Saturday 29 June 2013

Tea for Three

My mum came to visit today, so Miss M and I decided it would be nice to have a little afternoon tea together...
We baked a batch of fairy cakes this morning...
Miss M enjoyed making a little floral arrangement for the table...
We set the table with my best tea cups, saucers, side plates and teapot...
Tea seems to taste nicer in a proper tea cup, although I must admit it can be a little nerve wracking giving your six year old a china cup...

The three of us enjoyed our little afternoon tea and agreed it was a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

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Thursday 27 June 2013

For Teacher

It is the last day if school tomorrow and Miss M will finish at 1pm for the summer holidays. I feel it has been a very quick school year somehow and I can't believe she has finished P2 and will begin P3 in the summer. My mum is right, time really does pass especially quickly with children, it seems to me that only yesterday she was a wee baby in my arms...

Anyway, this week we have been busy making a couple of little gifts for Miss M's teacher whom she has liked very very much...

A card handmade by Miss M. She made the little flower from Hama beads, glued it on to the front of the card (her own idea!) and wrote a very sweet message inside in her best handwriting...

 

We made a little appliquéd picture together. Miss M drew the picture onto Bondaweb and helped cut out the pieces, then I ironed it onto some calico fabric. She wrote 'Miss Robinson' on red felt (in her best bubble writing) and I cut the letters out for her as it was quite fiddly! She sewed around the picture and letters so carefully and finally painted the little hoop with some red paint from her paint box. I really think it looks very sweet!

She took so much time and care over both the card and the little picture - a special gift for a special teacher....

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Sunday 23 June 2013

Enjoying...

Lately, I have been enjoying...

Crocheting yet more flowers with this gorgeous bright purple yarn given to me by my lovely mum...

Having pretty flowers around the house, some from the garden and some from the supermarket...

Reading the latest issue of Simply Crochet and planning lots of projects. I am enjoying this issue so much and am very keen on the peg bag, wrist corsage, birdhouse bunting and tissue box holder...

Sewing in the ends and finishing off my ice cream blanket at last...

Eating lemon drizzle cake with a nice cup of tea...

Lots of good little moments in a busy week! This week looks as if it will be very busy too as it is the last week of term before the school summer holidays and there are lots of extra things on as well as the usual work, swimming, play dates etc. Hopefully I will be able to squeeze in at least a little crafty activity too...!

Thank you for the lovely comments on my last post and welcome to my new readers and followers!

Also, I keep reading about Google Reader going really soon so thought I would just mention that if you would like, you can continue to keep up with my blog posts using bloglovin' and there is a button at the top right hand of the page.

Back soon...

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Friday 21 June 2013

Hot Chocolate Fairy Cakes

At the library this week, I borrowed a lovely book - Cake by Rachel Allen. There are so many gorgeous looking and tempting recipes in this book! Yesterday, I made Hot Chocolate Fairy Cakes.They are supposed to look like a little cup of hot chocolate and I must admit, I did enjoy decorating them to that effect! These little cakes were very simple to make but a big hit in this house.

Just perfect with a glass of milk after school when you have been a good girl all week...!

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my little crocheted purse, you are all so kind and hello and welcome to my new readers and followers, it's lovely to have you here.

Hope everyone has a very happy weekend!

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Tuesday 18 June 2013

A Pink Flowery Purse

My obsession with crochet and with Nicki Trench's book Cute & Easy Crochet continues, with yet another little project. This time, the Floral Purse...

I used Rico Creative Cotton in Fushia, purchased from here, with oddments of cotton DK in soft green and cream for the little flowers. The lining fabric is a pretty green floral print that I had already and a little daisy button was just right for the fastening. I loved making this little purse, it was a nice quick project which took only a couple of evenings to complete. The trickiest part was the the lining, which I admit, could be neater, but nonetheless, I am still happy with it. It is the perfect size for holding a little compact mirror and a lipstick or two...

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Sunday 16 June 2013

Father's Day

It's Father's Day today and Miss M and I organised a few small, but thoughtful gifts for G...

Miss M drew this picture of G cycling up a hill. She spent quite a while on it, wanting to get it "just right"! We popped it inside a little frame and G was very pleased with it...

A new mug for coffee at work...

We made a batch of "Bounty", coconut and chocolate truffles. G adores coconut and he has already eaten quite a few this morning....

This chocolate and marshmallow fudge we made on Friday night to give to my own lovely dad. (I love the sweet labels Miss M made!). We took it to him yesterday and also helped him to eat it...

