Saturday, 16 November 2013
What a Beautiful Day
On Wednesday we were lured outside by gorgeous blue skies and the desire to go and discover another lovely walk in the National Forest. We got on our way quite early in the day to make sure we got as many sunshine hours as possible and I took my camera along to snap a few pictures of this stunning day. Here are a few of my favourites...
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
One for Me, One for You
It feels like someone, somewhere has hit the switch to turn on the cold weather. All of a sudden the days are terribly short and the sun seems to really struggle to get high in the sky. Without warning I have had to swap my light waterproof jacket for a warm woollen coat and I find myself wanting to spend more time indoors than out. Winter is well and truly here and having some of my favourite home-made chocolate treats, Tiffin slice, is becoming a must!
It is not all bad news though, as I have also taken all of my blankets out of their boxes for us to snuggle under. It makes me so happy to see all of their happy colours spread around the house, and to wrap myself in the soft woolliness of them when the evenings draw in and the cold nips at my toes. Little T is also slowly starting to come round to liking blankets. He has never really liked being covered with anything while he sleeps and still prefers to have just a light cover over him, but he does like to play with the blankets very much.
I love my blankets a little bit too much to have them dragged along the floor, have toy cars driving along their stripes and sticky hands grabbing at them all day. This is why I decided to make Little T his very own blankie. I still had a fair amount of yarn left over from our big rainbow blanket and just got a few more balls of darker colours from my local yarn shop to fill in the gaps.
I went with a granny stripe as it is so quick to make, requires very little concentration or counting and feels like the perfect blanket for a toddler to play on. I also did a bit of interlocking colour work to make it that little bit more bright and colourful.
As always, the border was the hardest part for me. After quite some frustration and several failed attempts, I finally worked up something that I am very happy with :)
While I am on the subject of putting left over yarn to good use, I thought I will finally share my little owl bag with you. While my mum was here, I asked her to help me make a tote bag from some of the great unbleached cotton fabric I had found in a local haberdashery. With her being an expert at using a sewing machine, it was a matter of minutes to finish the bag itself. Next came the fun bit...
Using the left over cotton yarn from the African Flower blanket, I crocheted first one, then a second little owl to decorate the bag. I didn't use any particular pattern, I just made it up as I went along, and if I may say so myself, I am quite proud of these two little guys :)
I made some of Lucy's little hearts to give them a place to perch, sewing them on with cute little wooden buttons and added the final flourish of colour by crocheting some stripy straps and attaching them with big, bold buttons.
I do love this bag for being so cute and for the fact that I made it with my mum, but knowing that it used up all of the little scraps of yarn that I just didn't have the heart to throw away, makes me love this bag even more. It is a very happy bag, perfect for keeping those Winter Blues at bay :)
It is not all bad news though, as I have also taken all of my blankets out of their boxes for us to snuggle under. It makes me so happy to see all of their happy colours spread around the house, and to wrap myself in the soft woolliness of them when the evenings draw in and the cold nips at my toes. Little T is also slowly starting to come round to liking blankets. He has never really liked being covered with anything while he sleeps and still prefers to have just a light cover over him, but he does like to play with the blankets very much.
I love my blankets a little bit too much to have them dragged along the floor, have toy cars driving along their stripes and sticky hands grabbing at them all day. This is why I decided to make Little T his very own blankie. I still had a fair amount of yarn left over from our big rainbow blanket and just got a few more balls of darker colours from my local yarn shop to fill in the gaps.
As always, the border was the hardest part for me. After quite some frustration and several failed attempts, I finally worked up something that I am very happy with :)
While I am on the subject of putting left over yarn to good use, I thought I will finally share my little owl bag with you. While my mum was here, I asked her to help me make a tote bag from some of the great unbleached cotton fabric I had found in a local haberdashery. With her being an expert at using a sewing machine, it was a matter of minutes to finish the bag itself. Next came the fun bit...
Using the left over cotton yarn from the African Flower blanket, I crocheted first one, then a second little owl to decorate the bag. I didn't use any particular pattern, I just made it up as I went along, and if I may say so myself, I am quite proud of these two little guys :)
I made some of Lucy's little hearts to give them a place to perch, sewing them on with cute little wooden buttons and added the final flourish of colour by crocheting some stripy straps and attaching them with big, bold buttons.
I do love this bag for being so cute and for the fact that I made it with my mum, but knowing that it used up all of the little scraps of yarn that I just didn't have the heart to throw away, makes me love this bag even more. It is a very happy bag, perfect for keeping those Winter Blues at bay :)
Saturday, 26 October 2013
These are a few of my Favourite Things
October. A month of changeable weather and autumnal colours. A month of fun and excitement. A month that saw me turning thirty! What a month it's been :)
As boring as it may seem to some of you, I am not one for big parties and lots of birthday celebrations. I am much happier spending time with just P and Little T, going to some of our favourite places and eating some of our favourite things. Pizza certainly is a lunch time favourite for all of us and I was very pleased to spend some quality time in my kitchen, mixing and kneading the dough with my two boys joining in on the fun. I even got to pick the last handful of tiny tomatoes from my garden and use them to top our home made pizzas. It was a truly happy birthday lunch.
Believe it or not, but one of my favourite places to visit is the RAF museum. I have always had a fascination with aeroplanes and lucky for me, both P and Little T share my love of all things flying.
It was therefore only natural that the next day we were Shropshire bound for a day of aeronautical fun. Little T ran from one big plane to the next, bubbling over with excitement while P and I took it in turns to run after him leaving the other a moment to have a good look around. I obviously had my camera with me and snapped away happily every chance I got, but the picture below is perhaps my favourite one of the day.
It should come as no surprise to you that wool was part of my birthday celebrations too :) A dear friend of mine treated me to a day out at the Bakewell Wool Gathering where we were spoilt with stalls upon stalls of the most glorious yarnie goodness.
We spent many a happy hour chatting to the spinners and dyers and felters, trying to decide which of the many amazing wool suppliers to buy from and admiring all of the incredible crafts on display.
On our way home, we stopped off at the Caudwells Mill & Craft Centre to enjoy some more of the splendours the Peak District have to offer. It was a most enjoyable day, and one that I dearly hope to enjoy again next year.
I did bring home a couple of skeins of wool from The Gathering, one being from the very talented Rosie's Moments. 100% of the softest Merino wool, coloured in shades of Skye Blue, this was exactly what I had hoped to find at the show.
I have been admiring all of the stunning button up cowls that are all the rage at the moment, and have been wanting one of my own for a while now. So with my perfect skein of wool and some quirky wooden buttons, I was good to go.
I found a great free pattern on Ravelry from the lovely blog of Persia Lou. It worked up so quickly and easily and within a few hours I had finished my cowl. The shell stitch worked perfectly to show off the different shades of blue in the yarn and makes for a very snuggly neck warmer, sure to be keeping my neck warm all Winter long.
As boring as it may seem to some of you, I am not one for big parties and lots of birthday celebrations. I am much happier spending time with just P and Little T, going to some of our favourite places and eating some of our favourite things. Pizza certainly is a lunch time favourite for all of us and I was very pleased to spend some quality time in my kitchen, mixing and kneading the dough with my two boys joining in on the fun. I even got to pick the last handful of tiny tomatoes from my garden and use them to top our home made pizzas. It was a truly happy birthday lunch.
Believe it or not, but one of my favourite places to visit is the RAF museum. I have always had a fascination with aeroplanes and lucky for me, both P and Little T share my love of all things flying.
It was therefore only natural that the next day we were Shropshire bound for a day of aeronautical fun. Little T ran from one big plane to the next, bubbling over with excitement while P and I took it in turns to run after him leaving the other a moment to have a good look around. I obviously had my camera with me and snapped away happily every chance I got, but the picture below is perhaps my favourite one of the day.
It should come as no surprise to you that wool was part of my birthday celebrations too :) A dear friend of mine treated me to a day out at the Bakewell Wool Gathering where we were spoilt with stalls upon stalls of the most glorious yarnie goodness.
We spent many a happy hour chatting to the spinners and dyers and felters, trying to decide which of the many amazing wool suppliers to buy from and admiring all of the incredible crafts on display.
On our way home, we stopped off at the Caudwells Mill & Craft Centre to enjoy some more of the splendours the Peak District have to offer. It was a most enjoyable day, and one that I dearly hope to enjoy again next year.
I did bring home a couple of skeins of wool from The Gathering, one being from the very talented Rosie's Moments. 100% of the softest Merino wool, coloured in shades of Skye Blue, this was exactly what I had hoped to find at the show.
I have been admiring all of the stunning button up cowls that are all the rage at the moment, and have been wanting one of my own for a while now. So with my perfect skein of wool and some quirky wooden buttons, I was good to go.
