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Saturday 30 June 2012

designer jam jars .................

I have got distracted from my patchwork and have started knitting jam jar covers!
As I'm staying with Kate it's a great opportunity for us to catch up with wedding planning. Yes, another wedding - Kate gets married in October and after seeing a lovely cosy jar cover on Pinterest she has tasked me to come up with a design. The tables are to be decorated with jam jars and bottles full of seasonal flowers.

I started with a cable design
they have multiplied



A quick collage hope you like them

Talk soon x

Thursday 28 June 2012

patchwork ..... could be my next addiction!





Before my travels I had an afternoon with Pam - we have both been thinking about patchwork for ages but never really got ourselves sorted, so on Monday afternoon Pam arrived armed with sheets of printed hexagons and some of her fabric stash. We set to work cutting out the templates and deciding on fabric







After lots of fun matching different fabrics together - Pam decided on different shades of green, with some florals.

I've chosen some lovely soft pink and greens - watch this space...........


Talk soon - baby Jake calls x




Wednesday 27 June 2012

five facts about me and my nominations ............


just had breakfast
Jake has just gone down for a nap we had an early start, he was awake from 5.45 am, after a few cuddles and a story in bed we got up at 6.15 am for breakfast. I've now got a little quiet time to share with you my thoughts and nominations.

Here goes 5 facts about me - not very interesting so don't get excited ........

1. I'm a trained nurse but have taken early retirement.

2. I have been married 35 years which makes me sound very old, I was married at 19 ( which seems very young). My life has always been full, I love being a mum and have had a fulfilling career as a nurse. The later years I moved away from hands on nursing and worked up to be a senior manager within the NHS. Life got very busy leaving me little time for my creative interests. Now things have turned full circle and I spend lots of time crafting and being with my little grandchildren I am very lucky.

3 I'm from a family of women, my dad had three sisters, then three daughters, I'm the eldest and I have three amazing daughters. My daughters have changed history as between them they have five sons and one daughter.

4. I have always loved crafting, as a little girl I would pretend to be Valerie Singleton from Blue Peter. I would set up the table as though I was on television and make things.

5. I used to wish I was Snow White ( I was only 5)

Well thats enough about me  - now onto the nominations. My lovely blog awards go to (small drum roll)
 

1. http://oneofakindboutique.blogspot.co.uk/
I love Kate's blog she always fills me with inspiration and pride (one of my very special daughter's)

2 http://slowlivingessentials.blogspot.co.uk/
A beautiful blog, so well written, Christine has sparked my interest in slow living and has encouraged me to view life differently.

3. http://mrsbobobun.blogspot.co.uk/
This is such a bright and sunny blog - it gives me so many ideas - I love the photography.

4 http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/
Lucy is so very talented I adore her crochet projects, her photography and her style of writing

5 http://homely-one.blogspot.co.uk/
Its lovely to step inside and share a peak of Amanda's life. Her two little girls remind me of times when my own daughters were small and that each moment is so special.

Hope you have time to take a look at the 5 blogs  - I will catch up later as I still have to tell you about my new love - patchwork x





Tuesday 26 June 2012

my first award .......................

I was up and about very early this morning, busy packing and getting ready for my trip to Kate's - whilst having my morning cup of coffee I thought I would spend 10 minutes catching up with my favourite blogs. I was delighted to find that Barbara who writes the wonderful "thenewgoodlife" blog had nominated me for a "one lovely blog award"   


                                 
I am so thrilled as I am a relative newcomer to the blogging world and this is my first ever award.                  
I now have to share 5 facts about me and nominate 5 of my favourite blogs for this lovely award  - I can't wait but my 10 minutes were up about an hour ago so I must get busy.

Back soon with five interesting facts and my nominations x

Monday 25 June 2012

my garden ..................




I'm going back to London again tomorrow so I am catching up with jobs around the house. I've
just looked out of my kitchen window and the garden looks lovely - felt I deserved a five minute wander. I thought I would take a few snaps and share some of my favourite flowers and plants with you.




   

                                                                       
     


I love my garden - but back indoors now finishing kitchen chores. I have a nice afternoon planned, Pam is coming over and we are giving our knitting and crochet needles a rest, as we both fancy starting a patchwork project. I will post some photos later.

