Wisteria and Birthday Cake

Hello there, have you been enjoying the bank holiday weekend and the very nice extra day off work? We have been lucky enough to have such a warm and sunny weekend here and have had a lovely couple of days catching up with friends, sitting in the sunshine, celebrating my sister’s birthday (and enjoying her delicious cake), an outdoor breakfast and lots of Star Wars Lego!

I had a long list of jobs that I was planning to do this weekend. They were all very boring jobs….clearing cupboards and sorting the kitchen a bit before it gets decorated next month. I am pleased to say that I didn’t manage to get round to any of these!

Today we visited Dorney Court Kitchen Garden with Little Pickle and our friends. Our plan was to get there early (quite easy with the little people who are quite happy to get up before 7.00am!) and enjoy breakfast. We managed to get a table in the children’s garden and whilst the little ones climbed the tree house and explored the play house and secret tunnel we had an alfresco breakfast in the sunshine. I had a plate of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs washed down with a steaming latte….perfection!

The walled gardens at Dorney are very special. I’ve visited a few times now and every time there is something new to see and admire.

Isn’t this true?

We were greeted by the most amazing display of wisteria…three archways literally bursting with these beautiful little flowers.             I wish you could have buried your nose in the blooms and smelt them…it was lovely.

  

  

Have I mentioned how much I love these?

Parts of the garden were almost over for this year…

 

But there was a real sense that things were just beginning…

 

  

and I am looking forward to going back soon to capture more of this tranquil garden.

In between playing hooky with crochet (more of that another time!) and working on two cushion commissions I managed to finish these lavender hearts as a little housewarming gift for our friends. I really like the colour combination, it’s another one of my favourites.

 

I hope you have a good week…I’ll be back soon. I’m going to my first WI meeting tomorrow and can’t wait to tell you more.

xxxxxxx

An Easter break…

Hello there, what a grey and wet day. I hope that you’ve managed to keep dry wherever you are?

Did you all have a nice Easter? We had such a great few days and managed some lovely day trips. Spending time with Little Pickle is one of my favourite things and we took advantage of the Easter break to really enjoy the sunny weather together.

First up was a trip to Windsor and tour on an open top bus. This was Little Pickle’s request and I was only too happy to oblige.

It was a beautiful sunny day and we all sat on the top deck and took in the views of the Castle before setting off on our tour.

       

If you look closely you can just see that the flag is flying which means that HRH was at home. Little Pickle said she was sorting out Easter eggs for everyone!

The tour went round the villages just outside Windsor, including Eton. I had never been here before and most definitely want to go back. The buildings were stunning and from the top of the bus we spied some very tempting little shops.

  

 

Little Pickle and I attempted a selfie….it didn’t go quite to plan and I don’t think we’ll be breaking Twitter with this one!

After a lovely lunch we had a good look round the shops in Windsor…including a trip to Cath Kidston and headed off home for a relaxing afternoon of lots of Star Wars and Lego – perfect holiday activities!

The following day we headed off to Waddesdon Manor with my mum, sister and niece. If you’ve never been here it really is worth a visit. Not only can you visit a truly stunning National Trust property but you can also enjoy the surrounding gardens which were full of Spring flowers.

    

I spotted these ferns….aren’t they gorgeous?

  

We had lots of fun exploring and looking for clues to finish the Easter Egg Hunt!

The sun shone and Little Pickle and his cousin had a lovely day. They particularly enjoyed the traditional toy shop complete with an old fashioned sweet shop.

I love, love this picture.

On Sunday we all enjoyed a family lunch with my parents, played silly games (sweetie bingo being the most popular) and had plenty of laughter and chocolate.

All in all it was a very happy Easter spent with the people who mean the most.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

xxxxxxxxxx

A few Easter craft ta-dahs!…

Hello there! Hope you are having a lovely Easter weekend?

Over the past couple of months I’ve been working on a few Easter craft projects and thought that I would share them with you. It’s been so hard not to tell you before but I really wanted to group them all together and only finished the last project yesterday.

