much as I wanted to race through to the end. I'm now off to buy some more of her books to keep me entertained on my forthcoming holiday in Cornwall. Wonderful!

This year, I resolve to ...

What with one thing and another it's been a bit of a slow start to the new year, and after a rather nasty bout of illness, I am now engaging with the world at large again!

December was incredibly busy, both at work and at home (sorry for the lack of posts) so the break over Christmas with D, family and friends was very much appreciated. It's been really lovely just relaxing, taking it easy and doing only nice things! And I know that it's not everybody's cup of tea, but the snow really was very special. When the snow in Salisbury was at it's deepest, the light took on a magical quality and I rushed out with my Olympus to take some pictures. I could post more here, but I've a feeling this post is going to be quite photo-heavy so I'll restrict myself just to this one of the Art Centre looking magnificent in the white,

I'm rather hoping that 2011 will be the year that I finally learn to quilt. My parents have very kindly ordered me a quilting book and they gave me some templates and some templates and some really lovely fat quarters. (Isn't that just the best name ever?!)
I'm going to start with a very simple diamond patterned cushion cover, maybe with a denim backing and border, sewn on the machine with had stitched quilting. Or at least that's the plan and as soon as the book that my folks have ordered I'm going to get stuck straight in.

On the needles, I've had a really good month. A Christmas present Baird for my sister, a lovely little asymmetric cardigan for Jenny's bump, and a cracking Capucine bobble hat for Shona's birthday.  I can't tell you how much I enjoyed making a pompom, I totally regressed to being a kid, which must've been the last time I made a bobble! The study blanket is coming on brilliantly. I've now got ten and a half squares, so probably only another forty-nine and a half to go! I think that my next big project will be a little cardigan and I'm thinking about using my Rowan Kidsilk Haze to knit up Melissa Wehrle's Grannie Smith Cardigan. It'll be lovely to finally make something successful out of it!

I haven't done a huge amount of baking, but I did come across this ingenious idea for Christmas presents for everyone at work. It's a really fun gift to give and everyone loved them. Here's a link to the chocablog website for the particular recipe I used.

I have been out and about a fair bit though, with trips to Mottisfont, Bath Christmas Market (twice) and ice-skating at the London Eye with my dear sister, which was just about the most fun ever. Here I am messing around on the ice - in the snow!

Right now, I'm relaxing on the sofa with a mug of fruity tea, my knitting one one side of me and the cat on the other, watching a showing of the Royal Ballet performing Swan Lake at Covent Garden, and it's really rather beautiful.

I'm going to leave you with a few of my favourite pictures from New Year's Day in Bournemouth with some lofty aims for the year ahead!

Look after myself

Be as good a person as I possibly can be

Be creative

See the beauty in everything

"Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts." Charles Dickens 

Buttons, buttons, buttons

Buttons Galore!

I've had a really lovely and busy couple of weeks preparing my wares for the annual Walker Creatives Christmas Craft Fair. So far, I have twenty four bracelets, twelve pairs of earrings and eight rings ready to go and in just about every colour of the rainbow. I'm feeling quite nicely ahead of the game, although I do have a few little gift bags to make up.

I've temporarily suspended my Folksy site, As Cute As Buttons so that I've got as much to sell at the fair as possible and then I'll have a really good photoshoot next weekend and  re-list everything ready for a little bit of Christmas custom. As always, if there's something you'd like made up specifically, do let me know and I'll do whatever I can to help.

I have started my own Christmas shopping already, which is frankly staggering, considering I normally leave for a madcap dash along Oxford Street on Christmas Eve! My sister and I visited the Bath Spa Christmas Market yesterday and I picked up some really lovely things as well as being quite inspired with some of the goodies on offer. Next weekend, I'm meeting a friend for lunch so I'll be able to visit the Winchester Cathedral Christmas Market too. I'm so lucky living the in South West - there are so many beautiful places to visit and really nice things to do. Salisbury even has its very own ice rink in The Maltings, so I'm really looking forward to giving that a go!

On the needles, I am still busy and in addition to my afghan blanket I have have two secret surprises on the go; one for Christmas and one for just after. I shan't tell you any more than that, but will post pictures when I don't need to be such a secret squirrel!

And just before I head off to finish making my gift bags, here's an early Christmas present that I have given myself! These smashing letters were from Urban Outfitters of all places and I LOVE them!