Now, as it is Father's Day, G has gone out on his bike for a few hours and Miss M and I are going to spend a relaxing afternoon playing and reading in the garden.

Thank you for the lovely comments about my tea cosy and pattern. I think it probably is a simple enough pattern for a beginner, with the increases being the only tricky parts really.

Back soon with some crochet...

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Thursday 13 June 2013

Tea Cosy Pattern

In a blog post a few weeks ago, I included a photo with a tea cosy in it which I made last year. I had a few really nice comments about it and so thought I would include the pattern here, in case anyone would like to knit their own...

To make the tea cosy I adapted a couple of patterns I had to get the effect I wanted and to fit the teapot I have. Apologies if this post is overly long, I have never written a pattern out for anyone but myself before!

Tea Cosy Pattern ( Fits a standard 4 cup teapot)

Materials

Approx 100g Aran weight yarn (I used Sirdar Supersoft Aran)

6mm & 3mm knitting needles

Oddments of DK weight yarn for flowers

Abbreviations

K - knit M1 - make one (instructions here) Psso - pass slipped stitch over

K2tog - knit 2 stitches together

Directions for main part of tea cosy (make 2 pieces the same)

Use the yarn doubled throughout ( to make the tea cosy nice and thick, and well, cosy!). Knit in garter stitch throughout.

* Using 6mm needles and Aran weight yarn (doubled), cast on 24 stitches.

* Rows 1-4 - garter stitch

* Row 5 - K1, M1, knit to last stitch, M1, K1 (26 stitches)

* Row 6 - garter stitch

* Row 7 - K1, M1, knit to last stitch, M1, K1 (28 stitches)

* Row 8 - garter stitch

* Row 9 - K1, M1, knit to last stitch, M1, K1 (30 stitches)

* Row 10 - garter stitch

* Rows 11-22 - knit in garter stitch without shaping

* Row 23 - K1, slip 1, K1, Psso, knit to last 3 stitches, K2tog, K1 (28 stitches)

* Row 24 - garter stitch

* Row 25 - K1, slip 1, K1, Psso, knit to last 3 stitches, K2 tog, K1 (26 stitches)

* Row 26 - garter stitch

* Row 27-36 - knit in garter stitch without shaping

* Row 37 - K2tog x 3, knit to last 6 stitches, K2tog x 3 (20 stitches)

* Row 38 - garter stitch

* Row 39 - K2 tog x 3, knit to last 6 stitches, K2 tog x 3 (14 stitches)

* Knit 3 rows in garter stitch without shaping

* Cast off remaining 14 stitches

Flowers (I made twelve)

* Using 3mm needles and DK yarn, cast on 60 stitches

* Row 1 - garter stitch to end

* Row 2 - K1, cast off 8, repeat to end until there are 12 stitches left on the needle

* Break off the yarn leaving a long tail, thread through the 12 stitches and pull up tightly, then secure and

stitch in place to make a flower.

Making Up/ Finishing

Block the 2 pieces of the tea cosy and spray the flowers with some spray starch and leave to dry.

Using mattress stitch, sew the 2 top pieces together along each cast off edge.

Sew the sides of the cosy, leaving a space of approximately 11cm open for the handle and 8cm open for the spout.

Pin the flowers to the top of the cosy and sew securely in place.

 

I hope the pattern is okay, I have checked it a few times but if anyone does decide to knit one and finds a problem with it just let me know, and I will amend it! Happy knitting...

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Monday 10 June 2013

Five Good Things

1. Lots of lovely colourful embroidery threads given to me by a good friend last week...

2. A pretty little buttercup posy from Miss M...

3. Baking and eating simple fairy cakes...
4. New yarn. I cannot wait to start the project I have planned for this...
5. Souvenirs from a nice day out with my little family on Saturday...
Thank you for the lovely comments on my tiny heart picture, they really made me smile...
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Friday 7 June 2013

Tiny Hearts

Last week I had lots of fun making some tiny crochet hearts...

They are really tiny, measuring only 3 cm. I used this great tutorial. They are so simple to make and really quite addictive! I used some oddments of Rowan Cotton Glacé that I had and they really only take such a tiny amount of yarn. Originally, I had been planning to make a little garland with the little hearts but came across an empty frame and decided to make a little picture instead...
I sprayed the hearts with some starch and left them to dry or an hour then glued them on to a piece of white card stock using extra strong all purpose glue before putting the little picture inside the frame...
Here it is looking quite at home on Miss M's bookshelf. I think it looks quite sweet! It was a really quick and satisfying little project which only took a couple of hours. I may still make that garland though...!
Happy weekend!
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