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:

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!

Congratulations Mr & Mrs!

Conratulations to Shona and Iain! The big day finally arrived and what a day it was! The bride was beautiful, the sun shone, the brother of the bride speech reduced everyone to tears, and D even managed to make me look like I knew what I was doing at the ceilidh! (Although the waltzing did make me a little bit dizzy!) It was such a happy day and it was wonderful to see my dear friends so deeply full of joy.

The ceremony was held at St Giles Church in Stanton St Quintin, Wiltshire, officiated by a rather charmingly eccentric vicar, with the reception held at Stanton Manor, where we celebrated with Pimms on the lawn, a hog roast and dancing into the small hours. Sorry for the distinct lack of photos, but I was either busy carrying out my bridesmaidly duties or plain having fun! The button bouquets and bracelets were loved by the flower girls and the wedding favours seemed to go down really well too. (Fingers crossed for a lottery millionaire...)

The happy couple are now off to start married life with their honeymoon in Thailand and Cambodia. Hope that they have a wonderul time.

Keeping Busy

It's been a tough couple of weeks, and while I've been home alone I've really been trying to keep busy to stop getting sad. This weekend, I've been supercrafty and made nearly half of the wedding favours and finished off the button bouquets for the flower girls. I've also learned the 'magic loop' technique for the sleeves of Owls (thank you Knit Picks on Videojug), which I am loving, especially as sewing together is not my favourite thing!

I've also enjoyed a couple of movies 500 Days of Summer, Bright Star and Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist. And I've nearly finished Notes From an Exhibition which is both moving and beautiful and every bit as good as The Whole Day Through. Click here to check out his website, which features his newest title Gentlemen's Relish. (Which I'm sure I'll be adding to my reading list shortly.)

Today I've been out walking with my Mum and Dad around the city of Salisbury and up to Old Sarum for a picnic. It was lovely to see them both, and we were blessed with seeing the first ducklings of spring in a 14-strong brood! Here's hoping that after a week of pretty miserable rain, spring is finally on its way!

Only nice things!

Owls is now on the needles and I am loving it! David is away for three weeks, so I've had lots of time to spend on it, including two knitting clubs at work and with the Poultry Cross knitters this fine afternoon. It feels pretty quick to knit up and as I'm still on the waist shaping it's nice and easy too! I had to wait patiently to get started because of the mixed dye lots, but the lovely folks at Laughing Hens came up trumps and sent out replacements for four of the balls before I'd even sent the first batch back. Hoorah for a great service - thanks Hens!

The living room is finally finished, with the arrival of the last frame this week. I put the pictures up last night and have been loving the new sophoisticated (not to mention tidy) vibe! There is nothing like being blissfully happy in your own home. I just wish that D was here to see it. (Although he'd probably need to straighten all of the pictures as my idea of straight definitely isn't as straight as his!)

I've also been working on the button bouquets for the flower girls at Shona's wedding and have made the prototype placemarker/favours too. The wedding is only four weeks away now and it's going to be such a beautiful day that I can barely wait! The hen weekend, which Sarah arranged perfectly, was last weekend in Cornwall and it was an absolute blast! Everyone had a great time, although I think I may have completed the journey home with considerably fewer brain cells...

Having a bit more time on my hands, means that I've had more time to read, and in the last fortnight I've read two really very good books; We Are All Made of Glue by Marina Lewycka and One Day by David Nicholls. Both of them were funny and sad and wryly observed and I would heartily recommend either of them. I'm just about to start on Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale, which I hope will live up to expectations.

It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas

Buttons, buttons, buttons! I've been being buttony non-stop for the last couple of weeks. We've got a Christmas Craft Fair at work this week, so I've been building up supplies of stock in preparation. It's on Tuesday and has been organized by the Walker Creative Group (of which I'm part) for Walker staff to sell their craft to colleagues. We're holding it in the canteen over lunchtime and will give 10% of our profits to the homeless charity Shelter. For my part of the fair I've made eight new bracelets, two brooches, two rings and eight pairs of earrings. The earrings are a new line, and I'm delighted with how well they've turned out. I've also had a commission from my best friend to make two button bouquets for the flower girls at her wedding in April - hoorah!

Other great news is that (thanks to my pal Andy) I've discovered Folksy, a UK version of Etsy, so I've opened up an online shop called as cute as buttons. I've only listed a few items so far, but do please visit my shop and forward a link to as many people as you can!

Aside from the buttons, I am still knitting and at today's Poultry Cross Knitters KIP, I just finished Mum's Shalom cardigan, so all I need to do is block it ready for Christmas. On the needles right now, all I have is my Study Blanket and the Lacy Tea Top (which is frustrating me no end!) so I think it might be time to cast on something new...