Firstly, I made a Spring Wreath for my front door. I used the same felt flowers I had made back in February. You can read about them here.

 

  

Next were a little Easter Chick and Rabbit for Little Pickle. I’ve been making these every year since Little Pickle was born and this year he was lucky enough to get two. Here they are enjoying some early Spring sunshine!

 

They both have a little pocket which is just the right size for a little Lindt bunny…a big favourite in this house.

My next set of makes involved carrots….

First there was bunting. When I read this tutorial  I had to make a set for myself!

 

 

This was a really simple little project and quickly came together one evening. Sometimes I really enjoy a quick project, especially one that looks as cheerful as this.

The other carrots were these…and these little carrots really make me feel very happy indeed…

 

Look at their little smiling faces….I think I would be that happy if I was filled with mini chocolate eggs…

 

 

These were given to family and friends and had an Easter tag finished off with my favourite Easter chicks…those really little fragile fluffy ones with the beady eyes!

There was a bit more bunting for presents. This time using the Easter templates from Amy at nanacompany.

 

 

 

I think the little carrot was my favourite of all the templates and I loved seeing all the little flags stacked up and ready for hanging.

Lastly, and quite possibly the ta-dah that I’m most proud of is this little top that I made for my niece…

It has little puffed sleeves…

 

and a gathered neck…

and a pleated frill at the bottom…

 

This caused me a few problems but I was determined to make it work and only managed to miss out one of the tiny pleats.

I love the fabric and finished it off with a little brooch made from some of the contents of my Mother’s Day gift.

  

I hope that you like them.

Have a very happy and special Easter.

xxxxxxxxxx

An Easter Birthday Party…

Hello there! How are you?

We’ve been so lucky to have some lovely weather over the past few days and I hope that the sun has been shining where you are.

Today was a special day. A few weeks ago I  was asked to host a children’s birthday party at The Fabric Warehouse. I was so excited and immediately said yes! The birthday girl already comes along to my Monday sewing class and I was really pleased to take part in her special day. Turning eight is a serious business and I started to think of possible ideas that we could complete in two hours.

Eventually I decided on tutu bags!

 

This is the sample bag that I made. I layered up two pieces of  pink net (one slightly paler than the other) that had been gathered using a wide running stitch. In between the layers were a few strands of pretty pink sequins. These were then stitched in place with a sewing machine (the net is a bit slippery!) and a felt bow was added for decoration. I can’t find the tutorial I used for the felt bow…my brain is feeling a bit frazzled this evening but there’s a great tutorial over at A Little Happy Place that you can find here.

I got the The Fabric Warehouse nice and early to get all the materials and bits and pieces ready.

I had made this little rosette for the birthday girl that was put next to her balloon covered chair…

 

Everyone had their own supply of felt, buttons, layers of pink net and plenty of threaded needles…

 

The room is already decorated beautifully and with the addition of balloons and flowers it looked so special…

  

  

When I was eight I would have LOVED a party like this!

There were party rings and french fancies – the BEST party treats…

 

There were ten little ladies some who had sewn before and others who hadn’t. Everyone got very engrossed in their bags and the room was very quiet as everyone concentrated hard on their creations. I was so lucky to have two wonderful helpers who made everything run very smoothly and made the party very special.

There was a lot of excitement when it was time to use the sewing machines and soon everyone had finished their bags. There was just enough time to make a matching hairband and here are a couple of pictures of the finished products!

  

I was so proud of my little stitchers and had such a great morning. It was a lovely start to the Easter weekend.

Happy Birthday!

xxxxxxxxxx

Well hello there Spring…

Hello there…have you enjoyed the weekend? Hasn’t it been lovely to wake up to skies that look like this…

and see pretty shadows left by the sunshine.

I have had such a nice weekend, it really has been lovely. It started on Friday when my friend J came round for lunch, cake and lots of crafting chat. We met last Summer at a class where me made our own fabric corsage. We have kept in contact ever since and finally managed to get together on Friday. The time flew by far too quickly but we talked about (amongst lots of other things) crochet, quilting, the Sewing Bee and embroidery. J came along with some of her crafting books and projects and I very gladly shared mine. Making a new friend is a very happy thing and I can’t wait for our next catch up. J has very kindly said she will help me cut out a pattern for a dress I’ve wanted to make for ages and I’m going to try to help her set up her own blog. She is a very talented crafter and I think her blog would be lovely.

