Festive Baking

Well it's Christmas Eve - how DID that happen?! The munchkins are in bed so I've a little time for some festive blogging before completing my Mrs. Christmas duties! I had hoped to post some pics of my two completed quilts this week, but the weather has been too evil for photographs so it will have to wait til next week. Luckily we aren't seeing the recipients til next weekend so I've a few days yet!

My friend Stella and her two children came around on thursday afternoon for some baking fun. We go way back and she is a very dear friend. We initially met 15 years ago at university - we went our separate ways but our paths have crossed on multiple occasions and in the most extraordinary ways since. The most weird and wonderful crossing of paths occurred in August when Stella and her family moved from Surrey and bought a house on the next street to ours!

We had a lovely afternoon of gingerbread making and decorating:

Some of the results:

The big girl and I made a gingerbread house:

And I managed a spot of festive sewing - a stocking for the baby boy :-)

Happy Christmas!

Long time no blogging!

I can't believe I haven't managed to write anything here for about 6 weeks! My intentions have been good and my creative life has been quite productive but life - family life in particular - is busy! This coupled with terrible weather and a lack of internet hasn't been very helpful to the blogging experience! I've just got through a manic school week of Christmas concerts and Toddler group related Christmas activities while my husband flew to Northern Ireland for his grandmother's wake and funeral. It has been an emotionally draining week but there are only 3 more school days left of term and then my Big Girl will be home for the holidays and there will be lots of R and R - and baking and crafting one hopes!

I've been busy on the quilting front - finally completed my mother-in-law's birthday/Christmas quilt (pics to follow), and I'm just about finishing up a quilt for my niece. Here are some pics of the progress:

It's a wonky star quilt! I LOVED making this! There are only 6 block as it is a baby quilt and I used the tutorial here with great success. The fabric line I used was Tea Time by Makower, with a few bits of stash thrown in. For an easy life the white backround was a Bella Solid charm pack!

This quilt top has been sandwiched, basted and stippled already :-). The binding is cut and will hopefully be attached today - the sun is shining so if my fingers are quick I may get a snapshot later on!

Taste of Autumn

Auntie Bev's yummy homemade blackberry jam on apple and cinnamon scones. Mmmmmmm!

Hexagons

Long time, no blogging - I know! Life is busy, busy, busy and crafting time is little unfortunately. I've been occupied with lots of jobs in the home of late and I'm thrilled to say I have a new carpet and a new piano in our study! With wallpaper and curtain fabric already earmarked I hope to have a completed room in the next few weeks.

Despite no quality creative time, I have managed to grab some snippets of time to do the odd thing. You may remember a post many months ago on a fabulous hexagon quilt I had seen in 'Vignette' magazine. Well after mulling it over I decided to give it a go. This is to be a long term project, but I'm glad to have a portable sewing project on the go:

I'm hoping it will be a bit of a stashbuster project and I plan to sew one completed block per week (ish!)- it's going to take a looooooooong time!

Some other hexagons I spied on a recent trip to Northern Ireland:

The floor of the carpark at the Giant's Causeway!

Husband and Big Girl on the Giant's Causeway!

Extravagant Ripple

I've wanted to make a crochet ripple blanket for ages. The rate-limiting step was, for a while, my inability to read a crochet pattern - I tried, and failed, with many a ripple pattern. After my wonderful mother-in-law tweaked my crochet technique and explained that american and UK crochet terms were different and it was never going to work if I mixed the two, I realised that I could in fact read a pattern!

The ripple patern I used was adapted from 'Cute and Easy Crochet' by Nicky Trench of Laughing Hens fame. In the book the ripple features as a cushion cover. I can't remember the number of chains in my foundation chain specifically - I made it a little longer than I wanted the blanket to be and then repeated the pattern repeat sequence until I got towards the end of the foundation chain. If there weren't enough chains left to make another pattern sequence then I left them as a little tail at the end of the work - to be undone or woven in on completion of the project!

The 'extravagant' part of the blanket lies in the choice of yarn - Rowan Felted Tweed. I have always loved this yarn, but at around £5.50 a ball it is a tad pricey. It was an impromptu purchase when I found it on special offer at my not so local yarn shop. The ripple has been an ongoing project for a few months now and I'm about two thirds done. I love the warm, rich colours of the yarn - I had planned to share the finished article on my blog when it was completed, but with the weather and evenings becoming increasingly autumnal with blankets on the sofa, I couldn't resist.

Holiday

It's a couple of weeks now since we returned from our holiday in West Wales. We stayed in the tiny village of Cribyn, not far from Lampeter in a renovated tin shed known as Ty Sinc.

We had a very relaxing time mainly reading, DVD watching, crafting, playing board games and completing jigsaws. We did have some lovely jaunts though. Dr Husband and Big Girl had a boat trip out of New Quay to watch dolphins while Baby Boy slept and I relaxed watching little boats and read Miss Buncle's Book. I've been a big fan of Persephone Books for a few years now and had stocked up on some new books for holiday purposes.

We had an afternoon at the National Woollen Museum which I loved. It's an excellent, well thought out museum chronicling the history of the wool trade in Carmarthenshire with fabulous exhibits and lots to see. Being Welsh I've grown up cwtched under welsh woollen blankets and I loved seeing so many on display - including one very like a blanket I inherited from my grandparents!

(giant boiler at the woollen museum)

(preserved loom)

We enjoyed pottering in Aberaeron ...

...and had a very nice lunch at The Hive.

All in all a very lovely time of not doing very much!

Strawberry Milk

I had bit of a poorly Big Girl at the start of last week - never a good combination during school holidays! What better to ease a sore throat than some homemade strawberry milk.

All you need is some milk and some fresh strawberries - we used half a pint of milk and six yummy strawberries.

Whizz in the blender and, hey presto, a refreshing comforting drink!

It's a mad rush in our house this morning and we are headed off to West Wales for a few days. Everything is nearly packed - just some good books and knitting to organise!



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