I found a great free pattern on Ravelry from the lovely blog of Persia Lou. It worked up so quickly and easily and within a few hours I had finished my cowl. The shell stitch worked perfectly to show off the different shades of blue in the yarn and makes for a very snuggly neck warmer, sure to be keeping my neck warm all Winter long.
If turning thirty is always this much fun, I might just have to turn thirty every year :)
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Wrapped up in Autumn
There certainly is a feeling in the air that the seasons are once again changing. The days are dawning cool, pale and misty and the evenings are drawing in earlier and earlier. Autumn is well and truly here...
As much as I hate to say goodbye to Summer, I do have a special place in my heart for Autumn too. I love all the colours of it, all the warm hues of orange, purple and red that are everywhere around us. It always inspires me to grab my slightly neglected camera bag and head out on a woodland walk to snap as many pictures as I can.
All the trees and shrubs in our favourite forest seem to have exploded with fruits, berries and seeds over the past week and no matter where I pointed my camera, there was something waiting to be captured. I haven't had this much fun with with my camera lenses in a long time. It really was a rather wonderful afternoon.
Best of all, with the weather turning slightly cooler, I had the chance to use my gorgeous new wrap. I made this a good few months ago, but haven't brought it out until today. It's my version of this wrap from the talented Purl Bee and I must admit that I am completely in love with it.
For over a year I squirrelled away little balls of Debbie Bliss Bella yarn, buying some whenever I found them on offer and finally splurging out on a whole bag full when I heard that this range is being discontinued.
It is the most wonderfully soft, snugly, warm and luxurious yarn I have ever used and the colours are enough to make me smile no matter what the weather. Being wrapped up in this made my already amazing day just perfect :)
As much as I hate to say goodbye to Summer, I do have a special place in my heart for Autumn too. I love all the colours of it, all the warm hues of orange, purple and red that are everywhere around us. It always inspires me to grab my slightly neglected camera bag and head out on a woodland walk to snap as many pictures as I can.
All the trees and shrubs in our favourite forest seem to have exploded with fruits, berries and seeds over the past week and no matter where I pointed my camera, there was something waiting to be captured. I haven't had this much fun with with my camera lenses in a long time. It really was a rather wonderful afternoon.
Best of all, with the weather turning slightly cooler, I had the chance to use my gorgeous new wrap. I made this a good few months ago, but haven't brought it out until today. It's my version of this wrap from the talented Purl Bee and I must admit that I am completely in love with it.
For over a year I squirrelled away little balls of Debbie Bliss Bella yarn, buying some whenever I found them on offer and finally splurging out on a whole bag full when I heard that this range is being discontinued.
It is the most wonderfully soft, snugly, warm and luxurious yarn I have ever used and the colours are enough to make me smile no matter what the weather. Being wrapped up in this made my already amazing day just perfect :)
Friday, 20 September 2013
Mothers and other wonderful things
I love England and over the past ten years it has become my home, but my heart will never truly leave my beloved South Africa. I have been able to go and visit my parents nearly every year since I left home, but due to the changes in our circumstances this year, I will not be able to make the trip over there. Luckily there was a compromise to be had and my mum came to visit us!
My mum and I are very similar souls and it is from her that I got my love of colour and using my hands to create beautiful things. She is a quilter and a very talented one at that. My house is filled with her amazing creations and I am very privileged to own these colourful works of art. I was lucky enough to receive this newest addition to my collection on my mum's arrival.
We also share a love of good food and fresh fruit and we made sure to eat as many doughnut peaches as we possibly could while they were (briefly) in season.
Tomatoes is another one of our favourite things and we ate them in all shapes and sizes, fried, grilled or just simply cut into salads, we're not picky :)
The weather wasn't exactly on it's best behaviour over the two week visit and we had to spend a lot of time indoors. Luckily my mum is also a keen crocheter and we were more than happy to while away the hours with hooks and yarn, chatting and laughing and catching up with each others lives. Happy times :)
As is always the case when you are having fun, the time flew past us at a worrying pace and before we knew it, it was time for my mum to fly home again. It never gets any easier to say goodbye and I never manage to keep the tears from flowing when I walk the other way. At least this time I was able to give something of my own to my mum to take with her for those days when we miss each other so. A little bit of me and a little bit of South Africa all in one colourful blanket.
It was so lovely to make this blanket and I put a lot of love into the making of it and am happy to say that I loved the end result. The best part of all was to give it to someone I love dearly and that it now lives in the home where my heart lives too.
My mum and I are very similar souls and it is from her that I got my love of colour and using my hands to create beautiful things. She is a quilter and a very talented one at that. My house is filled with her amazing creations and I am very privileged to own these colourful works of art. I was lucky enough to receive this newest addition to my collection on my mum's arrival.
We also share a love of good food and fresh fruit and we made sure to eat as many doughnut peaches as we possibly could while they were (briefly) in season.
The weather wasn't exactly on it's best behaviour over the two week visit and we had to spend a lot of time indoors. Luckily my mum is also a keen crocheter and we were more than happy to while away the hours with hooks and yarn, chatting and laughing and catching up with each others lives. Happy times :)
As is always the case when you are having fun, the time flew past us at a worrying pace and before we knew it, it was time for my mum to fly home again. It never gets any easier to say goodbye and I never manage to keep the tears from flowing when I walk the other way. At least this time I was able to give something of my own to my mum to take with her for those days when we miss each other so. A little bit of me and a little bit of South Africa all in one colourful blanket.
It was so lovely to make this blanket and I put a lot of love into the making of it and am happy to say that I loved the end result. The best part of all was to give it to someone I love dearly and that it now lives in the home where my heart lives too.
Sunday, 25 August 2013
A Month of Moments
August has been one funny, crazy, wonderful month full of happy little moments. Our lives are still a bit upside down and chaotic at the moment with lots of working hours and early starts, but I have made sure to make the most of the free time we have to not let the Summer go to waste. We are still going on long walks through the forests and bike rides along the river and have even been to a local farm to pick our own raspberries. Little T loved running around the farm, picking berries and he ate nearly his own body weight in the juicy red gems. I managed to bring home a fair amount of raspberries and quickly made some jam from it. I used Nigella's "hands-free" recipe from her How To Be a Domestic Goddess book and have to say that not only is it the easiest way of making jam, but it is also one of the best jams I have ever eaten.
Fruit has been a staple in our house over the Summer and one of our favourites this year is watermelon. It is one of life's greatest pleasures, biting into an ice cold slice of sweet, juicy watermelon on a hot and muggy day. It brings back so many happy childhood memories for me and is creating many more happy memories for our little family now. I will be sorry to see the end of the season.
Our meal times have been a bit all over the place with both P and I working strange hours, so I have been making lots of dishes that can be eaten cold. One dish that is a winner time and again is roasted veggie salad. I can eat this all day, every day and not get tired of it. It's so quick and easy to make and ever so versatile. I might just make some more for dinner tonight :)
It goes without saying that I have been busy baking too. Little T has been getting more and more interested in helping me in the kitchen and simply loves to bake cupcakes at the moment. We make tiny little fairy cakes in my lovely new mini cupcake tin, just the right size for little hands.
There hasn't been time to make any spectacular cakes this month, but I was very happy to have just simple and easy desserts that can be enjoyed when we all have a moment to sit together.
Life may not be picture perfect at the moment and I really couldn't care less. We are more than content just spending happy moments together and enjoying life with an adventurous and curious toddler in the house; who by the way was very excited to show me his new "pet" this morning :)
Fruit has been a staple in our house over the Summer and one of our favourites this year is watermelon. It is one of life's greatest pleasures, biting into an ice cold slice of sweet, juicy watermelon on a hot and muggy day. It brings back so many happy childhood memories for me and is creating many more happy memories for our little family now. I will be sorry to see the end of the season.
Our meal times have been a bit all over the place with both P and I working strange hours, so I have been making lots of dishes that can be eaten cold. One dish that is a winner time and again is roasted veggie salad. I can eat this all day, every day and not get tired of it. It's so quick and easy to make and ever so versatile. I might just make some more for dinner tonight :)
It goes without saying that I have been busy baking too. Little T has been getting more and more interested in helping me in the kitchen and simply loves to bake cupcakes at the moment. We make tiny little fairy cakes in my lovely new mini cupcake tin, just the right size for little hands.
There hasn't been time to make any spectacular cakes this month, but I was very happy to have just simple and easy desserts that can be enjoyed when we all have a moment to sit together.
Life may not be picture perfect at the moment and I really couldn't care less. We are more than content just spending happy moments together and enjoying life with an adventurous and curious toddler in the house; who by the way was very excited to show me his new "pet" this morning :)
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