Talk soon
Sue x


Sunday 24 June 2012

week three homework - creative post

I have saved my precious Sunday to do my homework - my partner being  super fit and athletic has gone off to compete in the Manchester 10k run so he was up and out early, leaving me with a quiet house and some nice thinking space.

I love writing on my blog or should I say rambling on my blog but when it comes to homework time I seem to get a blog block............
                                                       
This week Holly has set us homework that involves writing 2 creative post ideas - we can choose from the list below:-
  • Shop Around – Go to a shop, ask the manager if you can write about it and photograph it, post it on your blog
  • Books + Magazines – Review a book or magazine on your blog showing photos of it that you have taken yourself, not scanned.
  • Columns - Introduce a new column or a series on your blog.
  • Surveys & Comments – Post a survey on your blog asking readers specific questions about your blog and content.
  • Read Blogs - If you opt for this one as homework, then write a post introducing your readers to 5 blogs that you recently started reading and why.
  • Lists - Write a blog post that lists ideas or tips on a particular topic.
  • Giveaways – Host a giveaway; either give away something you’ve made or something sponsored by a favourite on-line shop. This may be hard to organise by Monday — so you may want to skip this one.
  • Greatest Hits – Write a post dedicated to 5 posts (with links) that you wrote 6 months ago and encourage your readers to check them out and tell them why.
  • Your Life – Document parts of your day in a creative way (photos, pod-cast, video, hand writing, etc.) and post it on your blog.
  • Friend Spotlight – Dedicate a post to a blog reader, friend, family member or fellow blogger. Detail why and ask your readers to chime in with their own dedications.
For my first creative post I am going to review a magazine - I will decide on my second creative post later. 

When I was in London last week Kate had bought me a present  - it was a  magazine that I hadn't heard of before called Kinfolk - a guide for small gatherings.




The magazine is delightful it has been written by a group of artists who share an interest in small gatherings and entertaining -  Kinfolk  advocates a more natural approach to entertaining. 

Kinfolk ensures that each element of the magazine is consistent with the belief that entertaining should be uncomplicated, simple and  less contrived. The group have even drawn up a manifesto which I thought would be nice to share ....

Manifesto

Kinfolk is a growing community of artists with a shared interest in small gatherings. We recognise that there is something about a table shared by friends, not just a wedding or once-a-year holiday extravaganza, that anchors our relationships and energises us. We have come together to create Kinfolk as our collaborative way of advocating the natural approach to entertaining that we love.
Every element of Kinfolk—the features, photography, and general aesthetics—are consistent with the way we feel entertaining should be: simple, uncomplicated, and less contrived. Kinfolk is the marriage of our appreciation for art and design and our love for spending time with family and friends. 

Nathan Williams is the editor and he has included essays and personal stories in this edition. The writings collectively focus on welcoming food, community and simplicity into our lives. Sharing time and joy together not just because of an event like a wedding, a christening, a birthday party but just because .......
The accounts share fun experiences, alone or together - some are unassuming (but so important) like making  a commitment to have  breakfast together everyday. Thinking of my life how often do I sit down to breakfast with my partner or how often do we share our evening meals together. 
Reflecting back on my life some of the happiest moments have involved sharing a glass of wine or a bite to eat with family or close friends.
The photography is exquisite, I felt lost in the images, evoking memories, tastes, smells or just the desire to want more.......  


morning rituals
Max and me
the cook's atelier

One of the stories that resonates with me is Mama's soup - words by Agatha Khishchenko. 
Agatha shares with the reader her vivid childhood memories of her mother's soup, the ritual of shredding vegetables, stirring the pot, straining the broth - all of the special times she sat at the kitchen table eating her soup discussing her day. A story of how a simple recipe, that cost very little to prepare and stemmed from the families lack of money becomes not only a staple at the dinner table but a memoir of family gatherings.
                                                               Agatha Khishchenko

For me this evoked memories of my childhood and helping my mother make her version of a Lancashire hotpot which had little meat but lots of potatoes and a pastry crust - it was one of my favourite meals. Very hearty, very cheap and very filling for a growing family.
I hope you have enjoyed this post and it's tempted you to have a look at the magazine  - Kate bought me mine from Anthropologie but I'm sure it can be ordered from lots of other outlets.


Talk soon
Sue x














Saturday 23 June 2012

catching up at home

What a dreary day it's not stopped raining since I arrived home from Kate's.and this weekend it's been forecast that we will have another 10 cm's of rain. I've been catching up with lots of boring housework jobs and of course shopping when I can brave leaving the house.

