Sensational Stockholm

I started this post when we got back from Stockholm, which was, I'm ashamed to admit, well over a month ago! D and I had an amazing time and I just wanted to share with you some pictures from our week away and a list of things that I loved most about Stockholm. (In no particular order.)
1. Drinking cocktails at Erik's Gondolen
2. Ten Foot Flowers by Andy Warhol at Moderna Museet
3. Running entirely around Sodermalm
4. Dinner at Pet Sounds bar
5. The Stomatol toothpaste advert
6. Hotell Anno 1647
7. Buying wool at Litet Nystan
8. Drinks at the terrace bar above Bruno Arcade
9. Wandering the streets of Gamla Stan
10. Catching the ferry out to Skeppsholmen

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!

Taking it Easy...

After a good few weeks of being busy, busy, busy, this weekend has seen an incredibly welcome return to laziness! The last two days has been the longest time that D and I have both been at home without any visitors since we returned from our holiday in Italy in June!

Friday night started with a little tour around the Cathedral Close to admire Sean Henry's sculpture exhibition: Conflux: A Union of the Sacred and the Anonymous, a series of amazingly lifelike sculptures that are both around the close and in the cathedral itself. I could only see the outside figures as I had a date with D to try out a new pub that has recently opened just outside St Ann's Gate, The Lazy Cow. The bar itself was nice and lively, with a great atmosphere. I think it's probably the kind of place that would be nice for a long Sunday brunch. We didn't get much of a look at the menu, but I'm sure that we'll be back to try it out before too long.   

Saturday started with a quick trip on the train to Southampton. We needed to check out some wallpaper for our bedroom and after very thoughtful debate, we decided on a steel blue botanic rose print. It's quite big and bold and somewhat modern, whilst still feeling appropriate for our ramshackle old house. We just have to find the appropriate colour for the remaining three walls, but I'm hoping that it'll be one of those colours that you know is right, just as soon as you see it. At least that's the theory...

I also took the opportunity to spend the "towards crafty projects" birthday money that my parents sent me in June. Browsing through the selection in the haberdashers was a real treat and I finally settled on teh following prints from Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow collection. I'm planning on using the fabric to make the Sample Book quilt from Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Quilt-Making. It's going to be another long-term project, but I enjoyed making my first quilt so much that I'm itching to get started on a second.

The short journey home from Southampton was broken up with a very welcome stop at Mottisfont and Dunbridge for a tasty pint of cloudy cider at the Mill Arms and this afternoon has seen a trip out into the country to visit the newly re-opened Beckford Arms at Fonthill Gifford, near Tisbury. On the drive home D and I decided on our top five country pubs, all within 30 miles of Salisbury and here they are:

1. The Beckford Arms, Fonthill Gifford, Tisbury (great food, drink, accommodation and a lovely atmosphere)
2. The Mill Arms, Barley Hill, Dunbridge (great location close to Mottisfont Abbey, gorgeous beer garden) 
3. The Ship Inn, Burcombe (this is a regular go-to for delicious dinners and Sunday lunches)
4. The Spread Eagle, Stourton (just outside the grounds of Stourhead, the Spread Eagle does a wonderful line in afternoon teas in the summer and toasty fires on a cold day with Winter Pimms)
5. The Compasses Inn, Lower Chicksgrove (award-winningly good grub)

All five of them are absolutely wonderful and if you are ever at a loose end in Wiltshire (or Hampshire in the case of The Mill Arms) then you would be hard-pushed to find a nicer way of spending a couple of hours than visiting any of them. 

I'm rounding off the weekend with some homemade ginger biscuits and tea, listening to the new album from Bon Iver and reading Meg Rosoff's new book, There Is No Dog, which is as brilliant as it is funny.

And finally, on the needles, Bunting is growing before my very eyes. I need to get a move on to get him finished by my end of summer deadline, but with a good wind and a few more weekends at home, all will be fine!

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: