Friends Challenge

I'm a little late with this post, but hey, better late than never!

As you already know, each month my lovely friends, Lesley and Sarah and myself take part in the 'Friends Monthly Challenge'. It's a little textile challenge we take in turns to set for each other. There is no pressure to take part, but its a good way to try something that maybe we have never done before, and also a good way to keep in touch as we all live miles and miles apart.

This month the challenge was to make a Christmas decoration using a felted woollen jumper and some jingly bells.

So, thinking cap on.

Firstly a trip to the charity shop for a wool jumper to felt

Then give wool jumper a couple of boil washes in the washing machine, incorporating sneaky dogs new rubber ball for a bit of agitation. (sneaky dog not too pleased about this)

Thinking cap starting to feel a bit tight now.

For months now I have wanted some bunting, you know the stuff, pretty floral triangles strung together. Well being a Yorkshire woman, I wasn't going to buy any when I could quite easily make some myself. Only, you know what its like, I've never actually got around to it.

Thinking cap really squeezing now.

I know I'll make some Christmas bunting with my jumper. See sketch book page below.

After a lot of procrastination and a little doodling, I decided that one jumper wasn't going to make much bunting and if I made individual decorations instead, they could go to the craft stall at the school Christmas Fayre. Feeling quite smug with myself now for getting ahead with school fayre stuff, it's usually a last minute, night before rummage for something passable to send; I removed the thinking cap altogether.

So here are my felted jumper decorations.

Only three I'm afraid.

I've thought I'd have a bit of an American Primitive theme.

Please note the use of jingly bells at the bottom of each heart.

Oh, I nearly forgot, each one is stuffed with cloves to smell Christmassy.

I might just have time to make a couple more before Lesley sets the next challenge.

You can see Lesley and Sarah's challenge decorations here and here.

bye for now.

Fi x

London Adventure Part 2

Gosh! Yesterday's post was a bit wordy. I don't want to bore you all rigid with my holiday snaps, so I think we'll try and keep it simple and streamlined today. Here goes...

Up and out early this morning. Top of the list, The Tower of London.

Beautiful buildings.

Lots of these smart gentlemen.

Beautiful carvings, all done by prisoners kept in the tower.

Day 3, another crisp sunny day and the Victoria and Albert Museum

Lots of blurry photos taken here. ( I was so overwhelmed)

Beautiful gowns, recognise this one?

Love this style, Made one similar to wear for work a few years ago, but that's another story.

How gorgeous is this ?

This is the original frontage of the museum, now part of a courtyard garden.

Wow! Can you see the people at the bottom centre of the photo!

A very quick dash around the Natural History Museum, before it closed.

And then

Leadenhall Market

We also managed to squeeze in a walk around the Science Museum, and Covent Garden. Not bad really for two and a bit days.

Oh, and lastly, something I'm quite proud of... I crocheted on the plane and on the tube, YEAY!

London Adventure Part 1

We're back! And what a lovely time we had in London. But before I go any further I just want to say thank you so much for all the good wishes you sent me for my little holiday. It's so lovely that you should take the time to leave a comment on my little blog. Thank you.

But even more importantly, thank you to my parents for keeping an eye on our children for us, not to mention walking sneaky dog and feeding manky cat.

Oh, we had a fantastic time, very tiring but fantastic.

The excitement started the minute we left home. As we set off on Monday morning the weather was decidedly nasty. ( Yes I have to admit the photo I left on my blog was actually taken a couple of days before we went away. Caught out, oh the shame.) We had to carefully navigate our way through several flooded roads, crawling slowly through the deep water. Wild and woolly it certainly was. The rivers were swollen and racing, tumbling and crashing over the rocks. Sheep were sheltering anywhere they could, against rocks, behind grassy mounds. Would we get to the airport? Would we get to the next village? But it was beautiful; raw and exhilarating, but beautiful.

I gave a mental wave to Lucy of Attic24 as we drove south through her little town.

After a little bit of a bumpy flight, though not as bad as I thought it was going to be, and a speedy journey on the aptly named Heathrow Express, we arrived at Paddington Station. Bustling along with everyone else we navigated our way by tube to our hotel near Russell Square. I do like the tube, it's difficult to get lost, it takes you more or less straight to where you want to be and as an added bonus, you get to sit and stare at every ones footwear. Wow! Did I see lots of nice shoes!

We checked into our room and dumped our bags, then straight back out again, not a minute to waste. Back on the tube to Sloane Square to search out V V Rouleaux. All very nice, beautiful ribbons and trims, but it was soooo darned hot in there, I couldn't wait to get out again. Sorry, no photos as they were meanies and wouldn't let me take any pics for you. Now you may not believe what I'm about to say, but... I didn't buy anything! No not a thing, no ribbon, no braid, no tassels, no beads, no feathers, no sparkly stuff, nothing. I think there was so much I would have liked to have had a meter or two of, but nothing that I actually needed. (not that, that has ever stopped me before) Maybe it was jet lag, yeah that must have been it, that 50 minute flight, addled my brain. This is the best I could do photo wise. A snap from outside in the street.

Next was the search for Cath Kidston. Well not her personally, but one of her shops. Once again, no picture taking was allowed. Yeah, disappointing I know. Now this shop was also full of scrumminess. Everywhere I turned I was bombarded with CK retro perkiness. Wonderful man gallantly left me alone to peruse at my leisure, retreating to the normality of the Prince Regent public house on the corner. I carefully circumnavigated the sales floor several times, inspecting and scrutinising, touching and stroking. I descended the stairs, once again making several sweeps of the lower sales floor, mentally logging colour combinations, searching the mental Christmas list, who would appreciate a CK lip balm? And shall I tell you something? Quite frankly I was a little disappointed. When it came down to it, there wasn't anything I actually wanted to spend my hard earned cash on! The stone roses bucket bag that I'd been drooling over for weeks online, was rather stiff and heavy. No I'd rather spend the £40 somewhere else, even the crochet granny square blanket I'd coveted online, looked nylony and thin with several stray ends sticking out.

Back outside it was dark and drizzly, hussly and bustley, London lights shimmering in the wetness. I joined Wonderful Man in the pub. His eyebrows levitating slightly at the lack of carrier bags. We found a dark cosy corner and ordered some deliciously unhealthy pub grub. Tired limbs and full tummies we sat and watched the world go by feeling sleepy but happy. We took a slow walk back to our hotel down Marylebone Rd, passing Regents Park and Tottenham Court Rd, back to Bloomsbury and our longed for pillow.

All in all a good day.

I'll try and regale you with some more of our London adventure tomorrow, but before I go, I leave you with this picture of the rather grand unisex toilet in the Prince Regent. Changing Rooms eat your heart out!

A Little Jaunt.

Up early this morning. Popped my sleepy head outside the front door. Here comes the sun. Hope it hangs around!

Wonderful man and I are off to London for a couple of days. It's our 20th wedding anniversary treat. We're going to visit a couple of museums and have a good mooch around. Generally we're going to spend time doing the things you can't do with children in tow. OOOps! I didn't mean it to sound like that. What I meant was, that we'll be able to take our time and read all the writing in the display cases instead of being dragged away by children eager to see the next thing.

I also have plans to fit in a quick visit to a Cath Kidston shop and V V Rouleaux , ok so maybe they won't be that quick-a-visit!

Be back soon. Fi x

Happy, Happy Cupcake, Happy!

Hello. I'm so excited! And I'm not really sure why. Maybe I'm just having one of those 'High on Life' days; or it could be that I'm going to London for a couple of days next week with wonderful man to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.

Or

It could just be that I've been sewing, sewing, sewing and I'm really pleased with what I've made. I think a lot of the pleasure has come from the challenge. I've had to work out and design my own pattern, which meant squeezing my poor old shrivelled up brain, trying to remember the Pi r squared thingy from junior school maths (now who have thought that they would ever need to use that in real life eh! so maybe there is still hope for algebra and equations! ) so I could make a circle the correct size for my needs. It wasn't pretty to watch I can tell you. There was much rubbing out and screwing up of paper, not to mention compass twiddling.

And all to make...

Cupcakes!

Hell! They've been fiddly!

Especially this bit: I tried stitching the bottoms on with sewing machine at first. It took about 30 minutes and much swearing! Any tips here would be gratefully received.

I wanted my cupcake to be quite realistic in shape, ie the case to be wider at the top than the base, not to look like a chopped off toilet roll tube!

Then there was the size of the cake part: I didn't want it overflowing like a large American muffin. (Not that there is anything wrong with American muffins, but this is a British fairy cake or bun. Small but perfectly formed.)

Next came the best part. Oh, the excitement! What trimmings should I use? Buttons or sequins, beads or ribbon, rickrack or lace? Should they look realistic or just fluffy and over the top?

Decisions, decisions!

It's no good. I can't wait any longer. I've got to show you them NOW.

TA-DAA!!!

I feel ridiculously happy with them.

And they're completely CALORIE FREE! WHOOHOO!!!

Remember yesterdays utterly gorgeous glass cake dome? Looking a little sad and empty?

Here it is today modeling this seasons latest in cupcakes.

Aaaah. I'm all cupcaked out now.

All smiley and happy!

The Scottish Queen and a Cake Plate

Hello, hello, hello. Just a quickie as it's nearly my bedtime.

At the weekend wonderful man and I had a little jaunt to Leyburn.

This is the view from Leyburn Shawl, so named because history has is that Mary Queen of Scots dropped her shawl here as she was escaping from Bolton Castle 5 miles away. This is just the start from Leyburn, one day we'll walk the full 5 miles to Bolton Castle and take lots of pics. (oh you lucky people!!!)

Back in Leyburn, I thought you might like to see Serendipity's Christamassy window.(Yes I know we haven't had Halloween yet, yada, yada, yada)

What do you think? Pretty eh? Getting you in the Christmassy mood eh?

Yeah, me too.

Well that's just about it from me, I told you it was a quickie.

I'll leave you with a little something I've been cooking up for this gorgeous cake plate. I snaffled it up at the charity shop for a couple of pounds.

Fabulous, but it needs a little something...

Home Bird

I love autumn.

Always have done, even as a child.

I'm very much a 'home bird'.

If you asked me, how I'd spend my perfect evening, the answer wouldn't be dining out, or a visit to the local pub, or the cinema. My perfect evening is snuggling up on the sofa in front of a open fire, a piece of chocolate cake (come on! chocolate had to figure somewhere!) a cup of tea, a musical or classic drama on the telly, a little bit of embroidery or crotchet and at the far end of the sofa engrossed in his newspaper...my husband. Not a lot really is it?

I love autumn.

Even the early mornings are special.

The mixture of sunshine and mist.

Nature at it's most magical.