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.

 

If turning thirty is always this much fun, I might just have to turn thirty every year :)

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 :)

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.

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 :)

Gardens and Other Happy Memories

I am sure that you have heard by now that the UK experienced a heatwave over the past couple of weeks and I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it's been. Long, hot, sunny days galore, that is what I have been waiting for :) After years of living in small London flats up in the air, it has been a dream come true to be able to just open the living room door and have our own little garden to sit in when the weather beckons. Little T and I have been spending every possible second outside, building up our Vitamin D stores, eating lots of ice cream and splashing in the paddling pool. It has been a truly wonderful time.

Our garden really is nothing more than a three meter square of grass, one medium sized tree and a strip of paving, but it suits us perfectly. I have never been one for gardening and was certainly not blessed with green fingers, but I felt that I should at least try to get something growing over the summer. I got some veggie plants from a very good friend, and I am chuffed to bits that not only have I managed to keep them alive, but that they are actually flowering and looking very likely to respectively produce some courgettes and tomatoes later on.

I have had similar success with some sweat-pea plants I got on sale from a local supermarket and I can't help but smile every time I see this pot of colourful flowers.

Sweet-peas always remind me of my grandmother and hold a very special place in my heart. Their delicately sweet and lovely fragrance is one of my favourite smells in this world and I can be found regularly getting up close and personal with a flower to indulge in taking a deep sniff :)

Not being satisfied with just having flowers in the garden I have yet again turned to hooks and yarn to capture the beauty of nature and to create my very own flower bed blanket for my house.

As luck would have it, one of my favourite brands of yarn is having a huge summer sale and I quickly snapped up a bargain at this lovely on-line store. Twenty fat little balls of pure colour joy arrived on my doorstep early last week, each one a 100% finest Egyptian cotton and an absolute pleasure to work with. There was never any question in my mind as to which flower pattern I would be using for this project, there was only ever one choice, the African Flower. I fell in love with this design the first time I saw it, and it only rooted itself deeper into my heart when I found out that it came from a much loved magazine from my home country and that it was originally written in my mother tongue, Afrikaans! This was something I had to do :)

I have been making flowers in any spare moment I can steal and am already in love with the results.

The pile has grown quite a bit since I took this picture, but I will keep them under wraps for now and show it to you again once they are all done and put together into one gloriously colourful blanket.

For now, it looks like I'll have to move indoors for a few days as they skies have clouded over and a light rain is falling outside. It's not too bad though as the plants are sure to be rejoicing in some cooler, wetter weather and it gave me some time to quickly whip up a batch up fat and fluffy griddle cakes for breakfast this morning.

Why not give them a go for yourself if you are missing the sun already :)

South African Griddle Cakes (a.k.a "plaatkoekies")

• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup self-raising flour, sifted
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

Whisk together the egg, sugar and half of the milk and then stir in the butter. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and give a quick stir to mix, slowly add the rest of the milk, mixing into a smooth batter.
Heat a flat griddle pan and drop large spoonfuls of the mixture onto the pan to bake, flipping them over once  to brown both sides. They only need about a minute on each side, so be careful not to burn them.
Serve warm with syrup or jam.

Enjoy!

Celebrate!!

A man in famous glasses once said, "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans". Just when I thought that we have finally settled into some sort of normal and that things will run smoothly for a while, out of the blue, life threw us another curve ball. Our lives have yet again been turned upside-down over the past couple of weeks and my days have become even more of a juggling act. Luckily, it is mostly for the better and with all of the craziness came the hottest, sunniest, Summery days of the year yet. So all in all it hasn't been too bad. Although I was more than just a bit frazzled and stressed out during this topsy-turvy time, I have been able to stay positive and see cause for celebration in it all. Of course I baked a couple of gorgeous cakes to make us all smile.

 

A luxurious Chocolate Fudge cake came first, sweet and glossy and oh, so chocolatey. This is every chocoholic's dream! 

When we had our fill of chocolate, I baked our favourite Rich Almond cake and generously covered it in thick Chantilly cream. The perfect cake to eat while watching some historic Wimbledon matches.

It would have been sinful not to get out and about in this wonderful weather and we made sure to make some time to go and explore one of our neighbouring towns. I was most pleased to find this winding little road, decorated with bunting and lined with quirky little shops. It was a most relaxing day, just what the (head)doctor ordered.

We also had time to pop into a charity organised car show, where I happened across my dream vehicle. I might just be willing to sell a kidney for one of these camper vans :)

Heading home at the end of the day, we strolled through a perfectly pretty English garden, complete with pink poppies to make it an even happier day and to remind me that Life really is what you make it...