Another week...

...has passed! I can hardly believe that 4 weeks of the school summer holidays have gone already. They seem to be going so quickly this year. I am now off on annual leave myself too which is great. I was ready for my holidays as things have been so busy lately...it's good to slow down a little and to have some time with my family and friends. I am already really enjoying my time off and there have been some good things happening over the past few days...

 

 

...Miss M and I spent lots of time with lovely frends on Friday. My friend made Pimms and we sat out in the garden while the kids played in the paddling pool. I love these kind of summer afternoons. We made a cake to take along and picked a little posy of flowers from our garden too. The cake was a strawberry and almond cake called "Fantasy Cake" and the recipe can be found in Recipes From my Mother for my Daughter by Lisa Faulkner. I can highly recommend this book, it's fantastic, I have made lots of things from it all of which have been really nice. The cake was lovely with a drizzle of double cream...

...We have been at the beach again. The weather was perfect and we took a couple of Miss M's friends with us for the day. G brought the barbecue again and we had ice creams after, it was great. I just love to watch my girl at the beach, she adores pottering around, collecting treasures and paddling in the sea..

 

... I received some lovely happy mail this week. The gifts above were from my friend Hannapat of the gorgeous Cosmos & Cotton blog. Thank you so much Hannapat, I adore them...

 

 

...Miss M continues to really enjoy loom bands. She made me the sweet little charm bracelet above. I love it! I have been wearing it every day which has made my girl very happy...

 

 

...I have been a bit naughty and started a new crochet project. The colours are a bit different from my usual choice but I really like these colours together....sometimes it's good to work with colours you wouldn't usually isn't it? The yarn is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino - it's expensive but it really is beautifully soft and so nice to use. I have almost finished sewing in the ends of the granny squares for the blanket I've been working on for ages. I worked out that there were 504 ends to sew in on the squares alone! Actually it has felt like twice that amount, I really can't make myself enjoy sewing in yarn ends. Anyway, I should have the blanket finished completely at some point this week..

 

I have to go and do some tidying now as we have more friends and their kids coming for something to eat late afternoon which we are all looking forward to.

 

Hope you have all had a great week? I will hopefully be back soon to show you my finished blanket :)

 

X

 

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This Week

This week has been another really busy one. Work has been hectic and I have had a few extra things to do for that as well. And of course, the school summer holidays are in full swing here, so in between working, I have been busy arranging play dates for Miss M, taking her out and about and generally keeping her entertained! We had a barbecue last night with lovely friends of ours which was great even though it rained the whole time!

 

Anyway, here are some of the pretty parts from my week...

 

 

A bedside posy...

 

 

A sweetie cake, made and decorated by Miss M...

 

 

My new apron which I treated myself to on Friday. It was much needed as my old one was in quite a state! I love the pretty print on this one...

 

 

Crochet! It always makes me happy to get some crochet time in my week, even if it's just a little. This week I have finished making the squares for my granny square blanket and am now in the process of sewing all those yarn ends in....

 

 

Cheery yellow roses on my front windowsill. These were given to me by my lovely friend last night. I adore having fresh flowers around the house...

Happy things in my week! Next week is set to be a busy one too as it is my long week at work....but then I am on annual leave for almost 3 weeks! I cannot wait. Lots of time to spend with my sweet Miss M and to catch up with friends and family. Happy days.

 

X

 

PS. Thank you so much for the lovely comments on my tea cosy! They are much appreciated :)

 

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A Tea Cosy

 

I finished the tea cosy which I started making a couple of weeks ago!

 

As you can see from the photos, I was completely influenced by the lovely colours in my Cath Kidston teaspoons when choosing the colour combinations for this project!

 

I used this pattern for knitting the main body of the cosy, I added my own edging using double and triple crochet. The pattern for the roses is from Nicki Trench's Cute & Easy Crochet - I love making these roses so much. The yarn was all double knitting, just small amounts I had left over from other projects but I think it was mainly Sirdar Snuggly.

 

I am so happy with how this turned out and I loved making it. It's good to have a nice new tea cosy, my old one was starting to look a little tired and this one looks pretty and fresh in my kitchen.

Hope you are all having a great week so far!

 

X

 

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Dunure

This morning we had no plans to do anything - which has really been a first these summer holidays, what with various play dates etc - and since G and I were both off work, we decided to head out together for a few hours. The weather looked decent so we packed up the mini barbecue and set off for Dunure, a pretty little fishing village on the Ayrshire Coast....

 

 

The ruins of Dunure Castle...

 

 

Miss M and I enjoyed looking for beach treasures...

 

 

While G attended to the barbecue...

 

 

I enjoyed a cuppa with a gorgeous view...

 

 

After lunch we wandered around, just enjoying this lovely little village and beach on a summers day.

 

It was a few hours really well spent!

 

X

 

 

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Current WIPS of a yarny kind...

 

A few crochet rose brooches using my favourite Sirdar Ella yarn...

 

 

A recently started project using knitting and crochet. I am making a new tea cosy using CK colours...

 

 

I am still enjoying knitting my cardigan. I have finished the back and am now on the left front...

 

 

The granny square blanket continues, I have made 30 squares so far. I'm not sure how many more I will do but I think I may stop at 36 and add quite a substantial border..

 

Lots of WIPs to keep me busy over the summer!

 

X

 

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Summer Stills

 

A few photographs taken over the past few days....it definitely feels as if summer has arrived! The school summer holidays are here and so far the weather has been really good to us. Today is another beautifully warm and sunny day and I am enjoying every moment of it!

 

We have been spending lots of time in the garden, a little time at the beach and have been eating lots and lots of fruit! Miss M is still enjoying playing with Fimo and she made the little sailing boat you can see in the second last photograph....I love it and it fits in with the seaside theme of our kitchen so she has kindly allowed me to display it on one of the kitchen shelves! Our lovely neighbours brought the little bag of herbs back from their holiday in France for us, the only trouble is that the little bag is so pretty, I can't bear to use them. They look lovely and summery in the kitchen though!

 

Hope you are enjoying the summer days too?

 

X

 

 

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