A Little Piece of the Quiet Life

There's something particularly beautiful about the British seaside in winter that can't be matched even on the sunniest of days. D and I are just back from having spent a wonderful relaxing week in St Ives, staying  in a simply stunning flat right on the heart of town on The Digey. It was a week of only good things: fireworks, chips, long lie-ins, strolls along the beach, lots of photography, reading, pasties, plenty of knitting (of which, more anon), reading great books, the odd pint of cloudy cider and even finishing the Guardian cryptic crossword for the first time ever!

The sea is incredible at any moment of the day and taking a stroll whenever we wanted was a pleasure. There were moments when it was quite wild walking along the harbour wall and the beaches of St Ives, (especially on Thursday morning when it felt as if Force 10 gales were raging!) but there was respite to be taken in any one of the many charming pubs along the harbour. And a few pints were gently nursed while we puzzled over the crossword, staring out at the waves.

The flat itself was gorgeous, with slate flooring, clean white walls and original artwork everywhere. Looking out of the window to the left we could see the wild and wonderful Porthmeor beach and through the window on the right we could see the boats coming in and out of St Ives harbour. Amazing! Everything was exactly as we would have hoped and we felt right at home from the very first moment we stepped through the door. The Digey is in a wonderful location just off Fore Street, with its very own chocolate shop, Chocolat and delicatessen, The Digey Food Room. There was a really homely bakery at the bottom of the street and a very handy paper shop at the bottom of Fore Street, just on the harbour front. Just about everything you could possibly need for a relaxing week in a home away from home.

St Ives is not only beautiful and perfectly placed, but super-cultured too! We visited the Peter Lanyon exhibition at Tate St Ives, and had a lovely lunch in their cafe. (In the exhibition space I managed to get myself told off for taking a photograph out of the window - oops! But I couldn't resist, it looked so tempting...)

Without a doubt the cultural highlight for me was a visit to the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden. To see where such a talented artist lived and worked and to be in that space was humbling. Being out of season I had the place almost to myself and I could have stayed for hours and hours, just taking it all in. I took some photographs in the garden and of her studio, but they in no way convey the true beauty of the place.  If you are visiting Cornwall, please visit. Inspiring and beautiful.

Barbara Hepworth's Studio

Here's my own attempt at art - a snapshot of the sunrise from our window.

On the needles, I've had an incredibly productive couple of weeks. The weekend before we went away, I treated myself to a ball of Rowan Cocoon to make up Ysolda's Icing Swirl Hat which I'd picked up the pattern for at Knit Nation in the summer. It was really rewarding to start and finish something just in a couple of days, I just wish I had a balloon to block it on, so that I can wear it!

I took quite a bit of work in progress away with me and so Cheadle is also coming on apace and all of it is now knit apart from the collar and cuffs. The central plaited panels and picking up for the top half didn't prove too difficult, but the thought of sewing the bottom section onto the plait is a little bit daunting, so I'm putting it off just a teensy little bit!

A bit of a mixed project is the blanket that I've been making for my study for - oh, only about the last three years! It started off as a bunch of squares, each in a different stitch, but I got bored and no two squares were even remotely the same size. Then it turned into a really rather lovely Moderne Log Cabin pattern from Mason Dixon Knitting's Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne, but it became unwieldy and sat gathering dust upstairs. Well, as they say, third time's a charm and I'm now on my sixth square of Diamond Afghan from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern Knits. And I'm loving it! It should be in aran, so I think it'll probably take about 60 squares altogether, but I'm off to a pretty happy start...

St Ives is served by not one, but two yarn stores, Kuiama Crafts on Fore Street and the really rather lovely House of Bartlett where the proprieter hit exactly the right spot when she asked if I needed any help, or if I was happy just to stroke the wool!

I'm also loving The Gentle Art of Domesticity by Jane Brocket. It's great just to dip in and out of whilst enjoying a bowl of porridge and a cup of tea in bed on a Saturday morning and I'm quite sure that it's going to inspire me to get some Christmas gifts started for friends and family. (Only six weeks to go - eek!)

In Cornwall, apart from the papers, I read only fiction: The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey, The Road Home by Rose Tremain, The Cat Sanctuary by Patrick Gale and Life of Pi by Yann Martell. All great reads and perfect for a week away.