Yesterday we decided to get out in the sunshine and took Little Pickle to the Model Village in Beaconsfield. You can read more about it here

We’ve been going there since I was a little girl and it hasn’t changed at all. Little Pickle loves the model trains that travel through the village and I like going because there’s something reassuring about the fact that it hasn’t changed in almost 30 years! I used to complain  a lot about going here as a teenager but now can understand why my mum liked it so much and feel very fond of this quaint little village where everything is in miniature.

There are little cobbled streets that lead to a harbour…

  

A rather grand hotel with an outdoor pool and sunbathing area…it was very popular on Saturday!

  

A group of gypsy caravans that are one of my favourites…

and the chimps tea party…very reminiscent of teatime here on a few occasions!

the gardens are all beautifully kept and there were signs of Spring everywhere.

On our way home I managed to find this …

I was very pleased with this little purchase and have a feeling I may have to return for some of the matching cups. I have thought about them a lot!

In other news I am very excited to be starting a quilt-along with my lovely friend H (an amazing knitter who can also do beautiful crochet). I’ll post more about it soon and have a lovely selection of fabrics ready to be snipped. We have shared lots of excited texts and pictures and H has already made a start on some of her squares. Her colours and patterns look very pretty and it’s made me even more keen to get started.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and some of this pretty candlelight…

xxxxx

F is for…

Hello there, have you had a nice weekend? Seeing the sunshine today was lovely wasn’t it?

It crept in this morning and even left us one of these…

A little quilt rainbow.

We decided to head out for a walk this afternoon and Little Pickle, Furry Pickle and I visited our local park. It was so nice to get out and enjoy a good ride on the swings and bounce on the trampoline.

We spotted these little beauties and it’s made me think that Spring might almost be here.

 

Do you remember the little felt flowers from one of my earlier posts? Well, f is for finished! What do you think?

 

 

The pictures aren’t fantastic I’m afraid and were taken on a very grey and dreary day but I hope you like it as much as I do. I made it for a very special little girl called Flo who turned one a couple of days ago. One is such a special birthday and making this made me feel very cheerful indeed.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

xxxxxx

Hello there….

Hello there….thank you for stopping by, especially as this is my first ever blog post! I’ve wanted to write a blog for a while but somehow it just hasn’t happened. If I’m really honest I set this blog up before Christmas with the hope of starting in January but life seemed to take over a little bit and we’re racing ahead into February already. I decided that 2014 was going to be the year that I made a bit more time for me….

I’m a wife and a mummy to my gorgeous little boy and Westie. I love, love, love sewing and crafting and hope this little blog will be a way for me to write about my crafty adventures and escape for a while. Did I mention that I’m more than a little bit fond of Spring flowers? At the moment a white hyacinth is flowering in the living room and every morning I am greeted with its perfume. Some teeny tiny daffodils have also put in an appearance this week and are a welcome ray of sunshine in between the endless showers.

       

My big crafting crush at the moment is patchwork. It’s official my name is Victoria and I am indeed a patchwork addict. I’m working on four blocks at the moment. I’m not sure what they will be but I’m thinking of finding a gap somewhere to hang them. They are a real work in progress but here’s what I’ve done so far…

 

These little hexies were started at a quilting workshop ran by a very special lady called Ros who I am very pleased to say is now a friend. She’s an amazing quilter and very inspiring. I haven’t quite finished this block…but I love the combination of patterns.

This block was my first ever attempt at quilting and is a Dresden Plate design from the Cath Kidston Patch book using up all the lovely fabrics that were included. I’m not sure which direction the other two blocks will take but I have a little idea about bees and hexagons and pretty yellow fabric…

In other news we  had a carpet rainbow today…

Pretty isn’t it?