Although I did have a highlight yesterday, Pam called round for a coffee and we decided to drive over to John Lewis as the summer clearance sale had started on Thursday. We both bought some lovely yarn to add to our depleted stash.


I love my new yarn it makes me feel bright, energised and cheerful I can't wait to start lots of new projects.


I was planning to take some photographs of the store to use as part of my week 3 homework for the blogging course but in my yarn crazed! excitement I totally forgot to take the photos. I will either have to go back which won't be a great hardship or else think of another store for the homework.

In between jobs I am experimenting with knitted and crochet icords as I want to cover an electrical flex but I am having great trouble threading the flex through the completed icord - it stretches the icord so that the turning seam becomes very visible and you can see the electrical flex through the yarn. If I add extra stitches the turning seam is even more apparent. I'm now having a go with a makeshift French knitting bobbin but not sure it will provide a thick enough cord to thread the flex through. has anyone got any ideas?



                                                                                               
Hope to catch up later I'm abandoning my bobbin and braving the rain as we desperately need some food shopping.

Talk later
Sue x




Thursday 21 June 2012

playing on the green

On Tuesday it was a lovely sunny day so I decided to pack a mini picnic, grab a rug, a few toys then Jake and I set off for a morning on the Green.


                            We arrived at the green, picked a shady spot and set out our rug.

                         

We had a great time playing with a couple of soft balls and reading peppa pig stories. Jake was so funny he crawled round and round the rug but wouldn't crawl on the grass he didn't like the feel of it on his knees. When he felt a bit more adventuress he started to pull himself up and walk around his pram.


After a few hours we packed up and went to do some grocery shopping, then it was home for Jake's nap and I managed to do a little bit of cooking. We had quite a few left overs so I added a few other bits and pieces and made a tapas type evening meal with lots of different things to try, we also had a few potatoes in so I cut them into wedges and coated them with oil, black pepper and paprika and baked in the oven. 



                                           I had another go at collages  - this one is sharper


Then onto pudding I whipped up a sponge mix and made some large and small cupcakes. 


                         
                            tiny cupcakes with mini marshmallows and chocolate flake
                                    strawberry and cream cupcakes
                                         another fancy collage ...........


Just after Jake's teatime his other grandma came to collect him, she is going to look after him for a few days as I am returning home until next Tuesday. It was sad seeing Jake go but I knew that Kate would be sadder still when she got home from work. Kate's found it hard returning to work and misses Jake so much. But it's only three weeks before she breaks up for the summer, then she will be with him every day.
The plan for the evening was that when Kate and Seb got home from work we would have dinner watching the football. It was a crucial match for England against the Ukraine and England needed to win or draw. The football was a bit disappointing but at least England won. I decided to go to bed early as I needed to pack and get every thing sorted for going home. Although I got a little distracted when I got into bed as Kate had left me her iPad  - I would love one but unfortunately it can only be added to the bottom of a very long wish list. 
The next big decision was should I leave early and go to Liberty before I catch my train home - decided not to bother as the thought of a rush hour tube journey with my suitcase quickly outweighed the benefit of a shopping trip, maybe next week. 


                        
The train journey home was good and I managed to crochet some flowers which helped pass the time away and is a great way to practice stitches. 


I'm back home - talk soon
Sue  

Monday 18 June 2012

new header ............

So excited I've got a new blog header - my daughter's partner who is super talented has just designed it for me............ I hope you like it as much as I do.

night night x

blogging course ...... update 2

Jake's having a nap so I am catching up with my blogging course. Just finished reading through week 2 and have finished my homework which included updating my profile and profile picture. I have decided to be brave and use a photo of me rather than a knitted chicken.

I managed to take lots of interesting shots at Anthropologie over the weekend and I have used a variety of different apps on my iphone. I downloaded camera +, instaCollage, instaFrame, and Pic Stitch. Some were free and some cost 69p so not a great outlay. 

I am pleased with the results, although some have blurred a little when I have put them into collages - see what you think.



I have also taken some images of Jake ............

waiting for breakfast
getting his camera ready 

cheeky smile


                                       time for a snooze

collage of our morning


I need to make the photos a bit sharper but I have had lots of fun experimenting and Jake is my very willing model.


Talk soon
Sue :)